Monthly Archives: June 2008

decks and patios, Design trends, firepits, green design, landscape design, outdoor kitchens, Outdoor lighting, outdoor showers, water features

Affordable design trends

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We spend more time relaxing, playing and entertaining outdoors at this time of year. Your wish list might include a state-of-the-art outdoor kitchen and a pool with built-in spa but with todays gas and food prices those additions may be on hold for the time being. So what landscape design features can you implement on a budget to make your time outdoors really count?

Affordable design trends

  1. Water features – relaxing self-contained fountains are easy to set up. Some styles incorporate child-safe pond-less fountains. What about a simple outdoor shower with a Mexican pebble floor and vine covered lattice for privacy?
  2. Fire pits – you can warm your family and guests around a simple fire pit while you wait to install the pizza oven and outdoor fire place next year. Fire pits can be purchased ready-made or you can construct you own with fieldstone or concrete blocks. Either way they’re a fun addition to your patio or sitting area.
  3. Outdoor lighting – you’ll be amazed at how beautiful your garden looks when you add some lighting and how much you’ll want to stay outdoors after dark. Light a path or uplight the trunk of one of your trees. Back light a plant with interesting foliage or wash a wall with light. Todays solar lights are getting better and better and low voltage lights are more affordable, too.
  4. Stone in the garden – whether you want a seat wall to surround your patio or a permeable flagstone patio, stone lends a sense of permanence and elegance to your property.

Consider adding some new elements to your garden so that you can spend more time outdoors both in the evening and throughout the year.

vegetables

Tips for growing beans, melons, squash and corn

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You know the saying:  corn should be knee-high by the Fourth of July.  if yours is stunted or yellowish, one of the following factors may be the cause. Sweet corn is exacting in its growth requirements. Corn plants have extensive root systems and are very competitive. Thin plants to 12"-16" apart. Because corn is a heavy feeder, especially needing nitrogen, feed at planting time, then side dress when the plants are 8" tall and again when they are 18" tall. Corn needs abundant water throughout the season but especially from tasselling to picking time. Lastly, plants need deep healthy roots that develop in soils rich in organic matter, Heavy, poorly drained soils will produce dismal crops.

If you grow melons and squash, the hot weather recently may have inhibited fruit set. Use a small brush to transfer pollen from newly opened male flowers to the female flower which has a slightly enlarged base. Dust pollen onto the stigma in the center of the flower. You can also take a male flower, remove the petals and gently shake it directly over the female flowers.

High temps may also be affecting your beans. If your plants look healthy but only have a few fully formed pods, hot weather may be to blame. Flowers can drop before setting pods or even deteriorate right on the plants. Beans prefer temperatures between 70-80 degrees. Plants growing in soil that is either too wet or too dry are stressed by lack of oxygen. Irregular watering contributes to this problem. Weakened plants produce few pods. When you get your beans producing, be sure to harvest regularly so energy goes to forming new pods not seed production in mature pods.

Many plants, both vegetable and ornamental, are bothered by aphids and other sucking insects as well as foliage and flower eating bugs. From cucumber beetles, fleas beetles, stink bugs, weevils, curculios to borers , the list of trouble makers is endless. . To help deter them mix up some pepper spray in your kitchen.

  • 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce or 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 6 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 quart warm tap water

Let stand I hour, strain and spray plants either in the morning or evening.

fire safe landscaping

Fire safe landscaping

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There have been two fires close to where I live in Felton, one of which was only 5 miles or so away on Martin Grade in Bonny Doon.  This started me thinking: what is a landscape that is safer in a wildfire than another?  Here is what I found out.

Many people think they have to clear everything within 30 feet of their house to truly have a defensible space.  This is unnecessary and actually unacceptable because it leads to soil erosion and the destruction of animal habitats.  What we should want to do is retain the character of this beautiful area we live in, provide the food and shelter that our native wildlife are accustomed to AND reduce fire risk. 

For example, grasslands mowed to leave 4-6" of height allow insects, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals shelter, food and a place to reproduce. Leaving 4-6" standing also provides some erosion protection and shades out some of the weeds that follow disturbance.

Fire safe landscaping is a term used to describe defensible space.  It can look like a traditional landscape.  The idea is to surround the home with things less likely to burn and place them to provide separation between canopies and avoid creating fire ladders. Many homes may not have 30 ft. between their house and the property line but following these guidelines will help.  Plants in this area need to be the slowest to ignite and should produce the least amount of heat if they do burn.  There are plants with some fire resistance which include drought tolerant Mediterranean climate selections as well as natives. 

The key to fire resistance, though,is maintenance and keeping the moisture in the foliage high.  This may mean deep infrequent watering every month or two during the summer months.  For example,  Baccharis pilularis or dwarf coyote brush is generally considered highly flammable if its lush green top growth covers a hazardous tangle of dry branches and leaves several feet high.  Trim this plant down low in early spring, remove the dry undergrowth, follow with a light feeding and watering and the new top growth is now resistant to fire.

Drought tolerant plants with some fire resistance if properly maintained include trees like strawberry tree and western redbud.  Shrubs include escallonia, pittosporum, dwarf pomegranate and coffeeberry.   Groundcovers for areas closest to your house include ornamental strawberry, red fescue, and sedum.  Perennials to try:  yarrow, bush morning glory, coreopsis, fortnight lily, hens and chicks, daylily, lavender, penstemon, santolina,sticky monkey flower and society garlic.  Vines that resist fire when maintained and watered occasionally include pink jasmine, white potato vine, cape honeysuckle and star jasmine.     

