Category Archives: garden travel

visiting Ms. Fish’s garden

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Denise

In 1993, when my boys were 5 and 10, we took our first vacation without them. It was a big emotional deal for all of us to be apart some 10 days, but I needed to see if there really … Continue reading →

Posted in books, garden travel, garden visit, journal | Tagged East Lambrook Manor, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties, Margery Fish, Rachel Cooke | 4 Comments

notes on some spring plant sales

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Denise

Is that a water pistol in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? I’ve been hearing from friends in the retail nursery business that the new water restrictions have them very worried. Indeed, I’ve been told retail … Continue reading →

Posted in Bulbs, climate, design, garden travel, journal, pots and containers | Tagged botanical garden plant sales, Dierama pendulum var. robustum, Flora Grubb Gardens, Fullerton Arboretum Green Scene, Huntington Botanical Garden 2015 Plant Sale, Leucadendron argenteum, Leucadendron laxum, Plectranthus zuluensis, Protea neriifolia, Rudbeckia maxima, San Francisco Botanical Garden plant sale | 11 Comments

CSSA 2015 Biennial Convention, June 14-19, 2015

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Denise

agave at South Coast Botanic Garden, a former open pit mine for diatomite extraction, then landfill, now botanic garden I should probably split this glut of information into several posts, but if I don’t sit down right now and do … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, commerce, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Agave guiengola 'Moto Sierra', Agave isthmensis 'Rum Runner', Aloe 'Martha Layhew, aloes, Brian Kemble, Buck and Yvonne Hemenway, Cactus and Succulent Society of America, CSSA 2015 Biennial Convention, Huntington Botanical Garden, Karen Zimmerman's aloes, Kelly Griffin, Osa pulchra, Panayoti Kelaidis, Pitzer College, Schefflera 'Nova', Sedum dendroideum 'Colossus', South African plants | 7 Comments

2015 Dates to Remember

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Denise

I’ve been working on 2015 plants sales and plant show dates under the heading Dates to Remember, top of the page. Please feel free to send along info on anything I’ve missed or something worthy that must not go unmentioned. … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, succulents | Tagged 2015 garden travel, 2015 plant sales, AZ, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix | 10 Comments

“The Artful Garden” featuring Shirley Watts, Portland, Oregon 2/15/15

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Denise

Detail of mural in the new reception hall at Rancho Los Alamitos. I don’t suppose there’s the smallest chance we’ll ever see a “bullet train” built that runs to Portland, Oregon, since the voter-approved Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed train has … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, design, garden travel, succulents | Tagged "The Artful Garden" 2/15/15, Agave schidigera, Aloe marlothii, Bilbergia nutans, Dasylirion wheeleri, Golden Barrel Cactus Echinocactus grusonii, Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, Portland State University Hoffman Hall, Rancho Los Alamitos, Shirley Watts, Strelitzia reginae | 9 Comments

completion of the High Line September 21, 2014

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Denise

“Before it was constructed, the New York Central Railroad had operated a rail freight line at grade, or street level, along Tenth Avenue, and men on horseback (“West Side cowboys”) had ridden ahead of the train with red flags or … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, photography | Tagged air rights, Friends of the High Line, Joel Sternfeld, Joshua David, landscape architecture, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York City, Piet Oudolf, Robert Hammond, The High Line Park, Transferable Development Right, urban planning | 12 Comments

meeting plants in person for the first time

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Denise

By now you’re probably wondering will this blog ever stop dining out on the Portland garden bloggers meetup. Just one more for now on the plants that really had my number. Which is undeniably an odd number, but the heart … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged Acacia covenyi, Acanthus sennii, Achnatherum calamagrostis 'Silver Spike'', Aechmea recurvata, Aeonium 'Zwartkop', Asphodeline lutea, Berkheya purpurea, Bupleurum spinosum, Cirsium occidentale, Cistus Nursery, Crambe maritima, Dancing Oaks Nursery, Eryngium maritimum, Garden Bloggers Fling 2014 Portland, hardy scheffleras, McMenamins Kennedy School, Potentilla calabra, Potentilla gelida, Potentilla hippiana | 23 Comments

got flowers?

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Denise

Some photos of Portland, Oregon gardens visited mid July that welcome flowers to varying degrees. Procreation is messy (to paraphrase a former secretary of defense), and zero emphasis on flowers and their disheveled aftermath is the answer for some gardens. … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit | Tagged 2014 Portland Garden Bloggers Fling, Blue Grama Grass, Bouteloua gracilis, flower gardens, July garden, Pomarius Nursery, Rhone Street Gardens | 9 Comments

back on the home front

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Denise

It’s finally happening. Miraculously, after a couple close calls resulting in an almost fatal wilt, Musschia wollastonii has survived and begun to hoist up that much-anticipated chartreuse candelabra of blooms. The Madeira Giant Bellflower must be an unforgettable sight in … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, garden travel, journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Aeonium 'Zwartkop', Agapanthus 'Gold Strike', Agave 'Tradewinds', Agave attenuata 'Boutin's Blue', Aristolochia fimbriata, Australian Native Plants, Calamintha nepeta 'Gottlieb Friedkund., Carex trifida 'Rekohu Sunrise, Cistus Nursery, Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Crambe maritima, Crassula pruinosa, Cupressus macrocarpa 'Citriodora', Cussonia gamtoosensis, Dan Hinkley, Digging Dog Nursery, Emilia javanica 'Irish Poet', Eryngium padanifolium, Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon', Euphorbia ammak, Far Reaches Farm, Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons', Garden Bloggers Fling 2014 Portland, Hayefield Seeds, Hibiscus trionum, Jo O'Connell, Leucadendron 'Ebony', Lotus jacobaeus, Mirabilis jalapa 'Limelight', Musschia wollastonii, Nan Onda, Olearia virgata v. lineata 'Dartonii, Pennisetum 'Sky Rocket', Prostranthera ovalifolia 'Variegata, Pseudobombax ellipticum, San Marcos Growers, Tagetes 'Cinnabar', Variegated Tataki Grass, Windcliff | 14 Comments

contain your enthusiasm

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Denise

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 →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Danger Garden, JJ Sousa Digs Inside and Out, Loree Bohl | 16 Comments