Fastigiate Trees, ‘Starry Night’
There is something about fastigiate (fass-ti’-gee-it) trees. You either love them or hate them. Or so it seems. Fastigiate means columnar and I could not help but contemplate this arboreal for...
Category Archives: Flowering Shrubs
Bower Vine, Grevillea, Queen Victoria Agave
Every now and then I see a plant that I must photograph right then and there, come what may. It might mean climbing a tree and precariously straddling a branch, or parking on the shoulder of a freew...
Primrose Jasmine, Thickets, Cherimoyas
The more I learn about primrose jasmine, the more I like it. This time of year, it’s nice to look at, too. Long shoots are bedazzled with butter yellow blooms. Primrose jasmine will cover a ...
Laurustinus for full sun to semi-shade
In Los Angeles, February is known as the month when winter merges into spring. The Super Bowl, in early February, coincides with a major botanical event: the onset of flowering — known scient...
From Geraldton Waxflower to Peppermint Tree
Not far from Van Nuys Airport on Sherman Way Boulevard, west of Rubio Avenue, one of the most brilliantly flowering plants for Valley gardens, although inexplicably absent from most of them, is thriv...
Avocado Prices Have Not Changed in 100 years
Over the last hundred years or so, the price of avocadoes has not changed. Back in 1920, the price of avocadoes, which were a newly introduced delicacy in California, was around $1 a piece and, toda...
A Luddite’s Paradise
Loren Zeldin doesn’t have a computer or a cell phone or even a camera. But he does have a garden, which is the focus of his...
‘Barely Boysenberry’, Double Orange Daylily, and Other Del...
While I was at a home improvement center this afternoon, I was taken by a 12 inch potted plant called Anisodontea ‘Barely Boysenberry.’ The garden person told me it was a perennial bush and would gro...
Nutgrass, Gardenias & Plum Trees
Q: Some friends of mine had a beautiful lawn here in the San Fernando Valley, but they have nutgrass growing in it. I had never heard of it, but everyone on their street has it. Can you recommend som...
Wonders of Wigandia
For years, it had baffled me. I caught a glimpse of it every time I traveled north on Beverly Glen Boulevard, just as I began the ascent that ended at Mulholland Drive. At the base of the steep emban...
