Calla lilies are easy to grow and add a classy look to perennial gardens, cutting gardens and container plantings. Their smooth, sword-like foliage stays neat and attractive all season long. Native to South Africa, Calla Lilies (Zantedeschia) provide a spectacular effect with their rich, cheerful colors and their breathtaking chalice-shaped flowers (spathe) surrounding a finger-like stalk (spadix). Calla lily flowers …

If you’ve sampled a salsa or jam containing these green wonders, you should consider adding tomatillo (toh-mah-tee-yo) plants to your garden. Most years we grow a couple of tomatillo plants along with our tomatoes. Our 2019 tomatillo plants are courtesy of a Sunnyvale garden meetup. Originating in Mexico and Central America, this citrusy plant has been an important food crop …

June in our Sunnyvale garden is full of flowers, ripe fruit and ripening vegetables. For more of the story, see below the photo gallery. We have two Blenheim apricot trees. One is a volunteer from a discarded pit. It grows in a two-foot wide trench. It produces hundreds of fruit. Which is good because a couple dozen fruit every day …

Alcea rosea, the common Hollyhock, originated in Asia and the area around the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. These stately beauties belong to the Mallow (Malvaceae) family, which includes 1500 different species. Hollyhocks are hardy between USDA zones 3 and 8 (Sunnyvale). How to Grow Hollyhocks Alcea rosea is variously described as a biennial (having a two-year life cycle), as an annual, …

With spectacular flowers and tasty fruit, you gotta try growing this passion fruit. This variety is named after Nancy Garrison, a Master Gardener in Santa Clara County. The vine was found in front of an old farm house and handles the cooler winters of our region. Passion fruit is widely grown and valued throughout the tropics and subtropics. Most Passifloras …

A few years ago I bought one Red Shiso plant as a novelty. Its foliage was very distinctive and it had the promise of edible pleasure. Now, through the wonders of wind-aided propagation, I have several plants. Searching through the web for recipes, Pickled Shiso leaves is one of the top hits, especially in Korea. Think of it as Korean …

A clematis vine climbing up a trellis or spilling flowers over a fence is great for making a curtain of color. Most clematis varieties thrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 11 (which is just fine for our Sunnyvale garden (zone 8a)). Proper soil preparation, ongoing maintenance, pest prevention and pruning properly provide the keys to …

Shiso (Perilla frutescens) is a staple in both sushi rolls and ornamental gardens. An annual warm-season herb, it flourishes in part shade or sun, with the level of sunlight intriguingly affecting the colors of its leaves. Perilla in sunny garden beds tends to bear burgundy leaves, while those in part shade develop light green foliage. In Sunnyvale, set seeds or …

Taquerias in NorCal often have 2 sauces in squeeze bottles: Red Sauce and Orange Sauce. Both sauces often use the same 2 dried chili pods: Guajillo and Arbol. The Chile de árbol is a small and potent Mexican chili pepper also known as bird’s beak chili. These chilis are about 5 to 7.5 cm long, and 0.65 to 1 cm …