- Author: Toni Greer
Though I try not to always make my blogs a travel log of sorts, it does seem to happen! Everyone searches out something different on their travels, either near or far. As for me, it's nurseries, gardens and parks. (or that crocked tree)
During a recent trip to South Lake Tahoe, we happened to find Aspen Hollow Nursery. While the wind was gusting 45 mph+ and blowing their stock of large trees over, we wandered in, out, through, around and over the trees and large plants that had blown over (picking up what we could as we walked). What struck me about this environmental nursery is their specialty of “high altitude plants”. Rhododendrons, Salvias, Jeffery Pine trees, just to name a few! The felt was as if it were my personal secret garden, with arbors, trellises and nooks around each turn. We would have spent much more time had it not been for the wind.
California is botanically a very diverse state. We make a point while visiting different areas to hunt out nurseries and gardens in those areas. The structure, which is pictured, is made of reclaimed logs and is breathtakingly beautiful. The serenity it creates is wonderful.
Within the borders of this nursery you will come to search out its true story. The owners and designers at Aspen Hollow have created “a sense of wilderness & serenity, an attitude of living with nature, not fighting or trivializing it”.
Be sure to visit the nurseries and gardens in your area through visitors' eyes rather than residents' eyes. It's amazing what you will find locally that you didn't know existed.
- Author: Jenni Dodini
I bet you thought this blog would be about some kind of Christmas plant or something. Well, it's not. But in the spirit of Christmas, and since I wrote this before Christmas, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a wonderful 2016.
Actually, this blog is about the Helleborus, which will be blooming very soon. The picture below is of the plant in my yard and was taken last spring.
I went online and also to the Sunset Western Garden Book for the information below. Wikipedia had the best and most numerous pictures of the varieties and hybrids. I also went onto GardeningKnowHow.com and the Missouri Botanical Garden sites. The rest of the sites were mostly selling the plants.
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Helleborus
Common names: Winter rose, Christmas rose, Lenten rose
There are about 20 different species of this evergreen, perennial flowering plant. There are also many hybrids, some with less closely related species. By and large, all the plants are poisonous. The plant originated in Europe and Asia with the greatest concentration being found in the Balkans. There are 2 atypical species, ozone from China and the other from the border area between Turkey and Syria.
The flowers vary in color from white to black, rarely yellow, and last a very long time, changing colors as they age. The flower has 5 petals which are actually sepals surrounding a ring of small nectaries (petals modified to hold nectar). The flowers emerge in the winter, sometimes through the snow, and into spring. The Lenten rose variety is so named because it blooms just before Lent. Obviously, they are frost resistant. They are a shade tolerant plants and are good under trees. A perk is that they require minimal care once they are established, will grow in dry, shallow and rocky soil and require minimal to regular watering depending upon species. They do like to be protected from the cold winter winds. Mine were a bit unhappy and needed more watering during our very hot days last summer. Mine are also in a pot which was sunken into the ground a bit, so I was not that surprised. They require fertilizer only once or twice a year and prefer a slightly alkaline soil that drains well and has been amended with plenty of organic matter. Once they are established, they do not like to be moved, and may take years to re-establish if they don't die. They tend to self sow and the young seedlings can be transplanted. If you try to grow them from seeds, plant them in the fall because they need a 60 day moist chilling period to germinate and may take 3 to 4 years to bloom.
I forgot to add that the foliage is a leathery deep green. If you are in an area where there are deer, they are not considered a deer delicacy.
The Helleborus has been used medicinally and in witchcraft as far back as Hippocrates and other ancients. The black and white varieties are the most toxic. The effects range from diarrhea to cardiac arrest. All the parts of the plant are considered toxic.
- Author: Lanie Keystone
Besides each of us inveterate gardeners “playing in the dirt”, the happiest guys in the garden have to be the Sticky Bush Monkey Flower! They are California Natives—but, beware—because not all California natives are equal or even drought tolerant! These plants are of two genus. The first, the genus Mimulus, are named for their funny flower faces. To many folks, they look like smiling monkeys. They are named for the Latin word, mimus—meaning comic actor or mime. Taxonomically similar, but quite different in their plant community requirements, is the genus Diplacus. Both have those fabulous funny flower faces and those sensational sticky-backed leaves. (More about those later!)
Monkey Flowers of the Mimulus genus like moist areas in riparian settings and aren't very drought tolerant. In fact, some species are annuals that appear only with a constant source of moisture like seasonal creeks or ponds.
