Second Nature Garden Design « A Growing Obsession

what Dustin Gimbel does with gazanias

The humble gazania, that kaleidoscopic daisy from South Africa overused in years past as the go-to municipal ground cover, is undergoing a minor local revival. I included a few for this summer in my full-sun back garden, the LA Times did a brief writeup on them, and Los Angeles-based garden designer Dustin Gimbel designed an [...]

Plant portrait; Agave attenuata and St. Augustine grass

Clean, bright simplicity. Agave attenuata underplanted with variegated St. Augustine grass, by garden designer Dustin Gimbel. This tough, subtropical grass works beautifully in holding this slope, and is allowed to grow long and shaggy or clipped and tidy, according to the owner’s whim and schedule. No frost issues for this coastal Southern California garden.

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Saturday’s Clippings 4/28/12

I enjoyed this article very much earlier in the week, well worth a Sunday read:

“Any patch of earth, large or small, turns out to be a mad surprise party of species â€” fluid, unpredictable and wild â€” and a microcosm of what is happening and has always been happening around the corner and [...]

Winter Whites

The gift of Solanum marginatum from Dustin opened a chilly-looking bloom yesterday.

For a solanum from Abyssinia, the White-Edged Nightshade really knows how to dress for winter.

(Labeled from the grower as S. marginata, but my trusty Hortus Third says S. marginatum. Not many references to its use as an ornamental, but lots [...]

Folly Bowl

Another garden preview for the upcoming Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies symposium to be held this September 23rd to the 26th through Pacific Horticulture.

Photographer MB Maher and designer Dustin Gimbel of Second Nature Garden Design visited artists Sue Dadd and James Griffith at their home and garden which will be on the upcoming tour. [...]