succulents

My impromptu succulent cutting tower

by Rebecca Sweet

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Last month I completely dismantled one of my favorite garden beds so we could finally finish painting the house. Last fall we had our house painted, but I wouldn’t let them paint one remaining wall as my bougainvillea was in full bloom and there was no way I was about to cut it back prematurely! [...]

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A Colorful Garden in Tucson

by Rebecca Sweet

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While visiting Arizona last month I couldn’t wait to tour a few private gardens to see first-hand how these determined and creative gardeners deal with All. That. Heat. Driving through Tucson’s wide suburban streets, where the homes and landscaping tend to blend together, my heart skipped a beat when I noticed this garden’s ‘fence’. Not your [...]

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Top 10 Favorite Orange Plants

by Rebecca Sweet

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It’s that time of year again when our homes and gardens are decked out in orange and black, and mine is no exception. And what better occasion than Halloween to talk about one of my favorite colors in the garden – orange! Last year I wrote about my favorite black plants, so it’s only fitting [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable- Danger is my middle name

by Rebecca Sweet

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There’s something alluring about beautiful plants that have a bite to them. In fact, I just attended a fascinating talk by desert-designer-extraordinaire Scott Calhoun, who believes our fascination with plants that make us bleed is akin to the Stockholm Syndrome – ha! While I don’t go out of my way to design gardens that will intentionally impale [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Focus on the Details

by Rebecca Sweet

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I’ve been wanting to write about this garden for a long time, and have finally found the perfect opportunity with today’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic ‘Focusing on the Details’. (Warning: lots of photos for this one!) While touring gardens last year with Debra Lee Baldwin, she insisted I meet her good friend, Jim Bishop. And, [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Sculpture in the Garden

by Rebecca Sweet

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As a landscape designer and garden writer I see lots and lots of gardens. And while I’m a huge fan of personalizing your garden with whatever art captures your heart, lately I seem to be drawn to selectively placed, oversized sculptures. I think this is because my own life is so hectic right now, and [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Favorite Gardens

by Rebecca Sweet

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The topic for this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable is Garden Travel/Best Gardens. While I immediately thought of the many beautiful gardens I’ve seen on my travels, there’s one that I’ve recently had the pleasure of visiting, and one that I can’t get out of my mind. It’s a private garden here in Northern California, created [...]

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Succulent heaven at Sherman Gardens

by Rebecca Sweet

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I can look at succulents all day long. I never grow tired of their colors, shapes and forms and the infinite number of ways that creative gardeners use them in their gardens. A few months ago, while rushing to get to the airport, my friend insisted we stop at Corona del Mar’s Sherman Library and Gardens, [...]

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Wordless Wednesday – The Aloes of Laguna Beach

by Rebecca Sweet

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A few weeks ago I spoke at the Laguna Beach Garden Club, and was thrilled when my host insisted we walk along the coastline before catching my flight home. The aloes were in full bloom, the sun was shining, artists were painting, hummers were humming, dolphins were swimming – in short, I was in heaven. [...]

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Really? Anyone can be an artist?

by Rebecca Sweet

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Last month I visited the beautiful garden of Debra Lee Baldwin, and while inside her home I couldn’t help sneaking a photo of her charming desk. It’s at this sweet little corner where she creates her stunning succulent and cactus watercolor paintings. I’m always impressed by anyone who can draw anything beyond a stick figure [...]

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Debra Lee Baldwin’s Succulent Garden

by Rebecca Sweet

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A few weeks ago I was a lucky, lucky girl and had the distinct honor of touring Debra Lee Baldwin’s own garden – and what a garden it was! Debra is known by many as the ‘Queen of Succulents’, thanks to her amazing books, Succulent Container Gardens and Designing with Succulents and the many talks and [...]

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A low-water, high-style garden in San Diego

by Rebecca Sweet

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I don’t think I’ve ever been as rude to another designer as I was when I saw this garden. A few weeks ago I visited my good friend Debra Lee Baldwin who graciously introduced me to a wonderful landscape designer, Frank Mitzel of Aesthetic Design. Frank kindly took us to see a garden that [...]

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Wordless Wednesday – Succulent People

by Rebecca Sweet

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Having spent a delightful morning touring the San Diego Botanical Garden last week, I must admit I was most smitten by these life-size topiaries. Pat Hammer, Director of Operations of the Botanical Garden, created these incredible works of art, going so far as making clay masks of some of the members of the garden and [...]

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Window boxes help add vertical interest to your garden

by Rebecca Sweet

I guess I just can’t stop thinking about gardening up (can you blame me?) When writing our book, Garden Up, Susan Morrison and I had to draw the line somewhere, and unfortunately a few topics didn’t quite made the cut. Window boxes were one of them, and it’s too bad because I really feel that [...]

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Recycling in the Garden

by Rebecca Sweet

I absolutely love re-purposed items in the garden. Things that may be broken or have lost their usefulness are all too often headed to the dump. But hold up! Sometimes all that’s needed is a coat of paint, a little sprucing up and a healthy dose of creativity to use that item in a [...]

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Opposites Attract in the garden

by Rebecca Sweet

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I love all gardens. I don’t think there’s a single style that I don’t appreciate. And that’s part of the charm of gardeners – we’re all so different yet we all appreciate one another’s passion. Sometimes the differences are subtle, sometimes they’re as opposite as night and day. But either way, part of the [...]

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Cottage Gardens in Petaluma – Garden Up’s next stop!

by Rebecca Sweet

If you love clematis, edibles, succulents and everything in between then Cottage Gardens of Petaluma is nursery you MUST visit! Many already know this nursery as one of the best sources around for unusual varieties of clematis. But Bruce Shanks, the owner, has clearly been bitten by Succulent Fever. Everywhere I look there’s unbelievable specimens [...]

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