RE: Re. Olive understory

Ben:

I think Heuchera would do very well.  I would encourage you to also look for the H. rosada and the H. ‘Lillian’s Pink’.  They all do well on pretty low summer water.  Of course, if you can put them on the edge of places that get some morning sun, you will get more blooms. They are also low-growing and need the foreground to be seen.   I had the H. rosada in an irrigation trial in full sun a couple of years ago at UC Davis.  Of course the foliage crisped up in the summer, but it came back just fine in the spring the next year, and performed beautifully, even on VERY LOW water (only once each in May, July, and Sept.!)  You might also try Bulbine frutescens (Cape balsam), a little allium-looking plant that blooms from late fall until now with yellow and orange flowers depending on variety, and can take deep watering only once or twice a month.  One of my favorites if you can find it is Aquilegia eximia (serpentine columbine), which should be evergreen where you are, and can also (as shown by irrigation trials) take very low water during the summer.  It has leaves that look like flat leaf parsley and large pendulous orange bells held above the foliage.  It grows pretty easily from seed if that is the only way you can find it.  The Salvia spathacea should be an okay choice. TPF has a particularly nice variety unavailable anywhere else in the state at the moment called ‘Kawatre’.  If the powdery mildew is an issue at your site, though, I might be reluctant to put it where circulation will end up being impeded.  You are quite right about the manzanitas.  Some are tough to establish outside their favored habitat, but if you want one, try ‘Howard McMinn’, unless of course, that’s the one you are having trouble with, which I would really like to know!  Few Ceanothus will bloom their best in the shade, as you have said. Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ can take a surprisingly low amount of water in summer if kept in the shade.  Another shrub to add to the Carpenteria-scape might be the native western spice bush, Calycanthus occidentalis.  One last shrub suggestion might be Ribes aureum and Ribes malvaceum.  For accents, there are a couple of Carex that take the dry shade as well.  One last thought.  I have some of the prostrate rosemary in an area that now gets no supplemental water, and is kind of shaded and it still blooms just fine.  Not sure why!  A word of warning: please do not plant the Vinca major – it is on the CALIPC invasive plant species list.  I have heard that they are thinking of placing V. minor on it as well.  However, a beautiful replacement, though not evergreen up north here, is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, the dwarf plumbago.  It blooms true blue and is quite a nice groundcover.

That’s all I have at the moment.  If you want a picture of the Aquilegia or the Heuchera rosada, I can post them on flicker.

Karrie

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Ben Wiswall
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 10:48 AM
To: medit plants forum
Subject: 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!

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index