My pastimes of thrifting and birding inspired me to create bird feeders from repurposed items. It all began a few months ago when I was given a commercial feeder to trial. Its peaked roof is “cute” (to quote a friend), but it’s made of plastic (shudder) and is a color I call “hose green”—a blue-green never found in nature. It [...]
Several years ago, I posted the first version of my “Twelve Days of Cactus” on GGW. This is an updated (and I hope improved) version that has a corresponding YouTube video complete with music. The “first day” of both is the same—that dove in a prickly pear tree is just too good not to use again. Now, see if [...]
The way echeverias resemble pine cones inspired my front-door holiday wreath. I used bronzy-gold painted pine cones the size of ping-pong balls and attached them, as well as the succulents, to a flat wreath form using hot glue. Surprisingly, hot glue doesn’t harm the plants. When doing holiday designs using succulents, be careful that the embellishments you choose don’t overwhelm plants with muted [...]
Garden writer and photographer Bren Haas, when interviewing me about my career and books, asked if I’d had a mentor for my photography or painting. I told her, “Light is a great teacher. I become transfixed when I see sunlight glittering on leaves, shadow patterns, or some lovely translucence. I’m uncomfortable in the presence of ‘wrong’ light—i.e. a windowless [...]
There was so much beauty at Waterwise Botanicals nursery near San Diego during the recent Fall Garden Party, I’m going to let my images speak for themselves. Cue the rhapsodic music! During the event, I did impromptu plant-pot pairings. The nursery gave away hundreds of 1 gal. succulents to guests Waterwise Botanicals nursery is a terrific destination nursery in Southern CA, [...]