Hedging for Amphibians

Published in the Hoopa People News, Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell

Slugs are gardeners’ worst nemesis here in Northern California. Amphibians, there for, must be our best friends. Salamanders, frogs, and toads can eat nearly their own weight in slugs on a daily basis. With friends like this working for you for free, the population of the slimy hoards will soon be on the decline. All amphibians expect decent housing and a source of moisture year around. Think Japanese garden sculptures, English boxwood hedges, and European garden fountains and you are on the right track.

Years ago my grandmother’s Dixon backyard was a haven for amphibians, birds, and other creatures that benefited the garden. Her yard was hedged in a mix of shrubs that provided habitat, food, and nectar. Growing amphibian habitat can be a pleasant side venture that enhances the landscape and attracts a number of delightful creatures to the garden. Grandmother’s yard did not feature ponds, fountains, or sculpture. But if you got down on your belly and peered under the shrubs you would find cracked bowls and pots arranged to catch water and to form shelter for her hard working toads.

The best plants to create habitat for these beneficial creatures are broad leaved evergreens. Think of plants without prickles or thorns, which stay green all year, and grow from a central stalk or trunk and branch out close to the ground. You may want to choose a number of different types of plants, to keep your hedge interesting, and to provide for a diversity of habitat and food sources. A well thought out hedge provides some food and visual appeal to the household, while it provides shelter and food for birds, beneficial insects, and our amphibian friends.

In choosing plants, we want to consider several factors. A selection of shrubs with a combined long bloom time will do wonders for populations of predacious insects. These insects will help patrol your yard looking for pests. Here are some suggestions to provide year around nectar, which will also provide amphibian habitat.

Coyote bush, a native shrub common in our area, provides nectar during winter as well as greenery for toads and salamanders to hide beneath. It has small soft green leaves, reminiscent in shape to holly, but with out the prickles. The flowers are not showy, but I often see pollinators and other beneficial insects visiting the ones in my yard. There are several cultivars available, from those forming ground covers to those that grow up to 5 feet tall. Read descriptions to be sure you are getting the right plant for the spot you have in mind.

Ceanothus, or California lilac, also has a number of cultivars available for home gardeners. They generally have small to medium sized glossy dark green leaves, and they bloom from late winter through early spring. Flowers are available in various shades of pink, blue, and white. Ceanothus are available as ground covers, average sized shrubs, and small trees to 15 feet tall. There are also varieties that loose their leaves in winter, so be sure to ask your nursery person if the plant description is not clear.

California coffee berry is a colorful shrub, often decked out in green, red, and purple berries as well as small insignificant flowers. Its main bloom time is mid- to late spring, but it often continues blooming throughout the summer and fall. Coffee berry has attractive long narrow grey-green leaves. The berries attract birds, but don’t think about brewing coffee from them yourself. These plants are a close relative of Cascara Segrada, and the brew was once used as a remedy for constipation. From all accounts it was quiet effective and unpleasant. Miwok Indians are reported to have told miners in their area that it was their coffee, as a joke. A joke the miners then perpetrated on each other.

Toyon (also called Christmas berry) will carry your nectar from mid spring to early summer. The orange to red berries these bright green shrubs produce are edible and are actually high in vitamin C and bioflavanoids! They can be used to make jelly or jam, or even eaten out of hand. However they are tart enough that most folks would prefer them brewed into tea with a dollop of honey. Sweetened they are tasty and provide your winter time vitamin C early for free. The berries ripen right about Christmas, just in time for winter arrangements, and remedies for colds and flue. These shrubs grow from 8 – 12 feet. The cultivars have been selected primarily for berry color, so keep that in mind when selecting your plants.

There are a few varieties of monkey flower, particularly Sticky Bush Monkey Flower that produce flowers over a long time during the hot summer months. Monkey flowers bloom in showy tubes of yellow, orange, and apricot. These lovely flowers attract hummingbirds. And they grow to form small evergreen shrubs. Be sure to read labels, because there are monkey flowers that prefer moist shade and others that thrive in the hottest spot you can provide. There are also monkey flowers that are annual bedding plants. While they may be fun in a border, for amphibian habitat you will want the shrubby forms.

