Posted on by tonytomeo

Black Chokeberry

Black chokeberry is already popular within its native range.

The recent popularity of fruits that contain antioxidants is restoring the popularity of an old classic deciduous shrub with an odd name. ‘Black chokeberry’ obviously does not sound very appetizing, so is more commonly known by its Latin name Aronia melanocarpa, or simply ‘Aronia’. It has always been popular within its native range east of the Appalachians and just north of the Canadian border, and is becoming more popular everywhere else since becoming available from mail order catalogues. Although it is not well rated for local climates since it prefers cooler winters, it can sometimes be found in local nurseries.

Shiny, black chokeberries are about half an inch wide, and ripen about now. They are purported to taste something like cranberries. Mine taste more like pithy crabapples so far; but I do not mind. I grow the three or four foot high shrubs just as much for their remarkable autumn color later in the year. The rather unremarkable inch or two wide trusses of small white flowers that bloom in spring can be slightly fragrant.

Pruning is rather simple, as long as chokeberries do not get shorn. Vigorous stems that may get considerably taller than four feet may be pruned back to promote shrubbier growth. Aging stems can be cut to the ground in winter, and will be readily replaced by new sucker growth.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Colorful Autumn Fruit Is For The Birds

Firethorn is typically the most colorful of autumn berries.

It is hard to ignore the slight bronzing of flowering pear trees in the neighborhood. The recent warm weather after such a mild summer may detrimentally accelerate the development of autumn foliar color, as well as the ripening of some of the colorful fruit that adorns gardens through autumn and winter. Sadly, there have been reports of scorched persimmons as well.

Despite their deviation from a more typical schedule, many of the plants that provide the most colorful fruit start to do so about now, just as birds want to fatten up for winter. My favorites of these provide fruit that I like to get before the birds do. I have already harvested gooseberries, currants and grapes, and am in the process of getting to the elderberries and black chokeberries. Pomegranates will ripen later in autumn. Citrus and persimmon will be ready later in winter, followed by loquat. Natal plum produces randomly all year.

Even fruit that I do not want looks good and keeps the birds happy though. Firethorn is probably the showiest and most popular of these, since it produces such abundant bright red berries that linger into winter. Some have orange or even yellowish berries. Cotoneaster and toyon are similar, but not so flashy. English hawthorn makes similar berries, but grows into a larger tree. Fruiting crabapples were harvested in early summer; but the ornamental, albeit sparse fruit of the flowering crabapples will linger after the leaves fall. Plants that provide abundant fruit that is popular with birds may not be so desirable near where cars are parked outside though, since well fed birds can be rather messy.

I am particularly fond of persimmon, pomegranate, English hawthorn and crabapple trees for other reasons as well. Persimmon trees will provide some of the best orange and red autumn foliar color. By the time it falls, there is plenty of comparably bright orange fruit to replace it! Pomegranate blooms with few but bright reddish orange flowers in summer. English hawthorn and crabapple trees are among the most abundant of spring blooming trees. Some of the flowering crabapple trees bloom with unique shades of bright pink and nearly red. 

Heavenly bamboo, Oregon grape (Mahonia) and California pepper tree are not often grown for their colorful fruit, but sometimes like to show it off. Oregon grape is striking because the fruit is so dark purplish black. California pepper tree makes pendulous trusses of small pink berries. Snowberry is an uncommon native that makes few but striking white berries. 

