Gateways to the Communities Exhibition at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, "California's Native Garden", is undergoing renovations. Today (April 5, 2013*), I treated myself to a day in the gardens, including a docent tour of the "California Plant Communities." Signage in photos tells more about that. It was a lovely day and I felt quite privileged to be on an extended 2-hour tour! Clearly the staff and volunteers are going all out to improve the visitor experience, water-wisdom, and aesthetic appeal of the garden. They've included clay pots with sample plant materials for budding botanists to explore. And, put to very clever use fallen trees, limbs, and unearthed rocks (aka "Claremont potatoes") in creating interpretive sculptures located throughout the newly mapped Plant Communities.

Welcome to Gateways to the Communities Exhibition at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden:

Flannel Bush (Fremontodendron cultivar) like this one needs plenty of room to spread. Best for a very large garden, although there are somewhat smaller selections (e.g. F. 'Ken Taylor'.)

Some horticulturalists will go to great lengths to screen garden patrons from neighbor's barking dog! Sculpture conceived and installed by Joshua Kreutzer, RSABG horticulturalist. Interpretive signage:

Santa Barbara Island Dudleya (Dudleya traskiae) sited on berm sculpted with Rocks and Dead Trees.

Busy Lady Beetle in a sea of petite posies.

Boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris), a Baja native, is in same family with the more common ocotillo (F. splendens.)

Twig sculpture, by Dago Lopez and Joshua Kreutzer, represents a caterpillar, complete with "innards"... containers of host plant specimens.

"Caterpillar"... ahem... rear view.

Fuschia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) has gorgeous, pendulous red flowers, just right for snacking if you are hummingbirds. If you are people, though, you're best advised to watch out for thorns!

I am crazy for the patterns created by sugar bush (Rhus ovata) flower buds just getting ready to pop. (Okay, maybe I am just crazy.)

Closeup of Island Bush Poppy (Dendromecon harfordii) flower.

Island Bush Poppy (Dendromecon harfordii), like many other Channel Islands natives is rare in the wild, owing to human impacts. Rancho, as botanic collection and its Grow Natives, native plants nursery are doing their part to keep this large and lovely shrub available, especially for coastal gardens with well-draining soils.

California Crossosoma or Rockflower (Crossosoma californicus) may not be as popular in gardens as other Channel Islands native plants, perhaps owing to its quite variable size. Frost tender, it struggles a bit in an inland location such as Claremont. If you're on the coast and have room in your garden to experiment, it will reward you with lovely papery white flowers like large apple blossoms.

Small-leaved rose (Rosa minutifolia), one of California's own treasured roses is native along Baja coasts and previously (but now extinct owing to development) in San Diego County. Adapted to a summer-dry climate, it is summer-deciduous (that is, it drops its leaves in summer.) However, it is in full, albeit tiny, foliage during wet winter months.

This yerba santa is tagged Eriodictyon sessilifolium, which appears to be native to lower Baja California. Its flowers caught my eye and its scent touched my nose.

A sea of meadowfoam (Limnanthes douglasii ssp. sulphurea(?)) catches a few cloud-dimmed rays of sunshine and brightens a grassy understory among oaks and other native trees. This annual herb, popular with native gardeners here in the south as well, is native in Northern California. It is found along the coast near Point Reyes if I've correctly identified.

To the left foliage of native iris cultivars await their flowery display, and to the right bloom coral bells (Heuchera 'Wendy', a 1984 Rancho introduction of John Dourley, if I am not mistaken.)

Closer view of same coral bells (Heuchera 'Wendy'?)

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum, not truly a grass but a diminuative member of the Iris family) is lovely in a native flower garden or a watered meadow. Here it and its companion, our State Flower the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), along with their foliage, form an iconic color palette from our native flora.

Busy bee, visiting a California poppy.

Wow, some California natives, like Parry's Beargrass (Nolina parryi) really know how to upstage a wildflower meadow!

Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia.)

"Communi-Tree" holding sway amid Fay's Wildflower Meadow, while pathway snakes by.

*Transcribed from post of April 5, 2013 on Facebook, includes correction and additional information.

Musings on watershed-friendly landscaping...

This is one of those times where I am using my blog as just that, a log of my thoughts for the day. No photos, just my verbal ramblings about residential and commercial landscape practices and how they might become more supportive rather than detrimental to local watersheds.

