citrus greening disease, Detection Dogs, invasive plants

Man’s Best Friend

Sherman wishing he could be a Detection Dog

Dogs are amazing. They can do incredible things. Well maybe not my dog, Sherman, who is more likely to get into mischief than save mankind but we?ve all heard stories about detection dogs sniffing out drugs, explosives, cadavers and disaster survivors. In the mid 90?s, handlers started training them for conservation tasks such as sniffing out scat from endangered species and detecting trafficked ivory. Now their olfactory prowess is being used in the fight against invasive plants and insects.

It was my friend Cindy who told me about this latest use of detection dogs while we were walking on the beach. Her rescue dog, Sienna is obsessed with retrieving a ball thrown into the surf so she?d be the perfect candidate for a detection dog, assisting conservationists in the fight against invasive species.

Although I come across more French broom than Scotch in our area detection dogs can be trained to sniff out all invasive broom. They?re doing this in New York where Scotch broom is just starting to invade and land managers hope to eradicate it before it becomes widespread like it is here and all along the Pacific Northwest. Broom displaces native plants with thickets impenetrable to wildlife and changes the chemistry of the soil around it so that native plants can?t grow there. Broom grows quickly as it is able to fix nitrogen from the air giving a competitive advantage to other non-native weeds. It poses a serious threat to birds, butterflies and biodiversity. Broom contains a high amount of oil, which is flammable and increases the fire hazard. It?s also toxic to livestock and dogs depending on the amount ingested. And those are just some of the reasons why New York wants to keep broom away.

?Our field in the last 15 years has just exploded.? said Pete Coppolillo, executive director of the nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation in Bozeman, Montana. The organization partners with government agencies, researchers and nonprofits on five continents to provide trained dogs and handlers for conservation projects. Besides helping to detect New York broom they have provided trained dogs to find invasive knapweed in Montana, Chinese bush clover in Iowa, yellow thistle in Colorado as well as invasive zebra and quagga mussels on boats here in California.

Working Dogs for Conservation trains shelter dogs for detection work, screening 1000 dogs for every one they put to work. To make the cut, the dogs have to be not only good sniffers and high-energy, but also seriously obsessed with toys so they?ll stay motivated to work for a reward – the chance to play with a ball.

Because I eat a lot of oranges and lemons I looked up recent papers to see if dogs were still being used to detect citrus greening disease. Sure enough what started 5 years ago with just a few dogs has increased dramatically and many dogs are now being trained. Tim Gottwald, a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture plant pathologist, said during a recent presentation in Riverside that dogs in Florida have been 99% accurate and in tests just this last December and February in Southern California backyards, they were more than 92% accurate even when distracted by the homeowners. Because dogs can actually smell the bacteria that causes greening disease within a few weeks after infection well before lab tests can confirm, their work is vitally important.

So when you?re petting ?man?s best friend? tonight appreciate all the great things he does for you and for our planet.

El Nino, fog drip, weather

Summer Fog & Winter Rain

Morning fog captured by redwood trees

I?m not sure how the subject changed from heirloom tomatoes to the the number of gallons of water that a redwood tree uses daily but over lunch the other day with my friend, Colly, the food writer for the Press Banner, and Susan, another friend of ours, this discussion got me thinking about the weather. Is it too early for winter precipitation predictions when the snow has barely melted in the Sierra?

Weather shapes our lives. We celebrate when the weather is good although that might mean mild and sunny for the soccer game or a rainy day when we desperately need it. We watch the Weather Channel forecast and the satellite image for what?s headed our way. Our climate is changing but it?s the seasonal weather that gets out attention.

There have been several heat waves this summer. Recently the temps soared to the high 90?s and low 100?s in some places and remained high even at night. The next couple of days brought fog so thick it dripped from the trees. We know that redwoods thrive along the coast because of the fog. Have you ever wondered how much water a tree can get from this source?

Fog drip is precipitation that forms when fog droplets condense on the needles or leaves of trees. Redwoods especially are extremely efficient producers of fog drip but other conifers like Douglas fir and pines can collect quite a bit as do large madrone leaves. According to Dr. Todd Dawson, author of ?Redwood? by the National Park Service, ?A relatively small 100 foot tall redwood can gather the equivalent of four inches of rain in a single evening.?

