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Bare Root Season Begins Now

Bare root stock is less expensive.

Wintry weather, although unpleasant at times, has certain advantages. Most importantly, it provides rain here, and snow in the mountains for water reserves. Gardening would be very different with any less. Also, cool weather initiates dormancy for most plant species, giving them a time for rest prior to spring. This is what makes bare root season possible.

Bare root stock is exactly what it sounds like. It is available for sale without the soil that it grew in. Some comes with an individual bag of moist sawdust around its otherwise bare roots. Most merely rests with its otherwise exposed roots in damp sand at nurseries until purchase. Because it is so portable, much is available by mail order, or online purchase.

Bare root stock becomes available now because this is when it is dormant. It comes into nurseries as readily as Christmas trees relinquish their space. Because it is dormant, it is unaware of what is happening to it. Dormancy works like an anesthetic for major surgery. Ideally, bare root stock awakens in its new gardens without any idea how it arrived there.

There are several advantages to bare root stock. It is much less expensive than canned, or potted, nursery stock. It is less cumbersome to bring home from nurseries. Because its roots were never confined, they disperse readily into surrounding soil. For some types of plants, more varieties are available bare root. Several plants are only available as such.

Roses and fruit trees are the most popular of bare root plants. More cultivars of roses are available now than at any other time of year. Fruit trees include primarily stone fruits and pome fruits. Stone fruits include apricot, cherry, plum, prune, nectarine and peach as well as almond. Pome fruits include apple, pear, crabapple and Asian pear as well as quince.

Cane berries, including blackberry and raspberry, are also available with bare root stock. So are perennial fruit and vegetables like strawberry, rhubarb, artichoke and asparagus. A few deciduous but fruitless shrubs, trees, vines or perennials are sometimes available. These might include lilac, forsythia, clematis, wisteria, astilbe and deciduous magnolias. Grapevines and nut trees are also available.

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Winter Flowers May Be Scarce

Not many flowers bloom for winter.

Evergreen foliage and berries are now popular for home decor for a primary reason. Not many winter flowers are blooming and available for cutting and bringing in. Most flowers prefer to bloom while more pollinators are more active. Not many pollinators are out and about while weather is cool through winter. Consequently, winter flowers may be scarce.

However, they are not actually as scarce as they seem to be. Some winter flowers bloom without drawing attention to themselves. They do not need to if they rely on wind for their pollination. Colorful flowers are colorful only to attract pollinators. For example, redwood is blooming quite privately about now. It produces no prominently colorful flowers to see.

Some winter flowers do not actually intend to bloom in winter. They are merely confused by the local climates. For example, African daisy blooms whenever the weather is warm. It does not know to stop blooming for winter here because the weather is not overly cold. Cala are tropicals, so have no concept of winter. They should not bloom, but might try to.

Camellias are some of the most familiar and popular winter flowers. Sasanqua camellias bloom before common camellias. Different cultivars of each type bloom at different times. The latest sasanqua camellias might actually bloom after the earliest common camellias. Sasanqua camellias bloom more abundantly. Common camellias provide larger flowers.

Although most salvia bloom during warmer weather, a few bloom sporadically for winter. Autumn sage seems to never be completely without bloom. Meanwhile, cultivars of witch hazel bloom curiously on bare stems. So does winter jasmine, but only in yellow. Oregon grape can bloom impressively within cooler climates. It is evergreen and blooms yellow.

Many of the better winter flowers are cool season annuals, which are no good for cutting. These comprise pansy, viola, cyclamen, dianthus, snapdragon, nemesia and primroses. Stock is exceptional, because it can be cut and brought inside and is splendidly fragrant. Ornamental kale and ornamental cabbage are foliar plants that present like wide flowers.

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Evergreen Foliage For Christmas Decor

Pines provide delightful cut evergreen foliage.

Berries such as firethorn might be the most colorful features of some home gardens now. Flowers can be scarce for late autumn and winter. Yet, people still enjoy decorating their homes with vegetation from their gardens. Cut evergreen foliage actually becomes more popular than cut flowers had been. It is a basic component of traditional Christmas decor.

