What are we thinking about this earlier than usual daylight savings? I just can't get used to it... my rhythms have been thrown off. I'm used to it being much later in the gardening season when we 'Spring Forward'; it has me all discombobulated. I keep oversleeping as well... I can't get into the swing of this at all.
Anyway... I've been wanting a metal shade structure over my gravel lounge area, and I've settled on this giant one attached to The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Of course, mine would be freestanding (and much smaller), but everything else is perfect. I'm very into the brutal, I-beam construction, and I especially love that you have a clear view of the sky, but are still being gently shaded. And that rusty red color of the metal primer - very cool.
I'd plant vines on it, most likely Passiflora 'Coral Seas', which is the most amazing color, and Clematis viticella 'Polish Spirit', whose masses of small dark purple flowers bloom later in the summer, along with salvias. I'd also hang succulent globes from the structure, creating a kind of 'sky garden'. Yes, I think I've finally found my shade structure ... now if I can only find someone to make it without charging me the equivalent of my entire gardening budget for the year!

Want to make succulent globes? It's easy, fun, and the results are super cool...

I'm going to say it, loud and clear, and let the chips fall where they may - I am not a fan of tulips. Why? Okay, I'll tell you why - since you ask ... all that stem topped off with a U-shaped flower is not what I find attractive in a blooming plant. My very favorite flower is the green calla lily Zantedschia 'Green Goddess'; I also adore Love Lies Bleeding, both green and red, and kangaroo paws always find their way into my vases. Tulips, never ... except right now. Every spring, I buy a bunch of tulips and allow them their moment in the center of my table. Usually, it is literally a moment - but I find myself liking these tulips, much to my surprise. They aren't a new, fancy hybrid, it's the same old tulip. I think I'm just appreciating the simple, straightforward quality of this flower - it's not trying to be anything other than an orange tulip. You can't say that about an orchid ... orchids have the weight of expectation on their delicate shoulders. I'm tired of seeing orchids everywhere. I want to walk into somebody's house and see a bouquet of blooming artichokes on their coffee table! But right now, these tulips are making me very happy...
What flowers are making you happy? New discoveries? The tried and true? I'd love to get a new idea or two...

Panic over, the baby shower in Freezeland was a smashing success! In fact, I had such a great time I totally forgot to take pictures. Oh, well - I just left it the way it was when everybody left and took a snap this afternoon. Why did I worry so? People had fun and the space performed beautifully.
I'm lucky my garden has a strong backbone I can count on - tall evergreen grasses, hardy aloes and agaves that gave me lots of sculptural structure, and some colorful furniture with panache. I think the element of my backyard that works the best is the chunky stairs. Throw down some pillows ($3.99 at IKEA) and you have insta-seating. The firepit is always a gathering spot, and by getting a few bamboo poufs (again, IKEA - what did we do before they came to town?) to add to the chairs I already own, there were plenty of places for people to perch while warming themselves by the cozy fire.
The red Plain Air daybed always gets alot of use, so I imported a yellow bench that sits in my front door alcove to place across from it (the daybed) and create a conversation cluster, with little occasional tables in between for drinks, plates, etc. Basically, making a party space flow outside follows the same rules as inside - it's all about anticipating people's needs ... and since this was a baby shower, not a wedding or a rave, my post - freeze patio did just fine.

I'm all in a dither! I'm having a baby shower this Saturday for my dearest friend - my home was chosen because of my beautiful garden, which at this time of year is really nice ... EXCEPT NOW! Post freeze, all bets are off. I haven't wanted to just cover up the bareness - now that I have the opportunity, I want to do something thoughtful, something that 'ups the ante'. But I haven't thought of the right thing yet - I'm still in the design phase, and now I have 40 people coming and a garden that looks like poo. And here I am, supposedly the hot shot garden woman. I feel sort of fraudish right now. I fear judgement. Judy says it is a good thing for a garden designer to have a half-assed garden, because it shows that you're super busy. Is she right, or is she rationalizing because her garden also looks like poo, due to a house remodel that is going way longer than expected? I almost want to put up a sign, explaining the whole freeze ordeal. The pressure! I've been having dinner parties up until now, but with the early daylight savings, I can't hide my unfinished garden in the dark of night any longer. I have to get it done. But it won't be done the day after tomorrow ... I just have to suck it up and let my poor little plants perform as best they can. Wish us all luck!

