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These three Rs are very familiar, but have you really thought about what the words mean? They are not three words that mean basically the same thing. They are not some sort of environmental trinity of three equals. They are a hierarchy based upon the use of fewer resources and less energy. Recycling is good, reusing is better, and reducing is best.
The wind roars in the tall pine trees on the next street. It blows so strong that it slides open the screen door. The fig leaves in the driveway are from a house half way up the street. Something makes the goldfish extra skittish. There is not a cloud in the sky but it is a storm. It is the Santa Ana winds.
A person can make a lot of money in petroleum. Ask any Texan, Oklahoman, or Saudi. William Warren Orcutt made his money in California oil and owned several pieces of ranch land. One of his ranches is now a public park called Orcutt Ranch Horticultural Center.
In a prior article[1], I introduced you to the mediterranean climate, a climate where things seem backwards. Winter is the growing season and summer is the dormant season. Winters have rain and the temperatures are mild. Summers are rainless and can be hot. Summer is the challenging season. In this article I discuss the strategies that the plants use to survive the summer.
Fog rolled in yesterday evening, but within an hour it will all be burned off. The sun is strong. The air smells dry and dusty, but also oddly sweet. The wild oats are well on their way to turning yellow and the ripgut brome adds a few swatches of burgundy. Insects buzz. Where the mustard is not thick, the last of the season's clarkias sway in the light breeze. On a rocky outcrop, a couple of yuccas send up flower stalks like exclamation points, alerting us that something is about to happen.
Spines give cacti a very distinctive appearance. Many plants have thorns or spines, but they may be more characteristic of cacti than of any other plant family. Spines come in a wide range of forms, shapes, and colors, and they perform many protective functions. Although the cactus grower may appreciate spines from a functional and aesthetic point, they also can make working with the plants difficult. However, there are some tools and techniques to make the process less painful.
We are very visually oriented. That might be expected since humans have very good color perception but poor hearing and sense of smell compared to the animals. However, we do have five senses, and using all of them, or at least more than sight, can add to the enjoyment of being outdoors.
The chocolate lily (Fritillaria biflora) is special to me for several reasons. Though it is not overly showy, it is a very attractive plant, even described as "the Cleopatra of the Fritillaries - the darkest and the loveliest" [1]. It is not a particularly common plant, and rarity makes things more precious. Also, it is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring, and for me is the herald of the wildflower season.
A common name for Hesperoyucca whipplei is Our Lord's Candle. A name like that suggests that there must be something out of the ordinary about this plant. There is. With an inflorescence up to 13 feet tall, it is the exclamation point of the chaparral.
Probably for as long as there have been people, there have been weather sayings. Some sayings turn out to be based on scientific fact, others are just superstition or wishful thinking. Some may work well in some places and not at all in others. I have evaluated some sayings that I know to see if they work for me and I have also come up with my own sayings based on my observations.
Hollywood is associated with many things, from ultimate glamour to broken dreams, from material riches to moral poverty, red carpets, limos, elegant fashions, Hollywood and Vine, footprints in concrete, sunglasses, screenplays, and so on. The word Hollywood may bring to mind many things, but it's likely not one of them is holly. However, the name does have its origin in vegetative reality. According to legend, Hollywood is named after a native shrub growing in the area; Heteromeles arbutifolia, also known as California-holly.
I grew up in Pennsylvania. We always wanted a white Christmas, though I can only remember one Christmas when it snowed. In fact, it was more likely to snow on Easter than on Christmas. Usually Christmas was in the 40s and rainy and grey. If it wasn't such a special day, it would have been dismal. Nevertheless, a white Christmas was the standard of proper Christmas weather.
Monarch butterflies spend the winter in Mexico. Right? Yes, that is correct of course, but only partly correct. The monarch butterflies that live west of the Rocky Mountains spend the winter along the coast of California. There are many wintering sites and most are accessible to the public and have become minor tourist attractions. If a trip to Mexico to see the monarchs is out of the question, consider a trip to California.
Balanophagy is the practice of eating acorns. Acorns are more than just food for birds, squirrels, and hogs. They have been used for food by millions of humans over the ages. Acorns compare favorably in nutrition with common grains, though acorns contain more fat. (That was not a bad thing during most of human history.) If you have any ancestry among people of the northern hemisphere, there is a reasonable chance that you have some ancestors who ate acorns.
You see the pictures on television every autumn - clouds of smoke dwarfing water-dropping helicopters, firefighters silhouetted by walls of flame, and harried evacuees loading up their cars. It's wildfire season in California. Although everything possible should be done to minimize human loss, injury, and death, fire is actually necessary for the long-term health of many southern California plant communities.
"I often see flowers from a passing car that are gone before I can tell what they are." Thus begins one of my favorite poems, "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost. How many times have you, like Robert Frost, been curious about a plant and frustrated because you cannot go back and find out what it was? That used to happen to me a lot, but with time I have gotten better at identifying plants from the car and I am going to share with you some tips.
We think of winter as a time of cold weather. As gardeners, we also think of it as a time when plants stop growing or greatly reduce their rate of growth. It is usually the most difficult time in terms of plant survival. This sounds like November through February for much of the northern hemisphere, but it also describes summer in the mediterranean climate zones of the world. To plants native to the climate, the hot, dry summer is the challange. Summer is winter.
California poppies are easy to grow. They are drought-tolerant and can grow in poor soil. They self-sow and refuse to be pampered. This is no high-maintenance Hollywood beauty, but she does have quite a wardrobe for playing whatever garden role you like. You don't like the orange dress? How about white, or yellow, or rose? Do you prefer the satiny sheath of four petals or the frilly tutu of eight? She's here to please.
The picture may look vaguely familiar. You may have seen something like it in a calendar, picture book, magazine, poster, or as a stock photo. The caption may say "Mojave Desert",or something else equally vague and fitting for this mysterious land covered with millions of orange poppies. However, this is not some isolated Shangri-La. It is the highly-popular and visitor-friendly Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
Maybe you've seen them. You're out hiking or hunting or taking a drive in the country and there it is. It would look right at home in your garden but looks so incongruous out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it's an apple tree in a clearing, a rose bush leaning against a crooked fence post, or a clump of narcissus by a jumble of rocks. These could not have been transported by birds or wind. You know immediately that someone used to live here, but there are many questions. Who used to live here? What did they do? Why did they leave? How can these plants survive on their own?
