In Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn (& Why I've always hated Lawns as a Landscaper)

We've all known them. You know, those weekend warrior Joe Six-Packs in your neighbourhood with that well stocked garage loaded with all manner of tools, machines, building materials and chemicals for any Home & Garden improvement project who are always obsessed with that perfect showcase lawn ?

New York Times
"A screen grab of an EddieGram. The Briggs & Stratton Corporation is using the character of Engine Eddie to encourage consumers to take better care of their lawns."

In my opinion, the only perfect urban landscape lawn that I believe most people are looking for could only be a sort of generic artificial version found only at an IKEA store. As a professional landscaper from the southwest, of all the duties in landscape installation and maintenance I always hated the lawns the most. It wasn't just those tenants who let their dogies doo doo on the grass the morning of mowing day, but mainly the wasted expense of fertilizing, watering, weed control. thatching, aerating, mowing etc etc etc. Especially watering where it's not for free as elsewhere there in the southwest. If I had my way, all lawns would have been removed at all those commercial living complexes I was in charge of maintaining. In replacement I'd have placed beautiful low growing natives.

http://www.artificial-grass-lawns.com

What is it about an artificial unnatural look that people find so attractive ? Mostly, I believe Americans have been indoctrinated through an elaborate manipulation of Advertising which stretches all the way back to the 1950s when the American Dream of owning a tract home was created after the WWII. Many a military man after the war never wanted to go back to the miserable cold winters of back eastern seaboard or Midwest after being stationed out in the west. That was the case with my dad, his cousins and friend from Iowa. But that didn't mean they rejected everything back east. They still wanted those green lush looking lawns that are so common and popular back there, where many people use a riding lawn mower to maintain their half acre lawnscapes.

Moving over here to Sweden and observing other parts of Europe was an eye opener for me when it came to lawns. See this photo on the left ? If any American gardener or landscaper allowed such flowers as Dandelions to proliferate in his lawn, his neighbours would practically brand him a Communist. Absolutely nobody where I come from ever allows Dandelions to take up any   ecosystem residency within their lawns. Why, over at the local Home Improvement stores all sorts of specialized chemical cocktails have been created to terminate such evil lifeforms. Well, evil in the sense of warped upbringing when it comes to nature and gardening. But it's funny, almost every lawn here is allowed to have countless tiny wildflowers within the yard's lawn. Interestingly, Dandelions are really only a Springtime event. Maybe a month or two at most and then we don't see them until the next year, but then other flowers just seem to take their place as the season progresses. In my previous home I had Red Flax, both Purple and White Clovers, Strawberry plants and some type of small daisy [Roman Chamomile] which grew in the grass. This past Summer I was tempted to take the camera with me when I took our Chihuahua out for a walk in the giant grassy park out behind our apartment. The lawns here are always loaded with a huge variety of flowers all blooming at differing times of the growing season. Nobody here ever sprays to kill them so that only a monoculture of grass blades to remain present. What's more, no one here fertilizes their lawns that I have ever seen. The ground underneath is rich in microbiological component materials which provide everything these low cut grassy meadows need. The lawns are also loaded with tonnes of earthworms which are constantly aerating the soils under the lawns. While I always disliked lawns previously, I now prefer these types of natural lawns. The other thing different here is that they mow and leave the clippings on the lawn. It's so wet here that these clippings break down very quickly. This is not the case out in the southwest where ongoing fertilization and constant watering are necessary to keep green grasses growing and grow they do, excessively so. That's why there are mountains of grass clippings to be dealt with in either vegetation landfills or compost piles where too much nitrogen rich grasses easily catch fire. Below are some examples from my lawns at my old house in Biskopsgatan on Hissingen.

Trine Harritz Larsen, Dänemark

Above are the type of white small daisy type of flowers which are a  Roman Chamomile that would bloom all summer long in the grasses on the south sunny side of my house. But in the photo below you can see some of the Redflax has moved into the lawn. Higher up are some strawberry plants I planted in the cracks in the rocks which have moved down by means of runners into the lawns where they root. Because I never fertilized, the lawn did not have to be mowed as often as a lawn conventionally grown in the USA would have to be more regularly maintained because of rich synthetic inputs into the system. This allowed the strawberries to root more easily through the shorter blades. Can you imagine all these types of plants I've mentioned being a weedy problem in need of a deadly solution ???

Image: Mine 2013

Still, it amazes me that where I come from in the southwest USA, they will go out of their way to rid the lawn of even a single beautiful flower if it disrupts the monoculture of those highly prized green blades of grass in their   lawnscape. But this mindset has been conditioned into the average person over there for decades. The lawns that I now experience over here in Europe are loaded with all manner of wild bees and other insects because of the huge tiny flower content within these lawns. It's literally alive both above and below the ground and nothing really has to be done but lightly mow it twice a month. The carbon footprint as it were is almost nothing with the exception of the small gas can I fill up once a year. The other area of maintenance that is totally unnecessary is lawn and soil aeration. You all know what I'm talking about and perhaps you've either hired someone to do this task with their large machines or you've rented your equipment and did  yourself. 

Tundra Landscapes

Colorado Happy Roots

Sure enough, if aeration isn't done, then water runs off is wasted, fertilizer doesn't penetrate and oxygenation doesn't occur in the root zone area. This is especially bad in the dry regions of the world where lawns have to be artificially maintained this way. We've all seen the wicked looking gas powered equipment and it's 3" or 4" inch long teeth which punch the holes into the lawns and literally pull out hundreds of tiny plugs. All of this is necessary when you follow the rules of an artificial synthetic inputs regimen recommended by your local nurseryman able and willing to sell you all the supplies needed to accomplish that perfect lawn. Oddly enough, over here in Sweden you never see this stuff. Why ??? Because you see this everywhere instead, look below.

