How exactly does one go about fixing what ails the Salton Sea ???

Interesting set of articles recently from the Los Angeles Times on various schemes for fixing the problems of the Salton Sea 

Animated Gif - Los Angeles Times

(Gary Coronado /Los Angeles Times)

The issue with the eventual fate of the Salton Sea is at a critical point now. It actually always has been critical, but clearly the present set of negative ecological circumstances surrounding the sea encompass so many other health and ecological issues as never before. There have been many proposed solutions over the years, but nothing has ever really gotten done. After the initial Colorado river bank breach was corrected back in 1907, the sea level has been maintained by the irrigation runoff from farms in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys and two rivers (horribly polluted) coming out of Mexico, the Alamo River and the New River. The danger became even more elevated when the impending legislation to transfer some of the local farmers’ share of Colorado River water to San Diego County. Even then the studies showed that this disastrous decision would make the shoreline recede by more than a mile. And this is where the concentrated salinity and toxic pollution increases causing massive fish kills and bird dieoffs. Another side effect which damages human health are all the toxic dust storms from the dry fine silty lake bed where the sea has receded.

Animated  Map - Los Angeles Times

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Dead trees, debris and dead fish dotted the shoreline of the Salton Sea in 2015. This is now a common  site everywhere along the Salton Sea's shores and beaches. For folks who are old enough to remember what the Sea once looked like, it's an incredible sadness to know how so much life has been destroyed. I'm fascinated with the Sea's historical creation back in 1905 with the irrigation canal construction blunder over in the Mexico area south of Yuma and some of the incredible wildlife changes which facilitated miles of shoreline ecosystem freshwater (at worst brackish) habitat. I'm even more fascinated with the sea's ancient freshwater Lake Cahuilla creation 1000s of years ago. I imagine the area was incredibly rich in all manner of wildlife, including the Sonoran beaver which would have existed in Southern California. The non-profit organization "Martinez Beaver" has a wonderful reprinted document from the state of California Fish and Game entitled, The Status of Beavers in California. Scroll down to page #23. This was an amazing piece in that it reveals the development of beaver activity in fresh water all the way to the Salton Sea via Alamo & New Rivers, which originate from the south at Mexican border. It documents a trek once taken down the Alamo River in April of 1940, by Robert Hart, from the California Division of Fish and Game, who examined this river by boat along its entire course in California from Mexico to the Salton Sea. He found evidence of Beaver activity from the Mexican border, through Holtville, through Brawley, through Calipatria and all the way into the Imperial Game Refuge near the Salton Sea past Calipatria and west of the town of Niland.

Click Here to Magnify

In one description there is mention of Beaver in and around several lakes on either side of the Alamo River next a Finney Gun Club. The map on the right shows the location of this hunting club being near Hwy 111 south of Calipatria where the highway crosses over this game refuge. Looking on Google Earth you can see the interesting pattern of these lakes (Finney, Ramer & Wiest lakes) along the Alamo River and also numerous smaller Ox-Bow Lakes which were created decades ago prior to the build up of towns and farmland creation when the Alamo was allowed to meander back and forth which is the nature of most rivers on floodplains. Now the river is pretty much maintained and kept channelized so as to not disturb the existing bordering farm fields which has tightened the river channel. But it was this region that had the heaviest concentration of beaver which would have all thrived in the rich abundant native riparian vegetation of a wide meandering floodplain, plus the same meander created countless ox-bow ponds everywhere which still exist in places. Keep in mind that prior to 1934, the Tamarisk and Arundo cane had not yet taken over and destroyed the native riparian ecosystem as it has done today. There were later drought years from 1931 and especially 1934 which brought serious water shortages to Imperial Valley. The regulation of the river by Lake Mead didn't begin until 1935 and eventually freed the Imperial Valley from the periodic water shortages and inferior water quality which usually resulted from droughts in earlier years. This same year, 1934, started the dramatic drop in beavers populations in this region and over in the New River which had a huge population they completely disappeared. Less water into the valley meant complete shut off which dried many places up to mere saline seeps. The new All American Canal started construction in 1934 so that irrigation water delivery would never again be dependent on coming up through Mexico. Still, Salton Sea has so much potential as a wildlife draw, but not under the present system of maintenance. Something radically has to change and it's starts with completely stopping the toxic pollution on both sides of the border. Fat chance that ever happening! 😒

