Good Times Home & Garden 2017

Home&Garden GOOD TIMES

MAGAZINE 2017

ROOT CAUSE How to grow the best vegetables from seed

GET FUNCTIONAL

The return of midcentury modern decor

JUNGLE NOOK

Creating the outdoor look indoors

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CONTENTS SPROUT OUT P6 Felton’s queen of seeds explains why it’s the best way to grow

GOLDEN GARDEN P14 The UCSC Garden celebrates its 50th anniversary

RETRO FIT P21 Midcentury modern design makes a comeback

WILD, WILD PLANT LIFE P25 The outdoor look moves indoors

SWAT TEAM P30 Expert tips for keeping your yard mosquito-free

HOME AND GARDEN EVENTS P31 Spring and summer in Santa Cruz are a planter’s delight

Home&Garden GOOD TIMES

MAGAZINE 2017

ROOT CAUSE How to grow the best vegetables from seed

GET FUNCTIONAL

The return of midcentury modern decor

JUNGLE NOOK

Creating the outdoor look indoors

S A N TA C R U Z .C O M | G O O D T I M E S . S C

GTW_Home&Garden2017_COVER.indd 6

STAFF

4/6/17 3:56 PM

CONTRIBUTORS

Jeanne Howard

Anne-Marie Harrison Cat Johnson Antonio Digiovanni

EDITOR

ART DIRECTOR

PUBLISHER

Steve Palopoli

Tabi Zarrinnaal

MANAGING EDITOR

DESIGNERS

Maria Grusauskas

Rosie Eckerman DiAnna VanEycke

EDITOR’S NOTE

Y

ou might say this issue of Home & Garden is a bit of a retrospective. As our story on midcentury modern design explains, everybody seems to be in the mood to look back right now, and who are we to stand in the way of reverse progress? So not only are we building 1950s-inspired houses for our birds (let me explain … no, there is too much, let me sum up … actually just go to page 21), but we’ve decided to embrace all of this backward-facing head on.

For our opening gardening story of the issue, we’ve gone all the way back to step one: seeds. Renee’s Garden is a Felton-based company whose seeds can now be found in nurseries throughout the country, and you might wonder what the secret of their success is … until you meet founder Renee Shepherd. Then you won’t have any doubt. Shepherd is as fascinating a

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STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR

ACCOUNTING

Katherine Adams CIRCULATION MANAGER

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OFFICE MANAGER

A Good Times publication.

CEO

On the cover: Baby ball beets courtesy of Reneesgarden.com.

Cover design by Tabi Zarrinnaal.

Andrea Patton Dan Pulcrano

VICE PRESIDENT

Lee May

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figure as we’ve had the opportunity to cover on the local gardening scene, and we could read her insights into planting trends, local microclimates and purple vegetables all day long.

But we wouldn’t want to leave out those green thumbs who are embracing the current movement to get back to the outdoors—indoors. We love the way they’re transforming bungalows into “jungalows,” and our story on it will give you an idea of how to start your own urban jungle.

Finally, we’re taking a look back at the history of the UCSC Farm and Garden, one of the area’s most innovative agricultural institutions, and getting the story straight from longtime master gardener Orin Martin.

We had fun putting this issue together, and we hope you dig it!

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Leader of the Packet

Renee Shepherd on how to grow the easiest, most delicious vegetables and herbs from seed

BY MARIA GRUSAUSKAS

T

he seed packets from Renee’s Garden— marked with their characteristic watercolor illustrations and descriptive, owner-tested growing instructions—can be found in independent nurseries and garden centers across the country. But it all began here, in the mid-’80s, on Renee Shepherd’s sandy-soiled Felton property.

“A thousand years ago, in the mid-’80s, this used to be just a big field, and we used to play soccer here on the weekends,” says Shepherd, looking out over the sunny expanse of her lower trial garden, where a dozen 60-foot-long raised beds await their spring plantings.

“At that point, back in the mists of time, no one really knew how to play soccer very well, so we invited as many Europeans as we could.”

It was a Dutch friend, who had come to the U.S. to sell seeds to lettuce farmers, who first slipped Renee some Dutch lettuce seeds during one of their ritual after-soccer potlucks. “He said ‘why don’t you try some good-tasting varieties? In Europe we shop often and we breed for flavor, and this is all junk.’ Because Dutch people are very blunt,” explains Shepherd with a chuckle. “That was much more true in the ’80s. It’s certainly not true now—we have some of the best produce in the world.”

She liked his Dutch lettuce, and his French tomatoes, which gave her the idea to start a mail-order catalogue called Shepherd’s Garden Seeds.

In 1998, it evolved into Renee’s Garden, also available online.

With a love of cooking and eating from the garden at the center of all of it, Shepherd has

also written three cookbooks.