Etymology Depart. Oregon State University

Missouri Botanical Garden

The scene above is what I see almost every morning on Swedish lawns when I take our Chihuahua for his walk 3 times a day. Earthworms accomplish the aeration, fertilization, water percolation improvement on a daily basis here and for free. All you have to do is know how to take care of their underground home. Actually to be honest, what I really see is two to three times the castings as the ones above in that picture from Oregon State University. And this is all done for free. In the smaller photo these castings are dried, dug from the earth so that you can get a visual on what exactly they are accomplishing. Notice the tubes which are created by their activity ? While it is true that this area is wetter than where I come from in the hotter drier southwest, you could still get these same results if the dark biological matter were allowed to buildup via the microbial influence and lack of synthetic inputs. This is also another one of those arguments against the GMO Grass seed which is totally unnecessary and is only engineered to allow a plethora of synthetic weed killers like Roundup to be applied on lawns without killing grasses. But Roundup has also be found to kill certain earthworm species and lower populations of others which do not totally die off. I'll post links below in references. But there are some good illustrations for what exactly the importance of having good lawn aeration accomplishes within your grass community root system. 

 Some Interesting Info-graphics on what the benefits of Aeration can accomplish

You can Google the above uses words/terms like "Soil Aeration" or more specifically "Lawn Aeration" and a plethora of beautiful info-graphics pops up under 'images'. Of course it is dealing with much of the advertised mechanical plug removal aeration needed when the conventional chemical approach to lawn care is practiced, but it also illustrates what goes on when billions of earthworms are present and doing their job under the ground. If you view the middle illustration, you find that these opened passages allow for more water and air infiltration and of course deeper penetration of those synthetic junk food nutrients into the soils. But the mechanized version only goes so far down. Remember, 3" or 4" at best ? The "Anecic" variety of Earthworm burrow down six inches or as far down as 8" to 10" down [some species several feet] which allows roots to follow, depending on the amount of organic carbon materials deeply built up within the soil structure under a healthy organically maintained lawn. At this point I have created an entirely separate post about the incredible diversity of earthworms and what they actually perform within healthy soils. This will speed up the reading with this post. Well, hopefully.

Earthworms & the mechanical functions they perform in the soil

Much the way the Harvard Yard Landscapers have created in their Compost tea maintenance strategy. Read about the imaginary controversy surrounding Harvard Yard's landscape supervisor and crew's decision to totally eliminate all synthetic chemicals from the 80+ acre landscape program and the criticism they received from the Washington State University Garden Professors who are committed to industrial science business interests.

Success of Harvard Yard's Compost Tea Program & unfair criticism by Professors committed to industrial science

image: Lawn Care Vancouver

image: Efficient Lawns

The idea behind thatching is to remove all that worthless dead material which impedes air and water movement. The photo above shows a massive amount of thatch that now has to be dealt with either in a separate compost pile away from the landscape or more than likely place in green barrels for the eco-waste disposal people to deal with on their next weekly visit. Again all of this is totally unnecessary if a natural organic approach is practice and the industrial synthetic regimen is dumped in favour of what professional landscapers like those of Harvard Yard have done. The thatch first of all never builds up as the grass grows much more slowly and normally than that continual forced growth triggered by chemical synthetic fertilizers. If you've never seen one of these machines, they mostly have stiff steel brushes which attack the grass and scour it for any dead loose materials. Again, this is not a piece of equipment people normally own, you must hire someone or rent it and do the work yourself. All unnecessary if you biomimic nature.

image: Lowes.com

Image: Turf Doctor

One of the things that disturbed me most about our company's lawn care was the waste in ammonium nitrate pellets which got all over the sidewalks and street gutters, even when you thought you were being careful. There is just no way to perfectly prevent this from scattering where ever when using one of those spreader machines. I realized just how much contribution to downstream and lake pollution was being done collectively by literally 1000s upon 1000s of property owners and/or their landscapers in conventional turf management when they were sloppy about spreading these pellets. You see this everywhere. I finally just just used the manual spreaders in the center of larger lawns and spread carefully by hand around the perimeter. The other thing I hated was having to constantly check daily all lawn sprinkler heads for damage, mineral deposit clogging or insect plugging. Sometimes even weed edger damage. But the need for ongoing water and the artificial way of providing nutrition always seemed to make the grass grow and grow. This called for more than the usual mowing and excess clippings to deal with. What a waste having to throw it all away because we had no real time and patience for creating a composting program. Part of the scary issue here in the west with compost piles is the heat within large amounts of grass clippings are high in nitrogen content and fires can be common. I use to see this a lot with neighbour's composting piles with grass clippings or horse manure piles left unattended. If I had it to do over again, I'd go the Harvard Yard Compost Tea method where micro-organisms are nurtured and encouraged. Where the grass stays a rich green and grows much slower and requires less watering. 

Harvard Yard Recycling Programme

Washington State University Ag Extension Compost Tea Webinar Revisited

Harvard Yard Landscaping Crew

The Webinar by the two WSU gals at Washington State University was very well done and quite neutral in the points they referenced. The Garden Professors from WSU were critical of the webinar long before it was ever shown to the public and were determined not to draw attention to it. The opposite happened. The Garden Professors claim to be a collection of garden/landscaping myth busting legends and while I do accept many things that have written about, sometimes they and a few of their wannabe myth-buster followers get carried away with their own celebrity status. Watch the webinar and follow carefully some of their recommendations. Same with the Harvard Yard recommendations on their website. Take notes of what and how you blended your version of the compost tea and keep in mind the extreme importance of some type of aeration techniques for creating a ecosystem for aerobic bacteria and not an anaerobic one. Take photographs, make more notations on water use, mowing schedule, etc. And try to attain a zero use policy of any type of synthetic inputs into your lawn system. Try and maintain your lawn as an actual wild ecosystem. 

