Editors at the New Oxford American Dictionary recently announced that “locavore” is their word of the year.

Locavore: someone who eats locally grown food.

Watching this wonderful word move into the mainstream is both gratifying and a little worrisome. Will locavore become a politicized label, like recent research reports concluding that owners of hybrid cars are active, educated and Democrat? Will locavore suffer from overuse, watered down for marketers’ convenience, as “organic” and “all-natural” have been? I hope neither. I hope, like the Slow Food movement, that this word will remain a cherished symbol of grassroots passion about the character (and food) of a specific place on earth. Namely: your own backyard. And for this reason, I maintain that gardeners at their very hearts, are also locavores.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a wonderful new book by Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, is the authentic locavore manifesto. In it, megastar novelist Kingsolver and her family document “a year of food life,” in which they attempted to grow and produce as much of their own food as possible. And when the food doesn’t come from their own small farm in the southern Appalacians, it is supplied by local farmers who use sustainable practices. I received this book as a gift from my dear friend Britt Olson. Reading it this autumn has given me renewed hope in the power of one’s own small patch of soil — and what can be grown there.

As I’m trying to renovate a sterile, suburban backyard so that it can be planted next March, I’m thinking about all the delicious, nourishing vegetables and herbs that it will produce (not to mention seasonal flowers that I can enjoy and use in arrangements). I’ll never reach the status of a 100-percent locavore, but if I can at least grow some of my own food supply, it will be a start. It is a gardener’s obligation, I think, to grow edible as well as ornamental crops.

Cauliflowers from Underwood Family Farms in Somis, CA

The farmer’s market is open this afternoon, and I’m off to buy organic eggs (although one has to arrive at 2 p.m. on the spot in order to get the lovely blue-green Araucana eggs), fingerling potatoes, colorful cauliflowers, and autumn fruit. Perhaps I’m a locavore-wannabe, but it’s sure better than the alternative.

During our many road trips to produce Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, I

In an earlier post, I mentioned that TWO “shed guys” from the U.K. have been in touch with Shedstyle.com. If Uncle Wilco of readersheds.co.uk is the “bad boy” of sheds, then Alex Johnson is the shed-dweller’s “boy-next-door.” I’m happy to have them both on my team!

When I first discovered Alex’s site — Shedworking — I was thrilled to learn he was the online voice of a community of people who have shunned the office cubicle for their backyard studios and ateliers. He has successfully identified and tapped into a groundswell of shed users – across Britain and (increasingly) on U.S. soil. I’m glad to join this international conversation and want to introduce my Shedstyle readers to Alex.

Q. Please provide us with a brief bio:

A. I’m a 38-year-old journalist, living in St. Albans, England (just outside London) and have worked on national newspapers and magazines in the U.K. and Spain for the last 15 years, as well as being an editorial consultant for several major charities. I’ve focused particularly on over-50s issues, Spanish culture (I lived in Madrid for several years) and over the last two years, the world of ‘homeworking,’ with an emphasis on shedworking, using a garden office as an alternative to the traditional office workplace.

Q. How/when did you get the idea to start shedworking.co.uk?

A. When I bought my own garden office four years ago, there seemed to be growing interest in the U.K. (and also to some extent the U.S.) in not only working from home, but particularly from a shed-like atmosphere at the bottom of the garden. I felt that this group wasn’t being catered to by the traditional mainstream media — indeed often patronised by it — and so decide to launch “The Shed” as a free PDF magazine to try and bring this dispersed community together. The magazine has recently celebrated its second birthday and now has 1,500 readers in countries around the globe (U.K., U.S., Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). I launched the Shedworking blog site just over a year ago and that has also taken off nicely – I blog daily, sometimes posting three or four times.

 Q. To what do you attribute the explosion of interest in backyard office-sheds?

A. The increasing belief that the current way we work is simply not applicable any more to 21st century living and that ‘presenteeism’ is largely unnecessary. Offices as factories is a fairly recent phenomenon, largely the result of the industrial revolution, and working from home is superior in many ways – it cuts out the commute, it improves life/work balance, it can be a lot more eco-friendly, it’s more productive . . . the list is endless. And there’s a really impressive range of garden offices available on the market, too, so whatever your wallet size or architectural interest, it’s likely there’s something for the proto-shedworker out there.

Q. Who are your ‘readers’?

A. A large number work in creative industries, particularly the media, with a roughly 50-50 split between men and women. The beauty of shedworking is that while the traditional allotment shed is still something of a male domain, the trend towards shedworking has enfranchised women to own their own sheds and work from them. Many readers are particularly interested in green issues.

Q. Are you working from a backyard shed? Describe it, please.

Alex’s “shedquarters” in St. Albans, England

A. I am indeed. It’s a green Homestead Timber Building’s garden office, a Marlow model, rather traditionally shedlike architecturally. It’s perfect since I don’t need a vast amount of space and our back garden is fairly modestly sized. It has full insulation, a heater, electrics, wi-fi and as an office it also handles my overflow for books from the house and minor bits of gardening (I keep my home-brewed cider in here).

Q. Please tell me about your online magazine, “The Shed,” and how people can subscribe to it.

A. It’s a lifestyle magazine for people who work in garden offices, sheds and other shedlike atmospheres. It covers homeworking issues such as what to wear to homework, interesting garden office structures, poetry (we have a poet in residence called Shedman, John Davies, who has just released a new collection of poems, largely about sheds), humor and the latest news about garden offices and accessories. To subscribe, just email me at alex@splashmedia.co.uk.

Q. Can you share details about your forthcoming book?

A. “Shedworking: the alternative workplace revolution,” will be published by The Friday Project in the U.K. in July 2008 during the second “National Shed Week.” It will look, in more depth, at the issues and structures touched on in the magazine and on the site, from historic sheds and shedworkers to examples of how people run businesses from their garden offices in the 21st century to dealing with issues such as isolation and the future of shedworking as microarchitecture starts to really take off. There’ll be plenty of examples to enjoy but it will also be a good read. I’m just finishing writing at the moment.

Q. What do you plan to do next?

A. I’d like to put together a book about shepherd’s huts – these sheds on wheels are becoming increasingly popular in the U.K. as garden offices and backyard structures (both original and reconstructed) but there are also more concrete examples around the world from Romney Marsh in eastern England (where they are called ‘Lookers Huts’) to New Zealand.

Thank you, Alex! It will be great fun to follow your progress and keep up with you!

Last week’s posting on Shed design tips yielded response from two of the U.K.’s shed experts who have their own awesome blogs. I first discovered Readersheds last spring, while working on “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways,” my book project.

So it is with great delight that I can share the first of two Q&As with my British Shed Pals. Appearing here is my email conversation with the “Prince of Sheds,” aka Uncle Wilco. Uncle Wilco runs a popular web site: www.readersheds.co.uk (he blogs at shedblog.co.uk).

Q. Please share your bio with us:

A. I am Uncle Wilco and I am a sheddie. I’m 36 and I live near Pontypridd (where singer superstar Tom Jones comes from ) in South Wales in the U.K. I’m not sure if Tom has a shed; I’ve never had a reply from him. But I love sheds!

Q. When/how did you launch readersheds.co.uk?

A. Readersheds started as an idea in early 2000. I was looking for information about building a garden shed, but could not find much online, so I thought I might as well start a website, where people “shared their sheds” and told us how they went about it.

Ironically, the shed I went with in the end was ordered online and I just erected it instead of building from scratch. But the idea for “readersheds” had started and it just took on a life of its own! The shedblog.co.uk came later, but has been great in promoting Shed Week (details on this below)! And my general musings on shed-related matters.

Q. What was your first introduction to a shed? Did you grow up with a tool shed or potting shed in your backyard?

A. My grandfather (who turned 90 in November) used to have a big allotment garden in the Welsh Valleys. There he used to grow vegetables – and of course (it) was a place the men used to go to escape the wife!

All the allotmenters had sheds they built from scrap wood and anything else they could find. They were recycling before it was fashionable. I used to spend a lot of time there when I was younger. I don’t recall my parents having a shed, but my dad had a garage converted into a wood-shop, so the idea was there!

Q. Please describe your own shed.

A. I have two. Technically, one is a normal garden shed, but it is the hub of my ‘shed empire.’  The other one is a summerhouse, which is Mrs. Uncle Wilco’s domain, so is not on the site yet, but very soon.

Q. Tell me about the response you’ve had, both in the U.K. and around the globe.

A. It was slow to start with, but I never did any advertising or Search Engine Optimisation really for the site. Over the past three years the site has gone from strength to strength in terms of global visitors. And of course sheddies from most continents have shared their sheds, from your basic off-the-shelf to unique cabins and buildings of beauty.

Q. How many readers have posted photos of their sheds on your site?

A. We have around 730 sheds on the site currently, with around 100 that have been added since “Shed of the Year 2007,” but we are looking for many more and your readers can share their sheds here.

Q. When did you start the Shed of the Year competition?

A. 2007 was the first year, but I had a small shed competition a few years ago. I can’t wait for Shed of the Year 2008. Not sure if we can top last year’s winner: Tony’s Roman Temple Shed. We have a good selection so far, but we have six months to go, so hopefully we will have some unique sheds.

Q. Tell me about the National Shed Week – it seems like it has been wildly popular with great press coverage.

A. I decided that here in the U.K., we should have a week that celebrates all things sheds. I tried to petition the U.K. government, but to no avail, as they said the idea “was intended to be humorous, or have no point about government policy.”

So I thought, well I have a shed site so I will run it myself. National Shed Week was born with the aim of getting sheds recognized. [Editor’s note: National Shed Week is scheduled to begin July 7, 2008.]

I think having U.K. property guru and sheddies favourite Sarah Beeny signed up as a judge may have helped with the press coverage, but of course the British have a love affair with the shed, so really it’s just snowballed. I was lucky to do a few radio interviews. I got the impression they thought I was a nutter . . . ! But at least people realise that I have a passion for sheds, so that’s all that matters.

Q. What do you plan next?

A. Well, Shed of the Year 2008 is my next big thing. I hope to be more organised than this year – in fact I have already signed up four judges including TV property guru Sarah Beeny, the famous wind-up radio inventor Trevor Baylis, Alex from shedworking.co.uk and renowned beach hut expert Dr. Kathryn Ferry.

I hope we get lots more unique sheds on the site, as they are the lifeblood of Shed Week! I am talking to sponsors at the moment, so we should have some great shed prizes to give away as well.

After 2008, well, not sure. Hopefully, 2009! And then, Shed World Domination.

Alex, barefoot at the beach

“We have snow in Seattle!” my friend Robyn exclaimed, her voice coming through my cellphone headset.

It was in the low-70s. I was driving home, south on Highway 101 with the Pacific Ocean and the afternoon sun over my right shoulder. It was December first.

Life is certainly a study in contrasts. While my heart is constantly in the Pacific Northwest, and while I can just picture the beautiful fluffy snow landing ever so gently on the railings surrounding Robyn’s decks, the reality is: I’m here. And this week, I’m enjoying the beginnings of winter, Southern California style.

On Saturday, a road trip was called for. We hopped in the Subaru and headed north, up the Ventura Freeway in the sunshine…(yes, like the song), to Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria.

This is a very cool place. Not only is there an amazing selection of not-so-common landscaping plants here, there is an abundance of design ideas presented in the display gardens. Located just a stone’s throw from Santa Claus Beach, where my son Alex and I stopped on the way home to dip our toes in the sand and saltwater, and watch the kite-surfers, Seaside Gardens is arranged like a small botanical garden.

We were lured by the colorful postcard that arrived in the mail box, inviting us to a holiday open house (complete with hot cider and hors d’oeuvres). Weather report: Intense sun, powerful wind. No potted plant over 2-feet-tall was immune from the swift breezes coming inland from the ocean.

