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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

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

15 02, 2024

x Chiranthomontodendron lenzii: What’s in a Name?

2024-06-27T19:37:58-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: , , |

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,

23 01, 2024

Some Mild-Winter Summer-Dry Sumacs

2024-06-27T19:37:57-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: , , |

Sumacs are current or former members of the genus Rhus, notorious for those species that spread aggressively by suckers or by seed (e.g., staghorn sumac, African sumac) as well as for those that through mere touch can bring on a ferocious rash (poison ivy, poison oak). Yet there are well-behaved and beneficent sumacs too. Several of these are exceptionally fine shrubs native to mild-winter, summer-dry southern California, Mexico, and parts of the American southwest. Unlike most sumacs, these are evergreen. Rhus integrifolia, lemonadeberry or lemonade sumac Rhus integrifolia, lemonadeberry or lemonade sumac, is 8-10 feet tall and

22 12, 2023

Fruitless Olives?

2024-06-27T19:37:56-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: , , |

To aficionados of olives and olive oils planting fruitless olive trees may seem a pointless exercise. Yet there are good reasons to include these well-mannered trees and shrubs in summer-dry landscapes. Olives need little summer water and they blend well with other summer-dry plants. With a history going back thousands of years in the Mediterranean region and hundreds of years in summer-dry parts of the Americas, olive trees instantly evoke, on sight, nostalgic associations with sunny summer-dry lands. Fruitless olives do the same without the mess. Olea europaea 'Wilsonii' at Huntington Botanical Gardens Fruitless olives are cultivars

12 11, 2023

Australian Fuchsia

2024-06-27T19:37:54-07:00Categories: Blog, groundcovers, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

Plants native to southwestern Western Australia are well known to gardeners in other mild, winter-wet, summer-dry climates. Less widely known, perhaps, are plants endemic to southeastern Australia, where topography and climate are more diverse. The Australian fuchsias (Correa species) are native almost exclusively to this part of the world. Correa 'Dawn in Santa Cruz' Correas are low and spreading to mid-sized or tall evergreen shrubs with small, oval to rounded, dark green to olive or gray-green leaves and pendant, bell-shaped or tubular flowers that resemble those of fuchsias. Rich in nectar, the flowers are favored by nectar-feeding

23 10, 2022

Ginkgo

2024-06-27T19:33:27-07:00Categories: 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

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