The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden
“I just don’t have the time”—perhaps the most common excuse for cutting back on reading, writing, painting, cooking, exercising, museum-going, and, yes, gardening. At least,…
Plants: Foliage plants, grasses, and succulents
Guerrillas in the Fog
"Guerrilla gardening” often involves a political action or public statement regarding land rights, land reform, or environmentalism. A recent guerr…
Great Plant Picks: Focus on Foliage
From stately trees to dramatic bulbs, selections from the Great Plant Picks (GPP) that are notable for their superior foliage comprise a rich array of…
Through the Photographer’s Eye: Finding a Sustainable Aesthetic
How do I use my abilities to illustrate a sustainable aesthetic when few of us can agree what that ought to be, much less what it looks like? The trut…
An Evolving Urban Garden in Seattle
Choosing a designer for our new front garden in Seattle was an easy task. I had been working with Richard Hartlage, then director of the Miller Botani…
The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn
John Greenlee’s newest book is a labor of love. And, as he informs us in the preface, his love is not entirely cerebral: “Grasses are…
Casa Dos Rios Gardens: Mainly for Wildlife
Our gardens, near Gilroy, California, were designed by Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscaping in Oakland, California. The concept was a semifo…
The Curator’s Garden
The “curators’ garden” is an area surrounding the house where we live as curators for the historic Dunn Gardens in Seattle. The curator’s gard…
The South Coast Botanic Garden: From Landfill to Jewel of the Peninsula
As the South Coast Botanic Garden approaches its fiftieth anniversary, it has evolved into a truly unique botanic garden, which happens to be built on…