Fire Safe Gardening

Posted By Firefox on August 30, 2009

30ft + 70Ft =100ft of defensible space!

Lean, Clean and Green: the first 30 feet.

Lean: *Create an open area near the house free of fuels, woodpiles, and clutter.

*Ideally have a solid paved or clean, raked gravel walkway that allows room to walk the entire perimeter of the home.

Clean: *Instead of decks and wood patio furniture create flagstone patios, textured concrete driveways, and ramps.

*Use built-in seat walls, decorative rockwork, and built-in bbq’s with open spaces for entertaining.

Green: *Create an edible garden!  Cluster plants according to water use with edibles, flowers, roses, and small manageable turf areas closest to the home.

*Use masses of groundcovers, flowering drought tolerant perennials, irises, and succulents to add visual interest.  Mass shrubs in groups spaced at least 8ft apart.

*Place small ornamental or fruit/citrus trees 15 feet or more from house, thin branches to keep an open, attractive look!

*Make sure that plants are groomed and irrigated regularly to encourage healthy, green growth.  Remove dead or dry stems.

Deer: The only effective way to deal with deer is with fencing.  In the fire safe garden, try a pair of parallel 4ft post and rail fences in-filled with wire, 4 feet apart.  Use self-closing gates at entry points.  If you need height, think of topping the fence with a decorative pergola to support native vines like pipe vine or clematis.

Privacy screens or view blocking:

Use the rule of thumb: place single specimens or small groups of trees or tall shrubs directly in front of what you want to screen.  Just like holding your thumb in front of your face to hide an object in the distance.   Don’t plant a flammable “fuse” of hedging material that costs too much money, requires too much maintenance!

Be a good gardener!

Healthy, fire-safe plants thrive on good soil preparation, mulching and deep, water-wise irrigation.

*Start out right with lots of compost and organic matter tilled into the soil at planting time.

*Build the soil by adding compost and mulch to top-dress the garden in spring and fall.  *Use drip systems set to irrigate DEEPLY each week to keep plants looking their best!

*When plantings become woody or overgrown, Let’s Face it, Time to Replace It!  Old dry shrubs burns easily, no matter the type of plant, so recognize old shrubs that need to be replaced with something new and vigorous.

Learn More: http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet.php

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Tags: big sur, fire, fire clearance, Fire Safety, food, garden designs, organic gardening, Roses, sustainable gardens

Posted By Firefox on July 29, 2009

I just took this photo in the East Border. It shows a great combo of fire safe plants for summer color.

Gaillardia shines in the center of this fire safe combo

The combo features Aloe x nobilis with red blooms, purple flowers from Teuchrium, Scarlet Flower Carpet rose, Gaillardia Goblin, Gold strap leaves of Phormium, plus blue Perovskia Longin, and the purple leaves of Prunus cistiana, the native Sand Cherry.

A low carpet of purple flowered hardy iceplant, Delosperma cooperi, and Santa Cruz oregano fill out the edge.

The combo provides nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds, while being very drought tolerant for sunny spots. There is lots of interesting foliage to keep the look strong all year.

Learn more about Fire safe plants by picking up Douglas Kent’s excellent book, Firescaping.

Preview the book online by clicking the bookcover:

Category: Roses, Uncategorized, fires and fire safety, organics and sustainability | No Comments »
Tags: big sur, Fire Safety, organic gardening, Roses, sustainable gardens

Posted By Firefox on February 21, 2010

This summer I decided to put more emphasis on annuals in the few open beds in the garden.  Annuals are a great choice if you are just starting out or want the most color for dollars spent.  All the flowers I mention here are being started as seeds in a cold frame with heating mats.  Seeds started right now in late winter will be ready to set out in the garden just after our last frost date for blooms that should last well into September.

Cosmos 'Double Click'

Marigolds offer months of blooms. Flagstaff grows to 4ft.

Marigolds are often the first flowers to be grown by children but rarely grown by many gardeners because they are considered too simple.    Marigolds have a very long bloom season provided they are deadheaded. I selected three varieties to add to the border along the western porch.

‘Cottage Red’ is a French style heirloom variety with deep rust red blooms edged with orange. It grows to about 24 inches forming a large multi-branched plant with the substance of a shrub.  I used this variety last year among the tomatoes, this year I paired it with Rudbeckia ‘Moroccan Sun’. Rudbeckias are another great annual for sunny spots. This mix from Burpee has sunset color double quilled blooms growing to 20 inches.

