The Southern California Native Flower Garden
Landscape architect Susan Van Atta has established a reputation for creating beautiful, sustainable, and award-winning landscapes through her office in Santa Barbara. She has been…
Topics: Perspectives
The Araucaria Family: Past & Present
The ancient araucaria family (Araucariaceae) contains three genera (Araucaria, Agathis, and Wollemia) and forty-one species of cone-bearing trees nati…
Guerrillas in the Fog
"Guerrilla gardening” often involves a political action or public statement regarding land rights, land reform, or environmentalism. A recent guerr…
Through the Photographer’s Eye: Finding a Sustainable Aesthetic
How do I use my abilities to illustrate a sustainable aesthetic when few of us can agree what that ought to be, much less what it looks like? The trut…
Bulb
Can there be too many books about bulbs? Not for this bulbophile, especially when they are as beautiful as Anna Pavord’s latest contribution to the…
The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest
In my career as executive director of the Bloedel Reserve, I had a number of opportunities to present programs about Northwest plant collectors, including Archibald…
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…
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,…
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…