Author Archives: Denise
Senecio glastifolius
I posted this photo Mitch took back in April 2010 under the title “Unidentified Giant Composite.” Garden designer Kelly Kilpatrick (Floradora Garden Design) helpfully provided its true name. Annie’s Annuals & Perennials has been an off-and-on source for this giant … Continue reading
Occasional Daily Weather report 3/7/16 (palms on fire!)
from The Los Angeles Times Marty, both parakeets, and I were jolted awake a little after 6 a.m., when the predicted storm slammed into town, escorted by raucous thunder, lightning, and high winds. (Nothing wakes increasingly deaf Ein.) In a … Continue reading
Flora & Bee
In Sunset magazine this March 2016 is a profile of the home of garden designer Manda Galbraith, principal of Flora & Bee, located in Burien, Washington. (“How to design a vibrantly colorful garden.“) I’ll be looking again and again at … Continue reading
slow but steady Agave ‘Mateo’
What a difference almost a year makes. Photo above taken May 2015. Agave ‘Mateo’ is directly in front of the varigateted agave, swamped in grass, leaf tips just visible. Not a a nice way to treat a prize agave, but … Continue reading
end of month February 2016
Since it’s the last day of February, I suppose it’s time to admit defeat and clear out all the drafts that never made it to proper posts. There’s the draft post tying in to last night’s Oscars, where I muse … Continue reading
trialing Rudbeckia maxima
Overnight rain had me up early to check out one of my favorite sights (leaves soaked in rain). After lots of trial and error, most of the plants in the back garden have earned my confidence in their ability to … Continue reading
Agave xylonacantha near 6th & Fig
I have a lot of affection for Downtown LA, our underdog of a city center that lay fallow and forgotten for so many decades, its opulent old movie palaces abandoned or turned into dollar stores. It’s a boom town now, … Continue reading
Happy Val Day
Interesting, isn’t it, that one of America’s most notorious authors of books banned under then-existing obscenity laws had the middle name Valentine? All true. Henry Valentine Miller. “The publication of Miller’s Tropic of Cancer in the United States in 1961 … Continue reading