Posted on by tonytomeo · 10 Comments

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.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

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.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 3 Comments

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.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 14 Comments

Six on Saturday: New Shears

Purchases are very rare in my garden. I acquire just about anything I want from friends and neighbors. However, I really wanted a particular brand and style of pruning shears.

1. Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’, bronze fennel is one of very few trendy plants in my garden. I dislike fads. It was infested with aphid earlier, but recovered enough to bloom.

2. Canna X generalis, canna is one of very few here that has not yet been featured on Six on Saturday. It is more of a vegetable than an ornamental, but its flowers are pretty also.

3. Canna X generalis ‘Alaska’ canna is a rare white canna, although it is really very pale yellow. I purchase almost nothing for my garden, but I coveted it enough to purchase it.

4. Amaryllis belladonna, naked lady is blooming splendidly, but not quite as abundantly as it did last year. I watch for white flowers so that I can relocate their bulbs after bloom.

5. New shears are the piece de resistance of my Six this week. They are not actually new, since I bought them used on eBay, in order to get the old style. Only their holster is new.

6. Rhody, who is as unimpressed as usual, has been absent from my Six on Saturdays for quite a while. Weekly, this really should be ‘Five and Rhody on Saturday’. Oh, priorities.

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

Posted on by tonytomeo

Grape

Grapevines are productive and visually appealing.

Grape, Vitis spp., has been in cultivation for approximately eight thousand years! That is a very long time for many diverse varieties to develop. Most are cultivars of Vitis vinifera, but other species and hybrids are in cultivation also. Grapes are useful for juice, vinegar, wine, jelly, fresh eating and dried as raisins. Each application utilizes particular cultivars.

Grapevines are very vigorous. Without pruning, some can climb more than fifty feet high. Within home gardens, specialized dormant pruning limits most to less than ten feet high. On larger vines, fruit is awkward to reach. Vines climb with tendrils, but are conducive to redirection on trellises, fences or arbors. They are deciduous, so are bare through winter.

Grapes grow in clusters of all sizes, from only a few grapes to two hundred or more. Fruit can be green, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, dark blue or black. Table grapes are the most familiar seedless type for fresh eating. Wine grapes are smaller and contain seeds. Established vines do not need much water. Excessive irrigation can compromise flavor. Bare root vines become available for winter.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Fruit Trees Versus Shade Trees

Excessive fruit can become a problem.

Why are more urban shade trees not fruit trees? Urban landscapes could produce much more food than they already do. It could be so nice to be able to pick fresh fruit from trees in parks or flanking streets. After all, this region formerly sustained orchards of fruit trees. It could certainly sustain more fruit trees again. Why waste space on mere shade trees?

Many cities in California sustain more trees than they naturally did prior to urbanization. Both San Jose and Los Angeles were chaparral grassland with only isolated woodlands. Their urban trees are now more numerous than native trees were only two centuries ago. The same applies to several urban areas, including San Diego, Bakersfield and Fresno.

Trees are not only more abundant than they naturally were. They are also more practical. They perform specific functions. Those that are street trees must develop high canopies, and need minimal maintenance. Those in parks must be broad enough to create shade. For many reasons, fruit trees are impractical for such applications in public landscapes.

Fruit trees generally require significantly more maintenance than typical shade trees do. Deciduous fruit trees require specialized dormant pruning each winter. Without adequate pruning, their limbs become overburdened with fruit and break. Such pruning is very time consuming. It also necessitates cordoning off space below trees during the procedures.

Also, fruit trees are significantly lower than shade trees. This facilitates both specialized pruning, as well as collection of fruit. Street trees and most shade trees are much higher for clearance below. With the same clearance, particularly over roadways, fruit would be out of reach. Limbs that are low enough to produce fruit within reach would be obtrusive.

Fruit that is out of reach becomes messy below. For street trees, it becomes a slip hazard on paved surfaces. Furthermore, fruit attracts unwanted wildlife, including rats, raccoons and opossums. Ultimately, trees selection should be appropriate to specific applications. Fruit trees are better within private home gardens. Shade trees should not produce fruit.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 14 Comments

Six on Saturday: Last Wednesday Again

Again, this Six on Saturday lacks a theme. These are six random pictures that I took last Wednesday morning.

1. Rain?! Well, actually, it was just drizzly fog. It certainly looked like rain, though, and it was enough to fill a few puddles, and be hazardous for commuter traffic on Highway 17.

2. Phlox paniculata, garden phlox that I got a picture of last week flopped forward from the weight of the drizzly fog. It stood more upright as the moisture dried later in the day.

3. Pinus thunbergii ‘Thunderhead’ Japanese black pine is generating new growth rather late. It probably should have done this in spring so its foliage would be matured by now.

4. Alocasia macrorrhiza, elephant ears is now blooming with its weird green spathe and spadix. This same blooming stem is already producing a new leaf, so is not monocarpic.

5. Hedychium gardnerianum, kahili ginger is beginning to bloom. It has not done much since its arrival a few years ago. Gophers typically ruin it before floral buds even appear.

6. Canna X generalis, canna bloomed with this strange orange and yellow combination, which we did not plant. It is a sport. Strelitzia nicolai, giant bird of Paradise is behind it.

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

Posted on by tonytomeo · 12 Comments

Crape Myrtle

Crepe myrtle has notably complaisant roots.

The popularity of crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, is mostly justifiable. It is a compact tree, so is proportionate to small urban gardens. Its roots are very complaisant, so should not displace pavement. It blooms spectacularly for summer, and then develops fiery foliar color for autumn. Its only problem is that it is so popular that it has become too common.

The largest cultivars of crape myrtle do not grow much taller than twenty feet. Therefore, they are appropriate for utility easements with high voltage cables. Because of their very docile roots, they are popular as street trees. Although, they do not grow wide enough to provide much shade. Street trees should have single trunks. Others can have multiples.

Floral color is white, pink, red or mauve. Bloom can be very profuse and billowy. Autumn foliar color is bright yellow, orange and red before defoliation. The smooth bark is nicely mottled. Aggressive dormant pruning for winter delays bloom, but promotes bigger floral trusses. Crape myrtle enjoys warmth and full sun exposure. It does not need much water, once established.