Category Archives: design
plant this book
With apologies to Abbie Hoffman (’60s radical and author of counterculture best-seller Steal this Book) Via Desire to Inspire Literally, sheet mulching for the bookish set. Scanning my book shelves, I just can’t come up with a book to sacrifice. … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden ornament, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Abbie Hoffman, Desire to Inspire, sheet mulching, Steal This Book
4 Comments
Plant portrait; Agave attenuata and St. Augustine grass
Clean, bright simplicity. Agave attenuata underplanted with variegated St. Augustine grass, by garden designer Dustin Gimbel. This tough, subtropical grass works beautifully in holding this slope, and is allowed to grow long and shaggy or clipped and tidy, according to … Continue reading
staining concrete
One of the more excruciating projects this past summer involved the tiled patio on the east side of the house, photo taken 10/3/10. The indoor tile left over from a friend’s DIY project was a mistake the day we laid … Continue reading
Posted in Department of Instruction, design, shop talk
Tagged hardscape, staining concrete
9 Comments
agaves en masse
This was one of those days when I could have used an I Brake For Agaves bumper sticker. Every town in every climate has its repertoire of plants suitable for massing in civic spaces, roadsides, road medians. Here in my … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged Agave americana 'Variegata'
9 Comments
shadowplay
Some startling effects can be had from shadows in the garden, like the mirror-image pattern this egg-shaped wire cage and the tillandsia within make against an east-facing wall in the morning sun. Too ephemeral an effect to pursue perhaps? One … Continue reading
driveby garden 11/2/12
Bicycling past this house a couple days ago, I made a hard U-turn to check out the swath of silvery groundcover running alongside the sidewalk underplanting a couple shrubs. It’s probably a variety of Gazania rigens. As an inveterate plant … Continue reading
James Griffith; Natural Selection/Offramp Gallery 11/18/12
Offramp Gallery – November 18 – December 23, 2012 Opening Reception: Sunday, November 18, 2-5pm Closing Reception & Holiday Party: Sunday, December 23, 2-5pm 1702 Lincoln Avenue | Pasadena, CA 91103 | 626-298-6931 Artists Sue Dadd and James Griffith seem … Continue reading
Los Angeles’ Grand Park
I worked at the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles today. I love these occasional work assignments downtown. We drove up Broadway, taking in an early morning dose of awe at its many ghostly, majestic movie palaces like the Orpheum, now … Continue reading
cross-pollination 9/29/12
Annette and Gustavo Gutierrez hosted another “Cross-Pollination” on Saturday. These get-togethers were initiated by garden designer Dustin Gimbel, who’s already hosted a couple dinners, and are a hybrid between a revolving conversation society and garden party. There was just enough … Continue reading