Category Archives: cut flowers
garden clippings 9/7/21
Yes, that is a box full of chrysanthemums. Let me explain why such a wildly uncharacteristic flower, for me, is blooming in my otherwise mostly austere and dryish garden. It’s part of the ongoing experiment of trying cut flowers in … Continue reading
more lilies
All these lilies were planted fall 2020 in my zone 10b, about a mile from the Pacific Ocean. We had very little winter rain, but the bulbs managed to grow and bloom on mostly hand watering and careful mulching. Bulbs … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, cut flowers
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the agave’s gambit
What sets them apart is that they are monocarpic, they die after flowering once, and, they can take up to 30 years or better, depending on species and growing conditions, to flower…The demand for carbohydrate is high during this period. … Continue reading
absolute flower shop in Shanghai
It looks like California’s stay-at-home orders might soon be eased a bit, not that I’ll be venturing too far afield just yet. So just when I really need to step into the exotic, the unfamiliar for half a minute, a … Continue reading
Posted in cut flowers, design, inspire me
6 Comments
Calendula ‘Touch of Red’
In Southern California, the cool-season annuals have arrived at local nurseries, the violas, stocks, snapdragons, sweet williams, nemesias, Iceland poppies, and lots more I’m forgetting at the moment. Some (or none) appeal to different garden temperaments. I’ve indulged in biennial … Continue reading
Posted in cut flowers, journal, plant nurseries, pots and containers
Tagged Calendula 'Touch of Red
10 Comments
here’s to a long weekend
I’m always a miser when cutting flowers from my small garden and prefer to enjoy the much longer performance flowers give when they remain in the garden instead of severed for a vase. But this Thanksgiving seems special, doesn’t it? … Continue reading
Posted in cut flowers
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making the most of it
Emotionally, this summer feels like summers when I was 12 or 13 — when I stuck close to home because I wasn’t allowed yet to get in trouble with friends with cars. I’m regressing to the point that I’ve even … Continue reading
monday clippings 4/30/18
Have you checked on your dudleyas lately? (“Stolen succulents: California hipster plants at center of smuggling crisis; Demand in China and Korea has led to thousands of dudleya being stolen from California as officials lament ‘plant poaching.”) Lots of pruning … Continue reading
stagecraft
When a friend of Mitch’s moved into new digs last week, he thought he’d warm up the empty place for her first night there (completely unbeknownst to her). So he grabbed anything to hand, which happened to be some of … Continue reading
ranunculus now
The ranunculus lovers among us are often encouraged to try growing them ourselves. And in Southern California, it’s totally do-able, especially if you have a dedicated cutting garden and can treat them as ephemerals, like tulips. Ranuncs love our sunny, … Continue reading