With Memorial Day fast approaching my thoughts have turned to poppies because a paper Red Flanders Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is often worn to remember and honor those who have fought for their country. In many parts of Europe the plants are still to be found growing in cornfields and along byways in large masses and, although in some places they have been declared an agricultural weed, most people secretly love them.

 

  

          

Himalayan Blue Poppy Photo: TANAKA Juuyoh

The poppy family, Papaveracae contains 25 genera, and over 100 species which generally emanate from the temperate latitudes. Many have wonderfully flamboyant flowers such as the well-known California poppy, (Eschscholzia california) with its saturated orange flowers which clothe many dry hillsides of the state in spring, to the exquisite sky blue Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia) which is tricky to grow at the best of times and would hate the dry atmosphere in the Owens Valley.

However there are many garden varieties of poppies which are easy to grow here and it is hard not to love their vibrant crepe petals.

California Poppies now come in a wide range of colors such as pale cream (White Linen), burnt orange (Mikado), yellow (Chrome Queen), and purple (purple gleam). They are perennials but can be grown as annuals where there is a long season. They have a long taproot and resent any attempts to transplant them, so the seed needs to be sown where they are to grow. Water to keep moist until germination has occurred after which occasional watering should suffice, although they will flower for a longer season if given a more regular supply.

 

Shirley Poppies (P. rhoeas) are annuals and do well here if sown in the fall to will bloom in the spring. They grow about 3 feet tall and about 1 foot wide, and come in a variety  of colors apart from the original red – white, pink, salmon, and lilac, sometime with a contrasting white edge. Bees love them for their early supply of pollen, and I have often witnessed them almost fighting around the anthers.

 

 

 

 

 

     

Detail center of P. orientale

Oriental Poppies (P. orientale). These perennials are perhaps the most striking with huge flowers held on strong stems in late spring or early summer. They grow a clump of hairy leaves early in the year before the flower stems develop. Large clumps of flowers each up to 7 inches in shades of scarlet, white, coral or pink with a large black blotch at the base of the each petal can make a spectacular show in May, after which the foliage dies down in the summer in response to hot weather. They are also loved by bees for their black pollen. Unfortunately the roots are also irresistible to gophers!

 

 

 

Papaver soniferum, an annual variety that has been in cultivation for hundreds of years, comes in a wide range of colors and forms.  I love the original single violet flowers which have darker splotches at the base of the petals but now they also come in double varieties (which are not attractive to bees and can look rather like a mop head), and fringed versions.  The colors range from very pale pinks to almost black.  Unlike a lot of other poppies the leaves are grayish-green, and smooth.

 

 

 

 A plant that has done exceptionally well in my high desert garden is P. atlanticum. This is a smaller poppy which produces a prolific crop of soft orange semi-double flowers and which arise from a clump of perennial foliage. It has a very long blooming season if it is regularly deadheaded. It is difficult to transplant, but volunteers readily and comes through our winters with ease.  The large black native carpenter bees are particularly attracted to this flower and look ridiculous as they try to collect food from these delicate flowers.

 

 

 

In the deserts the native prickly poppy, Argemone intermedia, is just coming into bloom. An annual or biennial, it has large crinkly white flowers the delicacy of which belies the prickly plant's tough nature, so unless you have an area given over to plants that like dry rocky terrain, you probably would not want to plant this in your garden.  It is much loved by insects of all sorts.

 

 

Another native plant with similar flowers and no prickles is the shrubby Romneya coulteri the blooms of which look like fried eggs with their crepe-papery petals surrounding a boss of golden stamens. It is native to the Californian coastal regions, and is probably borderline hardy in the Owens Valley but I have seen a spectacular hedge of them growing in West Bishop. They are quite tricky to get established since they require fire for the seeds to germinate, and have rubbery roots that do not hold a ball of soil well for transplanting. The best method is to find a rooted sucker and try transplanting that. However, once established in ideal conditions these plants can spread rapidly and reach 6ft-8ft.

There are many more types of poppies, both native and cultivated and seeds of these available, both from suppliers of native plant seeds and catalogs such as www.edenbrothers.com/PoppySeeds that specialize in garden varieties.

It is hard to find flowers that give so much reward for so little effort.

