On a recent vacation to Quebec, my husband—who is not really into gardens—made sure we visited this one. It was listed in all the guides as a “must-see” for everyone from tourists with just one day in Montreal (we had two) to horticulturists. Comparable to Kew in London and the Huntington in Los Angeles, the Montreal Botanical[...]
I can’t help it. I turn vacations into garden-touring marathons. So when my husband Jeff suggested we visit Quebec for our 20th anniversary, I figured he was safe. I assumed that French Canada was, if not tundra, probably solid forest. But it turns out Quebec City is one big garden, or so it seemed to me, coming from brown and dry SoCA. Everywhere I looked,[...]
Wildfires making national news are a wake-up call for us Southern Californians who live near canyons and wilderness areas. Hot Santa Ana winds blow from the desert, desiccating already stressed plants and threatening to push backcountry brush fires all the way to the sea. We’ve had no rain for months and everything is tinder-dry.
Sustainability. I suppose like me, many of us wonder what this word has come to mean. In the words of R.E. Faro official blogger for The Late Show Gardens (TLSG), the word : “drifts perilously close to lapsing into the orbit of junk words, satellites reflecting a bit of light but with not enough charge[...]
Long before I had my own garden, I was in love with matilija (mah-TIL-eh-ha) poppies. A shrub of what I then called “fried egg flowers” grew near my apartment. It was one of those plants I had to have somehow, someday. And now I do, but like most things this side of Eden, Romneya coulteri is not[...]