Monthly Archives: January 2013

driveby garden; 1/31/13

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Denise

Do you consider the color of your house and its role as a backdrop/canvas for the garden? I can’t believe the luscious, creamy, chlorophylly color on this house was an accident. The plants are positively strutting and preening against it. … Continue reading →

Posted in design, driveby gardens, succulents | Tagged Opuntia monacantha var. variegata | 6 Comments

scenes from Versailles

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Denise

As promised, photos of the gardens of Versailles, the apogee of the French formal garden style, designed by landscape architect Andre Le Notre for King Louis XIV of France (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715). With itinerant photographer MB … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged Andre Le Notre, formal gardens, French garden design, garden history, Hugh Johnson's The Principles of Gardening, Inventing the Garden, landscape architecture, Louis XIV, Matteo and Virgilio Vercelloni, Versailles | 7 Comments

winter veg

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Denise

This is my first winter in a new community organic garden. The first summer, which was 2012, was so dreadful that I couldn’t bring myself to post about it. I’ve participated in community gardens in the past, got too busy, … Continue reading →

Posted in edibles | Tagged community gardens, cover crops, nitrogen fixation, winter vegetables | Leave a comment

comparative aeoniums

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Denise

One of the perks of winter in a Mediterranean climate is stooping over plants, cup of coffee in hand, hair spangled and frizzed with rain, inspecting the beneficent aftermath of the previous night’s rainfall on the garden. Which are some … Continue reading →

Posted in succulents | Tagged Aeonium arboreum hybrids, Aeonium balsamiferum, aeoniums, Mediterranean climates, succulents | 5 Comments

1/24/13 Thursday Garden Talk with Lili Singer

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Denise

I had the belated, long-postponed, very intense pleasure of attending one of Lili Singer’s Thursday Garden Talks held by the Los Angeles County Arboretum, a tradition going back ten years. Lili Singer has long been so embedded and enmeshed in … Continue reading →

Posted in design, driveby gardens, garden visit, MB Maher, pots and containers | Tagged Acacia iteaphylla, Arum italicum 'Picturm', Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy', Circle Pot, Grow Outdoor Design, Joel Lichtenwalter, Lili Singer, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, mid century modern, Potted gifts for the garden, Ryan Gates, Stan Bitters | 9 Comments

Occasional Daily Weather Report 1/23/13

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Denise

Eye strain has kept me away from the computer for a few days, so following butterflies around the garden has been more my speed. I blame the eye strain mostly on the amount of political news I read online, far … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report | Tagged Chionanthus retusus, flea market, Homecrest wire chairs, Long Beach Antique Market | 5 Comments

driveby garden: Baker Street, San Francisco

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Denise

For those who plan to attend the garden blogger meetup in San Francisco this year, known as the Garden Bloggers Fling, here’s a tiny glimpse of what the City offers mid January. And if you haven’t decided to attend yet, … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, driveby gardens, garden travel, garden visit, succulents | Tagged aeoniums, Agave americana var. medio-picta 'Alba', Agave bracteosa, beschorneria, bulbinella, Chamaerops humilis 'cerifera, dyckia, Euphorbia characias wulfeniii, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013, Magnolia stellata, Palace of Fine Arts/Exploratorium, phormiums, San Francisco, sempervivums, Yucca filamentosa | 8 Comments

still lifes with flowers; work by artist Laura Jones

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Denise

A welcome sight mid January are these lush, color-soaked still lifes by Laura Jones, an artist in Sydney, Australia. Nice interview, too, via the design files.

Posted in design | Tagged Australia, floral still lives, Laura Jones, Sydney | 1 Comment

UCBG Natural Discourse: Form and Function 1/11/13

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Denise

The final event in the unique, year-long collaboration that the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley undertook with “artists, architects, scientists and poets in the garden,” Natural Discourse, was held Friday, January 11, 2013. As co-curator Shirley Watts explained … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, science, succulents | Tagged Agave stricta, Aloe capitata, Aloe sabaea, Beavertail cactus, Berkeley Natural History Museums searchable database, Dr. Alejandro de Avila, Dr. Marie Csete, Euphorbia cooperi var. cooperi, Euphorbia grandialata, Gail Wight, Gerard Dosba, Mary Anne Friel, Oliver Ranch Sonoma County California, Opuntia aff. prolifera, Paul Licht, Puya venusta, Ronald Rael, Shirley Watts, Steven Oliver, The Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca, The International Garden Festival at Chaumont sur Loire, UCBG "Natural Discourse", UCBG's "Plants Illustrated" 1/19/13 - 2/8/13, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley | 2 Comments

no-burn day

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Denise

On the drive to work this morning, my local public radio station advised that today is a no-burn day. I had never heard that term before, though I’m familiar with the reasoning behind it: “A ‘no burn’ alert is in … Continue reading →

Posted in science, succulents | Tagged "No Burn Day", Aloe africana, Aloe capitata var. quartzicola., firepit, KPCC Southern California Public Radio, outdoor fireplace, particulates, Willie's Tin Shop | 6 Comments