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Similar to Hospitable Habitat - Notes
Similar to Hospitable Habitat - Notes (11)
Hospitable Habitat - Notes
- 1. 1/6/2013
Out of the Wilds and Into Your Garden
Hospitable Habitat
Providing for Ground-living
Creatures
C.M. Vadheim and T. Drake
CSUDH & Madrona Marsh Preserve
Madrona Marsh Preserve
Gardening with Western L.A. County Native Plants February 7th & 10th, 2010
Project SOUND - 2010
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
First, you need to know a little bit about
What makes for good lizard habitat? the lizards you can hope to attract
Southern Alligator
Lizard
Western Fence Lizard
California Legless
Lizard
The trick is to supply a safe environment that provides
what they need to thrive – in short a habitat
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Southern Alligator Lizard
Elgaria multicarinata webbii
Alligator Lizard is well-named
Large, smooth scales
Long alligator-like snout
Longitudinal fold on each
side of the body
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Take on color of
their surroundings
Size:
Up to seven inch body
May have a tail nearly twice
the length of its body, making
http://www.wildherps.com/species/E.multicarinata.html the largest individuals 21
inches from end to end.
A regenerated tail is shorter
and usually a different color
from the rest of its body.
Coloration: © 2004 Pierre Fidenci
Varies from brown to yellow
ochre.
Adults are marked with dark Alligator Lizards, especially the males, have large, triangular-
crossbands, while juveniles are shaped heads, giving them a formidable appearance. The large
not. head and long, snake-like body make a chance encounter in the
Newly molted individuals can woodpile, or under a shrub, startling, to say the least.
be very brightly colored
They can bite – but they don’t really want to
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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The Southern Alligator Lizard's The Southern Alligator Lizard is often
range extends from WA to seen in yards and gardens, sometimes
central Baja California. In out in the open or in the garage, but
southern California usually under piles of wood, rock, or
Alligator lizards are found in other debris. Don't be surprised to
almost any natural habitat in find them on your porch or patio – or
California (except most of the garage.
deserts and very high
elevations.) but most frequently Their diet includes various insects,
throughout the coastal plains
small animals such as young mice and
Active during daylight, they are birds, tree frogs, and even other
frequently seen moving on the lizards. Eats a variety of small
ground, and occasionally up in invertebrates. Will also eat small
bushes. They are also often lizards and small mammals. Feed mainly
found underneath debris, beach on arthropods, snails, and occasionally
driftwood, and near human eggs
settlements.
Alligator lizards do not typically After the May mating season, up to 20
bask in the sun out in the open eggs can be laid in June or July. The
or on top of a rock like many incubation period is about 55 days,
other lizard species. They seem after which the hatching yields tiny
to prefer sunny spots with some
cover nearby. individuals, rarely more than three
inches long from nose to tail.
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Guidelines for creating habitat for ground-dwellers Atriplex (Saltbush) species provide
excellent habitat
Provide dense shrub/grass cover –perching, cover &
nest sites
Provide a brush pile/logs for cover
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Saltbushes : Habitat plants par excellance! Coast Quailbush - Atriplex lentiformis (ssp. breweri)
Foliage
Attract beneficial insects to the garden
- lacewings, ladybugs, and hoverflies
Many weird and fun insects – good
plants for insect-watching
Attract butterflies (larval food for
some sootywing skippers)
Fall/winter/spring browse for deer, elk
Dense cover for birds, rabbits, just
about any ground-dweller
Seeds
Very nutritious food source – high in
protein
Eaten by many creatures (including
humans): don’t fertilize if you plant to
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/atrlen/plant.jpg
eat them – takes up & stores many
metals © Project SOUND © Project SOUND
* Four-wing Saltbush – Atriplex canescens * Four-wing Saltbush – Atriplex canescens
A plant of western U.S.
