Behold the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata)

July 13, 2009

Pests

...he GWS is an interloper from the Southeast US and is much more mobile. The native varieties tend to hang out in riparian areas while the GWS enjoys jumping around backyards, citrus groves and vineyards, spreading a host of nasty plant diseases including almond leaf scorch and Citrus Variegated Chlorosis. The GWS is also responsible for spreading oleander leaf scorch. Astonishingly, 20% of home gardens in California contain oleander and 2,000 miles...

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A Primitive Bow Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

November 14, 2012

Preparedness

10 Comments

...first step was to find some suitable wood. We used willow, a wood used by Native Americans in our region. It’s plentiful and makes an acceptable if short lived bow. Ash and oak and bay trees are local woods which are better for the purpose, but our goal for the day was a quick and dirty bow. These bows aren’t bowyers’ masterpieces. They are survival tools, and their effectiveness is not about their long-range accuracy, but on the skills of the hu...

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We are all gardeners

Mrs. Homegrown

April 2, 2015

Back to the Garden, Gardening, Thoughtstylings

13 Comments

...unds very much what Anderson describes in Tending the Wild. I’m not saying Native practice was perfect all over the world for all time, that they never made mistakes or got greedy, but I will hold on to a vision of humankind returning to a respectful, reciprocal relationship with the rest of life after a long, destructive period of exile. We can do this by becoming conscious gardeners, Edenic gardners. I know we can do it because evidence says we’...

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Piet Oudolf’s Enhanced Nature

Mr. Homegrown

May 13, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening

5 Comments

...ance to Oudolf’s designs. You could easily combine Oudolf’s aesthetics and Native American practices to create an edible and medicinal landscapes–many of the flowers Native Californians encouraged have edible bulbs or foliage. Criticisms Oudolf’s work is cutting edge and by his own admission there are problems–such as maintenance workers confusing plantings for weeds. Kelly and I also debated how much this book can be used to understand small resi...

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So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

Mrs. Homegrown

June 15, 2015

Fruit Trees, Gardening, Insects, Trees

10 Comments

...s black willow (Salix gooddingii)* 36. Tree of heaven (Alianthus altissima) 37. Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus) *Native species to California The Shot Hole Borer burrows into trees. Its tunneling alone would not harm a healthy tree much, but it carries with it three different types of fungus, and it farms this fungus within the tree–it eats the fungus it cultivates, which I have to admit, is kind of neat. But the resulting fungal infection kill...

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