Through the Garden Gate

Mushrooms, tools & habitat
Mushroom lovers and wannabe lovers! Come to the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m. Rachel Zierdt of the Sonoma Mycological Society will present a program called “A Funghi Teaser.” She will talk about what makes mushrooms special and what makes up the environment where certain ones are found. Meetings are held at the Luther Burbank Art & Garden Center at 2050 Yulupa Ave. in Santa Rosa. Meetings are free and so are the refreshments.
Rain showers or storms often mess up Halloween Trick or Treating for costumed kids and parents. Not this year and that’s good news for the kids. However, gardeners are waiting, hopefully. I turned off my irrigation system recently … maybe that will work to make it rain – or not.
So keep on watering your newly planted perennials, vines, shrubs and trees until we get a good soaking. Then put down a thick layer of mulch after the soil is really wetted. This will keep the moisture in the soil until the next rains really let us know that the rainy season has begun.
Many folks don’t bother, including myself, but I am seeing the consequences now. I am talking about cleaning up my garden tools and stashing them in a dry place for the winter. How often do we find a trowel or a small cultivator rusting away in the debris of our gardens? I notice that the wood handles are splintering, my new circle hoe is separating from the handle, and my shovel scarcely cuts into the soil. And these were costly tools, as I tend to buy good ones. So as a reminder, both to you and to me, gather up your tools, clean the soil from them, and if you don’t know how to sharpen one of them, take it somewhere to have it done. Then rub an oily rag over the metal. Sand the wood handles and apply a bit of linseed oil; then they can be safely put away.
If you have a place in your yard, perhaps even a container on a protected patio, where the frost won’t hit heavy, try a St. Catherine’s Lace buckwheat (Eriogonum giganteum) this planting season. Buckwheats are magnets for pollinators. It’s a beautiful shrub, or sub-shrub, that requires little of its gardener, for it doesn’t care too much about the soil and needs only occasional water. It’s from Southern California and the islands and likes lots of sun. It has a pretty rounded shape and ultimately grows to four to eight feet tall and around. It can be tip-pruned, but should be placed where it can grow without restrictions. The flowers are ivory-white, tiny and many and stand up on tall stems over the leaves. As one author puts it, they are “awesome to behold.” The leaves are soft and silver-green. I lost my plant after several successful seasons.  It was heartbreaking. I had unknowingly planted it out in the open with no protection from Forestville’s hard frosts.
I write of this every fall – about not cleaning up your yard to resemble a clean-swept patio. Leave lots of debris and leaves for the birds to scratch and peck through. Leave tall stems and seed heads for the insects and spiders to over-winter in. Many native pollinator bee, wasp and fly species use hollow stems to lay eggs in or just to seek protection in from the weather and predators. If family or friends ask why your yard is so disheveled, tell them you are “creating habitat for wildlife.” It will be true.
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