When I started my garden 12 years ago I had no idea that such a colorful and tropical plant as a croton (Codiaeum variegatum) would grow, let alone excel, in Southern California. Through the years I have been fortunate enough to test close to 25 different cultivars to the garden. Some cultivars did in fact prove…

I needed a quick post for this week as I will be in North Carolina for our family reunion at the Outer Banks. So before heading out with the wife and kids for a 3 AM departure, I went outside the day before and shot some late afternoon garden photos. Likely the most popular request…

So you say you wish you had a bigger garden? Every one does, right? Well, at some point in all our gardening lives the desire for more land comes up. Frankly, you wouldn’t be a good gardener or true plant lover if the thought never crossed your mind at least once. How ironic is it…

So unless you have been living without the Internet the last month, it would have been impossible for someone living in Southern California not to have heard about the “wildflower super bloom” happening out in the Anza-Borrego Desert. It has been all over the news and social media since February. The “wildflower super bloom” wasn’t just making…

A rainy day garden: often a curse in the tropics, but a rare treat in Southern California. I can honestly tell you that I have never said, “Oh, darn. It’s going to rain” while I have had my garden here in Vista, California. If you do not live in a low-rainfall Mediterranean climate, you can not really understand why rain…

Perhaps it’s just me, but I love potting stuff up. I enjoy watching the plants I grew from seed, seedlings or cuttings get too large for the containers they are in and require a new home. I also realize that with each new pot I put them in, they come closer to being able to live outside in…

Some readers may have taken note that the last few posts I have uploaded have been posts in which I am catching up on my Madagascar trip. That trip is almost a year and a half old now. Work, kids, life, etc., all got in the way of me finishing those posts back then. I can…

Here in Southern California my local forecast shows another two days of rain coming starting tomorrow morning. Considering the fact California is in a state of serious drought, all rain is welcomed. Last year was to be the year of the drought-breaking El Niño, but that never happened. Earlier this fall a few long-range forecasts guessed for…