On a Sonoma Hilltop
The home of Mary and Lew Reid sits atop a hill at the end an unpaved country road that winds for several miles through some of the best of Northern Ca…
Plants: Foliage plants, grasses, and succulents
San Diego’s New Water Conservation Garden
Plants, soil, light, air—and water: the timeless ingredients of a garden. Arid Southern California challenges gardeners to create pleasing outdoor s…
Crossing into Paradise
I first saw a garden designed by landscape architect David Yakish at the San Francisco Garden Show. Up the steps, through the gate, between towering p…
One Thing Leads to Another
One of the particularly satisfying things about designing gardens for other people is that, in most instances, I get to consider the project as a whol…
Groundcover Grasses for Western Gardens
Ornamental grasses, the current rage in East Coast American gardens, have now taken root in the West. Their diversity, utility, grace, and beauty enth…
Pampas Grasses: One a Weed and One a Garden Queen
Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana), a plume grass from the pampas of Argentina, BraÂzil, and Chile, has been a popular specimen plant in temperate ga…
The Moss Garden at Bloedel Reserve
Frances Trollope angered Americans in the 1830s with the critical account of her traÂvels here, but the book is as interesting, today, for its descri…
Japanese Ferns for Temperate Gardens
For many gardeners the love of plants dates far back into childhood where, with no formal instruction, the child was touched by some magic of nature â…
Plants For Dry Shade
Nature herself (and not just the local nurseryman) often does not give us the plants we need. From leisure world the cry is heard: “I dream of a Jap…