Re: Re. Olive understory

Hi Karrie,
I do go to Theodore Payne, in fact I buy enough from them that I've become a member.  I also am close to Matilija Nursery in Moorpark, which is slightly closer and slightly cheaper.  Both have very knowledgeable staff.
With herbaceous plants, I'd like to encourage the Fragaria chilensis, which I have growing very well in another area in almost full sun with almost lawn irrigation.  Heuchera maxima hybrids might do well under the same conditions.  A drier alternative might be Salvia spathacea, which Matilija Nursery has naturalized under Peruvian Pepper trees.  It can get powdery mildew though, so I don't want to plant it en masse just yet.
Maybe some background shrubs would do: Ceanothus 'Frosty Blue' and Rosemary planted in sunnier times are still healthy in the shade, though not very floriferous.  Manzanitas have not been happy; I don't think they really belong in the lowland south, just up in the mountains.  Carpenteria have done well enough to plant more though.
Let me know if you think of anything else.
-Ben

From: Reidfamily <pkssreid@comcast.net>
To: benwiswall@pacbell.net
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 9:48:35 AM
Subject: RE: Re. Olive understory

Ben:

If you havenʼt been yet, might I suggest a visit to Theodore Payne Foundationʼs nursery?  They are dedicated to California native plants, and the staff would be able to help you find shade/low-water tolerant plants for southern California.

K.Reid

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Ben Wiswall
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:11 PM
To: medit plants forum
Subject: Re. Olive understory

 

Hi Pamela, Fran, and David,

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Here in metro Los Angeles, olives are almost all ornamental, yet most are to my eye savagely pruned, both crown-reduced and thinned, as they might be in a commercial orchard. Sometimes they're even trimmed into topiary poodles.

 

Occasionally you will see a less fastidious homeowner leave them alone, and to me it makes a much more ornamental tree, a dense rounded crown of silvery green foliage.  This is the look I like.

 

My olives (allegedly fruitless, though last year's crop would come in handy in a famine), are spaced about 4-5 meters apart around an open space, so I look forward to an eventual enclosed canopy of interlaced trees.  Given the density of shade this will create, I'd guess from your responses that an under-story of low herbaceous plants would work better than shrubs that might stretch to find the light.  I probably will have to irrigate more often to sustain the low ground-covers as well.

 

Thanks again, any more advice is always welcome!

 

-Ben A-W

 

PS  Fran, your home town has a delightful name!

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