Category Archives: journal

tree ballet performance for one

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Denise

In a view from the garden office, lying on the pink divan found at the Long Beach flea market (remember those?), which we keep covered in a painter’s tarp, this clear blustery day is orchestrating a magnificent performance out of … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, MB Maher | 4 Comments

so I brought home another New Zealander

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Denise

Yesterday’s nursery jaunt included Roger’s Garden in Newport Beach, where I found the New Zealander of the title, Cassinia fulvida, and Village Nursery in Huntington Beach. Driving empty freeways sounds like a great time, but it eerily underscores how aberrant … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, plant nurseries, pots and containers | 6 Comments

the dappled life

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Denise

So you’re planting and planting your little garden and having the best time, but because your undisciplined and eclectic taste runs to every kind and type of green life, from ground hugging to tree size, inevitably you wake up one … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal, pots and containers | 4 Comments

Wednesday’s plants

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Denise

In the interest of keeping a better garden record…

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

(in anticipation of spring) cleanup

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Denise

I asked Marty to drill drainage holes in this metal cart yesterday. Without drainage it was fairly useless, accumulating water and leaves and making a slimy brew of them all winter. When I returned home late in the afternoon, Marty … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 5 Comments

the garden stories we tell

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Denise

It always amazes me how what was just hours before a scene of mayhem in the garden can look so calm and serene just a few moments after the mulch settles. Right where those little Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Beach Ball’ now … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden visit, journal, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | 5 Comments

revisiting the class of July 2014; (where are they now?)

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Denise

I love massing one kind of echeveria in pots and letting them multiply like crazy. Echeveria lilacina has completely filled in at the base of the shaving brush tree, Pseudobombax ellipticum. One E. liliacina in bloom is a novelty; over … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 5 Comments

White Point Nature Preserve; landscape interrupted

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Denise

White Point Nature Preserve in San Pedro, CA is a remarkable gift of public open space nestled into 100 acres of bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It’s a landscape that visibly bears the marks of tumultuous human endeavors spanning at … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, journal, plant sales | 6 Comments

more talk about plants

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Denise

I’m blaming it on spring. A beautifully soft, mild spring. And that rainy winter certainly didn’t hurt in rebuilding confidence. New acquisitions are now unloaded from the back of the Mini at near weekly intervals. Amazingly, this little garden swallows … Continue reading →

Posted in journal | 5 Comments

tuesday clippings 4/23/19

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Denise

The pitcher plant Sarracenia ‘Scarlet Belle’ is sending out more flowers than leaves this spring. I have no idea if this is usual, unusual, a sign of imminent demise, or what exactly. But at least the pitcher plants made it … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, journal, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged | 6 Comments