Monkey flower: native plant in Southern California that feeds bees and hummingbirds
Monkey flowers dot the hills of Southern California in the spring with their yellow, orange, and red flowers. They're natives; they grow wild here. Monkey flowers also grow along the road in front of my house, but these ones were planted by me. Nevertheless, they feel...
Woolly blue curls: attractive plant native to Southern California that feeds bees
The name is strange but it fits. Woolly blue curls has long candles of velvet-covered, purple-blue flowers that bloom to the sky in April. And the male parts of the flowers, the stamen, arch out just waiting for native bees to land on them. I get a kick out of...
GEM avocados for sale
(Sorry, these are now sold out.) I'm offering a second round of GEM avocados from Balmar Farm in Fallbrook, San Diego County. Here is the order page with details. GEM avocado trees at Balmar Farm in Fallbrook, California. GEM is a cream-of-the-crop avocado that was...
Growing blueberries in Southern California
My wife is from Oregon, where blueberries can really grow. On our visits up there I see how fast and large blueberry bushes can grow and how productive they can be. While my blueberry bushes here in Southern California are inferior to those in the Pacific Northwest,...
Your favorite citrus
April is a great time of year to plant a new citrus tree, but which kind to plant? Take a cue from these Yard Posts readers who share their favorite varieties from their Southern California yards. Lavender Gem tangelo Bob started gushing to me about Lavender Gem...
Sir-Prize avocado tree: video profile
All of my avocado variety profiles are HERE All of my Yard Posts are listed HERE
Carmen and Sir-Prize avocados for sale
How about a mixed box? I’ll put five to seven Carmen avocados together with two Sir-Prize avocados for you. (Order page is here.) Carmen Carmen is a variety that kind of originated in Mexico. I say “kind of” because Carmen is really just Hass with a slightly different...
Comparing four mixes for starting vegetable seeds
Before doing this experiment, if you had asked me which mix to buy for starting vegetable seeds I would have recommended the most expensive you could find. You generally get what you pay for with potting and seed-starting mixes, was my view. My view has changed. The...
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