Fall Asters will bring your bloom full circle. Bush Asters are available from low growing mounding plants to small shrubs that reach up to three or four feet tall. They prefer a spot with full sun and good drainage; however, they do need to be watered regularly during the hot dry parts of the year. Many varieties are available in nearly every color of the rainbow. Check labels to make sure you are buying a perennial that will provide habitat and nectar for at least a handful of years.

To round out your plantings here are some more suggestions you can take a look at when you visit the nursery: Look for box wood, Gunnera, Hebe, mountain mahogany, and Salal for an interesting mix of leaf types. Choose shrubs with interesting flowers such as, Abelia, bottlebrush, camellias, flannel bush, and gardenias to give your plantings some color and fragrance. Shrubs with interesting fruits or pods make nice additions. Check out barberry, carob, guava, pyracantha, and magnolias. Be sure to talk your selections over with your nursery person. Some of these plants have deciduous varieties or those that will not be happy to be trained as a shrub. If they don’t have any of these varieties available, they can probably make other recommendations that will work for you.

Growing a shrubby border is a long term proposition, and those dang slugs are out there eating up the garden right now. What on earth are we going to do in the mean time?

You can arrange some temporary shelter while you wait for the shrubs to grow. Artful arrangements of mossy branches, stones, and water worn pieces of bark can make attractive garden statements as well as provide homes for amphibians. Fall and winter walks, especially after high winds or storms are sure to provide a bounty of materials you can attractively arrange. (And you might even find some hungry amphibians that will be happy to make their homes in these fancy new digs.) Also check out second hand stores and flea markets for interesting sculptures, bowls, and pots. Some of these can be arranged to form houses, and others to catch rain fall and summer irrigation. These tiny ponds will keep your amphibians from dehydrating, and can easily be dumped out if they become infested with mosquito larva. Whether you call your collection art or habitat it will work just the same.

Find more information on beneficial insects to control slugs at the links below:

Empress Trees and Ground Beetles
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/05/empress-flowers-and-ground-beetles.html

Sex and Magic in the Garden
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/05/sex-and-magic-in-garden.html

More on Slugs:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/12/slimy-slugs.html

And Beneficial Insects:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/05/beneficial-insects.html

Gifting the Gardener

Previously published in the Hoopa People News

Carefully chosen gifts can improve our loved one’s lives! You don’t need to spend a ton of money to show you care, brighten up a dreary room, and improve the air your gift recipient breathes. Houseplants provide all these benefits and more. If you have elderly or ill family members, research has proven that when they have plants to look at, they recover faster and feel less pain. House plants bring many of the benefits of gardening to those who can’t or won’t get out and dig in the dirt. Below you will find two easy to care for plants that make long lasting gifts.

If free is a sound you like to hear, check the end of this column for information on a couple of garden related downloads. The first is curriculum for teachers from the California Oak Foundation and the second is an e-book on herbs. (Check the paragraph right above the e-book and curriculum section, for another free curriculum download!) Whether you gift yourself with these offerings or print them out and tuck them into holiday stockings, they are sure to please.


House Plants Keep on Giving

Extensive research has been devoted to the effects of house plants on indoor air quality. While researchers don’t always agree on which plants are the best, Philodendrons and spider plants feature prominently on most lists. These tough guys don’t need any special care. They make good gifts for those who may be just starting out with houseplants and others who have limited time or abilities. They also make good gifts for busy people, for elders, disabled, or ill family members; in which case, part of the gift can be your regular plant care visits.


Philodendrons:

Philodendrons, while not traditionally thought of as holiday gifts, actually live much longer than most of the plants marketed for the season. Philodendrons are a very diverse group of plants. Native to the tropical zones of the Americas and the West Indies, there are over 900 different species found in the wild. They typically grow in the dim light found under the canopy of tropical rainforests. This adaptation to low light allows them to thrive indoors. They do need adequate light, however; and will do best in a bright room. They love cool morning sunlight, but they are likely to burn if exposed to direct afternoon sun during the warmer months.

Philodendrons would certainly prefer to be watered on a regular basis, as long as their soil is allowed to dry out in between watering. However, I have proof positive that they can stand a lot of neglect. (I am much better at caring for my outside plant menagerie than the poor souls stuck inside.) Of the three varieties of Philodendron that share my home, the largest, a split leaved Philodendron (now classified as a Monstera), is about to take over my front room. It came to me as a tiny one leaved start in a vase with some ivy. Each leaf is now over a foot across, and there are at least fifteen leaves on the sprawling ten year old plant. What poinsettia ever lived so long?

