Tag Archives: Spring

May in our Sunnyvale garden is always full of flowers and growth. We had over 60 flowering plants plus fruit and vegetables.

A blast of dense, vertical spikes that bloom for months in our mild climate – & then blooms again! Veronica longfolia “Vernique” is a hybrid version of this essential cottage perennial. It rises to 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide across bearing rich, purple, 6” spikes from late Spring to July, attracting mobs of butterflies, bees & hummers! Cut …

Phlox subulata is a short plant, and its stature is reflected in its common names: “creeping phlox,” “moss phlox,” “moss pinks,” “ground pink,” and “ground phlox.” Don’t let the “pink” label fool you: This perennial does come in other colors. Not surprisingly, Phlox subulata functions primarily as a flowering ground cover. You’ll often see this spring bloomer blanketing banks with …

Ixia are grown from corms native to South Africa (which has the same Mediterranean climate as California). They have grass-like leaves and stellar flowers of blue, purple, red or white. They come into bloom from spring into summer. Some of the common names for Ixia are Corn lily, African Iris, Wand flower, and African Corn lily. They make excellent cut …

There couldn’t have been a better rose to name after the painter Frida Kahlo, known for her use of bold color and floral elements. This is a vigorous floribunda, so it’ll produce 5-6 roses per cluster and bloom all the way from late spring to early fall. Each petal is its own unique blend of yellow, orange and red hues, …

Bloomerang Purple lilac (Syringa x) is a reblooming lilac. It blooms in spring along with other lilacs, takes a brief rest to put on new growth, then blooms again from mid-summer through fall. A bit smaller than other lilacs, Bloomerang also has a nice, rounded shape that looks great anywhere you plant it in the landscape. Star-like flowers are a …

Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) is a beautiful, hardy plant for Alta California. This downy, bushy, evergreen subshrub produces white or purple flowers clasped by soft purple calyces from late summer to frost. It grows 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide, and is great for the border. Salvias are some of the showiest plants for containers, annual borders, and …

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, …

Our Sunnyvale garden in March 2019 was filled with flowers.Spring blossoms on the plum, apricot, and orange trees. Spring bulbs like Crocus, Freesias, Grape-Hyacinth, Hyacinth, Tulips, Dutch Iris, and Spanish Bluebell. Spring vegetables like snowpeas and kale. Excellent cool-season annuals with Violas and Pansies. Rainy-season perennials like Cyclamen, India Hawthorne, Lewisia, Verbinium, Geranium, Rosemary and Lavender. Lots of foliage on …

This variety is one of the familiar, and welcome, giant spring Crocus, which are colorful companions for early Daffodils. They are terrific for bedding, rock gardens, shrub borders, and naturalizing in grass. Reserve a few bulbs to pot up and force, and you will soon be the bearer of sweet little gifts that are inexpensive yet rich with the promise …