Category Archives: journal
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'
16 Comments
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
friday’s clippings 4/20/12
Friday’s Clippings is a handy blog closet into which accumulated stuff can be shoved at the end of the week, things I want to refer to again that might be of wider interest. And speaking of odds and ends shoved … Continue reading
Posted in clippings, creatures, design, garden travel, garden visit, journal, science
Tagged Colony Collapse Disorder, Dustin Gimbel, Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase, neonicotinoid insecticides, South Coast Plaza, Southern California Spring Garden Show 2012, Why Trees Matter by Jim Robbins
2 Comments
friday’s clippings 4/6/12
I trust we’ve all safely arrived at the doorstep of this spring weekend relatively intact. My car is in the shop from a minor crash a few weeks back, my first since I can’t remember when, and the rental has … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, Cinema Botanica, clippings, creatures, journal, Plant Portraits, shop talk
Tagged Abbey Hotel, Allium schubertii, alliums, Bonhams, Chateau Marmont, Chelsea Hotel, Colony Collapse Disorder, Irish wolfhound, Jean Shrimpton, Rob Walls photographer, Rose 'Bouquet d'Or', Terence Stamp
3 Comments
long weekend in San Francisco
I took precious few photos over the long weekend I spent in the Bay area. And not because there wasn’t the usual excess of riches to see and do. There were acacias in bloom, these cutleaf acacias seen at Flora … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden travel, journal
Tagged Aloe castanea, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden
5 Comments
houseboat
Life aboard an old, creaky 1919 bungalow often feels like living on a boat to me. Many years ago we were actually this close to buying an old wooden boat to live on and sail, called the “Anteak.” I’m still … Continue reading