But we had fun nonetheless. Shopped for succulents: we brought home lots of 2-inch pots of echeverias for $2.49 each, plus we snagged four really enticing 4-inch pots of Sedum hispanicum‘Purpureum’ (delicate 1- to 2-inch high groundcover stonecrop that spreads up to 18-inches…unfortunately, I’m afraid the rabbits might like this one, time will tell).

Map depicts the wonderful display areas at Seaside Gardens

We took a breezy tour through the display gardens, spotting plants that caught our eyes and snapping photos to capture the moment. No thoughts of buying a Christmas tree, yet. But planting a sedum wreath, maybe!

Abyssinian banana-tree-hugger!

Surrounded by Cycads

20 Toes…can’t resist!

A nice surprise arrived in my email in-box last week. It was a note from someone who has discovered shedstyle.com: 

Dear Debra, My husband and I are building a potting shed. We have a footprint and general design concept.  What we haven’t been able to find are ideas or samples of interior space allocation.  I’ve preordered Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideways from Random House but now is the time I most need some of your knowledge/experience.  Is there another source (I’ve also read your internet magazine) that you can direct me?  Is there any information you can provide? I’ve literally been hoping for this building ever since my husband and I bought our home – 27 years ago.  I’d really appreciate your help. Thank you! (signed, MARY) 

Wow, thank you, Mary! She actually pre-ordered Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways! Very exciting news, especially since it won’t be on bookstore shelves until April 29, 2008. Mary’s note prompted me to think about what kind of Shed Design Checklist I would give a nascent shed-builder.  

Here are some general tips: First, of all, remember that there are infinite ideas to play around with. Think carefully about the interiors. So many people build gorgeous pieces of architectural wonder but then leave the shed’s inside ordinary-looking, dusty and filled with cobwebs. Even a functioning potting shed should be beautiful and reflect your own style. 

Pegboard walls and exposed rafters give this shed a barn-like feeling, while a cozy area rug and rocking chair ensure comfort

Treat the interior space allocation as you would design any room of your house. What will you do with the wall? It’s fine to leave the rafters and studs exposed, but can you paint them or mount shelves or hooks for displaying collections? One woman I know lined the walls of her potting shed with pegboard and hung from it all her antique gardening tools.  

Kathy’s potting counter

If you want a work counter or potting bench, consider the dimensions and proportions of the interior counters that feel best to you. Is your kitchen counter the correct height and depth? Do you like it deep enough to allow room for stacks of flowerpots or rows of gardening books to be displayed across the back? Is there storage room underneath?

Some of the most attractive countertops I’ve seen are covered in a sheath of copper or zinc. Kathy Fries, a Seattle gardener who has no fewer than four “shed” structures on her property, bought a salvaged section of classroom cabinets (probably used in a high school wood-shop or science class), complete with countertop and storage bins — voila! The perfect potting bench for her garden house.

Windows: Can you add a valance or lace panels? Can you make sure there’s a nice deep ledge for potted herbs or anything else that makes you happy? Windows should definitely be operable so you can adjust temperatures, create ventilation and — most important — hear the sounds of your garden while inside the shed. Swishing grasses, the whir of a hummingbird, bird-songs and a fountain’s trickling water are essential sounds you wouldn’t want to miss.

Doors: Just as with your home, you want the threshold and portal that lead from the “external world” to your “inner sanctum” to be symbolic of powerful and nurturing emotions: shelter, safety and haven. Don’t settle for an ordinary door from the big-box home center when you can do a little hunting to find something special. A salvaged door, especially one with glass, is a nice choice. You can add color or (as we did in our Seattle garden) allow the elements to continue the peeling process that reveals decades of life.

Floor: Remember this is an outdoor structure. It’s okay if you have a cement floor, but perhaps you should paint it and put a drain in the center so any gardening projects can be easily cleaned up. I’ve visited numerous sheds with wood plank flooring, vinyl tile, terracotta tile, flagstone, wall-to-wall carpeting and the aforementioned concrete. It really depends on the function of the room. 

