Author Archives: Denise

notes on some spring plant sales

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Denise

Is that a water pistol in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? I’ve been hearing from friends in the retail nursery business that the new water restrictions have them very worried. Indeed, I’ve been told retail … Continue reading →

Posted in Bulbs, climate, design, garden travel, journal, pots and containers | Tagged botanical garden plant sales, Dierama pendulum var. robustum, Flora Grubb Gardens, Fullerton Arboretum Green Scene, Huntington Botanical Garden 2015 Plant Sale, Leucadendron argenteum, Leucadendron laxum, Plectranthus zuluensis, Protea neriifolia, Rudbeckia maxima, San Francisco Botanical Garden plant sale | 11 Comments

friday clippings 4/24/15 (SoCal Spring Garden Show weekend)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Denise

Southern California’s Spring Garden Show started yesterday, 4/23/15, and continues through Sunday, 4/26/15. It’s always held in the enclosed “Home Store Wing” of the South Coast Plaza. This wing includes, among many other stores, Anthropologie, West Elm, Z Gallerie, Crate … Continue reading →

Posted in clippings, design, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave guiengola 'Striata', Aloe striata, Camille Beehler, Dustin Gimbel, Hesperaloe 'Pink Parade', Land Workshop, Senecio vitalis, South Coast Plaza, Southern California's Spring Garden Show 2015 | 9 Comments

eat your lilies

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Denise

How many times have we browsed through plant catalogue descriptions padded with chatty, ethnobotanic non sequiturs like such-and-such is an edible delicacy in its country of origin? Impatient to discover whether the object of your desire is frost hardy, does … Continue reading →

Posted in edibles | Tagged Campanulaceae, codonopsis, Crambe maritima, Crithmum maritimum, Koreatown, Kosmic Kale, lilies, Los Angeles, Platycodon grandiflorus, Territorial Seed Company, The Commissary at The Line Hotel, Zion Market | 15 Comments

my mom’s sweet peas

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Denise

thanks, Mom, for sending me home with sweet peas last night. As insurance, in the fall I planted sweet peas at my mom’s house as well as my community garden plot. I neglected to water the sweet peas at my … Continue reading →

Posted in cut flowers | Tagged Sweet peas | 13 Comments

Wednesday clippings 4/15/15 (water on the brain)

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Denise

Finally, a chance to spend some time with the blog again. There’s been lots of reading to catch up on, after the guv dropped that bombshell. (Pass the almonds.*) One of the best sources of information I’ve found was right … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, books, Bulbs, climate, clippings, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | Tagged Agave franzosinii, and Bart O’Brien, Australia, Berkheya purpurea, Beth Chatto's The Dry Garden, Bob Perry, Caesalpinia gilliesii, California drought, Carol Bornstein, Cistus Nursery, David Fross, dry garden, Dustin Gimbel Second Nature Garden Design, Emily Green Chance of Rain, Emily Green's After the Lawn, Hymenolepis parviflora, KCET In-Ground Gardens, Lambley Nursery, Landscape Plants for California Gardens, lawn rebate programs, Long Beach City College Dept of Horticulture, Mark Bittman, Pacific Horticulture, Reimagining the California Lawn, Sphaeralcea 'Newleaze Coral', Verbascum undulatum | 7 Comments

poppy days

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Denise

The Dwarf Breadseed Poppy is carrying the banner for spring here. Quite silky banners too. No stranger to the blog, posts on this poppy go back to 2010. The above photo is from 2011. And no disrespect intended for California’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged Cirsium occidentale, Papaver setigerum, spring wildflowers | 7 Comments

All About Evie

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Denise

All of my cats have been garden cats, but none more so than Evie. The usual drill for my cats has been lounge all day in the garden, then come into the house at night. Not Evie. She insisted on … Continue reading →

Posted in creatures | Tagged Evie the cat | 22 Comments

Echeveria ‘Opal Moon’

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Denise

I’ve been passing this echeveria around all over town (Gail, Kris), so it’s a good time to discuss what it is and what it isn’t. It is not one of those tight, amazingly concentric echeverias like imbricata that draw you … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Echeveria 'Opal Moon' | 5 Comments

this week in plants

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Denise

My Portland friend Loree at Danger Garden collects impressions of favorite plants at the end of the month, so I put together a contribution of what’s catching my eye this week. I’m enjoying how the Verbascum bombyciferum echoes the rosette … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Abutilon venosum, Agave 'Dragon Toes', Agave celsii var. albicans 'UCB', Albuca maxima, Canna indica, Cistus 'Snow Fire', Crambe maritima, dyckia, Echium simplex, Hymenolepis parviflora, Manihot grahamii, Phlomis lanata, Solanum pyracanthum, Sonchus congestus, Verbascum bombyciferum | 4 Comments

Salvia ‘Love & Wishes’ (a salvia revue)

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Denise

Yes, another salvia post. (You’re looking at a person for whom the ’90s publication of Betsy Clebsch’s master work A Book of Salvias, was a life-altering event.) The two new salvias in my garden are so far living up to … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged A Book of Salvias, Betsy Clebsch, Salvia 'Amistad', Salvia 'Love and Wishes', Salvia 'Waverly', Salvia canariensis, Salvia chiapensis, Salvia mexicana 'Limelight' | 5 Comments