Design trends

Why Native Plants?

California native Siskiyou lewisia grow in rocky, dry soil.

Most of us would love to have a garden containing all California native plants growing happily in an ecosystem where everybody wins- birds, bees, insects, wildlife and us, of course. Our garden would contain flowers, shrubs, grasses, ground covers and trees all providing food, water, cover and nesting places. Trouble is most people are managing existing landscapes and gardens with a variety of established trees and plants, often including vegetable and herb gardens. So what’s a good citizen and steward of the planet to do?

National Wildlife Federation recommends that yards strive for 50-70% native plants. This refers to the biomass of the plants in the garden and not the number of plants so this is easier than you think to help the pollinators, contribute to soil health and control erosion.

California is a vast domain when it comes to natural features and different soils. From hills and mountains to deserts, valleys and ocean bluffs, there are 6000 plus plant species within our borders. Hundreds of these are showy and useful plants worthy of cultivation in our garden. Some, like ceanothus, have already been cultivated for a century or more, both here and abroad.

There are features of the California landscape that present a certain flavor and seasonal progression, quite distinct from that of the subtropics and year-round, moist forests that many traditional garden plants come from. Plants of hilly and mountainous areas are often found in rocky or sandy soils and require well-drained garden soils. Many plants of the chaparral have poor resistance to the root pathogens that thrive in a warm, moist soil and may not tolerate typical garden style irrigation in summer.

Philadelphus lewisii

Matching or creating the right conditions is the key to success to grow California natives. Planting on a raised mound or berm, for instance, is one way to drain water away from sensitive crowns. Knowing where in California a given native plant comes from can help you make the right decisions.

That being said there are many natives with an amazing broad tolerance of different conditions. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) grows in both sandy and clay soils as does yarrow (Achillea millifolium) which is also a good cut flower. Carex grass and Seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) also do well in most soils.

If you garden in clay soils, good native shrubs are Western redbud, manzanita, spicebush, bush anemone, ceanothus, garrya, Pacific wax myrtle, Western mock orange, blue elderberry, mahonia, California wild rose and snowberry. Native perennials for clay soil include coral bells, sticky monkeyflower (a good cut flower), salvias, deer grass, rubus and Dutchman’s pipe vine.

Sandy conditions require California natives that are decidedly drought tolerant. You may already grow many of our manzanitas and ceanothus. But do you also have lupine, lavatera, coffeeberry, buckwheat, fuchsia-flowering gooseberry, purple sage, wallflower or the beautiful Douglas iris?

Then there are the folks that live in the shade. Native plants from canyons and riparian areas will do well in your garden. They require some summer watering but that’s all. Native shrubs that tolerate bright shade are manzanita, spicebush, bush anemone, ceanothus, mahonia, Pacific wax myrtle, any of the ribes, wild rose, snowberry and huckleberry. Perennials for color are columbine, Western bleeding heart, California. fuchsia, Douglas iris and coral bells.

Where ever you garden, to provide food, nectar or berries for our winged friends be sure you have some flowering currant, sticky monkey flower, coffeeberry, salvia clevelandii, Dutchman’s pipe vine, wax myrtle, California fuchsia and aster chilensis.

Design trends

1000 Posts and Counting

Me picking dahlias at Karla DeLong’s Beeline Blooms.

It all started back in 2005 when my first column was published in the newly combined San Lorenzo Valley Press and the Scotts Valley Banner which was re-named the Press Banner. This is how it all began.

My father wanted me to be a writer and researcher for National Geographic, encouraging me to take writing and science classes. My interest in nature and photography was the easy part. It was the 60’s, though, and if you grew up then you know that one didn’t always do what was expected of you. I did study science at Humboldt State and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and aced the plant taxonomy and science classes.

After I moved here, I started working at a local nursery which really wasn’t work at all. Then one day I had an idea. I typed up a sample column and marched into the editor’s office for the Press Banner. Little did I know that he had taken horticulture classes himself and so had a soft spot for my idea to write a weekly gardening column. Next thing I know he’s saying he wants 5 columns, 400 words each, excluding prepositions, on his desk by Friday and the column would be called ‘The Mountain Gardener’ and not ‘Ask Jan’ which I had suggested. I knew my father would be proud. I was a newspaper columnist.

I don’t consider myself a horticultural expert but If I don’t know something I’ll surely find out. I know a little bit about a whole lot of subjects and if I could remember everything I’ve researched I’d be one happy camper. But when I reflect on the prior column over the years, it’s the funny stories I remember the most and I’ve got a lot of ‘em.

File this under “I should have known better.” After a large shade tree had to be cut down near my place I saw an opportunity to stage some pots of perennials on the cut stump. Well, nature had ideas of its own. Fungal decomposition of dead trees is a crucial process in our ecosystem and is driven by fungi that breakdown the wood’s cellulose and lignin. What I forgot was that the potting soil in the pots also has a woody component and the white fungus infiltrated the entire pot killing the plant in the process. Bottom line: you can’t fool Mother Nature.

