“To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld.” – Nelson Mandela When I flew in to Tel Aviv a few weeks ago, I felt[...]
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,[...]
Designer Katie Christensen of Miss Katie’s Garden recently conducted a fun workshop at Weidner’s Gardens nursery in Encinitas, CA. Katie showed a simple technique for making lovely, long-lasting, succulent-adorned headbands and art-to-wear items. Such easy-to-make succulent-embellished adornments are perfect for weddings, May Day celebrations, Mother’s Day, garden events, and parent-child projects. “If you can glue moss to it,” Katie[...]
Written by Benjamin Vogt, Guest Contributor One late summer afternoon I was crawling around on my knees out back, getting a view of the garden’s undercarriage where so much of the real action happens – spiders nabbing prey, beetles walking from stem to stem, ants leaving scent markers to food. On my weary knees I[...]
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[...]