“It’s unpredictable to be in a space that’s both indoor and outdoor in the same breath,” says furniture/accessories/interior designer Ilan Dei as he stands in the shop he founded last year in Venice, California. “People will be on their cell phones as they’re walking in,...
On Monday we were pretty jazzed about the birth of the future heir to the British throne, the son of Prince William and welly wearer/Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton. July 22 was also the birthday of one half of The Horticult: the original royal baby...
"Setting up your perennial garden may seem intimidating, but don't be afraid...
Yesterday, we started our very first batch of liquid seaweed fertilizer. As relative newcomers to gardening, we can be delinquent about (because we're intimidated by) fertilizing. Maybe that’s why we’re so attached to our carnivores — because they infamously self-fertilize? But we’re coming around. We recently discovered...
Attention, residents of San Diego County: Two new series, premiering tonight on KPBS, will give you a whole new appreciation for our fertile terrain. A Growing Passion airs at 8:30 PM and is followed by Savor San Diego With Su-Mei Yu, airing at 9:30 PM. (But...
The current state of our tillandsia — our sweet, innocent air plants — has officially thrown us into a shame spiral. It's a bad scene here in bromeliad land: No specimens have flowered in months. Their tips are scorched. These guys are looking dull, dull,...
They popped up out of nowhere. Our grape hyacinth flowers (Muscari armeniacum) have begun to rear their heads — or rather, skinny green arms. Last night we spotted their stiff, simple leaves sprouting from our flower bed, in spite of our being California bulb-planting procrastinators and...
The quickest way to incur the indignation of your East Coast friends: tell them you’re just now — in January — planting spring bulbs in your Southern California garden. “But we planted ours months ago!” they’ll rage at you on Facebook. Spring bulbs like tulips and daffodils...
Yesterday, we woke up feeling a little bit like compost ourselves, actually: dumpy and sluggish and all heaped together with fermenting material. Composting is one of those things we keep putting off, but for 2013, we're determined to make it happen. We were inspired to do...
We live in a catty neighborhood. Between indulged strays and outdoor pets, cats are constantly drifting in and out of gardens on our block. Our favorite is the darling Petunia, who bears an uncanny resemblance to RB’s childhood kitty, Oakie. A purring puddle of fur, she's picky...