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Every fall, western monarchs flutter across California on their way to coastal groves where they spend the winter. Many well-meaning gardeners plant tropical milkweed to…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12, 2026
Plant Care
Hearing a barn owl screech over your California yard at night feels like a free pest-control service. Owls…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12
Plant Care
You flip on the patio light and spot a scorpion near the planter. Your mind jumps to the…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12
Plant Care
Bare soil in a California bed is basically an open invitation for weed seeds. Once fall rain arrives,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12
Plant Care
Fall is the secret season for California wildflowers, because seeds scattered before the first big storm get watered…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12
Plant Care
That narrow strip of grass beside your house probably looks tired, brown in summer and muddy in winter,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 12
Plant Care
Your wooden fence may look like a simple boundary, but in a wildfire it can act like a…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
Most big-box garden centers in California sell the same five or six fruit trees every winter. But tucked…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
You glance out the window and there is that soft gray dove again, sitting in the same corner…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
Your bougainvillea was covered in leaves last month, and now the patio is littered with them. Many California…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
Your avocado tree does not stop working when the garden looks quiet. Below the mulch, shallow roots are…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
A tiny frog tucked under a flowerpot can make you wonder who has moved into your garden. Many…
By John Miller CA · Oct 11
Plant Care
You may have seen posts claiming California will make everyone rip out every plant next to their house.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
A small gray-brown lizard is flat against your warm stucco wall on a bright October afternoon. It is…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
California winters are short, mild, and wet, which makes them one of the best growing windows of the…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
Red, bumpy fruits hanging from a dark green evergreen in October can stop a gardener mid-step. That is…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
That oleander hedge along your fence may look tough, but it offers almost nothing to native wildlife, and…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
Tiny green lacewings get plenty of credit for eating rose pests, but only part of their life cycle…
By John Miller CA · Oct 10
Plant Care
Walk into most big-box garden centers in California and you will find plenty of palms, Bradford pears, and…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
Plenty of California gardeners hope one native shrub can bring in birds that clear out the evening mosquitoes.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
November is when California gardens quietly get a head start. The first rains soften the soil, the air…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
Every fall, California gardeners notice fresh dirt mounds popping up right when the first rains arrive. Wet winter…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
A slim, fast animal darts across your lawn and vanishes into the shrubs. It was a long-tailed weasel,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
That long, scaly lizard slipping under your patio pots may look a little scary, but it has a…
By John Miller CA · Oct 9
Plant Care
Your neighbor’s orange tree drops fruit on your lawn every week, and you wonder if it is yours…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
A pomegranate tree in a Central Valley yard can turn July heat into deep red fruit by fall.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
Most people picture a fire-safe yard as bare dirt and gravel, but California fire experts tell a different…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
Your orange or lemon tree has spent all summer building fruit, and now the hardest stretch is coming.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
That neat row of juniper hugging your foundation may look tidy, but it is packed with oily, resin-rich…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
A big brown-and-cream hawk sits on the same pole or branch above your yard again and again. It…
By John Miller CA · Oct 8
Plant Care
Your front porch is the first thing neighbors, guests, and delivery drivers see, and in California it also…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
The ground under a big oak or pine can feel like a dead zone where nothing wants to…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
A thin, dark snake with a bright orange belly slides out from under a board in the yard,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
Every fall, millions of weed seeds sit in California soil, just waiting for the first good rain to…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
A small, slim snake slipping across the ground at dusk can make anyone jump. Many California homeowners react…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
A lemon tree with yellow leaves in fall can make any California gardener reach for the fertilizer bag.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 7
Plant Care
Bradford pear is everywhere in spring, but many homeowners end up unhappy with it. A California native tree…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
When winter rains roll into California, a lot of yards go bare just when birds need shelter and…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
A bare patio in a California summer can feel like a frying pan by noon. Planting a tree…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
California kingsnakes are native snakes that eat rodents and even rattlesnakes. That makes them sound like the perfect…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
You do not need a backyard to pick a bowl of fresh berries in California. A sunny balcony,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
A privacy screen should give you peace, not a daily sweeping chore. Many popular hedge plants shed leaves,…
By John Miller CA · Oct 6
Plant Care
A tree that may shade your yard for generations has to start somewhere, and for many California homes…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
That dusty strip of dirt along your fence might look harmless, but dry weeds there can carry flames…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
A small falcon sitting on a wire or a dead branch, watching the ground below, might be an…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
A dark shape dips low over your lawn just after sunset, and you wonder what it is doing…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
You step outside on a crisp fall morning and spot a crowd of tiny red beetles packed together…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
A chilly October evening can make any citrus grower reach for a blanket and worry about the fruit.…
By John Miller CA · Oct 5
Plant Care
That bright green lawn looks great in April, but by August it often turns crunchy and brown no…
By John Miller CA · Oct 4
Plant Care
Walk outside on a chilly January morning in California and you might hear a sharp chirp from a…
By John Miller CA · Oct 4