Don't worry about the flowers that may appear in your lawn and if you do not have any, get some. Perhaps you remember years ago the garden product called Meadow in a Can that was sold many places ? Of course not just any flowers will do, you want those tiny or at least small miniature versions of them. Red Flax worked in my lawn over here. The key to any type of a healthy system though is not having a monoculture program. Diversity is the key above ground because various species of fungi and bacteria are host specific below the ground. In both cases of commercial multi-species cover crop farming and diversified landscaping using holistic methods results also in bringing with it the added healthy large populations of various earthworm species which provide different services and benefits. Remember also different geographic locations have specific requirements. What works in one area may not work in another. Please share your ideas with others.

Some Resources for seeding small flowers into your lawn if desired

 Getting started with an herbal lawn may be as simple as changing your definitions and attitudes.

SFGate - Home & Garden: "How to Plant a Roman Chamomile Lawn

Flaming Petal: Planting a Chamomile Lawn

http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/herbal-lawns.aspx

https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/oreganolawn.htm

Update January 8, 2016 Bloomberg:

 On a bit of negative News in the lawn world, it's unfortunate that the Biotechnology and Agro-Chemical Industries are obsessed with pushing their wares into the lawncare markets. These synthetics are not favourable to earthworm populations and as Harvard Yard has proven, they are a total waste of money. However, count on the marketing spin to commence and anyone against their product will be labeled anti-science. This is a flat out lie as you can read from the links and experiences above where people have used scientific discovery to model their lawncare programmes by means of replicating Nature called Biomimicry. You should take note that Scotts has been pursuing this for a long time and their GMO Grass has escaped into the wild in Oregon outside their remote field trial sites, but as they say:

"Scotts filed a similar bentgrass petition in 2002 with the intention of selling it to professional golf courses. Soon after, the modified grass was found growing outside approved test plots in eastern Oregon, King said. Scotts, a Marysville, Ohio-based seller of lawn-care products, agreed in 2007 to pay a $500,000 fine to resolve allegations it violated USDA rules for field tests of its grass." 

"Glyphosate-tolerant creeping bentgrass continues to be found occasionally growing wild in Oregon, and when that happens the company provides herbicides to kill it, King said.

Bloomberg: "Monsanto & Scotts Seek Approval for Golf Grass Gone Wild" 

Future Updates for Flowers in Swedish Lawns here

Wild Lawn image by James A. Bacon

 I love this image above. So illustrative of how lawns are over here in Sweden. Here is a post by James A. Bacon who feels the same way I do about lawns:

Bacon's Rebellion: "The Grass Isn't Always Greener"

South side of my old place.

Earthworms & the mechanical functions they perform in the soil

File under - "Lost and Found"

Colorado State Agricultural  eXtension

Here are some quotes and the link from the Colorado State Agricultural Extension on the three types of earthworms and how to encourage them and dangers that destroy their ecosystem.

How to Encourage Earthworm Activity

"Earthworms will not go where it is too hot/cold or too dry/wet. Soil temperatures above 70ºF or below 40ºF will discourage earthworm activity. While soil temperature is hard to alter, moisture can be managed. When soil becomes water logged, oxygen is driven out of the large pore spaces. Without this free oxygen, earthworms cannot breath. Conversely, when soil dries beyond half of field capacity, earthworm skin dries in the soil. Maintaining moisture levels that are ideal for optimum plant growth in a landscape or garden will also be ideal for earthworm activity.  Providing a food source in the form of organic matter is also important. Mulching grass clippings into the lawn, putting down a layer of organic mulch in beds, amending the soil with compost, and turning under a green manure are all excellent ways to feed earthworm populations."

Practices Detrimental to Earthworm Activity

"High rates of ammonium nitrate are harmful to earthworms  (most common lawn fertilizer used in pellet form)

Tillage destroys permanent burrows and can cut and kill worms. 

Fall tillage can be especially destructive to earthworm populations. 

Deep and frequent tillage can reduce earthworm populations by as much as 90%. 

Earthworms are also hindered by salty conditions in the soil. 

Some chemicals have toxic effects on earthworm populations.

(Source)

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In most discussions of earthworms, there are always three major types referred to with several species referenced within these kinds of earthworms. Yet there are far more like the common red earthworm otherwise known as a compost worm which I've most often found in the rich manure layers around farms. Actually I also found them around the organic layers where my gray water pipe emptied into the ditch up in the mountains where I once lived because much of the vegetable matter which went through the kitchen garbage disposal. 

Epigeic Earthworms (surface litter dewellers)

Of course the result in performing the aeration program is that the grasses in the lawn will perform better until it needs to be done again, which in many cases may be a yearly event. Another very important point in that graphic is the first picture which illustrates the tightly bound soil and grass roots with a compacted thatch build up of dead grass blades, roots and stems. In nature this thatch buildup would have been regularly handled by the abundant microbes available and the other earthworms like the "Epigeic" species which are surface dwellers and litter feeders and make no underground burrows. Nevertheless, this thatching done mechanically is yet another chore that must be done periodically when unnatural synthetic versions of maintenance programs on lawns are undertaken, then all that waste once accumulated must be hauled off to a green waste landfill where they compost it. 

image: Earthworm Society of Britain (Epigeic Earthworm)