Today I attended the first meeting of (working name) "Santa Monica Mountains Watersheds Council." The objective of the meeting was to begin a visionary process, using consensus-building techniques, to brainstorm and to identify potential projects to which the Council should commit itself.

I suggested professional education for landscapers in the area might help the Council toward its goals of 1) improving water conservation, 2) improving water quality, and 3) restoring ecosystems within the watersheds, by promoting sustainable landscaping. When it was mentioned that potential projects also seeking to mitigate energy use and air pollution might be more easily funded, I hastened to reiterate that traditional landscape practices also cause air pollution and consume a lot of energy. Thus, to promote through education more sustainable methods of designing, implementing, and maintaining landscapes also seeks to mitigate energy use and air pollution.

The following stream (pun intended... sorry!) of consciousness is excerpted from a follow up note I sent to the meeting coordinator:

My point in recommending education of landscape professionals in "watershed-friendly" landscaping is motivated by observation. 1) Landscape practices can, and I believe do, have a huge negative impact on the environment... water quality, noise pollution, air pollution, and downstream habitats. 2) Owners of landscapes (residential as well as commercial) tend to abdicate responsibility for how landscapes are managed to their "gardeners" or "maintenance firms." While the "point source" in this case is geographically general, the practices that lead to negative impacts are specific and correctible.

Public education is very important, but as far as landscape practices and related matters, it currently only reaches the small percentage of folks who manage their own landscapes as well as professionals who are predisposed to favor the environment.

Keep pushing with public education, though. Connect homeowners as "employers" with responsibility for what work they hire done, and its impact on the environment. Teaching kids about environmentally-friendly landscape practices, those that aren't, and how to tell the difference will make them better informed future consumers.

"Out of the box" thinking will be needed to engage the majority of landscape professionals. Engaging them in large numbers could have dramatic results, but like anyone, they'll be largely motivated by "what is in it for me?"

There is a interdependent network of businesses and people whose success and livelihood depends on business as usual. That is, chemically dependent, gas guzzling, lawn-based monocultures that hurt the environment but are the hallmark of status within our urban/suburban culture. Finding ways to build consensus with these people will be key. And, incremental change can be better than no change at all.

CLCA [California Landscape Contractors' Association], and their CEUs and seminars at industry shows might be a starting point.

To engage para-professionals (i.e., "mow and blow" guys) who are managing most small/mid-size residential gardens will take even more creativity, perhaps reaching out to them where they live and socialize.

Alternative landscape equipment needs to target broad audience of professionals. However, it isn't in great demand (yet!) That, of course, limits R&D and supply. Existing options are weak in design and/or pricey. A colleague is promoting professional use of homeowner-owned [dedicated] maintenance equipment. Challenges are cost, storage space, and access to equipment.

Legislation has its place. However, "bans" are difficult to enforce. Promoting sustainable alternatives will be more palatable, especially when professionals come to realize economic and health benefits to themselves.

To reiterate, finding ways to build consensus even with those viewed traditionally as adversaries will be key. And, incremental change can be better than no change at all.

Later, I added this post script...

I believe addressing/mitigating landscape impacts on the environment can help create a more hospitable environment within the ecosystems for other mitigations to have greater success and longer-lasting [positive effects.] E.g., won't [reintroduced] salmon and other endangered species have a better chance to thrive in less polluted water? [Actually, here, I'd meant to refer to indigenous trout rather than salmon. I guess my rumbling stomach was invoking its preference for salmon.]

Garden party... arthropod style!

Recently, I went out to the garden to take a few photos. I had an idea in mind to take close ups of interesting foliage combinations, thinking not much is blooming this time of year. Pleasantly surprised, I got a little, well actually quite a lot, side-tracked. There was a party going on in my garden. As I walked through the garden, I found...

Two bees and a couple of other quite tiny insects vying for position in a squash blossom.

A now deceased grasshopper posing on the stem of a Roger's Red grape I've yet to decide where to plant. While the texture of the grasshopper's shell mimics a leaf, it is hard to disguise oneself when the leaf color changes from green to bright red... gotcha!

An elaborate mega-commune for wasps. Guess I'm going to need to perform a delicate eviction before I can finish painting my house...

Wasn't enough for them to develop a waspene McMansion right outside my patio door. Now, they've gone and built separate mother-in-law's quarters several feet away!

Lady beetle nymphs(?) on Bladderpod pods. Not sure what they were, but I left them to do their job.

