Blooms With a View Spring Garden Tour of View Park and Ladera Heights happened to be on the day after I arrived late in Los Angeles. That is why I stayed another day late to help exhibit one of Brent’s three landscapes that were featured in the Tour. I did nothing more than answer a few questions, discuss random horticultural trivia, and share copies of a list of some of the other easily visible neighborhood landscapes that Brent designed.

1. Phoenix canariensis, Canary Island date palm is, as its common name indicates, from the Canary Islands, rather than, as its botanical name suggests, from Phoenix in Arizona that I left only last Saturday. Years ago, it was the second most common palm in the Los Angeles regions. Now, in this garden, it was the second most popular topic of questions.

2. Solandra maxima, cup of gold vine was the third most popular topic of questions as a result of this single bloom. It was about six inches wide. I wanted to get a better picture. Eriobotrya japonica, loquat was the most popular topic of questions. I took no pictures.

3. Aeonium arboreum ‘Albovariegatum’, variegated common houseleek is precisely what it sounds like. Most cultivars of common houseleek are as different in form as in foliage.

4. Salvia longispicata X farinacea ‘Mystic Spires’ is like the heftier version of mealycup sage. It provides splendid blue color, and is more reliably perennial than mealycup sage.

5. Bougainvillea X buttiana ‘Barbara Karst’ frames this arched parlor window colorfully. Anigozanthos rufus ‘Big Red’ kangaroo paw below tries to not obscure the outside view.

6. After all, this view is why this is View Park. Los Angeles has certainly grown up since I first saw it in about 1986, and it has grown much more since the old residence was built.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

13 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Blooms With a View”

    1. Cup of gold vine could have been prettier. I mean, this particular flower was less than exemplary. It is a big voracious vine with luxuriant foliage with clusters of a few of these huge flowers hanging out of it. The flowers resemble those of angel’s trumpet, but with richer yellow color.

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  3. I kind of miss palm trees. I took them for granted when I lived in SoCal, secretly wishing for the tree lined streets seen in Leave it to Beaver. Vistied Boise Idaho as a teenager and thought “Yes, this is how neighborhoods should look.” Never mind that I was living in coastal desert!

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    1. My cup of gold vines grew fast from cuttings. I would recommend cuttings if a neighbor already grows it. ‘Barbara Karst’ seems to be the most traditional bougainvillea, and is both vigorous and well structured. Some of the others are not so easy to work with, but can be striking because they are uncommon.

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      2. I would guess that they are common there. They like humid warmth, or at least warmth. They are uncommon here because of their sensitivity to frost, but I grow them anyway.

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