Nature always keeps things in balance

Nature in balance: a flock of perhaps 15 tiny bushtits descend daily from their usual haunts in the oaks into my cottage garden, which is right outside my office window. They are eating aphids.

I had been concerned when I discovered masses of little gray aphids covering the backs of the sunflower leaves and the kale. I also saw that little white thrips were all over the mulleins and primroses. No damage was apparent, but I pride myself on my ?garden in balance? and had decided I would never have any destructive insects in my garden. Oops, nature, per usual, had a different idea!

And I fully believed that lady beetles would take care of any aphids that ever showed up. As far as I could see, there were no helpful beetles in sight.

Any yet, old Mother Nature sent my garden her balancing-act organisms ... birds! So I have again seen it in action: Leave it alone, nature will balance it out. Those wonderful aphids have brought in the birds, which probably needed that insect protein, and their antics bring the most profound enjoyment to me. This is one reason I love to garden, to watch nature in balance.

Nature, though, won?t take care of it if we spray pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. I could have panicked and run off to the store for some kind of spray for those rampaging insects. Something that says ?killer? on the label! Right? The shelves are full of them. Anything you want to kill? Just read the labels ? it will be there. We all know by now the consequences of killing part of nature. We lose our pollinators, bees, butterflies, birds and so much more.

Want to learn more about insects and sustainable gardens? Set aside Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Garden Allies: Beneficial Insects and Other Helpful Garden Denizens will be presented at Sonoma State University, as a benefit for their Entomolgy Education and Outreach Program. It?s at Darwin Hall, room 103. Call Frederique Lavoipierre at 829-0751 or email: lavoipie@sonoma.edu. She will be a presenter, as will Kate Frey, the designer and gardener for the former Fetzer Vineyards garden. There will be microscopes available, and also tours of the gardens and museum. Cost is $35 with a bag lunch provided.

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Another wonderful event in October: The California Native Plant Society?s annual plant sale at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building. Go early, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It?s on Oct. 11. They sell plants, seeds, bulbs, posters, books and more.

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Following is a quote by Stephen Harris from his article, ?Lose Your Lawn?: ?Grass is an inoffensive perennial that is minimally decorative, inedible, provides no shade and attracts only the ?wildlife? that subsists on kegs of beer. It is also overwhelmingly the ground cover of choice in North America. Its virtue is its uniformity. This is the Marine haircut of the plant world.?

An amusing quote, sure to offend some! But it is true.

I spent a recent weekend at a seminar put on by The Garden Conservancy. Alrie Middlebrook spoke, as did Kate Frey and John Greenlee. The overall theme was the same: Use native plants to create habitat and sustainable gardens.

They all spoke from different points of view, however. Greenlee is a grass expert and has written wonderful books on gardening with grasses, both native and from all over the world. Middlebrook wrote ?Designing California Native Gardens? with Glenn Keator. Kate Frey is a designer and landscape gardener of note. At any rate, they are all exerts in their field. And they all spoke of getting rid of grass lawns and why we in California need to do that. They told us why and they told us what to replace our lawns with.

This is a subject much more accepted than it used to be. However, everywhere you look, there are more lawns than ever. I noticed the other day that the Sonoma County Water Agency building on West College Avenue in Santa Rosa, is removing some of its lawns. I spoke with Ken Goddard about that ? they have wood-chip mulched many of the lawns, but are leaving some as the landscaping trees on the property grew up with summer water and would die without it. They do have a demonstration garden at their main building at 404 Aviation Blvd. in Santa Rosa. Another worthy field trip! Perhaps get some good ideas on what to plant this fall, as now is the time to put in California native plants. The soil is still warm, and although the rain is coming, your new plants must be kept well watered until the soil is thoroughly saturated from the autumn/winter rainfall.

(Judy Brinkerhoff has been studying native plants for more than 20 years. She is the author of two other Sonoma County gardening columns. E-mail her at joodbrink@com cast.net.)

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