Category Archives: Plant Portraits
the garden stories we tell
It always amazes me how what was just hours before a scene of mayhem in the garden can look so calm and serene just a few moments after the mulch settles. Right where those little Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Beach Ball’ now … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
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
summer stock: Agapanthus ‘Indigo Frost’
I have even less impulse control when plant shopping now because…summer. Of the four seasons, summer seems to be the one that we’re constantly admonished to savor to its fullest or risk being filled with inconsolable regret. And you won’t … Continue reading
Posted in Plant Portraits, pots and containers
7 Comments
the giant fennel
Mitch has been sending photos from his wanderings in Greece this week while I watch his cat. I don’t mean to always be a supergeek botanical nuisance, but there’s been a tall umbellifer cropping up in the background in those … Continue reading
Posted in garden travel, MB Maher, Plant Portraits
11 Comments
garden notes 3/20/19
Yesterday I removed the diseased carcass of Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’ which lived its brief but spectacular life – until this rainy winter – under the acacia tree in the far southeast corner. You’d think having to battle for resources … Continue reading
APLD + Arboretum Plant Fair 2018
Leave it to the landscape designers to build one of the best plant fairs I’ve attended — relaxed, convivial, informative, great flow, pacing, and easy accessibility to the plant vendors, multiple ongoing activities seamlessly integrated — all qualities found in … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, plant sales
Tagged APLD + Arboretum Plant Fair 2018, APLD Greater Los Angeles District, Calscape, Chilopsis linearis 'Burgundy', dwarf Banksia ashbyi, Halimium atriplicifolium, landscape design, Leymus condensatus 'Canyon Princess', Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty', Mangave 'Mayan Queen', Muhlenbegia pubescens, plant fair, PlantMaster, Quercus rugosa, Salvia 'Love Child', Tulbaghia 'Big Amethyst'
11 Comments
summer plant report 2018
Imposing title for a modest report on a handful of new plants, right? Regardless of the size limitations of a small garden, I’m always trialing new plants, but I’m hesitant to report on results that might give a false impression … Continue reading
a faithful February friend
The Cactus Geranium, Pelargonium echinatum, has been brightening my February for over a decade. And it just might be one of the most well-documented plants on the blog. This photo from February 12, 2013, is one of many over the … Continue reading
new and semi-new plants
perky pilocereus at OC Succulents What plants have grabbed your attention lately? Last week I was chasing down a hard-to-find compact form of one of California’s native buckwheats, Eriogonum giganteum var. compactum. The Grow Native nursery at Rancho Santa Ana … Continue reading
Posted in plant crushes, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Acacia 'Cousin Itt', Callistemon 'Bottle Pop', Ceanothus maritimus 'Valley Violet', Chilopsis linearis 'Desert Diva', Eriogonum giganteum var. compactum, Hesperaloe 'Pink Parade', Hesperaloe ‘Desert Flamenco’, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, Lavandula 'Silver Anouk', Mountain States Wholesale Nursery, Nicholas Staddon, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Salvia curviflora, Tagetes lemmonii 'Compacta', Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery, UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars, Village Nurseries
8 Comments
fall planting: what happened to my phlomis?
It’s fall planting time in Southern California, and I’m planting phlomis. And it’s deja vu all over again. I like to think that the blog functions at least as a personal resource, a planting reference that at a minimum chronicles … Continue reading
Posted in plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Cistus Nursery, Digging Dog Nursery, phlomis, Phlomis lanata
5 Comments