By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Panayoti Kelaidis, the senior curator of the Denver Botanic Gardens, approached the Broomfield, Colorado seed company, Botanical Interests, about offering a new line of seeds to preserve native and threatened species some time ago. 

The partners in this project took their time before introducing this line to make sure the offering was a group of plants that homeowners would have success with -- drought-tolerant, easy to care for, and beautiful.  The series is now here, and it was worth waiting for.

Below are three species from the series.  As usual, Carolyn Crawford's gorgeous botanical artwork makes you want them all.  There are a dozen more species in this welcome new line.  Check them out here.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I loved Jim's recent post about Kevin and Marty Hauser's quest for better apples for mild climates, which lead to their backyard business, Kuffel Creek Apple Nursery.  It is thrilling to know I may have more choices in my mild beach climate than `Anna' -- a reliable but pretty dull apple, I've always thought.  Below are the three from Kuffel Creek I find most intriguing -- that's `Enterprise' on the left; `Williams Pride' in the middle; and `Terry Winter' on the right. 

Anyone tried any of these yet in Sunset zone 24?

Surfing garden blogs, I see that many home gardeners are stretching the boundaries re apple varieties.  Tom at Tall Clover Farm on Vashon Island in Washington, for instance, is growing `Espopus Spitzenberg', said to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple, and `Belle de Boshoop', which, as he says, is almost worth growing for the name alone.

And, if I'm not mistaken, the apples his bulldogs Boz and Gracie are eyeing in the photo below are `Bradley's Seedling.'   Read Tom's post to see what he has to say about how all these varieties and more are doing in his climate.

    
By Julie Chai, Sunset associate garden editor

At the recent Late Show garden show, we were thrilled by all the inventive displays. There were so many amazing creations that it's hard to narrow them down, but here are a few of our favorites. Above, garden designers Suzanne Biaggi and Patrick Picard created the Future Feast with edibles planted right into a tabletop. Produce doesn't get any fresher than that!

We also loved the way designer Beth Mullins turned tires inside out and used them as planters in her display:

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Does this look like a fun setting for a garden class or what?

This is the sideyard of Marianne Taylor, an avid gardener living in the Los Rios Historic District in San Juan Capistrano.  (If you've ever strolled through this charming area--it's one of the oldest neighborhoods in the state of California--chances are you've walked by and admired this large, flower-filled, corner property.) Janet Crowther, another avid gardener and a friend of Marianne, often told her.  "People would pay to sit in your yard."  That gave the two women an idea.  They've started a garden seminar business called Goin Native.  The class emphasis is on hands-on experience and all sessions will be held in Taylor's backyard.

The next class -- "Holiday Gifts: Going Green" -- recycling old teapots, boots, or other fine items into decorative gift containers -- will be held on Saturday, December 5.  You can register for this and upcoming classes through the San Juan Capistrano Community Services Department.  Phone 949-493-5911.

Classes already scheduled for 2010: 

Lose the Lawn.  January 26 and February 20

How to Stretch a Costco Bouquet in Multiple Valentine Arrangements -- Feb. 9

Victory Gardens -- March 6 and March 23

Here's Marianne (on the left) and Janet (on the right).  Yes, they're a much fun as they look.  I had a great time with them in Los Rios and am looking forward to a return visit.

If you sign up for one of these classes, make a day of it.  Los Rios merits it.  My colleague Jim did a post about that very subject awhile back.

I highly recommend a bite at The Ramos House Cafe. The cafe is very casual but the menu is quite sophisticated.  Mac n' Cheese with Smoked Veggies and Lemon Gremolata.  Duck Cakes with Baby Spinach & Warm Mustard Dressing.

And I am going to have one of those sensible things some day instead of always opting for the desserts.  But I've got to tell you their Warm Berry and Banana Shortcake is heaven.

Also check out Ito Nursery while you're in the neighborhood.  It's the oldest nursery in San Juan Capistrano.  Doug Ito is the man with the peony advice I posted recently.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

A garden can be a consuming passion—at least until you feel it consuming you. When Val Easton found herself in that spot, she knew it was time to move on, this time to a gem of a low-maintenance garden she made for herself. It kept her passion for gardening alive and spawned a terrific book, The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden (Timber Press, Portland, 2009; $19.95).

