Floral Delights

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• Choosing companions for coast live oaks

  Choosing companions for coast live oaks

  Q: What can I plant under the coast live oak in my front yard to fill in the sandy area below and around the canopy? — Ginny Kemper, Nipomo

  A: You have lots of colorful and interesting choices in companion plantings for oak trees. Hummingbird sage will give you a wide-spreading groundcover of bright green leaves with pink flowers. Carpenteria californica is an evergreen shrub with beautiful white anemone-like flowers. In a sunnier section under the tree, plant California fuchsia for gray-green foliage with red tubular flowers attractive to hummingbirds.

  When planting under oaks, however, there are a few basic rules to keep your tree healthy. First, any companion plant should be well-adapted to our Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Our venerable coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) is very susceptible to soilborne diseases, such as crown rot and oak root fungus, that favor the combination of moisture and warm temperatures from summer watering. Many of our colorful California

• Follow-Up File: Floral Design branches out and blooms

  Follow-Up File: Floral Design branches out and blooms

  Name: Amanda Rounds

  Job: Owner

  Business: Shell Beach Floral Design

• You might be from the Central Coast if ...

  You might be from the Central Coast if ...

  With this year’s weird weather, it seemed appropriate to share this column again. We extend thanks (and apologies) to Jeff Foxworthy, and say that “you might be from the coast of Central California in summer if ...

  l. You know the state flower --- Mildew (good one, Jeff!). 2. You’d shoot your cat before you’d throw aluminum cans, a Dasani water bottle or an empty “Two-Buck Chuck” wine jug into the trash. 3. You use the expression “sun break” and know what it means. 4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee, even at Taco Bell. 5. You’d feel overdressed wearing a suit anywhere except to your own funeral. 6. You know how to pronounce Cayucos, Cuyama, Cholame, Pfieffer Big Sur and (last but certainly not least) San Luis Obispo. 6a. You can talk about towns like Buttonwillow and Shafter without getting the giggles. 7. You can point out the difference to wave-watchers between kelp and an otter, or between a swimming sea lion or harbor seal. 8. You know 52 kinds of birds, because they all come to your

• There’s plenty to do in your December garden

  There’s plenty to do in your December garden

  Q: Are there chores I should focus on in the garden during December? — Dennis Neil, Los Osos

  A: Wear an extra sweater and you’ll find that December is a beautiful time to work in the garden. You may need a breather from the holiday ruckus and keeping the garden tended will make for less work in the spring.

  Winter is a great time to assess what worked and what didn’t in your garden. Grab your hot coffee, tea or cider and take a stroll. The bones of your garden are more visible at this time of year. Now, you can set some goals for 2012.

• Picking plants with water conservation in mind

  Picking plants with water conservation in mind

  Q:I have a large empty area in my yard that I would like to landscape but I don't want to use a lot of water. What kind of plants should I be looking for? — Bill Widner, Arroyo Grande

  A: The easy answer to your question is California native plants that are drought tolerant. The harder part will be choosing from among the beautiful myriad of drought tolerant natives available to us here on the Central Coast.

  Whether brilliant reds of California fuchsia, delicate hues of yarrows, or flamboyant blue clusters of Ceanothus, many of our native ornamentals have beneficial features suited to home landscaping. As natives, they have evolved over thousands of years to be naturally adapted to our Mediterranean climate of cool wet winters and hot dry summers. Their physiology and deeply spreading root systems permit them to flourish without summer watering. They tolerate occasional pest predation, and they are generally resistant to disease.