Bocconia frutescens/Mexican Breadfruit/Plume poppy tree.

Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)

last year

Wow, it's gorgeous!

Is it going to grow something edible (given the name)? I am just curious.

stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area thanked Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)

stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
Original Author

last year

No. It's just the resemblance of the leaves -slight as it is- to the wholly tropical Breadfruit.

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Dang!!!! I just took an inventory of all my stored seeds!

Q

Comments (11)

Fantastic list of seeds! I think it is just great that you have focused your life on nature at such a young age. I too would love to have 10 (maybe 5) acres someday to plant a wonderland of natives plants, and am already doing that on 1.25 acres. Difference is, my interest didn't come into sharp focus until age 45. :) There are quite a few seeds on this list I am interested in, and I checked your want list and I have a few on that list. Maybe we can do a trade this fall? Just a note - on your want list is Cynanchum louiseae - this is an extremely invasive non-native vine that is becoming a serious problem in the Northeast US. And it has the additional problem that Monarch butterflies will "sense" it is in the Milkweed family, lay eggs on it, and then it will kill the caterpillars because it is toxic to Monarch larvae.

Native Grass Gardens

Q

Comments (18)

Tom, that's really interesting about the relationship between the horned toads and red ants. We had giant red ants, nearly as big as carpenter ants, down around San Bernardino when I was a kid, and we also had horned toads. I don't think I've ever seen any since then. Janet, I think I'm going to have to be very careful with the grasses, now that you've said that some can be quite invasive. Naturally I knew that, but I had hoped the ones that we see in use as ornamentals would tend to be more well-behaved. I've got 6 acres of cleared pasture, but I don't think I'd call it prairie, since we're pretty well surrounded by oak trees everyplace else. I've also got a border of cedars that runs all the way around the property. The original owner put them there. I hate the things because of the way they tend to harbor ticks and they are such a fire hazard. My big flower border where I'd like to use some ornamental grasses for interest, runs across the front of the house section of the property, but it's on the far side of a humongous cement parking area that's about 40' x 130'. It's nearly the size of a city lot! If the bed on the far side was just a little strip, it wouldn't be so bad. It's not. When I ordered weed cloth, I had to measure it to get an idea of the size. It's 24' x 80' and was full of stuff like crabgrass, burr clover, stick-tights and poison oak; a big weed patch that had to be mowed all the time. After the first year, I couldn't stand to look at it any longer. The soil in the bed seems to be pretty good, as I've said before, but it isn't what you could call a 'yard' with all that concrete between it and the house. I began a weed control program and started putting in some of the larger foundation plants; a couple of maple trees, 3 crape myrtles, a Rose of Sharon and so on. The maples may eventually hang out over the parking lot, but it's so big that I can't see that it will be a problem. The soil in the bed seems to be pretty good, and looks to be a pretty neutral ph, but as I've said before, but it isn't what you could call a 'yard' with all that concrete between it and the house. Weeds are still my biggest problem, and most of them are a grass of one sort or another. The crabgrass/devilgrass is a nightmare. I'm going to try using the industrial-grade weed cloth that DeWitt sent to replace the stuff that failed, but the last thing I need is something that tends to be invasive, or that will let native weeds grow up through it. Somehow I managed to bring in a start of vinca major, and it's a disaster. Now it's another big bunch of tall grass with vinca leaves poking through it. I need to rip it all out. Are there any of the native grasses that are both non-invasive and also dense enough to pretty well choke out anything that tries to grow through them? I see them a lot in Shawnee and Tecumseh, but they are in planters with little else around them, so it's hard to tell what they would do in a garden like this, that tends to have a rampant grass population in spite of everything I can do to stop it. Oh, and I think you're the one who directed me to that silt test at Fine Gardening? Or was it Tom? I've forgotten. Anyway, thank you. I quit taking the mag a long time ago, so I hadn't seen it. It's a really good article, and I'm going to try it. The question seems to have already been answered. I won't be digging up any trailer-loads of the silty stuff in the chicken pens and putting it in the garden. I'll just stick to adding manure to the compost heap. I do have a neighbor who raises chicks and who sometimes brings the cedar bedding from the pens, so I add that also and let it compost down. It should not be any problem, should it? The bedding I add in from our sheep pens is generally oat straw or native grass hay and manure. I haven't worried about it too much and it does not seem to be seeding. I hope I'm not creating a monster by using it and will get a big surprise later on. Sorry I wandered around so far away from the original topic of garden grasses. It's hard to draw the line between controlling weed grasses and putting in the good ornamental ones and keep the thread separate. Pat ps: Janet, I absolutely love your photo of the wildflower up against the blue wall. It is so good, and has such a southwest feel about it. Have you ever thought of entering it in photo competition? Seriously. It's good.

What Do You Wish You NEVER planted?

Q

Comments (144)

Wow, what a great thread! The bane of my yard existance over the last 15 years has been English Ivy overtaking the entire back yard and trees in a wooded setting from 8 small plants 12 years ago planted to cover a small bed. Tried to control with cutting and spraying but it just keeps popping up and is almost impossible to remove from trees. Next on my list is Vinca Major, pertty flowers but extremely invasive, pull, pull, pull and yet it comes back every year. And last but not least, Wisteria! What an invasive plant, spreads via runners and will grow 12" overnight. I think these are the plants that covered the Inca monuments with their growth rate. Ha!

Winter Sowing in the MIDDLE zones: 5, 6, and 7 (native seed list)

Q

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Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)

last year

Well it's quite the stunner. Thanks for posting!

Bocconia frutescens/Mexican Breadfruit/Plume poppy tree.

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stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
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Bocconia frutescens/Mexican Breadfruit/Plume poppy tree.

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Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)

stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay areaOriginal Author

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stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
Original Author