Gardening at the Dragon's Gate: Potting Soil - that Contains Soil!

I've been reading Gardening at the Dragon's Gate for a couple weeks now. It's a substantial read in many ways, and I'm not finished yet.  Author Wendy Johnson was for over 30 years head gardener at Green Gulch Farm, which is run by the San Francisco Zen Center (as is Tassajara, location of Ms Town Mouse's lovely last post). Ms Johnson's writing is rich, meditative and gritty with down to earth detail. I didn't expect to find so much good information about composting (with accompanying reflections on life, death, and decay) or soil chemistry or pest management, for example. Or such wonderful accounts of gardening with Harry Roberts, Alan Chadwick, and other well-known gardening characters. Or such wonderful metaphors - I'm a sucker for a juicy metaphor. It's a book about growing food, and other plants, but it also respects native plants and the garden's wilderness setting, at the edge of the ocean in Marin County.

However, the thing that's got me thinking right now is her potting soil mix, which is composed entirely of local ingredients (though btw, she does also provide many alternative mixes).  I would love to have a potting soil from local ingredients!

• 1/3 sharp or silver sand
• 1/3 leaf mold
• 1/3 soil

Wendy Johnson

Wendy Johnson says:

The core ingredient of potting soil, the heart of the matter, is soil itself, the seat of culture and the source of life. In many ways good soil is analogous to yeast in the baking world because both ingredients contain local flora and fauna and both give life to their batter. Without a baseline of real soil in your potting mix, seedlings lose their tone and vigor and fall flat.

Country  Mouse says: "Soil? - in potting mix!?" I've always thought that soil was exactly what you should NOT include in potting mix! It doesn't drain, and isn't sterile, and so on.

Also we don't have a lot of leaf mold here - mostly we have redwood duff and scrub oak duff, which are acidic. Nor do we have sand. I also haven't been good at all so far at composting, to generate some usable material. But - I wonder if we do have what it takes right here, to propagate plants intended to - grow  right here.

I am curious indeed, and plan to investigate this topic further.

Tassajara flowers in a dry year

One of my most favorite places to see wildflowers is Tassajara, monastery in winter and hot springs resort in summer. Last year, Ms. Country Mouse and I had the great pleasure of taking a class on the plants of Tassajara, and to spend some time together in the beautiful Los Padres National Forest eating the very fine meals and enjoying the sulfur hot springs. This year, I took the trip down with Mr. Mouse. We had been invited to participate in the Tassajara No Race, an annual event that starts at 7:30 (more or less) on a Saturday in May. After a brief invitation to enjoy the wonderful flowers and surrounding wilderness, everyone sets out to walk up the mountain (well, a few young people usually run, but the rest of us prefers a more sedate pace).

Everyone walks as far as they want, and then they turn around. There's a water station at every mile marker. At the 5 mile mark, and after a 4000 foot elevation gain, an SUV is waiting to drive those who would like back down the hill - or one can walk down and enjoy the views. Mr. Mouse and I managed the whole walk, and also walked back down. We even got back for lunch - though we missed the unveiling of this year's T-shirt. The No Race has existed for 30? 40? - many years, and each year a new T-shirt has been designed.

We both enjoyed the whole experience. After a cool start and a steep uphill, we started to notice (and photograph) the many wildflowers. We especially enjoyed the flowers this year - with only half of the average annual rainfall, we had worried that many of the flowers would be summer dormant. Some of the pants, especially some of the early season annuals such as baby blue eyes, were gone. Some plants, such as Penstemon heterophyllus (foothill penstemon) and Delphinium (larkspur) were less common. Maybe they bloomed earlier? Other plants were amazing, including Ceanothus integerrimus (deer brush), here covering the hill along the road. 

Here a close-up. I wish I could share the humming of the happy bees as well. 

Also more vibrant than ever was Eriophyllum confertifolium (golden yarrow). 

And Yerba Santa, which is usually starting to look a little ratty with a black fungus this time of year look resplendent with beautiful light violet flowers. 

Even non-plant-people remarked on Penstemon centrifolius (Scarlet Buglar), which was especially eye-catching at the higher elevations. 

Here's a close-up, with monkey flower which was also especially stunning. 

