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Chanticleer Friday: The Ruin Garden
Once I knew I would be visiting Chanticleer Garden there were two parts I was most excited to see, the Teacup Garden, and the Ruin Garden. I find the idea of plants growing amongst the ruins of a built...
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That certain shade of green with shiny black, a New Year mantelscape
Once the Christmas decorations are in place I can't help but start to think about what I'll put on the mantel when the holidays are over and the decorations come down. After all having an empty...
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A new wreath too...
In my last post I wrote about the new mantel for the New Year, well there's a new wreath too...I'd grown rather attached to the aluminum Christmas tree wreath that hung on the wall behind our bed for...
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Chanticleer Friday: The Gravel Garden
We're back at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania. This is week nine of in depth coverage of my September visit to the garden as part of the Garden Fling (there are links to all the posts at the...
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Looking closer, with David Culp
After my September visit to David Culp's garden (during the Garden Fling in the Philadelphia area), I watched his webinar "Holidays in (& out) of the Garden—with David Culp" from Garden Design and...
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New plants! From a Dry Oasis to a wet (and cold) one...
It almost seems impossible to think now (as we've been below freezing day and night since last Friday), but during the first week of January it was mild enough that I mailed a tillandsia to my mom up...
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Chanticleer Friday: this is the end...
Here we are! The 10th and final Chanticleer Friday post. I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have. Here's the garden map that's been with us thru this entire series, today we'll walk through the...
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I'm still numb
I'm a member of a couple of PNW weather groups on Facebook. These people are positively giddy whenever there's a chance of snow or obscenely cold temperatures. They watch the weather models and discuss...
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Water, at Lotusland
When we visited Southern California in late November I had the opportunity to visit Lotusland in Montecito, CA. This was my 4th visit, the last time I'd been was spring of 2019, during the Bromeliad...
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Lotusland; structure
I'm doing one more non-plant themed post from Lotusland—on structure—before I talk plants. Naturally you'll see buildings, but I'm playing a little loose with the idea of structure and there will be...
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Indoor Ferns; rambling thoughts on a book and houseferns
I purchased the book Indoor Ferns, by Boy Altman (1998) last March after it was mentioned during a Hardy Fern Foundation Webinar. I finally got around to reading it last weekend.From the back cover:...
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Heronswood February 2023 visit, the rock garden
When we were in Seattle last year for the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival I somehow talked Andrew into a visit to Heronswood Garden. The trip began on a ferry from the Seattle waterfront.That's...
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Heronswood Winter 2023 visit
Back to my 2023 visit to Heronswood Garden. After exploring the rock garden and parking-lot-wall agaves, I was off to the fern garden, or the Renaissance Garden in Heronswood speak.En route there were...
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My plants, two weeks after the historic storm
In the weeks since I first wrote about the storm that hit our region mid-January I've spent lots of time surveying the damage in the garden. Most of the weak succulents were taken out last year, so...
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Plant peeping; two drive-bys and a nursery visit
I love it when I get a message alerting me to a nearby planting that I should check out, this one came in as I was finally preparing to leave the house post-storm. My car had been parked in the drive...
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A wet walk at the Swarthmore College Scott Arboretum
The best party planners are able to quickly pivot when plans change, and like a true professional our Fling host extraordinaire, Karl Gercens, didn't miss a beat when one of Sunday's private garden...
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Two gardens from the 2023 VHPG Study Weekend
It's been awhile since I've had a group of photos load backwards, oh the fun! Today we're touring two gardens from last June's Vancouver (BC) Hardy Plant Group Study Weekend. These are gardens I...
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Darts Hill Garden Park, 2023 VHPG Study Weekend
The gardens available for touring on Friday of the 2023 Vancouver Hardy Plant group Study Weekend included a public garden, Darts Hill. From our event brochure: "Darts Hill Garden Park consists of 7.5...
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The Sellers garden, a VHPG Study Weekend stop
This garden belonging to David and Wendy Sellars is my final post for this week of Vancouver Study Weekend garden visits, I toured this garden last June.I stepped into the garden via their steep and...
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My twist on a Spring Planting Plan for the PNW
Fine Gardening magazine asked me to submit a Spring Planting Plan for their regional experts section which appears in the April 2024 issue. They also encouraged me to have fun with it, so I submitted a...
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