It wouldn't surprise me if these were the types of earthworms we most commonly see when we turn over rocks, bricks and boards. Of course they generally are never alone. Sow Bugs, earwigs, mites, ants etc etc etc all contribute to the soil health. Why ? Because they all feed one way or another on organic matter and poop out nutrients available to plants their either direct root contact or the mycorrhizal fungal grid. I have to imagine that when all gardeners, including myself, dig through the soils, we've all stumbled upon all three varieties of earthworm types, but never gave their differences a thought. Earthworms are just Earthworms right ? Wrong! That's almost as bad as UC Davis', Alison Van Eenennaam justifying GMO technology by saying, "DNA is just DNA and Genes are just Genes." I can understand the average person saying this, but not one of the world's well known Sciencey celebrity intellects self-promoting themselves as having an understanding well above the average *cough-cough* Layman (hate that put down term).

image: Earthworm Society of Britain (Endogeic earthworm)

Both types of burrow dwelling earthworms shred residues, stimulate the microbial decomposition and nutrient release. They both produce casts rich in N, P, K, and other nutrients. Improve soil stability, air porosity and moisture holding capacity by burrowing and aggregating soil. Turn soil over and may reduce the incidence of disease by bringing deeper soil to the surface and burying organic matter. They improve water percolation and infiltration by forming channels and promoting soil aggregation and stimulate root growth by creating channels lined with nutrients for plant roots to follow. Both endogeic and anecic earthworms are important mechanical components in contributing to these incredible soil infrastructure functions in all soil ecosystems. The shallow dwelling earthworms improve topsoil porosity and the deep burrowing earthworms improve infiltration and drainage, often times up to several feet depending on the soil and species. It's this soil breathing function they provide through aeration that is most important. Prior to the much celebrated 1950s "green revolution", those nitrogen poor soils always seemed to have plenty to offer plants. Why ? because out atmosphere is loaded with it and if the soil breathes properly, then the nitrogen fixing microbes can do their work effectively on the plant's root systems. But the advent of the Synthetic-Artificial Ag revolution changed all that and caused the beginning of the end in what nature was programmed to do for 10s of 1000s of years prior. 

Anecic Earthworms (Deepest Burrowers)

Cornell University Soil and Water Laboratory

This is a great page create by Cornell University's Soil & Water Laboratory on the flow dynamics of water infiltration and percolation down into the soils by various mechanical components. This pit or trench which was dug into the soil for the study was approximately a meter in depth. There were a number of reasons for the ability of water to percolate and infiltrate deep into the soil, like the usual cracks in soils, the soil structure itself wwhether sand, clay or stoney soils, and finally the real intriguing feature were the deep vertical pore tunneling done by earthworms. In particular these Anecic types of Earthworms like, Nightcrawlers or Dew Worm (Lumbricus terrestris), which I use to collect in the dark at an old Iowa Farm in Buchanan County where the perennials had grown back covering the once barren barnyard. This photo at right shows how the "pore generators" or Anecic Earthworms which bore vertical straight line burrows may go down deep into the soils. Unlike the other varieties which burrow near the surface and around organic litter, then prefer the subsoil. That's good because that allow deeper percolation and infiltration of rainwater beyond the black biologically rich surface soils when it comes. 

image: Earthworm Society of Britain (Anecic earthworm)

One wonders what roles millions of these played in the past as to groundwater infiltration within an old growth ecosystem whether forest, prairie, chaparral, etc. Their presence would have also benefited certain plants which drill deep into soils several meters deep like the prairie perennials of historical times past. There are so many ecosystems so damaged or completely destroyed and extinct, that we may never truly be able to understand the potential for good within these systems that such living and moving biological components contributed to pristine soil health. Check out this excellent video called - "Bioturbation - Worms at Work" which shows three different species of earthworms working together in breaking down organic matter and tunneling within their respective niche habitats under the ground. This all takes place over the time frame period of a month. 

To finish off here, I'll post several large species of earthworms from around the world and even North America which are either now limited or extinct in traditional locations when land mismanagement has destroyed old growth habitats where these giants haven't been seen since the 1960s/70s. Like the megafauna of old which thrived and dwelt in old growth ecosystems, it's the larger organisms which seem to suffer harm first.

Giant Gippsland Earthworm

photo credit: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~aherns/worms.jpg

Common Name: Giant Gippsland Earthworm, (Megascolides australis). The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is found in Gippsland in south-eastern Australia, burrowing in the soil where there is lots of water to help them breathe. These burrows can be right at the surface to over a meter (over 3 feet) deep. The earthworm can stretch to over 3 meters (10 feet). Questions, what function and purpose to they serve in their specific ecosystem ? They are mostly extinct from their former range in Australia with the exception of a few locations, but should we care ? Such questions believe it or not in this enlightened day and age where we ask about "function" and "purpose" are often times viewed as dirty words to many obsessed with worldview, but they still have to be asked.

The Giant Palouse Earthworm of (Washington/Idaho)

"The giant Palouse earthworm, a big white worm native to the Palouse prairie region of Idaho and Washington state, was said to be abundant in the late 19th century — then seemed to disappear." 

Like other fascinating rediscoveries of large earthworms last seen in Oregon and Northern California which were last seen in the 1960s/70s, this interesting earthworm is causing some concern and the question is why ? As usual, Farmers are up in arms over the discovery. Viewing it as a threat to their livelihood instead of a soil asset, here is what was quoted by upset Idaho farmers in an NPR article on the exciting discovery:

"There's great potential for loss of freedom of what you can do with your land if the government comes in and says, 'Well, you have to do such and such, or you can't do such and such because we have to protect the giant Palouse earthworm.'

(Source)

These worms can apparently go down 15+ feet into the soils with their burrows. Why would a farmer consider this a disadvantage ? Especially with proven practices of No-Till systems and perennial cover crops which build up rather than destroy soil biology. It's a type of mentality of resisting change which would actually increase profits, not endanger an entire livelihood. But the old accusations of the country is turning Socialist and "My Granddad did things this way for generations and by-god I'll be doing the same till I die" are the usual chants one hears now days. You can bet the agro-chemical and biotech corporations will also make sure they'll keep that mindset too.

