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Six on Saturday: 2022 Ends II

2022 ended with what might have been the worst series of storms since 1982. More rain is in the forecast, so the situation has potential to get worse. As I was composing my ‘Six on Saturday’ for last week, Zayante Creek behind the shop buildings at work was coming up higher than it has been in many years. An adjacent neighborhood was evacuated later in the day. Evacuated neighbors parked their vehicles in a big parking lot across Zayante Creek, and partied in the rain until 2023! By then, they could go home on muddy roads. It was a unique way to celebrate the New Year. Picture #1 was yesterday. #2 and #3 were Wednesday. #4, #5 and #6 were last Saturday, 2022.

1. Mudslides caused a few road closures and other damage elsewhere in the region. This was the worst for us. It was mitigated yesterday. Vegetation did not control this erosion.

2. Fallen trees were another major problem elsewhere in the region. A big coast live oak squashed a car nearby. This Italian buckthorn was the worst for us. It damaged nothing.

3. Widowmakers are terrifyingly dangerous during windy weather. All too many free fall silently for more than a hundred feet from the exteriors of canopies of coastal redwoods.

4. David Fritiof Lindberg Memorial Tree is barely visible to the right of the center of the lower edge of this picture. It is immobile, but has never been this close to Zayante Creek.

5. Steven Michael Ralls Memorial Tree resides in the same Memorial Grove as the David Fritiof Lindberg Memorial Tree, so is also now closer to Zayante Creek than it should be.

6. Conference Drive Bridge over Zayante Creek is a short distance north and upstream of the Memorial Grove. At the time, most vegetation was obscured from view under water.

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

California Wild Rose

California wild rose hips remain long after bloom, as well as foliage, is gone.

Prickly thickets of California wild rose, Rosa californica, are not often much to look at, even while adorned with small and sparse pink roses in spring and summer. The fragrant flowers can actually range in color from white to rich pink, and may have more petals, but are not abundant enough to be very impressive at any one time. In autumn though, all the flowers that bloomed in the previous few months leave bright orange or red fruiting structures known as ‘hips’, that linger on the bare canes through winter.

The rose hips of California wild roses had historically been used to make herbal tea because they contain so much vitamin C and have a pleasant flavor. (California wild rose is a ‘tea’ rose but not a hybrid ‘T’ rose.) They can also be made into jelly or sauce. The only problem is that birds like them too, so often take them before anyone else has a chance to.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Dormant Pruning For Roses

Proper pruning during winter promotes the best roses during summer.

(This recycled article is eleven years old. Therefore, the event that it describes is no longer relevant.)

Just about anyone can plant roses in the garden, and care for them for at least the first year. Pruning them properly while they are dormant in winter in order to get them to perform satisfactorily every subsequent year is what most of us who grow roses have difficulty with. Like deciduous fruit trees, roses should not be planted and expected to perform with minimal attention. They certainly should not be pruned with hedge shears!

The once modern, but increasingly old-fashioned, hybrid T roses have traditionally been the most common victims of inadequate pruning, since they need such aggressive pruning every winter to prevent overgrowth that interferes with healthy cane growth and bloom. More modern cultivars (cultivated varieties) designed to resemble older roses, as well as reintroduced old fashioned roses are generally not so demanding, but likewise perform best with proper dormant pruning. There are slightly, and not so slightly, different ways to prune the different types of roses. Even the ‘low maintenance’ carpet roses should be pruned to some degree.

Fortunately for those of us who are just learning about roses, the first of several free rose pruning lessons in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden began this morning, January 4. These hands-on lessons continue at 9:00 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday until late February. Participants meet in the center of the Garden. The minimum age to attend is sixteen; but minors without parental supervision require a signed minor release form that can be obtained from the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy.

Participants should bring bypass shears, leather gloves, closed-toe shoes and preferably a water bottle. Those who lack shears or gloves can borrow what they need at the Garden. The Heritage Rose Garden is located on West Taylor Street near Walnut Street in San Jose. Parking can be found on Seymour, Taylor or Walnut Streets. More information can be obtained by email to Emily of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy at emily@grpg.org or by telephoning 298 7657.

The Heritage Rose Garden is the most complete collection of old world roses, the ancestors of modern roses, in the world! Although it lacks modern cultivars, it exhibits a remarkably extensive variety of roses, with all sorts of growth habits. There really is no other garden where one can prune roses with the same basic techniques in so many different ways.

