Due Diligence: Four O’clock Plants

Four O'clock flowers

Our family lives in a historic neighborhood of Chico, California called the Barber Neighborhood. Our neighborhood was named after O. C. Barber, the founder of the Diamond Match Company, who had a factory built nearby to process lumber for matches at the turn of the twentieth century. Our home was built in approximately 1909. Because of the age of this neighborhood we have found in around our property an abundance of old trees and shrubs of what many this day would consider cottage garden or great-grandma plants. One of which is the Four O’clock growing prolifically near our garage and Mandarin tree. Not many people go out of their way to buy and grow this plant in their gardens anymore. Why? I couldn’t say as I’ve found it is a really interesting and beautiful plant with a long history of cultivation.

Berries, Trellising and Harvest

Marionberries on trellis

Eating berries is one of my favorite summer activities. Saving them for later use is also a favorite past time. There are many ways of preserving berries -making jams and jellies, canning or freezing them whole or even dehydrating them for a hiking snack with nuts and seeds. Anyway you do it berries are an awesome treat.

From grass to habitat garden... our front yard 2005-2011

Our rural 1/3 acre of land in Northern California has been our home and office as well as a continual experiment in ecological land care and permaculture for over 6 years.  Our decision to relocate to the 'city' this month has us pondering just how much we've improved this particular piece of land in the short amount of time we've been here...  so I decided to take a journey back in time. 

Rope swing 2011

Unbeknown to us in 2005 we moved into a chemical dependent neighborhood; neighbors who rely on pest control companies, Round Up and weed/feed for regular property maintenance.  Within our own property we found enamel paint had been washed out on the back lawn and evidence of recent herbicide and pesticide spraying around our new house (pest company sticker in the garage with the date of application).  Gardening ecologically for a long time we have learned a lot about how to make the transition from a chemical dependent landscape to an organic and biologically based one and how to do it with little time and effort.

Volunteer plants in a Feijoa arbor guild

I love plants that volunteer in the garden.  Some of my favorite and most cherished plants have been volunteers.  They’re almost always sturdy and very healthy having found an ideal niche to germinate and grow in.  Two volunteers I found this year are equally useful and beautiful -Borage (Borago officinalis) and English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata).  Both volunteered in our Feijoa arbor guild.

This particular guild’s central plant is the Feijoa (Feijoa sellowiana).  Actually 2 Feijoas create the arbors’ archway between two of our gardens and each has a nestling of plants at the base which spread outward.  The Feijoa started out with only Lavender and Calendula for companions but this spring they have many, many more friends; loads of which were volunteers (or spreading volunteers, like apple mint).

Feijoa arbor guild plants early Spring 2011

Spring Mulch on Site aka Chop and Drop Mulching

It’s important to consider our unique Mediterranean climate this particular time of year. Getting a basic understanding of how our seasons, the hydrologic cycle and your gardens all interact is not only fascinating but essential for healthy plants and soil life.

chop and drop wheat and other grasses for green mulch

 

Precipitation exceeds evaporation in the Spring*.  Air and soil temperatures gradually rise with increasing daylight hours, critters become more active, plants begin to grow again and everyone thrives with the moisture and additional warmth of early Spring.  How we can utilize this seasonal activity to our benefit and ultimately the health of the whole landscape? 

Mulch-on-Site 
aka Chop and Drop mulching

To honor our pollinating friends here is a tidbit of trivia about...

Honey Bees

There are three types of Honey Bees in the hive...

Worker, Queen and Drone

Worker bees are all female and make up about 85% of hive bees.  Workers gather flower nectar and pollen; the pollen they carry in special pollen "baskets" on their hind legs.  Pollen provides the colony with vital amino acids, vitamins, fats and the enzymes necessary for making honey.  Workers also decide which bees in the hive will become queens.

The males or drones have one purpose in life: to mate with the queen; but there are distinct disadvantages to being a male.  When food supplies are low or before Winter, workers may kick drones out of the nest.  Worse yet, if a drone is so lucky as to mate with a queen he dies immediately after.  What a life...

Honey Bee Fun Facts:

• Bees do not create honey; they are actually improving upon a plant product, nectar. The honey we eat is nectar that bees have repeatedly regurgitated and dehydrated
• The term "honey moon" originated with the ancient Norse practice of consuming large quantities of Mead during the first month of a marriage.  Mead is a fermented beverage made from honey.
• Honeybees are the only bees that die after they sting
• Bees can recognize individual human faces (We really believe this, our sons rescue 1000's of bees and never get stung -the bees know them!)
• Honeybees never sleep!

For more information on bees and their benefits to our gardens and our planet visit this excellent (external) website.

Red Valerian

Centranthus ruber

Taking a break from our Fungus Friends this month we wanted to share a plant some folks may not know about.

Red Valerian is a common flower seen this time of year but the leaves of Red Valerian are pretty special.  They can be eaten like lettuce or spinach in a salad and taste even SWEETER when picked small!  The larger leaves can be steamed and eaten plain or even stir-fried with a little kale.

We feel it's important for people to understand just how much FOOD grows in their garden.  Contact us for a consultation and we'll tell you what's what in your gardens! 

[FYI: Red Valerian is not the same as Valeriana officinalis, a medicinal herb.]

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.