A darling of the small stature understory flowering trees in Northern California may be replacing the ever-popular flowering but...

Every winter, retail nurseries fill with a variety of bareroot plants including blueberries that at times I have specified in designs but...

Memories can pop up when least expected. My family and I would sit on the back deck of our South Lake Tahoe cabin and pick out and devour...

Like me, Ginkgo biloba is a living fossil, or as Sunset summarizes, an "ancient survivor from prehistoric times..." (p. 339). The...

This little germander always finds its way into my gardens, in part for its versatility. I have primarily specified T. x lucidrys as...

There are two secrets I will now share with you that many within California's horticultural and landscape industries already know. The...

California has everything, even its own rose. No, it is not a fancy multi-petaled cut flower coveted by lovers, but it certainly has...

For twenty plus years, my commute followed the Russian River from Healdsburg to Duncans Mills. Sometimes I would keep going all the way...

Where do you fall in the carob or chocolate debate? A general online search illustrates how people take sides for their health benefits...

When thinking about street trees for California, there are few evergreen examples that check off all the boxes of requirements and still...

If a landscape design calls for tropical plant species, one cannot go wrong with including Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Its genus, Hibiscus,...

We moved to Palo Alto when I was child, so I was amazed to learn that we had our own pomegranate tree in the front yard, already well...

Pssssst......landscape designers......over here...make sure your client or the users of your landscape LOVE garlic before planting this...

Lavare. Just writing this Latin derivative meaning 'to wash' evokes spas filled with lavender bathing soaps and oils. Relaxing. If...

The coast live oak is among other tree species noted for their size, often achieving heritage status within communities... witness trees...

There are three Arbutus species that every California landscape architect should know: A. menziesii, A. 'Marina,' and this one, A. unedo...

Ubiquitous comes to mind. Maybe not as common as lily-of-the-Nile, but daylilies are a favorite filler for landscape designers. Why? A...

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

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