Garden art

Garden Art for Fun

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What really makes a garden? For one it may be the comfortable reading chair tucked under a shade tree in the back of the garden. For another a cutting garden or vegetable garden puts a smile on the face of its creator. But for many a garden isn’t a garden until it gets your personal touch. Whether this is a succulent collection in old spice tins or an ornamental pot placed among your perennials, the possibilities are endless. Turn your old junk into garden treasures.

Whenever I visit a garden its the touch of whimsy that catches my eye. The Snowball viburnum and the fragrant roses covering the arbor may be spectacular but it’s the unexpected creations nestled here and there that make me appreciate everything so much more.

There are so many ways to inexpensively make a garden your own. Recent windy weather has resulted in lots of downed branches. The smaller 3" diameter sizes would be perfect interwoven and tied together for a homemade arbor. While this would not be sturdy enough for a vine as vigorous as a wisteria it would provide enough support for a climbing rose or star jasmine. Smaller branches can be used to make low fences to border a flower garden.

One garden I recently visited bordered their flower beds with small brightly glazed pots overturned on river cobbles. The effect was pure whimsy. I never get tired of the chair-turned-planter whenever I see it in a garden. You can use either a wooden or an ornamental metal chair as long as you can remove the center of the seat so a pot can rest on the frame. Fill with perennial purple wave petunias, red verbena and white geraniums for a July 4th tribute. Shade lovers could use Get Me lilac campanula, Goldilocks lysimachia and dwarf fuchsia’s instead.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a collection of commemorative metal canisters re-issued as a tribute to the anniversary of the product. From Quaker Oats to Hersheys cocoa, Hill Brothers coffee to Sunshine saltine cans I have more than I can display. Now I pole a drainage hole in the bottom, fill with an inch or two of gravel and plant with succulents. I especially like those that tumble over the sides like sedum Lemon Ball with golden foliage and yellow flowers.  Echeveria Perivon Nurburg with pink opalescent rosettes in the red Hills Brothers can is a show stopper, too.

You could get lucky and find an old Radio flyer wagon to plant up but if not look around your own basement or visit a thrift shop, garage sale or flea market for treasures for your own garden. 

Garden art

Garden Art for Fun

Leave a comment

What really makes a garden? For one it may be the comfortable reading chair tucked under a shade tree in the back of the garden. For another a cutting garden or vegetable garden puts a smile on the face of its creator. But for many a garden isn’t a garden until it gets your personal touch. Whether this is a succulent collection in old spice tins or an ornamental pot placed among your perennials, the possibilities are endless. Turn your old junk into garden treasures.

Whenever I visit a garden its the touch of whimsy that catches my eye. The Snowball viburnum and the fragrant roses covering the arbor may be spectacular but it’s the unexpected creations nestled here and there that make me appreciate everything so much more.

There are so many ways to inexpensively make a garden your own. Recent windy weather has resulted in lots of downed branches. The smaller 3" diameter sizes would be perfect interwoven and tied together for a homemade arbor. While this would not be sturdy enough for a vine as vigorous as a wisteria it would provide enough support for a climbing rose or star jasmine. Smaller branches can be used to make low fences to border a flower garden.

One garden I recently visited bordered their flower beds with small brightly glazed pots overturned on river cobbles. The effect was pure whimsy. I never get tired of the chair-turned-planter whenever I see it in a garden. You can use either a wooden or an ornamental metal chair as long as you can remove the center of the seat so a pot can rest on the frame. Fill with perennial purple wave petunias, red verbena and white geraniums for a July 4th tribute. Shade lovers could use Get Me lilac campanula, Goldilocks lysimachia and dwarf fuchsia’s instead.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a collection of commemorative metal canisters re-issued as a tribute to the anniversary of the product. From Quaker Oats to Hersheys cocoa, Hill Brothers coffee to Sunshine saltine cans I have more than I can display. Now I pole a drainage hole in the bottom, fill with an inch or two of gravel and plant with succulents. I especially like those that tumble over the sides like sedum Lemon Ball with golden foliage and yellow flowers.  Echeveria Perivon Nurburg with pink opalescent rosettes in the red Hills Brothers can is a show stopper, too.