Christmas trees are the most extreme form of cut evergreen foliage. With few exceptions, though, they do not grow within home gardens. Instead, they grow on farms and become available for sale before Christmas. Availability from such sources is remarkably diverse. Not many home gardens have adequate space for cut Christmas tree cultivation anyway.

Wreaths and garlands are the second most extreme forms of cut evergreen foliage. Many are available for sale like cut Christmas trees are. However, many people create wreaths and garlands from what inhabits their gardens. After all, wreaths and garlands are merely stylized floral design which lack containers. Most, but not all, lack anything floral as well.

Because wreaths and garlands lack containers, their components must not wilt too soon. The best evergreen foliage is coniferous. However, some broadleaf foliage works nicely. Even defoliated deciduous twigs can be intriguing. Pine cones can substitute for flowers. There are not many rules to floral design, or for the composition of wreaths and garlands.

Collection of evergreen foliage for wreaths and garlands should not disrupt a landscape. Ideally, such foliage should be in need of removal anyway. For example, stems that need pruning can provide significant material. Pruning cuts from source material must be done properly, without stubs or disfigurement. The many rules of responsible gardening apply.

Fir, spruce, pine and cedar are some of the better evergreen foliage for Christmas decor. They are uncommon, though, within local home gardens. Italian cypress, arborvitae and juniper are more common. Boxwood, various hollies and various pittosporums are some broadleaf alternatives. Southern magnolia and New Zealand flax may add bold contrast. So do coral bark Japanese maple twigs or tufts of ornamental grass.

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Frost Protection

For many species, frost damage is not as bad as it looks.

            My colleague in the Los Angeles area still sends me seeds for all sorts of strange plants that I probably should not be growing in my less climactically temperate garden, making it difficult to conform to the primary rule of frost protection: ‘Select plants that are appropriate to the particular climate.’ No matter how often I remind my clients of this rule, I really do not want to abide by it. There are just too many interesting but inappropriate plants.

            So the next option is to grow frost sensitive plants in containers that can be moved to sheltered areas prior to frost. That worked while I had an extra parking space in the carport and some room under the porch for giant bird-of-Paradise, plumeria, philodendrons and such. Eventually though, some of these plants get too large to be contained; and I really do not want to keep pruning them back. Besides, I prefer to grow things in the ground.

            The third option is to put sensitive plants in spots that are naturally warmer, or where they are sheltered below the canopies of large evergreen trees, lath or wide eaves. Just remember that plants under eaves are also sheltered from rain, so may need to be watered occasionally through winter. Steep slopes are not quite as cold because cold air drains off. However, flat areas below slopes get colder as they catch cold air that drains from uphill. South facing exposures are of course warmer than northern exposures.

            I know probably better than most that there are always some plants that are not ‘appropriate to the particular climate’, that I do not want to grow in pots, and that prefer to be out in exposed parts of the garden. For example, bougainvilleas are somewhat tender, have sensitive roots that do not like to be confined, and really want to be out in the open to take advantage of warming sunshine during summer. Such plants in colder areas will either need to be protected, or will get damaged by frost.

            Burlap suspended above the foliage by stakes is typically enough to protect sensitive plants from frost. I have used old towels and linens where my neighbors can not see. Plastic sheeting is also effective, but should be removed before sunlight warms the air too much underneath. Paper grocery bags or cardboard boxes are enough for small plants.

            I actually allow some of my larger plants that would be difficult to cover to get damaged by frost, and then prune out the damage later. If they are too big to cover easily, they are probably big enough to survive frost. Damaged stems should be left until the end of winter both to insulate stems below, and also because early pruning stimulates new growth that is even more sensitive to frost. 

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Frost Is Not An Enemy

Among canna, frost damage is harmless.

Rain was one clue. Cooler weather is another. It is now so late into autumn that it will be winter soon. Every regional climate experiences some degree of chill. Some, particularly to the north, experience frost. This limits gardening in two ways. Several species prefer a bit less cool weather. Several prefer a bit more. Every species prefers a particular range.

