Category Archives: Plant Portraits
a week in plants
Last week was a good one for plants. I finally found some Acacia ‘Cousin Itt’ in small sizes, under $10 each, to plant under the Chinese Fringe Tree. (Chionanthus retusus, as distinguished from our native Chionanthus virginicus.) This great, mediumish-sized … Continue reading
friday clippings 6/24/16
Little Diego next-door has taken upon himself the challenge of learning drumming. In the last couple months, he’s been practicing on whatever is handy, whether it be pots, pans, buckets, gates. It was hard to tell at first how invested … Continue reading
Stipa ichru
The Peruvian Feather Grass may save the world from Mexican Feather Grass, Nassella (formerly Stipa) tenuissima. Whether the world needs saving from the rampant reseeder MFG depends on your point of view and where you garden. (More on that here.) … Continue reading
last of the poppies
I’m just now starting to see photos of poppies in bloom showing up in gardens in colder climates, but by June the annual poppies are usually finished here. In my garden, as June continues the mild, overcast weather of May, … Continue reading
don’t forget the lilies
Lilium ‘Black Charm,’ whose first bloom opened June 1st. Against the backdrop of my increasingly scrubby, grassy, agave-filled garden, lilies look like something that glided in on a red carpet. When they’re in bloom, I always crave more. Beautifully easy … Continue reading
busy, busy
It’s spring. Feeling a little pressed for time yet? Join the club. Some of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks include: Cutting sweet peas from my mom’s vines. Buckets and buckets. Mine planted at the community garden … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, cut flowers, Plant Portraits, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Achillea millefolium 'Sunrise', Agave macroacantha 'Blue Ribbon', Buddleia 'Cranrazz', Cotyledon orbiculata, Linaria 'Licilia Peach', Merrihew's Sunset Gardens, Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis', Sweet peas
8 Comments
status update Rudbeckia maxima 5/2/16
Another example of the odd juxtapositions that occur in my garden from year to year, due to an unremitting curiosity about plants I just don’t get to see locally: Lights, laundry shed, giant coneflower! The cabbage coneflower, Rudbeckia maxima, known … Continue reading
an hour in San Francisco Botanical Garden in April
At the Friend Gate, Ageratum corymbosum Bartlettina sordida (thanks, Mr. Feix!) with a Fuchsia magellanica. Or maybe thymifolia. I didn’t check. No time! A few weeks ago I had the rather condensed pleasure of visiting San Francisco’s Botanical Garden in … Continue reading
Bloom Day hangover/Foliage followup April 2016
The distinctive measured pace of a garden this time of year, compared to the frenetic pace outside my front gate, is what I find so compelling: the syncopated intervals between birdcalls, the varying rhythms of arrival and departure of hummingbirds, … Continue reading