Design Suggestions

A few more ideas on designing your garden. Many gardeners find plants they like, but don't know how to treat the space so it makes a pleasing whole. A back yard with lots of unrelated plants, all one of a kind, is not that attractive. Similar and contrasting colors, shapes and textures makes a garden interesting. Consider groupings of a plant you like so that you get masses of blooms, for example, at certain times of the years. Groupings of odd numbers are usually preferred in art, and you use this. Rocks, patios, arroyos (dry creeks) can all provide shape and structure to your design.

Repetitions can be a unifying quality in a garden. You can repeat the same color multiple times throughout the garden, and also repeat the same plant species several times. An artist will often draw the eye to a focal point, and repeat colors and shapes to make a pleasing whole. Your garden can be your canvass.

Think of the ocean or a fire: two of the most fascinating things in nature because of the endless repetition and infinite variation. You can use this concept in your garden.

One local person who can help with both landscape design and take you out for a garden wholesale shopping experience is GoodEarth Plantscapes owned by Janet Swanson. Contact her at 805-534-9586. Even if you just want to go to Native Sons (almost entirely a wholesale nursery) she can take you there.

Dudleya britonnii pictured above is one of those plants you aren't likely to be able to buy any place else in Central California except Native Sons. It is native to San Diego and Baja but grows well in sand or clay and needs no summer water. Those flower stems will tower over the plant 3 feet with hundreds (?) of little tube flowers that are very attractive to hummingbirds. The plant, especially the flower stems will take on an increasingly pink or even red color as the days get hotter and dryer. After it stops blooming a few months later, cut off the stems and let the rosette shrink back to a smaller size. It will expand again after the winter rains begin. It sometimes even sprouts a side rosette or two. The above Dudleya split in two last year. This year each of those split in two again. Snails and slugs may eat it in damp weather, so keep an eye out. They are easy to find with a flash light after dark after the first sign of a nibble.

Edible Annual

Claytonia perfoliata
Miner's Lettace


The forty-niner's added the "Miner's Lettace" common name to this tasty and attractive little (usually) annual in the area about Sutter's Creek. It kept them from scurvy the stories say.

It can be used in salads and reseeds well (too well?), but is easy to pull up if it begins to take over. It can be a few inches tall before it blooms, or a foot or more tall.

As the weather gets warmer, an attractive pinkish color begins at the lowest part of the stems. While they are still young the color is a very fresh green.

It will last longer in moist conditions, with some sun. It contains Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and is a good antioxident. It can be eaten raw, in stir-fry, or prepared anyway you would spinach. All that, and it's pretty too. Plant it or pick it out in the wild. If you plan to harvest in the wild, pick of just the tops, to avoid pulling the whole plant out of the ground.

Don't know where to buy seeds? Larner Seeds is the answer.

Flash: Miner's Lettace even makes the grade in Sunset Magazine's March 2010 issues just out. (Not online yet.) Pages 63-5. Likely place to find it when March begins, article is called"Vegtable King".

Amazing Annuals

Easy Reseeding

Annuals are an easy way to fill-in a garden while the slower growing shrubs and trees work their way slowly out of the ground. The latter plants put down tap roots during the first two years and often don't grow nearly as fast as some hybrids during that time. They will payoff later in their extreme drought tolerance (assuming you have picked the drought tolerant kind of natives).

Sowing seeds in the fall, or winter will repay you year after year. Lupines, in particular, will require some preparation scarifying or something. They are harder to get established. The photo is Lupinus succuluntus which is a huge lupine, two to three feet high when in bloom. The first year only about one plant survived to bloom, now in the third year seventeen plants were weeded down by (slugs?) to leave eleven plants beginning to bloom.

Annuals in my garden tend to be much more giant than I see out in the wild. I have no explanation for this unless I have more clay than is available on Cerro San Luis, Irish Hills, or the residential area closer to where SLO Weather is located. This year with it's above average rainfall has had an impact but previous years the California poppies and miner's lettace have also been very large.

