Monthly Archives: November 2013

giving thanks for rain

a very polite and well-timed rain arrived after the Thanksgiving holiday, sometime after midnight. On Wednesday I brought in chairs that summered in the garden for holiday duty. The new rain gutters gurgled musically as they efficiently carried rain away … Continue reading

Posted in climate, Occasional Daily Weather Report | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

where would Holly Golightly keep her tillandsias?

For the holidays, it’s okay to ditch the earnest glass orbs that imprison tillandsias the rest of the year and take a leaf from Holly Golightly’s decorating book, the one that epitomizes her insouciant glamour. The one each of us … Continue reading

Posted in Cinema Botanica, design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

the awkward age

My garden has lived through lots of them and will most likely continue to do so while I’m in charge. The latest awkward age involves a flowering agave and a young tree. Or maybe it will be a shrub. Neither … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

on the subject of the southern hemisphere…

Remember the old surfing movie The Endless Summer, where summer is chased around the globe? Well, I do. My older brothers took me to all the surfing movies. You can see where I’m going with this…it’s summer in Australia, and … Continue reading

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

Bernard Trainor’s Landprints

Ages and ages ago (last July in fact) a bunch of us garden bloggers visited gardens in Northern California at last summer’s meetup known as the Fling. For the temperate Bay Area, it was an incredibly hot day, and we … Continue reading

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Bloom Day November 2013

By November my garden has turned into a curiosity shop of oddities and seedpods. Like the racks of antler-like blooms on tetrapanax, seemingly more blooms than leaves this years after I clipped away some of the sunburnt foliage. Limbing it … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

glass artist Amanda Dziedzic

As someone who has had the same Vilmorin Andrieux prints of oversized vegetables in the kitchen since we moved in 20 years ago, I’ve always admired artists who respect vegetables. The Design Files recently did one of their signature, long-form … Continue reading

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November garden dispatches

We all have our favorite months in the garden. Our sentiments aside, the November garden continues sending out dispatches, oblivious to any seasonal bias. dispatches from plectranthus tillandsias and cryptbergias urgent communications from Echeveria gigantea Candy-corn-colored Morse code from Mina … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

So Cal Hort’s “Coffee in the Nash Garden”

Potted dwarf pomegranate Southern California Horticultural Society sent out a “Coffee in the Garden” invitation to its members for a late October visit to Donivee Nash’s garden in Arcadia, redesigned by Judy Horton in 2009. Participation in hort. society events … Continue reading

Posted in climate, design, garden visit | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

AGO/non-secateur flea market pop-up shop 12/15/13

I’ve been checking out local flea markets to get a sense of how this whole thing works from a seller’s perspective, which is totally foreign to me. I still have stuff from flea markets I bought when I was in … Continue reading

Posted in garden ornament, pots and containers | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments