Easy Gardening

Today I paid a return visit to the White House garden and grounds and the tour was really too early this year, with very little in bloom and plenty of trees not even leafed out yet.   And if I were the complaining type Id mention that it was chilly with cloudy skies but hey, it didnt rain!  (My spring 2010 visit is recorded here.)

So I dont have much to show blog readers this time except the brand-new look of Michelle Obamas vegetable garden.   According to the gardener (that would be Jim Adams) the raised beds were installed for just one reason to level the growing area in order to stop water from running downhill.   So Adams and the White House landscape architect came up with this design, which is an attempt to be organic despite the straight lines of the wood.  I stopped short of asking Jim where they bought them ha!  because naturally they have carpenters right there on the grounds.  Must be nice.

The White House Beehive is always photogenic, no matter the weather.

Middle photo by Linda Starke.

Lets get a basic fact out of the way right up front. Bookstores arent going to die. But they are going to change.

Books arent going to die. The concept of a linearly designed book wont die. Ive written about this before about the movement of technology through different stages from mass media consumption though to art form. This hasnt changed. Its just happening now and the impact of this movement is being felt by more people.

The traditional production/printing/distribution of books is changing rapidly and possibly dying. But do not confuse that with the concept of the book as dying.

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It is a grand thing when plants become the subject of an exhibit.  I dont mean in the beds of a botanic garden or decorating a designers display at a flower show, but an honest to goodness exhibition, in this case Wicked Plants at The Conservatory of Flowers in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park.

Too often we only think of plants as wild things tamed to suit our needs, either aesthetic or utilitarian.  Gardeners know the reality that our gardens go wild beyond our control; but never-the-less we rarely think of going to an exhibit of plants indoors.  Well, we should.  Plants are as amazing as any art form, and as intriguing as any  science exhibit.  Now

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Happy Garden Blogger Bloom Day! Things are happening so fast in the garden right now, its nice to have an excuse to stop and look then shoot and share.

Above youre looking across a bed of sedum-as-lawn-replacement, with cute little muscari popping up through the sedum (S.

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