Salt, anyone?

While you generally want to keep salt as far away from your garden as possible, there are exceptions. Using a damp salt lick to provide minerals and moisture for bees and butterflies is one of those exceptions. If you have an area that stays damp, simply add salt or wood ashes to the mud. Otherwise, you can put out a dish of slightly salty water. Sea salt contains more important micronutrients than table salt, but table salt is better than nothing. Just remember that salt will damage nearby plants.


Plant for variety

Pollinators are active, in most regions, from early spring through late fall. Ensuring that your landscape includes a variety of insectary plants during that time frame will go a long way toward attracting and supporting valuable pollinators. That variety includes clumps of native plants, suited to your microclimate, and some night-blooming plants that provide for moths and bats. 


I use a spreadsheet that lists months across the top and a rainbow of colors down the side to document what is blooming, throughout the year, in my landscape. I add to it as I notice or add new plants. This way, I can see when there are gaps in flower production. Since those flowers provide pollen and nectar, the more I have, the better off my pollinators will be. [The file is too large to share here, but you can email me if you would like a copy.]


Avoid hybrids

Evolution is a relatively slow process. Many of our modern hybrids, especially those with ‘doubled’ flowers, have had their fragrance, nectar and pollen bred right out of them. They may look nice, but that’s all they have to offer.


Quit the chemical habit

Broad-spectrum herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and pesticides have no place in your pollinator garden. Even those advertised as “safe” can disrupt the breeding, feeding, and existence of beneficial insects. They are probably not very good for us, either. Instead of chemicals, practice least damage Integrated Pest Management (IPM). If you absolutely must use chemicals, apply them at night, when most pollinators are not active.
​

Dead limbs can be good

Dead branches and dead trees provide nesting sites for native bees. Stumperies also create habitat and food for a variety of birds and other insects. Just make sure your dead tree does not create a safety issue. Trees are extremely heavy.

Hummingbird feeders

Your hummingbird feeder provides nectar for far more than just hummingbirds. Chickadees, wrens, and orioles may also enjoy a sweet sip every now and then. And so will many pollinators. The 1:4 sugar to water ratio used in hummingbird feeders is fine for many beneficial insects, too. Just be sure to wash your hummingbird feeder with hot, soapy water once or twice a week to avoid mold and the spread of disease.


Setting aside just a little space in your landscape for a pollinator garden can profoundly increase the number of butterflies, native bees, and other beneficials you see each year. And they could really use our help these days.

Ask them what they want to grow

Do they want to grow their own pumpkin for Halloween? Or, maybe a sunflower fort, a pizza garden, a Three Sisters garden, a butterfly garden, or a pole bean teepee. The possibilities are practically limitless. Head to the library with your child and explore the gardening books section. Check out several and be sure to grab one or two grown-up gardening books geared towards your region or microclimate while you are at it. That way, as plants are selected, you can research the best way to help them thrive. [See, you don't have to know how to garden to help your child create a garden of their own!]


Grab a pad of paper and a snack and start exploring all the garden design possibilities with your child. Including them in the planning process is important. As you look through photos and drawings together, have your child create a list of plants they want in their garden (if they are old enough). And you will be there to instill some basic gardening principles and to rule out plants not suited to your area. As much as your child may want their own banana tree, it wouldn’t be a good choice for a beginner. In the beginning, you should keep explanations simple. You can always delve deeper into the information for yourself once they go to bed.


Popular children’s garden plants

You can’t go wrong with radishes. They grow so fast that things start happening before your child loses interest. Soaring giants, such as corn and sunflowers, are nearly always a good choice. Plants with large seeds, such as beans, melons, and squashes are easy to work with and the edible harvest is a bonus. Climbing plants, such as pole beans or dramatic red noodle beans, can be used to create hanging walls or secret hideaways. Mounding miniature lettuces and spiky shallots look nice and are always welcome in the kitchen. Cherry tomato plants are prolific and they provide healthy snacks as your child works and plays in the yard. Marigolds, snapdragons, and zinnias add color with little effort.

Include scents and textures

Children are very tactile. They like to touch, taste, and smell whatever is around them. This makes many herbs good choices for a children’s garden. Chives, dill, mint, and sage add delicious aromas and an edible harvest. Fuzzy lambs’ ears and ornamental grasses are fun to touch, while English thyme can make a fragrant ground cover. Edible flowers, such as nasturtiums, pansies, and violets are also good choices. Just be sure to educate your child about how not all flowers are edible.


Plants to avoid

Most edible plants a re a sage bet, but some plants are toxic and should be avoided when designing a young child’s garden. [Especially those marked with an asterisk.] These plants include:

• angel's trumpet (Brugmansia)
• cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
• castor bean* (Ricinus communis)
• delphinium
• euonymus
• foxglove (Digitalis)
• lantana
• love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)
• morning glory (Ipomoea)
• precatory bean* or rosary pea (Abrus)
• St. Johnswort (Hypericum)
• sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
• valerian (V. officinalis)

As your child gets older, the risk of toxic plants becomes less of a problem.


Special touches

Birdfeeders, pinwheels, crawl-throughs, and other special touches can help make your child’s garden even more engaging and fun. Yard sales are a great place to find a child-sized garden bench and unique garden art without spending a lot of money. You may also want to include a fruit cocktail tree. These trees have been grafted to provide more than one type of fruit on the same tree.


If your child is so inclined, encourage them to document their garden. They can create a book of bug drawings, a chart of plant growth, or a photo album of their garden over the seasons.


At the end of the day, after you have both washed up and eaten supper, you may want to curl up with a good gardening bedtime story, such as Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. It sure worked for me!

Planning your butterfly garden

Your butterfly garden doesn’t need to be big or formal to be effective. You can scatter host plants throughout your landscape, if you like. Or you can create an elegant parterre. It’s up to you. Butterflies do use sunlight to warm themselves, so south-facing areas are preferable, as are areas protected from wind. A water feature, such as a bird bath or fountain, can help your butterflies stay hydrated. Rocks, for basking, are always appreciated.


There is also nothing saying you have to install plants specifically for endangered species, although it would be nice. The important thing is to get the correct plants in the ground and helping them to thrive. 


Adding a butterfly garden to your landscape does not take a lot of effort on your part, but it can make a huge difference for the butterflies. It will also increase the biodiversity in your garden, making it a healthier environment. Other beneficial insects will also be attracted to these plants. These beneficial insects might be pollinators, predators, or they may parasitize insect pests.


And the flowering plants look lovely.


Did you know that some adult butterflies also eat carrion, rotting fruit, and tree sap, while the larvae of some butterfly species eat ants and other insect pests? I didn’t either.


Now we know.

Creating a holiday dinners garden is a form of planting forward. You know ahead of time what you will need, so you estimate which ingredients should be planted and when. That way they will become harvestable as they are needed. And your holiday dinners garden is not limited to edibles. Seasonal decorations, such as flowers and greenery, can  be found in your yard just as easily.