Dry places from N. Dakota to
Mexico
Usually in deserts or dry
shrublands/steppe, short-grass
prairie
In CA, in dry foothills, deserts
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242100016
(Great Basin, Mojave & Sonoran)
Locally in dry foothills of the
San Gabriel’s – interior Coastal
Sage Scrub (Antelope Valley;
Sunland)
Mojave Desert (Lancaster);
Wide range soils, temperature,
etc. – very tough & adaptable
Several varieties
http://www.perennialfavoritesnursery.com/native_a-f.html
© Project SOUND http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?3084,3089,3095 © Project SOUND
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This is a plant you’ve no doubt seen…. Four-wing Saltbush: manageable sized shrub
Size:
3-6 ft tall; usually 4-5
4-8 ft wide; can be pruned
Growth form: extremely variable
Mounded woody shrub; old wood
very tough
Very densely branched
Quite long-lived – 50+ years
Foliage:
Gray-green; silvery with
extruded salt; drought deciduous
Branches gray to white
Leaves small, leathery
Roots: long (to 40 ft) taproot +
shallow laterals; very drought tol. –
© 2004 Steven Perkins
resents moving after established
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/saltbush.html
Flowers are understated…
Seedpods, however,
Blooms: usually summer to late fall; are showy
may be as early as Apr. or as late as
Nov.
Dry pods remain on plants
Flowers: until stripped off by wind
Dioecious (separate male & or eaten by animals – very
female plants) but sometimes nutritious
monoecious
Pods have ‘4 wings’ –
http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/other-plants/plant06.html
Flowers remind of Artemisia; hence the common name
small flowers on stalks
Very unusual & can be
Seeds: showy in good years
If planting, be sure to keep dry
seeds for 1 yr. ‘ripening’ to 1 large hard seed per pod
improve germination
Role of fungi in
Vegetative reproduction: germination process
sprouting from younger wood
http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/other-plants/plant06.html Project SOUND
© © Project SOUND
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Atriplex&Species=canescens http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atriplex_canescens_inflor.jpg
http://www.wnmu.edu/academic/nspages2/gilaflora/a_canescens3.jpg
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An easy care plant Soils:
Texture: well-drained; sandy
Pruning Saltbushes - easy
soils are best
pH: any local including alkali In the wild, are eaten back
(pH 8.0-9.5) extensively by deer, elk,
Tolerates salty soils, water rabbits
In the garden, you are the
Light:
browser – with your pruners
Full sun to some shade
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atriplex_canescens_inflor.jpg Trim back about 1/3 the
Water: length of branches in fall for a
Winter: usually rain will suffice neat look
– don’t over-water don’t cut back into old wood –
Summer: best in Zone 2 in prune like a Salvia
gardens (occasional water) – will rejuvenate the plant
needs to be under some water
stress Can also hedge-shear
Fertilizer: none; likes poor soils – For best habitat value, leave
http://sep.csumb.edu/class/ESSP303/2008/plants.htm
some branches at the base –
too rich can kill
i.e., leave it pruned as a shrub
Branches are brittle – no foot traffic
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://allergy.peds.arizona.edu/southwest/grass_weeds/wingscale.htm
Four-wing Saltbush used
extensively in Southwestern
As a shrub in commercial plantings
KEEPING LIZARDS OUTDOORS
– low maintenance/little water
Excellent water-wise hedge To prevent lizards from entering the home, seal all
openings 1/4 inch and larger.
In plants with a desert plant
Check areas such as corners of doors and windows,
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Atriplex&Species=canescens
palette – used like Salvias or around water pipes, electrical service entrances,
Coyote Bush - silvery color ventilation screens, water pipes, etc.
Tight-fitting door seals, with no gaps at the edges, are
For erosion control important prevention measures.
As a fire-retardant plant – with a Unlike rats and mice, lizards cannot gnaw through
little summer water wood and other common building materials.
For re-claiming mine tailings & A number of materials can be used to seal access
other environmental problems points, including insulating foam, caulking, flashing,
and steel wool.
