Monterey County Magazine - Winter 2004-2005
First Rain
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Fall and winter can be the most beautiful seasons in Big Sur. The fog has rolled away to reveal the sea as a calm sparkling expanse of blue. The fall days are noticeably warmer than summer and the sun seems to linger on the golden grass of high ridges at sunset while yellow maple leaves decorate the riverside trails. There is a smell of wood smoke in the evenings and a glittering carpet of dew greets the early riser on each clear morning. Then one day the sky is etched with white vapor ferns and the wind rises unexpectedly from the south with blackbirds holding conventions in bare sycamore branches. Clouds will gather against the ridge tops as the first rain falls to break the long summer of dryness. The sea becomes a rich froth of foam with many driftwood treasures tossed up on the radically re-arranged beaches. The sand you trod yesterday is now far down the strand; everything is different. By the New Year the rain will turn the hills green and streams will once again sing in every shady canyon. This is the spring that comes in winter.
The garden will respond with flowers bursting forth on the many Southern Hemisphere plants that thrive in Big Sur. Grevilleas from Australia do well with our winter-wet, summer-dry climate and come in many forms and shades, tending towards red and pink. Grevilleas grow into rounded or spreading shrubs, often with needle-like or dissected leaves giving them a soft feathery appearance. Their fluffy forms look delicate but are remarkably resilient; Grevilleas are drought tolerant, thriving on sunny banks with excellent drainage and have the advantage of being deer resistant. Look for them erupting from the banks below the parking lot at Nepenthe and above the fountains at Hawthorne Gallery.
A favorite Grevillea of mine is the carmine flowered 'Robyn Gordon' which grows as a layered shrub to about 4 feet tall and wide, with 6 inch long fine cut leaves like stiff ostrich feathers. Here in Big Sur I find 'Robyn Gordon' blooming nearly year round to keep the hummingbirds busy on warm winter days.
Other Southern Hemisphere plants that flower in winter include the vibrant red leptospermums with tiny needle like leaves in burgundy on lacy shrubs with twisting trunks. There are also Protea with exotic flowers fashioned like orange pincushions or rust colored clusters of feathers and acacias which bear flowers in every shade of yellow from gold to acid in puffs and spikes often seen as informal hedges along the Coast Highway.
Fall is a time when some of Big Sur's least appreciated plants come into their unnoticed glory. As late as December the tiny red trumpets of California Fuschia, Epilobium canum, are still shining on dry road cuts and rock outcrops along the Naciemento Road and above trails in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. A drive towards the beach down Sycamore Canyon Road reveals poison oak flushed with burgundy, scarlet, purple and gold where it's stems cling to tall thin trees or tangle in masses among sages and chamise. A related plant, Rhus aromatica , is gaining recognition as a hardy groundcover with the same vibrant fall color and rich summer green but without the rash causing oils of it's cousin.
Fall and early winter are the To-Do months for gardening just as spring is in eastern climates. Now is the time to create a tapestry of native plants and spring blooming bulbs.
In my own garden I have been busy planting out Ceanothus 'Dark Star', a popular native shrub with masses of deep blue, honey scented blooms appearing in March and April on arching stems to 5 feet tall. I will add some French lavender and chartreuse Euphorbia with Foothill Penstemon "Blue Spring", which is a named cultivar of one of our native wildflowers. It has clear blue trumpets arranged thickly along foot tall stems; a delight to butterflies and moths, effective with the fall blooming Aster 'Monch' to finish off the season with star-like lavender flowers.
Among the bulbs that I have set out under the mats of the low growing manzanita and cotoneasters is the golden Mariposa Lily, Calachortus luteus, which is native to my own little grassy ridge high above the sea. The tiny bulbs send up one foot stems each bearing a golden chalice similar to a small tulip, marked in it's center with dark dots and streaks like a butterfly. In the wild it blooms in May along with it's relative the nodding white Globe Lilly. Planted in masses of about 20 bulbs, the Mariposa Lilly will form golden bouquets each spring for many years to come without any additional help from me.
By Christmas, there will be masses of red berries on every toyon with groups of Band-tailed pigeons fussing over them like partridges in the proverbial pear tree. The toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia , is a robust evergreen shrub to 10 feet that associates with manzanita, chamise and black sage on north or east facing slopes. A mass of toyon rises out of the canyon wall just below my garden, the berries glowing in the soft late afternoon light, birds chattering noisily to celebrate the season.
By January the rains will be with us in earnest; time to sit before the fire with a pile of seed catalogs. I find that I cannot resist being outdoors so I keep my wide brimmed hat ready for a stroll in the rain, even if just to watch the water tumble along the little creek in my field or smell the scent of wet grass and fallen bay leaves.
These wet strolls reveal the first silver leaves of lupine sprouting amongst the grass and frost-colored blooms on low ceanothus. I am always surprised to find daffodils opening this early, often the most fragrant ones coming first, remnants of homestead gardens of Big Sur's pioneer past. The storm wind will send me leaves from trees far down the canyon or from high up the ridge, I have fun guessing where they came from as I listen to the surf roar out on the beach, bringing new treasures to discover after the storm passes. On rainy days, I hope that you will keep your hat handy too.
Dave Egbert, The Coastal Gardener
