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Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA, Part Two
Veering off my previously traveled pathway (aka the desert garden) I was now entering the palms, cycads, bromeliads and ferns zone. I do love plants on the far ends of the spectrum and when a botanical...
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May blooms, buds, berries and birds...
Yesterday—May 15th—was Garden Bloggers Bloomday, as hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Our weather has been so miserable I wasn't really in the mood to get out and take photos, I almost blew it...
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Smart Planet Plants delivers...
When a message like this: "Hi Loree! We absolutely love your 🌿 content and would be happy to send you some of our drought-tolerant plants. Let us know if you're interested!" shows up in your Instagram...
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Visiting the Eyebrow House garden...
The notes I keep on my phone include a running list of gardens to drive-by and visit. These are gardens others have told me I should see, as well as the gardens of people that I've talked with, who've...
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Two wineries, no wine
I recently traveled about 35 miles south of Portland (just over an hour in driving time) to Durant at Red Ridge Farms.The reason for the drive was a book signing (this book) at their gift shop. But my...
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A Place All Our Own and Grow—two books I think you'll enjoy
There are couple of books I've read recently that I want to recommend. The first—which I read as part of a book club—is: A Place All Our Own; Lives Entwined in a Desert Garden, by Mary Irish. I read it...
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Mary DeNoyer's garden; there are podophyllum there
I first visited this garden in 2019, for the HPSO Study Weekend Event—and have intended to get back ever since. I finally made it on a recent, rainy, Sunday afternoon...Mary's description of her garden...
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I love you dad
Hands down the best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten were grown by my dad, here in his garden. I lost my dad last Thursday morning. I took that garden photo over the weekend. It’s amazing how quickly the open...
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Agaves! Free to a good home...
***update, the agaves went fast—thanks everyone!***Taking a break from the blog was a good decision, and I'm not going to lie; I entertained the idea of not picking it back up again. I've been doing...
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Visiting Spokane's Floralia
In times of great sadness it's important to do things that lift your heart up and reinforce the connections that make life worth living. In that spirit Andrew and I took time to visit a dear friend...
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A dish planter takes to the sky...
I brought this Senecio radicans (Curio radicans) back from SoCal last November. Why did I bother with such a common plant? Because this one seemed different. Its stems were a bright apple green, while...
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June's soggy Bloomday
I returned last Sunday (from four days away), to discover almost 4.5" in the rain gauge I had emptied before we left. From the National Weather Service: "With still another couple weeks left in June,...
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Jungle Cactus! At the Los Angeles County Arboretum
Here we go—back to late November 2021 and my visit to the LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. I wish I could accurately convey the excitement I felt when I stumbled upon this jungle cactus...
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The door was unlocked...
It's official. I'm sharing the unexpected side of the LA County Arboretum before I roll out a post full of beautiful botanic garden images on Wednesday. Last Friday I walked you through a collection of...
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Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden
After a couple of fun posts (here, here) from this garden it's time to get down to business! That means a formal post of photos from my visit to the LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden: 127...
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Vertical gardening with agaves...
For years my vanilla bean Point Pot has hung on the front of our garage, at the end of our driveway, and been filled with a Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire'—summer of 2021 and it still looked...
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My plant haul, from the 2022 NPA Study Weekend
The event was a Hardy Plant Study Weekend hosted by the Northwest Perennial Alliance based in Bellevue, Washington, and it was a most excellent five day adventure! The point of the long weekend was...
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Heat repeat
The last weekend of June is getting a reputation in these parts, a HOT reputation. June 26-28th 2021 brought the infamous "Heat Dome" and record setting high temperatures for Portland of 108, 112,...
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Forest bathing; a little Oregon, a little Tennessee
I took this first batch of photos on a May outing to Gales Creek in Oregon's Tillamook Forest, with Andrew. Since then a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, resulted in a second group of forest/fishing...
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A garden plot, in Nashville
This was my second visit to Nashville, home to my in-laws John and Feli. The last time we visited they were still living in their home on a very large lot, I wrote about that garden here and here....
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