In areas 30-70 ft. away from your house plant should be trimmed and thinned to create well-spaced groups and help prevent a fire in the wildland from spreading to your home.  Be cautious with slopes.  If you have a large lot, the fringe area should be inspected and maintained regularly to eliminate any build up of dry brush and litter.  This reduces the chance of surface as well as crown fires.  Extremely flammable plants have a high content of oil or resin and should be separated from each other, removed of dead branches and lower limbs, and kept free of dry debris anywhere around your property.  Extremely flammable pyrophytes like hollywood juniper, pines, fountain grass, japanese honeysuckle will need a higher level of maintenance. 

Other common plants that are highly flammable are manzanita, california sagebrush, california buckwheat, toyon, rosemary, deer grass and purple hopseed.  If you have these plants on your property yearly pruning and maintenance is important. All vegetation, including native plants and ornamentals in a residential landscape, is potential wildfire fuel.  Vegetation that is properly pruned and maintained, however, can slow a wildfire and reduce the amount of heat around your home.  Irrigation is vital in a fire safe landscape to maintain plant moisture especially in the 30 ft around your home.  Mulching around your plants will preserve this precious commodity in these times of drought.  Plantings beyond 30 ft. should be irrigated occasionally but to a lesser extent.  As you get 70-100 ft from the home, native plantings that require little or no irrigation should be used.

These are just come of the many tips for fire safe landscaping.  Find out more from the California Department of Forestry .

flowering shrubs, landscape design, perennials, plant diseases, Sudden oak death syndrome, trees,shrubs,vines,perennials

Sudden Oak Death Syndrome ( SOD )

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InDay Lilypreparing for a consultation for another site under native oak trees at risk for SOD I found the latest host list published by the Sudden Oak DeathTask Force . The new list updated March 2008 also lists plants naturally infected and lots of information re. spreading the fungus as well as tips on sanitation. The latest information on prevention and keeping the immune system of your trees up if also available. I did find that a few of the plants that I was going to recommend for homeowners with oaks on their property have now been listed as vectors. They are coffeeberry, toyon, berberis aquifolium, manzanita and some varieties of ceanothus. This is important information for all of us to know.

California Native Plants, fragrant plants

Big Basin State park

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Spent the afternoon hiking in Big Basin State Park in search of blooming Western azaleas. There are several large specimens right at park headquarters Western Azalea but I wanted to find some out in the forest. Our hike took us up into the shaded understory of old growth redwoods and douglas firs and the largest huckleberries I’ve ever seen. The weather was perfect. Earlier in the week temps hit mid 90’s but today was barely 80 degrees and very pleasant. It really wasn’t until we hit the lower part of Dool trail that we found the elusive Western azalea growing in the sun along the stream. The scent of this plant fills the air. Wonderful. Seems this plant will get quite large and grow happily in the shade but it just won’t bloom unless it’s in the sun. I plan to search more trails in the park for this very fragrant flowering shrub.

California Native Plants, Deer Resistant Plants, drought tolerant plants, landscape design

Designing under native oaks

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We are all interested in unthirsty plants these days. When I design gardens under our native oaks there are several principles that I follow that I want to share with you. Drought tolerant plants are a must in this situation. Evergreen oaks even have special needs requiring a different plant palette than deciduous oaks like blue and valley oaks.Bush anemone

Most oak roots are in the upper 3 ft of the soil. The roots which take up water and nutrients are in the upper 12". The critical root disease zone for an oak is within 6-10 ft of the trunk. Do not irrigate plants or disturb the soil in this area. Outside this zone but within the drip line one deep watering per month is allowable for your plantings.
The leaf mulch that accumulates under a large coast live oak increases soil moisture and available nutrients, improves soil structure and moderates soil temperature. It’s a valuable resource that can be used in other parts of the garden. Never remove the entire insulating layer of leaves from under a trees canopy and don’t allow leaf mulch to cover the trunk.
One of the showiest California natives for planting under a coast live oak is carpenteria californica or Bush anemone. This evergreen shrub is resistant to oak root fungus and grows in sun or shade. Although this plant can get by with no summer water after becoming established, occasional summer water will help maintain a fresher look. The compact variety ‘Elizabeth’ produces a profuse display of white flowers with as many as 20 flowers per cluster. Cut back the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the stems after flowering to keep it compact.

Another deer resistant plant I like to use under oaks is Centennial ceanothus. This gopher resistant low spreading groundcover grows 12" high and 8 ft wide. Cobalt blue flower clusters cover the plant each spring. They also attract birds.
Western redbud can be grown as an accent shrub or small tree under coast live oaks. Large bluish grey rounded leaves have heart-shaped base making quite a show among smaller leafed plants. The magenta sweet-pea shaped flowers cover the branches in spring. Scattered flowers may also appear in late summer and fall. Flattened seedpods rustle in the wind in late summer and fall. And if that’s not enough to love about western redbuds they brighten the landscape with a fall color display of yellow or red leaves. Western redbuds respond well to pruning. Thin the oldest trunks each year to keep them growing vigorously. You can also cut the entire clump to the ground to rejuvenate it. This is truly a four season plant.

Combine any of these plants with coffeeberry, native irises, pink-flowering currant, toyon, berberis aquifolium, snowberry, hummingbird sage or yerba buena to complete your woodland garden and keep your oaks happy too.