The Real Dirt On ...

NEXT MEETING: Zoom Only – 04/10/’23 The Houseplant Guru, Lisa Eldred Steinkopf

Please join us on April 10, 2023, at 6 p.m. (PST) on Zoom only for this month’s SDHS General Meeting featuring a talk about one of the...

THE REAL DIRT ON: Francis Griscom Parsons: Mother of School Gardens

By Susan Starr. This is the last column in our series, The Real Dirt on…. In February we launch a new series, on gardening with children....

THE REAL DIRT ON: Beatrix Potter's World Beyond Bunnies

By Susan Krzywicki. Beatrix Potter, of Peter Rabbit fame, was born in 1866 to a well-off British family. From an early age, she was...

THE REAL DIRT ON: The Real Dirt on Derek Jarman

By Carol Buckley. One of the best-loved gardens in Great Britain reaches out to the English Channel seemingly at the wild edge of the...

THE REAL DIRT ON: Barbara Menzies: Shunner of Flowers Stuffed in Milk Bottles

By Susan Krzywicki. Barbara Menzies and two of her friends were the impetus behind the Stinson Beach wildflower shows that ran from 1958...

THE REAL DIRT ON: Edith Wharton's Pursuit of Excellence

By Carol Buckley. When one thinks of the novels of Edith Wharton—and indeed, her friend, Henry James—one thinks of Americans abroad...

THE REAL DIRT ON: Canyoneers Co-Founder Helen Witham Chamlee

By Susan Krzywicki. Local naturalist Helen Witham Chamlee was one of the creators of the Canyoneers, the San Diego Natural History...

THE REAL DIRT ON: Arabella Lennox-Boyd's Italian and English Sensibilities

By Carol Buckley. One of Great Britain’s foremost landscape designers for decades has been the Italian-born Hon. Lady Lennox-Boyd. Born...