It has been two years since the Camp Fire destroyed most of the foothill community of Paradise. In the years since, residents have been steadily returning to reclaim their town. As of November 1, 2020, four hundred and twenty-six homes have been rebuilt, according to the Town of Paradise building department. These range from small manufactured houses and modular dwelling units to large custom-built homes. My husband and I have been among the pioneers in this process.
What else can returnees plant that will do well in this changed environment? We moved into our rebuilt home in April 2020 and have spent the past six months landscaping and replanting our yard. For those like us in Paradise and other fire-ravaged areas, there are three important characteristics to keep in mind when deciding what plants to add to a newly sunny yard.
1) the plants should be drought tolerant. California has seen a lot of drought in recent years, and that situation is not likely to change.
3) it's a bonus if the plants attract pollinators to your property. After the devastated moonscape left by the Camp Fire, we all want to see LIFE in our yards, and plants that attract birds, bees, and butterflies create a beautiful garden full of life.
Plants that meet all three criteria are winners, and there are lots to choose from!
Salvias are not the only plants that meet the criteria of being drought tolerant, deer-resistant, and pollinator attracting. To fill in the spaces between salvias, try planting “Walkers Low” catmint, a low mounding shrub with light blue flowers. These plants bloom and look good for months, with very little care. If you like warm-colored flowers, add in some Euryops (African bush daisy), a shrub with yellow daisy-like flowers. These too are prodigious bloomers that add color to the landscape. Another option for color is gaillardia (blanketflower). These perennials will bloom all season long.
For more plants that do well in our environment see the Butte County All-Star plant list on our website. These are plants that are suited to our climate here in Butte County, are drought tolerant, and attract beneficial wildlife. For an extensive list of deer resistant plants, see the list compiled by the UCCE Master Gardener Program of El Dorado County.
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 (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
Hardscapes are the constructed features such as paths, patios and pergolas that make a landscape human-friendly. Their permanent and relatively costly nature calls for careful planning before construction. Here are some questions and suggestions to help in planning hardscape features for your yard:
2. Consider how many people will commonly use the different features. This will help you determine the size needed for gathering areas like patios and pergolas. Measuring some of the rooms in your house can help you envision what will fit into a particular space.
3. Study your existing yard. Where are the sunny and shady areas? Are there areas that are a logical fit for a particular use? Do existing rooms in your house relate to items on your wish list? How will the new features relate to each other? Strive to create a sequence of features that relate to one another, to your existing conditions, and to rooms within your home.
4. Once you know what you want to construct, how big it will be, and where it will go, consider materials. Your selections will be influenced by budget, maintenance goals, intended use, and aesthetics.
In general, the more steps it takes to construct something, the more it will cost to install and the more durable it will be. Labor costs often exceed the cost of materials. For paving, loose materials such as decomposed granite are inexpensive and easier to install but harder to maintain. Concrete paving is moderately expensive and requires skill to install but requires little maintenance. Unit pavers such as brick or natural stone are very expensive and durable when installed over a concrete base. Installing them over a flexible base such as base rock is less expensive, less durable, and requires more maintenance.
Finally, consider aesthetics. The materials and the shape of hardscaped areas affect the look of a landscape. Landscapes can range from formal to natural. Formal designs lean toward symmetry, geometric shapes, hard edges, and solid construction. Asymmetry, curvilinear lines, irregular edges, and soft materials support a more rustic, natural feel. For maximum cohesion, let your home's style guide your aesthetic choices. Look for ways to repeat some of your home's architectural details and materials in your landscape.
Bring home samples of potential materials to ensure a coordinated look between new and existing features. Do the colors work well together? Is there a balance of highly textured and less textured materials? Do the materials fit with the intended style?
Finally, remember that well-planned hardscape features will improve the look, feel, and function of your home landscape.
For information on permeable hardscape materials, which are particularly well-suited to our environmental conditions, see Permeable Hardscape by UC Master Gardener of Napa County.
