“As our climate changes, so must our gardens”. So begins the description of the upcoming garden symposium in Santa Rosa, California, Changing Times, Changing Climate: Summit 2016 sponsored by Pacific Horticulture. Whether in California or anywhere in the world that we garden, this message must be heard. Whether or not we agree on the causes, or the timetable,[...]
The Eastern United States is an entirely different native ecosystem from California. Duh. The Central Prairies are different too. Oh yeah. And how about the Everglades ? The desert Southwest ? We live in a vast country with vastly different native plants, yet sometimes when we hear about the importance of gardening with native plants,[...]
I am on the road, photographing California native plants, and just too dang busy to think about anything else. My post will just be a “best of” selection from a presentation I gave at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. So here is a portfolio selection of great gardens using California natives. For those of you in[...]
What a lovely surprise to see, in Sunset magazine’s “Best of the West” (April 2016), a friend’s product featured (it’s at top right). Juree Sondker of Portland, Oregon, founder of Horticulture Skin Care, is the acquiring editor at my books’ publisher, Timber Press. She and I got to talking about the many benefits of oils derived from plants, which[...]
I live in California. In summer I can plan a camping trip and never worry about rain. I don’t worry about my roses getting beat up in a storm and veggies love all day sun. But I need to irrigate all summer; and so does every farm and every garden – all summer. It doesn’t[...]