Growing Plants Under Glass
Nathaniel Ward was an Englishman who loved to observe the behavior of insects and was fond of enclosing them in glass jars. Once, he forgot about one of his jars and, when he noticed it again, a fern...
Category Archives: Home Gardening
What to Grow Under Redwood Trees
Q. I have 11 coast redwoods in my yard. They are beautiful, BUT it is very difficult to find anything to grow under them. Between the root system, soil acidity and the shade, my options are limited. ...
red bird of paradise
To track down poinciana plants, you would have to journey into Madagascar, the West Indies, Uruguay or tropical Mexico. Or you could visit the front of an office building opposite Taft High School on...
Blooming Plants for the Fall Garden
Autumn is the ideal time to start a garden. This is perfect proof that the gardener’s claim to fame is in manipulating nature, rather than in slavishly following its dictates. The popula...
Gold Discovered in Lantana
The heat of this past summer may have finally given way to cooler autumn days, yet two plants continue to make a determined display of blazing orange flowers, reminiscent of the sun. In fact, ...
Sensible choices for growing trees in limited spaces
Just the other day, in North Hollywood on Sylvan Street, I bumped into two of my favorite trees. One was a pineapple guava (Acca or Feijoa sellowiana) and the other was a mayten (Maytenus boaria). Fo...
Heat-loving ground cover provides beauty, saves water
No doubt you have seen a “Baby on Board” sign in the rear window of a car at one time or another. This sign, it would appear, is meant to alert other drivers to the possibility of unpredi...
A shining example of a successfully planted slope
You can grow just about anything in our part of the world, and Helen Amritraj’s plantings on a quiet street in Calabasas provide a clear demonstration of this sublime horticultural truth. Up an...
The right trees for your home
Question: We were in the path of an incredible windstorm last year in the San Gabriel Valley. It took out all of our large trees. Since we now get to start from scratch, I would love some advice abou...
What to plant near a pond
Q: We have a small backyard with a small pond in one corner. When we had the yard landscaped, we ended up with two Melaleucas near the pond. Bottom line, the roots from the Melaleucas have taken over...