Also used as dye plant (yellow &
‘Navajo Black’ & medicine (emetic)
http://www.delange.org/FourwingSaltbush/FourwingSaltbush.htm © Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Lycium species – the Boxthorns -
California Boxthorn – Lycium californicum
are also excellent habitat shrubs
Dense, thorny foliage – good for
perching, hiding & nesting
Flowers
Fruits – eaten by birds, ground-
dwellers – high in vitamin C (in
Solanaceae,
like tomatoes)
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/plants/sdpls/plants/Lycium_californicum.html
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Wolfberry – Lycium andersonii
Right at home on
the bluffs…
Fine with salty soils,
salt-spray, high winds
& blowing sand
Habitat is
disappearing – on
CNPS ‘rare’ watch list
© 2005 James M. Andre
© 2004 Michael Charters
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Wolfberry – Lycium andersonii
Charles Lewis Anderson, M.D. – a man
Plant of Southwestern deserts with a passion for Nevada plants
and desert foothills
Name commemorates Charles Lewis Anderson, MD (1827-
Locally in Mojave Desert – tho’ a 1910). Anderson practiced medicine in Carson City NV during
report from PV the years 1862-1867.
Dry, stony hills, mesas in desert Amazingly, in spite of all of his other endeavors, he found
http://www.graniteseed.com/seeds/seed.php?id=Lycium_andersonii and creosote bush scrub – usually the time to pursue his lifelong interest in botany. He was one
along washes of the very first botanists to collect extensively in Nevada
Many of the plants he collected turned out to be new to
science when examined by Asa Gray of Harvard, to whom
Anderson sent all his Nevada specimens.
Anderson wrote the first flora of Nevada, and in its
introduction observed: "the country is as rich in vegetable
novelties as it is at all times in mineral wealth."
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?7625,7636,7637
© Br. Alfred Brousseau, Saint Mary's College © Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Wolfberry is a typical Boxthorn – all quite similar looking
Size:
usually 4-6 ft tall; to 10-12 ft
to 10 ft wide; slow – probably long-
lived, even in water-wise gardens
Growth form:
Mounded woody shrub
Very densely branched – good cover;
thorns
Foliage:
Small, fleshy leaves – larger with some
water
Very different look from other foliage
– nice accent plant
Roots: deep; surface roots also – typical
Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences
desert shrub; re-sprouts after fire or
major damage/pruning http://www.schweich.com/imagehtml/IMGP2394sm.html
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Flowers make the Fruits – think tomato
desert bloom
Were used extensively as food
Blooms: in spring (Mar-May); by native desert peoples: only
depends on timing of winter rains eat fully ripe fruits
Raw
Flowers: Dried – raisin fashion
Purple to white Cooked for a sauce
Dried and used as flavoring for
Small – but very nice shape & soups, stews
lots of them - showy Dried as a ‘leather’
Good hummingbird plant
Very high in vitamins A, C and
E, flavanoids and other bio-
active compounds. Fairly good
source of essential fatty acids,
which is fairly unusual for a
fruit.
Birds and small animals eat
http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos/bendcollections/images/Lycium%20andersonii_JPG.jpg
fruits & seeds – desert
packrats store them
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Soils: Garden uses for
Easy to grow with Texture: must be well-drained – Boxthorns
benign neglect sandy or gravelly is best
pH: any local is fine Water-wise hedges
Fine with salty soils, water, As an accent plant; flowers &
maritime exposures
foliage, red fruits
Light: As a container plant
Full sun is best As all-round good habitat
Will take light shade (or some © 1998 Larry Blakely plants: food, cover, nest
afternoon shade) in hot gardens sites.
Water:
Winter: rains usually suffice;
don’t over-water in clay soils
Summer: quite drought
tolerant; looks best in Zone1-2
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lycium_andersonii
to 2 in garden setting
Fertilizer: none; likes poor soils –
remember, it’s a desert plant
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Western Fence Lizard - Sceloporus occidentalis
Fence Lizards are sometimes called ‘Bluebellies’
longipes
2-4 inch body (snout-vent length);
total length of about 8-9 inches
Brown to black in color (the brown
may be sandy or greenish)
Most distinguishing character is
their bright blue belly; ventral side
of the limbs are yellow.
Also have a blue patch on their
throat. This bright coloration is
faint or absent in both females and
juveniles.
