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Watering Resumes With Drier Weather

Irrigation becomes necessary without winter rain.

Even before the last day of winter on March 20, the weather went summery fast. Not only has there been no rain in quite a while, but it has become rather warm also. This climate here can be tricky like that sometimes. While moisture becomes less available from rain, it also becomes more necessary. Watering, or irrigation, needs to resume to compensate.

Watering had not been much of a concern during rainy weather through winter. Only pots and planters that are sheltered by eaves still needed it. Between rainy weather, cool and humid weather inhibited evaporation. Therefore, watering was rarely if ever necessary to compensate for a lack of rain. Even sheltered planters needed less than during summer.

Lack of rain and warmer weather are not the only reasons for the need for watering. Day length is slowly but steadily increasing. Sunlight intensity increases as the sun becomes higher in the sky. Lengthening days of intensifying sunlight accelerate the desiccation of soil. It also accelerates evapotranspiration, which is the evaporation from foliar surfaces.

Furthermore, warming weather accelerates growth of vegetation. This increases its need for moisture that rain no longer provides. Formerly dormant deciduous species will soon develop foliage. They did not lose moisture to evapotranspiration while dormant, but will when foliated. Of course, different types of vegetation demand different types of watering.

Soil texture and composition is also relevant to this increasing need for watering. Sandy soil drains well, but consequently needs more watering than denser soil. Organically rich soil retains moisture more effectively. Potted plants need frequent watering because their roots can not disperse very far. Hanging potted plants want even more frequent watering.

With so many variables, there are no simple formulas for determining watering rates. The process ultimately relies on diligent observation of the soil and vegetation involved. Soil, for many plants, should not remain too dry for too long. However, it should not remain too saturated either. Whether irrigation is automated or manual, it must adapt to the weather.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Six on Saturday: Pruning

Rhody and I are still not taking many pictures while on vacation. I realize that I said that I should be more diligent about doing so, but we have been so busy vacationing. Perhaps I will do somewhat better next Saturday.

1. Apple trees before pruning look like a hot mess, particularly with the thicket of willow and other vegetation in their background, but are actually quite healthy and cooperative.

2. Apple trees after pruning still look questionable and disfigured, but really are healthy. I probably should not have thinned them so much. It will compromise their production.

3. Apple debris was not so abundant this year, since all the major cuts were made in past seasons. Almost all of this debris is one or two year old growth. Now, it must be burned.

4. Dandelion was one of the only flowers besides cherry trees that I noticed blooming in the vicinity of the apple trees. A cherry tree that I got pictures of last week is about done.

5. Western sword fern was featured in an upcoming gardening article. This picture is the same as the illustration but sideways. This fern is very common in the Pacific Northwest.

6. Rhody really knows how to relax on our vacation. He is very fond of my Pa, and enjoys lounging on his lap for as long as he can, typically with an inane movie on the television.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo

Flowering Cherry

Flowering cherries bloom for early spring.

Flowering cherries are a complicated group of many distinct hybrids, of several species. Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, is the most common ancestor of almost all of them. It is a relatively small deciduous tree that does not get much more than twenty five feet tall. The wild species produces unpalatable fruit, but its many hybrids are generally fruitless.

Most flowering cherries exhibit splendid autumn foliar color, with yellow, orange and red. Weeping cultivars develop strikingly pendulous form. Birch bark cherry exhibits distinctly smooth and chestnut brown bark, with broad lenticels. Weeping cultivars are sometimes grafted onto birch bark cherry trunks. This combines pendulous form with smooth trunks.

The primary allure of flowering cherries, though, is their profusions of early spring bloom. Floral color ranges from bright white to rosy pink, although most cultivars are pastel pink. Flowers can be delicately single or billowy double. Some cultivars bloom slightly earlier or later than others, but all bloom quite early. Their blooming stems are pretty cut flowers.

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Flowering Trees For Spring Bloom

Flowering cherry trees are conveniently compact.

Fruit trees such as apricot, cherry, peach and plum, bloom about now. Some are already finished, while a few are just beginning. Apple and pear trees will bloom somewhat later. More colorfully, flowering or fruitless counterparts of such trees are on similar schedules. Flowering apricot has already finished bloom. Flowering crabapple will likely bloom last.

The difference between fruit trees and their flowering counterparts is not their bloom. It is their fruit or lack thereof. “Flowering” has become a euphemism for “fruitless”. Trees with such designation produce either no fruit or fruit of relatively inferior quality. Wildlife might enjoy some of any inferior fruit. Although, even inferior crabapples might make good jelly.

Purple leaf plums are probably the most popular of this type of flowering or fruitless tree. Flowering cherry is less common. Flowering peach is somewhat rare. Fruitless pear is a popular street tree, but may not bloom as profusely as the others. Also, it does not bloom quite as early. Flowering quince grows as shrubbery rather than trees with upright trunks.

