California Plants

Lavender is one of the most aromatic,  rewarding perennial plants to grow.  After Lavender gets established it can be a wonderful drought tolerant plant.  The foliage and flowers of a lavender plant are usually nicely fragrant.  The flowers can be purple, white, or a combination.  Foliage can be green to silver to bluish.

A Dense Variety of Lavender

Lavender plants attract butterflies to the garden as well as bees and other beneficial insects.  Lavender plants like part or full sun, with six or more hours of direct sun being ideal.

Lavender with Tall Flower Spikes

For the first number of months that you grow Lavender, it is important to water regularly.  After the plant is established, a more arid dry environment is permitted due to the deep roots of the plant.  Lavender plants bloom generally in the summer.  Spacing between Lavender plants is usually best to be between 15 to 25 inches.  Lavender plants grow at a medium pace but can grow fast.  Generally Lavender will be one foot to 3 feet in height, and can be anywhere from 2 inches wide when young to many feet wide when established.  Lavender is generally not happy below 32°F.  It is best to cut back lavender flowers after flowering To promote more bloom.  It is not important to fertilize lavender, but some can be beneficial.  When planting use a porous mixture with compost, sand, and other well-drained rich nutrients. The average size of a lavender plant is about 3′ x 3′.

Lavender Blooming Like Crazy

Growing succulents can be easy or difficult depending on how you like to care for your plants. If you tend to over nurture plants, you’ll need to get used to neglecting plants when you start with succulents.  If you like to neglect your outdoor plants, you’re ready for succulents. Succulents generally have thick, fleshy leaves. Many originally live in dry areas. This means they like the soil to dry out between waterings. Succulents like a minimum of a half day of sun. Full sun is ideal. When growing succulents in pots, smaller containers are best as they like to be constrained at their roots. Succulents are very rewarding, often displaying beautiful leaves. Many succulents have spectacular flowers when they bloom. Plants can be inches in feet to taller than a person.

Ferns can make your other plants look great or look terrific on their own. They provide a backdrop or greenery buffer that not many plants can do so well. Often people think of shade and grow begonias, fuschias, and impatiens, forgetting about ferns. The beautiful contoured shape of a fern frond looks like a beautiful feather.

When growing ferns, ensure you will have enough moisture in the soil as well as drainage. Ferns don’t like to dry out in between waterings, as they can be grown near Azaleas and Camellias. The wide variety of ferns include those that are soft and tiny to huge and leathery. Some common, nice ferns to grow include Wood Ferns and Maidenhair Ferns. Once ferns are established in the ground, they will begin expanding in size and creeping. There are ferns for many locations, and types of shade conditions you may have. Learn houseplant secrets here in this book to understand about more houseplants and conditions.

Here are the steps to create a seed starting rack for your home. Creating this seed starting system doesn’t require much effort at all.

1. Purchase a wire rack. You can get this at a kitchen store, restaurant supply store, Costco, or another store. Ensure it has casters so it can roll. Ensure the shelves are adjustable.
2. Buy fluorescent tube grow lights or shop lights, with one warm and one cool bulb.
3. Hang shop lights from the rack shelves. Use the chains they come with.
5. Get a seed starter kit from any local home improvement store. Or just get a tray and punch holes in the bottom.
6. Use a soiless mixture for these seeds as new seedlings like a light and airy mix. Pre moisten the mixture in a bag before using it.
7. Don’t plant your seeds too deep. Just plant them about 1/2 centimeter deep, pressing into the mix.
8. Put a layer of sphagnum moss on top of your mix to prevent the seeds from dying overnight from damping off.
9. Optional: put a plastic dome on top of your seed tray so it acts as a greenhouse to give seeds a moist environment to sprout. Remove this dome once the seeds sprout.
10. Note that seedlings need 10-12 hours of light per day. You can use a timer so no there is no need to worry when the lights will come on. Keep the light close to your seedlings.
11. You can move the lights as close as possible as the seedlings grow.
12. Don’t forget to water the mix so it does not dry out at any time.
13. Once seedlings have grown 3 sets of new leaves it is time to be fed.
14. You can water with a soluble fertilizer at 1/2 strength so the plants feed themselves.
15. Pant seedlings in peat pots so when the weather is right they can go right into your garden - learn how to plant them with high density gardening here.

