Green Wednesday: Fungal Wonders and Native Gardening for Biodiversity
By Cindy Watter, U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County, and Kathleen Scavone Environmental Contributor
Every Wednesday, Napa Valley Features includes posts from environmental voices and the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County, who share research-based horticultural advice. Together, these contributors provide valuable insights into sustainable gardening practices and climate-related topics relevant to our region.
"Mycological Musings" by Kathleen Scavone, Environmental Contributor: This article explores the ecological significance of mushrooms in Napa Valley, their unique lifecycle and their role in sustaining ecosystems while celebrating California’s native fungi, such as the golden chanterelle.
“The hidden underground network of fungi forms an important feature of the ecosystem, benefiting soil, creating food for organisms and decomposing dead matter to sustain life.” Kathleen Scavone
"The Many Reasons for Growing Native Plants" by Cindy Watter, U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County: This piece advocates for planting native species to enhance biodiversity, reduce pesticide use and create thriving ecosystems, inspired by Doug Tallamy's work in "Bringing Nature Home."
“Abandon the sterile, fertilizer-laden lawn and plant natives that attract wildlife, support biodiversity and create thriving ecosystems.” Cindy Watter
The Many Reasons for Growing Native Plants
By Cindy Watter
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife With Native Plants,” which was first published in 2007, set off an enthusiasm for native-plant gardening. This practice is now known as “rewilding” in horticulture circles.
Author Doug Tallamy is an entomology professor at the University of Delaware. Entomology is the study of insects, and one might wonder what insects have to do with native plants. Tallamy tells us: Insects eat plants (and don’t we gardeners know it), and native insects eat native plants.
These insects support other animal life, including native birds, amphibians and animals. We should appreciate insects more as they support the animals we love.
Tallamy also devotes some attention to insects as a source of dietary protein. In some quarters they are already valued as food. In the future, that role could grow. Although this discussion might make some readers queasy, consider that the first person to eat a crab or a lobster must have been very courageous.
The author’s interest in the environment originated when he was a child. His family had moved into a new house next door to some fields, where he found a pond full of baby toads. A bulldozer soon came along to prepare the land for another house, and poor Doug escaped with only a handful of toadlets.
Unfortunately, they could not survive outside of their natural environment. This experience helped shape Tallamy’s belief that suburban development is now the greatest threat to biodiversity.
There is a solution. Abandon the sterile, fertilizer-and-insecticide-laden front lawn and plant natives that will attract other natives. Tallamy also advises us to avoid exotic species that can escape the yard and colonize open spaces, such as parks and wildlands.
He gives several examples of this phenomenon, illustrated with photographs. One image is of a Japanese honeysuckle efficiently strangling an oak tree in a forest. This photo made me rush outside and peer anxiously at my honeysuckle, which is confined to a collapsing trellis and hasn’t gone rogue.
We have several examples of invasive exotic plants in Napa. The French broom at Westwood Hills Park is a scourge. A stand of bamboo next to my neighbor’s house is terrifyingly vigorous, and I see pampas grass everywhere in the county. These plants were imported, mostly to complement midcentury-modern architecture, and because they had no predators here, they thrived.
Many of Tallamy’s examples are drawn from the eastern United States because that is where he does much of this research. However, he provides a list of native plants suitable for the western part of the country in an appendix.
Tallamy also discusses what it means to be a native plant. Of course all plants originate someplace, but by his definition, a native plant is one that interacts with and is shaped by its community of insects, birds and other creatures. The plant may have originated somewhere else, but over time it helps create an ecosystem that resembles its place of origin.
Tallamy’s studies have led him to recognize the interrelatedness of all living creatures. Biodiversity makes everything in the ecosystem more resistant to disease and makes it possible to create more biomass, or life. Even from the most hard-boiled human viewpoint, that is a good thing. Who doesn’t want more fish in our rivers and seas?
“Bringing Nature Home” is not a diatribe. Tallamy doesn’t harangue the reader; rather, he calmly explains how a change in attitude about gardening can benefit the environment. Using fewer agricultural chemicals and less water saves money, too.
In the chapter titled “Blending in With the Neighbors,” the author recounts the story of a discussion with his neighbor. Their conversation is a master class in how to educate someone without sounding like a pompous know-it-all.
He also suggests leading by example. Create a native-plant garden so beautiful that everyone will approve. Then make the planted area bigger and denser, which means less lawn.
Tallamy believes it is not hard to persuade people to go native because most homeowners don’t know one plant from another. Also, most people enjoy nature and are interested in wildlife. In fact, it was the encounter with his neighbor that convinced Tallamy to write this book
My 2009 edition of “Bringing Nature Home” (Timber Press) is lavishly illustrated. Half of the book is color photographs, which are inspiring as well as instructive. This book would be a fine present for any gardener or for anyone who has an interest in the environment. Tallamy is a scientist, but he writes in an accessible, conversational manner and is a pleasure to read.
