Had the honor recently of participating in a local event, Pastels on the Plaza, which pairs artists and local businesses for a morning of fun, debauchery, and pastel chalk up one’s snoot. All in the name of charity, of course.

Each business purchases a sidewalk square on Arcata’s plaza, and our artists come up with an original drawing to represent our business, and in four hours or so, actually draw it on the sidewalk square.

Yes – the drawing on the left? Was done in FOUR HOURS on the freaking sidewalk using dusty pastel chalk, people.  Can you imagine???

Getting to walk around and see all the artists at work, as well as check out their pastels when they’re finished, is beyond inspiring. Our well-known local artists like Duane Flatmo, Linda Parkinson, Joan Dunning, and Alan Sanborn all had squares, but what makes me the happiest to see is all the currently-unknown artists who create absolutely brilliant work under such demanding circumstances.

My artist wrote a blog post about the 2011 Pastels on the Plaza Event, so if you’re keen to see some of the best work of the day, head on over. And thanks for a fantastic square, Trev!

Humboldt County’s known for its majestic redwoods, and many of the gardens that I design and care for have a few towering specimens setting the scene. But lovely though they are, gardening under redwoods presents some serious challenges.

Shade

For one, redwood trees cast some fairly dense shade. This isn’t such an issue if you only have one or two, but if you’ve got a bank of redwoods, it can be hard to grow your usual landscaping plants in that area.

The solution to this is to STOP PLANTING ROSES under your redwoods. Seriously, incongruity anyone? Do some meditations about your attachment to certain types of plant, and go plant those things someplace else if you have to have them. Don’t hack at your redwoods in the vain hope that if you “let in enough light”, your roses will thrive there. I am very sorry, but they won’t. Embrace what you’ve got (the rest of the world envies you!) and move forward.

Leaf litter and acid soil

The next issue with planting under redwoods is that their leaves (I call them redwood feathers) fall thick and fast, and acidify the soil as they break down. This presents two challenges, the obvious acidic soil (which some plants actually love), and then the issue of raking all that stuff out of your plants so they aren’t weighted down and overwhelmed by all that leafy business falling on their heads.

The best way to handle the leaf litter issue is to avoid plants with delicate foliage. Plants with leathery leaves or some sturdy structure to them handle this type of situation best. You can also go for shade-loving ornamental grasses, which are easily raked, or ferns, which seem to gather leaf litter in the center of their foliage, so it’s easy to clean them out once a year.

You can make the acidic soil a non-issue as well, by planting things that love it. Most ornamental grasses, ferns, and redwood forest natives love acidic soil and are used to it, so you won’t have to continually fight nature to have a lush, happy garden.

Root competition

Redwoods have a lot of roots. So when you go to plant something new, your baby little plants have trouble competing against a great big happy tree, exuberantly sucking up all the moisture.

The best ways to handle this are by topdressing with a good quantity of compost when you plant, then adding wood chip mulch to further help keep moisture in. This gives your new plants some easy areas to put down roots so they can get established.

Drip irrigation is a really great idea to help your plants get going, too, because it applies water exactly where your new plants need it, and you can put it on a timer so even if you’re busy, your baby plants won’t be forgotten.

So, what to plant under redwoods?

I’ve gardened under the redwoods for many years now, and have taken lots of photos documenting how a wide variety of plants have done under a number of circumstances. The good news is, there are a number of truly gorgeous plants that will thrive and be thrilled to grow in these settings. The bad news is, most of what you get in a garden center simply won’t live in this setting.

I definitely encourage you to try new things (and tell me what works!), but don’t be discouraged or think you’re a bad gardener if a lot of it doesn’t work. Redwoods are gorgeous, but acidic soil, shade, and dryness is a tough trio of things to grow in, so I’d advise putting in a foundation of plants sure to do well, then experimenting with new things here and there around the edges.

Here are the plants I’ve found most likely to succeed under redwoods:

Top row: Douglas iris hybrid (Iris douglasiana), autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum)

Second row: redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana), Anah Kruschke rhododendron (Rhododendron ‘Anah Kruschke‘), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’).

