- Author: Peggy Smith
We are gardeners but we can also wear other hats! Conservationist! Restoration specialist! Education! Preservation supporter!
While researching family histories I was curious as to the ecosystems, both in pre-European and post European times, encountered as ancestors moved from east to west, through the soon to be territories, states, and counties. As Master Gardeners we know that there are gardening basics, but within each state and each county there will be very differing climates in which native plants adapt and thrive.
A description from a ‘History of Hamilton County, Indiana' brought me up short and encapsulated the drastic and overwhelming changes that have occurred in what truly is the blink of an eye in historical time.
LEVELING THE FORESTS
After the first settlement was well-established the industrious farmers began to cut their way back into the dense forest and by slow but steady degrees to transform this vast, dreary wilderness into the beautiful country it is today. They struck out boldly in all directions … here and there over the township* sprang into life the busy villages … a network of gravel roads replaced the Indian trail… Where once the Indian hunted and his campfires gleamed, the waving fields of corn, oats, rye, and wheat now flourish abundantly, while orchards of apples, plums and peaches lend their charm to the picture.
*township was an area of land that was divided into acreages around villages.
This perfectly described the European settlement hubris and the presumption of ‘Manifest Destiny' of the western movement.
Thinking locally my thoughts then turned to how much have we lost? How much can we conserve? How much can we restore? What have we protected? Can we as gardeners contribute?
How much have we lost? Much of the California landscape has been affected but there are many projects that contribute to the preservation of our original ecosystems. One local example is the Yolo Bypass.
California has lost millions of acres of wetlands that used to be across the valley floor. As we have built and farmed, we have diverted streams, dried out marshlands and built dams that have reduced the support system of wetland plants and water for the Pacific Flyway, which is the west coast migration route for birds from the Artic to the tip of South America. I love to hear the call of the geese and ducks as they pass overhead, for me that is the sign that fall is here. This is a great source for information on how wetlands work and why they are important. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dcfa9c9fa6464e89a45924a4ebec5a15#
What have we restored? “The Yolo Basin was once nearly 80,000-acre wetland teeming with wildlife from herds of tule elk roaming its marshes to dense clouds of migratory waterfowl seeking winter food and shelter. Over time, the basin has been profoundly altered by human activity.” We drive over the causeway back and forth in our busy lives while just below us is the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, https://yolobasin.org/yolobypasswildlifearea/ a wonderful conservation project that supports the Pacific Flyway. “The Bypass is a key component of the habitat restoration planned as part of the Cal/Fed Bay Delta Accord process now underway and is a vital element of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture's habitat restoration goals. The Foundation is an important local player in implementing these many plans.”
This is a wonderful place to visit and there is nothing more magical than the large flocks of redwing blackbirds with their burbling calls as they flit in the reeds.
A gardener can't build a Pacific Flyway but we can build a pond to provide habitat for dragonflies and damselflies and provide a water source for native bees and birds.
Yolo Gardener Summer 2019 “My First Wildlife Pond
https://vms-mg.ucanr.edu/files/mg/documents/6215The%5FYolo%5FGardener80452.pdf
What have we protected?
The Central Valley used to be home to many vernal pool ecosystems (seasonal lakes that exist only in the winter and spring) locally we have Jepson Prairie just a short drive to Dixon. These Vernal Pools of the Jepson Prairie Reserve provide wetland habitat for migratory waterfowl and wading birds and is home to 5 rare and endangered animals. Altogether over 400 species and 64 families of plants, including 15 rare and endangered plants. I have been on several docent led tours and I always marvel at the lifecycles of both the flora, fauna and insect life.
https://naturalreserves.ucdavis.edu/jepson-prairie
Reflection on a Vernal Pool by Willa Pettygrove
https://vms-mg.ucanr.edu/files/mg/documents/6215The%5FYolo%5FGardener69778.pdf
Can we as gardeners contribute?
As gardeners are we accepting our local climate? There are many plants that are exquisitely beautiful, such as azaleas and rhododendrons, but they don't belong here. Our soil is alkaline – they love acidic soil; we have a dry hot summer climate – they love moisture and cool temperatures. We are even pushing it to grow redwoods, they thrive in the forest environment, and they can uptake 160 gallons of water per day in the dry summer months and actually receive 40% of their moisture requirements from the fog as it condenses on the canopy and drips to the forest floor.
Here are some places where information and plants are available so that when you add to or redesign an old garden it is a more complimentary selection of plants that will be happy in our climate. By planting natives, we provide sustenance and habitat for the great variety of native insects, birds and pollinators of our region.
