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So far Nora Harlow has created 100 blog entries.
19 11, 2024

Leucospermums

2024-11-19T16:05:36-08:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

Outside of South Africa, where almost all are endemic, leucospermums are best known for their otherworldly cut flowers. Gardeners in other mild-winter, summer-dry climates likely purchase the flowers without realizing that they might be able to grow them. Leucospermum 'Scarlet Ribbon' (L. glabrum x L. tottum) Most leucospermums are upright, evergreen shrubs or small trees 3-15 feet tall, usually with a single main stem. Some sprawl, much wider than tall, either branching from a single stem or sending up multiple stems from an underground rootstalk. Leaves are linear to oval or wedge-shaped, thick and somewhat leathery, usually

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14 10, 2024

Pineapple Guava

2024-10-16T04:32:27-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Nora Harlow, plant names|Tags: , , |

Pineapple guava may hold the record for the longest lasting resistance to a plant name change, a resistance recently rewarded with a reinstatement of the original name of Feijoa sellowiana. This evergreen, subtropical South American shrub or small tree was given that name in 1859, renamed Acca sellowiana in 1941, and returned to its original name in 2019. Many gardeners and horticulturists --along with much of the nursery industry-- never made the switch. Pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) pruned as a small multitrunk tree Feijoa sellowiana has thick, leathery, elliptical leaves, glossy dark green on the upper surface

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16 09, 2024

Chilean Myrtle

2024-09-18T17:54:37-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

Luma apiculata, sometimes known as Chilean myrtle, is a small to mid-sized, usually multitrunk or low-branching, evergreen tree. Leaves are small, leathery, dark green, and broadly oval with a short, acutely pointed tip. Bark is smooth and grayish tan, turning cinnamon brown with age and peeling to reveal patches of white beneath. Masses of fragrant, creamy white, mid-summer flowers with showy, brushlike, pinkish white stamens are followed by edible, purplish black berries in fall. Limbed up and out of flower, trees can resemble a manzanita or a madrone, to which they are not related. Luma apiculata is

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27 08, 2024

The Chilean Puyas

2024-08-27T08:22:53-07:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

Puyas (Puya species) typically are described as native to the Andes Mountains of South America and for the most part this is true. Almost all of the 200-plus species of spiny-leaved, rosette-forming puyas are found in moist to dry habitats at mid- to high elevations of the South American Andes. Puyas blend well with the textures and colors of many other summer-dry plants. Two puyas are native to the wet mountains of Costa Rica and the distribution of several others extends eastward into the rainforests of Brazil. Seven puyas are native primarily to low elevations of central

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15 06, 2024

Roses for Summer-Dry Climates

2024-06-27T19:38:04-07:00Categories: Blog, Water, Nora Harlow, roses|Tags: , , |

My grandmother, the wife of a southern California orange rancher, grew dozens of roses on a sizable plot set aside solely for this purpose and planted in grid formation like an orchard. I don’t know how much water she gave them, but in good water years, when the sluice gates were open for the citrus trees, I imagine she had access to plenty. In dry years, with the cash crop at risk, the roses likely received little or none. 'Madame Isaac Pereire', a fragrant, repeat-blooming, 19th century Bourbon rose Experienced gardeners know that many old roses can

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17 05, 2024

Hummingbird Sage

2024-06-27T19:38:02-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: , , , |

Blooming from early spring well into summer, hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) is an easy and adaptable plant for summer-dry climates. This low, slowly spreading sage accepts sun or shade, almost any reasonably drained soil, and moderate, occasional, or no summer watering. It is an especially good candidate for dry shade. Salvia spathacea in flower in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Hummingbird sage is endemic to central and southern California, commonly found in sunny or shaded spots among oak woodland, chaparral, and coastal sage scrub in foothills and valleys not far from the coast. Summer-dormant if grown dry,

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16 04, 2024

Salvia x ‘Bee’s Bliss’

2024-06-27T19:38:01-07:00Categories: Blog, groundcovers, Nora Harlow, subshrubs|Tags: , , , |

The groundcover salvia known as ‘Bee’s Bliss’ has been popular with gardeners and nursery professionals almost since its introduction in 1989 -- and for good reason. With so many excellent salvias in the trade today, there are others that are more powerfully scented or more conspicuously floriferous but few are as accommodating, reliable, and inherently useful in the mostly summer-dry garden. Salvia 'Bee's Bliss' This cultivar was discovered at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley and is believed to be a hybrid of Salvia leucophylla and S. sonomensis (or possibly S. clevelandii). ‘Bee’s Bliss’ stays

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