The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

This sweet and surprising movie tells the story of a flock of wild parrots living in San Francisco, and Mark Bittner, the homeless musician who spent several years closely involved with them. The image above comes from “The Parrot Pages” of his web site.

I don't know what to think about these parrots. It is disturbing that their flock has grown to about 200 from about 60 or so when Mark Bittner first got involved with them. I wonder how large the flock would become over time, and whether it would spread. There are actually quite a lot of parrots living wild in California, and there is a project, The California Parrot Project, devoted to studying them.

Lulled by the charm of the movie, I was unprepared for the sharp jab that Mr Bittner delivered to my moral gut, when he was asked whether a growing flock of non-native birds might be actually undesirable. I can’t recall the exact dialog but this FAQ on his web site gives you a taste of Mr Bittner’s evident distaste for conservationists like me:

Are they bad for the native birds?
This is a matter of some controversy. There are people who believe that because the parrots are non-native they are bad. End of discussion. I don't agree. First of all, there is plenty of food available in the city. Contrary to rumors spread by those who hate all non-native species, the parrots do not attack the native birds. They squabble among themselves, but they leave other birds alone. They seem completely uninterested in non-parrots. As far as stealing nests goes, it's interesting to note that the parrots nest in eucalyptus and Canary Island date palm - both non-native trees. (It's also interesting to note that most people who despise non-natives are of European descent.) The parrots make fine ambassadors for Nature, bright and noisy enough to grab the attention of jaded city dwellers, even turning some of us into birders. (my emphasis added)

Gosh, I don’t hate or despise non-native species! I’m not a puritanical zealot, frothing with rage as I expurgate beauty and joy in the name of a bloodless creed!

Well, except in spring, when I fill bag after bag with rip-gut brome and Italian thistle, and sticky eupatorium, and French broom, and sour grass, and – oh so many more… and leave them to rot their little seeds out.

(Above, a weedy brome grass.)

But I don’t hate them. I feel sorry for them actually, innocent plants in the wrong place.

(Above, a weedy geranium.)

(Another common weed, whose name I forget.)

I do get satisfaction from clearing out invasive exotics, but so much killing makes me depressed. So I have no-kill days when I don’t pull out or cut into anything, but just enjoy it all, without judgment about what is out of place, just sink into the warm fecund mass of it all.

After all, humans (and not just those of European descent) are about the most invasive species around. In particular, our home here and the outbuildings and thinned growth around it deprive the local wildlife of a good acre or more of habitat. To say nothing of the roads we use to get here.

How much of a restorationist am I in fact? How would I feel if grizzly bears still roamed these forests? Aren’t I just benefiting from the horrible deeds of those who came before? To say nothing of what those others did to the native people - or maybe better to call them the first wave people, since they arrived here a mere 14,000 or so years ago and began managing the land.

Restoration is a comedy. Like Humpty Dumpty, we can never really put the ecology together again. But I have a certain faith even so in what we call the power of nature. I exulted along with the wonderfully informed and informative blogger of Curbstone Valley Farm when she saw native plants growing in areas she had cleared of weedy invasives (just can't find that post back at the moment).

There is always so much more going on around us than we can possibly know. An article on worms by Frederique Lavoipierre in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2009 issue of Pacific Horticulture talks about the benefit of earthworms in the garden, and also mentions that most earthworms are not native to the U.S. I knew this before, but I didn’t know one effect:

In Minnesota researchers are studying the ecological consequences of European earthworms in forests, where the understory is disappearing, due to the non-native earthworm’s voracious appetite for leaf litter. The earthworm-free forests of Minnesota have naturally loose soil, with a thick layer of duff, and the actions of earthworms in the forest environment actually compact the soil. Native plants, reliant on a substantial layer of leaf litter, are often adversely affected. . . . the implications for our signature redwood forests remain to be explored.

Implications indeed. I wonder if parrots eat worms, d’you think?

Solar Fountains

This is a shout-out to Mr. Mouse, who did a great post on our solar fountains here.
(You can also follow the saga of our as-yet-not-finished 10 month green remodel on the same blog).

