Jim Martinez has been creating water-wise, environmentally friendly gardens in Dallas and Marfa, Texas for more than 30 years. He picks seven of his favorite plants to grow in desert regions, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Every now and then, we'll be linking to things that we covet. Today's pick is Polka Polka cushion, designed by Abigail Borg, a young Brit, whose retro floral prints manage to have a modern edge with sharp color palettes and delicate botanical detail.
Take a look at our slide show of Jonathan Singer's botanic photographs, collected in his book, Botanica Magnifica. The photographs feature rare plant specimens shot on a Hasselblad camera.
A dual exhibition at Kew Botanical Gardens features Plants in Peril and Losing Paradise, showing illustrations of endangered plants through the world. The exhibition closes March 18, 2012, so go see it if you can!
The past couple weeks, corpse flowers have been blooming at gardens across the country. Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum, flowers with the odor of a thousand toxic fumes, the height of two men, and draws crowds as large as any circus. The corpse flower may be most famous in the genus, but more than 170 species of Amorphophallus have been indentified, including a new one earlier this year, found in Madagascar's dry rocky soil.
A glacier, a rainforest, and a forest of upside-down trees—naturally fallen spruce and hemlock, repurposed as flower pots—are some of the wonders in Alaska's Mendenhall Valley.
This new
Japanese water iris has a poetic grace, with large flowers of lavender falls veined in violet and a dark-purple central clutch of “petaloids.” Adds a lovely accent to summer water gardens when grown in a partly submerged container. Hardy in Zones 4-9.
heronswood.com
A host of tropical houseplants that have found new life in the great outdoors as annuals in the warm months are still happy denizens of windowsills and sunrooms when the temperature drops
This high-gloss tropical foliage plant is such a deep shade of maroon that it's nearly black. Use it outdoors in the summer as an accent plant in a sunny border or container in which it can reach 4 feet. And it can easily be nipped back to keep it comfy in an indoor spot.
Residents of Marfa, Texas, have created vibrant gardens that bring life to the desert plains