You could get lucky and find an old Radio flyer wagon to plant up but if not look around your own basement or visit a thrift shop, garage sale or flea market for treasures for your own garden. 

beneficial insects, sustainable gardening

Bees as Pollinators

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Does spring have you thinking about the birds and the bees? Good. As a gardener you need a variety of insects and other creatures to pollinate your plants.

Most fruits and vegetables, except crops like tomatoes, corn, peppers, eggplant, beans, beets and wheat, need bees to pollinate them. Honeybees are vital for the pollination of the rest of your vegetables and fruits.

Honeybees will pollinate a wide variety of crops throughout the growing season. Unlike other insects that might go from cucumber blossom to dandelion to squash flower when the honeybee leaves a hive in search of food, it will feed on only one type of flower- whichever type it tasted first on that trip. That way, it picks up and deposits only one kind of pollen making honeybees particularly efficient at pollinating crops.

A combination of factors has caused the honeybee population to decline in the last 50 years. Honeybees aren’t native to the U.S. Colonists brought them here in the 1600’s to pollinate the apple trees, provide honey and also wax for candles. For centuries their numbers expanded, but since the late 1950’s they’ve steadily declined. They die more easily when disease parasites strike and they’re less likely to survive a harsh winter.

One threat comes from varroa and tracheal mite, two parasites that can kill honeybees and decimate colonies. Another is colony collapse disorder, a disease that quickly kills off bees in large numbers. Scientists are close to figuring out the cause of the disorder which appears to be linked to a combination of nutritional deficiencies, pesticides, virus and other diseases. Entomologists hope that over time, natural selection will result in stronger bees and less threatening mites.

You can help increase the chances of the bee’s survival and ensure your own bountiful fruit and vegetable crops by planting flowers that they like and add more native plants to your property. Some of the plants that are excellent bee attractors include annuals like cosmos and zinnia that are a favorite of butterflies, too. Calif. poppies and sunflowers are also frequented by bees. Perennial plants they favor are Mexican bush sage, lavender, penstemon, asters, rosemary, Russian sage, coreopsis, gaillardia, echinacea, sedum and erysimum. Native plants that attract both honeybees and native bees include ceanothus, toyon, buckwheat, coyote mint, salvia, ribes and sambucus.

Since pesticides are another deterrent to their survival, look for non toxic ways of controlling garden pests.

Remember that the 1600 species of our native bees are also in decline mainly from habitat loss. They are solely responsible for pollinating many of our native plants. Being solitary they do not make a hive but make nests underground, one female per nesting hole and she lays her eggs there. Be sure to leave some unmulched areas near your flowering plants for her to burrow.

Honeybees and native bees need help to survive and we’re the ones who need to give it. Besides planting nectar and pollen sources you can help by buying local honey which support beekeepers.

fire safe landscaping

Firesafe Landscaping Tips for Santa Cruz Mtns

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The landscape is so green and lush in May. Shades of green are everywhere you look –   apple green, grass green, forest green, spring green, pine, olive, lime, jade, chartreuse, kelp, sage. Did you know the the human eye can identify over 200,000 shade of green?  It's hard to imagine that by summer the hills will be tawny brown. Meadows now covered with grasses and wildflowers will have dried up and put on a coat of restful gold. And with summer comes the wildfire season.  A little planning and maintenance now can help protect your property. Here are some guidelines and reminders to make your landscape more firesafe.

Some plants burn more readily than others. Using fire resistant plants that are strategically planted will give firefighters a chance against a fire around your home, especially within the 100 ft defensible space zone.
This not only helps protect your property but defends the firefighters battling to save your home.