Image - Google Earth

The image above is from Google Earth on the Hwy 111 bridge in Imperial Valley just south of the town of Calipatira, California. The view is looking south at the Alamo River which comes out of Mexico. Often at this point in the Alamo you can even see those giant foamy suds floating downstream towards it's goal north to the Salton Sea. As you can see the vegtation here is predominantly non-native Tamarisks and Arundo cane. Neither of these plants are favoured by beaver as compared to the willows, Ash and cottonwoods which dominated in the early descriptions of accounts of beaver in Imperial Valley. Although Beaver have been found to chew on Tamarisk in the Colorado River where no other palatable plants exist. If you venture over to Google Earth to this exact location and turn completely around viewing the Alamo River looking north, you will see some natives like California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) which in my almost 40+ years of experience viewing this region are in fact on the increase as a result of birds. Grackles most likely.

The original Breach in Irrigation Canal Construction which gave us the Salton Sea

Animated Historical Map - Loa Angeles Times

http://www.greetingsfromsaltonsea.com/flood.html

Courtesy of Chris Landis collection

Fascinating Read on the original breach along the Colorado

Popular Science Monthly/Volume 70/January 1907/The Possibilities of Salton Sea

Resulting Consequences to Wildlife

CREDIT: DEPARTMENT OF FISH & WILDLIFE

Photo - Milton Friend

Back in the 1950s the Salton Sea was once known as the “California Riviera” which gave life to real estate schemes of a Las Vegas by the Sea known as Salton City. Now it's one of the United States of America’s worst ecological disasters. Nothing more than a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up millions of dead fish and birds. It's been estimated that around 100 million fish thrive in the Salton Sea, but problems such as algal blooms caused by excess pollution (Miracle-Gro for Algae) in the water from Imperial & Coachella Valley agriculture and the raw filth coming from Mexico via the New & Alaamo Rivers which flow straight out of the city of Mexicali have led to these massive die-offs such as this one (above) affecting gulf croakers. I remember back in 1996, the news reports of thousands of white and brown pelicans in the Salton Sea were being killed off by this avian botulism, marking the first time that fish-eating birds succumbed to the disease. The potential for wildlife of all sorts was huge at the very begining of the Sea's modern re-creation at the hands of an irrigation canal contruction blunder at the Colorado River in 1905.

US Fish ans Wildlife Service

Flocks of snow geese (above) rest on an upland habitat adjacent to the Salton Sea that is part of the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. This scene flashes me back to a time when Spanish Explorer, Juan Bautista de Anza, came through Imperial Valley, there was no mention of the great Sea's existence in 1774-1776 in his journal when they camped at San Sebastian Marsh where San Felipe Creek enters into the Salton Sink. Oddly enough at the time, the climate was far different. Both Fray Pedro Font and Anza made reference on the second journey the following year of a fierce snow blizzard they encountered at San Sebastian Marsh (about the area of Hwy 85 Border Patrol Checkpoint), where conditions were so miserable that they lost several livestock and horses which they brought with them on the expedition. Hard to believe such a weather event like this happened if you've ever passed through here and seen the area's lunarscape appearance. But interestingly, when they did leave Anza Valley in the San Jacinto Mountain range and looked down into the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley from the higher elevations coming down through present day, Bautista Canyon, he did comment on what had the appearance of a massive snowy landscape in the valleys below. In reality once the Spanish expedition arrived on the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley floor, they found a massive riparian habitat where millions upon millions of aquatic birds like snow geese, maybe even white pelicans, egrets, etc covered the landscape. Ancient Lake Cahuilla (Salton Sea) must have at one time (before Anza) looked like that scene when the Colorado followed the same ancient pathway where the canal construction breach took place at the Colorado River in 1905.

1950s Las vegas by the Sea gone Bust

Postcard Image - From Wanderland

SALTON CITY: A SEASIDE WASTELAND ADVENTURE

At the start of the 1950s, the sea was viewed as having so much potential as a tourist Mecca. Indeed as the post card above promises, this was a resort of Las Vegas caliber and so close to L.A. and San Diego in the west and Phoenix to the east. But that was then. Modern Science in the 1950s brought mankind the not so Green Revolution, where those miracle chemicals Allied & Axis Power Chemical Companies (DuPont, Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer, Etc) used for bomb making during World War II, could now suddenly be used to make deserts artificially green. Either way those chemicals destroy things. But this was the beginning of the end for the Salton Sea with this scientific miracle, sorry I meant debacle. Unfortunately, looking at the Salton Sea today and the surrounding post apocalyptic appearance it has along all it's beaches & shoreline, one could almost agree with the online gamer description of it as nothing more than "a putrid, salt-rich lake whose waters are unlikely to be home to anything you’d want to go fishing for." The Salton Sea is clearly a toxic mess, in which the same online gamer again described as being able to "burn through a man's lower intestine in seconds" if you were to ingest any of it's foul liquid. Yuck, but that's the feeling you get anyway.