Third row: Black Sport rhododendron (Rhododendron ‘Black Sport‘), black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’), Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)

Bottom row: redwood violet (Viola sempervirens), Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana), golden sweet flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’)

The toughest plants, for closer to the redwood’s base:

Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)

Sword fern (Polystichum munitum)

Deer fern (Blechnum spicant)

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana)

Redwood violet (Viola sempervirens)

Plants that will enjoy life 10 feet from a redwood’s base:

California wax myrtle (Myrica californica)

Rhododendrons for tough conditions

Pacific rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)

Flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora)

Five finger fern (Adiantum aleuticum)

Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’)

Golden sweet flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’)

Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) (they have a delicate appearance, but thrive among redwood feathers just fine)

Wild ginger (Asarum caudatum)

Douglas iris (Iris douglasii)

Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’)

The redwoods give Humboldt County and areas of the Pacific Northwest their regional character, so if you have redwoods in your garden, revel in their beauty, and aim for plants that you know will thrive.

What do you think? Have you had luck with any other plants under the redwoods, or do you garden in similarly challenging conditions? Let me know in the comments below.

***This is a bit of a local rant, but I do have a point that relates to designers and anyone who expresses themselves artistically in the garden.***

I’m lucky: my college town’s somehow managed to stay funky, cool, small and walkable, and above all, different from any other town in the world. Because us Arcata peeps are a bunch of hippies (or, ahem, forward-thinking individualists who appreciate eco-friendly living), we tend to reject that corporate sameness that’s endemic to so much of the US right now. We limit our chain stores, and most locals go out of their way to support local businesses who have tailored their wares to what WE want.

That’s not to say that big box stores are all bad; rather, that they bring with them a sense of scale that’s not always in line with what’s comfortable for people to live around. The sprawling Wal-Marts and open malls of chain stores tend to discourage the slow, human process of strolling to town, since there’s not much to look at for the ten minutes it takes to walk past.

Add to that the fact that most of the big boxes seem architecturally designed to stick out; their goal is corporate continuity, not continuity with the town or region. Designs are created in an office many states away, their chief aim of course is to bring in as many customers as possible. The landscapes are particularly bad, with no regional harmony or uniqueness to soften the looming buildings. The same islands of ‘Stella ‘d Oro’ daylilies and red barberry line the parking lots of all of the stores in a five-state area.

This is unattractive when a big box store does it, but it’s understandable given their goals.

When a college gives way to this aesthetic, you have to wonder: what in hell are they thinking? You don’t just drive past a college, and have the bright tones of its paint and its barberries lull you into a drugged-out buying mood in which you sign your life away for four years. Rather, you think about what type of person you want to become, and you choose a college that speaks to your soul. Sorry if that sounds hippie, but 18-year olds are kind of woo-woo like that.

My town’s college? It draws forestry and natural sciences students from many states away. These students connect with the trees, they think about birds and swimmy things and ecology. Our community is able to attract these fine people in large part because of our quiet, environmentally-sensitive community, and the majestic redwoods that provide the backdrop to everything we do.

So why in the world did Humboldt State University, known for this:

do THIS?

A 200 foot long field of yellow daylilies, against buildings of yellow and red? Really? It’s like somebody plopped a giant McDonald’s in the middle of a small historic neighborhood. I’m a gardener, so I’ll pass up any additional shots at their overblown architecture and drive-thru burger color choices and get to the issue I care most about.

What were they thinking in their landscaping? First they cut down a number of mature trees that created a park-like entrance to the college, then when replanting, they chose the most generic parking-lot plants possible, crammed them together in segregated monocultures, and completely ignored any possible connection to the redwoods and the forested surroundings that make the area what it is.

My local paper recognized this sad fact in “Facelift or Faux Campus Improvements?“. In it, they quote our local author and native plant enthusiast Peter Haggard (Insects of the Pacific Northwest):

“It seems like they are in a tiny fishbowl,” Haggard said. “They’re making decisions without any background and creating an alien environment. It just doesn’t reflect us at all.”

