Tag Archives: California
Culver City Cactus Tower
Yes, it’s true, I’ve been prowling craigslist, hoping to stumble upon dream listings like “free fence post cactus!” or “unwanted cactus, you dig and haul away.” I want to line the east fence with large containers of mature succulents, none … Continue reading
supergraphic Deborah Sussman
When I visited Los Angeles’ Grand Park for the first time, I didn’t know that environmental designer Deborah Sussman, who passed away last week at age 83, was the force behind those shocking pink chairs and benches, a color Ms. … Continue reading
Posted in artists, design, garden visit
Tagged 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, California, Charles & Ray Eames, Deborah Sussman, Design Boom, environmental design, Frances Anderton, Grand Park, KCRW's Design & Architecture, Los Angeles, Pacific Standard Time at LACMA, photographer Jim Simmons, Sussman/Prejza & Co, World Landscape Architecture, WUHO Gallery
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the French Laundry’s Culinary Garden
“One score and seven minutes ago our partners brought forth on this town, a new restaurant, conceived in finesse, and dedicated to the proposition that all food is served soigné.” — Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry celebrating its 20th anniversary … Continue reading
Posted in edibles, MB Maher, photography
Tagged California, kitchen gardens, MB Maher, Napa Valley, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry, vegetable gardens
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green walls around town
The Smog Shoppe, a special event venue in Culver City owned by Woolly Pocket creator Miguel Nelson, famously deployed the pockets on its cinder-block facade in 2009, which has since been regularly reported on by local media and blogs. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave attenuata, California, Crassula multicava, Culver City, designer Miguel Nelson, green walls, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Singapore, the Garden City, The Smog Shoppe, Woolly Pockets
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parklets
“The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its everyday streets, the more successfully, casually (and economically) its people thereby enliven and support well-located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their … Continue reading
warm thoughts on formal gardens
Have I mentioned how hot it’s been lately? It’s the kind of heat that gives a boho plant nut a deeper appreciation of the cool, austere lines of a formal garden. A garden built not on the scaffolding of flowers … Continue reading
September and its discontents
Every September I’m startled by the heat this month brings. A heat that, if you’re not careful, can wick away inspiration. But then that’s what photos like this are for. Image found here At least two more months to go … Continue reading
the disappearance of summer lawns
Lawns are vanishing all over town. The chief ringleader and instigator is the Long Beach Water Department, with their irresistible Lawn-to-Garden Turf Replacement Program. Quite a few of my neighbors have already taken advantage of this program the past couple … Continue reading
Posted in climate, design, driveby gardens, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Achillea "Moonshine', Anigozanthos, architects Abramsom Teiger, Baja spurge, Calandrinia spectabilis, California, Euphorbia xanti, Gomphrena decumbens, Joni Mitchell's Hissing of Summer Lawns, Lawn-to-Garden garden tour 2013, Lawn-to-Garden Turf Replacement Program, Long Beach, Long Beach Water Department, mediterranean climate, nepeta, Pittosporum tenuifolium, Russelia equisetiformis, Salvia chamaedryoides, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Stipa tenuissima, Teucrium azureum, Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Verbena lilacina
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notes from the Venice Home & Garden Tour 2013
Postcards from Venice Home & Garden Tour 2013
hidden mesoamerican palaces
not in Central America but here, in Los Angeles. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sowden House, of textile-block construction, built for friend and photographer John Sowden in 1926. Renovations by a new owner in 2001 included restoring the stonework and the addition … Continue reading