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Re: California freeway "wildflowers"

At 10:10 PM 4/14/98 -0700, you wrote:
>
>HI everyone....
>
>Funny to come back from a roadtrip through california and find this
>posting.  As we drove from San Diego up highway 5 to 99 and on to Lake
>TAhoe, I kept thinking "wouldn't it be great if there were a law that
>Caltrans (the California highway transportation authority) had to plant
>natives along the highways and freeways of California!"  After all, the
>plants that grow best in any one area are the plants native to that area.
>So instead of the infernal oleander and so called "freeway daisys" that
>Andrew is referring to, we could have ceanothus, california poppies,
>lupines, shrubs, trees, etc that represented the landscape that the freeway
>had replaced.  Seems fitting....
>
>So what do you say, shall we petition Cal Trans to change their policy?
>
>Nan
>

I too live in San Diego and drive by the miles of oleanders every day. But
I don't know what California natives would perform better or be as
colorful. As far as I know, the only water the oleanders get is from
rainfall, which in San Diego is usually 8-12 inches a year or so. Also,
CalTrans severely machine-prunes the oleanders each year -- and is doing so
right now. I believe that many of the native California shrubs don't like
drastic pruning like this: doesn't ceanothus only tolerate "deer pruning"
(nibbling)?

I think Fremontia or Ceanothus would be beautiful, but I don't think they
would succeed in a highway divider here. I wonder how Matilija poppy would
do? I too have seen the african daisies (or whatever) planted along the
freeway; and I've also seen the California lupine blooming in drifts. Along
the same freeway as the oleanders can be found Coreopsis gigantea. But none
of these natives bloom very long, certainly not as compared to the african
daisies. I'm also not sure that CalTrans refuses to use California native
plants. For example, the corner next to the freeway on-ramp near me is
planted with ceanothus. (And did CalTrans hydro-seed the Coreopsis?)

To veer of the topic somewhat, I remember seeing a fragile potted oleander
being grown in a bay window in Wales (in May-June) many years ago (it was
little more than a twig). No doubt it was a challenging house plant there.
I wish its grower could see the miles of oleanders when in full bloom. (Of
course, I recall being very impressed with the miles of wild pink
rhododendrons in England -- which are reviled as noxious weeds I believe.
To me, rhododendrons are plants of great beauty since they are so rare in
San Diego.)

(And of course, I was the weirdo who praised the yellow oxalis growing in
the ice plant along the freeways in San Diego. I guess you have to see them
there. I don't praise them elsewhere, though.)

Who can suggest a better, PRACTICAL, California native replacement for
oleanders in a freeway divider. I think to be fair, the recommendations
should get more points for being flowering plants. By 'practical' I suppose
one should consider ease of propagation (which might rule out Dendromecon),
ease of establishment (most transplanted natives need a good amount of
watering until they are established), resistance to air pollution,
tolerance of pruning, fast growing, length of blooming season, etc.

DKM
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