Viewing comments posted by valleylynn

403 found:

[ Blue Holly (Ilex China Girl®) | Posted on December 3, 2011 ]

A dioecious shrub (separate male and female plants).

CHINA GIRL is a female plant and CHINA BOY (D480) is a companion male plant. You need both to produce a good crop of berries.
A planting needs at least one CHINA BOY within 400' as a pollinator for up to 9-10 CHINA GIRL plants.

Upright, rounded, dense, evergreen shrub which matures over many years to 7-10' tall by 5-8' wide. Often seen growing much shorter, however.

Has thorns.

No serious disease or insect problems.

Tolerates air pollution.

[ Rhodocoma capensis | Posted on December 2, 2011 ]

Restionaceae prefers full sun, well-drained soil and plenty of air movement.

Adapts well to many types of soil.

Best time for planting is the beginning of the rainy season, needs regular watering the first 6 weeks to 2 months. Restios will respond to regular watering by showing more robust growth, but they are essentially plants which are adapted to a long, dry summer.

The individual stems start to deteriorate during the third year but by that time two new flushes of growth will have appeared for the yearly renewal of the plant. This plant only needs a regular removal of the brown, dead stems to keep it looking lush and attractive.

From a seedling it takes several years for the plant to mature.

Makes an impressive display in the garden as a single plant, or as a grouping or line of plants. Stems can be used in floral arrangements as filler for an interesting part of an arrangement.
Also used to make brooms in parts of the world.

[ Lemon (Citrus x limon) | Posted on December 1, 2011 ]

The lemon tree has the reputation of tolerating very infertile, very poor soil.

Lemon trees should be spaced 25 ft (7.6 in) apart each way. If crowded or "hedged", production declines. The trees must be pruned when young and kept below 10 or 12 ft (3-3.6 m) in height. They are cut back severely after 12 years or replaced. Weeds must be controlled but lemon trees are very sensitive to herbicides.

One of the 3 most serious arthropod pests of the lemon and other citrus trees in California is California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii. In the southern part of the state it is under biological control but it requires applications of pesticides in the San Joaquin Valley. In Florida, rust mites, purple mites and purple scale may at times be troublesome but they are all controllable with appropriate sprays.

The thorns of the lemon tree inflict painful punctures and scratches. Lemon peel oil may cause contact dermatitis, chronic in those who handle, cut and squeeze lemons daily. Parts of the body touched by contaminated hands may show severe reactions after exposure to the sun. People that suck lemons may suffer irritation and eruptions around the mouth. The wood of lemon trees and its saw-dust may induce skin reactions in sensitive woodworkers.

Lemons have many uses:
Lemon zest
Lemon juice
Lemon peel oil
Petitgrain oil (up to 50% citral), is distilled from the leaves, twigs and immature fruits of the lemon tree in West Africa, North Africa and Italy. With terpenes removed, it is greatly prized in colognes and floral perfumes.
Wood: Used in carving, is fine grained, compact and easy to work.
Medicinal use

There are many types of lemons throughout the world.

[ Graptoveria (XGraptoveria 'Fred Ives') | Posted on December 1, 2011 ]

Parentage: (Graptopetalum paraguayense X Echeveria gibbiflora)

Relatively slow growing and very slow to sucker. Prefers some afternoon shade and likes water if in fast draining soil.

Will handle some frost. Water sparingly in winter.

Shrub forming cultivar.

[ Horned Rampion (Phyteuma sieberi) | Posted on December 1, 2011 ]

Member of the Campanula family. Basal foliage is often fuzzy.

From Alps and Alpennines (Mountain range in Italy)

May self seed readily.

[ Chinese Okra (Luffa acutangula) | Posted on November 30, 2011 ]

Immature fruits of less-bitter cultivars of Luffa acutangula are used as a vegetable. They are cooked or fried and used in soups and sauces. Occasionally, the stem tops with young leaves and flower buds are used as a leafy vegetable.

Young immature fruits are picked 12–15 days after fruit set. Fruits can be picked every 3 days throughout the fruiting season, by hand or with a knife. Individual plants may produce 15–20 fruits

Mature, dried fruits are used as a sponge.

[ Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya) | Posted on November 28, 2011 ]

There are many cultivated forms with different root shapes in China and Japan[174]. The yam is a climbing plant that supports itself by twining around the branches of other plants[219]. It can be grown successfully into small bushes or, perhaps simpler when being grown as a root crop, it can be grown up a frame in a similar manner to growing runner beans

The small white flowers have a pleasant scent of cinnamon

The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required)The plant is not self-fertile.


The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil.The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils..It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.It requires moist soil.

[ Fuzzy Wuzzy Sedum (Sedum dasyphyllum var. glanduliferum) | Posted on November 25, 2011 ]

One of the tiniest Stonecrops, native to Sprain and found in dry rocks and banks.

Useful as a skirt for potted plants, troughs, bonsai and in the rock garden. A nice choice for a 'green roof'.

Tolerates a hot dry site once established.

[ Crocosmia 'Lucifer' | Posted on November 25, 2011 ]

An Alan Bloom hybrid (Crocosmia x Curtonus)

Sow the large seeds as soon as they are ripe in a soil-based potting mix. Cultivars sometimes self-sow, but will not come true if they are hybrids.

