Category Archives: drought tolerant plants

Drought Tolerant Olives

Summer has finally arrived. Took a while- a long while this year- but now we can enjoy nice weather and our beautiful gardens. The extra rainfall has allowed many trees, shrubs and perennials to grow lush and full like never before. As summer heats up think about adding drought tolerant plants especially in areas that are hard to water.

Plant an olive tree. They take the heat and are drought tolerant once established. Olives are easy to care for. They require little pruning and have few serious pests. Their grayish foliage and graceful, billowing appearance are a welcome accent to an all-green garden. The attractive gnarled branching pattern is also quite distinctive and they can live for 500 years.

For ornamental purposes or next to paving, choose a fruitless variety like are old favorites. Olives can be traced originally to southern Turkey in about 3150 BCE. The spread of the olive tree to the Mediterranean areas of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal probably coincided with the trade of wine, date palms and figs. They were introduced to California mission gardens in the 1700’s for the oil their fruit produces. Many of the missions still have the original olive trees. Underplanted with drought tolerant perennials like sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, yarrow, lamb’s ears, mimulus, Santa Barbara daisy or agastache they can be a focal point in any garden.

May is Water Awareness Month

We know that water is a precious and vital resource.  Even our bodies are about 60 % water and the brain is 70%. Less than 1% of the water on the Earth, however, is suitable for human consumption. With the population increasing and the water supply staying the same, water conservation indoors and out is important. A well planned landscape makes water conservation outside the home even easier. Since May is Water Awareness month here are some tips to consider.

Start with simple things. Rock, stone, and permeable paths and driveways add visual interest to the landscape and don’t require irrigation. Improving your property’s soil quality aids in saving water regardless of the plants grown there. Organic materials added to the soil help establish a strong root system for plants. Nutrients in the soil allow the plants to become stronger, too. Adding a layer of mulch increases the plant’s efficiency by retaining moisture and keeping the soil temperature stable.

Choose the right plants for your location. California natives or plants from similar climates in the world are low maintenance, low irrigation plants and usually need less tending, fertilizer and pruning. Your choice of groundcover can make a big difference, too, in how much water the landscape saves. Keeping grass areas to a minimum generally reduces the amount of water needed to keep the landscape looking green and fire safe.

Your method or irrigation helps conserve water. Hand watering where possible, especially new plantings, directs the water exactly where it needs to go and you can shut off the hose as soon as the plants receive enough water. A soaker hose is another efficient option that reduces evaporation during the watering process. An automatic irrigation system with a rain sensor, weather based controller or soil moisture sensors is the newest way to save water.

Both San Lorenzo Valley Water ( http://www.slvwd.com ) and Scotts Valley Water Districts ( http://www.svwd.org ) offer many tips and incentives to conserve water. Scotts Valley Water Conservation intern, Amanda Robinson, explained they are very interested in getting out the word about using less water-intensive plants – there are lists on the website of drought-tolerant plants and water smart grasses-  as well as customers replacing lawns and old pop-up sprinkler systems. Their rebate programs offers several landscaping credits including  drip irrigation conversion credit, weather-based irrigation controller credit, replacement credit for converting an existing lawn to water-wise grasses, and lawn replacement to synthetic grass. Both districts have guidelines and procedures to apply for the rebates on their websites.

Scotts Valley gave 13 lawn replacement rebates in 2010 and 5 so far this year. Weather-based irrigation controller credits numbered 5 in 2010. Cistern credits for catching and storing rainwater totaled 3 in 2010 and 1 Low volume irrigation system conversion credit was given. Visit the web site for your water supplier to get more info. Don’t miss out on this important information and possible rebate.

There is even a workshop this Saturday, May 14th at the Scotts Valley Water District office from 10am – 1pm. Sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Ass.and presented by Joy Albright-Souza, attendees can bring dimensions of their yard or project area and take home a class-created landscape plan. The cost is $45 and can be paid by check at the door. Call 831-419-5994 for more information.

Let’s make every month Water Awareness Month.
 

Groundcover Tips for Fall

The autumnal equinox happened this week. It’s the official start of fall when the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward. The earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun on this day. Many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours each of day and night on the equinox. However, this is not exactly the case.

During the equinox, the length is nearly equal but not entirely because the day is slightly longer in places that are further away from the equator ( like where we live ). Also the sun takes longer to rise and set in these locations as it does not set straight down but in a horizontal direction.

Take advantage of fall planting weather by looking at what’s covering your ground. Be it the small lawn for the kids to play on, ground cover to keep the weeds at bay or erosion control to keep the hillside intact, this is an excellent time to plan for winter.