1) The Putah Creek Watershed Native Reserve is a great example of a fairly new project with careful consideration of the local CA Native plants of the area. The site is divided into three areas that are examples of native plants found in the surrounding watershed area of Putah Creek. “The goal is to educate community members on attractive species they can use to replace their lawn, to provide a seed collection source for the nursery and a place to experiment with propagation and weed control.”https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/efcc7294662b4cfb92c72283ceff8715
2) UC Davis Arboretum – a wonderful place to walk and see plants in all seasons making it easy to decide if a plant is too big, too small or the ideal Goldilocks plant for a certain place in your garden. The website has both general plant information https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu and detailed information on Climate Ready Gardening https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/climate-ready-toolkit.
3) The California Native Plant Society has a chapter in Sacramento. The SacValley Chapter's Homegrown Habitat initiative promotes increased individual, community, and civic engagement in the effort to significantly increase the number of native plants in landscapes to support wildlife habitat and ecosystem. They also have a newsletter that is full of information, you do not need to be a member to receive the newsletter. https://www.sacvalleycnps.org
We, as gardeners, and our gardens, are examples to others walking or driving by, we can educate and teach by example the wonderful CA Natives and plants from other similar regions that will thrive here.
![photo by Peg Smith photo by Peg Smith](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/mgyoloblog24/blogfiles/108518.jpg)
- Author: Mary Connolly
“My Orb Spider friend” was in a Sacramento Digs newsletter last year when I first read about Orb spiders. Before reading the article, I had mistakenly assumed the ones I had seen were poisonous. I had recently learned what a black widow spider looked like, and we have a lot around our house, so all webs were considered fair game for extermination. I had walked into some webs that spanned impressive distances: between Rose of Sharon bushes six feet apart, across the back walkway from citrus tree to a raised wall, across Smoke Trees. Fortunately, the spiders did not land on me. Now, I admire the beautiful webs spun in such an intricate and strong pattern that Charlotte and Wilbur would approve of. It is fun to show my grandchildren the webs and the insects that have been caught and bundled. The spiders themselves, now that I know they are friendly, are also fun to observe. Up close, their markings look ferocious; from far away, they blend into the landscape. I have become much more aware to look for them before I go down a path, or water the cherry tomatoes in the garden bed that has a small pomegranate tree next to them. I have noticed that they like to anchor on trees or plants that have slender protuberances, like redwood needles or the pomegranate thorns. That said, one guy, or gal, had the audacity to spin a web right across the door frame of one the sheds in the side yard. Thankfully I saw it, at eye level, or I would have been wearing it. I gently loosened one side of the web and the spider moved with haste on the web to the side of the door and curled up, or whatever spiders do to hide. I wouldn't exactly say that I am having a similar experience to “My Octopus Teacher” (sweet documentary from 2020), but my Orb Spider friends have certainly enriched my outdoor time and added to my overall garden knowledge!
![photo by Mary Connolly photo by Mary Connolly](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/mgyoloblog24/blogfiles/108467.png)
- Author: JD Trebec
Before moving to California about a decade ago, I lived in Tucson, Arizona. Although my new home in Woodland is rightfully known as the Food Front, thanks to the fertile farmland that surrounds it, Tucson also has a highly regarded relationship with food. Tucson is one of two cities in the United States recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a City of Gastronomy in recognition of its Sonoran food culture. The city is a center of regional foods that arose in northern Mexico and the Southwestern US. These run the gamut from Sonoran-style hot dogs to wild foods like cactus fruit to local varieties of squash and beans developed by the indigenous people of the border region.
One Tucson crop that I brought with me to try in the fertile soils of the Sacramento Valley is my favorite bean, the tepary. Tepary beans were domesticated by the Tohono O'odham nation of the Sonoran Desert. Tepary beans are a cultivar of Phaseolus acutifolius, a bean species well adapted to life in the desert. The bean plants have narrow teardrop-shaped leaves that turn their surface parallel to the sun's rays to reduce water loss when the sun is too intense.
Traditionally, tepary beans are planted in areas of stormwater runoff from the late summer monsoons in the Southwestern US. They need wet soils to germinate but then are extremely drought tolerant and can survive the vagaries of desert rain and the dry autumn that follows the monsoon. Too much water actually reduces the number of beans produced as more energy is put into growing foliage. The plants grow quickly and beans may be harvested in as little as two months.
