12 Stunning California Wildflowers for Your Low-Maintenance Garden

Do you love flowers but hate weeding, watering, and replanting every spring? Native California flowers may be the answer. These drought-tolerant, resilient blooms are perfectly adapted to Southern California’s climate, meaning less water, less effort, and a big...

Pomelo Care 101: Your Grapefruit Tree Cousin on Steroids

Do you have an endless appetite for citrus? Then consider the pomelo (Citrus maxima), the world’s largest citrus fruit, sometimes as big as a basketball! Native to Southeast Asia, this grapefruit cousin has thick skin, pale flesh (ranging from yellow to pink),...

Growing Apple Trees in Sunny SoCal (Yes, It Can Be Done!)

Johnny Appleseed spread the gospel of the apple tree on the American frontier, traveling barefoot as far as Indiana and possibly Illinois. He never made it to California, but the apple did, introduced by Spanish missionaries who also cultivated oranges, olives,...

Cherry Tree Care in a Warm Climate

Young George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree. An early biographer fabricated the story — a lie to illustrate Washington’s love of the truth. Washington was a Virginian, and Virginia was a prime area for cherry cultivation at the time. But the trees...

Peach Tree Care in SoCal: Clear Guidelines for the Fuzzy Fruit 

Georgia is the Peach Tree State. Everywhere you turn, there’s a Peachtree avenue, shopping center, medical building, school, and so on. Meanwhile, the Golden State contributes about 80% of the US peach harvest. Southern California’s mild winters and warm,...