California's Native Cherry

Native plants are the basis for creating wildlife habitat. The scarlet blush spreading across the Catalina cherry fruit alerts birds, insects and even mammals that this important native chaparral fruit is ripening.

Frequently introduced fox squirrels will ravage the fruit before it can ripen, but as more of our native plants mature there is more fruit for all of our wild visitors to discover. Today the house finches, hooded orioles and mockingbirds are beginning to enjoy these plump cherries. And of course the plants themselves provide nesting locations for birds (Allen's hummingbird).

The native cherries of California’s chaparral are related to the bing cherries and other varieties that humans cultivate, but these are wild growing plants. The Catalina cherry (Prunis ilicifolia lyonii) is found across the southern California Channel Islands (Santa Cruz Island). It is closely related to the holly-leaved cherry (Prunis ilicifolia ilicifolia) found along coastal hillsides on the mainland. But as the name implies, holly-leaved cherry has a leaf with holly-shaped prickles. The chaparral plant evolved this protection to reduce browsing by deer and other large herbivorous animals.

We have both holly-leaved cherry and Catalina cherry growing in our yard. Their close ancestry means we also have hybrids of the two. The Catalina cherry has evolved over the last 10,000 years without a large herbivore. In the Channel Island ecosystem there was no need to protect its leaves from large browsing animals, so the plant stopped expending energy on prickly leaves. The edges of the leaves are smooth.

Instead the Catalina cherry put more resources into larger fruit to attract the Channel Island fox (Urocyon littoralis). The small omnivorous fox relies on fruit for much of its late-summer-to-autumn diet. It can swallow the large pit of the cherry and transport the seed to areas distant from the parent plant in its scat.

While the fruit of the Catalina cherry looks similar to a cherry you might eat, I had my own moment of discovery when I tasted one. This cherry has not been cultivated to western human tastes. It is edible. The skin is somewhat sweet, but the pale flesh is astringent. Only when it is almost over ripe does it lose its bitterness and become palatable. According to Jan Timbrook in her book, Chumash Ethnobotany, the fruit of the cherry or “islay” was more valuable to the native peoples than acorns.

The fruit was used two ways. On occasion the thin layer of very ripe flesh was eaten directly or was mashed and dried to create a kind of fruit leather. However the most valuable part of the fruit was the seed or pit. Typically the fruit was collected in large quantities and allowed to rot. The flesh was then removed and the pit was cracked open to reveal the seed kernel inside. Like acorns, these kernels were poisonous if eaten directly and they had to be specially treated. The kernels were washed a number of times, either in hot or cold water, to leach away a form of cyanide. Once the bitter-tasting poison was gone the kernels were boiled, made into a mash and formed into balls or cakes. According to Timbrook’s sources the cakes are bean-like in texture and taste. 

So valued were islay cakes that they were frequently placed as offerings at sacred locations.

I wonder how the Chumash discovered the process to take advantage of this resource? Why did they even think the seed was valuable? Did they observe bear, deer, rodents, birds or other animals that made use of this plant?

I have often seen the pits opened and the kernels eaten out by some animal, but I’m not sure who. Still more to be discovered in my own yard.  

Social Life Among Fence Lizards

We think of lizards as individual creatures, loners. For some lizards that lifestyle is true, like the lace monitor that we saw in Australia. Yet the social life of most lizards is unknown.

Western fence lizards are thought to be territorial, keeping other individuals out of their area unless there is reproduction in the air. But I am starting to wonder about the notion of lone individuals.

These two lizards not only have been sitting on the wall together, when they dashed off the wall they went in the same direction. Baby fence lizards hatched out of their eggs over a week ago after weeks of incubation. Are the adults still in the mating mood? I'm not sure.

More investigation is needed here.

A Lizard in the House!

Today, a lizard found me again - this time in the house!

hatchling western fence lizard

This hatchling western fence lizard was in the doorway to my office. Though he is only about two inches long, he looks pretty plump. I'm not sure if he has been eating spiders in the corner of my office or if he just wandered in this morning.