Gold-speckled
one from PV
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Probably our most Some people are a little afraid of lizards…
commonly seen lizard
Found in a wide variety of open,
sunny habitats, including
woodlands, grasslands, scrub,
chaparral, forests, along
waterways, next to ponds, and
around suburban dwellings.
Diurnal. Often seen basking in
the sun on rocks, downed logs,
trees, fences, and walls.
Active when temperatures are
warm, becomes inactive during
periods of extreme heat or The Western fence lizard eats beetles, flies,
cold. Probably active all year
when temperatures are caterpillars, ants, other insects, and spiders.
favorable and there is sun for
basking. If you're bigger than the lizard, it is a friend. -
If the lizard is bigger than you....run!
http://www.wildherps.com/species/S.occidentalis.html
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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A word about cats..
Interesting fact…lizards are indeed our friends
Western Fence Lizards may reduce the incidence
of Lyme Disease in their range! It has recently
been discovered that when infected ticks feed on
the blood of these lizards, the Lyme disease
spirochetes they carry are destroyed. In areas
with Western Fence Lizards, about 5 percent of
http://hannahgreenfield.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/bobcat.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/griff42/image/48377834
ticks carry the disease, while in other areas 50
Western Fence Lizards commonly sun themselves
percent of ticks harbor the disease. on paths, rocks, and fence posts, and other high
places. Unfortunately, this behavior makes them
—Reported by the NY Times News Service, April 19, 1998. an easy target to predation by snakes, birds, and
even some mammals, like cats. They protect
themselves by employing their fast reflexes,
© Project SOUND
which is common in many other lizards. © Project SOUND
Guidelines for creating habitat Chamise – Adenostoma fasciculatum
Provide sunning spots – with cover close by
Leave some areas relatively ‘human-free’ for most of the day
© Project SOUND Gary A. Monroe @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database © Project SOUND
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Chamise – Adenostoma fasciculatum Typical Chaparral site with Chamise
Foothills of CA south to Baja
– including Channel Islands
Dry slopes & ridges;
chaparral & mesas below
5,000 ft.
Most common chaparral
species throughout the
foothills and coastal
mountains of California -
present in ~ 70% of
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Adenostoma+fasciculatum California chaparral.
Also called ‘Greasewood’
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/adenostoma-fasciculatum
Chamise blooming in Santa Monica Mtns Chamise – a typical Chaparral shrub
Size:
6-10+ ft tall & wide
size really depends in water
Growth form:
Dense, mounded shrub – excellent
cover plant for habitat
Many stiff branches; bark is red-
brown (young) to peeling-gray
(older wood) – wood ‘greasy’
Steven Perkins @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Foliage:
Leaves needle-like – in bundles
(fascicles) – hence the name
‘fasciculatum’
Aromatic; can be deciduous in
drought
Roots: sprouts from a burl after fires
– rejuvenation pruning
© 2008 Thomas Stoughton
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Chamise and other Chaparral shrubs – Flowers - really showy
born to burn Blooms: any time from Feb-June;
Small, dry, resinous usually April-May in the Madrona
leaves Native Plant Garden
Shreddy bark Flowers:
Small, tubular white/cream
Oily wood flowers
5 petals – looks like member
Dead branches
of Rose family
Ability to re-sprout Blooms clustered on long
readily from a flowering branches – literally
sprouting stem/root 1000’s of blooms
(the burl) Attracts insect pollinators
Seeds:
© 2008 BonTerra Consulting
In nature, Chamise burns every 10-40 years; stems older than about 50 Hard coats – require acid
scarification or brief
years are exceedingly rare, but individual plants may be quite old
exposure to heat.