Selling some 300 varieties of heirloom and gourmet vegetable, flower and herb seeds—and introducing around 15 new varieties each year— Shepherd and her helpers “trial” absolutely everything that they sell on her property, then again in her gardens in Vermont. What she’s looking for are the best-tasting, most productive and easiest-to-grow varieties.

On the sunny March afternoon that I visit, many of her raised garden beds are brimming with cover crops—or “green manure,” as she calls it—a mixture of ryegrass, vetch, clover and fava beans, which offer a healthy boost of organic material and vitality to the beds.

“Using a cover crop has increased our productivity by 30 percent,” says Shepherd.

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HOME & GARDEN | SANTACRUZ.COM | GOODTIMES.SC | 2017 2017

BLOOMING BUSINESS Renee Shepherd among the lavender she grows on her property. Along with 300 varieties of gourmet and heirloom vegetables, herbs and flowers, she has been trialing butterfly-supporting milkweeds, soon to be introduced to her inventory.

PHOTO: RENEESGARDEN.COM

2017 | GOODTIMES.SC | SANTACRUZ.COM | HOME & GARDEN

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LEADER OF THE PACKET

In Santa Cruz, cover crops, which also help retain nutrients that would otherwise be leached from the soil during winter rains, can be planted as late as November or even December, she says. That’s because we live in a gardening mecca: the growing season here is longer than in most places, and for some crops, it never actually ends.

“Right now, when I go to the supermarket, I see people who say ‘Oh, I can’t even look at you ’cause I didn’t get my garden in yet,’” she says. “But it’s actually not time yet. In Santa Cruz, you can plant all the way to July. There’s no rush. A lot of people think that if they don’t get their garden in by April or May then they’ve lost the

opportunity, and it becomes a headache and a burden.

But if you want cucumbers, you can plant them all the way through the end of June. From seed.” Though, she adds, the foggier areas of Santa Cruz require more time, and also the know-how of what to grow.

As Shepherd walked me through her trial gardens, I peppered her with questions for the beginning gardener.

Speaking of the foggier places in the county, I live in Aptos. What should I be growing?

What you need to do is have friends who live here to give you tomatoes, and you can give them broccoli. In the foggier parts, you can grow really great

salads, and greens, and root crops, and all the cold crops for a lot longer. You can grow all kinds of fast crops like bok choy and all of those Asian crops, and mild mustards, parsley and cilantro. So other people can grow all those really hot-weather crops, but they can’t have cilantro. It’s a trade-off.

Why grow from seed?

The benefits of growing from seeds is huge diversity of varieties. So, for example, I probably have access to 300 kinds of lettuce, and 1,200 kinds of tomatoes. If you want to grow real Portuguese kale, or real Italian basil— or, in other words, the best tasting, most diverse, healthiest, most colorful

vegetables and flowers— [grow from seed], because wholesalers who grow six packs, they’re doing a good job, but they don’t pay as much attention to diversity.

Also, it’s lot cheaper. I’m going to give you 500 to 1,000 lettuce seeds in a packet, and you can plant several times.

And third, it’s way more fun.

You know, you plant a seed, it comes up, which is always like a miracle, and then plants grow to maturity and you see the whole cycle. And you have much longer crops. Did I give you enough reasons yet?

What are some of the trends you’re seeing now?

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LEADER OF THE PACKET

different color has a different antioxidant, and purple was big—for example, purple sweet potatoes—because that purple antioxidant is one of the strongest in wiping out free radicals. So the more color, the more nutrition.

The other thing that is now very popular is root vegetables. So, for example, in the last few years we’ve introduced parsnips, we’ve introduced celeriac. If you had told me five years ago that I was going to be selling rutabagas, I would have laughed at you. But chefs are really into root vegetables, because everybody is into roasting vegetables. So if you have celeriac and rutabagas and carrots and turnips and potatoes, you can throw them all with olive oil and roast

them and they’re delicious.

And, pollinator-friendly varieties, because everyone’s concerned about the bees.

I sell a huge amount of old-fashioned, heirloom, cottage garden flowers.

And now I add “pollinator friendly” to everything. But six years ago, people didn’t want flowers that attracted bees. So things are very trendy in our industry, just like anything else.

How about herbs?

Most popular herb is cilantro.

It took over from basil a few years ago. We sell more cilantro. And I carry regular, slow-bolting cilantro, which means it stays in leafy stage longer. And I also sell a Vietnamese cilantro; it’s from

Bac Lao in Vietnam, and it has a more frilly leaf. It has a little lemon flavor, it’s a more delicate flavor. And basil is still very important. We carry about eight kinds.

What is your best seller?

A mix of white, orange and purple carrots we call “Circus Circus,” because it’s bright circus colors. Two or three hundred years ago, all carrots were either yellow, white or purple. And in India, they only eat purple ones.

So orange is a fairly modern adaptation.

What are some tips you give people locally who want to grow from seed?

