Design trends

A Day in an Enchanted Garden

Decorate your own old garden shed with yard sale items.

I’ve visited this garden in Bonny Doon many times including when my friend Kate was part of Valley Churches Garden Tour back in 2018 and it’s still as spectacular as ever. So on a perfect June day recently several of my landscape designer friends and I spent the afternoon enjoying delicious nibbles and being inspired by this awesome garden.

Because I’ve always enjoyed the stunning view of the bay from Kate’s house and garden, it always amazes me that when Kate bought the 5 acre property in 1981 they had no idea it had such an incredible view. You should see it now. The view was a surprise to them after they cleared some of the Douglas fir that grew close to the house. Now the area between the cultivated areas of the garden and those outside the deer fence are filled with lavender. After the CZU fire when a neighbor’s house nearby burned to the ground, Kate removed more Doug fir on another slope for fire safety.

When you first enter this garden and are greeted by Kate’s English springer spaniel puppy “Buddy”, as you walk past the storage shed. Now this isn’t just any ol’ shed. Kate is a yard sale shopper extraordinaire and it is decorated with repainted watering cans, vintage gardening tools and wall art, bird houses and pots of all sizes, shapes and colors.

There are so many “garden rooms” in this garden-from the Japanese maple garden filled with perennials of all types to the sunken vegetable garden that occupies the old above ground pool area that was sunk in the ground and surrounded by decking. When the pool developed leaks that persisted no matter how many times it was repaired, Kate had it removed and created an incredible sunken vegetable garden using galvanized raised garden planters of all sizes and shapes. From fruit trees to artichokes to tomatoes and perennials to attract pollinators, this garden has it all.

The generous decking surrounding the sunken garden has a gazebo covered with fragrant climbing roses. Colorful perennials, dwarf fruit trees and more roses grow happily in containers here alongside a seating area with a view of the bay.

Strolling past dozens of perennial and succulent beds, you encounter the fruit trees. Kate swears by the Frost peach which is resistant to peach leaf curl. She has others such as Donut peaches but despite her diligent winter spraying it was recovering from peach leaf curl. The Mission Fig tree looked quite happy as did the pear trees.

Then you enter another area with Japanese maples and a gazebo. Kate has moved several Autumn Moon Japanese maples from this area as it gets too much heat and sun and many were not thriving. Don’t be afraid to move a plant or tree that is struggling to a better spot in your garden. The one Autumn Moon that remains near the gazebo was a vision of burnt orange and bronze on my visit in early June. In the fall its leaves will turn vivid orange and red.

Next came the garden room in a shady spot with blooming rhododendron, Chinese ground orchid, hydrangea, coral bell, Exbury azalea, hosta, hellebore and a recirculating 3-tiered water fountain. With small pebbles underfoot, it’s a lovely spot on a hot day.

Surrounding this home are wrap around porches that Kate has filled with potted ferns and rattan garden furniture. She spends a lot of time reading out here with her puppy Buddy nearby. Her extensive collection of hydrangeas grow happily to border the deck. What’s not to love about this garden?

Get ideas and inspiration from other gardens, both large and small. They all have something to offer.

Design trends

All About Ceanothus

With deep blue blossoms Celestial Blue Ceanothus blooms for almost 9 months of the year.

When the huge numbers of California Tortoiseshell butterflies showed up around here recently, I learned a lot about the different species of ceanothus and how dependent we are on this plant. Because most of us live near or in a Wildland Urban interface we are aware of the benefits of ceanothus and other native plants. From erosion control to habitat, to seed and nectar for pollinators, birds and butterflies, ceanothus is a most valuable plant. A visit to any local nursery will tempt you to get one of each for your own garden. But are cultivars or “nativars” of ceanothus as valuable as native ceanothus?

Research is ongoing but there are only a few studies comparing the nutritional value of straight native species to cultivars or nativars. Many may have as high en ecological value as native species but this is not absolute. Dark foliage, for instance, does not provided the nutritional value for leaf-eating larvae. There is so much that we need to study.

The groundcover varieties I have used in landscape include Anchor Bay, Carmel Creeper, Heart’s Desire, Centennial and Diamond Heights. If deer frequent your landscape you should stick with Anchor Bay, Heart’s Desire and Centennial but the others are great in protected areas.

One of the upright types growing everywhere in the Santa Cruz Mountain is ceanothus thysiflorus. It’s one of the earliest native shrubs to bloom in our area. It grows along a narrow band close to the coast from Monterey to southern Oregon. There are many nativars of this variety. I like Julia Phelps with those electric blue flowers. It’s a hybrid of Wartleaf Ceanothus and Santa Barbara Ceanothus It’s similar in appliance to another popular nativar called ‘Dark Star’.

A great variety I often use when designing a garden is Ceanothus ‘Concha’ because it will accept summer water more forgivingly than most and tolerates clay soil more than other species. Joyce Coulter ceanothus also tolerates clay, summer irrigation and shearing better than other cultivars. It’s a good bloomer, drought tolerant and is covered in spring with wildly fragrant blue three-inch flower spikes.

