Category Archives: pots and containers

coastal PNW gardens late July

Driving north on Highway 101 now is a very different experience than just a few weeks ago. The roadside attractions are no longer mauve foxgloves, which seemed to go on forever, but now mauve fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium (formerly Epilobium angustifolium), … Continue reading

Posted in garden visit, journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | 6 Comments

the summer I planted pale yellow snapdragons

A farm stand was selling six-packs for $3 of these pale snapdragons, bordering on chartreuse. All wonky and swaying, not ramrod straight. Never having grown snaps before, I’m unclear if a lack of basal growth is normal or just a … Continue reading

Posted in journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | 7 Comments

full sun near the coast

Democracy is a garden that must be carefully tended, said one of our 21st century presidents. (Care to guess which one? Hint: his spouse famously broke with protocol and planted a vegetable garden near the White House. Ah, what innocent … Continue reading

Posted in climate, journal, Oregon garden, pots and containers | 6 Comments

a visit to the Vetter garden

I’ve been religiously checking the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s Open Gardens schedule to see what lines up with my own schedule for the approximate 2-hour drive from the coast over the Coast Range to Portland. And there were a … Continue reading

Posted in design, garden visit, Oregon garden, pots and containers | 5 Comments

a multiverse of springs

Thanks for the comments regarding successfully flying commercially with plants. I do feel even more emboldened! With my two little gardens, one in frost-free zone 10 and the other in zone 8b, I feel like I’m tumbling in and out … Continue reading

Posted in journal, pots and containers | Tagged | 5 Comments

garden miscellany 2/28/22

A quick garden report then we can all get back to doomscrolling. (Here’s a list of solid, experienced relief organizations that can help.) Another atmospheric river is hitting the Oregon coast, but here in coastal Long Beach we’re climbing into … Continue reading

Posted in clippings, journal, pots and containers | 6 Comments

catching up with the zone 10 garden

We arrived last Friday, and other than sleeping, I don’t think a broom has left my hand since. The informal team of neighbors and friends who took turns watching over the garden since we left the second week of October … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 6 Comments

garden clippings 9/7/21

Yes, that is a box full of chrysanthemums. Let me explain why such a wildly uncharacteristic flower, for me, is blooming in my otherwise mostly austere and dryish garden. It’s part of the ongoing experiment of trying cut flowers in … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, cut flowers, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 10 Comments

the path not taken (August fidgets)

There are as many ways and reasons to design a garden as their are gardeners — but Im with Billie. Its all about the feet (and paws). I love to play with the varying scale that moving through a garden … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, journal, pots and containers, succulents | 7 Comments

July 2021 garden report

With the drought tightening its grip, Californians have been asked to cut water use by 15 percent compared with last year. Even so, yesterday I let a hose trickle to deep-water parts of the garden, which was getting by on … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, Bulbs, journal, MB Maher, pots and containers | 7 Comments