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31 01, 2025

Planning for Fire

2025-02-17T13:18:45-08:00Categories: Climate, Fire and Water|Tags: , , , |

Summer-dry climates are prone to wildfires. We love our hot, dry summers which, after wet winters, makes the vegetation tinder dry. Fires are in evitable and normal, and to live safely in this climate we have to plan for fire and hydrate our built landscape. Los Angeles State Historic Park with bioswale for stormwater percolation and native plant habitat Not all summer-dry climates are shaped by fire, but California certainly is.  The more we know about how the indigenous people used intentional fire within certain ecosystems like grasslands and Oak and Poderosa pine woodlands, the more we

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19 01, 2025

Ericas for Mild-Winter Summer-Dry Climates

2025-01-25T10:21:47-08:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: , , |

So, your summers are reliably dry, warm to hot, and sometimes, if only briefly, scorching. Your winters are usually wet and chilly but sometimes, briefly, icy cold. Years of drought and winter downpours both are common. Your soil is partly or mostly clay. Can you grow ericas? The short answer is maybe. Ericas from South Africa in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Mendocino County, California Ericas are native to a long but fairly narrow band from Norway south to Portugal, Spain, and northern Morocco, east to Turkey and Lebanon, and south to the southernmost tip of Africa.

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16 09, 2024

Chilean Myrtle

2025-01-25T10:21:46-08:00Categories: Blog, trees, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

Luma apiculata, sometimes known as Chilean myrtle, is a small to mid-sized, usually multitrunk or low-branching, evergreen tree. Leaves are small, leathery, dark green, and broadly oval with a short, acutely pointed tip. Bark is smooth and grayish tan, turning cinnamon brown with age and peeling to reveal patches of white beneath. Masses of fragrant, creamy white, mid-summer flowers with showy, brushlike, pinkish white stamens are followed by edible, purplish black berries in fall. Limbed up and out of flower, trees can resemble a manzanita or a madrone, to which they are not related. Luma apiculata is

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27 08, 2024

The Chilean Puyas

2025-02-17T14:35:53-08:00Categories: Garden Plants, perennials, succulents, Climate|Tags: , , |

Puyas (Puya species) typically are described as native to the Andes Mountains of South America and for the most part this is true. Almost all of the 200-plus species of spiny-leaved, rosette-forming puyas are found in moist to dry habitats at mid- to high elevations of the South American Andes. Puyas blend well with the textures and colors of many other summer-dry plants. Two puyas are native to the wet mountains of Costa Rica and the distribution of several others extends eastward into the rainforests of Brazil. Seven puyas are native primarily to low elevations of central

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31 01, 2023

April Showers Bring May Flowers — Or Do They?

2025-01-25T10:21:34-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Nora Harlow|Tags: , |

If it seems that some of your trees or shrubs are leafing out or flowering early these days, it may be so. One of the most commonly observed effects of global warming is early onset of these usually reliable signs of approaching spring. Ceanothus maritimus ‘Valley Violet’ usually blooms in early spring. The species is native to coastal bluffs of San Luis Obispo County, California. We know that global warming is not just something that will happen in the future. It’s happening now, has been for decades, and the speed of change is accelerating. According to the

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15 11, 2021

What is a Drought-Tolerant Plant?

2025-02-17T13:17:49-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Fire and Water|Tags: , , , |

Many plants are advertised or described as drought-tolerant, but what, if anything, does that tell us? Drought-tolerant where? Drought-tolerant when? Drought-tolerant if . . . what? By now, with unusually dry weather increasingly common worldwide, most gardeners likely are aware that drought itself may be defined in different ways, depending on one's perspective. Heteromeles arbutifolia (toyon) At the risk of oversimplifying, meteorological drought is lower than normal precipitation. Hydrological drought is lower than normal streamflow or groundwater levels. Agricultural drought is inadequate soil moisture for specific crops. Socioeconomic drought is insufficient water supply to meet demand. Ecological drought is insufficient

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19 05, 2021

Climate Change and Water Supply

2025-02-17T13:17:49-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Nora Harlow, Fire and Water|Tags: , , |

Global temperatures have been rising at least since the middle of the last century, and most projections anticipate that this trend will continue. Effects of warming vary from one region of the world to another but prominently include the likelihood that precipitation will shift from snow to rain in many snow-fed watersheds. It is also likely that snow will melt faster and run off earlier, changing the timing of peak streamflow. Snow is an important, even critical, seasonal water source for many regions with large mountain ranges, including most summer-dry climates. Snowpack accumulates in the mountains in winter when demand

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