And here's another photo from a second hike along the horse pasture trail that we took two days later. 

And a second photo from that same hike, with Salvia spatacea and a brodia, both pretty successful in my own garden as well this year. 

After such a great mini-vacation, we felt refreshed and ready to go back to work. And who knows, I might go back in September, when our teacher from last year, Diane Renshaw, will teach a class on propagating Tassajara plants and using them in the garden. Here is the link - won't you join us?

Vines in the California Native garden

It's easy to put together a list of the Top Ten CA Native Perennials (or Annuals, or Trees), but when it comes to vines, we actually don't have too many choices. That said,  the California native vines in my garden have been especially lovely this year, so I thought I'd show them off.

Above, Lonicera hispedula (hairy honeysuckle). This evergreen vine tends to be attacked by aphids, especially in the first years, but as it grows older, more flowers appear. In my garden, I'm growing one in sun and one in part shade, and both plants seem happy. Because this is a locally native plant, Ms. Country Mouse has done some propagation experiments; you can read this fun post here.

Clematis lasiantha (pipestem clematis) is slightly more challenging to grow because it goes winter dormant and, for me at least, summer dormant. But it's worth it because of the beautiful flowers and attractive fluffy seedheads. In my garden, Lonicera hispedula and Clematis lasiantha grow on the same trellis so the missing leaves in the summer are not a big problem.

The star climber in the shade is Aristolochia Californica (Calfornia dutchman's pipe).

In early spring, the flowers appear on the vines, still without leaves. But even when the leaves appear, I usually have plenty more flowers.

Over the summer, the vine attempts to spread. I seem to be able to prevent it from entering the garage, but sometimes it's a bit of a struggle. No matter, come fall Aristolochia starts changing color and eventually drops its leaves.

Then, in early spring, the cycle begins again.

This year, the Going Native Garden Tour  T-shirt artist prepared an original watercolor of Aristolochia California for our volunteer T-shirts. You can get your own T-shirt with the same art from the GNGT CafePress store (different sizes, styles, and colors are available).

 Vitis Californica offers a similar cycle of green to fall color. I still don't know what the Vitis in my garden is - the leaves turned dark plum the first year, and have faded to gold ever since.

I'm pretty sure it's not Roger's Red, a 50% native grape that cross bred with a European grape that had escaped into the wild. Roger's Red  grows faster than my grape and displays stunning red leaves in the fall (here a photo I took at the Santa Barbara botanical garden).

 But I'm very happy with my native grape and enjoy the colorful leaves and the grapes (for the birds) in the fall.

With relatively few native vines, many gardeners trellis some other plants for that extra bit of height. I've espaliered Lonicera involucrata (twinberry) along some wires and this year, for the first time, I'm being richly rewarded with beautiful blossoms, shown below (the twinberry with its red blossoms is in front of a ceanothus). 

Here's a close-up.

I'm also training a Garrya elliptica (coast silk tassel) tree and I've heard of others training different native currents.

So, while I actually can't come up with a list of 10 vines, the vines I do have are all high on my list of favorites, and I hope they'll become more available in nurseries as more people enjoy the beauty and wildlife value of California native plants.

Flowers are just what comes before seeds

I'm all into propagation, as those who have visited my posts before will know, and sometimes I get impatient for the flowers to be all done already! Of course, I check this tendency because - well, of course I also like to stop and smell the flowers. But still...

Here are some seeds I'm gathering, or preparing to gather, after the spring blooming.

The beautiful blossom of Mimulus guttatus, seep monkey flower, is but the precursor of...

...These wonderful little paper lanterns, that hold capsules of powder-small brown seeds.

And the delicate blooms of Iris fernaldii, Fernald's Iris give way to...

... Plump pods of big fat seeds!

In order to get seeds of the wart leaf ceanothus, Ceanothus papillosus, I have to ... 

...Bag them! Last year I worked way hard to get the seeds out of the nutlets, before I realized they come out all by themselves and you just have to catch them! These will require stratification in the fridge for a couple months in fall.

While I was down there I admired the nearby flannel bush flowers that are going to seed, but I don't want to propagate this plant - it's not a local native but a garden ornamental I planted far from our house, for fire safety reasons. Well for fire safety I shouldn't have planted it but then it's lovely.

