Category Archives: succulents

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

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, cut flowers, design, journal, plant crushes, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | 5 Comments

garden notes late July 2020

More garden chit-chat. Let’s see, where to begin? I never know what bits of info will be useful so I’ll just meander. Working from most recent, last night I moved the potted Cussonia natalensis into this corner made by the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, succulents | 8 Comments

succulents and ceramics

Following the new social distancing guidelines, by the time I came to the end of the prescribed one-way route through the Sherman Gardens last month, my camera battery was dead just as I reached the last garden before the exit; … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, MB Maher, Occasional Daily Photo, succulents | 4 Comments

garden notes 7/12/20

Pots line one side of the back porch stairs — the first year I’ve done this. Tripping hazard? Not really, not if you don’t try anything cute like taking a shortcut over the pots. Just follow the stairs straight down. … Continue reading

Posted in clippings, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 4 Comments

6/28/20 garden progress report

That’s gotta be a record for the fastest repurposing of a bird bath from water to plants, considering the bird bath just arrived in May. Filling it with plants is not a total admission of failure, just temporary frustration with … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 6 Comments

bloom day June 2020

Typical of my small zone 10 Southern California garden, the month of June is as much subtractive as additive. Gone are the winter-growing annuals like poppies, nicotiana, and umbellifer Orlaya grandiflora, and as the hot dry summer bears down, the … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, pots and containers, succulents | 12 Comments

the Glatstein garden by Dustin Gimbel

I knew for the past year or so that the Los Angeles Times would eventually publish an article on the Glatstein family’s Long Beach garden designed by ceramicist Dustin Gimbel a few years back. Even so, the March 31, 2020 … Continue reading

Posted in artists, design, garden visit, MB Maher, pots and containers, succulents | 9 Comments

front garden retrospective

Since I greedily planted the long, narrow front garden smack up against the fence that separates us from legions of parked cars and noisy, fast-moving traffic, it’s difficult to maneuver around for photos (and maintenance). Also, a lot of toothy … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, succulents | 5 Comments

monday’s plants 3/23/20

Leaving the bizarro world aside for the moment, and desperately clinging to the bright side, at least this unusual March has been a good month for rain in Los Angeles. We’re just about an inch below average, which is great … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits, succulents | 3 Comments

what’s new…and what isn’t

Burrowing into plant and seed catalogues isn’t a bad idea at the moment. Mail ordering plants and seeds is eminently doable even in a pandemic crisis, and if you’re hanging out a lot at home, so much the better for … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | 4 Comments