The Central Valley Garden in Winter
In California’s Central Valley, the onset of winter’s cool, wet weather marks the beginning of the growing season for California native and medite…
Plants: Foliage plants, grasses, and succulents
Designing with Succulents
Most books on succulents treat them as treasured collectibles or as individual works of art. Few address the value of succulents as landscape material, which…
California Gardener’s Guide, Volume II
In the interest of full disclosure, I admit to being more than a little familiar with the format of Nan Sterman’s excellent new book, California…
The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes
Grasses are in the news! A recent front-page article in the San Francisco Chronicle extolled the virtues of a tropical grass now being tested by…
Married to My Garden
As Barbara Blossom Ashmun reveals in Married to My Garden, her new collection of essays, a romance with gardening may thrive even as relationships falter…
Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers
There seems to be a limited overlap between the universe of gardeners and the universe of floral designers. More’s the pity, for the two realms…
Flora of the Santa Ana River and Environs
Oscar Clarke and his co-authors, Danielle Svehla, Greg Ballmer, and Arlee Montalvo, have produced a unique and compelling guide to the flora of the lower…
Frilly Echeverias: The Fairest Succulents of Them All
The rosette shaped succulents known as Echeveria, native to Mexico, have colors as red as salsa, as opalescent as a south-of-the-border sunset, and as…
The Bellevue Botanical Garden: Celebrating the First 15 Years
To celebrate the garden’s first fifteen years, the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society asked Marty Wingate and book designer Virginia Hand to sift through decades of…