So are there any real viable Soultions ???

SDSU Center for Inland Waters

Comments from readers in the original article in Yahoo News

"Dig a tunnel to San Diego and fill it up."

This comment above had the right idea, but the logistics were a way off their target. Something closer to home - Mexico!

"The best thing for the Salton sea is to let it return to it's natural state as a dry lake bed."

Okay now this was a totally out of touch. True, the modern day Salton Sea was a dry lakebed prior to the construction accident in 1905, but allowing it to go back to a dry lakebed is not the answer and creates massive amounts of health issues. Both for human as well as wildlife. There was once a water pipeline plan dismissed years ago which may not have been an attractive option to save the beleaguered Salton Sea way back when, but now it may be the only best way to buy the region more time. Below here are three links to info on the scheme of building a sea level canal from Sea of Cortez to Salton Sea. This really is the only viable option, but as usual it's only a mere fix-it-pill approach which is generally the way humans ever accomplish anything. While this proposal in interesting, there should also be a side by side second canal or pipeline which should act as a release valve back to Sea of Cortez in case of another Hurricane Kathleen in 1976 and Doreen the following year 1977 flooded which made the Salton Sea level rise significantly enough to flood several coastal towns like Bombay Beach. But here are the links to canal info.

http://www.fdungan.com/salton.htm

Desert Sun: How Waters from Mexico can Save the Salton Sea

Why an Unpopular Idea Could Be the Salton Sea’s Best Solution 

“Bureaucracy, made up entirely of petty minds, stands as an obstacle to the prosperity of the nation; delays for seven years, by its machinery, the project of a canal which would have stimulated the production of a province.”

Honoré de Balzac - French Novelist & Playwright 

Helping clean up the Salton Sea must also include helping Mexico clean up it's Troubled Waters

MEXICO: Farmers angry over new Sewer Plant which may clean Irrigation Water

Animated Map Sources: Tim Krantz, professor of environmental studies, Salton Sea Database program director, University of Redlands; Lisa Benvenuti, GIS analyst, University of Redlands; California State Parks.

References about Salton Sea It's Creation, it's historical Drawdowns and eventual Death

I'm reserving this spot for a furture post which deals with why the ancient Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the first place. The post is almost completed and I'll place it here, as well as the Networkedblogs Facebook page.

Los Angeles Times: "Riverside County has a new plan to fix the Salton Sea — or at least a part of it"

Los Angeles Times: "Drawdowns and death of the Salton Sea"

Los Angeles Times: "State unveils a 10-year plan to restore habitat and control toxic dust storms along the Salton Sea's receding shoreline"

Ökenliv (Desert Life 2012) Cactus & Succulent Art

A large part of the Desert Life theme this year was the creative way of incorporating Cactus and Succulents into various art forms. Take a look at the photo gallery of Arts & Crafts from this year's show.

photo: Mine

Desert Chair art with Barrel Cactus as the foot stool, hanging pictures in the background consisting of various succulents and a Lamp created by an upside down cactus plant in it's Nursery Container. You definitely 
don't want to sit in this chair.

Looks almost like a very old chair you'd see in your Grand Father and Mother's house.

