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To Californians, water is more valuable than gold.

Without water, the vast tracts of land that otherwise would be desert, especially in Southern California, would not flourish as they do today. Water always has been California’s greatest flash point.

Very few plants on the face of the earth match the bamboo for its versatility and character. Bamboo is, all at once, evocative and enchanting while being practical and hearty. In many ways, bamboo may be the perfect plant.

Every February, panicked men scramble to find the perfect gift to express their love and adoration. Each year, it’s the same conundrum.

Chocolates are nice. But what if she’s on a diet? If you don’t send candy, are you saying she needs to be?

Palm trees and their lookalike cousins, the cycad, conjure images of the tropics. It’s impossible to think of Hawaii without seeing towering coconut palms swaying in the trade winds.

While the coconut palm, like grass skirts, is an idyllic icon of island life, date palms, like the variety we see gilding our desert highways, evoke notions of a harsh land dotted with tented Bedouin pavilions and camels taking respite in the shade of a welcoming oasis.

Lawns are an essential ingredient of the American dream.

They are like the two-car garage and a big screen TV. No American home is complete without one.

The cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous citizens — Thomas Jefferson

The new President might be a big-city guy. But he also seems like the type of fellow who likes to get a little dirty and to shake things up.

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., is prime acreage. Judging from the looks of the Rose Garden, the soil is in good shape. It’s perfect for planting a National Vegetable Garden.

The South Lawn would be ideal.

With the rest the country bracing for a cold snap, we’re basking in the warm California sun.

The soil in Michigan, and even sultry South Carolina, may be as hard as Arctic tundra, but ours is ready for some great winter planting …California style.

On a brisk, clear Sunday afternoon, take your senses for a stroll through the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in La Cañada- Flintridge. Although I urge you to soak in the vast collection of art and antiquarian books, that is for another outing.

Henry Huntington began developing the Botanical Gardens in 1903. Now they span nearly 120 acres, with sweeping lawns and vistas interspersed with statuary, tempiettos and benches. Approximately 15,000 kinds of plants from all over the world make up the botanical collections, many landscaped into a series of theme gardens.

Although Christmas has passed, it is still upon us.

Much of the world celebrates the birth of the Christ child on Jan. 6, not Dec. 25, as we do here in America.

Jan. 6 marks the day on which the Three Kings – Magi from the East – guided by the divine star, arrived in Bethlehem seeking the King of Kings. ­

Traditions, like plants, are cultivated.

What would Valentine’s Day be without roses or Easter without the lily?

It’s hard to imagine Christmas without the smell of pine or the warm glow of the Poinsettia.