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Do Not Forget Potted Plants

30918thumbAside from all the seasonal raking and dormant pruning, there is not as much to do in the garden as there was earlier in the year. Lawns do not need much mowing. Hedges do not need much shearing. Untimely mowing and shearing can actually damage lawns and hedges. Watering, which was so important while the weather was warm, is now rare in the cool weather between rain.

Watering is now so infrequent that the few plants that still need it sometimes do without. Plants that are merely sheltered by eaves probably do not mind so much because their roots are dispersed beyond the eaves. However, potted plants that are sheltered by eaves do not have that option. It may take a while in the cool and damp air, but they can slowly get uncomfortably dry.

Watering sheltered potted plants is too easy to forget about while everything that is not sheltered is getting soaked by rain. It is even more easy to forget because it is so infrequent. Things just do not dry out like they do in summer. Also, plants are less active, and many are dormant and defoliated, so really do not lose much moisture to evapotranspiration (evaporation from foliar surfaces.)

In fact, overzealous watering can be just as detrimental as neglect. Soil saturation may not be as immediately dangerous as it would be during warmer weather, but eventually kills roots. Even with adequate drainage, soil moisture can linger if plants do not consume it. Determining how much water is needed for sheltered potted plants may not be as simple as it should be.

Larger plants in smaller pots want more water than smaller plants in larger pots. Those that are exposed to wind will get dry faster than those that are protected. Hanging pots dry out the fastest. Ironically, drought tolerant plants that need the least water in the ground often want the most in pots. They are the most reliant on extensive root dispersion, which is not possible in confinement.

Some potted (frost tolerant) plants might get slightly relocated out into the weather so that they get the rain that keeps the rest of the garden well watered through winter.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 24 Comments

Horridculture – Disdain For Bloom

P81212From the same landscape that, last autumn, was so dutifully deprived of its elegantly cascading rosemary and soon to be fiery autumn color of Boston ivy, https://tonytomeo.com/2017/11/05/serously/ , I procured these disturbing images of what results from of a serious disdain for flowering crabapple bloom. These trees were mentioned earlier in that article, but without such images. Similar victims were discussed last spring, https://tonytomeo.com/2018/03/07/the-good-the-bad-and-theyre-both-ugly/ and about a year ago https://tonytomeo.com/2017/12/06/sculpture/ .

The landscape where these trees live was actually rather well designed, and for a few years, had been well maintained. Seriously! The flowering crabapples were likely selected because they would not get tall enough to encroach into the utility easement above. There were pruned as much as necessary to prevent them from developing into a nasty thicket like young flowering crabapples typically do, but without significantly compromising the spectacular bloom. They really were spectacular!P81212+

About six years ago, a different crew of ‘gardeners’ was hired. It was obvious when it happened because the brutality to other features of the formerly well maintained landscape was so immediate. These flowering crabapples were somehow spared, but only temporarily. They were at their prime when they displayed exemplary bloom for the last time three springs ago. As these pictures indicate, they were hacked back two springs ago, just as the fat floral buds were showing bright pink color, and were about to pop open. All the buds and blooming stems that the trees had put so much work into were cut off and taken away, just days or maybe hours before the big show. The process was repeated in the same manner just prior to bloom last year. A scarce few twigs were somehow missed, and managed to bloom with a few blossoms that developed into the few fruits that can be seen in the second picture. I can not explain why the hacking was done earlier this year. Nor can I explain why a bit more of the twiggy growth remains. Did the ‘gardeners’ leave it for a tiny bit of bloom, or were they just lazy with their mutilation. It does not matter. As long as these trees get hacked like this, they are ruined. The client pays the ‘gardeners’ to do this.

