Growing and eating pomegranates is very popular right now.  These beautiful fruits are some of the best plants for growing in San Diego.  Pomegranates, also known as Punica granatum, are grown for their fruit crop and as ornamental trees and shrubs.  They provide beautiful fall color in our local landscapes.  The fact that they grow…
Read the full article…

It’s been a long, hot summer and like I was saying on my last post, the only thing left hanging on the vine was the four Fairy Tale pumpkins.  And they are finally ready!  Should they have been bigger, maybe, but they are very cute anyway.  As far as wonderful landscape design & ideas, I…
Read the full article…

The summer garden is definitely winding down.  The tomato plants are pretty much done and all that’s left to wait on is the four lingering fairy tale pumpkins.As far as the blueberries I planted this year go, I feel that they have been one of the successes and best plants for San Diego in my…
Read the full article…

One of my all time favorite native perennials is the Calylophus hartwegii, also known as ‘Sundrops’.  You will see their sunny, lemon yellow petals blooming in most of my designs in East County.  They make a colorful splash when mixed with other xeriscape or desert plants and low water use perennials. My Favorite Native Perennial, Calylophus…
Read the full article…

I love to see Matilija poppies growing in the wild.  What a beautiful sight.  These gorgeous, perennial plants are considered shrubs, growing to eight-ten feet tall, and they are some of the best plants for San Diego.  They spread by rhizomes and their large paper-mache looking white flowers have a huge yellow center.   Matilija…
Read the full article…

I love the spring vegetable garden. It starts out with so much hope. So much planning. So much anticipation. And then something happens along the way, all my other responsibilities! But this year I’m going to stay on top of it! The tomatoes have all been started from seed this year. They are late getting…
Read the full article…

Yesterday I had the opportunity to represent APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers) at EarthDay in Balboa Park.  What a great day of interacting with the public and educating them about the benefits of using a professional landscape designer.  Along with fellow San Diego district member Deb Oleary, we joined San Diego to celebrate EarthDay to…
Read the full article…

When designing a landscape for San Diego and trying to implement xeriscape ideas, I love to incorporate roses.  Roses come in a huge variety of sizes, growth habits, textures, and colors, and I especially find carpet roses, (ground cover roses) to be one of the most useful and toughest plants in the landscape. Carpet roses…
Read the full article…

Have you been thinking about putting in bare root fruit trees? Well, now is the time to do it and there are many varieties that do great in our southern zones. One of the things to consider when making your decision will be where is the best place in your yard to plant fruit trees?…
Read the full article…

My summer garden is tired in this heat.  There is all this talk of rain, but where is it?  The strawberries are mostly gone and the patch is just a cool place for the cat to take a nap. The one thing shining today is this gorgeous ‘Burgundy Cordyline’ from the Festival series mixed with…
Read the full article…