Written by
849 Articles
Every fall, big round webs show up between fence posts, porch rails, and garden stakes across California. Many homeowners sweep them away without a second…
By John Miller CA · Nov 2, 2026
Plant Care
Some vines look sweet at first and then pry apart fence boards or rip chunks out of stucco…
By John Miller CA · Nov 2
Plant Care
Bare slopes and dry corners can be hard to fill in a California yard. Creeping snowberry is a…
By John Miller CA · Nov 2
Plant Care
A barn owl gliding over a dark California yard looks like the perfect pest control crew. Barn owls…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
Dragonflies zipping over a California yard in autumn feel like a gift, and it is tempting to believe…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
Imagine walking into your local library and leaving with a packet of California poppy seeds instead of a…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
Rosemary looks tough, but wet feet can cause trouble for its roots when winter rain arrives. Many gardeners…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
You water your container avocado, and by 3 p.m. the leaves are hanging down again. By morning they…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
Few things disappoint like biting into a homegrown orange that is sharp and sour. Many gardeners hear that…
By John Miller CA · Nov 1
Plant Care
Every fall, many California gardeners grab the pruners and clear out spent flowers. Those faded blooms often hold…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
Curled citrus leaves make a lot of gardeners reach for the hose. But curl can come from thirst,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
A forecast low can turn a happy new avocado tree into a worry before bedtime. Young avocado leaves…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
Rosemary smells great, looks tidy in a pot, and ends up in a lot of California dinners. Many…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
A silvery, purple-flowered herb sounds like the perfect way to make a yard pretty and keep rats out…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
Every fall, oak leaves pile up on California lawns, and most of us grab a rake without thinking…
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Plant Care
A lime tree covered in blossoms but holding only a few fruits can leave any gardener scratching their…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
You wake up, step outside with your coffee, and find little cone-shaped holes scattered across your lawn like…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
You planted a hedge on your own land, and now the neighbor wants it trimmed down. It feels…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
Your avocado tree drank deeply all summer, but October brings cooler days, shorter light, and maybe your first…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
Your lemon tree put out fresh fall growth, and now some of the new leaves are twisted, curled,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
Rosemary smells great, feeds the bees, and shrugs off dry summers, so it ends up planted right beside…
By John Miller CA · Oct 30
Plant Care
Guava trees love California sunshine, but they get nervous when fall nights start to chill. A tree that…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
Walk out one morning and find new mounds of soil near your vegetable bed, and it is easy…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
Those orange Fuyus hanging on your tree look tempting, and the birds think so too. Picking too early…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
Your lemon tree might look tough, but one clear December night can turn its juicy fruit into mushy,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
Lantana is a front-yard favorite, but California gardeners keep asking what else could fill that sunny spot. One…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
You step outside after a big winter storm and the driveway looks like it is wriggling. Dozens of…
By John Miller CA · Oct 29
Plant Care
Your citrus tree does not own a calendar, but it does respond to the weather around it. When…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
You may have seen headlines claiming one plant should never touch your fence or eaves. The official guidance…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
Camellia flowers start as tiny buds months before they open. That means what happens in your yard during…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
Every fall, California gardeners watch their pomegranates and persimmons color up and wonder if they should pick now…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
One October morning your yard is quiet, and the next it is full of small brown birds with…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
A hummingbird nest is about the size of a walnut half, and it can sit in a tree…
By John Miller CA · Oct 28
Plant Care
Your lettuce seedlings looked perfect on Saturday. By Monday, a few were snipped off at the base. Rabbits…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
You walk out to check your pomegranate tree and spot a fruit split wide open, red seeds showing.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
Walk past a persimmon tree in November and you may see bare branches hung with bright orange fruit.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
Walk into a native plant nursery in California this season and you may find empty tables where the…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
You walk out to your tree and find a few persimmons on the ground, still yellow-orange and not…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
Anna’s hummingbirds stay in California all winter, and many of them start nesting as early as December. A…
By John Miller CA · Oct 27
Plant Care
A glossy green vine covered in sweet-smelling white flowers is a favorite along California fences. Many people smell…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
Your citrus tree does not read the calendar. It responds to what is happening in the soil around…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
You step outside after a soaking rain and see hundreds of winged insects rising from the soil. It…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
A hummingbird visits up to a thousand flowers a day, and in California many of them never touch…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
Roof rats and Norway rats love California yards, and the strip of plants hugging your house is often…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
The west side of a California house takes a beating every summer afternoon, when the sun bounces off…
By John Miller CA · Oct 26
Plant Care
Ever pick a fig that looked perfect outside, then found it sour and mushy inside? Tiny beetles are…
By John Miller CA · Oct 25
Plant Care
That hole in your yard might look like a plain ground squirrel burrow. In some open California spaces,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 25
Plant Care
Fall is the secret planting season in California, even though most people wait until spring. When you put…
By John Miller CA · Oct 25
Plant Care
Fall is the secret planting season in California, and many homeowners miss it by waiting until spring. When…
By John Miller CA · Oct 25
Plant Care
That small gray lizard doing push-ups on your garden wall has a surprising link to Lyme disease. Scientists…
By John Miller CA · Oct 25