Category Archives: journal
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
10 Comments
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
10 Comments
summer 2012 road trip: Pacific Northwest
I find vacations in the Pacific Northwest have a lot in common with Chinese food; after being home for a few days, you’re hungry for another serving of Puget Sound, please. I’m sitting at a table in my garden in … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, creatures, design, garden travel, garden visit, journal, plant crushes, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Actaea 'Black Negligee', Agastache 'Blue Boa', Agastache 'Summer Glow', Aloe striatula, Aralia cordata 'Sun King', Bupleurum falcatum, Calla 'Edge of Night', Cistus Nursery, Crocosmia 'Twilight Fairy Gold', Dan Heims, Dancing Oaks Nursery, Danger Garden, dierama, Echinacea 'Now Cheesier', Echinacea 'Pink Sapphire', Echinacea 'Secret Lust', echinacea hybrids, Eucomis 'Can-Can', Fatsia japonica 'Spider Web', Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold', Leonard Foltz, Leycesteria formosa, Loree Bohl, McMenamins Kennedy School, Oregon Garden Resort, Plant Lust, Rhus typhina, Sauvie Island, Terra Nova, Tiger Eye Sumac, Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'
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summer notes
Though I’ve been practicing lots of garden math — some addition but mostly subtraction and a little light division — the garden still seems almost unchanged and very familiar this summer, and I haven’t decided yet if that’s necessarily a … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, shop talk, succulents
Tagged ' Plant Delights Nursery, 2012, Anemanthele lessoniana, Atriplex hortensis, Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition', Christopher Lloyd, Colocasia 'Diamond Head', Colocasia esculenta 'Mojito', Euphorbia characias 'Silver Swan', Giovanni Battista Amici, Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns', Lilium 'Lankon', Oenothera macrocarpa ssp. incana, San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society, SDCSS plant sale June 2 & 3, Stipa arundinacea, Teucrium hircanicum 'Paradise Delight', Tibouchina granulosa 'Gibraltar', Tweedia caerulea, Xanthosoma 'Lime Zinger'
10 Comments
saturday’s clippings 5/12/12
Quote of the week: “I can’t believe I burned down a tree older than Jesus,” philosophized a 26-year-old woman who torched a 3,500-year-old bald cypress known as The Senator last January, one of the 10 oldest trees on earth, while … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, clippings, journal, Plant Portraits, shop talk, succulents
Tagged ' Amicia zygomeris, Anemanthele lessoniana, Anigozanthos 'Yellow Gem', Argyranthemum haouarytheum, Cotinus 'Grace', Cra, Crassula expansa subsp. fragilis, Hesperaloe parviflora, Nancy Ondra, Nicotiana 'Ondra's Brown Mix', Ornithogalum dubium, Pennisetum 'Princess Caroline', Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple', Salvia canariensis var. candissima, Salvia wagneriana, Stipa arundinacea
5 Comments