A lot of people have got the idea that to start from seed

you have to start indoors. In Santa Cruz, the only things you must start indoors are tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Because those three are tropical crops that need a long, hot season, so you start them indoors to give them a jump on the season. The other thing about planting from seed is—see, these are all about an inch apart, and the important thing we’re going to do to these [carrots] is we’re going to thin them again. We’re actually going to pull out every other one, so that the remaining ones have a chance to size up. And if I was going to say the other main problem that people have growing from seed, it’s because they don’t thin them out.

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LEADER OF THE PACKET

RINGLEADER This mix of white, orange and purple carrots, called ‘Circus Circus,’ is a top seller at Renee’s Garden. Three hundred years ago, all carrots were either yellow, white or purple. PHOTO: RENEESGARDEN.COM

Yeah, it seems like such a shame to pull seedlings out, but you really need to follow the thinning instructions on the packet, huh?

Well, the way to frame it in your mind is that if you don’t thin things to the proper spacing, you are torturing them. Two zucchini plants planted far enough apart will produce a thousand times as many zucchini as five or six zucchini all tangled together, because they’ll just want to fruit and die. Another classic example is, basil likes to be six, seven inches apart, and then produce lots of leaves. If you plant them close together, they get real crowded. That’s important, because basil has

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a high germination rate, and it will all come up, and you’ll have 100 seedlings—and if you let them all grow together you’ll get something, but it will be all tangled plants growing straight up. But if you dig them up, take them carefully apart, and plant them six inches apart, you’ll have a much longer season.

When should we be planting our basil?

In Santa Cruz, it’s generally good to plant it as soon as the nights are in the 50s, and then plant another crop at the end of June or early July—and if you grow a second crop, then you’ll have basil when all of the tomatoes are ripe.

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What would you recommend for people who have limited time and limited space?

Lately I’ve been really interested in cut-and-comeagain greens. Things that you can grow baby-leaf, like lettuce, where you can grow a lot in a small space. So instead of one or two chard plants, you plant it by the cut-and-comeagain method, which means you plant it very thickly, like grass. When it gets about four-six inches tall, you just cut as much as you want for dinner. And you can stir fry it or braise it, and as you can see, that’s enough to feed a lot of people. And in the cool season of the year, like now, this [chard] will come back

three times, at least.

If I was doing this for my home garden, I would be growing the cut-and-come again kale and chard, I’d be planting lettuce, carrots, beets. I love Italian parsley, chives—I would grow a salad garden if I had a limited space. Because in Santa Cruz you can grow a salad garden almost year-round, and you can plant it several times.

Visit reneesgarden.com for in-depth growing instructions, seeds and recipes. Also find a wide range of tutorial videos on the Renee’s Garden YouTube channel.

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STAY GOLD Marigolds among the vegetable rows at the UCSC Farm and Garden. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CASF

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GArdeN

Groundbreaking

Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the UCSC garden is still at the forefront of the organic movement

BY CAT

I

n the late 1960s, Orin Martin was “allegedly in college,” as he puts it, on the East Coast, but he rarely went to classes. He was in Washington, D.C. for the anti-Vietnam War march on the Pentagon in 1967, and was actively resisting the draft. A year later, unsure of what to do with his life, he headed to California, eventually landing in Santa Cruz. Once here, he visited the UCSC Garden.

“It was knock-your-socks-off beautiful,” he says. “I fell in love with it, and decided, in a pretty immediate and passionate way, that this was something I wanted to learn and do. So I did.”

The garden is a three-acre plot on a steep, south-facing slope in a microclimate that is distinctly warmer than surrounding areas. Referred to for years simply as “the Garden,” it was later named the Alan Chadwick Garden, after its late founder, who Martin knew but never worked closely with. In 1977, Martin was hired as the UCSC garden manager.

“The joke is that I’m serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole,” says Martin, his blue eyes twinkling and sun-kissed cheeks raised into a mischievous smile.

We’re sitting at a large wooden table in the garden, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The early evening light shines through the countless plants JOHNSON and blossom-rich fruit trees as students bustle around, planting in the greenhouse and checking the progress of once-dormant Mason bees that will help pollinate the garden. On the wall is a wooden sign that reads: “Utter disregard for the impossible.”

When the garden was created in 1967, UCSC was not the same place it is now. There were only about 1,500 students,

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GROUNDBREAKING GARDEN

and construction was happening across the entire campus. One group of students was looking for ways to connect with the land and each other, and a professor advised them that one way to do that was to create a garden.

Founding UCSC chancellor Dean McHenry was what Martin describes as a “Lompoc farm boy with a sympathetic view of the farm lifestyle,” and he gave students permission to pick three acres on campus to make a garden. Chadwick, who was enlisted to lead the project, chose the current site, with its steep slope, clay soil and abundance of poison oak.

“He just started wailing away at it, and made a garden,” says Martin.

