Their hardboiled, bloodthirsty reputation aside, our carnivorous pitcher plants cry out for more tender loving care than any other plant we grow. We still haven’t been able to satisfy them. Our Nepenthes are not happy campers at the moment: Our dear Nepenthes x ventrata hasn’t produced pitchers...
Our feijoa guava is one of those trees that asks for so little (just one deep watering a week) and yet bestows so much: 50+ pounds of fruit September through November, fodder for our guava gin, and an excuse to throw our infamous “guava jams”...
Oh, the lengths we've gone and the backflips we've done in pursuit of a cup of iced Coffea arabica: brimming mugs balanced in the freezer. Lava-hot joe poured over iceburgs. Whatever we did, it just didn't taste like our favorite cafe's version (sweet, complex and tea-like...
With spring sproinging and blossoms galore (and over 400,000 plant species in the world) it's okay if a few throw you for a loop. If you've spotted a specimen that you can't pin down, our Plant ID, Please forum is for you. Upload your mystery plant via Instagram...
The current state of our tillandsia — our sweet, innocent air plants — has officially thrown us into a shame spiral. It's a bad scene here in bromeliad land: No specimens have flowered in months. Their tips are scorched. These guys are looking dull, dull,...
You might have seen them. The Clivia miniata, or natal lily, squats patiently and monochromatically for most of the year, beneath trees and in dark corners of gardens in Zones 9 and 10. It's also a beloved indoor plant — as it shuns direct sunlight and...
A rosemary hedge says you've planned your garden for years. Besides freshening up the pasta sauce to turn around an afterthought dinner, your hedge will fend off insects and make the breeze smell like bread. Our Tuscan blue rosemary is surviving well in our lime-rich...
"What's your favorite tree?" Several trees come to mind including our own Feijoa sellowiana (pineapple guava), but I've had this banyan tree in my mind for almost three years since my 2010 business trip to the Westin Moana Surfrider in Waikiki Beach, Oahu. Planted as a...