Desert Plant Wrapup - 2011

I’ve spent most of April talking about plants that thrive in very dry environments, including both Mediterranean and subtropical desert environments. Field trips and explorations like this can heighten your awareness of individual plants, and plants in their natural environment.

My folks and I enjoyed seeing the desert flowers in bloom. There is such variety and such beauty, in an otherwise harsh environment. When the winter rains come, the desert bursts forth in color. We enjoyed viewing, photographing, and studying these vibrant blooms. Here is a photo album of some of our favorites.

Chuparosa	Ocotillo
Indigo Bush	Desert Lavender
Brittlebush	Dune Primrose
Datura	Yucca
Desert Lupine	Desert Monkeyflower

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It is also useful to see plants in situ – in their natural environments. You can learn a lot by what you see. Plants in rocky soil probably don’t need rich, loamy soil. Plants that thrive on a slope probably need good drainage. Plants in a river bed probably need access to lots of water, at least part of the time.

Yucca in its natural environment. The soil is rocky and sandy,
close to a river bed and in full sun.

Brittlebush on a sloping, sunny hillside.

This kind of knowledge may help inform your plant choices for your own garden, and develop an awareness of the natural environment in your garden. Most every garden has some variation of a poorly drained area, a shady spot, a rocky zone. Instead of seeing these areas as “trouble spots”, you can start seeing them as unique environments that require specific plants that meet their specifications. I look forward to getting back to my San Francisco Bay Area garden, with fresh eyes and new ideas.

Special thanks to Quackit for use of the HTML table generator: Quackit Webmaster Tutorials

Whitewater Preserve

One of our desert adventures was visiting the Whitewater Preserve. The Preserve was originally a commercial trout farm and enjoyed by locals for several decades. The site is now used as a visitor center and picnic area, with access to several trails. The fish farm still exists, but is used for educational purposes. The visitor center is a half mile hike to the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends from Mexico to Canada.

Trail leading from the visitor center to several trail heads.
Keep going to meet  up with the Pacific Coast Tail.
You can see the snow capped mountains in the distance.

Veer to the left from the trial to access the Whitewater River bed.
The cliff is on the other side of the river.

The trails enable you to explore the Whitewater River bed and surrounding areas. The river is fed by snow melt from the distant mountains, and changes course regularly. Small bridges are provided in some sections of the river bed, but may no longer be useful or available because of the changes. The hills surrounding the area provide a cross section of geology, and the river bed itself is home to interesting plants, including willow, palms, tulle reeds, and yucca.

Whitewater River in April. The snow capped mountains in the distance are
the water source. In places, the water is deep and swift.
Water loving willows grow near the river.

Looking the other direction, toward the visitor center. You can
see multiple river courses, and one of the bridges
near the center of the photo.

The Preserve has become part of the Wildlands Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring and preserving wild land in California. The Whitewater Preserve is part of an effort to acquire contiguous parcels of land to provide a wildlife corridor between the San Gorgonio and San Bernardino mountains. The Conservancy is also instrumental in preserving land in Northern California, including the Jenner Headlands.

To learn more about the Conservancy: https://wildlandsconservancy.org/preserves/whitewater

To get to the Preserve:
Take the Whitewater Canyon Road exit off Interstate 10, between the Palm Springs and Twentynine Palms Hwy exits, and follow Whitewater Canyon Road to the visitor center.


View 9160 Whitewater Canyon Rd in a larger map

Easter Lily

I thought the Easter Lily would be the perfect plant to end this short series on plants of Easter week. Easter lilies start to appear in hardware, drug, and flower shops several weeks before Easter. Who can resist the pure simplicity of their white trumpet flowers, long stalks, and dark green leaves? Easter lilies are symbolic of purity, hope, innocence, peace, and rebirth.

I didn’t realize that the Easter lilies that adorn our homes and churches originate from Japan and Taiwan, not the Mediterranean. The most common lily grown is Lilium longiflorum, which is in the Liliaceae family. Bulbs were brought to the United States and cultivated after World War I. They are grown predominately on the West Coast in Oregon and California. The bulbs must be forced to bloom close to Easter, and growers have developed many practices to ensure this timing. Over 11 million lilies are sold annually in the Easter season.

