NEWS
March 26, 2013 | By Jeff Spurrier
Companion planting is based on the idea that, like people, some plants do better with good neighbors. For tomatoes, strawberries and squash, one of the most popular of companion plants is borage ( Borago officinalis ). As a seedling, borage doesn't reveal its potential. The leaves are rough and fat, and as they get older, covered in fur. Only when the sparkling lavender star-shaped flowers appear in spring-summer does borage, also known as starflower, shows its potential: Bees and pest-killing wasps love the blooms.
NEWS
March 6, 2013 | By Christy Hobart
An orchid isn't exactly a puppy, but it is one of those gifts that requires regular care. If you're given one - or if you pick one up this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show - you should know the basics. Brian Petraska, the Orchid Guy expert who will be offering demonstrations at the show, took the time to answer some fundamental orchid questions for this edited Q&A. You'll also find details on this weekend's event at the bottom of the post. We've all heard about misting orchids with a spray bottle, but what's really the best way to water orchids?
TRAVEL
April 24, 2011 | By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
The San Fernando Valley is 260 square miles of suburbia. Actually, make that suburbia on nutritional supplements. And antidepressants. With perhaps a little cosmetic surgery south of Ventura Boulevard, where the big money is. Or maybe - now that it's grown to more than 1.7 million people in nearly three dozen cities and neighborhoods rich and poor - the Valley isn't even a suburb anymore. It begins just 10 miles northwest of Los Angeles City Hall, sprawling west to the Simi Hills, north to the Santa Susana Mountains, and east to the Verdugo and San Gabriel mountains.
HOME & GARDEN
January 26, 2006 | Tony Kienitz, Special to The Times
HOW are those New Year's resolutions coming along? Drink your daily oh-so-healthful goji berry smoothie? Have you counted those calories, hit the gym, hugged the kids or curbed your cussing -- yet? Good. Then you won't mind adding something to your to-do list. Act now and enroll yourself in a 12-step program that lets you put flowers -- lots of them -- into your garden every blessed day of the year.
NEWS
March 7, 2013 | By Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger
The Flower Fields of Carlsbad, Calif., opened to visitors last week but rain and cold weather have kept the attraction's famed ranunculus from opening up. "Due to weather conditions we've been having lately, the flowers aren't fully bloomed," spokeswoman Shannon Moore said Wednesday. "Right now they're just buds. In about two weeks, they should be fully in bloom. " The working farm opened Friday and will remain open until May 12. The Giant Tecolote Ranunculus planted on 50 acres draws about 120,000 photo-snapping visitors to Carlsbad Ranch each year.
NEWS
March 23, 2013 | By Debra Prinzing
Amy Stewart's new book, "The Drunken Botanist," explores the plant ingredients in our favorite cocktails (and the lesser known ones too). "Every great drink starts with a plant," Stewart writes in her introduction, a section aptly titled "Aperitif. " "If you're a gardener, I hope this book inspires a cocktail party. If you're a bartender, I hope you're persuaded to put up a greenhouse or at least plant a window box. " Subtitled "The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks," the book covers more than 150 plants, organized by classics such as agave, herbs and spices like wormwood and allspice, flowers (think chamomile and violet)