James Baggett (right), the editor I freelance for at Country Gardens magazine, has long legs. Fortunately I do too, or I would have been running during a tour he gave of Meredith Corporation’s headquarters in Des Moines last week. There was a lot to see and not nearly enough time; the facility encompasses 180,000 square[...]
When an aeonium elongates into bloom, you know the rosette is toast. But the flowers are spectacular. It’s a life lesson: Enjoy the moment. Beauty is fleeting. This is Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’.
Robin Stockwell (right), owner of Succulent Gardens Nursery, has a reputation of creating over-the-top displays for the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Like two years ago, a cube house with succulent walls and a moat. Robin’s known for his vertical displays of succulents—entire panels consisting of little plants with different colored leaves. So take[...]
I showed this photo recently at one of my presentations. In the back of the room, a little girl stood on a chair to see better. I understood; as a child growing up in Southern CA, I also was captivated by brilliant ice plant blooms. Those colors! As blindingly bright as ever a flower could[...]
These odd little African succulents start out egg-shaped, then split open to reveal a smaller capsule that in turn splits open at right angles to the first. In spring, being ice plants, they produce neon-bright, multipetalled, daisylike flowers.