The Highly Valued Manzanita Manzanitas are typical and beautiful Chaparral plants in the Sierra foothills. They, and the chaparral as a whole, have long been here in California before we so how can we think it is good or bad? My thought is that manzanita is not any more flammable or less flammable than any…
It is a commonly heard in casual remarks on gardening topics and maintaining a landscape in the Sierra Foothills that Manzanita and other chaparral plants must be cut down and removed because they are so very flammable. Yes, it is important to clear 100 feet of defensible space around your home, and yes, Manzanita can…
Big changes all around The meadow in May…checking the progress and weeding, weeding… Last year, here in the Sierra foothills, I started a meadow project in a weedy field below the south side of our home. Bounded by a sycamore tree on the south a path on the north, a rock garden on the west,…
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…
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…