Also in that lower chaparral area of our south facing slope is this venerable and crusty old brittle leaf manzanita, Arctostaphylos tomentosa crustacea

I love the manzanitas, the "little apples," but I'm probably not going to have the patience to grow these from seed. They sprout only after fire. I've had limited success with cuttings though.

Above, soap plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, has delicate flowers that open in the afternoon - I have got some of these growing from seed in a bulb box. Need patience for this task! I'm in my third year of the process... and gathered a few more seeds this year.

In the pool garden, nutlets of an undesirable sort - this is a sour grass, Oxalis pes-caprae, that I missed on my rounds of weeding earlier - look at all the little nutlets on that beggar!

I was in the pool garden to gather seeds of this lovely little annual grass and I'm going to have to come back to you on the name. It's a local native that a botanist pointed out to me, so I propagated it. Little and just a bit showy with its reddened seeds. Good for wildlife though I'll bet.

And last but not least, a seedling of coffee berry, Rhamnus californica, sprouting unexpectedly - with its seed cap still on! Encouragement for the next season of seed sowing to come!

Riparian Recreation

Life has taken me out of the garden quite a bit lately, as it does from time to time, but I'm glad to be posting about a recent small project that has been fun - and could be dangerous!

You may recall our long term project of converting the backyard swimming pool to a natural plant filtration type system. Unfortunately it will costa plenty and has to go on the back burner for this year at least. So in the meantime I thought I'd play with some local native plants that might play a role in the wetlands area where the filtration would go on.  

These are plants I gathered last year from a neighbor's creekside property that lies about a mile or so from our house, and they were languishing in pots for quite a while. So I planted them in a 5X3 bed between the greenhouse and the neighbor fence, next to a hosebib, and under a shadecloth which Wood Rat installed some time back.
The planting is somewhat random - I'm driven more by curiosity than esthetic values I have to admit.

I also put in a couple other local natives I've propagated - seep monkey flower (the yellow flowers above), and (these just needed a home) naked buckwheat. Those are in the upper left corner in the photo above and lower middle.

 Near the hose end are some little five-spot (Nemophila maculata), California native annuals I bought from Goldrush Nursery. (In my garden these are "OK exotic" plants because they are not locally native and I don't believe that they will naturalize here.) They're kinda floppy right now cos they also languished in their tiny pots for too long but they are looking a bit more hopeful. The ones I put in sun did not survive but these in the shade are doing OK. Maybe it's the extra water.

The hose is lying there leaking benignly into the soil to keep it wet. I move it around every day or so.

The pot in the lower left of the photo above is one of the Mystery Seeds I sowed in December or so, from my local natives collection. I have no clue what it is. Maybe it's a weed. Someone said it might be Horkelia. I'm hoping it will flower and make my life easier.

So here they are and here is just a little about each one.

Probably Cyperius eragrostis, tall flatsedge? -- Native but could be invasive - hence the danger!! I have a whole flat of seedlings...

Probably Equisetum hyemale, scouring horsetail. Another one that can take over. These are new sprouts from a transplanted clump. Interestingly, horsetails are in a class of their own, and they are also grouped with ferns.

OK, this fern is not a wetlands one - Dryopteris arguta, coastal wood fern. But it tolerates a wide range of conditions. This clump was taken from our north valley, but it also grows in the sunny chaparral too, with just a little shade. A goal of mine is to learn how to propagate ferns from their spores. Also here is some redwood sorrel, Oxalis oreganum, also transplanted in a clump from the creekside area.

Iris leaved rush, Juncus xiphoides, a true wetlands plant. I'm looking forward to seeing what this does. Another plant with wide distribution in Western states of the U.S..A.

I just love these western coltsfoot leaves. Petasides frigidus disappears totally much of the year, then puts up round stems topped with lovely globes of florets, then these leaves.

Western coltsfoot inflorescence - photo near the place I took the clump for propagation.

This unknown type of currant was growing in the path on our north valley. I'm hoping it is a native pink currant but I have no way to know, now that I"ve planted all these nursery bought ribes. Dang! There is a native grass growing in it which I just left there - it's Bromus carinatus, a common brome here.

