Orchard Trees of Rancho Los Cerritos: Macadamia
Landscape architect Ralph Cornell added macadamias to the primary orchard at Llewellyn and Avis Bixby’s Rancho Los Cerritos estate, in Long Beach, C…
Regions: Southern California
So. Cal
Driving Miss Worn, and More
Miss Isabella Worn (1869-1950), known as Bella, rode on public transportation from Marin County to her office in San Francisco, as she did not drive a…
California Plant Families: West of the Sierran Crest and Deserts
Glenn Keator, a knowledgeable advocate for the use of California natives in gardens, has written several books of value on the subject. In his latest,…
A Bounty of (Hardier) Begonias
Lately, I've been experimenting with some of the newer, hardier selections of begonia in my Sacramento garden (USDA zone 9, Sunset zone 14). The group…
Garden Allies: Spinning & Weaving Spiders
Spiders are an integral component of a healthy garden food-web and a critical element of successful garden biological control strategies. It is easy t…
Van Atta Design Studios: Sustainable Design on a Small Site
Our intention for the landscape around our new studio building was to make the most of our small site. The opportunities for incorporating clever and …
The Begonia in California, Part 2: The Begoniacs
Continuing the story of California’s begonia industry is this series of brief biographical sketches of some incomparable people in the begonia worl…
Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies
Landscape architect Owen Dell long ago established himself as a maverick, promoting design solutions that actually enhanced the natural ecology of a site, while providing…
Garden Allies: Tachinid Flies
Tachinids are the most diverse family of Diptera (true flies), and help control many pests; of the parasitic insects, only parasitoid wasps are of gre…