For small rooms, look for heart leaved or trailing Philodendron. There are varieties with solid leaves, with decorative holes through the leaves, and some with variegated foliage. They also do very well in our area and are easy to start from cuttings. Philodendrons are best for households without young children. They contain calcium oxalate and are considered toxic, so avoid them where youngsters feel they have to put everything in their mouths. (Spider plants are considered child and pet safe. More information on them is coming right up.)

Water your Philodendrons once a week or so, first checking to make sure the soil has dried out. Overwatering can lead to root rot and fungal infections. Occasionally adding a little dilute organic fertilizer or diluted left over coffee will help them stay happy and healthy. When the leaves are dusty, a damp cloth gently applied will return their shine. While polishing the leaves keep your eye out for scale and mealy bugs. They can be easily removed with the same cloth; or with a moistened swab, if they are hiding in hard to reach spot.

If you are on a budget, Philodendrons, and many other house plants can be grown from seed. Get a fancy card and include a packet of seeds for your hard to please gardening fanatics. For more information (and very reasonable prices) see: http://www.greendealer-exotic-seeds.com/seeds/Houseplants.html


Spider Plants:

These tough and prolific plants do a great job of removing toxins from the air, and they are considered safe for children and pets. (This certainly doesn’t mean you should encourage them to take a taste.) As resistant to neglect as they are, they still provide a delicate and lacy accent to any bright room. Spider plants have long gently curving grass like leaves in solid green or striped with white. They produce long flowering shoots that sport tiny lily like flowers, followed by young plantlets that hang in mid air. As the little “spiders” grow in size and number they hang down from the mother plant, forming a curtain or veil. When the plantlets begin growing roots they can be removed from the stems and rooted in water or moist potting soil and then put to work as air cleaners in other rooms. A spider plant makes a great gift that keeps on giving, whether for yourself or for others on your list.

Like Philodendrons, spider plants are happiest if you let their soil dry out in between watering, once they have well established root systems. They are rarely bothered by pests, especially when they are kept inside. But if you see signs of mealy bugs or scale, a damp cloth or swab will make quick and easy work of these pesky guys.

If you can’t find spider plants locally, Butterfield Organic Growers offers small plants for $4.00 each. (Click on Plants and Herbs to see what else they have to offer.) You can also reach them by phone: (603) 435-7260. Here is a special bonus for teachers and home school moms, Teacher Vision offers free curriculum using spider plants:


More Free E-Books and Curriculum

Here are two items you can give yourself without spending much more than a dime. (Download at the public library if you don’t have a computer at home. Printing will cost about ten cents a page for black and white, more for color, so check the number of pages before printing. If the pages are in color and you want to print in black and white, ask the librarian for help.)

The California Oak Foundation offers curriculum designed for fourth through eighth grade students available as a free download. Click on “Kids” right below their mast head for more information.
Everyday Herbs, by Ann McCormick is a free 37 page e-book available by sending an e-mail to ann@ann-mccormic.com. Use “Everyday Herbs” as your subject line. She gives tips arranged in a number of sections, including: “In the Garden,” ‘The Recipe Box,” “Crafty Ideas,” and “Personal Care.”

Copyright 2008, Harvest McCampbell Please contact me before posting or publishing.
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Dastardly Deer

Deer have been identified as the most widespread form of wildlife damage to crops, nurseries, orchards, and hay production. States that compile yearly damage estimates from these vermin often report figures nearing $30,000,000.00. Yet the critters are protected year around in every state in the union, except during very controlled hunting seasons. What on earth is a gardener to do?

Venison for dinner? That is the tastiest cure I know for those hoofed locust. But this, of course, is not always practical. If you happen to be a vegetarian or if your neighbor works for fish and game; you may need other tactics.

Long ago I was a city slicker child who used to love spending summers with my Auntie who lived in the woods. She had a home on top of a hill surrounded by oak woodlands and lots of deer. Those deer were definitely a problem to her landscaping. She learned to live with a few plants that the deer didn’t eat. Not really being a flower lover, she was content.

