Category Archives: journal

two gardens in late May/early June

I spent two days at the end of May in Long Beach (garden USDA zone 10), readying the house for some friends’ upcoming stay. (The second day, May 30, topped 95F — what a homecoming!) The profligate weediness in the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, MB Maher, Oregon garden, succulents | 7 Comments

rainy May

Believe it or not, I was worried I might miss the tail-end of the rainy season when returning to the coast in early April. I was hearing reports of a dryish winter, and I seem to remember 2024’s summer dry … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 11 Comments

tuning up; notes on spring cleanup

I worked for 20 years in a profession famous for repetitive stress injuries to the wrists (court reporting) and never suffered from one and could only wonder what it must feel like to those having to wear wrist splints as … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 6 Comments

Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’

In a very mossy, narrow bed against the Oregon house, north-facing, street-facing, this dark-leaved strain of honesty sown from seed was planted out last summer. Germination was quick and robust — I had dozens of seedlings. This spring these biennials … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits | 6 Comments

abandonment issues

With just one week until we depart for Oregon, the Long Beach garden has finally taken a shape that feels horticulturally logical to me, according to my tastes and the slim resources it will have available in my absence. A … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, climate, journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, pots and containers, succulents | 9 Comments

Erodium pelargoniflorum and other indispensable reseeders

Erodium pelargoniflorum is commonly described as a perennial, but it behaves as a late winter/spring annual in my zone 10 Long Beach CA garden. It reseeds as prolifically as California poppies, and sheets of seedlings carpeted the front garden every … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, succulents | 5 Comments

fence project status

(A quick recap. Creeping fig, Ficus pumila, covered the south CMU wall of the back garden since we bought in ’89. Clinging tightly, it grew tall and thick and provided excellent evergreen privacy. A couple years ago, the neighbor on … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, pots and containers, succulents | 7 Comments

infrastructure week in the SoCal zone 10 garden

Now that the back garden has been (mostly) cleared and sorted, it’s a little weird to find that some of the remaining plants have now turned into nameless strangers. Especially the aloes. The one pictured, with the elegant scroll-worked leaves, … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, succulents | 9 Comments

Bilbergia ‘Violetta’ (my how you’ve grown!)

In November 2020 I moved a couple pups of Bilbergia ‘Violetta’ under Grevillea ‘Moonlight,’ along with a large astelia and other odds and ends. Only the bromeliads and Callisia fragrans survived. (The callisia aka Basket Plant or False Bromeliad, also … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024 | 10 Comments

caudiciform plants for the win

I confess the loss of Beaucarnea ‘Gold Star’ was one I dreaded the most during our extended absence. It was one of the first plants I rushed to check upon return. Survival of caudiciform plants was a theme. Right up … Continue reading

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