Category Archives: design
Garden Attire From Koreatown
I saw something tangentially related to gardens in the window of a golf shop in Koreatown recently, UV-protective clothing, which gives me the barest of opportunities to write about one of my favorite LA neighborhoods. Los Angeles’ most densely populated … Continue reading
The Kitchen Garden Contained
Is it possible for a vegetable to reach celebrity status? Tuscan kale has seemingly reached a kind of stardom with both ornamental and vegetable gardeners. Brassica oleracea var. acephala, aka Italian lacinato, Nero Toscano, black kale, dinosaur kale. I grow … Continue reading
Posted in design, edibles, Plant Portraits, pots and containers
Tagged black kale, Brassica oleracea var. acephala, climbing squash Trombetta di Albenga, Deborah Silver, dinosaur kale, Italian lacinato, Nero Toscano, Noel Kingsbury, pole bean Trionfo Violetto, small garden, urban garden, Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea'
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Another Look at the Huntington
I promise this will be the last post on my recent visit here. Unless I get around to writing about John Frame’s exhibit, which I urge any steam punk aficionados in the LA area to get to post haste before … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden visit, MB Maher, Plant Portraits
Tagged Art Collection and Botanical Gardens, Cedrus atlantica, Elastic Chair, Euphorbia 'Blackbird', Foeniculum vulgare Bronze Fennel, John Frame, Lonicera hildebrandiana Giant Burmese Honeysuckle, Lychnis coronaria, Punica granatum, Rose 'Sally Holmes', Salvia 'Indigo Spires', Salvia pratensis, steam punk, The Huntington Library
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Walk the Walk
Long Beach Water Department is leading by example to gently ease citizens out of the mindset that wants to seed or unroll mowable turf grass as the default landscape. Who else is better positioned to educate the public on alternative … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, succulents
Tagged Agave deserti, Agave shawii, Agave vilmoriniana, Calandrinia grandiflora, California native plants, Carex testacea, decomposed granite paths, Dendromecon rigida, Dymondia margaretae, Erigeron glaucus, Fonquieria splendens, Graptopetalum paraguayense, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Long Beach Water Department, Ocotillo, Sedum rubrotinctum, Stipa tenuissima, Toyon
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Aerial Fizz
Thanks to the late plantsman and artist Kevin Nicolay for this phrase he coined to describe plants that possess elongated fireworks of some kind, whether seed capsule or flower. I think it originates from an interview with Kevin in Horticulture … Continue reading
Plant Sale Weekend
I was determined to get to the UC Irvine Arboretum plant sale this weekend, having had to miss the Huntington Botanical Garden’s big sale last weekend. But before I could browse UCI’s small sale, there were some minor roadblocks. (Just … Continue reading
The Reading Room
Decades before I first picked up a shelter/lifestyle magazine or a Restoration Hardware catalogue, Al Pacino taught me the art of luxurious multi-tasking while having a long soak in a tub. Image found here.
Nick Horman’s Incredible Tape Ball
Yesterday’s post on the High Line provoked some interesting discussion on parks, which reminded me of this little movie MB Maher took last fall in New York, a scene he stumbled upon in Central Park. Artist and pickle impresario Nick … Continue reading
Posted in design, MB Maher
Tagged Central Park, Horman's Best Pickles, MB Maher, Nick Horman, urban design
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Missing Boxwood
House on the corner. Famous in the neighborhood for at one time housing local band the Cold War Kids and their legendary late-night poker parties. Bare, packed earth, a memory of lawn haunting the hardscrabble front yard. A single boxwood … Continue reading