Tag Archives: drought tolerant plants

California Native Plants, container gardening

Low Water Use Plants for the Garden

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leucadendron_discolor2Has the hot, dry, windy weather made your garden look like mid-summer? Our meager spring rains have all but disappeared from the soil and what hasn’t evaporated the weeds have taken. The local water companies all have water conservation requirements starting last month. I’m getting lots of calls and emails asking for advice about the best way to use water efficiently in the landscape so the garden doesn’t look like the Sahara this summer. I’m helping others redesign their gardens with an eye towards ongoing water conservation.

Conserving water is now a way of life. This doesn’t mean you need to let your valuable trees and shrubs die. Water smarter with an efficient irrigation system set to run less often and encourage deeper rooting. It’s a good time to reduce the size of the lawn or better yet, replace it with a low water substitute and get a rebate. Allocate your water budget wisely. Pay attention to which plants are doing well and which aren’t. Be realistic about plants that don’t suit the conditions you have to offer. Remove them and replace with plants that have proven themselves adaptable and are well suited to your own garden. The key to preserving the earth’s resources is to choose the right plant for the right place.

Many of your most successful plants can manage on a lot less water cordyline_leucadendronthan you think.? These may be California natives or water-wise Mediterranean or Australian plants that perform well here. Plan now. Any new plant, even drought tolerant ones, require some irrigation to get established so maybe postpone that big garden planting until after mid-September when the weather is cooler but the soil is still warm which encourages rooting.

We gardeners will always find a way to enjoy our outdoor space. A plant in a pot doesn’t require much care and is easy to water. An interesting plant combination that will thrive in tough conditions is the burgundy, grass-like Festival cordyline planted with Leucadendron discolor. The burgundy foliage of the Festival grass looks great combined with the red and yellow flowers of the leucadendron. Both of these plants require little water once established.

succulent_gardensSucculent gardens are another fun way to have a garden and conserve water at the same time. Selecting an interesting container or hunting for a new one is part of the fun. During the winter you can cover or move the planter for frost protection so you can choose some of the more colorful but tender succulents.

As a reminder, many common garden plants that you normally consider not very drought tolerant like camellia require only a deep watering every 10 days or so in the growing season. Modest, fuzzy little lamb’s ears grow happily in sun or shade and any kind of soil. Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet’ grows only 12″ tall, blooms with purple flowers and spreads to make a beautiful edging or low border that is very drought tolerant.

Elfin thyme is the perfect groundcover. It’s a good lawn substitute for an area that gets only light foot traffic. Gorgeous when in bloom with light pink flowers in summer. It will cover dry slopes, fill in between stepping stones or creep over a rock. Elfin thyme likes good drainage and is very drought tolerant. In fact overwatering with impair growth.

I also recommend old favorites such as Jerusalem sage, gray or green santolina, low and upright forms of rosemary, manzanita and ceanothus as well as California fuchsia, scaevola and Homestead verbena. Low water use plants can be colorful as well as gentle on the water budget.

birds, California Native Plants, drought tolerant plants

Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve 2014

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peak_rush_roseI hike in the Bonny Doon Ecological reserve quite often but had never seen the waterfall. Since the Martin fire in 2008 I have written several columns about the remarkable comeback nature can make after a natural catastrophe. Each spring I eagerly await the new growth of manzanita, chinquapin, pine and the spring flower display. Recently I joined a group led by botanist and revegetation specialist Val Haley, who has been a volunteer at the reserve since 1993 and knows just about everything there is to know about this unique place on the planet.

During the Miocene Epoch which started about 23 million years ago and lasted until 5 million years ago, the global climate warmed. Plant studies show that by the end of this period 95% of modern plant families that reproduce by seeds existed. The soils in the reserve are a marine sediment and sandstone from an ancient sea that once encompassed California’s Central Valley. As the Santa Cruz Mountains were uplifted, the seabed and shoreline terraces were exposed and are known as the Santa Cruz Sandhills. This soil, called Zayante, is almost 90% sand and contains little organic matter. The Sandhills in Bonny Doon and other spots in our county are found no where else on earth.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Val was excited to share her knowledge of silver_bush_lupinethe rare and endangered plants that have adapted to the sandhills. We enjoyed observing acorn woodpeckers visiting their granary in a Ponderosa pine and the bushtits eagerly eating manzanita berries. Along the trails we identified scat from some of the resident animals like coyote but didn’t see any evidence of Santa Cruz kangaroo rat. But it was the remarkable regrowth of the manzanita and pine and of the colorful wildflowers that got most of our attention.

There are several manzanita species living in the reserve and each has a different strategy of reproduction. Standing near a large burned out Silverleaf manzanita specimen, Val told us that this variety spreads its seeds outward from the trunk and with the heat of the Martin fire have sprouted in impressive numbers. Other varieties like the Brittleleaf manzanita are crown spouters and have regrown from their base. These new shoots are bigger and more vigorous than the seed spouters. Later we sought the shade of a live 20 ft Silverleaf manzanita. With a trunk of 12″ in diameter, Val estimated that this tree was about 200 years old. “They get much larger up here than at Quail Hollow”. she said. “And the berries make a really nice cider”.? I’ll have to try making some.

Mimulus lined the trail covered in bright orange blooms. Their common name is monkey flower and Val told us she is authorized to collect their seed for revegetation projects. She places the seed pods in a box and then walks over them. It’s my “monkey flower walk”, she laughed. Interesting to note that with the rise of genetics many plants have been reclassified and renamed. This drought tolerant plant is now diplacus. Seems with all these name changes many of us are using common names more and more.

