Category Archives: journal
Bloom Day April 2014
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
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tuesday clippings 4/1/14
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
garden notes 12/30/13
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
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history of my garden, part VIII
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
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elephant season
A few tropicals in pots can be a fine sendoff to summer. Here about a mile from the ocean, the big-leaved tropicals like colocasia, the “elephant ears,” bide their time until the temperatures start to really feel uncomfortable. By the … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal, pots and containers, shop talk, succulents
Tagged Agave celsii var. albicans 'UCB', Colocasia 'Blue Hawaii', Colocasia 'Diamond Head', Colocasia 'Mojito', Cussonia gamtoosensis, elephant ears, garden plans, Kalanchoe beharensis, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', Pseuderanthemum carruthersii var. atropurpureum 'Rubrum', tropical plants
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monday clippings 8/5/13 (bromeliads and summer camp)
It’s August and I’m craving a summer camp experience. Unfortunately, the summer camp bus left 40 years ago. So up there is my designated summer camp 2013. I admit accommodations are rustic and no-frills, but a short trip up the … Continue reading
Posted in clippings, creatures, journal, Plant Portraits
Tagged Aechmea 'Loies Pride', Aechmea nudicaulis, Alcanterea 'Volcano Mist', Beschorneria albiflora, Bilbergia ‘Violetta’, bromeliads, Colocasia 'Blue Hawaii', Dyckia dawsonii, Hohenbergia ‘Leopoldo Hortstii’, Neoregelia concentrica, South Bay Bromeliad Associates
13 Comments
tricks for the plant collector
A garden book among the many I’ve read that I’m reminded of almost daily is Pamela Harper’s “Color Echoes.” My synopsis goes like this: The eye is lonely and craves relationships, and will wander around restlessly to seek them out, … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal
Tagged ' Plant Delights Nursery, aeoniums, Agave 'Blue Flame', Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate', Anthericum saundersiae 'Variegata', Arundo donax 'Golden Chain, Chlorophytum saundersiae 'Agristripes', echeverias, Eryngium pandanifolium, Euphorbia cotinifolia, Isoplexis canariensis, kniphofias, mangaves, Pamela Harper's Color Echoes, Pennisetum 'Princess Caroline', phormiums, Scrophularia aquatica 'Variegata', Tetrapanax papyrifer, Yucca recurvifolia
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August water bill
20 percent less water usage this past August compared to August 2011. That wasn’t too terribly painful. The back garden is fairly torn up right now, but that’s all me, Edwina Shovelhands, not a result of any water rationing. The … Continue reading
snapshot of August 2012
August is always a truth-telling time in the life of a garden and a good month to take a snapshot of it. The hoses have been deployed this week to deep water the trees and soak the now bone-dry soil. … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, creatures, garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged ' Amicia zygomeris, Aeonium 'Zwartkop', Aeonium canariense, Agave americana var. medio-picta 'Alba', Agave attenuata 'Kara's Stripes', Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor', Agave parrasana 'Fireball', Anigozanthos 'Yellow Gem', Annie's Annuals & Perennials, Centranthus ruber 'Alba', Chionanthus retusus, Chrysanthemoides incana, Cotinus 'Grace', Crithmum maritimum, Cupressus macrocarpa 'Citriodora', Dustin Gimbel, Echeveria elegans, Euphorbia cotinifolia, Helenium puberulum, Hibiscus acetosella, Laurus nobilis 'Aureus', Lepismium cruciforme, Lotus jacobaeus, Lysimachia ephemerum, Manihot grahamii, Mirabilis jalapa 'Limelight', Pennisetum 'Princess Caroline', Persicaria amplexicaulis, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple', Salpiglossis 'Chocolate Royal', Scabiosa ochroleuca, Sedum nussbaumerianum, Senecio anteuphorbium, Sideritis oroteneriffae, Sonchus canariensis, Stipa arundinacea, Teucrium hircanicum, Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea', Zea mays 'Tiger Cub'
9 Comments
bringing it home
Visiting first-rate plant nurseries necessarily involves purchasing plants, or so I’ve always believed — even if the purchaser is thousands of miles from home and has to shove the pots into an already bursting suitcase and then into the cramped … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, creatures, garden travel, garden visit, journal, plant crushes, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged agastache, Alstroemeria isabellana, anemonopsis, Aster souliei, Bellevue Botanical Garden, celmisias, Charles Price, Cistus Nursery, David Lewis, digitalis, Dragonfly Farms, Dunn Gardens, Far Reaches Farm, George Little, Glenn Withey, Lilium regale, Linda Cochran, Little & Lewis, Lobelia tupa, Melianthus major, New Zealand Daisy, Nymphaea 'Ultra Violet', Pacific Northwest, Pelargonium 'Golden Lemon Crispum', perennials, potentilla, Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty', Sean Hogan, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio serpens, verbascum, Western Hills Nursery
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