Category Archives: groundcovers

beneficial insects, birds, California Native Plants, colorful foliage, Design trends, drought tolerant plants, flowering shrubs, Flowering trees, flowers, fragrant plants, gardening tips, green design, groundcovers, low maintenance gardening, organic gardening, salvia, sustainable gardening, wildlife

Terra Sole Nursery Trials New Plants

Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start your own little nursery on your property? What would you grow? How would you decide?  Over the years, I've been asked by home owners with a bit of extra property what would be good to grow. What is there a market for? So I decided to ask some friends who trial plants on their Watsonville property and operate a small nursery there how it all works.

Terra Sole Nurseries was founded in 2004 by John and Sherry Hall with the goal of experimenting and growing native, unusual and drought tolerant plants that are adapted to our dry summer climate. "We push the limits on water use in our test garden until we fall too much in love with a plant and can't bear to see it die with our tough love approach", Sherry said as we talked about the their operation.

Just back from attending the California Spring Trials,  Sherry and John were excited to share how they decide what to grow In their nursery. Their focus is to grow a large variety of native and unusual plants, some of which are old-fashioned, some are hot new introductions. What treasures did they find this year?

During the course of a week at the Spring Trials,  the world's prominent plant breeders, propagation specialists, growers, marketing professionals and plant enthusiasts share the latest and greatest at several open houses throughout California. The robust plant varieties of today are a direct result of the countless hours and decades of study from the dedicated professionals spending their time observing, testing and experimenting the new varieties that are more disease resistant, more floriferous, the best performers and are easy to grow in ordinary landscapes and gardens.  

How does a plant get from an idea in a breeder's mind to your local nursery? It all starts with the breeders who might cross pollinate thousands of plants to select maybe a hundred of the best ones. Then the growers buy an unrooted cutting or the seed or plugs of rooted plants and grow them onto a larger size. This is where the finish growers buy the plugs and liners to put into bigger pots growing them to retail or sellable size. Terra Sole Nurseries bought some of the newest plants on the market this year themselves.

What are some of the newest trends that we might see in our neighborhood nursery this year? The breeders of impatiens have developed a variety that appears to have a gingerbread man in the center. Called Patchwork this  impatien has a bigger flower and comes in six bi-colors.

Grafted vegetables, higher in antioxidants, are being developed. Non GMO vegetable varieties are grafted onto vigorous rootstalks to produce a plant disease resistant higher in nutrients. Tomatoes, basil, cucumbers. peppers and lettuce are just some of the vegetables being grown.

Biodegradable pots made from wheat are another of the new trends being offered for sale at the Spring Trials. The pots look like plastic yet breakdown after being used and can be recycled in your compost system. They hold up to the normal environmental pressures of heat, water and cold.

Sunset Western Gardening and HGTV are both offering their own branded plants that are available this year. Patented varieties coming out include a compact hardenbergia called Meena, two upright. compact nandinas- Flirt and Obsessive with bright red winter color and a compact mahonia called Soft Caress with non-prickly foliage. A cold hardy salvia named Amistad that has a very long bloom time will also be coming out soon.

To simplify choices for gardeners, better dahlias, calibrachoa, petunias and pansies are coming on the market this season. Several types are grown in the same pot so the buyer need only to plant one of these in a basket or container to get a combination that will look good and grow happily all season.

With so many plant choices which ones do Terra Sole Nurseries trial in their own garden and grow in their nursery? Next week I'll talk about what Sherry and John have their eye on, which plants they grow and the results of their own plant trials. You can find out more about the nursery at www.terrasolenurseries.com.

California Native Plants, drought tolerant plants, erosion control, groundcovers

Groundcover Tips for Fall

Leave a comment

The autumnal equinox happened this week. It’s the official start of fall when the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward. The earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun on this day. Many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours each of day and night on the equinox. However, this is not exactly the case.

During the equinox, the length is nearly equal but not entirely because the day is slightly longer in places that are further away from the equator ( like where we live ). Also the sun takes longer to rise and set in these locations as it does not set straight down but in a horizontal direction.

Take advantage of fall planting weather by looking at what’s covering your ground. Be it the small lawn for the kids to play on, ground cover to keep the weeds at bay or erosion control to keep the hillside intact, this is an excellent time to plan for winter.

Let’s start with the lawn. If you still need a space for recreation, this is a good time to reseed those bare spots. Also to keep the lawn healthy, remove underlying thatch with a thatching rake. Then aerate the lawn by poking holes in the sod and fertilize with a complete lawn fertilizer like an organic all-purpose. Your lawn needs the phosphorus in the fall to encourage deep, strong roots for the winter.

