Author Archives: Denise
Devils in the Details
I’ve been pestering MB Maher to shake loose some more video work, and he keeps telling me the coffers are empty at the moment, that he’s hard at work on a new series on designers tentatively titled Field Studies. However, … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Botanica, design, garden visit, MB Maher
Tagged MB Maher, Rancho Reubidoux, Reuben Munoz
11 Comments
Begonia partita
The begonia genus is so vast, that the best approach is to find a guide or mentor to help wade through the many species and hybrids to find the really interesting plants and those most suitable to your tastes and … Continue reading
Succulent Experiments: A Tutorial
What a surprise that Apartment Therapy liked the hanging planters for succulents I blogged about recently. The ones made from…um…car jack stands. Which we just happen to have in abundance here at home because there’s a couple 1970’s Volkswagen vans … Continue reading
Tropicalissimo Redux
Anybody remember “tropicalissimo”? In gardening, it references a word used maybe a decade ago for the then-shocking innovation of incorporating tropicals in summer borders and containers. A fairly mundane practice now. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I’ve found these plants, the alocasia, colocasias, … Continue reading
Blue Bottle & Finial
I cleaned out my garden shed the other day and found this blue bottle buried under twine and dirty garden gloves dried into angry fist shapes. There was apparently attraction enough at one time for me to squirrel the bottle … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden ornament, succulents
Tagged bottle tree, Building REsources, cobalt blue, Echeveria elegans, finial, glass bottles
4 Comments
Occasional Daily Photo 7/29/11
Echeveria ‘Afterglow’ and Allium senescens. This little mid summer-flowering onion is sweet consolation for an allium-less garden up to this point. Unlike me, the early-blooming, flamboyant drumstick alliums don’t enjoy a zone 10 garden and prefer chillier winters. And although … Continue reading
San Marzano Tomato Taste Test
After maligning the San Marzano tomato in my last post, an update seems in order. Following a thorough and deep watering, the vine may not have tomato blight or cucumber mosaic virus or whatever ailments a tomato succumbs to. My … Continue reading
Summer’s Bounty
Man cannot live by tomatoes alone. (The first dahlia opened today.) There’s no way I’m going to keep the garden moist enough simply for a few dahlias to thrive, but I’d hate to face August and September without them. So … Continue reading
Sherman Gardens & Library
I took the day off yesterday to check out some local nurseries for dahlias and eucomis in flower. (All my eucomis were bought as bulbs, some with leaves purportedly of varieties as dark or darker than ‘Oakhurst,’ but all instead … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden travel, garden visit, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Agave 'Royal Spine', Agave ferdinandi-regis, Agave macroacantha 'Blue Ribbon', Agave ovatifolia, Begonia luxurians, Echinocactus grusonii, Eriogonum giganteum, Matthew V. Maggio, Nicolaia elatior, Pacific Horticulture, Sherman Library & Gardens, succulent garden
7 Comments
Ennis House
All Bladerunner fans, relax. Deckard’s house is safe. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis house in Los Angeles was used as a set for some of the scenes in Bladerunner. The Ennis House was released from a Wright family conservatorship in 2009 … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Botanica, design
Tagged Bladerunner, concrete, Ennis House, Frank Lloyd Wright, Los Angeles architecture
3 Comments