One warning: the weeds love to hide in annuals. It almost seems to me that the weeds figure out how high to grow so they are not discovered too soon. Some might say it's just the amount of water every plant in the same area, but maybe it's more like growing up to find the sun since some grow higher around manzanitas.

Wildlife Babies

How You Can Help. What to do, and when to leave them alone.



The following are tips from Pacific Wildlife Care which provides rehabilitation to sick and injured wildlife of San Luis Obispo County. You might encounter babies this spring who are hurt or appear to be abandoned, these suggestions appear in the spring 2010 newsletter of the organization.

1. Fawns - If you find an uninjured fawn, do not pick it up! Keep people and dogs away so that the mother can return. Fawns are often left alone for long periods of time while the mother (doe) goes off and forages for food.
2. Baby Birds - If the bird has no feathers, it is a nestling and it needs to be put back in the nest. If you cannot find the nest, you can make one and place it near the original nestsite. If parents do not return after a couple of hours to care for a naked, nestling bird, call the Pacific Wildlife Care.
3. Young Fledgling Birds - Most fledgling birds cannot fly when they leave the nest. They are often found on the ground. Keep pets and children away. The parents will continue to care for the bird. This is an important learning period in the little bird’s life and lasts only a few days. The bird does not need rescuing.
4. Baby Mammals - We gets calls regarding raccoons and opossums whose parents have been trapped, with babies left to die. Do not trap and relocate opossums, raccoons, or skunks. The babies will soon grow up and the family will usually go on its way. If you need help, call Pacific Wildlife Care for solutions. Well- meaning individuals sometimes try to raise orphaned wild animals. It is illegal to do so. Wild babies have specialized dietary needs and can become ill or die from improper diet. Licensed rehabilitators have the skills to feed these animals properly and to keep them wild so they can be returned to their natural habitat. Share this info with friends & neighbors.

If you do find an animal that truly does appear to need help, and you are in San Luis Obispo County, call 805-543-WILD and leave a message for the phone volunteers of Pacific Wildlife Care. Once you make contact, if you can drive your animal to the Morro Bay Rehabilitation Center, that would be much appreciated.

PWC is always looking for more members and volunteers too. Their website is http://www.pacificwildlifecare.org.

Plant Communities

Back in the day, native plants were replaced with exotics by most people, but a few like Lester Rowntree, appreciated how delightful the natives were. Lester Rowntree was a woman who spent thirty years (the 1920's, 30's and 40's) driving all over the state of California saving plants and seeds from development. She traveled mostly alone in her little truck, though sometimes she traveled by mule. When she (and others) began exploring and saving California plants as she decribes in her major works: "Hardy Californians, A Woman's Life with Native Plants" and "Flowering Shrubs of California and Their Value to the Gardener", there was no mention of plant communities. However writers like her would note the other plants growing nearby.

Gradually, it began to become evident that certain plants seemed to be found together in definable micro-climates in the state. I'm not sure that these categories are hard and fast in anyone's mind but there do seem to be several of general acceptance. Since these plants are linked thanks to the mycorrhizal fungi, it makes a lot of sense that certain plants do especially well together because they are connected in a way that these early researchers in California's botany had no idea existed.

A few of these recognized plant communities include Chaparral, Coastal Sage Scrub, Oak Woodland, and Riparian. Some professional designers might wish to stick to one plant community in a household garden, but others like Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrok, who wrote "Designing California Native Gardens, The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens" put one community's plants in one area then transition to another. This follows nature's pattern, of course, since water or other factors may bring these communities into quite close contact.

There is also the succession factor at work too. A chaparral community may be moving toward an oak woodland as acorns are planted by jays or squirrels.

Mycorrhizal Fungi

What is it, and Why should I care?




I mentioned that in planting it's a good idea not to disturb the soil unduly. The reason for this, is that it is best not to disturb the Mycorrhizal Fungi in the soil.

