Poisonous Plants: Common Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)
Karen Also known as eagle fern, bracken is a herbaceous perennial and a member of the Dennstaedtiaceae family that includes 10 genera and 240 species of ferns. It is one of…
Plant Profile: White Flowering Currant (Ribes indecorum)
Also called white chaparral currant, this deciduous shrub is native to Baha California and coastal areas of California. It is a member of the currant family, Grossulariaceae, that consists of…
Plants for a Plant Zoo: Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata aka Cassia fasciculata aka Cassia chamaecrista)
Also known as prairie senna, golden cassia, large-flowered sensitive pea, sleeping plant, and locust weed, this herbaceous annual is native to eastern North America and provides cover and food for…
Plant Profile: Squaw Currant (Ribed cereum)
Also known as white-flowered currant, wax currant, and western red currant, this deciduous spreading or erect shrub is native from British Columbia to northern California east to Montana, Nebraska, Colorado,…
Book Review: When Plants Took Over the Planet
Karen Meyers Botanist and author, Chris Throgoods takes readers on a journey through the history of plants from algae to flowering plants, and shows how plants slowly changed from tiny organisms composed…
Plant Profile: Our Lord’s Candle (Hesperoyucca whipplei aka Yucca whipplei)
Also known as chaparral yucca, foothill yucca, Spanish bayonet, and Quixote yucca, this evergreen shrub is native to Southern California and Baja California where it grows in chaparral, coastal sage…
Plants for a Plant Zoo: Rhinoceros Bush (Elytropappus rhinocerotis aka Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis)
Somebody thought this shrub or small tree had a connection with the ear of a rhinocerous, or so the common name and specific epithet suggest. The specific epithet, rhinocerotis, comes…
Plant Profile: Giant Wild Rye (Elymus condensatus aka Leymus condensatus)
This evergreen perennial grass is native to eastern Oregon, California, and northern Mexico, where it grows in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, southern oak woodland, foothill woodland, and Joshua tree woodlands.…
Book Review:The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World
Author, John Forti, presents a collection of brief essays on a variety of garden topics that provide survival and coping skills with the aim of inspiring readers to connect with…
Butterflies in the Garden and How to Attract Them: Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
One of the most widespread and common butterflies, the small cabbage white was accidently introduced from Europe to North American via Quebec in 1860 and has spread all over the…