Space-planning: Even if this is going to be a space for working on gardening projects, designate one wall or corner for R&R; A bench with cushions, a wicker chair and good reading lamp (of course, this means electricity), a desk for your reference books, correspondence or even a small tea party. Again, look to the room-like proportions of your home. One couple we interviewed/photographed for the book built their tea-house on the exact proportions of their dining room because to them, it was a comfortable space. 

On the potting shed in my former Seattle garden, designer Jean Zaputil used salvaged French doors donated by a contractor-neighbor. The weathered mailbox became the perfect planter-box for daffodils and a rose hip wreath hangs on one door

Here are some other questions to ask yourself:

• What activity draw us outdoors? Are you creating art, making music, writing, gardening, arranging flowers, playing with children, stargazing, entertaining friends, seeking solitude or meditating?
• What role will the structure play in the landscape? Is it a design focal point or is it intentionally hidden from view? Will it be a surface or “wall” in the garden for climbing vines or roses? Will you use it as a gallery for hanging objects, mirrors, artifacts? Will it hide or disguise an unsightly view (such as the back of a neighbor’s garage)? Is it for pure function or pure folly…or a little bit of both?
• To create an appropriate shelter or structure to house your activity, take time to address these functional choices: placement (where will you site the structure? how will it be oriented?); size and scale (check your local building codes to determine the maximum size allowed without a construction permit; it is often around 100 square feet); what materials will complement your home’s architecture? what utilities do you need (electricity, water, heat?); and, of course, the fun part: how will you decorate, embellish and adorn the structure?

In her book Hideaways: Cabins, Huts, and Tree House Escapes, French author Sonya Faure explores some of the emotions that the word “hideaway” can conjure. I’d like to share them here:

“The dictionary defines a hideaway as ‘a secluded spot.’. . . There are plenty of synonyms for the word, most of which emphasize its protective function: cover, den, haven, hideout, refuge, retreat, sanctuary, shelter. . . . The noun ‘hut’ and the verb ‘to hide’ share the same Indo-European root – skeu – meaning: to cover or to conceal.”

In the end, your shed should be designed for your private and personal delight. It is the place where you will feel safe, feel free to create and contemplate, and take refuge from the everyday demands of life. “Shed” also is a verb that has several meanings, most of which hint at “letting go” (as in shedding tears, sending forth, losing by a natural process). There’s something very symbolic in that notion as well. We “shed” our burdens, our cares, our sadness or pain, when we can escape into our secret backyard place.

It finally arrived in my mailbox today: the January-February 2008 issue of Fine Gardening (issue No. 119) with the cover line, “Learn the secrets to an Abundant Border.”

The genesis of this article, which is an adaptation of a chapter from The Abundant Garden, a book I created with photographer Barbara J. Denk in 2005 (Cool Springs Press), dates to a lunch I had with Steve Aitken. In July 2005, I was in New York City on a mission to find an agent to represent my next book project. I had rented a car and after one meeting with a potential agent, I drove to Newtown, Connecticut – in the POURING RAIN – where the Taunton Press-Fine Gardening Headquarters is based in a charming little hamlet.

I had planned on lunching with an editor-friend there, but when I arrived, I learned she had recently left Fine Gardening before having a chance to give me a head’s up. My “substitute” lunch date was to be then assistant editor Steve Aitken. I had never before met Steve, but after escorting me through the Taunton cafeteria where we sought refuge from the summer downpour, we sat down to lunch and a really wonderful conversation.

Every author likes to think that people actually READ their words and do not just look at the pictures (I love my photographer-collaborators, but honestly, I do have a bit of an inferiority complex when comparing a block of my prosaic-looking text — 12 pt. black words in Helvetica or some other font on white paper — with full-bleed, four-color, vibrant or subtle images captured through a lens by a gifted visual-artist.)

