Our conclusion to this series on Garden Design Basics leads you through the final steps needed to create your new landscape. Eager as you may be to get your plants into the ground, this ultimate preparation phase is as important as all of the others.  To save time and money, we recommend that the last thing you do is go shopping for plants!

Timing: The time of year you plant affects plant success. Most natives, in fact most plants in general, thrive best when planted in our cool seasons, fall through early spring. Milder temperatures and (fingers crossed) rain, allow them to establish sturdy root systems that will help them tolerate the summer heat.  Plants that are completely cold-hardy in our area can be planted at any time during our cool seasons.  For plants that are marginally hardy, install in early fall as very cold temperatures may stress these new plants. (Bulbs, in particular iris, are an exception to the cool-season planting rule, as they do best when divided and replanted in late July or early August.)  

Infrastructure: Before digging any holes for plants, complete the installation of your infrastructure, including all hardscape, irrigation lines, and drainage facilities. Build berms, install focal point(s), pour concrete, place landscape rocks; all of this comes before the living elements are added.  Planting beds can be outlined with rocks at the same time as planting, if the rocks are relatively small and placing them will not disturb the plants.

Irrigation: Before planting is also the ideal time to test your newly installed or revamped irrigation system: make sure that flow and volume are correct, and that emitters for hydrozones (if included in your design) are properly sized. Resources for learning more about drip irrigation include the Butte County Master Gardener website. 

Soil Preparation: Critical to plant survival and success is the health of your soil. We touched on soil structure and type briefly in Part One of this series. (The ideal soil ratio is 25% air, 25% water, 5% organic matter, and 45% mineral matter.) Now it is time to consider soil tilth, which means the physical condition of the soil, especially in relation to its suitability for growing plants. In its ideal healthiest state, soil is alive with millions of organisms per teaspoon. Within that teaspoon live 100 million to 1 billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and from ten to several hundred nematodes. Our job as gardeners is to ensure that the inhabitants of the soil food web are fed and cared for. Their needs are the same as those of any living being: air, food, water, and protection from abuse.

• AIR: Compaction is the bane of healthy soil. It reduces space for air and water movement and creates anaerobic conditions (which in turn attract and feed detrimental bacteria, fungi, and protozoa). Try to protect your soil from heavy foot traffic and heavy equipment during hardscape installation. Lay down wide boards to distribute the weight more evenly in areas that experience a lot of foot and wheelbarrow traffic. Keep heavy equipment use to a minimal, restricted area if possible.
• FOOD: Organic compost and mulch provide nutrients to soil. Nutrients from organic mulches are leached into the soil through rains and irrigation, while organic composts are manually incorporated into the soil itself. Composted organic materials improve air and water movement, improve soil structure, reduce surface crusting and soil erosion, and increase water absorption and infiltration. Organic mulches reduce soil erosion, reduce annual weeds, and reduce evaporation and runoff. Good examples of organic mulches include leaves and the various sizes of wood chips.
• WATER: The texture of soil directly affects its ability to hold or shed water. Soils with a high proportion of clay drain poorly, creating waterlogged environments low in oxygen.  This is hard on the roots of most plants and on the organisms which thrive in healthy soil. Soils that are too sandy allow water to leach nutrients below the root zone and have a low water holding capacity, allowing moisture stress to occur more quickly. Amending either soil type with compost can help: adding compost to clay soil increases aeration and water infiltration; adding compost to sandy soil increases its water and nutrient holding capacity.
• PROTECTION FROM ABUSE: Compaction is not the only form of soil misuse. Erosion is a culprit as well: overwatering bare soil can cause runoff and reduce the nutrients in the soil.  Applying mulches and/or incorporating groundcover plants can protect soil from eroding on a slope. Create mini-berms around plants on slopes, and add terraces to steep yards during the hardscape phase of garden preparation. Neglect is another form of abuse! Check plants on a regular basis to catch pest infestations or signs of stress. Irrigation systems need regular check-ups too, as small rodents and problems with water pressure can wreak havoc on water lines and emitters.

Weed Control: After hardscape installation and before planting, consider sheet mulching, an effective and long-lasting method to control weeds, particularly in a new landscape. Details are available here: http://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/Blog/ (enter sheet mulching as your search term). In sheet mulching, layers of newspaper and/or cardboard are covered with a thick layer of shredded or chipped bark, suffocating even the most persistent weeds. Plant holes are then dug into the covered area per your garden design. In general, applying mulch at a recommended depth of four to six inches will help control weeds. Hand pulling weeds, early and often before they seed, will save you time and grief down the road.

