Dealing with sudden oak death

Julie Monson- Marin Independent Journal - Master Gardeners: Dealing with sudden oak death:
Article Launched: 03/10/2007 09:52:37 AM PST

My West Marin garden is surrounded on three sides by the native forest of the Inverness Ridge, which includes magnificent Douglas firs, towering bays, elderly California buckeyes, madrones, coffeeberry and manzanita, as well as coast live oaks and tanbark oaks.

I didn't know when I planted the garden eight years ago that existing and new oaks were to become susceptible to sudden oak death, and that most of their forest companions were foliar carriers of the disease. Over the past four years or so, we've learned to adapt our gardening and landscaping to accommodate the reality of this pathogen and its spread. Living at the urban/wildland interface has its rich rewards and, as we now know, its drawbacks of nature being, well, nature. A few lessons from our experience may be useful to others living close to or adjacent to native woods.

The disease is caused by a pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, a non-native organism now common in many urban/wildland areas of California's coastal counties. It thrives in warm, damp weather. Not much is yet known about the spread of the pathogen, though oaks and tanbark oaks near or under affect"