We carefully scooped him up and relocated him to the back yard. In Southern California we don't have any lizards that are dangerous. In fact, this little guy is highly beneficial as an insect predator. We want him around, though not in the house.

What's really amazing is how clearly you can see this little guy's "third eye" or parietal eye. It is the small yellowish dot in the center of the back of its head. This slight depression has light sensitive cells that help lizards protect themselves (it alerts them to shadows passing overhead), its provides seasonal information with the amount of daily sunlight and it is important for stimulating hormones and timing reproduction.

A lizard in the house can be surprising, but it is great to have them as part of our healthy ecosystem. 

A Second Chance for Tomatoes

A glance at the tomato plant and all looks dried and done for the summer. Temperatures over a hundred in June and July tinged much of Southern California in brown.

But the last week of cool mornings, has given the tomato a second lease on life. 

I was about to take these plants out, but now I'll just trim and pamper. With luck this discovery will lead to late summer tomatoes!

When a Fence Lizard and an Alligator Lizard Meet

When you're traveling, discovery comes easily. But wilderness in our own backyards and neighborhoods can offer discovery as well.

I went out this morning looking for something unexpected and two lizards found me. 

Lizards in my yard are not unexpected. Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) have become abundant over the last 10 years. This year we have already seen at least three new babies. The more native California vegetation we have, the more we attract native insects and the greater the resources for the lizards.

Alligator lizards (Elgaria multicarinata) like the one pictured above, have been resident in our yard since we moved in 19 years ago. But I have never seen these two lizard species interact. 

Fence lizards are sun lovers, frequently basking out in the open. They communicate with each other visually with displays of head bobbing and revealing their blue chests. The alligator lizards, on the other hand, are shy creatures slipping through the shadows and feeding into the night on warm summer evenings.

This morning I happened upon an adult western fence lizard and a sub-adult alligator lizard. The fence lizard was trying to chase the alligator lizard out of its territory. The alligator lizard (about the girth of a pencil and 7"-8" long) took refuge on a branch in a bush about a foot off the ground. It turned, like its namesake, with an open mouth and hissing. It tried to scare off the fence lizard.

It was a miniature primeval world moment - wild lizards unencumbered by the actions of people. I ran to get the camera, but only got a picture of the fence lizard. While the fence lizard is primarily an insect eater, a larger alligator lizard could prey on the two-inch-long western fence lizard hatchlings. 

If you just take a moment to observe, you'll be surprised what you can discover close to home. This August Discover yourself.

(Australian wild lizards, Turkish wild lizards)

Find Your Self This Summer

Summer is a time for reconnecting with your true self. It's not how far you travel, just how open you are to listening and seeing. 

Since I was a child, Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada have been a touchstone of pure joy for me. The vast forests and interconnecting waterways offer exploration of nature and spirit. 

We left behind cell phones and computers and traded them in for bird calls and sunsets. 

Some of our discoveries were old friends, like the chocolate lily. The first article I sold to a magazine was about Alaskan flowers and highlighted this contrary lily. Alaskan winters are too harsh for most bee species. Many flowering plants of the north depend on other insect pollinators. The chocolate lily is beautiful, but its scent is horrible. Its aroma of decaying flesh attracts pollinating flies.

Some of the animals we went looking for were huge, but the best way to find the humpback whales was to turn off the boat engine and listen. In the calm air of Icy Strait, just outside Glacier Bay National Park, we could hear the blast of whale spout (their exhalation upon surfacing) over two miles away.

As more and more of us live in cities around the world, we lose touch with our natural state of being. We are part of the ebb of tides, the change of seasons, the gathering of creatures that collect fall berries. The only thing that separates us from the whales and chocolate lilies is that we think we are different. 

Take a walk or sit outside and watch evening fall across the world. Find your touchstone that takes you back to your best self.