Apple trees, for example, require vernalization, which is a specific duration of chill. Some cultivars require more than others. Without it, they can not distinguish seasons, so do not know when to bloom for spring. Consequently, few cultivars of apple perform adequately within Los Angeles. However, many perform very well in the cooler climates of San Jose.

Banana trees, conversely, need no chill, and are instead set back by frost. Some tolerate a bit more chill than others; but ultimately, they are all tropical species. They produce fruit only within the months between frosts. Consequently, not many banana trees are notably productive within San Jose. However, they perform better in the climates of Los Angeles.

Banana trees stop growing when the weather is cooler than fifty degrees or so. That is a bit too much chill for them. However, frost does not occur until the weather is cooler than thirty-two degrees. Banana foliage can therefore be safely dormant during chilly weather. That is a range of twenty-two degrees. Different tropical species survive different ranges.

The simplest form of frost protection is to not cultivate species that are vulnerable to frost. This is, of course, a bit too restrictive for many who enjoy gardening. Instead, some grow vulnerable species in pots to move to shelter prior to frost. Some simply grow vulnerable species below the shelter of eaves or big trees. Tenting may also be effective protection.

Alternatively, some species can endure frost damage to recover during warmer weather. If possible, outer foliage that succumbs to frost should remain through winter. It insulates inner growth from subsequent damage. Besides, premature grooming can stimulate new growth that is more vulnerable. Many perennials prefer cutting back after winter anyway.

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Bare Root Stock

Bare Root Stock may not be much to look at.

Now that nurseries and garden centers are no longer selling Christmas trees, they have plenty of room for bare root stock. All sorts of deciduous fruit trees, a few deciduous shade trees, shrubs and vines, and even a few perennials can now be purchased while dormant and without the cumbersome media (soil) that the roots need at all other times of the year. Not only is bare root stock easier to handle and transport in small cars, but it is also much less expensive than canned stock (that has roots contained in media, which is contained in nursery cans). Bare root stock typically costs about a third of what canned stock costs.

Bare root stock also has the advantage of adapting to new garden easier, since it does not need to leave the comfort zone of the media that it would have grown into (within a can) in order to venture out into unfamiliar soil. Instead, it starts to disperse roots into the new home soil immediately as it emerges from dormancy in late winter. Without cans, bare root stock can not get root bound. Instead of developing branch structure that is appealing to nursery marketing, bare root stock can get an early start on developing branch structure that is most practical and efficient for the gardens that it gets installed into.

It seems that all of the ´stone’ fruit can be found as bare root stock. These include apricot, cherry, plum, prune, peach, nectarine, almond (which is the seed, or ´stone’, of a peach like fruit) and the odd hybrids of these. The pomme fruits, apple, pear and quince, are perhaps the second most popular of bare root stock, although quince is still rather rare. Ornamental trees, shrubs and vines include flowering crabapple, flowering cherry, flowering quince, alder, poplar, willow, lilac, forsythia, wisteria and clematis. Perennials include rhubarb and artichoke.

Bare root stock can be purchased as soon as it becomes available, but does not do much until it starts to grow in spring. It should get planted quickly and soaked in, but will get more water than it needs from rain afterward. It should not need water again until after it blooms or gets new leaves in late winter or early spring. Despite guarantees of fruit in the first year, none should be expected. The few fruit trees that might set fruit will probably produce only useless underdeveloped fruit because new plants are busy producing new roots and growing. Actually though, this apples to canned stock as well, except only for citrus, olives and other evergreen fruit trees.

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Berries For Autumn And Winter

Firethorn berries can be impressively prolific.

Cool season annuals are less diverse than warm season annuals for one simple reason. Flowers prefer to bloom while their favorite pollinators are most active. Most of the better pollinators are insects that are most active during warm weather. Therefore, most flowers want to bloom while the weather is warm. Many colorful berries are similarly exploitative.

For dispersion of their seed, colorful berries rely on birds. Therefore, many ripen and are most colorful as many birds migrate during autumn. Birds consume the berries but do not digest their seed. Instead, as they migrate, they disperse the viable seed. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. Birds eat all they want. Seed benefits from thorough dispersion.

