November First Views - Town Mouse

November is clearly a month where you can pretend you have an amazing garden on Garden Blogger's Bloom Day by posting a few close-ups - but the truth is evident from the First View. That makes it doubly interesting to see what's going on. Above, the Salvia spatacea (hummingbird sage) looks pretty respectably green, and the Festuca Californica has the first spikes of green. But otherwise, things are a little subdued.

That becomes even more obvious when we look at the former wine barrel fountain. Yes, after a summer of battles with algae and raccoons, I've finally decided a change is needed in this area. More of that in some future post.

Looking to the side, we find that the tall Epilobium is still blooming quite vigorously, but the shorter salmon-colored one is almost finished.

The low-growing Epilobium U.C. Hybrid also has very few blossoms left and I'm looking forward to cutting it down to 1 inch in early December. But here as well Festuca Californica is greening up after the rain we had in late September.

At the side of the house I've cut back Eriogonum grande rubescens, though Eriogonum arborescens still has enough white blossoms to make me want to wait a few more weeks, especially because different bees and small butterflies visit all the time.

In the front as well the Eriogonum arborescens has gone brown in a lot of places, but enough whitish flowers are left to make me want to postpone the required pruning.

From the side, it's pretty clear that the Liquidamber is getting serious about shedding its leaves. I'll probably wait until after the next rain to remove the first batch, and then wait again until all the leaves are down before I remove the rest of the leaves. Sure, my neighbors have fewer leaves in their gardens, but I really don't see the problem with waiting a bit.

In a way, it's kind of nice to have a little color in the middle of the greys and greens - though I do admit I like the grasses better without their leafy flowers.

If you like to share what of your garden is doing in November, just add yourself to the Mr. Linky widget below. I'll enjoy visiting you!

Natural Pool Conversion Plans from Rana Creek

The wonderful designers at Rana Creek have sent us detailed plans for the conversion of our pool to a natural pool filtered by local native plants. I've excerpted bits and blown them up here.

These drawings are marked "not for construction - progress set" so just to CMA I thought I'd mention that.

We are a bit in overwhelm. It's a complex project involving much knocking out of concrete and very careful building of planting cells and bolting on of decorative rocks and constructing a very nice very low bridge near the pool. To say nothing of routing the water from the pool to the back of the planting cells.

We haven't yet been back in touch with Paul, but we have put string around the area that would be affected in our garden, and have pored over the drawings trying to decipher the technical labeling and so on. I though you might like to see closeups of the planting plan and the general look of the pools. I hid a lot of the labeling. I think you can click to zoom in. I also think that "extra large" option I chose for the picture below makes it wider than the blog width, apologies for that. Please click.



One thing I was surprised about is that the planting cell closer to the pool is shallower than the pond farther back. And I was surprised how flat it all is - the ponds are sunken and not raised like with a waterfall. I don't know why I had that preconception - and I'm very happy with and understand the flatness, the weir that the water flows over, etc. I'm still not quite clear about the part where the water finally falls into the pool. We have to study it a bit more, and we will also contact Rana Creek when we feel a bit more cogent about everything. 


 

I have wetland plants a-propagating in the shade area behind the greenhouse. It's all very exciting and - like I said - overwhelming, as the reality of what we are about to undertake hits home!

GGW Photo Contest: Fill The Frame

I have not participated in a Gardening Gone Wild Photo Contest for a while, mostly for lack of time. But this month's contest really is an interesting challenge to the designer in me. The focus is filling the frame, having just enough "information" in the picture, and nothing more. I had a look through some photos I made at the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford, and it really made me think. The photo above, with a nice collection of Cotyledon orbiculatum, a reddish Aloe (I think) and some Yucca leaves isn't bad - at least you cannot see a lot of bare dirt. But it's fairly unexcepitional.

The photo above, with Opuntia microdasis, Agave parryi, and Cleistocactus straussii (silvertorch cactus) shows off a more interesting combination of colors, shapes, and textures but the path in the background is distracting from the focal points. A different depth of field would have been better.

