Garden Plants Archives - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

19 11, 2024

Leucospermums

Leucospermums

Nora Harlow2024-11-19T16:05:36-08:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, shrubs|

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

14 10, 2024

Pineapple Guava

Pineapple Guava

Nora Harlow2024-10-16T04:32:27-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Nora Harlow, plant names|Tags: nora harlow, shrubs, plant names|

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

16 09, 2024

Chilean Myrtle

Chilean Myrtle

Nora Harlow2024-09-18T17:54:37-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, trees|

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

17 05, 2024

Hummingbird Sage

Hummingbird Sage

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:38:02-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, ground covers, perennials|

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,

16 04, 2024

Salvia x ‘Bee’s Bliss’

Salvia x ‘Bee’s Bliss’

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:38:01-07:00Categories: Blog, groundcovers, Nora Harlow, subshrubs|Tags: nora harlow, ground covers, subshrubs, habitat garden|

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

16 03, 2024

Ceanothus ‘Valley Violet’

Ceanothus ‘Valley Violet’

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:38:00-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, groundcovers, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, ground covers|

If you are looking for a groundcover that blooms reliably and profusely in early spring, looks good year-round with no cutting back, needs little or no supplemental water, is dense enough to keep down weeds, and is generally ignored by deer, you can hardly do better than Ceanothus ‘Valley Violet’. Its only requirements seem to be good drainage and just the right amount of sun. Ceanothus maritimus ‘Valley Violet’ at the University of California, Davis, Arboretum This is a selection of Ceanothus maritimus, which is endemic to coastal hills and bluffs in San Luis Obispo County, California. The

15 02, 2024

x Chiranthomontodendron lenzii: What’s in a Name?

x Chiranthomontodendron lenzii: What’s in a Name?

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:58-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, trees, shrubs|

It’s a mouthful. x Chiranthomontodendron lenzii, the hybrid monkey hand tree, is the result of an intergeneric cross between the Mexican monkey hand tree, Chiranthodendron pentadactylon, native to Guatemala and adjacent parts of Mexico, and the flannelbush cultivar Fremontodendron ‘Pacific Sunset’. The latter is itself a cross between F. californicum, native primarily to California, and F. mexicanum, native to northern Baja California and adjacent parts of San Diego County. Distinctive flowers and leaves of x Chiranthomontodendron lenzii, hybrid monkey hand tree As are its parents, the hybrid monkey hand tree is best known for its distinctive flowers,