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Fragrance Is Really For Pollinators

Angel’s trumpet is fragrant but prominent.

Many flowers are fragrant. Many are colorful. Several are both. The majority, though, are neither. That is because flowers use fragrance and color only to attract pollinators. Most flowers rely on wind for pollination, so do not need to attract pollinators. Such flowers are not so conspicuous, though. Fragrance and color are much more prominent and popular.

Most prominently colorful flowers are not very fragrant. They do not need to be. Flowers can use one technique or the other, fragrance or color, to attract pollinators. They do not need to waste resources on redundancy. Hibiscus, dahlia, sunflower, daisy, camellia and canna all lack floral fragrance. Yet, they efficiently attract pollinators with their floral color.

Most prominently fragrant flowers are similarly not very colorful. Night blooming jasmine, sweet box and sweet osmanthus produce small white flowers. Yet, they efficiently attract pollinators with their floral fragrance. Gardenia is more colorful only because its blooms are larger. Star jasmine is more colorful only because its blooms are much more profuse.

Victorian box and mock orange also bloom with fragrant but subdued flowers about now. Most angel’s trumpet blooms with fragrant but impressively large flowers in pastel colors. Hyacinth, narcissus, freesia and lily flowered both fragrantly and colorfully last spring. So did wisteria and pink jasmine. Daphne flowers are diminutive but fragrant for next winter.

Modern roses and some bearded iris are not as fragrant as some old cultivars. Many lack fragrance altogether. This is generally because fragrance had not been a priority of their breeding. Both roses and bearded iris now bloom with bolder flowers, which last longer. Roses bloom for a longer season, instead of only once. Fragrance was the compromise.

Floral fragrances are as diverse as the pollinators that they attract. This is because, like floral color, they appeal to particular pollinators. A few appeal to a single specific species of pollinator. Several flowers disperse their fragrance at night for nocturnal moths or bats. Most flowers, though, are receptive to pollinators that they do not intentionally appeal to.

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Six on Saturday: Degradation

These are a few less than glamorous pictures from work, featuring normal deterioration, insect infestation, and desiccation. It will all work out in the end.

1. Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile is slowly finishing its bloom cycle. Its florets are shriveling as its seed pods are growing. Blooms might stay until they look about like this.

2. Passiflora coccinea, red passion flower vine rarely has much intact foliage on it. Fuzzy caterpillars defoliate it as fast as it can grow. The caterpillars are active most of the year.

3. Ceratonia siliqua, carob seedlings succumbed to a very brief lapse of irrigation during warm weather. Fortunately, there were already more than enough, and enough survived.

4. Hesperoyucca whipplei, our Lord’s candle generated hefty pups as its original rosette bloomed and died. The pups are now dead. Maybe this subspecies really is monocarpic.

5. Agave attenuata X ocahui ‘Blue Glow’ agave is demonstrating how it is done properly. Now that it is generating young pups, the original rosette will likely bloom and die soon.

6. Trachycarpus fortunei, windmill palm abandones an old leaf below for every new leaf that it extends above. I cut the old leaves off to keep it looking tidy. It is notably healthy.

Anyone who would like to participate in this meme should peruse this participant guide for Six on Saturday.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Korean Arborvitae

Korean arborvitae is a small tree.

Arborvitaes are quite uncommon here. Korean arborvitae, Thuja koraiensis, is one of the more uncommon among them. It is therefore uncommonly uncommon, or even rare. Not many examples are observable within local landscapes. Yet, some compact cultivars are becoming more available from nurseries. It will likely become more popular in the future.

Korean arborvitae is a large evergreen shrub or small tree. In the wild, it grows as tall as thirty feet, and half as broad. ‘Glauca’ has bluish foliage and grows only about fifteen feet tall, and ten feet wide. ‘Glauca Prostrata’ gets only three feet tall, and about six feet wide. Flat foliar sprays with clasping scale leaves resemble those of more familiar arborvitaes.

Also like more familiar arborvitaes, Korean arborvitae appreciates regular watering. It is resilient to brief lapses of irrigation once established, though. It tolerates partial shade as well. Although it prefers sandy loam, Korean arborvitae adapts to most soil types. Soil of inferior quality is rarely a problem. Spider mites can possibly infest during warm weather.

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Stakes Should Stabilize New Trees

Binding should subordinate to staking.

Initially after planting, many new trees and some large shrubs rely on stakes for stability. Some limber trees also need temporary structural support for thin trunks. Staking is only necessary until confined roots disperse and young trunks mature. Then, trees and large shrubbery stand on their own. Stakes help with the transition from nursery to landscape.

Different trees require different types of stakes. Palm trees need none at all. Spruce trees are likewise stout enough to stand alone. Camphor trees, though, typically need staking both for structural integrity and stability. Landscape stakes provide stability while nursery stakes provide trunk integrity. For most trees, landscape stakes displace nursery stakes.

