This didn’t start out as a laboratory for resilient landscape design. It was just a low-maintenance garden for aging people to enjoy. Then one person was no more. The other lost mobility. Parts of the garden received no irrigation. Pruning back and weeding likewise disappeared. Yet the garden survived, mostly intact.
Tag Archives: plants
Oenothera Hookeri: a wonderful “weed”
It reseeds, it’s tall, it’s got more leaves than flowers. Its flowers fall off as soon as the day warms. But it’s also a fantastic thing to watch as night deepens. After sunset, the buds begin to swell. The sepals crack apart, then flip open. The petals emerge like popcorn, their motion apparent as youContinue reading “Oenothera Hookeri: a wonderful “weed””
Getting ready for the Gardens Gone Native tour
Grasses wave in the wind, lupines finish their blooming season, new plants adapt to their new home, hummingbirds gyre above native sage and honeysuckle. Aggressive weeds have been pulled, trees trimmed, the compost heap is full, hot and full of insects. The Gardens Gone Native tour is always a good excuse to work like crazyContinue reading “Getting ready for the Gardens Gone Native tour”
View Restored, lilac saved
Good maintenance can transform an unwanted blob into a thing of beauty.
Frosty Abstracts
A cold night paints the garden with abstract patterns of frost.
A foggy day
This ethereal foggy morning is now gone, blown away by strong winds. Wet, dewy fog has to be enjoyed while it’s here, especially in fall when it intensifies colors and transforms an ordinary leaf into a translucent jewel.
Testing a new plant: Dicliptera suberecta
Uruguay. I’ve never met a plant from there before, yet there it was at the nursery: Uruguayan Firecracker Plant (Dicliptera suberecta). The plant, in a four inch pot, was covered with bright red-orange tubular flowers, the type that shout, “hummingbirds!”. It has fuzzy gray leaves, suggesting that it might be a water conserving plant. OtherContinue reading “Testing a new plant: Dicliptera suberecta”