Category Archives: agaves, woody lilies

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

clippings 6/22/20

Hope you find lots of interesting and diverting things to do this week. I’m tending new seedlings and waiting for another seed order to arrive — there’s got to be more empty pots around here somewhere…

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, climate, clippings, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | 6 Comments

bloom day June 2020

Typical of my small zone 10 Southern California garden, the month of June is as much subtractive as additive. Gone are the winter-growing annuals like poppies, nicotiana, and umbellifer Orlaya grandiflora, and as the hot dry summer bears down, the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, pots and containers, succulents | 12 Comments

the dappled life

So you’re planting and planting your little garden and having the best time, but because your undisciplined and eclectic taste runs to every kind and type of green life, from ground hugging to tree size, inevitably you wake up one … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal, pots and containers | 4 Comments

still plant shopping

With demoralizing chaos at the federal level continuing unabated, it’s incredibly reassuring to experience the pragmatic approaches deployed locally. Let’s just take for an example, oh, I dunno — shopping for plants, for instance. I’ve been shopping every couple weeks … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant nurseries, pots and containers | 6 Comments