So Steve made my day. Over lunch, he summarized the entire point of The Abundant Garden, highlighting key design ideas that I had hoped to achieve in the text. He blew me away. I have never had that experience before, knowing that someone read…really READ…the words that I wrote; the words that helped shape the idea of a book; the words that supported and explained Barbara’s glorious images.

From then on, I was a huge Steve Aitken fan. During our lunch meeting, he suggested I adapt some of my ideas in the book into an article for Fine Gardening. At the time, I had written several smaller, one- or two-page articles for the magazine, but never a full feature article, let alone the cover story. It was an idea that pleased me. And I fully intended to follow up on the opportunity he was offering.

Subsequent to our meeting, two cool things happened. First, Fine Gardening included The Abundant Garden on its list of the 10 best garden books for 2005. Second, Steve was promoted to managing editor of the magazine. Oh, I guess there is a third event that took place. In April 2006, we learned that my husband Bruce would accept a position in Southern California. My life turned upside down and I was barely able to follow up on my existing assignments and deadlines, let alone “chase” anything new.

Steve and I didn’t reconnect on the story idea right away. I like to chalk that up to the fact that our respective “plates” were full. But the timing was right when, only a few months after leaving Seattle for SoCal, I received a call from Daryl Beyers, a new FG assistant editor. Daryl told me that Steve + Co. were ready for me to start working on the article. The story focus: Creating an Abundant Border.

We had several back-and-forth discussions about the shape the article would take, ending up with the exciting theme of “breaking rules in the border.” Just out today, the article features several of Barbara Denk’s photos from The Abundant Garden, as well as images from some of my other favorite photographers, including Allan Mandell and Saxon Holt. Other photographs were contributed by Stephanie Fagan, FG’s art director, and Daryl Beyers (who personally shepherded this piece from outline to publication).

Anyone who finds magazine or newspaper publishing a very s-l-o-w and tedious process will read this entry and be perhaps discouraged. How on earth should it take more than 2 years to turn an initial idea into a final article? (Don’t even get me started about the even lengthier book-birthing process!) Well, life gets in the way, timing is everything, and sometimes you just have to wait for all the pieces to fall into place as meant to be. Forcing, pushing, jockeying, chasing….it never really works. It’s a lesson I need to learn again and again. And this experience reminded me of the adage that “things work out for a reason.” Yes, they do.

Finally, please indulge me. Because of limited space (and for perhaps other reasons, such as it was purely a bit of self-indulgent writing in the first place!), the editors cut a final section of my original manuscript from the published article. Its genesis came from my father, Fred Prinzing, so I would like to include it here. You might have to read the published article for this to make sense, but here goes:

Everything Old is New Again

Like most gardeners who have tackled a landscaping challenge, I often think my “solution” to a design problem is original or straight out of my imagination. So when I recently opened “The Book of Perennials,” a gift from my book-hound father, I had to admit that my “new” ideas about layered borders were anything but new! This little red-bound volume, first published in 1923, was written by Alfred C. Hottes, a magazine editor of the day.

 Here’s how he describes a garden border:

“A border may be formal or informal; the plants may be set in definite ribbon-like bands or placed in natural clumps. Generally, the latter method is to be preferred unless we are planning a prim garden of geometric form on a large scale.”

Hmm. Sounds awfully familiar. I was surprised and somewhat humbled to read further. Mr. Hottes had his own opinions about layered borders, not too different from my own:

“Obviously, the tall plants should be at the back of the border, the dwarf edging plants in front and those of medium height tucked in between the two extremes. Nevertheless, this rule should not be followed too strictly; otherwise the result will give a border which will be too monotonous. Allow bold groups of tall plants to come to the front of the border. For the best effects in the Springtime some of the earliest dwarf plants may be planted toward the center to give a mass of color throughout the width of the border.”

Well, I guess we should listen to an expert. Don’t take my word for it. In the 1920s, long before I tried breaking rules in the border, Mr. Hottes encouraged his readers to do just that.

