My pencil was extra sharp (Shout out to Matt Leddy! my old landscape architect professor that would always say No Fuzzy Lines!!!!)) today while I was finalizing the latest drawing I’ve been working on for a new client. This design has gone remarkably smooth, most likely a combination of an open and easy to work with client, and myself being totally engrossed in yet another podcast. I find if I design without any background noise inspiring ambiance, I rarely get shit done over analyse and over complicate things. So today I had on a Radio Lab podcast about Time… I was half listening, half drawing when I heard the name Carl Linnaeus. And since I love all things Linnean, I stopped to listen more closely. They were talking about how Linnaeus spent time observing flowers, and how those flowers opened and closed at certain times of the day. This is for a few obvious reasons – the sun, duh, the bugs, pollination blablabla – but what Linnaeus did, was make a clock with the names and images of certain flowers that predictably opened at different times.

Hence, one could figure out what time of the day it was by simply looking at which type of flower was open.

“How handy is this!?”, I thought. Who needs those pesky iPhones or that cheesy Rolex when you can simply walk around some highly wooded and naturalized area looking for open flowers! Genius, I say.

Although more modern plants may have to substituted depending on where you live, this would make for an excellent garden. (hint, hint future clients!)

Comes in the form of the wind last night, pushing my rectangle terra cotta pot full of agave, off the railing to plummet to it’s death.

Here is where they were.

Here is where they landed.

This shows the typical pruning of a Ribes sanguineum. This plant was by a front door of one of my client’s houses, and needed to get drastically cut back. I chose waist high and started pruning above each node, or growing point. This allows for more localized growth in the areas you are trying to get more established, or healthier.

Ribes would have been just fine without the pruning, but it was too big and pruning ensures more Spring and Fall blossoms.

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A blueberry at a client’s house in HMB.

Beyond their amazing fruit, blueberry’s make wonderful landscape plants, potted or in the ground. This one shown has been in a large pot the whole year, and is very content. Watering and fertilizing are minimal and the exposure is part shade until 1, then sun the rest of the day. Blueberry’s thrive tolerate living under pine and euc trees, as the acidity is a natural fertilizer for them. Planted as a small hedge they make for gorgeous border plantings, far surpassing boxwood or viburnum tinus.