Let’s face it, plants that bloom in spring and summer get the lion’s share of attention in nursery’s and gardens. Soooo… what’s happening in your garden in the fall?
Continue reading “Everett’s Choice” California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum var. latifolium)
One of the things missing from so many modern cultivars of plants is the one thing we keep sticking our noses into them for: fragrance. Yes, looks are good, but why not have both?
Continue reading California Lilac (Ceanothus spp.)
Usually when a plant has the word “weed” as part of it’s name, it doesn’t immediately attract itself to the typical gardener as a good candidate for their landscape. But this is one of those that should be given a second look.
Continue reading Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
Imagine a carpet of the most intensely blue flowers polka-dotting a mat of deep green foliage and what you’re really seeing is Lithodora. This lovely ground cover plant brings in pollinators throughout much of the year, too.
Continue reading Lithodora diffusa
This is probably the least troublesome plant that I have in my garden, as well as the most spectacular. Not only do people stop and gawk, but the bees are happy to see them, too.
Continue reading Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
Each spring I eagerly await the appearance of my freesias. Their sweet aroma greets me every time I walk outside and their bright blooms are some of the first spots of color I see.
Continue reading Freesia (Freesia corymbosa)
The scent of lavender is incomparable. Good thing that lavenders tend to be profuse bloomers!
Continue reading Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
Did you know that California Poppies come in colors other than orange? They can be in shades of cream, pink, and yellow, too! So far I have the orange and cream popping up, waiting for a few more colors to come soon.
Gaura also goes by bee blossom, wand flower, and whirling butterflies, and if you see it growing you totally understand where these fanciful names come from. Dainty pink flowers dance on long sprays of thin stems that shoot up from the ground. The flowers start in early spring and continue on until winter comes.
Continue reading Gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri)
It was by pure accident that I discovered California fuchsias. The Old Man and I were in the process of transforming our dull, and rather dead (thank you drought), yard into a more water-wise and heat tolerant landscape. An internet search for drought tolerant plants to use led us to the discovery of a nursery, not too terribly far away in the neighboring foothills, that specializes in California native plants, which by their nature are rather used to not getting much rain.
Continue reading California Fuchsia “Silver Select” (Epilobium canum ssp.)
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