Tag archives: plants
Montecito’s plant people came out in force for Lotusland’s Exceptional Plants Auction, where collectors, growers, designers, and garden devotees spent the afternoon bidding on more than 200 rare and remarkable specimens, comparing favorites and talking shop beneath the garden’s famously exotic canopy. The savvy sale ranged from collector treasures to drought-tolerant and climate-resilient plants suited […]
Many years ago, in a land far, far away (New Hampshire), one of my neighbors told me that the reason his yard was so healthy was that he talked to his plants every day. I laughed. “Do they talk back?” I asked. “Ayup,” he said. I went home, locked the front door, and said to […]
Brett Matthews is showing me around Kate Farms’ Innovation and Quality Center, a lab and office complex the size of an airplane hangar. Bewilderingly complex machines festooned with tubes are being tended to by folks in clean room suits. We stop outside a sealed central workspace and stare through a glass wall. The largish, inelegant […]
It’s time to pull out the picnic basket, slip into your favorite pair of shorts, roll down the windows of the car, and head out for the beach, the park, or a mountain hike (speaking of which, the generous volunteers at the Montecito Trails Foundation publish a detailed map of our local mountain trails). This […]
With Santa Barbara’s long-awaited springtime flower blooming season already strongly underway, Santa Barbara’s Beekeepers Guild is hoping to encourage local residents and homeowners to help our county’s bee population thriving. You don’t have to be a beekeeper to do this, the guild says. In fact, planting flowers that bees like may actually be more important […]
In July, we received and published the following letter, from a concerned Montecito hiker: Recently, I believe Tuesday June 18th, my friends are I took a hike up San Ysidro Trail. About a half a mile up the trail, we saw workers in the middle of the creekbed spraying. The spraying wasn’t being done directly […]
In the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the candy mastermind’s base of operations first appears as a nondescript, smoke-stacked factory with no obvious hints outside as to what goes on inside. But something does; and passersby want to know what. Carpinteria’s Airplant Alchemy is like that. Owned and operated by Brian Kollenborn, a […]
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin Couldn’t we all use some nurturing right now? Planting and harvesting your own food is rewarding and even more so now, with fewer […]
Gwen Stauffer’s eleven-year stewardship of Lotusland will be remembered by many achievements, most recently the completion of Lotusland’s Japanese Garden renovation. Lotusland’s Board of Trustees has named Rebecca Anderson, currently the Garden’s Director of Philanthropy, as Lotusland’s Interim Executive Director. “We are all very excited to have Rebecca help lead the organization moving forward,” said […]
I’m not sure how my bonsai trees talked me into it, but recently I spent $12.49 on something called Fish & Poop. Manufactured in Fresno, the city famous for its tasty raisins, Fish & Poop is listed as “a blend of fish-based nutrients and guano which forms a synergistic matrix that develops a cohesive partnership […]
