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The meadow perplex: messy democracy in the garden
 Subalpine meadow en route to Engineer Peak in the San Juans, July 2021I have hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS of photographs of meadows, nearly all of them disappointing. Few phenomena are more all...
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More meadow madness (Mongolian in this case...)
Scutellaria orientalisWhy would I show a single plant in a blog about meadows? the same reason that Vogue, Vanity Fair, Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and their ilk invariably depict drop...
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Vicarious travel!
We've all been cooped up so long with COVID, I don't know about you, but I'm itching to travel...since I don't have any trips for at LEAST a few weeks, I enjoy revisiting places I've been: come join me...
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A tree, a viper, a story
A tree far away...what could it be? We're in the very furthest east of Kazakhstan, not far from the "Austrian Road" built in these rugged mountains by German prisoners during the Second World War. It...
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The blood red heart of the matter: the Steppe
Paeonia tenuifolia This picture was taken on the 26 of April, 2018 near to border of Azerbaijan in the far east of Georgia, but it could well be taken in the Ukraine about the same time of year where...
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First flush
Cyclamen coumIf you look carefully you'll notice a bevy of little seedlings popping up all around the mother plant! Hurray...after growing C. coum here and there all over my garden, I finally stumbled...
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Mount Wells: first wild floral foray in Canada this year
Olsynium douglasiiOne of the special "bennies" of doing a lecture tour is the visits to gardens and nature one can pursue on the side, as it were...and my trip to Victoria to celebrate the 100...
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A gardener's garden in Victoria
Lewisia tweedyi 'Rosea'I start with a plant (a great plant that grows in both Canada and USA), since Janice Currie (and your's truly) is very much a plant person. Unlike most of us plant "nerds" she...
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Another Victorian gem!
Erythronium tuolumnenseOne of dozens of clumps of this wonderful glacier lily dotted about Cameron Kidd's amazing garden: he's only lived in this house a few years--the garden is fully established and...
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Hail Victoria!
Who doesn't have a musty image of the Victorian age? I think of it colored, as in old daguerrotypes, in musty, copper or tin colors, or perhaps the color of faded pink flannel. Corsetted, of course,...
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Guest Post: Tribute to Jerry Morris by Betsy Baldwin-Owens
EltonJerry Morrispassed away on March 29 of this year. I saw Betsy at Jerry's funeral last Saturday, and we reminisced about that remarkable man: I told her how much I regretted never taking pictures...
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I am of an age
 I received this obituary from dear friends in Toronto today asking me to share it: we will undoubtedly include a tribute to Barrie in the NARGS Quarterly (he was an eminent rock gardener in North...
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Penstemons: America's greatest wildflower and a new book!
Penstemon versicolorA classic penstemon in bloom: in this case, a rather rare and local species I'll discuss later--one of the reasons for this post as a matter of fact: photographed 20 years ago in...
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Victoria again! A few fun forays...
Erythronium oreganumHard to believe it's been a month: but couldn't resist showing a few pictures of the masses of E. oreganum (which we saw many places) none more dazzling than inside Victoria proper...
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Best In Show! (Colorado Cactus and Succulent Society show, April 2022)
Weingartia saipiensis shown by Jackson Burkholder: the most spectacular blooming winnerI have had the privilege of seeing spectacular cactus shows all over Southern California--not to mention...
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A treasury! Quite literally!
Lesquerella sp. (now Physaria alas) with Escobaria leei below (May 14, 2021)I should explain...Ken Ray is the Treasurer of the Rocky Mountain chapter. He is a treasure of a gentleman for our chapter,...
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Arvada's hidden jewel: APEX Simms in early Spring 2022
Pediocactus simpsoniiNot exactly hidden: more like "tucked in" behind a large building, surrounded by pickleball courts and a parking lot...This picture of Pediocactus simpsonii was taken in early...
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An astonishing garden
There are gardens one has to visit to believe. Jon Kaplan and Julie Billings extravaganza in the Berkeley hills (well south of Berkeley however) is precisely one such. Astonishingly, Jon avers he...
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A crazy cool crevice masterpiece
Ordinarily, on a bright, sunny late spring day photographing is a problem. But there's something magical about a certain garden in Berkeley: it's almost impossible not to take a good picture. So you...
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A kick-ass garden in the Berkeley Hills
 I've just featured two other East Bay gardens that are garden extravaganzas of a high order: I doubt those two gardens shared even 1% of their plant palette with one another. And now here is another...
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