I’ve written about my friend Robby’s exploits in his garden in 10 different columns going back to 2011. I’ve affectionately called him “The Serial Mole Killer” and he recently told me that this year the moles are the worst he’s had in several years. He’s also very good at trapping and relocating critters so it’s not always light out for everybody. Robby’s garden was featured in the Valley Churches Scotts Valley Garden tour in 2022 where he shared his irrigation, erosion, dry creek bed and succulent expertise. I’m lucky to have a knowledgable friend like Robby who always keeps me laughing when I visit him and his garden.

Funny stories I can’t forget include the trip I took to Guatemala, Honduras and Utila, an island off the coast of Honduras. It was on Utila that I saw plants growing in washing machine baskets. I thought it was a clever way to re-use old appliances but wondered why there were so many old washing machines on a tiny island. A local laughed at me for asking about them and told me the baskets protect their plants from the big blue crabs that come out at night. Seems they’ll sever the stems right at ground level and drag the whole plant into their hole. Also the baskets protect the plants from iguanas who will eat anything within two feet of the ground. And you thought deer and bunnies were a problem?

And don’t get me started on the time my dog Sherman licked all the moss/buttermilk concoction I was painting on a retaining wall to disguise it. Nor the client who dug up all the “dead” plants in his garden not realizing they were deciduous.

So that’s all folks. Thanks for reading.

Design trends

Dogwoods for the Santa Cruz Mountains

This pink flowering dogwood is spectacular in any garden.

I don’t know if I like the pink ones or the white ones best. A flowering dogwood in any shade is stunning. My friend Colly, the food columnist for the Press Banner, has several dogwoods in her garden, including a Cherokee Brave with dark pink flowers. They are so beautiful at this time of year and in the fall when they turn bight red.

There are four main species of dogwood trees. From the Himalayas in China comes cornus capitata. Korea is home to cornus kousa. Cornus florida is native to the east coast and the west coast is home to cornus nuttallii or the Western dogwood.

Dogwoods have spectacular fall color

I see so many showy varieties available now. The fast growing Venus Dogwood is a hybrid of the Pacific dogwood (Corpus nutallii) and the Korean dogwood (Cornus Sousa). It has exceptionally large white flower bracts. Good disease and drought tolerance make it a good choice for the garden. The Constellation dogwood is a similar hybrid to the Venus but sterile so it doesn’t get the red fruits that the Venus produces. Perfect for the small garden.

The fast growing Stellar Pink dogwood is a cross between cornus florida and cornus kousa. With profuse, large, overlapping blush pink flower-like bracts it’s a magnificent landscape tree for small gardens that produces no fruit.

Our native Western dogwood is unfortunately prone to leaf spot fungal diseases when grown out of their range. They are a little temperamental in the garden before they reach the age of 10 years but after that they tolerate seasonal flooding and flower and grow with little care in morning sun or light shade. They prefer moist soil.

We are all familiar with the Eastern dogwood (cornus florida) that’s blooming now. With various shades of pink, red or white blossoms they are stunning. Take note that their root system is prone to disease if not grown with good drainage. An awesome variety ‘Pringlei’ or Mexican Flowering Dogwood is grown by a fellow gardener and it’s a stunner. With its unusual flowers than look like Chinese lanterns to the red fall color this is a species to be on the look out for.

The Wedding Cake Tree (cornus controversa ‘Variegate’ ) is another unique variety. When this small dogwood blooms the large flowers cover the tree like snow. The tiered horizontal branches resemble a wedding cake when in bloom.

Deciduous dogwoods don’t like wet feet especially in the winter. That’s how they develop fungal disease. But there’s an evergreen dogwood that can handle moisture all year round. Cornus capitata Mountain Moon is a tough tree that can handle strong winds and isn’t bothered by any pests or diseases. They enjoy lots of organic matter as do all dogwoods. Huge flowers up to 6” wide can last from late spring into early summer. After flowering, the fruits begin to form and grow into red balls about the size of large strawberries. This is the reason is it also known as the Himalayan Strawberry Tree.

Cherokee Chief

Dogwoods attract a variety of wildlife. All sorts of critters use this tree for food and shelter. The giant silk moth and several species of butterflies favor dogwoods as host plants. The spring flowers provide nectar to bees and other pollinating insects. Robin and sparrow are just two of the bird species than build nests on the horizontal branches and many others seek shelter in the leaves. The high calcium, high fat, fleshy red fruits are eaten by 35 species of birds including titmice, juncos and waxwings.

Many people think of dogwoods as an understory tree but this location is often too shady. Grow them in a full or partial sun location that gets afternoon shade after 4:00 PM. Add a couple of extra drip emitters or inline drip tubing to your irrigation system and they’ll be happy.

Dogwood are a good tree choice for the allergy sufferer as their pollen is not wind borne. Their showy flowers, which are actually bracts, are pollinated by insects. Their pollen is large and heavy, sticking to insects rather than becoming airborne and leading to sneezing, runny noses and watery eyes.

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