Category Archives: garden visit
Wonder Garden, Manzanita OR May 2026
The Wonder Garden is a volunteer-driven, horticultural branch of the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon. Since I’ve been volunteering the past several years, the Wonder Garden seems to evolve effortlessly from strength to strength. But having participated … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Oregon garden
6 Comments
Presidio Tunnel Tops
I first heard of what has come to be known as the Presidio Tunnel Tops in 2015, when visiting landscape architect Rania Reyes mentioned her involvement in a new Presidio Parklands Project in San Francisco. Rania was being given a … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents
9 Comments
some April PDX gardens
(“Oregon Route 6, known as the Wilson River Highway, is a scenic but treacherous 52-mile route connecting Tillamook (U.S. 101) to the Portland metro area (U.S. 26) through the Tillamook State Forest. Completed in 1941, this critical coastal artery is notorious … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit
8 Comments
microabundance/Granada Coffee Shop
In spring 2025, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson was published, a nonfiction work examining why we can’t seem to get things built for the common good anymore and the bureaucratic difficulties facing small businesses. Using examples like California’s … Continue reading
Posted in artists, commerce, garden visit
4 Comments
Sherman Gardens & Library under renovation March 2026
With the heat wave mostly over, yesterday I drove south to Newport Beach for some garden time. Bathed in the cool coastal conditions at the Pacific Ocean, the Sherman Gardens & Library are a genteel lunch and garden destination that … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents
4 Comments
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
a brief but well-timed visit to the Disney Concert Hall garden
Sometimes I take the Metro train from Long Beach to visit family near Downtown Los Angeles. Yesterday Mitch and his daughter Domino picked me up at the usual stop on Grand Avenue, and we explored the Broad Art Musem and … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, design, garden visit, MB Maher
4 Comments
Hoffman’s Center for the Arts: The Wonder Garden
The Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon, celebrated its 20-year anniversary Saturday August 31. Out of their many programs — clay, writing, visual arts — I became acquainted with the HCA through their horticulture program. The Hoffman’s Wonder … Continue reading
Posted in garden travel, garden visit, Oregon garden, plant sales, succulents
7 Comments
thank you, Garden Fling 2024
A quick thanks, a few photos, and a short introduction to the Garden Fling, in the off chance a reader of AGO has never heard of this special garden tour. Since 2008, the garden tour now known as the Garden … Continue reading
Posted in climate, garden travel, garden visit
10 Comments