Category Archives: essay
Western Hills
The story of Western Hills can’t be fully told by an outsider, of course, so this will in no way be an attempt at a complete history. The former nursery and now endangered 3-acre garden have woven through Northern Californian … Continue reading
Garden Show Road Trip
Can there exist a more potent rite of spring than the garden show road trip? Can’t think of any offhand. This week’s road trip was up to the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, continuing through this weekend. Driving up … Continue reading
All In A Day’s Work
The desultory, unfocused morning stretched into the same kind of afternoon, and I gave up the pretense of attempting to accomplish anything and headed for a bath. With an unread December Gardens Illustrated issue propped on the reading stand (often … Continue reading
Posted in Ephemera, essay
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Groundwork
Great name for a garden blog (or coffee house, dance company). The term has stuck with me since first reading it used by Gertrude Jekyll in her color theories for gardens. I can’t locate my Gertrude Jekyll compendium at the … Continue reading
Type G Personality
Although the science behind the Type A and B personality theory seems to have become largely discredited, I believe there is a strong case to be made for the Type G personality. (Type G’s, you know who you are. Don’t … Continue reading
Posted in essay, garden ornament
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The Jasmine and the Snowman
After working in front of a computer 40 hours the last four days, I was in desperate need of a walk. Coat, coffee money, and a camera were found and I headed out the door. Reading other garden blogs, I’m … Continue reading
Waking Up to White
Sometimes I seem to be sleepwalking when planning the garden. For example, how could I not have noticed this build-up of white-flowering plants? White valerian, agrostemma, diascia, Geranium maderense, arctotis, gaura, foxgloves. True, it surprised me this morning doing a … Continue reading
Old Garden Notebooks
Anybody else keep theirs? Found this entry from April 1985, when all things horticultural were then confined to a small plot in a community garden a couple miles from our apartment: “Gophers running amok, seemingly in my garden alone. Can … Continue reading
Closeup (Salvia semiatrata)
Of a triangular, dark green, corrugated leaf, of a delicate, jewel-toned flower in cobalt blue, calyces of plummy purple. You bring it home, where it sprawls, hides its flowers, sprawls some more, and starts numerous fights with its neighbors. So … Continue reading
Posted in essay, Plant Portraits
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