What kind of banana plant bears flowers but no fruit? A bird of paradise, of course. Yes, that exotic-looking plant in your neighbor’s yard is actually a banana expatriate from South Africa, a country known for bizarrely beautiful flora and large carnivorous...
Plumeria? Check. Jacaranda? Check check. These tropical trees thrive in Southern California’s Mediterranean climate. That said, some trees fare much better than others and reward the attentive LA gardener with spectacular spring and early summer flowers....
What’s the showiest flower of them all? It might be the dahlia, with its extravagant and intricate blossoms, extraordinary color variety, and long blooming season. Dahlias are native to Mexico and Central America, where the Aztecs cultivated them for their...
Imagine a perfect garden where vibrant blooms are long-lasting, low-maintenance, and pest-resistant. In frost-free climates, annual flowering plants act like perennials, continuing to blossom for multiple seasons. You’ve just imagined a world of marigolds. These...
It’s a lily wannabee. The calla lily isn’t a true lily — it belongs to the Zantedeschia genus and is native to Southern Africa. Lilies, on the other hand, are members of the Lilium genus and indigenous to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
The tulip hails from the cool mountain slopes of Kazakhstan. It was introduced to the Netherlands in the early 1600s and quickly became a wealth and social status symbol. Tulip Mania followed — the speculative buying and selling of tulip bulbs. As demand grew, so did...