Dawson?s studies have found that Doug firs along our coast produce anywhere from 7-27 inches of fog drip each year. He measured the fog drip below a single tanoak at a whopping 59 inches of precipitation along the Northern California coast. This summer moisture can provide as much as half the water coming into a forest for over a year. Trees can absorb a small amount of water through their needles and leaves, too. A redwood tree needs about 150 gallons of water each day. Every little bit helps in our summer dry climate.

Understory native plants in a redwood fairy ring.

Because of the water that accumulates below the trees many plants like our native Western Sword fern, the small Epipactis orchid and Phantom orchid are found in these unique conditions.

Fog drip occurs every summer. Ask Mark Twain who said ?The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco?.

But what about this upcoming winter?s rainfall forecast? What?s the latest on our chances of El Nino coming to visit and bringing more nice soaking rainfall with it?

According to the National Weather Service at NOAA, ? All in all, El Nino is still present, but just barely?. Winter is still a long way off and there are many possible outcomes from the current conditions. Hopefully, we?ll be on the winning side of these forecasts. Water conservation will always be a part of our lives. Start planning now the changes you want to make in your garden this fall.

Chocolate Flower Farm

Chocolate in the Garden?

Chocolate Flower Farm – Whidbey Island, WA.

I was at a nursery the other day viewing the eye candy and saw some chocolate cosmos. Naturally I had to take a whiff. Chocolate cosmos looks and smells just like a dark chocolate bar. The warmth of the day released this delicious fragrance reminding me of a day spent several years ago on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound with my sister, Evan. She?s no longer here, passing away 3 years ago this month, but the memories we shared at the Chocolate Flower Farm with be with me forever.

As a landscape designer I often get requests for certain colors to be included in the plant palette. Mahogany, burgundy, deep magenta and eggplant often make the list. Many people like dark flowers or foliage paired with ivory, others prefer peach or chartreuse. I marveled at all the combinations at the Chocolate Flower Farm.

In addition to chocolate cosmos, a wildflower called chocolate flower or berlandiera lyrata grew at the farm. I also enjoyed the fragrance of warm chocolate in the flowers of chocolate akebia, chocolate mint and chocolate snakeroot.

Ducks enjoy the Chocolate Flower Farm, too.

Strolling the grassy paths at the Chocolate Flower Farm I admired a Sparkling Burgundy pineapple lily. The foliage, nearly black, glistened in the sun growing next to a white-flowering Nine Bark called Summer Wine.
Nearby a clump of two-tone chocolate and ivory daylilies bloomed. With grazing horses nearby and a dozen ducks taking turns bathing in a kiddie pool the scene was idyllic. At every turn a different pairing of chocolate flowers and foliage caught my attention.

One section featured plants for a kid’s chocolate garden. Easy to grow chocolate pincushion flower, chocolate viola, chocolate nasturtium, chocolate snapdragon, chocolate sunflower, chocolate painted tongue and, of course, chocolate cosmos would be fun for any child to have in their own garden.

Black Knight sweet peas

I loved a penstemon called Chocolate Drop as well as a Mahogany monarda the color of deepest magenta. Blooming black sweet peas grew up and and over an old bed frame. A dark purple-black clematis from Russia called Negritanka intertwined with lime green hops covering an arbor. Toffee Twist sedge, Royal Purple smokebush, Chocolate Sundae dahlia, Sweet Hot Chocolate daylily, Chocolate Plant and Hot Cocoa roses grew in many of the flower beds.

Burgundy daylilies wtih rusted garden art

What makes dark foliage or dark flowers pop? At The Chocolate Farm each bed pairs the deep rich chocolate color with another contrasting shade. I don’t know which was my favorite. One area featured peach, pink and silver to offset the darker shades. Pink dahlia and fairy wand, blue oat grass and rose colored sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ made a lovely vignette. Another bed paired the yellow flowers of phygelius ‘Moonraker’ and digitalis grandiflora with white anemone and ivory dahlias set among Chocolate Baby New Zealand flax.

Not to be ignored the dark chocolate shade of black sambucus growing next to a golden Himalayan Pheasant Berry made an impression. All-gold Japanese Forest grass at the base of dark leaved Tropicana canna lily was also a show stopper.

If you are up on Whidbey Island, the Chocolate Flower Farm is a great place to spend an afternoon. If your vacation plans don’t include the Pacific Northwest, plant some chocolate in your own garden.

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