Asarum caudatum, wild ginger. I'm glad I've resisted bringing in ginger from elsewhere. I hope I can use these in many areas - if the deer will leave them alone. Propagation effort begins when I can collect seeds! They have lovely leaves.

I added a label, wetland habitat - so related posts can be more easily viewed in the future. I hope!

May Dreams - in the Country Mouse Garden (GBBD)

Here's some of what's going on on our sunny ridge this mid May, about six miles inland from Soquel, on California's central coast. Some wild, some grown from wild, and a few other nice things bought from nurseries. It's peak bloom season here as you will see... Thanks, Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens - for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!

Down in the chaparral, the wild Lotus scoparius, deer weed (aka California broom) is blooming, lighting up the hillside on a foggy morning recently.

Not so wild - the daffodils I planted so late are popping up! Critter resistent!

In the succulent bed, duddleya cymosa, vivid orange. Nursery-bought native.

This one, duddleya hassei, blooms yellow - just starting now. Another nursery-bought native.

Local wild volunteer blue elderberry, very lush with flowers - Sambucus mexicana.

In my bulb box - fairy lantern, Calochortus albus, grown from local wild native seed.

Common madia, Madia elegans, rears its head - about 8 feet tall I think. Local wild native grown from seed, reseeded this year.

Same as above but from a distance. This is "experimental bed #1" all native wild plants propagated from seed and busting out of the enclosure - No deer browsing this year, and the rabbit fence is working.

Fringe cups, Tellima grandiflora, in a pot, gift from a friend. Does grow around here but I haven't seen it.

Golden Yarrow, Eriophyllum confertiflorum, from local seed, second year. Sprawling down the side of a pot. I love its chrome yellow.

Pool garden bed, nothing locally native here. Jerusalem sage on the left (non-native) is nearing the end of its first bloom. Verbena lilacena 'De La Mina' the lavender colored mass, smells lovely. Some california poppies. (Also a kangaroo paw barely visible behind the Jerusalem sage. Not well placed!)

First time I've grown Lewisia - "Little Plum" - California alpine native, from Gold Rush Nursery. Wonderful in a container with succulents.

Lupinus arboreus, bush lupine - from local seed. They are growing all over the place in my garden this year, many reseeding, which I love. Lavender variety. Big and sprawling and wonderful.

Another big success in the garden this year, sprouting all over the place, but especially where they get some shade: Heuchera micrantha, alum root, from local seed - this is their second year. First year, no blossoms. This year - copious blossoms. Good in containers, good in perennial beds. Good all over!

Mimulus guttatus, seep monkeyflower in pots - needs more water than we have naturally here on the ridge, but prolific given regular garden water.

Digitalis purpurea just popped up out of nowhere! I see that it is listed as non-native and invasive! Yikes - no setting seed for you young lady!

The front bed resplendent in its usual garb of seaside daisy, Erigeron glaucus, and hummingbird sage, Salvia spathacea.

Wonderful sticky monkeyflower, Mimulus diplacus, - everywhere you look! These grown from local native seed, second year. Favorite food of the checkerspot butterfly. I'm watching one crysalis that's attached to a stem - wonder if I'll see the miracle of the butterfly emerging?

These are non-native columbine. They remind me of little ballerinas. They just pop up every year in the same spot where I planted them, where they get a fair bit of shade.

Salvia 'Bee's Bliss' in the foreground, not such a great shot - great nursery bought native.

Non-native but beloved by hummingbirds and grow like crazy with absolutely no irrigation - Salvia 'Hot Lips.'

Western morning glory is sprawling all over the toyon near the pool garden this year. I wonder if it will affect the and-aphid-sootymold syndrome that afflicts these toyons generally.

Last in the show, one of my favorite corners of the garden, this sunny mound with scarlet bugler, Penstemon centranthifolius, upper left (nursery bought: native one county south of us); nodding needlegrass, Stipa cernua (formerly nassella cernua), and a huge mound (over 4 feet tall and six feet wide) of Clarkia purpurea, purple chalice clarkia. The needle grass and clarkia are from local wild seed.

Now I'm off to see what's blooming in your garden!