Another new flower bed - in the south garden - Planted

April has been a blur of overwork, taking me away from garden pursuits. Many seeds of garden thoughts lie buried in time, many a scribbled musing moulders like a cutting that didn't take. But I did manage a couple afternoons in the south garden, which is just starting to become a garden finally. I planted the new flower bed, which I marked out and blogged about in mid March, with graduates from my propagation efforts - All but a couple items are local natives grown from seed or cuttings!


And Rat decided to gnaw off the 30-year-old upper deck that overhangs the South Garden. The south side of our six-sided house faces the ocean (6.5 miles off) and gets the brunt of the wet foggy or rainy winds, and that section of deck is in the worst shape.


Such a considerate Rat! - he'll finish the work of replacing the deck before I start planting there, in fall.

Rat helped me do battle with the hardware cloth - we encircled the newly planted bed with a 2 foot bunny barrier.


So far, the plants are surviving and starting to look a bit less forlorn.

Above you can see some golden yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum) in the middle at the bottom front, and to its left a little naked buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum). Behind it some local bush monkeyflower, (Mimulus diplacus). I freely planted these and also lots of common madia (Madia elegans). All the madia needed a home and I want to mass them so that native bees will find the bed attractive. To attract bees to the max, you should plant 10 foot diameter plantings of one type of bee-attractor plant if possible. The madia had been in pots too long and looked very floppy and straggly when I put them in, but look at them now, two weeks later!


I hope they really ARE Madia elegans. Madia in general can be thugs in the garden, but I particularly want these to spread their cheerful yellow blossoms, and their seeds, far and wide.

And I put in three tall skinny lupines, a blue version of the Lupinus Arboreus I think, whose yellow version is invasive out of its native range. We are in its native range and you can enjoy masses of these yellow bush lupines along the coast, especially Wilder Ranch State Park. I hope these skinny-ma-linkies will bush out and be glorious!

I scrounged the greenhouse and the upper decks for candidates. I found a pot that had a bit of our native buttercup, (Ranunculus californica) and possibly a foothill penstemon, Margarita BOP (Penstemon heterophyllus) from seeds from nursery bought plants. Another pot had a bunch grass or two (Nassella lepida or Nassella cernua not sure which), and a small bee plant (Scrophularia californica):


I found a couple of Torrey's melic grass (Melica torreyana) and put them in where I thought there might be a bit of shade from taller plants later in the summer, and some tiny annual lupines that I hope might return next year, Lupinus nanus, I think.


I also put a coffee berry (Ramnus californica) cutting that is growing fairly well on the far side away from the window:


I have two other coffeeberry bushes volunteering in the south garden! I know we are not supposed to have shrubs in the fire defensible zone but but but there is so much other flammable stuff close to the house. The greenhouse for example! You just have to imagine the wind-whipped flames coming up either side of our ridge to know that a few irrigated garden shrubs are really not going to make any difference.

Other plants that went into the bed are California fuschia (epilobium canum) and clarkia - I'm not totally sure what kind our local wild clarkia is. Oh, and a few bulbs - I think they are Ithuriel's spear (Triteleia laxa, "Queen Fabiola") but I'm not sure. they're getting ready to burst into bloom.

So many things I stuffed in that bed, just to see how they do. Time will tell! In fall I will make some decisions about the bed so it is less haphazard, based on results. Retrospective planning - it's a whole new thing ;-)

And I'm very happy to say I'm still seeing bunnies - but NOT in the planting bed.

Free Earth Day Gift for Everyone

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and I've been surprised by the plethora of contests and events I've seen on blogs, websites, and elsewhere. I've been even more surprised that many contests and events involved either travel (win a trip to Puerto Rico!) or stuff.

Now, I'm sorry to say, but flying to Puerto Rico is not a good way to reduce your carbon footprint. Gary Snyder famously said, when asked how to solve the Earth's ecological problems "Stay Put." (He didn't just mean don't go anywhere. And I admit there are many reasons why a trip might be the right thing to do. But a plane trip just seems an odd Earth Day prize).

