Plastica is one of my favorite stores in the world, owned by one of my favorite people in the world, the divine Carla Denker. When you walk into the store (on 3rd Street in Los Angeles), it is like the moment Dorothy drops into Oz - the color is suddenly ON. Carla stocks her store with the eye of a curator - everything is delightful, surprising, and well designed. And no - not everything is made of plastic - the store is a celebration of the plastic arts, not a kooky marketing scheme.

Right now Carla has tons of great stuff for the garden - bright tubs to haul tools and plants in, doormats that look like freshly mown grass, intricately woven plastic carpets and inflatable pillows for your outdoor rooms, beautifully colored egg-shaped bird feeders...

...(they look great in clusters), watering cans shaped like pigs - the list goes on and on. Visit the website and browse, and if you are ever in Los Angeles drop by and enjoy the kid-in-a-candy-store feeling that sweeps over you.

I know you'll love it!

This was supposed to be an answer to Chanchow's comment, but I can't comment due to that awful verification system where you have to input letters before they let your comment through ...I'm stuck in a loop... I was on my 12th go-round when I finally said 'ENOUGH!' and thought good small trees are something everybody needs to know about.
I am always on the hunt for the perfect tree! I keep expecting it to appear, the tree that I overlooked - the one tree that is small enough yet casts nice shade, has no messy fruit, is evergreen but doesn't look like a lollipop ... where is that tree?! Everyone in the offices of Elysian Landscapes (where I work) is hunting for 'THE TREE'; these few are as close as we've come for the Los Angeles area:
Geijera parviflora (Australian Willow)- my personal favorite tree, is perfect planted with drought tolerants ... but it doesn't have much of a shade canopy. The tree has a lovely 'weeping' profile, but it isn't droopy or wan - the branches sweep up, and the leaves hang down languidly. It is a beauty!
Citrus (not dwarf) - will give you shade, and some people say that if you live in Southern California and you don't have a citrus, you 're not living. I'd plant a Satusma, or an 'Oroblanco' grapefruit. If you cook, you've got to have a lemon - 'Lisbon' would reach the size you need for a shade tree.
Carrotwood, or Cupaniopsis anarcoides - is the best smaller - scale shade tree for our area, in my opinion. It has nice, thick mid-green leaves and developes a canopy at a young age. It does have fruit, but it is such a good tree that the fruit drop shouldn't be a reason not to get one. This is the tree we ( Elysian )plant when small gardens need shade.
I don't plant the Queensland umbrella(Chanchow's mom suggested she plant one) in areas where water is a concern. It is also too fast growing for my taste - anything that grows that fast tends to be brittle. It's a good tree for tropical plantings, but I wouldn't use it as a shade tree.
I hope this is helpful to you - to all of you - and if I'm not answering comments, it's a technical problem ... I'll be back, blathering away with my usual vigor!

There I was the other day walking the pups with Jan - when what do I spy in the front yard of a neighbor who has been known to collect a few interesting plants? The phantasmagorically beautiful Dranunculus vulgaris, or Dragon Lily! I muscled husband and dogs across the street to pay homage to the Dragon in her full glory, and was not disappointed. She had obviously just opened, because the smell of decay still hung in the air ... these babies, cousins of the famous Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus giganteum, whose popularity must be due to either a great publicist or a name that conjurs up images of an enormous you-know-what), are pollinated by bottle flies. There were two deep inside the sheath, covered in pollen and looking confused. After seeing this gothic enchantress close up, I am determined to use the Dragon Lily in my front yard. More than one- five maybe, if my neighbors don't complain about the smell (the second name, 'vulgaris' is truly appropriate - pee-yoo!). They will look so beautiful surrounded by Iceberg roses and Aeonium Shcwartzkopfs! Throw in some Euphorbia 'Martinii' and Echeveria 'Afterglow', and I have a perfect planting for under my Purple Smoke Tree.
Is this an amazing plant or do you think I'm crazy?

I love ornamental grasses - they add so much to a garden, I can't even tell you. They are textural powerhouses, giving you a sharp/linear/blade-y vibe and a soft focus/fuzzy/wispy thing going on all at once. I can't think of a garden that I wouldn't use grasses in - they capture the air; bending and swaying in the slightest breeze - dancing in what otherwise could be a static landscape. So why are some people so opposed to grasses in their yards? So often, when I'm presenting people with the plants I'd like to use in their gardens, they'll poo-poo these beauties - and the reason I am given 7 times out of 10 - is that it's "too beach-y" What? Beach-y? I think beach and I see palms, rocks, sand, seaweed... never prairie grasses! Can anyone explain this to me?
Anyway, even if grasses were "beach-y" so what? I don't understand people who segregate plant material- we can't use a mediterranean plant and a tropical one in the same grouping! Cactus and tulips- hiss, boo! Who made these rules so hard and fast? I feel that if you can make plants work together culturally, mix away! Eclecticism is the way of the Post Millenium! Let's all get on the bus! Pennisetum orientale = beautiful garden plant ... use it!

What the...? Is it a... a... bug? No! Everybody, this is Grevillea 'Long John', from Australia. Grevillea 'Long John', this is everybody.
The Australians are a great group of plants - tough, sculptural, super-cool. G. 'Long John' is one of the coolest of the super-cool, with long, skinny, needle-like leaves that make it look like a lacey pine. It's flowers are very unique, and a little hard to describe (when has that ever stopped me?) ...okay, here goes - the flowers of Grevillea 'Long John' look like a toothbrush that has little curly shrimp heads instead of bristles... or, a conga line of pink snails with extra long antenna? This shrub will eventually grow to about 10', right now mine is approximately 4' at it's highest tip, and will be adorned with these koo-koo flowers almost all year long. I have 'Long John' planted with Phormium 'Dazzler', Justicia brandegeana (otherwise known as Shrimp Plant ... are we sensing a theme here?), and Gaura 'Siskiyou Pink' - the cluster will come into it's own later in the summer as the Shrimp Plant gets it's groove on. I'll snap a larger photo then, I just couldn't resist giving you a preview of 'Long John' and his crazy -ass flower.