Now, these trees could only be salvaged by renovation. This would involve pollarding, which would remove the tangles of gnarled stubs, but would leave horridly stubbed limbs to start the regeneration process. The trees would be just as deprived of bloom for the first year, but would at least be able to compartmentalize (heal) the wounds on the cleanly stubbed limbs. The secondary growth would need to be very meticulously and systematically groomed and pruned for many years to replace the canopy. It is possible, but would involve more work than even a good horticulturist or arborist would want to devote to the project.P81212++

Posted on by tonytomeo · 13 Comments

Sasanqua Camellia

81219Some might say it blooms very late. Others might say it blooms very early. Regardless, sasanqua camellia, Camellia sasanqua, blooms in autumn or early winter when not much else is blooming. The abundant two inch wide flowers can be pale pink, rich pink, white or red, all with prominent yellow stamens. Some are fluffy with many petals. Others have only a few. Alas, fragrance is rare.

Each cultivar of sasanqua camellia has a distinct personality. Some are strictly upright, and can eventually get somewhat higher than downstairs eaves. Others are too limber to stand upright on their own; so they grow as low mounds, or espaliered onto trellises. With proper pruning that does not compromise bloom too much, some can be pruned as hedges, or as foundations plantings.

Sasanqua camellia has been in cultivation for many centuries. Prior to breeding for bloom in the past few centuries, it was grown for tea and tea seed oil, which is extracted from the seeds. This oil is used for culinary purposes and cosmetics. The finely serrate elliptical ‘tea’ leaves are about one to two and a half inches long. The glossy evergreen foliage is appealing throughout the year.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Potted Plants Have Their Place

30918thumbPavement serves a purpose in a landscape. So does decking. They are the flooring of the outdoor spaces that are used for outdoor living. Patios and decks are where we barbecue and dine. Walkways and porches are how we get around the exteriors of our homes. Driveways are where we park cars. For what they get used for, they are better than turf grass, ground cover or bare soil.

So why is it so trendy to clutter pavement and decking with potted plants that would really prefer to be in the ground? It would be more practical to pave less area, and leave more space to plant things in the ground. There would be no damp pots staining concrete or rotting decking. There would be less area to rake or blow, with fewer obstacles in the way. Watering would be much easier.

Well, as it turns out, there are a few plants that should be potted. Houseplants are the most obvious. After all, not many homes have exposed soil where houseplants can be grown on the inside. Even if they did, it is still easier to keep houseplants potted for portability. Plants such as orchids and Christmas cactus, can live in the garden most of the time, and then come in while blooming. Portability is also important for tropical plants that need protection from even mild frost. It might be easier to move them than to cover them.

There are also a few plants that are contained because they are invasive. Mint and horseradish are culinary plants that are so famously invasive that not many of us would bother growing them if they were not so much better fresh from the garden than purchased from elsewhere. Rather than allow them to escape, mint is popularly potted, and horseradish is commonly grown in deep tubs.

Container gardening and growing plants in pots is something that we do for out own convenience, or just because it looks good cluttering otherwise useful parts of the landscape. With only a few exceptions, plants prefer to be in the ground, where they can disperse their roots as extensively as they like. They are healthier, and need less attention. To them, container gardening is unnatural.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 27 Comments

Rhus diversiloba / Toxicodendron diversilobum

P81209This would be a good topic for one of my rants on Wednesday, except that it is too silly for that.

Many years ago, before I started writing my gardening column for our local newspapers, my colleague Brent and I used to exchange funny newspaper gardening articles. Some were obviously not written for local climates. Some were just very inaccurate. Back then, it was done by mail, so the articles were added to anything that we happened to be sending to each other at the time. If I sent him some seeds, I would add an article or a few from the San Jose Mercury News. If he sent my cuttings, he would add an article or a few from the Los Angeles Times. They eventually became the inspiration for my gardening column, when Brent and others told me that rather than making fun of the inaccuracies of the articles, I should provide accurate articles.

One of the silliest that Brent sent to me was an otherwise well written article about star jasmine. Most of the information about it was accurate, until it got to describing the colors of the exclusively white bloom. The article explained that star jasmine bloomed in vivid shades or blue, purple, red, orange and yellow; just about every color except for white!

