I am a landscape designer and consultant in the Santa Cruz mountains in California. I write a weekly gardening column for the Press Banner newspaper. I am also a Calif. Advanced Certified Nursery Professional and managed The Plantworks Nursery in Ben Lomond, Ca. for 20 years.
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 Felton Covered Bridge that overlooks the San Lorenzo River and for the sound of children laughing as they play in the park.
I’m thankful for the western turtles who live at the Quail Hollow pond and for the unique sand hills, grasslands and redwoods, too, and for the 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 and 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 at the edge of thick 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.
Pin down rhododendron branches to make new plants.
Warm days, short days, cold days and hopefully rainy days – all in the fall of the year here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s part of what makes our area so special to us. We are inspired by Mother Nature and our mountains. We feel a connection with nature as we enjoy our gardens. There are some easy things you can do at this time of year to extend that enjoyment. Gardening should be fun, too.
Taking cuttings of shrubs is a relatively easy and economical way to make new plants. Some plants that can be increased by hardwood cuttings include manzanita, coffeeberry, crape myrtle, pittosporum, euonymous, forsythia, spirea, viburnum and roses. Edible plants like currants, figs, grapes and quinces also make good subjects.
For deciduous plants it’s best to take cuttings soon after the shrub drops leaves and goes dormant. Evergreen shrub cuttings can be taken now. Start by taking cuttings of year old wood that’s about a quarter inch in diameter. Discard the top couple of inches of each stem since this unripened wood doesn’t have enough stored nutrients to survive. Cut the stems into 6-9 inch pieces. Because a cutting won’t grow if planted upside down, make the top cut at a slant, so you can keep track of it. Then dip the bottom ends in rooting hormone and tap off any excess.
You can store cuttings from dormant shrubs bundled and labeled in boxes of sand in the garage or outdoors in a well-drained trench. Each will form a callus at the base where roots will form next spring. Come spring, plant the cuttings in good soil in shade with only the top bud exposed. Water as needed and once the new plants develop leaves and increase in size, start feeding them monthly with a balanced fertilizer. By next fall your new shrubs should be well established and ready to be moved to their permanent place in the landscape.
Also you can simply pin down a stem of a plant like manzanita or rhododendron by putting a rock on it so the soil makes contact. After a year or so you will have a new plant that you can dig up and move. Other natives like ceanothus can be propagated in a peat and grit mix and will root in about 50 days if given bottom heat. Take these cuttings in January.
Stake trees if necessary. Trunks with leaning tops or those planted in very windy areas need support. To determine how high to place ties, move your hand up the trunk until the treetops straightens. I usually allow the stake to reach up into the canopy a bit so that a wind gust doesn’t snap off the trunk right at the base of the canopy. Tie the tree to the stake loosely in several places. Trees in containers are tied tightly to the stake but those in the ground should have some wiggle room to stimulate the trunk which will make it stronger. This is a good time to check existing tree stakes to make sure the ties aren’t digging into the trunk and the stakes are large enough to support your tree. Remember to keep your tree staked only as long as needed and then remove the supports.
Pick last roses and add alfalfa meal or pellets which will soak into ground and prepare them for next spring. Don’t prune until the end of January.
Groom strawberries and mulch to deter slugs in winter.
To help protect citrus from frost damage, pull mulch back from below the canopy. This allows the ground to absorb heat during the day and release it at night.
I happened last Sunday morning at 2 a.m. That’s when daylight saving time ended and clocks went back an hour. Sure I got an extra hour sleep but the end of daylight savings time signals to me that autumn is really here in our mild California surroundings
I try to enjoy these very crisp mornings and warm days but I miss the daylight. Mixing in late flowering perennials as well as shrubs with bold leaves and a wide range of autumn color will make any garden more captivating.
Bright trees and shrubs add color flashes to fall gardens. Sasanqua camellias have already started blooming and will continue to flower throughout the winter. In addition to asters and rudbeckia, Japanese anemones are the stars of the border at this time of year. The electric blue flowers of dwarf plumbago contrast with reddish leaves as night temperatures dip, Encore azalea and Endless Summer hydrangea are blooming now, too.
Other perennials that are blooming now are California Fuchsia, Pineapple Sage and Mexican Bush Sage.
I used to have a patch of California Fuchsia. Starting in the summer and flowering through fall this California native is covered with orange or scarlet-orange flowers that attract hummingbirds like crazy. A great plant along the path or draping over a rock wall this perennial thrives in areas that might fry other plants. Also known as Epilobium canan or Zauschneria it is in the evening primrose family and native to dry slopes and chaparral especially in California.
Pineapple sage in your garden will provide lots of nectar for the hummingbirds.
Mexican bush sage look great blooming alongside California fuchsia. Orange and blue are opposite on the color wheel so they look fabulous together. The bright red flower spikes of Pineapple Sage (salvia elegans) would make the whole area a hummingbird feast.
But what about vivid foliage in the garden? Which plants put on the best show in our area? Here are some of my favorites:
A great tree for the gardener interested in edibles is the Fuyu persimmon. This beautiful small tree is ornamental with glossy green leaves and also offers a dramatic fall display in shades of yellow, orange and red. Bright orange fruit begins to develop in late October and clings to bare branches usually through December. The tree looks more like it’s covered with holiday ornaments than fruit. And have you priced persimmons in the store lately?
Blueberries are a must for the edible gardener. They make a beautiful hedge that provides showy red or yellow fall color. Because of our colder winters here in the mountains, we can grow both northern highbush which are self-fertile and southern highbush which produce better with another type to pollinize them. They can be great foundation plants around the home as well as in the garden.
A vine that lights up with the onset of autumn is Rogers Red California grape. If you have an arbor, wall or fence that needs covering quickly, this is your plant. The green and gray leaves are transformed in autumn into great draperies of rich, scarlet red leaves with clusters of summer fruit turning all shades of purple.
Japanese barberries are deer resistant, low water-use small shrubs that make them superb hedge plants, background plants against fences and foundations or accent plants. Red or lime colored summer foliage changes to orange, red or amber in the fall. I love the graceful growing habit of many of the varieties but there are pillar forms and also dwarf types.
Bright foliage on trees like red maples, liquidamber, Chinese pistache, ginkgo, ornamental pear, cherry or crabapple, dogwood, goldenrain, locust, katsura, oak, redbud, sumac and witchhazel all add to the fall drama of the landscape.
Light up your garden as the light fades and the days shorten. I know my garden needs a greater variety of fall color than just the Japanese maples.