As they ripen, autumn and winter berries develop bright colors that attract birds. Most are bright red. Some are bright orange. A few are bright yellow. They are substantial enough to satisfy the birds that eat them. Yet, they are compact enough for such birds to eat them whole. Some are impressively abundant, at least until any birds that they feed find them.

That can be a dilemma for home gardening. Many garden enthusiasts grow autumn and winter berries for the color. Many grow them to attract birds, though. More grow them both for their color and to attract birds. The latter is least disappointing. Typically, such berries ripen to display their color faster than birds can eat all of them. Every season is different.

Unfortunately, there are not many options for colorful autumn and winter berries. Some of the species that produce the most colorful fruit are unfortunately thorny. Firethorn notably produces the most abundant, most colorful and most familiar berries. It is horridly thorny, though. So is English hawthorn, which is deciduous and defoliates to expose its red fruit.

Toyon and various cotoneasters are thornless alternatives for colorful berries. Toyon is a native species that grows rather large. Although cotoneasters are not as prolific, cultivars stay proportionate to home gardens. Hollies are dioecious, so female specimens need a male nearby for pollination. Because males are rare, females produce only a few berries.

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Live Christmas Trees

Most live Christmas trees grow too big for home gardens.

One of the problems with driving my favorite vehicles that were old long before I learned to drive them is that I spend considerable time waiting for a bus or walking. The cool thing about that is that I get to seem so much scenery that I would otherwise drive past. While waiting nearly an hour for a bus at the Cavallero Bus Terminal in Scott’s Valley, I went across the street to see the landscape of the somewhat new Post Office, which has actually been there for many years now.

The landscape is a bit sparse in front (I think because of architectural modifications after the landscape was designed), so was outfitted with recycled live Christmas trees. Although none of these particular trees seem happy in the local climate or sandy soil, I had wanted to get better acquainted with them for some time. They are an odd assortment of spruce and fir that are rare here.

The more typical concern with the more common live Christmas trees is not that they are not well suited to local climates and soils, but that they actually do too well and grow much larger than expected. Except for the small rosemary, holly and English ivy ‘trees’, most coniferous evergreen live Christmas trees are young pines that get remarkably large; and some waste no time doing it! The most common live Christmas trees are Italian stone pines, which happen to be the two very large and broad trees in Blaney Plaza in downtown Saratoga!

Canary Island pines, which had been more common than they are now, do not get quite as broad, but do get very tall and messy. Years ago, Aleppo, Eldarica and Monterey pines all took their turns being popular live Christmas trees. Each of them grows large enough to require significant garden space.

This is of course not a problem for the few live Christmas trees that happen to get planted where they have plenty of space. However, those that get planted where they do not have room to grow can cause serious problems. Because they seem so cute and innocent while they are young, and are so often expected to stay cute and innocent, many often get planted dangerously close to houses, where they can displace porches, walkways and even foundations! Large pines, particularly Italian stone pines, are also too messy and potentially combustible (if not pruned and groomed regularly) to be too close to houses.

Sadly, large pines do not like to stay in containers too long. They can be pruned for a few years, but eventually get congested roots. (Bonsai techniques of root pruning can maintain even the largest types of pines in containers indefinitely, but not many of us know these techniques.) Small pines, like Austrian black, Japanese black and Scott’s pine (which has no relation to Scott’s Valley), as well as other small coniferous evergreens, like certain junipers, can stay in containers much longer, but these are the sort that are small enough to get planted in the garden, so do not necessarily need to stay in containers anyway.

If space is not sufficient, pines and other live Christmas trees that eventually get too large really should be given to friends and neighbors who have space to accommodate them. Fortunately, most do not require much attention once they get established after two years or so.

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Bark Up The Right Tree

Bark can contribute color and texture.

Autumn foliar color does not seem to last long enough. As it dissipates, though, it reveals silhouettes of bare deciduous trees. Some are delightfully sculptural, with strikingly pale bark on their trunks and stems. Others develop distinctively reddish twigs. Some display interesting bark textures or patterns. Color, texture and patterns are remarkably variable.