Easter lilies sold at a local drugstore.

Lilies are associated with the Easter story by tradition. Legend has it that Easter lilies sprang from Jesus’ tears in the Garden of Gethsemane. A line in the Song of Songs compares the lover with a lily of the valley, and Jesus refers to lilies of the field in his parable in Matthew 6 and Luke 12. But these references were most likely general references to beautiful flowers, not a specific flower type. This knowledge does not diminish my enjoyment of these beautiful flowers. Easter lilies are still a fine tradition for celebrating the Easter season.

Learn more:

Easter lilies: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/lily/lily.html

Neot Kedumim, The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (plant list): http://www.n-k.org.il/public/english/what/trails/plantlist.htm

Old Dominion University (plant list): http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

Garden of Gethsemane

I’m continuing my exploration of some of the plants associated with Easter week – today it is the olive, cultivated for its wood, olives, olive oil, and medicinal properties. After the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples entered the garden of Gethsemane, as was their usual practice. Jesus spent the eve of his crucifixion in intense prayer—wrestling, agonizing, seeking, and accepting what was to come. The descriptions in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22 convey the events of the evening from the unique perspectives of their reporters.

Gethsemane was at the base of the Mount of Olives, which is a limestone ridge running north and south outside of Jerusalem. The mount had been used for centuries as a cemetery, and was also used for cultivating olive trees. The word Gethsemane means “oil press.” The garden would have provided a retreat away from the busy city, perfect for prayer and reflection. The exact site of the garden is not known, but a Garden of Gethsemane exists today. The grove of olive trees on the mount was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Some believe the most ancient trees that remain in the garden are from root stock that was present in Jesus’ day.

The olive trees, Olea europaea, are native to the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Olive trees have been cultivated for thousands of years, possibly originating in Syria. The olive tree grows well in calcareous soils, such as limestone, and even in clay soil, if well drained. They require cool or cold winters and hot summers, and are drought tolerant because their roots grow very deep. The trees grow slowly, and live for centuries (even thousands of years). They are difficult to date because they do not have rings. They can be grown from seed, but yield more fruit if grafted onto sturdy root stock or budded. The olive branch is a symbol of peace.

Young olive tree growing wild
in the Oakland Hills

Learn More:
Neot Kedumim, The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (plant list):
http://www.n-k.org.il/public/english/what/trails/plantlist.htm

Old Dominion University (plant list):

http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

Maundy Thursday Feast

This week I’m taking a look at some of the plants associated with Easter week – today it is the grapevine, cultivated for wine, grapes, raisins, and vinegar. For Christians, Maundy Thursday celebrates the Last Supper, where the Rabbi Jesus served wine and unleavened bread to his students, also known as disciples, in an upstairs room.  In Luke 22, Jesus describes a new type of covenant, and likens the bread to his body, about to be broken, and the wine to his blood, about to be spilled. He encouraged his disciples to serve one another, rather than seek to be served.

In Jerusalem, the wine would have been made from a variety of Vitis vinifera, the flowering grape. Grapes would not have been grown on a trellis in ancient times, but the vines would have been spread over the ground. Many towns or villages operated stone wine presses, and wine was stored in large clay jars. Grapes grow well in the Mediterranean climate; the hot temperatures sweeten the grapes as they ripen.

Grapes also grow well in the Mediterranean climate of Northern and Southern California. Viticulture flourishes in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, north of the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as many other regions of the state, such as Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Livermore, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Temecula. Grapes grow wild in low desert areas, where water is available. We saw wild grapevines flourishing in Bautista Canyon near Hemet – spreading all over the local flora for support.

Grapevines at Wente Winery in Livermore.

Tiny grape clusters starting to form in May.

Learn More:
Neot Kedumim, The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (plant list): http://www.n-k.org.il/public/english/what/trails/plantlist.htm

Old Dominion University (plant list):

http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

Palm Sunday

It is the beginning of Easter week, so I’m going to research several plants that are meaningful for the Easter story. For Christians, Palm Sunday represents Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. He was greeted as a King by crowds who anticipated he would provide a military or political solution to their problems, rather than a spiritual one. According to Matthew 21, the people laid down a path of garments and branches, and waived palm branches in greeting. In the ancient times, palm branches were a symbol of victory and goodness.

