Tag Archives: California native plants

Textures for a Los Angeles garden

Southern California’s mild climate creates an opportunity to go wild with plant color, texture and shape. All manner of subtropical plants from arid climates jump onto the plant palette, and more are introduced every year. This garden has one zone adjacent to the main living area that receives moderate irrigation; the rest of the gardenContinue reading “Textures for a Los Angeles garden”

Time to cut back the California asters

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”

Getting ready for the Gardens Gone Native tour

Grasses wave in the wind, lupines finish their blooming season, new plants adapt to their new home, hummingbirds gyre above native sage and honeysuckle. Aggressive weeds have been pulled, trees trimmed, the compost heap is full, hot and full of insects. The Gardens Gone Native tour is always a good excuse to work like crazyContinue reading “Getting ready for the Gardens Gone Native tour”

Aster chilensis trimming results

Last year, our California asters grew. And grew. And grew. By flowering time, the plants were about six feet tall. Too hard to appreciate the flowers at that height without a ladder, but the plants had a solution: as the season progressed, they drooped. We couldn’t cut them because we wanted the seeds as aContinue reading “Aster chilensis trimming results”

Planting Irises

Irises are inconvenient. They bloom in spring, but should be planted in fall. With bearded iris, this means ordering after strolling though fields of blooming plants, ordering, and waiting until late August to get your plants and put them in the ground. For native iris, we purchased in spring, planted the pots, then removed theContinue reading “Planting Irises”

Deschampsia. Muhlenbergia. Calamagrostis. Grasses have really long names!

Two of these grasses, the Deer Grass and the Tufted Hair Grass, are California natives. The other, Karl Foerster Grass, is a hybrid that does very well here. Tufted Hair Grass has been proposed as a lawn substitute, but that would mean mowing off the flower stalks, since at about three feet high they makeContinue reading “Deschampsia. Muhlenbergia. Calamagrostis. Grasses have really long names!”