Common name:Orange Sedge
Botanical name:Carex testacea
Brown Sedge is an evergreen perennial that reaches 2' tall bearing very narrow, coppery brown leaves splitting to hair-like threads at their tips, and continuing to grow to 4'-8' in length. This plant should be grown in sun with little or no summer watering. -Monterey Bay Nursery
Common name:Morning Light Silver Grass
Botanical name:Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'
The 'Morning Light' is a deciduous grass,growing to 3'-6' tall with delicate feathery plumes and very thin graceful blade-like leaves that have creamy white margins. It should receive sun to part shade, and average to little summer watering. Red flower panicles appear in late summer.
Common name:Incana Cranesbill
Botanical name:Geranium incanum
Geranium incanum is grown as a trailing or mounding perennial to a size of 1' tall, spreading by underground runners to cover relatively large areas if healthy. Its foliage has a wispy, ferny texture. The dark, rosy violet flowers can appear almost all year in areas of mild climates. The plant needs good drainage, and most suffer die back in cold winters. Proper growth conditions include sun with little or no summer watering. -Monterey Bay Nursery
Common name:Jerusalem Sage
Botanical name:Phlomis fruticosa
This hardy perennial is a useful, old-time garden plant with coarse, woolly gray green, wrinkled leaves and yellow, 1" flowers in ball-shaped whorls. It handles drought and poor soils but needs full sun.
Common name:Bearded Iris
Botanical name:Iris Bearded Hybrids
This perennial will grow 1'-3' tall and has medium sized, blue green leaves with flowers of different colors that bloom in spring. It needs well draining soil and full sun. Many are fragrant and rebloom several times a year. Plant rhizomes in Sept or Oct. They need water once a week during the hot spells. Top dress with compost and gypsum in January and August.
Common name:Mediterranean Tree Mallow
Botanical name:Lavatera maritima
This large, shrubby perennial grows up to 6' and has profuse lavender pink flowers with maroon highlights. From the Mallow family, the flowers are produced year round and are especially showy in the fall.
Common name:Pride Of Madeira
Botanical name:Echium candicans
Mature specimens of this evergreen shrub can grow to a size of 6'-8' tall and 8'-10' wide. In the spring, spikes of rosy-violet to blue-purple flowers appear. It should receive sun to part shade, with little or no summer watering when established. This plant can be severely damaged by frost below 25 degrees F.
This plant can be invasive in some areas, so use caution.
Designer: Terry Gardner
Photographer: GardenSoft
Physical weed control, including mulching, or hand removal protects the watershed from harmful chemicals.
Attract, or buy beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control pest outbreaks in your garden.