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Chamise is one Soils: Chamise: might be right
tough shrub Texture: any as long as it is
fairly well-draining
for your garden
pH: any local Excellent choice for slopes –
good erosion control
Light:
Full sun Brightens up an area in bloom
Water: Nice background plant –
interesting foliage shape, color
Winter: don’t over-water
Summer: very drought Can be hedged or used as a
tolerant, but better with screen
occasional summer water (Zone
1-2 or 2) – keeps it green Of course, a great cover plant
for all sorts of ground-
Fertilizer: none; likes poor soils
dwellers – birds, lizards, small
Other: pinch low-growing forms mammals (rabbits, etc.).
to keep low – will need severe
pruning to rejuvenate – you’re the Teas/salves from foliage/bark
‘fire’ used for skin infections;
branches for arrow shafts
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/adenostoma-fasciculatum
http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/chamise.html
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/adenostoma-fasciculatum
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Low-growing variety & cultivars The California Towhee - Pipilo crissalis
make nice woody groundcovers
‘Black Diamond’
Dark green foliage
Low-growing; can be used as a
groundcover or bonsai
‘Black Diamond’ ‘San Nicolas’
Truly prostrate form from San
Nicolas Island
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/3358077566/in/set-72157621930969588/
Adenostoma fasciculatum var. prostatum © 2007 Tom Greer tbphotos@comcast.net
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Identifying your CA Towhee Habitat for CA
Towhee
Length: 7.25 inches
Preferred habitats include shady
Conical bill underbrush, open woods, pinyon-
Dark eye juniper woodlands, and suburban
gardens.
Brown crown
Likes dense cover and leaf litter.
Buffy throat Leaf litter is good for many
birds as well as most California
© 2007 Ron Wolf Black ring of spots on native plants.
breast
The California Towhee forages in
Pale gray underparts the leaf litter by scratching,
Brown upperparts with both feet at once, in a fast
hopping motion.
Rusty undertail coverts
They feed on seeds and insects
Long tail within the leaf litter or
occasionally on berries or seeds
Juvenile (Spring to Fall) in bushes.
© 2008 Kim Cabrera
heavily streaked below
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Guidelines for creating habitat * Parajo Manzanita – Arctostaphylos pajaroensis
Let native plants go to seed or fruit
Leave leaf litter if possible. Provides a home for insects – food © 1995 Dan Post
for ground-dwellers
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
* Parajo Manzanita – Arctostaphylos pajaroensis Parajo Manzanita – exceptionally attractive
Size:
Endemic to Santa Cruz and
4-8+ ft tall
Monterey counties in the
Monterey Bay region 6-8 ft wide
Maritime chaparral on deep Growth form:
to shallow, sandy soils or Woody shrub/small tree
sandstone outcroppings - Mounded/sprawling to erect
sometimes on edges of Oak Typical red bark
Woodlands evergreen
Foliage:
Used as one parent in Leaves dense, somewhat
several horticultural hybrid erect
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Arctostaphylos+pajaroensis
cultivars – very attractive Color: blue-green – with red-
foliage orange tips to new growth
Very attractive-looking
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
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Flowers are fantastic – Soils:
of course! Plant Requirements Texture: likes a sandy soil –
comes form N. CA coast
pH: very slightly acid best – 6.0-
Blooms: winter - usually Dec-Feb 7.0
in western L.A. Co.
Light:
Flowers: Full sun to part-shade
Typical small flowers of
manzanita – urn-shaped Water:
Light to darker pink Winter: don’t over-water
Thousands at one time – this is http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/2994359348/
Summer: best with occasional
among the showier flowerers water (Zone 1-2 or 2), but quite
Hummingbird magnet drought tolerant near coast
Fragrant!
Fertilizer: none; use an organic
Fruits: mulch
Edible Other: looks best with little
Loved-by fruit-eaters of all pruning, but can be shaped – even
sorts kept below 3 ft.
© 2004 Aaron Schusteff
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
Parajo Manzanita is great for
coastal gardens ‘Sunset’
Prune up for a small, dense tree –
good nesting sites
Hybrid - A. pajaroensis x A. hookeri
Use as a specimen/accent shrub ssp. hookeri
– very attractive year-round, Very colorful new foliage
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/arctostaphylos-pajaroensis-paradise-manzanita
with sculptural shape http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157608574988902/
Low-growing – to about 3-4 ft
Chosen for garden hardiness
As an all-round habitat plant –
winter nectar, fruits and cover-
nest sites
Has an ‘old-fashioned look’ –
perfect for Edwardian or
Victorian garden
Nice addition to a scent garden
http://tmousecmouse.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/2994359348/
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