The beans are small, about the size of a lentil, with a nutty taste and firm texture. Different varieties are colored brown, black, or white. They are high in protein and research has identified amino sugars specific to the species that protect the bean from heat and prevent the bean's protein from denaturing. I love the beans in my vegetarian chili, but they make a great bean dip or pot of beans as well.
I had always assumed that tepary beans were only known in the Tucson area so I was surprised when I spotted them as an ingredient in snack foods from India. While trying to discover when they were introduced to India, I found that they were once grown in California as well. A USDA pamphlet states that in 1918, California had 17,000 acres planted in tepary bean, but market forces and public preferences caused the tepary bean to fall from favor in the 1920's.
There has been some recent interest in harnessing the tepary bean's heat and drought tolerance as the world becomes warmer which has led to reduced yields in common beans that don't do as well in the heat. A 2015 NPR story describes how Colombian researchers have managed a cross of tepary and common beans that is already benefiting farmers in Central America and Africa. I'm happy to see a little respect for tepary beans, but don't understand why they aren't more widely grown as they are delicious and already adapted for a warmer future.
USDA information: https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs-pg_phac.pdf
- Author: DJ Andriessen
Now that the Learning Garden in Clarksburg is planted and a great many weeds removed, we needed to concentrate on irrigation. Twice a week, for several hours, we drug a long, heavy hose to the different areas in need of water. This proved to be an arduous, hot, and time-consuming job, but as we all know, water is life, not only to us but also to plants.
Kathy's brother-in-law, Paul reviewed the electrical for the many irrigation stations. He spent several hours testing, repairing, and testing again until he was sure the lines were ready to be hooked up.
Kathy and I met early on a Saturday morning. The beginning temperature was 85 degrees. We laid out the main lines and went to work, punching the holes and adding the drips. We wanted to add one drip per each plant. Using a measure of about an arm's length per drip, we cut the line, attached the couplers, and then the drips.
In the past, I have used a plastic ‘punch', a tool meant to create holes in the main lines. This tool has historically been less useful than frustrating; making dents in the lines instead of holes or creating holes larger than the couplers, thus causing more work to be done by cutting out that line portion. Today, however, Kathy brought a new green tool to the table. It is a plastic device with a metal spike that gets squeezed into the main line, creating a sure and easy hole. What a miraculous invention!
While Kathy prepped the drips as I familiarized myself with the new tool and moved along, punching holes like a pro! Once I punched the hole, I could insert the coupler, and Kathy followed behind, attaching the drips. The process proved to be faster than I had ever experienced. This would have been more enjoyable if the heat hadn't risen to the high 90s before we finished.
When all the work was completed, Kathy went to the pump house and systematically activated all the different stations so we could fine-tune the drips.
Once the lines were installed, activated, and adjusted, we sat back and congratulated ourselves, knowing that, although we were exhausted and overheated, we would no longer need to drag a hose around to irrigate the garden!
On a side note, I went to Lowe's the following day, and purchased the miracle ‘punch tool'.
- Author: Jennifer M Baumbach
As summer begins to wane and many flowers fade, the California Aster enters the spotlight. This resilient wildflower, native to the western United States, brings a burst of color to gardens and landscapes when other blooms are winding down.
The California Aster, scientifically known as Symphyotrichum chilense, is a hardy perennial that thrives in various conditions, from coastal dunes to dry inland areas. Its delicate, star-shaped flowers, ranging in shades from soft lavender to vibrant purple, offer a striking contrast to the golden tones of late summer. These blossoms, often adorned with bright yellow centers, create a beautiful tapestry that attracts bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, making it a vital player in supporting local ecosystems.
What makes the California Aster truly special is its resilience. It can withstand drought, poor soil, and even salty coastal air, making it a favorite among gardeners looking for low-maintenance plants that still deliver high-impact beauty. As the days grow shorter and the first hints of autumn arrive, this aster continues to bloom, offering a final burst of color that extends the garden season well into the fall.
In addition to its ornamental value, the California Aster has a long history of use in traditional medicine by indigenous peoples. They have utilized various parts of the plant to treat ailments. Its adaptability and enduring nature make it a lovely addition to any garden and a symbol of strength and perseverance.
As we transition from summer to fall, the California Aster reminds us that beauty can thrive even in the most challenging conditions. Its late-season blooms are a gentle reminder that every season has its unique charm and that nature's resilience is something to be celebrated.
![CA aster is a pollinator magnet. photo by Jennifer Baumbach CA aster is a pollinator magnet. photo by Jennifer Baumbach](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/mgyoloblog24/blogfiles/108250.jpg)