The garden and neighboring farm, which was created in 1971, have become models of biodiversity, agriculture apprenticeship, and organic farming. They were years ahead of the curve in terms of organic growing, sustainable farming and diverse, dense planting practices.

“In 1967, there was no organic farming industry,” says Martin.

“There wasn’t any cohesive movement or certification. The notion of growing chemical-free food was a foreign concept.”

The garden now has 100 varieties of apples, 30 varieties of garlic, 50-60 varieties of peppers, and a thick blanket of trees, vegetables and flowers of all types growing in close proximity.

This biodiversity attracts beneficial insects that make the garden more resistant to pest pressure than monocrop planting.

The farm and garden programs continue to forge new ground in the organic movement. There’s a strong focus on raising consciousness around organic flowers, as the commercial flower industry is a major pollutant of air, water and soil systems. There’s also a commitment to teaching apprentices about social justice and food access for all.

The apprenticeship is a six-month entry-level program, with participants spending an estimated 1,000 hours working the fields and attending lectures and classes. Over the years, an estimated 1,500 people have gone through the program, with some of them going on to start garden projects of their own at places like Duke University, Michigan State University and the University of Vermont.

“There are a lot of analogous programs,” says Martin, “and many of them were spawned out of this one.”

When asked about the significance of the 50th anniversary, Martin laughs and says, “Well, 50 years is a stretch.” He explains that the program now serves numerous communities, including apprentices, student interns who earn course credit, and the general public through events, workshops—and, of course, the farm-grown food, which is available through a CSA, UCSC dining halls and a market cart at the base of campus.

For those who want to become better gardeners, Martin advises getting to know your soil through observation, testing and adjusting the level of nutrients.

“The portal to growing is soil,” he says, “and the portal to good growing is good soil. People tend to look at soil as an inert substance that you plunk plants into, but it is your source point. First you grow the soil, then the soil grows the plant.”

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50th Anniversary Events at UCSC Farm and Garden To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UCSC Garden, the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems is hosting an event series that runs through October.

There are also free public tours of the UCSC farm from 2-3:30 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month. Information is at casfs. ucsc.edu. Here are some of their biggest birthday events: APRIL 26: Art and the Environment book signing by Barbara Benish, Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn.

APRIL 29: Alumni weekend tour of the Alan Chadwick Garden, 11 a.m.–Noon, led by Orin Martin.

APRIL 29: Alumni Vintners and Brewers at Hay Barn.

Includes farm tours focused on the 50th anniversary at 3 and 4:30 p.m., led by CASFS executive director Daniel Press. $30.

APRIL 29: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Farm & Garden Spring Plant Sale. Barn Theater parking lot.

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APRIL 30: 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Farm & Garden Spring Plant Sale. Barn Theater parking lot.

MAY 17: Strawberry and Justice Festival, 4-6:30 p.m., Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn. Free.

MAY 20: Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden Gopher Control Workshop, Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $5-$30.

JUNE 3: Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden Annual Poetry Festival, Chadwick Garden, Noon-2 p.m. Free.

JUNE 4: Outstanding in the Field fieldside dinner, UCSC Farm. Information: outstandinginthefield.com.

JULY 28-30: CASFS First 50 Reunion Celebration. This three-day events includes a Friday evening reception on the farm, a Saturday gathering in the Chadwick Garden, a symposium, a celebration dinner and dance and workshops.

Information: specialevents.ucsc.edu/casfs-fifty/index.html.

OCTOBER 1: Fall Harvest Festival, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., UC Santa Cruz Farm. $5 (Free to Friends and students).

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19

Repairs, Remodels, Additions and Upgrades

Grow your own food, herbs or flowers.

Q: What is the best way to pay for a remodel, decks and landscaping? The cost is $85,000 to $250,000. Is it best to refinance our primary home loan? What about credit cards and home equity lines of credit? Should we get the funds first or after the project is more definite?

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A: The BEST way to pay for upgrades, remodels and landscape projects differs with each situation. I can usually advise with a quick phone call or email followed by a quick conversation.

Reach me at 831-475-2600, 831-818-7700, or jchubb1@gmail.com.

Escape From Santa Cruz?

By Datta Khalsa, Broker

Here’s a little story that happened recently in Santa Cruz County. The names have been changed to keep the privacy of the parties involved.

As many of you have heard me say THERE’S NO “RULE OF THUMB” WHEN FORMULATING INDIVIDUAL MORTGAGE STRATEGIES! But, here is some general information to help you get clear.

REFINANCING your first loan is often the best way to fund projects at the lowest cost, with lower FIXED rates and lower payments over 30 years. When deciding whether to take a slightly HIGHER rate, we look at other methods to compare options and costs.

HELOCs (home equity lines of credit) can be helpful for smaller projects. HELOCs allow you to draw funds as needed over time. The downside, for a larger project, is that HELOCs are adjustable based on the prime rate and can go much higher than mortgage rates and can become due or subject to accelerated payments after the first year or so. We usually advise you to plan on consolidating the HELOC into a new fixed rate first loan. The timing of these things is INDIVIDUAL. CONSULT WITH A MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL. I am available 7 days and nights a week!