Fingerling Potatoes

I love it when something is more successful than I hoped. Voila a bowl of fingerling potatoes.

Sometime in March I discovered the last few potatoes in a bag were a bit beyond eating. I hate that. I hate when food goes to waste.

My friend Douglas Welch at A Gardener’s Notebook stuck a few old potatoes in the ground in his garden and the plants were growing well. So I decided there was nothing to lose. (See our adventure to a local Garden Show).

My six old potatoes were cut into pieces with visible eyes (the beginnings of new plant growth) and stuck in two rows in my raised beds.

I’ve watered them occasionally and added additional soil around them as they grew. Really, it was minimal care. About a week ago some of the plants started dying back. So this morning I went potato digging and what did I find? Fingerling potatoes!

I only dug up about half of the plants and I already have more than twice the amount of potatoes I put in the ground. Potatoes are amazing. And perhaps this is a lesson for me: Potatoes seem to grow well in the soil and amount of light in my vegetable garden. Perhaps this is a crop I should plant more often.
 

This is what sustainability is all about. Reducing waste, growing food in a minimal footprint. Tonight we will have fresh potatoes for dinner. It is a good start to the day.

Allen's Hummingbird Builds Summer Nest

Look what's taking form in the garden.

Yesterday I spotted one of our Allen's hummingbird females working diligently on a new nest. June seems a little late, but the on-again off-again summer weather may have spurred this little female to try a brood before the heat of July and August.

Typically, we see hummingbirds nesting February through May. 
 

In March, these two Allen's hummingbird chicks took their first flights just a day after this photo. (A nest a few years ago in Jan /Feb.)

This female is obviously availing herself of the natural cotton in our "Nature's Nest" natural nesting material. She has been weaving the beige cotton fibers with spider webbing and decorating it with pieces of leaves and sticks. The natural cotton plant fiber is moisture resistant and helps keep chicks cool even as the weather heats up. 

The nesting material has become rather frayed at the edges as a variety of bird beaks have plucked and tugged at it. We've seen not only Allen's and Ann's hummingbirds, but lesser goldfinches and oak titmice using the Nature's Nest.

Interestingly, this new female Allen's is building her nest in the same low branches of the photinia that one of our long-term resident females used to build in all the time. Hummy raised several broods in nests built in this same location. That female hummingbird passed away or moved on in 2005. One of her daughters, "A," held the territory for five years, but for the last two summers no one female has held the territory or nested in this location. 

I can't help but wonder: Is this one of A's daughters or granddaughters? Or is this location and the upturn of these branches just ideal for Allen's hummingbirds to nest in?

Mosaic Project #2 - Lizard

It began with the mosaic bird house and continued into yard art. Making mosaics is relaxing, creative and fun. I especially like taking a hammer to break-up the tile!

I wanted to do a lizard on a rock, but didn't want to spend the day breaking tile into tiny bits, so I roughed out the largest part of the body. Using an exterior adhesive, I arranged the tiles and tumbled stones on the rock.



Then I applied gout around them. 

After a few days of drying, I painted in the detail of the lizard with acrylic paints and sealed it all. 

Now our western fence lizards have their own art to sit on. And even during the winter, I know there will be one lizard visible in the garden.

Mosaic Bird House

Birds live and nest in my yard. Cavity nesting species can have a difficult time finding natural cavities in an increasingly human altered landscape. Dead trees are quickly removed for fire prevention or because people don't like dead plants. Unfortunately most people don't realize the diversity of life that can continue to live in a dead tree.

I've been putting up birdhouses around my yard for several years. The Bewick's wrens have taken advantage of these dwellings on several occasions. The oak titmouse pair inspects the real estate, but have yet to move in. There is the wine cork house, the lariat house, the wooden nestbox and the chicken pot, which wasn't supposed to be a bird house but the wrens thought otherwise.

