Tag Archives: climate smart plants

Design trends

Knee High by the Fourth of July

Also known as Siskiyou Lewisia is an easy to grow perennial that thrives in sandy soils.

I don’t grow corn in my small, shady garden so I’m not sure how tall they’d be if by now if I planted on May Day when the soil was 50 degrees, but that’s how the saying goes. And from what I’ve read about the early hot weather in the midwest, their corn is higher than knee high. But this column isn’t about growing corn, it’s about climate smart plants that hold up to the heat. So let’s get started.

All this talk about “drought tolerant” plants or “water smart” plants is misleading in some ways. What really matters for the success of a plant in your garden is that they are climate smart. You can call the new California garden climate tolerant or climate adapted but it all comes down to the same thing. The plants you choose to grow in your garden should be able to naturally tolerate periods of lower than average water. This doesn’t mean no water during extremely long dry periods. No plant can live without water.

I have two books that I look to for plant ideas when called upon to design a garden in our area. This first was published by East Bay MUD in 2004 and is called ‘Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates’. The other book I refer to regularly for ideas and information is ‘California Native Plants for the Garden’. Both are invaluable in these times of water conservation. One of the best tips each of them offer is to garden where you live.

Silver-leaf manzanita

All of us live in a summer-dry climate. Summer-dry gardens are naturally dry for long periods. Knowing which type of plant community you live in can make the difference between success and failure in your garden. Choose the right plant for the right place whether it’s a California native from an area with similar soil and exposure or a plant from another Mediterranean-like climate with growing conditions like yours.

Plant communities have evolved over time with geologic changes in climate, topography and soils. We have several district areas here- mixed evergreen forest, redwood forest, chaparral and sandhills.

If you live in a mixed evergreen forest you garden with trees like coast live oak, tan oak, madrone, bay and buckeye. Understory plants include ceanothus, coffeeberry, hazel and poison oak. Your soil contains serpentine and granite. Many other unthirsty plants like salvias, lavender, santolina, society garlic, giant feather grass, rosemary and rockrose do well here. California natives such as western mock orange (philadelphus lewisii), wild ginger and western sword ferns grow here also.

Mixed evergreen forest may also be found along canyon bottoms near streams where big leaf maple, white alder, cottonwood, and western sycamore trees grow. Most plant here grow lush in this deep soil. If you are looking to add something new to your garden here consider giant chain fern, aquilegia, dicentra, Pacific Coast iris and fuchsia-flowering gooseberry.

This mimulus auritanicus is growing in the hottest, driest conditions and thriving.

Chaparral areas are the hottest, driest slopes of these mountains. Dense thickets of manzanita, coyote brush, chamise, coffeeberry, ceanothus, monkey flower and sage are native here. These plants are adapted to little water and often have tiny, thick, waxy, light green or grayish leaves. Soils tend to be rocky and shallow with overlaying rock or a subsoil that is mostly clay. Plants here need to have an extensive root system that reaches widely and deeply for water. If you live here a classic combination would be the spring blooming western redbud and Julia Phelps or Dark Star ceanothus. The combination of magenta and electric blue flowers is unforgettable.

The sandhills near Quail Hollow and Bonny Doon around Martin Rd. are part of an ancient sandy sea floor that was uplifted, eroded and exposed. These sandy soils lack organic matter and nutrients and their white color magnifies the temperature of the summer sun. Unique, native plants like silverleaf manzanita and Ben Lomond wallflower live here. Buckwheat and sticky monkey flower do well here. You might also try growing Siskiyou Lewisia, a pretty little plant native to northern California, thrives in sand and gravel soils with good drainage. This 8″ tall hardy perennial blooms from spring to early summer with extremely showy flower clusters in colors ranging from apricot to pink, rose and bright cherry red. Mulch them with gravel or crushed stone.

Remember right plant-right place. Don’t try to force nature although most gardens do look better with some summer water. Closer to the house we expect a fuller look. Combinations I’m going to try this season include leucospermum paired with blue echium or grey-leafed westringia planted with red-flowering callistemon ‘Little John’.

Design trends

Plant News You Can Use

A traditional apple like this Red Delicious might not fare as well in a warming climate.

A recent article in the New York Times caught my eye: Hot weather cherries, drought resistant melons and six other crops that are being developed or already in the market could change how we eat in a fast warming world. In the face of our erratic climate, floods and pests that farmers never used to worry about plant breeders are working to perfect varieties of fruit and vegetables that can thrive under these conditions. Solutions can come from research in molecular technology to mining the vast global collections of seeds that have been conserved for centuries. These new fruits and vegetables taste good, too. Here are just a few in the news.

In a warming climate, cherries are finding it harder to get enough chill hours during the winter and also handle hotter summers. Breeders have come up with the heart-shaped Cheery Cupid which handles these conditions and is also juicy and sweet. They will be available next season in North American markets.

Then there are two new melons – the Supermelon and Flavorific – with deeper root systems have been bred to handle drought my pulling more water from the soil. They can drink less. The melons are sweet, with dense flesh, and have just been made available to farmers.

If you like cauliflower there’s a new variety that won’t get sunburned in a warming climate. Now, farmers fold the leaves back over the white head or curd by hand about two weeks before harvest. It’s expensive and time consuming. Plant breeders developed the Destinica, a true white cauliflower. It’s already in supermarkets. Essentially, it doesn’t get sunburned and it’s easier on the soil because fewer workers walk the fields. The same developer has breed a white cabbage that requires less nitrogen and can thrive during prolonged dry periods.

