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.
Today I'm passing through Dar Es Salaam on the coast of Tanzania before proceeding to a remote camp in the morning. Through sheer luck, the hotel we are at is next door to a botanical garden, which I couldn't wait to share. Dar Es Salaam is a tropical city south of...
My brain likes puzzles, and the longer I live in my own flip flops, the more I appreciate this as a bona fide creative strategy. Puzzle working is in my bones. My parents claimed I could work a wooden US puzzle when I was just three--and lickety split. Now it's my...
It's been quite exciting, watching new planter boxes go up all around me. For a couple of weeks it seemed every day's dog-walk yielded a new development. Then came the plants, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, strawberries, lettuces, kale...no wonder I'd come home hungry. Now...
I hope everyone is having fun in garden this week. There's so much happening. I'm surprised, yet again, that it's all coming back, bigger and bolder. The Eryngium agavifolium above is going nuts, doing it's best to embarrass its buddy, the Nolina. If this keeps up,...
No not “garden style” as in modern, cottage, prairie, or any of those buzzwords. “Gardening style” as in how you go about it, or as Patricia wrote last week, “gardening by brain style.” Her words got me thinking about my own style. Patricia herself has often accused...
Not all garden chores are created equal, but many are enjoyable on some level, even if they're grunt work. For instance, I don't really mind digging out blackberries. Carefully using the pruners to grab the stems, disentangling them from nearby plants, chopping them...
I think it might be a thing. The other day, I found myself looking around in horror at garden, seeing nothing but the work that needs to be done. And then it seemed so ridiculous, because this is self-imposed. Oh sure, the garden needs to be maintained to the point...
"Focal Point" and "Negative Space"…read anything on the topic of design and you’re likely to see those words. As I’ve visited, and photographed, other people’s gardens I’ve noticed how an empty container, placed just so, seems to act as both; a focal point and...
I feel giddy and witty and bright. Or at least I did until I woke two nights ago with a super duper sore throat. That ain't supposed to happen smack dab in the middle of spring gardening season. Nature is a riot of blooms. She's calling all pollinators. She's itching...
Hah. I thought I'd pick a simple topic today. Because at least in the Pacific Northwest, it is full-on gardening season, and there is so much to do. As I run hither and yon, horrified by what I see, I periodically remind myself, these are "troubles" of my own making....