The network that probably connects 90% of the earth's plants has existed for 460,000,000 year but it is only in about the last thirty years that it has become somewhat understood by scientists. They believe that it was the mycorrhizal fungi that enabled plants to adapt to land, and that this relationship began before there were any plants outside the oceans.

We do know that this fungi filaments attach to the roots of plants in a symboitic relationship providing access to additional water and nutrients. The network can connect one plant to another thus forming a network.¹ Scientists first discovered mycorrhizae observing plants grown in glass boxes. However, the strands of fungi are small and delicate and easily destroyed, and thus it was difficult to study in the wild. They have used core samples near plants and have used DNA testing to study plants in the same area, to determine if they are connected.²

It appears that the mycorrhizae function a bit like having an extra set of roots which are even more porous, and that also provide immune protection against airborne pathogens. New plants once they have been tapped into get extra help in getting established in the new location. In exchange for all the benefits to the plants, the fungi obtain glucose and sucrose. Mycorrhizal fungi can be either ecto- (that that contact the root system and keep an external link to the plant), and endo-mycorrhizal fungi (that actually enter the cell walls and form an internal link). Both kinds use the plant's sucrose to create an enzyme that breaks down minerals in the soil which are useful to both the fungi and the plant.

It's a wonderful relationship in nature, and one that is easy to promote, but also easy to disrupt. The fungi are very easily damaged by disruption of the soil, but also by the addition of fertilizer. The fertilizer overwhelms the fungi and in a sense gives it no reason to exist. Ironic isn't it? We added fertilizer to plants to make them grow better, not realizing that we were killing the very thing that could make them the strongest and healthiest. In fact, fertilizer while it greatly increases growth rate the cells in the stems, roots, and leaves are weaker and thus not as healthy.

What else happens when the soil is disturbed? In a native ecosystem the ratio of bacteria to fungi is about 1:10, when the network is broken the ratio changes in favor of bacteria, the water and minerals in the network is released and alien species such as weeds and rodents thrive.

In contrast, in the plant community linked by the mycorrhizae, the plants support each other. This is also the reason for learning about plant communities, and planting oaks with members of their plant community (Manzanita, Ceanothus, Ribes, Redberry, Coffeeberrry).³

Later: More about plant communities

¹N.A., "Mycorrhiza", February 11, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza, (12 February 2010)

²Peter Kennedy,November 2005, "Common Mycorrhizal Networks: An Important Ecological Phenomenon",http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/MycorrhizalNetworks.html, (12 February 2010)

³Celeste Wilson, "California Native Oaks and Mycorrhiza", May 13, 1995, http://www.laspilitas.com/classes/mycorrih.htm, (12 February 2010)

Planting Natives

It's not just like mother taught you



OK, you have your plan and the plants. From here it's more than just digging holes - though there's that of course.

Try not to disturb the soil more than you can help. This means, don't rototill only disturb the dirt a little with the aforementioned hole. Also, don't fertilize or amend unless perhaps adding sand in a kind of raised bed to promote drainage. Although it might take some research to find the right kind of plants for your soil, the planting and growing will be easier and the results more predictable. I will discuss mycorrhizal fungi soon, to explain why no fertilizer and why to not disturb the soil.

Begin with a hole bigger than the plant, but check to make sure that the dirt currently around the plant will be just about 1/2 inch higher than the ground around it - when you build a small basin around the plant (noted below) this will help keep the stem dry which many plants prefer.

Once you have the hole ready, fill the hole with water and let it drain twice, before planting. Then put the plant in and and fill with the local soil. If you are likely to need to water before the winter rains, you can make a basin of about an 8" radius around the stem with extra dirt to hold the water. On top put mulch. This is wood chips on all plants except succulents, desert plants, and those needing good drainage. Gravel sized rocks around all the plants is good. One other thing, put a nice sized rock to the west or south of every major plant. This is to both hold moisture and for the thermal mass it provides. Come to the Botanical Garden Tour on the Oak Glen Pavilion (Education Building) to learn more about thermal mass. It's a property of some substances, including rocks, that keeps the temperature from extreme fluctuations. A rock retains heat captured during the day into the night, then keeps the plant cooler into the day following the night's cooling effect on that same rock.