The inspiration from my recent visit to a local Garden Show, spurred me to finish this mosaic birdhouse. The structure is a wooden birdhouse purchased from a local craft store. I made a point of looking for a shape and entry size that were attractive to my wrens. 

Bits of leftover tile, glass beads and polished stones were glued onto the structure with a tile adhesive. I topped it with a glass bird that had broken off of a swizzle stick provided by my friend Kim. Grout filed the spaces between the tiles and then the whole thing was sprayed with a sealer.

The intent was decoration, but the Bewick's wren pair are inspecting it already. They've just fledged their second clutch of kids this year. Maybe their third will grow-up in the mosaic house.

Propagating Epiphyllums

The flower diversity at the Southern California Spring Garden Show prompted Douglas Welch of A Gardener's Notebook and I to talk about plant propagation.

I've successfully grown two variety of epiphyllum for years. The Sunset Western Garden Book gives the common name of "orchid cactus" for epiphyllum. Epiphyllums are a type of cactus with long flat stems that are scalloped along the edges and give the appearance of leaves. The few spines are at the base of these scallops. 

These plants naturally come from the forests of Central and South America where rain is frequent. It is odd to think of forest cactus, but that is what these plants are. They have small shallow roots and typically settle into the nooks and crannies in trees and between rocks. Here in pockets of leaf litter, they thrive on rain water and nutrients washing off the surrounding plants.

The wild plants have large, mostly white-or-cream-colored flowers that bloom at night with a heavy scent. They are pollinated by bats and they produce a fruit that is also eaten by mammals, who then disperse the seeds. Hybridized plants come in a broad spectrum of colors (ESA display at Garden Show) and they tend to flower during the day.

I'm going to share my plants with Douglas. Following the advice of the Epiphyllum Society of America, I cut off a blade and let it heal in a dark dry place for up to 10 days. One of the sections I selected already had a root forming when I cut it.

Douglas can now plant these in a loose soil of bark, sand and potting mix. Let it sit without water for 2 weeks then gradually begin to water occasionally. Once rooted they should be kept moist but not wet. I've found clay pots hold moisture during our hot summer without keeping the plants too wet.  It takes about 2 years for a cutting to bloom.

just about to bloom

To get the right amount of air flow, my pots are up on the edge of a wall in partial shade. The second perk to this location is that the sprinklers just lightly reach them.

While epiphyllums are not native to Southern California, the large valley carpenter bee will visit the blooms. Western fence lizards appreciate the elevated location and linger in the pots. And when the blooms open I am reminded how their shape is perfect for hugging a nectar eating bat. 

Finding Inspiration at the Southern California Spring Garden Show

Display by Don Davidson and Fiesta Parade Floats

Last weekend I dashed off to the Southern California Spring Garden Show at the South Coast Plaza with friends. There is something inspiring about the colors and shapes of plants and flowers even when they are showcased indoors.

The colors and textures were dazzling.

notice how the blocks of color are a blend of flowers

The Epiphyllum Society of America illustrated how variation in one plant can make for splendor.

The display gardens were filled with wondrous ideas. "Paint by the Numbers" presented by Living Landscapes (www.LivingLandscapes.us) demonstrated the power of color. (Even though I was looking for some native plants that would also provide habitat.)

"The Art of Exterior" presented by The Garden Gallery highlighted the art of humans and nature. (www.theggallery.com)

While the display garden by the Orange Coast College Horticultural Club & Architecture Technology (www.occhorticultureclub.wordpress.com) integrated natural forms with a complex structure that complimented the organic elements and created airy height.

I've never seen so many different kinds and colors of orchids anywhere in one location. Everywhere you looked there were inspirational shapes, colors, textures, combinations and the simple reminder that nature is rejuvenating.

Visit a local garden show, go for a walk in a local park or nature center. Take in the tonic of spring.

For more inspiration visit my friend Douglas Welch's blog A Gardner's Notebook for video and photos of the Southern California Spring Garden Show. Toward the end of the video, I promise there is a purple orchid like nothing you have ever seen.

