Inside a shady Southern California garden that thrives in a small space

Ed Friendly has a thriving food garden in his Sherman Oaks backyard. It’s a study in what can be done in a small space since he only has around 1,000 square feet in which to grow his crops. 

In a brick planter against the back of his house, several blueberry bushes in a brick planter are covered with fruit. They benefit from the morning sun and the reflected heat from the stucco wall against which they grow. Friendly regularly applies azalea fertilizer to the soil to keep it at the low pH that promotes the growth of these acid-loving plants.

When Friendly first moved into his house, he decided to plant a shade tree in his backyard. He sought a tree that would grow quickly and decided on the Chinese flame tree (Koelreuteria bipinnata). Eighteen years ago, while the tree was still small, Friendly placed an artichoke plant next to it. That single specimen has since grown into several plants that are currently displaying a substantial crop of artichokes ready to be picked. Meanwhile, the flame tree grew tall, producing Chinese lantern-like papery seed capsules pinkish-red in color. The problem with the tree, which is often used in city parkways, was that its seeds attracted a mob of an insect known as the red-shouldered bug. Although this insect does not damage the tree, it got into his neighbor’s yard, who did not appreciate its presence. Friendly cut back the tree to around ten feet and does so annually to prevent flower and seed formation.

Yet it would appear that his artichoke planting benefits from the flame tree, which is situated in a low spot in his yard. Friendly’s artichoke roots are squeezed between the trunk of the flame tree and the low wall of an adjacent planter. Thus, they are kept protected and cool during the scorching summer heat, as the roots are always moist and unstressed. Although the artichoke is of Mediterranean origin and is drought tolerant enough, it will produce a lot more flowers (an artichoke is an unopened flower bud) when regularly watered. Plants – especially those sensitive to too much heat such as artichokes – grow best when their roots are kept cool thanks to mulch or proximity to boulders, planter walls, or other hardscape features. For years, I have seen a hibiscus thrive on the edge of an asphalt driveway. This plant is never watered yet it blooms continuously thanks to the moisture trapped under the asphalt which is amply available to the hibiscus roots. 

Friendly procured some livestock water tanks that he has converted into planters. The galvanized silver tanks provide a highly attractive ornamental touch and he has made dollies for the tanks so that they can easily be moved around the patio where they stand. The tanks were initially filled with container mix, to which he annually adds compost that he receives free of charge from composting facilities at either Griffith Park or Lopez Canyon. The former is open Monday-Friday from 6 am to 2:30 pm and is located at 5400 Griffith Park Drive in Los Angeles, and the latter is open seven days a week from 8 am to 4:30 pm and is located at 11950 Lopez Canyon Rd. in Sylmar. If you know of any other sites where free compost or mulch is available, please inform me of them so I can pass along their locations to readers of this column.

Friendly has planted three peach tree cultivars: May Pride, Mid-Pride, and August Pride. “These are all low-chill peach varieties suitable for our area,” he explained. “Since each variety ripens at a different time, I hope to be able to harvest peaches from spring until fall.”  Along with the peaches, Friendly has planted Royal Crimson, a low-chill, self-pollinating cherry tree variety. “Nearly all cherry tree varieties need to be cross-pollinated with another variety in order to produce a crop, but a single Royal Crimson tree will bear fruit on its own,” Friendly said, who is growing pear trees as well. 

Most deciduous fruit trees require more hours of winter chill – when temperatures register 45 degrees or less – in order to flower in the spring and produce a crop. However, there are select varieties that do not require significant chill and those are the ones we can grow in Southern California.

Friendly has become an expert in low-chill apple varieties and extols Ein Shemer (a Golden Delicious type) and Anna – both of which were developed in Israel – as well as Dorsett Golden. Not long ago, he decided he wanted to try his hand at grafting and has learned the craft through watching YouTube videos. To date, he has only tried two grafting techniques; whip and tongue or splice grafting, where you make a slanting cut and notch on the stem of the scion variety you wish to graft and then corresponding cuts on a rootstock so that the two pieces interlock. You then secure them with parafilm tape. Friendly has found, however, that electrical tape is actually easier to use when making this type of graft. He has also been successful with cleft grafting where the rootstock is cut straight across, a cleft is made in the stock and two scions, after making a wedge at their ends with two sloping cuts, are inserted at both ends of the cleft. Parafilm tape is then wrapped around the whole. Generally speaking, spring is the best time to graft although Friendly says that he has been successful at grafting throughout the year.

Friendly likes to cook and grows San Marzano tomatoes to this end. San Marzano tomatoes, while a tasty tomato in any salad, are legendary for their sauce and Friendly cans plenty of them so that he has enough tomato sauce to last the entire year. Finally, along the edge of his driveway facing south, there is an eight-inch wide by 40-foot long strip of ground, along with a fence to climb, in which blackberry vines are in full bloom, with some fruit already ripening.

There will be a bonsai and fuchsia show at the Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar on June 3rd and 4th. For more information, visit thesherman.org or call 949.673.2261.

California native of the week: Spicebush (Calycanthus occidentalis) displays unusual, tentacled flowers that appear as though they would feel no less at home under the sea than in the garden. Mine is growing under a bottlebrush tree (Callistemon citrinus) whose opulent display of scarlet flowers at the time of year blends well with the wine-colored spicebush blooms. Spicebush is also referred to as strawberry bush since its flowers, opening sporadically between April and August, have a scent, in the opinion of some, that combines the fragrances of pineapple, strawberry, and banana. Its foliage also emits a scent when crushed Spicebush can handle any type of soil. It grows on stream banks and is generally described as needing a moderate water regime although mine, living in somewhat shady conditions, is watered no more than once a month. This plant spreads by rhizomes and its lower branches will root where they touch the ground.  Mine is more than two decades old and I imagine it will be here for many more years to come.

Please send questions, comments, and photos to joshua@perfectplants.com