An ever-changing floral extravaganza in a conservatory of some consequence is one of the The Strip’s sites worth seeking out. I’ll be honest. Las Vegas was not high my bucket list of Must-Visits. But a family reunion and the lure of checking out the Bellagio ’s fabled glasshouse was a win-win. And in Vegas you […]
Decorating a conservatory, garden or patio doesn’t begin and end with fussy plants and lawn chairs. And in this month’s article let me revisit my favorite trick – decorating with light: for me, luminarias and Christmas twinkle lights (see December’s article) are just the tip of bulb. With this article, I hope to win even […]
Succulent plants are ideal for first-time gardeners and suited to growing outdoors in mild, low-rainfall, frost-free climates, or in cold, damp regions, in conservatories or just a sunny window. Succulents are those fleshy-leaved plants that thrive in well-drained soil in hot, dry, steppe to desert-like climates. They are not frost-hardy, like plenty of sun, and […]
In Phoenix, Arizona, a holiday luminaria display adds sparkle to the Desert Botanical Garden, showing off the local flora as well as the artistic talent. Time was when the most exhilarating event at a botanic garden was feeding the ducks. No more. This year you could stagger through any conservatory that had an Amorphophallus titanium […]
Veterans are back on the front lines; only this time they’re securing our nation’s food supplies and sustainability by unleashing their inner farmer and establishing small homestead and urban farms across the USA. Colorado Springs was recently ranked as #7 (of 100) in a Best and Worst Places for Veterans to Live. That it should […]
When inspired to grow something that just is not suited to their climate, many gardeners are seized by a Rube-Goldberg-like creative fever to come up with any contraption that will get them to their goal. Often it goes beyond growing under glass, and has done so for generations. Enchanted by the idea of growing lemons, […]
Successfully raising seeds in a greenhouse for next year’s crop is just one of the many pleasures and contentments of gardening. But there are others. The garden year is ending and it’s time we took stock of our gardens and the successes and failures experienced from which we can learn what works…and what doesn’t require […]
German bearded irises are ideally suited to dry conditions in bright sun; they’re easy-to-grow perennials, with a fleeting but fabulous early-summer blossom time. Each May for the past few years, I accompany my best-beloved to MahlerFest, held at the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado. It’s taken me a more than a moment to […]
Eastern European ways with rock garden design have changed how we garden with alpines. Once upon a time, the alpine glasshouses at RHS Wisley, the famed display gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, south of London left me in speechless awe. It was like visiting an art gallery: Nano-tufts of rare aubretia, doll-sized clumps of […]
California gardeners are in the phalanx of water conservationists who are working to stem the effects of drought in the Golden State. While we gardeners in Colorado are just a little excited that the state’s legislature has finally spiked the law against the residential collection of rainwater, which served to resuscitate heated discussions about rainfall and […]
Water conservation and water-saving garden solutions have a creative edge in the Coachella Valley of south California, and in Palm Springs sheets of glass reflecting sheets of water give a refreshing fresh sparkle to arid gardens. Three months and two trips to California, from one destination south, to one north (which you can read about […]
Glasshouses, conservatories, and the mid-century modern enclaves of Palm Springs owe much to the invention of plate glass. Glass windows have been with us since at least the 3rd century CE, but they were dim little shards held together by lead seams, fracturing and distorting the view, but letting in more light than a sheet […]
