Ever see something in a garden that’s so cute you just have to wip out your camera to take a picture (even if it means you’ll be late in picking up your kids) …
These violas are so precious, I wish I had cracks in my front walk for them too... © 2011 Twolipps
Tired of plants with a short flowering season? Try my neighbor’s trick…
…just ‘plant’ plastic flowers in the your front yard. NO ONE will know! READ MORE
Where, oh where has my little horn gone...? © 2011 Twolipps, Izel Plants
I was pretty excited when I bought a cow skull at a yard sale last spring. I had wanted one ever since going on vacation to West Texas. My inspriation? This garden wall at the historic Gage Hotel in Marathon, about 70 miles outside of Big Bend National Park.
Skull garden art at the Gage Hotel in West Texas. © stemmy
However, my long suffering husband, thought that hanging a cow skull in our house was rather gruesome. READ MORE
A bouquet of Anthurium from Hana Flowers.
Hawaii is known for having a very diverse climate, right? Rainforests, dry forest, alpine, sub alpine shrubland, it has got them all. On my last trip there, I saw several souvenir businesses dedicated to sending fresh “Hawaiian” flowers to friends, family or even to yourself on the mainland. Seems like an interesting idea, no? READ MORE
Well, this is what my yard looks like out the window behind my laptop:
The view out my window. @ 2010 Twolipps
Which means there’s not a whole lot of gardening going on ’round here. But I did come across READ MORE
“Don’t forget your booties…it’s coooold outside!”.
Indeed…as in many other parts of the country, the cold front has hit us hard here in DC. Without any snow to provide me with a scenic backdrop for my comatose garden, and considering the only plants that had not gone dormant, until giving up the ghost this week, were a few clumps of wandering Jew that I had planted as annuals…I’m moving inside! READ MORE
It all started with this picture...
It all started with a blog post about Christmas tree ‘living ornaments’, that are made of air plants, like the one pictured above. ”It’s too precious!” I said to myself. And as I’ve mentioned before, I have a crazy friend that is obsessed with air plants… I thought, I’ll just buy one for him from Flora Grubb and scratch that item off my Christmas to-do list.
But then the bean-counter in me raised it’s ugly head: am I essentially buying a $24 perishable Christmas ornament, that he’d be throwing out along with the Christmas tree? And even if it does survive a few months, ugh, he’d have to use distilled water, because the tap water in this city will leave a hoarfrost-like mineral deposit inside the glass faster than you can say ‘yuletide glow’.
2/16/11 UPDATE:
The Azaleas have been saved (for the moment).
US National Arboretum © 2009 Amanda McClean, IzelPlants.com
As a longtime resident of Washington DC, I am used to controversy. It is as much our mother’s milk, as celebrity gossip is to LA. The current controversy surrounding the US National Arboretum‘s plans to remove thousands of azaleas from their collection has all the elements one would expect coming from a scandal befitting the reputation of our nation’s capital. It involves a shortsighted decision that will carry long-term implications, the sole purpose of which is to overcome the loss of a few private dollars out of an otherwise considerable budget. There have been outrageous statements made by spokespersons for the NA and a swift replacement of its leader. All that is missing is an accusation of fraud or marital infidelity for us to label this hullabaloo as Azaleagate. READ MORE
An IzelPlants video, in which we poke fun at the US National Arboretum’s decision to cut down 10,000 azaleas.
For background info on this viral hullabaloo: check out Washington Gardener Magazine, GardenRant and the Washington Post.
ohhhhh. My favorite magazine, Garden Design is giving away a $500 gift certificate to my favorite destination nursery… Hurry sign-up before December 26, 2010.
How cool is this for an idea? GardenSpace is a way for your iphone to to map out all publicly accessible gardens near your current location. Currently this only works in NYC- which is a shame. I often find myself wishing for a little green space when I travel. And really that is when this app would be at it most useful, because when you travel you are unlikely to stumble upon cool little gardens without a local friend to guide you. Or this app.
