Sierra Foothill Garden- A New Mountain Gardener - Part 12

Plants I've Found Here

Plants I've Found Here

Here is a developing list of the existing native plant life here existing before we came to our home on Malum Ridge next to the Sierra National Forest near Oakhurst-Yosemite, CA.

Deer Resistant Plants

Deer Resistant Plants

Deer resistant plants for a California garden

Yosemite Nature Notes

Yosemite Nature Notes

One of the best ways to appreciate the park is to watch this Yosemite Nature Notes series. It’s produced by Steven M. Bumgardner, who has lived and worked in Sequoia and Yosemite Park for 20 years.

Building a command post

By Sue LangleyDesign, Home Buildingcommand post, grading, redwood table

2011-3 Command Post Table 1

Redwood command post table today, 10 years old

Alexander Selkirk was a Scot whose adventures on an uninhabited island were reputed to be the basis for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. From ‘Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk’ by poet, William Cowper, are these lines:

“I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute.”

2000-11 Command post table plan

2000-11 Command post table plan

When we first bought the property here in October 2000, I was inspired by a shady, cool area above where the house would be built to make for ourselves a spot. This spot is on a rise above where the house is now. There are three tall Ponderosa pines there and three or four oaks, with a line of small manzanitas in front. The mountain, which inspired us to choose this place to live, rises above all.

For the first five years we had no electricity, no water and it was a few months before we even had a flat place to park our small trailer. We needed a living room,…a spot.…

Allelopathic Plants….what? “I want to be aloooone”

By Sue LangleyPlant ProfilesAdenostoma fasciculatum, allelopathic, allelopathy, Arctostaphylos viscida, Artemisia californica, Bearberry, Black locust, Brittlebush, California Bay laurel, California sagebrush, California walnuts trees, Chamise, Cottonwood, Encelia farinose, Eucalyptus, Forsythia, Juglans californica, Juglans hindsii, Manzanita, oaks, Purple sage, Salvia leucophylla, Sycamore, Tree-of-heaven

Marlene Dietrich, in her strong German accent, said this in the old movie ‘Grand Hotel’, but plants say it too, in a silent deadly way. Nature has a way of giving certain plants an advantage over the rest. They contain an unfriendly substance that prevents other plants from growing underneath. They want to be alone. The…

What to plant under oaks and pines in the garden?

By Sue LangleyDesign, Garden'grooming', CA natives, conifers, Currant, drought tolerant, Helichrysum petiolare 'Moe's Silver’, iris, Lamb's Ears, lavender, low water, Manzanita, Mediterranean Plants, mimulus, planting under oaks, Ribes viburnifolium, rosemary, sage, salvia, wallflower

Caring for native trees in the garden …and a list of what to plant When faced with a new, mountain or rural garden, you need to make peace with your oaks and pines. These beautiful trees can be unkempt, stickery and surrounded by brush and poison oak at the start. I wondered what could be…

I love my spammers and they love me, Tra-la ♪♫

By Sue LangleySomething differentgarden writing, joke, spam

When I’m feeling down and no one likes a post I’ve written well enough to comment, then I cheer myself right up by reading over the constant comments I get from my faithful followers, …my spammers. It’s true, they love me,….and in so many ways.…

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California natives mix with Mediterranean neighbors

By Sue LangleyCA natives, Drought tolerant plantsAcer negundo californicum, Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam', Autumn sage, Brachyscome multifida, California Box Elder, California natives, Chamaebatia foliolosa, Curlicue sage, deer resistant california garden, Ghost tree, Hall's Mule Ears, Mediterranean Plants, Rock Daisy, Salvia greggii

Taking advantage our our beautiful ‘natives’ Adding drought tolerant Mediterranean plants to our existing California natives is a winning strategy or a deer resistant garden. This planting area is a mix of CA natives and North American natives and Mediterranean plants suited to wild conditions. All are tough, hardy and blooming plants. We used to…

Franklane L. Sewell, artist to the chicken stars!

By Sue LangleyHistoryAmerican Poultry Association, artist, Brahma chicken, chicken breeders, chicken painter, Chickens, Franklane L Sewell, Langshans, Poultry art, poultry artist, poultry breeding history, poultry standard of perfection, Reliable Poultry Journal, Standard of Perfection

Today, since the backyard hen house is the new dog house, I have a short biography to share for any of my chicken loving friends. Documenting chicken breeds and,….family history! Franklane Sewell (1866 -1945) lived in Buchanan, Michigan for many years in a house on Walton Road, a house with a north facing skylight. There was both…

Why does my coffee get cold?

By Sue LangleySpringdaffodils, Penstamon, photography, time in the garden

I only set my cup down for a minute. Seeing that the morning light was diffused, and remembering my ‘too contrasty’ photos of the miniature daffodils I took yesterday, I walked out into the day and set my steaming cup on the arm of the bench by the front door. Climbing the hill I was…

Switching from natives to roses on our mountain!

