All posts by Jan Nelson

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.
Design trends

Garden Inspiration Overload

Duranta erecta ‘Geisha Grl’

I’d been waiting for the tour of Griggs Wholesale nursery in Watsonville for a while. This company bought Suncrest Nursery last year and has breathed new life into it. A favorite for years, Suncrest had a reputation for excellence and this new version is living up to its name.

On a warm summer day, my friend Carri who is a retired Master Gardener, enjoyed touring the grounds, learning about the propagation program and just being wowed by all the beautiful plants growing at the nursery. Although Griggs is a wholesale-only nursery they provide plants to many of our local nurseries and I use their availability to suggest plants to clients that they can find at their favorite store.

Native abutilon palmeri

Griggs grows tons of native plants as well as low water use shrubs, succulents and perennials. One of the beautiful plants I learned about is the native abutilon palmeri (Palmer’s Abutilon). This showcase plant sports masses of bright gold flowers in spring and summer. The silvery soft, velvety foliage is equally showy. It’s a relatively rare species in the mallow family native to the southwestern US and northern Mexico. Besides being beautiful this abutilon is a tough, semi-evergreen shrub with a dense, rounded shape and grows to 4 to 5 feet tall and as wide.

The tour of the propagation and planting areas was enlightening, too. The new owner, Ken Griggs, has modified the soil mix to accommodate warmer climates but still provide good drainage. I learned that an 8 member crew can pot over 18,000 gallon cans per day or 2300- 5 gallon cans. The conveyor drops the prescribed amount of soil amendment, such as gypsum, automatically depending on the plant material requirements.

In another greenhouse, flats of plant starts were being shifted to 2 inch or quart pots where they eventually will be hardened off outside under shade cloth before being potted up. The flats start life on benches where they are watered with warm water to encourage rooting.

Back out in the growing grounds we learned about all the different crops being grown for sale. With over 50 acres total the vast selection of beautifully grown plant material was jaw dropping. One empty section recently held 400 Narrowleaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) that sold out immediately to nurseries and contractors when they were ready for sale. I bet the Monarch butterflies are happy.

Griggs grows thousands of different plants. Our cart drove past myriad blocks of grasses, vines, alstroemeria, epilobium, agastache, gaura, coprosma, achillea, euphorbia, erigeron, eriogonum, salvia, ceanothus, arctostaphylos- the selection is seemingly endless.

New hybrid, Summerina Orange Echibeckia, has vigor and disease tolerance.

One of the perennials that really caught my eye is a hybrid between echinacea and rudbeckia hirta. Summerina Orange Echibeckia is a really show stopper. It looks like a rudbeckia with a the vigor and disease tolerance of echinacea. The orange ray petals with a rust-orange inner halo surround a dark brown center cone. The flowers are huge on a compact plant and bloom for 2-3 months. It’s fast growing reaching 18 inches tall and wide.

So if you’re looking to add some shrubs, ground covers or perennials during the fall planting season, look for some of these plants at your local nursery. Many order from Griggs Wholesale and if they don’t have what you’re looking for they may be able to order them for you.

Design trends

Enjoying the September Garden

Butterflies, hummingbirds and bees are all attracted to coneflowers.

September is a month that signals change in the garden. You can feel the weather shifting. Days are not always quite so hot and the nights are longer and cooler. Some plants are at their prime, while others are winding down for the season. I used to have a large area covered with California fuchsia. The hummingbirds would go nuts with so many bright orange flowers to visit. In my present garden I have several abutilon for them to enjoy. I can’t even count how many flowers per day the hummingbirds visit. My fragrant dwarf butterfly bush is still blooming and attracting swallowtail butterflies while the salvias are favored by birds, bees and butterflies. What other late blooming perennials would be good to include in the garden?

There’s nothing quite like adding a few new perennials to brighten up the garden. There are many that don’t require a lot of water after they become established. I recently visited a garden where the irrigation was reduced to the point that that most of the plants were barely hanging on. But there among the crispy plants were two Hot Lips salvia blooming as big as you please. This plant is popular for a reason. Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees love it and it blooms for a long time. It stays compact and is a great carefree shrub for water wise gardens.

Daisy flowers always bring a smile to my face. As members of the composite family they have a flat landing surface for butterflies to land on. Coneflowers are one of my favorites. When they start blooming in the early summer I enjoy them both in the garden and as cut flowers inside. Some have a slight fragrance. Hybridizers have introduced beautiful shades of gold, yellow, orange, burgundy and coral in addition to the traditional purple and pure white. Because they are dormant in the winter they are good candidates for a garden that has summer sun but winter shade. They are not attractive to deer and are good additions to the low water garden. The clumps spread slowly and can be carefully divided after 3 or 4 years. If faded flowers are left in place, the bristly seed heads provide food for goldfinches in winter.

