Common name:Avocado, Palta
Botanical name:Persea americana
This is a large tree that can grow as large as an oak. Its exotic, semi-tropical, drupe fruit is famous for making guacamole dip. Frost damages this plant.
Common name:Artichoke
Botanical name:Cynara scolymus
This perennial will grow 4' tall and 6'-8' wide. It has silvery green leaves with bluish purple flowers that bloom in spring. Artichoke is a favorite fruit/vegetable of California kitchens but it is a great ornamental plant often overlooked for color contrast. It is very tolerant of little water when planted for ornamental purposes.
Common name:Iceland Poppy
Botanical name:Papaver nudicaule
This Iceland Poppy produces leaves that are divided with flowers, appearing on stems 1'-2' high. These flowers are cup-shaped to 3" across, and come in colors of yellow, orange, salmon, rose, pink and cream.
Common name:Sunburst Coreopsis
Botanical name:Coreopsis grandiflora
The 'Double Sunburst' is a wonderful cultivar and a showy, Southern U.S. native. Golden yellow, double flowers on 2' bushy plants bloom from June to September in full sun and average to dry soils. It makes for good cut flowers, and pruning keeps the plants abundant with blooms. -Holland WIldflower Farm
Common name:Beach Strawberry, Sand Strawberry
Botanical name:Fragaria chiloensis
This perennial grows 4"-8" high with tooth-edged leaves and ornamental strawberries during the fall. Cut back or mow in early spring to encourage new growth.
Common name:Tall Fescue, Marathon (turf)
Botanical name:Festuca arundinacea 'Marathon'
This grass is best when kept at about 2"-2.5" high, but it has a root depth of about 6'. It is a beautiful, dark green color all year and is used in a variety of locations.
Designer: DeeAnn Ayers
Photographer: GardenSoft
Practice grass-cycling by leaving short grass clippings on lawns after mowing, so that nutrients and organic matter are returned to the soil.
Attract, or buy beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control pest outbreaks in your garden.