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Drift, Feel, Think...
DriftFeel(keep feeling)Think...(forget?)This word study—a new year's mediation?—has been brought to you by a brick building in Klickitat, Washington.—  —  —Weather Diary, Dec 30: Hi 49, Low 39/...
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Happy New Year!
And as a New Year's resolution may I suggest...And hey, if you're free next Wednesday evening, January 6th, at 6:30 join me as I celebrate the release of Fearless Gardening with an online (Zoom) talk...
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The post-holiday mantle
I've said it before, and here I am saying it again. As much as I LOVE decorating for the holidays—which I do immediately after Thanksgiving—I also LOVE taking everything down as soon as Christmas is...
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It's publication day!
A proper, serious, type of author would never resort to this kind of foolishness. But you've never had any idea that I was any of those things, have you? Well I hope not! Truth be told, this outing...
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Wednesday Vignette, Top Nine...
If you're on Instagram you've probably seen the "Top Nine" grids that get posted at the end of the year. It's a fun way to look back at a year in photos, as ranked by visitor "likes". Here's mine for...
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We go out walking
A sunny Sunday afternoon was the only push Andrew and I needed to head out the door and go for a walk. While we've had some nice sunny and dry days, they certainly aren't ever taken for granted this...
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Gardening Australia, check it out!
These are strange times indeed. I'm someone who doesn't spend much time watching videos, I've just never seen the point. It feels like time wasted. However in the last month I've recommended a movie,...
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Gotta get back to the desert—the Desert Garden at the Huntington that is
Here we are again. I'm delving back into the photos I took when I visited The Huntington Gardens on December 21st, 2019. I've shared a few—here and here and there—but I'm finally ready to get serious....
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Hellstrip edging: rebar and woven metal strips
Another of those "hey it's not raining" moments happened recently and Andrew and I were out the door and on a walk. I was surprised to find this wonderful hellstrip treatment just up the street from...
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Wednesday Vignette, plants on plants
For this Wednesday Vignette we go back to my 2019 visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden...I am somewhat obsessed with plants growing on other plants, and so I was thrilled to find this example of a cactus...
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The Huntington: paddles and balls
Today's post is a study in plant shapes, the paddle and ball shapes of the plants in the Desert Garden at the Huntington in San Marino, California. Photos taken when I visited in December of 2019. We...
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January Bloomday
A new month, in a new year and here I am, walking around my garden looking for flowers. Doesn't get much better than that, does it? Simple pleasures in complicated times.We start in the back garden and...
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Cistus Nursery visit, in January
Every year I make a point of visiting Cistus Nursery in January. It's a mood-lifting teaser for the growing season ahead. Many years I've visited bundled up against the cold—toes numb by the time I...
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The Huntington: stinky and sticks
Last week we looked at the paddle and ball shapes found in the Huntington's Desert Garden. Today it's the sticks! Starting with the stinky sticks called stapelia. Well, more accurately the plant is...
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Wednesday Vignette... overheard
Over the years I've shared many snippets of plant related conversations I've been privileged to overhear. This is my latest. Andrew and I were walking and came upon two young men having an animated...
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Yes I really did put socks on my edgeworthia buds...
As I write it's the latter half of January and I still have non-hardy begonias looking good in my garden...There are canna leaves that aren't completely fried—ditto for the hardy banana, Musa...
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The Huntington: agaves and yucca and aloe... oh my!
Perhaps I saved the best for last? Nah, it's all good in the Desert Garden at the Huntington. Besides this isn't really the end, I still have photos to share from the other parts of the garden.Aloe...
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It was Portland's wettest day in over 3 years, why not stop and take photos...
It was a very wet day, yet here I was driving right by a garden I'm rarely near ... so of course I took a little detour. These photos aren't great, the light was bad and there was no way I was breaking...
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Carnivorous close-ups
As I mentioned when I shared the photos I took in Evan's garden (here), I desperately need to figure out the finer points of taking photos with my COVID camera (so called because I purchased it as...
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Wednesday Vignette: look, up there in the sky!
January of 2014 and completely by accident I happened upon a Portland house with cactus on its roof (photos here). Over the years I tried to find it again, I was curious to see how the opuntia were...
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