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.
Even though bulbs for harlequin flower, Sparaxis tricolor, are no longer commonly found in nurseries when it is time to plant them in autumn, naturalized bulbs are somewhat common in some older gardens. Where winters are mild and soil does not get too dry and compacted, they are happy to slowly multiply and bloom every spring. They seem to be blooming a bit early this year, since they typically wait until later in spring. The upright narrow leaves resemble those of gladiolus, but get no taller than a foot. Each flower stems rises a bit higher to display a few flowers that are about an inch and a half wide. Each flower has a yellow center surrounded by a narrow rusty brown pattern, which is also surrounded by a third color; which is orange, red, pink or purple.
(This is an old recycled article that includes very outdated information, some of which was omitted, but the website for the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show is the same.)
Bonsai, composting, palms, flower arranging and lawn alternatives, as well as rare, edible and drought tolerant plants; there will be seminars for almost every horticultural topic imaginable at “Life in the California Garden”, the 26th annual San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Xeriscapes, contemporary garden design and water conservation; there will be something for anyone who enjoys any kind of gardening. A schedule of seminars and any other information can be found at www.sfgardenshow.com.
The most spectacular display will be the twenty gardens created by some of the most innovative local, and perhaps not so local, landscape designers and horticultural professionals. There will be everything from contemporary to traditional and functional to ‘artistic’ landscapes. Anyone who has been to a San Francisco Flower and Garden Show knows what ‘artistic’ can mean, but will be surprised nonetheless.
Just about anything that can be done in the garden will be done at “Life in the California Garden”. Bee keeping, practical pest control and water management will all be there. “The Modern Homestead” designed by Star Apple Edible Gardens of Oakland will be a 6,000 square foot exhibit featuring aesthetic vegetable plantings and an elegant chicken coop, as well as beer and jam making demonstrations.
The Marketplace will include more than 200 vendors with all sorts of seeds, plants, tools, gifts, patio furniture, pottery and garden sculpture. Plants will range from orchids, dahlias, epiphytes, vegetable plants, cacti and succulents, to name a few. The Farmers’ Market will have flowers and produce available. Sproutopia will feature interactive gardening experiences and demonstrations for children.
Many very impressive bonsai will be exhibited by the prestigious Bonsai Society of San Francisco. Many of the bonsai subjects that are decades old have been returning to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show for many years. There will also be bonsai demonstrations.
Horticulturists of the Western Horticultural Society will be available to discuss rare and recently introduced plants, as well as more traditional plants that are regaining popularity. Some recent introductions are not yet available in nurseries. California Garden Clubs will have representatives from many of the various horticultural associations, with information about membership.
Gladiolus papilio from Skooter’s Garden makes my garden more special than any ‘high end’ garden.
What exactly does that mean?! Why should I care? My lack of concern seems to be directly proportionate to the intensity with which someone tries to impress upon me that I should be so concerned. A colleague from high school tried to tell me about a new television show about a so-called ‘landscaper’ in Michigan who is so extremely ‘successful’ that he also lives in a home in Florida for the winter. I suspect that both of his homes combined are worth about as much as a single home here, but I will just continue with this premise that he is successful. He does exclusively ‘high end’ work, which regularly involves moving huge boulders with old fashioned technology because that is what his ‘high end’ clients want. I needed to interrupt. The ‘high end’ nonsense annoyed me too much. So, they have huge boulders in their landscapes. Perhaps their landscapes were very expensive to install. Splendid! ‘High end’ spending is healthy for the economy. Why is this any of my business? I do not know. I am a horticulturist, not an economist. My garden contains rhubarb from the garden of my paternal paternal great grandfather, and Dalmatian iris from the garden of my maternal maternal great grandmother. That is horticulturally significant. ‘High end’ gardens seem to be more concerned with expenditure than with horticulture, as if spending more will somehow make it better. Do those who purchase ‘high end’ gardens actually work in them? Do they grow anything from the gardens of their ancestors? I know that some do, but I suspect that some do not. The primary purpose of their ‘high end’ landscapes is lavishness. I can not doubt that such landscapes serve such purposes more than adequately, but am nonetheless unimpressed by their typical lack of horticultural relevance.