Artist Robert Irwin blew my mind a decade ago, when I first saw the garden he designed for the Getty Center. Walking down the zig-zag path, listening to the sound of the water playing on the stones as it made its way down to a pool with a maze of azaleas floating in it (Yes! My least favorite plant is one of the central features in my favorite garden of all - and I love that!); my thoughts about what I could and would do as a garden designer were shifting, opening up.
Last Thursday night, he did it again. I attended Robert Irwin's conversation with Michael Govin, the new Director of the L.A. County Museum of Art (formerly of the DIA Center for the Arts), and once again, the boundaries of my practice as a designer have been re-drawn.
Wouldn't our world would be greatly improved by people learning how to think creatively, the way a great artist does? Irwin made the point that most people start things in the middle, not at the beginning - thereby taking a whole set of situations for granted. What if we took nothing for granted? What if we assumed nothing about a particular project at hand, be it an interior design, a garden, a book, a sales pitch, a political campaign, foreign policy? We could deal with our set of agendas and the parameters of the project, and then be free to think up what could be very simple solutions, elegant even - maybe transcendant.
See? I'm spazzing out! The best work gets you excited, and Robert Irwin's works and ideas do it for me. If you don't already know about him, check him out, and please go see the Getty Garden if you're ever in LA - second best is the book, available on Amazon. East Coasters, do yourselves a favor, visit the Dia:Beacon in the Hudson River Valley - Irwin designed the bulk of the project. The grounds are breathtaking.

Scrappy Girl Cathy alerted me to a new system for watering your plants - check it out on Inhabitat. It's called Botanicalls, and in a nutshell it is a system of moisture sensors and an open source telephone application that calls a designated number whenever a plant needs watering. The plants speak to you in their specific voices, and they also give you helpful tidbits about caring for them.
So let's see, how would this work ... okay - you want to go out for the evening, but you're worried that your plants might dry out while you're gone and rather than risk it, you elect to stay home. But along comes Botanicalls to save the day! You just program the system to call you on your cell phone, and you can rush home and water your thirsty friends! Or ... there you are, at home, you think your plants might need watering, but you just aren't sure - oh, what to do, what to do! Well, fear not! Don't hover over your plants, fretting and wringing your hands - kick back and wait for their call!
So far, Botanicalls only has a few plants on their system, and they all have distinct personalities. The Papyrus is clearly Mr. Euro-trash, which is perfect for this plant that flops all over the place and gets in your face. The Spider plant was such a spazz - I wanted less of her ... just like the plant; but I wanted more of Mr. Cuban Oregano, the latin lover. My overall favorite was the Scotch Moss - this guy affected a drunken brogue that made me laugh so hard I had to listen to his schpiel twice.
Watering houseplants is as easy as sticking your fingers a couple of inches into the soil and giving them a drink if it feels dry down there, but this project gets an "A" from me ... I mean, how often do you get a sexy oregano crooning in your ear?

Cutting back plants is the single hardest thing for most beginning gardeners to do. I've seen beautiful gardens go all to hell because the owner is afraid to cut. I've had to contend with distressed maintenance workers who are frightened of cutting because clients have yelled at them for it. I've known people who rationalize their fear of cutting as actually being a good thing because "nobody does cutbacks in nature..." Yes, that's true - so let's do what nature does and get some hungry deer to gnaw our plants down in mid-winter... or we could contrive to create a wildfire to renew and regenerate our plants and soil. Cutting back your plants is necessary for their proper growth and good health. I know that most people are so attached to the growth their plants have put on that they can't imagine hacking it off, for fear that it will never come back.
And then there's that word that strikes fear into the hearts of the unititiated - "Pruning." Say the word and hands begin to shake, brows knit in consternation- rows of precious bonzai and acres of intricate topiary float in visible thought bubbles above their heads.
Not so long ago, I was one of these baby gardeners who couldn't do the 'P-word'. Now, I tear it up in the garden, cutting like a house on fire ... notice I do not use the 'P-word'. I still see topiary when I hear it.
Do you want your plants to grow faster? Cut. Do you want your shrubs to be shapely rather than gangly? Cut. Do you want your herbs, vegetables, and flowers to really put out? Cut! Do you want to know how to cut? Read on...