Incidentally, modern hybrid T roses derive their designation from the ‘T budding’ technique employed to attach the scion (upper blooming portion) to the understock (roots), not because the rose hips (fruiting structures) are used to make tea. However, all sorts of roses, including floribundas, polyanthas, grandifloras and all sorts of climbing roses, are budded by the same means; and many hybrid T roses are actually grown on their own roots and not budded onto understock at all. The designation of hybrid T seems somewhat out dated, but is still effective.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Horridculture – Horrid Weather

Alviso in 1983

This is no horticultural gripe, as is traditional here on Wednesday. Actually, it is not much of a gripe at all. It is merely a brief description of the unpleasantries of the current situation here.

Rain is predicted to resume prior to two this morning, and continue almost until tomorrow evening. It is expected to be remarkably voluminous. Strong wind that begins about eleven is expected to continue for a bit more than a day, until about two tomorrow. The ground is already saturated from the major storm on New Year’s Eve, and minor rain afterward. Rain may pause only for Friday, but may then resume for the foreseeable forecast.

This weather could be the worst since the winter of 1982 and 1983. If so, the results would be worse now than they were then. So many more people live here and nearby now. Flooding, mudslides and everything that stormy weather causes will affect many more people than ever before.

The area across the road from here is to be completely evacuated in the morning because of expected flooding. It already flooded on New Year’s Day. A parking lot nearby is already full of cars from that neighborhood.

The burn scar from the CZU Fire two years ago has not yet recovered, so is unusually susceptible to erosion and mudslides.

This sort of weather may be no more than what is normal in ‘average’ climates. It is just more than we are accustomed to in the mild climate here. As I schedule this to post at midnight in about a quarter of an hour, the weather is still pleasant, without indication of what is predicted.

I should get some sleep now. The crew and I will likely be very busy in the morning, and exhausted, cold and wet by noon.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Cottonwood

Cottonwood is now defoliated for winter.

The most common of a few species of cottonwood that are native to California seems as if it should not be. Populus deltoides is the Eastern cottonwood. This name implies that it should be native primarily to regions of the East. Yet, it naturally inhabits every American State except for Hawaii and Alaska. Since it is so familiar locally, it is simply cottonwood.

It grows wild in riparian ecosystems, and occasionally sneaks into adjacent landscapes. It is almost never an intentional acquisition. Cottonwood grows too aggressively and too large for refined home gardens. It works better as a grand shade tree for parks and urban waterway trails. As a riparian species, it requires either riparian ecosystems or irrigation.

Mature cottonwood trees may be almost a hundred feet tall, and rather broad if exposed. Their bark is handsomely furrowed. Yellow autumn color of the deciduous foliage can be surprisingly vibrant within arid climates, or if rain is later than frost. Vigorous trees can be susceptible to spontaneous limb failure, so may occasionally justify aggressive pruning. Roots might be voracious.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Defoliation And Dormancy Are Justifiable

Wind blows freely past defoliated stems.

Defoliation and dormancy begin early for quite a few species within desert and chaparral climates. California buckeye can defoliate during the driest summer weather, refoliate for autumn, and then defoliate again for winter. They do what they must to avoid desiccation within their arid climate. Many more species do what they must to survive through winter.

That is why so many plant species are deciduous while they are dormant through winter. They shed their foliage when it is more likely to be a liability than an asset. Like summer dormant plants, they respond to inevitable and potentially detrimental weather. Moreover, they respond to seasonal changes of sunlight as well. Plant species are very perceptive.

With few exceptions, deciduous plants are nonconiferous or broadleaf species. More are endemic to regions to the north and south of tropical regions than within tropical regions. They know that sunlight is less intense and daylength is shorter while the sun is at a low angle during winter. Their defoliation coincides with the least usefulness for their foliage.

Most deciduous plant species are also aware of the sort of weather that they are likely to encounter during winter. Cold and stormy weather with wind and rain or perhaps snow is probably familiar to them. They know that foliage is not only vulnerable to damage, but is also burdensome to associated stems. In colder climates, it can accumulate heavy snow.

Foliage is the source of almost all wind resistance within foliar canopies that suspend it. Such wind resistance causes wind to dislodge limbs or blow vegetation over, particularly while soil is moist from rain. Defoliation eliminates much of such risk prior to the windiest and therefore riskiest storms of winter. Bare stems are more aerodynamic than foliage is.

Defoliation seems to happen at the best time, immediately prior to wintry weather. It even increases warming sunlight exposure during the darkest and coolest season of the year. However, defoliation is also messy while the weather is unpleasant for those who go out to rake it away. Without prompt raking, it clogs drainage of rain while it is most important.

