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Cork Oak

The bark actually looks like cork.

This is a tree that takes some time to impress. Bloom is uninteresting. Foliage is no more distinctive than that of coast live oak. Instead, the most spectacular characteristic of cork oak, Quercus suber, is the boldly striated and uniquely spongy texture of its mature bark. Such bark takes a few years to develop, but gets so thick that it seems significantly older.

As its name implies, cork oak had historically been the exclusive source of bark for corks and cork products. As modern and more practical materials diminished demand for such bark, cork oak became more popular as an evergreen shade tree. It is quite happy within the arid chaparral climates of California. In fact, it behaves much like native oak species.

Mature cork oak trees generally stay less than forty feet tall, even if their trunks are wider than three feet with their unusually thick bark. Without excessive irrigation, their roots are notably complaisant. Low branches are more visibly sculptural than high branches. With pruning for adequate clearance though, trees with high branches are striking street trees. Foliar and floral debris is quite messy during spring bloom.

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Firewood Is Old Fashioned Technology

Cut firewood needs to be split.

Chimney clearance pruning is easy to overlook nowadays because, for various reasons, chimneys are becoming obsolete. Modern homes lack them completely. Some chimneys of older homes succumbed to earthquakes. Because of simpler and cleaner alternatives for heat, remaining chimneys and their fireplaces, as well as firewood, are almost passe.

Ironically, chimineas and fire pits have become a fad. Most modern fire pits use propane for fuel, but a few use firewood. Although such fire pits and chimineas burn less firewood than fireplaces, they are ridiculously less efficient. Their warmth simply escapes into the atmosphere. Relative to the volume of wood they burn, they generate much more smoke.

Nevertheless, whether for fireplaces, wood stoves, fire pits, or chimineas, firewood is not yet completely obsolete. Some households only rarely use small quantities for ambience fires. Some households still use more significant quantities to supplement home heating. A few households rely on firewood as their primary or exclusive source of home heating.

For unrelated reasons, the availability of firewood has declined with its demand. Orchard trees that were still relinquishing their space decades ago are now gone. Also, wildlands are now farther from large urban regions where most people live. Wood from demolished buildings is more likely to become chipped mulch than to become available as firewood.

Fortunately, most tree services sell firewood that is a byproduct of their work. Such wood is generally a mix of various species, so may include some degree of softwoods, such as pine. Rural tree services are more likely to be able to provide specific types of hardwood, and are also more likely to be able to deliver it. Their softwoods might be less expensive.

Tree services prefer to leave wood where they do tree work, and actually charge a bit for removal. Cut rounds of logs should be firewood length, but need splitting and seasoning. Inadequately seasoned or damp wood generates more smoke than properly dried wood. It should stay sheltered from rain. Palms and yuccas are impractical for use as firewood.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Rose Hips

Oh, there were certainly more of these when this posted three years ago. Since then, much of the overgrowth was removed, and remaining vegetation was pruned back accordingly.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P91117Chopped dried rose hips can be purchased from a supermarket in town that stocks an impressive variety of useful bulk herbs. They are used as a dietary supplement and remedy for several minor ailments. Although most of the copious vitamin C they contain while fresh is ruined by drying and storage, they are still popularly used as a remedy or preventative for colds and flu.

It would be reasonable to assume that the rose hips that are available in markets would be from a species that has been cultivated and developed for a few centuries. After all, rose hips have been used as an herbal supplement for a very long time. Surprisingly, those that are available in the local market here are from the common and native California wild rose, Rosa californica.

That means that those that grow wild on the outskirts of the landscapes here produce the same…

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Not Quite Rain

Well, the rainy season started a bit earlier than it did three years ago, since we already got a few minor storms.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P91116KMost of us here agree that the minimal bit of precipitation that fell from the sky on Thursday was not real rain. There are a few different theories about what it actually was though. It could be considered to have been drizzle. It alternatively could have been heavy fog or mist. Some of us make up silly names for what it was, such as fine rain, dusting, spritzes, sprinkles or mizzle.

Is it just me, or do those last three sound like inane kitten names? ‘Dusting’, sounds dirty and dry, which it was not.