These shade loving plants are loaded with color and texture. This post should give you a great idea of some shade plants to buy for your garden at home. Pinch off finished blooms on any of these all summer long to keep them flowering. Feed these once a month.

• Impatiens - There are many colors of these that thrive in the shade
• New Guinea Impatiens - These can do with less shade, they have darker green foliage, and they also have larger brilliant blooms than regular impatiens
• Tuberous Begonias -  These can tolerate up to 6 hours of sun, and can be grown in baskets or containers
• Fuscias - Fuscias can be grown in hanging baskets
• Coleus - These have bright leaves including purples, greens, yellows, chartreuse
• Hostas - These can be dwarf to giant and the more yellowish the leaves, the more sun they can take
• Bleeding Hearts - These can take a little sun, they are on average 1-3 feet tall, and flowers are usually between pink and white
• Astilbe - These have soft feathery plumes in mid to late summer in pink to red
• Lily of the Valley - Quick spreaders
• Ferns - Quick growers
• Baby Tears - Low growing

If you would like to learn about high density gardening in the sun and shade, click here.

High Density Gardening

Many people ask me when is the best time to start planting indoors and outdoors. Although I would say anytime, now really is the perfect time. If you are in a colder climate, start planting indoors in trays. If you are in a warmer climate, plant in the ground. The banner ad below has some great web specials from Wayside Gardens.

Taking care of Orchids can be easy or difficult depending on the Orchid you choose and location you will grow the Orchid. The best way to select an Orchid is first choose where in your home you will grow the Orchid. Note if you will have bright light, shade, and when the light will come through to the plant. If you like to water more often, note this. If you are ok neglecting plants, note this. If you want an Orchid to bloom for months, note this. If you want an Orchid that will bloom for a couple weeks, note this.

To take care of the Orchids you choose to buy at home, first either get a humidity tray, choose a humid location such as the bathroom or kitchen, or place rocks in a saucer around the plant. This ensures your Orchid has proper humidity. Next make sure you have Orchid fertilizer, and use this at least once a month. Some Orchids like to dry out between waterings and others don’t. Depending on which kind of Orchid you have, lift the pot to decide by weight if the Orchid needs to be watered. Ensure to locate your Orchid without any direct sun on the leaves, no matter what kind of Orchid. The more appropriate your care conditions are for needs of a particular Orchid, the more blooms, healthy foliage, and healthy roots you will have.

These are the three easiest Orchids to grow in bright light indoors. There are many varieties of each of these kinds of Orchids.

1. Oncidiums - These Orchids light bright indirect light, almost drying out between waterings, like to be potted in fine bark, and can take temperatures as low as 55 and as high as 85.
2. Vandas - These Orchids love when they can briefly dry out between waterings, like temperatures between 65 and 90, like very bright indirect light, and like to be potted in medium or large bark.
3. Dendrobiums - These Orchids like to dry out briefly in between waterings, enjoy very bright indirect light, and like to be potted in fine bark.

For all of the Orchids above, use a humidity tray or tray with rocks and water.  All above Orchids should be misted when it is hot.

These seven kits are our recommendations to grow seeds for plants, vegetables, and herbs in your home. Growing these from seed to plant will be a pleasure.

1. This terra cotta kit herb garden is very affordable and includes six kinds of seeds.
2. This indoor kit to grow culinary herbs includes 12 culinary herbs, 50 peat pellets, a greenhouse dome, tray, and instructions.
3. This mini power plant helps you grow any plant without any fuss.
4. This portable greenhouse is such a bargain, and great product.
5. This Aerogrow kit includes everything you need to grow herbs and vegetables at home.
6. This is a space saver AeroGrow garden for herbs and vegetables.
7. This kit includes everything you need to grow the moving tickle me plant that moves!

Daylilies are terrific, easy to grow perennials. They can be grown in all states in the US. The most important thing to find out about daylilies is to know if the plant is an evergreen, dormant, or semi evergreen. Evergreen daylilies keep their leaves all year, so they are ideal for California and southern states. Semi evergreen plants may work ok in warmer states as well, but it depends on their breeding as to how well they will tolerate cold. Dormant daylilies lose their leaves in the winter, so are best for colder states.

There are more than 40,000 varieties of daylilies, and they come in all colors but blue, perfect white, or black. There are small flowers, double flowers, spider flowers, and large flowers. Daylilies love full sun but can tolerate poar shade. They can be derought tolerant to a degree once established.