This photo is much better. I love how the morning light highlights the agave and the golden barrel cactus, and the background, being in the shade, recedes nicely. If this were a contest about light, I'd submit this photo. But it's a contest about framing, so I'm picking something else.

This photo, with Opuntia (prickly pear) as the focal point, Agave americana in the foreground, and yuccas and silvertorch mixed in really shows off the abundance of the cactus garden. I always think of cactus and succulent gardens as sparse, with lots of bare dirt because of the dry climate these plants are from. But it does not have to be like that at all, and this picture shows that quite nicely.

And now, let's go over to this month's contest and see how everyone else is filling the frame.

(I don't know) When to Propagate What and How

Greenhouse on October 20. Nassella cernua in foreground

I've played with propagation for getting on 3 years now, and I've come to know a bit of this and that. To pour nearly boiling water over lupine seeds and let them soak overnight, for example, to break their dormancy, and to strip the leaves from cuttings even though it feels cruel. But I have a ways to go before I have that deep, internally felt calendar of events that tells me what to do when, which years of experience and attention (I hope) will give me. I'm still all at sea about when to take what kind of cuttings, and -- especially on my mind lately -- when to sow seeds.

Last year I started seedlings late, according to Dara Emery's calendar (which I blogged about here in 2009). This year I got closer to what it should have been, but I was still a bit late.

Last year so many seeds germinated I was overwhelmed. This year - not so much. Vast swathes of not so much, actually.

When I mentioned this to Denise, who guides our CNPS propagation group activities each month, she laughed and said, well, it would be surprising if anything came up at THIS time of year.

And another CNPS expert I know says she sows in February. So what's with sowing perennials in late July?

Why is this so confusing? I think the July date is so you can get plants ready to go in the ground by late fall - out of Mother Nature's natural cycle, but maximizing garden loveliness in spring, perhaps? Whereas February is Mother Nature's time, around here. Though I also see things popping up as soon as rain arrives. I've saved batches of seeds to try a February sowing too, and compare results.

There are other reasons for the low rate of germination this year. I tried a lot of wild gambles, seeds I collected a couple years ago and never planted, like false Solomon's seal and starry Solomon's seal. Also "mysteries" - seeds that lost their labels. I'm just curious to see if anything comes up.  One or two things have.

Mystery 6!

Watching for seeds to germinate is more compulsive than Facebook!

I think giant wakerobin has germinated! But he looks a bit chlorotic. Am I drowning him? Does he need fertilizer? Or is this a weed or some other thing that got mixed in? I don't know - it's a mystery!

Trillium chloropetalum, giant wakerobin seedling. Maybe.

The other thing that's different this year is the planting media I used. I just went with commercial potting soil, as advised by Glenn Keator in his book The Complete Garden Guide to the Native Perennials of California. It's certainly easier than mixing up my own, but I think different seeds may prefer lighter sandier mixes and others might prefer a more peaty mix. So I'm not sure. I did mix peat into the riparian seeds, and in some cases they are getting so soggy green algae is forming on the top. Whereas the ones with a bit of sand or vermiculite sprinkled on the top and no extra peat are looking OK.

However, a couple things are doing well. I have Nassella cernua coming up fit to beat the band:

Nassella cernua, nodding needlegrass seedlings

I tried using this bunch grass down the southern chaparral slope to make a "river of grass" a couple years ago, but I failed to irrigate sufficiently and they all died, pretty much. A few may be struggling to survive there. Very thin soil on top of sandstone doesn't seem to suit them. This year I will probably try them in the south garden where I'll irrigate a bit more, and see how they do. I'll also try them in different light/shade situations. And I'll definitely be able to plant these seedlings when the good soaking rains begin so they can get going before frost danger arrives. They grow quickly as seedlings. And if happy - can live for a hundred years or more, they say!