​This planning process may feel overwhelming, at first. Instead of taking on more than is fun, you might want to select one holiday at a time and build on that over time. Either way, it all starts with a calendar.

Create a calendar 

Calendars are handy tools, especially for gardeners. You can use printing paper or an inexpensive paper calendar to design your holiday dinners garden. Start by identifying all the holidays you celebrate each year with special meals. In my family, these holidays are New Years’ Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Mark your family’s holidays clearly on your calendar.
​

Meal planning

We all have favorite dishes for each of our holiday dinners. In my house, New Years’ Day would never feel right without hoppin’ john and Easter wouldn’t feel like Easter without a ham surrounded by baby beets and carrots.

In the first column, list each of your ingredients. In the second column, add the date you want each ingredient to mature. The third column is for a note about whether each ingredient is a perennial, already preserved, or how many days it takes from planting seeds to harvest. Keep in mind that days to maturity found online and on seed packets may be different for your region of microclimate. These numbers are simply averages, but they are still useful.


For each ingredient, count backwards from the holiday the number of days to maturity for a planting date. In the example above, my apples ripen long before July 4th, so I freeze or can them. Then, I see that basil takes 50 to 75 days from planting to harvest, so I count back 75 days from July 4th for a planting date of April 21st. Now, my family loves basil and I plant a lot of it, starting long before April 21st, but I add a reminder in my calendar to plant basil on that date so I know I will have plenty when I need it for that holiday.


If your planting date occurs before it is actually warm enough to plant a specific species, you may need to start it indoors, or buy seedlings at a later date.


In some cases, like celery, I could plant it but I choose not to. For me, celery is fiddly to grow and is so inexpensive at the store that it is not worth the garden real estate. You might feel the same way about onions or garlic. A lot of this will depend on where you live and how much time and space you have. Even if you only select 2 or 3 ingredients for each holiday meal, you’ll be glad you did.


Simply go down the list, counting backwards for each ingredient that needs to be planted. You can add these annual reminders to the calendar in your computer and add alerts in your phone.  If you set them to repeat every year, the planning process is done. Before you know it, you will have all the information you need to plant your holiday dinners garden!

Choosing plants for a salad garden

Start your salad garden plant selection with foods you and your family will eat and enjoy. There’s no sense using up valuable growing space on plants you don’t want. To select the best plants for your salad garden, consider the time of year each plant will be able to grow in your area. Check with your local County Extension Office and read those seed packets. You can also get all the information you need right here, online. If you will be growing outdoors, be sure to check with the USDA Hardiness Zone Map to identify your zone. You will also want to identify which plants are perennial, which are annuals, and which are biennials:

   Salad perennials — chives, patience dock, Malabar spinach, nasturtiums, perennial rocket, sorrel [If you have the space, rhubarb and artichokes provide HUGE, ongoing crops each year]
   Salad biennials — kale, parsley, Swiss chard    
   Salad annuals -- arugula, bok choy, cilantro, dill, lettuces, mizuna, radish, spinach

The perennial plants will serve as year-round anchors in your salad garden, the biennials may take 2 or 3 years before going to seed, and annuals will have to be replaced each year. Or, maybe they won’t. We will get to that in a moment.

While visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden, I was delighted to discover an entire section of the gardens dedicated to stumperies. Coming around a curve in the path, I was met with a cool, green peaceful bit of gardening that featured logs, branches, sheets of bark, tree trunks, and skyward bound tree roots, surrounded by wispy ferns, colorful lichens, and fuzzy mosses. The effect was soothing and peaceful - and who doesn’t need more of that these days?

Stumpery design

Stumperies are based on what naturally occurs in a forest. As a tree ages, it eventually falls. When it does, it slowly decomposes, absorbing rain water, improving nearby soil structure, and acting as a ‘nurse log’ to plants that have adapted to growing on rotting wood. To design your own stumpery, you must look at each piece of wood and bark as an artistic component. Try different arrangements until you have achieved something you like. Don’t worry, there are no wrong answers. Here are some tips to creating a healthy stumpery:

1. If possible, prepare the ground by loosening the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches, digging in some compost. If the soil is too compacted, just clear the weeds and cover the area with a few layers of newspaper. [Eventually, the soil structure should improve.]
2. Arrange your wood. And don’t expect to get it just the way you want it the first time around. It may take days, or even weeks, to get an arrangement look naturally haphazard and appealing. Single branches can provide a focal point, or you can use several pieces to create an arch, a dome, a circle, or whatever suits your fancy.
3. You may want to use branches to create an outline of your stumpery.
4. Line any pockets created by the arrangement of wood with moss, to help hold soil and retain moisture.
5. Add soil to these growing pockets.
6. Install shade-loving plants.
7. Mulch the exposed areas with 2 to 3 inches of wood chips to mimic the leaf litter that is normally present in a woodland. This will add nutrients, reduce competition from weeds, and help retain moisture.
8. Water the area frequently, until plants are established.

Plants used in stumperies

The most common plants found in stumperies are mosses, ferns, and lichens. Hostas, hellebores, epimedium, rhododendrons, bleeding hearts, and some bulbs can also thrive in a stumpery. ​

You can encourage moss growth on logs and stones by smearing them with yogurt [or that carton of soured milk from the back of the fridge]. You can also install shade-loving edibles, such as arugula, basil, blueberries, bok choy, celery, chervil, chives, cilantro, fenugreek, garlic, ginger, kale, lettuces, Malabar and other spinach, mint, mustards, nasturtiums, onion, parsley, potatoes, raspberries, sorrel, tarragon, and tomatillos. The perennials will continue indefinitely, and you can allow some of the annuals to go through their full lifecycle and propagate themselves!


Benefits of stumperies

Stumperies create micro habitats for local flora and fauna, increasing your garden’s biodiversity. Beetles, toads, and lizards often find sanctuary in all the hidden nooks and crannies provided by a stumpery. Of course, slugs and snails and other pests do, as well. But birds enjoy the extra perches and snacks, so it all balances out.

Do you have a spot where nothing (but weeds) will grow? Do you have a patch of lawn you’d rather use for growing food? No-dig gardening may be the answer.


​Problem areas

Digging out a lawn is hard work, and it damages the living things that help soil stay healthy. Areas of ground that regularly fail to support plant life often have poor soil structure and are lacking beneficial soil microorganisms. No-dig gardening uses layers of organic material to create the conditions needed for worms and other invertebrates, plant roots, and soil microorganisms, to transform a barren or compacted piece of ground into a friable, fertile place to grow healthy food.​


​​Traditional cultivation

No-dig gardening is the opposite of traditional cultivation. For thousands of years, we have drilled holes, cut furrows, and plowed up the land we use to grow food. Traditional cultivation provides many benefits. It hides crop seeds from birds and other seed eaters, removes perennial weed roots, exposes pest eggs and larvae to predators, and it loosens the soil (sort of).


