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Tag: Agaves

  • Garden Visit: At Home with Landscape Photographer Caitlin Atkinson – Gardenista

    Garden Visit: At Home with Landscape Photographer Caitlin Atkinson – Gardenista

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    For years I’ve marveled at (and been envious of) the work of photographer Caitlin Atkinson, who captures gardens, interiors, and still lifes with a serene, dreamy, almost ethereal feel. She is a master of catching the sun as it shines soft and warm, as it creates glowing halos around plants, highlighting and hugging simultaneously.

    Caitlin photographed landscapes for the book Under Western Skies: Visionary Gardens from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, written by Jennifer Jewell, that spotlights innovative and inspiring gardens in the West. [N.B.: More recently, she’s been working with Kendra Wilson on Gardenista: The Low-Impact Garden, to be published next spring.] Caitlin’s work, of course, involves almost constant globe-trotting, but when she is able to be at one of her own homes, either in Nevada City or Santa Cruz, you can find her digging and tending her own patches of dirt.

    Caitlin Atkinson at Home

    Caitlin’s gardens have different styles, as they are in different climates and settings. The Nevada City garden, in the foothills near the Yuba River, is, as Caitlin describes it, “more of a subtle color story.” One area of the garden consists mostly of blues and is situated in a very sunny, dry, and hot spot. She also has a fescue meadow that she continues to seed and plant into. “The drought has more of an impact here, along with the risk of fires.”

    The Santa Cruz garden, on the other hand, is a beach cottage with more colorful plantings. And even though the garden gets sun all day, the proximity to the ocean creates a very mild climate. “The hardest things to work with there are the sand for soil, the wind off the ocean, and the salt air,” shares Caitlin.

    Join us for a closer look at her two gardens.

    Photography by Caitlin Atkinson.

    Nevada City Garden

    “Everything I plant has to be low-maintenance, very tough, deer-and bunny-resistant, plus like where it lives or it will not make it,” says Caitlin. Both gardens started slowly and continue to evolve that way as well.
    Above: “Everything I plant has to be low-maintenance, very tough, deer-and bunny-resistant, plus like where it lives or it will not make it,” says Caitlin. Both gardens started slowly and continue to evolve that way as well.

    Caitlin decorates her porch with pots purchased from Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Agave ‘porcupine’ fills most of them, while a Clematis armandii vine frames her forest view.
    Above: Caitlin decorates her porch with pots purchased from Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Agave ‘porcupine’ fills most of them, while a Clematis armandii vine frames her forest view.

    “My work often gets incredibly busy right when you might be the busiest in the garden, so I often do not get to do much in the garden. It can sometimes turn into a real wild scene, but mostly things are left to their own devices with a little maintenance when I can,” says Caitlin.
    Above: “My work often gets incredibly busy right when you might be the busiest in the garden, so I often do not get to do much in the garden. It can sometimes turn into a real wild scene, but mostly things are left to their own devices with a little maintenance when I can,” says Caitlin.
    This simple concrete bird bath attracts mostly acorn woodpeckers. Caitlin adds, “Of course robins, seasonal finches and hummingbirds are in the garden, but they are not so much at the water.”
    Above: This simple concrete bird bath attracts mostly acorn woodpeckers. Caitlin adds, “Of course robins, seasonal finches and hummingbirds are in the garden, but they are not so much at the water.”

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  • Garden Wonderland, by Leslie Bennett: A Review of the Garden Designer’s New Book

    Garden Wonderland, by Leslie Bennett: A Review of the Garden Designer’s New Book

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    Garden designer Leslie Bennett’s new book Garden Wonderland (out April 2, 2024) is full of delicious surprises. For one, it’s so much more than a book about edible landscape design, for which Bennett’s design-build firm Pine House Edible Gardens, is best known. Yes, there are plenty of fruit trees and raised veggie beds within, but the book includes other types of gardens as well. It’s broken into five types of wonderland: edible, floral, healing, gathering, and cultural.