Because the book is rooted in Easton’s personal and recent experience, she makes her case with formidable authority: “Somewhere along the way to plant collecting and competitive gardening, we forgot the ancient notion of the garden as a place of respite, an oasis remote from worldly cares and chores. We forgot nature’s ability to soothe, renew, and nurture.… [Her] ability to work her magic on us is dependent on our slowing down and looking closely, not on our constant efforts to improve upon her.” Easton calls gardening as it was meant to be “the feast we forget to partake of.”

In the end, she found that low maintenance wasn’t about gardening lite—she wanted “the exhaustion ... taken out, not the fulfillment”—it was instead all about design. Thus her mantra: “Design before plants, think geometry, and invest in infrastructure.”

So how did all this work out in her own landscape? The book gives you a peek through the lens of Jacqueline Koch. In addition to vignettes of Easton’s own garden (see below), you get a look at a passel of other high appeal, low-maintenance gardens and parts of gardens that are scattered like jewels across North America. You look and say “I want this,” realizing that your desire has everything to do with the sanctuary garden that Easton is calling you back to. Low maintenance is just the part of the equation that gives you the time to enjoy the sanctuary you create.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Here's another good idea I picked up from Teena Spindler and Kay Evans's talk on "Creating A Beautiful, Edible Garden" at the  Annual Garden Seminar of the Master Gardeners of Orange County:

Plant a blueberry bush in a large pot.  Then underplant it with strawberries.  (I'm inclined towards Alpine strawberries because they don't develop runners and stay in nice neat mounds.)

Since blueberries like acidic soil and much of the West has alkaline soil, growing them in containers is the only realistic option.  (You can tell yourself you'll keep amending the soil, but it's so much easier to control pH in a pot.)

But even if I had acidic soil, I think I might grow blueberries this way just for the pretty factor.  And the strawberries, especially, would be much easier to harvest.

Dave Wilson Nursery's recipe for a soil mix for blueberries in containers

More info on growing blueberries from Sunset

Blueberry recipes to try when your crop exceeds your cereal needs

The recipe I'm hoping I'll have enough berries to try out this summer -- Blueberries in black pepper-Syrah syrup

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The transitory nature of beauty is a concept to be cherished, believe the Japanese.  They even have a term for it, "wabi-sabi".  Seasonal changes may not be dramatic in Southern California, but they can be found and should be embraced as Southern California writer Debra Baldwin suggested and demonstrated and we blogged about recently.

Want more drama?  How about these recent shots from the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois?

The photos were taken by Jean Warboy, a Sunset "alum."  Warboy used to be a book designer for Sunset.  And obviously she hasn't lost her great eye.  You can see more of her photos of this garden on Facebook.

The creator of the Anderson Japanese Gardens, Hoichi Kurisu, is well-known to Sunset's readers in the Pacific Northwest.  He was the director of landscaping of the Japanese Garden in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon between 1968-1972.  And later his firm, Kurisu International, spectacularly repaired and improved The Heavenly Waterfall in that garden when it was damaged in a severe ice storm ini 1997.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

 Though it has been over a year since our blog post on Dymondia margaretae, the carpet-flat South African ground cover shown below, we are still getting comments and questions about it because more and more people are taking out all or part of their lawns and looking for substitutes.  

Phil's recent question seemed like one a lot of readers might have.  I quote him below:

"We have a space of about 200 - 300 sqf.  We purchased flats of Dymondia for it. What size clumps should be planted and what should be the correct spacing? The area had a lawn before which we sprayed a few times and lightly tilled. We are in Southern Cal. about 15 minutes inland. What would be the expected time frame for it to fill in and what's the best way to handle grass that keeps growing through? "

Though I have literally seen D. margaretea in hundreds of gardens--and liked it every time--I don't have it in my own garden and had no personal experience regarding growing it.  So I went to an expert, Randy Baldwin, general manager at San Marcos Growers, a wholesale nursery in Santa Barbara that propagates the plant.  Here's his answer.

