“You're absolutely filthy!” This admonishment of misspent youthful summer afternoons should be considered a compliment for young and old alike in these stressful times, if the filth comes from the garden. The physical exercise of gardening, the structure it can bring to our lives, the gardening and landscaping impulse we share with our socially-distant neighbors, friends and relatives, even the acquisition of health-promoting soil bacteria under dirty fingernails – these can all be therapeutic. Gardening is “green therapy,” with or without a crisis at hand.
The answer, of course, is yes. Both established and recent research about the mental, emotional, and physical benefits of gardening abounds. California's own universities and colleges produce and verify much of this research, and the UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are among the many local groups committed to sharing it.
“The most valuable of all arts, will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil. No community whose every member possesses this art, can ever be the victim of oppression in any of its forms.” So said Abraham Lincoln in 1859, and that enduring sentiment drove the “Victory Gardens” movement of World Wars I and II. Historian and former Ventura County UC Cooperative Extension Director Rose Hayden-Smith traced the positive impacts of these gardens on food security, patriotism, and common purpose for Americans facing hard times. Right now we are seeing a resurgence of the Victory Garden idea in gardens variously called “Recovery Gardens,” “Resilience Gardens,” and even “Quarantine Gardens.”
Locally, this community-level version of green therapy is being championed by, among others, the Butte County Food Network and their current “Garden Blitz on the Burn Scar.”
If growing your own food does not draw you to the garden, you may discover that a green version of physical and emotional therapy is appealing. Wield a shovel, wheel a full garden cart, or wrestle a five-gallon plant at a nursery and you'll know you are exercising! Research has shown that this particular form of exercise can help lower body mass, improve bone density, and decrease heart disease and other cardiovascular risk. Garden exercise can also offset some of the ravages of cancer and dementia, modulate blood sugar levels in diabetics, and decrease joint and knee pain. The UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources lists dozens of scientific studies documenting these benefits on its “Live Well in the Garden” site.
Being in the garden and experiencing nature is green emotional therapy too. According to Clare Cooper Marcus, professor emerita from UC Berkeley and one of the founders of the field of environmental psychology, plant puttering reduces stress because it puts the mind in a meditative state. Cooper Marcus notes that "When you are looking intensely at something, or you bend down to smell something, you bypass the [analytical] function of the mind.” She points out that you naturally stop thinking, obsessing, and worrying; your senses are awakened, which brings you into the present moment, which has been shown to be very effective at reducing stress.
If you are stressed – and who isn't these days? Or, if you have crisis fatigue, it is worth remembering that quality of life is related to the relationships we have with plants. An entire profession, Horticultural Therapy, has adopted this outlook. Professor Lee Altier at CSU Chico, one its proponents and educators, introduced the first California-based Horticultural Therapy course at Chico State in 2016. The class regularly fills up and Altier's students have introduced green therapy to individuals at Chico's Jesus Center, Little Red Hen Nursery, and local senior living centers. In a 17-minute video featuring scenes from Butte County, Altier sums up many of the therapeutic benefits described above and urges us all to consider getting out into the garden. Your physical, emotional, and mental health is scientifically guaranteed to improve if you do!
Sources and links:
Rose Hayden-Smith, “Growing a Greener World” Episode 126 – Victory Gardens: Then and Now
“Garden Blitz on the Burn Scar” – Butte County Local Food Network
UC ANR, Live Well in the Garden
Rob Knight interview: Dirt is Good
Clare Cooper Marcus, quoted in“Gardening for Health,” published in 2000.
Seth J. Gillihan, 10 Mental Health Benefits of Gardening, Psychology Today, June 2019
“Is Dirt the New Prozac?” Discover Magazine, June 13, 2007
Lee Altier; “Horticulture Therapy - Growing vegetables for physical and mental well-being"
The 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.
Cool season plants like a warm start, so it's not too early to begin adding some of them to the vegetable garden now. In this way you can extend the harvest of both warm season crops and cool season veggies.
Many fall crops survive a bit of chill. The date to plant out frost-tolerant transplants like kale, chard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower is somewhat flexible. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are best started indoors or purchased as transplants.
But what to do about all the plants already growing in the beds? This is where the magic begins. Previously it was believed by many that plants compete with one another for nutrients and water. The planting bed had to be denuded of the early crop and maybe even left fallow for a time before replanting in that space. Newer research shows that plants grow better when a variety of other plants grow nearby. Dr. Christina Jones, a soil ecologist from Australia who speaks at regenerative agriculture forums throughout the world says, “Every plant exudes its own unique blend of sugars, enzymes, phenols, amino acids, nucleic acids, auxins, gibberellins and other biological compounds….The greater the diversity of plants, the greater the diversity of microbes and the more robust the soil ecosystem.” These various soil microbes bring nutrients to the plant in exchange for sugars discharged by the roots. The wider array of available nutrients from a diverse group of plants increases an individual plant's ability to fight off diseases and pests, and increases the nutrient density of the plant. Basically, the plant grows better and is ultimately more nutritious when consumed. This diversity can be achieved by employing a combination of succession planting and “No Till” gardening techniques.
