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Answer(s)

I'm planning to purchase a dogwood plant and I'm debating between the brown twig dogwood (cornus glabrata) and the red stem dogwood (cornus stolonifera). I will be planting it in a completely shady area next to a north facing wall of my house. I am interested in attracting as many wild birds as possible. I would appreciate any information you can provide in helping me decide which type of dogwood to purchase.

glabrata likes sand or gravel californica and to a lesser degree stolonifera, will grow in gumbo you might also look at Carpenteria californica, it's more drought tolerant

I work at a Botanical Garden in Wichita, KS. and am wondering about Cercocarpus ledifolius. We are Zone 6 and I'm wanting to put this on a south side area in front of my house, that's pretty shady in the summer. Hot winds might be a problem. There is a wheat field across the street. Do you think this would work and if not, what would you suggest?

It should work fairly well.

I've got about 50 valley and 25 blue oak acorns (from Paso area) that have
sprouted and need a home. If I make it out your way on Saturday are you
interested?

Sorry, no.

kudos on your comprehensive and well designed web pages. They seem a labor of love as much as of business. The search engine works very well, but it would be easier if plants could be identified by an alphabetical index, preferably including common and botanical names.

I presently live in far eastern NC, on the coastal plain though not near the ocean (45+ miles as the crow flies). I would like to grow some of the wonders I had in my gardens in LA and Bakersfield. I’ll be submitting an order soon, but need some advice, particularly with respect to ceanothus. I have limited experience with these plants; I had started getting instruction from the folks at Santa Barbara BG, when I moved east.

I’m an advanced gardener, which has not helped much in this setting. I’ve lived all over the USA; this is by far the harshest environment I have ever encountered.

My property is in USDA zone 7, bordering on 8, though immediately north of the house it seems more like zone 6. It’s bone dry much of the year, except during sporadic heavy rains. It’s unbelievably hot in summer and surprisingly cold in winter. We average a single snowfall per year, which melts by late morning. Every few years, we have a mild ice storm.

The soil quality is very poor, much worse than anything you can imagine in CA. It’s mostly sandy, with a hint of loam. Those areas with more organic content are not what you imagine; the local pine bark decomposes slowly and does not offer much nutritional content. In open areas, they took what little topsoil these was when they logged to build the house. Soil pH runs from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline; I’m amending toward more consistent mild acidity.

Near the house there is a deep stratum of clay. Separately, in the most
depressed area of the yard, water may stand for a few hours after torrential rain, for a few days with hurricane-related downpours that occur every 5-10 years. On most of the lot, drainage is extremely rapid, even after heavy rains. Without drip irrigation, it would be impossible to grow anything except weeds and native varieties of pine, dogwood, and magnolias. Some plants have died despite adequate watering.

Sun exposure ranges from blistering to deep shade.

My wish is to grow a cobalt or indigo ceanothus that might tolerate this environment; a heavily fragrant plant would be bliss. I’m not much concerned about size. I prefer a 1-2 meter tall shrub, but am willing to accommodate anything from prostrate to larger plants. Obviously, I’d like to go for longevity, but your reasonable prices (even considering the shipping) make me willing to experiment. (If it gets here alive and doesn’t die in the first month, you’ll find me a reasonable person.) I had been thinking about getting a Julia Phelps, but am very much interested in your suggestions? At this early stage, I will probably start with a single plant from each of 1-3 species/cultivars.

The rest of my proposed order follows. I’m much more experienced with these plants, but welcome your suggestions.

Fremontodendron californicum    California Glory
Fremontodendron sp.         Ken Taylor
Fremontodendron californicum    Pacific Sunset
Romneya coulteri
Trichostema lanatum

Let me know if I omitted any important information. Hope to hear from you
soon,

shorter emails PLEASE

they will have have problems where you are plant at your risk, you might get a few years out of them

I have read that Dendromecon rigida is short lived. Just how long with excellent drainage and a bit of a green thumb can one expect a plant to live? Can you extend the life by pruning back after flowering and not allowing it to get all leggy, dominated by old wood? I have seen that Freemontodendron californicum is also listed as short lived. How short?

Dendromecon can live for centuries

Fremontia commonly can live for decades

if either are unhappy, 3-5 years max

How wide does the Salvia Gracias spread? What is the smallest container size available?

6 feet
gallons
smaller than gallons do not work, the loses are too great
contractor commonly loses 2-5% with gallons, 50-90% with liners.
Contractor loses money when loses exceed 10%

I purchased some Zapata cottonwoods from you, and planted them in winter
2001/2002. I live on Parkhill Rd. I deep watered them whenever the
ground was dry under the mulch during their first summer (2002). I
could not find on your website whether I was supposed to continue
watering them this summer. They leafed out nicely this spring, but
after the heat moved in a few days ago, they got many yellow leaves.
Could you please tell me how they should be watered, or if at all, this
summer? I want them to grow fast, and saw that you had fast growth with
regular watering at your site. Thank you very much.

