Category Archives: design

green walls around town

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Denise

The Smog Shoppe, a special event venue in Culver City owned by Woolly Pocket creator Miguel Nelson, famously deployed the pockets on its cinder-block facade in 2009, which has since been regularly reported on by local media and blogs. I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents | Tagged aeoniums, Agave attenuata, California, Crassula multicava, Culver City, designer Miguel Nelson, green walls, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Singapore, the Garden City, The Smog Shoppe, Woolly Pockets | Comments Off

compound interest

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Denise

Image found here I don’t have a lot of botanical vocabulary at my fingertips anymore, but I do know a compound leaf when I see one*, since I’ve always had a pronounced weakness for them. If you’ve got a potted … Continue reading →

Posted in design, Plant Portraits, science, shop talk | Tagged compound leaves, Dustin Gimbel, Joshua McCullough, Melanoselinum decipiens, Melianthus major 'Purple Haze', PhytoPhoto, Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold', Tetrapanax papyrifer, umbellifers | 8 Comments

onesies (Stachys ‘Bella Grigio’)

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Denise

I had the best time nursery hopping over the weekend, looking for my mom’s summer tomato plants and gleefully indulging in a practice we’re always sternly advised against: Never buy one of this and that. Always plant in threes and … Continue reading →

Posted in design, Plant Portraits | Tagged Celmisia densiflora, lamb's ears, silver plants, Stachys 'Bella Grigio' | 10 Comments

colors of Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Denise

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.” — John Ruskin Such solemn earnestness was a hallmark of the Victorian age and much lampooned, but you won’t … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design, Plant Portraits | Tagged ', Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea', Arundo donax 'Golden Chain, Fernleaf Acacia, John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing, The New York Review of Books | 2 Comments

Meet The Midge

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Denise

I don’t know about you, but my thoughts in spring typically turn to…tables. Chairs, too, always chairs, but that’s another post. But I have enough big tables. I just had this discussion with Marty at the flea market last Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Tagged Annette Goliti Gutierrez, Atwater Village, California design, Mary Gray, mid-century modern design, outdoor living, Potted For Outdoor Living, The Midge Table by Potted | 7 Comments

soon now

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Denise

Some visual encouragement from my garden today and gardens I’ve visited in the past. Just in case spring still seems impossibly far away. private garden, Los Angeles private garden, Los Angeles private garden, Los Angeles private garden, Los Angeles private … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden visit | Tagged bromeliads, Evie the cat, is it spring yet?, Lavandula multifida, Lavandula pennata var. buchii, Papaver rupifragum, Papaver setigerum, Phlomis lanata, Russell Woodard spun fiberglass table and chairs | 4 Comments

Shirley Watts in “Curbed”

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Denise

The Garden Bloggers Fling hostess for the 2013 meetup, garden designer Shirley Watts, got a nice writeup in the Bay Area’s Curbed today. Very gratifying to see a primarily real estate magazine throw some love at landscapes and gardens too. … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design, garden travel, MB Maher | Tagged Curbed, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, MB Maher, San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, Shirley Watts | Leave a comment

What to do with your lawn when there’s a drought

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Denise

Just lose the lawn and don’t look back. And if and when rainfall in California ever gets back to normal levels, which isn’t much anyway, you just might realize you want your lawn back about as much as you want … Continue reading →

Posted in climate, design, MB Maher | Tagged Beth Mullins, drought-tolerant gardens, Garden Bloggers Fling, Julie Chai, lawn removal, MB Maher, Northern California, Rebecca Sweet, The San Francisco Chronicle | 1 Comment

parklets

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Denise

“The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its everyday streets, the more successfully, casually (and economically) its people thereby enliven and support well-located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their … Continue reading →

Posted in design, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged California, Jane Jacobs, Long Beach, parklets, phormiums, Senecio mandraliscae, sidewalk bulb-outs, Studio One Eleven, urban planning | 4 Comments

back at the ranch

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Denise

All day long this past work- and appointment-filled Wednesday I clung to the idea of fitting in a short visit to Rancho Los Alamitos. I’d heard there were some changes with the barns, and there was a new foal, all … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave franzosinii, Alexander Cassatt, Beaumontia grandiflora, California rancho period, Ficus macrophylla, Florence Bixby, Florence Yoch, Frederick Law Olmstead, historical preservation, Huntington Desert Garden, Mary Cassatt, Moreton Bay Fig tree, Penn Station, Rancho Los Alamitos, Rosa banksiae 'Lutea', Shire draught horses, Solandra maxima, William Hertrich | 7 Comments