By Charlotte Torgovitsky. In California we have both annuals like Delta Sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, and Giant Sunflowers, Helianthus californicus, which is an herbaceous perennial that dies back to a large taproot in the fall. Before…
By Charlotte Torgovitsky. This beautiful little California native “sub-shrub” is a wonderful pollinator plant that comes into its full glory early in summer. A member of the mint family, Coyote Mint (Monardella villosa) supports local…
From November through February my chipper pile grows steadily bigger. I begin cutting back perennial plants and shrubs as the fall blooming cycle ends; long, fairly straight stems go to the chipper pile, more twisted branches…
I’d bet that we’re all pretty happy that the rainy season is over and cherishing the beautiful sunny days. With a good layer of mulch to help retain moisture in the soil, plus the warm…
At the end of the dry season my garden is just that; at a glance many of the native plants look dry and dead but once you look more closely, there’s always a bit of…
Some of my favorite annual wildflowers are the gilias, and the whole genus is pretty much deer-proof. I like globe gilia (Gilia capitata) with its round heads of small blue flowers; these grow wild on…
The days are still warm and we’re all hoping, once again, that this will be an El Niño year with ample rainfall and a good snow pack in the Sierras. The days are noticeably shorter,…
The term Ecology is a relatively new field of study in the world of Biology; it was coined in 1866 by the German scientist, Ernst Haeckel (1834 – 1919). There are now two major subdivisions;…