Category Archives: garden travel

the children’s garden at the Huntington

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Denise

The last time I visited the Huntington Botanical Garden a few weeks ago, the prevailing theme for the day was kids in the garden. Moms with toddlers and strollers were everywhere. Field-trip kids in the cactus garden trudged along the … Continue reading →

Hazel White: Aesthetics of Inundation

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Denise

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden’s symposium “Natural Discourse” held February 10, 2012, has been constantly in my thoughts this past week, whether riding the train, driving freeways, staring at the garden. I’d never visited UCBG before and found the physical location … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, essay, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged "Natural Discourse", "Peril As Architectural Enrichment", A Pattern Language, Berkeley Natural History Museums, California College of the Arts, Chris Carmichael, Christopher Alexander, Hazel White, Isabelle Greene, Jay Appleton, Kelsey Press, Luis Barragan, Mary Anne Friel, MB Maher, Pacific Horticulture, Paul Licht, Personal Helicon, Richard Turner, Saxon Holt, Seamus Heaney, Shirley Watts, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden | 6 Comments

long weekend in San Francisco

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Denise

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

“Natural Discourse” 2/10/12 UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Denise

The kick-off symposium to the year-long collaboration between UCBG and invited artists and writers will be held Friday, February 10, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Natural Discourse” co-curators are Shirley Watts and Mary Anne Friel. Any attendees of … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged "Natural Discourse", Mary Anne Friel, MB Maher, Shirley Watts, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden | Leave a comment

Garden Party in Westwood, CA Oct 22 & 23

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Denise

With speakers the likes of such SoCal horticultural heroes as Bart O’Brien from the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, which is hosting this inaugural event, Lili Singer, Emily Green, John Greenlee, all whose talks will be spread across both days, … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel | Tagged Bart O'Brien, California native plants, Emily Green, Grow Native Autumn Garden Party, John Greenlee, Lili Singer, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Sesleria 'John Greenlee' | 2 Comments

Chasing Plants

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Denise

Post-Internet I’ve noticed plant desire has turned into a thinner and weaker strain now that it’s so easily satisfied. The really big desire, the kind that used to build up unrequited for years and years, is as analog as a … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Annies Annuals, Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum', Cistus Nursery, Digging Dog Nursery, Mathiasella bupleuroides, Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, Mildred Mathias, San Marcos Growers, The Dry Garden North Oakland, Yucca aloifolia 'Blue Boy', Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea' | 5 Comments

Palms & Lawn

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Denise

I’ve had a very interesting past couple of days. (Interesting in my usual narrow, horticultural sense of the word.) Thursday I finally made it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to check out up close the new Eli … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden travel, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged Agave guiengola 'Creme Brulee', Anne Raver, Austin, drought, Eli Broad, Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta', Getty Center, Jim Dugan, Kelly Griffin, LACMA, lawn replacement, Licuala peltata, Mark Simmons, Rancho Soledad Nursery, Ravenala madagascariensis, Renzo Piano, restoration ecologist, Richard Serra's Band, Robert Irwin, Texas, The New York Times | 4 Comments

Foreword to Piet Oudolf Landscapes in Landscapes

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Denise

I didn’t dare take this beautiful book on the recent camping trip, so it sat waiting in a quiet house. A couple pages behind the cover’s brisk Helvetica type is this arresting foreword by Robert Hammond, co-founder of the High … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, MB Maher | Tagged Friends of the High Line, MB Maher, Piet Oudolf, Piet Oudolf Landscapes in Landscapes, Robert Hammond, The High Line Park | 6 Comments

Into The Fog

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Denise

Every August we head for mists and fogs, usually those that creep on cat’s paws and shroud the coastline of Oregon. But this year, squeezed by budget and time constraints, we took the advice of Far Out Flora and Gardenbook … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, Plant Portraits | Tagged Angelica stricta 'Purpurea', Bupleurum fruticosum, Digging Dog Nursery, Digitalis lanata, Echeveria agavoides 'Ebony', eucomis, Kniphofia thompsonii var. snowdenii, Lobelia tupa, MacKerricher State Park, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Mendocino Headlands State Park, Van Damme State Park | 14 Comments

Sherman Gardens & Library

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Denise

I took the day off yesterday to check out some local nurseries for dahlias and eucomis in flower. (All my eucomis were bought as bulbs, some with leaves purportedly of varieties as dark or darker than ‘Oakhurst,’ but all instead … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden travel, garden visit, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave 'Royal Spine', Agave ferdinandi-regis, Agave macroacantha 'Blue Ribbon', Agave ovatifolia, Begonia luxurians, Echinocactus grusonii, Eriogonum giganteum, Matthew V. Maggio, Nicolaia elatior, Pacific Horticulture, Sherman Library & Gardens, succulent garden | 7 Comments