From the UC Blogosphere...
Beware of 'garden thugs'
The Sacramento Bee recently warned readers of certain plants that might at first appear to be lovely, delicate greenery, but in time can become the vegetative equivalent of a street gang viciously expanding its turf. The story was picked up yesterday by Scripps News Service.
The most notorious garden thugs, the story said, are bamboo and mint.
Ellen Zagory, the horticulture director for the UC Davis Arboretum, told reporter Debbie Arrington that she has neighbors with running bamboo, which means she has bamboo shoots constantly coming up in her own yard.
"It's really scary," she was quoted. "I've seen concrete patios where every little crack and seam had bamboo coming up. When I see some come up, I dig a big, long trench down as far as I can go and get as much as I can."
Arrington also spoke to the Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener coordinator Judy McClure, who nominated bee balm for the list of garden thugs.
"If you really like to divide plants and share them with others, you can grow bee balm," McClure was quoted. "But if not, it's incredibly invasive."
Other problem plants are vinca major, blackberries and Bermuda grass.
UC Master Gardener Bill Pierce added false strawberry to the list. The deep green ground cover with little yellow flowers and berrylike fruit has many Sacramento gardeners pulling their hair out as it rapidly invades lawns and flower beds.
"They're pretty shallow-rooted," McClure said of the false strawberry. "You've got to be diligent."
Some of the plants now considered to be invasive nuisances had in the past been recommended for low-water, low-maintenance gardens, the Bee article said.
"In particular, there's a lot of concern over Mexican feather grass," McClure said. "It's now considered an invasive plant (and a danger to wildlife areas)."
Pampas grass also falls in that category; its feathers broadcast seeds everywhere.
Drought-tolerant Mexican evening primrose, which is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds, was a hit in low-water gardens.
"It's so beautiful, so tough and doesn't need any water," Zagory was quoted. "But if you put it where it has water, it will take over the whole yard."
Mexican evening primrose is pretty, but can become an invasive weed.
In the Pink
Honey bees in the pink? Yes. If you plant rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora), a perennial succulent, be prepared for...
Pollen-packing honey bee heads toward a rock purslane blossom already occupied by another worker. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee, packing a gigantic load of red pollen, heads for another rock purslane blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Fish and wildlife funds disbursed in Marin
Fines levied for fish and wildlife violations in Marin County will fund a slate of programs to enhance local fish and wildlife resources and public education programs, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
The funding is being allocated by the Marin County Fish and Wildlife Commission, which is staffed by UC Cooperative Extension director and watershed management advisor Dave Lewis. He reported that reduced state and local allocations resulted in the commission limiting its recommendations for grant disbursements in 2011.
The nine grants, which ranged from $1,140 to the Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed to $300 for the Tyee Foundation, which raises and releases salmon in Tiburon, amounted to $7,033 in all. Also, $2,200 was allocated for administrative staff support of the commission. Last year, the panel distributed more than $24,000 to a dozen agencies.
Lewis said the commission gets about 18 percent of fish and game fine revenue to distribute after the state and courts take the lion's share of citation revenue generated in Marin. The funds support projects that promote restoration, sustainable use, management and related educational programs of the fish and wildlife resources in Marin County.
And Then There Were None
The Bohart Museum of Entomology has five. Nature has none. Zip. Zero. Zilch. The Xerces Blue Butterfly, which once thrived...
Tabatha Yang, outreach and education coordinator at the Bohart Museum, wearing a Xerces Blue Butterfly shirt. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Small farm program the source for NY Times story
New York Times reporter William Neuman attended the UC small farm program's final "Growing Agritourism" workshop in Salinas last month and connected with a number of California farmers who were featured in a story published yesterday. The article noted that the "university extension service" brought the farmers, agricultural and tourism professionals, local officials and community leaders together to talk about improving agritourism opportunities in the Central Coast region.
The workshop was one of five held this year by the UC small farm program and UC Cooperative Extension. Funding to support the workshops came from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.
The California agritourism enterprises featured in the story were:
- Dairy farmers Jim and Christine Maguire, who operate two bed-and-breakfast units at their farm. "Money from the paying guests is now enough to pay for the animals’ feed, one of the farm’s biggest expenditures," the story says.
- Christine Cole, who charges for tours of Full House Farm in Sebastopol, Calif., where she and her husband keep horses, raise vegetables and chickens and maintain three farm stay units.
- Vince Gizdich who runs Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, where visitors enjoy “Pik-Yor-Self” berries and apples.
- Bonnie Swank, of Hollister, Calif., who runs a corn maze and haunted house each fall on land that grows vegetables the rest of the year.
- Templeton farmer Kim A. Rogers and her husband, who pulled out their orchard to become full-time innkeepers. "Farming was exhausting work and the bed-and-breakfast was providing an increasing portion of their income," according to the Times.
The story mentioned a number of online resources for the public to find agritourism experiences including Farm Stay U.S., which maintains a listing of farm stays around the country, and World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which acts as an online clearinghouse for people who want to trade labor for lodging on a farm, with stays ranging from days to months. But it didn't include the UC small farm program's own agritourism directory, CalAgTour.org, which steers visitors to the wide variety of agritourism destinations in California.
Gizdich Ranch operates a U-pick operation.