November 02, 2018
Dividing and conquering in the Volk Garden: GWA Pasadena
October 23, 2015 A long, shallow back yard sloping away from the house isn’t easy to turn into an inviting garden (I should know), but terracing and space-dividing hedges did the trick in this San Marino, California, garden. Owned by Robert and Caroline Volk and designed by Mark Bartos, this …
Formal axes, xeric plants in the Barrett Garden: GWA Pasadena
October 22, 2015 The second private garden I toured during the Garden Writers Association symposium in Pasadena, California, last month turned out to be my favorite. Owned by Ann and Olin Barrett, the garden’s formal layout with cross axes and focal points is made California friendly and contemporary with bold, …
Fall flowers for a Texas garden
October 20, 2015 My shady, evergreen garden will never be showy with flowers. But I have pockets of seasonal blooms that brighten the garden for a week or two at a time and please me when they appear. Right now, Philippine violet (Barleria cristata) is one of these. I have …
My garden on tour: highlights from the whirlwind
October 19, 2015 I opened my garden as part of the Inside Austin Gardens Tour last Saturday. It was my first time to participate in a public garden tour, and after all the garden prep, it was wonderful to finally put down the pruners and the shovel and welcome people …
Garden-tour fluffing and fall Foliage Follow-Up
October 16, 2015 A new yellow Hesperaloe parviflora peeks around a Yucca rostrata in the lower garden. I’ve attended many a garden tour, but I had no idea how much work prepping for one requires. Not because anyone tells you to, but because your own sense of perfectionism kicks in …
Tropical blooms in the Conlon Garden at GWA Pasadena
October 15, 2015 I traveled to Los Angeles last month for the Garden Writers Association Symposium in Pasadena, which included an afternoon of three private garden visits. The first one we saw was Don and Marilyn Conlon’s, a formally designed garden filled with bold tropical blooms, like this hot-pink bougainvillea …
Gardening books I’m reading right now
October 14, 2015 I’m going to need a bigger bedside table. Here’s what I’m reading right now, and just look at this awesome selection of design-oriented gardening books (and one magazine). I expect to review some of these in coming months, after the garden-tour craziness is behind me. But in …
Come see my garden on tour this Saturday, Oct. 17th
October 12, 2015 After a year of preparation, it’s finally here: my first participation in a garden tour! This Saturday, October 17, from 9 am to 4 pm, my garden will be open to the public, along with 6 others, for the Inside Austin Gardens Tour. On the website, you …
Garden decor lust sparks desperate question: where is Austin’s Potted?
October 11, 2015 I first visited Potted, the stylishly playful Los Angeles garden shop co-owned by Mary Gray and Annette Gutierrez, two years ago, while passing through town on the way to Santa Barbara and Lotusland. Since that first visit, I’ve ordered from their online store and received gifts from …
Visit to Big Red Sun garden shop in Venice
October 09, 2015 Named after a Lucinda Williams song (so of course I like it), Big Red Sun shuttered its cool boutique nursery in East Austin years ago. After briefly reopening in a new location, under new management, it closed again, and now Big Red Sun in Austin is strictly …
Falling for the Folly Bowl, a garden amphitheater
October 07, 2015 Twelve years ago, Los Angeles garden designer Susanna Dadd and her husband, artist James Griffith, built a back-yard amphitheater in a ravine alongside their Altadena home. Dubbing it The Folly Bowl, they’ve been hosting free, or nearly free, public concerts each summer, choosing unique performers that will …
Hillside oasis: the magical garden of Joy and Roland Feuer
October 04, 2015 While in Los Angeles recently for Garden Writers Association, I spent a day off-conference touring private gardens that Annette Gutierrez of Potted arranged for a small group of us. One of these was the garden of Joy and Roland Feuer, a welcoming and artistic couple who constructed …
Playful plant-lover’s garden of LA designer Dustin Gimbel
September 28, 2015 Concrete orb shish-kabobs in Dustin’s garden The Death Star was blasting mercilessly when I visited designer Dustin Gimbel’s garden in Long Beach, CA, last week — not at all in the mellow, sunny-L.A. way I’d been led to expect. But perhaps Diana and I are fated to …
Late garden party at Kris Peterson’s ocean-view oasis
September 27, 2015 Kris Peterson, Los Angeles blogger at Late to the Garden Party, saw her blog title unexpectedly come true last week. Or rather, my friend Diana and I did. With flight complications, we arrived in L.A. four hours later than planned and were indeed late to the garden …