In Jerusalem, the palm branches would be from Phoenix dactylifera—the date palm—which was cultivated as a food, fiber, and medicinal source. Palm branches grow in a crown at the top of the trunk. Its branches are long, with leaflets and spines distributed on its edges. Date palms have been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years.  Several species of date palms, including the Medjool, have been imported from the Middle East and are cultivated in the low desert of Imperial and Coachella valleys in California.

Date palm near the Salton Sea. Notice the
linear branches.

California's native palm–Washingtonia filifera–can be found in parts of Arizona, Nevada, Mexico, and the Colorado Desert in Southern California. The palm is a remnant from a more tropical time in the West, but still thrives in desert places where water is available. Their branches differ from the date palm, in that they resemble fans instead of linear branches. The trees provide a haven for birds, bats, insects, Borrego sheep, and people.

Fan palm in Whitewater Preserve picnic area.
Notice the fan-shaped branches.

Learn More:
Neot Kedumim, The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (plant list):
http://www.n-k.org.il/public/english/what/trails/plantlist.htm

Old Dominion University (plant list): http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

For an interesting book about the Medjool in California, see The Amazing Story of the Fabulous Medjool Date, by Marc E. Paulsen (Mark Paulsen Press, 2008):
http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Story-Fabulous-Medjool-Date/dp/0977473724

Dry Gardens

While in Borrego Springs, I loved seeing the dry gardens. The gardens typically use native plants (including cacti, desert flowers, and desert trees), drip irrigation, and have no water features (I did see some bird baths, and, yes, swimming pools). The gardens often incorporate boulders, desert sand, and rocks.

Our hotel, the Palm Canyon Resort (https://www.palmcanyonrvresort.com/), has recently remodeled their rooms and gardens, and now save millions of gallons of water per year. In place of a running stream, or other water treatment, they have several rock beds that represent dry streams. This is reminiscent of the rock, sand, or gravel used in Japanese gardens to represent water. The hotel also uses native plants, such as Palo Verde trees, Ocotillo, Chuparosa, Desert Lavender, and Brittle Bush. Drip irrigation is used to keep plants looking their best, but much less irrigation is needed for the natives, than would be required for non-native plants.

Oasis of shade using native plants and rocks
to represent a dry stream bed.

The Anza-Borrego Visitor Center (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=638 ) also uses native landscaping. Their plantings mimic the desert floor, making use of spacing, rocks, boulders, and native plants. They implement a drip irrigation system, which keeps the plants looking their best.

Landscaping by the Anza-Borrego Visitor Center
looks like the desert floor.

A desert garden would be difficult to achieve in most areas of the San Francisco Bay Area, but some principles apply – using native plants suited to the climate, using rocks to represent waterways abstractly (and save water), and studying nature to inform garden design.

Hemet Haven

We're staying in Hemet, a small town near Beaumont. When my grandparents retired here in the 1960's, Hemet was an agricultural town with many dairies, and a booming retirement community.

According to Sunset's The Western Garden Book, Hemet is in climate zone 18, which is west of the low desert and lower in elevation than the high desert. Many of the valley floors in the region were once planted in apricot, peach, and apple orchards. We found new citrus groves being planted up Bautista Canyon.

Grandma and Grandpa settled into retired life, and built a new community around church and friends. Grandma canned and sewed, Grandpa could build or fix anything. They also took advantage of the climate and planted dwarf persimmon and lemon trees, and a small grape arbor, all of which still produce fruit today.

Several grape vines are positioned against an outside wall,
in a sunny aspect and out of the wind. A sturdy
trellis provides support.

A dwarf persimmon produces beautiful
fruit late in theyear.

Anza-Borrego Desert Park

After a hearty breakfast at Kendall's Cafe, my folks and I spent a glorious afternoon hiking up the the Borrego Palm Canyon Nature Trail. It is a is a three mile round trip trek up the desert floor to the palm canyon. We added Datura, Desert Trumpet, Desert Dandelion, Apricot Mallow, Chuparosa, and California's native palm - Washingtonia filifera - to our plant list.

