Design trends

Thoughts for the Garden after Thanksgiving

Hummingbirds feed on this Flowering Maple all day long now that most flowers have finished blooming for the season.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I like to get my Christmas tree and put it outside in a bucket of water until I’m ready to bring it inside to decorate. One of my friends has the solution for the longest lasting tree with the most natural decorations ever. She keeps hers on a covered porch just outside a huge wall of glass so it’s visible from inside. I may just try that myself and use only decorations found in nature although one time I used millet sprays and cranberry garland which the squirrels and raccoon discovered the first night. Maybe dried hydrangeas would be better.

I should probably do something productive this weekend but what? Should I be good and do a little light weeding now that we’ve had some rain and they have started to germinate? Maybe I can muster up the energy to plant a few more bulbs. Come spring I’ll be happy I did. Then again I could make notes of my gardening successes and not so great horticultural decisions. “I know”, I say to myself, “this weekend I’ll revel in what I don’t have to do in the garden”.

I don’t need to prune trees and shrubs at this time of year. Other than clipping a few well placed branches to use in a holiday wreath, I’m off the hook for this task right now. Deciduous trees are still in the process of losing their leaves and are not fully dormant. Evergreens shrubs and conifers can be trimmed lightly but most shaping is done when they start growing in late winter or very early spring.

The season is pretty much over for me except to enjoy what’s left of fall color and the ornamental grasses waving their seed heads in the wind. A lot of perennials are dying back but I’m not in a hurry to neaten things up. The seed heads left in the garden supply food for birds and other creatures while the foliage provides shelter for the plant in the cold and frost. Remove anything that has turned slimy or just plain unattractive but leave berries and seed heads for food and winter interest.

At this time of year, your garden might be visited by chickadees, nuthatches, Lesser goldfinches, purple finches or warblers. They spend the winter here and you’ll be doing them a big favor by not cutting back brown foliage containing nutrient-rich seed heads. Some of the reliable seed producers that you won’t have to clean up this weekend include artemisia, aster, coreopsis, penstemon, sedum, lupine, salvia, black-eye Susan, coneflower, phlomis, monarda, agapanthus and grasses.

Chickadees gather hundreds of seeds in fall and early winter and store them in hiding places to ensure themselves a food supply later in the season. They are a remarkable bird that we take for granted being so common. I read in Audubon magazine a couple years ago that a chickadee weighs about as much as a dozen paperclips but their body is large for their weight. This means they have to ramp up the number of hours they devote to feeding. At night chickadees cram themselves into tiny cavities and shiver, burning the day’s fuel to keep from freezing.

Hummingbirds still need a nectar source at this time of year. Anna’s hummingbirds live in this area all year long. So In addition to the plants in the garden that supply nectar, keep your feeders up year-round and keep them clean. Hummingbirds need your nectar even more in the winter when very little is in bloom. In addition to nectar-rich natives like mahonia my abutilons are a winter favorite for them.

Other tasks I can put off at least for this weekend include planting wildflower seeds. I see California poppies coming up all over the place. Nature knows when the time is right. Well, maybe I’ll broadcast a few working them into the soil very lightly. I need to hoe off some early weeds that would compete with them. How many calories are burned in light gardening tasks? I might just reconsider not being a total couch potato this weekend.

Design trends

A Poem of Thanksgiving

Once upon a time when our area was under water
there were no parks or trails or trees or gardens.
I’m thankful that our mountains rose from an ancient ocean
so we could enjoy this beautiful place we call home.

I’m thankful for the Big-Leaf maples
that shower me with leaves as big as saucers
as I walk in Henry Cowell along the river trail
and for the giant redwoods that sprouted long ago
at the time of he Mayan civilization.

I’m thankful for the Five-fingered ferns that grow lush along
the lower parts of Fall Creek
and for the canyons, hiking trails and small waterfalls
that feed the year-round creek.

I’m thankful for the Covered Bridge in Felton,
for the violinist who serenades us as walk over the river
for the sound of children laughing as they play in the park
and the gentle horses who live at the equestrian center.

