Nora Harlow Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

19 06, 2023

Cedros Island Verbena

Cedros Island Verbena

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:50-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, Nora Harlow, subshrubs|Tags: nora harlow, perennials, subshrubs|

Cedros Island verbena puts on quite a show. Tiny, five-petaled, star-shaped flowers with a faintly sweet-spicy fragrance are tightly packed into round-topped, inch-wide clusters. Clusters are continuously refreshed as older flowers discreetly disappear and new buds open at the tips of short spikes. The small, deeply divided, bright green leaves on wispy-looking but sturdy stems lend a delicate, almost lacy effect. Glandularia lilacina 'De La Mina' flowering with muhlenbergia and ceanothus Cedros Island verbena (Glandularia lilacina) was formerly known as Verbena lilacina and is still popularly known by and marketed under that name. The plant is native

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

24 04, 2023

Is It Okay to Feed the Birds?

Is It Okay to Feed the Birds?

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:48-07:00Categories: Blog, Nora Harlow, wildlife|Tags: nora harlow, birds, wildlife habitat, habitat garden|

Birds are what bring a garden to life and gardeners have always known this. We plant fruit-bearing shrubs and trees as much for the birds as for our own enjoyment. Bird houses and bird baths are ubiquitous features of home gardens. Many if not most of us also set out food for birds at backyard feeders. Bird bath in habitat garden that provides nectar, seeds, and insects for birds Bird populations have been in sharp decline for decades, a result primarily of habitat loss and pesticides. Yet we often hear that feeding wild birds can make things

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.

31 01, 2023

April Showers Bring May Flowers — Or Do They?

April Showers Bring May Flowers — Or Do They?

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:45-07:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, climate|

If it seems that some of your trees or shrubs are leafing out or flowering early these days, it may be so. One of the most commonly observed effects of global warming is early onset of these usually reliable signs of approaching spring. Ceanothus maritimus ‘Valley Violet’ usually blooms in early spring. The species is native to coastal bluffs of San Luis Obispo County, California. We know that global warming is not just something that will happen in the future. It’s happening now, has been for decades, and the speed of change is accelerating. According to the

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