I was also hoping for a lot of the nice soft green clumping Torrey's melic grass, which also does well with a bit of irrigation and/or shade, especially on banks where it grows natively around our place, but it is not cooperating greatly. I gathered a lot of seeds from last year's lot which did well in Experimental Bed Number 1 and a few other places. I'm hopeful the spring sowing will be more fruitful. Or seedlingful, rather.

Melica Torreyana - 5% success. I think spring is the time for them

I am thrilled to finally see some tiny tiny seedlings of alum root, Heuchera micrantha, coming up in one or two cells.

 These small local perennials look a lot like coral bells. The ones I propagated last year did quite well their first year in the garden, except that they didn't blossom.

I'm hoping to plant these seeds in fall this year (instead of late spring/summer!) and maybe they'll bloom in spring. Also I hope last year's will also bloom this spring. I'll let you know! FYI, I've learned that they part shade and can take full shade. They can be pretty happy with minimal to no irrigation, look more lush with more water, and do very well in pots. Ms Town Mouse has some also and has enjoyed the foliage. So we'll be comparing notes by and by.

I have riparian plant stories to tell, and planting plans from Rana Creek to share - and I have so many succulent cuttings from the class Town Mouse and I took, that I'm just bustin' a gut to be finished with this post and GET OUT IN THE GARDEN!

Happy gardening to everyone, from this sunny late October day on the central coast of California!

Succulents for Fun and Defensibility in the WUI

I may write about GUIs but I live in a WUI - how'zat! - spelled out them's Graphical User Interface, and Wildland Urban Interface. Though the Urbs are a few miles from us, technically that's where we are living here in my neck of the mountains. And in the California WUI, we think about fire. A lot. If we're me.

I'm also thinking about how to have more varieties of garden fun. In addition to my mania for local- local plants and restoration, I've decided to explore the world of succulents and cacti. Not only are they fun, and some are very good food for hummingbirds, and - well of course - they are extremely drought tolerant - but in addition they are composed largely of water, which as we all know beats fire, in the game of Fire Water Wood, whereas fire beats wood all to heck and gone. Also, these exotics from other parts of the Americas are not likely to survive here without a bit of gardening support, so I am not worried - global warming aside - that they would invade the wilderness here (With one or two exceptions which are listed on the IPC web site.).

When I aired my plan to some folk recently, one told me of a place they had heard about where the owners had planted a lot of very large aloes like a sort of hedge around their property - and a wildfire came up to the aloes, and no further!

So after the native plant sale on the 8th Oct - which was a great success! - I popped over to the neighboring University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum sale, grabbed a shallow cardboard box, and buttonholed Steve, an expert on succulents. "Fill 'er up!" I commanded, cheerfully, and cheerfully he complied.

And last weekend I attended the first of a two day class on Succulents and Cacti, offered by Foothill Community College, taught by Christie Smith, who is in charge of a very special garden on the Stanford University campus. As you can read here:

The Arizona Cactus Garden was planted in the late 1880s by the Stanfords, adjacent to the site of their proposed new residence at the Palo Alto Stock Farm. The home was never built, and the Garden was abandoned during WWII. It currently is being restored.

Here is how it looked in the 1880s:

And here is a view I took on Saturday - followed by photos of amazing plants! We walked all over the garden with Christie who focused on a set of about 20 or so plants for us to learn more about. I hope you enjoy these colors and textures. Interestingly it's the tiny fluff of the Saguaro - the traditional cactus with arms we all think about - that is so irritating, more than the spines. I forget the name of that fluff now but it was used as itching powder - and very nasty stuff it is too. Don't touch any of those types of cactus!

I do hope you enjoyed the show!

October GBBD - Town Mouse

There's been a bit of craziness with the weather in the last few weeks. First, a really good rainstorm. Then a few nice days. Then a drizzly day. And now temperatures in the 80s, much warmer than most of the summer. It's really a small miracle the plants are hanging in there. But the garden doesn't look bad at all. Let's have a look.

Above, the California native Abutilon palmeri, which I planted about 2 weeks ago. The yellow flowers are very popular with the local pollinators, and I'm hoping this plant will work out because it's hard to find native fall bloomers.

