Horticulture

Within the outdoor rooms of home gardens, shade trees are ceilings, shrubs and hedges are walls, and turf and ground cover plants are floors. That is why the selection of plants for such purposes is as important as the selection of paint and carpet...

Gardening is fun. Furthermore, gardens are pretty. Some gardens also produce fruits and vegetables. Not very long ago, production of fruits and vegetables was more of a priority for more gardens. Some big gardens generated firewood and a bit of forage for livestock. Contemporary...

Spring is when most rodents are most active. Although they do not hibernate locally, they are a bit less active through winter.  Their activity increases with warming spring weather. Their progeny increases their population. Assorted fresh vegetation that sustains them is most abundant. Their activity...

This is extreme dormant pruning. Pollard and coppice pruning involve complete removal of all new growth. They typically involve growth from a previous season annually. A two-year cycle involves growth from two previous seasons, and so on. This repetitive pruning to the same origins...

You'll be able to say "Hello," to a California King Snake named Morticia and dig into Earth's history as part of a special event organized by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. That's because the Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Center and the Santa...

Some of the earliest of spring flowers are done blooming. More are just beginning. Then, a few early spring flowers barely qualify as early. Their fresh color is especially pleasing after such an atypically wintry winter. Many are delightful cut flowers. A few that...

Living Christmas trees require attention after Christmas. Some can only be contained for a few years, while others need to be graduated to the garden.

Dormant pruning last winter did more than concentrate resources for flowers and fruits. It did more than eliminate superfluous growth, which many pathogens overwinter in. It also directed or concentrated resources for stems and foliage. Such growth now grows faster than some types of...

Saturation of the soil should be a rare problem within the local chaparral climates. Water is a limited resource. That is why plants that are not native or endemic to other chaparral or desert climates rely on supplemental irrigation. Many exotic species would not...

Ferns are foliar perennials. They provide neither floral color nor fragrance. They provide neither fruits nor vegetables. With few exceptions, they provide no shade. The very few that are deciduous are not impressively colorful for autumn here. Ferns can not grow as hedges. Nor...