2016 - Robert's adventures in the Northern Sierra Nevada - California

[Robert]

I am sure there would be a great deal of horticultural interest in the Manzanitas Robert, especially plants that are resistant to Phytopthora and tolerant of more summer-moist climates. They are virtually unknown in cultivation in the UK but with a clear tendency to more Mediterranean-like weather in the south, as a result of climate change, they could become more amenable to cultivation. Ceanothus are so widely grown here that it is surprising that Arctostaphylos have not been trialed more.

Heteromeles arbutifolia looks interesting too; there is a striking picture of it in Nevin Smith's book 'Native Treasures', and he mentions a form 'Davis Gold', but says it has had little horticultural selection. Do you know this book Fermi? http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520244269

Tim,

Resistance to Phytopthora is literally a one-in-a-million proposition. I mention this because we all need to keep an eye out for such plants. They are out there.

There are so many Arctostaphylos species that are native to the California fog belt. Certainly these would, or could, thrive in the UK. Arctostaphylos columbiana must be grown in the UK? Cold hardy and from a maritime climate. There must be at least 50 taxa of Arctostaphylos native to our fog belt. As I can I hope to visit some of the northern California sites.

It is interesting that you mention the Genus Ceanothus, another fascinating group. This Genus is even semi-neglected here in California. There are some excellent clones, and unfortunately some terrible ones that float around in our local nursery trade. Many of the lesser know species are completely overlooked. The obvious reason is that they do not amend themselves to commercial nursery production. This does not mean that they cannot be excellent garden plants. Many are -  I will make a point to share photograph from our garden.

Nevin Smith is well known, and well respected, here in California. I do not grow Heteromeles 'Davis Gold', however it does have nice golden fruit. If I see one around perhaps I can gather some fruit. Who knows a % might come true from seed.

[Robert]

I have only tried smoke on some Australian seeds once. The seeds germinated but I don't know whether it was the smoke!
Have to try your technique next time, Robert.

Trond,

Yes, this method does work! 

I missed my chance to get to Slate Mountain this week. It is one site where Arctostaphylos nissenana grows. Hopefully next week I can make the trip. Low snow levels are excepted so I might be looking around in a snow storm. This is why I have all-wheel-drive. 

[Robert]

A few photographs from around the farm today.



Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia - dry farmed i.e. no summertime irrigation. It is about 1 meter tall and grew about 15 cm last year. There is another plant in the garden with berries, however it is semi-covered in honeysuckle. 



Micranthes californica awakening from summer dormancy.



Pellaea mucronata - no irrigation and completely evergreen! It is getting well established now and will most likely put on some good growth this year.



Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis - this plant receives no summertime irrigation, but goes completely dormant during the summer. With summer watering they will stay evergreen.



Salvia sonomensis - It seems to thrive on dry conditions. For me it is bliss - the scent of the foliage is divine. I have seen several different color forms in the wild, white, pink, and various shades of lavender-blue.

[Hoy]

Trond,

Yes, this method does work! 

I missed my chance to get to Slate Mountain this week. It is one site where Arctostaphylos nissenana grows. Hopefully next week I can make the trip. Low snow levels are excepted so I might be looking around in a snow storm. This is why I have all-wheel-drive. 

Hope you don't get stuck in the snow!

I haven't a 4 wheel drive but use snow socks on the car if necessary. It works fine it the snow cower isn't too thick.

[Hoy]

A few photographs from around the farm today.

Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia - dry farmed i.e. no summertime irrigation. It is about 1 meter tall and grew about 15 cm last year. There is another plant in the garden with berries, however it is semi-covered in honeysuckle. 


Micranthes californica awakening from summer dormancy.


Pellaea mucronata - no irrigation and completely evergreen! It is getting well established now and will most likely put on some good growth this year.


Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis - this plant receives no summertime irrigation, but goes completely dormant during the summer. With summer watering they will stay evergreen.


Salvia sonomensis - It seems to thrive on dry conditions. For me it is bliss - the scent of the foliage is divine. I have seen several different color forms in the wild, white, pink, and various shades of lavender-blue.