Rudbeckia 'Moroccan Sun' has long stems for cutting.

I prefer tall growing annuals such as Cosmos that are ideal for cutting.  I choose another double flower in ‘Double Click’ with mixed shapes of pink, coral, red, and white. Cosmos are ideal for mixed borders backing roses.

A less common cut flower is Celosia ‘Kurume Corona’.  This heat lover has unusual crested velvety flower heads that are both irridescent red and yellow.  Each head lasts for weeks on end in the garden, in a vase or even dried.  The plants themselves are a bit stiff and awkward, so place this 45inch grower at the back of the border.

Kurume Corona has velvet two-tone blooms.

You are probably thinking that my choices seems to tend heavily towards orange and that would be right, but hear on the coast, oranges, yellows and reds stand out well on grey foggy days.  My last choice, Marigold ‘Flagstaff’, offers deep orange blooms until October. It is another heirloom  variety with large blooms on a massive branched plant to 4ft tall. That is alot of blooms!

I did choose one lower growing flower that I have grown for years. Godetia ‘Satin Mix’ can be direct sown in January for a flush of poppy-like flowers in April and May.

Godetias bloom in a solid mass of satiny blooms.

The blooms are solid or splotched in pink, white, red, or salmon. I have not found seeds lately so I special order starts from my local nursery.

All the varieties I mentioned today are available from Burpee Seed at www.burpee.com

Category: Big Sur life, Roses, organics and sustainability | Comments Off
Tags: annuals, garden designs, organic gardening, sustainable gardens

Posted By admin on December 29, 2009

I sowed a crop of mixed greens and spinach in my new raised bed back at the beginning of December. The raised bed includes uprights at each corner to help support a floating row cover, so important in winter. The row cover keeps the tender seedlings protected from drying winds and frost and keeps the gold crown sparrows from picking. I set out onions in the next bed over. They won’t need any special protection, only the long deep rains of winter to build strong roots and thick bulbs.

Azaleas blooms next to this edible garden at the Wichita Garden Show.

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Tags: big sur, organic gardening, vegetables

Posted By admin on December 12, 2009

Cold nights can be hard on your tender plants, but there are ways to protect them from freezing that are easy to do.

Plant are damaged when cold temps freeze the water in the stem and leaf cells. The cells swell as they freeze then burst.  Holding the air temperature around the plant from dropping to 32F can save them from frost.

The easiest way is by covering.  Covering the plant with a drop cloth or shade cloth will create a static airspace that will stay slightly warmer than the outside air.  The cover can be porous such as floating row cover or shade cloth or solid such as a old bedsheet.  The cover should be held away from the foliage by propping it up with stakes.

Spun row covers on frames protect young crops from harsh weather

A quick fix for larger plants such as citrus or beds of annuals is to drape large, old fashioned holiday lights over and through the plant.  The lights give off enough heat to keep the frost at bay.

Cold air settled in low spots and in confined spaces where the air is still.  Large citrus growers keep frost from damaging crops by using large propeller fans in the orchards.  A patio can be protected to some extent by using am oscillating pedestal fan set up to keep the air moving all night.

Combined with other protection methods, you can protect your plants, at least temporarily from damaging frosts.

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Tags: crop protection, Frost, winter weather

Posted By Firefox on August 19, 2009

A few weeks back I posted the proposal for a garden on Dolores Street in Carmel.

Today the garden was finished and I wanted to talk about the transformation.

Originally, the garden, a 25 by 2o foot plot shaded by oaks and a massive pine, was spotted with a few ferns and some grasses.

The garden is mostly empty with a few struggling ferns scattered throughout.

The garden had been planted with azaleas and camellias, but they had failed due to shallow irrigation, poor fertility, and root competition.

The new scheme included a variety of shade and drought tolerant plants grouped to create a woodland effect.  They were irrigated with drippers to encourage deep rooting plus fed regularly to stimulate strong new growth.  The existing Western Sword Ferns were rescued along with some Mexican Feather Grass that were grouped together to create a drift around the base of the pine.

Among the improvements was a rough rock wall to create more room for the entry.  Tumbled grey flags interplanted with dymondia ground cover give more room for guests to gather at the entry.   A path of grey flags form an informal path through the center of the space to a rustic pine bench backed by Flowering Currents, Carpinteria, and Ceanothus.

Viewed from above, the path and rock wall give structure to the new, dynamic planting.

