This is a story of how these vegetables and flowers were produced in a home garden in the Sacramento Valley: Kelsey and Steven recently purchased a house in Elk Grove. Kelsey is a great cook and had a dream of making a large garden to provide food for them. The only problem was the soil…

Butterfly bushes (Buddleja) are easy to grow shrubs with colorful flowers that bloom most of the summer into the fall. They are attractive to butterflies and most are very fragrant. Buddleja davidii ‘Royal Red’ Buddleja davidii ‘Buzz Velvet’ Buddleja ‘Lo and Behold Blue Chip’ Buddleja ‘Pugster Amethyst’ Buddleja ‘Buzz Purple’ at The Station Public House…

When I was in Portland recently at an open garden, I ran into a friend, Marilyn. I had met her and her husband, Stephen, on my trip to New Zealand last fall. She was telling me that they had a lot of Lilies blooming this year and wanted to know if I would like to…

My brother, Doug, and his wife, Ruth, purchased their retirement house in Woodburn, Oregon a couple of years ago and had to decide whether to keep the contractor installed new lawn that came with the new house or to tear it out and put in a new garden. They decided that they wanted a garden…

Plants always look better when they are grouped in masses. They are planted close together which keeps out the weeds and allows contrasts between groups. Red Split Leaf Japanese Maple, All gold Japanese Forest Grass and Acorus graminius ‘Ogon’ Restio, Ginger, Miscanthus Dwarf Bamboo and Euphorbia cyparissias Rosmary and Dwarf Bamboo Muhlenbergia and Euphorbia rigida…

Restios are plants native to South Africa. They look good in the garden next to ponds and watercourses. They are becoming very popular in the horticultural world. There are no common names for them in the U. S. but after awhile I am sure people will make them up as they have in South Africa….

Many of the plants in Dawn Gardens produce blossoms that are good cut flowers. These arrangements were created by Louise Chan in July for the SIRS Banquets: 2022: 2023: Older Bouquets:

In a garden everything grows including my kids. My daughter, Corrie, was about 11 when I took this picture of her in my new rose garden which she designed in 2003. The next photo was taken at the same place 20 years later when she is 31: In the first photo she was wearing a…

Rockroses are a group of tough shrubs that like full sun and can tolerate poor soil and drought.  Their foliage has a distinctive fragrance that smells like a Mediterranean garden. Sunset Rockrose (Cistus ‘Sunset’) is a low (2′-3′) shrub or groundcover.  Crimson Spot Rockrose (Cistus ladanifer) Cistus x skanbergii After 10 years in the ground…