Here’s a photo from the quirky former website Burbia.com. This fellow found a unique solution to that pesky hedge-trimming job. This beats the heck out of standing on a tall ladder and leaning over with a hedge trimmer in your hands. Hey, if this is safe and you’ve got the right equipment, why not?
UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to Jose, whose name was chosen at random from all who entered. Check back at the end of August for another chance to win. This month's giveaway is an excellent book titled Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide, which I reviewed here. To enter, you must do two things: 1.…
For the past few months, I've been lucky enough to live in a house with amazing landscaping — lawns, flowering shrubs, ferns, graceful trees, fencing, a multi-level deck. But the most amazing element is an enormous screened gazebo (seen here) next to a waterfall and a pond. There is a bridge going from the deck…
A reader sent in this email: Hi! I saw your Pardon Our Dust article on drought-tolerant grasses. Can you recommend good landscape architect in the L.A. area? (Pamela Burton is not taking new clients.) Thanks! Any recommendations for this reader?
Dear SoCal Gardeners: My mother-in-law gave me this Chinese elm tree (click photo to enlarge) and I planted it about five years ago. It’s never done that well. It grows fast but the leaves get blackened and the branches break off. The latest break took off about a third of the tree, and it looks…
At the urging of reader “tarbubble,” I asked the designers at Pamela Burton & Company what lawn substitutes they used on their award-winning Malibu landscape (which was featured previously on this blog). I got a response from Burton associate Stephen Billings. First of all, regarding grasses in lieu of lawn, he recommends referring to the…
<p><a href=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/29/malibulandscapegrasses.jpg” onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=679,height=430,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”><img alt=”Malibulandscapegrasses” title=”Malibulandscapegrasses” src=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pardonourdust/images/2008/05/29/malibulandscapegrasses.jpg” width=”480″ height=”303″ border=”0″ style=”float: left; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;” /></a></p> <p>At the urging of reader “tarbubble,” I asked the designers at <a href=”http://www.pamelaburtonco.com/”>Pamela Burton & Company</a> what lawn substitutes they used on their award-winning Malibu landscape (which was <a href=”http://www.kathysremodelingblog.com/2008/05/santa-monica-la.html”>featured previously</a> on this blog).</p>…
Pamela Burton & Co. won an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for the gardens and hardscape (seen above) at a Malibu beachfront home. At first, the owner wanted lots of bright green turf. But the designers explained how that would be out of place with the sand and chaparral of the…
A proposed amendment by the Canton City Council in Ohio could put homeowners who let their weeds and grass grow too high in jail. As the law stands now, according to The Repository in Canton, more than 8 inches constitutes high grass or weeds and first-time violators face a minor misdemeanor, which carries up to…
<p><a href=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/20/deadtree.jpg” onclick=”window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=620,height=826,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false”><img alt=”Whose problem is a dead tree?” border=”0″ height=”333″ src=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pardonourdust/images/2008/05/20/deadtree.jpg” style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 5px” title=”Whose problem is a dead tree?” width=”250″ /></a>From Barry Stone's "Ask the Inspector" column in the <a href=”http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/”>Real Estate</a> section:</p> <p><strong>Question</strong>: The neighbors who live behind us have three large, dead trees that border our…