- (Focus Area) Yard & Garden
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the human world, we recognize Mother's Day as a special day to celebrate all mothers. It's a day that Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Va., established on May 10, 1909 with a worship service at St. Andrew's Methodist Church, Grafton.
Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are mothers, too. The female lays a batch of eggs, from 10 to 50, at one time, and can lay about 1000 eggs in her lifetime, scientists say.
Beneficial insects! Yes, but in their larval form they eat even more.
Mature lady beetles will feed on 20 to 25 aphids per day, but their late-stage larvae will consume 10 times that number, making them far more effective predators, according to Whitney Cranshaw, a professor and Extension entomologist with Colorado State University (now emeritus), in a July 2018 article in Phys.Org.
A salute to lady beetles and their larvae on Mother's Day!
Next time you go for a walk in Upper Park, look closely at the different plants you see. Notice the enormous diversity of shapes, colors, and forms. There are trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals, all different shapes and sizes of leaves, and tremendous variation in flower color and structure from one species of plant to another. This diversity is the result of evolution over the ages. Plants have adapted to the specific conditions of their native habitat. These conditions include climate, availability of water, soil type, and interactions with other organisms. Adaptations can be structural or physiological.
The beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris) is a kind of prickly pear cactus. It lacks long spines but its flat, fleshy pads are covered with small bristles that have barbed tips. The bristles help shade the pads and also protect the cactus from being eaten. The pads themselves are modified stems. They have a waxy cuticle to reduce water loss and store water within. During periods of drought the pads shrivel and then plump back up when rain returns.
All plants have very small holes called stomata on the underside of their leaves. The hole can open for exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen gases or close to maintain the proper balance of water. Most plants open their stomata during the day to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. They close the stomata at night to retain water. Plants in the cactus family, plus some succulents and certain orchids, open their stomata at night and close them during the day. They have a modified photosynthetic cycle, called Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), which helps to reduce water loss during gas exchange. Carbon dioxide enters the open stomata at night when less water will be lost to the outside air. The carbon dioxide is then fixed and combined with another chemical to form an organic acid. The acid is then stored until the daytime when sunlight is available to finish the process of transforming it to sugar. CAM is an example of a physiological adaptation.
The forests of the Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) are lush, green, and typically receive a generous amount of rainfall during the winter but little rain during the summer. How do the redwoods survive the dry season? While the North Coast doesn't get much rain in the summer, it does have regular fog. Scientists have long suspected that redwood leaves, especially those near the top of the tree, are able to absorb water from fog without adversely affecting photosynthesis. When stomata are covered by even a thin film of water, the water can block the flow of carbon dioxide into the leaf, limiting photosynthesis.
Think about plant adaptations when choosing plants for your garden. Generally speaking, the better a match between a plant's adaptations and the conditions in your garden, the better the plant will perform. If you choose a plant native to an area that is much different from your garden, you will probably need to make some changes in your garden so it can provide for more of the plant's needs.
Want to learn more about this topic? Attend our workshop on Adaptations of California Native Plants (Wednesday, May 22), part of the Master Gardeners' 2024 Spring Workshop Series. For information about all the workshops, and to register, visit our website. All workshops are free, but registration is required.
PLANT SALE! Mark your calendar for our plant sale on Saturday, May 18, 2024 from 9 am–noon. The sale will be held at the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch. The plants, which are selected to thrive in our climate, have been propagated by UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. For more information and a partial list of the plants that will available, visit our website.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
The University of California Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM) has an exciting, newly updated resource to help you better understand pesticide active ingredients and the risks different active ingredients pose to people and the environment.
The Pesticide Active Ingredient Database is designed for urban audiences including the general public, Master Gardeners, nursery and garden center staff, pest control operators, landscapers, and more. The active ingredients included in this database can be found in many commonly available pesticide products in California. The database contains a variety of pesticide types, including insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, antimicrobial products, and more.
Each active ingredient in the database has its own page where you can learn what it is, how it works, and what pests it can control. You can also view example products available to the general public or licensed professionals, and a table displaying the potential hazards of the active ingredient. The potential hazards table includes toxicity information for water quality or aquatic wildlife, natural enemies, honey bees, and people or other mammals. A glossary of pesticide terms is available as well to help you understand pesticide terminology.
