Pomegranates are good choices for drought tolerant gardens. They can take regular garden watering, but will grow in drought conditions once established. These deciduous trees can grow up to 20 feet tall and across, forming a large round shrub. They can also be trimmed and formed into multi-trunk trees. But sometimes there can be trouble Read More…
theGardenPages Gardening Blog
Acacia tree is blooming
Here are a few photos of my acacia. Acacia trees can grow up to 20 feet tall. I planted mine because it is drought tolerant, will cover the back fence (and my neighbor) and they bloom! Beautiful giant yellow flowers. I have heavy clay, alkaline soil and no water. So I was looking for something Read More…
Batton Down the Hatches! The Santa Ana Winds are in Town!
Yikes! Anyone living in the Los Angeles basin is enjoying the Santa Ana winds right now. Yes, it IS over 70 degrees outside, but it’s the winds that get you. It’s like being in a wind tunnel that has a glitch in the system. One minute it’s 70 mph wind gusts, then it’s quiet. The Read More…
Texas Ranger; Brave Bloomer in Hot Dry Gardens for #FloralFriday
This brave plant currently blooming in 100 degree heat is called Texas Ranger or Leucophyllum frutescens. It is also one of the oddest plants I have grown, but more about that later. After a few years of getting established it is really blooming this year. Most Leucophyllums have purple flowers with more of an open Read More…
Friday Floral: Red Climbing Rose Flowers
I am happy to report that my climbing rose has forgiven me for last summer. It is on a south facing cinder-block wall. Normally it does fine in the heat, but this summer just got too hot. My poor climber has a few brown, sunburned canes. At one point it even lost all its leaves Read More…
Friday Floral; My Color Change Crassula Capitella Is Flowering
I just love this succulent plant. I found it in a little 2 inch pot with no tag in the ‘novelty succulent plant’ heap at the local big box home improvement store. Since then I have been able to spread this plant down around the garden and over the patio in pots. It is named Read More…
FloralFriday; Flowering Aloe Vera And Pink Roses In December
I was going to do a picture of my hot pink flowering rose with a few ripening oranges in the background. But sometimes you find the best surprises in the garden when you least expect them… …like in December. As I was working on finding the best angle of the rose and the orange tree, Read More…
You Say Aeonium I Say Echeveria Succulent Plant; It Is Blooming For #FloralFriday
Here is an update on the flowing succulent plant in my garden. My Complete Book of Cactus and Succulent volume is telling me this is an aeonium haworthii and even includes a photo. Most of the aeoniums I see have flat leaves and tend to look like a plate on the end of a stick. Read More…
Santolina Or Lavender Cotton Tough Drought Tolerant Shrubs With Yellow Flowers
Of all the flowering drought tolerant shrubs I have planted in my garden I count santolina, or Lavender cotton, as one of the best. This is a real tough customer when it comes to being completely drought tolerant in my hot, baking southern California garden. They tolerate full sun and summers that can reach over Read More…
Sprouting Amaryllis, Daffodils, Calla and Freesia, Happy New Year From theGardenPages
This New Year’s Day I have sprouting amaryllis, daffodils and freesia bulbs in the garden. We’ve had a bit of rain in Los Angeles, so there are a few bulbs that take this as their cue to get an early start on spring flowers. I am enchanted by the fragrance of freesias. I pick them Read More…