The coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) that I grew from wild-collected seed a few years ago is now a pretty major heap of greenery, something on the order of ten feet tall and even wider. The plant is a reliable, bright… Read More »the gloriously messy coyote bush
This will be my second year helping out with the photography for the spring native garden tour of the San Diego CNPS chapter. Last year I supplied a few of the images, but I mostly helped editing photos that others… Read More »photos for a garden tour
Thanksgiving Day saw us on the road, with some of that time exploring the crest of the Laguna Mountains about 90 minutes to the east of here. The stretch of S1 over the crest has one of those wonderfully poetic… Read More »Thanksgiving in the mountains
I often talk about all the weeds that come up in the garden. But fortunately there are lots of good guys coming up nicely. One little experiment the past two autumns and winters has been seeing how well well old… Read More »a little seed viability experiment
Migrations are in the air. East of here, along the Pacific Flyway, birds have been aerially changing their zipcodes. With impending winter and shortening days, my own mind shifts towards changing things up. This blog has been on hiatus of… Read More »autumn migration
I’ve been playing. In the darkness of late December I started to think about spring and the plants and flowers that were just a few months away. I’d recently started spending some time at the Spoonflower site where you can… Read More »native plant-themed fabric and giftwrap
Okay, it’s been a while since my last post, but this is definitely something I didn’t want to let pass unnoticed. Fifteen private and public gardens in northern San Diego County will join together for the Garden Native Tour 2014.… Read More »spring garden tour
The bog gardens have been looking really good this spring. Plants that I got as single-growth divisions are establishing themselves, and smaller seedlings are starting to approach their awkward but exciting teen years. Compared to the rest of the garden–which… Read More »safely in pots
Here’s a fun artwork from the Stuart Collection at UCSD, Tim Hawkinson’s Bear. At almost 24 feet tall and 180 tons it’s a little bigger and heavier than your average Steiff bear, but it’s gotta be at least as cute.… Read More »unbearably cute
We had pretty good rainfall in December, and early January had some nice wet stretches. Seedlings are popping up everywhere. After a long dry Mediterranean summer it’s easy to get lulled into not checking the garden frequently for weeds. But… Read More »when life gives you nettles