​​Unfortunately, traditional cultivation also has a bad side. All that digging increases topsoil loss due to erosion, disturbs beneficial soil microorganisms, worsens compacted soil, reduces water absorption and retention, and brings dormant weed seeds to the surface, where they then germinate. We counteract these negatives with the addition of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and more water.


All those chemicals and disruptions are creating problems, and we need sustainable solutions. No-dig gardening may be one of those solutions.


Natural processes

Natural processes that have evolved over millions of years rarely result in furrows being dug in the ground. Instead, leaves, seeds, flowers, fruit, blood, urine, feces, and dead insects and animals all fall to the ground and lay on the surface. This mix is then walked on, blown around, and rained on until it is ground into tiny bits. These tiny bits of organic material are then pulled into the soil by worms and other invertebrates, and gazillions of microorganisms, that all convert organic matter into mineral elements plants need to grow and thrive. These processes also create soil with important spaces, called macropores and micropores, that allow the soil to breathe, and make room for water and roots to move freely. This nurtures soil microbes, which generate biologically active enzymes, vitamins, antibiotics, and glomalin (the glue that holds soil particles together). [Did you know that plants release one-third of all the organic matter they generate through their roots, to attract and feed nearby soil microbes? Pretty cool, eh?]


So, maybe we don’t need to dig to be able to garden…


How to no-dig gardening works

Clearly, if you are going to plant a bare root tree, you need to dig a hole. But, if you have a patch of ground that you want to convert into a garden bed, digging is not necessary in most cases. Instead of digging up weeds and existing, unwanted plants, you simply smother them with a 3 to 4” layer of organic material, be it compost, aged manure, wood chips, or whatever you have handy. ​​


​By blocking the sunlight, most annual weeds will die. In doing so, they and the mulch add nutrients to the soil and improve soil structure and texture.


​Garden plants are then installed in this layer of nutrient-rich, friable mulch. Over time, more mulch and other organic materials are added on top. This is why no-dig gardening is also called sheet mulching, sheet composting, or lasagne gardening, because organic matter is simply added in layers over time, without digging any of it in. Like other gardening methods, no-dig gardening has its pros and cons.


​​Benefits of no-dig gardening

​First, let’s face it, digging is work. If your soil is heavy clay, like mine used to be, it’s damn near impossible to break ground in summer without power tools. In addition to saving your back, no-dig gardening leaves the complex world of soil life alone, to do it’s thing. This means beneficial fungi and bacteria, worms, and other invertebrates can go about their business, eating and pooping, unmolested, converting organic matter into plant food, and improving soil structure and texture as they go.


This is an excellent way to put those autumn leaves, and all that yard and kitchen waste to good use. Placing all that organic matter on top, rather than digging it in, reduces the number of weeds you have to deal with, and it encourages worms to come up to the surface and grab a bite before heading back down to safety. All that worm traffic helps aerate the soil.


No-dig gardening reduces erosion. Every time you dig or plow, you are exposing more soil surface area to sun, wind, and rain, which can lead to erosion. Over time, this exposed area develops a protective crust that repels water, interfering with the absorption of rain and irrigation water.


No-dig gardening also reduces soil compaction. Here me out on this: as you rototill, dig, or plough the soil, one layer gets churned up and aerated. Below that level, however, everything gets compressed, potentially creating hardpan, or plow pan, an impenetrable barrier to delicate roots.


​So, why wouldn’t you want to try no-dig gardening?


​Drawbacks to no-dig gardening

The first downside to no-dig gardening is that a lot of mulch and compost are needed on a regular basis. If you’re like me and raise your own chickens, this is not a problem. Or, if you live near a stable, manure is readily available, just be sure to age it first. If you have seriously compacted soil, no-dig gardening can and will, eventually, improve soil structure and texture enough to make it easier for plant roots, but it will take some time. [One of the easiest ways to reduce soil compaction in the garden is to install designated paths. This is true regardless of what gardening method you use.] Finally, because decomposition is occurring all around your garden plants, you may find that snail and slug, sowbug, and gopher populations skyrocket. While they are there to eat (and breakdown) all that compost, they may find your lettuce and young seedlings irresistible.


How to create a no-dig garden patch

If you want to try no-dig gardening, start with a small patch. First, water the area well. If there are any large, perennial weeds present, cut them off at ground level and cover the area with a thick layer of coarse wood mulch. Water the area again. Then, cover your patch lasagne-style with layers of aged compost or manure, straw, mulch, and other organic material, water it, and let it settle for a few days. While it may take a year or more for the benefits of no-dig gardening to fully take effect, you can plant large, spreading plants, such as pumpkins or squash in this patch right away, assuming its the right time of year. As the organic matter breaks down, simply add more layers on top and let nature do all the work. I use this method in my raised beds, adding organic material as a repeated top dressing.


Once your no-dig garden is established, you can install new plants by simply clearing an opening with a dibble, your hand, or other garden tool, and water around it. No-dig gardening may not be the cure-all to your back and garden problems, but it is certainly worth a try! 

Fences as barriers

Neighborhood fences are a great way to keep kids and pets safely at home. A good fence can also block garden invaders, such as deer, gophers, squirrels, chipmunks, and rats. Of course, some of those pests will need more than a wattle fence (or a very tall fence, in the case of deer) to slow them down, but fences provide a good starting point. For burrowing pests, such as voles and rabbits, the fencing material needs to go underground a ways to be effective.

Fences as climbing structures

Fences make it easy to grow vines and other climbing plants. They also provide a great support for espaliered fruit and nut trees. Fences can also be used in tandem with planting containers. A mounted rain gutter with end caps can transform a bare fence into a strawberry wall. Short walls or railings provide the support needed for container plants that a re prefect for growing herbs, lettuces, Swiss chards, spinach, and many other edibles, without taking up extra space. Fences are also a great place to hang garden tools!


Fences block sunlight

The same fences that offer protection from wind and marauding pests are the same structures that can block much-needed sunlight. Most garden plants need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day to thrive. If you have fences, it is important that you take the time to see how much sunlight nearby plants actually get. While a west-facing fence may offer respite from scorching summer afternoon sunlight, an east-facing fence will only provide that protection to your neighbor’s plants.


Fence care
​
Some fencing materials, such as chain link or stone, require very little care. Other fences, particularly those made out of wood, have some special needs. Since wod can rot, these tips will help your wood fence last longer:

• never store combustable materials against a fence (this reduces rat habitat, as well)
• if boards are in contact with soil, make sure that water does not pool there
• keep leaf litter, mulch, and other plant material a few inches away from the fence

​
Make the most out of the fences in and around your garden or foodscape. And, if you have the time, do an online search for “unique garden fence ideas.” There are some gorgeous, creative, stunning ideas out there!

