British landscape designer Sir Humphry Repton mastered the art of the sell. His signature "Red Books," so-called for their signature moroccan leather binding, conveyed proposals to clients with detailed 'before' and 'after' sketches.
To look at a history of botanic illustration is to look at the changing significance of a plant over time. A new exhibit at Lotusland, in Montecito, California, does just this. Historic prints document these transitional periods—of plant as medical specimen, to exotic beauty, to garden delight—in a show titled "The Plant Hunters: Botanical Illustrations from the 16th to 19th Centuries," which runs through November 2.
Discovered as a witch’s broom on Cryptomeria japonica ‘Gracilis’, C. japonica ‘Little Champion’ is a dwarf form with a tidy globular shape, about 1 to 2 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide in 10 years. The finely textured needles, pale-green color and compact size make this a perfect container or rock-garden plant. Zones 6 to 8.
Quit the rat race, move to the country, fix up an old farmhouse, and spend your days outdoors, running your own nursery and garden design business. One designer's story.
Developed between 1930 and 1950, the organically maintained gardens at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens in Houston are nationally recognized as among the most significant in the South
