Bread and Roses

February 16, 2021

On the entrance arbor at the bottom of the steps that lead to our house I thought it would be nice to plant some climbing roses to add to the general fuddy-duddyness that is our 1920s bungalow. Our two climbing roses have survived neglect for many years now and put on a nice show for most of the year. While I’m sure there are many more worthy and interesting heirloom climbing roses one can hunt down we went with two boring varieties. One is an Ic...

Read…

Rain Garden Update

Mr. Homegrown

March 17, 2021

Garden Design, Gardening, Native Plants

4 Comments

...out the ocean. And I like the little bridge I built over the pit. The path leads to Kelly’s shed and something about crossing the little bridge adds some interest to a stroll in the backyard. Here’s our original post on the rain garden. I haven’t mentioned this in awhile but it’s worth repeating. The reason I include the scientific names of plants is not to show off but because this blog has international readers and the common names for plants ca...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: News From the Far West

Mr. Homegrown

April 3, 2021

Saturday Linkages

1 Comment

...bie) March 28, 2021 The Edwards Go Electric ‘I felt I killed my children’: lead poisons California community – and fills kids’ teeth Last Night in Echo Park More on Echo Park Cult classics: the faded glory of California’s fringe sects – in pictures The ultimate catio? The Retro Encabulator device uses six hydrocoptic marzel vanes and an ambifacient lunar wane shaft What I was like as a teen one of the worst small town planning schemes I’ve ever se...

Read…

The Unintended Consequences of Water Conservation

Mr. Homegrown

September 9, 2015

Gardening

11 Comments

...For trees such damage could mean dropping branches and even tree failures, leading to significant property damage and human injury or even death; lawsuits would certainly follow. As landscapes go dry, the risk of fires would increase. In changing over landscapes to low-water using plants or to non-planted, non-irrigated areas, labor and material costs for plants, installing or retrofitting irrigation systems, and other materials could be significa...

Read…

Learning to Draw Version 4.0

Mr. Homegrown

May 21, 2021

Design

6 Comments

...rris tried to tell us, combining art with evolving beyond crapitalism will lead us to a better place. Over the years I’ve made several abandoned attempts at learning to draw. Coincidentally I’m married to a talented artist and have a lot of friends who teach art (Fun fact: I met Kelly because the TV station I worked for had offices in the UCSD art department). When my attempt to learn Spanish tanked, mid-quarantine, I took up drawing again, mainly...

Read…