One of the many attractions of gardening is that you can play with it. We are not limited to the furrowed rows of earlier generations. You can be as creative as local growing conditions and the needs of your plants will allow. Deciding on a theme is one way to pull your garden together artistically or aesthetically.​

Themes provide a unifying framework, a story, and a uniqueness to your garden, and they can be a lot of fun. They are more artistic than simply how you grow your plants. Garden themes make it easy to decide which plants work best in a landscape, a raised bed, or even a single container, by providing a long-term, broader perspective on that space.


You can create a theme based on flower color, leaf shape, or even a particular shade of green. You can create a garden theme that takes advantage of a shady corner, transforming it from a seldom used, mostly wasted space into a storybook hideaway, complete with peek-a-boo elf statues and a reading chaise lounge. [More lemonade, please!] Or, you can create a theme around a favorite book or movie, a sensory garden, or a copycat garden. Garden themes can be whimsical or more practical. Rain gardens are one type of more utilitarian garden theme.​

Before you start your garden design, we should consider some garden planning basics. Information you will want to have on hand as you select your plants includes:

• • How much sun does an area get each day, throughout the seasons, and when is that sun available (morning, afternoon)?
  • How much space do you have?
  • Get results from a reputable, local soil test lab. You cannot make informed decisions about plant choice and fertilizer needs without this information. [If you do nothing else, do this.]
  • Take the appearance of your home and the rest of the landscape into account when designing - will the looks complement each other?
  • Select plants appropriate to your microclimate.
  • Consider what each plant will look like throughout the seasons.
  • As you select plants, keep their mature size in mind and plant accordingly.

Creating a garden plan

Planning a garden can feel overwhelming. Sometimes, the best way to start is to select one type of plant, often tomatoes, and grow from there. A single potted tomato, however, will not transform your landscape. 


You can also go to the other end of that spectrum and learn about landscape design, using boundaries, surfaces, forms, texture, color, art, and lighting to create your masterpiece. Somewhere in between those two extremes is a balance of what you want, what you have the time to maintain, and what plants need to stay healthy. A theme can help pull your garden together.


Types of themed gardens

Traditionally, themed gardens were classified by geographic location, terrain, or historical prototype. Using a theme narrows your options and pushes you to be more creative. Some traditional garden themes include:

• Cottage gardens - informal floral abundance, picket fencing, stone animals, a quiet bench
• Kitchen gardens (or potager) - successive plantings of vegetables, fruits, and herbs for year-round food
• Native gardens - take advantage of evolution by planting indigenous plants
• Peristyle gardens - rows of columns (or balcony railings?) create a courtyard or cloister
• Persian gardens - cool, quiet places of rest and reflection with floral sprays and fountains
• Rain gardens - attractive ways of diverting excess water away from your home
• Renaissance gardens - formal parterres, topiary animals, fountains, tidy lawns
• Rock gardens - create dry stream beds and rockeries with small, drought-tolerant plants
• Stumperies - large branches and tree trunks used as anchor points for ferns
• Zen gardens - moss, quiet waterways, simple, calm

But there is another way of looking at themed gardens. You can create your themed garden to create a favorite dish or holiday meal, or it may be a children’s garden, an herb garden, or an edible storybook garden. Having a theme can help guide you with plant selection. 


Today, we will look at some common edible garden themes, the plants that might be included in those gardens, and maybe a little garden art, just for fun.​

Butterfly gardens and pollinator gardens

The more pollinators visit your garden, the bigger your harvest will be. You can attract bees, butterflies, honey bees, and many other beneficial insects with brilliant blooms of borage, salvia, and butterfly bush, and by allowing many food plants to go through their complete lifecycle. Carrots, caraway, celery, chervil, cilantro, cumin, parsnips, dill, fennel, and parsley are umbellifers. Umbellifers have umbrella-shaped flowers that beneficial insects love. Allowing lettuces, Swiss chard, and others to go to seed also provides nectar and pollen for these beneficial insects and hummingbirds. These plants will change shape, color, texture, and size over the course of a year, keeping your landscape interesting. Just be sure to provide a water source for all these tiny helpers. A birdbath or small fountain is all that’s needed. Just be sure to clean them every once in a while.

Children’s gardens

Children’s gardens encourage kids to be active and eat healthier foods. They can also inspire a lifelong love of gardening. Children love plants that they can touch, taste, and smell. Feathery yarrow, creeping chocolate mint, sweet cherry tomatoes, and towering fennel fronds are all edible and easy to grow. A child’s garden nearly always features fast-growing, dramatic plants, such as a fort made out of sunflowers or a pole bean teepee. 


Unique plants, such as golfball-sized Parisian carrots and cucumbers that look like miniature watermelons (Mexican sour gherkins) add whimsy and fun to your children’s garden. Favorites, like strawberries, blueberries, and groundcherries, can create a magical play area filled with delicious, healthy edibles, curving paths, secret hideaways, and storybook reminders.


[You may be surprised to discover that most children love the taste of spinach when they have grown it themselves…]


Fruit cocktail gardens

You may have seen grafted fruit cocktail trees available through garden catalogs. These dwarf trees usually feature nectarines, peaches, plums, and apricots, all on the same tree. You can flesh out your fruit cocktail garden with potted raspberries, blackberries, currants, and strawberries and surround the whole thing with a blueberry hedge. Imagine all that sweet deliciousness in one place!


Gift gardens

Gift gardens are spaces dedicated to growing gift plants. Flowers, herbs, and succulents all make lovely presents. One type of planting forward, gift gardens provide the space (and reminders) needed to have that perfect gift ready when you need a handy gift. Maintaining a gift garden ensures you will always be prepared for those special occasions. 

Holiday dinner gardens

Nothing says gardener like fresh Brussels sprouts and baby beets at Thanksgiving, fresh greens at Easter, and juicy watermelon on July 4th. If you plan, you can harvest many popular holiday meal ingredients right when you need them. Beans, beets, carrots, fennel, onions, pearl onions, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes are just a few possibilities. Sage, basil, oregano, parsley, and mint can also be grown for your holiday meals. Whatever traditions your family celebrates, your holiday dinners garden can save you a trip to the grocery store and give you full bragging rights.

Pizza gardens 

Pizza gardens are fun. Imagine a round garden space, cut into wedge-shaped sections and planted with popular pizza ingredients. Aside from the meat and cheese, you can grow nearly every other pizza ingredient at home. Tomatoes, onions, and garlic make the sauce, along with fragrant herbs, such as basil, oregano, and thyme. You can also grow sweet red, green, orange, and yellow peppers, hot peppers, zucchini and other summer squash, and artichokes for your pizza. If you like, you can even grow an olive tree in a container, and a patch of wheat or cauliflower for the crust. If pizza isn’t your thing, you can pick a different dish and create your garden theme using those ingredients. Stir fry garden, anyone?

