Sow There

This drought has been tough for garden columnists.

I’m sure I’m not alone. Other writers in California, Nevada and parts of Oregon must also be weary of drought-tolerant topics, drip irrigation checklists and the multitudinous benefits of mulch.

We’ve yammered on cheerfully about lawn conversion projects and the joys of houseplants. We’ve yanked cactus spines from tender skin, watered hardy bushes with dishwater and waited to wash clothes until we had a full load.

However, rain clouds have parked it over my house. El Niño may really be here.

There is still time to go buy cute rain boots. These are necessary because there are actual puddles in my gravel driveway.

Hurray.

Now what? I rattled off a quick note to Kay Perkins, one of my go-to gals for garden advice. Kay has been down and dirty establishing the drought-tolerant garden at the Patrick Ranch, along with those diligent volunteers from Butte County Master Gardeners.

“Here’s what I’m thinkin’,” I told Kay via email. “If we plant drought-tolerant plants now, in the wet season, will they have enough time to build up a good root system? When summer comes along, will these drought-tolerant plants be able to make it without extra water?”

I was hoping for encouragement to load up a cart at the local nursery.

The answer, of course, is that it is not that simple.

Kay checked with Eve Werner, of Eve’s Garden Design. Eve agreed now is a good time to plant native and summer dry plants.

“As soon as it starts to warm up, they will begin root development that will help them be drought ready in the summer,” Eve replied. She also noted its important for native and Mediterranean plants to have the root ball slightly higher than the surrounding soil.

“If the roots are not well formed or if the root ball falls apart during planting, lightly prune to reduce, but not eliminate, top growth,” Eve said. “Sages, lavenders, rosemary and buckwheats should be planted without a ‘berm’ around the plant so that water drains away from the plant stem,” Eve advised.

Another native plant expert, Cindy Weiner, adds that it “takes natives a couple of summers to become fully established. Until that time, they will need supplemental irrigation during the dry season. Typically, that means once a week the first summer and twice a month during the second.

“After a couple of years many natives will no longer need any further irrigation, but some will do better with continued irrigation. A lot depends on the habitat to which the plant is native. A plant native to redwood forests of the north coast, riparian areas, or higher elevations in the mountains is likely to need ongoing irrigation,” Cindy stated.

EASY DROUGHT MISTAKES

Some people have terrible luck with drought plants because they think the plants need zero water. Those first two years, the plants definitely need water to become established.

After that, some people will kill their plants by loving them too much — continuing to water them when they do not need water.

Part of the bad luck is that certain fungi can kill dry-loving plants, and the fungi only grows when its wet.

I’ve heard it suggested that people put all their drought-tolerant plants in one place. This way they can take care of them in the same way, in this case, watering at first and neglect later.

Kay also provided a link to this very thorough guide to native plants from Native Again Landscape,http://www.native-again-landscape.com.

SEEKING LEMON RECIPES

We’re still in the middle of the winter citrus season, and some folks are swimming in lemons.

What ways can we use lemons to help us maintain this winter weight gain?

Do you have a very cool citrus recipe to share or any other tips on using or storing lemons?

Please share.

The past two weeks have been rough for my family after my mother’s boyfriend died. There’s never a good time to lose someone important, and “suddenly” is one of the worst times.

Mom did not usually bring her beau when she visited Chico, so I only met John a few dozen times. He was always kind and often witty. When they first started dating my mother was like a teenage girl; it was hard to have a conversation without hearing about some cute thing John had said or done.

This was so adorable for a woman in her 60s that I would egg her on when we talked on the phone … “Tell me Mom, what cute thing did John say or do today?”

Death is never timely. However, what makes this even more heart-breaking is that Mom recently retired. She and John had places to go and things to see. They had planned to do these things together.

The day after we heard the news, my niece sent me a note on Facebook. “Happy one-year anniversary of being cancer-free,” she wrote.

I had not intended to celebrate the anniversary of my uterine cancer surgery. Yet, being alive at this moment is something for which I should give more than just a passing nod. I also recognized that my niece was reaching out the way that death sometimes compels us to do.

When we don’t know what else to do or say, we can reach for the hands of the ones who are still living.

My mother has been incredibly brave. She cries a lot but she also says she is grateful to have had John in her life for many years.

Analogies

The garden lends itself to analogies, many of them applicable to lessons we learn in life and love. Beauty in the yard can be fleeting. Plants need to be nurtured. Sometimes what we work so hard to protect is snatched away when we aren’t looking.

For years now I have planted poppy seeds in the cracks in the alley.

I’m also known to carry a plastic bag of poppy seeds when I take a walk in the neighborhood or at a neighborhood park.

Scattering poppies is easy in the fall. The seeds sprout and receive winter rains.

I’ve also learned the hard way that seeds placed in unpredictable locations can fall victim to folks with good intentions.

When the city first built the roundabouts on Eighth Avenue, I took it upon myself to plant poppies in the fresh, bare earth.

City workers took it upon themselves to clear this area of all vegetation. I can’t blame them. They didn’t know the difference between a weed and a wildflower.

As for my alley, several times this winter I spent time picking vetch from the cracks in the concrete, carefully allowing the poppy plants to remain. Common groundsel also bullies its way between the lacy leaves of our state flower.

Right about now it’s poppy showtime. The field at Sierra Nevada Brewery off 20th Street is currently spotted with golden blossoms. You’ll also note poppies at the end of freeway offramps. I may have even planted those flowers by tossing seeds out of the car window.

Yet, something happened to the poppies growing in the cracks of the alley. My beloved neighbor asked his son to help knock down some weeds in a chemical way.

I was glad, because the son caught the weeds just in time, before they had a chance to set seed.

I wish the son had continued toward the other end of the alley and zapped the privet growing over the side of another neighbor’s fence.

It takes several days for glyphosate to do its job. The weeds start to fade before they turn yellow.

I thought the poppies in the alley looked a bit dim. But maybe they were fading as the weather warmed.

Yet, my Handsome Woodsman said he was fairly certain the son had continued spraying down the alley.

The son was just doing his best and didn’t recognize that something beautiful was about to happen.

What’s a bummer is that the poppies were just about the bloom. They would have been fabulous just about now. Now they are gone.

Contact reporter Heather Hacking at 896-7758.