Highly flammable plants like eucalyptus, pines, junipers, overgrown coyote brush, large ornamental grasses, Japanese honeysuckle, sagebrush and buckwheat are a hazard near buildings or wooden structures. They contain oils, resins and waxes that make them burn with a greater intensity. Even when given a higher level of maintenance they are still a high fire hazard. Highly flammable plants should be placed, whenever possible, with low-growing and/or low fuel plants. The ideal is to surround the house with plants with a high moisture content that are less likely to ignite and burn.

Plant arrangements, spacing and maintenance are often as important as plant types when considering fire safety. Group plants of similar heights and water requirements to create a landscape mosaic that can slow the spread of fire and use water most efficiently. Use plants that no not accumulate dead leaves or twigs. Keep your landscape healthy and clean. On a regular basis remove dead branches and brush, dry grass, dead leaves and pine needles from your yard, especially within 30 feet from your home and at least 150 ft if you're on a hill. Keep trees spaced at least 10 feet apart with branches trimmed at least 10 ft away from your roof. It's best, however, to keep trees further from your house. Low shrubs can be closer in and herbaceous perennials and groundcovers can be nearest the home.

Choose the right irrigation system. While all plants can eventually burn, healthy plants burn less quickly. Consider drip irrigation and micro sprays for watering most of your landscape. Use sprinklers for lawns and other groundcovers or turf. Even drought adapted species and natives will benefit from watering every month or so during the dry season. Unwatered landscapes generally increase the risk of fire.

Landscaping could be well-spaced, well-watered and fire resistant. It should be low enough around the home that if it does catch fire it won't give the flames a ladder to the eaves of structures or lower branches of trees.

Other considerations may be as important such as appearance, ability to hole the soil in place and wildlife habitat value. Some fire-resistant California friendly plants are western redbud, monkey flower, ceanothus, sage, yarrow, lavender, toyon, Ca.fuchsia, and wild strawberry. Also consider coffeeberry, flowering currant, bush anemone, snowberry, Ca. wax myrtle and evergreen currant. Fire resistant plants from other places include rockrose, strawberry tree, Chinese pistache, barberry, escallonia, oleander, pittosporum, bush morning glory and wisteria to name just a few.

Each home or property is different. and you will need to look at the unique qualities of yours in planning your firescaping. Some of the info for this column was obtained from a
 

California Native Plants, erosion control, flowering shrubs, hummingbird plants, low maintenance gardening, wildlife, wildlife gardening

Resilient Plants for Santa Cruz Gardeners

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We all approach the new gardening season with enthusiasm and optimism. Then the rain come down hard and pelts your new plants into the ground, the nights turn cold again and some of the plants in your garden aren’t so happy anymore. That’s when you need some tried and true plants to star in your landscape no matter what Mother Nature throws at you.

I’m often asked to give suggestions for resilient plants for a problem spot. These plants may have beautiful foliage, bark and texture, too, and serve two purposes in the garden. They may have flowers for some of the year to provide nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds or berries to feed wildlife. Most of all they are easy to care for and trouble free.

Snowberry gets an A+ for all of these qualities. A California native of shaded, mixed evergreen and oak woodlands, this 3-6 ft shrub thrives in a variety of locations including the dry shade under large trees like oaks. It tolerates poor soil and neglect and will grow well in full shade but blooms better and produces more berries if it gets some sun. Clusters of pure white berries appear in late summer and early fall and last through much of the winter. In late spring or early summer, its pretty blue-green leaves provide a nice contrast to the tiny pink flowers which hummingbirds love. Bees produce a white honey from their nectar rich pollen.

They can be pruned as a nice hedge providing twiggy, dense shelter for wildlife.Because of their vigorous root system, they are useful to stabilize banks and slopes. Maintenance is easy- simply prune away some of the suckers every few years to keep it in check. If it gets too tall,  shear it back in late winter to keep compact. The berries are not the first choice for most birds but thrushes will eat them if there isn’t anything else available. Other wildlife will eat the berries, too.