Worm? Lizard or Snake?

How many times have you found a dried-up worm on the sidewalk? That was my first guess when I saw this desiccated, long-bodied shape on the steps in the backyard. But the body seemed too thick for the worms we typically find in our ground.

My heart sunk. Had someone stepped on one of our slender salamanders? But there were no little legs. Slender salamanders have tiny, but always visible legs.

When I picked it up I knew I was definitely looking at not a worm and not a salamander. This is a reptile. Now the question was lizard or snake?

This is a reptile because small scales are visually apparent. Worms and amphibians are creatures with soft permeable skin, no scales.

The specimen is not a full body. There is no head and no real torso. Some natural predator ate the front portion of this reptile. There are no legs, but I didn’t have much of the body and some lizards are legless. Turning it over instantly told me this was the back section of a snake, specifically a ringneck snake.

 How did I know that? If you look at the belly or dorsal side you can see elongated scales that go across the width of the belly. These are the scute scales that enable the snake to make its way across the ground without having legs. The scute scales end at the cloaca, the opening that serves both reproductive and elimination systems. So we are looking at the last 4-5 inches of a small snake.

The clue that this is a ringneck snake is the vivid orange color on the belly with numerous black spots or flecks. The ringneck snake is the only local California species with this coloration and this is most likely a San Bernardino ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus modestus) the subspecies typical to our area.

I saw a live adult ringneck snake in the yard almost exactly a year ago. They never get too large, just 10-30 inches. The individual snake I saw was larger than this. Perhaps they are breeding in our oasis of native habitat. There are plenty of salamanders or western fence lizards and their eggs for these small snakes to eat.

I’m sad to see this beneficial and non-threatening snake dead. I’m not sure who ate it. Possibly either the raccoon, skunk or opossum that circle through our yard on a regular basis. I’m hoping that there are more of them hiding in the undergrowth–a healthy habitat needs small predators like snakes. 

"The Next Big Thing"

I was tagged! 

My friend and poetry teacher Julie Williams tagged me to participate in "The Next Big Thing" or Blog-o-sphere Project. "It is a fun way for writers all over the world to connect and share information about their current writing project or upcoming book."

Julie is a published poet and the author of a young adult novel-in-poems called ESCAPING TORNADO SEASON (HarperCollins). Her new YA novel, ALL THE WORLD'S A JUMBLE will be out next year (Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan). You can read more about her projects and see her multi-media art at http://juliewilliamsimagesandwords.blogspot.com/

Read Julie's "Next Big Thing" interview at Diane Kendig's blog. 
 
So now that I’m tagged here’s my secret - I have a book waiting in the wings.

What is the working title of your book?

Animal Tales; How Animals Taught Me to Laugh

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When my extended family gets together there is a tendency to tell stories. Typically, these tales involve animals in some way and the storyteller isn’t really doing their job if the yarn doesn’t end with everyone teary-eyed from laughing. It struck me that these stories were too good to let them disappear in the verbal ether. I started to write them down.

What genre does your book fall under?

Family humor with a bit of non-fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I can see Steve Martin as my dentist uncle faced with the conundrum of disposing of a dead goat in the middle of the city and Jack Black as my dad bottle-feeding a baby rabbit and training it to sit on his shoulder like a parrot.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Growing up surrounded by animals can profoundly influence how you find humor in the unexpected.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I think I’m going to publish this as an e-book.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It started out as a few short stories, but gradually over several years it became a collection of tales.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I think it is a cross between James Harriot’s “Dog Stories” and “Cat Stories” and James Thurber’s “My Life and Hard Times.”

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My Uncle, who is a wonderful storyteller, and my parents who brought a menagerie of animals into our home and taught me that all of these creatures were part of our family.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Animals, animals, animals.







Stay tuned for the writers I'm tagging.

Pocket Gopher - Villain or Hero?

Ahh! They are back. A pocket gopher has tunneled its way to the lower area of my front yard and undermined one of my native Douglas iris. In the past this area has been beyond their reach, but not any more.
 