Let’s start with the lawn. If you still need a space for recreation, this is a good time to reseed those bare spots. Also to keep the lawn healthy, remove underlying thatch with a thatching rake. Then aerate the lawn by poking holes in the sod and fertilize with a complete lawn fertilizer like an organic all-purpose. Your lawn needs the phosphorus in the fall to encourage deep, strong roots for the winter.

If the kids are grown and no one is using that lawn, why not rip out the water guzzling grass and replace it with a walk-on groundcover? There are many to choose from like dymondia, lippia, potentilla duchesnea strawberry and several kinds of thyme.

One of my favorites is Elfin thyme. It doesn’t need mowing, edging or fertilizing or much irrigation. You can walk on it and it stays green all winter, shading into bronze tones when the weather cools. It even blooms in midsummer for several weeks. Bees will be attracted to it at this time. Thyme prefers sun and poor, sandy soil. Autumn is the best time to install from flats cut into 4" plugs planted about a foot apart. It will fill in within 3 years. Plant them closer together if you’re impatient. You’ll love your new lavender-blooming "lawn".

There are also Ca. native and prairie meadow grasses that you can walk on. They need little irrigation and even less mowing. Some can be planted from seed, others from plugs or sod. Good choices include Idaho, Calif. and red fescue, carex pansa, June grass and Hall’s bentgrass.

If you don’t need to walk on your groundcover, low-growing shrubs that are good groundcovers are baccharis, ceanothus maritimus, cistus salviifolius, grevillea lanigera, creeping mahonia, rosemany prostratus, rubus, manzanita, creeping snowberry and ribes viburnifolium to name just a few.

It’s time to enjoy fall weather and cover that ground before winter.

Why Plant in the Fall?

Those lazy, crazy, foggy days of summer are behind us now. What a strange summer it was. Checking my un-scientific weather records I’ve kept since 1999, I find no other summer that was as cool at this one. This comes as no surprise to you tomato growers out there, I know.   At the other end of the spectrum, a few years, like the summer of 2006 and 2008 were real scorchers. We’re all looking forward to Indian summer which is the best planting season of the year.

There is plenty of time to plant California natives, Mediterranean plants or any other perennial, shrub, grass or tree.  By r, roots have a chance to grow all autumn and most of the winter as well without having to supply nourishment to the leafy portion of the plant. Roots of deciduous plants still grow even after plants drop their foliage as long as the ground temperature is above 50 degrees.  Cooler day and night temperatures slowly harden off the top of the plant to prepare for the cold days of winter.

Another reason that fall is the no-fail planting season is because plants put in the ground in fall need less water to establish. Plants themselves use less water since photosynthesis is slowed by shorter days even if it’s occasionally hot. Evaporation rates slow down also during fall so water in the soil lasts longer as well. Sometimes we get lucky with fall and winter rains perfectly spaced so the ground never completely dries out.

Even cool season annuals such as snapdragons, pansies and violas, Iceland poppies and primrose planted in early fall have time to develop better roots before flowering and because they start blooming earlier they bloom over a longer time.

So get out the shovel, prepare you soil and make a shopping list.

Plants that thrive in dry, shady spots benefit especially from fall planting as they need established root systems before next years dry season. Dry shade sometimes occurs in places beyond the reach of the hose but also under native oaks. To protect their health, it’s a requirement that plants underneath thrive with little or no summer irrigation.

Plants of proven success under these conditions include native currants and gooseberry. Claremont pink flowering currant ( Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum) are beautiful in spring with pale pink flower clusters that darken as they age. The powdered, blue-black berries are edible although the seeds are bitter. To get a taste of the fruit, though, you’ll have to compete with the birds. Chapparal currant is another tough reliable shrub that blooms early and often, flowering from December through March. The pendulous flower clusters are 2-6 inches long and range in color from dusty pink to rose red.

Other winning shrubs for dry shade include mahonia, nandina, osmanthus, snowberry, coffeeberry, aucuba, barberry and upright manzanita.

Groundcovers that thrive under oaks or other dry shady spots include hellebore, evergreen currant, correa, manzanita and sarcoccoca.

Whatever conditions you have in your garden, don’t miss out adding some great plants during the fabulous fall planting season.

 

Tips for Easy Gardening this Summer

April  showers will bring an abundance of May flowers around here.  And that’s just one of the perks of a cool, rainy spring. Shrubs and perennials will have longer to establish a good root system before hot weather arrives and ground covers will have time to spread and shade the soil conserving moisture come summer. What strategies can you follow that will this summer and give you extra time to enjoy it?