"I tell people to plant this plant as close as they can afford.  But, if the area is irrigated and the soil decent, this plant can grow fairly fast, and a one-foot spacing would be adequate.  It would fill in within 6 months, assuming you planted in late winter through spring in an area with full sun and regular irrigation.  Buy flats if you can and cut them into squares.  As long as each piece has nice roots, they can be as small as one inch.  But test out a few to see if you need to make bigger squares to get clumps with roots before cutting up the whole flat.  If you can't find flats, break up one-gallon plants into multiples.

Regarding weeds, this plant can eventually do a good job smothering out new weed seed grasses, but when the Dymondia is young and there is space between plants, diligent hand-weeding is a must.  Site preparation ahead of time really is the key, though.  You need to get rid of the grasses that were there before you plant.  If you are dealing with Bermuda, it often takes repeated treatments of an herbicide used during the grass's growing season and while it is being irrigated so that the Bermuda thoroughly takes in the herbicide.  There are selective post-emergence herbicides that work on grasses that do not harm broadleaf plants, but my observation is they don't do a great job in controlling Bermuda.  Also I am not sure whether Dymondia is tolerant of these herbicides.  If a homeowner wantsto go this route, they should talk to a pest control advisor for specific recommendations.  And, even so, I would test a small area first before treating the entire planting."

Thanks, Randy, for such a thorough answer.  I'm sure a lot of our blog readers will find this immensely useful.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I have read and enjoyed all of Amy Stewart's books from her first From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden to her most recent, Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities.  But I heard her speak for the first time on the 17th of this month at the excellent Annual Garden Seminar of the Master Gardeners of Orange County.

Turns out Stewart is as interesting in person as she is in print.  Low-key, drily funny, full of surprising facts told entertainingly.  If she comes to your area, don't miss her.  Check her speaking engagement calendar here.

Some tidbits from her book mentioned in her talk, which was based on Wicked Plants:

.  Rye ergot, a fungus that grows on rye, especially after wet winters, may have caused the deranged behavior that lead to the Salem witch trials.  The fungus causes wild hallucinations.

.  The ghastly symptoms of pellagra, a syndrome caused by a diet containing too much corn, could have inspired the myths of vampirism in Bram Stoker's Dracula --- pale skin that erupted in blisters when exposed to the sun, sleepless nights, an inability to eat normal food, and a morbid appearance just before death.

But the most important thing I learned from Amy's lecture was that Sago palms are one of the most toxic plants your pet may encounter.  All parts of the plant, but especially the seeds and leaves, contain carcinogens and neurotoxins. I was grateful to know this because there are Sago palms all over my neighborhood.  Now I know I need to be attentive when I take Lucy, my Cavalier, for her daily walks because she thinks everything is edible.

To find out what other plants that might be harmful to your pets' health, visit the ASPCA website.

You might also want to check out our article on dog-friendly landscaping.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I caught up with fellow Southern Cailfornia garden writer Debra Lee Baldwin between presentations at the Annual Garden Seminar of the Master Gardeners of Orange County on October 17.  (If you haven't gone to this seminar before, put it on your calendar for 2010; their roster of speakers is always excellent.)

Anyway, somehow Debra and I got onto the subject of photography.  And, more specifically, about magazines and books never showing anything but young, flawless flowers and plants.  Never any spots or fading or crinkled edges or other signs of age.  As if there weren't beauty in those stages, too.  (I know, I know, Sunset perpetuates this illusion, too.)

"You'd like my post on Gardening Gone Wild about Wabi-Sabi in the garden," said Debra in response to our conversation.  And so I did. If you're not familiar with the expression, here's how Debra defines "wabi-sabi" on her post--"the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection and transience."

Below are two photos from Debra's post.  I encourage you to check out the rest.

I also found out from Debra that her second book on succulents from Timber Press, which will be titled Succulent Container Gardens is coming out sooner than I expected.  It is targeted for a January release. 

Despite our conversation, don't expect many photos like the ones above in Debra's new book.  They're going to look like the one on the cover of her new book shown below.  Gorgeous and perfect.

Also check out this short article on Designing with Succulents written by Baldwin on our website.