Tag Archives: white

The snow pea (Pisum sativum var. saccharatum) is a variety of pea eaten whole in its pod while still unripe. The name mangetout (French for “eat all”) can apply both to snow peas and to snap peas. In our Sunnyvale garden, USDA zone 8-9, snow peas are a rainy-season crop. You want to plant early to avoid the warm weather starting in May while balancing the risk of infrequent frosts. …

Freesia is a fragrant pretty spring corm that naturalizes so it comes back year after year. I plant them at the bases of the fruit trees and in containers to provide some of the first blooms and scents of spring.

Abundant REALLY LARGE fanciful blooms appear Spring thru Summer on this new “Monkey Flower” variety from Chile. Twice the size of the original species (2” top to bottom), ‘Mega’s’ creamy white flowers are blushed cherry & garnished with a yellow throat & showy spots. Dark branching stems, refined blue-green foliage & a bushy 20” high & wide form completes the …

Intense, dark rosy pink outer petals contrast beautifully with white centers on 2” wide, long-spurred blooms. Makes a great cut flower! Its vigorous upright, airy habit make it a nice addition to woodland gardens, sunny rock gardens, and cottage gardens. 2’x2’ when in bloom, with flowers borne on tall branching stems held about 1’ above showy, lacy foliage. Like its …

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 …

Plant this spring annual and you’ll be rewarded with a profusion of those bouncy, 2” blooms with their lemon-yellow and pure white scalloped petals , March through June. Combine with Nemophila menziesii “Baby Blue Eyes,” both will self-sow for a harmonious show next Spring. Nice in pots too! In California, it’s an important nectar source for the Checkerspot butterfly. Every …

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 …

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) is an attractive landscape plant with masses of one-inch, white, daisy-like flowers with large yellow centers rise on spindly stems above parsley-like leaves. The plant grows anywhere from eight to 24 inches tall and wide. This member of the aster family behaves like an annual in cooler zones, a perennial in some areas, and can be evergreen …

Acidanthera is a summer-blooming bulb in the gladiolus family. The plants have upright, sword-like foliage and fragrant white flowers in late summer and early fall. Acidanthera is easy-to-grow in any sunny garden and it also grows well in containers. Known by many other names, including Gladiolus murielae, Gladiolus callianthus, Abyssinian gladiolus and peacock orchid. SHADE AND SUN: Acidanthera should be …

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 …