Monthly Archives: April 2013

Lili Singer’s Thursday Talk with Isabelle Greene

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Denise

“Sixteen years ago I was writing only prose and what I consider now traditional garden writing for magazines. And then one day I was in my office looking at a landscape architecture magazine, turned the page, and there was an … Continue reading →

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more poppy drama

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Denise

Ferocious winds all day Monday left the poppies leaning, some struck down entirely by Tuesday morning. I was clipping off broken branches and thinning, trying to trim their sail should the winds return, when Marty walked through noting, “Hey, that … Continue reading →

Posted in creatures, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

squirrel week

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Denise

I didn’t know that the Washington Post’s squirrel week has been an ongoing tradition, but I’m glad to see squirrels getting their due. Maybe we fawn and make too much over what wildlife manages to get a toe-hold in our … Continue reading →

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birthday plants

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Denise

My birthday took up just about every single day last week, and more days on the weekend, which is how I rationalized a trip on Saturday to find that hitherto unknown-to-me, unmet, spectacular plant that would forever after be marked … Continue reading →

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Geranium maderense ‘Alba’

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Denise

I wasn’t sure I’d get blooms this year. Oh, there were plenty of self-sown seedlings from the one plant I brought home after it flowered, but with biennials, those plants that bloom in their second year, I always lose track … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Photo, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

studies in orange

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Denise

(Agave “Mr. Ripple’ gets his portrait included because, as Van Gogh wrote, “there is no orange without blue.”)

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

cochineal

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Denise

“Under the seams runs the pain.” ― Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red I’ve been going over my notes the past couple months from Dr. Alejandro de Ávila’s remarkable lecture “Blood on a Fountain,” which he gave this past January at … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, creatures, design, garden travel, garden visit, science, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

studies in pink

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Denise

Lepismium cruciforme (its tiny white flowers just opening will stay with the theme when they turn into hot pink berries) Another epiphytic cactus, the rat tail cactus, Disocactus flagelliformis And poppies

Posted in Occasional Daily Photo | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

kokedama for slackers

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Denise

If you keep up with just a few design blogs, there’s probably no need to explain kokedama, or Japanese mossed bonsai strung up like plant puppets, which I posted about here. Those expert creations involve carefully calibrating a plant’s light … Continue reading →

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March evening/April morning

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Denise

Walking off Easter dinner, what caught my eye last evening was a petite bloom on the melianthus, the first I’ve seen on this cultivar ‘Purple Haze.’ I’m really starting to believe now it is the holy grail, a dwarf melianthus, … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments