Photo - Black Eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia alata)

This vine can be agressive and run all over the place.

Black Eyed Susan Vines look best trained on a fence.

The more sun the vine gets, the more blooms you get.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's garden in Kensington

Photo - Pondless Water Feature with Flagstone

Want a water feature without standing water?

This water feature hides the reservoir under the flagstone patio

so the water flows toward the patio and then disappears.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's garden in Kensington.

Photo - Pincushion Protea (Leucospermum sp. 'Cordifolium Orange')

Proteas are wonderful drought tolerant plants that

also make great cut flowers.  They can be fussy about soil,

so make sure to add some gypsum and GroPower Plus

to the soil before planting.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's garden in University City

Photo - Chinese Foxglove (Rehmannia elata)

This unusual perennial is a great cut flower

as well as a good hummingbird plant.

Chinese Foxglove will go dormant in the winter

and start blooming around April.

This plant likes direct morning sun and some

shade in the middle on the day.

The flower stalks usually reaches 4 feet tall,

although I have one stalk that is climbing

through a tree and has reached 8 feet tall.

Just like regular Foxglove, all parts of this plant

are poisonous.

Photo by Doug Kalal

Photo - Concrete Pathway Accented with Field Turf

Here is an interesting way to spruce up concrete,

with Field Turf in the expansion joints.

Photo by Doug Kalal

Photo - Starfire Cuphea (Cuphea lanceolata 'Starfire')

Starfire Cuphea is a terrific hummingbird perennial for San Diego.

This plant blooms all year in the coastal areas and for 10 months

in colder inland areas.  Starfire Cuphea will reach about 3 feet wide

and tall. The plant is self cleaning, so just give it a haircut with

some hedge trimmers in early Spring to keep it tidy.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's house in La Jolla

Photo - Shredded Mulch compared to Gorilla Hair Mulch

By request, here are photos of Gorilla Hair Mulch

and Shredded Mulch.

This is shredded mulch.

This is Gorilla Hair Mulch.

Photos by Doug Kalal

Garden Resources - Balboa Park Rose Garden

The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden in Balboa Park

is one of the great rose gardens of America.

This garden has about 2,500 rose bushes representing almost

200 different varieties (all with labels). 

Dick Streeper was one of the driving forces

behind the creation of this magnificent garden 37 years ago,

and he is still active in its upkeep today.

The garden is located at 2525 Park Blvd, directly across the street

from the Natural History Museum.

Here is some more info on this great treasure.

http://www.balboapark.org/in-the-park/inez-grant-parker-memorial-rose-garden

Photos by Doug Kalal

Photo - Purple Potato Bush (Solanum rantonnetii)

This evergreen shrub blooms all year along the coast in San Diego.

Purple Potato Bush is a floppy shrub that works best

up against a fence.  It can grow to 7 feet tall and wide

here in San Diego.

Photo by Doug Kalal

Photo - Hummingbird Garden

Hummingbirds love the long tubular flowers of Salvias.

Salvia chiapensis (Chiapas Sage) - pink flower on the lower left,

Salvia leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage) - purple flower in the back,

and Salvia greggii (Autumn Sage) - pink flower on the right,

are 3 of the plants used in this garden.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's garden in San Carlos

Photo - Paver Patio with Tropical Foliage

This patio was built using Country Manor Keystone

retaining walls and then Stone Top Pavers were added

for the outdoor dining space.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's garden in La Jolla

Photo - Mexican Feather Grass (Stipa tenuissima)

Here is a drought tolerant and beautiful ornamental grass.

Mexican Feather Grass is a very soft grass that looks

great waving in the wind.  It can reseed, but that just means

free plants.

Photo by Doug Kalal

Photo - Paver Mow Strip

Mow strips can be made from any solid material

used to separate the lawn from a planting bed.

They allow a law mower to trim the grass

all the way to edge of the lawn without having to

use a string trimmer. Mow strips are usually made

from concrete but can also be made from pavers as

seen in this photo.

Photo by Doug Kalal, taken at a client's house in Carlsbad

Photo - Mexican Palo Verde Tree Flower

This tree flowers all summer long and it very drought tolerant.

It is also very thorny, but there is a thornless variety

called 'Desert Museum'.

Photo by Doug Kalal