Posted on by tonytomeo

See Anemone II

Anemone (or Eriocapitella) hupehensis

Sniveling works! Perhaps I should say that it can potentially be effective, and is sometimes more effective than expected. I certainly do not want to make the impression that I recommend it. Nonetheless, and contrary to the typical ‘Horridculture’ theme for Wednesdays, I can not deny recent favorable developments that, although not direct results of my snivelling about my lack of a white Japanese anemone, Anemone (or Eriocapitella) hupehensis, two weeks ago, somehow seem to be relevant to it. Firstly, someone at work brought me a pair of copies of an unidentified cultivar of Japanese anemone that is described as being very similar to that which is already here, with slightly pinkish pale gray bloom. Although not the right color, it is the right species. I intend to grow both the new and the old, and even if they are indistinguishable from each other, will continue to grow both because of their different but important origins. Secondly, a new landscape at a new home in the neighborhood includes several specimens of the most enviable and splendidly white ‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone! Those installing the landscape are completely unaware of the significance, and, as might be expected from such ‘landscapers’, actually told me that these Japanese anemones are the native bush anemone, Carpenteria californica. Why argue? I now know where I can get copies of ‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone after it has grown through next year. The other horticulturist here is acquainted with those who will live at the new home seasonally, so will have no problem procuring copies for me. As I intended to do with all of the now overly abundant canna and bearded iris, I plan to limit the number of cultivars of Japanese anemone to the original that was already here, the recent gift that might be the same as the original, and the ‘Honorine Jobert’ that I have yet to acquire.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Mustard

Mustard can be a weed also.

Mustard is not easy to classify. It is a cool season vegetable here, although it grows until summer gets too hot. In cooler climates, it is a warm season vegetable. Whether warm or cool season, it provides more than greens. For agricultural applications, it is also a cover crop and livestock fodder. Its seed and seed oil have culinary and medicinal application.

Also, some consider mustard to be a wildflower, and some consider it to be a weed. Most but not all species that naturalized here are of the genus Brassica. None are native. Wild turnip and wild radish are similar and are also naturalized, but not as aggressively. Their bloom may be pink or creamy white. Most mustard varieties display bright yellow bloom.

Garden varieties of mustard have milder flavor and finer texture than wild sorts. They are sometimes available as cell pack seedlings, but grow like weeds from seed. Varieties for mustard seed might only be available online or from mail order catalogs. Mustard greens develop bitter flavor with age or bloom. Bigger lower leaves can develop coarser texture.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Succession Planting Prolongs Vegetable Harvest

Frisee is for autumn and spring.

Winter vegetables might inspire both enthusiasm and trepidation as their season begins. Sowing their seed and plugging their seedlings into a fresh garden is delightful. Concern for their performance while summery warmth continues is not. It may take a while, but the weather will eventually cool. Later phases of succession planting will enjoy it even more.

Succession planting, which is the same as phasing, looks simpler than it is. Most simply, it is cultivation of small groups of any vegetable throughout its season. First groups might seem premature, but then seem less so as their season evolves. Subsequent groups are likely to seem more appropriate to their season. They can be one to several weeks later.

Planning is important for efficient use of space. The first groups of winter vegetables can use space as summer vegetables relinquish it. Later groups can use space as these first groups of winter vegetables relinquish it. However, with good crop rotation, any one type should not grow twice on the same sites. They prefer former sites of different vegetables.

So, succession planting is more complicated than growing one big group for the season. It is practical, though, for extending the harvests of individual varieties. The first groups of each variety are ready for harvest first. Each subsequent group should become ready as the preceding group finishes. The last group should finish at about the end of its season.

Different types of vegetables obviously respond differently to succession planting. Those that grow in autumn and spring but not winter need no other succession planting. Radish grows so fast that several phases can fit into one season. Cabbage can linger for so long that only two or three phases might be sufficient. Besides, they develop at different rates.

Succession planting is also effective for several spring bulbs that will soon be available. Although less obviously, and later next spring, prolonged planting should prolong bloom. However, reliably perennial bulbs synchronize for subsequent spring bloom. Succession planting is less effective for summer bulbs later. It only delays prolonged bloom for some that bloom for a recurrent bloom cycle.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Mars & Venus

It is much too early to distinguish gender of these carob seedlings.

