Horticulturists are by nature, nonconforming. I happen to find it difficult to conform to what makes us nonconforming. Trends are fleeting. Old technology that has worked for decades or centuries is still best. Although I am not totally against chemicals, I find that almost all are unnecessary for responsible home gardening. Pruning is underappreciated, and fixes many problems.
This may seem to be unseasonable for now. Forsythia, Forsythia X intermedia, does not bloom until early spring. However, this is the time to plant it as bare root stock. It is one of only a few fruitless ornamental species that is available as such. New specimens will not bloom much for spring. They grow through summer, though, to bloom for the next spring.
The famously bright yellow flowers of forsythia are small but very abundant. They bloom on bare stems before their deciduous foliage regenerates. The simple paired leaves are about two or three inches long. Mature specimens mostly do not grow more than ten feet tall unless partly shaded. Most branches arch upward and outward from their root bases.
Pruning should involve the removal of deteriorating older canes, to favor younger canes. Complete removal at their base promotes more vigorous new basal growth. Pruning can happen after bloom rather than before. Pruning of the exterior compromises the naturally outwardly flaring form. Complete coppicing eliminates all bloom for the following season.
Wintry weather, although unpleasant at times, has certain advantages. Most importantly, it provides rain here, and snow in the mountains for water reserves. Gardening would be very different with any less. Also, cool weather initiates dormancy for most plant species, giving them a time for rest prior to spring. This is what makes bare root season possible.
Bare root stock is exactly what it sounds like. It is available for sale without the soil that it grew in. Some comes with an individual bag of moist sawdust around its otherwise bare roots. Most merely rests with its otherwise exposed roots in damp sand at nurseries until purchase. Because it is so portable, much is available by mail order, or online purchase.
Bare root stock becomes available now because this is when it is dormant. It comes into nurseries as readily as Christmas trees relinquish their space. Because it is dormant, it is unaware of what is happening to it. Dormancy works like an anesthetic for major surgery. Ideally, bare root stock awakens in its new gardens without any idea how it arrived there.
There are several advantages to bare root stock. It is much less expensive than canned, or potted, nursery stock. It is less cumbersome to bring home from nurseries. Because its roots were never confined, they disperse readily into surrounding soil. For some types of plants, more varieties are available bare root. Several plants are only available as such.
Roses and fruit trees are the most popular of bare root plants. More cultivars of roses are available now than at any other time of year. Fruit trees include primarily stone fruits and pome fruits. Stone fruits include apricot, cherry, plum, prune, nectarine and peach as well as almond. Pome fruits include apple, pear, crabapple and Asian pear as well as quince.
Cane berries, including blackberry and raspberry, are also available with bare root stock. So are perennial fruit and vegetables like strawberry, rhubarb, artichoke and asparagus. A few deciduous but fruitless shrubs, trees, vines or perennials are sometimes available. These might include lilac, forsythia, clematis, wisteria, astilbe and deciduous magnolias. Grapevines and nut trees are also available.
Even if there were plenty of flowers to take pictures of, I have not been in the landscapes much while it is so rainy. These are from the nursery.
1. Opuntia ficus-indica, prickly pear pads were found at the dump while other landscape debris was being dumped. I was not involved. However, I will be pleased to install them.
2. Buxus japonica, Japanese boxwood turns so yellowish during winter, that it seems to have died this year. We have been trying to find a use for this specimen for quite a while.
3. Canna indica ‘Alaska’ canna is obviously not ‘Alaska’, which has simple green foliage. I suspect that this is ‘Tropicana’. I hope that its spotty foliar discolorations are not virus.
4. Canna indica ‘Australia’ canna got plucked where it migrated a bit too far. These pups will be canned and grown for other landscapes. Surplus might be shared with neighbors.
5. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box produces black berries. Apparently, such berries are red before they ripen to black. I was not aware. There are typically not enough to notice.
6. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box berries are unfortunately poisonous. Otherwise, they look like they might have culinary application. They are unusually abundant this season.
Winter bloom may or may not be an benefit of laurustinus, Viburnum tinus. Most grow as regularly shorn hedges that are unable to bloom much between shearing. Those that do bloom often generate a floral fragrance that some find to be objectionable. Nonetheless, with only timely pruning, laurustinus does bloom for winter. Many consider this an asset.
Flowers are small and white or blushed with pink. They huddle together in dense cymes, which are about two or three inches wide. Their dense evergreen foliage is forest green. Individual leaves are paired, about two or three inches long, and half as wide. They have a very slightly raspy surface texture. Mature laurustinus can sucker from their basal roots.
If bloom is not a concern, laurustinus can be a dense shorn hedge, only several feet tall. Otherwise, it can become a dense small tree more than twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Once established, it does not need much water and can actually survive with just rainfall. It is not very discriminating about soil quality. Mites or mildew can become problematic in damp coastal climates, particularly among shaded or very congested specimens.
