Diario de wildflowerartist

It’s a rainy new year following a fairly mild summer. This winter, I am finding not as many thistles as I have in the past so perhaps the seeds have finally been tackled. The new ‘weed’ is gallium (clinging bedstraw) as well as a lot grasses. I invested in a lot of seed this fall. Planting seeds that had done well in my yard the year before: baby blue eyes, fare well to spring, goldfields, Chinese houses, and red maids. I also purchased some native grass seeds- California broom being the dominant seed - although I see some new sprouts among the abundant geraniums, minors lettuce and oxalis that seem to have taken over everywhere as a ground cover- it’s too early to tell what is grass is sprouting. There was a seed mix of Tom cat clover, rye, and needle grass. The rye grass has done well in the past near the neighbors fence line.

Last year I collected seed from several of my plants-bee plant, sages, blue eyed grass and .coyotee mint. I started propagating the seeds in summer. The bee plants and blue eyed grass faired well and I was able to plant many of the seedlings in the ground in the late fall. I have propagated these in the past and have had great success. I now have about 10 or more blue eyed grass growing in the yard. The bee plants are also spreading and seem to do well with the oxalis. The sages however have been struggling. They either got too wet or too cold as there were several nights of freezing temperatures. Perhaps it would be better to save the seeds and start growing in the spring. I was able to transplant a few of the hummingbird sages and those seem to be doing ok. Out of the seeds I started only about 20 percent of the hummingbird sage sprouted. Some of the coyotee mints look very healthy but most are also struggling. I have not yet tried to put them in the yard.

Around the yard I see that tidy tips, Chinese houses, fiddle necks and baby blue eyes are sprouted. I have borage and California phacelia spreading on an eastern facing hillside along with tansy leaf phacelia and poppies. The hedgenettle also seems to be spreading out as I have controlled some of the weed population. There are also gum plants that seem to be spreading in sunny areas along with snakeroot - sometimes I think that perhaps I should try to control these plants that tend to be weedy but then I think that they are outcompeting nonnative grasses and other species that don’t belong in my yard. I do now have an abundance of narcissus plants growing and I found a bee in one of them yesterday so perhaps they have some value. The oxalis that grows is pretty and it seems as if there are moles that may eat the bulbs and again sometimes I find bees in them. They also out compete the grasses and die back in the summer so I don’t have much of a fire threat nor do I have to spend a lot of time in the yard with a weed wacker. Also the nonnative geraniums and erodiums see to flower and provide “bee food”. There are some lupines growing - it will be interesting to see which ones make it to flowering. I often see them one day and then the next they are gone.

The salamanders and tree frogs seem to be having a good year. I found an area of fallen oak leaves nest to the creek where at least 6 salamanders were visable crawling on there way . . .The birds have not yet been out to eat the toyon berries.

Many of the plants that I have planted on the eastern slope of my yard that are somewhat shaded in the late afternoon. They seem to be healthier and lusher then those growing on my southern hillside which has now started to have more and more shade as some trees planted years ago are tall enough o counter some of the hot afternoon sun. The rocky south hillside shows some barren rock at the top but the lower part near the retaining wall has developed more and more soil and is a host to coyotee mint, sages, buckwheats, and. penstemon. I hope to plant more sages and coyotee mint this spring if my seedlings continue to develop.

The caged off plants and trees continue to be caged. It’s difficult to decide when and if a tree can be left vulnerable to deer. Last year a 6 foot Holly leaf cherry was munched on at the base going up a good 4 feet before we recaged. The same happened when we tried it with the buckeye trees. After a year of growth, I have been uncaging some of the shrubs with mixed results. I finally caged a several plants close to the rock wall and have been surprised to see how tall they can actually grow - I had know idea that they were suffering from years of browsing. I would like to plant a few more salvias (I have had mixed results with these plants) as they bloom in the winter when the only other thing in my yard blooming is the rosemary.

We lost another live Oak Tree growing on the East facing slope of the hillside after high winds. Its difficult to tell why these oaks are falling. Perhaps it is years of drought. They grew with split trunks and perhaps they slowly rotted away at the base.

Many of the wild flower seeds I threw out this year have sprouted but then disappeared. Some of the lupine and baby blue eyes- supposedly deer resistant. The rainfall has disappeared this January after a very wet fall. So the poppies and phacelia are looking thirsty. The tansy leaf phacelia seem to have taken hold and are spreading. Again it seems as if something has come by and chomped on a few of the phacelia plants. The poppies seem to grow close to Italian thistle which I hand pick and try to leave in place. Hoping that the prickly leaves will still protect the young poppies. Oxalis plants have gotten out of control after years of trying to contain them. I have cleared them from under the oaks where they have been competing with the bee plants I have planted and propagated.

This year pacific sanecle (snake root) has been spreading. I wonder if I should try to control it a bit, even though it is a native - it produces a very prickly seed. The hedge nettle is also doing well. We recaged a 6 year old buckeye tree that has reached about 6 feet in height. Last year, something came by and ate leaves off the tree when we removed the cage.

As for wild flowers, there seems to be some lupines that continue to grow. As well as clarkias, minors lettuce, and yarrow. Again the major weeds, I am managing this year seem to be the Italian thistle (it grows everywhere now in our neighborhood), clinging bedstraw, and this plant with yellow closed flowers that turn into silver puff balls. There is nonnative geranium everywhere and lots of oxalis which I only try to gently clear away if something native is growing close by. I also see an increase in clasping henbit. These nonnatives that I let grow last year as they seemed to attract bees was perhaps not such a good idea. However when I am at local parks, I also see a lot of geraniums so perhaps they are just getting out of hand everywhere.