native plants

Thimbleberry

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Lately the garden media has been buzzing about a wonderful new plant.  Acquire it and in one swoop you have checked off all the boxes on the fashionable garden requirements sheet—sustainability, native origins, attracts wildlife, low maintenance, looks good and smells good.  Get one and you can feel horticulturally sanctified for an entire season. The … Read more

Ceanothus Envy

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I have a bad case of ceanothus envy.  For those of you who don’t know this (mostly) western groundcover or shrub, it goes by the common name “California wild lilac.”  Its flower panicles, especially when seen from a distance, look similar to those of common lilac (Syringa), though the leaves differ.  Every spring it flowers … Read more