After months of steady growth, the asters were reaching for the sky, with an average height of about 54 inches. Time to act. Last year, some of the asters were trimmed too late, almost completely eliminating their flowers. Others were done earlier, resulting at a solid floral display held below eye height. Untrimmed, the plantsContinue reading “Time to cut back the California asters”
Category Archives: Planting design
Removing your lawn to save water?
Replacing thirsty lawn with a colorful garden is a great way to save water and keep your landscape enjoyable even during a drought.
Yellow irises
Many irises are great plants for water-saving Mediterranean gardens. Bearded iris and Pacific Coast Hybrids are happy with natural rainfall in winter and spring, then go mostly dormant during the dry months.
California natives in bloom (and leaf)
California native plants in the garden
Big storm tests the rain garden
There’s nothing like a few minutes of heavy downpour to check that the garden’s ecological systems are doing what they’re supposed to. Today brought pounding rain and hail to the garden. There’s standing water over the gravel in one area, the rain garden is filling up, and the pervious paving is definitely working hard. OnceContinue reading “Big storm tests the rain garden”
Digilexis? No, Digiplexis!
Some plants are refinements of existing species. Others are things discovered in the wild by plant hunters, Indiana Jones style. Then there are some created by crazy plantsmen by crossing species nobody imagined were compatible. The resulting plant in this case has dark green basal leaves and unique flowers that look like they walked offContinue reading “Digilexis? No, Digiplexis!”
California’s central valley isn’t a safe place for purple hopseed bushes
In the battle of Jack Frost vs Purple Hopseed bushes, Jack wins. The plants may come back from their roots, but not until the weather warms – so goodbye purple winter screen plant. If you’re in a borderline area where this happens a lot, it’s time to consider a different plant, especially if these wereContinue reading “California’s central valley isn’t a safe place for purple hopseed bushes”
Some new plants from Down Under
During the midst of the worst heat wave in years, a package arrived on our doorstep. Live plants. Fortunately, our doorstep is in the shade, so the “Live Plants” tag was still accurate. The plants came from Tuffy in Temecula, a supplier of plants to wholesale nurseries – our closest grower is supposedly Devil MountainContinue reading “Some new plants from Down Under”
Agapanthus?
combine lily of the Nile with other plants to create dramatic compositions
A (mostly) native garden by a stream
A mostly native garden thrives along a suburban streambank.