Tag Archives: perennial

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 …

Oriental lilies are a spectacular and perfumed addition to your summer garden. Growing oriental lily plants is easy with a well-prepared site for bulbs, plenty of sun and good drainage. Some of the most magnificent flowers in the lily family are in this large group of species and cultivars. We originally bought a small bag of bulbs from Yamagami nursery …

Tufted evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) is a night bloomer, producing large white flowers that start to open in late afternoon and on into the night. The fragrant blossoms appear to glow in the dark while attracting nighttime pollinators. Once the sun begins to rise, the white blooms fade to a lovely shade of pink that decorates the garden throughout the …

Gaillardia, or Blanket Flower, is an easy to grow, short-lived perennial with richly colored, daisy-like flowers. There are over two dozen species of Gaillardia and most are native to some area of North America. Gaillardia pulchella, which is native from the southeastern U.S. through to Colorado and south into Mexico, was cross-bred with Gaillardia aristata, a prairie flower, to create …

New to our Sunnyvale garden in 2020 is Isotoma ‘Starshine Blue’ Laurentia. It features showy powder blue star-shaped flowers with lavender overtones rising above the foliage from late spring to early fall. Its attractive deeply cut ferny leaves remain dark green in colour throughout the season. Starshine Blue Laurentia is often used as a ‘filler’ in the ‘spiller-thriller-filler’ container combination, …

Alkanet is one of our favorite flowers for late-spring and summer. It is covered with hundreds of deep blue to violet flowers reminiscent of forget-me-nots (Myosotis). It is a magnet for hummingbirds, butterflies, and several types of bees. It is native to the Mediterranean but has been introduced in North America where it has escaped gardens and naturalized in British …

New to our Sunnyvale garden for 2020 are Seaside Daisies (Erigeron glaucus). Also known as beach aster or beach daisy, seaside daisy plants are flowering California native perennial that grow wild along the Pacific Coast, from Southern California north to Oregon and Washington. This tough little plant is found in rugged environments such as coastal scrub and sand dunes. Seaside …

Voodoo lily plants are perennials known for their unusual foliage;  gigantic size of the flower; and the stink of that flower. The flowers produce a strong, offensive odor similar to that or rotting meat. The smell attracts the flies that pollinate the flowers. The blossom only lasts a day or two. They are native to warm subtropical-to-tropical areas of eastern …

Orange Bush Sticky Monkey Flower (Diplaucus aurantiacus) are named for their funny-face-flowers that look like grinning Monkeys. These California native gets its common name from its long and narrow leaves with surfaces coated in a sticky resin. It is a delightful small evergreen shrub growing 2-4 ft. tall that becomes totally covered with colorful tubular orange flowers. This wide ranging …

Spring in our Sunnyvale garden always has tulips. The majority are the Dutch cultivars and hybrids: Usually large, showy and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white. But in the last few years we have included Wild Tulips which are the predecessor species. Tulips originally were found in a band stretching from Southern Europe to Central Asia, but since …