Category Archives: driveby gardens
green walls around town
The Smog Shoppe, a special event venue in Culver City owned by Woolly Pocket creator Miguel Nelson, famously deployed the pockets on its cinder-block facade in 2009, which has since been regularly reported on by local media and blogs. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave attenuata, California, Crassula multicava, Culver City, designer Miguel Nelson, green walls, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Singapore, the Garden City, The Smog Shoppe, Woolly Pockets
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the new courthouse
Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, Long Beach, California The old, crumbling, brutalist-era courthouse where I did a lot of jury duty time was finally, mercifully shuttered, its broken escalators never to confound us again, and the new courthouse went up a … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged AECOM, artemisia, Berkeley Sedge, Carex tumulicola, COR-TEN steel, FASLA, Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, Hesperaloe parviflora, ipe wood, Joseph E. Brown, landscape architecture, LEED buildings, miscanthus, raised planters, Senecio mandraliscae, Superior Court of Los Angeles County
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enter the dragons
What they say about good bones for faces and houses applies to gardens too. Good bones will see you through some tough times. I’ve posted just a couple photos on this sweet little house and garden before. The front facade … Continue reading
blooming kalanchoes
Leaves, leaves, extravagantly shaped, juicy leaves. It’s all about the leaves with succulents. Or is it? There are a couple kalanchoes in bloom now I’ve been noticing around town, Kalanchoe luciae with striking vertical spires, and Kalanchoe orgyalis, with lime … Continue reading
driveby garden; LAPD headquarters, Downtown Los Angeles
“The first five months of this year were the driest on record in California, with reservoirs in the state at 20 percent below normal levels.” – Arid Southwest Cities’ Plea: Lose the Lawn, The New York Times, August 11, 2013 … Continue reading
driveby garden; AT&T Center, Downtown LA
You’d be surprised how many “Angelenos” have never visited Downtown Los Angeles, even now that it is surging with vitality again. For decades it was right up there in ignominious competition as one of the most superfluous, neglected downtowns of … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, pots and containers
Tagged Agave vilmoriniana, architect Julia Morgan, AT&T Center, Convolvulus sabatius 'Compact', Dichondra argentea., Dorycnium hirsutum, downtown Los Angeles, Gensler architects, Geranium X antipodeum, Herald Examiner building, mediterranean plants, Oreganum dictamnus, ornamental oreganoes, rosemary, South Park neighborhood
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Occasional Daily Photo 5/27/13
Driving through California Heights for a recent garden tour, just before sunset I happened upon this house, seemingly fixed in amber during the rancho period of old California. This little house sits (as does ours) on the 300,000-acre tract that … Continue reading
driveby gardens; more on the disappearing lawn
I got a very late start on the self-guided Lawn-to-Garden tour Saturday, thirty gardens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., just because Friday was an unusually odd workday and I lingered and wallowed far too long in the glory of … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, driveby gardens, garden visit, succulents
Tagged Agave desmettiana, Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor', Agave vilmoriniana, Calandrinia spectabilis, Dymondia margaretae, Helichrysum petiolare, Leonotis leonorus, Salvia leucantha, Senecio amaniensis, Senecio mandraliscae, Spanish Revival architecture
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the disappearance of summer lawns
Lawns are vanishing all over town. The chief ringleader and instigator is the Long Beach Water Department, with their irresistible Lawn-to-Garden Turf Replacement Program. Quite a few of my neighbors have already taken advantage of this program the past couple … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, driveby gardens, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Achillea "Moonshine', Anigozanthos, architects Abramsom Teiger, Baja spurge, Calandrinia spectabilis, California, Euphorbia xanti, Gomphrena decumbens, Joni Mitchell's Hissing of Summer Lawns, Lawn-to-Garden garden tour 2013, Lawn-to-Garden Turf Replacement Program, Long Beach, Long Beach Water Department, mediterranean climate, nepeta, Pittosporum tenuifolium, Russelia equisetiformis, Salvia chamaedryoides, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Stipa tenuissima, Teucrium azureum, Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Verbena lilacina
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what Dustin Gimbel does with gazanias
The humble gazania, that kaleidoscopic daisy from South Africa overused in years past as the go-to municipal ground cover, is undergoing a minor local revival. I included a few for this summer in my full-sun back garden, the LA Times … Continue reading