An Eng­lish cloud hedge with a Japan­ese lad­der from Niwaki.

Now that I’ve dis­cov­ered “cloud” hedges, the green blobs that hedges have been to me in the past are no longer a nec­es­sary evil. Bel­gian designer Jacques Wirtz has brought this style to pub­lic con­scious­ness, although vari­a­tions have been around for­ever, espe­cially in Asia. This hor­ti­cul­tural manip­u­la­tion requires patience, a build­ing block of the gardener’s arse­nal. Mature plants are needed to sculpt into the val­leys and peaks of cloud hedges.The words “courage and insan­ity” have been used to describe the process in the begin­ning, but it seems to pay off in the end. Or in the immor­tal words of Phyl­lis McGin­ley: the trou­ble with gar­den­ing is that it does not remain an avo­ca­tion. It becomes an obsession.

For more infor­ma­tion go to www​.jake​hob​son​.com; for tools, www​.niwaki​.com.

An entry from last year

First of all, thank you to my friend Alice for point­ing out that the Rose Parade is never on a Sun­day; there­fore it will be held Mon­day, Jan­u­ary 2nd. For those of us who like to see sparkling fresh flower cov­ered floats, I rec­om­mend going out to Pasadena Sun­day night some­time after about 9pm. All the floats are pulled up on Orange Grove Avenue in front of the Wrigley Man­sion wait­ing for the parade to start the next day. (What did you think, they wait until the last minute?) They are spotlit and it is a fes­tive scene…and you can get really close and see the detail. I took these pho­tos last year between about 10:00pm and 1:00 am. I can only tell you my expe­ri­ence, and hope that noth­ing has changed. I drove north on South Arroyo Park­way and parked as close as pos­si­ble to Orange Grove Blvd. between East Col­orado Blvd. on the north and East Del Mar Blvd. on the south. The streets are closed off to the east so you will have to walk up a hill but you will see some great old homes. Take some hot choco­late, have an adven­ture and let me know how it goes! Happy New Year to us all!!!

Another 2011 float

On the Web:

• Thurs­day, 1/​5, Los Ange­les Cac­tus and Suc­cu­lent Soci­ety talk on “Places you’ve never heard of, plants you’ve never seen” 7pm @ Sepul­veda Gar­den Cen­ter, Encino (www​.lacss​.com)

Sat­ur­day, ¹⁄₇:

- Rose prun­ing work­shop @ Los Ange­les County Arbore­tum, Arca­dia (www​.arbore​tum​.org)

- Hunt­ing­ton Gar­dens sem­i­nar held in Pomona on Sam Mal­oof exhibit and sea­sonal gar­den­ing (www​.hunt​ing​ton​.org)

A locust pod wreath

OK, I admit it. I get a seri­ous case of the blahs over the hol­i­days. I can’t be a hyp­ocrite about it, although I do wish every­one else the happy hol­i­day of their choice. The majes­tic wreath above kind of fits my mood. It was fea­tured in The Wall Street Jour­nal Decem­ber 22. Every year the Berk­shire Botan­i­cal Gar­den presents their Hol­i­day Mar­ket Place fundraiser, includ­ing the leg­endary Gallery of Wreaths. Gar­den clubs, heads up — this appears to be an excel­lent way to raise funds. The design­ers com­pete to dis­play and sell their cre­ative wreaths.

I had never heard of the Berk­shire Botan­i­cal Gar­den. Estab­lished in 1934, it is in West­ern Mass­a­chu­setts (i.e. the area known as “The Berk­shires”). I was look­ing at the upcom­ing pro­grams being offered and would love to live near this group. Next sum­mer, my very favorite time of year, I hope to visit. www​.berk​shire​b​otan​i​cal​gar​den​.org

On the web:

Sales: there are sales going on..be sure to check with the nurs­eries con­cern­ing the particulars..

• Sheri­dan Gardens/​Burbank/​www​.sheri​dan​gar​dens​.com
• Pot­ted Store/​Atwater Village/​www​.pot​ted​store​.com
• Plant Depot in San Juan Capis­trano has a coupon on their web­site, www​.plant​de​pot​.com
• Green Gardens/​San Diego/​www​.sdgreen​gar​dens​.com

Thig­amotrope Satel­lites with Air Plants from Flora Grubb

Thig­motrope Satel­lite is the eas­i­est way to make a ver­ti­cal gar­den indoors. Just screw it in the wall and your tilland­sias have a styl­ish new home. Thigmotrope Satel­lite is a steel tri­pod with a threaded base, designed to be a screw-​in perch for tilland­sia air plants.

A close up thigamotrope

A Christ­mas orna­ment from Laura Eubanks

On the Web:

Aus­tralian Native Plants Nurs­ery (Ojai) is fea­tur­ing a very beau­ti­ful plant this week called Euca­lyp­tus “Moon Lagoon”. Owner Jo O’Connell also has a new ship­ment of books for hol­i­day gift­ing. Check out her web­site by click­ing on the but­ton to the right.

Atten­tion: Palm and Cycad lovers: Owner Phil Bergman of Jun­gle Music (Encini­tas) is offer­ing a very desir­able selec­tion of palms and cycads, many of them new to his nurs­ery. Some are col­lec­table; there are cold tol­er­ant plants on offer. Phil is very help­ful to begin­ners and will make sure you get the right plant for your needs. He is also well known to col­lec­tors, and car­ries spec­i­mens from all over the world. Go to www​.jun​gle​mu​sic​.net (619−291−4605) for pho­tos and info.