My terrarium in 11/08 and now (right) You won’t find many succulents in the terrariums in Tovah Martin’s beautifully illustrated book The New Terrarium (Clarkson-Potter, with photos by Kindra Clineff), but the fact that—even with non-recommended plants—my terrarium is going strong after 14 months demonstrates that this may be the ultimate low-maintenance garden. Because [...]
Read more in: Designs, Tricks, and Schemes, Unusually Clever People
Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on December 22, 2009 at 6:03 am This post has 14 responses.
Last week in Santa Barbara I visited Casa del Herrero, a historic home and garden designed by George Washington Smith, the architect who is pretty much responsible for Santa Barbara's Spanish Colonial Revival style. The place was a vacation home for George Fox Steedman, an industrialist who made his...
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on November 11, 2009 at 3:39 am This post has 6 responses.
REALLY want one. And if nobody gives it to me I might just spring for the $80 myself.
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Posted by
Susan Harris on October 28, 2009 at 9:58 am This post has 12 responses.
My favorite macrophylla: well worth protecting Along with the unseasonable temps we’ve been whining about, winter protection rears its troublesome head. My most recent purchases include seven expensive broadleaf evergreens: three leucothoe (edit) “Rainbow”, three pieris japonica, and one leatherleaf viburnum (rhytidophyllum). That’s what we call dicing with...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on October 20, 2009 at 5:00 am This post has 14 responses.
According to Ofa Conference presenter Cathy Tenaglia of the Brickman Group, the good news is that corporations, institutions, and governments are willing to use perennials for public landscaping. Tenaglia started out by saying that early in her gardening career, she vowed to replace all the creeping junipers she saw...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on September 22, 2009 at 6:55 am This post has 6 responses.
1. Yang, D. S., S. V. Punnisi, K. C. Son, and S. J. Kays. 2009. Screening indoor plants for volatile organic pollutant removal efficiency. HortScience 44(5): 1377-1381. 2. Newton, L. A., and E. S. Runkle. 2009. High-temperature inhibition of flowering of Phalaenopsis and Doritaenopsis orchids. HortScience 44(5): 1271-1276. 3. ...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on September 21, 2009 at 5:04 am This post has 7 responses.
In today’s New York Times. Check it out. I think I like the Sonnier property the best, judging by the limited slide show. Though the Blell garden is magnificent in a way, I can’t imagine trying to relax around all that severely clipped shrubbery. The grass and pavement checkerboard...
Read more in: But is it Art?, Designs, Tricks, and Schemes
Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on August 21, 2009 at 11:23 am This post has 8 responses.
As Michele and I have commented many times, we love Asiatic and Oriental lilies and all their special hybrids, but they do get tall. Lilies look good tall, but only the martagons will stand up by themselves in the average garden. All the others have to be staked. ...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on July 21, 2009 at 10:15 am This post has 8 responses.
We’ve been talking a lot about color clashes at Garden Rant. The worst in my garden this year centered around the pale, pale pinks of two classic plants: ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peony and ‘New Dawn’ rose. ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is one of the tallest of peonies, with fluffy flowers of silvery...
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Posted by
Michele Owens on July 1, 2009 at 5:30 am This post has 3 responses.
Clashes, they say? I don’t think so. Nonetheless, thanks to all the good sports who actually linked to images or posts where (so they thought) they had inadvertently placed plants/flowers that failed to play nicely with their neighbors. Quite honestly, I failed to find much fault with any...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on June 25, 2009 at 5:00 am This post has 13 responses.
Not really. In fact, I know colorblind gardeners—even colorblind painters—who do very well, so I should not use the term lightly. But there are some color issues in my garden, and it is probably too late to do very much about them. I’m clueless about color planning and my...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on June 23, 2009 at 4:33 am This post has 39 responses.
You know how designers are always telling us to mass perennials in sweeps for impact? Well, same goes for shrubs, and this example from today's Garden Conservancy Open Gardens of DC illustrates the point. In other garden-tour news, the rich-folk gardens of DC clearly surpassed the opulence of even...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on June 13, 2009 at 12:33 pm This post has 9 responses.
It’s been established several times here that—even though I love giving away trimmers and other equipment I'll never use—I have no grass on my property except a few weeds that look like grass. But did you know that I live in a nearly-grass-free neighborhood? Everyone on our street is...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on June 9, 2009 at 11:00 am This post has 22 responses.
From the 2009 Canada Blooms When we were discussing the demise of the New England Flower Show, a commenter said, “Is it possible, at least, that from the ashes of these expensive, corporately-sponsored shows a more “authentic” kind of show can be born?” (I love our eloquent readers!) In...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on June 4, 2009 at 10:03 am This post has 17 responses.
We will have a thorough Chelsea Flower Show report on Thursday, written by someone who has actually judged the show and knows what he’s talking about, but I could not resist noting this shocker: Jekka McVicar, who is on the ruling council of the Royal Horticultural Society, is in...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on May 19, 2009 at 10:50 am This post has 12 responses.
So. You got rid of your lawn—for whatever reason—but you miss the feel of grass under your toes? You can have a cool moss carpet inside! I’m already into growing things inside big time, so I was attracted to this, but just as well that I don’t think you...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on March 11, 2009 at 12:47 pm This post has 14 responses.
Susan linked to this article in the New York Times to illustrate how garden shows have been suffering and some even shutting down in this economic annus horribilis. But apparently, the Philly show not only did well given the economy, it did better than it did in 2008. According...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on March 11, 2009 at 12:10 pm This post has 5 responses.
The house, which is already minus the odd statuary you see here. Well, by “we” I mean landscape architect Joy Kuebler and her team. I’m just kind of cheerleading and giving people free ads for services. And writing about it. And, well, by “sustainable” I mean it demonstrates sustainable...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on March 11, 2009 at 5:00 am This post has 4 responses.
At least I HOPE they're revealed. Because when I wrote here about my adventures in worm composting, commenters let me know that worms are invasive and we'd all better watch out. And I've noticed that that's no isolated concern. At DC's recent GreenFest the woman teaching vermicomposting was grilled...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on January 27, 2009 at 3:59 am This post has 9 responses.
From Boston.com comes evidence that city life impairs our basic mental processes. "After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control." And one of the main reasons is the lack of nature, "which...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on January 25, 2009 at 4:27 am This post has 14 responses.
