Common name:Kangaroo Paws Big Red
Botanical name:Anigozanthos 'Big Red'

Anigozanthos flavidus 'Tall Red' is a perennial with dark green, smooth, swordlike evergreen leaves. It produces spikes of striking, fuzzy, tubular flowers in yellow-green, tinged with red that are curved at the tips. The flowers attract hummingbirds. Flowers bloom from late spring to fall if spent flowering spikes are cut to the ground. It makes for a good cut flower.

Common name:Blue Fescue
Botanical name:Festuca glauca

This ground cover/grass will grow less than 1' tall and has small, blue green leaves.

Common name:Tree Aloe
Botanical name:Aloe arborescens

This shrub is large, full of branches and produces deep orange blooms. The flowers produce a nectar that is attractive to many different birds; this plant is grown all over the world.

Common name:Century Plant, Maguey
Botanical name:Agave americana

This plant is fast growing to about 6'-10' tall and 8'-13' wide. Wide gray leaves have stiff terminal spines and recurved teeth on margins. It prefers full sun and well-drained situations. After blooming, which could take several years, it will die but will send up new pups from around the base. Some people are allergic to the sap. Removal is difficult if unwanted.

Common name:Olive
Botanical name:Olea europaea

This broad tree will grow to 40' tall and has small, gray green leaves with fleshy black fruit that appears in fall. Purchase fruitless varieties to avoid the mess.

Sustainable Fertilization

If you mulch heavily as recommended in the compost and mulch fact sheets you should not need traditional fertilization. Sustainable landscapes fertilize themselves as soil organisms break down and recycle the dropped leaves into nutrients.

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