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Deodar Cedar Migration – Update

Perhaps it is inappropriate to reblog an update, since it is now outdated. After three years, some of these trees are doing quite well, and a few more were added to replace some that were killed by weed whacking. Perhaps a real update is in order.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P00105-1 Reassigned deodar cedars have adapted to their new landscape.

Reassignment is in season right now. The brief article about it that posted yesterday links to three other related articles. We have done quite a bit of it here, and intend to do a bit more for useful plants that happen to be in the wrong situations. It should be done before winter ends, to take advantage of both natural dormancy and cool winter rain that settles transplanted roots.

Most plants that get reassigned get dug from situations where they can not stay, and transplanted directly to where they will likely become assets to their respective landscapes. Those that do not get transplanted directly into other landscapes get canned and housed temporarily in the nursery. Some need to recover. Some must wait for landscapes that can accommodate them.

Some reassigned plants are feral descendants of exotic (non-native) species, that grew from…

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Reassignment

Unfortunately, some of these African iris did not survive the renovation of the site, which involved replacement of the pavement to the right of the picture. It would have been helpful to know about the renovation prior to installation of the African iris.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P00104K African iris are happily rehomed.

African iris, Dietes bicolor, that I mentioned three weeks ago were finally installed into a new landscape. It may not be permanent. They may need to be relocated again if they happened to land where two of four birch will be installed as the landscape is slowly assembled before winter ends. The installation was done hastily before the last storm delivered a good dose of rain.

It could not be delayed any longer. These African iris had been divided and groomed so long before they were featured on the fourteenth of December that they were likely to succumb to rot or desiccation if installation was delayed any longer. They soaked in buckets of water for days at a time, and were then left to drain for days at a time so that they would not soak for too long.

I do not remember…

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Six on Saturday: 2022 Ends

The year ends with the day, but bad habits continue. I make no resolutions. I continue to collect too much seed, plug too many cuttings and divide too many perennials. Common weeds are not off limits. Canna were already too abundant before more were canned last week. More will be divided later! Cymbidium is not proliferating yet, but has potential to do so after bloom. For now, there is no need to irrigate any of this surplus, since the rain will not stop.

1. Lunaria annua, money plant or honesty, is not quite naturalized within unrefined but damp zones of our landscapes. We collect seed to toss where we think it should perform well. It has become a tradition. The name implies that it is native to the Moon, and that, like 2022, lasts only one year. These seed in key envelopes are for whomever takes them.

2. Canna ‘Australia’ are bloomed canes that I groomed from the downtown planter box, as seen last week. There are a dozen #5 cans of four canes, and six #1 cans of two canes! More pups must be thinned later! Also, I will soon dig even more cannas for a neighbor!

3. Bellis perennis, English daisy is naturalized in the vast lawn at Felton Covered Bridge Park. I have no use for it, but plugged a dozen solitary rosettes in with the Canna canes.

4. Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’, black elderberry should generate a bit of fruit without a pollinator, but is merely pretty here. I plugged a few cuttings because its darkly bronzed foliage works so well for our landscapes. Native blue elderberry produces plenty of fruit.

5. Cymbidium orchid is extending quite a few floral spikes. I have not counted them yet.

6. Morgan was reminded why no one craves his parking space. Rain is splendid though!

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

White Alder

White alder is mostly defoliated by now.

During the summer, the native white alder, Alnus rhombifolia, is a nice shade tree that looks bigger than it really is. By late winter, the bare deciduous canopy has an appealingly picturesque silhouette. This time of year is actually when white alder is typically less appealing, with dead foliage that provides no interesting fall color, but lingers until knocked down by rain or late frost. Yet, even now, it sometimes surprises with these funny looking floral structures that are interesting both in the early winter landscape, and with cut flowers.

In past decades, white alder was an ´expendable’ tree that was put into landscapes for quick gratification while slower but more desirable trees matured. By the time the desirable trees matured, the alders were removed to make more space for the desirables. This technique was practical because, like many fast growing trees, alders do not live very long, so start to deteriorate after about twenty five years anyway. However, alders often live longer than expected.

Mature alders are usually less than fifty feet tall where they are well exposed. They can get at least twice as tall where shaded by other trees or big buildings. Their plump trunks with mostly smooth silvery gray bark make them seem larger than they really are though. Too much water promotes buttressed roots which can displace pavement.