Well, I topped that with an article about protecting Japanese maples from theft, which sounded crazy even before reading the article. There were three recommendations. The first was to surround the subject Japanese maple with razor wire. Ah, the ambiance! The second recommendation was to dig a hole about as big as a trash can and fill it with concrete with a curved piece of rebar to make an enclosed loop on top, and then chain the subject Japanese maple to it. How about we just do without a Japanese maple in the front yard in a neighborhood where we expect it to get stolen. The third recommendation was to plant poison oak around the subject Japanese maple. Yes, good old fashioned poison oak, Rhus diversiloba, which is also known by the more descriptive Latin name of Toxicodendron diversilobum, and commonly available at . . . . some nursery . . . . somewhere. . . . You know, one of those . . . . garden centers . . . . or something.

Silly? Yes! What is sillier is that poison oak really IS available from certain nurseries that sell native species! What is even SILLIER than that incredible degree of SILLINESS is that one of the so-called landscape companies that I worked for in about 2006 actually procured some for habitat restoration outside of, but adjacent to a newly landscaped area on the banks of where the Guadalupe River flows through San Jose. Poison oak and other native vegetation needed to be eradicated for the installation of the new poison oak and associated irrigation system, because nothing is more natural than supplemental irrigation! Then, the ‘gardeners’ had to conduct regularly scheduled weed abatement so that poison oak growing from seed tossed by the pre-existing poison oak did not grow up and compete with the new poison oak in the new ‘natural’ ‘landscape’. We certainly would not want poison oak taking over the poison oak.

Okay, this is not Wednesday, so I will finish this rant.

Poison oak happens to provide some of the best orange and red autumn foliar color in our region where almost all of such color is simple yellow. Where it is out of the way and not bothering anyone, it is sometimes left to climb high into trees, where it colors almost as well as flowering pear. Yes, it is pretty, but I will not be planting any of it.P81209+

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Tufts

P81208KKThe tufts of small branches that so often develop where limbs were pruned from the trunks of a coast live oaks are sometimes referred to as ‘tumbleweeds’. They are about the same size as an average tumbleweed. By the time the get any larger, most of the smaller stems have subordinated and died out, leaving only a few more defined dominant stems, which will continue the process until even fewer or a single new branch dominates. Such tumbleweeds, as well as stems that originated from such growth, are weakly attached to the main trunks. They often get pruned off for the same reason that the limbs that were there before got pruned off, or because they are expected to be weakly attached. If they remain long enough, they can of course develop into new limbs.

Tufts of the same sort of growth on sycamores or other deciduous trees are known more simply as . . . ‘tufts’ I bet you didn’t see that coming. They can get much bigger than tumbleweeds before they develop much distinction between the dominant and subordinate growth. Because tuft growth is innately vigorous, the leaves are bigger and coarser. Then, when the rest of the deciduous trees that produce them defoliate in autumn, the tufts retain their green foliage until it gets ruined by frost.

This big sycamore dropped its top over summer. https://tonytomeo.com/2018/07/14/nature-is-messy/ The tufts developed on the big trunks that became exposed to sunlight by the loss of the upper canopy above. The tree will naturally try to replace its top, but will also naturally be even more disfigured and structurally deficient than it already was. As the tufts develop into limbs, and the limbs get heavy with foliage, they will be very likely to break away and fall. As unpleasant as all that sounds, it is quite natural for such a mature sycamore who is so old that he just doesn’t care who gets offended anymore.

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Six on Saturday: Too Much Autumn Color IV – Uncategorized Exotics

 

These are the last six of the twenty four pictures of autumn foliar color that I got before the rain knocked so much of the foliage to the ground more than a week ago. #2 is the only picture of foliage that is on the ground instead of still suspended on the stems that produced it. The fallen birch leaves were just too pretty on the stone wall to not get a picture of them.