Depending on the rains you might want to water in a few weeks - deep water is usually best. Check the soil an inch down once a week or so, and only water if it's dry. Some California natives, like Dudleya might not ever need summer water - not even the first two years.

Coming soon - What is Mycorrhizal Fungi - and why would I care?

Buy California Natives

There are a lot of local choices for buying California Natives. But if you are not local, and can get your hands on the book I recommended yesterday, in Planning to Plant, there are lots of suggested places to get California natives up and down the state.

You can go just one place and you might find everything you want - most likely place for that locally would be Las Pilitas Nursery. They can certainly advise you very expertly, but you should have given it a lot a thought before you go. Their site will let you know what is available. They open on Saturdays for retail business.

If like me, you have pretty definite ideas from your research about what you want, you might have to shop around at different places to find all your plants.

Native Sons in Arroyo Grande has natives, but also a lot of non-natives and they are only open for retail trade a few times a year. April 17, 2010 (8:00am - 3:00pm) is one of these.

Manzanita Nursery, in Solvang, has some species I have had trouble finding elsewhere. Like most nurseries, their available species are kept up to date on their website. I was given a discount for having driven so far to get there!

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, (in guess where?), has a good selection of plants and might be worth the trip. They have a special spring sale the month of April. I have been unable to find a list of available plants on their website however.

San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is only staffed by volunteers on Tuesday mornings and every 2nd Saturday of the month (Saturday in the Garden). Go to the Gift Shop, but inquire about whether you can visit the green house too. They do not keep all the available plants for sale at the gift shop. Check their website for the semi-annual sales, I think the next is April 10, 2010.

Other Places: On the web I have purchased seeds from Larner Seeds, and plants by mail from Annie's Annuals. Larner is all native, but Annie's isn't, but they have a list of natives you can peruse. One time I was sent bonus plants, but they weren't natives.

I have also had some luck with other local places which only have a section for natives. Miner's and Farm Supply come to mind. I know that Farm Supply will special order from wholesale growers for you too.

If you have had good luck some other place, do let me know.

Coming Soon: How to Plant Natives (it's not just like you might have learned with traditional gardening)

Planning to Plant?

It's not too late to plant, though late fall is considered the preferred time for planting California natives since that takes advantage of the winter rains. Several local groups have plant sales in late fall like the San Luis Obispo Chapter of California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and the Nipomo Native Garden. But, early February is worth considering since lots of rain is still likely.

I really recommend careful planning first. One of the best books I've found is California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart o'Brien. Not only does this book have great photos; good advise; recommended plant selections like "Under Oaks", and "Fast Growing"; and a listing of places in California to buy native plants. The bonus is that there are local and semi-local links: Ms. Bornstein is from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and David Fross is the owner of Native Sons Nursery in Arroyo Grande, and also has been very involved in giving plants etc. for the Cal Poly Arboretum. Many of the photos in the book are from the Arboreteum. This book can be purchased locally at either a CNPS meeting (7:00pm the first Thursday of Oct., Nov., Dec., Feb., May, and June at the Vet's Hall in SLO), or at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden Gift Shop (Tues. 9-10am, or the 2nd. Saturday of every month).

You may find another book you like too. In any case consider many factors before planting:

• What kind of soil to you have? Lots of plants care whether it is clay or sand (the two most common types in the county I think) I have made beds of sand, clay and compost for mallows, and buckwheats that wanted better drainage than San Luis clay affords. This has been successful. But it's safer and easier to buy plants that suit your soil.


• Do you need drought tolerant?


• Will the area get wet from being near water (including your own or neighbor's spinklers) Some natives like this, others won't tolerate it


• How big a plant do you want? Consider both height and width and restrain yourself from planting too close to limit pruning in the future.


