Gerhard Bock (Bamboo, Succulents and More)

Like clockwork, the large sago palm (Cycas revoluta) next to our front porch is producing its annual set of leaves (this process is called “flushing”). Cycas revoluta, June 3, 2013 Like last year, flushing started at the very beginning of June. ...

Costco is a membership warehouse club with locations in eight countries. I’m not much for shopping, but Costco is my favorite store. In fact, I’ve often said that if Costco doesn’t carry it, I don’t need it. While Costco has a bit of everythin...

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know that there is a mounded succulent bed next to our front door. It’s in its fifth year old now and has turned out better than we’d ever hoped. But as with any garden bed, occasional mainte...

Out of all the summer-blooming perennials in our garden, one is consistently towards the top of my list of favorites: Verbena bonariensis, commonly know as tall verbena, purpletop verbena or purpletop vervain. This South American native has lantana-li...

At least that’s what I’m hoping for. Yesterday I found a stunning variegated sport of the common purple fountain grass on the clearance rack at Lowe’s. Called ‘Fireworks’ (Pennisetum x advena ‘Fireworks’), it was patented in 2008 and int...

I love color in the garden, I love fragrance, but above all, I love texture. True, mass plantings of the same species can create an elegant and tranquil effect, but for me there’s nothing like juxtaposing plants with different leaves: large vs. small...

Vista Garden was the second property I visited last Saturday as part of Marin County Open Garden Day sponsored by The Garden Conservancy. The description in the official program sounded fantastic: Sited on a plateau with sweeping views of Mt. Tamalp...

June 1 was the Garden Conservancy’s Open Garden Day in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Like last year, this was a unique opportunity to visit spectacular private properties most of us would not otherwise get to see. I visited two of the t...

Cor-Ten Zen was one of the properties I visited as part of the 2013 Marin County Open Garden Day organized by the Garden Conservancy. Here is the description from the official program: When asked to dream up a retaining wall design for the front garde...

I know next to nothing about begonias. However, in April 2011 I received an angel wing begonia cutting as part of a plant trade. I potted it up and it actually flowered that first year. Since then I’ve been given cuttings of another type of angel win...