Category Archives: agaves, woody lilies

Upcoming CSSA show at the Huntington

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Denise

I won’t be able to attend the Cactus and Succulent Society of America show to be held at the Huntington Botanical Gardens June 28-30, 2013. But you should definitely go, for reasons photographed below. You will very likely find many … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave 'Snow Glow', Agave 'Streaker', Agave xylonacantha 'Frost Bite', bromeliads, CSSA Annual Show & Sale, CSSA InterCity show, dyckias, Hechtia glomerata, Huntington Botanical Gardens, Kelly Griffin, terrestrial bromeliads | 10 Comments

Occasional Daily Photo 5/27/13

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Denise

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 →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, driveby gardens, Occasional Daily Photo | Tagged California rancho period, Long Beach neighborhoods, Rancho Los Cerritos | 6 Comments

pattern seekers

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Denise

That’s one thing at least we all have in common. And a craving for pattern is thankfully one of the easiest (and possibly the healthiest) to satisfy. Unknown objects found at flea market. The seller thought they may have been … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, Occasional Daily Photo, succulents | Tagged Agave 'Kissho Kan', Echeveria 'Crinoline', patterns in nature, Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty' | 4 Comments

driveby gardens; more on the disappearing lawn

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Denise

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 | 8 Comments

tricks for the plant collector

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Denise

A garden book among the many I’ve read that I’m reminded of almost daily is Pamela Harper’s “Color Echoes.” My synopsis goes like this: The eye is lonely and craves relationships, and will wander around restlessly to seek them out, … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal | Tagged ' Plant Delights Nursery, aeoniums, Agave 'Blue Flame', Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate', Anthericum saundersiae 'Variegata', Arundo donax 'Golden Chain, Chlorophytum saundersiae 'Agristripes', echeverias, Eryngium pandanifolium, Euphorbia cotinifolia, Isoplexis canariensis, kniphofias, mangaves, Pamela Harper's Color Echoes, Pennisetum 'Princess Caroline', phormiums, Scrophularia aquatica 'Variegata', Tetrapanax papyrifer, Yucca recurvifolia | 10 Comments

succulents around town

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Denise

I’ve been accumulating photos of the ever-present succulent arrangements I see all over town. All over town might be an exaggeration. It’s just possible that I tend to gravitate to places where there will be succulents. But there’s no denying … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Aeonium 'Kiwi', Aeonium balsamiferum, Agave 'Blue Glow', Agave americana 'Variegata', Culver City, dyckias, Echeveria agavoides, Echeveria cante, Echeveria peacockii, Echeveria prolifica, Echeveria subsessilis 'Variegata', Euphorbia tirucalli, Furcraea macdougalii, Inner Gardens, knotwork, Portulacaria afra, Rolling Greens Culver City, Sedum morganianum, Senecio radicans, Spring Garden Show at South Coast Plaza | 5 Comments

studies in orange

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Denise

(Agave “Mr. Ripple’ gets his portrait included because, as Van Gogh wrote, “there is no orange without blue.”)

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits | Tagged Agave 'Mr. Ripple', Aloe capitata, Anigozanthos, Bulbine frutescens, Echeveria multicaulis 'Copper Roses', Isoplexis canariensis, Nasturtium, Ornithogalum dubium, Papaver rupifragum, Tropaeolum majus | 6 Comments

cochineal

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Denise

“Under the seams runs the pain.” ― Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red I’ve been going over my notes the past couple months from Dr. Alejandro de Ávila’s remarkable lecture “Blood on a Fountain,” which he gave this past January at … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, creatures, design, garden travel, garden visit, science, succulents | Tagged Amy Stewart, cochineal, Dactylopius coccus, Dr. Alejandro de Avila, dyes, Helen Quinn, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, Monte Alban, Montezuma cypress, opuntia, Opuntia ficus-indica, Stenocereus marginatus, Taxodium mucronatum, The Drunken Botanist, The Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca, UCBG "Natural Discourse", University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley | 6 Comments

March evening/April morning

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Denise

Walking off Easter dinner, what caught my eye last evening was a petite bloom on the melianthus, the first I’ve seen on this cultivar ‘Purple Haze.’ I’m really starting to believe now it is the holy grail, a dwarf melianthus, … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave gypsophila, Argemone munita, Buck & Yvonne Hemenway annual garden tour/plant sale, Dustin Gimbel Second Nature Garden Design, Gasteria 'Little Warty', Linaria 'Licilia Peach', Papaver setigerum, Pilocereus azureus | 6 Comments

tuesday clippings 3/26/13

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Denise

Nothing too thematic, just some odds and ends. To prove I left the plant sale tables briefly and did a lap in the show room at the recent Orange County CSSA show, here’s a Dyckia ‘Brittle Star’ hybrid that won … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, Occasional Daily Photo, plant crushes, Plant Portraits | Tagged Agave americana var. striata, Dyckia 'Brittle Star', Geranium maderense 'Alba', Isoplexis isabelliana, Melianthus 'Purple Haze', pittosporum, poppies, Prostranthera ovalifolia 'Variegata, tillandsias | 8 Comments