A perennial, aromatic, succulent herb, which grows as a ground-hugging wide spreading mat under 1 foot tall (a little taller in shade or when well watered) with rounded slightly scalloped gray-green foliage and deep blue and purple flowers that rise 3 to 6 inches above the foliage from spring through late fall (some say they bloom year-round). This plant makes …

Crabapple. Crabapples trees are typically 4–12 m (13–39 ft) tall at maturity, with a dense, twiggy crown. The leaves are 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) long, alternate, simple, with a serrated margin. The flowers are borne in corymbs, and have five petals, which may be white, pink or red, and are perfect, with usually red stamens that produce copious pollen, and a …

Night Phlox (Zaluzianskya capensis, “Midnight Candy”) fills the evening air with a sweet fragrance that will give you joy from May to November. The flowers open towards the evening and remain open until early in the morning. As the light intensity increases, they slowly start to close and are completely closed from midday until evening. I purchased my plant from …

Visiting my Sunnyvale garden are a variety of bees: Honey bees, small Mason bees, and big fat Bumble bees (that turn out to be Carpenter bees). Then, this fine early March day, I spot an enormous yellow bumble bee in the air around one of our apricot trees. It hovers near the blossoms,  but meanders in three dimensions, never once …

Two of our four plum varieties have blossomed by early March 2015. On our 4-N-1 grafted plum tree, the Santa Rosa variety started mid-February with its thinly spaced blossoms. This week the Burbank variety bloomed with dense sets of flowers. Burbank plum trees were developed by noted plant breeder Luther Burbank in 1883. Prized for its heavy crops of reddish-purple fruit, …

Society garlic is an attractive ornamental plant from South Africa whose leaves have a garlicky odor. It belongs to the lily family — as do onions and garlic — but to a different genus, entirely restricted to Africa, which includes about 24 species. The genus name Tulbaghia honors Ryk Tulbagh, an 18th-century Dutch governor of the Cape of Good Hope; …

California Poppy is a pretty native wildflower. It is very drought-tolerant and is excellent for xeriscapes. When the plant stops looking pretty, pull it up/break-it-off. The poppy seeds disperse widely so you will be surprised by the next year’s plants. I always have it in my Sunnyvale garden.

There are many great perennials and California-native plants that can beautify your yard for little water The whole Salvia genus Star jasmine Lantana Ceanthos

Take advantage of your exterior walls. Walls are good for vines, berries, and trees that can be espaliered. I grow a pomegranate tree espaliered against a sidewall 12 feet wide. My Marion berry canes are also grown against the wall.  

A major challenge for gardening in a Bahl Patio home is sunlight. Your south-facing walls may get 14 hours of sunlight during the summer. Your north-facing walls may only get 6 hours. The narrow sideyard walls may only get a few hours of direct sunlight. Use your south facing walls for plants and crops that crave sunlight: such as tomatoes …