12 • July 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES


July in the Garden by Kimberly Childers • kimberlychilders@att.net


SANTA ROSA, CA, ~ Hard to believe it’s already time for sweet watermelon, potato salad and buttery corn on the cob, sparklers and fi reworks, fairs


six drawer, Highboy dresser in an old colander my sister, Deb- bie, sent me from Texas. I knew there was something going on in those prickly rose-dotted bram- bles. A surprised bird fl ew out in a ‘fright’ one afternoon when I was gardening a few weeks ago. But I didn’t think about a nest! It was so well built, fi bers


inter-


twined, woven, per- fectly round nestled in the twigs this busy bird had gathered.


I


am totally amazed how tiny birds have built nests for millen-


and carnivals. Summer is here and the days are slowly getting shorter once again. Last week my gardeners


found a tiny, perfectly perfect bird’s nest in the Sally Holmes ‘rose wall’. Of course the nest is now perched on the skinny,


nium. It’s just in their genetic makeup to know nest building, a survival skill we all have. There were no eggs or birds in the nest but it had been used this spring; nothing more precious than a ‘found’ nest hidden away, safe, in thorny, climbing roses.


Summer GUIDE #2 Birds are amazing! The sight


of large fl ocks fl ying together without running into each other is just phenomenal! Look up Starling Murmuration and the Chorus Line Hypoth-


esis on You- Tube; what an incred- ibly evolved planet.


Although controver-


sial, Restora- tion Garden- ing is making its way into the garden scene, ev- eryone has a different take on this. Most agree that it’s planting and growing natives to restore what has been lost to asphalt, concrete, parking lots, green manicured, water-thirsty lawns, highways and devasta- tion from pesticides. Nutri- tional wild foods like miner’s lettuce, dandelion greens, lem- ony sorrel and yampa add a de- licious slice to this ‘rekindling’


of edible wild plants which is a part of this idea too. Not Yampa Colorado, Yampa


River, or Bank of Yampa, I’m referring to Yampa, a staple


the Swallowtail butterfl ies and other pollinators. In case you didn’t know, pollinators are es- sential for our survival. Noth- ing can produce food, seeds or fruit without be- ing pollinated by winged creatures or wind. With now nine billion people on this planet we need to start our


protecting pollinators


and stop spray- ing them with poison. Califor- nia Flora Nurs- ery in Fulton has hundreds if not thousands of na- tive


plants for your garden.


crop eaten for centuries by the indigenous Northern Ute Indi- ans. Perideridia kelloggii or one of at least a dozen other variet- ies of Perideridia, are 2-5’ tall grass like perennials. Members of the parsley family, the entire plant is edible, even the nutty tasting roots.


umbels of white fl owers attract


California Many


are drought tolerant as well; an enlightening place to visit. Call them if you like at 707-528- 8813


Their delicate


Monarch butterfl ies are in such peril with freak weather patterns and loss of Milkweed from herbicides and pesticides, but you can help!


Planting ... continued on page 14 An independent local Community Bank since 1890


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www.exchangebank.com 707.524.3000 or toll free 800.995.4066


12 • July 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES


All good work is done the way ants do things, Little by little. -Lafcadio Hearn


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