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 (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
“Gardening from the Ground Up,” a recent three-part Master Gardener Workshop series, focused on gardening practices that use natural methods and systems to create healthy soils and beautiful plants grown in an environment without using chemical pesticides. Presented by Master Gardener Cheryl Cozad, the workshops explored three basic principles of Regenerative Agriculture: 1) Minimize Disruption; 2) No Bare Soil; and 3) Diversity. (This series of workshops, along with others offered this Fall are available for viewing on the Master Gardener YouTube channel which is also linked on our webpage).
Ten to twelve thousand years ago, the Agricultural Revolution was the new kid on the block. For eons prior to that, humans had lived primarily as nomadic hunters and gatherers, nourishing our bodies with seasonally available plants and animals. The sudden (in evolutionary terms) shift to staying put geographically and cultivating and storing food fundamentally changed the way many humans perceived, treated, and interacted with the ecosystems that sustained them. Living in one place throughout the year enabled an “ownership” mentality (both of land and dwellings); and humans learned to manipulate the natural world that surrounded them.
At the time, these chemicals seemed like answers to farmers' and consumers' prayers. Imagine the miracle of pesticides when your crop was not destroyed by pests and consumers received blemish-free produce. The miracle of herbicides provided relief from the backbreaking labor of hoeing and weeding. Anecdotal evidence abounds of farm children running behind the truck spraying DDT, and rural residents and towns had the sheer delight of a few hours' freedom from the torment of mosquitos.
Since then we've recognized the dangers of chemical substances to our health and to our environment. The first generation of broad spectrum agricultural chemicals in use through the 1970s have been replaced by much more environmentally sensitive products that control pests selectively while preserving beneficial insects. Different classes of materials in use in agriculture are now rotated to prevent resistance and are used at rates of ounces per acre instead of pounds per acre as were the early pesticides. We now know that cancers have been linked to many chemicals in our environment; from some used in agriculture, to moth balls protecting clothes in our closets, to fire retardants on household fabrics, and including the gasoline that fuels our cars! Chemical use has changed significantly as our knowledge of these products has improved. Although cancer occurrence has increased in our lifetime, our life expectancy has also increased as other diseases that shortened life have been controlled by vaccines and pharmaceutical chemicals.
So -- how do we return to a method of gardening that works to regenerate soil and create healthy and nutritious food, while minimizing the use of pesticides and protecting our environment? Cozad's research into Regenerative Agriculture, presented in her workshops, supplies many answers.
In Part Two, “No Bare Soil,” Cozad looked at the role compost plays in keeping soil and plants healthy. Starting with two questions: “What does compost do?” and “Is all compost created equal?” she dove into the differences between and benefits of bacterial- and fungal- dominant compost; discussed the principle of keeping live roots in the soil; and offered examples of succession planting to utilize this Fall and year-round. By composting, gardeners can effectively reduce all of the following: the loss of microbial life in the soil; erosion caused by wind and water; soil compaction; and soil temperatures (critical to us, given the hot summers we experience here in Butte County).
Cozad peppered her review of the academic research and emerging body of knowledge about regenerative agricultural practices with examples of successes and failures from her own experiences. Throughout her talk, her passion for putting theory into practice in her own garden, and her sincere desire to make our world a better place for all flora and fauna, was clear. This passion was especially apparent at the end of the third workshop, where she included the intriguing concept of Quorum Sensing. This is the ability of bacteria, including those that reside in humans, to create a large enough quorum of beneficial cells, micro-biomes, systems, and environments to suppress disease. She ended her presentation with an invitation and invocation to us all: “You have become a part of the quorum to protect earth's surface.” Hear, hear! Please watch her entire series to learn how.
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 (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
One approach to dealing with drought conditions in the garden is to turn to native plants that are well-acclimated to our local environment. Some gardeners new to planting natives may be concerned that these plants might require special care, but in general they need not worry. While some natives can be difficult in the garden, most are not, and many are very easy to grow. By far the best time for planting natives is mid- September through late winter. The weather is cool, nature helps with irrigation, and roots have time to grow before the weather turns hot again.
Jason Mills, owner of Ecological Solutions, suggests, “If you're looking for an evergreen shrub, why not try giving the local and less commonly used hollyleaf redberry (Rhamnus ilicifolia) a shot?” Hollyleaf redberry has small serrated leaves, resembling holly. It grows best in full sun or partial shade. The flowers are small and inconspicuous but develop into beautiful red fruit, which provide food for birds. It grows five to ten feet tall and needs no summer water once established.