Close up shot of Cactus Lamp

I have to say here on many of the varieties of Succulents used above, that I have these very same plants in the cracks and crevices of my backyard in that mass of Granite Bedrock and they survive the nasty winters here. I suppose or imagine they would fry in the Deserts southwest though. Go figure!

photo Mine

I would imagine this is something like a morning breakfast scene.

photo: Mine

Examples of decorative pieces that could be utilized as accents to walkways or decks

This of course was the front entrance to the interior greenhouses where frost tender cactus and succulents from around the world are perminantly housed. But I wanted to draw attention to the giant outdoor pots and the rock slate they incorporated as a decorative mulch. Below are some close up examples.

photo: Mine 

Charcoal coloured slate used as a decorative mulch

Photo: Mine

 No weeding problems here

Succulent arrow arrangement pointing towards Entrance

Photo: Mine

This is what greets you at the Greenhouse entrance.

photo: Mine

Examples of Succulent Picture Framed Wall Art

Here is a quick blow up gallery of the above art framed works which utilized old fish crates from the Fish Market. I've used old agricultural equipment parts as well in outdoor cactus arrangements. Clearly they could be incorporated on indoor themes also.

photo: Mine

All 4 of these above examples would be perfect for decorating an Arizona or California room which are nothing more than enclosed porches. At the very least these can stimulate interest and creativity utilizing house plants that don't require the regular maintenance of the common popular examples of indoor plant decor.

Photo: Mine

This whole room was loaded with Artwork examples before walking into the main Cactus House

Photo: Mine

These would make great artworks for the newly rebuilt and renovated Salome Cafe & Cactus Bar

Tomorrow more on the actually education on desert Life presented and Greenhouse itself .

Ökenliv (Desert Life) Part III - Sedona Arizona ?

Great examples in the use and placement of rocks in the Hardscape. Certainly a huge investment for sure, but if done correctly and using the RIGHT plants, you can create a private theme that will bring joy to your garden hideaway which will create the illusion of escape and add great value to the home. Take a look at this UN-Swedish-like example below.

Photo: Mine

With the exception of the antiquated Aluminum Green House in the background, these granite rock forms and their reddish earth tone colours are spectacular and laid out as the real deal. Only thing missing is Lizards.

Lantana

These features were in Göteborg Botanical Gardens. But here's some advice for folks actually living in warmer climates. Even when someone does a great job of placement with just the right shapes and sizes in a theme, the biggest mistakes I see in the use of rocks is folks not having the slightest clue of what plants to use so as not to hide or overwhelm those kool features you wanted to highlight in your hardscape in the first place. One plant I actually do like in many situations, but when neglected will totally bury your rockscape is the beautiful insect attracting flowering plant Lantana.

A prime example is the house at the very bottom of my Mum's street on the corner of Pepper Drive and Marlinda in El Cajon CA. That corner planter had some large granite boulders placed there if I remember, but as a result of neglect the Lantana has mounded up so high with alot of dead dry material underneath that the plant is a complete mass of material the size of a pickup truck. No sign that boulders were ever present. Take a look at the plants they used here at the Botanical Gardens which simply accent and compliment the rock features.

Photo: Mine

Bunch Grasses, miniature Juniper, Dwarf Yucca and a shrub I'll identify later which has the stunted appearance like a type of Elephant tree found in the Anza Borrego Desert and Baja California rock outcroppings. None of those typical desert plants are native here for obvious reasons, but you can find substitutes and create an effective Faux Desert theme. Also notice the incorporation of similar coloured gravel or decomposed granite to fill in gaps and use as a mulch.

Dwarf variety of a Varigated Yucca

To the right here is a photo from a different angle of the small Yucca incorporated into the desert themed landscape next to the boulder slabs. Other low growing plants accent or compliment the rock slabs as opposed to overwhelming them & hiding all those great beautiful geological features which were the reasons why they were chosen in the first place. Such landscape/hardscape marriage themes as these are perfect for natural pond swimming pools as can be seen here from Inspiration Green's website page with Natural Swimming Pools and Swimming Ponds. But seriously, the creative juices should be overflowing here with the endless possibilities. Replicating nature not only in design, but in mechanism design called biomemetics will keep the system in operation for the life of the theme you install.

http://inspirationgreen.com/natural-pools-swimming-ponds.html

Photo: Mine

The little puddle of water here reveals the rainy nature of this year's summer. Yet at the same time on this particular sunny day it made me reminisce of a Thundershower afternoon somewhere around Slide Rock State Park in Oak Creek Canyon Arizona. But where are those Lizards ? Guess I need fake plastic ones for realism effect!!!  Is that biological soil crust on those rocks ?

Another area of this Botanical Garden that incorporated unique slab or slate type of boulders with a block rectangular shape was under these  Oak & Elm Trees for use as natural benches. Once again the choices of rock and just the right placement has a natural appeal as if it has always been there.

Natural Rock Benches

Another angle and look at other slabs incorporated 
into the rest area.

