Category Archives: agaves, woody lilies

late for Bloom Day 11/15/20

Mina lobata is late too. The Spanish Flag vine was sown at least by June — okay, I just checked the seed packet and it was sown 6/25/20. So what’s up with waiting to bloom until November? The questions never … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 8 Comments

privacy issues (or what kept me busy Election Week 2020)

And so the lemon cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Citriodora’ or Golden Monterey Cypress) came down last Sunday, November 1st. I couldn’t bear to watch the removal of the last two and hid out in the office. They were excellent privacy screens … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 10 Comments

Pow! Wow! mural by Gail Werner

This is my favorite mural in my hometown of Long Beach, Calif. To me, it’s a bird perched on an agave bloom (obviously!), painted in a very graphic style reminiscent of a woodcut. I often suspect many people of being … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, design | 5 Comments

refocusing on succulents

More notes on micro-moves in my small back garden, mostly having to do with a succulent-forward mindset for fall/winter here in zone 10. If you scroll down to the previous post, where I mention having to move an aloe because … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 9 Comments

october already

Somehow, what the low angled light of October does to grasses always catches me by surprise. I caught this peripheral shimmer on the way to the office yesterday morning, turned to find the source and gasped. Of course it’s one … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, Plant Portraits, plant sales | 5 Comments

making the most of it

Emotionally, this summer feels like summers when I was 12 or 13 — when I stuck close to home because I wasn’t allowed yet to get in trouble with friends with cars. I’m regressing to the point that I’ve even … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, cut flowers, design, journal, plant crushes, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | 5 Comments

garden notes late July 2020

More garden chit-chat. Let’s see, where to begin? I never know what bits of info will be useful so I’ll just meander. Working from most recent, last night I moved the potted Cussonia natalensis into this corner made by the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, succulents | 8 Comments

succulents and ceramics

Following the new social distancing guidelines, by the time I came to the end of the prescribed one-way route through the Sherman Gardens last month, my camera battery was dead just as I reached the last garden before the exit; … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, MB Maher, Occasional Daily Photo, succulents | 4 Comments

garden mysteries and dilemmas

Some minor drama and quandaries in the garden recently. The very large but unidentified tillandsia brought home from a sale at the private garden of the late Bill Baker (of Aloe ‘Hercules’ fame), organized by his wife Donna Baker and … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, pots and containers | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

6/28/20 garden progress report

That’s gotta be a record for the fastest repurposing of a bird bath from water to plants, considering the bird bath just arrived in May. Filling it with plants is not a total admission of failure, just temporary frustration with … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 6 Comments