Tag Archives: California

dog days of summer take toll on local nursery

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Denise

I’ve been scouring local nurseries for calamint recently and stopped by Brita’s Old Town Gardens in Seal Beach, California, last week as the likeliest possible local source for Calamintha nepeta. Brita always has interesting stuff, the kind of plants the … Continue reading →

Posted in plant crushes, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | Tagged Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate', Ballota pseudodictamnus, Brita's Old Town Gardens, Calamintha nepeta, California, Ein the corgi, independent nurseries, Phylica pubescens, Seal Beach | 8 Comments

scenes from San Pedro, Calif.

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Denise

I want to show you a house and garden I found earlier today, but first you’ll need to look at the Pacific Ocean, just as I did before I found the house. No, this wasn’t a vacation. I had a … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, succulents, The Hortorialist | Tagged California, Cinque Terre, Joseph Cornell, Point Fermin Park, Roman Polanski's Chinatown, salvage, San Pedro, The Big Lebowski, The Sunken City, Verbena bonariensis | 11 Comments

the learning garden at Venice High School

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Denise

I’m late posting about the Learning Garden, a garden stop on the May 2012 Venice Garden & Home Tour, and today the LG offers a class open to the public on vermiculture/composting, a deadline I had been hoping to beat. … Continue reading →

Posted in edibles, garden visit, MB Maher, science, shop talk | Tagged botany, California, David King, horticulture, Julie Mann, seed bank, The Learning Garden at Venice High School, Venice, Yo San University and Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine. | 6 Comments

bowl of succulents

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Denise

Hoping to do some holiday shopping for the hikers in the family, I drove out to Patagonia’s store at The Camp in Costa Mesa. Also at The Camp is the little shop Organic Designs by Aggelige, where I studied this … Continue reading →

Posted in design, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged California, Echeveria 'Afterflow', Lepismium cruciforme, Orange County, Organic Designs by Aggelige, Portulacaria afra, The Camp Costa Mesa | 9 Comments

this week on AGO

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Denise

A new garden in Los Gatos, California, by Jarrod Baumann of Zeterre Landscape Architecture, re-explores formalism in the landscape and proposes that modern materials like steel do not necessarily equal chilly results. Not when forged with a plant lover’s sensibility. … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged California, Jarrod Baumann, landscape design, Los Gatos, MB Maher, Zeterre Landscape Architecture | 1 Comment

Venice Garden & Home Tour 2011

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Denise

Buy tickets and a map at the Las Doradas Children’s Center, apply the lime-green wrist band, and we’re off on the VGHT 2011 (Last year’s post here.) Under overcast skies, thirty houses, covering several miles. Bikes would be the preferred … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged California, Dustin Gimbel, Jay Griffith, Los Doradas Children's Center, MB Maher, Naomi Saunders, succulents, Venice, Venice Garden & Home Tour 2011 | 12 Comments

Landscape Crit

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Denise

A new shopping center was planted with sharp plants four years ago. Agaves, yuccas. I was thrilled but also slightly alarmed.

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, succulents | Tagged Agave 'Blue Flame', Agave 'Blue Glow', Agave americana, Agave attenuata, Agave desmettiana, Agave parryi var. truncata, Agave weberi 'Arizona Star', California, Del Amo Mall, Salvia greggii, sansevieria, Senecio mandraliscae, The Malling of America by William Severini Kowinski, Torrance, Yucca aloifolia, Yucca rostrata | 8 Comments

Occasional Daily Photos/Lotusland

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Denise

The clamshell beach at Lotusland Backed by a low retaining wall dripping with dudleyas and other succulents (Thank you, Kathy!)

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, Occasional Daily Photo, succulents | Tagged California, Lotusland, Montecito | 1 Comment