Category Archives: clippings

clippings 1/3/18

What do you think? Can 2018 possibly get any crazier than 2017? Early evidence certainly points to 2018 getting a running head start. Here’s my own personal, crazy-killing antidote. Finding landscapes like this. And this. And more of this. Elemental, … Continue reading

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winter solstice 2017

The winter solstice is little more than a week away, on December 21st, after which point the days will blessedly begin to lengthen again. Huzzah! There will at last be more and more light, always cause for celebration, even if … Continue reading

Posted in clippings, edibles, inspire me, journal, MB Maher, photography | Tagged , | 8 Comments

some upcoming dates October 2017

I was at the Huntington last Sunday to attend a talk by author Andrea Wulf (“The Invention of Nature“) on Alexander von Humboldt. If Ms. Wulf has scheduled speaking engagements in your area, I urge you to attend. She is … Continue reading

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dog days of August bite garden

My leaning Cussonia gamtoosensis took a serious dive earthward in late August. Like a watched pot that never boils, it’s difficult to discern when a chronically leaning tree is in imminent danger of failing, but clearly the cabbage palm was … Continue reading

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Sunday clippings 9/3/17

Did the Powerball mania descend on your home too a couple weeks back? Just because I never buy Powerball or lottery tickets, magical thinking really kicks in when news of the big jackpots reaches even my normally oblivious state of … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, clippings, design, garden travel, garden visit, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

keep on planting

image of Iris reticulata from Wikipedia Commons Collections of Virginia Woolf’s copious letters and diaries have sustained me through some dreary, uninspiring times. By turns bitchy and transcendent, but always dependably filled with trenchant and unflinching observations of her life … Continue reading

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the August urge for going

Gardeners are by definition rooted and bound to their gardens. Leaving home can mean missing out, and we don’t want to miss a thing, especially in summer. Like this Puya mirabilis’ first bloom in my garden. Why, hello, you beautiful, … Continue reading

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friday clippings 7/28/17

I’ve been in an insatiable mood for plant shopping lately. I found this variegated form of Salvia ‘Berggarten’ yesterday at Roger’s Gardens and am putting up its portrait immediately because it may be its last. This salvia and my soil … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

clippings 6/14/17

Some quick odds and ends. This is an old photo from the Theodore Payne tour a couple months back, of Artemisia ‘David’s Choice’ and clarkia, one of those fleeting moments in spring that indelibly sears the visual cortex. Last weekend … Continue reading

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weekend clippings 4/29/17

Feel like talking yourself into more plants this weekend? There’s lots of opportunities, whether at the Huntington Spring Plant Sale, the South Coast Plaza Garden Show, and/or even the Long Beach flea market on Sunday at Veterans Stadium. Some motherly … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, garden travel, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments