Walnut Creek’s Ruth Bancroft is a national authority on drought-resistant gardening. Twice a month, she and her staff share their knowledge with readers. Q When I was in L.A. visiting friends recently ...

Question: I have several mature oleander plants in my backyard. One of them has developed a growth on some pruned branch tips that resembles broccoli. Also, the leaves that have fallen from several of ...

Curious gardeners want to know: Is that wondrous tree from Brazil called silk floss – or floss silk? Well, floss silk is preferred, and it’s easy to remember because F comes before S in the alphabet.

Shorter days mean my morning walk with the dog often starts before dawn, when the light can trick the eye. I saw a bright pink spot up in a tree and thought it was the light playing with me, but the ...

Growth habit: A deciduous tree often with a large thorn-covered trunk that develops a rounded, open-growth habit growing to 50 feet tall and wide. The leaves are compound consisting of five to seven ...

Here's some good news and some bad news. It's good that most of the beautifully flowered trees of the kapok family (Malvaceae) perform well in Polk. What's bad is that virtually no one here grows them ...