I love the culture of Latin America, especially Dia de los Muertos (All Saints Day, Nov. 1). It’s a celebration of loved ones who have passed away and who, one day a year, return to be honored and fondly remembered. Depictions of los muertos show them happily doing things they enjoyed in life, and are a charming, highly collectible folk [...]
At Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show last week, I shot photos of succulent container gardens on the skybridge, a glass-enclosed walkway. It wasn’t until I downloaded the images that I realized most included terrariums. The display “Portholes in Time: Gardens on a Minor Scale” created the pleasantly weird feeling of viewing a window [...]
This time of year, South Carolina’s warm, moist air is fragrant with Confederate (star) jasmine, above, and robust gardenias like those in the garden below. I was there recently to address the Charleston Horticultural Society (CHS) on my specialty, designing with succulents. Naturally I wondered if I’d see any. The CHS arranged for me to stay [...]
Every year, as Halloween approaches, I recall my visit to Professor Mordant’s garden on the forbidden island of Desire. I call it forbidden because it was rumored to be an eerie, inhospitable place—a volcanic outcropping devoid of vegetation. Nothing like the mainland resort where I and other garden writers had been sunning ourselves in style. [...]