Why Cape jewels are a perennial choice for Southern California gardeners

Here are five things to work on in the garden this week.

Flowers: Cape jewels (Nemesia caerulea) are a perennial that would like to bloom throughout the year but are held back by hot summer weather. Its suitability to our climate stems from its origin in the South African Cape Floristic Province, whose climate approximates our own, except our summers are a bit hotter. Purple is the classic color of the intensely fragrant flowers of this species, but varieties that bloom in blue, lavender, and pink are also available. Annual Cape jewels (Nemesia strumosa) have larger, if non-fragrant, flowers whose varieties encompass every color of the rainbow and some bicolors, too.

Fruit: We generally think of California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera), found in the Palm Springs area, as our only native palm, yet this is not technically correct. Since the California Floristic Province includes northern Baja California and the islands west of it, Guadalupe palm, native to the most western of these islands, may properly be classified as a California native, too. This palm is distinguished by its edible one-inch fruit, which turns black when ripe and whose taste is likened to dates. While it can grow anywhere from the coast to the desert, the Guadalupe palm will fruit more heavily on the coast. It eventually reaches 30 feet tall with a 15-foot canopy diameter.

Vegetables: Consider lettuce an element of your ornamental garden. There are lettuces in every shade of green, as well as red, burgundy, and bronze varieties. By planting lettuce at three-week intervals, you can always have some ready for your dinner salad. Harvest by cutting back leaves when young, since these are sweeter than older leaves. Choose varieties that can grow in hotter weather without bolting (flowering).

Herbs: You can grow yerba mate wherever coffee can be grown, since they have similar cultural requirements. Mate is the wake-me-up beverage of choice for Argentinians and, increasingly, for other caffeine-motivated folks as well. I have personally seen coffee growing in patio containers in Woodland Hills and Pasadena, so I know this South American tree — reaching 50 feet tall in its habitat — can be grown in our area, too, albeit in containers that are protected from the cold. Allow yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) to reach three feet in height before you begin to harvest its leaves. Starter plants are widely available through Internet vendors.

Remove weeds before they flower, produce seeds, and spread. While a crop of weeds in and of itself is not a bad thing – and they make great compost – allowing weeds to flower and go to seed means you will have a lot more weeds in the future. “One year’s seeding makes seven years’ weeding” is an expression that underscores the peril of allowing weeds to form seeds. Take care not to put nutgrass, bermudagrass, field bindweed, oxalis, or other perennial weeds with persistent root systems into your compost pile since they can then proliferate throughout your garden.