The weekend’s snow and slush is a perfect reminder that all the work we gardeners do, the plants work every day, in the same place, no matter the conditions.  I spotted this maple streetside in a Denver neighborhood and thought “The new leaves look so green under the white snow.”  I returned with my camera [...]

When I wrote that I was unsure how to live within a Western landscape in drought, it it immediately seemed that Nature took offence and sent snow and precipitation directly at us.  We’re still in a drought, but the winter storm that forced us to reschedule Susan Tweit and Jim Steinberg certainly illustrated another way [...]

I’ve been watching the quiet declaration of drought conditions with an eye more curious than fearful.  The US drought monitor classifies the current conditions as moderate drought, or D1, which is pretty low on the scale. The gardeners around me, however, range from “not on my weather radar” indifference to head-shaking, ground-staring, “I knew this [...]

People love to use their imagination to create new worlds.  It doesn’t matter if its a child creating a fairy garden or a grown-up gardener contemplating a new design for the spring: world-building is a favorite activity of almost everyone.  And the right blend of imagination and realistic techniques can make the world as compelling as [...]

It has been nearly a year that this blog has been up.  Last February, Celia shared her thoughts about sustainability as the very first foray into the Blogosphere.
Well, she has not stopped tackling the subject.  On February 12, the 2009 Passion to Action Sustainable Landscaping Symposium tackles “Muddy Waters - Who Owns the Rain?”  This [...]

This is the season of inspiration.  I know everyone talks about gardening in the spring, but this is the time of year that motivates me.  Every garden has come into its own.  Yards, parks, estates, landscapes: by now you know what they are going to be.  Thick slabs of watermelon, backlogs of zuchini, fulsome fruit [...]

In my family tree, I have relatives who would look at this post, look at me and say “Pride and envy are each one of the seven deadly sins.”  But today, I’m thinking that local pride is better for me than  the aloe envy I was feeling.

  
I have aloe envy.
I recently saw the diversity of plants that thrive in the Souther California climate.  The aloes they have there are incredible.  More than any other plant (and there are lot of plants), I wish I could walk among the aloes on a regular basis.  Just look at them!

 
Did the jade vine’s blooms reach June?  Maybe…  But I didn’t see it.  The end of May appears to have brought the the end of the blooming run.  Still, that’s almost twice the time I first expected. 

It’s true landscape architects speak about a concept called “borrowed views.”  You don’t own the bucolic pasture, the fabulous waterfront, or the mountain range to your west, but you can see it from your window.  You’re “borrowing” that view to add to your own space.  But when I say “seen-again” plant, I mean taking a [...]