A handsome chickadee that matches the rich brown bark of the coastal trees it lives among, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee is the species to look for up and down the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. Active, sociable, and noisy as any chickadee, you’ll find these birds at the heart of foraging flocks moving through tall conifers with titmice, nuthatches, …

If you want to cover your fence FAST, the best choice would probably have to be Morning Glories. Morning Glories are very fast growing plants, that depending on the species, may be annual or tender perennial vines with light green, heart shaped leaves. They produce a non-stop show of large, blue, pink, purple, red, or white trumpet shaped, sometimes fragrant …

When we decided to fill in the swimming pool in our backyard I had to first drain the pool. The Little Giant submersible pump worked well. It pumped at 1200 gallons per hour. It took 10 hours to drain the 12,000 gallon pool. I also used the pump during the torrential rains of 1995. The interior courtyard on the Bahl …

This colorful salsa uses Purple Tomatillos and Purple Cayenne Chiles. Of course, if you close your eyes, it tastes the same as green tomatillo salsa 🙂

Cape mallows produce lots of flowers for most of the growing season. The cape mallow (Anisodontea capensis) is an evergreen, shrub-like plant that produces abundant flowers during most of the growing season. The plant does well in sunny locations and makes a nice accent in a border or near a patio. Cape mallows can also make good container plants when …

Each of your pots should have a drainage hole. If the hole gets clogged, your pot will retain all the water and drown your plants. See the featured image. Ignore the myth of placing gravel or broken pottery over the hole. It will just clog it up.

This Lemon chicken recipe produces a flavorful and  moist chicken. I use the Meyer lemons from my Sunnyvale garden as well as garden herbs like oregano, sage, rosemary, and marjoram. A Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and an orange.  

William Wright’s redwood framed, two story, side-gabled farmhouse is the oldest extant residence in Sunnyvale. Located at 1234 Cranberry Avenue. It probably was constructed in 1862 and certainly prior to 1876, when it appears as an illustration in Thompson and West’s Historical Atlas of Santa Clara County. It is a simplified version of the Gothic Revival style. Its original centered …

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is native to Madagascar. It produces small mounds of orange flowers with scalloped shiny green leaves. It thrives with bright light and porous soil. Water thoroughly when soil is dry. Protect from frost. Kalanchoe’s only known enemy is lemurs so I think it safe.

Juniper is a great plant for filling in space fast, whether as a groundcover, a screen, or vertical punctuation in a border. Its scaly foliage is feathery and graceful, a good contrast to large-leaf plants. For low-water or rock gardens, the low-growing juniper forms a naturalistic mat that often acquires richer color in the winter. Juniper thrives in a full-sun …