Reaching Far for the Best Plants
Many nurseries rely on plants available to them as tissue-cultured plugs, which come with built-in marketing programs and wide public recognition. Kel…
Seasons: Spring
Back-yard Birding
The cover of the January 2007 issue of Pacific Horticulture featured a female Anna’s hummingbird, in flight, feeding on nectar deep inside a flower …
Great Plant Picks 2011: A Few for Sunny, Dry Gardens
The Great Plant Picks list includes almost 800 trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, and vines, many of which withstand the dry conditions of maritime Pac…
Orchard Trees of Rancho Los Cerritos: Cherimoya
Cherimoya (Annona cherimola) is a subtropical fruit, found primarily in the mountain valleys and plateaus of Ecuador and Peru. Cherimoya’s sweet fru…
Edible Landscaping
Rosalind Creasy’s first book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, was revolutionary in 1982. Gardens of the Mediterranean have always focused on edibles, and the…
A Succulent Oasis at Sherman Library & Gardens
A complete renovation of the succulent section at Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar, California was undertaken in 2006. Succulent enthusiast…
The Demonstration Gardens at Falkirk
Falkirk is an eleven-acre estate anchored by a handsome three-story home, a blend of Queen Anne and Eastlake styles, built in 1888. A series of new ga…
The Evolution of a Native Garden
Creating a native garden has proven to be more challenging and more rewarding than I ever could have imagined when I began thirty years ago. The oak a…
Out with the Ivy
The process of ripping out the ivy, creating “structure” on the hillside with rocks, logs, and branches, and selecting, placing, planting, and obs…