Breeding a new apple takes time. A horticulturist at Washington State University, Kate Evans, says twenty years is typical. Cosmic Crisp, an apple developed to grow well in the heat now grows on 21 million trees in Washington State.

Another promising new apple is the Tutti, a light crisp red apple being tested throughout Europe. A New Zealand company developed it to help Spanish farmers struggling with hotter temperatures.

We all love avocados. A new, more environmentally friendly avocado has been 50 years in the making. The Luna, which is nutty, smooth and perhaps a bit sweeter than the Haas, was developed by breeders at the University of California, Riverside which houses one of the world’s largest collections of avocado genetic material. The new trees are slender, shorter and have a smaller footprint. They use less water and produce more fruit on less land. They are also easier to harvest which saves labor costs.

Enter the potato. Potatoes like a constant, moderate supply of water and prefer cool weather, but the climate is changing so fast that researchers recently warned that the potato industry is in trouble. Researchers at the University of Maine are looking to South America, where potato cultivation began around 8,000 B.C. and to heat tolerant varieties in the American South for genetic traits that can help spuds survive excessive heat and floods.

Researchers are also exploring how to battle new waves of pests and disease that come with hotter, wetter growing conditions. One strategy being studied is breeding plants with hairier leaves which make it harder to insects to move through crops.

These are just some of the vegetables and fruits in our future.

climate smart plants, Design trends, plant communities, plants for summer dry climates

Knee High by the Fourth of July

A black-tailed deer celebrating the Fourth of July.

Who doesn?t love corn on the cob fresh either from the garden or farmer?s market? But this column isn?t about growing corn or about patriotic deer, it?s about climate smart plants that hold up to the heat. So let?s get started.

All this talk about ?drought tolerant? plants or ?water smart? plants is misleading in some ways. What really matters for the success of a plant in your garden is that they are climate smart. You can call the new California garden climate tolerant or climate adapted but it all comes down to the same thing. The plants you choose to grow in your garden should be able to naturally tolerate periods of lower than average water. This doesn?t mean no water during extremely long dry periods. No plant can live without water.

I have two books that I look to for plant ideas when called upon to design a garden in our area. This first was published by East Bay MUD in 2004 and is called ?Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates?. The other book I refer to regularly for ideas and information is ?California Native Plants for the Garden?. Both are invaluable in these times of water conservation. One of the best tips each of them offer is to garden where you live.

All of us live in a summer-dry climate. Summer-dry gardens are naturally dry for long periods. Knowing which type of plant community you live in can make the difference between success and failure in your garden. Choose the right plant for the right place whether it?s a California native from an area with similar soil and exposure or a plant from another Mediterranean-like climate with growing conditions like yours.

Plant communities have evolved over time with geologic changes in climate, topography and soils. We have several district areas here- mixed evergreen forest, redwood forest, chaparral and sandhills.

If you live in a mixed evergreen forest you garden with trees like coast live oak, tan oak, madrone, bay and buckeye. Understory plants include ceanothus, coffeeberry, hazel and poison oak. Your soil contains serpentine and granite. Many other unthirsty plants like salvias, lavender, santolina, society garlic, giant feather grass, rosemary and rockrose do well here. California natives such as western mock orange (philadelphus lewisii), wild ginger and western sword ferns grow here also.

Mixed evergreen forest may also be found along canyon bottoms near streams where big leaf maple, white alder, cottonwood, and western sycamore trees grow. Most plant here grow lush in this deep soil. If you are looking to add something new to your garden here consider giant chain fern, aquilegia, dicentra, Pacific Coast iris and fuchsia-flowering gooseberry.

Found in the sandhills, silverleaf manzanita is perfectly suited to its environment.

Chaparral areas are the hottest, driest slopes of these mountains. Dense thickets of manzanita, coyote brush, chamise, coffeeberry, ceanothus, monkey flower and sage are native here. These plants are adapted to little water and often have tiny, thick, waxy, light green or grayish leaves. Soils tend to be rocky and shallow with overlaying rock or a subsoil that is mostly clay. Plants here need to have an extensive root system that reaches widely and deeply for water. If you live here a classic combination would be the spring blooming western redbud and Julia Phelps or Dark Star ceanothus. The combination of magenta and electric blue flowers is unforgettable.

The sandhills near Quail Hollow and Bonny Doon around Martin Rd. are part of an ancient sandy sea floor that was uplifted, eroded and exposed. These sandy soils lack organic matter and nutrients and their white color magnifies the temperature of the summer sun. Unique, native plants like silverleaf manzanita and Ben Lomond wallflower live here. Buckwheat and sticky monkey flower do well here. You might also try growing Lewisia, a pretty little plant native to northern California, thrives in sand and gravel soils with good drainage. This 8″ tall hardy perennial blooms from spring to early summer with extremely showy flower clusters in colors ranging from apricot to pink, rose and bright cherry red. Mulch them with gravel or crushed stone.

Remember right plant-right place. Don?t try to force nature although most gardens do look better with some summer water. Closer to the house we expect a fuller look. Combinations I?m going to try this season include leucospermum paired with blue echium or grey-leafed westringia planted with red-flowering callistemon ?Little John?.