shrubs Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

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

29 06, 2022

Shrubby Tanoak

Shrubby Tanoak

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:22-07:00Categories: Blog, trees, shrubs, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, trees, shrubs|

Tanoak or tanbark oak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus var. densiflorus) is a large evergreen tree with deep green, leathery, oblong leaves with prominent veins, sometimes wavy edges, and often toothed margins. The small, creamy white, late-spring flowers are held in showy clusters of narrow, stiffly upright or outstretched catkins. The leaves and flowers resemble those of American chestnut (Castanea americana) and the fruit is an oaklike acorn with a shallow, bristly cap. New leaves of shrubby tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus var. echinoides) Tanoaks are interesting and attractive at all times of year, but they are quite slow growing and they eventually

18 04, 2022

Shrub Poppies

Shrub Poppies

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:17-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, shrubs, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, shrubs|

Unusual members of the poppy family, bush poppies (Dendromecon species) bear flowers and fruits that resemble those of the perennial California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) but on woody shrubs that can reach six to eight feet tall or more. Leathery, waxy, dark bluish gray-green leaves are a perfect foil for the glossy, bright yellow, saucer-shaped flowers. Flowers are followed by narrowly cylindrical seedpods that explode when dry, sending seed several feet in all directions. Dendromecon harfordii Dendromecon rigida, bush poppy, is native to dry slopes and rocky washes in coastal mountains of California and northern Baja California, with some

19 02, 2022

Ornamental Currants and Gooseberries

Ornamental Currants and Gooseberries

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:14-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, shrubs|

Although usually grown for their exquisite flowers, ornamental currants and gooseberries are ideal components of habitat gardens that provide year-round sustenance for wildlife. As some of the first shrubs to flower wherever they are found, they are important sources of early-season nourishment for hummingbirds, bees, and other pollinators. Their leaves are food for the caterpillars of butterflies and moths that support the offspring of nesting birds. And their fruits, well, let's just say they're gone almost before the gardener has a chance to sample them. Ribes sanguineum, red- or pink-flowering currant Currants and gooseberries both belong to the

19 01, 2022

Leucadendrons for the Garden

Leucadendrons for the Garden

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:10-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Nora Harlow|Tags: great plants, nora harlow, shrubs|

Familiar to many as a knockout component of floral arrangements, leucadendrons are every bit as impressive in the garden. Most are best grown where winters are mild, soils are acidic, and excellent to perfect drainage can be provided, but some are less fussy than others. Dozens of these South African endemics are native to varied habitats, from damp coastal flats to frosty mountain slopes and from the summer-dry Western Cape to summer-rainfall KwaZulu-Natal. Leucadendron 'Little Bit', a hybrid of L. salignum and L. discolor, is a delicate offset here to the bold blue leaves of Agave americana Most leucadendrons

5 01, 2022

Aloe arborescens

Aloe arborescens

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:09-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, shrubs, succulents, Nora Harlow|Tags: great plants, nora harlow, shrubs|

There is nothing timid about Aloe arborescens. At six to eight feet tall and at least that wide, with multiple, densely packed rosettes of thick, succulent, bluish gray-green leaves, this adaptable, shrubby aloe takes the stage wherever it is planted. Native to summer-rainfall southeastern Africa, the torch aloe, as it is often called, also thrives in mild-winter, summer-dry climates. Aloe arborescens Not content to dominate by size alone, in winter this aloe sends forth upright spikes of intensely red or red-orange, tubular flowers that rise two feet above the leaves. A mature plant with dozens of flowering spikes

21 10, 2021

Sasanqua Camellias

Sasanqua Camellias

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:30:27-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, shrubs|Tags: great plants, nora harlow, shrubs|

There was a time, not that long ago, when sasanqua camellias were less well known to most gardeners and less often grown in gardens than japonicas, but that time has surely passed. Of the dozens of sasanquas available from specialty nurseries and online, a few can even be found in the gardening sections of big-box stores. 'Yuletide' on a frosty winter morning There are many reasons for the popularity of Camellia sasanqua and its abundant offspring, especially in summer-dry climates. Most camellias do best in mild, humid climates with regular summer water, but established sasanquas, with afternoon shade