Tag Archives: Deer Resistant Plants

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These are a Few of my Favorite Plants

While staying at a friend?s house during the evacuation I was able to stroll through her garden. She?s also a landscape designer and her garden is as beautiful as you?d imagine. She?s addicted to plants and keeps adding to her megs collection on a regular basis. Among the blooming perennials I came across were some of my person favorites. All three are wonderful low water, wildlife and pollinator friendly plants.

Epilobium ‘Everett’s Choice’

The first plant that caught my eye was an epilobium ?Everett?s Choice?. The name Epilobium is considered current but this group of sub-shrubs used to be called Zauschneria and are so different from the other epilobiums like Fireweed that many California native plant enthusiasts and even the experts often still refer to them as Zauschneria.

This low-growing vigorous ground-hugging shrub remains under 6 inches tall by up to 4 to 5 feet wide with fuzzy gray-green leaves that are covered with long whitish hairs. Vivid red-orange tubular flowers are produced in profusion in the late summer into fall. It does best in full sun but will tolerate some shade. Quite drought tolerant, but remains a fuller and more attractive plant with an occasional summer watering. It likes well-drained soil best but will do OK in heavier soils if not over watered. California fuchsia are deer resistant and attractive to hummingbirds.

Echo Mango kniphofia

The second plant that caught my eye is also a hummingbird magnet. Kniphofia, also called Red Hot Poker blooms spring into summer with torch-like clusters that open from the bottom up. The selection at my friend?s garden was probably Echo Mango. Whether the cultivar blooms with red, yellow, orange or mango colored flowers this perennial grows to about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide in full sun. It is evergreen and requires little summer water. Deer don?t like this plant either so that?s a plus and it?s hardy to below 15 degrees.

Sdum ‘Autumn Joy’

Many of you already grow sedum spectabile ?Autumn Joy?. A succulent perennial to 1-2 feet tall it has wide cabbage-like rosettes of pale blue-green leaves and rich, dark pink flowers that put on a spectacular show above foliage in summer and fall. Plant in sun in a dry well-drained soil and water however much or little you want. The foliage dies back in the winter but is root hardy to below -30 degrees. This group of sedum was given the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society?s Award of Garden Merit in 1993. Beautiful in the rock garden, perennial garden or spotted into a natural meadow setting it attracts bees and butterflies and is deer resistant. The seed heads can be left for winter interest as well as a food source for birds but stems should be removed prior to the new buds opening in February.

Any one of these plants would be a lovely addition to your garden if you don?t already grow them.

California Native Plants, ceanothus, deer resistant bulbs, drought tolerant groundcovers, drought tolerant plants

Ceanothus: The Most Valuable Plant in your Garden

Those of you who read my column regularly might have noticed I often write about plants that are valuable to the birds and the bees as well as butterflies and wildlife in the general. I have 10 bird feeders around my house. Four for the hummingbirds and the other six have black oil sunflower seed and hulled chips. At this time of year when there are so many young the extra food is much appreciated. I provide water and nectar plants for the bees and butterflies as well. If I had to choose one plant to grow that would provide the most benefit for all the critters it would be ceanothus. Hands down, it?s the best and here are some of my favorite varieties.

Ceanothus ‘Carmel Creeper’

Ceanothus ‘Heart’s Desire’

The groundcover varieties I have in my landscape are Anchor Bay, Carmel Creeper, Heart?s Desire, Centennial and Diamond Heights. If deer frequent your landscape you should stick with Anchor Bay, Heart?s Desire and Centennial but the others are great in protected areas.

One of the upright types I grow is ceanothus thysiflorus. It?s one of the earliest native shrubs to bloom in our area. Ceanothus thyrsiflorus grow along a narrow band close to the coast from Monterey to southern Oregon. I also grow Julia Phelps with those electric blue flowers and Ray Hartman.

A new variety I’ve recently learned about from my friend and fellow Press Banner columnist, Colly Gruczelak, is called Celestial Blue. She planted several 2 years ago from 4″ mail order sleeves and they are now 3 ft tall and 4 ft wide. In her sandy garden, home to her personal deer population, the flowers look like blueberry sherbet. With a light fragrance, described as grape tart, it makes a good screen or accent. This cultivar is probably a hybrid of Julia Phelps and Concha. A horticultural cultivar is simply a plant variety that’s been selected specifically for gardens. Celestial Blue flowers 9 months a year especially in the summer when it explodes with rich purplish blue flowers.