Landscape stakes are those that loosely support new trees within their new landscapes. Nursery stakes, if present, are those that direct straight trunk growth in nurseries. Binding to nursery stakes inhibits trunk expansion, though. Therefore, it is better to remove them as soon as possible. This should occur after planting and staking with landscape stakes.

Landscape stakes, for adequate stability, should extend below roots of associated trees. This puts them into the solid undisturbed soil below the excavated soil. Also, they should be about as high as the lowest branches of their associated trees. For shrubbery and low branched trees, they should be about five feet high. Stakes are in standardized lengths.

One stake is adequate for some small trees. Other larger trees may justify two. Likewise, one top strap for each stake may be adequate. Secondary straps about halfway between top straps and the ground might be useful. They minimize bowing of limber trunks. Short nails can hold straps in place. Straps should cross over between their stakes and trees.

Staking should be as unobtrusive as possible. If it supports trees too rigidly, it can inhibit trunk growth and development. Trunks that are able to move somewhat with breezes will be stronger. If binding remains necessary, it should be as loose as possible. It constricts as trunks expand. Ultimately, as trees mature, staking and binding become unnecessary, and should be removed.

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Six on Saturday: Auditorium Terrace & Overlook Deck

This will very soon be a rather significant construction project at work.

1. These plans do not represent the scale of this project well. The Auditorium Terrace is already present, but is in need of renovation. The Overlook Deck will be completely new.

2. In the process of renovation, four disfigured and deteriorating London plane trees will be replaced with specially grown high-branched red maples for the Auditorium Terrace.

3. Orange mesh designates where the new Overlook Deck will be. The top of the mesh is at the same level of the deck. The wire is where the rail will be. It is higher than it looks.

4. Stumps of the many trees that were cut down for this project are trying to regenerate, and will likely continue to do so for many years. Tanoak and bay trees do not die easily.

5. Our only palm here, a windmill palm, will be displaced by the project. Fortunately, we planned ahead, and nested it into the ground still within its big tub, rather than plant it.

6. Strangely, what we thought were three alders are now blooming with prominent white flowers. They are some sort of dogwood. They were in too much shade to bloom before.

Anyone who would like to participate in this meme should peruse this participant guide for Six on Saturday.

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Giant Taro

Giant taro eventually grows quite large.

Even within confinement of large pots, giant taro, Alocasia macrorrhiza, is big and bold. Potted houseplant specimens grow about six feet tall. In the ground, they can grow twice as high. Individual leaves can grow three to six feet long, and two to four feet wide. They mostly point upward, but may sag to point downward. Trunks, if any, are short and stout.

Giant taro is somewhat rare within home gardens, most likely because of its size. It might also be a bit more demanding than other foliar perennials. It requires quite a bit of water at regular intervals. Also, it craves regular applications of fertilizer. However, it can burn if fertilizer is excessive. Soil should be loose, organically rich, and moist but not saturated.

Giant taro is also somewhat rare within nurseries. The big dormant bulbs are sometimes available with other summer bulbs during spring. Initially, they grow slowly, especially if weather is cool. Growth accelerates as weather warms. Some vigorous plants produce a few pups that are quite easy to divide as new plants. A variegated cultivar is notably rare. “Elephant ear” is another common name.

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Potted Plants Within Home Gardens

Philodendrons are famously adaptable to potting.

Potted plants would rather be in the ground. That is the simplest truth. Pots confine roots that would prefer to disperse more extensively into natural soil. Yet, container gardening is more popular than ever, for various reasons. Planters and pots happen to be practical for many situations. They allow cultivation of plants that require special accommodation.

Houseplants, for example, can only inhabit their homes as potted plants. There is no soil for them to disperse roots into. Cascading plants, like Boston ferns and pothos, can only cascade from elevated pots. Several popular houseplants live only as houseplants here. They might be too vulnerable to winter weather to live in the garden throughout the year.

Potted plants are also practical for balconies and elevated decks. Some condominiums, townhomes and apartments have no more garden space than that. Regardless of garden space, pots contain invasive plants, like mint and horseradish. Bamboo popularly grows in big tubs that it can not escape from. Also, pots protect vulnerable plants from gophers.

Portability is a primary advantage of potted plants. Where winters are cool, potted plants that are vulnerable to frost can relocate to shelter. Plants such as cymbidium orchids can move to more prominent sites while blooming. Then, they can go to less prominent sites when they finish. Potted plants can move about on patios and decks like patio furniture.

There are also a few disadvantages to potted plants, though. They are always reliant on watering. Confinement of roots limits the drought tolerance of otherwise drought tolerant plants. Thin plastic pots can get uncomfortably warm in full sun exposure. They can also get quite cool during cool weather. Pots can rot wooden decks and stain concrete patios.

Conventional pots are wider on top and narrower at their bases for a reason. This shape allows firm root systems to slide out for planting in the ground or bigger pots. Such roots can not slide out of pots that are wider in the middle than on top. Pots with narrower tops are practical only for small plants, like annuals. Such plants do not develop sturdy roots.