Verso

For the 16th year, the Huntington Library Press will represent The Huntington at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. This year, the festival moves from its usual venue at UCLA to the USC campus, south of the 10 Freeway and north of Exposition Park and the Coliseum.

So the story goes that the upper ponds in the Japanese Garden were filled with mud many decades ago, mud carried down the canyon in flash flood waters. And the significant point has been that rather than dig out the mud, workers just let it dry and then capped it with a new concrete pond bottom. Those upper ponds are significantly shallower than the main ponds at the garden center

Another post in a series about Mr. Huntington's Garden by the botanical director of The Huntington.

A new exhibition opens Saturday, April 23, which happens to be William Shakespeare's birthday. At first glance, "Revisiting the Regency: England, 1811–1820" might seem to be of greater interest to Jane Austen fans than to admirers of the Bard.

While out in the Shakespeare Garden yesterday, one of the guards reminded me that April 23 (this Saturday) is the day we celebrate Shakespeare's birthday. We have replanted the garden just in time to bring a bit more life and color to the clearing over which Shakespeare presides.

Monday was President's Day all over again. Pulitzer Prizes in history and biography went to books about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life took the honors for best biography

Botanist that I am, seemingly trivial and arcane plant knowledge sometimes gets in the way of simple, normal experiences. Yesterday was Palm Sunday, which always means to me that people make convenient and curious choices while trying to round up palm fronds for decoration. At our church, the altar greenery was sago palm

A red-caped knight in golden armor rears up on a brave and formidable steed. He thrusts a massive lance toward a newly downed warrior. But wait! Another knight charges from behind with a lethal-looking spear raised high. And, oh no!