[ Yellow Grape Hyacinth (Muscari macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance') | Posted on November 19, 2011 ]

An Aegean native bulb that need well drained soil with sun and summer heat to do it's best.

Spikes of violet-tinted buds open to bright yellow blooms

Plants of this species go dormant in summer, and they generally prefer hot dry soils when dormant.
This species will naturalizes by self-seeding in favorable conditions, but, unlike most other species of Muscari, produces few bulb offsets.

USDA Zone 6, 'Golden Fragrance' will usually survive USDA Zone 5 winters if given a good winter mulch.

[ Bleeding Heart (Dicentra 'Red Fountain') | Posted on November 19, 2011 ]

This is a very nice smaller variety of Dicentra, a cross between D Exinia x D Peregrina.

Nice clumping form with the flowers carried above the foliage. Prefers humus rich soil that is kept evenly moist.

Deer and rabbit resistant.

Will go dormant if the weather gets to hot, or doesn't get enough water.

[ Shrubby Milkwort (Polygaloides chamaebuxus) | Posted on November 19, 2011 ]

Polygala chamaebuxus was named by Linnaeus in 1753 and comes from the mountains of west-central Europe, where it grows on the higher wooded slopes and up into the pastures and rocky ledges.

Blooms in January, February, and March in the Pacific Northwest and may re-bloom in the summer if happy. Likes cool, peaty conditions. Can be lightly pruned after blooming to tidy up the plant. Forms dense mats of little leaves and has a creeping habit.

It is a dwarf evergreen shrub that grows well in sunny conditions in a wide variety of well drained soils. An ideal rock garden or peat garden plant that will spread into compact, low growing shrubs, needing little attention.

This Polygala has creamy/white blooms with yellow lips that turn orange to crimson as the flowers age.

[ Meadow Rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium 'Black Stockings') | Posted on November 19, 2011 ]

This plant can handle more sun if given plenty of water and will do best if given rich soil.

Leaves are a nice bright green color and contrast well with the almost black stems.

Nice addition to the woodland garden.

[ Downy Violet (Viola pubescens var. pubescens) | Posted on November 18, 2011 ]

This plant does well in dry woodland conditions and is a native to the United States.

Easily grown in average, medium to wet, well-drained soils in part shade. Does not spread by runners. May self-seed in optimum growing conditions.

Mass or group in rock gardens, border fronts, woodland gardens, wildflower gardens or native plant gardens.

[ Pink Heron's Bill (Erodium 'William Bishop') | Posted on November 18, 2011 ]

The University of Reading Department of Botany with DNA analysis finally confirmed that E. variabile is a naturally occurring hybrid of E. corsicum with E. reichardii.

Survives best in mild winter regions, but in cold climates it is easily wintered in a pot indoors, then brought back outside for the summer. Has survived in my zone 8 with very good draining gravely soil.

This plant is a very slow grower so needs to be planted where it won't have to compete with more aggressive growing plants that might over run it. Does really well in alpine type beds.
Very drought tolerant once established.

Divide in the spring for more plants.

Oct. 8, 2018
This plant is now well established in a sandy loam mix with little summer water during drought season (July, August & September). Starts blooming in my garden late spring, and continues blooming until killing frost.

[ Chinese Lantern (Abutilon 'Dennis') | Posted on November 17, 2011 ]

Found as a seedling in the late 70s at Western Hills Nursery in northern California, parentage unknown.

A very prolific and long-blooming flowering maple. I have not had it set seed as my other variety of Abutilon does.

Easy to grow in containers or in the ground. In zones below 8 it can be brought indoors for winter. Mine blooms during the winter indoors. It has also survived winter in pots into the low teens, against the side of the house under the deck overhang.

[ Sedum (Hylotelephium spectabile 'Mr. Goodbud') | Posted on November 16, 2011 ]

Won an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS in 2006.

Richer tones and better foliage than S. ‘Brilliant’.

[ Stonecrop (Hylotelephium 'Class Act') | Posted on November 16, 2011 ]

Received the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

This plant won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit by impressing the judges with its compact, upright habit and full heads of the most stunning rose-pink punctuated by white buds. A winner in the garden and in the beds!

Dormancy Required for Growth

Will take low watering once established

These plants grow best in well-drained, lean soil. AVOID CHEMICAL SPRAYS

A good candidate for growing in the deep southern states.

[ Cascade Stonecrop (Sedum divergens) | Posted on November 8, 2011 ]

This is a sedum of rocky mid-elevation to subalpine areas along the Cascade and Siskiyou mountain areas.

The golden, more singular star shaped flowers are held above tiny clusters of succulent oval leaves that are green when young, turning bright red when older; looking a bit like strings of jelly beans.

This evergreen stonecrop spreads readily, rooting where stem tips touch the ground.

[ Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum calcareum 'Grigg's Surprise') | Posted on November 6, 2011 ]

Horst Diehm site http://www.semperhorst.de/Dieh... Syn 'Monstrosum' syn /. Cotyledon persicum hort. /. Umbilicus persicus hort syn. /. Umbilicus syriensis hort. / 1900 This unusual mutation was found by Ronald Byles in 1958. It was named after Mr. Griggs who ultimately determined it to be a Sempervivum.

A S. calcareum mutation.

« View valleylynn's profile

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by Zoia and is called "PJM in April"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.