And, guess who? When I crouched down to get a different angle on the blossoms of this Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat, whom do you suppose I found lurking beneath?

Trying to look for all the world like a stem and leaves...

... she even mugged for the camera!

Finally, her possibly elusive lover lying in the Palo Verde tree.

As I haven't used any pesticides in my garden for a couple of decades, it just teems with life of the six-legged variety. (Eight-legged, too!) My theory is, there really are no "bad bugs." There are just some that you would rather find dead than alive! If they eat bugs, I leave them alone. If they eat plants, I'm not so forgiving. For the most part, they just party on, whether I am around or not!

On your mark, get set, grow... little Ginkgos, GROW!

This past spring, I planted this tiny little Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' in the parking strip in front of my home.

And, I planted this one, too, on the other side of the driveway apron.

They are the hopeful replacements for a Eucalyptus tree that succumbed to psyllid infestation and was removed several years ago. And, on the other side, a Bottle Tree (we call them popcorn trees owing to the sticky flowers that resemble popcorn when they fall to the ground) that rotted and met its demise during a winter storm nearly twenty years ago. Okay, so I'm not too swift about making up my mind when it comes to planting new trees.

Still, I hope it isn't another twenty years before my trees achieve the picturesque stature of this tree I've admired several blocks away...

Even with its crossing limbs...

and its included bark...

I think it is a lovely sight, especially when the leaves turn autumn gold.

Keeping my eye on the tops of my little trees, which is not too difficult as they haven't even reached eye level! If any twigs dare to cross, I'll have my No. 8 Felco pruners ready to do surgery.

So far, you are looking pretty good, Ginkgos. Grow, babies, grow!

Pet-Friendly Planting

As a Garden Designer, often I am asked to make sure that my clients' new garden will not contain any plants potentially harmful to their pets. I do my best, and fortunately my clients' expectations have been reasonable.

While I don't have domestic pets of my own, my neighbor's cat, "Wheels" (because her owner is a self-admitted "car guy"), is a frequent visitor...

... along with several not so domestic creatures...

Funny, I have no squirrel photos. Quite abundant in my neighborhood, I enjoy their cute, fluffiness, even if I don't take too kindly to what messy eaters they can be!

Various winged wonders whiz by. Only very occasionally do they stop to pose for a photo op.

A flock of these was flitting about one morning a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I don't have the best camera for this. There is a woodpecker about halfway up this pole. Can you see it?

Can you find at least three finches feeding on my lettuce, which had gone to seed?

I love bugs, but I don't know much about them. This butterfly(?) was resting on my kitchen window one morning in January.

Other, more earth-bound acquaintances want to share my space, sometimes indoors and out!

This baby lizard appeared in my house last September, perhaps learning to hide from the neighbor's cat. Could be quite provocative, posed in front of the picture window!

Finally, this mother possum was ambling along the block wall, while her progeny tried to maintain their grip... a white knuckle ride to be sure!

Most of these friends have good instincts and do a fine job of looking after themselves, but sometimes what we put into our gardens are not very appropriate for their diet. Domestic animals, like dogs and cats, can to a degree I suppose be trained to behave according to their owners' wishes. It seems that as with people, boredom can lead to inappropriate behavior, such as digging up and chewing on ornamental plants.

Perhaps the best way to ensure your pet and your garden get along well is to keep your pet entertained, lively, fit, and socially well-adjusted. As for entertainment, your garden can provide this for your pet as well as for you. Especially if you include in your garden flowering plants, shrubs under which to take cover, and in the lazy gardener's way, you are not too hasty about cutting off spent flowers or removing from your vegetable garden plants that have gone to seed, your pets can have endless fun watching the parade of critters passing through.

Oh, how can I miss an opportunity to encourage lawn-less gardening?! Clumping, native bunch grasses that don't need a lot of chemicals to maintain also are far more interesting for your furry pets -- safer too -- than mown turf grass. Just ask "Wheels." I think that fairly well takes care of the entertainment part.

The lively, fit, and socially well-adjusted part is primarily up to you and your pet's veterinarian and/or therapist! However, if you provide your pet some open space in which to romp, perhaps covered in playground chips rather than lawn, won't (s)he be less likely to trample through your lettuce patch?

Linked here is a document describing the way the "business" side of me intends to handle the issue of pets and gardens. For more information about dog-friendly gardens, in particular, you may want to read an excellent article from Sunset Magazine, linked here.