Here everything has gone into dormancy due to the cold weather we have experienced. The last flowers were damaged by unseasonally cold weather. September was very warm, October was average and November has so far been unusually cold.

The Goldback Fern looks nice!

[johnw]

Tim - Steve Krebs at the Holden Arboretum is breeding for phytoph. resistance in rhododendron for hot steamy places and is having favourable results.


You might be interested in an Arctostaphylos that is growing up against Glendoick House in Glencarse.  A damp climate  - likely not as wet as here though (actually E. Scotland 1183mm /yr vs Hfx. 1452mm / yr.) - but it was 10-12ft tall with very colourful copper-red bark.  I think it was indeed A. columbiana but I could dig through my slides if you'd like confirmation.


john - clear and a chilly 4c.

[Robert]

Hope you don't get stuck in the snow!

Trond,

I know what you mean! Sometimes having all-wheel-drive can get one stuck even worse than with 2 wheel drive. I had a Toyota 4x4 for 25 years. I always carried a 50 foot wire cable and a long chain with hooks to get out of difficult positions. I did not have a winch, however a come-along worked just as well. I have no plans to use the Subaru as I did the Toyota 4x4! With my Toyota 2x I was always compromised with mud or other difficult road situations that the Subaru can handle easily. Also light snowfall, especially on pavement, will be easy with the Subaru. At times when I have needed to rent an auto I always requested a Subaru Outback because they fit my needs so well. 

[GordonT]

Robert, you always manage to introduce something new to me each time I read your posts. Ferns are a new interest for us, and I have to second Trond's remarks about the Goldback fern. It has great form. I suppose it would be wishing too much for it to be very cold hardy!

The genus Ceanothus is also of interest to me. I hope to be able to germinate some Ceanothus americanus to trial here. I somehow doubt any of the evergreen Ceanothus would survive here without coming through winters looking like burnt toast. It would be nice to find that some of the blue flowered members of the genus could take Nova Scotian winters without looking like death each spring.

[Robert]

Gordon,

Generally I find Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis, at lower elevations, so... perhaps it may not be very cold hardy. I just do not know. I think it is a good idea to trial species of unknown cold hardiness. The results could be surprising.

There are a number of Ceanothus species that are both evergreen and cold hardy. Ceanothus cordulatus is a common species at high elevations in the Sierra Nevada. I encounter Ceanothus velutinus at high elevations on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. It too is evergreen. Unfortunately both have white flowers. The foliage of C. cordulatus can be a very beautiful glaucus-gray. Wicked thorns! ....but still worth a try.

High elevation forms of Ceanothus prostratus do have "blue" flowers. C. prostratus is evergreen. Most likely the high elevation forms are cold hardy, as I have seen this species on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. I am growing some forms that have very deep blue flowers. The flowers lose some of their intense color in hot weather, so more selection is necessary to find forms that hold their flower color better in hot weather.

The above are some of the most cold hardy, evergreen species. There are other species that would be worth a try. Ceanothus may have a reputation of being tender to the cold as most of the commercial varieties are from low elevations near, to somewhat near, the California coast. There are cold hardy California species. They are mostly overlooked and little or no effort has been made to find or create good selections of the cold hardy types. Something like Ceanothus parryi looks unassuming in its natural habitat. It flowers are blue and its range extends into fairly high elevations in the coastal mountains (above the snowline). I see no reason why much improved forms could not be found. As far as I am concerned there are still tremendous opportunities to introduce improved forms of many California species.

[Robert]

I was able to make a short reconnaissance to Slate Mountain today to see Arctostaphylos nissenana. I did not have much time, but enjoyed myself never-the-less. Back to a hectic schedule. I'll report as I can. 

[Gabriela]

I've been going through your last posting Robert - a bit of virtual traveling in the evening is always great 
I wanted to tell you and forgot that, during a short trip to Vancouver Island this early summer, I encountered Pentagramma triangularis and recognized it thanks to you - upon seeing the curled fronds glistening in the sun, the 'goldback fern' came instantly to my mind! I admired it a lot in your pictures but one has to see it in real to understand the true meaning of its common name.

I've never tried growing ferns from spores but this one is so tempting that I will give it a try.

[Robert]

Gabriela,

I am very happy to hear that you are enjoying the botanical diary. 