Salad gardens 

Salad gardens are very rewarding because lettuce and other greens and radishes grow quickly. Salad greens, including red looseleaf, pale green curly endive, buttery Bibb lettuce, upright cos or Romaine lettuce, and dark green spinach, add color and texture to your garden. You can also perk up your salads with ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard, with its brilliant red, pink, white, and yellow stems sliced like celery. Oh, yes, and you can grow celery. Your salad garden can include cucumbers, bell peppers, carrots, artichokes, corn, dandelion greens, mustard greens, fennel, jicama, and kale . You can even add a dwarf almond tree for some slivered almonds on top of that salad. If you prefer vegetables stir-fried, a stir-fry garden makes it simple to throw together a flavorful, healthy, fresh-from-the-garden meal. Carrots, onions, garlic, cilantro, bell peppers, hot peppers, and even your  saffron can all be grown at home.

Storybook gardens

Storybook gardens are a delightful way to add art and whimsy to a landscape. Designing, installing, and caring for a storybook garden is an excellent children’s activity, too. Any traditional children’s stories can inspire a storybook garden: Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden are popular favorites, but you can use any book that includes edible plant references. 


Tea gardens

Put aside images of a serene, manicured Japanese tea garden and imagine, instead, growing your tea. Tea plants (Camellia sinensis) can be grown outdoors in USDA Hardiness Zones 8 - 12 or indoors year-round. But, this traditional black tea is not the only plant grown for its use as a tea. You can also enjoy chamomile, mint, and lavender tea. Other options for a tea garden include lemon balm, jasmine, coriander, bergamot, hibiscus, elderberries, ginger, rose hips, raspberry and blackberry leaves, licorice, lemon grass, blackcurrants, dill, and dandelions can also be used to make tea.


Pick a patch of ground today and cover it with aged compost or arborist wood chips. As you select your theme and start choosing plants, worms and microorganisms will be busy working to improve your soil. Before you know it, you will be enjoying the fruits (or vegetables and herbs) of your labor!

Native plants have evolved, over thousands of years, to live in relative balance with local soil, climate, plants, animals, and insects.


These are not plants from other regions or other continents. They are often not even plants native to nearby towns or counties. These are not plants that were developed in a laboratory.

Going native

Going native doesn’t mean you have to stop growing your grandmother’s heirloom tomatoes or patches of delicious basil. It simply means using native plants as your first choice. Hardcore enthusiasts insist on growing nothing but natives. Personally, I find that level of commitment too limiting. Instead, I look for a workable balance. You can find information about native plants from your County Extension Office and local native plant societies. Here are some tips for gardeners looking to add native plants:

• Use native plants that are as local as possible.
• Pair native plants that grow together naturally, using similar soil, sun, and water resources.
• Avoid installing invasive plants.
• Minimize pruning to avoid interfering with wildlife.
• Allow leaf litter to remain where it falls, where it will feed the soil and improve soil structure.
• Avoid using chemical pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides.
• Install native plants that will attract native pollinators.
• Make your landscape fire safe.

Many times, native plants are free for the taking, if done responsibly.

Growing up

Here are just a few fun and easy vertical container gardening ideas:

• grow strawberries and salad greens in sections of rain gutter attached to a fence, or hanging from a pergola or roof line
• grow herbs, nasturtiums, or cucumbers in growing bags, attached to a fence
• grow pole beans or peas on a balcony railing, up a fence, tree cage netting, or on a trellis
• planting towers can take a traditional planting container to new heights
• hanging baskets can be used to grow herbs and salad greens
• old shoe racks can be transformed into vertical gardens
• buckets and clay pots can be hung from trellises, walls, and fences
• progressively smaller pots can be stacked on top of each other
• stacking boxes, sealed cinderblocks, former nesting boxes, and dresser drawers can all be used as containers [cinder blocks need to be sealed to prevent salts from leaching into the soil.]
• vertical PVC pipes with openings cut along the length can be used for strawberries, herbs, and other plants
• the tops of some rain barrels provide growing space
• grapes, apples, kiwi and many other plants can be espaliered against a wall or fence

The point I’m trying to make here is that the only thing limiting your vertical garden is your imagination - and sunlight.

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Light levels

Sunlight is often the most limiting factor when it comes to growing plants in tight spaces or indoors. This is not a time for guessing. You need to know how much sunlight actually reaches each area. For the uninitiated, sunlight exposure is defined as:

• full sun - 6 or more accumulated hours of direct sunlight each day
• partial sun - 3 to 6 hours of direct sunlight in the morning or early afternoon
• partial shade - 3 to 6 hours of direct sunlight, but not in the peak heat of afternoon
• dappled sun - sunlight that makes its way through the leaves of a tree
• full shade - less than 3 hours of direct sunlight each day

If you try growing sun-loving plants in an area with inadequate light levels, the plants will get long-stemmed (‘leggy’) and weak. This is called etiolation. Often, these plants will look pale or bleached, and they usually die. For each space that you have identified, take the time to note when it receives direct sunlight, and for how long. This information can make or break your vertical garden.


Plant selection

You need to select plants that are suited to the available sunlight. Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers need full sun, while root vegetables, such as carrots, beets, and potatoes, can perform beautifully in partial sun, partial shade, or dappled sun. Salad greens and other leafy vegetables can grow very nicely in full shade or dappled sun. Herbs need sunlight, but they are a pretty tolerant bunch. Once you have identified how much sunlight is available, and the types of plants you want to grow, then comes container selection!


Choosing your containers
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Different plants have different types of roots. If you want to grow plants with taproots, your containers will need to be deeper. Plants with fibrous root systems need more lateral space.

Trellises and hammocks

A trellis can be a sheet of lattice, purchased from your local lumber yard, a section of wood-framed chicken wire, a teepee of bamboo rods, a stock panel, or any other framework that supports your plants as they grow upward. If you are growing crops that produce heavy fruit, you may need to provide a little extra support. Melons, pumpkins, and squash can be held in place with net or fabric hammocks, attached to the trellis or fence.


As you go about your normal day, keep an eye open for unique, useful items that are often kicked to the curb by your neighbors. That unwanted pet staircase can be repurposed into a beautiful, space-saving tiered herb garden!

What is agroforestry?

Technically, agroforestry refers to the intentional addition of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming for economic, environmental, and social benefits. To qualify as agroforestry, four conditions must be present:

• Intentional - combinations of plants and animals are selected and managed as a unit
• Intensive - productivity is managed through cultivation, fertilization, and irrigation
• Integrated - the above- and below-ground aspects of plants and animals are structurally and functionally combined into a single management system
• Interactive - incorporating a wide variety of plants and animals for a mutually beneficial arrangement that is more productive and sustainable than monoculture

There are five different agroforestry systems: alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks. In each case, you can take the basic principle and modify it to benefit your home garden.
    

