Turns out the grass isn’t always greener. I’m always saying, look at those lucky Californians, they can grow all the super cool stuff. But the drought and water shortage–not so lucky.
I enjoyed an article on Annie’s Annuals & Perennials’ blog this week. Nursery customers report feeling guilty about gardening. Some are planning on letting their plants die off.
But don’t freak out, okay?
The news coverage of the water shortage isn’t always helpful in giving people a realistic idea of what makes a measurable difference in water usage, so people are trying their best to do what they can to take shorter showers and stop watering their plants. Or in Annie’s experience, they’re yelling at strangers in public showers that they’re taking a few seconds too long. So what gives? Is your climate-appropriate garden slurping up all the water Californian’s need to live? Should you hassle strangers in the gym shower? In short, no.
Residential water accounts for about 5% of all California water usage according to the Public Policy Institute of California, so families cutting back 25% as mandated only saves about 1.25% of statewide water use.
Half of residential water use, or about 2.5% of California’s water is used on landscapes, so garden water is a good place to look for efficiencies at home, but that doesn’t mean we should aim for crispy brown yards everywhere.
Plenty of plants that are native or adapted to a climate similar to California are accustomed to drought and don’t need or even want frequent watering. Some edible plants may require more regular water, but 80% of California’s total water usage goes into commercial agriculture, and you’d be better off growing yourself a salad than eating a burger or a cup of greek yogurt for lunch, if you’re trying to reduce your overall water footprint.
However, not all plants are created equal. Turf grass is like a slacker friend who wears out their welcome crashing on your couch. It just sits there, doesn’t do much, raids the cupboards, uses up your shower water, and makes messes you have to clean up.
If I could offer any words of encouragement to people facing this task with dread, there are so many alternatives that are way better, I swear. No lawn mower, no regular watering, no chemicals, no dormant brown yards in the heat of summer. Instead you can get self sufficient, low maintenance plants with interesting foliage, flowers, and fragrance, making you, the birds, and beneficial insects happy. Plus, you get to feel good about your water saving ways, without critiquing the shower technique of strangers at the gym. Win-win-win.
Hats off to the gardeners who have done such a nice job ditching the lawn, it makes you wonder why we weren’t always doing it this way.
Geez Louise, the first half of April has been a blur. Time flies when you’re spring planting.
The Portland forecast has temperatures in the 80s this week. Too soon!
The cooler, rainier days have been perfect for transplanting, weeding, and watering in new seedlings, but today’s our last day with rain, then the temperature climbs daily, from 51 today, to 82 on Monday.
I’ve got about 20 plants waiting to get into the ground, but hot sunny days ahead means it’s go time, before all those little nursery pots need a bunch of babysitting and watering. Can you hear the second hand ticking louder by the second?
As much as I’d love to spend the whole day gardening, there’s work to be done. We’ve been quite busy adding plants and nurseries to the site. We are slowly but surely sneaking up on 30,000 plants in our database. We’ll have to have a little celebration when we hit that number. Phew.
It’s fun to see what plants are topping the charts on plant lust searches, especially this time of year when people are shopping and planting like mad. I’m happy to see a lot of drought-tolerant plants in the mix, especially in California. I’m always surprised to read about how many lawns there still are in California, since they can grow such amazing drought tolerant stuff that’s way more interesting than turf.
Xera Plants’ small retail shop in Southeast Portland is always good for an armload of fabulous plants, but last weekend was double worth the trip since Roger Gossler of Gossler Farms was in town with a truckload of newly leafed out beauties, saving me the two hour trip to Springfield to score the monster fern I’ve been pining for. More on that in a second.
It’s always fun to catch up with Roger. He helped us out tremendously getting plant lust off the ground. He was our very first guinea pig on plant lust. We ran our idea by him long before launch, and we launched with only the Gossler Farms catalog on our site. 75 nurseries later, we still appreciate Roger’s continued encouragement and support.
Roger has always been generous with his time and gardening knowledge, so it makes perfect sense that he now offers garden coaching. He visits gardens around Oregon and Washington, and talks with people about what they have, how they should take care of it, and what they want to plant. He’s been visiting with a lot of gardeners who move in to a new house and aren’t sure what they have. The fee is a very reasonable $40, and comes with a 10% discount at the nursery.
