Ageratum corymbosum
Exotic velvety leaves which start out greenish but quickly turn a lush and sexy dark purple. Evergreen - or "everpurple" - the foliage is held on branching stems creating a well-mannered form I've never had to pinch back! I'm so happy to say it is EXTREMELY EASY to grow, reaching full size in about 3-4 months in rich soil. I grow in morning sun and afternoon shade, although it loves all day medium shade at the nursery. Attracts butterflies, too! Roots are hardy to 15 degrees F. I should plant under the cypress trees.
Polylepis australis
Sun-Pt.Shade |  | Avg. Water |
Love trees with character? Love peely, flaky bark? Polylepis has beautiful exfoliating cinnamon-colored bark that puts Acer griseus (aka “Paperbark Maple”) to shame. Polylepis is actually in the Rose family (!) but grows into a large shrub or small tree 25’ tall & wide. With pruning it can be kept smaller though. Fast growing, with an open & sculptural form of twisting, textural branches. The delicate foliage is very Rosa rugosa-esque with divided, ridged leaves that are a lovely blue-green color. Evergreen, but in Fall some of the leaves develop a bright red & yellow color that is beautiful with the remaining blue leaves & reddish bark. The tiny green flowers in late Spring are inconspicuous but the resulting seeds are much loved by birds. Native to mountainous areas of South America, this is not the best choice for hot, humid locations but is ideal for the West Coast.
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’
Sun | | Avg.-Low Water |
A beautiful smallish & fast growing evergreen tree much valued for its unique & marvelous silvery-blue purple tinged feathery leaves. TOUGH, not fussy about soil, NOT invasive & neat & tidy, you can see why it’s currently in vogue as a street tree in San Francisco. Sweetly fragrant clusters of bright yellow pom-pom blooms appear in late Winter & early Spring. Easily shaped or pruned (which promotes more purpley color), it’s an excellent subject for a patio tree as well. Lovely in the foreground of richly colored buildings! Hardy to 15° F though some folks claim its hardy down to USDA zone 7! shaped by a prevailing wind. Single trunk trained trees need more protection than multi-trunk to grow straight.
Dahlia coccinea
‘Orange Hybrids’
Full Sun - will tolerate drying out a bit
This ain’t your mother’s Dahlia! Long lived, NO STAKING & NO MILDEW, this species Dahlia from Mexico makes a 4’ - 5’ tall, very bushy, multi-branching plant. From late Spring thru Fall, it bears MASSES of 3” to 4”, perky, single flowers in a gorgeous array of oranges - from peach to bright orange. Some plants have bronzy foliage, too. Very EASY to grow, requiring little care other than cutting back in late Fall. A beautiful garden addition & excellent for cutting! I’ve had one in a large pot for 5 years & each year it gets better & better. Rich soil is best. So plant in a pot.
Solanum mammosum
“Nipple Fruit”
Sun | | Avg./Moist |
Rare, fun & fascinating! “Nipple Fruit,” native to Central America, grows to 4’ tall & bears lots of small to medium sized fruit, yellow or orange, each with 1-5, perky, little nipples! The flowers are typical of the tomato family & either violet or white. The attractive leaves are large, lobed & tropical looking & have neat-o thorns jutting out. DON’T EAT THE FRUIT, though, as it’s poisonous. Rich soil & regular water is best. Perennial in mild Winter climates! Hardy to 25 degrees F.
Small shrubby perennial that can be grown as an annual. The nipple fruit is related to the naranjilla and tomato, and the plant looks similar. Large velvety leaves have purple veins and furry hair, along with prominent spikes. The branches and stems are also dotted with firm thorns. Bushy shrub to 3-6ft. The pink-purple flowers develop during spring and are followed by the waxy, yellow colored fruit ripening a few months later. Fruits are fleshy, poisonous, and contain several seeds. The nipple fruit is hardy to around 30F.The juice of the fruit shows some detergent activity and can be used for washing clothing. Native to South America. This species has also naturalized in parts of Central America and the Caribbean.
Plant in a pot.
Sphenosciadium capitellatum
“Ranger’s Buttons”
Sun-Lt. Shade | | Avg.-high water |
Hard to find in the trade, “Ranger’s Buttons” is a bold & distinct California native perennial. 3’-5’ tall with stout, erect stems, bearing several large (4” across) umbels made of very compact tiny white flowers that look like “buttons” at the ends of hairy branches. The “buttons” change from pinky purple in bud to pure white, then fade to purplish, giving this fine native its special charm. The flowers must secrete sweet nectar because BEES & BUTTERFLIES are constantly hovering about. Valued for its late Summer bloom period, it likes to be placed where it receives regular watering, as it naturally lives near streams & moist meadows. Regular garden watering should be fine.
Known by the common names
ranger's buttons,
woollyhead parsnip, and
swamp whiteheads. It is native to western North America from
Idaho through
Nevada and
California into
Baja California. It grows in moist habitat types, such as creeksides and meadows. This is a perennial herb growing from a
tuberous root and producing an erect stem easily exceeding a meter tall and sometimes approaching two meters. It is green to nearly white in color and coated in rough hairs. The leaves are divided into several segments which bear widely-spaced leaflets. The leaflets may be intricately divided into small segments. The
inflorescence is a whitish compound
umbel with many branches each up to 10 centimeters long. The nearly spherical, headlike terminal umbels contain tiny white or purple-tinged flowers.
Plant in a pot.
Clianthus maximus
“Giant Parrot’s Beak”
Part Sun-Sun | | Avg. Water |
Clianthus puniceus is a spectacular plant all on its own, but what if I told you there was a BIGGER Clianthus, with showier, more deeply colored blooms? Intrigued? You should be! Woody & evergreen, it grows to 10’ – in what dimension we’re not yet sure & like C.puniceus, the ultimate form depends largely on how you train it. This lax-stemmed shrub (or small tree) blooms in early Spring with outrageous clusters of red pea flowers that resemble a pendant bouquet of lobster claws. The long branches are easily trained as an espalier – a perfect way to killclass up any chain-link fence! Rarity factor runs high in this genus - like C.puniceus, this species is endangered in the wild, with only 153 specimens remaining at last survey in 2005. Rich soil is best & though it can be grown in a LARGE pot, we’ve found that the plant grows better in the ground. Part Sun Average Water eek that doesn't sound xeric. So, in a pot this one shall go too.
Camellia Sasanqua 'Yuletide' - Yuletide Camellia
Tree form the Camila by
pruning away lower branches in the winter months.
I planted one under the Cypress Trees so it will get part shade and I planted the other one in a pot and put it in more sun than shade. I'll see how they do.
Xeric and Cold Hardy once established
Asparagus Sprengeri (Fern) Planted in a pot in Part Shade
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Sutera cordata ‘Snowstorm Giant Snowflake’
Bacopa
