Spanish Lavender (also known as Lavandula Stoechas)

Plant Type

Spanish Lavender is a perennial evergreen plant with narrow silvery leaves and purple pine-cone shaped flowers. Special Note: Even though lavender is a perennial, it usually only lives 3 to 5 years.

Planting

Spanish Lavender prefers full sun but does OK in shaded areas or partial sun. Plant Spanish Lavender 60 to 70 inches apart to give it room to grow and try to plant in well-drained soil.

Growth

Spanish Lavender grows up to 30 inches tall and 30 inches wide. It’s nice to do a mass planting to have a sea of aromatic, lavender flowers.

Flowering

Spanish Lavender has pine-coned shaped purple flowers. Spanish Lavender blooms from spring through fall (in my garden at least).

Watering

Spanish Lavender prefers moist soil but is drought tolerant.

Hardiness

Spanish Lavender is tolerant to 0 degrees Fahrenheit – More than hardy enough for most areas of the San Francisco Bay.

Trimming and Pruning

Lightly trim after the plant blooms to get new blooms more than once per year.

Climbing Aloe (also known as Ciliaris)

Plant Type

Aloe is a perennial plant with bright green, pointy leaves and tubular orange flowers.

Planting

Aloe prefers full sun but does OK in partial sun. You should plant aloe in porous soil.

Growth

Climbing aloe grows up to 30 inches, but it grows very slowly. After 2 years, my small aloe plant has grown about 6 inches.

Flowering

Aloe has tubular orange flowers that bloom in the spring, but I have yet to see a bloom after having the plant for 2 years. Maybe it only blooms when more mature.

Watering

Climbing aloe can withstand drought but it’s best to water when the soil gets completely dry and cracked.

Hardiness

Protect climbing aloe from frost. I left it out on the patio during some freezing nights and it almost killed the plant. A bunch of leaves died, and I had to trim the dead growth and wait for the aloe to slowly recover during the next 6 months.

Grace Ward (also known as Lithodora Diffusa)

Planting

Lithodora prefers full sun but does OK in partial sun. Plant Lithodora 10 to 20 inches apart in well-drained soil.

Growth

Lithodora grow 6 to 12 inches tall and makes good ground cover. Slow release fertilizer works best.

Flowering

Lithodora has small blue or red flowers that bloom in spring and early summer (and sometimes in autumn).

Trimming and Pruning

Prune Lithodora back after flowering to keep growth compact.

Dianthus - A good year-round flowering perennial

Dianthus is one of my favorite easy-maintenance perennials that I have in my garden. It blooms almost year-round and ads some nice red and pink colors to my garden.

Plant Type

Dianthus is a perennial flowering plant.

Planting

Dianthus prefers full sun but does fine in partial sun. Plant Dianthus 8 to 10 inches apart (20 to 25 centimeters).

Growth

Dianthus grow 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) tall. It’s nice to have Dianthus as a border flower in your flower bed to add a little color.

Flowering

Dianthus has bright a mixture of pink, red, and white flowers which bloom year-round.