Evergreen foliage and berries are now popular for home decor for a primary reason. Not many winter flowers are blooming and available for cutting and bringing in. Most flowers prefer to bloom while more pollinators are more active. Not many pollinators are out and about while weather is cool through winter. Consequently, winter flowers may be scarce.
However, they are not actually as scarce as they seem to be. Some winter flowers bloom without drawing attention to themselves. They do not need to if they rely on wind for their pollination. Colorful flowers are colorful only to attract pollinators. For example, redwood is blooming quite privately about now. It produces no prominently colorful flowers to see.
Some winter flowers do not actually intend to bloom in winter. They are merely confused by the local climates. For example, African daisy blooms whenever the weather is warm. It does not know to stop blooming for winter here because the weather is not overly cold. Cala are tropicals, so have no concept of winter. They should not bloom, but might try to.
Camellias are some of the most familiar and popular winter flowers. Sasanqua camellias bloom before common camellias. Different cultivars of each type bloom at different times. The latest sasanqua camellias might actually bloom after the earliest common camellias. Sasanqua camellias bloom more abundantly. Common camellias provide larger flowers.
Although most salvia bloom during warmer weather, a few bloom sporadically for winter. Autumn sage seems to never be completely without bloom. Meanwhile, cultivars of witch hazel bloom curiously on bare stems. So does winter jasmine, but only in yellow. Oregon grape can bloom impressively within cooler climates. It is evergreen and blooms yellow.
Many of the better winter flowers are cool season annuals, which are no good for cutting. These comprise pansy, viola, cyclamen, dianthus, snapdragon, nemesia and primroses. Stock is exceptional, because it can be cut and brought inside and is splendidly fragrant. Ornamental kale and ornamental cabbage are foliar plants that present like wide flowers.
Several days of stormy weather were predicted, and came with a flash flood warning and a tornado warning for Christmas, but it really was not that bad. No floods. No tornados.
1. Sandbags were readily available for those who might have needed them for the storms that were expected. The wind was strong, but the rain was not as torrential as predicted.
2. Hedera helix, English ivy and a rotten stump of Lithocarpus densiflorus, tanoak were among the vegetation debris that needed to be removed from roadways after the storms.
3. Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas fir contributed to the mess as well. This small bit did not reach the ground, though. Larger branches interrupted electrical service to the area.
4. Cyclamen persicum, florist’s cyclamen looks rather shabby after so much windy, cold and rainy weather without interruption. The weather should be a bit drier for next week.
5. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris has been more resilient to the weather; and it has been blooming for a long time. This might be its third appearance here in my Six on Saturday.
6. Leucojum vernum, snowflake is what we know as snowdrop. Now that snowdrop is so commonly available online, there could eventually be some confusion with their names.
After several years of posting daily to this blog, I must cut back drastically. My posts for Thursdays and Fridays had been recycled articles from my gardening column, going back for as many years as this blog has gone forward. So, since this blog began eight years ago in September of 2017, the posts for Thursdays and Fridays have gone back for eight years from 2017, which was 2009. (However, I believe that I posted articles for 2010 twice inadvertently.) These recycled articles will no longer continue to be posted here. Furthermore, the elaborations that I post for Wednesdays and the pictures that I post for Sundays will no longer continue to post regularly. I may post them occasionally, but more likely will not. I hope to continue to post for ‘Six on Saturday’, but I am not even certain about that. Ultimately, I will only commit to posting my gardening articles on Mondays and Tuesdays, since I write those articles for the gardening column anyway. Blogging has been fun, but it is also a time consuming commitment. I may enjoy it more when it is less of a burden, and without the sometimes redundant and sometimes outdated recycled articles.
Although it classifies as a tree, mugo pine, Pinus mugo, is more like shrubbery. Old trees may be only a few feet tall, and maybe twice as wide. Not many are more than eight feet tall. Their form is densely rounded. Foliage is deep forest green. Stiff paired needles are only about one to two inches long. Plump cones are not much longer, and are quite rare.
Mugo pine, although native to the Alps, is a traditional feature of Japanese gardens. Yet, it is rare within other types of gardens. It does not grow fast or big enough to be practical for much more than aesthetic appeal. It does excel at that, though, by developing such a distinctly rounded form. It can work well as foundation planting or a short informal hedge.
Mugo pine is not particularly discriminating about local soils or climates. It merely craves sunny and warm exposure. Mature specimens do not need much water, but are healthier with occasional irrigation. Mugo pine appreciates room for unrestricted growth. Shearing deprives it of its natural form and texture. If necessary, selective pruning may be tedious.
Tony Tomeo 