• What plants work well with yours? Consider plant communities, many books suggest other plants that go well together.


• Do you want to attract wildlife or have blooms and fruits throughout the year? Consider planting a range of plants that bloom and fruit at different times of the year. I will be writing about this another day.


• Does your area get shade or sun, or a mix?


• Do you need to consider frost or freezing temperatures in plant selection?


• What design aspects are important to you? You want a mix of trees, shrubs and flowers? Do you put the taller ones in back, or how do you group them so it looks like a natural setting? What colors do you want at what times of the year?
  

Don't be intimidated by the considerations above please! You can just hire a professional - there are certainly some good ones around. But in my opinion, planning the garden and researching it is at least half the fun.

Coming Soon: Where to Buy California Natives

Rain Harvesting

This is the time of year that I especially enjoy the fact that we added rain harvesting to our home in 2008. We have 3 rain barrels that we ordered locally, that were made in Arizona out of heavy duty plastic. They each hold 130 gallons.

We made the decision to go ahead with this (which we had been researching) when the time came for a new roof. This made it easier and better since we also expanded our rain gutter and downspout system and that company was able to customize the downspouts to slide the water right into the barrels. Not an easy feat as you can see from the photo.

One thing we would have done differently, put them up higher on bricks or cinder blocks. Once again my instincts were right but I didn't listen to them. As I expected, it is impossible to get the last of the water out even though the barrels have a hose compatible spout both top and bottom. The top one is for overflow. You could hose over to another rain barrel, and hopefully we will on the south side someday since it gets a lot more runoff than the other two.

A warning: rain harvesting is addictive! I find that I can't bear the idea of a coming rain knowing the barrels are already full (they can fill up in a gentle 4 hour rain). So, we carry in buckets each day for flushing toilets. I figure it's like our ancestors who didn't have to pay to join health clubs to get to lift weights.

During the non-rainy months of the year - around here that likely is from May through October or November - I use the harvested rain to extend the bloom of annuals, and water as needed any plants under 2 years old (but only if they really need it). I also use the extra water for the dog, non-native succulents, and houseplants. OK, some of my older California natives like Ribes viburnifolium (Catalina Perfume), and the Juncus patens (common rush that wasn't the Elk Blue variety) were errors on my part. At least I think so because they look really sad without extra summer water. But my Arctostaphylos species (manzanitas), Ceonothus species (California liluc), Rhus ovata (sugar bush), Eriogonum species (buckwheat), Dudleya species, Zauschneria californica (California fushia) and the Abutilon palmeri and Sphaeralcea ambigua (mallows) don't need anything more than winter rainwater to thrive in San Luis.

Sustainable Vineyard

Another SLO treasure discovered yesterday. KCBX, our local NPR gem, hosted an inspiring interview with Jean Pierre Wolff, the owner of Wolff Vineyards, located in Edna Valley outside San Luis Obispo. His work in sustainable agriculture is being featured in two documentaries, and he has been asked by UC Davis to help them develop a program for sustainable vineyards.

You can listen to the podcast, if you are intrigued by the summary below.

The vineyards contain Steel-head trout habitat. When Wolff purchased the property in 1999, he knew he wanted to preserve that. A major project has now been undertaken to reduce creek erosion, retrace original curves, provide resting pools for the fish, while at the same time conveniently allowing more water to seep into the aquifer.

Wolff vineyards, were planted with native grasses that might seem weedlike, but this was deliberate. Wolff is not interested in the golf course look, but in reducing erosion. He also releases beneficial insects and for fun retains a falconer for discouraging European Starlings.

A Pacific pond turtle refuge has been established on the property, currently providing habitat for twenty-seven orphaned turtles. His property also is inhabited by Red-legged frogs, which he enjoys where other vintners might be dismayed. He knows they are like the canary in the coal mine, since their presence demonstrates the health of the environment at Wolff.

