Common name:Olive, European Olive
Botanical name:Olea europaea
This broad tree will grow to 40' tall and has small, gray green leaves with fleshy black fruit that appears in fall.
Common name:Century Plant, Maguey
Botanical name:Agave americana
This plant is fast growing to about 6'-10' tall and 8'-13' wide. Wide gray leaves have stiff terminal spines and recurved teeth on margins. It prefers full sun and well-drained situations. After blooming, which could take several years, it will die but will send up new pups from around the base. Some people are allergic to the sap. Removal is difficult if unwanted.
Common name:Dusty Miller, Silver Groundsel
Botanical name:Senecio cineraria
The Dusty Miller exhibits growth to 1' or more, with velvet gray leaves that have broad, roundish lobes. Yellow flower heads appear through the middle of the plant during most months of the year. Cut heads back occasionally to encourage bushiness.
Common name:Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum
Botanical name:Pittosporum tobira 'Wheeler's Dwarf'
This handsome dwarf form of the Pittosporum tobira grows into a low, dense mound that is covered with glossy, evergreen foliage.
Common name:Tom Thumb Dwarf Flax
Botanical name:Phormium 'Tom Thumb'
Tom Thumb Flax is an excellent accent plant for the garden. Evergreen leaves are long, narrow, and grow upright. Clusters of flowers grow on spikes above the foliage in late spring and summer. 'Tom Thumb' is the greenest variety, with very narrow, red bronze edges on the leaves. Leaves are small, and plant grows to 18" tall.
Common name:Jacaranda
Botanical name:Jacaranda mimosifolia
This irregular to rounded deciduous tree will reach about 40' tall and has fine, compound green leaves with blue flowers. Jacaranda's main blooming season is in spring and summer, but it will often produce sporadic blooms in fall as well.
Common name:Dymondia, Rock Ditty
Botanical name:Dymondia margaretae
This foliage is gray/green/silvery; it is a very dense, mat forming groundcover. It tolerates drought, cold, salt spray and poor soils. It's deep rooted and produces small, inconspicuous yellow flowers. Rock Ditty is great for use in between stepping stones or pavers.
Common name:Potato Vine
Botanical name:Solanum laxum
This twisting vine will grow 25' in length and has deciduous, glossy green leaves with blue and white flowers that are in constant bloom.
Common name:Red Ironbark, Pink Ironbark
Botanical name:Eucalyptus sideroxylon
This evergreen tree may reach a height of 60'-75'. It has slender, lance-shaped leaves found on somewhat pendulous branches. The bark is a deep red-brown color. In the winter, the leaves turn a reddish-pink color. Flowers are red to pink. This tree needs full sun.
Common name:Bush or Dome Euphorbia
Botanical name:Euphorbia characias
This perennial will reach about 4' tall and has blue green leaves with bright green flowers that bloom from late winter to early spring.
Common name:Stalked Aeonium
Botanical name:Aeonium undulatum
Stalked Aeonium is an unbranched shrub, with somewhat metallic-green, 10" long, spoon shaped leaves. The leaves form large rosettes on stems 2'-3' tall. Flowers are dark yellow; plant rarely blooms. Water regularly in summer.
Designer: Gabriela Yasiz
Photographer: GardenSoft
Maintain a two to four inch layer of mulch on the soil surface to reduce weeds, infiltrate rain water, and reduce compaction.
Remove irrigation water and fertilizer from areas where you don't want weeds to grow.