Common name:Peppermint Tree, Willow Myrtle
Botanical name:Agonis flexuosa

This tree is known as the peppermint tree because of the scent of the leaves when they are crushed. It is an evergreen tree or large shrub. It has abundant, small white flowers in spring. It is a medium to fast grower to 25' or 35'.

Common name:Fox Tail Agave, Velvet Agave
Botanical name:Agave attenuata

This Agave has a dramatic tropical form. Even light frost can damage its succulent leaves. It is great for containers. In the low desert, partial sun will be best. If it becomes top heavy, simply cut and stick in the ground to root. It is not a fast grower and has light green foliage. It will also die after flowering but pups around the mother will survive. Distinctive with its large rosette of leaves perched on a long curving trunk, it is a native from Mexico.

Common name:Australian Tree Fern
Botanical name:Cyathea cooperi

This evergreen fern reaches a height of 10' with light green fronds that spread to a width of 15'. Its fronds are wider and held more horizontally than those of the Tasmanian fern tree. It requirs part shade to shade, with average to little summer watering. This plant performs well in containers, and is damaged by frost below 25 degrees F.

Common name:Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
Botanical name:Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula'

This large, slow-growing conifer exhibits weeping growth form. Its golden leaves are 1" in size, and it also requires full sun in order to best develop its color. It serves as an excellent specimen or rock garden subject.

Common name:Mendocino Reed Grass
Botanical name:Calamagrostis foliosa

This tufted, perennial bunchgrass forms a beautiful, dense mound of gray green leaves that reach 2' tall, with showy arching flower stalks to 3' tall. Reed Grass leaves assume an attractive purple coloration in the fall and winter. This evergreen should be grown under sun, with little or no summer watering required. Tall grasses are highly combustible.

Common name:Orange Sedge
Botanical name:Carex testacea

Brown Sedge is an evergreen perennial that reaches 2' tall bearing very narrow, coppery brown leaves splitting to hair-like threads at their tips, and continuing to grow to 4'-8' in length. This plant should be grown in sun with little or no summer watering.

Compost for Healthy Soil and Plants

The natural world works in cycles. Everything is changing form and moving from place to place in an endless energy exchange system. The leaves and twigs that fall to the ground, not to mention other life forms that might die, decompose and combine with water, air and minerals of the soil to create a medium for future plants.

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