Author Archives: Denise
Warming Up
Edging into the high 80’s the next couple days here at the coast, about a mile from the Pacific, in the 90’s for the inland cities like Pasadena. The castor bean plant and Salvia canariensis are reveling in the heat, … Continue reading
Sudden Mediterranean Plant Collapse Disorder
I made that name up. But it’s true, collapse and then a swift death does come suddenly to mediterranean plants in lusty health mid-summer. Which is why I’m ecstatic that this one cutting of Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca ‘Variegata’ has … Continue reading
Armchair Spelunking
I’m a little excited this morning. Some clues… What do all these images have to do with each other? Explorers, cave paintings, spiritual communion with rocks… Ralph Fiennes as Count Laszlo Almasy, The English Patient; Anne-Louise Lambert as Miranda, Picnic … Continue reading
Urbane Nasturtiums
I’ve been transplanting a few self-sown nasturtiums and tucked a couple in with some eucomis bulbs to spill out of an ancient cast-iron sewer pipe that somehow made its way here years ago. I wonder which previous car’s shocks had … Continue reading
Pelargonium ‘Splendide’
From Robin Parer’s nursery Geraniaceae “A scandent shrub; leaves are pinnate, grey and hairy; a truly splendid hybrid with red upper petals, a dark center and almost white lower petals; do not leave outside in rain and prune very carefully.”
Horticulture’s Continuing PR Problems
In a March 12, 2011 issue of The New York Times, in a column by Maureen Dowd entitled “In Search of Monsters,” Ms. Dowd comments on the suitability of Donald Rumsfeld giving current foreign policy advice: “You would think that … Continue reading
The Kashmir Cypress
A pre-dinner garden tour at Dustin’s. “What is it?” I asked. “You asked me that last time,” he answered patiently. “It’s psoralea.” “Oh, the Kool-Aid something or other?” (Strange, how memory works.) “Right,” he explained, “from Annie’s.” His psoralea is … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Annies Annuals, bocconia, Cedrus deodara 'Feelin' Blue', Cupressus cashmeriana, Dustin Gimbel, Echeveria agavoides, Huntington Botanical Garden, Kashmir cypress, Nancy Goslee Power, Orostachys iwarenge, Power of Gardens, Psoralea pinnata, San Marcos Growers
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Landscape Crit
A new shopping center was planted with sharp plants four years ago. Agaves, yuccas. I was thrilled but also slightly alarmed.
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, succulents
Tagged Agave 'Blue Flame', Agave 'Blue Glow', Agave americana, Agave attenuata, Agave desmettiana, Agave parryi var. truncata, Agave weberi 'Arizona Star', California, Del Amo Mall, Salvia greggii, sansevieria, Senecio mandraliscae, The Malling of America by William Severini Kowinski, Torrance, Yucca aloifolia, Yucca rostrata
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Whoosh
This spring I am not going to be drawn into running out into the garden with my camera every time I hear the whoosh of a rapid aerial descent then the whirring of tiny wings. I don’t have the stamina … Continue reading
Roof Dogs
To every urban challenge, there is a potentially joyful response. Image found here. Roof Dogs, a movie by MB Maher.
Posted in MB Maher
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