Sometimes you don’t realize how starved a space is for plants until you throw one into the mix. (Where have you been all my life? said the bookshelf to the pothos vine.) Do that, and the next thing you know, you’re installing a whole avalanche...
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...
In this season of highly electrified plants — when any branch that can hold a string of lights gets lit — mistletoe generates its own spark. No batteries required. Placed above a doorway, a sprig of mistletoe is the official kiss-inducer of Christmastime. But out in...
Let's just say that Ryan Benoit, my partner-in-everything-actually, brings a lot to the table. Among them: plants. You might already know that he’s been designing beautiful living tables for some time now. Back in 2008 I’d proposed we create a living wall of succulents after seeing a...
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...
In terms of landscape juju, the iconic California canyon home occupies a wavelength all its own. Its mystique is tied to the idea of backyard as wildlife theater, and to the feeling you get there — a gravity-defying feeling that is, somehow, also very down-to-earth....
Wondering what to give the plant lover in your life? Well, we have some ideas. In fact, we have an ideabook full of ideas. This season we teamed up with home design community/rabbit hole of visual delights Houzz to curate an ideabook for the holidays. Inside...
Here we are again. It’s that time of year when the air is spiced, the homes (and hearts) grow warmer, and we spend countless hours stalking our friends’ Instagram photos for gift ideas. Yes, the holly-days have arrived! We spent our Thanksgiving weekend making bourbon mashed...
Wildflowers. They're sweet alyssum, they're art, and they're also a state of mind. I didn’t fully understand the latter until I met my friend Tanwi Nandini Islam, the Brooklyn-based writer whose debut novel, Bright Lines, will be published by Penguin in August 2015. We first met...
Modeled after the gardens of the Ming Dynasty, Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden is — with its smudgy florals, sharp stone edges and tastefully placed calligraphy — a bit like wandering around an illustrated scroll. The garden was our second stop during our trip to Portland,...
