It is easy to dismiss some of the more Plane Jane plants of the ornamental landscape, but for landscape architects, they can play key...

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

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...

Truth be known, I have not specified Koelreuteria paniculata in any of my designs, and I am not sure why. Perhaps one reason is that it...

Easily unnoticeable but offers so much more when looking at the details, we should be seeing more of Melaleuca linariifolia in public...

Ages ago...I am referring to my own ancient history...I was an outsider yet still involved with activities on Stanford's campus. My...

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

There are two trees I can think of that leave me unenthusiastic about giving them my time here. The first is Ailanthus altissima, which...

Autumn 2021. California is drought stricken. Wildfires seem endless. Fire season. Our state is at the precipice, where we are...

Frequently, I second guess myself on the scientific name of this deciduous tree. Pistache, pistachio...isn't there an "h" in the genus? ...

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,...

Designers may already be familiar with Japanese maples and flowering cherries, but this Japanese snowdrop or snowbell tree offers a...

This large shrub, small tree came my way from generous owners of a small resort in Guerneville. I would occasionally talk with them...

Admittedly, I only discovered this tree when developing our plant list for student studies, so in this situation, I am the student as...

In the past decade, Chilopsis linearis has started to pop up in Northern California as a viable, colorful option in the landscape ...

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...

What's not to love about Lagerstroemia indica, or crape myrtles? Right about now, mid to late summer, their ubiquity is obvious along...

California landscape designers, give this tree more attention. We have a specimen at West Valley College (shown below), which is just...