Of course there's always Epilobium, the California fuchsia, now in its third month. It took a bit of a beating in the rainstorm, and I had to stake half of the plants. But the hummingbirds are enjoying the red blossoms so much that I'm finding it worth the trouble.

When I bought the Abutilon at the nursery, I could not resist the asters. 2 for $3, it was such a bargain and the bees showed up immediately.

Bees  also congregate at the rosemary, which is still in full bloom.

I'm also happy that the fall blooming camelia is putting on a show again.

And Correa, from Australia, is fortunately again confused about the season and blooming in the Australian spring (which is our fall). I appreciate this plant that reliably brings some color in the garden and gets by with very little water.

The native goldenrod is finally coming into its own and adding a splash of color in front of the Mulenbergia rigens (deer grass).

Also blooming are two other native buckwheats, Lessingia 'Silver carpet',  autumn sage, and some of the coral bells. As I said, not bad, considering the weather craziness.

And now I'll head over to Carol at May Dreams Gardens, where I'm hoping to find the links to many other gardens and their late fall blooms. Won't you join me?

Volunteering with Save the Bay

The company where I'm currently consulting had scheduled a day of service learning today. When I found out we'd go to the Save the Bay nursery, I knew I wanted to participate!

Here's what Save the Bay says about their mission on their website:

Save The Bay is the largest regional organization working to protect, restore and celebrate San Francisco Bay. As its leading champion since 1961, Save The Bay protects the Bay from pollution and inappropriate shoreline development, making it cleaner and healthier for people and wildlife.

We learned a lot more about the history of Save the Bay (Happy 50th!), the importance of wetlands (flood control, filtration, habitat), and the history of the bay. Did you know that we've lost 90% of the wetlands since the 1800s? It seems hard to believe, but it's true and the effect on the salmon fisheries and the bay's filtration capabilities is very noticable.

But back to my volunteer day - well, half day. We started with a delicious picnic lunch in the Palo Alto baylands near the duck pond with view of water and the clear blue sky.

Thus fortified, we walked over to the Save the Bay nursery.

Seth, our trainer and teacher for the day started out by playing a game of Save the Bay jeopardy with us. We were able to answer more than half the questions, which I found quite impressive. The next step was to do some work, and our task was to transplant grass seedlings from flats into tubes for later transplanting. We were transplanting Leymus triticoides (creeping wild rye), a cool season grass with upright green blades that reach 2 feet high. The roots of this perennial grass get up to 60 feet long, so it's excellent at stabilizing the ground and great at surviving dry years.

With a crowd of people, we were able to do the job fairly quickly. Here's how it worked.

1. Find a single seedling with some roots and some green.
2. Put a hole into the soil in the tube with a chopstick.
3. Stick the seedling into the hole.
4. Fill the tube with more soil.  

It looked easy. Of course, it didn't take long for us to find out that some of the grass had been sown in clay and was hard to find those single seedlings. The clay stuck to your fingers, glove or not. After only an hour, a few backs started hurting, but we perservered. We kept asking Seth for more flats of grass, and finished a respectable number of trays of tubes, which were then put into the greenhouse to be babied there for a little while.

After some final clean-up, I turned around just once more to imagine how our grasses would soon be in the nursery, together with the California poppies and other native plants.

I imagined how, in a little while, a different team of volunteers would plant our grasses near the Bay. Our grasses would give shelter and food to the different birds and other critters, including the two endangered species native to our region, the California clapper rail and the California salt marsh harvest mouse (photo from Wikipedia - isn't she cute?). Well, let me correct that, the mouse actually lives in the pickleweed, but if our grasses can keep the shore stable with their 60 foot roots, it helps the ecosystem overall and the mouse will be happy.

I was sorry to say good-bye to Seth and to my volunteer friends, but also happy to be able to ride my bike home along the baylands and Steven's Creek trails where I enjoyed the warm Indian summer afternoon and the first white pelicans.