California native plants are getting more attention these days. More nurseries, including our local Cherry Valley Nursery, are now carrying them. But many people don’t realize California natives have ...

If Walt Whitman had lived in California, he might have written, "When ceanothus last in the dooryard bloom'd," for in California, it is the ceanothus that marks the "ever-returning spring." A native ...

The end of February is one of the best times to get snippy and start pruning back certain shrubs and perennials. However, plants that are somewhat tender such as hardy fuchsias, salvias, herbs and ...

Most of the time there is joy for me in pruning. I don’t know why, but I think it is some innate desire to shape nature to my designs. When I was a kid in 4-H, I had a forestry project and I pruned ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... After a tall tree in my garden developed a split, I had it removed last May (with city approval), revealing a large overgrown shrub. This shrub, a western ...

Ceanothus, a beautiful native common to the slopes of the Point Reyes peninsula and elsewhere in coastal California, comes in many forms suitable for domestic gardens. I can think of no other genus ...