Sometimes I marvel when I look back at all the photos. I also worry a little that I missed a lot by constantly taking pictures instead of just using my eyeballs. But that’s not right, because I wouldn’t remember if I hadn’t taken the snap. I dunno. There must be a good balance in there somewhere. What say ye? (more…)
Why yes, there is more. Tons more. And we didn’t even make through all the gardens. It reminds of when my Art History teacher recounted living in Paris. It got to a point, he said, where he’d think, Ho Hum, another wondrous cathedral, and then waltz past with a baguette slung across his shoulder. “It was like trying to eat a whole cheesecake.”
Yep. Huntington’s Desert Garden is wondrous–but I wouldn’t want to try and eat it in one sitting.
I don’t know how one tells a story about Huntington Gardens. I’m overwhelmed every time I try to sort photos into some logical order. I could make a career of studying the plants here–and which are likely to grow together naturally. Visiting this garden raised so many questions.
Thusly, I’ll give you pictures. For now, they can tell their own dang story.
I’m starting to think every front garden needs one. Mine sure does. A big old, stop-the-car, would-you-look-at-that, jaw dropping, statement plant. The kind you make sure to drive by when you’re in the neighborhood, like an old friend. (more…)
Controversy! Some of us at plant lust and friends love snow, and others hate it. I’m in the minority on the love-it side.
Snow makes my heart happy. We only see it every few years in Portland, and it’s usually fleeting. I watch the winter weather forecast eagerly, looking for signs of hope. Most of the time, snowflake forecasts are fools gold.
Even though I pray for snow, I understand the heartbreak when those of us pushing the limits of our planting zones have our hopes for mild winters dashed. I know a wintery day brings some people down the same way a 100 degree day sinks my heart. But the universe is indifferent to our suffering, all we get to do is watch.
This weekend’s snow was followed by freezing rain. I know. Even less popular than snow. Some of the plants may not survive their ice bath. But boy was were they pretty.
Have you noticed a trend of stylish shops with stylish plants on display? I’m seeing a lot of good plants in new places, and I like it.
My stepfather was stationed in Germany when he was in the military, and always remembers coming across a sign which read “Grün ist Leben,” green is life. Indeed. We never really knew what the sign maker intended. I guess it could be interpreted as a drug reference, but we like to think it’s a gardening thing.
Recent Design Within Reach catalogs showed off their fancy pants furniture alongside big agaves and cacti. I’ve noticed agaves and yuccas and opuntia, oh my… in all kinds of fashion photography. It makes perfect sense to me. Plants should be a part of our lives. Grün ist Leben.
Birthday-season has kicked off in my world, and I have a gift giving occasion just about every weekend from now through the end of the year, making September-December one big holiday party blur. For reasons I can’t explain, not everyone wants plants as gifts, so I’m venturing outside of the nursery shopping I’d really rather be doing during this frickin’ perfect planting weather. Happily, plants are having a moment in stores of all kinds, so there’s still some garden-y inspiration to be found while wandering the aisles.
A few years ago, at a party for “plant people,” I was introduced to a friend’s new beau. His first question, “favorite genus?” I didn’t hesitate, not even for a second, before answering…agave!
As I may have written here previously, my being a part of this plant lust endeavor can be traced back to a love for agaves and my personal blog, danger garden. My business partner Megan and I met because we read each other’s blogs, and we wrote about our passion for agaves, a lot. Of course being two introverts it took our third partner, Patricia, to actually get us talking, in “real-life.”
Recently we enjoyed lunch with friend-of-plant-lust Derek Powazek. Having escaped the big city (San Francisco), Derek seems to be adjusting to life in Oregon just fine. I won’t share too many details but he’s only been here a few months and has already bought a home, built raised beds and started a vegetable garden. There’s talk of chickens. He did admit there’s one thing he’s missing…
Showtime! Well, not quite yet, but it’s the time of the year I start thinking about them, the annual garden shows. How better to break the spell of winter?
I’m lucky to live in region that really does garden shows, not some “home improvement” show where a couple of landscape companies are stuck in the corner and they promise to install the latest in hi-tech outdoor kitchens, fire bowls and water features (but nary a plant is mentioned). (more…)
While out running errands one day I made a quick stop at the hardware store (not to be confused with a big-box store, after all Winks is the real deal). I was quite surprised to see an extremely healthy Brachyglottis greyi growing beside the parking lot.
That sighting got me all nostalgic for my own Brachyglottis greyi which just up and died last August…
I am a strong believer that when it comes to gardening, rules are made to be broken. Recently my garden was open to 80+ garden bloggers from around the world. The comments I enjoyed the most were ones along the lines of “seeing your garden helped me realize I don’t need to pay attention to the rules, they don’t matter, I needed to start doing what makes me happy.”
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