What types of gardens are you drawn to? The gardens that resonate most with me are those that are (or were) deeply personal for their owners. An exhilarating example here in Southern California is Ganna Walska Lotusland, a 37-acre nonprofit botanical garden located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. The unique and exquisite plants of Lotusland...Read More

Fusing architecture and landscape, Casa Prieto-López was designed from 1947-1951 by Mexican architect and Pritzker Prize winner Luis Barragán. On a recent visit to Mexico City, I toured this iconic project, now renamed Casa Pedregal by businessman and collector César Cervantes, who from 2013 to 2016 restored the home with architect Jorge Covarrubias.  The landscape too,...Read More

For the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the committed and energetic girls from South Pasadena Junior Girl Scout Troop 9461 on their Bronze Award, a community service project in which the entire troop decides on and commits to a project that serves their local community. Cookies for a cause! Just...Read More

Why plant a rain garden? You might assume that something with the words rain and garden next to each other does not immediately sound feasible for drought-stricken Southern California.  But rain gardens are a form of water harvesting — a way to capture and filter water that would otherwise flow into storm drains and eventually,...Read More

With much of the country experiencing record-breaking cold, I thought it time to share some of the photos I took during a fall visit to Anglesey Abbey, a  National Trust property in the UK that is renown for its Winter Garden.  Built on the site of a 12th century priory, Anglesey Abbey features 98 acres...Read More