But, for our very dry current conditions, there's nothing more wonderful than having the drought tolerant woody perennials of the California Diplacus species. Their bright flowers fill the garden with splashes of joyful color. Depending on your selection, they shine brightly in yellow or orange. They like dry conditions and can often be found growing in almost solid rock with very little moisture. If necessary, they will often survive a drought by going summer deciduous. So, don't panic if you find them in that survival mode. Diplacus species are erect and woody in growth habit. All Monkey Flowers love to bask in full sun but will tolerate part or even full shade.
Now, about those sticky leaves. Many California Native plants were used for medicinal purposes by the First Nation Peoples. Among the neatest and most resourceful use are the leaves of the Bush Sticky Monkey Flower. Because of their sticky-backed leaves—they were used by our Native predecessors on scratches and cuts as the first Band-Aid. That's resourceful. Try it sometime—it works!
- Author: Tina Saravia
For years, I've heard it's illegal to cut and remove the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), the official state flower of the State of California since March 2, 1903.
Year after year, I've discreetly (and with guilt) pulled out these plants from my yard or waited until the flowers have gone to seed and the plants have dried before I pull them out, then discreetly dump them in the compost bin for pick-up. Sometimes I left them in place as mulch and they come back.
I like them a lot. Who can't possibly not like those 'copa de oro' (cup of gold) flowers, that's what the early Spanish settlers called this unmatched symbol of the Golden State, viewed perhaps as a floral representation of the “fields of gold” sought during the gold rush.
But when one has a small plot of land and wants to plant other things, like vegetables, herbs, shrubs, etc. and the poppies are already blooming in those small spaces, it can get a little frustrating - should I pull them out, but it's illegal.
But is it? This is what the California Department of Wildlife has to say about this topic.
"While there is no law protecting the California poppy specifically, California Penal Code Section 384a requires written landowner permission to remove and sell plant material from land that a person does not own, and removing or damaging plants from property that a person does not own without permission may constitute trespass and/or petty theft. However, these laws do not prevent the collection of California poppies on private land by the landowner."
There it is. I can pull them out as long as they are in my yard. Wish I had known that years ago when I had a tiny yard.
Now that I have a whole front yard for them to grow, that's not a problem for me anymore. I had such a nice display from late winter through mid-spring, growing between herbs, perennials, and shrubberies in the front yard, I think I will keep letting them naturalize/or leave them in place to spread at will.
The California poppies are actually perennials. If I cut the blooms sooner and leave the plant, rather than waiting until all the flowers are gone, seeds have formed and the entire plant has turned straw color, I can get a longer display of gold.
And with our continuing drought, I like having a field of gold that needs little to no watering.
- Author: Melissa Sandoval
One of the things gardening teaches, is the re-use part of reduce, reuse, recycle. Perhaps repurpose is a better word for the project I am sharing today. Several years ago, ok a couple of decades plus years ago, we removed some “walls“ in our garden. The walls were here when we purchased the house and were built out of cinder block. A few were used to create raised beds, but most were just 2 foot high enclosures that separated the flower beds from the walkways. Over time we gave away many of the cinder blocks to friends who needed them for their own projects.
Then a couple years ago I made a concerted effort to find someplace to donate the used cinder blocks. After speaking to three people at ReStore, including the manager, they agreed to pickup the cinder blocks if we would stack them in the driveway on their pallets. We brought the pallets home and stacked over 2/3s of the blocks onto them. Sure enough, the pickup crew showed up at the appointed time and took away the blocks. Yeah! Only 1/3 of them left! A couple days later I went out to ReStore to get another pallet to complete the process and was told they would not like to get the rest of the blocks. By this time my stack of cinderblocks looked like this.
But the best part is I finally found a purpose for the cinder block.
I was running out of time to have the cinderblocks go to a new home, as we were having a fairly large event in our backyard soon. What to do, what to do? Then I saw an article where someone had built raised beds out of cinder blocks, and by using them in a unique way, were able to make them look new and fun. It gave me enough of a vision to re-examine my stash of cinder blocks. They would become the wall to place a potted shade garden on.
I rearranged the blocks and began to move potted shade plants in. I found some old pot hangers, filled them with potted Diascia hybrids and repurposed a strawberry pot with Superflorens Begonias. I added Impatiens, both walleriana and New Guinea hybrids that were elsewhere in my yard. A lovely old Asparagus densiflorens ‘Springeri' joined them. The added bonus of putting these moderate or greater water lovers together is that they are now not spread all about the yard, but in one place, where it is easier to supply them with their higher water needs.