    The 18 client gardens, plus Bennett’s own backyard, that are featured in the book are gorgeous, immersive, and aspirational, but they also feel eminently approachable, like they could belong to your cool friend (not someone with a full-time gardener). Those people and their stories are also right there in the pages of the book: Bennett’s clients were all photographed in their gardens, which is something you don’t often see. The result is a volume that feels deeply human and captures the spirit of “wonder” that Bennett hopes we will experience in our gardens.

    Leslie’s own garden wonderland, in Oakland, CA.
    Above: Leslie’s own garden wonderland, in Oakland, CA.

    More than just a dreamy coffee table book, Garden Wonderland  is packed with practical how-to advice and takeaways for both novice and seasoned gardeners. We spoke to Bennett to find out how we can all weave more wonder into our backyards. 

    Photography by Rachel Weill, from Garden Wonderland.

    Focus on plants.

    Fragrant English lavender, edible pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana), Agave celsii, kalanchoe, and kangaroo paws fill this cottage garden. Their contrasting foliage and flowers provide year-round beauty. 
    Above: Fragrant English lavender, edible pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana), Agave celsii, kalanchoe, and kangaroo paws fill this cottage garden. Their contrasting foliage and flowers provide year-round beauty. 

    To pay attention to plants in a garden may sound like obvious advice, but Bennett points out that many of today’s yards center around expensive hardscape elements or fancy furniture. “In contrast, a garden wonderland is a plant-based space where fairly minimal hardscape will do,” Bennett notes in her introduction. “By designing your garden using lots of lushly layered, interactive plants, you can create a place where you will be surrounded by plant and animal life and awaken all your senses. You may brush past a scented geranium and welcome its fragrance or savor the taste of luscious homegrown fruit.”

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  • Agave Tequilana: How to Grow Blue Weber Agave

    Agave Tequilana: How to Grow Blue Weber Agave

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    Blue Weber Agave, Agave tequilana

    A daring husband and wife team in Sonoma county—Laurie and Adam Goldberg, co-founders and owners of  Stargazer Spirits—is experimenting with large-scale agave farming by planting test blocks on approximately six acres of varying soil types, with blue Weber as one agave variety. They are deep in the learning stage, so I reached out to Laurie for advice and insights into growing blue Weber agave, a historically significant succulent.

    Please keep reading to learn more about this drinkable plant and this adventurous couple.

    Photography by Adam Goldberg, courtesy of Stargazer Spirits.

    A field of blue Weber agave growing bigger and stronger every year.
    Above: A field of blue Weber agave growing bigger and stronger every year.

    First, a little backstory about blue Weber agave: The Greek word that agave comes from is Agavos, which translates to illustrious; in Greek mythology, Agave was the goddess of desire. Blue Weber agave is native to Jalisco, Mexico, and was considered sacred by the Aztecs. The first alcoholic agave beverage was pulque (potentially dating back to 1000 B.C), made from the fermentation of the plant’s sap. When Spanish settlers entered the scene, they began experimenting with the distillation process, eventually using the pulque to make tequila and mezcal. Today, Jalisco remains the source of the best and the majority of tequila.

    The Goldbergs’ mission is to create top-notch agave spirits in California. (Side note: in order for a drink to be called tequila, it must be made from blue Weber agave in Jalisco or other limited municipalities in Mexico.) They are among the first to grow agave for spirits production outside of Mexico. “We have around 3,000 tequilana (including several heritage varieties) and approximately 6,000 plants total. We’d hoped that Agave tequilana would be a low-water, low-maintenance, set-it-and-forget-it plant for us, but in fact it requires more water than any of our other agaves (though still around 75 percent less than what grapes need on a per-acre basis),” shares Laurie. The Goldbergs continue running a number of soil amendment, mulching, and watering experiments. “The bottom line is that this agave is likely to thrive in warm areas in full sun without winter frost. It requires 70 to 80 gallons of water per plant in the summer months, though water requirements will depend on location and soils. Lastly, it likes loose, sandy soils in which its roots can spread out.”

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