Today I was presented with some good news on the seed germination front. When I popped the lid on one of my germination chambers I found that my Radermachera ignea seeds had started to sprout. This is my third attempt to germinate seed of this beautiful tree. I believe the first two failures were due…
On February 8th the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society (SDCSS) had their annual Winter Show and Sale at Balboa Park. Over the last few years my interest in succulents has grown quite extensively, to the point where Aloes and Agaves now take up a big signature in my landscape. Because of my growing interest I…
Over the last two days I’ve had the enjoyable pleasure of heading to what is probably my favorite nursery. Rancho Soledad Nursery has been around since 1954 and is the creation of the late Jerry Hunter. The nursery can be found on a 25-acre lot in the rolling hills of Rancho Santa Fe, California. The…
With winter in full effect, my garden’s heartbeat has slowed, allowing me time to do some of my least favorite housekeeping jobs. Jobs I tend to avoid during the growing seasons. One of those jobs is Bromeliad propagation. As my garden has matured I have acquired a growing fondness for Bromeliads, so I wish to…
How can something as beautiful as Lobelia erinus be a weed? OK, so perhaps “Lobelia weed” was stretching it a bit, but based purely on the definition, Garden Lobelia is indeed a weed in my garden. Back in 2007 I picked up ten regular purple garden-variety Lobelia plants to add some color to an otherwise boring border….
Even though I was born in California, I didn’t return to live full time until 1997. So my personal historical data only goes back so far. But I can tell you I have never experienced a winter such as this in my short time being a Southern California resident. Winter gardening in California started off…
One of the main reasons I started my blog was to introduce new plants to people and hopefully give them a few more brushes from which to paint their landscape. Back in the spring of 2007 I was lucky enough to purchase my first Meryta balansae. At the time no one was known to be…
The Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) is a native of South Africa and is closely related to the banana tree. It is one of the most popular flowering perennials that can be grown in a Mediterranean-type climate. The Yellow Bird of Paradise has been known for a while now and really started to become a…