Garden Plants Archives - Page 3 of 13 - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

18 05, 2023

Agave striata

Agave striata

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:49-07:00Categories: Blog, succulents, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, succulents|

There is a place in almost every garden for the calming effect of architectural or sculptural plants. These provide vivid contrast in texture and form to the blowsy, undisciplined character of many of our favorite perennials and shrubs. Some are grasses, some are yuccas, some are dasylirions, and many are agaves. Agave striata, with the common name of narrow-leaved century plant, is a distinctive example. Agave striata with Yucca baccata (behind) and Yucca parryi var. truncata (in front) Agave striata is a fairly small plant, two to three feet tall and wide, with a spherical rosette of

13 03, 2023

Bulbines and Bulbinellas

Bulbines and Bulbinellas

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:47-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, perennials, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, perennials|

It is perhaps not surprising that bulbines and bulbinellas are often mistaken for one another. Both form clumps or rosettes of grasslike or straplike basal leaves and both bear tiny, star-shaped, yellow, orange, or white flowers in cylindrical or cone-shaped clusters atop tall stems. Most of both genera are native to South Africa with a few bulbines from Australia and a few bulbinellas from New Zealand. Bulbine latifolia has succulent leaves resembling an aloe without spines There are, however, significant differences between the two that may affect how they are used in the garden. Almost all bulbines

21 02, 2023

Helleborus 101

Helleborus 101

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:46-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, perennials|

It might seem that hellebores are for expert gardeners and collectors only and a few of them are. The rest may look delicate, fussy, and difficult to grow but are quite amenable to cultivation in a fairly wide range of soils and situations. Hellebores, especially species but also many of the hundreds of cultivars, lend a connoisseur’s cachet to gardens in summer-dry parts of the world. Helleborus orientalis, beautiful in its own right, is the main parent of many hybrids If you are a newcomer to hellebores, there are several things it might be helpful to know.

14 01, 2023

Ferns for Summer-Dry Climates

Ferns for Summer-Dry Climates

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:43-07:00Categories: Blog, California Native, Nora Harlow, ferns|Tags: california native, nora harlow, ferns|

Guaranteed to lift your spirits on the dreariest of winter days, summer-dormant Polypodium californicum (California polypody) appears suddenly with the first fall rains, remains a lustrous bright green until mid-spring, and then just as suddenly dies back to the ground leaving barely a trace. Polypodium californicum in University of California, Berkeley, Botanical Garden Native to coastal California and northern Baja California, Polypodium californicum is usually found in shaded canyons, on streambanks and north-facing slopes, and on rocky cliffs and bluffs within or near the summer-fog zone. A volunteer in my northern California garden, it has reappeared reliably

9 12, 2022

Environmental Benefits of Perennial Grasses

Environmental Benefits of Perennial Grasses

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:30-07:00Categories: Blog, grasses|Tags: california native, grasses, nora harlow|

Perennial grasses have long been popular garden subjects, usually for their aesthetic value -- the meadow effect when used in large drifts, the drama when backlit by the setting sun, the architectural beauty of those that retain their formal shape even into dormancy. Festuca mairei (Atlas fescue) catches afternoon light in a California garden There are, of course, other good reasons to use perennial grasses liberally in both private and public landscapes. Grasses are an integral part of many ecosystems and they provide many environmental benefits at local, regional, and global levels. Canada geese feed on

17 11, 2022

Muhlenbergia Grasses

Muhlenbergia Grasses

summerdry2024-06-27T19:33:28-07:00Categories: Blog, grasses|Tags: grasses, saxon holt, autumn|

Muhlenbergia are wonderfully ornamental bunch grasses, widely adapted to almost all summer-dry climates. Yes, we are biased, but no garden should be without at least one Muhly grass. As a warm season grass, flowering in late summer, they are particularly useful as focal points and drama for the autumn and winter garden. Muhlenbergia rigens Deer Grass, California native bunch grass with Ceanothus, at Native Sons Nursery The largest Muhlenbergia, M. rigens, is commonly known as deer grass, not because deer like to eat it, rather the big mounds draw deer to sleep on them. Indeed, like many

23 10, 2022

Ginkgo

Ginkgo

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:27-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, shrubs, Nora Harlow|

My neighbor's ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is coloring up again, bright yellow now, headed for screaming saffron. I don't know why it still surprises me, this always welcome yet somehow unnerving contrast against the dark green coast live oaks and bays that dominate my garden. This ginkgo was planted more than thirty years and three neighbors ago and its fall transformation still takes me by surprise. Fall colors of Ginkgo biloba in the San Francisco Botanical Garden Usually planted for its stunning fall color, Ginkgo biloba is attractive and interesting at any time of year. Long-lived