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California Natives
Photo by BOB WIGAND
TO REACH HIS OFFICE EACH MORNING, Julian Duval walks across Quail Botanical Gardens, where he has lived and worked as director for 12 years. The commute is a sweet perk for this self-proclaimed nature nut, who has guided some exciting changes at the Encinitas gardens.
In 2006, Quail had a record attendance of 151,000 visitors. “There is a growing awareness that we need to be connected to the living part of the planet,” Duval says. This month marks the second anniversary of the debut of California Gardenscapes, an area designed to entice people to use the state’s native plants in their landscapes.
In the garden, sustainability means a type of gardening that’s better for us, using less fertilizer and less water. “On average, 60 percent of the potable water [Californians] use goes to landscape, because people plant the wrong kinds of plants,” says Duval.
In California Gardenscapes, attractive native plants are used to create a variety of small gardens adapted to local climate and low rainfall. Recycled water is used throughout.
“A huge number of native plants have been tamed, if you will, to fill all the possible niches you could possibly have in your garden,” says Duval. The fragrant Blue-Gray Garden features plants with gray leaves and blue or purple blooms. The Desert Garden is a mini-desert landscape for hard-to-water areas. Other gardens offer ideas for planting shady sites and landscaping hillsides.
Native plants are also the best way to attract wildlife to a garden, supplying food, shelter and nesting areas for birds and butterflies. At the Wildlife Garden, visitors learn how to create a backyard habitat.
Signs throughout highlight the different garden areas, and large panels provide information about planting, watering, mulch, weeds and garden maintenance. There’s also guidance on selecting trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers, including some of the most popular California natives—like poppies, manzanitas and ceanothus.
Not only do native plants look beautiful in the Southern California landscape, but planting them also helps preserve the diversity of vegetation. Duval finds it particularly poignant when he’s giving garden tours and people who have grown up here comment on the aroma, saying it reminds them of childhood. They’re remembering the pleasant smell of black sage. They’d brush up against it while playing in the canyons, and when they came in for dinner, it would perfume the house.
Successful Planting Tips
Native plants are mostly carefree, but that doesn’t mean there are no rules, says Julian Duval, director of the Quail Botanical Gardens. Most natives are best planted in the fall at the beginning of their growth period and the rainy season. Extra water is required at first. Duval also recommends a bit of fertilizer, a quarter of the strength recommended. Space plants so they’ll have room to grow to adult size; fill bare spots with annuals, short-lived perennials and container plants.
Research each plant’s specific growing needs. For example, the yellow-flowered flannel bush doesn’t like summer water, which makes it susceptible to fungal attack. You can mix natives with exotics in a garden, but group plants by their water, food and sun requirements. Mulch, kept away from the stem, moderates the soil temperature and keeps plants more evenly moist. For desert plants that thrive in lean soil, use inorganic mulches like decomposed gravel or rock.
The gardens are at 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas, 760-436-3036; qbgardens.org.
For more information, visit the California Native Plant Society’s Web site, cnps.org.
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