And yet another angle of the rock rest area

Some words about boulders, rocks and gravel in the Hardscape. If you're going to do it, then do it right. Don't be satisfied with just some rocks of any kind placed in the garden. If possible go with boulders that will be central pieces and make sure they are the right type of rock geology feature which will fit your theme. Think of the plant community theme you want and definitely know something about the geology of the picturesque area they are native to. Picking the right boulders is an art in it self. It took me several years combing the canyons, washes and Alluvial Fans (Bajadas) around the Coachella Valley for just the right shapes, colours and stone quality before I finally finished my own garden steps in Anza. The example boulders above clearly illustrate that the designer had specifics in mind. You have to be the one that lives with your choices whether you PERSONALLY are involved or you even if you SUB-CONTRACT someone else. By all means do your own personal homework and have a say, it's your investment. 

My way of homework for years was spending as much time in nature as possible and taking mental notes. If need be, take photographs of visuals and other scenery that inspires you on the inside. Illustrate scenes that impress you and your taste in what a kool hideaway looks like and think of ways of replicating that in your own urban landscape. I've not only done this with hardscapes involving various rocks, logs and such, but with specific plant features as well. Where do you think Bonsai inspiration came from ? There are countless Bonsai examples everywhere in the wild around the globe. 

Stay away from some of the cheap concrete fake rocks. I hate a lot of that stuff that I see in the commercial Home Centers. It's cheezy and frankly I don't think it works. Faux granite slabs of the commercial kind are great if you have the bucks and can colour match incorporated real boulder and rock slabs in with them. Examples of quality Faux Rock art are found at several of the Living Desert Museums both in California and Arizona. But keep in mind these organizations had real professionals who knew what they were doing. They also had a lot of bucks. I've been in a number of businesses to know that there are a heck of a lot of Wannabes of any kind out there who'll take your money and split, so choose carefully and get references. Again those types of construction jobs are usually around pool decks and so forth and are most likely expensive, but I think most folks can do it on a small scale budget and build gradually. The project can be fun and rewarding in the end if you are a DIYer. I love boulders and rock outcroppings in general when it comes to landscaping.

http://www.boulderimages.com/engineered-retaining-walls

Tomorrow I'll have some examples of trees and shrubs which thrive here and could pass as their subtropical substitutes or counterparts for native plants elsewhere from warmer climates. Escaping from Temperate & Boreal Forest habitats is a habit of mine, even if it's creating a fantasy of sorts. Creating microclimate Illusions even in such areas as these is definitely possible as the Desert Life theme proves this year.

Creeping Oregon Grape (Mahonia repens)

photo: Paul Slichter

This is one of my favourites for placing under a woodland garden setting where not a lot of water is going to be used. Most woodland gardens we think of as a lush shaded cool spot with this long list of delicate moisture loving herbaceous plants like ferns, Meadow rue, etc. I put Creeping Oregon Grape in with a dry forest floor setting, though it'll take the moisture anyway as long as it's not a bog. It's name is a give away for it's habit for spreading slowly by underground rhizomes. For me it has always stayed low to the ground, but it'll get rather bushy to a couple of feet or so with just the right garden conditions. The photo above is how mine looked with a mat of pine needle straw which not only is decorative but also keeps the weeds down to that the effect is simply the beautiful living mat of the holly like leaves of the Mahonia repens. The fruit is blue much like that of the commonly tall planted Oregon Grape. Obviously it is not a grape but the clusters remind people of the look of concord grapes.

In the winter time they also add a new twist to the look as the leaves themselves will turn red to burgandy. Although some of the leaves will fall off in dormancy, many linger on the plant. Speaking personally I can really only relate to my experience with them at elevation 4500' where winters were freezing and had snow at times. And yet even in the summer they thrived in the heat underneath the Chaparral plant community canopy where I planted them.

 Photo by Donald Kirk

Here are the more mounding conditions if you have it under organically rich and maintained garden soils with regular water. Notice also that red leaf colouration I mention previously above. They look especially at home under conifers like Pine Trees. Notice also the contrast of the carpet of pine needles as a carpet under the Mahonia ?

Photo by Alder, Michael G.

For me however, I wanted them established with a mycorrhizal connections and eventually taking care of themselves when eventually connected to the grid I create underground which allows a plant community to take care of and maintain itself with little help from me. Take a look at some photos of what they look like and how they behave in their own natural settings. Often you can learn much by taking some mental notes from observing nature and replicating this in your own backyard. In the picture below, notice how it forms a nice carpet under the Ponderosa Pines.

