Category Archives: succulents
Bloom Day October 2011
The highest temps all summer hit last week, an unwelcome intrusion into fall planting season. Limbing up the big smoke tree a few weeks ago allowed a lot more light into the back garden, setting in motion some deadly domino … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, Bulbs, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Dahlia 'Chat Noir', Digging Dog Nursery, Grevillea 'Superb', Nerine sarniensis, Persicaria amplexicaulis, Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple', Rudbeckia triloba, Salvia canariensis var. candissima, Salvia madrensis, Selinum wallichianum, Thunbergia gregorii
9 Comments
Sedum & the Summer of Neglect
A tale of invincibility. The sedum, with the survivability of a cockroach, has been performing every trick I’ve asked it to. Way back in January I planted up these hollow flues pried out of our chimney when some repairs were … Continue reading
Beer & Art
I’m not arguing that these are the twin pillars of civilization or anything. Just pointing out that there is a surreal alliance between the two that has been taking place for years in a local abandoned brewery. The old Pabst … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Ken Burns Prohibition, Los Angeles Brewery Art Walk, succulents
7 Comments
a monday collage
A new week, slightly out of focus. Feed the cats, make the coffee, read Paul Krugman’s column. Routines are the pitons hammered into the seams of blurry grey rock that is a Monday morning. A quick check on the garden. … Continue reading
Plant Hunting in Namibia
I didn’t need to know too much about the Crassula mesembryanthemoides I bought last week, just some elaboration of the nurseryman’s comment that the stem tips drop, root, and spread everywhere. Very few search hits available. Add its home, Namibia, … Continue reading
Plug & Play
I briefly escaped the desk yesterday and checked out a couple local nurseries. Fall is when some interesting plants start to appear again in Southern California nurseries, for planting in the cooler temps, to be settled in by winter rains. … Continue reading
Wake-Up Call
This morning the eaves were dripping and a foghorn blew for the first time in months. In other words, the season for succulents has begun. Summer’s siege is over. If you’re an aeonium in Southern California, or any other mediterranean … Continue reading
Chasing Plants
Post-Internet I’ve noticed plant desire has turned into a thinner and weaker strain now that it’s so easily satisfied. The really big desire, the kind that used to build up unrequited for years and years, is as analog as a … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Annies Annuals, Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum', Cistus Nursery, Digging Dog Nursery, Mathiasella bupleuroides, Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, Mildred Mathias, San Marcos Growers, The Dry Garden North Oakland, Yucca aloifolia 'Blue Boy', Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea'
5 Comments
From Pot to Garden
Ah, the synergy of pots and garden. Apart from the infinite aesthetic considerations, from a practical standpoint, pots can render any garden effectively zoneless or, as in my very small garden, they can stretch available planting space. In a process … Continue reading
Palms & Lawn
I’ve had a very interesting past couple of days. (Interesting in my usual narrow, horticultural sense of the word.) Thursday I finally made it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to check out up close the new Eli … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden travel, MB Maher, succulents
Tagged Agave guiengola 'Creme Brulee', Anne Raver, Austin, drought, Eli Broad, Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta', Getty Center, Jim Dugan, Kelly Griffin, LACMA, lawn replacement, Licuala peltata, Mark Simmons, Rancho Soledad Nursery, Ravenala madagascariensis, Renzo Piano, restoration ecologist, Richard Serra's Band, Robert Irwin, Texas, The New York Times
4 Comments