The palm oasis is fed by a running stream of cool water. The palm grove was reduced several years ago by a flood that swept through the canyon during a fierce rain storm. We saw evidence of washed out palm trunks all through the hike. At the palm grove, young palms are growing in a swampy protected area.

We finished the day at Carmelita's Mexican Grill in Borrego Springs, for delicious combo plates and tales of the day's exploits!

Intrepid hikers heading up Borrego Palm Canyon Nature
Trail, a three-mile round-trip hike.

The running stream leads to the palm canyon.

The palm oasis - a welcome sight after a long
hike. It's cool and shady, and the creek is
perfect for dipping tired feet.

Desert Delight

We drove to Borrego Springs under a spectacular, partly-cloudy sky, in dramatic lighting, and a breezy, but comfortable, 65 degrees. The conditions dramatize the surrounding craggy mountains, and alluvial fan on which Borrego Springs sits.

The Palo Verde trees seem especially beautiful this year - with their pale green bark, and vibrant yellow sprays of flowers. We've also seen Ocotillo, Beavertail, Indigo Bush,  Brittlebush, Englemann Hedgehog, Cholla, Sand Verbena, and Desert Primrose. The Prickly Pear is close to blooming.

We visited the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center for information, checked into the hotel, and then discussed plans for tomorrow's adventures over dinner at Carmelita' Mexican Grill.

Big sky and desert floor near Borrego Springs.

A beautiful Palo Verde tree outside the Borrego
Palm Visitor Center near Borrego Springs.

Low Desert Lowdown

I’m heading to the Hemet/Palm Springs area, to meet my folks, in pursuit of wildflowers. We plan to spend most of our time on the desert near Palm Springs, and Anza-Borrego. This has become an annual event in the last several years. We enjoy being together, expanding our plant identification skills, and exploring the desert terrain and flora.

In preparation, I’ve downloaded a Palm Springs app to my Android, and pulled out my plant books to get the low down on the desert. According to Sunset's The Western Garden Book, we’ll be in climate zone 13, which is a low or subtropical desert area. Subtropical plants—such as date palms, grapefruit, bauhinia, beaumontia, many cassias, and thevetia—can grow in the low desert. Plus many native species. Yearly temperatures range from 108 to 37 degrees mean, with 5 inches of annual rain.

One fascinating thing I’ve learned is how much water is actually available in this desert. Water wells up from earth faults and fissures, causing vernal pools and streams running through palm canyons. Spring rains also bring the desert alive with color. Some plants, which typically look like dead sticks, turn green with beautiful blossoms for a brief season! This is much different from the San Francisco Bay Area, but the water saving strategies used by desert plants are just as fascinating.

From last year, a running stream through the
Tahquitz Canyon reservation. Palm Springs and
the valley floor is in the background.

Blossoming Yucca in White Water Canyon. Last
year the stream was still running in April.

Vibrant flowers on the prickly Englemann Hedgehog cactus
in Joshua Tree National Park.

Tiptoeing through the Cholla near sundown.
The desert colors are especially rich in
morning and evening.

Seeds and Starters

The San Francisco Bay Area has many seed and starter plant sources for the vegetable garden. Nurseries abound, and many hardware stores, drug stores, and chain stores include extensive gardening departments. You can also participate in a local seed bank, and order from seed catalogs. The San Francisco Garden Show included local exhibitors, specializing in seeds that grow well in the Bay Area, such as Annie’s Annuals & Perennials (Richmond), Gold Rush Nursery (Soquel, near Santa Cruz), and Ploughshares Nursery (Alameda).

One of my favorite local places to buy seeds and starter plants is the CVS drugstore at 5100 Broadway (cross street - 51st), in North Oakland. They have had an extensive and diverse gardening department for years, and carried some of my favorites, like Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. I typically buy organic tomato starter plants from them, with good results. They are currently preparing for a remodel, so may not be available for the 2011 season.

This year I plan to try using seeds that I’ve purchased in previous years, rather than buy all new seeds. I recently read in Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew, that you can reuse seeds packaged for previous years if they are stored properly in an environment that is dry and cool. This makes sense, since scientists have successfully grown plants from ancient seeds found at archaeological sites.

Seed packets from Renee's Garden and Botanical Interest.
Ready for planting.