 

 I am finally getting around to writing this, ah well. Let me begin by wishing you all a happy height of gardening season! The weeds and the fruit and the veggies and the flowers are keeping me hopping, as I imagine you are. Ah, but the pay-offs are worth it. Now, let me share another bit of garden discovery with great pay-offs: Cover crops. When I first started gardening, I knew nothing about cover crops. As time and experience went by, I learned of this practice, but was convinced (for whatever reason) that this was a large scale agriculture idea, not suitable for a small backyard plot. Then, a couple of years ago, I was somehow motivated to revisit the idea – call it an inspiration or a garden tweet, I don't know. Anyway, my curiosity and research led me to numerous articles on the Internet that assured me this practice is of great value to home gardeners and has been used by many. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

So, let's start at the beginning. A cover crop is planted for the purpose of improving soil quality and nutrition and, perhaps, for attracting beneficial insects. Cover crops improve the quality of soil by adding nitrogen and organic matter, and improving soil tilth and water penetration. One that is planted in the fall and tilled under in the spring is often referred to as “green manure”. This addition of organic matter feeds the soil dwelling fungi and bacteria so they can release nutrients back into the soil. Cover crops also choke out weeds and stabilize the surface of the soil while breaking up and aerating with their deep reaching roots.

 I don't remember seeing seed for cover crops in any nursery or seed catalog until recently. Now quiet a few of the better suppliers carry a wide variety. In choosing which cover crop you want to try, you must consider what you are hoping to accomplish. Cereal crops, such as winter rye, will help build organic matter. Addition of nitrogen would call for a legume crop, such as vetch or peas. If you want the best of both worlds, you can choose a seed mix. Just remember, if you choose a legume, you will need to employ an inoculant when you plant. You probably already do that with your sugar snap peas and bush beans, right?

 Most home gardeners would want to put in a cover crop for winter. The idea is to reap the benefits without much work. If you plant a winter garden, this might be a drawback. But, if you are not much of a winter gardener, then putting in a cover crop is great for suppressing weeds, and requires minimal watering. Planting is easy. Just prepare the bed, scatter the seed and rake it in, then cover with a mulch of straw. A new planting will need water for germination and to get a good start, then just minimal watering and no additional fertilizer. In the spring, let the crop grow until about a month before you want to plant. Then, weed whack the cover crop and turn it in with a rototiller or spade.

 The first year I tried this, I planted winter rye – mostly because I got a late start on the project and didn't get the seed in until late October. This is a hardy grain and did just fine. I did not let the seed heads mature and decided to pull the stalks out rather that turn them into the soil. It turns out that rye is great for keeping the weeds down because it has some allelopathic properties that keep them from growing. Since I was going to plant vegetable seeds in the beds I had covered, I did not want to take a chance that they might react to this residue. All went well.

My second try was this past winter. I planted red clover and was very pleased. When the time came to plant veggies in the bed, I whacked the clover down and turned it in, waited a month, then planted my crops.   I made sure to cut it down before it flowered and went to seed. This stops the plant from taking up nutrients in the soil to store in its seed. The soil was beautiful and loose, and the clover had broken down completely. The clover did great, even with the cold and snow, and, best of all, no weeds to pull. Nice. 

The takeaway lesson has been that the small investment of time and effort in cover cropping pays huge dividends. My soil was enriched with organic matter, water infiltration and water holding capacity was increased, weeds and soil-borne diseases were suppressed, plant available nitrogen was added and beneficial insects were attracted. In addition, I grew my own mulch and fertilizer. Finally, I am certain my soil, my veggies and the environment all thanked me for this effort.

 So, there you go. I encourage you to give this practice a try if it fits your needs. It is inexpensive , low maintenance, and there is plenty of information on the Internet, including charts to help you choose the best cover crop for your needs and your region. Happy gardening to you all!

 

Resources for cover crop article:

Mother Earth News: Grow Cover Crops for the Best Garden Soil by Harvey Ussery

Mother Earth News: Use Cover Crops to Improve Soil by Barbara Pleasant

Marin Master Gardeners: Cover Crops boost soil in vegetable beds by Marie Narlock

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension Sacramento County: Cover Cropping in Home Vegetable Gardens by Chuck Ingels

Oregon State University Extension Service: Cover Crops for Home Gardens by R.L. Rackham and R. McNeilan

Rodales's Organic Life: Cover Crops

If you have cats (and you like them) chances are you've tried giving them a sniff of catnip to see what happens. Of my last two cats, only one seemed to notice. Many cats don't respond at all to catnip's fragrance. But that's probably fine with the catnip plant (Nepeta cataria). You see, cats probably aren't the plant's target. 

