I am getting back to my roots for this week’s blog post. When I started Married to Plants a few years ago, many of my posts were written to introduce readers (particularly in Southern California) to new plants that I have had success with and that they might enjoy growing as well. This post will…
This is the third and final update post tracking the progress of my large garden project. The next one I write will be to show the finished product all planted out. However, in order to get to the planting phase, I must first do some planter bed preparation. You’ll need to go back to the…
I have had a lot going on the last few weeks. As most already know, I am in the process of doing a pretty large landscape remodel and trying to coordinate all that with a busy summer schedule. The concrete work went in last week and next week the topsoil arrives for me to finish…
I love putting in new hardscape. Plants are the wildcard in your garden. You can’t totally control plants, no matter how hard you try. You just never really know how long you will want a plant or just how long it will live. Concrete work is permanent. It brings order to an otherwise shuffled landscape. With…
Architecturally speaking, few plants are more exemplary in a landscape than an agave. Uniquely shaped, tight rosette of leaves, clean lines and nasty spines give the agave its highly architectural appearance. The perfect plant for landscapes where this strong architectural form is desired. While they look great planted right into the ground, I personally find them much more notable in…
It has been 10 years now since I first embarked on a massive garden project. One that involves pouring concrete, bringing in boulders, and that will lead to me planting a whole bunch of palms, cycads, agaves and aloes. I always knew what I wanted to do in the garden, and for many years I had been…
As one might have guessed from many of my recent posts, I really do love aloes. I have found them to be quite adaptable in almost any garden setting. Along with my xeriscaping, I have intermingled aloes throughout my tropical areas as well. With my free-draining decomposed granite, they actually do very well with a lot of…
It doesn’t get any better than being able to see the plants that you cultivate in their native habitat. Why? Because no matter how hard you try, you can never fully recreate in your garden what Mother Nature does on her own. Or do you really believe you can do in a few short years what evolution has…