Flowers

Voodoo Lily

Voodoo lily plants are perennials known for their unusual foliage;  gigantic size of the flower; and the stink of that flower. The flowers produce a strong, offensive odor similar to that or rotting meat. The smell attracts the flies that pollinate the flowers. The blossom only lasts a day or two. They are native to warm subtropical-to-tropical areas of eastern …

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April in our Sunnyvale garden 2020

This April we had over 50 types of flowers in our Sunnyvale garden. Fruits: Blackberry, Marionberry, Pomegranate, Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, strawberryLavenders and Salvias: Mexican Sage, French lavender, English lavender, Spanish lavender, Vines: Plumbago, pink bower vine, purple trumpet flower, red trumpet flowerBulbs: Society garlic, blue-eyed grass, bleeding heart, sweet-kate, tulips, bearded-iris, ithuriel’s spearPerennials: 3 varieties of geraniums, monkeyflower, begonia, cuphea, …

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Sticky Monkey Flower

Orange Bush Sticky Monkey Flower (Diplaucus aurantiacus) are named for their funny-face-flowers that look like grinning Monkeys. These California native gets its common name from its long and narrow leaves with surfaces coated in a sticky resin. It is a delightful small evergreen shrub growing 2-4 ft. tall that becomes totally covered with colorful tubular orange flowers. This wide ranging …

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Feverfew

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) is an attractive landscape plant with masses of one-inch, white, daisy-like flowers with large yellow centers rise on spindly stems above parsley-like leaves. The plant grows anywhere from eight to 24 inches tall and wide. This member of the aster family behaves like an annual in cooler zones, a perennial in some areas, and can be evergreen …

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March in our Sunnyvale garden 2020

Our Sunnyvale garden in March 2020 was filled with flowers. Spring blossoms on the crabapple, plum, apricot, and orange, lemon, lime, and nectarine trees. Spring bulbs like Crocus, Columbine, Sweet Kate, Scilla, Freesias, Grape-Hyacinth, Hyacinth, Sparaxis, Tulips, Daffodils, Dutch Iris, Armeria, Blue-eyed Grass, and Spanish Bluebell. Spring vegetables like snow-peas. Excellent cool-season annuals with Violas and Pansies. Spring annuals like …

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Marigolds

Marigolds are a favorite in our Sunnyvale garden. They attract butterflies, bees, ladybugs, and other beneficial insects. Give them full sun and some well-draining soil and watch them bloom from spring until fall. Marigold seeds germinate quickly, within just a few days, and bloom in about 8 weeks. Marigolds are a great companion in your vegetable garden and can help …

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Wild Tulips

Spring in our Sunnyvale garden always has tulips. The majority are the Dutch cultivars and hybrids: Usually large, showy and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white. But in the last few years we have included Wild Tulips which are the predecessor species. Tulips originally were found in a band stretching from Southern Europe to Central Asia, but since …

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Alyogyne

New for 2020 in our Sunnyvale garden is Alyogyne hakeifolia, an Australian desert shrub with hibiscus-like flowers and needle-like leaves. I purchased it from Yamagami Nursery. I am growing it in a 7 gallon pot. A.hakeifolia is normally an upright, much-branched, rapidly growing small to medium shrub reaching to 3 m (10′). The leaves are dark green, glabrous, comprised of …

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Strawflower

Strawflower (Xerochrysum bracteatum) will bring vivid colors to your landscape and craft projects alike. Strawflowers resemble daisies in form, but unlike daisies, the petals are stiff and papery. In fact, they aren’t true petals at all, but modified leaves called bracts. New to our Sunnyvale garden in 2020. Purchased from Yamagami Nursery. This red cultivar is Dreamtime Jumbo Red Ember. Strawflowers were …

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Salvia ‘Amistad’

Salvia ‘Amistad’ (Sage) is a bushy, upright perennial with large, rich royal purple flowers adorned with nearly black calyces. Blooming constantly from early summer until frost, the flowers are a magnet for butterflies and hummingbirds. They rise well above the aromatic foliage of glossy, bright green, slender leaves, which remain evergreen in frost free locations. Recipient of the Award of …

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