Tips for taming your piece of Pasadena
By Margie Grace 03/01/2010
Gardening in Pasadena can be challenging, with rock-filled decomposed granite soils, steep canyons, narrow arroyos, complex drainage issues, harsh sun, deep shade, occasional Santa Ana winds and the constant threat of drought and wildfire. But beautiful gardens can easily be had by following these fundamental design and maintenance guidelines tailored for the region:
Use local materials
Granite boulders and cobbles are abundant throughout the area. Harvest them right from your land or import them from local quarries. These native stones tie your garden to the natural environment and surrounding mountain and valley views. Use them in foundations and garden walls or as landscape boulders, encircling ponds and dry creeks.
Plan ahead for a water supply
Pasadena receives slightly more annual rainfall than the average desert. Rain comes seasonally and the dry period lasts most of the year. Droughts are a certainty, so collecting rainwater makes good eco-sense. It also lightens the load on the city’s infrastructure, keeps creeks clean and recharges the local aquifer. Install rainwater swales or a dry creek to collect and percolate water throughout your garden. Grade earth toward these natural collection sites so water runs into them, not away. And wherever possible, plant drought-tolerant native species to reduce the need for water.
Deep shade, bright sun
Steep hillsides and large mature trees can create pockets of sun and shade on a seasonal or even daily basis. Using plants that tolerate both sun and shade allows for continuity in garden design. Alternating plant material with mulches — gravel, stone or wood chips — is another good strategy. Use the mulch in the tricky areas of the “swash zone” — sometimes in shade, sometimes in sun.
Follow the slopes
Go with the natural contours of your land. If you have a steep hillside, build switchback paths, steps and terraced pocket gardens instead of trying to level out the entire area.
Fire safety
Gardens that are fire-resistant — always a concern in Pasadena — are a must. Design and maintain a defensible space with vigilant management of overgrowth and a carefully managed perimeter of fire-resistant plantings that transitions into the natural habitat. Visit fire.ca.gov and defensiblespacesolutions.com/resources for specific guidelines.
Make peace with wild critters
They were here first, and they’re not going anywhere. Plan ahead to accommodate the critters that will inevitably end up passing through your garden. If you decide to trap them, use Have-A-Heart humane traps, or hire a humane animal–trapping and relocation service. Here are some critter-specific tips:
• Skunks love hidey-holes. Build decks high enough so they don’t move in; store wheelbarrows, potting benches and kayaks in such a way that they don’t create a den, and wire off any areas that could appear attractive as a skunk residence.
• Gophers like to travel above ground and below, and there is no sure preventative. You can, however, deflect gophers by installing subterranean barriers at least 3 feet deep to protect plant roots, selecting plants that are not on their menu and utilizing raised beds and planters.
• Raccoons love water and big fat grubs. You know you’ve had a raccoon drive-by if your new sod is rolled up, mysterious holes are appearing in your garden beds, fruit is disappearing or your fountain is inexplicably muddy. Solutions include covering sod with plastic aviary netting held down with soil staples until it takes root, discouraging grub growth by allowing soil to dry out between waterings, netting fruits as they mature and building ponds with steep side walls and depths of 2 feet or more. Barriers such as a low decorative fence can also deter critters, as can the use of natural predator scents, available at your local nursery.
Preserve native oaks
Mature native oaks are a natural treasure, a valuable landscape element and, if that’s not persuasive enough, they’re protected by law. The drip line — the ground beneath the outer circumference of a tree’s branches — is their Achilles’ heel: Changes there can damage or even kill the tree. In their natural habitat, oaks have adapted to seasonal winter rains and dry summers with very little undergrowth on stable soil (no erosion, no siltation). To maintain the natural balance, do not do any of the following: water the trunk, water in summer, keep the soil constantly moist, raise or lower the grade or compact or till within the root zone. Look for oak companion plants and irrigate appropriately.
Noninvasive plants
Use only noninvasive plant species at wildlife boundaries. Your local nursery can help you with selections, or visit monrovia.com for comprehensive plant profiles.
Everything changes with time
So too does a garden. Trees mature and senesce; both sun/shade patterns and the volume of leaf drop change as well. Even your taste changes, as new plants become available and strike your fancy while old plants pass their prime. Know that a garden is a dynamic thing and embrace it. Shift plants as conditions change. Add, subtract, simplify, renew, restore, rethink. As Keats might have mused, a living garden, well tended, is a joy forever.
Margie Grace heads Grace Design Associates (gracedesignassociates.com) in Santa Barbara. An award-winning landscape designer who also holds a B.S. in biology and geology, Grace first fell in love with gardening growing up in the hills of Altadena.
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