Category Archives: Plant Portraits
My So-Called Spiral Aloe
You can tell by the leaf litter that this guy is in the ground now, not in a pot anymore. In zone 10, planting in the ground is an option, since there’s no fear of frost damage. But there are … Continue reading
Senecio stellata (Cineraria)
The cineraria I blogged about in early March has been blooming and gaining strength, topping now over 4 feet in height, coarse and sprawly. These two plants came from Annie’s Annuals, from the seed strain ‘Giovanni’s Select.’ One is a … Continue reading
Mauve
The paths of the garden at Western Hills, which I visited a couple weeks back, were crowded with the mauve blossoms of self-seeding honesty, the biennial Lunaria annua. Because it was ubiquitous, I took no photos but of course now … Continue reading
Posted in MB Maher, Plant Portraits
Tagged biennials, chemical dye, Lunaria annua, mauve, MB Maher, Western Hills, William Henry Perkin
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Calandrinia spectabilis
On the Agave Walk this cerise Chilean showoff opens its first flower of spring. Zone 8-10. The calandrinia sprawls onto the Agave Walk and is cut back by half to allow foot traffic. Even with this heavy-handed treatment it flowers … Continue reading
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
Poppies of Spring
Visual kief, intoxicating to the eye, O’Keefian, the ephemeral poppies of spring. These are not the flamboyant Oriental poppies immortalized by the painter Georgia O’Keefe. The Orientals won’t grow in Southern California, requiring more winter chill hours than we have … Continue reading
From Ants to Squills
This fantastic architecture must have an equally fantastic pollinator, yes? The Giant Fork-Tongued Moth maybe? Well, let’s leave out mythical insects. What’s left would be the usual garden-variety pollinators, and possibly just ants. Just ants? Don’t let E. O. Wilson … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, creatures, Plant Portraits
Tagged ants, Argentine ants, creatures, E.O. Wilson, Scilla peruviana, The Naturalist
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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
Pelargonium ‘Chocolate Mint’
For eating, it’s dark chocolate, please, and hold the mint. For the 5×5 plot of ground under the Chinese Fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus, this Chocolate Mint will do. Thought to be a sport of P. tomentosum. The small white flowers … Continue reading
Three-Quarters Full
Day job intrudes on blogging, which is good (half full) in the sense the economy must be picking up if I’m busier, but which is also not so good (half empty) since I can’t grab a few minutes to blog … Continue reading
Posted in Ephemera, MB Maher, photography, Plant Portraits
Tagged angelica pachycarpa, coprosma, Hellebore argutifolius
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