The tassels are strings of bell-shaped male flowers with anthers extending beyond. You could see the pollen drift away when touched. Coast silktassel, Garrya elliptica.
End of year. For many the end of the calendar year is such a rush of parties, dinners, shopping and events that gardening is likely to be far down on your list of things to do. The days are so short, that except on days one doesn’t work, it’s dark in the morning and dark when you get home. It is also the time of year your landscape is moving at its slowest pace, even though it is simultaneously waking up for next year, the changes are subtle. Every month is another chance to re-evaluate you garden or landscape.The leaves have fallen, and your space is at its most naked; it’s a good chance to evaluate what failed or bothers you, and what you want your garden to become.
Structure in garden. Since it is a bare season in the garden, use restraint in cutting back everything, as clumps of dried grasses, certain perennials with seed heads, and such. These plants not only can serve as food sources for wildlife, they can catch the low light elegantly, or show off dew, raindrops or frost, and simply add a moment of beauty in your life. On a bigger scale, look at your large shrubs or trees – how are they structurally? Do certain limbs or branches look awkward or wrong, or the whole plant tilted and falling over? You don’t have to deal with these immediately, but correcting some of these aesthetic and structural defects over time will make your landscape more relaxed to your eyes.
Gaps. What about gaps you perceive in your landscapes– screening, flowering or food producing? There are actually some plants that reach their showiest in the middle of winter such as Sasanqua camellias, our native chaparral currants, early manzanitas, winter hellebores, and some narcissus. Timing varies considerably due to watering, when the rains come and temperatures, but they all are great seasonal accents.
Decide now, plant later. Bare root season for many plants is almost here, so decide what you want now. Maybe mention certain plants you want as potential “gifts” to your family and friends, and almost any nursery will provide gift certificates for later. Sonoma Co. nurseries carry almost any plant you can imagine, so buy locally.
For free. While the dry season has lingered longer than most of us would like, eventually rain arrives. As mentioned last month, getting more of it into the ground and to our plants, and less into gutters and storm drains, is something we can all improve on. Do you know where your water goes? How much that falls on your property stays there, or sinks into the ground?
The easiest way to get water to percolate into the ground is to have soft ground with spaces between the particles and this is most easily produced by keeping the soil mulched with organic material. Bare, open soils get crusty and repel water penetration, much like pavement.
Other possibilities of catching and storing water such as tanks or cisterns– above or below the soil, and seasonal ponds have merit, but can be very expensive and of limited utility where they are not replenished due to our long dry season. But in some situations, it may make sense in the long picture, as we’d be using water that fell where we are, not importing it from somewhere else. In general, much of California suffers from shrinking underground water tables, we pull up more than gets replenished. Just because we see water in the Russian River, the primary watershed of the County, does not mean the water table is replenished. And in fact, much of that visible water comes from the Eel River drainage in Mendocino Co.via pipes and pumps. So, it is good to reflect on where our water comes from, and how to keep it here.
Looking forward to a grand gardening season ahead!