Urban Gardens

When judges of the House 2020 Competition challenged Ontario, Canada architecture, engineering, and environmental science students to come up with an innovative idea for the house of the future, they asked the question: what does ”smart” mean now?

Competition winner, … Read More...

You know about farm-to-table dining and perhaps garden-to-glass cocktails. Now there’s Field-to-Vase–where the dining table’s flowers were freshly picked at the flower farm only a few feet from where you are seated.

The Field to Vase Dinner Tour is … Read More...

Crece Jicama is a collection of hanging ceramic pots inspired by the shape and texture of Jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus), a native Mexican climbing vine and root vegetable popular in Mexican cuisine. 

The handcrafted pots hang from long rust-hued leather straps, … Read More...

Dawnsknoll House, Photo: Art Gray

After many years on the east coast, I’m lucky to be back in Southern California (aka the left coast) where I grew up. I’m not missing winter one bit, and if I have a yen … Read More...

Perched atop rolling mobile gardens adorned with plants, insect hotels, branches, shells and more, a group of spirited young women and girls–Princesses of the Earth and Climate–paraded recently down Paris’s rue du Chemin Vert (which happens to translate … Read More...

Art in the City’s 16 inch balloon dog figurines.

On my recent trip to the Ambiente design fair, I spotted some balloon-inspired designs–furniture and objects which brought back fond memories of those iconic balloon sculptures of my childhood. Looks like … Read More...

Never before have garden hoses been this glamorous. 

Swedish company, Garden Glory, brings high style into the garden with their colorful fashion-forward garden hoses that hang out on whimsical antler-shaped wall mounts. Put them in your garden and you’ll soon … Read More...

Distilling down the top trends and themes from an international design fair the size of 60 football fields (that’s 1300 tennis courts) is not a simple endeavor. Nonetheless, as I trekked in Frankfurt in mid-February through the massive design fest … Read More...

Now in its 13th year, Fiskars Project Orange Thumb^® awards cash and garden tools to community groups across North America and Canada. I was honored to accept their invitation to be on their editorial board where I helped select … Read More...

Step aside Starbucks. There’s a new caffeinated kid on the block and she’s on a roll. With 50 cafés sold to 12 countries in nine months, the world’s smallest but fastest growing coffee chain is coming to a corner, or … Read More...