Monthly Archives: August 2011

Square Stems & Other Botanical Curiosities

Studying taxonomic classification and “keying” out the physical characteristics of plants almost 18 years ago was incredibly absorbing, but the detailed vocabulary has mostly slipped from memory from disuse. Still, it’s a rare occasion that I look at a salvia … Continue reading

Posted in edibles, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Summer Afternoon

Photograph entitled “A Summer Afternoon” by Olivia Parker. That plane shadow could be the DC-3 that flies over our garden twice a day, bringing supplies to Catalina Island. The leaf shadow, Arundo donax. Looking at this photo, I feel I’m … Continue reading

Posted in Occasional Daily Photo | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Dinner at Dustin’s

A word of advice. An invitation to dinner at Dustin’s should never be passed up. Yes, he is a wonderful cook (Salade Nicoise with salmon, chocolate ganache torte). But prowling around his garden to see what he’s been up to … Continue reading

Posted in design, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Palms & Lawn

I’ve had a very interesting past couple of days. (Interesting in my usual narrow, horticultural sense of the word.) Thursday I finally made it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to check out up close the new Eli … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden travel, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Foreword to Piet Oudolf Landscapes in Landscapes

I didn’t dare take this beautiful book on the recent camping trip, so it sat waiting in a quiet house. A couple pages behind the cover’s brisk Helvetica type is this arresting foreword by Robert Hammond, co-founder of the High … Continue reading

Posted in design, garden travel, MB Maher | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Into The Fog

Every August we head for mists and fogs, usually those that creep on cat’s paws and shroud the coastline of Oregon. But this year, squeezed by budget and time constraints, we took the advice of Far Out Flora and Gardenbook … Continue reading

Posted in garden travel, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Foliage Follow-Up August 2011

Thank goodness Pam at Digging hosts a Foliage Follow-Up to May Dreams Gardens Bloom Day. The blooming lineup in my July Bloom Day post can stand in with very little revision for August. Holding down the fort and keeping the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Inter-City Cactus Show & Sale

I went to the show, had my mind blown, took some pictures. In other words, a typical succulent show…except that I introduced myself to a best-selling author on succulents in the landscape and containers and then gushed and fawned and … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Arguing With A Bad-Tempered Gardener

What an odd concept, to separate enjoyment of gardens from the process of garden-making. A garden magazine article a couple months ago introduced me to this astonishing notion, when it profiled the owner of a complex garden who spoke intelligently … Continue reading

Posted in design, essay | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Devils in the Details

I’ve been pestering MB Maher to shake loose some more video work, and he keeps telling me the coffers are empty at the moment, that he’s hard at work on a new series on designers tentatively titled Field Studies. However, … Continue reading

Posted in Cinema Botanica, design, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged , , | 11 Comments