From Tomatoes to Butterfly Bushes to Carmel Creepers
In response to a reader’s inquiry about growing tomatoes in the Antelope Valley, I received the following response from Palmdale resident Don Sumnicht: “I’ve been growing tomatoes i...
Category Archives: Flowering Shrubs
Beautiful Hebe Jeebies
For more than 15 years I had been watching them, those demure shrubs with decorous leaves yet few, if any, flowers. In truth, even the leaves had problems, as new shoots would die back the moment the...
Angel’s Trumpet Heralds Horticultural Heaven
The angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia) is everything its name suggests. Its pendulous flowers are not only shaped like trumpets, but they blare at you with their enormous size, prolific quantity and ...
Healthy Plants are Barely Watered
Five years ago, I visited Claire Martin’s garden in Winnetka and reported on several plants that were the picture of health despite minimal care on her part. A few days ago, I paid another visi...
Gardenias
Q. I’m the caretaker of an apartment building and I do our little flower garden. Way over 10 years ago I planted two gardenia plants together. I didn’t think they would even grow. Well, y...
In(toxic)ating Brunfelsia & Brugmansia
Brunfelsia and Brugmansia may sound like the names of fairytale twins — or siblings to the cruel Queen Brunhilda. As a matter of fact, Brunfelsia and Brugmansia are a pair of charismatic, volup...
Hebe (HEE-bee) for You & Me
Those of us who write about plants are among the most privileged of people. Our easy access to the world of plants puts us in constant touch with botanical treasures that remain hidden from most peop...
Nothing but Mallows
If I had to create a flower garden of plants belonging to a single family, I probably would choose Malvaceae, comprising the mallows and hibiscuses. Many of these plants have incredible flower displa...
Wonga Wonga
It happens when you least expect it: an encounter with a plant you have never seen before. To a plant lover, unfamiliar species are never just faces in a crowd. Each has its own distinctive identity,...
Everyone Loves Mallows
Everyone loves mallows. Did you ever meet a person who did not smile when gazing upon a hibiscus, a hollyhock or a flowering maple (abutilon) for the first time? Then there are marshmallows, named fo...
