Primula: the Joys of Spring and Beyond
The genus Primula includes more than 400 species distributed mostly around the Northern Hemisphere. The vast majority can be found in the high, damp m…
Topics: Gardens & Design
California Native Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide
In recent years, California gardeners have been presented with a number of excellent books on the state’s native flora and its value for gardeners and…
Lush, Colorful, and Water-wise: An Impossible Dream?
Beauty, variety, color, shade, and water savings—all at the same time. It doesn’t get any better than this. One neighbor has already followed our …
Petal & Twig: Seasonal Bouquets with Blossoms, Branches, and Grasses from Your Garden
In the most personal of her several books, Val Easton leads us gently through the seasons as she demonstrates the ease with which she brings…
Australian Shrubs
For those who yearn to travel to far-flung places, but are hindered by life’s circumstances from satisfying those longings, try my approach: bring t…
From Tree to Table: Growing Backyard Fruit Trees in the Pacific Maritime Climate
“Sun-warmed fruit eaten straight from the tree is one of life’s great simple pleasures.” Authors Barbara Edwards (no relation) and Mary Olivella hooked me with…
Great Plant Picks 2012: Made in the Shade
Shade is a shifty character, with a number of elusive and subjective descriptors, most commonly: light, partial, full, dappled, open, and deep. But wh…
Revealing the “Essence of the Tree”: Aesthetic Pruning of Japanese Maples
Japanese maples are among the most rewarding trees to prune because of their shape and the wide vocabulary of their branching structure—from the str…
The Enchanted Hacienda: An Island of Biodiversity
I was a neophyte gardener on a cramped San Diego corner lot when a heartbroken widower offered me his thirty-year-old glass-house and a collection of …