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Q: How do I eradicate oxalis from flower beds? I have tried all I can think of, and it keeps coming back. Any suggestions? ? Esperanza Espinoza, Reseda A: Oxalis corniculata is one of the most attractive weeds in the garden. Novice gardeners often m...

Just the other day, while enjoying the fragrant white blossoms of my navel orange tree, I was delighted to see a few honeybees buzzing around. Across the U.S., including California, tens of thousands of honeybee colonies have mysteriously disappeared. No...

Just the other day on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, I was marveling at a pink jasmine vine (Jasminum polyanthum) that had climbed 20 feet up into the air. It had wrapped itself around a Mexican fan palm (Washingtonia robusta), those tallest and skinn...

Gardeners may easily become obsessed with fertilization. Psychologists would explain this phenomenon as an example of projection. Just as we are constantly preoccupied with feeding ourselves, we tend to project a similar preoccupation onto our plants. Y...

Spring having officially arrived, it is reasonable to assume, at least in our part of the world, that "the danger of frost has passed," to quote an expression commonly found on seed packets and in gardening books. What this means, in practical terms,...

Familiar plants often show up in unfamiliar places, pleasing you in unexpected ways. Everyone knows that purple, violet or mauve lantana, depending on how you identify the color of its flowers, is a spreading plant that covers the ground, spills over wal...

Q: I have a camellia growing under the eaves near my front door with a northeast exposure which gets no direct sun during the winter. The problem is that it gets many flower buds that form fully but most either fall off before opening or soon after openi...

Floral bouquets and vase arrangements would not be complete without the greenery that frequently, albeit subtly, accompanies them. Even the most glamorous flowers - irises and gladioli, for instance - will benefit from a background (or foreground) of lea...

If you have a small courtyard or enclosed patio with a narrow planting bed inside along the edges, but still want to grow fruit trees, consider the possibility of espalier. Espalier (ess-pal-yay) is a practice that involves growing fruit trees in a flat...