I couldn’t agree more. Lately, I’ve been realizing that many of the beautiful gardens I see around town, in magazines and online, could occur anywhere in the US. Roses, dahlias, daisies and other traditional garden plants are lovely, and definitely have a place in the landscape.

But think about why you live where you do. You may have to think back a bit, to that initial sense of wonder you felt when you first saw the mountains soaring above your town, or the spiky saguaros or the deep, soothing green of the redwoods.

Then think about where you choose to go on vacation. Is it in the snow of the mountains where you can hurdle down the hill on your skis? The red rocks of Sedona? Or the crazy diverse excitement of New York City? We like these places because when we’re there, we’re part of something greater and more meaningful than the $5 off savings you get at your local big box. It’s different!

So when we landscape, does it not make sense to try to reflect that deeper meaning? To use plants that reflect a sense of place, and remind you of why you live where you do? The plants that are native to our region give back so much in the regional character they provide.

Even if it’s not practical or desirable for every homeowner in my area to have redwoods in the backyard, we can bring in some red flowering currants or Douglas iris, plant our native columbine with our spring bulb display, and have that small touchpoint with nature. Even in a strongly-themed garden, there are natives that can pull off formal Japanese, English cottage, swaying and beachy, black and gothy looks. You’re not stuck with a woodland theme just because you live among the redwoods.

Is this an argument against our traditional flower garden plants? Well, yes and no. It’s an argument for using both types of plant. Landscapes made up entirely of natives sometimes seem to reject human interaction and human artistry; a state of affairs that doesn’t encourage connection.

But the recent trend of rejecting natives is missing something as well. Not only regional connection, but a connection to our ecosystem; a connection to the specialist insects and birds that simply don’t show up if their native host plants aren’t present. Think about how you feel when you get to see hummingbirds or sparrows chirruping or drinking from your flowers. You can magnify that sense of awe by inviting the less common wildlife into your garden as well.

As for my local college, I can only hope that once they’ve had to rip out masses of their overplanted and inappropriate plantings, they’ll take a few hours to consult with local designers and ecologists to help select some plants that DO reflect something of our region. Because without regional diversity, we may as well live someplace else.

(photo of original HSU entrance credited to Darin Price)

Catherine Andrews, the owner of Fellini Baby, is a Humboldt County local, and I’ve gotten to see her fair trade, organic cotton baby collection in person. The clothes are just adorable, and are unbelievably soft. (I just bought the paprika onesie for a friend who’s about to give birth!)

Since Catherine’s just up in McKinleyville, I got together with her recently to do an interview about Fellini Baby and what makes her clothing special.

Catherine tells the story of being at her daughter’s home birth, and since this is her daughter’s first baby, they were all anxious and had laid out about ten different baby items and blankets for the newborn to be wrapped in as soon as she was born. The doula, without even knowing that Catherine owned a baby company, selected the soft, undyed Fellini baby gown to wrap the newborn in.

The clothes are super cute – my brother who is a single dad, cringes at most of the pink and fluffy stuff around, but he was attracted to the more vivid colors of these baby and toddler clothes. The clothing is double-stitched and has flat seams so the clothing holds its shape and is comfy on baby’s skin.

You can find sources for Fellini Baby gear in my shop. If you try them, let me know what you think!

From the Gardening Gazette:

September 19th: Canning Workshop with Joyce Houston and Deborah Giraud (UC Cooperative Extension); contact Deborah at (707) 445-7351 for more information.

This just in from Chuck Goodwin:

The Humboldt Botanical Foundation Harvest Festival is happening Sat. Sept 11, 3:00 -6:00 at the garden. Presale $30.00 Day of event $40.00.

There will be local wine, food, and music.

Go to their website for more information!

Just heard about this exciting course through the HSU Extension:

Fruit Tree Selection & Orchard Maintenance

Delicious fruits round out the ideal garden of edibles, and it is important to know how to take care of fruit trees to have the best harvests possible.

You will learn about apple, pear and other fruiting tree varieties that are ideally suited for the North Coast.

Learn how root stock plays the important role in determining tree height, allowing easier maintenance and harvesting, as well as tolerance to wet soils or drought, disease resistance, durability and productivity.