I’m thankful for all our other parks like Garrahan and Junction Park in Boulder Creek,
Highlands Park in Ben Lomond, and Sky Park, Lodato, MacDorsa, Siltanen
and Hocus Pocus in Scotts Valley,

I’m thankful for the western turtles who live at the Quail Hollow pond
and for the unique sand hills, grasslands, wildflowers, oaks, redwoods
and for the unique plants, birds and other small creatures that live only there.

I’m thankful for Bonny Doon where you can see both the Pacific Ocean
and the San Lorenzo and Scotts Valleys
for the resilience of the people recovering after the fire
on the mountain made of sandstone and shale.

I’m thankful that Big Basin State Park, where redwood sorrel, violets and mountain iris
once covered the slopes and lush canyons and is recovering
as are the salamanders, banana slugs, marbled murrelets
and red-legged frogs who make it their home.

I’m thankful for the whisper of the wind blowing across the water at Loch Lomond
And for the gentle whir of fishing reels, the inlets accessible by quiet boats and trails
where you can enjoy the tanoak, redwood and madrone.

And finally, I’m thankful for friends and family and neighbors who share all this with me.
There’s always something to be grateful for. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Design trends

Tips for Planting Bulbs in the Fall

Grow tulips in sun or light shade

I’ve never had the perfect growing conditions for bulbs. I don’t get enough sun in the spring when the bulb is storing energy after blooming to ensure a good show the following year. I save last year’s bulbs and replant them hoping for the best but I get new ones each year so I’m not disappointed when spring rolls around and I get spring fever like everybody else.

This fall I’m thinking about planting those dramatic allium bulbs. Member of the onion family, their purple pom pom flowers are deer resistant, too. I see there is a variety with shorter stems which I think will be more successful given my partly sunny garden. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even have a stunning photo to share with you next year.

Who does’t love daffodils? I see there is a collection of more shade tolerant daffodils I might try this fall. I’m thinking they have might shorter stems which help them recover after a spring rain without having to be staked up. You remember spring rain? Fragrant miniature Hawera narcissus falls into this category. They are animal proof like all daffodils and naturalizes easily, too. Other bulbs for the shade include crocus, scilla, some tulips, grape hyacinth, leucojum, snowdrops, chionodoxa and lily of the valley.

There are so many types of tulips now. I’m always torn between classic Darwin tulips, parrot tulips and double flowering are spectacular also. There are the early blooming Fosteriana tulips and Lily flowering tulips which are elegant with graceful stems and goblet-shaped flowers with pointed reflexed petals. These are late bloomers and excellent for bouquets as are all tulips.

The ground is perfect now to plant your bulbs. Best selection is now, however and you can store them in a cool, dry place. Most bulbs are pre-chilled before they are shipped. To make sure they have 12 to 16 weeks of chilling you can store your bulbs in the refrigerator set to around 40 degrees. Just be sure not to store them near any fruit as the released ethylene gas reduces bloom.

And in case you forget about them until after Christmas go ahead and plant them anyway. The stems will be shorter but that’s all. The flowers will still be beautiful.

Squirrels, mice and moles are observant and crafty. Once they discover newly planted bulbs, they’ll assume it’s food. Just disturbing the earth is a tip off for them. Daffodils and narcissus bulbs are toxic but if they dig them up then leave them exposed with just a nibble taken, so much for any spring flower display. Protect your bulbs with wire baskets or spray them with foul tasting repellent, letting the spray dry before planting. You can also bury the bulbs with ground up egg shells. Another way to foil squirrels is to plant the bulbs deeply, This only works if you have good drainage, however. Next year, if the squirrels start nibbling the foliage as it emerges try spraying it with hot pepper spray.

Whatever you bulbs you choose to try this fall, you will be happy you planted some bulbs come spring. And to help them bloom again the following year fertilize them at the time of planting with bulb food or bone meal worked into the soil a couple inches at the bottom of the hole. Mature bulbs respond to an early spring feeding with the same fertilizer.

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