Near the street, a line of tired junipers was replaced with fragrant ‘Goodwin Creek’ lavenders and Blue Convolvulos creeper.

The plantings is more compatible with the native oaks and pines.

Learn more:

Gardening Under Oaks by

Las Pilitas Nursery

http://www.laspilitas.com/groups/oaks/Planting_under_oak_tree.html

Heucheras mix with ajuga, Pacific Coast Iris and Diascia.

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Tags: big sur, garden designs, organic gardening, sustainable gardens

Posted By Firefox on June 30, 2009

When the Spanish missionaries explored the landscape of California, they often named canyons or valleys for the plants that grew abundantly there.  Many features, even in Death Valley, are named for the native California Grape, Vitis californica.  This hardy, drought tolerant vine scrambled over rocky cliffs, or over trees along stream banks remiding the explorers of the vineyards back in Spain.

Photo courtesy of Wildscaping.com

This grape make in ideal fire safe plant for many reasons. Like many edible plants California Grape not only provides fruit but also can be used for shade. In my garden, Vitis c. ‘Roger’s Red’ clambers up the pillars of my porch.  The stems dangle down to create a living awning in summer.  But unlike other vines like honeysuckle that create a mass of fire prone twigs and dead leaves, grapes have few stems and soft thin leaves the wilt quickly during a fire.  I also choose plants that will provide more than one season of interest. In the case of ‘Roger’s Red’, the grass green leaves turn shades of red in late summer and fall and linger well into early winter.

California Grape can be used on fences, arbors, or on banks as a informal groundcover.

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Posted By Firefox on June 20, 2009

The new garden I have been planting in Monterey has been moving forward. I created a small, fragrant, rose garden in one of the few spots that receives ample afternoon sun.  This spot is a centerpiece of the garden, the first bed seen when you arrive through  the  gates. I choose a palette of English and Romantica roses for their old fashioned ruffled forms and strong fragrance.  These modern roses mimic the shapes and habits of old heritage roses but have improved disease resistance and long bloom periods.

Climbing 'Polka' will climb the stone face of the entry

Polka is a climbing rose developed by the French grower, Meilland. It has peach pink blooms and a dense habit. Polka will clamber up and over the entry.

Othello has a strong "Old Rose" scent

Othello is a David Austin English Rose that has stood the test of time. Deep red, densely-petalled blooms have a cupped shape and heavy “Old Rose” scent according to Mr. Austin. Introduced in 1986, Othello is an outstanding example of the Austin ideal.

Crown Princess Margareta is a new

CPM offers a more compact habit in keeping with smaller spaces and pots

English rose that I was unfamiliar with but it received a good review on David Austin’s own website.  It has a mix of yellow, pink and peach that worked well with the blues and purples I used in the bed.  She is a more compact rose planted between two English Boxwoods.  The box will give the garden substance in winter when the roses are dormant.

The last two, Abraham Darby and Graham Thomas, are both English roses that are favorites of mine. Graham Thomas is a shrub rose that is so robust I grow it as a climber.  It offers heavy heads of large yellow blooms with outstanding disease tolerance.

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Tags: big sur, organic gardening, Roses, sustainable gardens

Posted By Firefox on June 14, 2009

I remember when I was small having to sit outside the Salinas City Hall one afternoon while my mother dealt with some issue inside.  The lawn was bare except for a very strange small tree growing against the white concrete wall.  The tree had big puffs of pink fluff couched among purple leaves.  Years later I saw the tree again in Las Vegas and learned about Cotinus coggyria, the Purple Smoke Tree.

In my own garden I have enjoyed a large Continus ‘Royal Robe’ shown here in bloom.

Pink "smoke" catches the morning light.

The deciduous large shrub offers dark purple leaves and pink blooms with vibrant fall foliage.  The plant is drought and heat tolerant with a hardiness to about 10F making ideal as a specimen in harsh high and low desert climates.  It makes a great fire safe plant by offering color, year round interest and substance to the garden without adding dry fuel.

Available from ForestFarm Nursery in Tetherow OR, www.forestfarm.com

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Posted By admin on June 12, 2009

The sustainable, fully recyclable, ultra modern chic, fire-safe tables and benches by Orange 22.

Save 10% with Savings Code BOT_AF_DE when you click on the photo

Epigram is the new series with quotes by Milton Glaser with proceeds benefitting the International Rescue Commitee

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Tags: big sur, Milton Glaser, organic gardening, outdoor living