Now you can go shopping. Happy Gardening!

This series of Real Dirt articles summarizes the presentation Butte County Master Gardener Eve Werner created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series. Please watch our website for our Fall 2017 Workshop Series. For more information about the Butte County Master Gardener Program, please visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/

By Alicia Springer, UC Butte County Master Gardeners, August 11, 2017. 

We Californians understand the concept of summer dormancy: “Those hills aren't brown, they're beautifully golden!” We know that the cycle of seasons plays out a bit more dramatically across our hot, dry countryside than in locales where the landscape stays predictably green throughout the summer.

The dog days of summer are a muted, in-between time in the native garden. Dry-climate plants have developed strategies for coping with high summer, whether on a rocky ledge in the foothills or in your back yard. Spring-blooming species stop producing new flowers and greenery and put all their energy into seed production. Late bloomers haven't yet hit their stride. Once-vibrant foliage looks faded and the vivid flowers of spring are a memory. Even long-blooming garden favorites such as sages, buckwheats, and sunflowers might take a breather from profuse flowering, and resume blooming when temperatures are a bit milder.

This doesn't mean that the late summer native garden lacks beauty or interest. To a native plant lover, the architectural punch of a milkweed pod bursting with silky seed is more than a match for the pink and orange zing of a zinnia. The deep red of a manzanita branch, revealed as the dry outer bark peels away, is as rich as any rose. Our native garden selections show off their wild origins with a more natural effect than conventional garden hybrids bred for tidy flower production, but native plant enthusiasts embrace and accept a wilder aesthetic.

A visit to the Butte County Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at the Patrick Ranch shows how various species hold up through a valley heat wave. Both the California Native garden and the Native Habitat garden are zones planted solely with natives, and natives are incorporated into several of the other garden zones, including the Mediterranean garden and the Butte All-Stars. How do they look now at the height of summer? The California Native garden's collage of green, silver, and tawny shades; the varying heights and textures; and the abundant sprawl of stems, branches, and seedheads make a pleasing whole.  Some specimens in the two native gardens look positively snappy—the manzanita ‘Louis Edmunds' (Arctostaphylos bakeri ‘Louis Edmunds'), the redbud (Cercis occidentalis), the ceanothus ‘Blue Jeans' (C. maritimus ‘Blue Jeans'), the canyon sagebrush (Artemisia californica ‘Canyon Gray'), and the coffeeberry ‘Eve Case' (Frangula californica ‘Eve Case') all look like their answer to heat is “no sweat.” The deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) and California fescue (Festuca californica) still look pretty lively and illustrate why grasses are indispensable garden features. Bees are feeding on the fragrant pitcher sage (Lepechinia fragrans ‘el tigre'), the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and the goldenrod (Solidago velutina ssp. californica), which are still blooming a bit; soon the California fuchsia (Epilobium canum) will begin to bloom, pleasing the hummingbirds.

Most other species in the two native gardens look exactly as they should right now, exhibiting varying degrees of browning leaf edges, a mix of fresh and dried blooms, seedheads (some left unclipped for the birds), and fresh-to-fading greenery. The showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) and narrow-leafed milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) display fat and burst pods, respectively. The wilting California rose (Rosa californica) is left un-deadheaded so it can develop its tiny hips. There are several different species of penstemon in the two gardens, with bloom times ranging from early spring to midsummer; they have finished flowering for the season, but are holding on valiantly to await another summer. The snapdragon bush (Keckiella antirrhinoides), coyote mint (Monardella villosa) and gum plant (Grindelia camporum) are well on their way to complete dormancy, right on schedule.

One corner of the California Native garden shows to advantage many different buckwheats (Eriogonum), which maintain striking good looks. The California buckwheat (E. fasciculatum), still a mass of creamy pompom flowers, rises above three others: the sulfur buckwheat (E. umbellatum), its flowers drying and darkening to an attractive rust; the ruby buckwheat (E. grande var. rubescens), a mix of fresh pink and drying flower heads, with green leaves curling to show pale undersides; and the spindly stalks of the naked buckwheat (E. nudum) are still attracting bees.

