re: new potential weed

Hi Jerry -

Since you're in The Industry, I wanted to give you some customer feedback.
Nurseries and nurserymen do influence my gardening opinion. I know sometimes
it must feel like you're shouting down a well.

I pay attention to the demo gardens when I go to a nursery. I often am
influenced by the advice of the nurseryman. So while you may not persuade
everyone who's new from the East Coast that high water use plants aren't the
way to go, you can get the message to some of them. Don't despair!  :-)

I have been stalling doing the front yard for too long now because I know I
am not going to look like everyone else. I am offing the lawn, putting in
water-permeable gravel paths in a large part of it and sticking to tough,
drought resistant plants for materials. (Though not native, sterile Purple
Fountain Grass is a big fave at this household.) I have hopes if I do a good
job and it looks decent, I'll see others on the block try the same. It can
be hard to wrap yourself around the concept of not mowing but once a person
adapts, it's hard to go back.

BTW - Gaura. Watch out. Invasive as mint, more adapted to Mediterranean
climate. I had no idea till it had a sturdy foothold in my perennial border.
Wouldn't like to think about it loose in the ecosystem around here.

Cyndi Kirkpatrick
Eos Development
http://www.eosdev.com
   ----------
     I can't think of a more appropriate topic for this group than this
one.  In Oakland, California several species come to mind.  The hills of
Oakland, once an Oak Woodland, are now a thicket of various--mostly
Mediterranean-species.  *Acacia melanoxylon* is the most grievous offender
from my experience but various brooms, *Genista* and *Cytisus* included, do
their damage, too.  Most of you know that less than ten years ago we had
one of the most horrific urban fires in US history fueled largely by brooms
and *Eucalyptus*.  {In fairness, the Eucs, if watered in the dry, summer,
season would have acted as a fire retardant, but most were so dry that they
provided a bridge for the fire to span great distances quickly.}  Three
thousand homes burned in one afternoon.
        My appreciation of this problem is especially acute because I work
in a plant nursery.  I remember my first month on the job when I saw a huge
endcap of broom.  I did my best to inform customers of the risks involved
with these weeds but we had no trouble selling out, and buying more, of
course.
        I find it a disheartening act to walk the hills of Berkeley and
Oakland.  Most of the native vegetation is gone or going.  Only the great
longevity of the oaks (*Quercus lobata* and *Quercus agrifolia*, primarily)
keeps a noticeable endemic presence.
        There is even another aspect to this question, i.e. the use of
native plants can sometimes do damage to those species.  We have a native
alder, *Alnus rhombifolia* that became a popular landscape plant in the
70's and 80's.  An insect (genus *Agrilus*) that had formerly co-existed
with the tree in the wild found more food sources in the planted specimens.
Soon the insect was killing alders both in the landscape and in the wild.
(cf. coffee in Ceylon)
        I've always considered this problem so intractable that I've never
thought about potential solutions.  I know that any attempt to change
public taste is certainly futile. In our area I'd love to see increasing
public acceptance of the sparse vegetation of an oak woodland;  urban
homeowners crowd their landscapes to keep up with the Jones or to recreate
the landscapes they knew is wetter parts of the US or abroad.  {A political
point:  I'm a weirdo libertarian so I believe the most fundamental root of
California's problem is the low cost of water:  end of politics}.
        If, somehow, a sparser landscape became fashionable perhaps weedy
escapes would dimish accordingly.  Probably--no certainly--a pipedream.
Jerry Heverly, Oakland,CA
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