Tag Archives: California native plants

15th Annual Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour April 14 & 15 — a giveaway

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Denise

This weekend is the 15th Annual Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour, Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and if you’ve been paying attention (thank you!) Saturday, April 14, is also the day we’re … Continue reading →

a Laura Morton garden on the 2018 APLD tour

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Denise

On last weekend’s APLD “A River Runs Through It” tour, the “Blue Bayou” garden (cue Roy Orbison) designed by Laura Morton looked like “Party Central” to me. I volunteered as a docent for this garden so had ample time to … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design, garden visit | Tagged APLD Greater Los Angeles District, Butia capitata, California native plants, garden tour, Johanna Woollcott Wild Gardens LA, Laura Morton, watershed approach | 5 Comments

Salvia ‘Desperado’

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Denise

There’s an irresistible momentum that sweeps me up every time I see a great-looking but unfamiliar plant. If at all possible, it must be tracked down and brought home. And then the game begins: Where to plant it? Garden designer … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged California native plants, Garden designer Sue Dadd, Grow Native Nursery, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Salvia 'Desperado', salvias | 12 Comments

Toyon, California Holly

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Denise

This sturdy evergreen shrub native to California, Heteromeles arbutifolia, is also known as the Christmas Berry or California Holly. Here’s why: There’s an old urban legend that early European settlers in Los Angeles, where this holly lookalike grew especially abundant, … Continue reading →

Posted in cut flowers, Plant Portraits | Tagged California native plants, Cupressus macrocarpa 'Citriodora', eriogonum, Grow Native Nursery, Heteromeles arbutifolia, holiday berries, Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery, lemon cypress, Olea europaea 'Little Ollie', Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery, Toyon | 9 Comments

Bernard Trainor’s Landprints

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Denise

Ages and ages ago (last July in fact) a bunch of us garden bloggers visited gardens in Northern California at last summer’s meetup known as the Fling. For the temperate Bay Area, it was an incredibly hot day, and we … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design | Tagged Australian plants, Bernard Trainor, California native plants, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, Jason Liske, Landprints; The Landscape Designs of Bernard Trainor, Marion Brenner, Southern California Horticultural Society, Susan Heeger, Testa-Vought garden | 5 Comments

Fall Planting Festival at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden 11/2/13

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Denise

“California is defined by its Mediterranean climate. It is the smallest floristic province in North America, but has the greatest diversity of plants north of Mexico. It includes such characteristic vegetation as chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak woodland and grassland. … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, plant nurseries | Tagged California native plants, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, RSABG Fall Planting Festival 2013 | 4 Comments

freeway wildflowers

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Denise

Two Sundays ago, on Earth Day, in fact, I bounded out of bed early to head for a strip of wildflowers I’d been watching gain momentum for weeks and which looked to be approaching peak bloom. Instead of driving miles … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged aloes, California native plants, Centuarea cyanus, Cistus purpureus, Escholtzia californica, Kalanchoe beharensis, kniphofias, Layia platyglossa, Mediterranean climates, Mimulus aurantiacus, Pennisetum alopecuroides, Pennisetum messiacum, Phacelia crennulata, Red Bunny Tails Fountain Grass, scorpionweed, Verbena lilacina | 5 Comments

the wispy side of spring

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Denise

Insubstantial Sisyrinchium bellum, Blue-Eyed Grass, is an elusive subject for the camera due to its habit of shutting its petals around “magic” hour, that pre-sunrise/post-sunset window when a photographer can rarely go astray. Still, it’s an utterly charming denizen of … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged California native plants, Sisyrinchium bellum | 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

Walk the Walk

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Denise

Long Beach Water Department is leading by example to gently ease citizens out of the mindset that wants to seed or unroll mowable turf grass as the default landscape. Who else is better positioned to educate the public on alternative … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, succulents | Tagged Agave deserti, Agave shawii, Agave vilmoriniana, Calandrinia grandiflora, California native plants, Carex testacea, decomposed granite paths, Dendromecon rigida, Dymondia margaretae, Erigeron glaucus, Fonquieria splendens, Graptopetalum paraguayense, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Long Beach Water Department, Ocotillo, Sedum rubrotinctum, Stipa tenuissima, Toyon | 9 Comments