Pruning Wisteria

First of all, is it a Chinese, Japanese, or American wisteria?

Which way do tendrils twine? To decide this, look at the vine from ground to tip. Check as if you were looking up the vine.

• Clockwise? Chinese (Wisteria sinensis) or American (Wisteria frutescens)
• Counter-clockwise? Japanese (Wisteria floribunda)
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Natives for Shade

Coffeeberry 

Lucky you! You've got dry shade. Why not plant some of the wonderful shade-loving summer-dry non-riparian California natives?

These are the plants we see in the shady oak/bay canyons and slopes of the East Bay hills.

Why Not Eat Insects? Why not, indeed?

First Palms in Northern California - Another Opinion

The News, August 11, 1917

An intriguing statement: "Never have I been able to discover anyone who knew of the introduction of palms in San Jose until recently. Repeatedly I have been told that they grew neither at Mission Santa Clara nor Mission San Jose before the Americans came and this is probably true."

Mystery Pink Flower

Last year in May, I ran across a mystery tree in our local park. "Hello, Lovely!" I said, "I don't think that I've seen your likes anywhere before. I don't even think I recognize your family. You are very pretty though! Who are you?"

The flowers are pink and tropical looking. The leaves green and glossy. I googled "pink flower tree" and many other combinations. Nothing looked right. I even used google image and came up short.

I posted a question on a forum asking if anyone knew what it was and stumped two experts. (However, eventually one person had a Southern California friend who knew.)

I tried out the Urban Tree Key and to my surprise I found out what this tree is. If you want to cover up the answer and try this yourself, you can discover it, too.

Illustrated Plant Nuts from 1877

1887 Gardener's Monthly

I have a stack of last year's magazines to catch up on.

Now I see that I'm 129 years behind on The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturalist.

Purchasing Palms in Early California

B.S. Fox's nursery in San Jose, 1873

I have my hands on some early nursery catalogs. What were the palms that were grown at that time, right after California statehood and after the Civil War? Where were they getting their seed? Is there really a palm named Seaforthia?