Phoenix dactylifera, common date palm supposedly became more popular than Phoenix canariensis, Canary Island date palm during the 1990s for two primary reasons. Firstly, it is less susceptible to pink rot that was killing so many Canary Island date palms at that time, and continues to do so. Secondly, mature specimens became so readily available as their orchards were being displaced by urban development, particularly around Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Of course, fruiting date palms would have been too messy for the urban landscapes that they were recycled into. So, to prevent such mess, only female trees were recycled for such landscapes. Without their male pollinators, they are fruitless. Female trees are generally shorter, more lushly foliated, and therefore more appropriate to refined landscapes anyway. Besides, all but between one and five percent of trees in date orchards are female. Male trees were not completely wasted though. Although not as lush, they are taller and statelier, so were recycled to landscape remote desert highway interchanges, where their pollen does not reach female date palms that now inhabit more urban landscapes. It all works out well, although contrary to the original purpose of the date palms involved. It would seem silly to separate genders of most familiar dioecious species, such as kiwifruits and hollies. However, only female carob trees are available from nurseries nowadays because they would be messy with pollination, and also because male floral fragrance is horrid! Male carob trees are only available for agricultural purposes, or grow as feral males from seed. The problem that I will eventually encounter with my carob trees is that I grew them from seed, and will not know what their genders are until they are a few years old. I want a female specimen in a specific location, and a male pollinator in another specific location. I think that I will put three seedlings in each location, select one that matures to be the preferred gender for its particular location, and eliminate the other two. Alternatively, I could allow two genders to grow together in such a manner than the male grafts to the female to become a branch that I could prune to be a small but necessary portion of the collective canopy. Of course, there is a possibility that all within each group of three could be the wrong gender. I will not know until a few years from now.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 3 Comments

Historic Bloom

‘Stuttgart’ Canna to the left and an unidentified tall Canna with red bloom and green foliage to the right

It is not as important as it sounds. Two varieties of Canna bloomed for the first time here during the past few weeks. They are important only to me because of their origins. With very few exceptions, such as the still elusive ‘San Jose’ bearded iris, I do not pursue rare or unusual species, varieties or cultivars. Actually, most of my favorites are quite common, and most that are rare here are common where they came from. I obtained some from places I have travelled to. Most were gifts from friends, neighbors and colleagues. The Canna to the left is ‘Stuttgart’ from Tangly Cottage Gardening. This is its second season here, but it did not bloom successfully before autumn chill last year. It is the second of three different Canna musifolia here. The first has moderately bronzed foliage. The third has simple green foliage. ‘Stuttgart’ has the most distinctive foliage that is variegated with variable white bands. All three bloom with similarly subdued and pastel orange flowers, but for this first bloom, ‘Stuttgart’ is blooming with a bit more peachy pink. The Canna to the right was a gift from a friend of a friend last winter. It is the third red Canna here, but the first is an unidentified compact cultivar that gets only about half as tall with garishly big flowers, and the second is ‘Australia’ with darkly bronzed foliage. This new unidentified cultivar is quite tall with simple green foliage, which is actually what I prefer for my own garden. (Although, I like the short cultivar also because it has been here longer than anyone can remember; and I like ‘Australia’ because everyone else likes the impressively darkly bronzed foliar color. Furthermore, I like the moderately bronzed Canna musifolia because it has also been here for a very long time; and I like the simple green Canna musifolia because it was a gift from a neighbor, and it is the biggest Canna here.)

Posted on by tonytomeo · 12 Comments

Six on Saturday: Fire Season

Fire season can begin as early as May and continue as late as November. It is defined by the rainy season. It is a long season because the rainy season is not. Summer is naturally warm and arid. Native vegetation is consequently desiccated. It is no coincidence. Fire is unfortunately a natural component of the ecosystems here, and native vegetation knows it. Many exotic species also react to the meteorological influences that affect fire season. Some are from similar chaparral ecosystems. However, some are from other ecosystems that are likely less adapted to fire. Perhaps their native ecosystems are less relevant than associated meteorological influences, which is what they are actually reacting to. A forty percent chance of rain on Monday morning is the first chance of rain in a long time.

1. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood is always messy and gets even messier when a breeze dislodges foliage which got desiccated by arid warmth. It is a bad combination.

2. Adiantum capillus–veneris, maidenhair fern also reacted to arid warmth. In the wild, foliar desiccation through summer is normal. It is not so normal in irrigated landscapes.