Photo by Al Schneider

Looking at such scenes above should get your mental wheels turning as to planning and other architectural goals when you choose to layout a landscape theme. Here is it's native ranges. The light green reveals where it is native and not rare. The dark green indicates where it has a presence in specific locations in the other states and the light tan indicates it's once historic range. Frankly, this plant can be grown just about anywhere.

These next picture are strictly for the readers or gardeners to appreciate just how tough these little plants are and you need to realize that they wouldn't even exist here in these harsh settings were it not for mycorrhizae. These next pictures are also from the State of   Colorado in the southwestern United States in and around the Colorado Plateau regions where extreme heat and cold accompanied by often dry conditions during any temperature range make conditions for any plant a challenge for survival. This should be obvious as you can to tell from these pictures of plant in the dry adobe red sandstone which surrounds these plants in the photos. Very little organic matter here.

photos: JR Hartman Universität Greifswald

photos: JR Hartman

This next photo to the right again shows the toughness and ruggedness of this plant's ability to survive not only harsh weather geographical and climatic conditions, but also spring back with a vengeance after a wildfire experience. reminds me of just how powerful this plant's ability is to spring back from even fire destruction of habitat. I have a personal experience with this. I did something one day at my house in Anza, California that was dumb, stupid, retarded, whatever. I heated my house with wood burning stove. It was winter, cold and windy from a typical Santa Ana wind from the east this day, but it was sunny. It was in the afternoon that I was going to start another fire for the coming evening, but first I had to clean out the ash drawer. The box was warm but not at all hot to the touch. I took the ashes out as I had done previously to spread a light coat of ash under some of the landscape for the purpose of returning something back into the ground. So I figured I was doing my eco-green merit badge deed for the day. Most of what I dumped was ash and there were a few dark chunks of charcoal. 

photo: Mine

I went around to the other side of the house where I was planting some trees and clearing some brush. I looked up and saw big white billowing puffs of smoke over the roof coming from the other side. I ran a round the corner of our house and found a fast moving though only a few inches high fire making it's way through the understory of the Redshank and New Mexico Locust. I ran and got the garden hose and turned it to full blast. Put the fire out and fortunately for my backside it came to an abrupt end at the dirt road, thought sparks were being carried over to the other side and I had to run over and stomp out with my feet a small bunch of  dried foxtails. I dodge a huge bullet. I could imagine myself being in debt for the rest of my life, but only after I got out of prison. Not to mention the guilt of harming the property and lives of my neighbours for one moments stupid unthinking act. Only that road in the photo above acted as the perfect firebreak. The fire would have been on the right. *sigh*

Photo by Tony Frates

But this photo to the right here should illustrate Mahonia repens ability to spring back easily from a fire. Unlike the chaparral below, all of my shrubs and small trees were untouched by the flames, though some small New Meixco Locust clonal saplings did get weeded out which was something I was going to do manually anyway. Yet even in this almost catastrophic situation I could also view and experience first hand how a small fast moving fire could clean out and maintain an understory even in chaparral.

This next picture is the exact location of where this fire took place. The location where I dumped the ash is right there at the top of the drive and working down from there and to the left. You can see those same New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana) and in the foreground amazingly is still a little Sugarbush (Rhus ovata) which also was untouched. The winds were blowing from right to left in this photo. The road it out of the picture, but it also is to the left. What an absolute stupid blunder that really could have been, not to mention the misery caused to my neighbours and others..

Photo by Plantentuin Esweld

This next picture illustrates what I did as far as enhancing the understory decor as far as a natural forest floor look. I went up to Idyllwild, where I use to live and obtained some old Ponderosa pine and Incense Cedar logs for decorative special effects along with some rocks from the Pinyon area above Palm Desert, CA which are a flat grainy plated hard granite stone from the washes and quite attractive. Planting anything in and around objects and in niches and crevices gives added texture and eye interest.

Hope this helps some out who need ideas for small spaces. Common larger varieties of Mahonia (Berbsis) are nice, but can take up larger space if you don't have it. When you are out walking in nature, take notice of details of how things grow, what shapes them, what type of community of other plants they grow with and always think about what is going on underneath the ground to make it all happen above it.