We happen upon gardening inspiration all the time–an exciting new plant combo spotted on an apartment balcony here, a master gardener’s open garden tour there. We love to share the latest sights that have us seeing new plants and old plants in new ways.
I'm hearing a lot of grumbling over how awful our gardens are looking. I share your grumblings. So I thought I'd go on patrol for things that aren't entirely terrible. Have you noticed how a tight shot shows what you might otherwise have missed? I wholeheartedly...
I’ve recently been working on a project out at Intel in Hillsboro. This is my first experience with a long daily commute, and I’m spending a lot more time surrounded by concrete than I’m used to. Long drives, big parking lots, big buildings. I was pleasantly surprised...
Just a bit over a year ago, I had the vision of someday removing the giant swath of Juniper we inherited with our Flamingo Park House. The "Sea of Juniper" was some 12' wide and 40' long. Apparently, back in the 60s and 70s, people got the notion that mass planting...
Last February I was inspired to do the unthinkable; count my containers – and thus admit that things might just have gotten a bit out of hand. I wasn’t going to take that dangerous step alone however, I wanted company and thankfully a couple of gardening friends were...
I'm sure everyone is tired of my bellyaching about the weather, but come on weather gods, this is ridiculous. The biggest problem I see, besides the-whole-earth-is-in-trouble thing, is that it feels like late August, and we haven't even made it through July. The poor...
I've always been fascinated with caterpillars. I spent many hours searching for them when I was a kid, picking them up and watching them march across my hand. I've become more squeamish about holding them, but they're still a beautiful miracle. Somehow I made it to 40...
Oh sure, there's a lot going wrong with this dog-forsaken weather. But there's also quite a bit going right. So today, I'm looking at the garden as half full. (Even if all the rage is warning us we're due for a 9.2 earthquake that will swallow up 700 miles of the...
You go places you've been meaning to go, sometimes conveniently located right in town. On my sister-in-law's last day in town, we did a quick romp through the Chinese Gardens. I have a membership wherein I can take a friend, but how often do I use it. That's...
The one thing I knew I wanted to see in Zanzibar was a spice plantation. I think of spices as things that come from jars that come from stores. Have you seen the clips of Jamie Oliver showing city kids fresh fruits and vegetables, while they make sadly wrong guesses?...
My globetrotting sister-in-law, Kathy, is in town, and her visit provided just the motivation needed to make a trip to the Oregon Garden, finally. Of course it was HOT, because the weather gods must be crazy. Also the phrase that may not be mentioned in Florida...