ROSE HIPS

Displaying its holiday colors, the non-native Rosa rugosa (pictured above) is an attractive and habitat friendly addition to your landscape.  It happily provides shelter and food for birds, insects and more.

Historically Native Americans made tea and a vegetable like dish from the hips (fruit) of a variety of native Rose species.  Extremely high in Vitamin C and bioflavonoids rose hips can be used fresh or dried.

Be careful with Rosa rugosa shrubs in particular, they will take over a 10' x 10' area within a few years.  While a gorgeous plant and carefree it is not native to California.  Cutting it back each season is important to prevent its spread into California's wild places.

FALL BLOOMING NATIVE

Baccharis pilularis or Coyote Bush is a California native shrub growing in California up into Oregon.  A beautiful and carefree evergreen native it is an excellent shrub for urban landscapes as well as for restoration and erosion control projects.  Coyote Bush provides pollen and nectar for predatory wasps, native butterflies and flies which depend on this supply of food to survive winter hibernation.

 

Pictured here is the erect form of Baccharis pilularis. This particular plant was a volunteer to our garden last year. Look at the size of it (almost 5’) in one year! It does receive Summer water from our drip system though it is set on a weekly ½ hour schedule without a direct emitter.

 

Baccharis pilularis will grow prostrate in coastal windswept areas and erect in inland regions (the latter is shown here) but both being the same species of B. pilularis. It is moderately fire tolerant and also a deer a resistant shrub. 

 

Coyote Bush is dioecious meaning that the flowers are born on two different plants. The male flowers on one and the female flowers on a separate plant altogether. The flowers pictured here are female; note the elongated flower which will in a few days ‘go to seed’ and be dispersed by the wind. 

 

Coyote Bush commonly supports galls created by the host- specific midge Rhopalomyia californica (the midge requires Baccharis pilularis for its life cycle success). A gall is formed by plant cells which grow around a wound, generally from a puncture for depositing eggs by a parasitic insect.

 

PERMEABLE PAVING

The permeable paving system shown below (on the right of the impervious asphalt) is Drivable Grass®, manufactured by Soil Retention, Inc.   A concrete or asphalt substitute Drivable Grass® is durable and plantable.  It functions as an effective way to reduce erosion and stormwater runoff on driveways and parking lots and more.  Shown here at a local storage facility the Drivable Grass® and surrounding landscape has been planted in native and drought tolerant plants combined with a drip irrigation system and rain sensor for increased water conservation.

SUNFLOWERS

Sunflowers brighten our day with their beauty and graceful upturned faces.  Use of the sunflower dates back more than 3000 years to Native American peoples.  Sunflowers are native to North America and have been used for centuries for food, fiber, dyes and oils all across the globe.  

Sunflowers are easily grown from seed in the spring. Make sure the soil has plenty of compost then bury the seed about 1-2 times its size into the soil. Water regularly til sprouted then once or twice a week depending on how hot it is. The Mammoth sunflowers are truly remarkable to behold. 

It is amazing to capture a photo of a sunflower with the sun behind it. Sunflowers are heliotropic plants which mean the flowers track the sun as it moves through the sky. The sunflower genus is named Helianthus for this reason: HELIOS after the Greek Sun God and ANTHOS meaning flower.  

 

Sunflower seed is one among very few North American native plants grown for its global importance. The seed grew in popularity in the last century mainly through it's favor in Russia; it had importance to religious activities so was grown to become the 'Mammoth' sizes we see today.  

 

Birds love to eat sunflowers seeds but did you know that the Goldfinch loves the leaves even more? So do our dogs and parakeet! The leaves contain a high amount of essential vitamins and minerals essential for good health. Though they make a skeleton of the leave the plants never seem to fail.

ECHINACEA

This amazing herb comes from east of Rocky's originally.  Echinacea purpurea is from the far eastern U.S. while the species Echinacea angustifolia is from the central U.S. east.  Though this plant is not native to California its benefits far outweigh its origin. 

The uses for this herb are recorded in history from the Dakota, Cheyenne, Lakota and more Native American peoples.  Most often the root was chewed for toothaches and mouth sores while the leaves and stems were infused for tonics and headaches. 

Echinacea is widely known today to aid the immune system in a battle over the common cold.  Cultivated easily this herb deserves its grace in our gardens.

CRAB SPIDER FEEDING

This underrepresented beneficial arachnid from the Family Thomisidae is eating a plant feeding insect we don't want in our gardens!  These particular families of spiders also have members the same color yellow as the Rose pictured here and can really be a remarkable discovery.

ALOE

Though these images are not of Aloe vera it still contains the same soothing quality for burns and scrapes.  The flowers are filled with nectar drawing hummingbirds to its graceful flowers.

This particular Aloe plant has been in a container and with our family/company since we began in Paradise, CA 8 years ago.  Traveling down to San Luis Obispo, CA and back up to the Sacramento Valley doesn't seem to have harmed it a bit.  Keeping this container plant healthy with organic fertilizers and compost as well as transplanting him into larger containers has been very important to this long lived and useful plant!

THEY'RE BACK!!!!!

Aphids are probably THE most hated garden pest.  They make the plants unsightly not to mention sick-ER!  Most plants have pest problems because they are already weakened or compromised somehow. 

A proper balance of soil microorganisms is the key to healthy plants!  Habitat for beneficial insects like Ladybugs (or Ladybird beetles) is also crucial to keeping pest populations in check.  An environment free of pesticides will help bring in the beneficials to the landscape and is imperative for the whole system to thrive!

Native plants in bloom!

California native plants are an essential addition to any landscape.  They hold a natural beauty unparalleled by any ornamental plant.

Shown here is Sisyrinchium bellum or Blue-eyed Grass, a native to foothill and valley grasslands around CA.  Also shown is Ribes aureum or Golden Current, a native to mixed coniferous forests and riparian woodlands.  

Both plants offer function, habitat and especially beauty to the landscape and are easy to grow in urban gardens.

Ribes aureum or Golden Current

Sisyrinchium bellum or Blue-eyed Grass