Bringing Back the Natives: 2021 Kickoff

The Bringing Back the Natives garden tour is back for 2021, and on Zoom or YouTube for the second year in a row. Last year, COVID-19 shelter-in-place had just kicked in, and the team at Bringing Back the Natives had to pivot from in-person garden tours to an online venue [see Bring Back the Natives – Open (via Zoom)!]. The down side was not being able to experience the gardens in person and see friends and fellow gardeners; the upside was being able to visit a wider range of gardens without crowds and view the tours on YouTube all through the year. 

Ecologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy kicked off the event last Sunday with his keynote talk, "Nature's Best Hope", based on his best-selling book. He spoke on the importance of landscaping to attract and sustain birds and insects to ensure their survival, and told his story of restoring a 300 year-old farm to its native habitat, one keystone plant at a time. He also promoted his HomegrownNationalPark.org initiative, which envisions 20 million acres of privately-owned property as a sort of virtual "national park". 

Stefanie Pruegel, Bay Area native plant specialist, provided a list of top native plants to grow, in "Garden as if Life Depended on It: Top Bay Area Native Plants for Wildlife". Later Tallamy was joined by local plant experts, Bob Sorenson, Glen Schneider, and Kelly Marshal, for an "Ask the Experts" Q&A session. The garden tours started with a canyon and creek restoration near Orinda, followed by garden visits in Walnut Creek, Alameda, Oakland, and Orinda. We also had a virtual tour of the Native Here Native Plant Nursery, located in Tilden Regional Park.

Buckwheat hosts 56 species of moths & butterflies

It's not too late to sign up for the 2021 garden tours. The event runs for three more Sundays (May 2, 16, and 23, from 10:00 - 3:00; with no tours on Mother's Day, May 9). To learn more about registration, the speakers, and the tour schedule by day, see Agenda & Welcome. To see a list of garden tours by city (especially useful if you are interested in your microclimate), see the 2021 Gardens page. The virtual tours are free, but donations are appreciated. Hope to "see" you online!

Seeds to Dye For

This year we're focusing on our little plot of land here in the Oakland hills, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. I plan to dye fabric using plants that are already growing on the property (and am anticipating many shades of brown)! To mix things up, I've ordered seeds from Renee's Garden for annuals that are known to be good for dyeing, including marigold (Tagetes spp.), calendula (Calendula spp.), and coreopsis (Coreopsis spp).

Planning

So far I've planted the calendula seeds (Calendula officinalis) since they bloom best in cool weather. The flowers are typically shades of yellow and orange. I ordered Orange & Lemon Twist and Flashback Calendula. According to Mother Earth News, calendula flowers produce light, lemon yellows, olive-browns, and light browns (depending on the fabric and mordant used). 

Calendula seeds sown in early April

The seeds sprouted within a week (along with quite a few tiny mushrooms). The sprouts range from 2 to 3 inches tall and are quite gangly. I'm notorious for killing sprouts with kindness by overwatering, so am attempting to restrain myself. 

Orange & Lemon Twist on the left, Flashback Calendula on the right

Stay tuned - we'll see how it goes!

Oak Patrol

Going on oak patrol is a recurring activity every spring, here in the Oakland Hills. Oak patrol means looking for oak seedlings in the yard and uprooting them (see Spring Spruce Up). Every fall the the squirrels and birds stash acorns all over the property in preparation for winter. By spring they've eaten most of them, and forgotten many. Those forgotten start to sprout in response to the winter rains. I love our mighty oak, but the little patch of land is too small to sustain a mixed oak forest! Out they come.

Oak patrol

The futility of cutting off an oak sprout

Over the years we've learned that cutting sprouts off at the soil is not enough. The oak sends down a strong root straight into the ground, and sends out new shoots every spring. The whole seedling must come out or you'll be revisiting it next year!

Interesting oak galls

This year I found a whole groups of sprouts with various shapes of oak galls. We've enjoyed seeing oak galls, or oak apples, on our rambles in the Bay Area see Summer on the Iron Horse Trail, Clear Lake Plant Diseases, and Finished Plant Diseases. Plus, oak gall is a mordant for cellulose-based fibers because of the tannin, as described in Mordants and Fixatives. I recently spotted a few more oak seedlings in another area of the land, so there is more oak patrol work to be done!

Plant Aquarium: Oak

Our big oak has received some extra attention this year - some fairly good rains, a covering of wood chips within the dripline, and a visit from our arborist. We recently had a heat spell that propelled the temperature to the high 70s during midday, followed by the oak dropping quite a few leaves overnight (all of which are dry and brown). Glenn Keator in The Life of an Oak: An Intimate Portrait describes this process of live oaks periodically dropping old leaves, typically in conjunction with a change in day length and a combination of chilly nights and warm days. The oak is also putting out new growth, and releasing yellow pollen that covers the patio furniture and cars in the night.

Quercus agrifolia new growth

Oaks are in the Quercus sub-family of the Fagacea family. Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species. Its range spans the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa, and includes cool temperate and tropical latitudes. Quercus agrifolia, also known as "live oak" or "coast live oak", grows west of the Sierra Nevada mountain range from Mendocino County, California, south to northern Baja California in Mexico. Live oaks thrive in the coastal environment here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Oak canopy

Both birds and squirrels stash acorns throughout the yard. They go to great lengths to keep their stashes hidden, sometimes digging them up to hide again. In the spring we are continually on "oak patrol" to pull up the seedlings from nuts that were not eaten during the winter.

Acorn seedling

The oak is a focal point in our landscape, and provides shade, beauty and habitat for birds, squirrels, moths and so forth. Ours is in a precarious position, located on the fenceline, and with its roots wedged between two utility boxes streetside. Still, we try to take care of it as well as we can to ensure that it thrives for years to come.

Learn more:

• Wikipedia
• Jepson Herbarium
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• U.S. Forest Service