While very closely related, fruiting trees and their fruitless counterparts are very different. Fruiting trees should obviously produce fruit. That is their primary purpose. Their fruitless counterparts are merely ornamental. The truly fruitless types grow and bloom where fruit would be a messy nuisance. For example, some perform well as small scale street trees.

Because they are fruitless, such trees do not require specialized dormant pruning. There is no need to prune to concentrate resources into developing fruit. Nor is there any need to prune to accommodate the weight of fruit. Fruitless trees can assume their natural form and scale instead. Although none are large trees, they can grow taller than fruiting trees.

Also because they are fruitless, their bloom is their priority. They bloom more abundantly than fruiting trees, and some bloom with double flowers. Floral color is more diverse too, ranging from bright white to rich rosy pink. Some flowering crabapple trees bloom nearly red. Since dormant pruning is unnecessary, blooming stems are splendid as cut flowers.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Six on Saturday: Neither Here Nor There

Between leaving on my trip and arriving, I neglected to get many pictures to select from for these Six. Actually, only two pictures are from the trip. I should take more pictures.

1. Prunus serrulata, flowering cherry of unidentified cultivar was featured in the garden column. It was the first to bloom. This picture was a bit too dark to use as an illustration.

2. Camellia japonica, camellia looks like a fried egg with such a prominent yellow center surrounded by a white corolla. White camellia are prettier with less prominent stamens.

3. Camellia japonica, camellia seemed more red than this when I took its picture. It was still blooming adjacent to the white camellia above. It is as pretty in pink as it was in red.

4. Bellis perennis, English daisy is the only picture that I took in Oregon. I must be more diligent about taking pictures on the way back, even if I do not stop in Oregon too much.

5. Prunus spp., cherry understock is growing from the base of what was formerly a stone fruit tree of some sort on my Pa’s farm. It is cool and rainy here, but is obviously spring.

6. Rhody is a good sport on our trip. We left at midnight and, because of a few stops, we arrived after six in the evening. That is an eighteen hours drive, or a 126 dog hours drive.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Fernald’s Iris

Fernald’s iris is rare in nurseries.

The natural range of Fernald’s iris, Iris fernaldii, is actually rather limited. It is endemic to only the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to Santa Cruz County. Although it grows well beyond its natural range, it is quite rare in cultivation. Within chaparral climates that are warmer than its range, it prefers afternoon shade. Its foliage is greener with irrigation.

In the wild, Fernald’s iris develops sparse colonies, typically mixed with other vegetation. Colonies are more compact with cultivation and exclusion of other species. Propagation is very easy by division, or simple separation of wayward rhizomes. Fernald’s iris can be satisfied with shallow soil or soil of inferior quality. Too much fertilizer may inhibit bloom.

Fernald’s iris grows only about a foot tall, with slender, grassy and grayish green leaves. Floral stalks stand a bit more vertically and slightly above the foliage. The typically white flowers are paired on each floral stalk. Flowers might be pale or buttery yellow, or, rarely, pale lavender. Roots are thin but tough. Rhizomes, relative to those of other iris, are slim.

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Native Species Are Naturally Natural

California poppy is a common wildflower.

Vegetation has always been here. Wildlands outside of urban development demonstrate that noplace is or was without it. Native species lived here before any home gardens did. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some of it still does. Some sneaks in like weeds. Some arrives by invitation. A few old trees never left as the area around them developed.

Native species perform well locally because they are adapted to local climates and soils. It is all very natural to them. In fact, many dislike major modifications to their climates and soils. Although most tolerate or even appreciate a bit of supplemental irrigation, some do not. Many rot if irrigation is too generous. Also, many do not want much soil amendment.

Some native species might be a bit too natural, though. Because they are from chaparral climates, they can get somewhat scraggly by summer. It is not because of a lack of water or other environmental deficiency. It is their natural behavior, and how they survive in the wild. Many wildflowers that bloom so well for spring are completely dormant by summer.

The advantage to this is that almost all native species do not demand much water. Many want none at all. Once established, they get all they need from natural rainfall. Therefore, landscapes of mostly or exclusively native species conserve water. Since native species are adapted to endemic soil, they require no fertilizer either. They are quite conservative.

California poppy, which is the State Flower of California, is a very familiar native annual. Unlike other native species, it appreciates supplemental irrigation after the rainy season. It typically blooms only for spring, but may bloom into summer with occasional irrigation. Sky lupine is another native annual that blooms for spring, with contrasting blue flowers.

Various salvias, bush lupines, penstemons, irises and grasses are native perennials. So are sticky monkey flower, Oregon grape, tree anemone and tree poppy. Toyon, silk tassel and various California lilacs are native shrubbery. So are flannel bush, coyote brush and coffeeberry. California sycamore, coast live oak and redwoods are common native trees.