Easy, Drought Tolerant Fall Container Gardening How-To!

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The Mahogany Garden

This beautiful area was created using contrasting colors of grey green and burgundy. Cordyline baueri - a striking burgundy colored shrub poses amongst grey green licorice plant, Helichrysum petiolare, and artemesia 'Powis Castle. Succulents at the base provide a beautiful way to tie the whole drought tolerant composition together.

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10 Beautiful Wildflowers and Bulbs for the Winter

Fall and winter are coming up, and that means it's bulb time! And lucky for you, we're not talking about the horrible process of figuring out why your Christmas lights aren't working. No, we're talking about your garden and what you can do to have it looking stylish and lovely into the late fall and winter this year. Here are 10 beautiful bulbs and wildflowers that are sure to have your garden standing out this season.

Lenkin Design's Top 5 Bulbs for Chilly Weather

1. Babiana



2. Chasmanthe



3. Crocosmia



4. Freesia



5. Scilla Campanulata (many colors)



...And 5 of our Favorite Wildflowers for Chilly Weather


1. California poppy Eschscholzia californica



2. Tidy tips Layia platyglossa



3. Blue flax Linum lewisi



4. Baby blue eyes Nemophila menziesii



5. California bluebells Phacelia campanularia

Photo courtesy Claire Woods

Garden Critters

Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans)


A black swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes Fabricius) on the flowering fennel (Foeniculum vulgare).



Anniegozanthus wetnoseisis

Send Flowers!

Or at least you can send pictures of flowers... very small pictures... on the postage stamps.

Several years ago, when we first heard about custom postage stamps, we thought it was a great idea, slapped our logo on some, and have been using them ever since. They look nice, but honestly, we've gotten bored of looking at them. When we saw how nice the pictures of Flora came out, we thought, sure let's put her on a stamp! Next thing we knew, we had a bunch. And yes, anybody can buy them, though we're not asking you to do our advertising for us... Or, make your own! And no, we're not affiliated with Zazzle in any way!

Sumer Is Icumen In

As the 13th century Middle English round suggests, Summer has definitely arrived, gently but unambiguously. Cupid's dart, Catanache caerulea, have gone from vibrant lavender splashes to dry seed pods of translucent bracts - beautiful either way...






Other garden denizens happy in the sun include:
Kniphofia uvaria, yellow torchlily


Echinops ritro, Globe thistle


Foeniculum vulgare, fennel


And of course, Lavandula angustifolia, English lavender


This lavender is from the parkway of a former client; some parts of Southern California really can pass for the Mediterranean…

Still blooming…

Coulter's Matilija Poppy Romneya coulteri



Bear's Breech Acanthus mollis



Rosa "Sally Holmes"



Canis sammipantus