Alley cropping

The alley cropping method of agroforestry plants fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains and more between rows of immature trees. The trees provide protection while still allowing adequate sunlight to reach the other crops. Growing dwarf fruit and nut trees in your foodscape allows you to do the same thing year after year.
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Forest farming

Forest farming, also known as multi-story cropping, uses the shade provided by a forest canopy to grow herbs and other edible plants, as well as ornamentals, that perform better in shady environments. You can apply the same principle by planting shade-loving and sun-sensitive plants under existing trees.

​Windbreaks

Rows of trees can be used to create a windbreak. These barriers work the same way as fences, providing protection for plants, animals, buildings, and soil against wind, snow, dust, and even bad smells. These barriers increase biodiversity by providing habitat and food for local wildlife. These windbreaks are also known as hedgerows, shelterbelts, or living snow fences. Hedges and rows of trees on your property can provide the same benefits. You can get a bonus when these plants are also edibles.

Each of these agroforestry methods take advantage of natural processes to create sustainable, environmentally friendly conditions that help plants and soil stay healthier, with less effort on our part. These vegetative barriers also reduce erosion, improve air and water quality, increase biodiversity, and provide more opportunities for growing your own food or selling marketable crops.

Swale… Doesn’t it sound elegant to say, “The iris are growing next to the swale?” Well, it certainly sounds classier than saying, “Those flowers, over by the ditch,” but swales and ditches are very similar.


The joy of ditches

​Traditionally, a ditch is a V-shaped or U-shaped channel that is cut next to roads that redirect melted snow water downhill, without flooding the road. When I was a kid in Upstate New York, hammering open rocks in the dried out ditch in front of our house was great fun. You never knew what they were going to look like on the inside until you cracked them open! You couldn’t play in the ditch in spring, though. In spring, the ditch held water that was moving too rapidly to be absorbed and too cold to be any fun.

​Swales are swell

Unlike a ditch, swales are low places that collect water. They can occur naturally or be manmade. You see them all the time next to freeway on-ramps and off-ramps. These particular swales, or contour bands, act as infiltration basins. They are called contour bands because a trench is dug along the natural contour, and then that dug out soil is used to create a berm on the downhill side. Swales collect water that may contain pollutants and filter the toxins out naturally. Since the water in a swale is in a low place, it doesn’t run off. Instead, it is slowly absorbed. Often, ornamental plants that can tolerate pollutants and wet soil are planted around swales. Also, microorganisms in the soil begin breaking those pollutants down into less toxic materials.


Rainwater as resource

We all know that, in nature, rain falls down, is absorbed by the soil, and is then used by plants to grow. Simple. But we have now paved much of that soil. In the United States alone, by 2004, more than 43,000 square miles of land was covered with concrete. That’s about the size of Ohio, and I’m pretty sure that number is higher today. When rain falls on concrete, or other impermeable surfaces, the water runs off and away, carrying topsoil, fertilizers, pollutants, and small bits of trash and plastic with it. We call that run-off urban drool and all of it the ends up in our rivers, lakes, and oceans. The California Native Plant Society tells us that urban drool is the #1 source of ocean pollution. The average 2700 sq. ft. roof in San Jose, California, can collect more than 25,000 gallons of water each year. Rather than allowing that water to go to waste, you can harness it for your garden with a swale.


​Swales in your backyard

​Swales help retain and filter water three ways: slow, spread, sink. First, the flow of water is slowed down because it has a low place to collect. Then, rather than running off, it has a chance to slowly spread and expand through the nearby soil. Finally, the water sinks, naturally, into the soil where it feeds aquifers and underground creeks. All this water attracts the root systems of many of your larger and medium sized trees and shrubs. These nearby plants tap into this resource, which means they need less irrigation water.


Swales as damage reduction

Swales are an effective way to redirect water away from your home, without letting all that water go to waste. Most homes are built with a slightly sloping grade that should take rain water away from your home. This design really helps prevent foundations from shifting, but where does that water go once it’s away from your house? If the slope isn’t steep enough, very often, you will still end up with a muddy yard. Instead, you can redirect water from your downspouts into swales that draw the water away from your house and out into the yard, where it will nurture your plants.


Swales can be beautiful

Swales don’t have to look like a ditch. Instead, they can be made beautiful with river rocks, and plants that can handle the periodic moisture. This would include sedge, mosses, birch, iris, white cedar, azalea, rhododendron, hydrangea, hosta, Peace lily, japonica, ferns, pussywillow, coreopsis, geranium, and scarlet monkey. Heck, if you had a way to filter out the first flush of rain, you might even be able to grow rice! First flush refers to the first 1/2 inch or so of rain that contains higher levels of dust, debris, and pollutants. Before you install any plants, though, make sure that they are not invasive in your area.


Swales can be an attractive part of your landscape. They make the soil healthier, which makes your plants healthier. Plus, there’s less mud in your yard with a swale. Swales can be one part of a rain garden.


Creating areas where rain water can be slowed down and prevented from running off is called  watershed design.

The aroma of lilacs is intoxicating, and fleeting.


Here in San Jose, California., lilacs only bloom for a couple of weeks, near the end of May, but they are worth the wait. These cousins to olive trees and privet shrubs add beauty in a landscape, and the heady blooms are bound to attract pollinators.

How to plant lilacs

Autumn is the perfect time to get your lilacs started. If you received an offshoot or root cutting from a friend, don’t worry if it is looking pretty pathetic right now. That’s normal. Simply select a good location and get started. Lilacs prefer well-drained, neutral soil (with a pH at or near 7.0) with lots of organic material. Most Bay Area soil is heavy, alkaline clay that doesn’t drain well. (Lilacs hate wet feet.)  If you want to put lilacs in the ground, you will need to prepare the soil first. This means digging it up (but not when it’s wet) and incorporating aged compost or some other organic material (kitchen scraps, grass clippings, that sort of thing). If all that organic material is fresh, it will take time to break down. If you do not have the time to wait, simply dig the “waste burial holes” around where you want your lilacs. The earthworms and soil microbes will take care of it for you, and the lilac roots will find it. The hole should be as deep as the root ball and twice as wide. Multiple lilac bushes should be spaced 5 to 15 feet apart. Lilacs normally prefer full sun, at least 6 hours, but the scorching California summer heat really takes a toll on my lilacs. They end up needing a little protective shade from nearby trees and shrubs.


Growing lilacs in containers

To successfully grow lilacs in containers, you will need to select a dwarf variety and a large container. Lilacs prefer having room to spread their roots, so the container needs to be at least 12 inches deep and 24 inches wide. Be sure to use potting soil with a neutral pH. Lilacs dislike both alkaline and acidic soil. Water thoroughly at planting time and keep the soil evenly moist (not soggy) until the roots have taken hold. After that, water any time the top inch of soil dries out, and not before. Containerized lilacs need at least 6 hours of full sun every day to bloom properly. Many homes do not have that much direct sunlight, so you may need to supplement with grow lights. Stabilize temperatures and reduce moisture loss adding a thin layer of mulch, such as attractive redwood chips, around your potted lilac, just be sure to leave a little space between the mulch and shrub stems.


