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.
 

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