When asked why he has undertaken all of this, he says that he believes in the 3Es of Sustainability: Economics, Environment, and Social Equity - down to the treatment of farm workers. Half the vineyard is dry. But the other half is aquifer dependent; thus the work on the health of the aquifer also aids the vineyard. If he prevents erosion of creeks by preventing sedimentation, the creek will not drive the aquifer deeper underground making the water less accessible to the vineyards.

Wolff Vineyards, a local business worth promoting, and maybe someday the competition will take note too.

Why Native Plants?

And why not native plants?



Since I live in California, my specific interest is in California native plants, but in a not so recent trip made to Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, it was great fun to see both natives we share and find out about ones we don't. I'm still after a friend, who took me on a hike outside Phoenix in the spring, to send me photos we took of the lupines and other flora that took my breath away that morning.

So why native plants? Because they are beautiful, because they are becoming endangered, because they are part of our whole ecosystem and we are only beginning to understand how the whole ecosystem works. If you disrupt it by bringing in exotics (as our ancestors did) you not only run the risk of rampant (though unforseen) invasion of the native beauty. There are records of settlers in wagon trains passing through California's Central Valley being awed by the wild flowers. ¹ Most of these are gone to farms.

I live in Central California where the Chumash Indians lived for thousands of years. It was lush life for them, gathering, hunting, trading, and enjoying the bounty of this land. They never farmed, as some Native American's did because they didn't need to. Once they discovered how to grind Coast Live Oak acorns into a flour (after leaching, this was about 1500 years ago) they had a dependable source of food they could supplement easily. Their numbers increased and their society bloomed with specialization and high achievement unique and unusual in a North American Native society. When the Spanish came with their mission of religion and agriculture and of course exotics, the Chumash men had to be allowed time each fall to hunt - agriculture did not sustain them as hunting and gathering had. So ironic. ²

How about wildlife and their relationship to native plants? We are only beginning to understand how complicated this whole issue is too. However, we do know that the plants that wildlife evolved with seem to be better for them. They know when to find what they need for nest building, habitat, feeding their young, cover, etc. Some species are even dependent upon a particular species for survival, an example is the monarch butterfly which needs milkweed to survive so it's young can obtain the chemical needed for survival. This is cardenolide alkaloid, which is poisonous to predators. As the milkweed removed during development the numbers of monarch butterflies decrease.³

Of course, not all plants have this close a relationship with wildlife, but some have an even closer one where they a mutally dependent. I will talk more about this in days to come.

I love native plants! I'm not even sure why I am so passionate about them as I only discovered them about 4-5 years ago. This was when I still lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and we were contemplating our move to the Central Coast of California - 200 miles south - but a world away. While I was madly overseeing the mechanics of selling the property, disposing of unwanted goods in our downsizing, and staging the house myself; I sought information about my new home from what I could discover on the web.

One of my early discoveries was the Las Pilitas Nursery website: http://www.laspilitas.com. This was, and still is, a fountain of knowledge about California native plants. As of 3 years ago, Burt Wilson, the owner is Santa Margarita,CA told me there were over 200 web pages to the site and it is an incredible reference as well as nursery. At first I was intrigued, then converted, now passionate in my love and dedication to encouraging the preservation and planting of these wonderful survivors of the area.

¹Judith Larner, "The Basics of Sowing Wildflower Seeds", 12 December 2009, http://www.larnerseeds.com/_pages/wildflower_annual.html, (3 February 2010)

²Jan Timbrook, Chumash Ethnobotany, Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People of Southern California, (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2007).

³ Jim Lovett, "Milkweed", n.d., http://www.monarchwatch.com/milkweed/index.htm, (3 February 2010)

SLO Today Now

Welcome to SLO TODAY!


There is a lot I would like to share about my love of San Luis Obispo County.

I plan to discuss California native plants, sustainability in gardening, buying local especially foods, and of course my favorite local non-profits which are: The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and Pacific Wildlife Care. My emphasis though may not be always local as I would like to share what I know and continue to learn about gardening.

I welcome comments if they are civil and thoughtful.

Click images to see larger