Okay, here we go again. Fires, Fires everywhere. This time it isn't just us - right now there are fires on both coasts. Florida fire representatives say this worst they've ever seen. Does anyone even question Global Climate Change anymore? It makes me so angry that the same old blowhards are still saying it is all a liberal fairytale. Last summer it got up to 117 degrees here in the San Fernando Valley! Los Angeles has always been famously mild - now, June-October are barely tolerable.
The fire in Los Angeles this last week was really close to me - Griffith Park is like our version of Central Park - it is a large park in the Hollywood Hills, about 3 minutes from Eagle Rock. The L.A. Zoo is in Griffith Park, as is the Griffith Observatory (I grabbed this awesome picture of it from Google - I couldn't take a good picture of the fire because the smoke came right at us), lots of stables that board horses, and wonderful hiking trails that wind through the hills. The fire is contained now, but some beautiful gardens in the trails, where you could stop and rest in the shade during your hike, are done for. The poor deer and racoons and other wildlife have been displaced from their homes, and are roaming around the nearby neighborhoods, drinking out of swimming pools and eating garbage.
The worse part - the fire was started by a smoker carelessly tossing away his butt.
Heavy sigh.

I couldn't be more thrilled! Loyal reader Sumcool sent in images of her lovely garden, which is on the seaside hills in California's Central Valley, and ... WOW. Breathtaking. The setting is amazing, and it takes a sensitive eye and careful hand not to overwhelm it. At the same time, a garden needs to be strong to compete with that view. Sumcool has done wondeful work here, so please join me in giving her a big, happy, 'Green Thumbs Up'! (okay, that's a little corny, I know - but excited gardeners must be forgiven. By the way, click on the images to enlarge and drink in the details...)
I've picked her brain a little, so join me in gleaning some valuable gardening tips from our friend...

When and how did you start gardening?
When the children were young, Steve and I had a vegetable garden, orchard, chickens and ducks, goats for milk, and the children had horses and ponies. As we all became older, all that went by the wayside as Steve and I pursued our careers and the kids grew up and left home.Then one day a friend invited me to the garden club. A new world opened! Started spending time in, and thinking about, the garden more, and I realized that not only is there more to life than work, but that there are many interests out there, and I don't have to identify myself through my job. So now I don't have one.

Follow the link below for more with sumcool...

Display from Los Angeles Garden Show 07
Most big cities have Garden Shows where designers and manufacturers present their wares and create elaborately themed display gardens to show off their style and creativity. Los Angeles' version has never been any good (just to let you know how impartial I am, I was part of a group that won Best in Show in 1997) The show was abandoned a few  years ago due to lack of attendance, only to be resuscitated this year with great fanfare. Heavy sigh. Why can't LA designers get it right?

Display from San Francisco Garden Show 07
Other garden shows are dramatic events, where designers compete to realize amazing, often over-the -top dreamscapes that thrill and delight, chock full of plants and unusual materials. Here in Los Angeles, the people doing the display gardens seem to be obsessed with 'reality', 'simplicity','authenticity' - BORING! And ultimately bleak, since these temporary landscapes are plopped side by side on a huge, sunny lawn- the minimal plant choices look wan, skimpy, tired, and thirsty. By mid-afternoon most plants are wilting, and so are the show's attendees. I overheard two women saying this was it - they'd never go to another one. I asked a couple of guys what they thought of one particularly heinous garden, and they rolled there eyes and said they couldn't say words like that in public.

One garden had a couple of nice hardscape ideas in it, but then completely crapped out on the planting. BOO! I wanted to get some inspiration going here! I was looking for ideas to knock off! Gimme something, people!!! Tell me, when (and if) you go to design shows, do you want to see the big ideas, or the thing that will fit in any back patio...
Jump with me to see the low-lights...

In the spirit of taking her job seriously, The Germinatrix has to expand on couple of items in this issue's (May 07) cheat sheet - the gardening card, pg. 124. (What a great idea, by the way!)
You'll have to use more pots than just one to get that variety of plants growing - for example, one rhubarb, three fennel, three eggplants, and one yellow currant tomato would be gorgeous, but would never fit in one pot (when fully grown, fennel can be 6' tall) ; even a 24" pot. A variety of containers of different heights and diameters will also help to make the composition as interesting as the plant material. Placing some plants in separate pots will also give you the flexibility to move them apart as the plants get bigger and wider, and need more air circulation around the leaves and produce. Always check the maximum height and width of the plants you intend to grow.
Vegetables also need more consistant fertilizer- use an organic brand like Dr Earth Organic 5, specially formulated for vegetables. Use as directed, but at half strength. Many people swear by fish emulsion, but others can detect a "fishy" taste to leafy crops like kale, chard, and lettuces.
Lastly, depending on where you live, eight hours of sun could seriously scald your veggie beauties. Try to locate your pots in a place that gets some shade during the hottest part of the day...
And a tip for tomato growers: water sparingly - don't hydrate them when their leaves droop. Tests show that dry-farmed tomatoes are denser, less mealy, and have superior flavor.
Now go to town with your summer vegetable project!