Category: Plant Profiles

Hall’s Mule's ear and Fairyfan

Mule’s ear and Farewell to Spring

Roadside treasures worth  stopping for In the first week of July in the Sierra foothills of California, you believe that Spring is long gone, and yet, the season hasn’t said its final farewell.  Our beloved wildflowers called ‘Farewell to Spring are blooming this year at the same time as the sunny wild sunflowers, Hall’s Mule’s…

Superstition Iris Farm, Cathey's Valley, CA

Iridescent Iris in a Sierra foothill garden

Iris time! Iris are a Sierra foothill gardener’s best friend in Spring because of the easy care and reliable beauty. Because they occasionally have to be divided, they are a common ‘pass along’ plant. Here’s a few favorites, your advice and how to divide irises. ‘Iris,’ was the goddess of the rainbow, the messenger of…

Creeping thyme and Ajuga

Deer-resistant low growers for the Sierra foothills

27 favorite ‘ground covers’ Growing plants that ‘cover the ground’ means you have something to plant in the front of a flower bed, something for along the edge of paths and, importantly, something that prevents weeds from growing.  You can even ‘create’ a lawn-like area that doesn’t take the maintenance of usual lawn care. All these…

Succulents in the Sierra foothill garden

9 Reasons we love succulents here! Why do we love these fun and fleshy little rosettes called succulents? Is it because they magically multiply? Or that they are fascinatingly cute? As gem-like accents to the landscaping in your garden, succulents add a beautiful contrast to rustic and rusty or galvanized containers. Hens and chicks, or…

Hyssop or Agastashe or Hummingbird mint

Discover Hummingbird Mint

A plant I’d love to see in local nurseries… Considering their long-lasting vibrant blooms, hardiness and resistance to drought, deer, extreme temps, Hyssops or Agastache offer plenty of food for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. What more can a gardener ask for? No wonder they’re adored by gardeners far and wide – with several varieties hardy to USDA zones…

Historic Iris

For the love of Iris

A gardener’s April day trip On a recent visit to Coarsegold, California, I stopped by the Hillside Iris Farm of Bill Tyson, just before the peak bloom.   His farm is open to the public just during the month of April when Iris are in full bloom and ready to order by color and shape.  You choose the ones…

Penstemon 'Elfin Pink'

Penstemons, a perfect foothill flower

Beautiful Beard Tongue As I stroll through the garden, my attention is drawn to how well adapted Beard Tongue or Penstemons are for the Sierra Foothills! Whether, cultivated hybrids or CA Natives, they are perfectly easy to grow and the bloom is spectacular in your garden.  Scroll through the ones I have in my garden and see…

Music goes on all day at the Harvest and Peace Festival

Intermountain Nursery’s Harvest & Peace Festival 2015

Objective: Fall planting Ca Natives,…and to have fun! Each October, on my birthday weekend, a favorite nursery plans it’s annual celebration and harvest festival.  I’m so flattered!  But really, since Fall is the best time to plant here in the foothills, I go to this event for fun and also with an objective. The objective…

Planting Dudleya in a brick

Canyon Live-forever or Rock Lettuce, Dudleya cymosa, is a great California native for containers.  This container is a brick found at the lake and probably used as an anchor along the shore.  I found a better use for it and planted a small dudleya in each opening.   It’s lived happily here for two years,…

Rockrose, euphorbia

An ideal plant list for a new Sierra foothill garden

Drought tolerant and colorful plants for any garden… Sometimes you find an ideal list of plants suitable for your area to save and keep.  This time one of my customers at the nursery happened to bring in an especially nice one. We were able to impress each other,..they were because most of the plants they…

Arctostaphylos viscida blooms, tiny vase-shaped

Fire and manzanita myths

It is a commonly heard in casual remarks on gardening topics and maintaining a landscape in the Sierra Foothills that Manzanita and other chaparral plants must be cut down and removed because they are so very flammable. Yes, it is important to clear 100 feet of defensible space around your home, and yes, Manzanita can…

Spicy mints in the foothill garden

Spicy mints? “Much Virtue in Herbs, little in Men.” – Benjamin Franklin The rich, spiciness of these plants makes them useful in cooking, and nearly half the spices in your kitchen come from this one family, including basil, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, germander, thyme, savory, plus culinary sage and of course mint, peppermint, and spearmint. It’s…

What to plant under Native Oaks and Pines?

or …Why I remember a Sunset Magazine article from 1999. A few months before we bought our place here in the shadow of Peckinpah Mountain, I read an article called ‘What to plant under native oaks and pines?’  Do you still have the September 1999 issue of Sunset magazine?  No?  Well, if you live in…

Weed and more native plants will come

The natural meadow in the second year By that, I mean, this is the second year that I have weeded but not planted here. I’ve planted my 5 year old garden in irrigation zones.  The area around the house gets the most water and has the most ‘non-native, but Mediterranean plants.’ We’re on a slope…

Drat! Pokeweed! No, Chokecherry? Hope so!

What I thought might be buckeye or elderberry, turns out to be pokeweed! Darn!  My sister helped my identify this by punching in descriptive words into Google images. How did it possibly get here, so close to the native forest at the edge of the property? American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, is native to the Eastern US…