Lime
Among citrus, limes are the most diverse. They include more species and hybrids than other types of citrus. Only a few of countless cultivars from centuries of development are available here. Yet, each of these few is very distinct from the others. Most provide juice for culinary application. At least one provides herbal foliage. Few limes are eaten intact.
Dwarfing understock is one commonality of almost all home garden lime trees. Not many grow more than twelve feet tall. With occasional pruning, most might stay less than eight feet tall. All have bright green evergreen foliage and small white flowers. Most have tiny but sharp thorns. Some are more bothersomely thorny. Fruit is green or greenish yellow.
‘Bearss’ lime is the most popular. Its ripe fruits are about three inches long, and resemble greenish lemons. ‘Mexican’ lime provides fruits that are about an inch and a half wide, on thorny stems. ‘Palestine’ lime is thorny also, with round and yellowish fruit that is edible intact. ‘Rangpur’ lime produces bright orange fruit because it is really a sour mandarine.
Citrus Fruit Ripens Through Winter
Winter is bare root season, which is the best time for installation of deciduous fruit trees. It is also the best time for dormant pruning of deciduous fruit trees. Evergreen fruit trees do not get much attention. Installation and any pruning of evergreen fruit trees happens after winter. However, regardless of perceived neglect, winter is actually citrus season.
Technically, citrus are always in season here. That is because most citrus fruits last so long on their trees after ripening. Also, some types produce a few fruits sporadically after their primary season. The latest ‘Lisbon’ lemons can still be good as the earliest of the following season ripen. ‘Eureka’ lemons ripen in minor phases after their primary phase.
Therefore, winter is citrus season merely because it is when most citrus fruit ripens. The schedule is ideal. It begins as pear and apple season finishes. It finishes as cherry and apricot season begins. Pears and apples, and especially cherries and apricots, are less predictable than citrus. Fortunately, citrus can begin a bit early or finish late if necessary.
All citrus are species or hybrids of the same genus of Citrus. Kumquats also classify as Fortunella though. The primary components of the flavors of their fruits are sweet, sour and bitter. The most familiar oranges are sweet oranges, but sour and bitter oranges also exist. Most lemons and limes are sour, but there are also sweet lemons and sweet limes.
Oranges, which are generally sweet oranges, are the most popular citrus. Navel oranges are traditional eating oranges. ‘Valencia’ is a traditional juicing orange. Blood oranges are a bit more tart, with blushed or red flesh and juice. ‘Seville’ sour orange is useful for marmalade. Rare bitter oranges provide flavoring for teas, and fragrance for perfumery.
Lemons are the second most popular citrus. Mandarin oranges, or mandarines, should probably be more popular. They are the more perishable of citrus though, because their rinds are relatively loose. Tangerines are merely mandarines of the Americas. ‘Rangpur’ lime is a sour mandarine. Real limes are very diverse, but mostly ripen greenish yellow. Grapefruits combine sweet, sour and bitter.
Inner Beauty
Juniperus chinensis ‘Kaizuka’, Hollywood juniper is one of my favorite junipers. The few North American junipers that I prefer more are not as appealing for prominent positions within refined landscapes. Hollywood juniper is distinctly sculptural with its strikingly gnarly form. The dense, finely textured and deep green foliage contrasts stylishly with the more coarsely textured and rusty reddish brown bark. Whether a large shrub or a small tree, properly groomed Hollywood juniper can be an elegant trophy tree.
The illustration above is from my ‘Six on Saturday’ post from two weeks ago. It shows one of the largest specimens of Hollywood juniper that I have ever worked with. Initially, I pruned it for clearance from the roof and parking spaces that it extends its canopy over. I also thinned it somewhat. I intended to elevate and thin it a bit more this year or next.
Instead, it became firewood. Sadly, it grew too big and obtrusive for its situation. One of its large roots was displacing the asphalt pavement of the parking spaces in front of it. Another was beginning to do the same. It was very saddening to see it dismembered and processed, as the foliar canopy was discarded to compost into the forest, and the trunk and limbs were taken to a woodpile.
Even as firewood, it retained unique beauty. The illustration below shows the contrast of the red heartwood and blond younger wood within the interior of the gnarly trunk. If it resembles the interior of a cedar chest, it is because it is related to the Juniperus virginiana, Eastern redcedar, which is the cedar within cedar chests (but is not actually a real cedar). Although not visible within the illustration, the woodsy aroma of the exposed wood is very similar to that of a cedar chest.
Proof of Seasons
Narcissus make me wonder. Both paperwhite and common daffodil, as well as a few fancier daffodil, bloom here as if they were in a climate that is more conducive to such performance. The happiest naturalize and slowly multiply. Not many bulbs do so where winter weather is so mild. That is why I do not bother with tulip or hyacinth, although a few hyacinth have also been performing reliably here for many years.
Peony is very marginal here. I know that they perform inexplicably well for some neighbors, but none have ever done well for me. I really do believe that they prefer more chill than they experience here. Realistically, winter weather is relatively mild here.
Yet, I am not convinced that it is as mild as I have always believed it to be. Some who are unfamiliar with California believe that we experience only two seasons, which are summer, and a few days annually that are not summer. I know better. No one argues that the warm and dry summers here last longer than elsewhere. Prior to summer though, spring is likely comparably to spring within other climates. After summer, autumn, although mild, is cool enough to initiate autumn foliar color. Then, winter is cool. Really, it is cool enough for deciduous species to defoliate, and for mild frost. It may not get as cold as it does in other climates, but how cold does it need to be to qualify as winter?
I am satisfied with the winters here. I can grow all of the deciduous fruit trees that I want to grow. This is one of the best climates in the World for roses. These daffodils seem to be quite satisfied as well. In fact, they sometimes stay dormant later here than in climates with cooler winters!