Even more troublesome to me is the stuff you can win, or get for free. I recently had the great pleasure of listening to a presentation by Annie Leonard. Her FREE 20 minute, The Story of Stuff, is a must watch for anyone who cares about the environment. Based on decades of research, she eloquently (and entertainingly) demonstrates that we're in the process of making the Earth uninhabitable because we can't stop our addiction to stuff. And what was her advice? Not to buy more efficient light bulbs but to lean more heavily on the government. Be more political, she advises, and speak your truth.

So, where's that free Earth Day gift, you ask? Well, first, you get to watch the movie The Story of Stuff. It really is good fun, and she's as strong on the problem as on the solution.

And second, I present you this:

(Cartoon by Jennifer Berman)

Yes, leave a comment on this blog, and I'll send you NOTHING! (If you don't leave a comment, maybe I'll send you some STUFF, you'll have to wait to find out.)

I hope you really enjoy the gift, and also appreciate that you don't have to go all out with your Thank You note. I'd like to suggest you sit in your garden, for maybe 15 minutes on Earth Day. Hold the gift in your hand, or put it down. Then listen to the sounds of the insects and the birds. Smell the deep rich earth, or maybe some sages and mints nearby. Gaze around and enjoy the greens of spring (or the fall colors if you live on the other side of the world). Take your time. You don't have to unwrap Nothing,  paint Nothing, or install Nothing,  You can instead enjoy things as they are. 

Happy Earth Day!

Book Review: Garden Up!

We usually review books about California native plants on this blog, and we actually have quite a nice collection of book reviews. But I'm making an exception for this book, which I've found insightful, inspiring, and a must for any serious gardener's library.

(Disclaimer: I personally know both authors. Susan Morrison has the popular website Blue Planet Gardening and a fun and irreverent blog. Rebecca Sweet lives practically down the street from here, she writes at Gossip in the Garden and in different gardening and horticulture magazine and has the most amazing jewel of a garden. But I would have just skipped the review of their book if I didn't like it. Honest.)

I was already won over when I read the introductory section about invasive plants. It's that kind of consideration for both the beauty of the garden and the sustainability of the design choices that impressed me very much in this book (and the sustainability aspect is often sadly lacking in garden books).

But as I got into the book I became completely enchanted by the photos (amazing photos), the practical advice, and the design spotlight section. I also liked the organization, which split the book into these topics:

• Arbors and trellises
• Skinny spaces
• Garden secrets
• Urban gardens
• Edibles
• Living walls
• Plant picks
• Design Spotlights -- Then & Now

Very clearly, this is not another book about multi-acre estates and the challenge of creating enough garden rooms. It's practical, and has great design ideas especially for small gardens with roof lines, chain link fences, and narrow spaces. I really liked, for example, the idea of layering up, not out, and the photos and design drawings really made sense to me.

The section about green walls surprised me by being very realistic. The authors set expectations, and make it clear that a green wall is a work in progress and will require more frequent replanting than a horizontal planting bed. Their discussion of different choices still made it sound tempting, but I realized this is not a project to rush into. 

Now, where are the natives? you might ask. To which I have to reply that a book meant for the whole country or even the whole continent and beyond, does well not to recommend specific "native" plants. We know that California poppies and seep monkey flower are weeds in other countries, while some plants from other countries are weeds here (pampas grass, anyone?). So I'm happy the book sticks to showing us amazing vines, plants with upright growth habits, and other well-behaved garden plants. Did I mention they have great photos?

Well, that was fun!

I remember how, as a child, I always worked feverishly on some special gift for my mother for Christmas. I'd start on an elaborate project much too late, and work on it excitedly for several weeks imagining how surprised she'd be. Then the big day came and I would present my handywork, and she always was just as delighted as I'd imagined.