Of course, the destructive gopher hones in on what it prefers, my native plants. 

The Douglas iris in the upper left is the current gopher target.

Previous gophers have eaten the roots and rhizomes right off of my native iris in the backyard. I’ve put metal screen boxes underground around plants. I’ve planted narcissus bulbs as alleged gopher deterrents. I’ve even joined my dog in digging them out. I curse the gophers, but they do have a purpose.

Our southern-California soil has a lot of clay. 

The gopher is kicking hard-packed clay up from under the sidewalk

This element of our soil was vital to the adobe bricks that built our missions and the clay tiles of Malibu and Catalina Tile Companies. The industrious, and hungry, pocket gopher tunnels through the hard soil searching out the roots of plants. 

As it builds its underground highway it aerates the soil and mixes the sediments. It creates underground pathways for water to flow and roots to follow. The gopher’s earthen works even provide a protected highway for other animals such as worms, arthropods and especially amphibians.

The underground tunnels of pocket gophers enable salamanders and frogs to travel in a moisture controlled environment without the threat of dehydration. Remember in southern California we have six or more months without rainfall. Gopher tunnels enabled California slender salamanders to travel from my backyard down into the lower areas of the front yard.

Even sections of collapsed tunnel create homes for western fence lizards and alligator lizards.

If only the pocket gopher would eat plants I don’t want. Well, here’s the rub, it is. The root and bulb of this noxious oxalis (an African invasive) has been sheared off by the gnawing teeth of the pocket gopher.  

underside of oxalis with root sheared right off

Living underground, pocket gophers were one of the few animals that survived the volcanic eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. Tunneling activity brought nutrient rich soil up through the volcanic ash layer creating opportunity for plants to reestablish. Just as in my yard, amphibians traveled back into oases of habitat through the gopher tunnels. When large animals, like elk came into the blast area from its edges, their feet broke through the gopher tunnels mixing soil with elk droppings thereby adding seeds and nutrients to the soil.

At Mt. Saint Helens, the pocket gopher is a hero. It would be a hero in my yard if...and here is the big if... if there were a medium-sized predator to control their overpopulating and devouring my entire garden. The coyote, red-tailed hawk and great horned owl seem to be focusing their efforts else where. That leaves me the task of being the predator controlling the gopher population. If the native iris are to survive–out comes the gopher trap.

Bright Yellow Flowers in Winter

It's hard to believe that while the east coast is digging out of several feet of snow, our winter along the California coast means flowers. 

The giant coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) in the front yard is blooming for the first time. This Dr. Seussian looking plant is unique to the California Channel Islands and coastal areas from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles. Each summer the thick gray stalks appear to be dead multi-armed creatures. Yet if our Mediterranean climate delivers a cool wet winter, then feathery green leaves start to emerge in January followed by big floppy daisy-type flowers in radiant yellow come February.

This yellow has a tinge of blue hovering like an aura. The vibrant color sings with ultraviolet attracting carpenter bees and skipper butterflies.
Why is the giant coreopsis blooming this year? I think it is finally big enough, both above and below ground. In other words the root system is now stable enough to absorb the amount of water needed to produce blooms.
Plus I think the frost we had a few weeks ago kind of goosed it. Frost followed by warm equals spring for California native plants.
 
It can be difficult to successfully grow a garden of natives. Gophers seem to regard my native Douglas iris as candy. A fungi in the ground has now killed both a small coast live oak and an island ironwood tree. Invasive fox squirrels have twice eaten the tops off two rare Santa Rosa pine seedlings. But the native plants attract a variety of native insects, spiders and birds. 

Our front hill slope continues to be a challenge but the giant coreopsis, sugarbush, Catalina cherry, toyon, San Nicolas Island buckwheat and chamise are all doing well. Native plants survive drought, heat and frost all while creating habitat. They are worth fighting off the gophers.