Starting Your Own Native Bee Sanctuary
Native bees provide us with the essential service of pollination and are the most effective pollinators we have. Gardens can be easily designed or mod…
Seasons: Spring
Quarryhill Botanical Garden: A Sanctuary for Asian Plants
Quarryhill Botanical Garden is a hidden gem in Sonoma County's tranquil Valley of the Moon. This verdant garden is not only a world-class botanic gard…
A Golden Moment in a Northern California Garden
During a visit to the garden one cloudless day last May, I enjoyed the privilege of strolling underneath the fortress created by forty carefully train…
History of the West in an Altadena Garden
Our home sits on a south-facing alluvial fan at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Altadena, California. We designed and installed a semi-formal…
A Surprising Landscape at Pitzer
Never before had I seen a campus landscaped like Pitzer College, in Claremont, California. Its buildings are surrounded by the most sophisticated and …
A Perennial Border Reborn
In 1991, the Northwest Perennial Alliance (NPA) undertook a seemingly impossible project: design, plant, and maintain a 17,000- square-foot herbaceous…
Western Azalea: Beauty and Fragrance
Western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale) is a plant of great beauty and captivating fragrance that appeals to virtually everyone who comes upon it. T…
Smith-Mossman Western Azalea Garden
Britt Smith and Frank Mossman were passionate about our native, deciduous West Coast azalea (Rhododendron occidentale). The Smith-Mossman Western Azal…
Garden Allies: Solitary Bees
Bees played a central role in increasing this biodiversity. Unlike the highly social honey bee, native bees usually live a solitary existence. Solitar…