In this video, you'll learn a bit about how catnip works and what scientists think its active ingredient (nepetalactone) is for and its relationship with common garden pest. Even if you're not all that interested in catnip, the video features lots of clips of cats. Isn't that why we have the Internet?

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO: "What is catnip, really?"

Of course, one definitely wants to avoid plants that might be invasive—escaping from the garden and spreading outside their native range. Fortunately or not, that's not an issue for me—nothing survives out here without supplemental irrigation!

The definitions can be a bit confusing, but maybe naturalized is the word I'm looking for. The USDA defines a naturalized plant as one “that does not need human help to reproduce and maintain itself over time in an area where it is not native,” but that naturalized plants “do not, over time, become native members of the local plant community.” Now doesn't that sound like a plant that any of us would welcome into our garden?

The key, of course, is that location, exposure, watering and other variables all affect a plant's behavior. Plants that were obnoxious in west Bishop hardly stand a chance out here. I've tried without success to grow those little violets that used to spread everywhere in my yard. No longer do I have to deal with sprouts from the neighbor's cottonwood tree coming up 30 feet inside my yard. And God has finally delivered me from periwinkle!

Now that's not to say that there are no plants that can get out of control in my yard. I fell in love with the graceful sway of Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) when I first moved out here, but soon found out how prolifically they reseed. I now allow only a few plants in inhospitable sites and relentlessly remove any volunteers. Fortunately, the seedlings are easy to pull out.

I have replaced the feather grass with purple threeawn (Aristida purpurea), a California native that is easy to grow from seed, super tough, drought tolerant and beautiful all year round. It is a prolific seeder, but not nearly the nuisance that Mexican feather grass is. One caveat is that its seed heads are very poky, so it's unfortunately not a good choice for pet owners.

 

 

My other go-to grass for tough conditions is silver beardgrass (Bothriochloa laguroides torreyana). This native to the southern half of the US is also easy from seed. One of the prettiest sights in my yard is the setting sun lighting up its white, fluffy seedheads. Like many other grasses, beardgrass has fabulous color during the fall and winter. It's not nearly as drought tolerant as purple threeawn, but it really deserves a place in your garden. It will reseed prolifically if given abundant water, and though it's a bit harder to remove than purple threeawn, its volunteers survive transplanting much more readily. It constantly amazes me that ornamental grasses are so underutilized in most people's gardens. For more on grasses, see my earlier posts on some of my favorites.

 

 

 

I'm always on a quest for yellow daisy-like flowers. Gloriosa daisies and coreopsis were dependable standbys in Bishop, and though I keep trying, they just don't seem to thrive out here. Fortunately, I have found two natives that I can always count on to perform—Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera) and desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata). Mexican hat comes to us from the prairies, so though it's drought tolerant, it's also fine with regular watering. It comes in two colors: yellow and red, and if you're growing both you'll get beautiful bi-colored offspring that substitute nicely for the similarly-sized gloriosa daisies. Between the previous year's plants and the new volunteers, they will bloom from late June through September.

 

 

Desert marigold is found in the desert Southwest, is extremely drought tolerant, and is covered with the cheeriest yellow daisies you could ever hope to find. To keep this little plant (12”) looking neat, I snip off the spent flowers, and Baileya rewards me with a great yellow accent that lasts from May through at least October. Though it's a short-lived perennial, it will readily (but not too readily!) give you seedlings to replace it with. It's happiest with little or no water, so I use it to soften the transitions between watered and unwatered areas. If I have a bare spot in the yard where I want some yellow, I'll transplant in volunteer seedlings of these two plants—Baileya if it's a dry spot, Ratibida if it will get a bit more water.

All four of these plants are aggressive—but in a good way. They are easy to grow from seed, they thrive with little care, they look fabulous, and they will give you plenty of volunteers to leave in place or move where you see fit. That is, they are easy to naturalize. You can order seed of all four online from Plants of the Southwest.