I’ve got new neighbors on both sides of my house right now, and can’t help but think how valuable this kind of advice would be. I don’t think the new residents realize they’re digging and tossing special stuff. I did done some dumpster diving in their recycling bin last week to recover some Kniphofia and Eucomis that got weeded. I’m not above getting a little dirty in the name of “free” plants. Free is not exactly the right word, since I bought and planted those plants for the previous residents, but still, I have new plants I didn’t have to shop for this year, so I think it counts.
Most importantly, what were the best Xera/Gossler finds of the day? They had tons of good stuff, of course. (more…)
Usually, March is a month for noses pressed to windows, impatiently waiting until it’s warm enough, dry enough, late enough to get out there with a shovel and start the frenzied rush of spring chores.
Spring’s early arrival in the Pacific Northwest changed the pace of my spring gardening. Cutting back and raking up remnants of fall happened at a leisurely pace in short sleeves. Last possible frost dates be damned, the tender plants have been hauled out into the garden for weeks now.
No need to wait for the soil to warm up before ordering a fresh load of compost. No need to rush to spread the compost before rain showers weighed it down and carried a compost-y river down the gutter.
Soil is workable and it was easy enough to get planting early. Maybe too easy. Early digging does pose some extra risk of cutting into something that’s still sleeping. Fortunately, those incidents were few and far between.
This is a new spring experience for us here. Where are the drippy days with soil too muddy to work? Is this what it feels like to live in California? (more…)
Huge sigh of relief, we have arrived at spring. There will be plenty of time for celebrating the obvious beauty of the season headed our way. But now that winter is officially behind us, I want to take a moment to appreciate the plants that provided bright spots in winter’s final month. I love this garden-obsessed city. I’m so grateful to have neighbors with such showy winter plants in front yards were we can all enjoy them.
And now that planting season is upon us, don’t forget to think about the stuff that makes you happy in the grey months so you have plenty of eye candy next time winter rolls around. (more…)
One way to make a garden look pulled together is by echoing colors. Take this inspired work in progress. Forgive the current state of the ground. Despite the forecast, it’s still winter for a couple more days. Clearly they’ve got plans. And a fab sense of color. While the plants are sleeping, they’ve always got their doors and bird feeder to keep things looking alive. (more…)
This weekend I felt like a high roller. Picture less Vegas vacation, diamonds, cars and rolling around on piles of cash. More rolling around on piles of groundcovers and you’ve got the idea. We’re among gardeners here. You guys get it.
Thanks to Tamara of Chickadee Gardens, a bunch of garden bloggers were invited out to ogle, photograph, and shop the 50+ wholesale sized greenhouses at Little Prince of Oregon.
I had to pinch myself, because this was my very dream for this spring. I’m on a groundcover blitz, as part of my speed gardening strategy to recover from last year’s puppy devastation out there. There may be no better place to fulfill this mission. Little Prince has a HUGE collection of (dog) foot traffic friendly groundcovers, and I was checking things off my wish list left and right.
Of course you always remember the one that got away. The plant shown up top is to die for, right? It’s killing me. It was flagged for another customer, so I am without. At least I got to pet its soft foliage briefly. Be on the lookout for Selaginella kraussiana ‘Brownii’.
Luckily there were plenty of wish-listers that were not spoken for. (more…)
It’s here, you guys! The plants are coming. Enough with that gardeners’ patience we’re supposed to possess. It’s time for the plants to grow, and it’s happening! It may be a while still until the garden is big and lush and photogenic, but small things are changing daily, and that is enough to keep things exciting.
Syneilesis quite possibly has the best new growth around. Fuzzy aliens. On their way to becoming the most spectacular clump of shredded umbrella leaves ever. It is a happy day when the Syneilesis announce their return.
Sadly, there was no time. Meetings started before places opened, and ended after they were closed. I’m kicking myself for not scheduling a return flight a couple hours later just to get a quick fix.
Double sadly, I did a California road trip a couple years ago from Palm Springs to Portland, and visited most of these places, bored my travel companion taking a million photos, and lost most of the photos in a computer backup failure. Tragedy!
All that remains are my memories and a few precious photos of UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. (more…)
I’ve got a quick trip to Berkeley planned, and like any good plant-a-holic, I did a quick google search to see if there’s a chance to sneak in a quick nursery visit. Turns out I’ll be 17 minutes driving distance from Annie’s Annuals. Hmm. If there’s any break in the action, I just might be able to swing it.
I’ll have to be quick, none of this reading tags and hemming and hawing allowed. Get in, grab the plants, and get out. I’m ready for it. I’ve got a plant on my most-wanted list, I’ll stuff five or six of these in my carry on bag.
