Fall flowers: Which marigold is right for you?

When we started cooking with edible flowers, marigolds were one of the first blooms we learned we could eat. So...

28 October, 2021 / 0 Comments

It’s a ‘Wild World’: Our Recap of the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show

Flower show season is in full swing, and we are here for it. Ryan and I recently attended the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show like we did last year, but this time as invited guests and guided by the show's plant registrar Heidi Kirkpatrick. [caption id="attachment_23294" align="alignnone"...

28 March, 2016 / 0 Comments

A Primrose Primer: Caring for a Collection of Early Bloomers

Who has experience growing primroses? We're new to the primrose party, but here's an early observation: They are THIRSTY. Housed in the Primula genus, the primrose is a perennial semi-evergreen native to northern Africa and southwestern Asia. You'll also see them growing wild throughout Europe, from the British...

04 February, 2016 / 4 Comments

Sun Seekers: Our Passiflora Vines Are Flowering and Fruiting

Happy summer, everyone! We spent the solstice hanging out with the peacocks and torch lilies at the LA Arboretum — tour to come. Here in our yard, things are getting interesting in these last days of June Gloom. All three species of our Passiflora in bloom: P....

23 June, 2015 / 0 Comments

‘Art Alive’ 2015: Petals, and the Paintings That Inspire Them

Blossoms alone are a good enough reason to dance. When blossoms interpret, in their blossomy way, great works of art? Forget about it. Petals on the dancefloor. Bougainvillea boogie-woogie. Kick your stems up high. We recently attended Art Alive at the San Diego Museum of Art, the...

12 May, 2015 / 4 Comments

Intense Inflorescence: Day Tripping at the Annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show

Sultry and complicated and scandalously expressive, the orchid has a way of bringing out bee-like behavior in even the most sensible of people. (And on the flip side, making bees act a bit like delusion-prone human beings.) And friends, did we ever swarm swarm swarm...

19 March, 2015 / 0 Comments

Desert Flora and Beyond: 10 Tips for a Surreal Joshua Tree Experience

For the weekend we headed east — traded our cushy garden sofa and aloe hammock for a campsite in Joshua Tree National Park. Objective: to see clear skies, to clear our minds and to bond with friends we barely ever get to see. And to check out the...

13 March, 2015 / 0 Comments

Form and Function: At Home With Jennifer Gilbert Asher of TerraSculpture and TerraTrellis

You might remember the interview we did two summers ago with a design hero of ours, the luminous Jennifer Gilbert Asher. She's the artist and co-owner of TerraSculpture studio; she creates modern abstract sculpture and also designs functional sculpture for studio offshoot TerraTrellis. We love Jennifer's work because...

04 February, 2015 / 5 Comments

Pansies on Pennsylvania: The Winter Street Flowers of Washington, DC

It’s great to be back from winter recess. We took a long one this year — saw our families in DC and New York, and today I finish my third (out of five!) residencies at Warren Wilson College, where I’m getting my MFA in fiction...

12 January, 2015 / 2 Comments

Swirl Tour: ‘The Wreath Recipe Book’ Shows How to Make Hort Décor for the Holidays (and Beyond!)

At some point in recent years, the wreath took a leap. It jumped from boilerplate purchase of holiday decor to an ecstatic swirl of seasonal plants. Wreaths became something to make yourself and admire year-round. Local doors have never looked so good. If you’re as excited...

12 December, 2014 / 0 Comments