Author Archives: Denise
Occasional Daily Weather Report 2/11/16
While it seems everyone else is diligently topping off their water table with generous rainfall and/or snowfall, there’s no use denying it’s already chair cushion season here. Los Angeles in February decided to go high 80s, tipping into the 90s. … Continue reading
Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Aloe 'Safari Sunrise', Aloe conifera, Bocconia frutescens, Chanticleer, Euphorbia atropurpurea, Glaucium grandiflorum, Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon', Helleborus argutifolius, Leucadendron 'Winter Red', Leucadendron ‘Wilson’s Wonder’, Monrovia
9 Comments
growing a planet
Have you noticed how plants really seem to be having their moment on design blogs? Seems like there’s not a photoshoot now without a potted plant lurking somewhere in the frame. Well, plants are getting their due from mainstream science, … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Botanica, science
Tagged Dr. Iain Stewart, Hang Sơn Đoòng cave, How To Grow A Planet
4 Comments
the junk I keep
I’m starting to see my old friend, the pipestand, in decidedly more upscale places than the louche environs of my backyard. (e.g. West Elm here) I still find a pipestand endlessly useful for framing pots and hanging essential stuff that … Continue reading
Posted in design, pots and containers
12 Comments
Thursday clippings 2/4/16 (love letters to trees)
Not my street. Our parkways are a hodge-podge of palms and jacarandas, magnolias, overgrown oleanders and scheffleras. The City recently sent out crews to work on our street trees, and the snarl of power tools and episodic rise and fall … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal
9 Comments
notes on spring planting
Though it may not be readily apparent, there really is something positive to say about the garden in January. I’ve been cutting back the grasses, and even allowing for the dozens of poppy seedlings that are emerging and staking a … Continue reading
Posted in garden travel, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Agave shawii, Arctostaphylos cruzensis, Aristida purpurea, Calamintha nepeta 'Montrose White', Constancea nevinii, Digging Dog Nursery, Dudleya densiflora, Eriogonum crocatum, Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. asplenifolius, Nancy Godwin, Perovskia 'Lacey Blue', Pinus sabiniana, Theodore Payne Nursery
15 Comments
concrete containers by Dustin Gimbel
Dustin’s Facebook feed is showing lots of new work, and I just had to pop over to see what he’s been up to, even if it was almost too late in the afternoon for photos. Invariably, whenever I post on … Continue reading
Wednesday clippings 1/6/16
One storm down, five more or so to go. For the first time in a long while, the air smells incredibly fresh. January is always the perfect time for the shocking pink blooms on Pelargonium echinatum to arrive. A “Sundiascia” … Continue reading
blogger meetup at the Huntington
I should have talked less and picked up the camera more at the meetup this past Saturday at the Huntington Botanical Garden, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun as our nonstop gabfest. The occasion for the meetup was … Continue reading
it’s oh so quiet
The house has emptied out, and I can’t help thinking how oh so quiet it’s become after the holidays. Yes, I do have a tendency to privately editorialize on circumstances using song titles. (I thought Bjork wrote the song, but … Continue reading
Posted in journal, succulents
Tagged Aloe 'Safari Sunrise', Aloe cameronii, Aloe conifera, Lotus jacobaeus, Wikipedia
3 Comments
Wallaby, the Nursery Dog
When I last visited Austalian Native Plants Nursery this past June, I had the good fortune of meeting this little one: Jo O’Connell, the owner of ANPN, is devoted to the Blue Heeler breed, which originated out of her homeland … Continue reading
Posted in creatures, plant nurseries
2 Comments