Credit cards, especially with 0 interest or low introductory rates can be attractive IF THE HOMEOWNER HAS A PLAN TO CONSOLIDATE OR PAY OFF CARDS BEFORE THE INITEREST RATE AND PAYMENT ACCELERATE. Using more than 30% to 50% of the high credit limit on cards WILL HAVE A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON YOUR CREDIT SCORE! I can help you achieve your optimal ownership and mortgage situation.

Jim Chubb, Home Loan Consultant Pacific Inland Financial Inc. 475-2600 • jchubb1@gmail.com BRE #00911706, NMLS #360542; BRE #00956877, NMLS #361091

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Our protagonists, let’s call them Jack and Jill, bought some land in the hills in 1977 with a couple of old barns and corrals and over time they turned the property into a small vineyard.

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Jack and Jill didn’t have enough money to build a new house, so they turned the larger barn into a house where they lived happily for the next 10 years, permit-free. In 1987 they decided to build a real house, so they had the County come out to evaluate where a septic tank could be put in and in the process the old barn was red-tagged.

That was the last time they had the County come to the property until 2001 when they decided to do a second remodel, this time with the help of an architect and a builder. They added a kitchen and bedroom, and finally got the red tag removed.

After the inspector left, they expanded the home within the original footprint, adding an upstairs with a second bedroom and bath plus a yoga room. They connected the existing decks and added a detached 400-500sf studio with a deck, which never quite got finished. Pleased with their improved living space, Jack and Jill also expanded on the second barn, turning it into a wine processing room and tasting room with an office, adding a couple of sinks along the way. As with the other building, they stayed within the footprint but raised the roof and added an upstairs, along with a deck in the back.

Time passed and eventually they decided to sell their happy home and let the proceeds fund their retirement, presumably disclosing the unpermitted improvements to the Buyers to eliminate liability for the assorted liberties they had taken over the years. The idea went largely according to plan, with the home drawing multiple offers and selling last July for well over $1 Million. This left them free to drive off into the sunset in their RV to explore the country and settle down somewhere less expensive, unfettered by the cares of real estate ownership in Santa Cruz County—like high property taxes. Jack and Jill had escaped the spiraling cost of living here and successfully moved on to the next phase of their life…or so they thought.

Then in September, they started receiving notices from the County Tax collector that they owed “Escape Taxes” for unpermitted improvements they had made to the property. Apparently at some point the Assessor became aware of Jack and Jill’s industrious remodeling and concluded that they had added value above and beyond what they were paying taxes for. What’s more, according to statute, the Assessor was billing them retroactively for their last 4 years of untaxed improvements. (To be continued…)

To view the conclusion of this story, visit Datta’s website or Facebook page or be on the lookout for his next column in Good Times on May 17.

Datta Khalsa is the broker and owner at Main Street Realtors in Soquel. He can be reached at (831)818-0181 or datta@mainstrealtors.com

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BY JEANNE movement, or maybe just Mad Men, but the soothing minimalism of midcentury modern decor is back in style. Suddenly every fashionable interior designer, collector and amateur DIYer is talking about the functional elegance of design from the middle of the 20th century (the late 1940s to early 1960s). So what exactly are they talking about?

The fundamentals of midcentury modern took off with the Bauhaus movement of 1920s Germany, noted for its lack of ornamentation in design, and

the idea that functionality and design should be integral. It was a populist response to the elaborate and expensive craftsmanship of the neoclassical Beaux-Arts style that had reigned in architecture, art, fashion and graphic design. Clean lines and modern materials made beauty and quality affordable for all.

By the 1950s, the form was exported and softened, particularly in Scandinavia and Brazil. Eventually, it made its way to the U.S., where the outdoors was brought into homes and offices with glass and open floor plans that included natural elements.

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FORM EQUALS FUNCTION

Reinterpretations went global, and the influence flourished in postwar suburbia.

Midcentury modern has made a couple of comebacks, including in the late ’90s, but this is the biggest yet.

Locally, the sources are few, but the prices are lower than for comparable items that can be found in bigger cities—if you could even get ahead of the stampede.

LOUNGE ACT A tufted contour chaise lounge at Retrospect Design.

PHOTO: JEANNE HOWARD

RETROSPECT DESIGN 806 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz The main attraction for the pedestrian who happens to be passing Nancy LaPlaca and Todd Kransky’s new store on lower Pacific is the colorful art covering almost every square inch of the walls. Once inside, the handpicked vintage midcentury modern furniture, lamps, rugs and curios deserve the slow appraisal demanded by a fine art gallery. “A lot is teak, a lot is Danish,” the pair explain enthusiastically in alternating lines of conversation. “We’re priced the same as new, but the quality is much higher,” says Kransky. “The materials and designs are an expression of style, and it’s not out of a box,” says LaPlaca. Kransky adds that midcentury modern has captured a moment. “We keep trying to get away from it, but we keep going back to it. It’s where society wants to be,” he says. LaPlaca gestures at the softness of the woods around her. “It’s calming. It’s Zen.”

