Northeast Slope Progress- Pepper Tree Eradication

I have news to announce!  The Northeast Slope Pepper Tree Gang has been ERADICATED.  It took a few days of hard labor and 5 FULL yard waste bins, but they are GONE!!!  Best part of it, I only fell twice with no major bodily harm!  These saplings were growing off a “mother root” from next door.  The mother root has been severed, the progeny removed and disposed!  Now to keep them from coming back…..  establishment of the eastern border, the DPZ, the DE-PEPPER TREE ZONE.

The interesting thing about these "shrub-trees" that I learned, pulling them out by their roots is just one big puzzle.  If you go to pull them at once, you cant...  BUT if you scrape at the soil and gradually pull them one at a time you will eventually get to the point where they just pop out.  The roots work together to anchor the plant like underground vines.

This is not going ANYWHERE to pull it, but....  If I pull that top one out...

Then pull a side one out...  two out..

Then a third, and before you know it the whole thing is out.
The roots are not deep, just entwined and anchoring each other.

The "Mother root" from which most of the shrubs radiated from

Unfortunately, where there is one “mother root” there is a whole generation wanting to be the next mother.  The “mother root” was not deep, so hypothetically 4” deep edging along the property line should thwart (or at least slow down) future intruders.  It is worth a try and will keep mulch in place if nothing else…. 

Also, the tell-tale “pink peppercorns” I went next door to find were COMPLETELY evident as soon as I started to take the pepper trees out.  They were all I could see and they were EVERYWHERE!!  I have been trying to pick them up, but there is no way I will get them all.  Unfortunately, this disturbed bare ground now favors all those seeds germinating and making a new generation of pepper trees thugs.  I went back to the IPC webpage to review managing this thug.

http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/ipcw/pages/detailreport.cfm@usernumber=72&surveynumber=182.php

Reading through the information again I learned the seeds are not long-lived, only viable for about 5 months.  Germination needs wet cool conditions, and occurs from November to April, with most germination taking place in January and February.  If the pink seeds truly are ONLY viable for 5 months, I may have optimally timed the removal.  Maybe, just maybe, very few seeds will still be viable come November and even fewer in their optimal germination period of January and February.  I can hope, can’t I?  Even if some seeds make it, the seedlings should be easier to pull and less disruptive to the slope if located early.  I know what I am doing next Spring. Pepper tree hunting and pulling.

Meanwhile, DPZ or no DPZ, the soil here is now a HOT MESS!  The necessary evil of removing these plants occurred…  EROSION!!  This area has the steepest slope of the hill, has both native and non-native soil present, and was recently disturbed, or by disturbed I mean I was slip sliding, trampling, and literally ripping roots from the ground for the last week. The poor area needs some erosion damage control fast.    First, I am going to try to smooth it out just a bit (and remove some of the random plastic mesh clods of ex-sod dirt that is here…. we all make mistakes…..  it seemed like the right place for it at the time).  Then I will add mulch, lots of mulch.   Mulch can help with weed control on the disturbed area and reduce erosion.  Mulch will be my placeholder until November when I can repopulate this area with my first set of NATIVE PLANTS!!  Yeah!!! 

Whatever I chose for the northeast slope has big shoes to fill!  Stabilize a slope, drought tolerant, pioneer species, fire wise as this is prime wildfire defensible space.  BIG SHOES!!  I am sure there is a plant out there.

No more pepper tree, a layer of much.
ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

The Dress- Episode 4

#sdfairflowerlove   ALMOST DONE!  Second to last design!

#sdfairflowerlove lives again. The Blue Eyed Grass has become a theme for this dress appearing on most of them.  YEAH SAN DIEGO NATIVE PLANTS!!!  Just one more design to go for the Fourth of July!

The Dress- Episode 3

It is hard to go on vacation when this is a mile down the road...
Luckily, people come visit you!

Vacation?

Yes, I was quiet last week, but I was not on vacation.  I was preparing for and entertaining guests!  Which is all the fun and none of the travel. WIN! WIN!

I also was working on “The Dress- Episode 3”

#sdfairflowerlove Episode 3

It was a stunner!  I am proud to say I grew all the lavender featured on the dress. This dress was planned to help get the floral budget back on track, so it featured a lot of inexpensive and homegrown flowers. 

As I was cutting the lavender what I saw really got me thinking about ecosystems and the vision I have for the hill.  The weeds on the hill really don’t sustain much life beyond their own.  They don’t!  It is just what the weeds are. They take all their energy and put it into their seeds.  They then die and no longer photosynthesize to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  They don’t feed wildlife.  They don’t provide a nesting environment for birds.  They provide minimal shelter for insects, maybe some food...  I don’t see snails eating much of the weeds, they stick to the succulents on the hill.  The amount of life I see on the hill for the area is minimal.  Weeds, gophers, snails, small bugs, more weeds, more gophers, a bird once in a while hopping around, a Great Egret hopefully eating a gopher once a week, more weeds….  Couple other mismatched plants…

Compare that to my lavender.  While lavender is not a California native, it is right at home here in Southern California.  Once established, it doesn’t require a lot of water other than the yearly rains, maybe some summer water support.  There is no need to alter the environment with mass amounts of fertilizer or “cides”.   Lavender is not an invasive plant and is not a threat to take the neighboring lagoons or hills by force anytime soon, or ever.   While lavender is not a California native plant it is building an ecosystem of its own right in my yard.  My lavender is grown organically with no pesticide, and do you know what natives that supports?  Insects!!  The good kinds.  As I harvested the lavender and made the flowers into the front of the dress the variety of insects I saw was just amazing.  Honey bees, wood bees, bumble bees, little spiders, big spiders, green spiders, all manner of winged insects, different colors of aphids…. Lizards enjoying themselves for a shady moment, possibly an insect meal. The lavender was a bustling ecosystem “city” of its own.  I even saw a garden spider jump out and catch a bee.  I love bees, but seeing the spider catch one for a meal was amazing.  The lavender was happy too.  The wildlife doesn’t take too much from the plant, and the plant doesn’t take too much from the environment.  It felt magical.  It was the balance I want for the hill. 

While I do intend to focus on removing invasives and restoring natives, my experience with the lavender made me realize there may be some “felicitous adoptee” plants that can also “nurture native” wildlife and build a thriving ecosystem – my ULTIMATE goal.  Since I refrained from having “rules” and stuck to “guidelines”, I will allow myself some flexibility.  The idea of  “felicitous adoptees” that build the ecosystem will be key.

Word of the Day:

Felicitous: well chosen or suited to the circumstances.

Stay tuned for Episode 4...  Coming very soon.