- A crop can be seeded in the place where another plant was harvested.
- The next crop can be planted among the existing crop (intercropping). This has advantages in August since foliage from older plants offer sun protection to tender seedlings.
- Several compatible plants can be planted together (companion planting).
- The same crop can be seeded at different time intervals for continuous, smaller harvests (successive plantings).
So there are a variety of ways in which new plantings can be mixed into existing beds, but what is the best way to do this? The old image of a row of chard separated from a row of broccoli by a clean path of dirt is giving way to a more heterogeneous look. Farmer pioneers and soil scientists like David Montgomery, Anne Bikle, Dr. Christine Jones, Dr. David Johnson, and Gabe Brown urge farmers and gardeners to get rid of the shovel or plow, mulch like crazy, plant multiple species, leave roots in the soil, and get some cows. The cows may not be feasible in your yard, but incorporating the other principles can enhance the health of your garden and bring more nutrients to your food.
To understand the advantages of No Till planting, imagine the roots of your existing plants creating a series of subterranean paths. These are channels which allow water to penetrate more deeply into the soil. They are the highways over which fungi, bacteria, and a world of other microbes travel. The casing of a root is covered with this life. In a vital, populated microbiome, it will take less time for roots of a new seedling to tap into this abundance than it would if it were being planted into a stripped environment. Digging and turning the soil also disrupts this preexisting helpful network.
Succession planting and starting cool season vegetables early will extend the harvest, but remember that it is hot and new plants dry out quickly. Water more frequently until your fall garden is established.
If you are interested in learning more about No Till gardening and building up soil health, the Master Gardeners are offering a three-part course, “Gardening from the Ground Up,” as part of their Fall Workshop series this September and October via Zoom. For details of this and the other Fall Workshops, visit our website.
First Frost Dates (PDF)
Vegetable Planting Guides for our area:
Vegetable Planting Guide Chico Valley Area
Vegetable Planting Guide for the Foothills
To view some of Dr. Christine Jones's talks on soil health, click here:
Gabe Brown, Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018.
The 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.
- Author: Laura Lukes
Someone needs to tell the Urban Forests Ecosystems Institute (UFEI) that their tree location map is missing the desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) that was planted at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch several years ago.
A second great feature on the UFEI website is its registry of California's Big Trees – a description of the largest known individual specimen in the state. Porterville is where you will find the largest desert willow in California. Although the tree normally doesn't top out at over 25 feet, the specimen in Porterville is 40 feet tall, with a canopy spread of 36 feet and a trunk circumference of just over six feet. Pretty big for a tree billed by multiple sources as a “small accent tree” for your native landscaping.
Since true willows love moist environments, “desert willow” is an oxymoron; C. linearis is not a true willow but a relative of the catalpa tree and a member of the trumpet vine family (Bignoniaceae). Its leaves do mimic those of willows: they are long and slender with smooth margins and waxy surfaces. The wax coating enables the tree to conserve water in the hot climates it prefers. The shape of the flowers, combined with the shape of its leaves, earned the desert willow its taxonomical name: Cheilos is Greek for lips, and opsis translates from Greek as “resembles.” The bright two-toned flowers (purple, lavender or pink, with white) have the tubular, droopy bottom lip shape characteristic of trumpet vine blossoms.
There are many common names for this lovely tree: flowering willow, desert catalpa, willow-leaved catalpa, willowleaf catalpa, bow willow, flor de mimbre, and mimbre. Mimbre is a Spanish word that is sometimes translated as willow or wicker, but technically means the twigs and sprigs of willow trees that were woven into baskets or furniture.
The desert willow is native to the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico; its native range in California is restricted to the arid southern portions of our state, primarily San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The US Department of Agriculture notes that it can occur naturally as far east as southwest Kansas and eastern Oklahoma. Anywhere that's hot, sunny, and dry, and not above 5,000 feet in elevation will support this hardy tree with a life span of between 40 and 150 years.
The desert willow planted at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden does provide a little bit of shade to the succulents planted beneath it, but its real value lies in the rich blue-green of its leaves and the eye-catching color and shape of its sweet-smelling flowers. Where it occurs in nature, it creates the feeling of a small oasis in the middle of dry desert washes. As a landscape specimen, it adds a lush look during summer heat to the native, drought resistant garden. It's a winning choice for a specimen tree.
The 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.
Milkweed is a drought-tolerant and deer-resistant perennial plant named for its milky latex sap. It is a great host plant for many beneficial insects including Monarch butterflies, bees, beetles, and lady beetles (ladybugs).
Milkweed plants develop large fleshy seed pods which pop open when mature, freeing the seeds. Attached to the seeds are fine tufts of hair (called pappus or silk) which aid dispersal of the seeds: as the wind blows, it catches the silky hairs, carrying the seeds away from the plant. The seeds can be collected from the pods for later propagation or left alone to re-seed themselves. Milkweed can also be propagated from cuttings or root divisions.