The herb echinacea is derived from varieties of this flower. Echinacea purpurea and other varieties are used as a fortifier of the immune system, mainly to prevent flu and minor respiratory diseases by increasing the body’s production of interferon. The roots are the part of this plant used for medicinal purposes.
Echinacea was used by Native Americans more than any other plant in the Plains States. It was used to treat snake and insect bites because of its antiseptic properties and to bathe burns. They chewed the plants roots to ease the pain of toothache. It was also used for purification. The leaves and the flowers can be used in teas as well.

Some other perennials to try are agastache or Hummingbird mint. Plant near your organic edible garden to provide nectar for pollinators as well as hummingbirds. The flowers are edible as a salad garnish, in baked goods and in cocktails while their foliage can be added to herb salads or in a cup of tea.

I like the bright flowers of Gloriosa Daisy, especially the longer lived Goldsturm variety. These perennials make good cut flowers, are tough and easy to grow. They are descended from wild plants native to the eastern U.S. but require only moderate water once established.

Gardening makes us learn new things. If you water less frequently, some plants may decline or even die eventually. Remove those that do and replace them with plants that will thrive with less water.

Design trends

Gardens for Kids, Pets and Healing

Every sunny garden should have a Butterfly Bush for kids and butterflies alike.

A garden is the perfect example of the circle of life. A garden is nature’s way of taking and giving back life to the earth. A garden represents the infinite nature of energy. I was reminded of this when a friend lost her dog to cancer and within a day of that happening my niece gave birth to her first child. A garden holds hope. And it can heal our sorrows.

I am in a garden every day. Sometimes it’s the garden of friends I’m enjoying or helping a client with theirs or strolling a public garden and of course, I am in my own little garden daily. Wherever I go I receive something from the experience and try to leave some positive energy there. What makes a garden that heals? And on the other side of the circle of life what’s important in a kid and pet friendly garden?

Through our history gardens have been used to aid in the healing process. Japanese Zen Gardens and Monastic Cloister gardens are good examples of this. Viewing natural scenes helps us reduce stress and negative emotions and replaces them with positive feelings.

To make your garden look better and make you feel better when you’re in it pay special attention to plant selection. Allow the plants to dominate with a little bit of hardscaping. Choose plants that are fragrant, colorful or soft to the touch. Plants that attract wildlife make a garden a happy place. Simple, bold mass plantings are more comforting than a wild mix of many varieties. Leave that to the cutting garden. Enclose the space to keep your thoughts inward and peaceful.

It’s just as important if you have children and pets to create a garden that is calming and relieves stress.

Picking plants for a backyard that is shared with dogs is especially important if your dog naturally nibbles on greenery or berries. Some plants are lethal while others can cause illness or vomiting. I was surprised to see so many common plants on the ASPCA website that could cause problems like carnations, primroses and geraniums. What’s safe for us like grapes and avocado are not good for dogs. Check the list to make sure the plants you are considering are safe for your dog.
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/poison-control/Plants?plant_toxicity=toxic-to-dogs

Plants near paths should have soft foliage without thorns and spines which can cause eye injury. Brittle plants like salvias should be in the center where they’ll be protected. Densely planted areas are usually avoided by dogs but planting in raised beds or mounds help, too. Pieces of driftwood placed at the front of a border will discourage them. Start with one gallon or larger plants that can stand up to a little roughhousing.

Kid friendly gardens should not contain plants that are poisonous. Sounds like a no brainer but even some of our common natives like the berries of snowberry and the leaves of Western azalea are poisonous. Non-toxic plants include abelia, abutilon, liriope, butterfly bush, hens and chicks, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis and black-eyed Susan. Better to check the poison control website if in doubt.
http://www.calpoison.org and search “plants”.

What makes a great experience for a kid in the garden? In a nutshell, you can teach children of any age about beneficial insects in a garden and other wildlife. Older kids can identify and nibble edible flowers like calendula, dianthus, nasturtiums, pansies, peas and beans. Grow flowers that kids can cut like zinnias and snapdragons and plants to touch that are soft and furry like lamb’s ears.

Kids, even older ones, like hiding places, so grow one in the garden. You can plant tall growing sunflowers in a circle, leaving a space for a “door” that kids can crawl through once the flowers have grown. Or build a simple teepee out of fallen branches or long gardening stakes and plant bean seeds around the outside. Scarlet runner beans are also good and have tender, young pods like green beans in addition to bright red flowers that attract hummingbirds. Beans grow fast and soon make a great secret hiding place.

Make your garden one everyone can enjoy.