The Coastal Gardener - November, 2005
First Fall bulbs
|
The days have gotten shorter, but in many ways so much richer. The canyons are decorated with golden maples and a steady shower of fragrant bay leaves coats the canyon floor. Mornings and evenings are marked with dramatic swathes of color. While I wish that I could roam around the garden on a long evening like back in June, the sunset spectacular is a nice consolation prize for my loss of daylight.
But the moon has made up for some of my lost day and the silver foliage of santolina and lavender glow along the path edge its light.
Out in the garden beds, I am finding bulbs sprouting already. The first up is Chasmanthe aethiopica or Firecracker Flower from South Africa. The group in my garden was rescued from the construction site of a new house on Partington Ridge. Chasmanthe bloom January through March in long spikes up to 4 feet tall covered in tubular orange red 'Firecracker' flowers. The foliage is similar to that of Gladiolus, their cousin, tall and spiky. This bulb thrives in garden situations forming large colonies but requires virtually no care other than a quick tidy in early summer when the foliage begins to brown. My specimens are paired with Flower Carpet Roses through which the Chasmanthe stems rise. The bulbs spiky outline contrasts to the rose's arching stems decorated with deep red flower clusters.
Bulbs are truly the gardener's foolproof plant. No other garden plant requires so little from the gardener and perform so well than bulbs like daffodils, amaryllis, muscaris, brodiea and calachortus. Basically you stick the bulb in the ground, step back and enjoy the show. Many species are well adapted to summer dry climates so need no extra water and they will flower each spring, without even a nod from you! I often admire huge clumps of fragrant narcissus growing alone out in the pastures of El Sur Ranch, remnants of a forgotten home garden abandoned for almost a century. Narcissus in are hated by gophers who avoid their root zone. A neighbor used clusters of narcissus bulbs among his new fruit trees to protect the tree roots from gophers!
Gardens are living breathing things that need attention and care in order to thrive. Recent visits to Lotusland in Santa Barbara and Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek help to show me how incredible a garden can be with a staff of dedicated gardeners to keep it thriving. In our own area, the Children's Garden at Captain Cooper School has had such a person in the form of the garden's paid intern. Along with Merrie Potter and other dedicated volunteers, the intern is able to keep up the daily care of the garden and help create meaningful educational experiences for the students. But the Chez Panisse Foundation has removed the money needed to fund the intern and new programs including garden literacy, sustainable growing practices, and increased recycling efforts.
Having come so far with so much help from the community during the Hidden Gardens Tour each year, it would be a great loss to see the Children's Garden fall fallow. Gardens need constant educated input from skilled people and without it will surely fail along with it the hopes of children at Captain Cooper School. The good news is that any new donation to the Children's Garden will be matched dollar for dollar by the Harden Foundation up to $10,000. To find how you can help the Children's Garden, please contact the Big Sur Arts Initiative and Merrie Potter, at bigsurarts.org or 667-1530
Underappreciated Plant of the month:
Satureja douglasii, Yerba Buena
Fragrant, evergreen groundcover native to oak woodlands and chaparral covered hillsides. Tiny rounded leaves are accented with lavender tinted white flowers in spring and summer. Deer, rabbit and drought resistant. So easy to grow you need only find a few rooted stems under a manzanita somewhere to start your own patch. Ideal planted along a path or under flowering currants and azaleas.
Enjoy!
Dave Egbert