Garden Tour Day is now a lot like that for me, except more so. All year, I enjoy making small changes to the garden, tweaking the colors or pruning plants to harmonize better. While it's of course great joy just in the moment, I also think a little of all those visitors on Garden Tour day. In spring, the great cleanup operation starts. This year, I ran late because of the late storms and got help. It was a revelation to work with a professional gardener who doesn't use power tools and knows native plants. One week before the tour, the garden was in top shape except for a few missing plants that could not go in because the house paint still needed patching.

On Saturday before the tour I got up early, went to the CNPS plant sale for a few little trinkets, then set to work planting the new Arctostaphylos St. Helena, a perfect plant for the sunny spot near the fountain where the ill-fated Japanese maple the previous owners had put there had not made it back from dormancy.

If this plant really grows a foot a year, it will soon be just perfect for the spot!

More clean-up was needed here and there, and I fell into bed quite tired, but also giddy with anticipation. Sunday morning I got up and made a hearty breakfast, and then distributed the plant labels. I've written the names of many of the plants on yogurt lids and place the lids somewhere near the plants (as shown on the two photos above). Visitors appreciate that the writing is big, and I just collect the lids when the tour is over and put them aside for next year. I have some empty lids for the annual additions, and besides, I'm happy to answer questions.

By 8:30, Nicky from Gold Rush Nursery had arrived with a big rental truck and had started putting up tables and putting out plants. Above, she's almost ready. Her plants were very popular; they are healthy, many come in 4-inch pots and are quite affordable, and I don't know how she manages to have so many of them bloom at just the perfect time. She also labels butterfly and hummingbird plants, allowing everyone to find the perfect collection for their own special space.

Nurseries that have sales on tour day donate part of their profits to the Garden Tour for next year's expenses (mostly T-Shirts, signs, and publicity). The tour is entirely run by volunteer and no one makes any money.

While Nicky was setting up, I brought out 2 chairs and folding tables for my volunteers. The tables were for visitor sign-in and for materials from the water district and other sponsors. We were happy to hand out information about invasive plants, about CNPS, and about water conservation. Around 8:30, my volunteers arrived, I swept one more batch of leaves, put out my native plant books and the Before and After poster, and we were ready!

I had one assigned greeter for morning and one for afternoon. In addition, Alex, who lives around the corner, signed up as an all-day volunteer and stayed almost 5 hours. We were very happy to have him because we had a lot of visitors that day. We also had 3 docents in the morning (Mr. Mouse, my garden designer Chris Todd, and myself) and 2 docents in the afternoon (Ms Country Mouse and myself). Docents answered questions about the plants and about gardening with natives, and we were very busy all day.

It was especially fortunate that the Ceanothus 'Tilden Park' in front was in full bloom (and I'd trimmed back the Phacelia so the path was visible again). In the front, visitors also enjoyed the first blossoms of Penstemon heterophyllus and of Salvia 'Shirley's Creeper', a black sage.

I'd planted two black sages, and the one that's getting more sun was blooming much more impressively, shown here with the beautiful manzanita berries (click for a closer view).

In the back, the Ceanothus thyrsiflorus had, alas, not yet started to bloom, but the Carpenteria had just opened its first 6 blossoms. Amazingly, the Ribes sanguinium var. glutinosum was still showing the last faded blossoms. It's been an odd year weather-wise, quite cool for the most part and the results have been -- interesting.

Even Galvezia speciosa (island snap dragon) had a few small blossoms, immediately spotted by several native plant experts among the visitors (and completely ignored by the rest).

We had quite a few kids visit, and several boys from a church group spent quite a bit of time drawing the plants with colored pencils, which was fun to watch. We were sorry to have to block off the wooden bridge that small children especially usually enjoy crossing over.

But during garden clean-up, the gardener had discovered a small bird's nest under the frond of a fern. I determined soon that it was a junco's nest -- as soon as I was in the vicinity, a junco nearby protested loudly and when I googled the junco's nesting habits, the nest was a match. Fortunately, the bridge was fairly easy to block off and I hope we'll soon see the baby birds enjoying the garden.

