Tag Archives: California Native Plants

Terra Sole Nursery Trials New Plants

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start your own little nursery on your property? What would you grow? How would you decide?  Over the years, I've been asked by home owners with a bit of extra property what would be good to grow. What is there a market for? So I decided to ask some friends who trial plants on their Watsonville property and operate a small nursery there how it all works.

Terra Sole Nurseries was founded in 2004 by John and Sherry Hall with the goal of experimenting and growing native, unusual and drought tolerant plants that are adapted to our dry summer climate. "We push the limits on water use in our test garden until we fall too much in love with a plant and can't bear to see it die with our tough love approach", Sherry said as we talked about the their operation.

Just back from attending the California Spring Trials,  Sherry and John were excited to share how they decide what to grow In their nursery. Their focus is to grow a large variety of native and unusual plants, some of which are old-fashioned, some are hot new introductions. What treasures did they find this year?

During the course of a week at the Spring Trials,  the world's prominent plant breeders, propagation specialists, growers, marketing professionals and plant enthusiasts share the latest and greatest at several open houses throughout California. The robust plant varieties of today are a direct result of the countless hours and decades of study from the dedicated professionals spending their time observing, testing and experimenting the new varieties that are more disease resistant, more floriferous, the best performers and are easy to grow in ordinary landscapes and gardens.  

How does a plant get from an idea in a breeder's mind to your local nursery? It all starts with the breeders who might cross pollinate thousands of plants to select maybe a hundred of the best ones. Then the growers buy an unrooted cutting or the seed or plugs of rooted plants and grow them onto a larger size. This is where the finish growers buy the plugs and liners to put into bigger pots growing them to retail or sellable size. Terra Sole Nurseries bought some of the newest plants on the market this year themselves.

What are some of the newest trends that we might see in our neighborhood nursery this year? The breeders of impatiens have developed a variety that appears to have a gingerbread man in the center. Called Patchwork this  impatien has a bigger flower and comes in six bi-colors.

Grafted vegetables, higher in antioxidants, are being developed. Non GMO vegetable varieties are grafted onto vigorous rootstalks to produce a plant disease resistant higher in nutrients. Tomatoes, basil, cucumbers. peppers and lettuce are just some of the vegetables being grown.

Biodegradable pots made from wheat are another of the new trends being offered for sale at the Spring Trials. The pots look like plastic yet breakdown after being used and can be recycled in your compost system. They hold up to the normal environmental pressures of heat, water and cold.

Sunset Western Gardening and HGTV are both offering their own branded plants that are available this year. Patented varieties coming out include a compact hardenbergia called Meena, two upright. compact nandinas- Flirt and Obsessive with bright red winter color and a compact mahonia called Soft Caress with non-prickly foliage. A cold hardy salvia named Amistad that has a very long bloom time will also be coming out soon.

To simplify choices for gardeners, better dahlias, calibrachoa, petunias and pansies are coming on the market this season. Several types are grown in the same pot so the buyer need only to plant one of these in a basket or container to get a combination that will look good and grow happily all season.

With so many plant choices which ones do Terra Sole Nurseries trial in their own garden and grow in their nursery? Next week I'll talk about what Sherry and John have their eye on, which plants they grow and the results of their own plant trials. You can find out more about the nursery at www.terrasolenurseries.com.

Art & Landscapes @ the DeYoung & Palace of Fine Arts

Still thinking of what to give that special someone for Christmas? Recently I spent the day at the De Young Museum enjoying the Renaissance paintings on loan from Venice, Italy. Also got over the The Palace of Fine Arts for the exhibit of the the Impressionist, Passarro.

 The paintings are powerful and inspiring. I was especially drawn to the landscapes. Looking at the pomegranate, olive and apple trees gave me some ideas for holiday presents.

Because Venice was literally built on a forest of tree trunks driven into the mud of a marsh it's geography is unique. In a city built on water, plants were highly valued and nurtured on terraces and courtyards. There was a longing for natural settings and this is clear in the the Renaissance painters work. Mediterranean plants from the mainland were brought over to grace the houses of the wealthy. Laurel trees, signifying purity and chastity, are often depicted in these masterpieces.

What a great gift one of these masterpieces  would make. But what if you don't have millions to buy an original? Here are some other ideas to consider.

The landscapes depicted in many of the paintings inspired me to work on my Christmas list.  I'm a gardener starved for color, life and greenery.  It was 29 degrees in my garden in Felton this morning and I know many of you experienced even colder temps after the brightness of the stars on a clear overnight sky.