Autumn in our part of California is a bit like springtime as many species end dormancy and grow all winter into the late spring - early summer. This is true of many of our fern species. Some species such as Polypodium calirhiza are not tolerant of excessive moisture during their summertime dormant rest. Other species such as the Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis, that you mentioned, are very tolerant of summer moisture and will stay evergreen if watered during the summer. They do not seem to grow, they just stay evergreen.

Depending on where you saw Goldback Ferns on Vanouver Island, they undoubtedly could be more cold tolerant than those from mild areas of California. I do see Pentagramma in fairly cold locations in our region. I saw them in the canyon of the North Fork of the Feather River a few weeks ago and this is a somewhat cold region. I am sure that 10 F, -12 C is a common temperature every winter. Extreme lows are much more - in the neighborhood of O F, -18 C, maybe a bit colder.

[Robert]

SLATE MOUNTAIN

Monday, 14 November 2016

Sacramento Weather

Weather: Clear
Temperature, High: 73 F, 23 C
                       Low: 52 F, 11 C

Placerville Weather

Weather: Clear
Temperature, High: 73 F, 23 C
                       Low: 43 F, 6 C



I had a short period of time on Monday to do some field botany. Slate Mountain is a short distance from the farm and is home to a population of El Dorado Manzanita, Arctostaphylos nissenana. The species is known from only 11 sites in California. Most of the sites are in El Dorado County, however at least one site is in neighboring Placer County to the north. There is another disjunct population is in Tuolumne County some distance to the south.

The Slate Mountain site was partly burned over several years ago. It is uncertain to me if this fire was part of the larger King Fire complex or a separate fire. Judging from the regrowth this area did burn at about the same time as the King Fire.

There is a road to the top of Slate Mountain, however I parked at the junction at the base of the mountain (3,527 feet, 1,075 meters) and hiked to the summit along a cut fire line.



Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum, had sprouted and grown abundantly in the burned areas. The plants were quite vigorous and healthy, many 1 meter tall of more.



Pseudognaphalium beneolens, a cudweed (native), was another opportunistic species taking advantage of the cleared burn areas.



There were plenty of invasive species too, such as Horsewwed, Erigeron canadensis. There were plenty of grasses, most likely invasive species, however I could no identify any from the dried remains. Sprouting among the dry grass were many Lupine, Lupinus sp.



I was very surprised to find the dried remains of a good colony of Delphinium sp. They could have been any of a number of species - too dried up to even give a hint as to their identity.

[Robert]

As I walked the fire line there was the intact forest to the north, a mixture of Ponderosa Pine, Pinus ponderosa, Sugar Pine, Pinus lamberiana, and broad leaf evergreen species such as Mondrone, Arbutus menziesii, and Canyon Live Oak, Quercus chrysolepis.



To the south was a forest of large White Leaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos viscida ssp. viscida. The majority of the plants had burned and died in the fire, however a few giants remained.



Arctostaphylos viscida ssp viscida is an obligate seeder and the thousands of new seedlings were growing throughout the burn area.



It was only a short distance to the summit of Slate Mountain (3,759 feet, 1,146 meters). There were many fine views. This photograph is to the southwest toward the Sacramento Valley.



To the east-southeast was a view of the canyon of the South Fork of the American River and the High Peaks in the distance.

[Robert]

There were many dead White Leaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos viscida ssp viscida, but no signs of the El Dorado Manzanita, Acrtostaphylos nisssenana.



Another abundant resprouter from the fire was Bush Poppy, Dendromecon ridgida.



The Bush Poppies must be putting on a fantastic show in the late spring with their golden yellow "poppies".



My goal this day was to find El Dorado Manzanita, Arctostaphylos nissenana. This view shows part of the continuing ridgeline of Slate Mountain. The area lives up to its name, as this area consists of exposed slate - prefect habitat for El Dorado Manzanita.



I spent the bulk of my time wandering and scanning for El Dorado Manzanita. The White Leaf Manzanita growing on the exposed slate are very stunted. Most grew only 30 cm tall, with a few to maybe 60 cm. Unfortunately I was not finding any El Dorado Manzanita.