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…
Seasons: Summer
Arctostaphylos for Pacific Northwest Gardens
We have been cultivating a wide variety of shrubby manzanitas at our nursery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and have been delighted to see them capt…
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…
The Rose
A massive book, with a simple, all-encompassing title like The Rose, brings with it complex expectations, associations, and inevitable comparisons. Every year numerous books on…
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…
A Wind-blown Garden on a Sea Ranch Bluff
The power of the incessant winds, which lash the bluff and everything that grows on it, was a lesson learned in designing a garden at The Sea Ranch, o…
Cyclamen for Summer and Autumn
My appreciation for cyclamen begins anew each year in late summer when the first flowers appear in gardens that usually look tired, dry, and in need o…