Melons: Past and Present
As summer approaches, thirst-quenching watermelons and cantaloupes become ever-present snacks and dessert priorities. Yet the intensively hybridized melons we find at the supermarket, or grow from se...
Orange and Mango Tree Problems and the Amazing Trifoliate Orange
I have a Valencia seedless orange tree that I set out about 40 years ago. The fruit has always been sweet and juicy. But the last couple of years the oranges are larger with thicker skin and not much...
Getting Ready for Spring
Spring can turn the most casual observer of plants into a suddenly enthusiastic novice gardener. Blinding displays of flowers are everywhere. Who can resist them? Just take a look at Lampranthus p...
Asian Citrus Psyllid: a Hitchhiking Pest
International air travel is a wonderful thing, especially if you happen to be an insect. Just ask the Asian citrus psyllid. Thanks to hitching free rides on airplanes, where it typically stows away...
It Really is All About the Trees
It really is all about the trees. Most of the correspondence sent my way involves trees. Questions about fruit trees, especially citrus trees, are the most common. Suggestions are also sought for ...
Tree Kale Can Live for 20 Years
Robert Steele, who maintains a thriving vegetable garden in West Covina, always has something new to teach, especially in the area of pest control, a trade in which he worked professionally for many ...
Succulents Take the Place of Annual Flowers
You would not think that a busy corner gas station would be the ideal spot for a bed of annual flowers but I saw the perfect planting of pansies in such a location, on the corner of Reseda and Burban...
Gardening Without Work
According to a certain popular legend that is found in a wide range of cultural traditions, the difference between heaven and hell has nothing to do with angels singing in one place and fire and brim...
Yes, There’s Hope for this Esperanza
“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.” — Erma Bombeck It’s a testimony to how tricky it is to grow plants in a doctor’s office that you hardly ever see them there. In fact, I ca...
‘Sticks on Fire’, Blue Chalksticks, and Termite Prevention...
While “familiarity breeds contempt” is a saying that, in truth, does not apply to most human relationships, it is a saying that often, and painfully, rings true when it comes to plants that dot the l...
