Category Archives: clippings
Saturday clippings 4/9/16
The Los Angeles Festival of Books is this weekend. I haven’t been in ages. I can only imagine what the food truck scene is like now. I didn’t see any garden-themed speakers on a quick check of the roster, but … Continue reading
end of month February 2016
Since it’s the last day of February, I suppose it’s time to admit defeat and clear out all the drafts that never made it to proper posts. There’s the draft post tying in to last night’s Oscars, where I muse … Continue reading
Agave xylonacantha near 6th & Fig
I have a lot of affection for Downtown LA, our underdog of a city center that lay fallow and forgotten for so many decades, its opulent old movie palaces abandoned or turned into dollar stores. It’s a boom town now, … Continue reading
Happy Val Day
Interesting, isn’t it, that one of America’s most notorious authors of books banned under then-existing obscenity laws had the middle name Valentine? All true. Henry Valentine Miller. “The publication of Miller’s Tropic of Cancer in the United States in 1961 … Continue reading
Thursday clippings 2/4/16 (love letters to trees)
Not my street. Our parkways are a hodge-podge of palms and jacarandas, magnolias, overgrown oleanders and scheffleras. The City recently sent out crews to work on our street trees, and the snarl of power tools and episodic rise and fall … Continue reading
nursery hopping in December
Pulling into a favorite nursery’s driveway yesterday, I could already see from the street it’s a madhouse. I’d completely forgotten the split personality most nurseries take on in December. The usually empty parking lot is not only full of cars, … Continue reading
clippings, 4th of July
My neighbors have been diligently practicing for 4th of July celebrations since May, the little darlings. Fireworks are illegal here, a fact which obviously adds zest to surreptitious, after-dark escapades ending in window-rattling booms and blasts. Seeing as it’s the … Continue reading
Monday clippings 6/22/15
It’s almost the end of the month, a good time to unpack some random June impressions. Dustin’s potted Aloe ‘Johnson’s Hybrid,’ the mother of my little one I mentioned recently. See how spectacular? Blooms nearly year-round, and Dustin says it’s … Continue reading
friday clippings 6/5/15
Late spring conversation at our house sums up living in a “mixed” household (gardeners/nongardeners): Duncan, from the back porch: Whatcha doin’ out there? Me, from deep in the garden: Sitting in a field of poppies. Duncan (scanning for alleged field … Continue reading
favorite plants and an end-of-week nursery browse 5/29/15
All the new and interesting dry garden shrubs on the smallish side seem to be coming from Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. Gnidia polystacha from South Africa is a light-limbed shrub with needle-like leaves that readily give away its Thymelaeaceae family … Continue reading