Plant Story--So Exotic, Bird of Paradise Flower

The bird of paradise flower, Strelitzia reginae, is so commonly planted in tropical and subtropical climates--southern California, Florida, Hawaii in the United States--as to seem boring.

At the same time, for newcomers to those and more tropical regions, it is the essence of an exotic flower: very large, bizarrely shaped and in incredible blue, orange, red and green.

Visiting Australia--A Few Blue Mountain Flowers

Australian plants are justly famous for being diverse and often unique.

On a trip to eastern Australia in 2015, we hiked between overlooks in Australia's Blue Mountain National Park, west of Sydney. Well, the others hiked, I dawdled, distracted by the plants.

Plant Story--Red Cedar, Really a Juniper of Course

If you live in the central United States, especially in cattle country, you can’t miss red cedars, the one evergreen native to the plains. Solid, evergreen and fragrant, city people like them as yard plantings.

Plant Story--Hibiscus!

Hibiscus rosa-sinesis, Hawaii

I really like hibiscus. They have big showy flowers. They are also easy to recognize.