Red Yucca (Hesperaloe) from seed

The new fancy varieties may not set seed, but if you have the normal, tall apricot-pink type you should start seeing nice black seeds sitting inside recently split brown seed pods. Good news: they’re easy to start. Bad news: they take forever to flower. Growing the seeds Place the seeds in a pot, lightly coverContinue reading “Red Yucca (Hesperaloe) from seed”

Plant Truth. Find it at the University of California.

How do you know those marvelous promises about a plant are true? That slick-talking bloke had you barking up the wrong tree in the past, so where is the truth? At UC Davis, in the plant testing field! They test selected plants, using high, medium and low water use. The truth is out there, inContinue reading “Plant Truth. Find it at the University of California.”

Fragrant snakes!

Sansevieria Trifasciata has lots of names. Snake plant is probably the most neutral. For the others, pick a scary nemesis: mother in law, devil, djinn, make it possessive and add “tongue”. There’s bow string hemp, too. And St. George’s sword. Then there are all the variations in color and form, each with its own name…Continue reading “Fragrant snakes!”

Daffodils: Lots of color. Zero irrigation.

Daffodils rest dormant during the dry parts of the year, emerging during the rainy season to flower. They’ll store energy, expand and go dormant until the next year, all with no supplemental water (as long as we have sufficient rainfall). It might seem strange to pair succulents with lush daffodils, but all these plants areContinue reading “Daffodils: Lots of color. Zero irrigation.”

California Dutchman’s Pipe

Here in Sacramento, the first sign of spring is a display of California dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia californica). The tiny flowers look like green rubber ducks, and appear on the plant’s leafless branches. The display will go on for months, followed by the vine going into rapid growth mode to take advantage of the few monthsContinue reading “California Dutchman’s Pipe”

Resilient landscaping for Southern California

This didn’t start out as a laboratory for resilient landscape design. It was just a low-maintenance garden for aging people to enjoy. Then one person was no more. The other lost mobility. Parts of the garden received no irrigation. Pruning back and weeding likewise disappeared. Yet the garden survived, mostly intact.