Page 28 - Sonoma County Gazette May 2020

Creating H
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By Jana Mariposa, Mariposa Habitat Nursery Late Autumn and late Winter/early
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Spring can be challenging times for foraging pollinators. I spent some time yesterday observing my blooming plants to see who was visiting, and I am happy to say that creating habitat is a DEVOTION, a meditative practice in addition to being exceedingly helpful to our Flying Friends who may be short on real estate and menu options.
One of my favorite shade-tolerant but also sun-tolerant native deciduous shrubs is Flowering Currant, Ribes sanguineum; it starts blooming towards the end of February and is bee-loved by hummers as well as many kinds of bees; a great companion in a shady setting are any of the native Alum roots, Heuchera sp.; also native Iris, Yerba Buena, Redwood Sorrel. After flowering the Ribes may produce dark blue berries, which the birdies relish. Flowering Quince is also surpisingly busy with hummers, bees, and often birdies feasting on the flowers; however it requires at least 5 hours of sun to thrive.
My first surprise was seeing a
Hummingbird feeding on my blooming
Kale; I know there is a tendency to pull up that bolting stuff, but wait........not so fast! Which leads to the recommendation to let last years’ plants go to seed whenever possible; first of all, pollinators will utilize the blossoms, and you can also save seeds, which are in very short supply everywhere I have checked lately, including my mail order sources (Baker Creek, Seed Savers’ Exchange, and others).
There are dozens of cultivars of Ceanothus (Wild Lilac) available, from low spreading evergreen shrubs, to mid- sized to 20’ tall trees. Unfortunately our deer
Secondly, plants such as Parsley and Queen Ann’s Lace are absolute pollinator MAGNETS when in bloom; dozens of native beneficial wasps and bees utilize them, and since they are in the Umbelliferae, Parsley family, these plants are among the ones necessary to provide larval food for the Anise
Bambi friends love to munch the soft-leaved ones, but there are many that are too tough for their tender lips, C. gloriosus, one of my favorites, C. maritimus, C. cuneatus, and others are able to deter the little darlings. Ceanothus are an essential early spring forage plants for our dear Bumblebees, as well as many others.
Swallowtail, one of 5 Swallowtails we have here in Sonoma County.
Another important evergreen native shrub are the Manzanitas, Arctostaphyos sp., which also can be found in dozens of shapes and sizes, and provide very crucial winter nectar
to both pollinators and hummingbirds. They sometimes make small mahogany brown berries, which are delicious and tangy; their common name ‘Manzanita’ means , in Espanol, ‘little apple’, which they resemble, though they are not in the same family (Rosaceae), but in the
So, if your garden is a bit bolting, overgrown, untidy, your righteous excuse is ‘HABITAT, SILLY!’, to quote someone whose initials are V.C.
Don’t fight the Dandelions; many species of bees and wasps love to feast on them,
and in the summer and fall, the Finches appreciate the seeds. In my garden now blooming and buzzing with color and life are a variety of shrubs, perennials, and annuals, primarily but not exclusively natives.
Heath family, Ericaceae.
I have dozens if not a hundred favorite perennials, but I
Planning ahead for next spring,
find a place you can devote to direct seeding native wildflowers (Baby Blue Eyes, Five Spot, Clarkias, Gilia tricolor, Gilia capitata, California poppies, Phacelias). Non-native fall-sown annuals: Borage, Bachelor Buttons, Nigella, Coreopsis tinctoria, Malcolmia maritima(also edible); Alyssum is a very important forage plant and can be sown nearly any time of the year, as can California poppies.
must mention Columbines, Aquilegia sp. There are many spectacular selections, and seeds for from all over the world can be fond in the JL Hudson seed catalog, a public-access seed bank @ jlhudsonseeds.net. I have I think about 6 kinds, including both of our native Columbines, dainty A. formosa, a woodland dweller, and stately A. eximia, a giant (5’) beauty
Le Ballister’s Seed and Fertilzer (1250 Sebastopol Rd., Santa Rosa, (707) 526- 6733, leballisters.com) will bag up 1⁄4 lb. quantities of these for you and their prices are the most reasonable.
So many perennials, so little space...Consider Abutilons, which also bloom through the winter and tolerate sun and light shade. For a fast- growing, pest free mid-sized tree, you cannot beat a Catalpa. In June, when
it is in bloom it is completely abuzz with bees foraging; saves them miles of flying and conserves energy! I have a Clematis montana rubens planted at its base, and now that there are no leaves on the Catalpa, the Clematis is starting to bloom all over the tree. It is lovely!
Gilias and Tidy Tips will have to be ordered from Larner Seeds, (235 grive Rd., Bolinas, (415) 868-9407, larnerseeds.com) if they still have them. These lovelies do not need rich soil, but you cannot just throw them out onto some weedy patch and hope for the best. The ground should be prepared: cleared of weeds and slightly broken up to make a cozy spot for the seeds to germinate; cover lightly with soil and straw, if you have it. Just do this the day before our first blessed and sustained rain comes in Oct. Consult your favorite oracle........ Once they have flowered and gone to seed, you’ll have your own supply to replant and share, then the patch can be rotated into some other kind of fall / winter production, or a cover crop to plow in, or Favas to eat next spring.
I must mention all of the Phacelias, in particular P. californica, and P. bolanderi, both very sturdy and reliable perennials; and for your fall direct seeding, do plant some P. tanacetifolia. Phacelia is on the top 10 of Bee forage plants, both annual and perennial. P. campanularia is stunning with its deep sapphire blue flowers, but seems a bit more finicky than P. tanacetifolia. I tend to put P. campanularia around the edges of pots.
According to my wild audience, the most popular shrubs now, and for the past 2 months are Grevillea, and Correa, drought-tolerant Australian natives that bloom through the winter and are visited by both hummingbirds and other pollinators. In the shade, Sarcococca blooms perfume the air, and are appreciated by winter- foraging bees on warm days.
Last week my grandchildren and I had the honor of watching a swarm of Bees from one of the hives on our property. It was early by at least a month, but Roger came and gave them a new home........we had 4 more that week!!!! Plus we also got to watch a Gulf Fritillary hatch from its ‘sleeping bag’ on my Passiflora caerulea.
that lives
soil. I do plant them in baskets to protect them from gophers. Another hummingbird favorite, and absolutely spectacular.
on Serpentine soil by nature, but is amenable to any old garden
If you have questions, feel free to email me at janarosa@sonic.net.; request a copy of my inventory list if you want to jump-start your Pollinator Garden.
Keep planting and Bee happy and healthy!
28 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 5/20