Whatever it was, it was the second occurrence of such precipitation since the rainy season ended last spring. Something similar happened on the last day of September. I wrote about it in my other blog, with a picture of it on the hood of a parked car, rather than the windshield. I think it…

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Six on Saturday: Memories II

Like my Six on Saturday from last week, these Six are described in reverse chronology of their approximate acquisition. My first two were acquired only within the last two years, so do not yet have much history with me. The last was actually acquired prior to the first of last week, and in conjunction with the second of last week, so is not exactly compliant with chronology. The fourth and sixth would have been more interesting in bloom. They all represent memories for me regardless, like almost all of the inhabitants of my simple garden. I notice them more at this time of year, while I work with them more.

1. 2021 Cycas revoluta, sago palm is another of several excellent items that I got for free on Craigslist. It got cut into too many pieces for relocation. All but a few are now rooted.

2. 2020 Gladiolus murielae, Abyssinian gladiolus is native to Abyssinia, not an abyss. It came here from the garden of a neighbor though. I had wanted to grow it for a few years.

3. 2015 Haemanthus albiflos, white blood lily came from a garden of an elderly client in Santa Clara who was quite fond of it. That is why I am so fond of it, even if unimpressed.

4. 2012 Lonicera albiflora, white honeysuckle is one of many souvenirs from Oklahoma. Most were seed. This and only a few others were live plants. It has grown very well here.

5. 1990 Chamaedorea seifrizii, bamboo palm was one of the first houseplants that I took from Brent when I moved into my apartment in town after the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

6. 1982 Pelargonium hortorum, zonal geranium without a zone gets big and weedy with hideously bright pink bloom. It grew wild with the crocosmia #2 of the Six for last week.

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/

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Holly Leaf Cherry

Holly leaf cherry fruit looks better than it is. The flavor is good; but there is very little pulp around the big seeds.

Since it is native to coastal chaparral between Monterey and the middle of the Baja California Peninsula, holly leaf cherry, Prunus ilicifolia, is right at home in local gardens of the central and south coasts. Although it can be a nice refined hedge if not shorn too frequently, it is better where it has space to grow wild into a mounding shrub, and can eventually grow into an undemanding informal screen as high and broad as fifteen feet. Width is easier to limit with selective pruning than with shearing. Besides, unshorn plants bloom with clusters of minute white flowers in spring, and produce interesting deep red or purplish red cherries in autumn. Unfortunately, the cherries have very big pits with only minimal sweet pulp. The small glossy leaves have somewhat bristly teeth almost like those of some hollies.

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Too Much Water Is A Serious Problem.

Well, . . . this is an exaggeration.

The most common problem with landscapes that are maintained by maintenance gardeners is excessive irrigation. In fact, with very few exceptions, the only lawns that are maintained by gardeners that are not also irrigated excessively are too dry because the irrigation systems are not operational. Excessive irrigation is not only unhealthy for the landscapes, but costly.

Wasted water is obviously expensive, but also causes all sorts of expensive damage. Saturation of soil inhibits deep dispersion of roots, causing shallow roots to displace pavement. Shallowly rooted trees that are easily destabilized by wind can cause expensive damage, and are expensive to remove. Smaller plants that do not cause damage as they succumb to saturation and rot are still expensive to replace. The gardeners who get paid to maintain the landscapes should assume liability for the damages they cause, but instead charge to repair it! If they can not repair the damage, they typically happen to know someone who can.

Fortunately, those of us who maintain our gardens, or are at least involved with the maintenance, are not so generous with water. Although lawns need quite a bit of water, they also need adequate drainage. Besides, we tend to be more aware of the expense of water than gardeners are.

Now that it is autumn, irrigation needs to be decreased for various reasons. Rain will be providing more moisture as the seasons progress. While the weather gets cooler and more humid, and the days get shorter (less sunlight) not so much moisture evaporates. Most plants are either dormant or at least less active, so consume less moisture.

There are unfortunately no accurate formulas for decreasing frequency and duration of irrigation as the weather changes. It must be done by trial and error, by providing enough irrigation during dry spells without keeping conditions too wet. Of course, no irrigation is necessary during rainy weather, except only for plants that are sheltered by eaves. Hanging pots should be monitored because they are both sheltered from rain (if hanging from eaves), but also exposed to drying wind.

