I was at the wheel when I spied something out of the corner of my eye (on a side street), that I didn't think could possibly be real. A quick glance in the rearview mirror to make sure nobody was behind us and I stopped, put the car in reverse, and turned. Wowsa. Yep, that's what I thought I saw. I parked and walked back to snap a couple photos. This was the far end, the border with the neighbor. I almost feel sorry for them. They neighbors, and the agaves, of course. What's one of the messiest trees you could have growing above a thicket of agaves? A pepper tree, Schinus ..read more

Before we left for San Diego last month, I had a chance to ask local like-minded gardener friend John Kuzma about nurseries he likes in the area, he mentioned Walter Anderson (John has been known to make occasional buying trips). I'd visited this nursery on his recommendation back in 2014, but didn't think I'd have time this go 'round. I was wrong.  Ten years after my first visit and I'm now a fan of mounted staghorn ferns, I wasn't back then. The selection was vast (if I organized my photos correctly this one was $75, which compared to the prices here in Portland was a HUGE deal ..read more

Our days of perpetual sunshine (plus a record-breaking number of dry January days) had come to an end, replaced by low grey skies and threats of snow. So when last Tuesday was unexpectedly sunny I went for a long walk. I never set off intending to take photos for a blog post, but once I pull out the phone (camera), it's hard to stop! How could I not document these stunning Agave ovatifolia? (plus a couple of A. parryi) On the other side of the sidewalk there are a couple more (and they're a little tormented by conifer litter)... How nice it would be to have this front porch fern grotto ..read more

Our next stop at Balboa Park was The Botanical Building, aka the Lath House. This structure was originally built for the 1915-16 Exposition and is one of the largest lath houses in the world.   The building just reopened (on December 6th), after being closed to the public for three years while Phase 1 of a $28.5 million revitalization project was completed. Included in the renovation was the restoration of stucco arches, a new redwood lath roof, improved irrigation systems and lighting, and access for people with disabilities (more info here). The stunning view looking ..read more

In Monday's post I referenced the Balboa Park Club building, and shared a view of it from the side. Here's the front of the building and the plants... For a minute I thought it looked like the Dasylirion quadrangulatum (guessing?) was gonna bloom, but I think that's just congested new growth. I wonder if that pachypodium was set free from growing in a container like those I wrote about in my last post? Behold, the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden... I swear when we visited back in 2014 this was called simply the Old Cactus Garden (as opposed to the Desert Garden which is in an ..read more

When Andrew and I decided to spend a few days in San Diego and talked about returning to Balboa Park, my curious brain started to wonder, "what are the chances they'll still be there?" Well it turns out the chances are good... I'm talking about these containers, on the side of the Balboa Park Club building. They themselves aren't all that remarkable anymore, kind of sad actually. Although there's still something about the vignette that pulls me in... They mattered to me because when I saw them during our visit back in 2014 I had a very strange moment of déjà vu. I knew those cont ..read more

If you've been following along here for any length of time you know I love plants growing on other plants. Jungle cactus winding themselves around the branches of trees, pyrrosia that have completely covered a trunk so it seems to be enveloped in green scales—these things make me swoon. You've also probably been witness to my tucking tillandsia and other bromeliads (Fascicularia bicolor for example) into the hairy trunks of my palms—Trachycarpus fortunei and T. fortunei var. wagnerianus. Today I'm sharing my latest crazy project, ferns growing on palms... Here are two of my palms, photo ..read more

Welcome to the back garden! Come on in and let's start the tour. Today we'll see what the garden looked like at the end of the 2024 growing season—these photos were all taken last September. As you might have already guessed, it's gonna be a very long post!  The orange wall is the neighbor's garage and the north boundary of the upper garden. The brown wall is the back of our house. My garden is small, our lot measures 45' wide and 111' deep, and of course a chunk of that is taken up with the house, driveway and garage. The house sits to the front of the property, so the back garden is ..read more

For ten years running I've shared a comprehensive photo tour of my garden each fall. These posts are a snapshot, a moment in time, one that allows me to look back and see how the garden has evolved. This year I was busy putting together a pair of garden talks and just didn't have time to edit down all the photos I'd taken. That was a blessing in disguise, because it turns out to be a lot more fun to work through the photos in the winter. Today we'll "walk" the front garden, Wednesday we tour the back garden, and Friday I'll share a quick planting project I did in October and post video tours o ..read more

Construction of Cascada in the nearby Alberta Arts District has been going on for quite some time now. So long actually that I'd kind of forgotten all about it, until a couple photos showed up in a friend's Instagram feed. That spurred me to check it out for myself... "Welcome to CASCADA, our immersive wellness sanctuary built to be as healthy for humans as it is sustainable for the earth. Here you will find a community of people looking to connect with each other, who are dedicated to daily wellness activities, who are passionate about art, music, and adventure, and who value the opportunit ..read more