The watering regimen applied at these zones of native plants in the Demonstration Garden is a useful general guideline for drought-tolerant native species. We use a drip system with one two-gallon emitter on each specimen. We turn on irrigation in mid- to late June as the summer heats up, and water once every two weeks for 30 minutes, delivering around a gallon to each plant. Plants are watered throughout their first two summer seasons; for their first summer, newcomers planted in the fall or spring get additional hand-watering so they are watered weekly, and for the second summer, they receive the twice-monthly automated drip. After two summer cycles, emitters are removed from the most xeric specimens and they get no further scheduled irrigation. With this regular but spare watering, plants retain garden-worthy flowers and foliage longer than they would in the harsh outback.

When incorporating California natives into your own garden, follow these rules of thumb:

• Don't overwater. No amount of irrigation can coax a summer-dormant plant into bursting forth anew with fresh blooms and foliage. In fact, the best way to kill a heat-struck plant is to withhold water for weeks and then suddenly shock it with a midsummer flood. Take care to research the specific water needs for the particular plants in your own garden; not all natives are drought-tolerant.
• No stress, please. Peak summer is not the time for overzealous pruning or fertilizing, both of which can force the plant to put out new growth when it's least likely to survive. Deadhead spent blooms (or let seed heads develop for birds), but resist the urge to completely whack back leggy growth and browning foliage. You can tidy up in the fall.
• Mix it up. Many non-native garden favorites from compatible dry-summer climates have been cultivated over time to bear up under heat stress. By all means, mix natives with non-natives, perennials with annuals—just be sure to group plants with similar water needs together. 
• Plan for succession. Early-season perennial bloomers, such as redbud, ceanothus, and bush lupines, give way to summer penstemons, salvias, yarrows, buckwheats, and a host of other beauties which provide color and interest well into late fall. Good places to start your research include the California Native Plant Society gardening website http://www.cnps.org/cnps/grownative, and our Butte County Master Gardeners website http://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/resources/drought.

By Barbara Ott, UC Butte County Master Gardeners, August 25, 2017.

Butte County has a Mediterranean climate where drought conditions occur naturally from May to October. During the recent drought, a wide variety of succulent plants became popular with local gardeners. Not only are succulents drought tolerant, they grow almost anywhere.  They require little care and only small amounts of soil to thrive.  They are bold and colorful.  Some are able to take short dry freezes and hot sun, although most need some filtered shade in the heat of the Sacramento Valley.                      

Succulents are one of the easiest plants to propagate. This can be done in a variety of ways:  by removing “pups” or offsets, or through leaf cuttings, stem cuttings or divisions. Propagation is performed most successfully in autumn and spring. Although succulents are easy to propagate, some will take a year or more to become mature. 

Offsets are small plants that grow at the base of the main specimen.  Aloe, Echeveria, and Sempervivum (hens and chicks) all produce offsets.  To propagate more plants from a mature offset-producing specimen, follow these steps:

1)  Remove offsets with a sharp clipper, or by twisting gently.

2)  Be careful to avoid damaging any roots that have already emerged.

3)  Place the offsets into cactus mix or a combination of sand and perlite.

4)  Spray water directly, but gently and sparingly, on the offset daily.  Do not soak the soil.

5)  Wait three to four weeks for strong roots to develop.

Sedum, Crassula, and Graptopetalum are best propagated by leaf cuttings. Each leaf can become a new plant. For propagating these species, follow these steps:

1)  Choose a leaf in good health.

2)  Pull the leaf off neatly.   Leaves that drop from the plant can be used if they are healthy and plump.  If you use clippers be sure the end of the leaf is not cut off.

3)  Let the leaf end dry for 1-3 days.  Do not water.  This allows the wound to seal and keeps pathogens out during the rooting process.

4)  Once the leaf ends are dry, place the leaves on top of dry cactus soil. Do not bury or semi-bury them into the soil. The roots will find their way into the soil on their own. You can also create a rooting medium by mixing together a 50/50 combination of compost and fine pumice or grit.

5)  Spray with water sparingly every one to two days for four to six weeks.  Do not soak.

6)  After a few weeks you will see pink roots at the ends of the leaves and then tiny baby plants will begin to grow.

7)  Once small plants have developed, separate them out and plant them in well-draining cactus soil, then water well once a week.        

All succulents can be propagated by division or stem cuttings, but it is more efficient to divide or stem cut Aeonium, Sedum, Cotyledons and Sansevieria, as follows:

1)  For Aeonium, cut the rosette from the stem.  For Sansevieria, cut a leaf in sections marking which way is down. For Sedum and Cotyledon, cut sections of the plants with leaves attached.

2)  Let all the parts dry out and create a callous where they have been cut.

3)  Once they are dry, put the sections into cactus soil.