Lewis and Clark collected this plant and brought it back to Thomas Jefferson. It was sent to England in 1817 and became a popular garden novelty among plant collectors there.

If showy flowers are what you’re looking for in a specific spot, the perennial Phygelius would make a nice addition to your garden. This large 3-4 ft plant blooms from early spring into fall and you can grow them in full sun or light shade. Related to snapdragons and penstemon, the flowers also suggest fuchsias which is where they get their common name, Cape Fuchsia. Coral Princess is one of my favorites with lots of tubular, soft salmon and yellow flowers which attract hummingbirds.

In the same bed you might plant a few to fill and and add a nice contrast at the base of the Cape Fuchsias. This bright bluish-pink true geranium groundcover grows 8" tall and spreads slowly but widely. Easy to care for true geraniums are hardy in the winter, need just average watering and can be sheared each fall for fresh spring flowers.
 

fragrant plants

Gardening for Your Health

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There are few activities that are as healthy for you as gardening.  It makes you fit while also being fun and rewarding for mind, body and spirit.

Think about it. Fragrant flowers feed the senses and the soul. Homegrown vegetables feed the family and are delicious and nutritious. Shade trees provide food and shelter for you and the birds while shrubs and colorful perennials give you a gentle workout as you trim branches and deadhead fading flowers.

From early recordings of civilization, man has harvested roots and leaves from the earth to feed himself and help him feel better. it is not simply what is ingested, however, that is good for us.  Working in dirt or even viewing a landscape has been proven to assist in the healing process. It’s been shown in studies that patients recover quicker and need fewer pain drugs when their rooms have a view of trees instead of just walls. Plants and flowers have a calming effect on both patients and the rest of us. Caring for and connecting with nature are ways to heal the spirit, too.

Most of us love flowers and plants with fragrance in the landscape. A few unlucky people have allergies to strong smells but most of us can’t help but swoon over a fragrant rose or a bouquet of lilacs. A garden’s fragrance can be as unforgettable as its appearance. The scent of a particular flower can make you remember past times and places. Plant fragrant plants in just a few spots to provide a mystery perfume that wafts through the garden. Plant them in containers to scent a deck or patio or locate them beneath a window and let their aroma drift indoors.

There’s a new Erysimum available that bears bright golden-yellow flowers which are very fragrant. Called Gold Rush, this perennial grows 8" tall and would look great along the edge of a path where its scent could be enjoyed as you walk by.  Wallflowers like the sun and deer seem avoid them. Yeah !

Then there’s lightly scented Tulbaghia fragrans. This drought tolerant society garlic has thick, wide leaves and looks quite different than the traditional variety although the flower is similar. The fleshy leaves are deer-resistant,too.

In spring there may be nothing quite as spectacular as a wisteria vine loaded with purple, pink, blue or white fragrant flower clusters covering an arbor or pergola. In San Lorenzo Valley, where I live, you can see them growing high in the trees along Hwy 9. They are true survivors. If you’ve ever tried to get rid of one (heaven forbid) you can attest to their tenacity. In the right spot, their scent is divine.

There are many fragrant native plants, too. Philadelphus or Mock Orange is one of the best, but spice bush, ribes viburnifolium, carpenteria, Ca, rose and some ceanothus are mildly scented, too.

I can’t leave out the old fashion border carnation. Their clove-scented flowers are born in profusion making them a nice addition to the mixed flower border and containers. Cinnamon Red Hots, a newer variety, bears inch wide bright red flowers that attract butterflies and need no deadheading.

So warm up before you grab the spade to prevent injuries. Break up your tasks so you aren’t trying to tackle everything Saturday morning. Remember that tired muscles are more prone to injuries. Plant something to eat that you especially like. And most of all take the time to let the healing powers of your garden do their magic.

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