1. Japanese maple is not my favorite species, but it does have certain attributes. There happen to be several at work just because they happen to work well there. Some that do not typically develop good color got remarkably colorful this year. I believe that this particular Japanese maple is the common ‘Bloodgood’. It had been dark reddish bronze through summer, and then turned brighter red for autumn.P81222

2. European white birch is grown for the elegant white trunks that contrast so nicely against the deep green of the redwoods. This autumn foliar color, although brief, is an added bonus. These trees were already starting to defoliate before the rain.P81222+

3. Hydrangea is not known for autumn foliar color, and as you can see, turns only pale yellow. Yet, it is striking in the shade, and contrasts nicely with the rich green of redwood and English ivy foliage.P81222++

4. Spirea is likewise not grown for autumn foliar color, or at least no so much in our mild climate. There are more than a dozen of them here, and none are doing very well. They will get cut back and groomed now that they are bare. I do not know what cultivar this particular spirea is.P81222+++

5. Golden weeping willow was not only golden with autumn foliar color, but is still golden with the yellow bark on the twigs. So far, I am not too impressed with the yellow twigs. It is still a small tree, and growing in a mild climate that may not stimulate much color. Regardless, I happen to like weeping willows. This one happens to be in a swampy spot where it is quite happy.P81222++++

6. Bald cypress is rare here, but there happens to be two at work. One was supposed to be a dawn redwood, but was obviously mislabeled. Fortunately, it just happened to be planted on the bank of a small creek where it gets plenty of water. The other was planted in an area that is too swampy for other trees. Both are doing quite well. When they defoliated, they covered the ground with finely textured needles that would have been impossible to rake up.P81222+++++

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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Six on Saturday: Too Much Autumn Color III – Cherries, Berries, Plums, Apples, . . . & Ginkgo

 

Autumn foliar color, fall color, autumn leaves or whatever you know it as; there was too much of it to fit into just six pictures. That is why I submitted two ‘Six on Saturday’ posts last week, and why this one is number ‘III’, and why there will be a number ‘IV’ right afterward. Only one reader expressed concern that submitting two posts to ‘Six on Saturday’ on the same Saturday is a violation of the rules, but I got the impression that even he did not mind. These pictures, as well as the next six, were actually taken more than a week ago, which might violate another rule. If you are seeing them now, I have not yet been prosecuted, and compelled to delete them. Much of the foliage was knocked to the ground by rain since the pictures were taken. The apple tree #4 was pruned back severely, and is now completely defoliate. The title ‘Cherries, Berries, Plums, Apples, . . . & Ginkgo’ implies that all but one are fruit trees; but they aren’t. Well, you can see what I mean.

1. Yoshino flowering cherry, which I know as ‘Akebono’, just might be the most traditional of the Japanese flowering cherries in America. It is the classic cherry blossom tree around Washington D. C.. As flashy as the bloom is, it is sterile; so the trees are fruitless. You can not see it, but the home in the background is of classic Early American architecture. It is a family home, so is too big for my taste. It would otherwise be my favorite home in the neighborhood.P8215

2. Kwanzan flowering cherry is the second most popular flowering cherry in our region. The big pink double flowers are a bit too garish for my taste, but they really are flashy! Like the Yoshino cherry, the Kwanzan cherry is fruitless.P8215+

3. American plum is not native here, but naturalized. It was and probably still is a common understock for quite a few of the stone fruits. It often grows from the roots of a stone fruit tree that got cut down to the ground. It makes small tart plums that are not much bigger than fat cherries, but not many of us use them for anything. Garden varieties of plum and cherry are naturally more desirable. I Intend to use American plum for jam, but I always get out to pick them after they have fallen to the ground and gone bad. You may have noticed that the first three subjects are of the same genus, Prunus.P8215++

