Orchard Trees of Rancho Los Cerritos: Pomegranates
The pomegranates at Rancho Los Cerritos, in Long Beach, California, date back to the mid-1840s, when John Temple added this “exotic” fruit, as wel…
Regions: Southern California
So. Cal
Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens
What started, according to the editor’s preface, as a simple desire to find out what she could grow in her gopher-plagued garden in the San…
Garden Allies: Lacewings and Their Kin
The order Neuroptera includes green and brown lacewings, dustywings, antlions, owlflies, and mantidflies. Lacewings and their kin prey on all sorts of…
A Tropical Eden with a Mission
Dr Mardy Darian's encyclopedic knowledge of tropical plants and ecosystems, his skill at establishing and working with diverse microclimates, and his …
Small Eucalyptus for Western Gardens
Drought-tolerant eucalypts from desert and mediterranean climates of Western Australia rarely grow larger than small trees or large shrubs, shed littl…
The Begonia in California, Part 1
The begonia found a most congenial home in California, where its cultivation reached a pinnacle. The state’s fertile soils and equable climate were …
The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and Practices for a Changing Climate
Could there be a more timely title for the gardener in the West? With increasing challenges to an equitable distribution of the West’s limited water…
Orchard Trees of Rancho El Cerrito: Oranges
The primary orchard at Rancho Los Cerritos, in Long Beach, California, was designed by Ralph D Cornell in 1931, as part of an estate plan commissioned…
The Native Gardener’s Paintbox: Pink Moments
The many shades of pink are particularly effective when paired with sage green, gray green, and silvery foliage—colors that are plentiful in the Cal…