New for 2019 in our Sunnyvale garden: Armeria ‘Ballerina Lilac’, commonly called thrift or sea pink, is a compact, low-growing plant which forms a dense, mounded tuft of stiff, linear, grass-like, dark green leaves (to 4″ tall). Tufts will spread slowly to 8-12″ wide. Tiny, purple flowers bloom in mid spring in globular clusters (3/4-1″ wide) atop slender, naked stalks …

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is a charming old-fashioned annual in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) that blooms in spring and early summer. One of about 15 species in the genus Nigella, love-in-a-mist is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. In its native habitat, this plant grows in fields, along roadsides, and in rocky or waste ground. The genus name Nigella comes …

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is a charming old-fashioned annual in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) that blooms in spring and early summer. One of about 15 species in the genus Nigella, love-in-a-mist is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. In its native habitat, this plant grows in fields, along roadsides, and in rocky or waste ground. The genus name Nigella comes …

Lobelia erinus “Fountain Blue”xThis variety of Lobelia has masses of graceful, tumbling pink half-inch flowers. It softens the edge of the garden container as well as hanging baskets and window boxes. Blooms forever it seems and often lives over here in USDA Zone 8b, and always self-sows to grace your gardening world every year. Use rich soil for prettiest show! …

Lobelia erinus “Fountain Blue”xThis variety of Lobelia has masses of graceful, tumbling azure-blue half inch flowers. It softens the edge of the garden container as well as hanging baskets and window boxes. Blooms forever it seems, as Yoda says, and often lives over here in USDA Zone 10, and always self-sows to grace your gardening world every year. Rich soil …

Island Alum Root (Heuchera maxima) is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family. It is endemic to three of the eight Channel Islands of California, where it grows on cliffs. It is rare in the wild due to its limited distribution. However, it is also cultivated as an attractive garden plant, valued for both its foliage and flowers. …

Hibiscus adds a tropical flair to your Sunnyvale garden. It is a bushy, evergreen shrub or small tree growing 8 to 16 ft tall and 5 to 10 ft wide, with glossy leaves and solitary, brilliant red flowers in summer and autumn. The 5-petaled flowers are 4 inch in diameter, with prominent orange-tipped red anthers. Provide the plants with at …

Floriferous, fast and easy it’s amazing this South African annual isn’t more popular in the trade and with garden designers. Quickly growing to 15” tall and wide, it explodes into a mass of sunny, golden blooms that last for months. With a rich, shiny maroon ring encircling the central golden eye, the 2.5” flowers are eye-fetching held atop the rich …

Streptosolen jamesonii (Marmalade Bush) – An evergreen rambling, shrub that without support will grow 4-6 feet tall and wide; with support it can reach 15 feet. It has oval-shaped 1 inch long leaves with a wrinkled appearance that densely clothe the sprawling branches and a bountiful display of large 5-inch orange, bell-shaped flowers bloom at the terminal ends of the …

Water Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis scorpiodes) is a perennial with delicate sprays of sky-blue, tiny flowers adorned with yellow centers in late-spring/early-summer in Sunnyvale (USDA zone 9). The sprays (cymes), up to 12 inches tall, resemble a coiled scorpion’s tail, hence the name. The flowers rise on a semi-evergreen foliage of shiny, oblong, bright green leaves. Easy care, resilient to most pests, …