Growing natives can be easy if you give careful consideration to the plant's cultural requirements. Mills states, “In the end it all comes down to putting the right plant in the right spot. We look to nature and try to match the conditions (substrate, moisture, light exposure) found in remaining intact habitats when we create our designs and implement native landscapes. When you get it right, you'll know, as they thrive for years to come with little to no water and maintenance and provide crucial resources for wildlife along the way.”
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 (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
I first heard the term hydrophobic soils on the local news after the Camp Fire ravaged the Ridge and Butte Creek Canyon. This potentially catastrophic natural phenomenon seems counterintuitive: soils which are damaged by the intense heat of fire become water repellent. Their post-fire inability to absorb and filter rainfall can cause immense problems with erosion and runoff. Adding insult to injury, fire also burns plant roots that can help stabilize the soil, and destroys plant stems and leaves that slow rainfall's contact with the ground surface, allowing more time for percolation into the soil.
According to an article by Douglas Kent (“First Aid for Sonoma County's Fire-Damaged Soil,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, October 27, 2017), “erosion leaps as high as 200 percent following fires in urbanized areas.” The slopes and vales that comprise our foothill and mountain areas mean that the immediate danger from water repellent soil comes in the form of flash flooding and the flow of debris and mud. Hydrophobia in burn-scarred soils makes them as water repellant as pavement, and the National Weather Service notes that it takes much less rainfall to cause a flash flood in post-fire landscapes. Their rule of thumb is “if you can look uphill from where you are and see a burned area, you are at risk.”
Runoff caused by rainfall on water-shedding soils can also cause the loss of fertile topsoil. And it can clog water conveyance facilities including manmade culverts, gutters, and ditches, as well as streams and rivers. The upside of rainfall on soil hydrophobicity is that, generally speaking, water repellency weakens with each rain event.
The type of soil and the intensity of the fire determine how deeply hydrophobia penetrates the soil, and how long the condition persists. Paradoxically, the fastest draining soils (light, sandy soils with large pores) are the most prone to post-fire hydrophobicity because they transmit the heat more easily than heavy, dense, clay soils.
Prescriptions for large scale mitigation within burnt forested public lands, and large acreages of undeveloped private landholdings, are outside of the scope of this article. For the private landowner, the following steps outlined by Douglas Kent in his Press Democrat article can be taken to lessen and control the damage caused by the treacherous combination of heavy rain and burn-scarred soils. These procedures can be followed if the homeowner is 1) allowed back onto his / her property and 2) able to stay long enough to put these measures in place.
To hold your ground:
- Clear drainage systems such as culverts, diversion ditches, or narrow swales, of debris. Clogged drains are a primary cause of erosion, even without fire damage.
- Divert water from areas originally designed to sheet runoff to the landscape: instead, redirect the runoff towards your newly cleared drainage systems or, if they exist, towards storm drain systems such as gutters. Use sandbags, diversion ditches, boards stacked on top of one another and staked in place, dry stacked walls, or bales to redirect water flow.
- Minimize foot and equipment traffic on burned landscapes. Such traffic can further compact already damaged soils on flat areas, and can weaken soil bonds and dislodge soil particles on slopes. Develop plans to restore your injured landscape before tramping on it, and keep all traffic to the bare minimum during restoration activities.
- Leave non-toxic debris in place wherever possible. Burnt plant remnants and other garden features can protect the landscape from wind and water erosion, and help protect any seeds and plants that survived the fire.
You may not want (or be able) to return to your property within the perimeter of the Bear Fire / North Complex Fire. On behalf of the Butte County Master Gardener Program, we hope this information will help you in the process of healing the scars on your land and those in your soul. If you don't, we hope you find peace and beauty wherever you choose to land and to landscape.
For more information on dealing with the effects of wildfire on soil, and landscaping with the possibility of fire in mind, see the Fire-Safe Landscape section of the UC Master Gardeners of Butte County website. Among other resources, see “The New Normal: Rebuilding Soil After Fire,” a PowerPoint presentation from the UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County which covers how wildfires affect soil, soil regeneration, and strategies for dealing with toxic soil.
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 (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
