Bougainvillea is considered to be one of the most beautiful flowering vines of all! Pretty much every home owner asks about the possibility of growing one. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, these tropical thorny plants, native to South America, do great, year round, especially if planted in a sunny, warm spot like a south or west facing wall. Keep them consistently watered until they’re fully established, and you could be looking at a drought tolerant bloom machine for years to come! Want to see how Bougainvillea vines do 12 months of the year? If so, enjoy the Bougainvillea bloom calendar photos below. [Read more]
3 Small Trailers Great for Containers and Gardens with Spring and Summer Blooms
Looking for some flowering trailers for hanging baskets, containers or the garden? It’s hard to get tired of all the blooms! Take a look a these 3 below. This is a short post but timely as it’s a perfect time to get shopping and planting to get the look you want this season!! This lead photo is repeated below. Though it shows blooming Roses, and Lantana don’t miss the Geranium incanum, (purple flowering ground cover trailer to the the right.) This took a few seasons to colonize the space, but now it’s loving life and is a stable bloomer in this Pacific Heights, San Francisco garden. [Read more]
Western Redbud Tree: Gorgeous Flowering Tree for the Small Garden!
It’s early spring (April 2nd) and one of the beautiful flowering trees in the garden now is Cercis Occidentalis (aka: California redbud or Western redbud). This California native tree, and also a native to South Western states like Utah and Arizona makes life colorful!
What’s so striking about this tree is that it bears flowers and fruits on bare branches: (botanically speaking this is known as ramiflorous.) So, what happens is that gangbuster flower clusters in magenta do a solo act of showcasing! When the flowers fade in spring, apple green leaves emerge and darken to blue green and will hold court until they turn pale yellow to a brilliant scarlet in autumn.
25 Best in Plants for Part Shade and Shade!
Some of the most beautiful gardens are shade gardens, or gardens that receive dappled light filtered through the canopy of trees. Urban gardens, like San Francisco home gardens are often surrounded by homes and buildings, creating shadows, and shade, which changes throughout the day and seasons. If this is your experience, and you live in a mild winter climate, the 25 Best in Plants for Shade and Part Shade has a number of goodies for you to consider. [Read more]
How to Keep Your Indoor Plants Watered While You’re Away!
What to do with your indoor houseplants when you’re gone for more than a week? That was the question we had to answer while planning a recent month long trip. Reluctant to bother our neighbors or friends, we opted for an automatic watering system to care for our beloved plants.
Yes, there are other options to keep your house plants watered, such as adding water retaining polymers to your pots or self watering systems that use a plastic bottle, but I wasn’t sure either of these options would be sufficient to keep our plants going for the entire month. [Read more]
Canary Bellflower Vine: Winter Blooming in Part Shade? Amazing!
This may be just the vine you’re looking for.
It’s rare, so not the easiest to get your hands on, but worth a try.
Canary Bellflower vine (aka: Canarina canariensis) is from the cloud forest of the Canary Islands.
Mild climates serve this vine and let me show you (photos below) what lovely flowers are served up in winter, when few vines are blooming.
Best Plant for Winter and Spring Flowering? Cymbidium Orchid
A plant that should be way more popular in our San Francisco Bay Area gardens is the Cymbidium orchid. Why? Take a look at the flowers... Take a look at the thin strappy, evergreen leaves. (Ok, forget the leaves, just take a look at the … [Read more]
Happy Fall! October’s Outdoor Beauty!
Hello friends. Happy FALL! Hope you're enjoying this lovely season! We are. Being an east coast gal, growing up with 4-distinct seasons, I always feel that it's hugely important to tap into FALL; not just from a garden's view point (which shows … [Read more]
7 Fragrant Flowering Plants for the Mild Mediterranean Garden
If you're looking to add some fragrant plants to the garden, check-out these 7 in today's post. As there are many more; for example, the spring blooming bulb, Freesia, comes to mind, as do fragrant roses, lilies, lilacs, jasmine, honeysuckle and … [Read more]
Flowermania: 8 Osteospermums for the Mediterranean Climate Garden!
I love Osteospermums (aka: Cape daisy or African daisy); these plants will bring you plenty of bang for your buck in coastal Mediterranean climates like the San Francisco Bay area, largely in locations where summers are cool. If you live inland … [Read more]