Important Reference Links

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/218.html

http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/Research/pfweb/educators/intro/macroflow.htm

http://www.earthwormsoc.org.uk/earthworm-information/earthworm-information-page-2

NPR: Scientists Capture Elusive Giant Palouse Earthworm

From AccuWeather.com: Why do earthworms surface after a rainstorm ?

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-do-earthworms-surface-afte/28916

USDA: "Agricultural Management Effects on Earthworm Populations"

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_053291.pdf

"Day of the Triffids" or "Monolith Monsters" ? (Mexican Fan Palm - Washingtonia robusta)

Korny 1950s Sci-Fi flicks beautifully illustrate some of today's dangerous landscape practices that have gotten out of control

Courtesy of Civano Nursey, Tucson, Arizona

Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta)

Well, not exactly "Day of the Triffids" or "Monolith Monsters", but you wouldn't know that by some of the bad public relations they are receiving lately. And yet it is fair to say there are certain maintenance challenges and wildfire dangers that people should be aware of and educate themselves about before installing them in their landscape. A century ago when it came to landscape palms in California, two were the most prominent, the native California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) and the Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis). Both have pretty much fallen out of favour with Southern California landscapers and gardeners. Why ? Well, the date palm is messy and when young a major challenge when it comes to space. Also extremely difficult to prune or trim because at the base of the palm frond where it's attached to the tree trunk are some of the most vicious spines you'll ever not want to tackle. The native California Fan Palm is much cleaner maintenance-wise, but it also when mature after some years will also produce date fronds, though much smaller dates. It does have one advantage in that it is much slower growing, but that is also why it was replaced by the Mexican Fan Palm which is much faster growing and provides instant landscape for the Nurseries, landscapers and homeowners who want instant tree. Nobody has patience any patience anymore. Today, it's almost impossible to find a nursery that carries the California Fan Palm and even many native plant nurseries don't carry them or if the do, they are limited and sell out quickly. And while the Mexican Fan Palm has become the typical landscape symbol and taken over the California popularity contest, there are also some major problems with this palm tree.

The Monolith Monsters (1950s monster invasion movie)

image: Desert USA

It was 1957 in a desert town where a geologist found a mysterious rock which grew bigger and propagated itself when it came into contact with water. Towards the end of the movie these monolithic black crystal spires move down this canyon headed for the town. Now where do you suppose these writers got such a crazy idea for such a Sci-Fi script ??? Oh yeah, it's a common sight on the desert side of mountain ranges in SoCal. You can even visit the Palm Springs name sake, Palm Canyon as seen in the photo at right. There are however three negative things to be said about the presence of the Mexican Fan Palm in Southern California's landscape. First it easily escapes the urban landscape and naturalizes into the wilds of Southern California. Second, because of the ease of naturalizing, it has become so invasive that it has smothered many native riparian habitats which effects all the native wildlife. Third, it has become a major component of wildfire spread and loss of homes. This palm tree explodes like a Roman Candle and over a period of 30 minutes while burning can create innumerable sparks or embers which may travel as far as a mile depending on the extreme high wind conditions causing spot fires ahead of the main fire. It and other non-native trees like Salt Cedar or Tamarisk have changed the physical barrier of a riparian habitat which while not fire proof, always could slow a fire down, but it's presence acts as a sort of transportation bridge to newer drier vegetation on the other side of a valley. This naturalizing ability was mentioned a while back in an article in the L.A. Times:

LA Times: "When many of us think of Los Angeles, there’s a palm in the picture. That palm is likely Washingtonia robusta, the Mexican fan palm."

But the region’s palmy past is seeding trouble. “Most of the dates fall nearby,” says licensed herbicide applicator Bill Neill, “but some will eventually go down the storm drains into the river channels.”

And there is another serious problem with this palm so easily invading the infrastructure of Los Angeles, San Diego and other Southern California city's storm drain outlets.

Mexican fans also reduce the flood-control capacity of the L.A. River (and others). Any vegetation will slow water flow, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rips out invasives before it touches native plants. “Willows don’t burn easily,” says Corps ecologist Carvel Bass, “but fan palms and arundo do, and they don’t contribute to the habitat in any positive way.”

While the Mexican Fan Palm does have some wonderful qualities as an ornamental in the landscape, there are those fire safety issues which everyone should understand. They seriously need to have their dried coat of fronds trimmed by professionals. They are dangerous for rookie inexperienced homowners to do this themselves. It's dangerous also for the professionals, this is why so many of them die each year and their business insurance is insanely high. Therefore, watch this video below which is about eleven minutes long and illustrates the tree's ability to create 1000s upon 1000s of burning embers as high as 100 feet in the air and during horrific Santa Ana wind events that are common in Southern California, can blow as far away as a mile and start spot fires, or even house tract in neighbourhoods on fire as was the case with the Witch Creek Fire in 2007 which burned numerous homes in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego. On December 25th, 2014, LAFD Engine 68 on scene at Mansfield Avenue & Venice Boulevard in Mid-City encountered a palm tree on fire up against high-tension power lines. Unable to put water directly on the fire due to the high voltage, they requested Department of Water and Power to shut them down. With high winds gusting up to 45 miles per hour fanning the flames, millions of embers flew across Venice Boulevard, threatening cars, businesses and other palm trees down the block. An additional Task Force was called in to handle the flying ember problem that started to collect and pool around the edges of buildings and roof-tops. Firefighters knocked down the burning embers with hand-lines at trash piles across the boulevard and in the alley behind other properties. Eventually Engine 68 set up a stream with its “wagon battery” below the power lines, knocking down most of the fire. 

