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Category: Gardening

Purpletop vervain and aloe Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening 

Gardening: In Praise of Spreaders, Fillers, and Colonizers

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By Josh Reilly Some garden plants are a bit weedy. Indelicate and misbehaved, they sometimes “don’t play well with others.” Some of them will crowd and shade out other garden favorites. Native plant enthusiasts fear more catastrophic, apocalyptic outcomes, and in several notable cases, they are right. Miles of California riparian corridors are now choked with English Ivy, (Hedera sp).… Read More
tomatoes summer garden Columns Gardening 

The Midsummer Garden: Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers

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By Marielle Martin It’s not too late to start your Midsummer Garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. July’s warm weather is in full swing so ponder selection of your summer vegetables, herbs, and flowers accordingly. This time of year can be more challenging to start plants from seeds directly in the garden. The heat can be stressful for seed germination… Read More
hummingbird sage in the may garden Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening 

Showtime in the Garden: May Blooms and Vegetable Garden Bliss

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By Josh Reilly It’s showtime! We’ve spent the long, cold Winter peeking out the window through the downpour at leafless stems, shoots, and branches. And mud. We’ve allowed ourselves a little advance joy with each new leaf or flower bud that we see in March and the big warm-up, April. Then comes May. It’s a bit like that moment when… Read More
Felton Discovery Park photo by Marielle Martin Columns Gardening 

Starting and Tending Your Native Pollinator Garden

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By Marielle Martin In the Santa Cruz Mountains, April is a great time to start or rejuvenate a native pollinator garden. During spring’s cooler months, the soil is still warm enough for root growth, but air temps are cool enough to prevent excessive water loss from plants. Additionally, many California native plants are adapted to a winter rainfall pattern, and… Read More
cedar waxwing Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening 

January in the Garden

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By Josh Reilly We had a strange Fall season in my little “holler” in Ben Lomond in 2022. Routine heavy frosts started in late October, a little ahead of schedule, along with other autumnal anomalies. Maybe it’s the 50 F temperature swings on clear days. Maybe the rare September rain triggered plant hormonal confusion, but the Granny Smith apple tree… Read More
winter camellias gardening Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening 

The Warm Colors of Winter

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By Josh Reilly December is upon us and with it, the hot-colored Holiday blooms of Amaryllis. These bulbs are often stashed in a cool, dark spot and potted in October or November. Those from in the Southern Hemisphere will flower this month, and February and March, for bulbs from the Northern Hemisphere (often the Netherlands). December blooming buds should be… Read More