Search Results for: lotusland

weekend plans

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Denise

Any big plans this weekend? We’re promised some rain, so it won’t be warm enough for pool parties. I’m meeting up with a friend this Sunday at the Huntington. While she’s traveling in Southern California, she’ll be visiting another garden … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged Ganna Walska, International Women's Day, Lotusland | 2 Comments

Occasional Daily Weather Report; Thomas Fire’s impact on gardens and plant nurseries

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Denise

Stepping out the back door this morning, my skin instantaneously felt the difference. Running to check the hygrometer on the front porch, that immediate sense of all-encompassing hydration was confirmed. The needle registered over 90 per cent humidity. The pergola … Continue reading →

Posted in climate, Occasional Daily Weather Report, plant nurseries | Tagged Australian Native Plants Nursery, Instagram, Lotusland, San Marcos Growers, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Taft Garden | 10 Comments

postcards from Santa Barbara gardens

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Denise

Ever since the area became accessible by car and rail in the early part of the 20th century, it has been a favored location for estates and marvelous gardens, among them El Fureidis, Val Verde, and Lotusland. — The Lightest … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, garden ornament, garden travel, pots and containers | Tagged "A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era", American Country Place Era, Austin Val Verde, Casa del Herrero, Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, Isabelle Greene, Jeff Chemnick, Lockwood de Forest, Lotusland, mediterranean climate, Mediterranean Garden Society, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden | 6 Comments

Sunday clippings 9/3/17

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Denise

Did the Powerball mania descend on your home too a couple weeks back? Just because I never buy Powerball or lottery tickets, magical thinking really kicks in when news of the big jackpots reaches even my normally oblivious state of … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, clippings, design, garden travel, garden visit, succulents | Tagged Austin Val Verde, Casa del Herrero, Isabelle Greene, Laure Joliet, Mediterranean Garden Society 23rd Annual General Meeting, Montecito, Toro Canyon House | 7 Comments

Occasional Daily Weather Report 6/20/16

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Denise

We thought we’d have the whole house fan installed before the long, hot days of summer, but there’s been a few hiccups. When it finally arrived for pickup at a local big box store, it was shipped without instructions or … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report | Tagged whole house fan | 9 Comments

growing a planet

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Denise

Have you noticed how plants really seem to be having their moment on design blogs? Seems like there’s not a photoshoot now without a potted plant lurking somewhere in the frame. Well, plants are getting their due from mainstream science, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema Botanica, science | Tagged Dr. Iain Stewart, Hang Sơn Đoòng cave, How To Grow A Planet | 4 Comments

roll out the barrel(s)

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Denise

I know spiky agaves in the garden make some people nervous, but lovers of architectural plants for the dry garden can get into a lot more trouble than an agave. The golden barrel cactus has recently gotten under my skin, … Continue reading →

Posted in MB Maher, succulents | Tagged Crassula pubescens ssp. radicans, Echeveria agavoides, Echinocactus grusonii, Huntington Botanical Garden, Sherman Library & Gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden | 13 Comments

bromeliads for winter

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Denise

Hot enough for you? It’s over 100 degrees in Los Angeles today, so hot that even the devil has left town…(That’s the best “It’s so hot” line I’ve heard all summer, spoken by a gentleman from El Paso, Texas.) And … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits | Tagged Aechmea 'Loies Pride', Aechmea nudicaulis, Alcanterea 'Volcano Mist', bromeliaceae, bromeliads, climate change, Lotusland | 13 Comments

the siren call of cycads

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Denise

a local Long Beach front garden, zone 10, south-facing exposure I recently chanced upon a house and garden that I used to drive by a lot more frequently. Habits change, errands take one in a different direction, and in that … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, Plant Portraits | Tagged California, Cycad Day 10/24/15, cycads, Fallbrook, Huntington Botanical Garden, Lotusland, Palm & Cycad Exchange, The Cycad Society | 13 Comments

CSSA road trip June 2015

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Denise

Enormous Quiver Tree, Aloidendron dichotoma, and cycads in a Fallbrook, California private garden It’s so true that passion bestows courage on the meek. A passion for plants put me on a bus one early Wednesday last June, a bus filled … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, succulents | Tagged Aloidendron dichotoma, Cactus and Succulent Society of America, Claremont garden of Rico Leon, cycads, Debra Lee Baldwin, Field Guide to Cactus & Succulents of Arizona, Loran Whitelock, Orange Coast College Horticulture Department, Vonn Watkins | 15 Comments