Plant in masses. When designing or reworking your garden, make it easy on yourself by planting fewer varieties but in greater numbers. Planting this way will reduce the number of different maintenance tasks for that area. For example, if you have a large hillside that you want to cover, plant it with a groundcover like ceanothus gloriosus which fans out 6-15 feet. Some manzanitas like arctotaphylos uva-ursi eventually spread to 15 feet each.  A shady spot could be planted with ajuga which spreads aggressively but in the right spot you’ll welcome a thug like this to cover the ground quickly. Same goes for Goldilocks lysimachia. Give it an inch and it’ll take a mile but that might be just what you want under a tree.

Another time saving strategy is to group plants with similar moisture needs. This may sound like a no brainer but if you have just one prima donna in a bed of more drought tolerant plants, you’ll be dragging the hose over to that bed for just one plant. If you find that some of your plants are not quite as low water as you’d like, move those to their own spot. In general, plants with large leaves usually require more water and transpire faster while drought tolerant plants typically have one of more of the following characteristics: deep taproots and leaves that are smaller, silver, fuzzy or succulent.

Another watering time-saver is to avoid putting thirsty plants in hard-to-reach places. If the irrigation system doesn’t reach that far, keep it simple by planting drought tolerant woody shrubs or perennials there.

Pluck weeds when the soil is moist and before they have gone to seed. Even if you don’t get the entire root of more persistent weeds, just keep pulling at the new growth. Eventually, the plant will give up having used up all of the food stored in its roots.

Plant edibles among your other plants near the kitchen. Tricolor sage looks great alongside other plants with pink and violet leaves. Purple basil planted below the silver foliage of an artichoke is another great combination. Lemon thyme growing next to a burgundy colored dwarf New Zealand flax would look spectacular, too. And don’t forget to plant decorative and delicious Bright Lights swiss chard with its stalks of yellow, orange, pink, purple, red, green and white throughout your beds. One of the easiest vegetables to grow, it is actually a form of beet from the Mediterranean area.

So get the lemonade ready to enjoy all your free time this season. It’s bound to get warm eventually.

Unthirsty Plants

Our summer unofficially kicked off with Memorial Day weekend. What better way to start the season than to spend some time outdoors and do a little gardening?

Plant some new water efficient plants for color and to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Afterwards spread  fresh bark or compost to mulch the soil. This insulates and protects shallow roots from the heat of the summer sun. While keeping the soil cool, mulch slows the evaporations of water from the soil so it stays moist.

Some of my favorite plants are survivors– easy to grow with minimal water use once established while also attracting hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden.

Ceanothus is one plant that does it all.  Brilliant blue or stark white flowers in spring provide nectar for both hummers and butterflies.  Ceanothus also provide food for butterfly larvae. A new ground cover variety with gold and deep green variegated foliage can bring color to the garden year round. Growing 3-5 feet wide and 2 feet tall this perennial can survive with only occasional summer water.

Everyone should have some lavender in their garden. Hummingbirds and butterflies both favor this plant and there are new introductions every year from growers. Elegance Purple forms a bushy compact mound with sensational purple flowers in early sumer. Goodwin Creek is an old stand-by that blooms from spring to late fall with deep violet blue flowers. For midsummer bloom plant Grosso which is a widely planted commercial variety in France and Italy. It’s possibly the most fragrant lavandin or all. Spanish lavender blooms spring into summer if sheared. By planting an assortment of lavenders you can have a succession of flowers throughout the season.

Penstemon also lure hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden. They come in a wide range of colors and varieties from native species to garden hybrids. Another long blooming, tough plant is achillea Moonshine (yarrow). Butterflies love to alight on their yellow flat landing pads. The dense flower clusters make good cut flowers and the gray-green foliage blends with all color in the garden. Yarrow need only routine care once established. They can take some watering although they endure drought once established. Cut them back after bloom and divide when clumps get crowded. 

There are so many salvias to choose from and all are great additions to a tough love garden. Autumn sage blooms summer through fall in colors ranging from deep purple through true red to rose, pink and white. Purple Pastel is especially beautiful covering 3-4 foot plants with blossoms filled with nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies.

Those who seek true blue flowers for their gardens might try planting salvia chamaedryoides. This elegant front-of-the-border plant has silvery foliage which sets off the brilliant blue flowers. Heaviest bloom is in late spring and fall. Deadheading encourages rebloom.  This salvia is drought tolerant but blooms longer and better with a little summer water.

Three more un-thirsty bloomers that even beginner gardens can’t kill are . All attract hummingbirds.  Coreopsis also make good cut flowers.