Rose Pruning Workshop: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a workshop on “Winter Rose Care” on Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon via Zoom. Learn pruning techniques for all types of roses along with everything you need to know to make your roses a success in 2025. Attendees will be invited to a hands-on pruning workshop at Fuller Park Rose Garden on Jan. 18 to practice what they have learned. Register here.
Help Desk: The Master Gardener Help Desk is available to answer your garden questions on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa. Or send your questions to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. Include your name, address, phone number and a brief description. For best results attach a photo.
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Cindy Watter is a UC Master Gardener of Napa County.
Mycological Musings
By Kathleen Scavone
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — After a seasonal storm soaks the landscape, a wide variety of interesting and ecologically significant mushrooms tend to take root in the Napa Valley’s hospitable soil. Some seem to pop up overnight, though many of these elegant, sometimes otherworldly forms take several days or longer to form. “Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest,” a wonderful book by Steve Trudell and Joe Ammirati, defines a mushroom as the reproductive structure that is created by fungi, while mycology is the offshoot of biology that studies fungi. Through mycology we know that mushrooms disperse spores (comparable to a plant’s seeds) that are larger than bacteria and propagate in favorable conditions, including the right moisture, nutrients and temperature.
When the Goldilocks conditions are just right (not too dry, etc.), the spores will germinate and form a fungus called mycelium. Mycelia is a complex of miniature tubes that interconnect as hyphae that can generate throughout the wood or soil on which it lives. When compatible mycelium merge, voilà! you have reproduction, which allows the mushroom to complete its lifecycle. To complicate matters, many fungi do not reproduce via their mycelia, and those might include mold you find in your house.
The hidden underground network of fungi forms an important feature of the ecosystem. It benefits soil, creates food for different organisms and breaks down or decomposes dead plants and animals. Similar to turkey vultures, fabulous fungi are essential to a healthy environment with their unique dead-matter management capabilities. It is believed that 1 teaspoon of soil surrounding 80% to 90% of plants holds mycelium that, if stretched out, could reach a length of — wait for it — 300 feet to around 6 miles! So even though the gobs of mycelium underneath us have been dubbed the “wood wide web” by many, your chances of running into it are probable even when you’re simply strolling through your neighborhood.
Since mushrooms don't adhere to a strict calendar, it's difficult to know when and where you might be able to scout out some interesting specimens. Many chanterelles, russulas and boletes thrive under various oak species, while oyster mushrooms live by streams and on alders as well as big-leaf maple trees. Mycology is currently undergoing a genetic identification updating process that is making many mushroom field guides obsolete. A rule of thumb when mushroom hunting is: Have patience and be open to what pops up to enjoy what you see.
Mushrooms of all descriptions can be seen thriving across the Napa County landscape. For example, iNaturalist indicates that at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park you may view turkey tail, with its striking stripes of tan, orange and white colors saluting like flags on snags and downed logs in the park. You might also see some delicate purple-edge bonnets or possibly an alienlike lion's mane.
A fun fact: California has a state mushroom. It is the California golden chanterelle and is native to the state. Often found in the duff under its partner, the oak tree, chanterelles are golden-orange and grow up to 4.4 pounds.
Understanding that the Napa Valley is the ancestral homeland of Patwin, Coast Miwok and Wappo tribes, it is logical to understand that these people made use of an assortment of mushrooms for medicine, food and other purposes. The practice is known as ethnomycology, as described in a paper published in 2013 in the Journal of Ethnobiology authored by Kat M. Anderson and Frank K. Lake.
In their paper, Anderson and Lake discuss the complex Indigenous practices of the ethnomycology of mushrooms, both historically and present day. For their research, they conducted oral interviews and reviewed ethnographic literature to determine that some Native peoples in California harvested many kinds of mushrooms for dyes, tinder, food and more, often incorporating controlled burns on the lands to create the biological conditions for ideal sustainable harvests. Some of the mushrooms they collected included types of chanterelles, boletes, morels and more. They were highly familiar with the edible and poisonous kinds of mushrooms (it is not advisable to collect mushrooms on your own, and in fact, it is not legal to do so on state park properties).
Even utility companies are using mushrooms for cleaning purposes. The East Bay Municipal Utility District is getting positive results with oyster mushroom mycelium to rid its watershed of dangerous pollutants such as E. coli and oil spills. After growing the vegetative filaments in burlap bags along with natural matter including wood chips, harmful material is absorbed and recycled safely by the mushrooms.
Some people swear they know how to safely forage for mushrooms, but for most of us, in order to stay safe, it’s best to leave wild mushrooms alone and stick to the store-bought varieties. There are plenty of free resources available to the general public, too. According to its website, the Bay Area Mycological Society is “dedicated to increasing knowledge of and appreciation for the wonderful world of mushrooms.” BAMS encourages citizen science, educational field trips, classes and lectures. BAMS lists resources such as books and other California mycological societies on its website to aid in further understanding the captivating world of mysterious mushrooms. There is more to mushrooms than meets the eye!
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Kathleen Scavone, M.A., retired educator, is a potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park,” "People of the Water" and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She loves hiking, travel, photography and creating her single panel cartoon called Rupert.
She can be reached through her website: KathleenScavone.com