REDO CONSIGN & REDESIGN 1523 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz Don’t even think of bringing owner Robin Cross anything less than like-new condition and well-crafted pieces for resale at Redo Consign & Redesign.

“If you go to a big city or look online, prices will be twice as much or more,” says Lynn Grebil, a stager at Redo.

“And we bring in new items daily, not on certain days of the week.” There isn’t a focus on any particular style of furnishings, but there were more than a dozen midcentury modern pieces on a recent visit, and it’s worth a trip to see this large, well-designed space with its appealing scent of wood and a high standard maintained across the board for vintage-to-new furnishings, art,

mirrors, lamps, rugs and more. Redo’s inventory is sourced from interior designers, private owners, stagers and manufacturer sample sales.

SOURGRASSBUILT sourgrassbuilt.com Even birds should have access to a home with good design, quality materials and a modern aesthetic. Santa Cruz birds do, thanks to Douglas Barnhard. Growing up in Los Gatos, he liked the midcentury modern homes of some of his friends, and when he later attended architecture school, he was inspired by the work of Joseph Eichler and Frank Lloyd Wright.

A few years ago, using scrap materials piling up at his local cabinet workshop, Barnhard began making modern birdhouses. He doesn’t copy specific designs, but uses his sense of the MCM style. “I’ve been asked by architects to emulate a project they’ve just finished,” he says. “I’m willing to custom build.”

NEW “VINTAGE-LOOK” MODERN DECOR If you’re hip to MCM, but can’t find exactly what you want pre-owned, a few local stores carry furniture and decor that embody the ethos.

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IT’S A JUNGLE IN HERE WHY PLANT LOVERS ARE GOING WILD FOR ‘JUNGALOW’ DECOR

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BY MARIA GRUSAUSKAS

t’s sort of ironic, I know, that my smartphone serves as a portal into nature, but my Instagram feed is full of green foliage and cactus flowers. On Instagram, this is not hard to do. The social media platform is teeming with design enthusiasts and plant lovers, who, more and more, seem to be becoming one and the same. Accounts like @thejungalow, which tours the inside of hundreds of living rooms coming to life in the most literal sense; @cactusmagazine, which provides daily cacti eye candy; or @plantsonpink, which offers a thousand iterations of exactly what

it advertises, all provide visual evidence of a design trend that I really don’t mind going mainstream: bringing the outdoors in.

According to a January article in Telegraph, “Smaller houses, more people renting and an ironic passion for Seventies kitsch has led to a trend for indoor plants.”

With a nod to Instagram as a magnet for “hipsters” wanting to show off “their cheese and rubber plants displayed in macrame hangers,” Telegraph notes that even IKEA is embracing micro living and urban gardening with its Krydda range of indoor cultivators.

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<25

IT’S A JUNGLE IN HERE

BATHTUB WIN Ariel Carlson of Botanic and Luxe says people, especially children, react in positive ways when they come in and see all of the plants. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER

In Santa Cruz, the love of the indoor jungle is alive and lush.

“We never expected [the plant side of the business] to take off as much as it did, plants and pots are about 50 percent of our sales,” says Leilani Zehnder, who co-founded the home decor store Botanic and Luxe one year ago this April, with her longtime friend Ariel Carlson, a landscape architect. “We are passionate about plants. We grew up on Kauai, so we were surrounded by plants growing up.”

The Front Street shop practically breathes, thanks to its abundance of houseplants, from the exotic, top-selling tillandsia, or air plants, to the sunlightloving fiddle-leaf figs, to the mottled leaves of the prayer plant, to the sansevieria trifasciata, also known as a snake plant—or, curiously, mother-in-law’s tongue. Snake plants do well in low light and are one of the best air-purifiers of all.

“They pull toxins from the air, like the

chemicals in carpets and the flame retardants in mattresses,” says Zehnder. Plus, “They’ll just thrive off neglect. Which is important, because I feel like people sometimes get so excited to have houseplants that they tend to overwater them or tend to them too much.”

Zehnder and Carlson also stress the importance of matching the right plant to the type of light in your house—a common rookie mistake. From experience, I’ll add that proper drainage is just as important. It took me a while to realize that the beautiful thriving plants I’d brought home from the nursery and re-planted in pretty ceramic pots were dying not because of low light, but because of waterlogged soil.

PLANTS IN SPACE In search of a way to clean space station air, NASA conducted a Clean Air Study in

1989, testing various common houseplants for their carbon dioxide absorption, oxygen output, and ability to eliminate significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde, xylene and trichloroethylene. Sure enough, the snake plant was a top performer, along with the peace lily and dozens of others, which is why NASA recommends at least one plant for every 100-square feet in buildings.

