Author Archives: Denise
Summer Containers Aren’t Just For Annuals
I would’ve never been able to get this angelica to bloom in the garden. Trust me, I’ve tried. Rich soil, consistent moisture, strategic sun exposure, these crucial conditions could only be offered in a container. Angelica stricta ‘Purpurea’ was planted … Continue reading
Posted in Plant Portraits, pots and containers
Tagged Angelica stricta 'Purpurea', biennials
8 Comments
Succulents In Your Face
Now that their former stigma as strictly hobbyists’ plants has been exploded by proselytizers like Thomas Hobbs and Debra Lee Baldwin, the moment for succulents is undeniably now. If tulips and bulbs are the lipsticks of the garden, succulents are … Continue reading
Posted in succulents
Tagged aeoniums, crassula, Debra Lee Baldwin, echeverias, recycling, sedum, Senecio rowleyanus, Thomas Hobbs
15 Comments
Asarina
Asarina scandens. What a kewpie-doll mouth. I love watching how the blooms trace along the ropey stems, scrolling intriguing outlines. See the letter “E”? A trove of inspiration for a jewelry designer. A galloping vine, wending its way this summer … Continue reading
Ambivalent About Holidays
It occurred to me belatedly after Sunday’s post that it wouldn’t have killed me to slip a “Happy Mother’s Day” message at the end of the post. “Ambivalent” is a $2 word for how I feel about holidays. (And pretty … Continue reading
Kalanchoe luciae ‘Fantastic’
Yes, I finally succumbed to the newest incarnation of the paddle plant/flapjacks plant, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, a flashy variegated variety that’s actually a cultivar of K. luciae. I first saw this succulent a few months ago, in January, at the Terra … Continue reading
Venice Garden & Home Tour 2011
Buy tickets and a map at the Las Doradas Children’s Center, apply the lime-green wrist band, and we’re off on the VGHT 2011 (Last year’s post here.) Under overcast skies, thirty houses, covering several miles. Bikes would be the preferred … Continue reading
Echium gentianoides ‘Tajinaste’
Last time I wrote about this echium was for a March Bloom Day post, cursing myself for having transplanted it while it was just beginning to show flower buds. I am now relieved to report it has made a full … Continue reading
Missing Boxwood
House on the corner. Famous in the neighborhood for at one time housing local band the Cold War Kids and their legendary late-night poker parties. Bare, packed earth, a memory of lawn haunting the hardscrabble front yard. A single boxwood … Continue reading
Wispy Spring Annuals
Along with the linaria I mentioned recently, some of the other wispy spring annuals I’ve been experimenting with in pots are this Anagallis. A. monelii, the Blue Pimpernel. And a little nemesia with long spurs, N. cheiranthus ‘Shooting Stars.’ The … Continue reading
The Porch Steps Up
As garden space shrinks, the focus becomes ever more minute, with no strip of soil too narrow to remain unexploited. For example, I’m really starting to work the back porch. Every inch, as in the crevice between porch and brick … Continue reading