Caring for lilacs

Lilac flowers bloom on old wood, so pruning should be kept to a minimum. Pruning should be limited to removing dead, diseased, rubbing branches, suckers, and spent flowers. Since flowers are produced on older wood, do not put off deadheading your lilacs. If you wait until the end of the season, the wood that grows in will be too young to produce flowers the next season. If your lilac becomes unruly, cut all canes back to eye level and remove one-third of the oldest canes at ground level. The next year, cut half of the remaining old wood down to the ground. In year three, cut the remaining old wood. Or, you can cut the whole thing back to a height of 6 to 8 inches. This more drastic method creates the best blooms, in the long run, but it will take your lilac a few years to get back to full size.

Each spring, top dress the soil around lilacs with aged compost. Then, cover that top dressing with mulch. This will add nutrients and protect the microorganisms that help your lilacs get to those nutrients. Commercial fertilizer is not recommended for lilacs planted in the ground. Excessive nutrients causes plants to produce more leaves, and no flowers.


Lilac pests and diseases

I have found Fuller rose beetles to cause the most damage to my lilacs. Scalloped leaves are a sure sign of this pest. Lilacs are also susceptible to powdery mildew, phytophthora, and pseudomonas. Slugs and snails are said to cause some damage, but I have not had that experience.


Propagating lilac

If you already have a lilac, you can take root, shoot, and sucker cuttings to propagate new plants. Dig up some roots, or suckers with roots attached, and place them in a bucket with some water until you are ready to plant. You can also use 8 to 12 inches new growth twigs. Simply strip away most of the lower leaves and place them in rich potting soil and keep them moist (above and below ground) until roots start to grow. Since woody stems can be difficult to start rooting, many people apply rooting powder to the lower portion of the stem. Since rooting powders are synthetic plant hormones, I don’t use them.


While lilacs are not edible, I can practically taste their sweet fragrance. Also, the pollinators who are drawn to lilac blossoms often stick around to pollinate other plants in your garden.

What are heat islands?

The term ‘heat islands’ refers to land that used to be soil, bushes, and trees, and is now concrete, asphalt, and buildings. Before all that development, natural cycles and the permeability of the soil kept things cooler and healthier for plants. All the impervious, manmade materials that now cover up 3% of the earth’s landmass absorb heat, creating a zone of higher temperatures called heat islands.


Do I have heat islands?

Unless you live in a tent in the wilderness, yes, you have heat islands. Driveways, patios, extended foundations, concrete paths and walkways, roofs, sidewalks, and the street in front of your home can all create their own heat islands.


How do heat islands impact landscape plants?

Plants installed in or near heat islands must contend with soil temperatures that can be 50 to 90° hotter than the air. This means, on a scorching California summer day, when the air is 95°F, your plants’ roots may be struggling to survive temperatures as high as 185°F! All this strain takes its toll. Most trees reach what is called a ’thermal death threshold’ at 115°F. Held too long at temperatures above this point and even the healthiest tree can die. Even if they survive, plants growing in heat islands have significantly shorter lifespans and are more susceptible to pests and disease. Also, things don’t cool down for these plants as the sun sets. While we may enjoy the lower temperatures of evening, concrete and asphalt hang on to all that absorbed heat, slowly releasing it into the immediate area, making evenings the hottest part of your plants’ day.


Impact of heat islands on water use

Plants growing in heat islands need as much as 50% more water than the same plants grown elsewhere. Since a mature tree can use up to 250 gallons of water a day during the peak of summer, that percentage can translate into a lot of water! Also, if you re growing edibles, such as cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, broccoli, or cauliflower, in a heat island, the stress can cause these foods to turn bitter, or bolt.

How can you help plants in heat islands?

City managers are working toward reducing the heat island effect and you can. too! Use these tips to help your plants survive the heat island effect:

1. Proper irrigation is the number one way to help these plants thrive (or at least survive). Frequent, shallow watering does more harm than good. It encourages a shallow root system that will dry out more quickly. Infrequent, deep watering will encourage a deeper root system that helps plants protect themselves.
2. Avoid feeding these vulnerable plants during the peak of summer. Adding fertilizer stimulates new growth, which uses a lot of water and puts demands on the plant’s overall system. Would you want to move everything you own into the garage on a 150°F day? Yep. You’d probably fall apart, too.
3. If you will be adding plants to a heat island, do it at a time of year when they will be able to develop an extensive root system before those high temperatures hit. In the Bay Area, this would be September through January. Of course, then you have the issue of potential frost. Also, be sure to select plants that can tolerate a lot of heat. This would be succulents, such as echeveria, sedums, or aeoniums.
4. Improving soil structure and condition can also help plants growing in heat islands each the water they need. Our heavy clay can turn into concrete on a hot day. Incorporating aged compost, worm castings, or aged chicken, horse, or steer manure can increase the number of macropores and micropores in the soil, giving roots a path to cooler temperatures down below.
5. Mulching heat islands with a thick layer of wood chips is a good way to reduce temperatures by shading the soil. It also slows water loss through evaporation and makes it harder for weeds to get established.

Since plants that are growing in heat islands are already under a lot of stress, be sure to monitor for pests and diseases regularly, so that you can apply treatments right away, before things get out of hand.


Reducing heat islands on your property

There are many steps you can take to reduce the number of heat islands on your property. Not only will this help your plants to be healthier, it also reduces energy bills (if you use A/C), water consumption, and emissions from energy production. Here are just a few of the ways you can reduce the number of heat islands on your property:
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• Trees and plants - trees create shade that can reduce temperatures by 20 to 45°F, and all plants reduce temperatures by 2 to 9°F through evapotranspiration​
• Permeable materials - driveways, paths, and patios can now be made with pervious asphalt, concrete, or interlocking pavers that allow air and water to pass through, recharging groundwater supplies and reducing heat absorption, releasing heat back into the atmosphere more quickly
• Cool or reflective roofing materials - designed to reflect light and heat away from your home
• Green roof - rooftop gardens and green roofs use plants to create shade and lower the surrounding air temperatures; they also provide extra insulation
• Water features - ponds and fountains can offset some of the heat island effect

Echeveria identification

It can be difficult to distinguish between different types of succulent plants. They nearly all grow in a rosette shape, have thick, rubbery or waxy leaves, and tend to have hairs or spines. They also tend to spread, self-propagating wherever conditions are favorable. Echeveria, in particular, tend to reproduce by generating stalked offspring, called ‘offsets’, that appear from underneath in a behavior frequently called ‘hen and chicks’. Echeveria are polycarpic, which means they can produce flowers multiple times. In winter, many echeveria plants lose their leaves, though not all.


