Large stands of Romneya coulteri, or Matilija poppy, at West Valley College, show their true beauty when students are not actively...

If you are in the California landscape industry, you know that Agapanthus is a workhorse in commercial landscapes. Who has not seen this...

X-Plants are not spin-offs from the X-Men. The "x" in front of or within the scientific name refers to pairing (crossing) at least two...

Say that name ten times fast! Or skip the tongue twister knowing that its common name, Russian sage, is even funnier when learning it is...

Does the world need another oleander? When I ask myself this question, I immediately think of my time attending Monticello's Historic...

Meet Miss Agnes. She's "vital to chastity." That's how I remember her name...both the plant's botanical and common names. Students...

Summer is here, and I love chocolate, so let's dive right into a tree that does not receive too much attention. Meet the velvety...

Albizias fly in and out of favor as the wind blows, or more succinctly, whenever we find California's droughts in the news. Their...

The non-cultivar, P. atriplicifolia (above), can reach 5' when in bloom, so we opted for this compact cultivar that only reaches about 3'....

First bloom this year after purchase, and wow was it a show stopper! The bloom stock lasted for about a month, blooming in early spring....

Considered a native of the West, but this is a cultivar of unknown origin (to me). Most online sources avoid using the species epithet,...

Most visits to our favorite retail nurseries usually means seeing grevilleas that we have not seen before. This time, Big Bird presented...

Low maintenance, evergreen, and tasty bits of guava fruit! Picked too early, these berries had a sweet but "pine flavor," only the deep...

Ages ago, I briefly lived in a warehouse on the Carquinez Strait. The town of 300 was the remnants of an old ferry crossing to Benicia. ...

If gardeners and landscape maintenance workers can manage the irrigation, Cistus ladanifer provides a lot of bang for the buck in a...