Get Yourself Some Rain Barrels

 We added two new rain barrels for collecting rain water-yes it does occasionally rain here-and snow, which is supposed to hit tonight, so I thought I’d share my barrel system with you in case you’d like to try it yourself.    Rain can be collected in...

The Quintessential Fat Plant

 The most impressive fat plants in my collection would be my pachypodium lamerei and pachypodium geayi, commonly known as Madagascar palms, since that is where these two pachypodiums occur in nature.  P. lamerei has a wide, graceful leaf. This plant had...

Decorate Your Dish Garden With Railroad Spikes

If you happen to be in possession of old, discarded, rusty, railroad spikes and no clue what you planned to use them for in the first place, here’s an idea. Use them to decorate a dish garden.  Or stick them in your outdoor garden. I brought these home with me...

Agaves Macrocantha and Sharkskin

  Two more agaves I would recommend for your collection are these two that are smaller and slower growers, which makes it nice for collectors like me who have to drag plants in for the winter.   Agave sharkskin, sometimes called sharkskin shoes, is a...

Agaves Kissho Kan and Blue Glow

Two good choices to add to your agave collection, Kissho Kan and Blue Glow, are relatively new in the mass market, at least in Texas, but those of you in California may tell me they have been around a long time. As you can see, they make fairly large potted specimens,...

But You Can Also Break the Rule of Three

Last week was all about using the rule of three to plant your dish gardens. But that rule can be broken-you were thinking about doing that all along, right?-so here are some examples to to help you flaunt the rule. Two plants can work well together, but choosing...