Fall Garden – The Smarter Gardener

New Zealand Christmas tree and eponymous plants

February 7, 2019 no comments

Although Christmas is over, several plants that bear its name are perennials that carry on throughout the year, displaying virtues that are not confined to this season alone. Let’s start with New Zea...

Rain Puts Smiles on Gardeners’ Faces

November 26, 2013 no comments

For the nongardening resident of Los Angeles, rain is nothing but a burden. Rain lengthens the daily commute. If you forgot to rake the leaves off your roof, your rain gutters will overflow and creat...

Los Angeles Trees With Fall Colors

November 4, 2013 no comments

A common lament from transplanted Easterners who reside in our area concerns the lack of foliage that turns color in the fall. Well, you can’t expect to have balmy weather at almost any moment ...

Colorful California Autumn Leaves

November 3, 2013 no comments

San Fernando Valley dwellers may lament the small number of trees and shrubs whose leaves turn color this time of year, especially if they grew up in New England, where the autumn foliage display is ...

The November Garden: Foliage and Fruit

October 29, 2013 no comments

Looking at the garden in November may dampen enthusiasm for creating bouquets, since many flowering plants have shut down for now and will continue to be bereft of blooms for the next several months....

Flaming Fall Flowers and Foliage

October 29, 2013 no comments

“Flaming Colors of Fall” sounds like an ode to the foliage of New England maples and oaks, which turn orange, crimson and gold this time of year. However, there are plants right in our ow...

Fall Foliage

October 29, 2013 no comments

Now is the time to enjoy the radiant foliage of autumn, even in the San Fernando Valley. To be sure, leaves color more brilliantly in climates with a colder fall season than our own. Yet there are a ...

Fall Fragrance in a Sweet Box

October 29, 2013 no comments

By mid-November in the Valley, most flowering, fruiting and fragrance-giving plants have taken their final bows until the curtain goes up on another spring. Yet for a few select garden ornamentals, t...

Cool Blue Blooms of Fall

October 29, 2013 no comments

And so, in the end, it has been left to the cool blue blooms of November to finally grant us a reprieve from the die-hard summer of ’96. Until a few days ago, it seemed that this summer, regard...

Leave Fallen Leaves Alone

October 29, 2013 no comments

In our city, one of the reasons people create gardens or buy houses with back yards is to stake out a quiet retreat from the noisy world around them. Some might argue that this is an absurd idea, tha...

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There is a certain plant that has remarkable strength. I always think of an ox when reading about it or hearing its name and for an obvious reason: it’s called oxalis. Yet the etymology of oxalis has nothing to do with an ox. The word is derived f...

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A Living Fence of Pyracantha

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Red Monkey Flower

Red monkey flower (Diplacus puniceus) is an evergreen perennial that you ignore all year long for the sake of its arresting spring bloom, although it may flower on and off throughout the year. Water it more than once a month — even in fast-dra...