Six on Saturday: Plugging Along
Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile and Osteospermum ecklonis, African daisy are all there is to my Six for this Saturday. Lily of the Nile is in the first three. African daisy is in all but the first. Both are in the second and third. Both are from South Africa. Both have been getting recycled from where they are migrating a bit too much, and getting plugged into more appropriate situations. It is nursery production directly within the landscapes where the finished products are desired. Processing African daisy cuttings and lily of the Nile shoots takes time, but is still less expensive than purchasing nursery stock. They are byproducts of our normal landscape maintenance.
1. Gophers are killing fewer lily of the Nile than they killed last year. I must plug some of the spare shoots from last Saturday here though. Gophers ate the thick rhizomes below.
2. African daisy is performing as well as the majority of lily of the Nile in this landscape. It migrates nicely, but also encroaches somewhat into the adjacent row of lily of the Nile.
3. Edging is now necessary to separate the African daisy from the lily of the Nile. The lily of the Nile should grow to become too dense for the African daisy to encroach next year.
4. Some of the pruning scraps of the African daisy had already developed roots, as if they belong there. Their roots can be useful somewhere else. These scraps became cuttings.
5. Remaining stems are generating axillary growth for this year. We should apply a layer of compost over the stems to hold some against the soil so that they can develop roots.
6. Pruning debris from the African daisy was processed into unrooted cuttings that were plugged wherever we wanted more African daisy. They will develop roots prior to spring.
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/
Horsetail
It is no wonder that the many specie of horsetail have been around since the Carboniferous Age. They seem to be impossible to kill! Because they can be so invasive and persistent, they should be confined to planters or areas of the garden where they can be controlled. They should probably be kept away from thickly foliated areas where they can spread and mix with other plants unnoticed.
Even though they are among the oldest plant specie, they seem well suited to modern architecture. Besides, the narrow areas between modern residences, walkways and driveways are confining by nature. Many modern buildings are even outfitted with awkwardly narrow planter areas that could use plants that get three or four feet tall without spreading out laterally, just as Equisetum hyemale, the most common species of horsetail does. The partial shade and potentially bad drainage in these confined spaces is not a problem.
The hollow segmented stems are rich green with black or dark brown joints. Some specie of horsetail have symmetrical whorls of wiry stems radiating from their joints. Otherwise, no other foliage is evident. Small knobs on top of the stems produce rusty brown spores. The larger types of horsetail are more likely to become invasive. Equisetum scirpoides stays about half a foot tall and is relatively complaisant. I do not know the identity of the horsetail that I got this picture of; but it has unusually large spore ‘blooms’ and a more relaxed texture.
A Good Arborist Can Be Difficult To Find.
It was probably best that I was not here when it happened. Although, coming home to it was horrible nonetheless. This is the second major tragedy in my garden in only a few months. Last autumn, just before it could defoliate to be less susceptible to the wind, the most magnificent black oak in my garden was blown down. Now I find that the weather has again flaunted its ominous power by claiming the innocent life of the most glorious Douglas fir, and desecrating the shattered remains in the cold mud.
How can this be?! I am an arborist! I am supposed to protect trees from such demise! Sadly, the truth is that the fir has been deteriorating for a long time before we became acquainted. There was nothing that I could have done for it. If the tree had been located where it could have been hazardous to anyone in the area, it would have needed to be removed.
Hazardous trees innately become much more hazardous in stormy weather. Rain loosens their anchorage by softening the soil. Wind can either destabilize trees, or break their limbs away. Ideally, it is best to give trees the attention they need before the weather gets unpleasant. Realistically though, we do not often think about it while the weather is not so threatening.
Now that the weather is reminding us of how important it is to take care of our trees, we should be certain to do so properly. Large trees may require procedures that we are unable to perform. When it becomes necessary to procure the services of tree maintenance professionals, it is imperative to find qualified arborists. (Arborists are horticulturists of trees.)
Unfortunately, the arboricultural (tree maintenance) industries are infested with unqualified ‘hackers’ who can inflict serious damage. Real arborists are about as specialized as physicians are. Getting anyone else to assess trees is about a sensible as getting a cardiologist to do brain surgery.
Arborists inspect trees to identify hazards such as instability and structural deficiency, and then prescribe corrective procedures. Not everyone involved with the crew that performs any necessary procedures is a ‘certified’ arborist. The crew should though be directed by what an arborist prescribes. Sometimes, trees are found to be too hazardous to be salvaged, and will need to be removed.
The website of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) at www.isaarbor.com is an excellent resource for finding local certified arborists. This site also features articles that explain in more detail than I did why it is so important to ‘hire an arborist’, as well as many other relevant topics. Perhaps just as importantly, it demonstrates how serious arborists are about arboriculture.
California Sycamore
The tallest, largest and oldest trees of the World are all native to California. So are the rarest pine, rarest fir and largest oak. California sycamore, Platanus racemosa, is loyal to this tradition of distinction. Although not the tallest sycamore, it might be the grandest. It develops gnarly and sculpturally irregular form. Some develop multiple massive trunks.
Because of its scale, California sycamore is uncommonly available from nurseries. It is simply not proportionate to home gardens or even big landscapes. Most old specimens are older than the landscapes around them. They are somewhat adaptable to landscape irrigation. However, increased moisture increases potential for spontaneous limb failure.
California sycamore can grow a hundred feet tall with bulky trunks and limbs. Old trees may exhibit scars from shedding limbs throughout their long lifespans. The mottled bark is gray and tan, and roughens only slowly with age. The deciduous foliage of such large trees is very copious through a long defoliation. Foliar tomentum (fuzz) is quite irritating.
Tony Tomeo 