I love a good book that surprises you. When I was talking to a botanist a couple months ago and she recommended Oscar F. Clarke’s Flora of the Santa Ana River and Environs : with references to world botany, I… Read More »good book, cool trivia
This past winter I was noticing a weed popping up all around the yard that I hadn’t noticed before. I was mentioning it to John, and added, “I’m not sure what it is, though think it could be some sort… Read More »a new weed
Arleen of Camissiona’s Corner asked about how I made the little bogs where I’ve got various swamp and other moisture-loving plants. Here’s a quick rundown of the three different methods I use to keep these plants happy. The most straightforward… Read More »bog plants, three ways
Grow this plant and your garden will look exactly like this! (Yah, right… ) [ Right: Image of Echium wildpretii by Mataparda. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. ] I’ve got to be… Read More »getting real
This must be the year for my prima donna plants to finally decide to bloom. First it was the first bloom for me of the Agave attenuata over the winter. Now it’s this echium’s turn. This is Echium wildpretii, which… Read More »echiums!
As the big spring bloom winds down I’ve been struck by how many of the native plants have yellow flowers. It clearly offers the plants an evolutionary advantage since bees love yellow and bees are some of the major pollinators.… Read More »some local yellow daisies
Services that will print a custom fabric for you have been around for a little while. Now there’s Shortomatic, a firm that will take a design or photo that you upload and turn it into a pair of boardshorts–just in… Read More »yet another (fun) total waste of time
Colleen Miko, owner of the Pacific Northwest’s Colleen’s, a Landscape Design Company, has one of her garden designs featured in the current issue of Organic Gardening Magazine. In the interest of full disclosure I’m glad to say that Colleen also… Read More »colleen goes national
There are people who go gaga over gadgets, and then there are skeptical folks like me. If I buy gadget it really has to promise to do something I need it to do. (Case in point: I still don’t own… Read More »my favorite garden gadget
I now have a new appreciation for the work of field botanists. A couple weekends ago I had a chance to work on a rare plant survey on the slopes of Viejas Mountain in eastern San Diego County. I enjoy… Read More »21,015 tiny little plants