Native Nerdy: The Back Hillside

Our native garden experiment started with the back hillside in what was truly a grand experiment. I ordered over 40 different species of seeds to throw out and just see what happens. This was before I started thinking specifically about habitat and really just wanted to have pretty flowers on our hill which were native. I know that of the 40- only a few will end up really doing well and outcompeting the others, but I didn't know which so I experimented in a big way.

I had to do some site work to prep it first- raked up mulch, dug up plants, attempted to solarize (method of killing weeds) by leaving out black plastic for a few months, laid down landscape jute cloth to hold the seeds in place and then seeded directly for most species and in flats for the rest.

My philosophy for the back was a bit different from the front. For the back, I wanted kind of a crazy wildflower garden and put in some grasses to help stabilize the hillside- for grasses, I have Red Fescue, Slender Hairgrass, Idaho Fescue, CA Oatgrass, CA Bottlebrush Grass, CA Vanilla Grass & Blue Wildrye. The grasses were more of an afterthought with the emphasis being on the wildflowers and species diversity.

For the wildflowers- I basically went nuts picking any seeds (both annual and perennial) that can handle some shade and do not need a lot of water. I do plan on having a strip of 1/4" drip line along the fence so that I can have some of the plants that like a little more water in addition to the more drought tolerant species (wet "zones"). I really went a bit crazy on the seed order though...

I did all this work and seeded on Oct. 25th- right when you are normally supposed to plant, as it corresponds to when the fall rains come and the seeds come up for the winter growing season. Since this year has been so dry, I have had to irrigate and things are a little slow getting going.

The back hill & chicken coop. A 40 acre park butts up into our back
yard and the deer come through. Oak, Bay woodland.

Close up of some of the germinating
plants on the hill.

The hill does not look pretty yet, but you can already see the promise in how much is coming up and with how much diversity. (The jute will degrade as the plants establish) It is fun that I can already identify some seedlings from my previous experiments with growing native annuals. One of the things that is fun about germinating in flats is that it really helps you learn to identify the seedlings so much better. Here is a bit of a slideshow of our back yard- the hillside covered in landscape cloth with the flowers germinating, the flats, and a collection of what we planted... I expect that really only a handful of the species will become established between finding the right conditions and competition- so all the species that I picked are ones that will look pretty even if they are the only ones to thrive.

The solarization seems to have helped control weeds a lot but didn't kill anything that was a bulb. We have some native Soap Plant bulbs, Sourgrass (the yellow clover) and some Watsonia. For the Sourgrass and Watsonia, I have been pulling a lot out by hand and actually used some Round-up for a big patch of Sourgrass since it is a bulb and you can't easily get rid of it by hand weeding. After reading that 5 years of dedicated weeding might remove Sourgrass- I felt better about using the spray. I only did it in areas where it was clear it was out competing the natives.

One fun side note- we have found three different species of salamander (Arboreal, Ensatina and Slender) in our back yard since moving in last year. When I move the flats, I often find some. Last time I counted, I had 7 or so of the slender salamanders. They look like large worms with eyes and legs. Fun!

Look closely- two CA Slender Salamanders
Batrachoseps sp. (not positive about species
but probably attenuatus)

Here is my slide show! (Click on first photo to enlarge and flip through the pictures)

Showy Farewell to Spring, Miner's Lettuce (edible and yummy), Chinese Houses, CA Poppies, Mountain Phlox, Miniature Lupine, Sky Lupine, Five Spot, Baby Blue Eyes, Tansy-Leaf Phacelia, Rancheria Clover, White Yarrow, Western Columbine, Shaggy Alumroot, Douglas Iris, Blue Flax, Creek Monkeyflower, Coast Phacila, Buttercup, Pt. Reyes Checkerbloom, Blue-Eyed Grass, Yellow-Eyed Grass, Foothill Meadowrue, Narrow Leaf Milkweed, Globe Gilia & Bird's Eye Gilia.