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Project: fern bowl
I am completely in love with my new fern bowl, it makes me giddy every time I look at it. Rather than build up to an after shot I'm just going to go ahead and share one right away...I have Alison, of...
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My bougainvillea fairy-god-father visits, again...
Several years in a row now Peter and I have made a nursery-hopping day out of visiting Rare Plant Research's open house on the third Saturday in May. Back in 2017 when he came down for the day he...
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The Vercler Castle, a May drive-by
Wintertime in Spokane, Washington, can be bleak. Snow falls and sticks around; road sanding puts a fine coat of dirt on that snow, the roads, and cars. If the snow melts, the lawns underneath are...
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Wednesday Vignette; one of these things is not like the others...
Surveying the cactus selection at the orange big box store I found a surprise. One of these things is not like the others.A real flower in a see of fakes.I wonder how the plant managed to avoid getting...
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In appreciation: Metapanax delavayi
My Metapanax delavayi takes my breath away, daily. At least these days. The new growth has fully emerged and is holding it's bright green coloring. These new leaves hang above the older, darker leaves....
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Gerhard's Garden; spiky in Davis
I had the good fortune to visit Gerhard's (aka Mr. Succulents and More) garden in early April. In many ways his garden is my dream. He grows so many of my favorite plants in the ground: agaves, aloes,...
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Another Oregon agave is blooming!
January of 2012 I welcomed you to "my" Mediterranean Villa. With that blog post I kicked off a long term relationship with this garden and it's agaves. Most recently I visited to help the new owners ID...
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A May morning at Rare Plant Research
On prior year's visits to Rare Plant Research my friend Peter has had his camera in-hand as soon as we parked the car. Monkey see, monkey do, I did too. This year he didn't even take his camera with...
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Wednesday Vignette: Chile and Tasmania, so close
I think this is a first; the flame-like flowers of my Embothrium coccineum are still going strong when the yellow-green bottle brush blooms of Callistemon viridiflorus open. Or maybe this is just the...
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"Think before planting" (a well worded label)
After my lengthy battle to eradicate the Aegopodium podagraria 'variegata' (Bishops Weed) from the garden, I get a little worked up when I see it for sale at a nursery. Especially when there is no...
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Succulent columns
Let's go back to Santa Barbara in April, I know I won't have to twist your arm...The focus of today's post? These luscious succulent covered columns. I know, your eye keeps getting drawn to the huge...
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Where are they now? What I did with my purchases from BBC Steel...
Each time I open my garden for a tour, a different plant seems to be the "it" plant, the one everyone asks about. When 50 people came through on June 1st it wasn't a plant that got all the attention...
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Jana Olson's Berkeley garden
I've written about my visit to Marcia Donahue's garden last December (with my then fellow Pacific Horticulture Society board members), as well as our stops at Keeyla Meadows and Raul Zumba's gardens....
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A horticultural still life, at the Ruth Bancroft Garden
I love stumbling upon a work space at a nursery or public garden, somewhere not intended for the public eye. A spot where the people responsible for keeping the garden, and propagating the plants, move...
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A hanging succulent display, and thoughts on garden touring
We return to Santa Barbara and enjoy an up-close look at this succulent display...Instead of a tile mosaic, or painting, tucked into the niche above a water basin these homeowners display a bit of...
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June's Bloomday for 2019
I'm a blogging rebel; Garden Blogger's Bloomday isn't until tomorrow, June 15th, but I'm posting today. What can I say...July is usually yucca month in my garden, but the warmth this week is pushing...
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All you're missing is a banana tree...
Twice in the same week I had garden visitors look around the back garden and declare "all you're missing is a banana tree!" Both times we were standing about here, in front of the chocolate Albizia...
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Gypsophila aretioides
Gypsophila aretioides is one of those cushiony plants I love, but I'm smart enough to know I probably wouldn't have success with. Why? How about this description from the Missouri Botanical Garden:...
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Wednesday Vignette, crevice garden heaven
I'm back from a week in Colorado and the 2019 Garden Bloggers Fling. As usual I went a little crazy with the photos (over 2,000...) so it's going to take awhile to work through them all.We saw fabulous...
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My 2019 Garden Bloggers Fling plant haul...
Plant shopping opportunities were scarce during the 2019 Fling in Colorado, which I've been calling the Denver Fling, but we spent a day in Ft. Collins and a day in Boulder, so we definitely saw more...
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