This week’s column addresses various garden topics, including water plants and leaf blowers.
The photo gallery includes a few plants that are currently in bloom and expectations of two newly installed water plants. As before, photos of leaf blowers would not be interesting. We can regard their absence as like the relative quiet created by the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.
Aquatic plants
My garden patio includes a small pond, with a capacity of about 500 cubic feet. It is surrounded by brick paving and is fully exposed to the sun. It provides a home for small fish, which seem to enjoy the environment and regular meals of tropical fish food. A fountain with a submerged pump occasionally provides pleasant sounds for the garden, and valuable aeration of the water.
During the warmer months of the year, sunlight develops algae in the pond. Different species are possible, including filamentous algae and green pond algae. Identifying the biological names of the species is not as important as discouraging its growth.
For self-contained, sun-exposed small ponds like mine, algae can be avoided by adding chemical products (which cost money and threaten the fish) or shading at least half of the surface area with pond plants. The plant option also costs money, but it can add ornamental beauty to the pond and the overall garden.
A wide range of aquatic plants can be found in garden centers or online. While we need not analyze the many plants within this category, we soon learned that several aquatic plants are invasive: they grow rapidly and crowd out native species, negatively impacting native wildlife populations that feed on the native plants. For information on invasive aquatic plants, visit the website of the Invasive Species Centre (tinyurl.com/35ecjmzp).
Invasive water plants can be a significant problem in open waterways, but they have a different role in garden ponds. Because they grow rapidly, they can clog a small pond relatively quickly. That fast growth requires pond owners to prune them often and generates offsets for sale by garden centers.
Commonly available invasive aquatic plants include Mare’s Tail (Hippuris vulgaris), Blue Pickeral (Pontederia cordata), Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), Cabomba (Cabomba caroliniana), Floating Hearts (Nymphoides peltate), Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Water Hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes).
From past experience, Water Lettuce and Water Hyacinth are favored by (I think) raccoons.
Our pond-shading goal focuses on aquatic plants with floating leaves. We were able to acquire locally two suitable plants: Water Poppy (Hydrocleys nymphoides) and Red Water Lily (Nymphaea Xiafei). File images of the blossoms of these plants are included in today’s photo gallery.
The Water Poppy is not invasive but can be somewhat weedy in warmer winter climates. The Red Water Lily is not invasive and promises to add botanical beauty to my small pond.
Leaf blower update
On June 25, the Santa Cruz City Council adopted an ordinance that prohibits the use of gas-powered leaf blowers citywide, effective Jan. 1, 2025. This ordinance amends the Health and Sanitation section of the Santa Cruz Municipal Code and follows the city’s Climate Action Plan 2030, which specifically identifies passing a ban on gas-powered small off-road engines, which includes gas-powered leaf blowers, by 2024.
As reported previously, this ordinance follows the statewide policy that prohibits the sale of gas-powered small off-road engines, called SOREs, which were produced after Jan. 1, 2024. Devices produced before this date could continue to be used for several years, so the city ordinance prohibits the use of older equipment.
Here are noteworthy details:
• The ordinance prohibits both the use and the authorized use of these devices, so it applies to homeowners using such leaf blowers and authorizing contractors to use such equipment.
• The Climate Action Plan 2030 intends to ban the use of other SOREs, e.g., edgers, tillers, chainsaws, etc., by 2024. In the coming months, the city of Santa Cruz might consider bans on uses of these other polluting devices.
• Browse to tinyurl.com/2s4bz93x to read the entire ordinance.
Also on June 25, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors held its first reading of a proposed ordinance banning the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County, with the effective date on Jan. 1, 2025. The board approved the ordinance in concept, with direction, and will consider final adoption at a following meeting.
The Coalition for a Healthy and Safe Environment reports that this action could be California’s first county ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. Visit the website chasesantacruz.org for background information on this issue.
Enjoy your garden!
Tom Karwin is a past president of Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and the Monterey Bay Iris Society, a past president and Lifetime Member of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society, and a Lifetime UC Master Gardener (Certified 1999-2009). He is now a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Society, and active with the Pacific Horticultural Society. To view photos from his garden, https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-566511763375123/ . For garden coaching info and an archive of On Gardening columns, visit ongardening.com for earlier columns or visit www.santacruzsentinel.com/ and search for “Karwin” for more recent columns. Email comments or questions to gardening@karwin.com.