We found a small stand of the endangered spineflower. ‘Not as many this year”, she told us. Some years they will carpet open areas with small dusty rose flowers. The bush poppies were in full bloom. I was surprised to hear that they weren’t as prevalent in the sandhills until after the fire. The succession of plant life and how it paves the way for the next generation of plants is always being studied. It’s wonderful to witness firsthand.

yerba_santaOur area has a rich history of native people who lived here before us. Val enjoys sharing her knowledge of the old ways to be passed on to the next generation. Yerba santa grows everywhere in the reserve. Covered now with lovely lavender flowers, Val told us its the leaves that have long been shredded and steeped into a tea. Naturally sweet it’s a vasodilator and traditionally used to help with respiratory problems like bronchitis, asthma and colds.

The wildflowers may not be as plentiful this year due to the drought but we were treated to many little gems. Peak rush rose, a rockrose relative, bloomed with tiny yellow flowers. Purple gila flowered near the endangered Ben Lomond wallflower. Western azalea were just finishing their bloom cycle in a moist swale going down to Reggiardo creek. Blue dicks, silver bush lupine, sky lupine and a California poppy of a distinct genera and sporting a deep yellow color lined the path.

At the Reggiardo creek we saw dozens of flowering plants surrounding the Reggiardo_waterfallfalls, including heuchera, ceanothus papillosus, saxifrage, redwood sorrel, redwood violets, deer fern and Western burning bush.

My day at the reserve was filled with beauty and new found knowledge thanks to Val Haley, her expertise and her wonder-filled spirit. If you would like a preview of what you may see when you go visit the website-
http://www.inaturalist.org/places/bonny-doon-ecological-reserve

California Native Plants, Deer Resistant Plants, drought tolerant plants, hummingbird plants, low maintenance gardening

Rockrose, Grevillea and Ceanothus for Low Water Use Gardens

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cistus_Grayswood_PInkThere are so many great plants that don’t require a lot of water to look beautiful. It’s always a plus if they attract hummingbirds and other wildlife. Some favorites are so reliable that we consider them tried and true. Who doesn’t want to include more plants like this in the garden? On the lookout for cultivars of old favorites I came across a few that I plan to include this year in my own garden and also in upcoming drought tolerant designs. I’m excited.

Rockrose is a medium sized shrub that works in so many low water use situations. Besides nice looking foliage the flowers of this shrub provide lots of color, too. With soft grey-green leaves and lovely baby pink flowers, Grayswood Pink cistus is a winner. It grows to about 3 feet tall and 4-5 feet across and is covered in blooms from spring to summer and then sporadically through the year. Bees, butterflies and birds are all attracted to rockrose. Leave it to the British to be at the forefront of gardening trends, the Royal Horticultural society gave this cultivar their Award of Garden Merit in 2002.

Rockrose are tough evergreen shrubs but they do not respond to hard pruning. Best cistus_Sunsetto lightly trim each year to control size as needed. They are tolerant of poor soils and are quite drought tolerant once established. Hardy to 15- 20 degrees they survive our winter lows. Other rockrose favorites of mine include the variety Sunset which grows to only 2 feet high and 4 feet wide with bright pink flowers much of the summer. I also like cistus purpureus for its glowing magenta flowers with a red spot at the base of each petal. Its? common name is Orchid rockrose which is Pantone’s color of the year.? Rockroses are deer resistant.

Grevilleas are one of those plant families that have so many types of flowers, growth habits and sizes that they hardly seem to be related to each other at all. Most are native to Australia and so flower during our winter and early spring. They are invaluable nectar sources for hummingbirds and other nectar feeding birds when most of our plants are still snoozing. If you have deer problems plant Rosemary grevillea. Scarlet Sprite is a mounding, compact shrub 4 feet tall by 8 feet wide with soft textured needle-like leaves. The rosy pink and cream colored flowers are showy in winter and spring. It’s hardy to 20 degrees and is similar to Noelii which was once the most common grevillea in cultivation in California but it’s not as prickly and is denser growing also.
grevillea_lanigera_Mt_Tamboritha
If you want a drought tolerant low spreading groundcover to attract hummingbirds plant a Wooly grevillea.? I especially like the pinkish-red and cream spider like flowers of the variety Mt Tamboritha. They grow about 1-2 feet high and spread to 4 feet in sun or partial shade. They are tolerant of moist soil and are hardy to about 18 degrees. The nectar-rich flowers are abundant in winter and spring but they will bloom sporadically during the rest of the year.

We are lucky there are so many ceanothus varieties native to California. From ceanothus_thyrsiflorus_Bixby_Bridgegroundcovers to large shrubs there’s a plant size to fit every location in the garden. Ceanothus thyrsiflorus is one of the shrubs starting to bloom in our area right now. Ceanothus thyrsiflorus grow along a narrow band close to the coast from Monterey to southern Oregon. Growing to 8 feet Bixby Bridge has large sky blue flowers that attract bees and hummingbirds. With large shiny green leaves and those huge flowers it will steal the show in your garden.

There are a few other drought tolerant plants that I have my eye on. They include a new variety of rosemary called Mozart. It has the darkest blue flowers I have ever seen and will grow into a mound 3 feet tall by 6 feet wide. Hardy to 10 degrees it will fit in nicely in dry gardens mixed with lavenders and rockrose.

The new lavender variety I found is called Lavender Silver Frost. Named for its incredible powder-white foliage and dark purple flowers its gorgeous.? At just over 2 feet tall and a 3 feet wide it’ll be beautiful with the rest of dry garden plants.