However, if you are like author and gardener, Carolyn Singer, you have got to have flowers in your yard. Ms. Singer spent 27 years researching what exactly she could grow in her Sierra foothills landscape, so age could enjoy the company of deer and flowers too. The result of this research and conversations with other gardeners in deer country is a great new book, Deer in My Garden. Volume 1 features 53 perennials and sub-shrubs that will grow in our area. Singer also lives in zone 8. The main difference between the climate where she gardens and ours is average annual rainfall. The plants that she recommends as being drought tolerant will need a well drained spot in our gardens.

She gives full details on each plants care, what zones it will grow in, what it may need in snow country, and how to best use the plants in the landscape. She also goes on to share related plants that the deer will eat. Near the back of the book she lists plants that are commonly reputed to be deer resistant, that the deer have devoured in her gardens. Her main strategy is to plant yucky tasting plants. While that works for ornamentals, it is not going to work in the vegetable garden. But my Auntie found a solution for that.

Auntie had a vegetable garden down the hill from the house. It was in a spot where the oak trees opened up a bit and allowed some sun to hit the ground. The first year the dogs did a pretty good job of keeping the deer out of the garden, at least until the produce was ready to pick. The deer had been keeping a close eye on the vegetables and the dogs. They developed a tag team approach to raiding the garden. A small group of deer would lead the dogs on a merry chase, while the rest of them treated themselves to midnight snacks. Auntie decided a fence was in order.

The first fence was five feet high. It only slowed the deer down for a few weeks. Then they gleefully leaped the fence to feast out of reach of the noisy dogs. Next, Auntie added pieces of pipe to the top of each metal fence pole. She strung some wire between the pipes and tied on strips of flash tape. That tape makes noise when it moves in the breeze and it is very reflective. It bought Auntie a few more weeks, then the deer just sailed right over it and began to munch. The fence was now high enough that they couldn’t leap it from inside, so they would still be there munching in the morning. She went down to the garden with a frying pan and a metal spoon. First she opened the gate. Then she headed to the far side of the garden, outside the fence, and used the pan and spoon to make a ruckus. Them there deer thought Auntie was rude and they took right off. But the garden was a shambles.

Next Auntie installed a second fence, six feet outside the first one, and six feet high. This did the trick. Every once in a while one of those deer would jump the first fence. It would still be trapped between the two fences in the morning. Auntie would make good use of her pan and spoon and the offending vermin would high tail it back into the woods. As far as I know, this double fence strategy is the only deer defense that works, every time.

We all know that fencing can be expensive. Double fencing, doubly so. Auntie used metal posts and wire mesh but there are other options. Polypropylene mesh deer fencing is available in rolls 7’x 100’. I have checked around for prices and have included a source at the end of the article that has the best prices I could find. To use these fences you will need to supply cable, posts, and tie downs of some kind. It is also a good idea to invest in anchoring pins or staples to keep those wily critters from shimmying under your fences. Flash tape is a good idea for new fences. It will make the fencing more visible and sinister to the raiding critters.

If you don’t fancy the idea of fencing, there are other things you can try. I found it interesting that while the companies that produce these stinky or zappy products claim they work, none of them comes with a guarantee. I was able to find user reviews for some of the products. And it seems they work for some people some of the time. I suspect these items are about as useful as the less expensive home remedies. Some people have success hanging mesh bags stocked with hair (human or animal), soap, crushed garlic, citrus peelings, used cat litter, and other stinky or scary stuff from fences or trees. Personally I am glad I don’t have a deer problem, but if I did, I would find a way to afford the double fence solution for the veggies, and I would avail myself of Carolyn Singer’s experience in the yard.

Here’s the catalog with the great deal on the deer fencing. (They also carry some extra large ‘staples’ to secure the bottom of the fencing. They don’t carry cable, poles, flash tape, or tie downs.): Gardener’s Supply Company, (800) 427-3363, http://www.gardners.com (But don’t just take my word on it, shop around, maybe you will find a better deal.) For more information on Carolyn Singer’s book, Deer in My Garden, ask at your favorite book store, library, or contact Garden Wisdom Press, (530) 272-4362, http://www.gardenwisdom.com