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On Saturday mornings we try to create a brief, anxiety-free zone -- no foreclosures or bursting bubbles for a few hours. Instead, we give you ‘Tree of the Week’ -- our little reminder that a California yard is a thing of beauty.

This week the Germinatrix, who blogs about gardening for Domino magazine, had her way with us. She gives you Geijera parviflora, better known as the Australian Willow.

‘In my ten plus years of landscape gardening, I have yet to find fault with this lovely tree,’ says the Germinatrix, who also answers to the name Ivette Soler, and who often works for Elysian Landscapes. ‘It rarely gets above 25 feet tall, so it stays in scale with most houses; it is relatively fast growing, but not as brittle as other trees of rapid growth, like acacias.’

The Germinatrix continues (don’t try to stop her), ‘It is beautiful, with upswept branches and leaves that droop gracefully, giving the Geijera a weeping profile people love. It has a fairly insignificant bloom and no fruit; it is exceptionally clean. It is also drought tolerant, hailing from our cousin in climate, Australia.’

Please feel free to send LA Land your tips for tree, bush, shrub, flower or climbing vine of the week. Use the comment button, or email to: lalandblog@yahoo.com.