A few years ago when I started my blog I had no idea that the most popular post would end up being the post about my dwarf agaves. Readers have really gravitated to those posts. In fact, the most read page on my blog is the one on the work I did to my boutique agave planter…

Gardeners know how easy it is to add color to their landscape. The choices nowadays are truly endless and the list expands daily. What a great time to be a gardener. Red, orange, yellow, green, white, brown, purple, pink. All easy. Getting black and blue in the garden, however, can be a different story. So why is blue…

Earlier today I drove up to Costa Mesa to finally visit the Southern California Spring Garden Show “At Home in The Garden.” I have heard mixed reviews over the years about the show with some years being great and others a waste of time. The biggest complaint I hear from people now is that the larger…

Back on August 25th, 2015, famed plantsmen and palm tree growing legend Mardy Darian passed away at 82 years young. I first met Mardy in 2008 when I went with a few friends to tour his Vista, California, garden. In an effort to limit visitors and to generate some income to assist with his water bill, Mardy would charge…

Aloe hybrids certainly are not a new phenomenon. Aloes have been successfully hybridized for decades. Recently, a trip to a friend’s garden just reconfirmed my belief that many true species won’t have a place in nurseries much longer. Frankly, many of the new hybrids that are coming out at an alarming rate are big improvements over the…

It was hard to believe my four-week trip through Madagascar was about to end. When I first arrived, four weeks sounded like a long time. But as with any trip, time flies. My time was down to just a few more days. This final leg would involve a quick hike at Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park for a…

After a tiring, but amazing, four days around Andringitra National Park, I headed out for the next stop – Isalo National Park. The four-hour drive from Camp Catta to Isalo National Park was on one of the best roads in all of Madagascar. In fact, I can’t recall a place I drove in Madagascar where you could find a pot-hole-free road for this…

This is a continuation post from last week on my summit of Peak Boby. I stopped my first post at my breakfast break on day 2 in the Andringitra Mountains. I will now continue on with the second half of day two and include day three, which was spent around Camp Catta. This will be the post palm…