Category Archives: garden visit
back at the ranch
All day long this past work- and appointment-filled Wednesday I clung to the idea of fitting in a short visit to Rancho Los Alamitos. I’d heard there were some changes with the barns, and there was a new foal, all … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Agave franzosinii, Alexander Cassatt, Beaumontia grandiflora, California rancho period, Ficus macrophylla, Florence Bixby, Florence Yoch, Frederick Law Olmstead, historical preservation, Huntington Desert Garden, Mary Cassatt, Moreton Bay Fig tree, Penn Station, Rancho Los Alamitos, Rosa banksiae 'Lutea', Shire draught horses, Solandra maxima, William Hertrich
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Modernism Week in Palm Springs
It’s Modernism Week in Palm Springs, so what architectural gem did I visit? A Wexler steel house? Maybe a Neutra? Nope, but I did visit a cactarium, the world’s first. The cactarium belongs to the Moorten Botanical Garden, a small, … Continue reading
garden notes 12/30/13
Over the holidays, daytime temps have been hovering around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Considering my sister-in-law’s flight into Los Angeles from Cody, Wyoming, was delayed by storms for four days, it seems churlish to complain about the warm weather. I’ll just … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, journal, Occasional Daily Weather Report
Tagged Agave desmettiana 'Variegata', Agave guadalajarana 'Leon', Cussonia gamtoosensis, Cussonia paniculata, Cyrus Pringle, Dymondia margaretae, Echeveria agavoides, RHS Award of Garden Merit, South African mountain cabbage trees
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history of my garden, part VIII
I decided last year that I needed to break up the big border that covers most of the back garden and carve a narrow, oblique path through part of it. Nothing formal and really just an access path, curving probably … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', Crassula perforata, dry-laid bricks, Dymondia margaretae, Echeveria agavoides, Geranium maderense 'Alba', Magnolia liliflora 'Nigra', paths, Paving, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var. candissima
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November garden dispatches
We all have our favorite months in the garden. Our sentiments aside, the November garden continues sending out dispatches, oblivious to any seasonal bias. dispatches from plectranthus tillandsias and cryptbergias urgent communications from Echeveria gigantea Candy-corn-colored Morse code from Mina … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave 'Blue Flame', Agave 'Mr. Ripple', Agave desmettiana 'Joe Hoak', Agave geminiflora, Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor', Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Echeveria gigantea, Mina lobata
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So Cal Hort’s “Coffee in the Nash Garden”
Potted dwarf pomegranate Southern California Horticultural Society sent out a “Coffee in the Garden” invitation to its members for a late October visit to Donivee Nash’s garden in Arcadia, redesigned by Judy Horton in 2009. Participation in hort. society events … Continue reading
Fall Planting Festival at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden 11/2/13
“California is defined by its Mediterranean climate. It is the smallest floristic province in North America, but has the greatest diversity of plants north of Mexico. It includes such characteristic vegetation as chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak woodland and grassland. … Continue reading
lost in Florence
Zadie Smith’s essay “Love in the Gardens,” describing complicated family relations against the backdrop of visits to two gardens, the Boboli in Florence accompanied by her father, and the Borghese garden in Rome after her father had died, gave me … Continue reading
Stanford’s New Guinea Sculpture Garden
More updates from the Bay Area, this one from occasional AGO photographer and contributor MB Maher. I’ll let him tell this adventure in his own words: “Shirley Watts messaged me to keep my Wednesday evening open. And per her instructions, … Continue reading