High-Country Health Food and Cafe in Mariposa California

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'Click' Here to Visit: 'Yosemite Bug Health Spa', Now Open.
'Click' Here to Visit: 'Yosemite Bug Health Spa', Now Open. "We provide a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere. Come in and let us help You Relax"
'Click' for More Info: 'Chocolate Soup', Fine Home Accessories and Gifts, Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' for More Info: 'Chocolate Soup', Fine Home Accessories and Gifts, Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' Here to Visit Happy Burger Diner in Mariposa... "We have FREE Wi-Fi, we're Eco-Friendly & have the Largest Menu in the Sierra"
'Click' Here to Visit Happy Burger Diner in Mariposa... "We have FREE Wi-Fi, we're Eco-Friendly & have the Largest Menu in the Sierra"
'Click' for More Info: Inter-County Title Company Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' for More Info: Inter-County Title Company Located in Mariposa, California

SST LTRHillsides ablaze with color in the spring, moss covered boulders, tall cedars and pines, aspens quivering in the gentle breezes, ceanothus (also known as California Lilac) dressed in deep purple or dazzling white, huge stands of Buckeye with pendulous white spears, Lupins of sky blue, pink and creamy white, and above all the California Poppy.  Sound attractive to you?  These are the gifts of nature to be found in almost all corners of California, especially the California foothills. 

But they come with a word of caution, because they are native plants, and native means Wild.  Native plants are just that, they are wild plants, most highly invasive especially if subjected to year around cultivation such as we gardeners tend to treat home gardens.  Many are poisonous (their protection from predatory animals) and some are even highly flammable and encourage wildfires, another trick of Nature to control overgrowth. 

Native trees such as cedars, pines, sequoias and oaks are another problem, they need room and lots of it.  Much of the recent drought-induced die-off is the result of over planting and lack of sufficient room where trees are forced to compete with each other for water and nutrients.  Not a good environment. 

Redbuds and locusts can also be problematic in your home garden.  Beautiful in bloom, their pods can clog your drains and gutters.  Manzanita is oily and highly flammable, make sure they are well removed from your house or outbuildings.  Toyons are magnificent with their clusters of red red berries in the fall, but they too can be invasive taking much of the nutrition out of the soil so nothing else can flourish in their vicinity. 

A friend of mine mistakenly planted native Aspen (also called Poplar or Cottonwood) in her rose garden as shade protection from the hot summer sun.  What happened?  Unaccustomed to the frequent year around watering that roses must have to survive, the Aspen trees spread their roots throughout the cultivated soil eventually honeycombing the entire garden.  She was forced to place all new plantings in pots to protect them from the invasive roots.

As for some of the mistakes I made, enchanted with the beautiful wild flowers, such as Brodea, one of my first actions was to gather them into a bouquet for my home.  Within a very short space of time, my hands and arms were covered with itching rash from the sap, while my eyes wept and sinuses clogged.  Lesson:  leave the wildflowers alone to admire in their natural habitat. 

The long drought has also brought about some surprising results.  Non-natives such as lilac and Chinese Pistache as well as (for the most part) roses and crape myrtle, have not been affected by the beetle infestations, die-offs have not occurred with the frequency of the native plants. (sigh of relief), although some of them are subjected to deer munchings where they were left alone in prior years.

A visiting friend asked me why I felt it necessary to fence in areas designated for gardening and soil cultivation.  My reply?  To keep my pets in and the deer out.  So it is with all things wild, we must regard plants in the same fashion.  If you want a native garden, keep it strictly native, it is a mistake to attempt to combine exotic or hybrid cultivars with natural growth.  Would you fence in deer, possum, raccoons, skunks and wild cats to raise them along with your domesticated dogs and cats?  Of course not. 

Lucille Apcar
Mariposa, CA.