The simple species is notably distinct from its several popular modern cultivars. Chinese fringe flower, Loropetalum chinense, grows very slowly to about fifteen feet tall. Its simple evergreen foliage is exclusively light green. Its small and ribbony flowers are exclusively creamy white. Limber and arching stems can eventually overwhelm adjacent vegetation.
However, this simple species is now very rare. Popular modern cultivars are much more compact. Although a few can grow taller, most are no more than five feet tall. Most exhibit delightfully purplish or bronzed foliage. Individual leaves grow about an inch or two long. Floral color ranges through white, creamy white, pink, rosy pink, rich red and garnet red.
Chinese fringe flower has a woodsy style. Shearing or aggressive pruning compromises its naturally relaxed form. It is naturally an understory species, so is somewhat tolerant of partial shade. Bloom is most abundant as winter relinquishes to early spring. It continues sporadically throughout most of the year. Blooming stems can be handsome cut flowers, and tolerate forcing bloom.
Spring bulbs, with prechilling, were conducive to the technique of forcing bloom earlier. A few summer bulbs might still be responsive to it, although it is getting late for most. Now, it is about time for forcing bloom with certain dormant deciduous stems. Most are already beginning to bloom. Forcing bloom merely accelerates this process for cut flower stems.
Forcing bloom for dormant deciduous stems is actually simpler than for bulbs. It involves merely cutting stems that are about to bloom and bringing them indoors. The warmth of a home interior is what accelerates profuse bloom. Aridity of home interiors may accelerate the deterioration of this bloom. However, homes also provide shelter from wind and rain.
Witch hazel, flowering quince and forsythia are mostly done blooming locally. Otherwise, they are conducive to forcing bloom, and will be available next winter. Several flowering cherries and flowering plums are now about ready for forcing bloom. Redbuds are ready also, though some will be later. Flowering crabapples should bloom later in their season.
Several fruit trees are as conducive to forcing bloom as their fruitless flowering relatives. Their floral color and profusion are less extravagant only because of their breeding. Fruit is, after all, the priority. With planning, dormant pruning can involve leaving a few surplus stems to cut later. Then, cutting them about now should not compromise fruit production.
With precise timing, wisteria and lilac are conducive to forcing bloom. Technically, so are dogwood and several deciduous magnolias. They bloom relatively slowly though. A few flowers should therefore be blooming before collection of their stems. Evergreen species are less striking in bloom. Fringe flower and Oregon grape can perform elegantly though.
Forcing bloom is more popular where winters are cooler. This is partly because gardens lack floral color for so long through winter. Those who enjoy flowers are in more of a rush to bring some into their homes. Also, dormant vegetation is more reactive to warmth after colder winters. Warmth might not stimulate bloom as effectively after locally mild winters.
Flowers in the gardens of others remind me that I should be more adventurous in regard to trying new things. These six are not completely unfamiliar, but happen to be different from the cultivars that inhabit our landscapes. All are Not In My Back Yard.
1. Salvia chamaedryoides ‘Marine Blue’ sage, like other species here that are more often grown as common annuals, has performed reliably as a perennial for at least a few years. Like other sages, it is very popular with hummingbirds. It stays small, but gets attention.
2. Leptospermum scoparium ‘Ruby Glow’ New Zealand tea tree is deprived of its natural form by frequent shearing, but somehow manages to bloom with a few sporadic flowers. Bees are grateful. Its tiny leaves are very dark green, but perhaps technically not bronze.
3. Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’ rosemary is shrubbier with more upright growth than the sprawling ground cover cultivars that I am more familiar with. I still remember this cultivar as ‘Tucson Blue’ because that is how we said it in school prior to about 1990.
4. Primula X elatior ‘Pacific Hybrids’ English primrose can bloom yellow, white, purple, lavender, blue, maroon, red, orange, or, like this specimen, pink; all with yellow centers. They look like the flowers that Mickey Mouse picked for Minnie Mouse, from her porch.
5. Anemone coronaria ‘Mr. Fokker’ windflower has been impressively perennial here for a few years, like the ‘Marine Blue’ sage. Although it technically should be this perennial, it rarely is here. It might prefer cooler winter weather than it typically experiences here.
6. Osteospermum ecklonis ‘Flower Power Compact Purple’ African daisy is notably more compact than its extensive name is. Its purple floral color seems to be more purple than any within the landscapes at work. Perhaps I should grow a copy, but without that snail.
Mints have a sneaky way of migrating around a garden.
