As I sit here from my office the rain is constant and my yard is looking like a lake in some areas. It’s a good day to do some spring planning. Last year I taught some garden classes and really enjoyed sharing my passion for gardening. Today I am planning more classes for other venues as the need is so great. The younger generation is eager to learn and last year they came to hear all about vegetables, herbs and seeds. I saw a few sparks of interest in growing flowers so I will be taking the leap and giving some classes not only in design but how to grow flowers. Yes, I know for most of us growing flowers is easy but with communities densifying gardens have changed. They are definitely smaller areas to plant and our young people may only have a small patio. They want plants that…

I just didn’t get to spend enough time at the Huntington Library. We were probably there for only three to four hours total. The place is HUGE.

One of the massive buildings on the grounds of the Huntington Library.

Most of our time we spent at the Desert Garden. However, the grounds have 12 distinct gardens spread over 120 acres.

Versailles comes to Pasadena.

Not everything was fabulous. This scene with the grassy sward and the statues seems very out of place, like an imitation Versailles. Plus, how much water does it take to keep this lawn so green, and isn’t there a drought in California? I do like the distant view of the mountains, though.

Sasanqua Camellias

There were a few nice Sasanqua Camellias in bloom. However, I had been hoping for masses of blooming Camellias. And aren’t some Camellias supposed to be fragrant? None of these were.

Rose…

John Scurr House still looks quite special as you glimpse it from the DLR at Limehouse but it has an even more extraordinary history, both in its politics and its architecture.  It started life as a design showpiece – a daring example of municipal modernism and an exemplar of high quality tenement living for council tenants.  It came near to ending it as a slum but for its recent rescue and striking refurbishment.  This blog tells that story, one involving many of the leading names in social housing and addressing many of its key issues.

John Scurr House, 2014

The scheme was officially opened in July 1937 but the journey to that proud day for the Borough of Stepney was a complex one.  That the densely populated industrial borough needed new housing was not in doubt but what was desirable and what was practicable were fiercely controversial.

An aerial view…

The wildflower called Mexican hat, Ratibida columnifera, reaches its flowering peak with the formation of colonies in the late spring, but it’s common to see at least a few of these plants blooming here and there for the rest of the year. When I was at the Arbor Walk Pond on December 26, 2014, I noticed exactly one Mexican hat plant with several flower heads on it, but by then I’d run out of daylight and decided I’d go back soon if I could. The weather over the next couple of days was yucky, but on the morning of the 29th we had sunlight so I returned and took plenty of pictures, including the one shown here. The ray flowers on this Mexican hat, though a bit ragged around the edges, brought welcome bits of brightness to a landscape that has become mostly dun now that winter has arrived.