Re: info on Oenothera "siskyou"

Dear Rachel,
I'm in Berkeley too and have seen lovely sidewalk plantings of
Oenothera...very nice choice. I think the idea of mulching heavily is a good
one. I too had a front yard weed lawn that I had the neighbors' gardeners
rototill under for me two years ago. They removed the top growth but not all
the roots, and I thought I'd be pulling grass, dandelions, and thistles
forever, but have had only a few weeds to contend with. I plant heavily and
mulch. For my sidewalk strip, which I don't water, the plant that has done the
best weed-smothering is Helichrysum petiolatum 'Limelite.' It keeps its frosty
chartreuse leaves year round (well, except for those unexpected freezes) and I
think would be a very nice companion to the Gaura and Oenothera, since they're
all such thugs they could just fight it out for territory. My little rock
garden plants in the sidewalk strip are cute but not nearly as carefree -
grass, always grass. 

Have you noticed that Sean currently has a Mediterranean gardening series in
the Berkeley Voice? I feel quite a proprietary sense of pride - our Sean in
the news.


Kay Dreher
Berkeley, California
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