Tag Archives: perennial

Looking for a drought tolerant but lovely flower to fill in a troublesome dry area in your Sunnyvale garden? You may want to try planting ice plants. Ice plant flowers add a bright splash of color to the drier parts of your garden and ice plant care is easy. Ice plant (Delosperma) is a succulent, perennial ground cover with daisy-like …

Big, bold, showy & heat & drought tolerant – this is the TALL species! To 4’ tall & 3’ across, it certainly creates a dramatic focal point with substantial 2” brassy red blooms held atop strong multi-branching bright green stems. Beginning in mid-Summer, the blooms last for months in the garden & then, like, forever in dried arrangements. With average-rich, …

Cyclamen is a great winter-flowering plant that loves light shade. You can grow in indoors or out. The red cyclamen is classic for the winter holidays. This pink variety is also pretty. In the summer, the foliage dies back and it is stressed by reflected heat (so shade is important). First planted in my Sunnyvale garden: Jan 2016 Garden Nursery: …

Lithodora is a choice groundcover or rock garden plant. This perennial forms a low, creeping mat of hairy grey-green leaves, studded with royal-blue star flowers from late spring through summer. Plants MUST have a well-drained, acidic soil in order to thrive. Heavy clay soils are sure death. Combines well with Heaths and Heathers, since plants have similar requirements. Evergreen where …

“Queen Fabiola” brodiaea (Brodiaea laxa “Queen Fabiola”) is commonly known as the triplet lily or wild hyacinth. It is also known as Ithuriel’s Spear. This perennial bulb is a native wildflower to California, growing wild in evergreen woodlands. It is found in Edgewood Preserve on the San Mateo County peninsula. Grass-like leaves appear first, followed by clusters of light blue …

Siberian squill, grown from a small bulb, is probably the most familiar of the scillas. The plants themselves don’t get much taller than about 6 inches, but they make up for their diminutive size by spreading out and blooming profusely. The tiny bulbs grow and multiple easily and the plants will also self-seed, making scilla a perfect choice for naturalizing.

English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is easy to grow in Sunnyvale gardens. It has modest water needs and can grow in small areas (once established). My lavender plant is in a two-foot wide trench excavated one foot deep in clay. Fresh lavender flowers may be used in sauces, marinades, and desserts. Handle fragile dried blossoms with care and use them in …

Gardenia Best known for their fragrant white flowers, gardenias are heat-loving evergreen shrubs that have become a gardening symbol in the Southeast. Another common name is cape jasmine. About This Plant Plant gardenias near a deck or window where you can enjoy the flowers’ fragrance. The plants grow from 2 to 8 feet tall and wide, depending on the variety. …

Pincushion flower is still blooming in winter in Sunnyvale. Scabiosa caucasica (Caucasian scabious) is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Caucasus, north eastern Turkey, and northern Iran. Growing to 60 cm (24 in) tall and broad, it is a clump-forming perennial with divided leaves. Pincushion-shaped buds, borne on erect stems, open to pale blue …