Although they become pretty drought tolerant, you'll need to water once a week if you want the speed

We plan to visit Las Pilitas nursery and seek advice from native
plant experts. We also would like to purchase a minivan-load of
natives for our 5-acre site in Morgan Hill. The goal is to slowly
return the rest of our property (very close) to its native state. Are
the 1-gallon natives from Las Pilitas mostly 4-ft or shorter? If not,
we must use a different car for hauling the plants.

Thank you for the fast response, 6-12 inch will work perfectly for us.
Double stacking is exactly what we have in mind. We will stick to your
(web) advice of using 1-gallon plants.

Thanks again and looking forward to visiting the nursery soon,

I've transplanted some Torrey Pine seedlings from under our tree to 1
gallon containers. Some look healthy, and almost three to five
inches high, with good stem sprouting up from the plant. Others are
"browning", around the lower needles, going or looking limp and dead.

What's the trick? Too much or too little water? Could I use B-12 or
something to encourage root growth?

Should the seedlings be in sun or shade during their formative years?

Thanks!

we don't talk propagation, but

if you put them into the shade normal numbers are somewhere between
20-50% success, in sun about 10%
they have to completely grow their root system as the mother tree is no
longer supporting them
kind like a dog or cat after weaning.
the mother tree was feeding its babies, when you dug them up you removed
them from that food and water source
B-12 does nothing(UC Davis did some tests on its effectiveness)
the fact that some are living means you're doing fine.

i aapreciate advise about transplanting native plants
such as manzanita and coulter pine?
is there an effective
way?

generally doesn't work
the babies are atrached to the parents, it's like feeding a newborn
adult food, can happen, but not advisable.
The Bonzi clubs like to pretend it works, but most of their dig ups die.
you only get 1/100-1/1000 of their root system when you dig them

I came across your site when looking for more information on Romneya coulterii.

You may be interested to know that I bought one of these plants locally some years ago and despite the fact that my area,(Cheshire, England) could not be more different from California, it appears to be thriving. We have lots of wet weather, cold winds and overcast skies and the area is noted for its rich agricultural land, its roses and its turf!

Indeed the reason I was looking for more information is that I was considering moving it at the end of the season because it has grown too big for its present position. After reading your information I think I will leave well alone!

I’m from Canada and would really like to have some Romneya Coulteri flowers. Is it possible to have some delivered in Canada, would it be able to survive, or are there any place where I could buy some. I live in Montreal, in the Province of Quebec.

no sorry

Hi, I live in Central Texas, and am looking for a list of plants that I can
plant that horses won't eat. They are for a flower box near the
barn. Yaupon, sages?, any flowers?? I prefer ones that are not
poisonous.

One of my personal buttons to push is people in New York, Chicago, or Texas thinking that they know California and California palnts.

I have no idea what will grow in Texas, sorry. Check on Texas Native plants by typing into your search engine “texas native plant nursery”.

I am looking for shallow roots trees beside eucalyptus. Do you know any trees with roots that won’t go deeper than 4 feet?

How about those trees, can they grow their roots no deeper than 4 feet in good soil (the area is Long Beach):

Eucalyptus citriodora/deglupta/maculata

Fraxinus uhdei

Liquidambar styraciflua

Liriodendron tulipifera/'aureo Marginatum'

Cercis occidentalis/canadensis var. texensis

Lagerstroemia indica 'Near East'/'WATER Melon Red'

Magnolia soulangiana

Prunus cerasifera...

Pyrus kawakamii/calleryana

My two last e-mails were sent back with no answer. Was that a mistake or am I asking too many questions?

Sorry you answered me. Thank you again

those are all awful,  the natives below are equal (or better) and they
have great habitat value.

look at
Cupressus forbesiiTecate Cypress.

Arctostaphylos manzanita Dr. HurdManzanita Northern California
Ceanothus RayHartmanMountain Lilac.