Echeveria pests and disease

Rot and frost are problems for echeveria. Frost, particularly after a rain, can kill most succulents. Leaves that have begun dying off should be removed to avoid spreading fungal disease throughout the plant. Mealybugs and aphids can be troublesome.

Aeoniums are a genus of plants that take little to no care and look better each year.


While I generally prefer edibles, sometimes you have a space in the landscape that you just can’t find the right plant for - aeoniums might be what you need. And while they may not be a familiar flavor, many aeoniums are edible. You have seen these plants many times before, but you may be surprised to see just how lovely they can become, given the chance.


Aeonium [ay-oh-nee-um] is a group of succulents known to the Greeks as aionos, which means ageless. They earn this name because they are monocarpic, meaning each rosette produces only one flower and then it dies. Originally from the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Ethiopia, these rugged succulents can thrive in the hottest weather. They perform well in containers and can be grown indoors if they receive enough light.

Aeonium identification


Most of the aeonium plants you see today are hybrids and they can look very similar to other stonecrops, such as sedum and echeveria. The biggest difference is that aeoniums often have fine hairs or spines on the edges (margins) of the leaves. Also, the leaves, which can be rounded or pointed, tend to be somewhat thinner than echeveria. When aeonium produce a flower, it is actually an inflorescence (a cluster of flowers) on a stalk that can reach 3 feet in height. These flowers can be very striking. The surface of aeonium leaves may be fuzzy, sticky, or smooth, and the stems can be scaly, smooth, hairy, or fissured. Plants stressed by drought or sunlight may exhibit red or purple highlights. This is not a concern. It is just what they do.


Types of aeonium

Most aeonium are classified as either low-growing or large. The large varieties include A. arboreum, A. holochrysum, and A. valvredense. Low-growing varieties are A. smithii and A. tabuliforme.

Caring for aeonium

Being tropical, these plants need strong light, good drainage, and watering only after long periods of dry soil. They do need protection from freezing temperatures so some sort of cover should be provided between the first and last frost dates. Too much rain can also cause rot.


Pests and diseases of aeonium

Aphid and mealybug infestations of the plant crown (where the stem meets the roots) can often be spotted by the presence of protective ants. Since many of these plants are edible and they contain a lot of water, many herbivores will feed on them, including squirrels, tortoises, and rabbits.


Propagating aeonium

Being succulents, aeonium are easy to propagate from a leaf. This is best done in autumn, when plants are actively growing. Simply take a healthy leaf from the plant and place it in good soil, in bright shade, and water occasionally. Aeoniums readily self-seed, if they are in a good location.


The range of shapes, textures, and colors make these plants easy to play with when creating a rich visual tapestry in a landscape.

Salvia is one tough, beautiful plant. The bees love it, and you might, too!


This member of the mint family is one of those no-brainer plants. They tend to grow well without any help from us. Composing the largest genus of mints, this group of plants includes the culinary favorite, sage (Salvia officinalis). Most ornamental salvias are referred to by their Latin name ‘salvere’, which means to feel ‘well and healthy’.

Salvia description

Salvias tend to be woody plants, which is one reason why they are so good at handling drought. Depending on the variety, they can be evergreen or annual, perennial, or biennial, Like other mints, the stems tend to grow at angles to each other and are square. The flower spikes are a big attraction. They consist of a modified leaf, called a bract, and stalked, clustered flowers, called racemes or panicles. Flowers can be red, pink, yellow, or white, but the deep bluish-purple is my favorite. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators love them, as well.


Weird salvia science

Unlike most mints, which have four stamens, salvia has a unique pollination mechanism that uses only two stamens and connective tissue (thecae) that create a lever action. In male flowers, this lever-action dumps pollen on visiting pollinators. This mechanism also pushes the stigma close to the same general area on pollinators. After a pollinator leaves, everything returns to its normal position. This increases the likelihood of pollination and fertilization.

How to grow salvia

Depending on the variety, salvias can be grown from seeds, seedlings, or cuttings, once the last frost date has passed. Most salvias prefer full sun and good air circulation. An exception is the Japanese yellow sage (Salvia koyamae), which prefers shade and moist soil. If your soil is heavy clay, like mine, you will want to incorporate some aged compost to lighten it up before planting. Salvias will produce more blooms with regular feeding. You can also mulch around plants with aged compost for reduced moisture loss and slow-release feeding. If you prune your salvias before they bloom, flowering can be significantly delayed. Better to shear your salvias at a time of year when they are not flowering. And be sure to deadhead spent blooms the rest of the year to stimulate more flower production. While being drought tolerant, your salvias will need to be watered. Just wait until you notice some moderate wilting, to avoid common fungal diseases.


Salvia pests and diseases

Rust, powdery mildew, and leaf spot may occur, but they can often be prevented with proper water management [Read: avoid overhead watering]. Aphids and thrips will be the most common pests. [Aren’t they always?] Many salvias have hairs on leaves and stems that discourage many pests and grazers (and my chickens).


Whether you choose edible culinary sage, fragrant pineapple sage (Salvia elegans), the sacred white sage (Salvia apiana), or sturdy purple sage (Salvia dorrii), try adding some salvia to your landscape or garden today!

Pergolas reduce the heat sink effect

Many homes have concrete patios. Concrete acts as a heat sink that absorbs and then radiates a phenomenal amount of heat in the summer. This is also known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect. As this heat is radiated, it can cause several problems:

• burnt feet and pet paws (concrete can reach 140°F!)
• baked container plants (put spacers underneath to keep them off the concrete)
• scorched soil and underground roots
• dead soil microorganisms and earthworms
• higher risk of sunburn damage (to plants and humans)
• increased water needs for nearby plants
• higher air conditioning costs

Shade can reduce the ambient temperature by as much as 15°. If it’s 100°F outside, that can make a huge difference in your comfort, your plants’ health, and your cooling bill.


Pergolas as protection

The word ‘pergola’ comes from the Latin word ‘projecting eave’. People have been creating shade for themselves since, well, since there have been people! At first, pergolas provide only marginal protection from the elements. Over time, as climbing plants make their way up and across the top of your pergola, the shade protection can become significant. After many years of growth, your pergola may even offer something of a rain barrier!


A structure by any other name…

Pergolas are spaces defined by upright posts or beams and an open lattice above that is normally used as support for climbing plants. Many people call pergolas by other names: arbors, gazebos, and bowers, but they are technically incorrect. The words describe slightly different versions on a theme, but there are differences:

• pergola - an attached or anchored garden structure covered with trained climbing plants
• arbor - a smaller, free-standing garden alcove with sides and a roof for climbing plants
• gazebo - a solid-roofed structure that is open on the sides, often round or octagonal  
• bower - generally a living tunnel created by overhanging trees meeting in the middle
• green tunnels - living plants trained over an arched trellis to create shady tunnels