The weather on tour day was perfect (if a bit cold in the shade), the visitors were fun and complementary, and the plant sale went very well. At 4pm, I closed the garden gate and collected my yogurt lids while Nicky sold the last small batch of plants to a neighbor and to a special visitor. Yes, Ms. Curbstonevalley and her husband had made the trip over the hill and were there for a cup of tea. Ms. Country Mouse and Mr. Mouse sat down with our guests while I prepared the tea. Then we heard about some of their adventures on the farm, told stories about the tour, and enjoyed the most amazing chocolate chip cookies brought from the farm.

Time went by much too quickly. We toured the garden together, but then Ms. Country Mouse had to start on her long way home and not long after all our guests were gone (though they left some cookies).

After collecting all materials, and bringing the tables inside, I looked at the total: 339 visitors! A new record. Exhausted and happy, we went out for dinner, shared some stories (what's your response when visitors say "I'm so jealous"? "Don't be!"?) and went to bed fairly early, glad that everything had gone so well.

GBBD and Garden Tour Preview

Truth be told, I almost didn't make it to GBBD this month, what with work and the Going Native Garden Tour on Sunday. But then it seemed rude not to follow Carol's kind invitation to show a few pictures and visit other gardens. And it gives me a chance for a tour preview.

Above, the front garden, still a little bit overgrown with Phacelia and with Ceanothus 'Tilden Park' blooming blue in the background. I'm leaving the Phacelia until Saturday afternoon, then I'll tidy things up and open up the paths. But the pollinators love Phacelia, so I'm giving them one final chance. After that, though, there will still be the ceanothus.

Also blooming in the front garden is Salvia 'Shirley's Creeper', a black sage, Triteleia laxa (Ithurial's spear), Twinberry, the first monkey flowers, and, still in bud, a little Calochortus, a California native bulb.

The theme plants of the April garden, though, are Heuchera and Pacific iris. I have Heuchera maxima in both the front garden and the back, and different hybrids, including a red Heuchera from Arizona and a small pink form that I planted in a pot shown below.

My Iris include Canyon Snow (most likely a hybrid), the native Douglas Iris, and a yellow Iris that is also most likely a hybrid. I divided my Iris in the fall and now they're blooming everywhere, just in time for the tour. See the buds in that photo?

The Mediterranean mounds look lush and green, with California poppies and the native Hummingbird sage already blooming.

Here's a close-up that shows off the sage better.

Also in the back, around the corner, the Sidalcea malvaeflora (checkerbloom) puts on a show. I'm getting a few more of this amazing perennial. The lasting blossoms in spring and into summer make up for the fact that she goes dormant late summer.

Here's a close-up.

Also in the back, the red Southern California monkey flower (Mimulus puniceus), shown below with redwood sorrel and Western sword fern, has gotten ahead of the local yellow monkey flower.

Hummingbirds love the red blossoms in early spring, so I purchased a few more from Annie's Annuals last fall.

Also from Annie's (bought at the SF Flower and Garden Show) are five-spot and baby blue eyes, opening up just in time for tour day.

I'd love to show you more flowers, but I have to go out and take care of a few things before the big day. This evening, though, when it's too dark to dig around, I'll visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens and, from there, all my other gardening friends who surely have amazing things to show off.

Yes, we have an app for that!

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, go to the  GNGT 2011 link to be taken to the iTunes store and download our free GNGT 2011 app with maps and descriptions of all gardens on this year's tour. 

You must be registered for the tour to gain access to all the garden details.

Is that cool or what? 

Birth of a Native Garden Plant Tour in Santa Cruz

Its time for tours! It's spring - a season-long fireworks display of blooms, with musical accompaniment by birds and frogs! Above is a view of our house from the road, showing local native ceanothus on the left, and a flannel bush I planted a while back, and that is really starting to have some presence.

And Ms Town is again showing her garden on the Going Native Garden tour, which is truly an inspiration to so many, it's just great. I can't hardly wait to see it myself on tour day, April 17th.

Now Santa Cruz has its own native garden tour! At the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show a very inspiring and energetic young woman dropped by the CNPS booth (where Ms Town and I were being booth bunnies - sorry - meeces).

