Winter is upon us judging by the mood of the sky, the date on the calendar and the look of the landscape. While many garden tasks slow down for these winter months, others pick up, including the hard job of removing invasive broom plants from our natural areas. BEEP - the Broom Education and Eradication Program based out of Forest Ranch had their first meeting of the season in early December, and so it seemed timely to re-run this article on their work.

Weeds are part (have always been part) of gardening – part of life for that matter. But some weeds are bigger than others – and some are far more pernicious than others. For us in California, and the entire Pacific Northwest, all varieties of broom fit the pernicious category and on several counts: broom are terrible fire hazards in all stages of their life due to their high levels of volatile oils; they are very successful at spreading and choke out native plants in the areas they infest; all portions of the plant are toxic and as a result they offer no food or shelter of any kind to native wildlife. That’s at least three strikes. (more…)

Weeds are part (have always been part) of gardening – part of life for that matter. But some weeds are bigger than others – and some are far more pernicious than others. For us in California, and the entire Pacific Northwest, all varieties of broom fit the pernicious category and on several counts: broom are terrible fire hazards in all stages of their life due to their high levels of volatile oils; they are very successful at spreading and choke out native plants in the areas they infest; all portions of the plant are toxic and as a result they offer no food or shelter of any kind to native wildlife. That’s at least three strikes. (more…)

Do you know what an herbarium is?

We have at least two here in the North State. Did you know that?

I did not know either of these things – at least not precisely or with complete confidence, and nor did most of my gardening friends when asked this question.

An herbarium is to plants, what a library is to books. If you love plants (and if you’re reading this essay, you’ve already raised your hand) AND you love the idea of preserving and expanding knowledge about them – then you will love the idea of an herbarium. An herbarium is a catalogue, a collection, a record, a repository and a protectorate of plant life and knowledge about plant life. Photo: A new plant specimen is carefully examined before it is accessioned into the collections at the CSU Chico Herbarium.
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In 2003, Shasta College in Redding became a host college for the California Extension Master Gardener Program. Leimone Waite, who has been a Horticulture Instructor at the college since 1998, is the administrator of the very successful Master Gardener Program there. At Shasta College, a member of the California Community College System of schools, the program is a collaborative venture between the college and the University of California system’s Agricultural Extension offices, which officially oversees and is responsible for the Master Gardener program throughout the state of California. Butte County began hosting a Master Gardener program in 2008 and will run the training every other year.

The Master Gardener program was originally conceived and started in Washington State in 1972 by David Gibby, Ph.D, a horticultural Extension agent for the University of Washington.
But wait. To truly understand the Master Gardener program, you need to understand a little bit about the history of the agricultural or horticultural Extension Agent system, and to understand that, you need to understand a little bit about American history.

If that sounds almost Epic - it is. The rigorously trained, enthusiastic volunteer corps we now know as Master Gardeners are at the end of one thread of the history of Westward Expansion, the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions, and the subsequent suburbanization and even more recent Technological Revolution of the United States. In my humble opinion, the Master Gardener program is one shining example of a good and effective marriage between government resources, educational institutions and those of us at home on the farm – or in the garden as it were.
According to what is now known as the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service:

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Most of us gardeners are aware of the concept of invasive plants. We see periwinkle (Vinca major, Vinca minor) blanketing whole swatches of our parks and shaded open spaces, we see yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) running rampant in the dry, sunny open spaces of the Northstate, and we instinctively know that these plants must be damaging the existing environment. While I don’t know of any gardener or nursery that would suggest planting starthistle, plenty will still recommend planting perwinkle. Therein lies just one tip of the confusing iceberg that is the “Invasive Plant” issue for gardeners: What is invasive for my region? What is invasive for other regions? And what of those latter should I be concerned about anyway? What’s the difference between a good, solid garden thug that holds its own and an environmentally damaging invasive plant? Photo above: Ornamental Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) makes a very nice, showy alternative to invasive grasses such as Pampas Grass (Cortaderia jubata).

That’s where we California gardeners are lucky (one of the many ways we’re lucky): we have the California Invasive Plant Council (http://www.cal-ipc.org/) also known as Cal-IPC (pronounced cal ipsee) to help us navigate the invasive plant issue. I recently spoke at length with Heather Brady, Project Coordinator for Cal-IPC about the Council and their upcoming annual Symposium being held in Chico October 2-4th. Photo above: Invasive periwinkle has taken over this roadside verge.

Founded in 1992, the council started as an informal group of “weed-workers” from throughout the state who had the foresight to understand that they could work more efficiently and successfully at managing/eradicating noxious weeds by pooling their individual knowledge and experience. Since then, the council has grown to become a leader in invasive plant issues in the state. One of their early volunteers, Dough Johnson, became their first paid staff member and is now the Executive Director. A registered 501(c)3, Cal-IPC has a small paid staff, legions of volunteers and over 1000 members across the state, who receive the council’s quarterly newsletter and regular email updates. (For individual membership visit the website: http://www.cal-ipc/about/membership/index.php). Photo above: Invasive yellow starthistle is rampant in dry, sunny open areas of Northern California.
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