Category Archives: journal
a much-delayed visit to Descanso Gardens
I was determined to attend botanist Jeff Chemnick‘s talk on plant exploration in Oaxaca, Mexico, yesterday, 7 p.m., hosted by SoCal Hort, located in an auditorium within spitting distance of Griffith Park. I had just visited his home garden/nursery in … Continue reading
monday clippings 2/5/18
There’s an unexpected addition to the container garden, and not one that I’d necessarily pick out of a lineup as an especially attractive succulent, like Agave ‘Kissho Kan’ in the foreground. I encountered this little space oddity on a walk … Continue reading
the week in plants 1/28/18
Aloe striata is getting ready to bloom. The Coral Aloe is not an uncommon aloe in Southern California, but it is in my garden. Sometime during summer, as I bring plants home from nurseries and shows, this aloe inevitably loses … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, edibles, journal, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Agave 'Mateo', Aloe 'Jacob's Ladder', Aloe striata, Annie's Annuals & Perennials, annuals, Atriplex hortensis, Chiltern Seeds, Heliophila longifolia, Los Angeles Grand Park, Mangave 'Lavender Lady', Salvia 'Marine Blue', seeds, Wild Garden Seed, Women's March 2018
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hebes again
It’s winter, and as usual my eye craves big pots of rotund, evergreen orbs and cushions in the Mien Ruys, Dutch style. Closer to home, Sara Malone at Circle Oak Ranch in Northern California, makes a creative argument for the … Continue reading
Posted in garden travel, garden visit, journal, pots and containers
Tagged evergreens, hebes
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winter solstice 2017
The winter solstice is little more than a week away, on December 21st, after which point the days will blessedly begin to lengthen again. Huzzah! There will at last be more and more light, always cause for celebration, even if … Continue reading
Posted in clippings, edibles, inspire me, journal, MB Maher, photography
Tagged Heceta Head Lighthouse, winter solstice
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autumn garden triage
I spent most of October traveling, intermittently home just long enough to sweep up piles of ash and note that the customary accumulation of a summer’s worth of city grime on leaves had been augmented by heavy particulates from local … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, journal, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Aloe camperi, Dichondra sericea, Echeveria purpusorum, Euphorbia stygiana, Grevillea 'King's Fire', Grevillea 'King's Rainbow', Lephechinia fragrans 'El Tigre', Lobelia fistulosa, Phyllica pubescens, Senecio palmeri
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garden touring England in October
Palm house at Kew Gardens I started daydreaming out loud, oh, about three weeks ago, that it’d be so much fun to attend the Great Dixter Autumn Plant Fair, with vendors and speakers coming in from all over Europe on … Continue reading
golden gardens
Doing some blog research for fall planting, I was surprised to find what a luminous phase the garden entered briefly around 2014. I’ve always been drawn to bright-colored leaves, but in this period the garden glowed as if irradiated. Chief … Continue reading
to the kids, with love
Remember this photo from a few posts ago? The “east wing” was getting readied for my son Duncan’s engagement party. Add lights, paper lanterns, friends, family and cake, and voila! Duncan and Kristy’s engagement party last Sunday. A trip to … Continue reading
Posted in cut flowers, journal, MB Maher, pots and containers
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midsummer tuneup
July is usually the month my garden needs a tuneup, a jolt of the unfamiliar to keep me inspired all summer long. Checking out July Bloom Day posts back to 2013, this July has a lot of the same characters … Continue reading