Sequoia sempervirens Coast Redwood.

even
Quercus agrifolia CoastLive Oak. will work if planted from 1 gallon
containers

most of the
Quercus agrifolia(CoastLive Oak) and Quercus dumosa(scrub oak) have
roots that work hard pan at 4-6 feet, they'd LOVE the plastic layer

Most of the shrub manzanitas also love a hardpan layer at 2-4 feet

My fiance and I are planning a surprise wedding next April while on vacation at the Sea of Cortez with his family. I am trying to gather information about the native flowers in that region so that I might be able to get some silk flowers which will resemble the native flowers. Your website is wonderful, but rather overwhelming. We would like purple, blue and white flowers for various means. Since this is a surprise for his family and we will be aboard a ship we are trying to find silk flowers that can be packed and taken with us. Could you please advise me as to which flowers might go best for our wedding. From there I can get the silk flowers and make the arrangements.

sorry, no ideas at all
(can you follow her logic?0

My 2 Salvia Clevelandii purchased & planted last Sept.02. They have been just beautiful, blooming all sumemr. Theit fragrance can be detected yards
away. We just love them. I noticed just recently, one more than the other has yellowing of the stems. The flowers are fading which I expected. Is this yellowing normal?  They received water after planting, then just normal rain water throughout the year. I don't want to lose them. I have a couple inches mulch in the planting bed.

1. gently pull the mulch back a few inches and place a rock next to plant
2. It's been a very dry decade, wash them down with a lttle water,making sure that the soil does not get very wet.
3. This is very normal for Salvia clevelandii when they go dormant. The rock and the spritzing should help them out and may instantly green them up. JUST DO NOT over spritz, ground gets wet, they will probably die.

May I ask a question about the blue oak hybrids that are discussed on
 your website.  I bought a small plant marked "Q. douglasii" last year
 at a nursery here in Seattle.  Its leaves are not at all entire or
 ovate, but rather they are virtually as broad as long (not more than
 2-2.5 in. long) and are strongly and regularly lobed, with 3-4 spines
 on the edge of each lobe.  This and the other plants at the nursery
 were grown from seed gathered in the neighborhood of Davis, CA (or
 that could have been the location of the seed of the Q. berberidifolia
 I bought -- in any case the seed came from the east side of  the coast
 ranges in N. CA).

 Your site's discussion of the hybrids with valley oak and garry oak
 suggest to me that I have one of those named hybrids.  These leaves
 are quite blue in color-tone and are stiff and fully deciduous.  I
 haven't been able to find any pictures of the hybrids' leaves on line,
 so I thought I might check with someone who obviously shares an
 enthusiasm for these plants.
If you have any wisdom for me I would appreciate it very much.  No big
 hurry, as the plant is about 15 inches tall and is a keeper -- these
 leaves are beautiful!

 One more question -- I was in San Diego not long ago and loved the
 Rhus integrifolia I saw.  Your site says zones 9-10 -- we have a warm
 zone 8 at my house.  Would I be certain to lose those plants if I had
 them under the overhang of a pacific madrone?  We always have a few
 days below 30 degrees here but rarely many and almost never below 20
 degrees (this winter being an exception -- one night at 16 degrees).
thank you for slogging through.  I'll place an order for the lemonadeberry.
Wish I had had time to visit your place in Escondido when I was nearby in
March.

Though there are few solid examples of the named hybrid varieties, do you
know where I can find a source that describes them more fully?

it could just be within the blue oak group and not a named variety,
there are very few pure ones.
we get weeks of 12-14 degrees each night, Rhus integrifolia has handled
that fine, the -4 F froze it to the ground, no damage at -6 to 8F

I am looking for plants to use in landscaping my front yard. I live near SDSU.  I have reduced the size of my lawn and created a 18ft by 30ft dirt area. About 1/3 gets shade for a large part of the day from a large cedar and the west facing front wall of my house.  About 1/3 gets part-shade about half of the day, the other 1/3 is mostly sunny.  There is some overspray from the lawn sprinklers, but most of the area is dry (it also gets canopy protection from light rains).  I have an irrigation circuit available, so I can add as much or as little water as needed, but I want to design for water conservation.  The soil is slightly clay with a fair amount of organic material.  I am considering the following for massing in some attractive foilage in the shaded to part shaded area:

Mahonia aquifolium Compacta likes beach sand
Golden Currant excellent
Rosa Californica  good
Rosa Nutkana   needs winter
look at
Keckiella antirrhinoides Yellow Bush Snapdragon.
Keckiella cordifolius Climbing Penstemon, Heart Leaved Penstemon.
Ribes viburnifolium Evergreen Currant, Cataline Perfume.(in the shade)
Ceanothus griseus horizontalis Yankee Point Carmel Mountain Lilac.(in the sun)

I purchased about 15 margarita bops from you about 3 years ago, I LOVE THIS PLANT. The plants are now quite large 3 1/2 ft in diameter and are starting to get bare in the center. I had pruned just the dead seed heads but now wonder if I should do an aggressive pruning back to the crown or should I just leave the plant alone?

iffy, iffy
prune hard you might bring them back, might kill them, about 50/50
better solution, lay a rock on the center, the side shoots should root, and stabilize