Author Archives: Denise
studying the June garden
Studying the back garden from under the overhang this morning (which has an electrical outlet, so typing as I study), I like the big blocks of growth I’m seeing, but it’s easy to predict more needed interventions ahead. The planted … Continue reading
Posted in Oregon garden
8 Comments
two gardens in late May/early June
I spent two days at the end of May in Long Beach (garden USDA zone 10), readying the house for some friends’ upcoming stay. (The second day, May 30, topped 95F — what a homecoming!) The profligate weediness in the … Continue reading
rainy May
Believe it or not, I was worried I might miss the tail-end of the rainy season when returning to the coast in early April. I was hearing reports of a dryish winter, and I seem to remember 2024’s summer dry … Continue reading
Posted in journal, Oregon garden
11 Comments
tuning up; notes on spring cleanup
I worked for 20 years in a profession famous for repetitive stress injuries to the wrists (court reporting) and never suffered from one and could only wonder what it must feel like to those having to wear wrist splints as … Continue reading
Posted in journal, Oregon garden
6 Comments
Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’
In a very mossy, narrow bed against the Oregon house, north-facing, street-facing, this dark-leaved strain of honesty sown from seed was planted out last summer. Germination was quick and robust — I had dozens of seedlings. This spring these biennials … Continue reading
Posted in journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits
6 Comments
abandonment issues
With just one week until we depart for Oregon, the Long Beach garden has finally taken a shape that feels horticulturally logical to me, according to my tastes and the slim resources it will have available in my absence. A … Continue reading
O Huntington!
It’s been too long! In my absence the past few years, there are now reservation requirements, QR codes, and repeated checkpoints throughout the gardens to reverify the QR codes. There’s also sushi in the very crowded cafe to refuel after … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, succulents
6 Comments
touring summer gardens
Lately I’ve been dipping more and more frequently into photos taken while garden touring last summer with the Garden Fling, a highly recommended garden tour group. Compared to what’s being reported in this crazy news cycle, making and caring for … Continue reading
Erodium pelargoniflorum and other indispensable reseeders
Erodium pelargoniflorum is commonly described as a perennial, but it behaves as a late winter/spring annual in my zone 10 Long Beach CA garden. It reseeds as prolifically as California poppies, and sheets of seedlings carpeted the front garden every … Continue reading
“garden for fire”
This piece appeared in the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times February 13, 2025, by historian and landscape designer Wade Graham under the title: “Do more than clear brush. Garden for fire.” I wrote to the author asking for … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design
3 Comments