A great variety I often use when designing a garden is Ceanothus ?Concha? because it will accept summer water more forgivingly than most and tolerates clay soil more than other species.

Joyce Coulter ceanothus also tolerates clay, summer irrigation and shearing better than other cultivars. It?s a good bloomer, drought tolerant and is covered in spring with wildly fragrant blue three-inch flower spikes.

Ceanothus is often said to be short lived. Most varieties need good drainage, little summer water and don?t need soil amendments. In their wild conditions ceanothus plants have a natural life cycle of 10-15 years although some live longer.

Diamond Heights ceanothus

Several members of the ceanothus family can form a symbiotic relationship with soil micro-organisms and fungi, forming root nodules which fix nitrogen. This is a reason why fertilizing is not normally recommended. Adding fertilizer mights kill off the good micro-organisms. Ceanothus are better left fending for themselves.

Ceanothus provide excellent habitat for birds and insects. They are good for attracting bee and fly pollinators and are the larval host plants for the beautiful ceanothus silkmoth. Ceanothus seed is readily eaten by many local birds. Planting a ceanothus is an important step to attracting more birds and wildlife to your garden.

Early California Indians used the fresh or dried flowers of some varieties for washing, lathered into a soap. it has been said to relieve poison oak, eczema and rash.

California Native Plants, drought tolerant plants, erosion control, wildlife gardening

California Natives for Erosion Control

Who knows what the weather will be like this winter but what we do know is that some of our rain events will come with a vengeance. It’s not that unusual for our area to get 8 inches of rainfall during a storm and that can create havoc on an unprotected hillside. Fortunately, October is a good time to do something about it.

Pink Flowering Currant

Fall is the perfect time to plant in our area. The soil is still warm encouraging root growth and the weather is mild. Using the right plants on hillsides can help slow and spread runoff and prevent soil erosion. Mulch also protects soil from direct rain impact and slows runoff across bare soils. Covering the steepest slopes with jute netting through which plants may be installed is an added precaution.

There are many attractive plants that work well for erosion control. Often they need to adapt to shallow, poor soil and cope with less than ideal conditions all while putting down dense, strong roots. California natives are well suited to this job.

Common native shrubs include ceanothus and manzanita of all

Calycanthus occidentalis

types. Calycanthus or Spicebush has fragrant flowers in late spring blooming well into summer with a spicy fragrance. The foliage is aromatic when crushed and changes from a spring green color to pale golden in autumn. Decorative woody fruits last into winter making this shrub attractive year round. It thrives with infrequent to moderate watering. Combine with coffeeberry and deer grass in sunnier spots or with Douglas iris and giant chain fern in shaded spots below trees. All these plants have deep roots and control erosion.

Ribes s. King Edward VII

Ribes sanguinem or Flowering Currant is another show stopper capable of controlling erosion. In the spring the long, flower clusters of this deciduous shrub will dominate your garden. Choose from white flowering ‘White Icicle’ or ?Barrie Coate” and ‘King Edward VII’ with spectacular deep red flower clusters. ‘Spring Showers’ has 8 inch long pink clusters. Grow in full sun to partial shade. This California native requires little water once established and is a valuable nectar source for hummingbirds.

Some other good California native shrubs for erosion control are western redbud, mountain mahogany, western mock orange, lemonade berry, toyon, matilija poppy and western elderberry. ribes viburnifolium, creeping mahonia and baccharis. Ceanothus maritimus, ?Heart?s Desire? and ?Anchor Bay? are all good groundcover selections and are not attractive to deer.

Symphoricarpos – Common Snowberry or Creeping Snowberry – can hold the soil on steep banks. This native tolerates poor soil, lower light and general neglect.

Smaller natives that put down deep roots are yarrow, coast aster, California fuchsia, wild grape, mimulus, buckwheat, wild rose, sage and salvia.

Bush poppy -dendromecon rigid- is another native found right here in our area and needs no irrigation at all once established. Beautiful bright yellow, poppy-like flowers cover the plant in spring. They can be propagated from cuttings taken in summer and are pest and disease free.

Remember when setting plants on a steep slope to arrange them in staggered rows. Make an individual terrace for each plant and create a basin or low spot behind each one – not around the stem – to catch water. Set the crowns of the plants high so they won’t become saturated and rot after watering and make sure mulch does not build up around the stem.