Nora Harlow Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

8 05, 2022

Sisyrinchiums

Sisyrinchiums

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:18-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, nora harlow, perennials|

Tough little plants with a delicate appearance, sisyrinchiums are ideal for naturalizing in the garden. Members of the iris family, along with freesias, crocuses, and irises themselves, sisyrinchiums spread by rhizomes and by seed, cheerfully expanding their chosen territory, mingling with but usually not disturbing their larger neighbors. Flowers of Sisyrinchium bellum (western blue-eyed grass) Sisyrinchiums are easily recognized by their six-petaled, blue to bluish purple, yellow, or sometimes white flowers with bright yellow centers. Their linear to narrowly sword-shaped, green to bluish or grayish green leaves are basal, mostly upright, and overlapping at the base as is

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

5 04, 2022

Oaks for Small Gardens

Oaks for Small Gardens

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:16-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, trees, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, great plants, nora harlow, trees|

Native oaks are larval hosts for more kinds of butterflies than most other plants, and caterpillars are the primary food that nesting birds can feed their young. This makes oaks one of the best choices for supporting butterfly and bird populations and encouraging both to make their homes in your garden. Quercus durata, leather oak Where does that leave those whose gardens are too small for a full-sized oak? At maturity, most oaks become large to very large trees. California's valley oak, Quercus lobata, is the largest North American oak, in time reaching 75-100 feet tall and

15 03, 2022

Mule’s Ears

Mule’s Ears

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:16-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, perennials, California Native, Nora Harlow|Tags: california native, flowers, nora harlow, perennials|

Every bit as cheerful as the better known annual sunflowers, the eight to a dozen species of Wyethia, or mule's ears, are low-growing perennials native to dry slopes, seasonally moist meadows, and woodland or forest openings in much of western North America. Most are 1-3 feet tall, with a loose rosette of large, broadly lance-shaped to oval, green or sometimes gray-green leaves and bright yellow sunflowers in late spring and early summer. Deciduous and dormant in winter, they reliably reappear as days lengthen in early spring. Wyethia angustifolia These are excellent plants for pollinators and other wildlife, attracting

3 03, 2022

The Merits of Milkweed

The Merits of Milkweed

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:15-07:00Categories: Blog, perennials, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, perennials|

Another great plant for habitat gardens, milkweeds (Asclepias species) support more than the critically endangered monarch butterfly. As most gardeners know, monarch caterpillars feed only on milkweeds, which contain chemicals that are toxic or unpalatable to most other insects, birds, and mammals. Monarch caterpillars, along with the juveniles of several other insects, are able to metabolize and sequester these chemicals, in the process making themselves toxic or unpalatable to predators. Asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed, native to western North America Hundreds of other insects visit milkweed flowers for their high-quality, prolific, readily accessible nectar, including native bees, honey bees,

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

3 02, 2022

Cultivated Varieties of Narcissus

Cultivated Varieties of Narcissus

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:12-07:00Categories: Blog, Newsletters, Garden Plants, Nora Harlow, bulbs|Tags: nora harlow, bulbs|

Almost everyone has a childhood memory of daffodils, that universal symbol of the end of winter and the arrival, once again, of spring. Fewer likely know that the plant with which most of us are familiar is one among dozens of species and thousands of registered cultivars of the genus Narcissus, hundreds of which are currently in commercial production. Narcissus ‘Grower’s Pride’ All narcissus are bulbs, all produce linear, strap-shaped, or sometimes rushlike basal leaves, and all bear flowers singly or in clusters of a few to many atop upright stems from six inches to two feet tall.