Monthly Archives: June 2010

Ruth Bancroft Garden

If you have an Internet connection and a love of plants, you probably also have many unmet friends with those same two attributes. Finally meeting up with them is thrilling. When they arrange to take you to marvelous gardens you’ve … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit | Tagged | 10 Comments

Free is Worth Your Time

Bloggers need no convincing on this point. And I’m not opening up a can of worms regarding, for example, whether or not to pay for online music or journalism. Obviously, we have to. I’m probably one of the few people … Continue reading

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Second Nature Garden Design

MB Maher paid a visit to the home of Southern California landscape designer Dustin Gimbel of Second Nature Garden Design, as part of an ongoing series of photographic house calls to landscape designers. Dustin has an amazingly stellar background in … Continue reading

Posted in MB Maher, The Hortorialist | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Dahlias, Dahling

I have this one dahlia that came back this spring. Bought at a spring 2009 garden show. I’ve pored over the skimpy 2009 garden notebook but apparently didn’t write down the name, if it was even labeled. A font of … Continue reading

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Monkey Business

The monkey flower planted into the ground has clambered up into the arms of a potted helichrysum. I like promoting such intimate relationships between the grounded and the potted. The mimulus thrives in the slightly heavy clay of the garden. … Continue reading

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Succulents on Ice

Glass mulch can be a pricy indulgence, one I don’t often make. But I was recently given a pound of some icy mulch from Building REsources in San Francisco. Why can’t I always get presents like this? What luxury to … Continue reading

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Concentrated Color

Antique tiles from the California Heritage Museum’s 10th annual Antique and Contemporary Tile sale held this past weekend in Santa Monica, California.

Posted in Ephemera | Tagged | 2 Comments

Where’d I Leave My Narciscissors?

The winning caption in the June 14 issue of The New Yorker. “That’s it. I’m returning those narciscissors today!” Ryan Carroll, Chicago, Illinois.

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June 2010 Bloom Day

A 2-year-old mossed basket with sedums, agave, and oregano ‘Kent Beauty.’ I was surprised to see the oregano return this year. Life in a mossed basket can be rough. The urns of arctoctis. Hopefully, the next time I replant the … Continue reading

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Poppy Music

I’ve held on to these little poppies as long as possible, and tonight they were given a photographic bon voyage by MB Maher. When it’s twilight, magic hour, the garden becomes an open-air studio. I handled the linen backdrop. A … Continue reading

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