Ceanothus is often said to be short lived. Most varieties need good drainage, little summer water and don’t need soil amendments. In their wild conditions ceanothus plants have a natural life cycle of 10-15 years although some live longer.

Several members of the ceanothus family can form a symbiotic relationship with soil micro-organisms and fungi, forming root nodules which fix nitrogen. This is a reason why fertilizing is not normally recommended. Adding fertilizer might kill off the good micro-organisms. Ceanothus are better left fending for themselves.

Ceanothus provide excellent habitat for birds and insects. They are good for attracting bee and pollinators and are the larval host plants for the beautiful ceanothus silkmoth. Ceanothus seed is readily eaten by many local birds. Planting a ceanothus is an important step to attracting more birds and wildlife to your garden.

Early California Indians used the fresh or dried flowers of some varieties for washing, lathered into a soap. it has been said to relieve poison oak, eczema and rash.

Design trends

Butterflies Galore

American Painted Lady butterflies taste with their feet

Recently we were visited by hundreds of butterflies. One made it into the house as they fluttered around me when I opened the screen door. He’s going out today to join the other California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica). You would think with so many of these beautiful subjects to photograph, I could have gotten the perfect shot but alas, nary a one landed on any of my nectar-rich flowers, not even the buddleia. They were looking for ceanothus and were soon trending on local social media. Where did they come from and why so many this spring?

The California Tortoiseshell butterfly is a common butterfly that lays its eggs on ceanothus. After the CZU fire we have an abundance of this succession plant as the soil-stored seeds germinated after the fire broke their dormancy. These seedlings can account for more than half of the plants present in burn areas. If you’ve visited Big Basin State Park or any of the other burn areas, ceanothus are pretty darn happy with all the extra space and sun they are now getting.

Tortoiseshell butterflies have an interesting life cycle as do all butterflies. With three generations per year, they fly here from the Sierra foothills where they lay their eggs on ceanothus. Then those hatch and feed, morph into butterflies who fly to the foothills to repeat the process. Larval food plants include several species of Ceanothus. Adults feed on flower nectar, sap, fruit and mud. They live for 10 months or more.

The Tortoiseshell is no stranger to our mountain. After the Lockheed fire this same phenomena happened when the ceanothus were head-high. After hatching here they took flight to the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada to lay eggs on a different species of Ceanothus. After that generation denuded the patches of Ceanothus there those adults flew to the highest elevations to eat yet a different species of Ceanothus. Then the adults flew all the way back to Monterey Bay to lay eggs on our Ceanothus and start the cycle over again.

We have about 90 species of butterflies in the Monterey Bay area. Many of these occur only in our mountains, forests and chaparral environments. They are easy to attract and make a permanent feature in your landscape. Here’s how.

A butterfly garden should include plants that accommodate all stages of the life cycle – egg, larvae, pupa and adult . When both adult nectar and larval host plants are available, they will attract and support a butterfly population. In addition to the right plants, your garden should also have sun, a water source, protection from wind and plants in clusters. When maintaining your garden avoid the use of insecticides, including BT.

As adults, most butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers. Some local butterflies, like the Mourning Cloak and Red Admiral, feed primarily on rotting fruit or tree sap for moisture and nutrients while the California Sister feeds on aphid honeydew.

In the larval stage, most butterfly species are limited to a single plant family and occasionally a single genus. To attract more Western Tiger Swallowtails, for instance, provide larval host plants such as willow, sycamore, alder, big leaf maple, sycamore, plum and ash. Common Buckeye lay their eggs on mimulus and verbena while California Sister use the coast and canyon live oak. Planting a variety of grasses and shrubs like ceanothus, buckwheat, coffeeberry, bush lupine,manzanita and perennials like redwood violet, California aster and wallflower will attract a variety of local butterflies. If your garden is near a wild area that naturally supports the caterpillar stage, you can plant just the nectar plants to attract butterflies to your garden.

Filling your garden with nectar producing flowers is the fun part. Adult butterflies rely on sugar-rich nectar for their daily fuel. Different species have different flower color and shape preferences. Many butterflies produce scents that attract the opposite sex and many of these scents smell like the flowers that they are attracted to and visit. The scent of these butterfly-pollinated flowers may have evolved as an adaptation to ensure their survival.

Butterflies typically favor flat, clustered flowers that provide a landing pad although larger butterflies can feed on penstemon and salvias while hovering. Unlike bees, butterflies can see red and are attracted to brightly colored flowers. Pink, red, orange, yellow and purple are the most attractive nectar source flower colors but they also use blue and white.

Consider the blooming time of each plant. Having plants blooming in the sun for many hours in the day will lengthen your viewing time. Nectar rich flowers include yarrow, aster, verbena, scabiosa, buckwheat, toyon, salvia, erysimum, zinnia, lantana and coneflower.

In addition to nectar, butterflies need a source of water and salts. A patch of mud kept wet year round or a shallow depression lined with pebbles and kept moist will work fine. Also provide some flat rocks for them to bask in the sun in an area protected from the wind by shrubs.

Having a garden filled with birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators is fun and easy.

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