Some things are just meant to go together: peanut butter and jelly; Acorus gramineus minimus ‘Aureus’ and Alchemilla mollis…..what??? Well, Grassy-leaved Sweet-Flag (Acorus gramineus minimus ‘Aureus’) a short, mounding, strappy leaved plant with a gorgeous lime-green color planted next to the ruffled-edged, saucer-shaped dark green leaves and the spikes of foamy-white flowers of Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) – might just be a perfect plant combination. And finding new and great plant combinations is the goal of the new companion planting trial beds at the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens at Turtle Bay, says Lisa Endicott, Horticultural Manager at the gardens. Photo: One of the companion pairs intended by the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens is this between Carex barbarae (dun colored grassy plant at back) and Lysimachia c. ‘Atropurpurea’ (pale purple flower at bottom), however, plants (like people) have a way of forming their own companions no matter what the gardener intended. Here, the dark purple head of a Verbena adds a third and striking element to the combination.

Companion Planting as a concept is as old as mother nature – who routinely puts plants together that work well together and for the most part, they look good together, too. Companion Planting as handled by mortal gardeners is a technique used to see which plants that you might not expect to see together actually make great companions anyway. The success of their companionship is based on a variety of criteria: (Photo: Rosemary planted against a backdrop of
the dramatic Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. (more…)

Like gardening itself, the field of Botanical Illustration dates back to ancient times and is a combination of both art and science. Surviving examples of ancient botanical drawings include detailed sketches of plants dating to 1500 BCE found on Egyptian temple walls. Until the advent of the camera, microscope and other instruments used for copying and storing information, botanical drawings served all manner of purpose for the fields of Botany, Medicine, Pathology and Geography among others. Early botanical drawings served as teaching tools for students of these fields and drawings were often compiled into “herbals” or collections cataloguing the medicinal uses of plants. Today, Botanical Illustration continues as marriage between art and science and is becoming increasingly interesting to gardeners. Classes in Botanical Illustration specifically for gardeners are offered at display and botanic gardens, nurseries, and herbaria around the region. Photo: Susan Bazell in her studio.

Susan Bazell is a Botanical Illustrator who lives and works in Paradise. While she says she is not a “professional botanical artist,” Susan’s work can be seen in several books, including the newly released Cacti, Agaves and Yuccas of California and Nevada (Stephen Ingram, Cachuma Press, 2008), Conifers of California (Ronald M. Lanner, Cachuma Press, 2002), and The Life of an Oak (Glenn Keator, Heyday Books, 1998), among others. Photo: Books in which the work of Susan Bazell appears.
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David Grau is a gardener; he is also an avid supporter of sustainability, community and local food production. He has worn many hats – gardening hats and otherwise – in his life. In the late 70s and 80s, he was an organic Market Gardener selling and a co-founder of the Chico Saturday morning Farmer’s Market. His primary career for many years has been as a licensed marriage and family counselor. But he has always loved to garden and always loved the look, feel, taste and concept of locally grown food and the community that produces it. In 1990, he even produced an improved version of a popular market garden tool – the wheel hoe, which he sells through his company Valley Oak Tool in Chico. He himself has re-landscaped his urban Chico home so that its front and back yard lawns are now mulched over and edible gardening is underway in every corner: row crops of lettuces and peas run the depth of the back yard. Citrus and fruit trees are carefully enclosed in wire frames for easy covering. And all of that is greatly interesting to me as a garden lover. But, what I really want to highlight about David’s gardening life is his current project as founder/developer of/coordinator of several impressive series of organic gardening classes in Chico. Photo: David Grau in his home garden, demonstrating the ease of his wheel-hoe.

David was first inspired to develop organic gardening classes when he was living in Marin County for 18 months between 2007 and 2008. There, he attended “ a series, sort of like what I have developed here,” he says. “I really enjoyed them and thought that Chico had all the resources and the need for something similar.” So he returned to Chico and put together his first series of classes, which were held at the Chico Grange almost every Sunday from January through mid-March. A second series is beginning in April and runs through June and will also be held at the Chico Grange on Sundays.
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Even though many of us in the North State can and do work in our vegetable gardens year-round, March, April and May are such traditional vegetable seed and seedling start times that I have been focusing a lot of my energy on my raised vegetable beds these past few weeks. Finishing up the winter-grown veggies like bok choy, winter lettuce and the last of the bulbing fennel (which was delicious braised in a light chicken stock), gave me room for carrot, beets, spring lettuce, snap pea seeds as well as potatoes. I have just enough room left to put out my tomato plants and basil seeds when the night temperatures stay reliably above 50 degrees. Photo: Bulbing fennel.

Vegetable gardening, growing fruit and nut trees, berry vines, etc. - any gardening you do that results in an edible item, is often termed Edible Landscaping. I think the use of this “fancy” term was introduced in order to 1. Make it clear that you’re talking about gardening for food production, and 2. Suggest that vegetable and fruit gardening is every bit as attractive in the landscape as “ornamental” flower and tree-type gardening.
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