Carol Mone, Restoration Gardener
Remember that Restoration, not mere Decoration, is the goal of a garden.
MUST plant
to restore destroyed habitat
Fall is a good time to plant Pacific Wax Myrtle, Morella Californica, also called California Wax Myrtle. Wax Myrtle is an evergreen tree, hedge, or very large shrub, which provides hours of recreation for the chickadee-watcher, not to mention food for the chickadees. Furthermore, most garden books rate Morella as an all-around good-looking garden plant, and these writers are not native plant fanatics. Although Morella will grow to 25 feet tall as a multi-trunked tree, it can easily be kept clipped as a low-maintenance hedge. Similar to East coast Bayberry, it is a good background plant and privacy screen.
MAY plant
to enlarge landscape possibilities
Fall is the time to think about fruit trees.
Please DON’T plant
This is a good month NOT to plant a palm tree. Wishful thinking aside, we are not in the tropics or even the semi-tropics, the native territories of the palms. Planting a palm here is an ecological mistake in addition to a visual one. In their native ranges, palms provide food, shelter, clothing, oils, waxes and numerous other useful products. Here they provide nothing except the fantasy that we are someplace else, and they take up space, space that could be better used by something useful to THIS place.
DESTROY
Fall is the time to begin attacking Ivy. By now, other plants have died back somewhat and ivy’s evil roots can be yanked from the ground with relative ease. There is no “good” ivy. Eventually ivy kills everything in its path, including trees, by blocking sunlight to leaves and weighing down branches until they break. For local proof of ivy’s invasive qualities, tour Sue-Meg State Park. The rangers can guide you to areas of interest.
Trees are the first plants to rescue from ivy. Tips on ivy eradication usually say, “cut ivy at the base of trees, being careful not to injure the tree bark.” But please don’t kill the trees trying to save them. Leave the ivy on the trees; it will die, the leaves will drop off, and the tree will recover.
When you begin to remove ivy from the ground, it is crucial to bag it and drag it – ALL parts. Taken away from the site, English ivy will compost. Be patient and sustain your efforts. Ivy eradication takes a long time (it has to be done by hand) and it must be done thoroughly. One little chunk of overlooked root can grow into a whole mat of new ivy very quickly.
Ivy’s fruits are first priority for destruction, so that no new plants are seeded. As ivy prepares to fruit, the leaf shape changes in a recognizable way. If you cannot kill the whole mass of ivy, at least be sure that it does not spread or fruit. Renters, take note. Ivy has become such a problem in Oregon that the state prohibited its transport, propagation and sale in 2010.
Pampas Grass
Lately, the Northcoast Environmental Center has received multiple inquiries about how to get rid of pampas grass (also known as Jubata grass). As the calls started coming in, we began noticing more and more pampas grass. Everywhere we go, there it is: lining the bike path, all along the 101 from Klamath to Garberville. So how do we get rid of it? Here is some advice from Restoration Gardener, Carol Mone.
- Don’t EVER plant it!
- Wear gloves! The kids don’t call it cut grass for nothing.
- When it comes up in the ground you are managing, get it while it is small. Just dig it up.
- When you have BIG ones, they can still be dug out, but it takes about an hour per plant.
- In the meantime, they can be cut down with a sawzall (they gum up the weed whacker) and the crown can be covered with something dark – an old rug or some of that disgusting ground cloth you have dug up somewhere else – anything that occludes light.
- To prevent it from spreading when you cannot do #2-#4: Cut the plume stalks, preferably before they open up. The flowering stalks break off with remarkable ease. Turn the stalk plume side down, and stuff it back into the plant. This way the seeds will not spread. Profanity is permissible if there are not children around.