If the kids are grown and no one is using that lawn, why not rip out the water guzzling grass and replace it with a walk-on groundcover? There are many to choose from like dymondia, lippia, potentilla duchesnea strawberry and several kinds of thyme.

One of my favorites is Elfin thyme. It doesn’t need mowing, edging or fertilizing or much irrigation. You can walk on it and it stays green all winter, shading into bronze tones when the weather cools. It even blooms in midsummer for several weeks. Bees will be attracted to it at this time. Thyme prefers sun and poor, sandy soil. Autumn is the best time to install from flats cut into 4" plugs planted about a foot apart. It will fill in within 3 years. Plant them closer together if you’re impatient. You’ll love your new lavender-blooming "lawn".

There are also Ca. native and prairie meadow grasses that you can walk on. They need little irrigation and even less mowing. Some can be planted from seed, others from plugs or sod. Good choices include Idaho, Calif. and red fescue, carex pansa, June grass and Hall’s bentgrass.

If you don’t need to walk on your groundcover, low-growing shrubs that are good groundcovers are baccharis, ceanothus maritimus, cistus salviifolius, grevillea lanigera, creeping mahonia, rosemany prostratus, rubus, manzanita, creeping snowberry and ribes viburnifolium to name just a few.

It’s time to enjoy fall weather and cover that ground before winter.

groundcovers, perennials

Groundcovers

Leave a comment

Ground covers are like a fancy carpet in the garden.  They add richness and beauty under trees and become the stars of the show in sunny apots.  Ground covers reduce maintenance by preventing weeds and reduce watering by acting as a living mulch.  

 

When choosing ground covers, assess the conditions of the area you want to plant.

  •  Is it in the sun or shade?
  •  Is it a naturally moist area or dry?
  •  Do you intend to water it or go with our natural cycle of wet in the winter and dry in the summer?
  •  Matching the plant to the site conditions will ensure success.

When designing a plant layout I consider whether I want a sweep of the same plant or a tapestry effect with a variety of plants.  Using more than one type of plant allows me to work with foliage contrast adding pattern to my composition. 

Splash color and texture on the ground under trees and shrubs with shade-loving ground covers like   Serbian bellflower.  It needs little water, blooms with star-shaped 1/2" blue flowers in spring and summer and spreads vigorously without becoming invasive.  Heart shaped foliage covers this mounding plant.

Lamiastrum is another perennial ground cover for partial or full shade.  Silvery variegated foliage can lighten up dark corners and small yellow flowers are a bonus in late spring.

To preserve good visibility along a walkway or lawn, use low-growing, long blooming perennials like diascia, Santa Barbara daisy and achillea.   All prefer full sun and moderate to little water.

 

Diascia is a So. African native with 1/2" wide flowers that appear on the ends of spreading stems.  Pink used to be the only flower color but now hybridizers have developed apricot, coral and lavender, too.  Diascia’s are hardy to 0 degrees and bloom nearly continuously if old flowers are cut off after flowering.

 

Santa Barbara daisy has become a popular ground cover as it reseeds readily and can cover a large area fairly quickly.  This 10-20" tall trailing plan spreads rapidly to about 2 ft, making it a great filler between larger shrubs and perennials.  Dainty 1/3" pinkish white flowers cool down hot sunny spots.  Trim this plant several times a year to keep tidy and encourage blooming.  

 

Achillea or yarrow are among the most carefree perennials for summer and early fall bloom.   They spread by underground runners and make great ground covers. Keep this in mind if you have a limited space.   The most common variety is Summer Pastels but if you want to add a punch of color to your garden, plant Cerise Queen with it’s cherry red flowers.   

 

Rockrose provide large-scale cover for expansive sunny areas.  Their dense strong root systems help prevent soil erosion.   Choose from white, pink or magenta flowers on plants varying from 1-5 ft. high depending on which variety you choose.  This Mediterranean native is fast growing and drought tolerant. 

 

To create stunning combinations of ground cover plants. choose 5 or 6 styles and repeat them in small drifts to carry the eye through the composition.

 

Add grasses for linear texture.  Good candidates are Blue Oat grass, a non-spreading clumping grass with silver leaves.  Carex Ice Dance is a spectacular evergreen ornamental grass with dark green narrow foliage edged with a pure white border.  Ice Dance spreads by underground runners in partial sun or shade.

 

Take the opportunity to survey your garden for bare spaces that can come alive with added texture and color.