Flowers

Brodiaea laxa is commonly known as the triplet lily, grassnut lily, or wild hyacinth. This perennial bulb is a native wildflower to California, growing wild in evergreen woodlands. Locally, it is found in places like Edgewood Preserve on the San Mateo County peninsula and Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Grass-like leaves appear first, followed by clusters of light blue blossoms reaching …

We have had fennel in our Sunnyvale garden since 2001. It reseeds easily. Any place you don’t want it, just pull it up. The feathery leaves remind me of dill and it has a nice scent. The small yellow flowers appear on the ends of each umbrella. If you want to eat the Fennel bulb then make sure you get …

May in the Sunnyvale garden is always full. the citrus trees have finished their blossoms and the small green fruits are showing. The flowers transition from spring to summer. The apricots are larger but still green. Tomato plants are full of blossoms and green small fruits. Artichokes can be harvested twice this month. Unripe blackberry fruits are everywhere. Godetia, mega …

April is always a great time in our Sunnyvale garden. The last few rain showers end by mid April. The spring bulbs finish their blossoms as the vines start blooming and the summer bulbs start peeking out from the ground. The tomato plants are already 2-3 feet tall and have blossoms. The citrus trees (orange, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, lime) attracted …

Iceland poppies are hardy but short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials, that yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, one foot, curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1-6 inches long. This year’s crop was planted in our former fire-pit surrounded by cool-weather cyclamen and english daisy. They bloom in April after the crocus, hyacinth, and tulips. Iceland …

Milkweed is the only food source for Monarch Caterpillars and are a mixture of the best nectaring plants for all butterflies. Natural Bridges State Park is just over the mountains in Santa Cruz and is a major destination of the Monarch butterflies. Known to have some medicinal value as a cough expectorant, the plant’s milky white sap can also cause …

Beauty in a small package: California Creamcup , has a one inch wide flower with six petals which may be pure white or golden or white with large gold spots or gold tips. The center of the flower is filled with a tuftlike cluster of many thick, flattened stamens. The small plant (12×18 inches) may produce hundreds of blossoms. The …

We had average March weather in our Sunnyvale garden: about 8 days of rain but less in volume than February. We still had a lot of flowers: Pea-shrub, orinthogalum, several types of crocus, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, freesia, armeria, plum, apricot, flowering plum, viola, cyclamen, english daisy, yarrow, bacopa, lavendar. On the vegetable side: cilantro, tomatoes, beet, garlic, rhubarb, chile, basil. …

Another first in 2017 for our Sunnyvale garden: Sea pink. Armeria maritima, 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, pink to white flowers bloom in mid spring in globular clusters (3/4-1″ wide) …

The stunning, brightly colored unusually shaped blooms of the evergreen trailing plant Lotus berthelotii, commonly called parrot’s beak, brings a tropical feel to your garden or landscape. Native to the Canary and Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa, Parrot’s beak is a sun-loving perennial that can be grown as an annual in areas below U.S. Department of …