A walk through the neighborhood

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This morning I decided to step away from the computer for a quick walk around the neighborhood. I remembered to take my camera this time, and captured a few of the plants in bloom at this time of year. The picking were somewhat slim, as the heat has caused most plants to peak weeks ago. That said, the tropical plants are doing well, even with the reduced humidity.

There are several homes with Morning Glory sprawled on fences and over gates. It is beautiful, but I have avoided it in my garden due to its habit of taking over everything. Since we don't get a killing frost here in the San Fernando Valley, Morning Glory can, and does, grow all year long. Some people might even classify it as an invasive plant out here.

Hibiscus loves the sun and the heat of the summer months, so there are almost always examples of it blooming throughout the city. People have trained them into some unlikely forms, too. I see hibiscus planted separately as specimen plants, mashed together to form hedges and trimmed into squares and balls like a yew bush. My hibiscus seem to thrive, but suffer a constant attack of white fly. II basically spray off the larvae and the adults whenever I am in the garden and I installed yellow sticky cards about a week ago, but it seems to do little.

There are some spectacular examples of Crape Myrtle around. My poor little one in the back garden had been suffering under the shade canopy of a large eucalyptus and ash tree, so it looks spindly and sickly. The examples in the photos, though, show what a crape myrtle should look like in the full bloom of health. I see quite a few of these trees in the Valley, but these are some particularly wonderful examples.

The plant information links above take you to Floridata.com. Check out there collection of plant information and their Gardener's Journal column.