Category Archives: Plant Portraits

Verbena bonariensis unchained

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Denise

Maybe you’ve already bumped into these photos on Pinterest or tumblr, which surfaced in May 2013, of some startlingly robust Verbena bonariensis bursting skyward from an enviable geodesic concrete container. The image is from the garden and blog of Svante … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits, pots and containers | Tagged Elle Decoration, Verbena bonariensis | 5 Comments

reprising a visit to the Huntington Desert Garden

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Denise

The recent storm surprisingly coaxed a bloom from my 6-inch Euphorbia atropurpurea, whose acquaintance I first made at the Huntington in 2011. That visit prompted a frustrating summer of scouring plant sales and nurseries for this rare, ruddy-bracted Canary Islander, … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, MB Maher, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Annie's Annuals & Perennials, Canary Islands, dyckias, Euphorbia atropurpurea, Golden Barrel Cactus Echinocactus grusonii, Huntington Botanical Gardens, Huntington Desert Garden, Nolina interrata | 5 Comments

Hardenbergia violaceae, the Happy Wanderer

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Denise

This smallish evergreen vine, also known as the Happy Wanderer, is in bloom around town, always a surprising sight for February. It’s a tough little number in the pea family from eastern Australia that lays low all year, unnoticed, in … Continue reading →

Posted in plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged Australian Native Plants Nursery, Australian plants, Happy Wanderer, Hardenbergia violaceae, the Muppets | 1 Comment

just another acacia

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Denise

At plant nurseries, I’m often a hapless Mr. Magoo, peering and squinting at new shapes and wildly filling in the blanks with extravagant theories. For example, the twisted, contorted stems of this mystery tree, or shrub grown on standard, reminded … Continue reading →

Posted in climate, Plant Portraits | Tagged Acacia merinthophora, Australian plants, drought tolerant plants, Zigzag Wattle | 5 Comments

Asparagus virgatus

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Denise

There’s not a lot of fern action in my dry, sunny garden, much to my regret, but in the front garden on the north side of the house, planted in the parched gloom at the foundation line, a fern is … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged ' Plant Delights Nursery, African Broom Fern, Agave attenuata, Asparagus virgatus, Astelia nervosa, dry shade, San Marcos Growers | 5 Comments

it’s that time

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Denise

Time to cut the grasses down and say goodbye to sights like this until next winter. Spring comes early here in Southern California, February/early March, and the old growth needs to be cut down to make way for the new. … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged Chloris in Botticelli's Primavera, Chloris virgata, Feather Fiinegrass, Feather Windmillgrass, grasses and sedges, Jepson Manual | 4 Comments

Kalanchoe ‘Oak Leaf’

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Denise

Wonderful architectural bloom trusses on this 5-gallon kalanchoe at Lincoln Avenue Nursery in Pasadena. Was this a Kalanchoe beharensis in flower? The leaves at the base of the plant were difficult to see without disturbing the careful display. The San … Continue reading →

Posted in MB Maher, plant crushes, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Dwarf Velvet Plant, Euphorbia tirucalli, John Greenlee, Kalanchoe 'Oak Leaf', Kalanchoe beharensis x K. millot, Lincoln Avenue Nursery, San Marcos Growers | Leave a comment

Coronilla valentina

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Denise

Now that we all have a new phrase in our meteorology lexicon (“polar vortex”)*, it’s time to entertain our cold-blasted friends with talk of plants from warmer climes. Along with the unexpected germination of several triangle palm seeds (Dypsis decaryi), … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits | Tagged Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca, Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Variegata', January 2014, mediterranean plants, polar vortex, the Borowitz Report, The New Yorker, winter-blooming plants | 2 Comments

ghosts of gardens past

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Denise

Cleaning out old photo albums releases lots of ghosts of gardens past. Do I feel guilty and as greedy as Scrooge over all the plants that have come and gone? Not a bit. I do notice that I’ve become more … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant crushes, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Anemanthele lessoniana, Centranthus ruber 'Alba', Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, Echeveria 'Black Prince', Geranium 'Dragon Heart', Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis', Libertia peregrinans, Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Red Dragon', Persicaria amplexicaulis, Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Golf Ball', Rose 'Chromatella', Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain', Sedum nussbaumerianum, Stipa arundinacea, Stipa tenuissima, Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea' | 11 Comments

so cold that plants are turning purple

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Denise

The cold weather is coaxing some fine seasonal coloration out of plants, especially those whose names hint to a destiny with the color purple anyway. Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ deeply plummy mid ribs on the leaves of Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ Yucca … Continue reading →

Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged "Umbrella Group: why not make room for a Schefflera?" by Robbie Blackhall-Miles, Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea', Crug Farm Plants, hardy scheffleras, Melianthus 'Purple Haze', Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea' | 4 Comments