Thick frost finished off this year's garden- what was left after the wind storm anyway. Even the more sheltered places look a little winter weary this year. Winter is here a tad early for our California gardens. Make the most of those empty spaces in your garden and those of the fellow gardeners you'd like to remember during the holidays.

Are your containers looking a little sad about now? A little bleak and bare? Then so are everybody else's. Why not go beyond cabbages and pansies and give some inspiration with colorful textural combinations that will last through the darkest days of winter.

Native plants grow well in containers. Sure most are great drought tolerant additions to the garden but have you thought about putting them together in a container for giving to someone on your list? Any of the cool blue succulents in the dudleya family look breathtaking planted in blue glazed container. A manzanita like Dr. Hurd  looks quite dramatic in a large pot. Don't worry about if the plant will outgrow the container eventually. You are essentially planting a giant bonsai and root pruning every few years will keep both of you happy and healthy. Drainage is the most important aspect of planting most natives so be sure to add pumice or lava rock to your planting mix.

What else would make a good gift? There's always a new pair of gardening boots for that special gift but if you're thinking smaller, maybe a dry arrangement from seed heads, pods and foliage from your garden in a thrift shop container would fit the bill. Leaving dried perennials and grasses to overwinter in the garden is a present for our birds who appreciate the banquet. There's no need to tidy up unless they've collapsed in a slimy heap. Take advantage of the excuse to kick back over the holidays and enjoy yourself.
 

Fall Color for the Santa Cruz Mountains

The end of daylight savings time signals to me that autumn is really here in our mild California surroundings. We may not have as many fall color foliage trees and shrubs as other states but we love ours just as much.  Besides we don’t get snow two days before Halloween. Can you imagine? Enjoy these crisp mornings and warm days and to make your garden more compelling, try mixing in trees and shrubs with bold leaves and a wide range of autumn color.

Bright trees and shrubs add color flashes to fall gardens. Sasanqua camellias have already started blooming and will continue to flower throughout the winter. In addition to asters and rudbeckia, Japanese anemones are the stars of the border at this time of year. The electric blue flowers of dwarf plumbago contrast with reddish leaves as night temperatures dip. Summer Snowflake viburnum, Encore azalea, Endless Summer hydrangea and loropetalum are blooming now, too.

But what about vivid foliage in the garden? Which plants put on the best show in our area? Here are some of my favorites.

We are all familiar with the brilliant fall color of Japanese maples. Bloodgood is probably the single most popular upright purple-leaved variety seen in gardens. Beautiful in color and form, it’s easy to grow and fits nicely in the smaller garden.

A great tree for the gardener interested in edibles is the Fuyu persimmon. This beautiful small tree is ornamental with glossy green leaves and also offers a dramatic fall display in shades of yellow, orange and red. Bright orange fruit begins to develop in late October and clings to bare branches usually through December. The tree looks more like it’s covered with holiday ornaments than fruit. And have you priced persimmons in the store lately?

Blueberries are a must for the edible gardener. They can used to make a beautiful hedge that provides showy red or yellow fall color.  Because of our colder winters here in the mountains, we can grow both northern highbush which are self-fertile and southern highbush which produce better with another type to pollinize them. They can be great foundation plants around the home as well as in the garden.

A vine that lights up with the onset of autumn is Rogers Red California grape. If you have an arbor, wall or fence that need covering quickly, this is your plant. The green and gray leaves are transformed in autumn into great draperies of rich, scarlet red leaves with clusters of summer fruit turning all shades of purple.

Japanese barberries are deer resistant, low water-use small shrubs that make them superb hedge plants, background plants against fences and foundations or accent plants. Red or lime colored summer foliage changes to orange, red or amber in the fall. I love the graceful growing habit of many of the varieties but there are pillar forms and also dwarf types.

Bright foliage on trees like red maples, liquidamber, Chinese pistache, ginkgo, ornamental pear, cherry or crabapple, dogwood, goldenrain, locust, katsura, oak, redbud, sumac and witchhazel all add to the fall drama of the landscape.

Light up your garden as the light fades and the days shorten. I know my garden needs a greater variety of fall color than just the Japanese maples in pots on the deck and the barberries. Maybe I’ll add a purple smoke bush with leaves than turn luminous scarlet to add color flashes to my fall garden.
 

