Category Archives: climate
the kids are all right
The kids know what’s at risk. Only the essentials — water, soil, the atmosphere, sea levels and acidification, desertification, mass extinctions, food supply chains. Perhaps widening income inequality is making kids immune to the economic scaremongering arguments of their elders … Continue reading
Posted in climate, science
5 Comments
early September at Red Butte Garden
A short, unplanned, very hot visit to Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden last week brought an unexpected amount of pleasure and inspiration. Due to a flight delay back to Long Beach, we had a few extra hours to kill … Continue reading
Posted in climate, garden travel, MB Maher, Plant Portraits
Tagged Ericameria nauseosa rubber rabbitbrush, Red Butte Garden
8 Comments
plants and rocks; the basics
If your idea of a good life means being surrounded by plants, chances are you love having a few rocks around too, even if only in a haphazard, barely intentional way. Perhaps small rock mementos from travels naturally seem to … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, creatures, design, essay, MB Maher, succulents
5 Comments
suburbitat
“Formed in 2001, HPEC has grown into a multifaceted organization that works to create sustainable landscapes, restore native plant communities and provide habitats for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife amid development.” Back in June a bunch of garden bloggers visited … Continue reading
Posted in climate, creatures, design, garden travel, plant nurseries, science
Tagged High Plains Environmental Center
9 Comments
formal wear for the summer garden
I toured this garden designed by Judy Horton back in May as part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days for Los Angeles and recently uncovered just a few photos, not really enough for a proper blog post as far as … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, garden travel, garden visit
3 Comments
hungry eyes, busy hands; Colorado garden of Dan Johnson & Tony Miles
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom…You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.” — William Blake What I really enjoyed about one of the gardens I visited recently in Colorado … Continue reading
Posted in climate, garden visit
8 Comments
Nigel Dunnett’s Low-Input, High-Impact Landscapes
A few days before he was scheduled to speak at the Huntington on March 19, Nigel Dunnett took a short side trip to experience Southern California’s superbloom. The APLD Greater Los Angeles and Pacific Horticulture Society had invited the Professor … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, MB Maher, science
10 Comments
agricultural shade cloth is taken seriously in Ho Chi Minh City
Neighbors have taken note of our traditional summer shade cloth improvisations (what Nishizawa Architects calls “vernacular uses”) and are now deploying their own shade cloth configurations in strategic locations over the sunniest areas of their deck. Along with shading work … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, inspire me
Tagged Archdaily, climate change, Nishizawa Architects, Restaurant of Shade, shade cloth
4 Comments
take it outside
The parents’ exasperation with our indoor hijinks always crescendoed in a bellow of “take it outside!” whereupon we would bang through the screendoor and tumble out into the womb-like, cul-de-sac’d streets of our Los Angeles suburb, joining up with the … Continue reading
Garden Conservancy Open Days/Mendocino/Moss Garden
cooler on Sunday, June 24, Mendocino Bot. Garden, a plant mix like nowhere else of conifers, maples, perennials, redwoods. Island beds designed by Gary Ratway. The buzz started spreading at the Austin Garden Bloggers Fling in May, at least among … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, garden travel, garden visit, journal
7 Comments