Of course, for most species, bark does not change much throughout the year. It becomes more prominent now merely because defoliation increases its exposure. In fact, some of the most distinctive bark belongs to evergreen species. Some belongs to flowering trees, fruiting trees or arboriform shrubbery. The sources are as variable as the characteristics.

European white birch is likely the most familiar tree with white bark. Jacquemontii birch is even whiter. California sycamore is a massive tree with mottled light gray and tan bark. Crape myrtle, which is more proportionate to home gardens, is more mottled. Some elms exhibit elegant tan trunks and limbs. European beech trunks develop metallic gray color.

Melaleucas are evergreen trees with distinctively shaggy trunks. Eucalyptus are likewise evergreen, but generally with pale and smooth trunks. Lemon gum is particularly tall and elegant. However, red ironbark eucalyptus has dark and notably rough trunks and limbs. ‘Marina’ madrone develops smooth trunks and limbs with brown and cinnamon red color.

Coral bark Japanese maple and osier dogwood display colorful bark differently. Theirs is on small twigs rather than trunks and main limbs. Color actually develops in response to autumn chill and defoliation. Coral bark Japanese maple develops, pinkish orange color. Osier dogwood is more brownish red, although some cultivars are orangish or yellowish.

Trees that exhibit distinctive bark are subject to the same constraints as all other trees. In other words, they must be appropriate to their particular landscapes. California sycamore for example, is much too large for compact urban gardens. Osier dogwood can grow as a thicket without intensive maintenance. Any new tree or shrubbery should be sustainable.

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The Importance of Proper Arboriculture

Arboriculture is horticulture of trees.

Pasadena sustained the worst of the damage caused by the strongest Santa Ana Winds in three decades. Huge piles of debris from broken trees are much more than can be removed any time soon. Falling debris and trees damaged many roofs, cars and anything else that happened to get in the way.

Other towns and neighborhoods throughout the area, particularly those at the base of mountains, also sustained major damage. At the same time, severe winds ravaged the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas as well, particularly in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the hills of the East Bay.

Some of the damage caused by wind in urban areas might have been less disastrous if trees had gotten the respect and attention that they deserve. Some trees develop structural deficiencies that need to be corrected by pruning, either to eliminate the problems, or at least to decrease the strain exerted onto the structurally deficient parts. A few trees that become unstable as they mature may likewise need to be pruned or even removed.

It is not always possible to prune trees to remove all structural deficiencies without damaging the affected trees more, or causing more structural problems to develop. For example, major pruning to remove all parts that may get blown down by wind, such as pollarding or ‘topping’, may seem to be effective for the short term, but actually stimulates the development of vigorous secondary growth or watersprouts that are disproportionately heavy and even more likely to tear off from the older limbs.

Structural pruning more often involves thorough reduction of weight and wind resistance. Weight of foliage and stems directly applies leverage against unions where smaller stems are attached to the larger stems from which they originate. Wind resistance adds more leverage as foliage gets blown about by wind. Thinning obviously removes significant weight, and also decreases wind resistance to allow wind to blow though the affected canopies.

Besides helping to compensate for structural deficiency, structural pruning is also beneficial to potentially unstable trees for the same reasons. However, unstable trees typically need even more reduction of weight and wind resistance. Some of the most unstable trees and those that are deteriorating need to be removed because their instability cannot be accommodated.

During winter, while deciduous trees are bare, evergreen trees are more susceptible to wind damage, obviously because they retain their weight and wind resistance through winter while the weather is the most severe. Unstable trees become even more destabilized as rain softens the soil. Regardless of the potential for susceptibility to wind damage, this would be a good time of year to get any needed tree maintenance done, prior to any more windy and rainy winter weather.

Arborists certified by the International Society of Arboriculture are the most qualified to identify potential structural problems or instability, and to prescribe corrective procedures. A list of certified arborists can be found at the website of the International Society of Arboriculture at http://www.isaarbor.com.