GWA Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Beautiful garden outshines the view on this LA hilltop home…

Last week I flew out to trendy Los Angeles with my garden travel friend, Pam Penick, of Digging, for the Garden Writers Symposium. We started our trip to the Golden State with some visits to the gardens of fellow garden bloggers, writers and designers.

Our first stop was the garden of Kris Peterson, who blogs at Late to the Garden Party. We were late arriving, due to a flight delay, and missed meeting several other bloggers who were gathering to have lunch with us. We were sad to miss the other gardeners and another garden tour, and we were sad to miss lunch! (We followed my standard M.O. for travel: eat at every opportunity – you never know when you’ll get your next meal!)

We blew in like the wind – dismayed at being late and in a hurry to get there and meet Kris in person.

We took one look outside and stopped dead in our tracks.

You were going to ask why, weren’t you? But now there’s no need to ask, is there?

This is the backyard view from her garden. It’s amazing. And her garden is equally amazing. I soon lost track of the view as she led us from one beautiful vignette to another. Creatively composed and expertly woven, the garden is a collector’s garden that flows like the water in the distance.

Nestled in many parts of her garden, Kris has included a wide variety of containers with water-wise succulents like these.

These little lovelies caught my attention. While the hot, unforgiving sunlight made photographing the garden difficult, I did the best I could with these Eustoma grandiflorum ‘Echo Pink’ flowers.

Through much of the side garden, hardy ground covers spread between the stones.

Entwined among the layers of the garden, these beautiful Pennisetum advena ‘rubrum’ blow in the breeze.

I love this stunning color and texture combination.

This arbor frames the view of the harbor as the garden path transitions from the side to the back. Talk about a focal point!

Mimicking the arbor on the side (or vice versa, depending on which approach you’re taking), this is the entrance to the front door.

Lovely wooden benches with colorful pillows and potted plants flank the entrance.

Along the street, Kris has created a wonderful succulent garden with a cornucopia of textures, colors and forms.

My garden touring pal, Pam, of Digging, stops to smile for the camera, and me, before we head out of the garden.

This stunning and lovingly crafted garden was the perfect start to our adventures around L.A. Thanks, again, Kris, for your hospitality. Loved getting to share in your garden.

Beautiful, xeric plants in the Sonoran Desert Landscape

Against the backdrop of the rugged Santa Catalina Mountains, tough, structural plants dot the landscape of the Sonoran Desert.

The Garden Writers Association Symposium Tucson, Arizona, included several days of tours of local gardens — an excellent introduction to the unique beauty of the desert.

This is the view from the lobby of the La Paloma Resort where the symposium was held.

Cacti, yuccas, hardy woody perennials and trees thrive in the desert, where the temperatures soar into the 100s throughout the summer, yet also dip below freezing in winter.

These cool, columnar Mexican Fencepost cacti (Pachycereus marginatus) bring height to the flat desert expanse.

This desert garden was full of nooks and crannies filled with smaller species of cacti and aloes. With approximately 2,500 different species of cacti, and about 400 different kinds of aloes, there are plenty from which to choose.

Pots and other garden art and decor provided strong bursts of color in many of the desert gardens we toured.

This citrus grove at the Benedictine Order of the Sisters of Adoration was lush with fruit. The trunks are painted white to help cool the trees.

There were some more tropical plants — like these palms — throughout the desert, though clearly they require much more water to survive the harsh climate.

The light on the mountains at dawn and dusk was stunning. Inspiring hues of coral and lavender wash over the horizon, enveloping the harsh landscape in a robe of gauzy color.

GWA

Beautiful garden outshines the view on this LA hilltop home…

Beautiful, xeric plants in the Sonoran Desert Landscape

Escape in the garden