4)  Spray on top of the cuttings regularly but sparingly.  Do not soak.

5)  They are rooted when you see new growth.

If a succulent looks leggy and unhappy simply cut it back and create a new healthier plant.  From one plant you can propagate enough succulents to plant them in masses. Enjoy the plant magic of propagating succulents!

Heads Up!  The Master Gardeners will run a workshop on succulents Tuesday, September 26^th, from 10–11:30 am at their Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch (10381 Midway, Durham).  Learn how to select, plant, and care for succulents, and how to combine different succulents for color and textural interest in the garden.  Registration is required. Register at our website: ucanr.edu/p/56426.

By Jeff Oster, UC Butte County Master Gardeners, September 15, 2017.

According to one version of the Greek legend, the beautiful young hunter Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and drowned trying to touch it. Daffodils were given his name due to the beauty of their reflections in water.

The genus ‘Narcissus' (amaryllis family) includes daffodils, jonquils, and paperwhites. All forms of narcissus make lovely additions to the garden, and daffodils in particular are hardy and easy-to-care-for perennials.  Depending on the daffodil type, their leafless stems will bear between one and twenty showy flowers in yellow or white, accented in some varieties with orange or even green trumpet or cup-shaped central coronas. Daffodils will cheer up an area between shrubs or in a border, and are especially effective planted in drifts beneath deciduous trees. They make excellent cut flowers, and attract pollinators such as butterflies and hawkmoths.  By carefully selecting varieties and considering their bloom times, you can enjoy a pageant of daffodils flowering in your garden from late January through April. Many varieties are also good for planting in pots and “forcing” to bloom indoors ahead of their regular flowering times.

For outdoor display, daffodils should be planted in the fall, between September and December (November is perhaps the best time). Select high-quality bulbs that have not dried out. Generally, the larger the bulb, the better. Plant in full sun or part shade.  Daffodils tolerate a range of soils but grow best in moderately fertile, well-drained soil that is moist during the growing season.  They prefer neutral to acidic soils.

Daffodils are most effective if planted in groups of ten or more of a single type. Pay attention to bloom times and plant heights if you are planting different varieties in the same area. Bury bulbs with their pointy ends up, two to three times as deep as the bulb is tall, spacing them three to six inches apart. To prevent bulb rot, avoid watering in warm fall weather, but do water them for two to three weeks after they have bloomed if the weather is dry.

Over time, daffodils that have naturalized will become crowded and will bloom less.  Apply a low-nitrogen, high-potassium fertilizer after flowering if bulbs are not performing as well as expected (or as well as in previous years). Lift and divide the clumps when they become over-crowded and/or flowering becomes sparse. Plants can actually be divided and transplanted when they are flowering, which can help you place them for best effect over the years.

After bloom, allow the plants to grow until the leaves die back (in May or June) so the bulbs can store energy for next year. Let dead leaves decompose in place or remove them by twisting and pulling lightly, to avoid pulling up the bulbs.

Daffodils are both deer-resistant and rodent-proof but are poisonous to pets. Common pest problems include large narcissus bulb fly, bulb scale mite, narcissus nematode, slugs, narcissus basal rot, and a number of viruses.

Here is a suggested list of four varieties for continuous daffodil flowering from late January to April. Each is a naturalizing variety, so they will increase and continue to bloom in succeeding years if left in the ground.

• “King Alfred,” a large, trumpet type that blooms early to mid-spring, with one flower per stem, 13 to 18 inches tall. Others of this type are “Dutch Master,” “Golden Harvest,” and “Marieke.”
• “Jetfire,” a cyclamineus type with a bright orange cup that blooms early to mid-spring, with one flower per stem, 13 to 18 inches tall. Performs wonderfully in pots; terrific for forcing; more tolerant of partial shade and moisture than other groups.
• “Quail,” a jonquilla type, blooms mid- to late spring, has two to three highly fragrant flowers per stem, grows 12 to 18 inches tall. Good choice for containers, rock gardens and dainty spring bouquets.
• “Geranium,” a tazetta type, blooms mid- to late spring, has up to six flowers per stem, grows 13 to 18 inches tall.

The sight of daffodils blooming on a spring day can pay dividends long after their bloom has past – William Wordsworth certainly found this to be true, as demonstrated by one of his best-loved poems:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,|
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

For further information about selecting and growing daffodils, see:  http://daffodilusa.org/daffodil-info/daffodil-faqs/

http://www.daffodil.org/ for Northern California