Archive for the ‘Garden Travel’ Category

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

A park in Savannah

What am I grate­ful for? Most def­i­nitely that I get to travel as much as I do, and that I got to Greece and Egypt before those coun­tries imploded. Of course I love my fam­ily and try not to take them for granted. My world would def­i­nitely be a sad one with­out my dog chil­dren. And I love work­ing on my web­site; it wouldn’t exist with­out the 170+ nurs­eries of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. Sat­ur­day is Small Busi­ness Day, a chance for us to sup­port our local nurs­eries, by def­i­n­i­tion small busi­nesses. I know you will do that Sat­ur­day and through­out the year!

This quote from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is by way of the Golden Gecko blog by Trey Pit­sen­berger at www​.gold​engecko​.com. Trey speaks for the inde­pen­dent nurseries.

Roger The Shrub­ber Speaks!

Roger the Shrub­ber: “Oh, what sad times are these when pass­ing ruf­fi­ans can say Ni at will to old ladies. There is a pesti­lence upon this land, noth­ing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrub­beries are under con­sid­er­able eco­nomic stress in this period in history.”

King Arthur: “Did you say shrubberies?”

Roger the Shrub­ber: “Yes, shrub­beries are my trade. I am a shrub­ber. My name is Roger the Shrub­ber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies.”

I just love that! As they would say in Savan­nah, Happy Thanks­giv­ing Y’All!