4. Apple happens to do very well in our region. The old apple trees on the farm are remnants of an old orchard. Others in the neighborhood are from old farms. This one is on the edge of a sidewalk where it was not likely planted intentionally. It likely grew from a seed from a discarded apple core. It does happen to make apples, but they are no good. I just cut this tree back severely. If the apples are still no good next year, the tree might get cut down.P8215+++

5. Ginkgo is an ornamental tree here. Because those of us who do not want the fruit find the stinky aroma and mess to be objectionable, garden varieties are all male, and therefore fruitless. However, in some cultures, ginkgo is grown both for fruit, and for the nuts within the fruit. There are a few female trees in older neighborhoods here. They were grown from seed before all male garden varieties were developed. Back then, there was no way to determine the gender of a ginkgo tree until it started to develop fruit . . . or hopefully didn’t.P8215++++

6. Barberry is strictly ornamental. I have never actually seen a bar’berry’ fruit. This particular unknown cultivar happens to be bronzed, with very dark foliage that turns bright yellow and orange for autumn. It is very thorny!P8215+++++

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 · 4 Comments

Asparagus Fern

51209The softest and laciest of the asparagus is the asparagus fern, Asparagus setaceus. The extremely small ‘leaves’ (or ‘cladodes’) are less than a quarter of an inch long. The tiny and mostly unnoticed pale white flowers that bloom sporadically in warm weather make it obvious that asparagus fern is not really a fern. (Ferns do not bloom.) If any green berries develop, they are toxic.

The wiry perennial stems can climb like vines to almost reach upstairs eaves, although most get less than half as high. Individual plants produce only a few stems, rarely more than ten. Pruning out old deteriorating stems stimulates new growth. Potted asparagus fern eventually gets crowded with swollen roots, so needs to graduate to larger pots. As a houseplant, it needs regular watering.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 9 Comments

Living Christmas Trees Grow Up

81031All around town, there are Italian stone pines, Canary Island pines, Monterey pines and Aleppo pines that are much too big for the home gardens that they live in. Some are too close to pavement or foundations. Others are under utility cables. Many are shading or crowding out other more desirable plants. What most have in common is that they started out as living Christmas trees.

Because they seem to be so cute and innocent when they are decorated in a small pot, living Christmas trees very often get planted where they really do not belong. Not much consideration is given to their true potential. Pines are innately difficult to contain, and can not easily be pruned back for confinement once they get growing in a space that is not spacious enough for them.

Living Christmas trees simply are not often the horticulturally responsible option for Christmas trees that we would like to believe that they are. Very few end up in good situations where they have room to grow. Planting them in the wild is not practical, since their roots are too confined to survive without watering. Because they are not native, they should not be planted in the wild anyway.

Contrary to popular belief, the most popular of the living Christmas trees do not do well in containers long enough to function as Christmas trees for more than just a few years. Some spruces and small pines can be happy in containers for many years, but can be demanding. If their roots get too disfigured, they are less likely to adapt to the landscape when they outgrow containment.

Ironically, cut Christmas trees are usually more practical than living Christmas trees. They may seem to be expensive, but they are less expensive than living Christmas trees of good quality (unless a living Christmas tree functions for a few years.) Even though they are bigger, cut Christmas trees are not as heavy and unwieldy as the big tubs of soil needed to sustain living trees.

Cut Christmas trees are not harvested from forests, but are grown on farms like any other horticultural commodity. There should be no guilt associated with bringing one into the home. In the end, they can be composted or otherwise recycled like green-waste. There is no long term commitment, and no need to provide accommodations for an eventually humongous tree in the garden.

Those who insist on procuring a living Christmas tree should choose responsibly, and be ready to accommodate a growing young tree. Although not big enough to be real Christmas trees, dwarf Alberta spruce like those in the picture above are sometimes decorated as a small live Christmas tree. They happen to be conducive to confinement in proportionate pots. One in the ground, they grow like strictly conical shrubs that do not get big enough to cause problems.