3. Musa acuminata X balbisiana ‘Blue Java’ banana would enjoy sustained warmth with more humidity. While humidity is inadequate, wind more easily shreds its flimsy foliage.

4. Musa acuminata ‘Kokopo’ or ‘Patupi’ banana is more sheltered from breezes and more generously irrigated, so can exhibit guttation overnight and into the cool early morning.

5. Amaryllis belladonna, naked lady is generating seed as it typically does by now. Seed is very perishable, but grows in soil that is damp from the first rain that ends fire season.

6. Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod is only fiery by name. It was a gift from Tangly Cottage Gardening. It is the only bloom I will brag about today, and our first goldenrod!

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

Silverberry

Most modern silverberry is variegated with yellow or white.

Old fashioned silverberry, Elaeagnus pungens, has always been useful for large informal hedges and barriers in difficult locations. It may not be as refined or as bright green as other plants that are more commonly used for formal hedges; but it is more adaptable to harsh exposure, since it has no problem with heat and reflected glare.

If necessary, silverberry can be shorn like privets, but is at its best with only occasional selective pruning to keep it within bounds. Without pruning, it can grow to more than ten feet high and nearly as wide. Despite its slower growth at maturity, it grows faster and fills out quite efficiently while young.

All parts of silverberry are covered with slightly raspy and silvery or ‘rusty’ tomentum (fuzz – although it is not exactly ‘fuzzy’). The one to two and a half inch long leaves often have undulate margins. The less than abundant, half inch long brownish berries taste better than they look. Somewhat spiny vigorous stems efficiently deter intrusion. Trespassers that might get through them once will not try again. 

Modern cultivars (cultivated varieties) are neither as rugged as the straight species, nor as large, but have more colorful foliage. Leaves of ‘Variegata’, which is shown in the illustration, have lemony yellow or nearly white margins. ‘Marginata’ has brighter white leaf margins. ‘Maculata’ leaves are instead equipped with bright green margins around bright yellow centers. ‘Fruitlandii’ has larger silvery leaves.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Gardening With Succulents

(This article is recycled from many years ago, so contains very outdated information.)

Many succulents are remarkably easy to propagate from cuttings.

Succulent plants that were so trendy during the 1970’s seem to be gaining popularity again. This is actually one of the few trends that I like to see, since succulents are such useful and practical plants in modern urban gardens. Although some cacti, agave and larger succulents become quite imposing, most other succulents are quite compact and proportionate to small garden spaces. Some can by happy in the partial shade of atriums and under eaves. Succulents generally do not need much attention, are remarkably easy to grow, and are even easier to propagate. Most do not need much water. 

‘Gardening with Succulents’, with master gardener Laura Balaoro and the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, is a great program for experiencing the potential for succulents in containers and the garden. There will be several samples of container gardens to demonstrate some of the many possibilities for succulents, as well as their variety of textures and colors. Common pathogens, propagation methods, succulent that grow through winter, and succulents that are adaptable to partial shade will all be discussed. After a planting demonstration, there will be free cuttings for those who can not wait to add new succulents to their gardens.

‘Gardening with Succulents’ is only in a few days, from 10:00 a.m. to noon on September 11, so it is important to register right away by telephoning 298 7657 or online at www.grpg.org. If this program gets full to capacity first, there are many other interesting classes and programs described at the website for later. Admission is $15, or $10 for members of Friends of Guadalupe River Park and Gardens. ‘Gardening with Succulents’ will be at the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens Visitor and Education Center, which is located at 438 Coleman Avenue in San Jose.

Nearby in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, the last of the Rose Deadheading Blitzes will be from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. on September 14, in order to remove spent blooms and promote more blooms before autumn. Volunteers should bring pruning shears and gloves, and wear closed-toe shoes; and of course, stay for ice cream afterward. (Loaner shears are available if necessary.) The San Jose Heritage Rose Garden is located on Taylor Street at Spring Street, just east of Coleman Avenue. Visit www.grpg.org or telephone 298 7657 for more information or to register.