California fuchsias bring an easy-to-grow and drought-tolerant pop of color to your garden. Find out how to grow these beautiful perennials in your garden by reading our expert guide below. Nothing beats California fuchsia for a touch of red in your garden in the late summer and early fall. These drought and pest-tolerant perennials are easy to grow and attract garden-friendly critters like bees and hummingbirds. The small to mid-sized perennials are perfect for dryer climates where rainfall is unpredictable. Besides their beautiful red to scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers, many gardeners love their fuzzy foliage for a touch of gray in their garden. Below, we’ll cover how to plant your California Fuchsia. We’ll also cover how to keep them healthy throughout the year. What Is It? The California fuchsia, Epilobium canum, is native to the American Southwest, including California, Arizona, and New Mexico. They thrive throughout California and Southern Oregon and grow wild on coastlines and near creeks in drier areas. The plant is a perennial that loves full sun to partial shade. The healthiest plants can grow to two feet high and three feet wide. They have fuzzy leaves that are light gray or green, depending on the cultivar. Its flowers are typically bright red to scarlet. If vivid reds in your garden aren’t your thing, don’t worry. Some cultivars have pink or even white flowers. The California fuchsia is also known as the hummingbird trumpet or hummingbird flower. This is because the plant attracts several species of hummingbirds and even bees. These animals feed on the sweet nectar inside its trumpet-like flowers. Most nurseries across the West Coast and Southwest sell the seeds. There are many cultivars and three subspecies with different sizes, flowers, and leaf colors to choose from. You can also find a related native fuchsia species called the Humboldt County fuchsia (Epilobium septentrionale). The plant is low-growing with trumpet-shaped flowers, thin stems, and silvery leaves. Planting California fuchsia is one of the easiest flowers to plant in gardens throughout the West Coast and Southwest. To propagate, you can choose between planting seeds, stem cuttings, or simply planting a runner from another plant. To propagate by seed, sow seeds barely covered in flats with drainage holes or a seed starting tray. Use a premium potting soil mix containing coarse perlite, vermiculite, sand, and peat moss. Place the trays in the refrigerator for a few weeks or leave them outdoors for natural stratification. After sowing, keep the soil moist during the plant’s stratification and germination phases. Keep your seedlings in a shade house until they’re ready to plant. Once your plants develop their cotyledons and the first leaves emerge, transplant your plants into 5” Cube Pots with the same soil you used during sowing. As your seedlings grow, you can add a small amount of all-purpose vegetable fertilizer to stimulate growth before planting. When your seedlings are mature, they are ready to be transplanted in your garden. Plant California fuchsias 24” to 36” apart in the late spring or early summer. You can expect to see their brightly colored flowers appear in July and last until mid to late fall. Some gardeners have reported seeing flowers hanging on until January!

Are you a fan of fresh, sweet, juicy, tender figs? Fig trees are easy to grow and produce an abundance of delicious fruits that you can eat straight from the tree! In this article, gardening expert Liessa Bowen introduces the basics of growing your own fig tree. I love to pick and eat figs straight from my tree, and I am pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to grow. Figs embody a sweet, delicate taste of summer. These delicious fruits are native to the Mediterranean and central Asia and hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 through 10. These small to medium-sized trees thrive in hot summers and tolerate mild to moderate winter weather. The common fig (Ficus carica), also known as the edible fig, is a member of the mulberry family (Moraceae). You can incorporate these attractive trees into your edible landscape or use one as a small accent tree in a sunny landscape. Mature trees are capable of producing hundreds of tasty fruits each summer. Enjoy them fresh or dried. Make them last longer by freezing or preserving them. If you love to eat figs, you will love to grow your own! These trees are low maintenance and easy to grow in your home landscape. You may be quite surprised to discover how many different varieties of figs you can choose from. With dozens of interesting cultivars available, it may be hard to choose one! Keep reading to learn more about the fabulous fig tree and how you can grow your own sweetly delicious, delicate fruits. Natural History Edible figs are native to central and southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and western Asia. In their natural habitat, they can become quite large, reaching 30 feet or more, and grow in a variety of sunny habitats. This is one of the earliest cultivated fruit trees and has been grown as a human food source for centuries. Over this time, breeders have produced many interesting fig cultivars with slight variations in fruit characteristics, tree size, and cold hardiness. Characteristics Fig trees are small to medium-sized trees or large shrubs. They have a rounded, many-branched form. The leaves are broad and deeply lobed, with a somewhat rough feeling from the tiny stiff hairs that cover each leaf. When broken, the leaves and stems exude a sticky, white latex material that can cause contact dermatitis and skin irritation in sensitive people. Wash exposed skin after handling raw figs and their white, sticky sap. To avoid getting the sap on your skin, wear gloves and long sleeves when harvesting fruits and otherwise working with these trees. Blooms appear in the spring, although you won’t see anything that looks like a flower. The flowering parts are actually inverted, appearing instead as small, firm, green fruits. Wild figs are internally pollinated by a fig wasp, but most cultivated figs do not need a pollinator because they are self-fertile. The fruit then develops as these inverted fruit-like flowers grow into the sweet and tasty fruits that we eat. Many varieties produce two crops. The first is known as a “breba” crop because it is brief and light, sometimes with just a few figs, sometimes with a few handfuls of fruits. The subsequent second crop is the main crop of fruits and this crop can be quite large. Fig fruits range in size from about one to three inches across. Propagation If you already have access to a mature fig tree, the easiest way to propagate it is by taking stem cuttings.