I joined Lili Singer on a tour through Theodore Payne Foundation’s native plant nursery

Thank goodness for friends who will host me when I have an urge to take a plant excursion. On Tuesday, I visited Lili Singer, gardening personality extraordinaire who is a beloved radio and newspaper personality and longtime advisor to Southern California plant-lovers.

Lili has taken on special projects at The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants in Sun Valley, Calif., a short drive off of Hwy I-5 , near Burbank Airport. Her pieces appear frequently in the Los Angeles Times Home section, she has a loyal following of students most Thursdays at the LA County Arboretum, and she is a board member of Southern California Horticultural Society. We met in August 05 when I came to LA to give a lecture for SCHS … then, a month later at the Garden Writers annual meeting, I really got to see what type of plant maven she was during the day we cavorted around the private landscapes of Vancouver, BC with a few other intrepid souls.

When I knew I was going to trade my Seattle zip code for a SoCal one, I also realized I would soon live in a state where I had several GWA friends and acquaintances, including Lili.

At the Theodore Payne Foundation, I tried to set aside any thought of my beloved NW garden and all the plants I can no longer grow because I now live in SoCal. Instead, I am looking closely at the amazing native plants available to me. Not really a botanical garden; Theodore Payne is a nonprofit nursery, seed store and bookstore for California native plants. Open to the public, Theodore Payne provides extensive plant information and advice in its nursery sales yard and through classes and public programs. Founded in 1960, the organization sponsors the free “Wildflower Hotline,” which alerts callers to the locations of seasonal wildflowers such as golden poppies and lesser-known but equally dazzling displays that embroider the hills and canyons of California (818-768-3533, March-May).

Outreach and volunteer coordinator Lisa Novick, Lili’s colleague, asserted that California has 6,000 native species to offer me. Wow. That’s something like three times what most states have!

While I lamented all the plants I couldn’t grow anymore, Lisa gently redirected the conversation, telling me that Seattle (and its plants) was like my “first love” to which all subsequent garden Zones will be compared. She observed that I’m still pining for that romance as I evaluate every subsequent suitor (plant, garden) to my original passionate relationship. “They’re never going to be the same; they’re different, and you need to enjoy the beauty of the difference,” she pointed out.

Nursery areas are enclosed in deerproof fencing and netting

I’m trying, okay? It’s hard to get my former lush, green, exuberant environs out of my system. Lili walked me through the Theodore Payne Nursery, a meandering series of paths that are nestled right up into the edges of LaTuna Canyon (this is a 22-acre parcel, complete with Flowerhill, a trail winding through chaparral and seasonal wild flowers). Plant sales areas are divided by category, just like any good nursery (groundcovers, perennials – oh, and “chaparral shrubs,” now that’s a category that Swanson’s Nursery doesn’t carry!).

This is a busy, busy nursery for wild and native plants of California. If you log onto Theodore Payne’s website, you’ll see its extensive plant, bulb and seed list, updated weekly. Many of the plants are propagated on site; others are supplied by reputable growers of California natives.

I zeroed in on a stunning evergreen specimen called Woolly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum), which looks like a long-needled rosemary but with the velvety purple-blue flower spikes of a Mexican sage. It’s a hummingbird and bumblebee favorite, according to California Native Plants for the Garden, the lovely reference that my Seattle book group gave me as a going-away gift when I moved. Ah, a new crush! Can’t wait to see how this relationship evolves once I get my very own ‘blue curls’ planted at home.

Bulbs have been very hard to give up with my move south; I’m kind of lost without my fall ritual of scrambling to plant as many tulip, allium, narcissus and grape hyacinth bulbs as time allows – usually in the pouring rain on Thanksgiving, while the turkey is roasting.

A new version of that November bulb ritual might look like this: Deb in t-shirt, capri pants and flip-flops, a small envelope of native bulbs in hand, planting clusters of three pearl-onion-sized bulbs in pots. With names like Firecracker Flower (Dichelostemma ida-maia), Ithuriel’s Spear ‘Queen Fabiola’ selection (Triteleia laxa), and Yellow Mariposa Lily ‘Golden Orb’ (Calochortus), I’m eager to see what delicate beauties arrive next spring.

