While most of the country has been suffering under a brutally cold winter, we in California have been waiting for winter rains. It has been brutally dry. We have not had a soaking rain for 13 months. So you gardeners can imagine the joy of our recent rains. I spent each day this past weekend [...]
I was all set yesterday morning to begin my post on drought-tolerant plants, seeing as how we in California are in the midst of a really dry winter. Then at breakfast, my wife brought me a single Camellia from the garden, set in a clever stone vase. It was such a lovely reminder that even [...]
Even in California, frost causes problems. And when it comes in early December it causes big problems. Almost every gardener I know here in the Northern part of the state pushes the limits of their garden. It’s California ! – it is our birthright to grow tropicals and tender succulents, plants that are barely hardy [...]
What is work in the garden ? For a garden photographer in his own garden, work shifts as the garden speaks. There are times when the garden cries out for care, and the work is sweaty, grimy, intensely physical. Then there are times when the garden sings and the work is quiet, aesthetically sensual, even [...]
For a garden photographer there is nothing quite like a landscape architect who knows how to use plants. Gary Ratway not only knows plants as well as any horticulturist I have met, he designs landscapes to show them off. His own garden in Mendocino, California is a showcase for garden design as landscape architecture, a [...]