Category Archives: design
contain your enthusiasm
Creating a small, plant-rich garden in zone 8 can be a brutal business. Faced with so many tempting choices in such an agreeable climate, a small garden runs the danger of sinking into visual chaos. Wielding the power of refusal, … Continue reading
garden chairs
“A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Continuing my monomaniacal, object-specific tour of Portland gardens, which brings us around to chairs. Because I’ve … Continue reading
Portland Pots It Up
There’s so many reasons for plants to spend some or even all of their lives in containers. Aside from the practical reasons — fine-tuning sunlight, better drainage, more moisture, less moisture, special soil mixes, protection from chewing and digging creatures, … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Aloe plicatilis, Begonia boliviensis, Bella Madrona gardens, Cistus Nursery, Ernst/Fuller Gardens, Euphorbia ammak, garden designer Laura Crockett, garden designer Sean Hogan, Gomphrena 'Pink Zazzle', JJ Sousa Digs Inside and Out, John Kuzma's garden, Joy Creek Nursery, Oregon, Pomarius Nursery, Portland, Potted For Outdoor Living, Westwind Farm Studio
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summer in Judy Horton’s garden
A couple weekends ago, the Southern California Horticultural Society hosted another “Coffee in the Garden,” and included was a garden that I had been advised not to miss should it come up for tour. (Thank you, Shirley Watts!) For her … Continue reading
Posted in artists, design, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Acacia boormanii, Aloe plicatilis, Beechwood Canyon, begonias, Blechnum brasiliense, CA, Echeveria agavoides, garden designer Judy Horton, Hollywood, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, Southern California Horticultural Society, Teucrium fruticans
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Cinema Botanica; 2014’s best garden in a supporting role
The Great Beauty, awarded the Oscar for best foreign film in 2014, is mysterious and ravishing, like the formal garden Jep’s balcony overlooks, where a nun and children play hide and seek, with the battered hulk of Rome’s Coliseum looming … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Botanica, design
Tagged formal gardens, Italian gardens, The Great Beauty
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green walls around town
The Smog Shoppe, a special event venue in Culver City owned by Woolly Pocket creator Miguel Nelson, famously deployed the pockets on its cinder-block facade in 2009, which has since been regularly reported on by local media and blogs. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave attenuata, California, Crassula multicava, Culver City, designer Miguel Nelson, green walls, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Singapore, the Garden City, The Smog Shoppe, Woolly Pockets
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compound interest
Image found here I don’t have a lot of botanical vocabulary at my fingertips anymore, but I do know a compound leaf when I see one*, since I’ve always had a pronounced weakness for them. If you’ve got a potted … Continue reading
onesies (Stachys ‘Bella Grigio’)
I had the best time nursery hopping over the weekend, looking for my mom’s summer tomato plants and gleefully indulging in a practice we’re always sternly advised against: Never buy one of this and that. Always plant in threes and … Continue reading
Posted in design, Plant Portraits
Tagged Celmisia densiflora, lamb's ears, silver plants, Stachys 'Bella Grigio'
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