January 2024
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.
