Luciole Design | blog

Senecio mandralescae

This is a daisy. Although it doesn’t look much like one, it’s in the same family as your average marguerite. This is a very popular drought tolerant ground cover used in Southern California and the Bay Area. Supposedly, it can survive in Sacramento as well. We’ll see.

Aloe leaf detail

Aloe plant in bud

This nifty aloe is supposed to be frost hardy in the Central Valley. It has interesting leaves and as a bonus gets typical red, tubular aloe type flowers that should attract hummingbirds.

Chondropetalum tectorum leaf detail

The rain garden area will get a Cape Rush (Chondropetalum tectorum), a large, bold grass-like plant from South Africa. This plant supposedly likes wet conditions during the rainy season that dry out as the year progresses.

The plant gets over six feet tall – definitely a bold, focal point.

Grevillea 'Coastal Gem' plant

The hummingbird garden will get a Grevillea ‘Coastal Gem’, a compact gray shrub with numerous interesting red flowers in early spring. There will also be an Aloe ‘Pink Blush’, a compact succulent with – as the name says – a pink blush to the leaves. It has red, tubular flowers that should also please the hummingbirds.

Leucadendron salignum 'Golden Tip'

Another distinctive South African plant, Leucadendron salignum ‘Golden Tip’ will contrast with an existing large bronze New Zealand flax. The cut stems and flowers are very interesting in cut flower arrangements, the plant is evergreen and attractive year round. It takes very little water once established. The only drawback is that it can be tricky to grow – it seems to be one of those plants that is either happy the way things are and thrives on neglect or it just suicides.

A couple of medium sized New Zealand flaxes will join the collection as well. ‘Sundowner’ has stiffly held red-bronze leaves and grows to five feet tall. ‘Tricolor’ has yellow and green variegated leaves that droop, with a distinct red band at the edges. By coincidence, the yellow in the leaves is similar to the yellow in the Leucadendron. We’ll probably place something between the two just to set them off a bit from each other.

Phormium 'Sundowner'

Phormium 'Tricolor'

Phormium 'Tricolor' plant in pot

A Helleborus orientalis ‘Blue Lady’ will go in a shaded area, with columbine and coral bells. The flowers are a solid deep maroon-magenta color on plants about a foot and a half high. It’s a great flower color, but the blue name is misleading, since neither the flowers nor the leaves has a blue cast. Even better, it blooms in mid-January.

A variegated lily of the Nile, Agapanthus ‘Little White Bird’ will mingle with Purple Three Awn (Aristida purpurea). The flowers are supposed to grow up to around three feet tall, so the base will be a mix of the grass and the Agapanthus, while the aggie’s flowers will float above the purplish flower heads of the aristida. Should be an interesting show. If not, we’ll move things around and try something else. The mix of agapanthus, often maligned as overused, and ornamental grasses creates a fresh look contrasting the solid flowers against the feathery grasses.