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There are many plants that grow naturally under oaks in California. Some genera are common in most of California and are commonly associated with oaks. Plants that are not normally associated with oaks cause many problems for the oaks and the oaks and their allies will expend resources attempting to exclude them. Research has shown that this occurs, but the specific causes are harder to identify. We've seen many times, over many years, diseased trees with a near leafless canopy come back to health by controlling the weeds, lawn or petunias. |
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| 'Sunset'
Manzanita' Arctostaphylos franciscana Arctostaphylos WaysideHarmony Manzanita The manzanitas grow well under oaks in all but the shadiest conditions. |
Corethrogyne
filaginifolia , California Aster |
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Satureja chanderi, Mountain Balm is a shrubbier form (1 feet) that grows under oaks in Southern California. A snoot will find this cute beaut is a hoot and smells mighty fine. Mountain Balm is huggy, not buggy, and makes a very clean mass of green. |
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Elymus condensatus, Giant Rye is one of the few grasses that grows under oaks. Although Giant Rye will grow in full sun, particularly with regular water, it will grow well in full shade with no extra water in most of California. For those of you that seem to want a grassy prairie and don't know a buffalo from an, oh I guess I can't type that. |
Diplacus , the shrubby monkey flowers love the edges and half day sun under oaks. Full shade is a bit too much for monkey flowers, but full sun is commonly too much. Those little spots of sun under the oaks where the hallo of sun beams come together in the afternoon is where you plant these. Put a garden bench near that spot with Yerba Buena under it and the monkey flowers/ hummingbird sage as the feast to look upon. |
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The question is, is this thing really a sage?
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The larger alum roots grow well under oak trees. They form a great interface between a wet spot and the trees. Full shade to part shade, Heuchera doesn't like full sun and tolerates the oaks very well. |
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Monardella villosa and some of the Coyote Mints grow under or at the edge of oak trees in much of California. Big hat perennial ladies, butterflies and hummingbirds like these. Nice flowers and they smell nice. |
Lonicera hispidula and Lonicera denutata Let's see, honeysuckles are generally evergreen, have pretty flowers, need little care, are usually not eaten by deer, have berries for the birds and are decent to look at. |
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Interesting photo, pistil looks 3d, I thought it was a scratch on my monitor. |
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Good things to do. |
Bad Things you can do. | |
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Plant associated plants. |
Plant junk that has never grown near an oak tree and needs a ton of water and fertilizer. Why would you expect a plant that grows in full sun along a river in Brazil to grow under your oak? A lawn also comes to mind. If you did use a ton of water, gradually remove the input over a couple of years. |
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Leave the oak leaves. |
Remove the leaves from under the oaks. Bare ground and green weeds are better than that nasty layer of leaves. THE OAK NEEDS THE LEAVES! |
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Think like a tree. Long term, no sudden changes, no tilling, disking, poop, or water Lean and mean. Hang a hammock and put yourself in it. . |
Plant short term stuff and kill the tree slowly. Pansies and petunias are a cruel joke under an oak. |
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Prune out the dead stuff and trim the branches up off of the ground. |
Prune the trees hard or in some weird manner like pollarding. Forcing new growth draws from the trees resources and often triggers a cascading failure in the system of the oak tree. |
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You can wash the foliage off occasionally on dry, dusty years. |
Put a lawn under the tree and you'll have a sick lawn and a sick tree. |
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