Squirrels Control for Sustainable & Interesting Bulbs

My resident squirrels are busy burying acorns for the winter. On the go from first light in the morning until dusk they scurry up the oak trees to collect this prized food source and then deposit them in the ground and in the pots on my deck where they will surely forget where most of them are. Their antics are frustrating because I want to start planting bulbs sooner than Thanksgiving this year. I usually have to wait until later in the season when the squirrels have finished loading up their pantry to get them in the ground. Daffodils and narcissus are safe but what would spring be without  all the other gorgeous bulbs to welcome in the season?

This year I’m going to try some different varieties of bulbs and to foil the squirrels I"m going to plant them really deep in areas that have excellent drainage. Squirrels rarely dig far under the surface so they aren’t likely to reach the bulbs. If you have less than stellar drainage, your bulbs will rot if you plant them deeply, so use chicken wire cages or gopher baskets when you plant them. Next year when they emerge from the soil, if the squirrels start eating the tops of the stems, spray the buds daily with hot pepper spray. All mammals except humans hate hot peppers. I’ve also heard that paprika and egg shells deter them.

I love those huge, showy tulips as well as the new colors of daffodil and narcissus coming out each year. Can’t live without them. But I want to add to the show next spring. Maybe I’ll plant Spring Starflower or Ipheion. Their starry white flowers bloom over a long period in spring and they naturalize easily. Spring Snowflake ( leucojum vernum ) will also naturalize in the garden. The flowers are small and bell shaped, white with a green or yellow spot and have a slight fragrance. And I want to include some species tulips. They will rebloom year after year just like they do in the wild in Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Another bulb I’ve wanted to grow for a long time is Ixia viridiflora. They need to be completely dry in summer so planting in pots will be perfect for this most striking and unusual bulb. Few plants can beat it for sheer brilliance of flower. Each flower is a brilliant turquoise green with a purple-black eye in the middle. The dark eye is caused by the deep blue sap of the cells of the upper epidermis. The green color is due to the effects of light being refracted from the cell wall and granules embedded in the pale blue cell sap. Amazing flower.

I think tucking several huge allium bulbs among clumps of summer-flowering perennials will make quite a statement next year and the deer generally avoid them as they are in the garlic family. The flowers from in clusters and are best known in the round pom-pom form, but they can be star or cup-shaped or nodding pendant-shaped. They look great with foxglove, monarda and hardy geraniums. The flower heads can be left on the plant to dry as they look attractive in the garden and can be cut for arrangements.

A bulb native to our area that I’m also interested in trying is Tritileia or Triplet Lily. There are several species of this brodiaea bulb found here in grasslands and serpentine soils. They are undemanding plants and make good cut flowers, lasting for 7-10 days in water.

Other interesting bulbs that I want to try include  hyacinthoides, hermodactylus tuberosa and bellevalia. All of them are beautiful. Don’t let October and November go by without planting a few bulbs to enjoy next spring.
 

Diamond Heights ceanothus, Sunroses & Ligularia

Some plants have become the darlings of the garden while other perfectly good plants are being left in the dust ( no pun intended ) and ignored. Take Hot Lips salvia, for instance. Seems every garden now has a few. I know, I know, I’m as enamored with this variety as anybody and responsible for extolling its virtues but I want to give credit where credit it due to some underused but awesome plants. Who are these forgotten all stars?

One of my favorite groundcovers for sunny areas that looks beautiful as it fills in between other low water use plants is Ceanothus ‘Diamond Heights‘.  Carpet an area with a dense, low mat of golden yellow and lime-green variegated foliage that looks great year round.  The pretty light blue spring flowers take second place to the leaves.

This is one of those versatile plants, performing just as well in dry soils and tough situations as it does in sheltered gardens with partial shade and rich soils. If you want a spectacular effect, plant it as a group. Each plant covers 3-5 ft. Because the foliage makes a cover that weeds seldom manage to penetrate, it’s a real maintenance saver. Use it on difficult sites such as banks as well as in garden beds and raised beds. It’s also a stunner as a container plant, the foliage spreading wide on all sides.

What looks good with Diamond Heights? Try putting it with wispy, grey-blue lavender Little Spires perovskia and Hidcote lavender or Blue-eyed grass and coffeeberry.  It’s vibrant foliage also brightens the ground beneath native oaks.

Another perennial groundcover that I love to use in a tough, particularly problematic spot is Helianthemum or Sunrose. If you have enough thyme in your garden, it’s time to branch out and try this plant. Masses of colorful, inch wide flowers appear in early summer and last well into autumn. Colors include soft yellow, pinks, oranges, apricot and reds.