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How Mexican Fan Palm has taken over the city of San Diego, wildlands between housing tracts

I've always wanted to do historical documenting of this tree's spread, mostly because I've never found where anyone else ever has. That is to document the massive invasive takeover within the city limits of San Diego, California by the Mexican Fan Palm, not only in wet riparian stream beds, but also up dry washes and canyons where water traditionally hasn't always present or available. At least before housing and human water wasting changed all of that. Again, thus far I've never seen or heard any authority in San Diego County mention any of this before.

Google Earth: Interstate 8 Freeway just west of College Avenue

Image: Google Earth

These two photo locations above and to the right are the Interstate 8 freeway and College Avenue overpass. The photo above from Google Earth is just west of the College Ave overpass. The photo to the right is on the south side of I-8 and exists to San Diego State University. When I was a small kid in the early 1960s, those palm trees in the creek bed didn't exist. I know because almost few times a month our family often drove back and forth over this route on our way to the beach or to visit a great uncle who lived in Allied Gardens off Navajo Road. However, one day in the middle 60s, I noticed some young palms on the north side of I-8 in the top photo. Also a couple on the south side where the creek bed routed from. Further upstream all the way into the city of La Mesa, they kept getting even bigger. Over the several next decades they all just got bigger and more numerous. Further up the road it was obvious where the source of the seed came from. 

Image: Google Earth

This is the the old former Alvarado Trailer Park on Alvarado Rd in La Mesa which is now called the San Diego RV Resort. Before the change, I seem to recall the old park as going down hill, like so many other older trailer parks in that county which originally started out as roadside Auto Kamps for travelers later converted to permanent residential trailer parks. But back in those early days, almost every single one of them planted a Mexican Fan Palm in each small lot or trailer space. This Resort now has greatly reduced and thinned out considerably the Mexican Fan Palms from what it once was. When I was head landscaper for the property management company in San Diego before moving here to Sweden, one huge mobile home trailer park in El Cajon on Bradley Avenue was also loaded with these palms. The owner of that Mobile Home Park was also a board member of the San Diego Wild Animal Park and years back donated many of them in the early development of the San Diego Wild Animal Park which has since changed it's name to Safari Park. That old Mobile Home Park still has some, but not as it originally did. They are a maintenance nightmare and expense to have professionals come out which is the only was to have it done. But that Trailer Park up on Alvarado Rd in La Mesa was definitely the source of seed for everything down stream. These trees over a life time can produce millions upon millions of seeds. There is something more interesting that most folks living there probably don't know about that first photo next to Interstate 8, although many do, especially the college kids. It's a location below those palms along the freeway which drops off dramatically and is named Adobe Falls.

Here is a link map to the Adobe Falls area along I-8

Adobe Falls Open Space & SDSU Expansion

It's unfortunate that the majority of California College youth who visit here have zero respect for the natural beauty of the area. The irony is that these college types are the so-called Ecology people. Same people who went to Woodstock and Standing Rock Dakota Pipeline protesters labeled themselves as champions of ecology, but their actions spoke louder than their words. Clearly there is no arguing the area has that exotic attraction factor going for visiting it, but after all the drinking and partying they engage in, they leave it a complete mess and have ruined most of the namesake adobe tan bedrock strata loaded up with their graffiti. The photo to the right here is at the top of Adobe Falls just before it takes the plunge down the canyon. I highly doubt that most people are even aware that the palms are all non-native and unnatural to this area. The stream drops sharply and meanders down and around through the valley on it's collision course with the real San Diego River which comes out of Santee, Lakeside and Cuyamaca Mountains to the northeast. But what most don't realize is that every single side canyon on both sides of I-8 is loaded with hundreds of these same large Mexican Fan Palm colonies up and down all the dry washes. Actually the washes are not all that dry any more as they have been utilized by the building industry and city as part of the municipal storm drain infrastructure, Hence the reason for so much extra water which allows palms to thrive. The other reasons for water's permanent presence is basically public wastefulness. Washing cars, watering landscapes, and any number of ways and reasons people use and waste water. Thousands of small curbs and gutters all collectively trickling their cargo together into larger culverts and other flood control channels all meeting upstream and contributing to what was and technically is Alvarado creek. Many references will call this water course north of SDSU as the San Diego River, but Adobe Falls is on Alvarado Creek, not the San Diego River. Alvarado Creek joins the San Diego River at the mouth of that canyon at a district of San Diego called Grantville. They even have a Trolley Station there now. Now let's venture a little further west of Adobe Falls and visit one of the many watershed tributaries along either side of that canyon east of Grantville.

Image: Google Earth

The photograph here is again brought to us from Google Earth. This is about halfway between Waring Road and College Avenue on the south side of Interstate 8 freeway. The bridge you see is fairly new as it is the newer extension of the San Diego Trolley line. So from this east bound shoulder lane looking back up the hillside here of homes just west of SDSU there are a number of tributaries to the main canyons and these were historically almost always dry, except of course now that has all changed with the water run off from public streets above. This is also a north facing slope so evapo-transpiration is going far less than on the south facing slope on the north side of this same canyon which is almost totally lower growing coastal sage scrub. Notice the Mexican Fan Palms. There are actually far more extensive long colonies than the photo here gives credit for. But this is common all the way to the Pacific Ocean on both sides of the greater part of the wide Mission Valley. A simple drive and exploration of canyons and side streets can verify the massive extent to which Mexican Fan Palm has taken over all canyon courses that flow down to Mission Valley. Now lets take a short side trip to the opposite side of Interstate 8 freeway to Waring Road which travels up Navajo Canyon up to Allied Gardens. 

