Blood flowers (Aclepias curassavica) are red-orange with yellow hoods. Flowering continues throughout the summer to early autumn. Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees are attracted to the flowers. Monarch butterflies lay eggs on this plant and the resulting larvae (caterpillars) use the plant leaves as a food source. Flowers are followed by long, narrow seed pods (3-4” long) which split open when …

Here it is Oct 8 and our Marionberry is still producing fruit. It had its usual big harvest in late June. Then a smaller harvest in August. And now there are still ripe berries. The Marionberry is a bright, glossy blackberry with medium to large fruit, somewhat longer than wide. It is special to the area because it is named …

I thought this was a potato vine, but now I am not sure. Potato vines have dark fruit. This vine has white flowers in spring and summer. But the seed pod(s) are about twelve inches long and joined at the bottom. During the summer, I am distracted with other flowers and did not notice the growth pattern of the pods.

The canna lily plant is a rhizomatous perennial with tropical-like foliage and large flowers that resemble that of iris. Canna lilies are low maintenance and easy to grow, and both their flowers and foliage offer long-lasting color in the garden. Flower color may be red, orange or yellow. Depending on the variety, foliage color varies from green to maroon, bronze, …

The Red Zebra tomato was the most productive plant in our Sunnyvale garden for 2015. it produced many fruit in the 6 to 8 ounce range. The tomato is meaty with few seeds.

I decided that 2015 was the year to home-cure olives. I visited my parent’s home in Almaden Valley in south Santa Clara County. Their neighbor has a large Mission olive tree that generously drapes over the fence. Olives cannot be consumed without curing. All olives contain oleuropein, a glucoside compound, that tastes very bitter. You have to cure them using …

Okay. I bought this plant because of its name. There were no photos of the flowers; the plant was not yet in bloom. I just loved the 1980s BBC four-year series starring Rowan Atkinson (as Edmund Blackadder) and Tony Robinson (as Baldrick). When the plant finally bloomed last week, I was pleasantly surprised by its purple flower stalk. But, as …

Emu Bush is a great addition to a drought-tolerant garden in Sunnyvale. Emu Bush Fuchsias (genus Eremophila) are Australian shrubby native plants and there are over two hundred varieties known. The name Eremophila means ‘desert lover’ and derives from the Greek eremos (desert) and phileo (to love). The fruits are eaten by emus, which disperse the seeds in their droppings. …

One of over two hundred varieties of Asclepias, ‘Silky Mix’ stands out for its beautiful alternating deep red and gold colored blooms. Blooming mid Summer through early Fall, ‘Silky’, like most Asclepias prefers sunny, dry locations and does well in substandard soil. A tender perennial in some zones and annual in others, ‘Silky Mix’ is a beautiful addition to any …

‘Sweet Kate’ is a compact, clump-forming, hybrid spiderwort that is noted for its unique yellow foliage. It typically grows to 12” tall. Three-petaled, purplish-blue flowers (to 1.5” diameter) accented by contrasting yellow stamens are borne in terminal clusters (umbels) atop stiff stems. Numerous flower buds form in each cluster, but individual flowers open up only a few at a time, …