I have been in love with grasses for a long time. I can pinpoint the day, more than 25 years ago, with a botanist at Ring Mountain Nature Conservancy Preserve, where I wondered why these grasses she was so keen on having me document where not garden plants. I have learned a lot, a whole[...]
Santa, baby, are you listening? Bring me some reading material to curl up with. Literary nonfiction would be lovely—such as all those books I’ve enjoyed by Susan Orlean, Scott Calhoun, Amy Stewart, and Diane Ackerman. I’ll take a great garden reference tome, too, like The American Meadow Garden by John Greenlee and GGW regular contributor/ace photographer Saxon Holt. I’d also be thrilled by one[...]
Of all the creative, exuberant gardeners I’ve known, Laurie Connable tops the list. Laurie, who now lives in Hawaii, once had a gorgeous garden near San Diego. After I profiled her for the San Diego Union-Tribune, we became friends. Visiting Laurie’s one-acre garden was a wonderful respite, like entering a magic kingdom. She’d pour me a tall glass[...]
When I run across something visually engaging in a garden, I take a photo of it, even though I’m there to see or shoot other things. Intriguing shadows are among my favorite finds. I love the way a camera preserves something so transitory. Sometimes shadows transform an ordinary object or scene into something magical.
One of the highlights of summer was my first trip to Europe, specifically to Piet & Anja Oudolf’s nursery and private garden in The Netherlands. I went for their Grass Days. Much like Fran Sorin (as she noted in her fabulous three part interview last month), I am a huge fan of Oudolf’s unique style. His gardens[...]