Category Archives: MB Maher

Bloom Day April 2013

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Denise

Spring is moving fast here in Southern California. I’ve already checked out some of the gardens on our host’s site for Bloom Day, Carol at May Dreams Gardens, and saw lots of traditional spring shrubs and bulbs and perennials like … Continue reading →

Posted in Bloom Day, MB Maher, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Albuca maxima, Anigozanthos, Argemone munita, begonia, Centranthus ruber 'Alba', Chionanthus retusus, Digging Dog Nursery, Erodium pelargoniflorum, Euphorbia lambii, flowering tobaccos, Isoplexis canariensis, kniphofia, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', Nicotiana 'Ondra's Brown Mix', Nicotiana langsdorfii, poppies, Prostranthera ovalifolia 'Variegata, Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple', Salvia chiapensis, Senecio anteuphorbium, Senecio stellata, Stipa gigantea, Tweedia caerulea, Zaluzianskya capensis | 9 Comments

what Dustin Gimbel does with gazanias

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Denise

The humble gazania, that kaleidoscopic daisy from South Africa overused in years past as the go-to municipal ground cover, is undergoing a minor local revival. I included a few for this summer in my full-sun back garden, the LA Times … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, driveby gardens, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged Acacia stenophylla, Aeonium 'Schwarzkopf', Euphorbia mauritanica, Euphorbia tirucalli, garden designer Dustin Gimbel, gazania hybrids, Second Nature Garden Design, silver leaves, South African plants | 9 Comments

Jardin Majorelle, Morocco

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Denise

What I know about Yves Saint Laurent, the fashion designer, as opposed to his enormous, well-known cultural celebrity, is limited to sewing up some of his “rich peasant” and stunning Russian collection designs off of Vogue patterns in high school. … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged bleu Majorelle, Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, general director Jardin Majorelle, Hugh Johnson, Hugh Johnson's The Principles of Gardening, Jacques Majorelle, Jardin Majorelle, Madison Cox, Marrakesh, Morocco, Robert Pogue Harrison, Suzy Menkes, The Principles of Gardening | 7 Comments

beauty’s best bargain

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Denise

for me will always be plants. 401ks and SEPs may crash and burn, but I’ll always be able to live on the cheap surrounded by some of the most gorgeous patterns and shapes on earth. Some of the results from … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged Agave guadalajarana, California Cactus Center, Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta', Linda Cochrane, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Papaver rupifragum, Venice Garden & Home Tour 2011 | 4 Comments

exploring a coastal garden with Lili Singer

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Denise

This Pacific Palisades garden was the final garden we visited 1/24/13 with Lili Singer via the LA County Arboretum Thursday Garden Talk series. Despite being firmly in the grasp of winter this January morning, or as firm a grasp on … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Big Daddy's Antiques, Daniel Hinkley, Fleur Nooyen and Associates, formal gardens, garden designer Fleur Nooyen, garden designer Joel Lichtenwalter, garden designer Richard Hayden, garden designer Ryan Gates, Graptopetalum paraguayense, Grow Outdoor Design, Hayden Landscape Design, Irving Gill, Leucadendron ‘Wilson’s Wonder’, Lili Singer, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Mediterranean gardens, Solandra maxima | 3 Comments

Dear Delphine

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Denise

Dear Delphine, Like the movie Being John Malkovich, the doorway to your fertile imagination is waiting for me whenever I need an infusion of inspiration, and you never disappoint. I still find it astonishing that I can see the world … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged Paradis Express | 7 Comments

finishing up a westside garden tour

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Denise

The second garden we toured with Lili Singer on 1/24/13, through the Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden’s series “Thursday Garden Talks with Lili Singer.” The first garden toured can be seen here. The description of the second garden from … Continue reading →

Posted in design, driveby gardens, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged Arbutus X 'Marina', Big Daddy's Antiques, California Horticultural Society, Carex pansa, Ceanothus 'Frosty Blue', garden designer Fleur Nooyen, Lili Singer, Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden, Plectranthus amboinicus, Salvia leucantha, San Marcos Growers, Santa Monica Canyon, Southern California, Victor Reiter | 7 Comments

scenes from Versailles

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Denise

As promised, photos of the gardens of Versailles, the apogee of the French formal garden style, designed by landscape architect Andre Le Notre for King Louis XIV of France (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715). With itinerant photographer MB … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged Andre Le Notre, formal gardens, French garden design, garden history, Hugh Johnson's The Principles of Gardening, Inventing the Garden, landscape architecture, Louis XIV, Matteo and Virgilio Vercelloni, Versailles | 7 Comments

1/24/13 Thursday Garden Talk with Lili Singer

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Denise

I had the belated, long-postponed, very intense pleasure of attending one of Lili Singer’s Thursday Garden Talks held by the Los Angeles County Arboretum, a tradition going back ten years. Lili Singer has long been so embedded and enmeshed in … Continue reading →

Posted in design, driveby gardens, garden visit, MB Maher, pots and containers | Tagged Acacia iteaphylla, Arum italicum 'Picturm', Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy', Circle Pot, Grow Outdoor Design, Joel Lichtenwalter, Lili Singer, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, mid century modern, Potted gifts for the garden, Ryan Gates, Stan Bitters | 9 Comments

Natural Discourse; Form & Function 1/11/13

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Denise

Some important dates. Natural Discourse, the multimedia exhibition installed in the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, is closing January 20, 2013, so it’s now last-chance-Texaco time to get over there and have a look at its many wonders, … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, science | Tagged boophane, Deborah O’Grady, Denise Newman, Hazel White, MB Maher, Nadia Hironaka and Mathew Sui, Natural Discourse; Form & Function, Shane Myrbeck, Shirley Watts, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley | 2 Comments