Image: Google Earth

Once again, here's a Google Earth of Waring Road well north of Interstate 8 freeway and just before you drive out of the canyon to the Allied Garden's flat plateau area. The canyon on the left is yet another example of how Mexican Fan Palms have taken advantage of an unnatural circumstances and crowded out the native dry canyon vegetation, but this canyon is no longer dry. It is fed from waste water and storm runoff from the city neighbourhoods above. This has been replicated throughout the entire city and surrounding municipalities. Of course the City's use of the natural geography and dry washes makes sense because these gullies and canyons  efficiently divert flood waters during rainstorm events to keep streets safer and drier. Now I say flood waters because the collectively, all storm water buildup is made by all man the made concrete and asphalt surfaces which eventually come together and causing the flooding. In this Allied Gardens region there are also a number of other plants which have ultimately invaded San Diego's natural riparian corridor of infrastructures and made them a hostile environment to not only native biodiversity, but wildfire hazard to human habitation during these present times of later day mega-wildfires. For example there are three major invaders along with the Mexican Fan Palm, Arundo Cane [Bamboo or sugar cane looking plant], Brazilian Pepper [water loving, unlike the California Pepper which prefers drier circumstances, hence lack of invasive qualities even it will naturalize sporadically] and last but not least the Salt Cedar or Tamarisk [also another major player in not only riparian ruin, but wildfire spread]. The other problem appears to be that in some locations, these fan palms are becoming a storm drain nuisance by hindering flood water movement by impeding it's flow. Here is a photo below where some Fan Palm removal has been taken in Navajo Canyon Open Space.

Image by Eric D. Bier

Navajo Canyon Open Space below Allied Gardens

A slow drive up Waring Road and glancing side to side and you'll just about find them everywhere. Clearly at the top of the plateau where all the 1950s housing tracts are located, people have them in yards everywhere. The Mexican Fan Palm is a heavy producer of seeds and hundreds of seedlings can be found almost anywhere. One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to plants is the mis-label or mis-identification of trees of the same species and generally [believe it or not] by those who are supposed to be experts. I wrote about this earlier where San Diego Safari Park botanical experts have labeled American Sycamore or London Plane tree as California Sycamore in the Chaparral habitat exhibit. I've seen many Retail Nurseries do the exact same thing. 

So what's the Difference between the two look alike Palms ???

California and Mexican Fan Palm are always incorrectly identified in journals, government reports and science literature. The two couldn't be more different despite some of the obvious similarities in physical appearance. For one the Mexican Fan Palm comes from Mexico, is more slender trucked, eventually getting 70' - 90' or 100' foot tall or more. They are probably the most iconic tall skinny palms seen around Hollywood and other Los Angeles' boulevards, Riverside city streets and orange groves around Redlands, etc. Take a look at the picture to the right. One negative about the fronds and maintenance, unlike the fatter trunk California Fan Palm, the Mexican Fan Palm will shed their fronds in wind storms which creates a dangerous pedestrian or homeowner hazard below. Fire has nothing to to with them falling although they will fall off when on fire and blow far away from the tree creating spot fires well ahead of the main fire front line. The native California holds almost all their fronds throughout life unless they catch fire of course. The leaf frond of the Mexican is also much smaller and brighter green.

The California Fan Palm on the other hand has a much fatter or larger diameter trunk than slender Mexican Fan Palm. The California Fan Palm is also not as high, perhaps to 60 foot. The fronds are a duller olive green and not as bright green as the Mexican Fan Palm. Those fronds are also much much bigger and wider spread than Mexican. The growth of the California Fan Palm is far more slower than the Mexican Fan Palm and this is why they have mostly fallen out of favour with the professional landscaper and their clients who want instant landscape. The reasons you see them in older neighbourhoods of Southern California is because that was the only palm available other than the other icon Canary Island Date Palm, which also naturalizes very well behind the Mexican Fan Palm. There is just no patience anymore for waiting for a tree to actually become a tree. The California Fan Palm also doesn't necessarily naturalize as well as it's Mexican cousin on the western side of the Southern California mountains. not that they can't, but it's not as common. Interestingly, another problem in identification could also come from the fact that both of these Fan Palms will hybridize very easily which I found out in the 1980s-90s was a problem for growers dealing with purebreds in Coachella Valley. 

Call you tell which are California and which is Mexican Fan Palms

Now as a quick example of what I am talking about when it comes to experts who should know better when it comes to plant identification, take a good read of this city of San Diego canyon rehabilitation and maintenance planning report. When you scroll down to page 35, notice the photograph of Rancho Bernardo Canyon and the reference to the trees described as California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) which in reality are clearly Mexican Fan Palms. Not even any mention of the Canary Island Date Palms presence there either. There is simply no excuse for mistakes like this where the city hires expensive experts to do their studies. This is the same irresponsible work that was done by supposed experts  at the San Diego Wild Animal Park's chaparral exhibit. The term California Fan Palm in this instance can be likened to the California Pepper Tree designation. Neither of these trees are natives, but their favoured place in our history of California landscapes is done by humans who as time goes on simply forget the history and consider them as indigenous as they consider themselves. But highly paid experts have no excuses.

http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/mscp/pdf/reports/2013/02_att2b_cyn_sewer_clng_oscac_stat_rpt.pdf

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It wouldn't be right if I neglected to mention another kool Fan Palm native to Baja California

Mexican Blue Fan Palm (Brahea armata)

