Author Archives: Denise
Winter Storms
The long-awaited winter storms did arrive with a vengeance, drumming rain deep into the soil. Don’t you want a subterranean view of a cross section of the earth moistening sequentially into ever richer chocolate layers as the rain percolates down … Continue reading
Posted in MB Maher
Tagged Lily Briscoe, Los Angeles Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay, To The Lighthouse
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Cat on Pedestal
The pedestal being a stack of concrete that occasionally holds a pot or, as in this case, a cat named Newt, or is just left empty, a plinth crowded on four sides by the horticultural Darwinian struggle that is the … Continue reading
Posted in creatures, Plant Portraits
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Pelargonium echinatum
From Robin Parer’s Geraniaceae site comes possible confirmation as to the identity of my 3-year-old, winter-flowering, summer-dormant pelargonium, P. echinatum, whose winter performance in a 6-inch pot thrills me no end. Just as cold-climate gardeners haul their tender beauties out … Continue reading
Foliage Followup (and other digressions)
The answer to Bloom Day, the 15th of every month, is the Foliage Follow-up, the brainchild of Pam Pennick of the excellent blog Digging, whose garden has endured both record high temps in summer and now record low temps this … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits
Tagged Bloom Day, Coprosma 'County Park Red', Gordon Willis, Hebe 'Quicksilver', Hellebore argutifolius, Libertia peregrinans, Linaria reticulata 'Flamenco', Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Red Dragon', Orlaya grandiflora, Oxalis spiralis, Prostanthera ovalifolia, Salvia chiapensis, Sedum nussbaumerianum, x Fatshedera lizei
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The Best Zwartzkop in the Neighborhood
lives at David and Crissy’s house a few doors down the street and is obligingly in bloom this 15th of January in honor of Bloom Day : Nomenclature issues for Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ are discussed by San Marcos Growers . The … Continue reading
Timing is Everything
in garden design. Really enjoyed the cyber garden summit on regionalism held last week, and found myself nodding along with comments by West Coast writers, such as the Germinatrix and Garden Porn, about being led down the primrose path by … Continue reading
Posted in design, essay
Tagged aloes, English gardens, Mediterranean gardens, poppies
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All My Agaves
My love affair with agaves runs deep and goes back decades. Now their sculpted beauty and Fibonacci flare are gaining widespread appreciation, surpassing their heretofore cult status, with gorgeous new hybrids popping up as prolifically as feather grass in gravel. … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits
Tagged agaves, woody lilies, woody lilies
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Grace Under Pressure
This is about as basic as it gets, squirting water out of a garden hose. Very inefficient and ineffective, yet I grab a hose practically every day, however briefly, to at least water the pots and new plantings. And as … Continue reading
Posted in essay, MB Maher
Tagged Cotinus 'Grace', Euphorbia ceratocarpa, irrigation, mediterranean climate
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Alien Gomphrena
This horticultural enigma, resembling in this photo by MB Maher a wayward swarm of magenta bees, may be a native Texan gomphrena. Brought home to my zone 10 garden from a local nursery tagged as a species gomphrena, I first … Continue reading
Posted in MB Maher, Plant Portraits
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Horticultural Mash Notes from the Middle of the World
Zone 10, 32 degrees latitude, to be exact. Have been reading this fall many blogs of brave gardeners in cold climes putting a cheerful face on the impending winter, asserting that gardens and gardeners need a rest anyway. This may … Continue reading