Recovering from the Freeze
Now you’re talking. I stopped by the nursery and he showed me a ceanothus that blooms eleven months out of the year. The lilac blue flowers attract not just bees, but also ladybugs, lacewings, beneficial wasps and all kinds of other good bugs. They tolerate clay soil, require almost no water and rarely suffer from pests or diseases. What’s not to like?
The trick with ceanothus is to find one that works in your garden. The 2007 edition of the Sunset Western Garden Book devotes two full pages to the shrub; look through their chart and find a cultivar that will reach the right height for the space you have. Make sure it will tolerate some summer moisture if you’re going to work it into a border that gets watered.
Another showy native you might consider is fremontodendron, or flannel bush. This golden-flowered native grows to the size of a small tree, reaching about twenty feet tall and blooming over a long season. Rick showed me a sturdy specimen that was about to burst into bloom. It was growing in front of a barn facing Myrtle Avenue. “I have got to get some more of these plants in,” he said with a sigh. “As soon as this thing blooms, everybody’s going to want one.”
He also showed me the grayish-green shoots of matilija poppy; this shrubby perennial reaches six to eight feet and produces enormous white flowers with yellow centers all summer long. And he convinced me to go home with a couple pots of California fuchsia (zauschneria), the low-growing silvery shrub with reddish-orange flowers that hummingbirds go mad for.
I haven’t completely sworn off those half-hardy perennials that only barely make it through a cold winter. Testing the limits of this climate is half the fun. But next year, I’m taking some cuttings before the first frost hits as an insurance policy.
Really. I mean it this time.
→ post a comment
Recent dirt
April 22, 2010
The Feathered Killers
It's chick season again, so for God's sake please protect the little ones from your murderous hens
April 1, 2010
Monetize It!
Here's a bunch of things that the "prepare for legalization" crowd maybe hasn't thought about yet
March 11, 2010
Self-Contained
Planters for people who hate planters (or: I Am A Genius)
Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
Organic Gardening Seminar
garden / 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Shafer's Ace Hardware and Garden Center, 2760 E St., Eureka. Free lecture by Duncan McNeill on how to create a healthy environment and healthy soils for your plant’s roots. E-mail shafers@sbcglobal.net. 442-5734.
More →
0 Comments