This course will also cover soil maintenance, which will enable you to provide the best structure and nutrients to feed your fruiting plants and trees.

You will learn how to properly thin your trees for health and harvest. You will also learn how to prune your trees for their best shape and how to manage pests (diseases, insects and gophers).

This course will culminate in a field experience at the instructor’s orchard in Fieldbrook.

date ….. Tues., Thurs., Sun., Oct. 5, 7, 10

time ….. Tues., Thurs. 6-8 p.m., Sun. 1-3 p.m.

fee ….. $60

place ….. Forestry 105 and Fieldbrook

instr …… Peter Haggard

course ….. EENC X022, 46939

More information and registration details here.

Peter Haggard worked for the Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office and has gardened in Humboldt County for over 30 years. He has a small orchard of mostly apples and pears, which are all on dwarfing rootstock and espaliered. The orchard also includes plums, peaches, blueberries, figs and European filberts. Pete co-authored with Judy Haggard Insects of the Pacific Northwest, as well as articles for various publications.

This just in from the native plant society:

CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANTS—LOCAL BEAUTY FOR YOUR GARDEN.

Gardeners preparing for the fall season will find a good selection of native plants at the California Native Plant Society’s plant sale on Saturday, September 18 at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center parking lot from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Native plants enhance hedgerows, shady places, streamsides or soggy places, open sunny spots, or a pot on the deck. There will be host plants for butterflies, nectar plants for butterflies and hummingbirds, berry plants for fruit-eating birds, and shrubs and trees that provide habitat for birds.

Experienced gardeners will be available to advise on plant choices and cultivation requirements. Purchases are by check or cash only.

For more information, call Chris Beresford, 826-0259.

Got too many blackberries to eat? Want to learn to make jam? On August 25th from 530-830 pm, Susan will be holding a jam-making workshop at one of the co-ops. Call (707) 822-7150 or send an email to susanjam@yahoo.com for more information.

Tip of the nib to the Gardening Gazette for this info!

This just in from Singing Tree Gardens:

GREAT BARGAIN ON HEATHERS!

We have a huge selection of heaths and heathers that are big, in bloom, and top quality, and they are all 25% off for our August Summer Sale. Many are big enough to qualify for 2 gallon plants, so be sure to get here early for the best picks.

August is when most of the Scotch Heathers bloom, so it is the best time to pick your colors. Pick from red, pink, white, or purple flower colors. Or, pick from silver, yellow, gold, orange, and red foliage colors. These plants are easy to grow, low maintenance, and will give color to your yard all year!

Remember, Wednesday has the best selection, Thursday and Friday are the least crowded, and Saturday and Sunday are the most fun if you like seeing your friends. We will do our best to have beautiful sunny weather, and no wind.

Find interesting, rare, and unusual dwarf conifers on sale at our Summer Sale. These plants are super low maintenance and will look great all year long. Add foliage color to your yard that will always draw your eye and make an excellent backdrop for spring flowers. These plants will grow low and wide, or tall and narrow..just pick the variety that does this best.

If you are looking for a screen to block off a near-by view, or give you more privacy, we have many conifers that will do the job.

If you like flower color all summer, then Hydrangeas are a great choice. Choose from 1 gal., 2 gal., or 5 gal. Hydrangeas, many in full bloom. These plants can grow in full sun, or bloom well in shade in our coastal areas.

Enjoy great savings on many of your favorite rhododendrons. The blooms are gone, but these super-healthy plants will “do their stuff” again next year. Here is a chance to get bargains on rhodies that are not always on sale during the bloom time.

Choose from rhodies that have lush, dark-green foliage, and huge colorful flowers throughout the spring months. And, as always, our field grown plants have the largest rootballs you will find in the area. Since they are grown right here on the prairie, they acclimated to our area.

We have lots of 1 gal. evergreen azaleas in stock that are big and lush, ready to be planted in your garden for next year’s flowering display. Choose from dwarf types or varieties that will grow into a large shrub or hedge. Flower colors are pink, red, white, or purple.