Longer days, warmer weather…the perfect time for this
season’s sun-loving flowers to shine! Many
classic San Diego
ornamental trees are blooming all around us, from the ferny leaves and lavender
flowers of the Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia),
to the vivid canary-edged orange
cup like blooms of the African Tulip Tree (Spathodea
campanulata). Flowering vines are also putting on a good
show…Passionflower vines both edible and ornamental, Red Trumpet vines with
forked leaves and delicate tendrils, and the large open flowers of Mandevilla dipladenia
are lovely draped over arbors or gracing trellises. Best of all, these bright blooms do more than
just liven up the scenery; they welcome neighborhood friends of all sorts to
visit!
You might already know that both hummingbirds and
butterflies fall head over heels for red, tubular flowers of all kinds…but did
you know certain plants act as a home base for many kinds of butterflies? For instance, Milkweed (Asclepias)
is a popular plant as it is both a main food source for
Monarch larvae and a parent plant that adult butterflies lay their eggs
on. We have garden varieties of Milkweed
with flowers in shades of yellow, orange, and red, and also carry a native
Milkweed in our Native Plants section.
Narrow Leaved Milkweed, Asclepias
fascicularis, blooms with creamy
white flowers, is a valuable food source for Monarch butterflies, and grows
well in full sun.
Butterflies have several other favorites in the garden as
well….the aptly named Butterfly Bush, or Buddleia,
boasts plump spires of tiny sweet smelling flowers that tempt hungry
butterflies to stay and drink their nectar.
Sage (Salvia) and Penstemon species come in many colors,
leaf shapes, and sizes; their tubular shaped flowers are magnets for hummingbirds
and butterflies alike. Native plants
like Red Buckwheat and Monkeyflower are tough little beauties that are very low
maintenance once established, and entice native fauna to your landscape. Be sure to notice the butterfly icons on the
signs describing our native plants, as they will indicate which plants are best
for drawing in fluttering friends.
And of course, summer is the perfect time to relax and enjoy
your garden— and appreciate all the hard work you’ve put in earlier this
season! Mission Hills Nursery offers
everything you need to put the finishing touches on outdoor entertaining, from
cheerful paper lanterns and hanging baskets, to handmade patio furniture and
hand painted ceramic table top torches. Be
it a neatly kept container garden on an outside patio, a monstrous vegetable
garden rich with the smell of sun-warmed soil and ripening tomatoes, or a
pocket garden just starting on a sunny kitchen windowsill, find time to share
your growing plants with the ones you love.
Sip a glass of wine with a friend, laugh at the antics of the local
wildlife, and watch the sun sink down over your own carefully tended bit of
nature. Cheers to the joys of gardening! Cheers to summer!
