Category Archives: Plant Portraits
trialing Rudbeckia maxima
Overnight rain had me up early to check out one of my favorite sights (leaves soaked in rain). After lots of trial and error, most of the plants in the back garden have earned my confidence in their ability to … Continue reading
Occasional Daily Weather Report 2/11/16
While it seems everyone else is diligently topping off their water table with generous rainfall and/or snowfall, there’s no use denying it’s already chair cushion season here. Los Angeles in February decided to go high 80s, tipping into the 90s. … Continue reading
Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Aloe 'Safari Sunrise', Aloe conifera, Bocconia frutescens, Chanticleer, Euphorbia atropurpurea, Glaucium grandiflorum, Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon', Helleborus argutifolius, Leucadendron 'Winter Red', Leucadendron ‘Wilson’s Wonder’, Monrovia
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notes on spring planting
Though it may not be readily apparent, there really is something positive to say about the garden in January. I’ve been cutting back the grasses, and even allowing for the dozens of poppy seedlings that are emerging and staking a … Continue reading
Posted in garden travel, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Agave shawii, Arctostaphylos cruzensis, Aristida purpurea, Calamintha nepeta 'Montrose White', Constancea nevinii, Digging Dog Nursery, Dudleya densiflora, Eriogonum crocatum, Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. asplenifolius, Nancy Godwin, Perovskia 'Lacey Blue', Pinus sabiniana, Theodore Payne Nursery
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Wednesday clippings 1/6/16
One storm down, five more or so to go. For the first time in a long while, the air smells incredibly fresh. January is always the perfect time for the shocking pink blooms on Pelargonium echinatum to arrive. A “Sundiascia” … Continue reading
blogger meetup at the Huntington
I should have talked less and picked up the camera more at the meetup this past Saturday at the Huntington Botanical Garden, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun as our nonstop gabfest. The occasion for the meetup was … Continue reading
Occasional Daily Weather Report; winter solstice
Happy Winter Solstice! Apparently, the place to be this shortest day of the year is Stonehenge. Here’s the personal, always emotional weather report: After a drizzly Saturday, a soft rain started falling again yesterday afternoon. All of which is the … Continue reading
Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits
Tagged Cussonia gamtoosensis, winter solstice
8 Comments
Origanum ‘Rotkugel’ (or ‘Herrenhausen’)
I’ve often described this plant, what I’ve erroneously believed to be a calamint, as “oregano-esque.” chilly morning today Checking out High Country Gardens’ current sale offerings, I’m now fairly certain that I can drop the “esque.” This plant was shipped … Continue reading
some dry garden plants
When I planted this slipper plant (Pedilanthus bracteatus, from Mexico) into the back garden last October, I knew that it would necessarily change the character of the plantings surrrounding it. Everything would have to become even more dry tolerant. For … Continue reading
Othonna cheirifolia
I just had a panicked moment, several of them actually, trying to recollect the name of this very good plant that has prospered through this very challenging summer. I could only remember that Heather had blogged about it blooming in … Continue reading
bromeliads for winter
Hot enough for you? It’s over 100 degrees in Los Angeles today, so hot that even the devil has left town…(That’s the best “It’s so hot” line I’ve heard all summer, spoken by a gentleman from El Paso, Texas.) And … Continue reading