To make a succulent wreath, you’ll need about 100 cuttings, a wire wreath form, 24-gauge florist’s wire, a chopstick or ballpoint pen for poking holes, and a bag of sphagnum moss. The form, moss and wire are available at any crafts store. You don’t need soil; the cuttings will root right into the moss. [...]
Whenever I see Talavera I’m transported to a sun-drenched climate and a culture unafraid of color. The hand-painted majolica-like pottery from Mexico comes in a vast array of platters, dinnerware and vessels for holding everything from casseroles to cacti. Of course, the challenge with any decorated pot is that it’ll call attention to itself at the expense of what [...]
As we sat beneath shade cloth on a warm spring day in Bonsall, CA, Ushio Sakazaki told me how he became the world’s premier breeder of petunias. The occasion was Pack Trials, and I was there to cover the event for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Milling about us were nursery owners and buyers for garden centers [...]