Her name is Lindsay Goldberg, and she is working very hard to bring off a brand new tour. You can visit the site, California Native Garden Tour.

I can only guess at the effort it takes to get a whole new tour off the ground. There may be fewer gardens on the tour but I for sure would drive over the hill just to enjoy this garden which you can see previewed on the site. Here's one photo:


The Santa Cruz California Native Garden tour is on Sunday June 12th. We are so blessed in our region with springtime native plant tours -- so it's good to have one that's a bit later.

I hope one day my garden would be presentable enough to go on a tour. This is a wakeup call for me - and maybe other native plant gardeners in the Santa Cruz area. I do hope next year's tour will build on this year's momentum - I would love to see more coastal native plant gardens.

And let me give another shout out for ....


YES! There is still time to sign up. The tour is on April 17, 10-4

Just like last year, Ms Town Mouse's garden will be on tour and Ms. Country Mouse will be a docent for the afternoon. If you're local, don't miss this tour, there are some stunning gardens this time (and the tour is FREE).

Go to http://www.gngt.org, or just click on the banner on the left.

Maybe we'll see you there!

Wildflowers at Rancho Cañada del Oro

The rains are over, and the wildflower season has started in earnest. I'm in the middle of getting ready for Going Native Garden Tour next Sunday and worked in the garden for many hours yesterday. But today I just couldn't resist the invitation to participate in a wildflower hike to which I'd been invited by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST):

The mission of the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is to give permanent protection to the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Cruz Mountain range. POST encourages the use of these lands for natural resource protection, wildlife habitat, public recreation and agriculture for people here now and for future generations.

After we'd parked, the POST staff told us a little bit about Rancho Cañada del Oro, which was aquired by POST in 1999 (read this press release to learn more). When the property, a former ranch, became available, plans already existed to divide up the land into small ranchettes, and with Silicon Valley booming, and a golf course close by, the ranchettes could have fetched top dollars. Fortunately, a coalition of agencies collaborated with POST, so we now have this (click any photo for a larger view)

Majestic old oaks dominate the landscape (instead of noveau-Tuscan mansions). The preserve is now part of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority and a popular destination for hikers, bikers and equestrians.

Before we left on our wildflower hike, we each received a beautiful full-color pamphlet of the most frequently found wildflowers, prepared by photographer Judy Kramer.

We headed off shortly after 10, and the group split quickly. Some had come for the hike, they wanted to breathe the brisk morning air, get their heart pumping, and feel the exhilaration that comes with going uphill at a fast clip. The rest of us savored the walk, stopping here and there and learning about the flowers from Judy. Above, some beautiful, very large manzanita and oak.

Here a manzanita close-up, showing off the large berries.

 

As we climbed, we saw more and more wildflowers. Above, a picture of Solanum umbelliferum (blue witch), abundant along the trail as we climbed upward. 

As we entered the serpentine grassland, the spectacle started to unfold. We were actually a little early for the full flush of the spring flowers, but there was much to admire. Above, a rare, almost pure white variety of  Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes). 

Allium serra (purple onion, jeweled onion) vowed us all with its bright color, and Judy explained that you can rub the leave a bit for the actual smell of onion.

The Delphinium (larkspur) was also in bloom. I remembered how I'd first seen wild larkspur in Edgewood Park and could not believe such a showy plant was a wildflower. Unfortunately, it was devilishly difficult to photograph because of the breeze, but just seeing and admiring it was such a joy.

Other typical serpentine flowers included Castilleja densiflora (owl's clover) and Lastenia conjugens (goldfields), above...

... and Viola pedunculata (Jonny Jump-up or California golden violet).

Among the trees, we saw Pedicularis densiflora (Indian warrior) and the beautiful Clematis lasiantha (chaparral clematis).

We were a little sorry to get to the turn-around point, take in the beautiful view once more, and walk back down. But we were happy this piece of land had been protected and that it's now available for all to enjoy, and inspired to continue supporting POST as they work on new properties to protect.