SHARING SECRETS: A Room With A View
- k-england
- Apr 1
- 5 min read
Edited by Cathy Tylka, for Let’s Talk Plants! April 2025.
This month’s question –
It’s almost Easter, and sometimes you look out your window and see a wonderful plant, flower or tree, which you are so happy to see. You have “a room with a view!” What is yours?
Barb Huntington is happy to say…
Orange blossoms, narcissus, jasmine, the sweet purple flower by the bird feeders. Actually, I have “a deck with a scent!”
Susan Krzywicki states...
...My “room with a view” is my office. Recently, I retired. I’ve slowed down tremendously and am enjoying the view from my office even more. I see details now in my native plant garden, and in the distance the hillside of the Sweetwater Reservoir, and, of course, the cool blue sky of winter.
Dennis Mudd of 92064 replied...
...We have a nice view of Coast Live Oaks, an Engelmann Oak, Fremont Cottonwood, California Sycamores, Red Willows, California Grape, Toyon, Sugarbush, some nice San Diego Mountain Mahogany, and a bunch of Southern Maidenhair ferns.
Sheri Armendariz shares…
We are enjoying freesia, the first signs of spring out our bedroom window!! And the beautiful fragrance...
Gerald D. Stewart of 92084 replicates…
...In the morning, when I open the blinds on the west window in the bedroom, a stunningly beautiful Ficus elastica 'Variegata', a gift from San Diego Geranium Society member Barbara Jolly when I visited her plant-jammed yard in 1992, dominates the view. She was also a member of a topical plant society, where she got the plant. I have or have had nine different colorfully foliaged cultivars of F. elastica. This particular one I've not seen listed by name or image anywhere. It was in a 15-gallon pot in the greenhouse when my nursery was in operation.
Probably ten years, or a little more ago, a best friend and I planted it in the front yard, where it has behaved itself. The plant reminds me of two marvelous friends I am no longer in touch with. It's not only beautiful, but also nostalgic. Out a west window in the front room is Schefflera pueckleri 'Variegata' (formerly Tupidanthus). It is another incredibly gorgeous plant, when purchased nearly 20 years ago, it was the most expensive plant I had ever purchased. The cost prompted a bit of anxiety, but the plant is so stunning I've never regretted getting it.
Julie Erickson responded…
...Good morning, happy to say, this is the view from the room I’m in 😀.
Deb Honeycutt of 92131, shared…
...Was excited to see my Western Red Bud tree starting to bloom.
This is a Forest Pansy Redbud, Cercis canadensis, planted Fall 2016. Produces a deep dark red foliage. Planted in my back yard with a view from my kitchen window / sunroom.
Cathy Tylka of 92026 says…
...The Coral Tree and the Melaleuca are in bloom. Love the rain, come on flowers.
Per Wikipedia, a flower of most known Erythrina species is made of long top petals that fold into a boat or spade shape and curve backwards from the stem while the bottom petals enclose its stamens; both together make almost a butterfly shape.[7][8] Not all of them flower in just bright red; the wiliwili (E. sandwicensis) has extraordinary variation in its flower color, with orange, yellow, salmon, green and white all being found within natural populations. This striking color polymorphism is also found in Erythrina lysistemon and Erythrina afra.
And also from Wikipedia…
Melaleuca quinquenervia, commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree, punk tree or niaouli, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to 20 m (70 ft) tall, with its trunk covered by a white, beige and grey thick papery bark. The grey-green leaves are egg-shaped, and cream or white bottlebrush-like flowers appear from late spring to autumn. It was first formally described in 1797 by the Spanish naturalist Antonio José Cavanilles.
Native to New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and coastal eastern Australia, from Botany Bay in New South Wales northwards into Queensland, M. quinquenervia grows in swamps, on floodplains and near rivers and estuaries, often on silty soil. It has become naturalized in the Everglades in Florida, where it is considered a serious weed by the USDA.
Julie Frank of 92029, reports…
...This is the view out from my desk into my hodge-podge of a backyard (maybe someday I can actually get it landscaped). With the lack of rain this winter, I'm happy to even see the green weeds now that we are getting some rain!
J French claims…
...I have hanging pots from my backyard patio cover. Right now, I have pots of red and white cyclamens and red geraniums hanging from the wooden beams and it's a lovely sight!
Karen England of 92084 has so many windows in her small house that it is a "house with a view"...
...Look out any window; east, west, north or south, and there are plants galore to see.
Coastal live oak, Hachiya persimmon, roses, aloes, Pepper tree, bay, rosemary, Monterey pine, Canary Island pines, stone pine, Mexican sage and elderberry, Cleveland sage, Brazilian sunflowers, vitex, more roses, passionflower, pink jasmine, pomegranate, scented pelargoniums, Persian mulberry, more roses, calendula, California poppy, blackberry, fig, and I forget what all else!
We had one late reply from February’s Secret. The question was…
...What tree, flower, cactus, fruit or other garden product is the RED which gives you a Happy Valentine!
To which Tynan Wyatt replied…
...This year I stumbled upon Aloe "Erik the Red" and it blew me away. It was actually Valentine's Day, and I was on my way to my secret flower guy in South Park. I was traveling along Upas Street when, out of the corner of my eye, a blast of red in someone's front yard caught me by surprise. What a firehouse, deep red it is. And so floriferous!
A few days later, amazingly, I ran smack dab into another planting of it, this time at Civita Park. Definitely an eye catcher. I wonder how long it's been around given that I've been fairly hip to aloes for quite some time? I've even grown A. ferox and A. marlothii from seed (btw, please reach out if you'd like some 8"-15" high seedlings, I need to pass along about 15 of them ASAP) but had never come across A. "Erik the Red". Always something new to learn!
Question for next month…
Do you like roses?
If so or if not, why?
Do you have a favorite? Is it in your Yard?
Show me!
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