While the flowers are the main attraction, I find the range of foliage almost as wonderful. Some varieties have soft, grayish leaves, others a light green while some even have crinkled bright green foliage. Sunroses are work horses, hugging the ground and making an excellent low ground cover 2-3 ft across for a sunny location. They are very drought tolerant when established and don’t mind poor soils or even sandy soils.

My favorite cultivar is Belgravia Rose with its bright rose-pink flowers and grey leaves but compact Wisley Primrose covered with bright yellow flowers is also high on my list. This tough plants is rarely bothered by pests or diseases as long as there is good drainage and are attractive to bees and butterflies adding to their garden appeal.

Rounding out my list of favorite underused plants is one for shade gardeners. Because there are not many yellow flowers for the shade garden, Ligularia dentata Othello is a perennial that I like to include in a border. It’s like adding a little sunshine. This clump-forming perennial with bold leaves and 4" daisy-like golden flowers in July and August are born on plants that reach 2-3 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide. This variety likes moist soil. Plant them with other moisture loving plants such as ferns, hostas and Japanese forest grass. Ligularias are deer resistant.

These are just a few of the plants that I use in landscape designs to add punch to a garden. If you’re looking for something different in your landscape give them a try.

 

Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada Mountains

I’d heard stories about the glorious wildflower displays in the Sierras, especially this year with all the snow melt, but nothing could prepare me for how many beautiful sights I would discover on the west side of Lake Tahoe last month. As I explored and hiked the forest trails I thought of what it might have been like to be an Native American from the Washoe tribe. How did they use some of these plants and would I find similar species used by our local Ohlone tribes?

I sketched, photographed and identified ( or tried to ) over 49 different wildflowers and admired many more native plants, trees, shrubs. The weather was  perfect for hiking and the sky as blue as the water of the lake.

Lake Tahoe and the land surrounding the lake were once home to the Washoe Indians who wintered in Carson Valley and spent their summers on the shores of the lake hunting, fishing and gathering food for the winter. I’m sure they admired the flower displays as I did.

Red-twig dogwoods bloomed along streambanks. Native Americans used the berries as food, both fresh and dried and cooked. The berries were eaten to treat colds and slow bleeding. The inner bark used as a tobacco either by itself of mixed with manzanita. The bark could also be used as a dye. The wood used for bows and arrows, stakes and other tools.

Pink Sierra currants sported beautiful pink flower clusters and edible blue-black berries. Tribes relished the berries fresh and dried them for later use in the winter. All species in the genus, including our own native canyon gooseberry, have berries high in vitamin C. When dried they were mixed with animal fat and eaten while traveling.

Wood’s roses were in full bloom, their dark pink flowers fragrant in the sun. A variation of the species grows in every western state and throughout Canada. The petals can be eaten raw after the bitter white base is removed. The seed or rose hip contains 24 times as much vitamin C as oranges, vitamin A and E and is also a fairly good source of essential fatty acids, which is unusual for a fruit. A poultice of chewed leaves was used by Native Americans for bee stings. Various parts of the plant were used to treat burns, sores, swelling and wounds and used to make tea-like beverages. All this from a plant that is beautiful, too.

A real looker, the Mariposa Lily caught my eye. Blooming along the trail to McKinney Lake, I thought of how the Washoe would consider these plants a great find, digging up the sweet bulbs to be eaten fresh. We almost missed the Sierra tiger lily mistaking it for the columbines that were nearby. Their orange flowers are much larger but both are stunning to see in the moist meadows.

Other flowers that I encountered were monardella, penstemon, yarrow, lupine, larkspur, arnica, thalictrum, snowberry, giant hyssop, aster, solomon seal, corn lily, mimulus, paintbrush, western burning bush, cow parsnip, wintergreen, phacaela, golden rod, epilobium and sidalcea to name just a few. I was in seventh heaven.

I loved seeing all the rein orchids that were in full bloom. Pine drops emerged from the ground with their urn-shaped downward facing flowers. Plants exist for most of their life as a mass of brittle, but fleshy roots, living in a parasitic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi from which they derive all their carbon. Another unusual plant I saw, pushing up from the ground was the bright scarlet sarcodes or snow flower, a parasitic plant that also derives nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi. Nature has come up with many ways to survive and these are but two good examples.

Native Americans used grasses and pine needles for baskets, willows for household goods, acorns from oaks as a food staple as well as for dyes, medicines, games, toys and construction materials and wild onions for food and flavoring. I’m sure they loved to see the wildflower for their pure beauty as I did.