You can use this database to compare toxicity ratings of pesticides by clicking the “Compare Risks” link or button found on UC IPM's Pest Notes fact sheets. This will help you find the least-toxic pesticide active ingredients to control a specific pest.
We hope you find this newly updated resource helpful and share with others who may be interested.
- Author: Joanna Solins
Front yard with water-wise landscaping. Photo Credit: Cadenasso Lab, UC Davis
California's urban water agencies have long relied on conservation measures to promote reliability and manage costs. Since landscapes are a large portion of water demand in California cities, many water agencies encourage water conservation by incentivizing the replacement of water-intensive turf lawns with water-efficient or “water-wise” landscaping.
In California's Mediterranean climate, traditional turfgrass lawns require irrigation to maintain their appearance through the hot summer months. Inefficient, poorly managed spray irrigation systems can also result in considerable water loss from runoff and evaporation. Replacing turf and overhead sprinklers with low-water-use plants, alternative ground covers like mulch and kurapia, and more efficient drip irrigation systems can potentially save hundreds of gallons of water per square meter every year.
Although the water savings from turf replacement can be substantial, generating widespread buy-in is a challenge. Landscape renovation can be expensive and intimidating, requiring residents to learn new landscape management practices or pay for professional assistance. In addition, many people appreciate their lawns as spaces for children, pets, or entertainment. Some prefer the look of turfgrass, especially where neighborhood norms promote a unified lawn aesthetic.
To help overcome cost barriers and encourage water-wise landscaping, government agencies and water suppliers commonly offer “cash for grass” programs, in which residents are offered a rebate for landscaping expenses based on the amount of turf they replace. These programs also aim to promote neighborhood adoption of water-wise landscaping by providing attractive examples. Turf replacement incentive programs are likely to expand under proposed new water use efficiency regulations, Making Conservation a California Way of Life (AB1668 - SB606).
While large-scale, regional turf replacement programs in Southern California have been evaluated in peer-reviewed studies, questions remain about the extent and impact of these programs in other parts of the state. How widely are turf replacement programs utilized, and by whom? Are these programs responsible for a substantial amount of water-wise landscaping?
Water-wise landscaping in Sacramento
With these questions in mind, we wanted to understand how both rebate recipients and houses with independently installed water-wise landscaping were distributed across an entire city in inland Northern California. The study was recently published in the Journal of Urban Ecology.
We visually surveyed the front yards of all single-family homes in 100 census tracts across the city of Sacramento—109,062 homes in total—and compared the prevalence of water-wise landscaping with the city's turf replacement rebate data. We especially wanted to understand how this landscape water conservation measure was being adopted by communities of varying socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and which communities were benefitting from the rebate program.
Front yard with traditional turf. Photo Credit: Cadenasso Lab, UC Davis
In Sacramento, the City's Department of Utilities has offered a rebate of (typically) $1.50 per square foot of turf removed since the summer of 2014. To qualify for the rebate, replacement landscapes must meet several criteria, including efficient irrigation systems and approved plants that cover more than half of the area at maturity. The planting requirement addresses an important concern with turf replacement—the potential for an increase in urban heat. Lawns have a cooling effect through evapotranspiration, and if they are replaced primarily with non-living groundcovers, temperatures could increase. However, such program requirements can make some residents reluctant to participate.
When we conducted our visual survey of front yards in 2018, we found that approximately 10% of Sacramento's single-family-homes had water-wise yards, while 88% had conventional lawns. Only around 3% of water-wise yards were rebate recipients, though, meaning that the vast majority—97%—of water-wise yards were landscaped independently from the city's rebate program. We also found support for neighborhood adoption effects, with clustering of water-wise yards at the city block scale.
The prevalence of independent water-wise yards should be good news for water conservation, since it would not be feasible for the city to fund many thousands of turf replacement projects. However, independent turf replacement projects don't need to comply with the city's requirements for plant coverage or irrigation system efficiency, meaning that they could be contributing to increased urban temperatures or failing to save water.
Our study also showed that water-wise landscaping was more common in census tracts with less diverse, more highly educated, and more affluent populations, as well as fewer households with children. Rebate recipients followed the same trends, suggesting that rebates weren't overcoming barriers to adoption. The uneven distribution of resources necessary for turf replacement—money, time, and information—is likely an important driver of this pattern, along with cultural or functional preferences for lawns. Lawns may play a particularly important role for families as spaces for children to play.
