Category Archives: science
Natural Discourse: Light & Image 2014, an epilogue
Ever wonder when our buildings are going to have the photosensitivity and photoreactivity of plants? Dale Clifford, with his focus on biomimetics applied to architecture, is on the case, investigating the possibility of designing a photoreactive brick inspired by the … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, Department of Instruction, MB Maher, photography, science, succulents
Tagged Dale Clifford, Folly Bowl, Garden designer Sue Dadd, glass artist Christian Thornton, Harvard's Ware Collection of Glass Plants, interactive computer programming, Interactive Programmer John Carpenter, James Griffth, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Marion Brenner, MB Maher, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, Natural Discourse: Light & Image, Richard Schulhof, Roger Hangarter, Shirley Watts, Silverlake Farms, terraced gardens, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, Ware Collection Manager Jenny Brown, Xaquixe Glass Innovation Studio
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Natural Discourse at Los Angeles Co. Arboretum 10/18/14
The drive will be considerably shorter for me to this year’s Natural Discourse, which will be held close to home at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden: “A symposium presented by the Garden Conservancy and the Arboretum that … Continue reading
on the tour; chasing variegated chimeras
A garden I visited on Saturday decidedly belonged to a devotee of the variegated leaf. (It takes one to know one.) The infatuation wasn’t apparent at first glance. This was a mature garden, well-treed, bambooed and shrubbed. But after every … Continue reading
weeds find a way
This charming children’s book I was sent to review months ago has reacquainted me with the transformative power of weeds. This is a wonderful subject for a children’s book. Weeds are often a child’s first gateway to the natural world. … Continue reading
compound interest
Image found here I don’t have a lot of botanical vocabulary at my fingertips anymore, but I do know a compound leaf when I see one*, since I’ve always had a pronounced weakness for them. If you’ve got a potted … Continue reading
Natural Discourse: Culture & Cultivation 10/10/13
What to make of this impulse to create gardens? Most of my ruminations are done leaning on a shovel, or moving a pot inches to the left and wondering why in the world it matters. One of the few constants … Continue reading
Posted in artists, creatures, design, photography, science
Tagged Adolf Portmann, Alice Miceli, Cevan Forristt, David Rothenberg's "Survival of the Beautiful", Flora Grubb, Hannah Arendt, Margaret Morton, Marion Brenner, Mary Jo McConnell, Natural Discourse; Culture & Cultivation, Richard Turner, Robert Pogue Harrison, Roger Hangarter, Saxon Holt, Shirley Watts, The Chernobyl Project
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Filming James Griffith’s Tar Paintings
I just voted for tar, and I know you want to as well, which is why I’m making it easy. Click, click here and it’s done. Your reward? Should James win the vote, our reward is getting the full story … Continue reading
Posted in artists, science
Tagged James Griffth, KCET public television, La Brea Tar Pits, Natural Selection paintings
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in love with my garden
It’s Earth Day. Or the day after, to be exact. Let’s hope being a day late is not a portent of things to come. So this morning after, I’m sending mash notes to Earth for making my little garden possible. … Continue reading
cochineal
“Under the seams runs the pain.” ― Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red I’ve been going over my notes the past couple months from Dr. Alejandro de Ávila’s remarkable lecture “Blood on a Fountain,” which he gave this past January at … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, creatures, design, garden travel, garden visit, science, succulents
Tagged Amy Stewart, cochineal, Dactylopius coccus, Dr. Alejandro de Avila, dyes, Helen Quinn, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, Monte Alban, Montezuma cypress, opuntia, Opuntia ficus-indica, Stenocereus marginatus, Taxodium mucronatum, The Drunken Botanist, The Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca, UCBG "Natural Discourse", University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
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