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. The marigold flower is the most used in the offerings that are made on the Day of the Dead. There are approximately 50 species of marigold, but …

Easy-care and long-blooming Bidens is easy to recognize in garden beds and borders, as well as container gardens. A cheery annual native to areas of southwestern North America, it features golden-yellow daisy-shaped flowers that continue to appear for weeks. This family of plants earned these names thanks to their clinging seeds, which look something like ticks and stick to clothing …

Lilyturf (Liriope muscari) is a tough but showy evergreen groundcover has deep green, grass-like foliage arranged in slightly upright tufts. Spikes of blue or purple (see below) bell-shaped flowers resembling grape hyacinth (hence its species name) appear in summer, followed by dark berry-like fruits. Great for edging pathways or as and a low border accent. Grows well underneath trees or …

Gaura is a pretty summer-blooming plant for your Sunnyvale garden. As the flowers bob in the wind, they remind you of butterflies. Gaura is commonly grown as an ornamental plant. It is used in either garden beds or pots for accent colour and a delicate texture. It grows best in full sun and can survive lengthy periods of drought.There are many …

New to our Sunnyvale garden in 2020 are Hen-and-chicks (Sempervivum tectorum ‘greenii’). This succulent forms a mat of rosettes, each 4″ across and only 2″ tall, in a lovely shade of blue-gray with each leaf tipped in deep red. Our plant was purchased from Annie’s Annual in Richmond. Older rosettes produce short stems of pink, narrow-petalled blossoms and then die, …

Another new flower for our Sunnyvale Garden in 2020 are Pinkladies. Pinkladies (Oenothera speciosa) has masses of fragrant, bowl-shaped, satiny flowers. Other common names are evening primrose. We purchased our pinkladies from Summerwinds nursery. The large (2-3 inch wide) flowers open in the evening and remain open until late morning. The flowers age to rose-pink with deeper pink veins. They …

California Fuchsia (Zauschneria x cana ‘Calistoga Hybrids’) is a ground covering California native with large number of flowers that smother showy grey-green leaves on this low-water, low-maintenance, deer resistant, drought tolerant plant. Grown for its broad, grey leaves, low form and boldly colored carmine flowers, California Fuchsia prefer loose drainage, but adapt easily to clay soil. Plants do tend to …

Our Sunnyvale garden has many drought-tolerant plants such as succulents, lavenders, and salvias. Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’ is a recent purchase from Yamagami Nursery in West San Jose. Texas Sage (Leucophyllum fruitescens) has many common names, including Texas ranger, Texas rain sage, barometer bush, cenizo, silverleaf, and ash-leaf. The plant is not a sage (Salvia ssp.) but it is native …

With its long chains of pink blossoms, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate is a great addition to a garden. This plant will bloom from mid-summer until fall. It is a favorite cut flower and can be dried and used in floral arrangements. The large, coarse-textured foliage can create a backdrop for other plants. This fast-growing plant can grow to 7 feet tall and can …

Antirrhinum majus ‘Chantilly Bronze’ Lots of flowers with an shifting color palette ( goldens, pinks and oranges to deep red) create STRONG and tall enduring vertical interest in a garden bed or a flower arrangement. The strapping 3′ stems maintain their upright stance, even under a bounty of delicately-scented, long-lasting blooms, from Spring all the way through Autumn. After the …