The papaya tree is a lovely tropical tree with tasty fruit. Carica papaya fruit is rich in nutrients and aids in digestion. It is also a tasty option for fruit salads when ripe, in Thai cuisine when still green, and makes an excellent dried snack. Sarah Jay will got through an in-depth to share all you need to grow your own papayas at home. Are you interested in growing a tropical fruit tree, but you can’t commit to 20 years of care? Well, look no further than the papaya tree. Papaya trees produce nutritious papaya fruit and have a relatively short lifespan. They’re easy to grow in containers, too! I don’t know about you, but I adore papaya fruit. It’s something I spring for when it comes to improving digestion, and it’s so good fresh. Green papaya is excellent in Thai salads and ripe fruit is lovely when sliced and served up for breakfast. Dried papaya slices are my go-to for long hikes and camping trips. Growing papaya trees is beneficial, not only through enjoying the papayas but also by learning something new in the garden. So let’s discuss how you can grow this lovely tropical tree at home. What is The Papaya Tree? Carica papaya, the papaya tree is also known as paw paw, Okwuru-ezi, Okwuru- bekee, Mgbimgbi among Igbo peoples, and Ibepe among Yoruba peoples. Native Area Papaya cultivation began in Central America, southern Mexico, and South America. Today it’s popular all over the world, with India being the largest producer, and the United States leading the consumption of the fruit. The papaya tree grows in rainforests in southern Mexico, or along the coasts of Florida where it rests under tree canopies, thriving for only three to four years at a time. Afterwards, production slows significantly, and trees survive for just a short while longer. Characteristics Papaya trees top out at 33 feet tall, where spirally arranged large palmate leaves that are deeply lobed rest on a central trunk that is scarred at the bottom where previous leaves formed. The trunk is hollow, much like a palm tree, and the root system is somewhat shallow. After about 11 months, papaya trees begin blooming small, cream-colored, star-shaped flowers just under the leaves in early spring. All parts of the tree secrete latex. In the wild, male and female trees must be cross-pollinated, and small fruit forms primarily on papaya in late summer or early fall. Male flowers and flower buds are small, clustered, and sit on inflorescences that have multiple stems. Female flowers are single, with five petals that gather at the base. Flowers of both female and male trees bloom at night, awaiting pollination from wind or insects. Hybrid trees use self-pollinating to produce fruit, and this is the preferred variety of the three possible fruit trees. In cultivation, papayas are often hybrid. Papaya fruit is produced under papaya leaves from the leaf axils. Male trees can carry out papaya production, but their ripe fruit isn’t as delicious as the larger female fruit. After successful pollination, the flower of female and bisexual trees ripens and forms papayas – which are technically a berry. Each female papaya grows to about 18 inches long with a one-foot diameter. Hybrid papayas don’t grow as large, but they do have a smaller seed cavity. This cavity is chock full of round, black, spherical seeds. The developing fruit is green, with white flesh. Ripe fruits are carrot-colored with a pinkish-orange hue. Nutrition Papaya fruit is prized for its phytochemical composition, containing high amounts of vitamins C, A, and E. These vitamins are beneficial for those looking for a source of antioxidants that prevent cholesterol blockages in the human body. The fibrous fruit of papaya is excellent for regular digestion and has been traditionally used to treat inflammation related to asthma and arthritis. Recent studies have focused on papaya fruit in relation to reducing the risk of prostate cancer. Uses The flesh of green papaya is used in raw salads. My favorite version is a Som Tom Thai salad made with green papaya, fish oil, lime, shredded peppers, and carrots. The ripe fruit is delicious sliced or dried, and the latex within the fruit is used to tenderize meat. Planting Sow seeds in mid-spring when the soil is adequately warm. Because papaya trees have a relatively short life span, and a limited period for fruit production, they grow quickly from seeds. However, you’ll need several seeds to obtain healthy sprouts to grow papaya. Sow about six to ten papaya seeds per pot, and ensure it’s large enough to accommodate a tree. About 15 to 20 gallons is the minimum size. Papaya trees have shallow roots, and their seeds should be planted where they will live out their life. Grow the seeds in rich, well-draining soil and keep the soil moist. Place them in full sun. For places with cold winters, plant seeds against a south- or west-facing wall that absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night. Then, as seedlings emerge with young leaves in two weeks, remove the weaker young trees. You can carry out this process in the ground in tropical regions, but ensure the young trees you select are at least seven to ten feet apart in their planting location.