Category Archives: Plant Portraits
Clianthus formosus
I stopped in at the Sherman Gardens recently to check in on the succulent garden, which I visited a couple years ago and wrote about here. Although that garden looks the same as the day I visited, there was a … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Plant Portraits
Tagged >Australian National Botanic Gardens, Australian plants, British navigator William Dampier, Chiltern Seeds, Clianthus formosus, Fabaceae family, Kew, Sherman Library & Gardens, Sturt's Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, The Royal Botanic Gardens
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the Climbing Onion, Bowiea volubilis
It must be pretty obvious by now that I’m refusing to look at the big, end-of-summer picture. So I’m offering another micro plant portrait, the South African Climbing Onion. Logee’s calls Bowiea volubilis “an old favorite.” If so, this old … Continue reading
the hardy tapioca
A garden can be a stay-at-home option to ecotourism, where the plants pack their seedy suitcases and travel to us. (If growing any exotic, non-native plant sets your teeth on edge, those categories may be blurring faster than we’d like: … Continue reading
Yucca ‘Blue Boy’
I’ve brought a couple home under the name Yucca aloifolia ‘Purpurea,’ but I’ve recently been seeing it tagged as Yucca desmetiana ‘Blue Boy,’ as it was here at Cornerstone Sonoma, in the Transcendence garden designed by Delmar McComb and Peter … Continue reading
the controversial castor bean plant
Ricinus communis, the castor bean/oil plant, is the freshest sight in this late-summer garden. Unlike the rest of us, the swampy heat of late August only improves its looks. The tree-like mother plant, a ‘New Zealand Purple,’ lived through our … Continue reading
fall-blooming salvias and where to find some
I’ve been trying to scale the garden down, which means there will be no shed-sized, fall-blooming salvias this year like… Salvia involucrata, Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, the rosebud sage. Some of the salvias like a bit more moisture than I’m … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Plant Portraits
Tagged Cornerstone Gardens Sonoma, Fullerton Arboretum salvia sale, Longwood Gardens, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Phylica pubescens, Salvia 'Indigo Spires', Salvia 'Waverly', Salvia 'wendy's Wish', Salvia africana-lutea, Salvia cacaliifolia, Salvia canariensis var. candissima, Salvia clevelandii, Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious, Salvia involucrata, Salvia littae, Salvia macrophylla, Salvia madrensis, Salvia reptans West Texas Form, Salvia sclarea 'Piedmont', Salvia uliginosa, Salvia van houttei, Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain', Salvia wagneriana
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gilding the jasmine
Plant Delight’s 2013 fall catalogue has just been released and offers this gold-leaved jasmine, Jasminum officinalis ‘Frojas’ (Fiona Sunrise Jasmine) that I’ve been tormenting for a couple years. Mr. Avent suggests pairing it with colorful shrubs like loropetalum or smoke … Continue reading
Pennisetum ‘Princess Caroline’
I’m still debating whether to include this grass in next year’s garden, but it’s occurred to me that what I consider its vices might be virtues for someone else. Say you can’t grow phormiums and you want a dark-leaved one … Continue reading
monday clippings 8/5/13 (bromeliads and summer camp)
It’s August and I’m craving a summer camp experience. Unfortunately, the summer camp bus left 40 years ago. So up there is my designated summer camp 2013. I admit accommodations are rustic and no-frills, but a short trip up the … Continue reading
Posted in clippings, creatures, journal, Plant Portraits
Tagged Aechmea 'Loies Pride', Aechmea nudicaulis, Alcanterea 'Volcano Mist', Beschorneria albiflora, Bilbergia ‘Violetta’, bromeliads, Colocasia 'Blue Hawaii', Dyckia dawsonii, Hohenbergia ‘Leopoldo Hortstii’, Neoregelia concentrica, South Bay Bromeliad Associates
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scenes from the garden 7/6/13
There’s an unspoken Upstairs/Downstairs, front garden/back garden dynamic at home, as I suspect there is with most hands-on gardens. Most of the front garden isn’t tinkered with much anymore, needs little attention, more of just keeping an eye on sizes. … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, garden travel, garden visit, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged Annie's Annuals & Perennials, Calamintha nepeta 'Gottlieb Friedkund., Cuphea viscosissima, Digging Dog Nursery, Dymondia margaretae, eucomis, Euphorbia atropurpurea, Phormium 'Alison Blackman', proteaceae family
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