Milkweed is the only plant on which the Monarch butterfly will lay eggs. If larvae hatch on your milkweed you might notice the plant's leaves being devoured by the caterpillar. Do not cut it back or pull it up. Once the caterpillar morphs into a butterfly the leaves will grow back.
Milkweed commonly attracts a yellow aphid known as Oleander aphid. This aphid will not destroy the plant and will not infest nearby roses or vegetable gardens. It is plant specific: think of the Oleander aphid as food for the lady beetles. Avoid using pesticides or herbicides that might damage these breeding and feeding areas.
Despite having the word ‘weed' in its name, milkweed can be an interesting addition to your home landscape. It is generally non-invasive and easy to grow and care for. Milkweed requires full sun. It will need some water until it is established. Some varieties will die back with a heavy frost or snow but will return in late spring. If the plant re-seeds itself, you can either leave the new plants in place or dig them up to share with neighbors.
For more information on area-specific native milkweed, and to purchase seed the Theodore Payne Foundation is an excellent source.
The 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.
- Author: Laura Lukes
This final discussion of Eriogonum, or wild buckwheat, examines three beauties that are grown at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch: E. nudum; E. umbellatum; and E. grande var. rubescens (previous articles in this series have looked at E. giganteum and E. fasciculatum).
Species Focus – Eriogonum nudum
A progenitor of up to sixteen subspecies and variants, E. nudum is distributed widely throughout the western quadrant of North America, from Alberta and British Columbia in Canada down to the southern border of California and the eastern border of Nevada. Its ability to thrive along the coast at sea level and in wet conditions make it an outlier in the buckwheat realm.
The stems and flowers can reach up to six feet high, but usually clock in at three to four feet. The entire display dies back in winter, to begin again the following spring.
The many common names of this plant include naked, nude, or barestem buckwheat, and naked-stemmed Eriogonum. Native American peoples found several uses for its hairless stems: the Karuk tribe of Siskiyou County and the Miwok tribe of California's Central Coast ate young, tender stems raw; while older stems were upended with the leaves still attached for use as brooms. The Kawaiisu peoples of southeastern California used the hollow stems as smoking pipes and drinking straws.
This species, best known as sulphur or sulphurflowered buckwheat, boasts even more subspecies and variants than E. nudum: up to forty! While most naked buckwheat species resemble one another, the numerous sulphurflowered buckwheat species appear in many guises: from a little perennial herb less than four inches tall to a rambling shrub six feet high and wide. Leaves can be wooly and hairy or smooth and bare. The flowers vary wildly too, ranging from white to purple, orange, and a bright (sulfurous) yellow.
Generally speaking, though, sulphurflowered buckwheat forms a low, broad mat from four inches to two feet tall and wide. The clusters of tiny flowers are borne on stems ranging from three to sixteen inches tall. According to the US Department of Agriculture's Plant Profile, “floral displays can color entire slopes starting in June at lower elevations and continue into September or October at higher elevations.”
Sulphur buckwheats are native to the western mountains of North America, and are found in roughly the western third of Canada and the U.S., as far east as Colorado and New Mexico. They can live at elevations of up to 12,000 feet. As with other buckwheats, they are not only an important food source for bees and butterflies, but animals as large as deer and mountain sheep will browse their leaves.
Throughout the American and Canadian west, Native peoples found a number of medicinal uses for various parts of the sulphur buckwheat. Paiute and Shoshone tribes mashed leaves and roots into a poultice for both lameness and rheumatism, and drank a hot tea of simmered roots for colds or stomachaches. Closer to home, the Klamath Indians soothed burns with a poultice made of its leaves.
Species Focus – Eriogonum grande (var. rubescens)
A mere three subspecies belong to E. grande (Island or Redflower buckwheat), and all are native to California's Channel Islands. E. grande var. grande is found on several of the Channel Islands, and the very rare E. grande var. timorum is native to the southern Channel Island of St. Nicolas. The only one that is available horticulturally (according to Calscape) is the variety planted at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden: E. grande var. rubescens. This buckwheat is commonly called red-flowered buckwheat or simply red buckwheat and is extensively planted in native gardens state-wide due to its beauty, compact form, and blooms that last up to seven months.
Which brings us to the fact that grande is an odd name for a species known for its neat and petite growth habit, and which spreads neither quickly nor very far. (Maybe this is why a certain coffee chain got the idea to name its smallest coffee size “grande?”)
The best thing about planting long-flowering natives in your yard is the sheer volume of bees and butterflies that will visit to feed. That, their low water needs, and signature frilly blooms make wild buckwheats a choice addition to your native, drought-resistant garden.
I hope this peek into a few of the many wild buckwheat species will entice you to plant some in your garden. Please be sure to check the Calflora website for photos of each of the 256 wild buckwheat species.
The 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.