By Sue LangleySomething different, SpringCA natives, joke, roses

After much discussion and agonizing decisions, we have embarked on big changes here at my Sierra Foothill Garden! In this day of slow economy, we’ve had to look into turning our property into more of a money making operation, so I’m announcing that we have joined up with FTD flowers wholesale division and Cal Poly San…

wordless wildish wednesday

By Sue LangleyPlant Profiles, Spring, wordlessblue flax, CA natives, Linum lewisii, Meriwether Lewis, plant profiles, seeds, Spring, wildflowers

Blue Flax, linum lewisii, a CA native, introduced in my garden

Blue Flax, linum lewisii, a CA native, introduced in my garden

Blue Flax, linum lewisii, not native to my property, but wildish

Blue Flax, linum lewisii, not native to my property, but wildish

Blue Flax in the meadow

Blue Flax in the meadow

…

The story of California native gardens is the story of weeds

By Sue LangleySpringCA natives, Cerastium fontanum, edible weeds, filaree, Hedgeparsley, Mouse-ear Chickweed, Torilis arvensis, weeds

Another post on weeds… Judith Larner Lowry in ‘Gardening with a Wild Heart’ says “Somewhere in all this activity (of discovering CA native gardening), the gardener notices that most of the work involved is weeding. The story of gardening in California, and indeed the whole world, is the story of weeds.” Do not let…

Daffodil design

By Sue LangleyDesign, Springdaffodils, photography

Inspired by a sunbeam. At 7:15am, as the sun peeks over the mountain peak, it focused on the petals of the daffodils, rescued from the past week’s snow. My interest is piqued and I reach for the camera, the small one, set it for no flash and macro setting. Welcome, sun! Fun! Daffodils are Ice King, Ice…

Shinzen Friendship Garden, a rainy spring story

By Sue LangleyGarden, Springcrabapple, Japanese garden, Shinzen Friendship Garden

peacock

peacock

The Shinzen Friendship Garden’s Spring Blossom Festival and Bonsai Show originally scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27 has been cancelled due to weather. What better way to make up for this watery fact than to provide a little color from photos I took at last years’ event. There is a slideshow of all the photos at the end.

koi pond view

koi pond view

In the beginning, the idea was proposed to create a Japanese garden complete with stone lanterns and a teahouse to be dedicated to Fresno’s Sister City Kochi, Japan, as a symbol of friendship and international brotherhood.…

California Buckeye, always one season ahead

By Sue LangleyPlant Profiles, Sierra FoothillsAesculus californica, California Buckeye, honey bees, toxic to bees

… or, how I discovered Buckeye ‘bulbs’. California Buckeye, Aesculus californica, is always ahead of the season,…first to leaf out in late Winter, first to lose its leaves in summer, surprisingly, making it look quite dead in Fall. Always one step ahead…and that’s how to identify it! The buckeye was the first tree that piqued my…

wordless watercolor wednesday

By Sue LangleyWinter, wordless'Ice King' Daffodil, Daffodil 'Ice Wings', Daffodills, Hens and Chicks 'Cebenese', Mahonia aquifolium, Malus 'Weepcanzam', Oregon Grape', Ornamental Pear 'Aristocrat, Sempervivum arachnoideum, Weeping 'Candied Apple' Crabapple

Ornamental Pear 'Aristocrat' under a stromy sky

Ornamental Pear 'Aristocrat' under a stormy sky

Mahonia aquifolium Oregon Grape

Mahonia aquifolium Oregon Grape

unknown daffodil

White daffodil, unknown variety

…

Scale Map of the Sierra Foothill Garden

By Sue LangleyHome Building, Our diary-the first five yearsforest, goat shed, property

This is a November 2001 entry from my recently found diary. The diary chronicles how we bought the property and our first five years before the house was ready. For how we got to this point, see Inspiration or the category ‘Our diary’ “Just after bidding on our new property near Yosemite, disaster struck! Daughter, Jolie, 19, had been struck…

Gardening globally….widening my horizons

By Sue LangleyGarden, International BlogsInternational gardens

I have been surprised and delighted with how far-reaching my contacts have been as I have begun creating this blog. Thanks to Blotanical, my blog has been exposed to new friends from South Africa to New Zealand to the northernmost island of Scotland, the home of both my husband’s and my ancestors, to the warmth of…

Let’s check on Fall and Winter projects!

By Sue LangleyGarden, How to, Meadow project, Projects, Springblue flax, CA natives, California poppy, corn poppy, Deer-resistant, filaree, Indian blankets, Mexican Primrose, Penstamon, photography, seedlings, seeds, wildflowers, wintersowing

This snowy, drippy day…what else to do but check on past projects. Getting rid of Mexican Primrose 10-15-2010 Invasive plants and impatience in the garden March Update: There are a few sprouts coming up of the Mexican primrose which confirms that it’s the right decision not to have replanted the plants I removed from the front…

Nurse Logs in your garden

By Sue LangleyDesign, Garden, How to, Projectsbulbs, ferns, Nurse logs, wildlife, woodland plants

I first noticed the beneficial qualities of rotting logs when I gardened in the suburbs. The tree trimmers left stacks of logs next to the street trees and I promptly snagged as many as I could for flower beds edgings. As they broke down over the years, I could see that they were home to…