I took a certificate in horticulture from UCLA Extension’s two-year program in the early ’90s but do not work in the horticulture industry. And as the title hopefully implies, this is not a horticultural how-to blog but more a journal of earthy delights. The perfect distraction from my day job, which requires long hours at a computer in a home office that looks out — you guessed it — on the garden. The Internet has opened up a wealth of information on gardens and plants, like another golden Age of Exploration, and this blog is my vessel of discovery. Obsessiveness aside, I don’t baby plants. If a plant looks happy under my care in these blog photos, consider it growable by anyone in similar growing conditions: coastal Zone 10-11, no winter chill (which rules out quite a few classic garden perennials), amended clay. No synthetic fertilizers. With few exceptions (summer tropicals), I lean toward drought-tolerant plants.
AGO uses the WordPress theme Atahualpa. Camera is an Olympus Pen E-P1. Unless otherwise specified, no financial relationship exits between AGO and the many businesses mentioned within its posts.
(Denise Ginger roams the nurseries and botanical gardens of Los Angeles and has been at play in her own frost-free garden in Long Beach since 1989, lot size about 5,750 square feet, about a mile from the Pacific Ocean. MB Maher is also an occasional guest photographer and is available for assignment. This blog’s access to his beautiful photo work mainly derives from the fact that he is her oldest son.)
Aloe polyphylla, Spiral Aloe, photo by MB Maher