Image: Google Earth

Corner of Vulcan St & Danny St , El Cajon California, USA

I know, the yard doesn't look like much, but it use to before it was sold. For four years I walked back and forth from home to work as head landscaper and passed by this house on the corner of Danny St and Vulcan St in El Cajon California. Sometimes I'd just stop in front to gaze at this amazing blue fan palm. What really made the house and yard was this singular giant Mexican Blue Fan Palm standing all by itself in the lawn, much like the ones in the photograph at the right. The palm frond foliage is a beautiful unique blue green with gray haze. Even when it flowers, it's far more beautiful and impressive than the two palms I have described above. This one also had an amazing large diameter trunk as well, the largest I've ever seen. Apparently not long after this house was sold the new owner took a chainsaw to the Blue Fan Palm and removed all but what looked like a perfectly flat round table which they placed potted plants on top for a while. Eventually that stump decayed and they completely removed it as you can see in the above Google photo where the scar is still evident in the lawn. Aside from the shock one day passing by and seeing it being gone, I realized that as a result of the owner's ignorance, he or she lost out on many 1000s of dollars. Such large trees like this one are worth that kind of money because they are so rare to come by and take so long to grow. In that respect they are much like the large Sego Palms in value. The other draw back to these Palms besides people preferring green palms is that this palm is even slower growing than either of the Mexican or California Fan Palm. But apparently this guy didn't know that. One thing I did learn from the growers in Coachella and Thermal is that the Blue Fan Palm when dug out and hauled to a new location has to have it's roots burned to cauterize the wounds because otherwise the palm even if planted will bleed to death. The other fan and date palms you see hauled around on large flat bed trucks and planted do not have this problem. Speaking of hauling palms and planting whole large ready made trees, here is an amazing house transformation below in the Coachella Valley where older 1970s house was remodeled and yard transformed. Beautiful job and I'll close this post with this picture and link of the story underneath the photograph.

Ashley Hacksaw: "A Tour of our House the exterior"

In Defense of the Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta)

While it's true I have targeted the Mexican Fan Palm here as the main subject of this article and referenced it's invasive nature as we have labeled it within this Southern California environment, the plant itself is not to blame. It's people. The palm isn't no more invasive than say the Salt Cedar is. The word invasive comes from another word more commonly used with human beings, "invasion". Take a look at the dictionary definition of this word: 

Invasion: "an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, especially by an army. the entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful, as disease. entrance as if to take possession or overrun"

Today it his becoming popular and hip to assign description of plants as sentient beings. They are not. While scientists utilize many metaphors and euphemisms in describing some of the incredible behavioural traits and complex sensory mechanisms within plants and their cooperation with each other in all  ecosystems, they do so through their genetic programming and sensory epigenetic mechanisms. They simply grow successfully or unsuccessfully within the environment they find themselves placed. When humans in ignorance change their environment it brings consequences. Rather than admitting error on their part, they tend to blame the plants, animals, birds, insects, etc etc etc by assigning to them negative terminology or labels normally used for people, in that they can now justify to their fellow human being why they should be allowed to pursue yet other irresponsible actions [mostly likely of a deadly stupid chemical or mechanical nature] in eliminating them, which often results in further unforeseen consequences. Mexican Fan Palms, like Canary Island Date Palms or Brazilian Pepper Trees are not scheming planning invaders, their sensor mechanisms are simply responding to the changes provided by people who in this case are merely wasting water. Take the water away and the plants will eventually decline in vigor and propagation of themselves will likely also cease. But homeowners and planners should bear in mind the present catastrophic circumstances of Climate Chance they [worldwide] have collectively created and now understand the newer need of  maintaining their landscapes accordingly. I'll have another post on human mistreatment of the natural world is a reflection on how they have treated each other throughout history. Stay tuned!

Update: "Say good-bye to Buena Creek's palm trees"

Image - Gig Conaughton - UT San Diego Staff Writer

"Standing out like sore thumbs in the midst of lush, green willow trees and native plants, every one of the huge palm trees in the environmentally-protected creek are brown from top to bottom, deader than doornails. 

Environmental groups said Friday that the public should not be alarmed. The nonnative palms -- along with towering Eucalyptus trees and fast-spreading Pampas grass -- are being intentionally killed off because they were threatening the creek's native willows, scrub and protected birds and animals."

(Source - San Diego Union Tribune) 

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Update: December 15, 2017

NBC San Diego

NBC San Diego: Palm Trees Removed From Rice Canyon in Chula Vista

"A helicopter will be removing more than 80 palm trees from Rice Canyon in Chula Vista Friday.  The Mexican Fan palm trees, which can grow to 60 feet, hinder the growth of native plants, city officials said.  Crews began cutting the invasive trees Monday. Now, the helicopter will pick up the trees one at a time and take them to an area where they can be properly disposed.  Residents of Rancho del Rey Parkway may notice the noise of the helicopter until 4 p.m., officials said.

Further Important Reading References

Southern California and Palm Trees 

Important (September 2015)Update for Landscapers who have chosen Mexican Fan Palm over the California Fan Palm because of it's faster growth for instant tree 

California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) growth explosion with Mycorrhizal Fungi 

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LA Times: Gardening Hangovers Part-II - Mexican Fan Palms

Piety and Perversity: The Palms of Los Angeles by Victoria Dailey

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Examples of Fire Hazards 

Palm trees help spread fire in Yorba Linda

FIREFIGHTERS BATTLING VEGETATION FIRE IN SKY VALLEY

MORNING POLL: HOW MANY WILDFIRES WILL BE CAUSED BY CRAPPY FIREWORKS WITHIN FIRST YEAR OF THEIR LEGALIZATION?

Jesusita Fire likely a sign of things to come Wildfires Drought, invasive weeds, warming put much of state at risk, experts say

Check out the video below of why it is so stupid to allow fireworks any time of year to the public. Trust me, palm trees are prime targets for these creeps

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Adobe Falls, San Diego California - SDSU Area

Hidden San Diego: Adobe Falls

 The Daily Aztec: "Trespassers resort to Adobe Falls"

San Diego Reader: "Roam Adobe Creek Falls"

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Navajo Canyon Open Space

Navajo Canyon Open Space Trail Map

San Diego Reader: "Navajo Canyon Open Space"