“It’s also a benefit to the psyche,” says Carlson. “People literally come in here and touch the plants. It’s like it’s what they’re missing all day.”

Several scientific studies link indoor plants to cognitive benefits—like increased productivity, concentration and calm—and Diane Schwedner of Bespoke Interiors says that the benefits of a home graced with plants go beyond the physical and psychological, taking on spiritual significance.

“As leaves eat the sun—photosynthesis— 28 > 2017 2017 | GOODTIMES.SC | SANTACRUZ.COM | HOME & GARDEN

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IT’S A JUNGLE IN HERE

we feel beauty, awe, wonder. Something within us stirs, quickens, unfurls. These living beings are more than simply objects,” says Schwedner. “Traditional indigenous knowledge holds ‘plants as beings with their own songs and sensibilities,’ says plant ecologist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer. She encourages us to embrace the possibility of plant intelligence.”

NATURAL REFLECTIONS The “jungalow” trend extends beyond physical houseplants to their reflections in art, and it’s common to see botanical prints and watercolors, like the ones

by Jenny Kiker of Living Pattern (@ livingpattern) at Botanic and Luxe, on the walls of a living room or kitchen that already looks like a greenhouse.

Balancing out the various foliage at this store are the macrame wall hangings and plant holders made by local company Bellwether Hardware, which Erica Butler started with her husband. She learned how to make the 100-percent cotton macrames on the internet.

“And then it got kind of out of control, and I had a whole closet full of them,” says Butler, who admits that there was once a time when she could not keep a single houseplant alive.

The botanical design theme continues up the street at Hive & Hum, another mecca for home decor that celebrated its one-year anniversary this month.

First, there are the colorful and mindblowingly beautiful botanical watercolors of Mckella Suter, (on instagram @ mckellojo), the daughter of Jodi Maricich, who started Hive & Hum with her husband, Gary Maricich.

“I’ve never met a human being more connected to nature than our daughter,” says Maricich. “She’s the oldest of our three children, and I swear, as a small child, just getting her to come in the house every night, was the hardest thing.”

OUTSIDE IN Maricich, an interior designer for the past 20 years, says that the retail space has been a natural extension of her and her husband’s work in interior design, and it

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PLANT WHISPERER Leilani Zehnder, who grew up on Kauai, waters a bromeliad at Botanic and Luxe. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER

doubles as a workshop space—including a strong focus on all things beekeeping.

“We are backyard beekeepers, and we wanted to inspire the world and at least raise awareness around honey bees and pollinator health because without them, there’s no us,” says Maricich.

Maricich says she’s noticed a resurgence in bringing the outside in, but rather than sell living plants, Hive & Hum carries a wide array of faux greenery, from rubber succulents to silk-dyed flowers, like the vibrant bougainvillea. One reason they sell the faux rather than real, says Maricich, is because they’ve become good friends with Botanic and Luxe.

“One thing I really love about all the shops downtown is we’re all friends, and we collaborate, we had no desire to compete. We send people all the time,” says Maricich.

The other is that they see themselves as

a different kind of design solution. “I have a lot of clients who are either traveling a lot or have a second home here, and their priority is not to maintain a bunch of houseplants, though they still want the feeling of inside out,” says Maricich.

They’ve sourced high-end, quality, and realistic greenery from a California company that is so realistic looking that even florists have come into the shop and thought they were real.

“And they have increased our happiness greatly,” says Macicich. “Because we’re there 10 hours a day, six to seven days a week. And we all love being in there. It’s like being in a little jungle.”

Botanic and Luxe is at 701-A Front St., Santa Cruz, 515-7710. Hive & Hum is at 415-B River St., Santa Cruz, 421-9028.

More information on Bespoke Interiors at bespokeinteriors.us.

GRAND OPENING OF OUR NEW OFFICE!

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POTS, FIREPITS & FOUNTAINS 39th Annual Mother’s Day Weekend Outdoor Teak Furniture Fountains Pots & Planters Garden Decor & Much More!!

Tues-Sat 9:30-6 Sun: 10-5:30 Mon: Closed

PLANT SALE May 12 - 14

Friends of the Garden Pre-Sale Friday 5/12 3-7pm $25 membership at gate

Public Sale Saturday 5/13 9-2pm & Sunday 5/14 10-2pm

2600 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz (AT 7th AVE.) 831.465.9216 www.potteryplanet.com

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THE LATEST BUZZ How to prepare your yard for mosquito season

T

his winter’s heavy rains mean more potential breeding spots for mosquitoes, which is why Santa Cruz County Mosquito and Vector Control (MVC) is putting locals on high alert for the spring and summer months.

Keeping mosquitoes out of your yard is always a good idea—besides their itchy bites and annoying buzz, they can carry West Nile Virus (WNV).