Also during autumn and winter, dormant plants need no fertilizer. That can wait until they wake up early in spring. Raking falling leaves from lawns, ground cover and low shrubbery is important though, since such debris shades the plants below while sunlight is already less abundant, and can also promote rot.

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Horridculture – Clinging Vines

What is worse than how this Boston ivy was growing three years ago is that . . . someone actually grew more from cuttings, and added one to each of another pair of concrete pillars of the same bridge. They are surprisingly complaisant so far.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P91113Ivy often climbs into trees, buildings and all sorts of other situations where it becomes problematic. It might have been planted intentionally. It might have grown from seed left by birds. When it gets into trouble, we can easily blame it on the ivy. Even that which was planted was intended to be mere ground cover. It only climbs out of control because that is what ivy does.

BAD IVY!!!

This Boston ivy that . . . ‘someone’ planted almost a year ago was actually expected to climb. That is what Boston ivy does. Even if it would be willing to grow as a ground cover, it would not work well as such because it is deciduous. As a climber, it covers freeway sound walls and any associated graffiti with vibrant green foliage that turns fiery orange and red this time of year.

The problem with it is that there…

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Silk Tree

Silk tree leaves are bipinnately compound.

Resiliency is typically an attribute. It is how silk tree, Albizia julibrissin, adapts to various urban landscapes. Unfortunately, it is also how it naturalized within a few ecosystems of North America. It grows easily from seed, whether or not it is appropriate to where it does so. Many naturalized specimens somehow find good situations in which to grow though.

With good exposure, most mature silk trees develop rather low but broad canopies. They have potential to grow taller than forty feet, but if not competing with taller trees, may stay half as tall. Their arching limbs flare elegantly outward in low mounding form. Their finely textured foliage provides appealingly uniform shade that is neither too dark nor too light.

The lacy and bipinnately compound leaves of silk tree are between half a foot and a foot long. Each leaf divides into as many as a dozen pairs of pinnae (leaflets). These pinnae divide into about twice as many pairs of pinnulae (leaflets of leaflets). Such minute foliar components disintegrate during autumn defoliation, and can disappear into groundcover.

The pink and fluffy summer bloom can actually be messier than the deciduous foliage. It does not disintegrate as it falls, so may accumulate on top of vegetation below. Cultivars generally bloom with richer pink color, although at least one blooms with white. ‘Summer Chocolate’ exhibits richly bronzed foliage that contrasts strikingly with pastel pink bloom.

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Debris Fills Gutters During Autumn

Falling leaves eventually become abundantly messy.

Autumn foliar color certainly is pretty while it lasts. Although less prominent locally than it is where cooler weather begins earlier, it is an asset to many home gardens. It generally appears a bit later within mild climates here, but might also remain suspended a bit later. Ultimately though, with enough wintry wind and rain, it eventually becomes foliar debris.

Evergreen foliage also contributes to the mess. It is likely less abundant than deciduous foliage is during autumn, but only because it sheds through more extensive seasons. For example, Southern magnolia sheds mostly through spring, as new foliage replaces older foliage. It then continues to shed additional debris throughout the year, including autumn.

Regardless of its various origins, foliar debris becomes more of a concern during autumn for two simple reasons. Firstly, and obviously, more of it accumulates during autumn than during any other season. Secondly, since autumn is the beginning of the rainy season, it is the most inconvenient time of year for such debris to accumulate within home gardens.

Roadside gutters, eavestroughs and their downspouts should drain efficiently. However, foliar debris can interfere with their drainage when it becomes most important. Roadside gutters are more accessible, so are easier to observe and clean. Eavestroughs and their downspouts may be beyond reach, but may need more cleaning if defoliation continues.

Foliar debris is unhealthy for turf, groundcover and shrubbery that it accumulates over. It inhibits photosynthesis by obstructing sunlight. It can also promote proliferation of fungal pathogens. This is why prompt raking is very important. Foliar debris can stain pavement and decking, and may be hazardously slippery. Behind chimneys, it can promote decay, and possibly become a fire hazard.