One caveat with these native bulbs: They do NOT like any water in Summer or Fall. That’s of course when California’s wild areas are dry anyway; but move into the typical suburban backyard where occasional summer water is needed, hmmm. Guess there won’t be room for these bulbs at the front of my perennial beds.

Lili suggests I grow these in pots, at least this first year….that way I can enjoy them next spring when they bloom (photos are promised, here) and when the flowers fade, I can move the pots to the side of the house and let the bulbs stay warm, dry and content.

Warm, dry and content. That’s a noble thought for my own life, too!

A selection of native California plants, happily growing in a potted garden display

I joined Mary Martin for high tea and harp music at the Beverly Hills Peninsula Hotel

Every now and then we gardening gals have to get gussied up and leave the jeans and rubber clogs behind for the glimmer of the big city. Today was that day for me. Yup, I even wore heels and makeup!

My big trip to Beverly Hills brought me to the swanky Peninsula Hotel to meet my Atlanta friend Mary Martin for “high tea.”

Mary and her shed-studio will be featured in the pages of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways in a chapter called “Personal Space.” She is an incredible artist, writer, musician, and entrepreneur.  Bill Wright and I visited Mary in early July to photograph the 1930s-era “log cabin” shed that she’s transformed into an art studio and screened-in entertaining room.

Bill Wright photograph

Debra and Mary in front of her Atlanta “shed” on July 5th

The 12-by-20 foot building, which Mary suspects was originally a children’s playhouse or potting shed, was standing, neglected, on the property when she moved there in 1986. She fell in love with the rustic structure and eventually renovated it, adding the 16-by-17 foot screened porch.

Inside the older cabin-like section, work tables hold prototypes for her latest project, Mary’s Garden Champagne Savers. And it was this project that brought her today to Beverly Hills and the Neiman Marcus store.

An elegant tabletop at Neiman Marcus features Mary’s Garden Champagne Savers

Bill Wright photograph

Camellia japonica ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ – captured in sterling and displayed in the just-opened bottle of Veuve Clicquot

Here is some background:
For years, Mary envisioned using a piece of sterling shaped like a leaf or a twig to preserve champagne once a bottle was opened. She kept looking for something like it to appear in the marketplace. Then in 2002, she was tending to her perennial flower bed while planning a dinner party. “I kept getting this recurring idea: to have an elegant object for saving open bottles of champagne. I even knew what it should look like,” Mary says. “Finally, I decided to create it myself.”

Five years of experimentation and testing later, she launched Mary’s Garden Champagne Savers. The sterling silver sculptures are a genuine first, and include nine botanical designs, created from favorite plants and flowers in Mary’s own backyard. “They are an accent for the home and for entertaining,” she says of the life-sized sculptures of camellia, dogwood, bearded iris, edgeworthia, trillium, violet, and daylily.

Made in the USA and packaged like fine jewelry, the champagne savers are sold by select Neiman Marcus stores and at Bergdorf Goodman. She considers them gifts for the collector, hostess, bride, or groom. “With these pieces, I have translated my love of nature into an art form with a true purpose,” Mary says. “The idea of having something used for celebration and pleasure that also contributes beauty is essential in today’s world.”

She is reminded of a favorite quote from her grandfather Rudolf Anderson, a nurseryman and southern landscape designer who bred camellias, rhododendrons, and azaleas. She has in fact embraced his words, using them as a theme for Mary’s Garden Champagne Savers.

“I’ve always felt that anybody looking at beauty in nature cannot help but have more noble thoughts.” –Rudolf Anderson, 1967.

Product details:

Mary’s Garden Champagne Savers are cast in sterling silver and finished by hand. Offered in nine botanical designs ranging from 3-3/4 inches to 6-1/8 inches, the pieces are made in the USA and sold individually. Retail prices are approximately $195-$450 each.

Presented in a custom keepsake soft green gift box, each champagne saver is secured on a suede-textured chocolate brown pillow with criss-crossed elastic bands.