Texture .. Architecture - Plants as Ornament

Living Green Wall ..Hotel Modera in downtown Portland.   

An element of the hotel building's mid-century modern design: 

The courtyard landscape features soft pillows of golden Scotch Moss - Sagina subulata 'Aurea' ...set into the pavement.

Silky ... The inspiration for Bay Area Tendrils:

Clematis tibetana seedheads in Autumn - Alice's Garden.

Formidable architecture of an Aloe in bloom - Getty Center, Los Angeles.

Bedazzling ... Vertical structure of Himalayan blue bamboo:

Entry Garden Borders - San Francisco Botanical Garden

A Hint of Autumn .. Blooms in my Bay Area Garden

A bee enjoying an Anemone: The large swathe of Japanese Anemones - a melding of 'Pamina' and 'Mont Rose,' burst forth in the bed where roses once grew; too little sunlight now for roses.
Photos © Alice Joyce

Anemone 'Pamina' ... she's quite the lady.

What would I do without Toad Lilies! Especially Tricyrtis lasiocarpa : Yes, it spreads vigorously, but that trouble-free habit is just what's needed now in the spot where it grows along the back fence, beneath the limbs of my neighbor's enormous evergreen.

As I've had to cut back on the time spent on garden maintenance, I appreciate the elegance of this long-stemmed beauty more and more with each passing year.

Scrophularia 'Lemon and Lime' exhibits my favorite hues, brightening a bed that gets less and less light as the daylight hours grow shorter. In the ground Scrophularia languished, but planted now in the moist conditions of a faux terra cotta planter, it flourishes.

The blooms on this member of the mint family are a magnet for bees.

To read more about 'sticky germander' ... the common name,

here's a link to my San Francisco Chronicle Pick of the Week column.

A Perfect Shade of Apple Green: Bells of Ireland

'Apple Green' Bells of Ireland

This year marks the first time I've had an opportunity to cultivate this charming, old-fashioned annual, grown from a trial packet of seeds from Renee's Garden.

Moluccella laevis ... aka Bells of Ireland.

Many fine bouquets were produced!

The seeds - sown directly in the ground in late-spring - were able to thrive in the full sun of T's community garden plot.

Not surprisingly, my attempts to grow but a few seeds here at home failed, with nary a spot that received enough sunshine for the plants to flourish.

Garden Art That Stirs the Imagination

Turquoise Lotus

(Photo: Courtesy of Little and Lewis)

Click below to be redirected to the art and gardens of Little and Lewis, featured on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Alexander the Great! - Little and Lewis Garden Gallery

Little and Lewis Garden Gallery ... gracing the cover of Pacific Horticulture magazine.

Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander'

Here is yet another perennial that I've grown for years, yet it is only coming into flower this summer. I'm aware that 'Alexander' can be invasive in many situations, but in my dry garden setting, with meager hand-watering, it barely survived in the ground.

A couple years ago I lifted and moved him to a large container with a couple other specimens. Here 'Alexander' can get his feet wet: A required condition for good growth. Still, it took time for the plant to settle in, and now, bloom at last!

I've a very nostalgic attachment to this perennial, having been introduced to it in the glorious Bainbridge Island gardens of artist/sculptors/superb plantsmen, Little & Lewis. (Sadly, all my images are 35mm slides that have yet to be digitized, and so can only be shared in garden talks.)

In David and George's incredibly lush landscape, 'Alexander' grew in a pair of handsome urns that 'contained' the plant's exuberance.