Photo Credit: Cadenasso Lab, UC Davis
A Tool in the Toolbox
Turf replacement is one important tool in the water conservation toolbox, and our research suggests that many residents voluntarily install water-wise landscapes even without a rebate. However, adoption is not equal across communities. The roots of this disparity likely reflect uneven distributions of resources and preferences.
With thoughtful program design and outreach, incentive programs could help overcome some of these barriers, although funding and staffing limitations in water agencies pose a challenge for implementation. For instance, carefully crafted direct installation programs could reach lower-income residents who find it difficult to pay up-front costs associated with rebates. Tailoring efforts to the needs of lower-income and marginalized communities will be important to ensure that they do not end up with unirrigated, high-heat landscapes instead of attractive, water-wise yards.
In the Sacramento region, focus groups conducted for the Regional Water Authority revealed that some residents have a very strong preference for lawns. In these cases, water suppliers may have greater impact by promoting efficient irrigation practices, turfgrass varieties that use less water, and climate-appropriate shade trees. Partial lawn conversions are also a viable water-saving strategy, and one that Sacramento's rebate program supports.
As California's cities grapple with climate change, water reliability, cost effectiveness, and meeting new water use efficiency standards, reducing high-water-use turf lawns will continue to be an important adaptation strategy. Figuring out how to support effective and equitable landscape water conservation programs must be a focus of future research and evaluation studies to promote a California where everyone benefits from climate adaptation measures.
Joanna Solins is an Environmental Horticulture Advisor with UC Cooperative Extension, serving Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo Counties, and is an Affiliate Researcher with the California Institute for Water Resources and the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Erik Porse, Amy Talbot, Jasmin Green, and Mary Cadenasso for their input and assistance with this post.
Additional Reading
Green, J. C., Solins, J. P., Brissette, L. E. G., Benning, T. L., Gould, K., Bell, E. M., & Cadenasso, M. L. (2024). Patterns of water-wise residential landscaping in a drought-prone city. Journal of Urban Ecology, 10(1), juae003. https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juae003
Alliance for Water Efficiency. (2019). Landscape transformation: Assessment of water utility programs and market readiness evaluation. https://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/impact/our-work/landscape-transformation-assessment-water-utility-programs-and-market-readiness
Matlock, M., Whipple, R., & Shaw, R. (2019). Just for the turf of it: Turf replacement as a water conservation tool. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 74(5), 449–455. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.74.5.449
Pincetl, S., Gillespie, T. W., Pataki, D. E., Porse, E., Jia, S., Kidera, E., Nobles, N., Rodriguez, J., & Choi, D. (2019). Evaluating the effects of turf-replacement programs in Los Angeles. Landscape and Urban Planning, 185, 210–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.01.011
Simpson, S.-A., Altschuld, C., Ortiz, A., & Aravena, M. (2023). Green to gold mile: An environmental justice analysis of drought and mitigation policy impacts on home landscapes in Sacramento California. Landscape and Urban Planning, 234, 104729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104729
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Look closely at a patch of California golden poppies and you may see a sweat bee (genus Halictus) collecting gold pollen. The pollen basket is on the hind legs but you'll see "gold" also dusting the head and abdomen.
Native bee, commonly known as "halictid bee." Native plant. In fact, the California golden poppy, Eschscholzia californica, is the state flower.
And the rumor that it's "protected" and you'll get arrested if you pick a poppy along a roadside is inaccurate.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife sets the record straight on its website: "It is often believed that there are laws prohibiting the cutting or damaging of the California poppy because it is the state flower. While there is no law protecting the California poppy specifically, California Penal Code Section 384a(opens in new tab) 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. California poppies are a beautiful and easy-to-grow addition to your garden, and although you may choose to pick them from your property, they last much longer in the ground!"
Want to learn more about native bees? California has some 1600 species of wild or non-managed bees. Be sure to read California Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists. It's the work of University of California authors, all with UC Berkeley connections: Gordon Frankie, now professor emeritus, UC Berkeley; Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor who received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley; photographer Rollin Coville, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley, and Barbara Ertter, curator at the UC Berkeley-based University Herbarium and Jepson Herbarium.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house on bees, both wild and managed, from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 19 in Room 1124, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. It's free and family free.