Category Archives: Plant Portraits
history of my garden, part VIII
I decided last year that I needed to break up the big border that covers most of the back garden and carve a narrow, oblique path through part of it. Nothing formal and really just an access path, curving probably … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', Crassula perforata, dry-laid bricks, Dymondia margaretae, Echeveria agavoides, Geranium maderense 'Alba', Magnolia liliflora 'Nigra', paths, Paving, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var. candissima
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Occasional Daily Photo 12/4/13
These gazanias were pulled up last spring to make room for the manfredas, but obviously some roots escaped my trowel. whoa. I’m rubbing my eyes after looking at just two flowers. Imagine fields of them in South Africa. I have … Continue reading
blooming kalanchoes
Leaves, leaves, extravagantly shaped, juicy leaves. It’s all about the leaves with succulents. Or is it? There are a couple kalanchoes in bloom now I’ve been noticing around town, Kalanchoe luciae with striking vertical spires, and Kalanchoe orgyalis, with lime … Continue reading
the awkward age
My garden has lived through lots of them and will most likely continue to do so while I’m in charge. The latest awkward age involves a flowering agave and a young tree. Or maybe it will be a shrub. Neither … Continue reading
on the subject of the southern hemisphere…
Remember the old surfing movie The Endless Summer, where summer is chased around the globe? Well, I do. My older brothers took me to all the surfing movies. You can see where I’m going with this…it’s summer in Australia, and … Continue reading
November garden dispatches
We all have our favorite months in the garden. Our sentiments aside, the November garden continues sending out dispatches, oblivious to any seasonal bias. dispatches from plectranthus tillandsias and cryptbergias urgent communications from Echeveria gigantea Candy-corn-colored Morse code from Mina … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave 'Blue Flame', Agave 'Mr. Ripple', Agave desmettiana 'Joe Hoak', Agave geminiflora, Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor', Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Echeveria gigantea, Mina lobata
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the colors of Bilbergia nutans
The first bloom of the common Queen’s Tears bromeliad, Bilbergia nutans, is just so very startling when it arrives, especially if you’ve only seen it in photos before. Like drop-your-coffee-cup startling. As though David Hockney was in the garden overnight … Continue reading
Posted in design, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Bilbergia nutans, bromeliads, Euphorbia mauritanica, Euphorbia rigida, Gomphrena 'Fireworks', Huntington Botanical Gardens, Lavandula multifida, Lavandula pinnata var. buchii, Pelargonium crispum 'Variegatum', Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold', Western Hills Nursery and Garden
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prowling the plant nurseries in fall
A startling sight at a local nursery this week was Dalea frutescens in roaring, five-alarm bloom, a Texas native that endures extreme heat and drought, then explodes with flowers in fall. Imagine this Black Dalea with muhly grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris, … Continue reading
Posted in design, Plant Portraits
Tagged Dalea frutescens, fall gardens, guerilla gardening, Muhlenbergia capillaris
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chasing muhly grass
As far as seasons go, to me summer is rich, pungent, dense, where autumn is quicksilver, vaporous, light on its feet, with a tartness that is the perfect apertif to summer’s gluttony of sensation. The eaves are now dripping morning … Continue reading
Posted in climate, Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Muhlenbergia capillaris, wildflowers
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shrub
What occupies my thoughts on the garden for next year this hot Sunday is nothing more earth shakingly consequential than planning the beginning of a smallish spine of shrubs to snake through bays of herbaceous stuff. Ozothamnus ‘Sussex Silver’ moved … Continue reading
Posted in design, Plant Portraits
Tagged Australian plants, Ozothamnus hookeri 'Sussex Silver', shrubs
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