Category Archives: journal
potted plants on the move
The summer containers in nondrought-stricken gardens can become quite a virtuoso display. I’ve understandably pared things down the past few years but am always amazed at how even a relatively small group of pots can exclaim “Summer!” All the pots … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, journal, pots and containers
Tagged Aeonium 'Cyclops', Agave 'Blue Flame', Chionanthus retusus, Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Cussonia spicata, Euphorbia ammak, Fortnam Gardens, Homecrest chairs, Los Angeles Harbor, Manihot esculenta 'Variegata', marine salvage, Maurizio Zucchi, MB Maher, Mina lobata, Potted's City Planter, Schefflera 'Amate Soleil', Shirley Watts, Streptosolen jamesonii, Warehouse No. 1, Xanthosoma 'Lime Zinger'
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more on the east fence
I might as well continue with the east fence, the dark blue/black of which can be seen in the distance looking under the pergola. The pots shown yesterday are on the brick patio to the left of the cypresses, and … Continue reading
favorite plants and an end-of-week nursery browse 5/29/15
All the new and interesting dry garden shrubs on the smallish side seem to be coming from Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. Gnidia polystacha from South Africa is a light-limbed shrub with needle-like leaves that readily give away its Thymelaeaceae family … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, plant nurseries
Tagged Agave desmettiana 'Joe Hoak', Agave salmiana var. ferox 'Medio Picta', Aloe deltoideodonta ‘Sparkler’, Annie's Annuals & Perennials Nursery, Beaucarnia recurvata, Dasylirion wheeleri, Echeveria pallida, Emilia javanica, Ethiopian Spur Flower, Gnidia polystacha, Lincoln Avenue Nursery, Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society Annual Drought Tolerant Plant Festival, Plectranthus coerulescens, Tradescantia cerinthoides 'Greenlee', Yerba Buena Nursery
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small garden, tough choices
“I reckon there are 5 seasons. There’s an early spring, which I call Sprinter…a Sprummer which comes after that for 2 months…There’s a long summer…a short autumn, a short winter – both just two months long, and then you’re back … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, design, journal, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea', Agapanthus 'Gold Strike', Agave sisalana ‘Variegata’, Aristida purpurea, Ballota pseudodictamnus, Brachysema praemorsum 'Bronze Butterfly', Cistus 'Snowfire', Cordyline banksii 'Electric Star', Glaucium grandiflorum, Gomphrena 'Fireworks', Hymenolepis parviflora, Lavandula minutoli, Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike', Lomandra 'Breeze', Lomandra 'Lime Tuff', Marrubium bourgaei ‘All Hallows Green’, Nepeta ‘Purple Haze’, Pedilanthus bracteatus, Verbascum bombyciferum
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visiting Ms. Fish’s garden
In 1993, when my boys were 5 and 10, we took our first vacation without them. It was a big emotional deal for all of us to be apart some 10 days, but I needed to see if there really … Continue reading
notes on some spring plant sales
Is that a water pistol in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? I’ve been hearing from friends in the retail nursery business that the new water restrictions have them very worried. Indeed, I’ve been told retail … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, climate, design, garden travel, journal, pots and containers
Tagged botanical garden plant sales, Dierama pendulum var. robustum, Flora Grubb Gardens, Fullerton Arboretum Green Scene, Huntington Botanical Garden 2015 Plant Sale, Leucadendron argenteum, Leucadendron laxum, Plectranthus zuluensis, Protea neriifolia, Rudbeckia maxima, San Francisco Botanical Garden plant sale
11 Comments
thinning dyckias
If you asked me what I planned on doing when I woke up that morning a couple Saturdays ago, tackling the enormously overgrown clump of dyckias in the front garden was as remote a contender as washing the windows, which … Continue reading
Posted in design, journal, Occasional Daily Weather Report, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged bromeliads, dyckias, jacaranda debris
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fall planting notes 2014
The first second day of fall. Depending on who you talk to, summer was either glorious or it passed like a kidney stone. No in between. I’d describe summer 2014 and its occasional heatwaves as a cocktail that included plenty … Continue reading
Posted in journal, plant nurseries
Tagged Athanasia pinnata, Detour audio walks, Digitalis ferruginea 'Gigantea', Euphorbia characias 'Tasmanian Tiger', Euphorbia mellifera, Ferula communis ssp. glauca, Gnidia polystachya, Hymenolepis parviflora, Lavandula lanata, Leucadendron 'Pisa', Phylica pubescens, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Santolina, Sphaeralcea 'Newleaze Coral'
15 Comments
planting notes 2014
Every year brings a new crop of preoccupations in the garden, such as: Will the beschorneria choose this spring for their first bloom? How about the puya in the gravel garden? Feel like blooming this year? Some plants really do … Continue reading
Posted in clippings, garden travel, journal, plant nurseries, succulents
Tagged Aloe marlothii x castanea, Anigozanthos 'Yellow Gem', Annie's Annuals & Perennials Nursery, Asphodeline lutea, Beschorneria X 'Martin Grantham Hybrids', Cirsium occidentale, Cistus 'Snow Fire', Crambe maritima, Eryngium padanifolium, Glaucium grandiflorum, Lessertia montana, Leucadendron 'Ebony', Puya mirabilis, Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple', self-sowers, Sideritis oroteneriffae
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