What most people who have grown the various mints remember about them is that they have a sneaky way of getting around the garden. They do not seem to be aggressive or weedy, but can be invasive with their subterranean stems nonetheless. That is why they are so commonly grown in pots, planter boxes or even pots sunken into the ground. Contained plants that get cut back at the end of winter every year look much better than unkempt plants that do what they want to anyway.
Once established, mint does not need any attention at all and only moderate watering. However, it performs much better with somewhat rich soil, regular watering and occasional grooming to remove old stems and spend flower stalks, (as well as getting cut to the ground in winter). Mints tolerate considerable shade or can be just as happy with full sun exposure.
Spearmint, Mentha spicata, is probably the most popular mint, with rich green serrate leaves that are a bit smaller than those of the second most common mint, peppermint. Minute pale blue flowers bloom in vertical trusses at high as two and a half feet. Most of the foliage stays lower, about a foot deep. The leaves can be used for flavoring fresh from the garden or dried. Like all mints, spearmint is very easy to propagate by division of rooted stems.
California bay can work somethin like culinary sweet bay.
While the winter weather is still cool and damp, most of the herbs in the garden are not very impressive. Like vegetables though, herbs that are new to the garden should be planted as winter ends when no more frost is expected. Also like vegetables, some herbs are easier to grow from small plants or seedlings purchased from nurseries, and others are easier to sow directly from seed. Some are annuals or biennials. Others are perennials. Still others are woody plants.
Basil, cilantro and dill are commonly and easiest to grow from seed. Tarragon, sage, marjoram, mint and thyme are probably easier to grow from small plants found in nurseries. Chives, oregano, fennel and parsley are easy to grow by either means. Woody plants like rosemary, lavender and sweet bay can be grown either from small plants in the herb section of a nursery, or more substantial landscape plants.
All sorts of plants are grown as herbs to be used as seasoning, aroma (foliar fragrance) or even medicinally. Some are best grown strictly as herbs in an herb garden or incorporated into the vegetable garden because they lack visual appeal or because they eventually get cut and harvested. Others function quite well out in more refined landscapes.
Basil, cilantro, tarragon, sage, dill and marjoram are more utilitarian but less visually appealing herbs for the herb or vegetable garden, although some look good until they get harvested. Chives, mint, oregano, parsley and thyme look good enough for a landscape, and are not often harvested in quantities large enough to compromise their appearance. Fennel also looks good enough for the landscape, but then gets removed completely when harvested.
A few herbs are actually more often grown for their practicality in the landscape than in the herb garden. Thyme sometimes gets planted as a ground cover between stepping stones, since it is so compact and imparts its fragrance if trampled. Rosemary is actually a rather common ground cover where the soil does not hold enough moisture for more demanding plants. The various lavenders are nice ‘perennial’ shrubs. (‘Perennial’ shrubs do not last as long as woody shrubs.) Sweet bay is a nice small tree where space is limited, or can be shorn into a small hedge.
It seems that most herbs like good sun exposure and warmth during the summer, with well drained soil. Most do not need too much water once established. Only basil and parsley need regular watering. Chives and mint are not so needy, but do prefer to be watered regularly as well. Mint is commonly grown in pots because it can be somewhat invasive.
Aspidistra elatior, cast iron plant, is a foliar perennial. In other words, it is grown more for its lush and famously resilient evergreen foliage than for its bloom. The resiliency of its foliage accounts for its common name. Its bloom does not account for much. In fact, it is rarely seen. This is not because it is rare, but because it is not much to see. Such bloom is typically obscured by the lush evergreen foliage. Even if exposed, as in these pictures, it is not prominent. Individual flowers are tiny and dark, and do not extend much above grade. They seem to be designed for pollination by ants or other insects that might walk over them on the ground. In the picture above, one flower is blooming to the far left, another is beginning to bloom to the far right, and a third floral bud seems to be developing below that which is is beginning to bloom to the far right. Even the closeup of the far left bloom below is more weird than visually appealing. The floral form, texture and color suggest that they are intended to attract flies. I did not notice if the floral fragrance was consistent with that assumption, nor do I want to. I know what sort of fragrances flowers disperse to attract flies. However, I suspect that if such floral fragrance were notably objectionable, cast iron plant would be known for sometimes producing it, or not be quite as popular as it is.
Tony Tomeo 