Silk Trees Ideal for Small Yards
Once in awhile, certain plants and trees practically jump out at you, more glorious than you ever imagined them to be. They stand out as though transported from another place. During the last few day...
Category Archives: Trees
Splurge with Spurge
The sun-loving equivalent of baby’s tears, it grows rampantly and, left unchecked, will take over every bare spot of garden earth within a week or two. Spotted prostrate spurge takes over just ...
A Grove of Trees
I must have pulled at least 10,000 Washington palm seedlings in my lifetime. They come up everywhere in Los Angeles and require nothing but smog to survive. For years, I found nothing redeeming about...
Mayten & Pineapple Guava
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...
Afghan Pines & Mountain Garlands
Question: I have an Afghan pine planted in a hole cut out of my deck. It has been there about 10 years, has a circumference of about 70 inches at the base, and is 6 feet from the house. It currently ...
Training Trees
After careful observation of newly planted trees for almost 30 years, I have come to the conclusion that there is something seriously wrong with most of them. They simply do not have the ability to s...
Leaning Towards Shorter Trees
A week ago, a gigantic pine tree fell over and crashed into a house in Sherman Oaks. Luckily, no one was hurt, but what happened should serve as a reminder of the hazards presented by large trees in ...
Old (pecan tree) vs. New (sweetshade tree)
While walking down Moorpark Street in Sherman Oaks the other day, I saw two trees opposite each other, between Colbath and Stern avenues, which represented the old and new concepts of urban tree plan...
From Dogwood to Black-Eyed Susan
Until last Sunday, nearly 15 years had passed since I had seen a dogwood tree. In 1984, I spent several months setting traps for fruit flies in South Central and East Los Angeles. If you recall, the ...
Honey Bees and China Dolls
Judy Rosen lives in the Sherwood Forest area of Northridge with one duck, six hens, 50,000 honey bees and a collection of exotic plants that cause discriminating botanists to cluck and buzz with deli...
