Category Archives: journal

visiting Ms. Fish’s garden

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Denise

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 →

Posted in books, garden travel, garden visit, journal | Tagged East Lambrook Manor, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties, Margery Fish, Rachel Cooke | 4 Comments

notes on some spring plant sales

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Denise

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

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Denise

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 | 11 Comments

fall planting notes 2014

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Denise

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

back on the home front

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Denise

It’s finally happening. Miraculously, after a couple close calls resulting in an almost fatal wilt, Musschia wollastonii has survived and begun to hoist up that much-anticipated chartreuse candelabra of blooms. The Madeira Giant Bellflower must be an unforgettable sight in … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, garden travel, journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Aeonium 'Zwartkop', Agapanthus 'Gold Strike', Agave 'Tradewinds', Agave attenuata 'Boutin's Blue', Aristolochia fimbriata, Australian Native Plants, Calamintha nepeta 'Gottlieb Friedkund., Carex trifida 'Rekohu Sunrise, Cistus Nursery, Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Crambe maritima, Crassula pruinosa, Cupressus macrocarpa 'Citriodora', Cussonia gamtoosensis, Dan Hinkley, Digging Dog Nursery, Emilia javanica 'Irish Poet', Eryngium padanifolium, Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon', Euphorbia ammak, Far Reaches Farm, Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons', Garden Bloggers Fling 2014 Portland, Hayefield Seeds, Hibiscus trionum, Jo O'Connell, Leucadendron 'Ebony', Lotus jacobaeus, Mirabilis jalapa 'Limelight', Musschia wollastonii, Nan Onda, Olearia virgata v. lineata 'Dartonii, Pennisetum 'Sky Rocket', Prostranthera ovalifolia 'Variegata, Pseudobombax ellipticum, San Marcos Growers, Tagetes 'Cinnabar', Variegated Tataki Grass, Windcliff | 14 Comments

planting notes 2014

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Denise

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 | 5 Comments

Bloom Day April 2014

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Denise

A day late for the Bloom Day report, with the above photo of the back garden taken this overcast morning and most of the closeups taken the past couple days. It’s all shockingly rumpled and disheveled already, but I still … Continue reading →

Posted in Bloom Day, journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged Albizia 'Summer Chocolate', Arundo donax 'Golden Chain, Baltic parsley Cenolophium denudatum, Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', Derry Watkins Special Plants Nursery, Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', Euphorbia lambii, Far Reaches Farm, Gladiolus papillio, Kniphofia thompsonii, Lavandula multifida, Linaria reticulata, Melanoselinum decipiens, Olearia virgata v. lineata 'Dartonii, Orlaya grandiflora, Papaver setigerum, Pelargonium caffrum X 'Diana', Priory Plants, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Robin Parer's Geraniaceae plant nursery, Salvia curviflora, Salvia pulchella x involucratya, Senecio leucostachys (vira-vira), Stipa gigantea, Sue Mann, Tom Stuart-Smith's exotic meadow, Verbena bonariensis | 3 Comments

tuesday clippings 4/1/14

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Denise

I sat down Sunday to write about the flu, earthquakes, and plant shows, but the blog server was down, so Sunday’s clippings has become Tuesday’s. And with the building I worked at today undergoing a bomb threat, I can’t remember … Continue reading →

Posted in clippings, journal, succulents | Tagged Beaucarnia recurvata, Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', Echeveria 'Ebony', Graptopetalum pentandrum ssp. superbum, Graptopetalum superbum, Nicotiana 'Ondra's Brown Mix', Papaver setigerum, Tillandsia fasciculata | 4 Comments

garden notes 12/30/13

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Denise

Over the holidays, daytime temps have been hovering around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Considering my sister-in-law’s flight into Los Angeles from Cody, Wyoming, was delayed by storms for four days, it seems churlish to complain about the warm weather. I’ll just … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, journal, Occasional Daily Weather Report | Tagged Agave desmettiana 'Variegata', Agave guadalajarana 'Leon', Cussonia gamtoosensis, Cussonia paniculata, Cyrus Pringle, Dymondia margaretae, Echeveria agavoides, RHS Award of Garden Merit, South African mountain cabbage trees | 3 Comments

history of my garden, part VIII

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Denise

I decided last year that I needed to break up the big border that covers most of the back garden and carve a narrow, oblique path through part of it. Nothing formal and really just an access path, curving probably … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', Crassula perforata, dry-laid bricks, Dymondia margaretae, Echeveria agavoides, Geranium maderense 'Alba', Magnolia liliflora 'Nigra', paths, Paving, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var. candissima | 3 Comments