For those of us familiar with the feathery, strikingly silver foliage of dusty millers, or Jacobaea maritima, this is not it! Please...

No better common name for Lamprocapnos spectabilis than bleeding heart as it reveals its teardrop when the heart breaks. Its species...

For formal and informal hedges, Prunus laurocerasus is a competitive option. They treat us with deep green and lustrous foliage, perfect...

A native azalea that's deciduous? When we think of rhododendrons, their evergreen boughs with pastel clusters of showy flowers might...

Need a colorful ground cover that is also drought tolerant? Consider Lantana montevidensis. Unlike its sibling, Lantana camara that...

Lantanas continue to grow in availability offering a wide variety of colors and sizes among hybridized cultivars. For this post, we will...

"And now for something completely different" as the cast from Monty Python's Flying Circus repeatedly pronounced as their comedy sketches...

H.A.R.D.Y! This is the best way to describe this South African bulb. As of this early September post, they have been in bloom in the...

Hydrangea macrophylla is the quintessential representation of Victorian gardens. At least, its association with the Victorian era, for...

Trumpet vines are numerous, and a few thrive here on the West Coast of the United States. Because of their exotic trumpet-shaped flowers...

"Fabulous!" is not exclaiming enough about these showy flowers on a very large "perennial" plant. Usually when I think of perennials,...

Masses of Digitalis purpurea, or common foxgloves, put on a stunning show with their tall stalks of flowers, but there are some things...

Abutilons do not fit into a clean category for landscape architects. When we think of evergreen shrubs in California, boxwoods and India...

We started strategically planting Euphorbias in the garden when we heard that gophers do not like them, and we have plenty of gophers. ...

Smokin'! This is the first word that comes to mind when I see this unusual plant in bloom. What could be an ordinary large shrub or...

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

What was once an exotic rarity found in greenhouses or temperate San Francisco's Victorian landscapes, sago palms have been making their...

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

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. ...