WNV is transmitted from birds to humans via bites from infected mosquitos. Last year, MVC detected two WNV-positive birds and three WNV-positive mosquito samples between June and August 2016.

Because mosquitos love to

30

HOME & GARDEN | SANTACRUZ.COM | GOODTIMES.SC | 2017

breed in yard containers full of rainwater that you never quite got around to emptying, draining any such containers is a crucial first step. Mosquitoes need water to reproduce, and the MVC specifically calls out bird baths, neglected swimming pools or spas, old tires, landscape drains, animal water bowls, buckets, tarps, and children’s toys as places they often lay their eggs. Dumping, draining or replacing water from them once a week helps prevent mosquito breeding.

If containers are too large to dump or store upside-down, there are BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) products like Mosquito Dunks or Mosquito Bits

BY ANTONIO DIGIOVANNI

which are labeled organic by the EPA, and are available at hardware or garden stores.

MVC is also monitoring for invasive Aedes mosquitoes, which can transmit Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. None have yet been detected in Santa Cruz County.

Locals are asked to report dead birds to the California Department of Public Health online at westnile.ca.gov or 877-WNV-BIRD. Once a bird is reported to the state, MVC picks up the bird for testing.

The MVC welcomes questions about mosquitos and requests for free mosquito-eating fish for your pond or water feature; 454-2590.

Calendar 4/15

4/20

COASTAL WILDFLOWER DAY

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Spring has sprung in all its glory.

Celebrate with a day of games and crafts for young people, guided wildflower and bird walks, artist booths, and live music overlooking Half Moon Bay.

A Westside destination: Fresh, organic fruits and veggies from UCSC Farm & Garden. Every Thursday of the month.

10 a.m.-4 p.m., Francis Beach at Half Moon Bay State Beach, Half Moon Bay. Parking $10.

10 a.m.-2 p.m., Quarry Plaza, UCSC

4/29 FARM & GARDEN SPRING PLANT SALE This year’s annual Spring plant sale will feature a 50th anniversary twist with some of Alan Chadwick’s favorites and selections of plants that thrive in the Monterey Bay region.

10 a.m.-3 p.m., UCSC Farm

2017 | GOODTIMES.SC | SANTACRUZ.COM | HOME & GARDEN

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Calendar 5/2

COMMUNITY DAY Free admission on the first Tuesday of every month, take a relaxing stroll around the gorgeous UCSC arboretum grounds to visit plants from near and distant lands.

All day, UCSC Arboretum

5/7 FREE GUIDED TOUR OF UCSC FARM Docent-lead tours of the UCSC farm grounds covering the education, research, and outreach work that the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems leads. First Sunday of the month from April through November.

2-3:30 p.m., UCSC Farm

SOIL PREP FOR VEGETABLE GARDENS Soil is the key to plant success. Learn basic soil science, practical techniques, and optional practice in the demo garden in this classâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;part of an ongoing series of public classes offered by the UC Master Gardener Program of Monterey Bay. Class schedule at mbmg.ucanr.edu.

10 a.m.-12 p.m., 1430 Freedom Boulevard, Watsonville

5/9 RAY COLLETT RARE AND EXTRAORDINARY PLANT LECTURE SERIES Did you know that sex in animals was discovered 14,000 years before sex in plants? Find out why it took scientists so long with professors Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz.

7 p.m., Arboretum Horticulture II Building, UCSC

5/12 CABRILLO COLLEGE ANNUAL SPRING PLANT SALE More than 1,000 different organic vegetable starts, perennial edibles, annuals, bedding plants, culinary and medicinal herbs, cut flowers, natives, succulents, and more.

3-7 p.m. on Friday, May 12, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. Cabrillo Community College

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Calendar 5/20 GOPHER CONTROL IN THE HOME AND GARDEN Pests a pest? Learn how to control gophers, moles and ground squirrels in the home garden with non-toxic techniques.

9:30-12:30 a.m. Cowell Ranch Hay Barn, UCSC

5/27 DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM WORKSHOP Fitting by fitting, Love Apple Farms will teach you the process of installing a drip irrigation system, from the spigot to the garden.

10 a.m.-2 p.m., Love Apple Farms

6/10 SUSTAIN SUPPER Dine outdoors on the organic farm at the Homeless Garden Project for a four-course dinner prepared by top local chefs using local, organic ingredients. The keynote speaker is Guy Kawasaki.

Info: homelessgardenproject.org

7/28 - 7/30 FIRST 50 CELEBRATION In celebration of UCSC’s first fifty years, the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems will host three days of speakers, workshops, tours and music with local food.

Various locations, CASFS website

8/5 LOVE APPLE FARM TOURS GQ magazine has called their farm grounds “stunningly beautiful,” so take a tour and see for yourself while munching on farm-made jams, pickles and more.

10 a.m.-2 p.m., Love Apple Farms

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