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Soil Is More Than Dirt

Amendment makes good soil even better.

Weeds are plants that grow wildly where they are undesirable. Therefore, all weeds are plants, but not all plants are weeds. Similarly, dirt is soil or similar substances where it is undesirable. Therefore, some dirt is soil, but soil is not necessarily dirt. The assumption that soil is dirt is disrespectful to the foundation of the garden. Roots know the difference.

Roots are experts in regard to soil because they inhabit it. They must disperse through it to procure nutrients and water, and to conduct respiration. They also provide stability for their associated stems and foliage above. Various soils are naturally diverse. Vegetation is more diverse to exploit them. Not many soils can not sustain some type of vegetation.

Soil, most simply, is the loose aggregates on the surfaces of most land. Loose is relative, since some soils are dense and quite hard. The inorganic aggregates range in size from microscopic clay particles to coarse sand. Most soils include small stones. Some include significant stones. Almost all soils contain organic material. Exposed bedrock lacks soil.

The texture of a soil is its ratio of the three basic components, sand, silt and clay. Sandy soils drain efficiently, but do not retain moisture as well as dense clay soils do. Clay soils retain more moisture, but do not drain as efficiently. Like climates, soils limit what grows well in a garden. Although local soils are of good quality, some benefit from amendment.

Soil amendments, such as compost, may improve both drainage and moisture retention. They also improve aeration and, as they decompose, they generate additional nutrients. Such organic amendments are helpful with the installation of new plants. They promote healthy dispersion of roots. They are also particularly useful for annuals and vegetables.

Fertilizers promote growth by providing more of the nutrients that the soil provides. Each nutrient promotes different types of growth. For example, phosphorus promotes floral and fruit growth. Nitrogen promotes vegetative growth. The formulation of synthetic fertilizers is very precise for specific results. Organic fertilizers can be less potent, but are effective.

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Arborists Are Horticulturists Of Trees

Arborists work on the biggest trees.

Trees are the most substantial living components of their landscapes. Many grow too big for garden enthusiasts or professional gardeners to maintain them. Such trees will likely eventually require the services of arborists. Arborists are horticulturists who specialize in the horticulture of trees, or arboriculture. Most of the best are certified as such by the ISA.

The ISA is the International Society of Arboriculture. Certification by the ISA first requires arborists to pass an arboricultural proficiency exam. Maintenance of certification requires continuing participation with ISA programs. This includes classes, workshops, seminars and qualified work experience. Arborists must also maintain ISA professional standards.

More information about the ISA is available online at isa-arbor.com. This site includes a link for more consumer information at treesaregood.org. An interactive directory identifies local certified arborists and their tree services. Various articles explain the importance of securing services from qualified arborists. Other resources help select appropriate trees.

ISA certified arborists do more than maintain trees. If necessary, they also remove trees. Many municipalities require permits for removal of significant trees. A permit application requires recommendation for removal from a certified arborist. To prescribe removal, the arborist must compose an arborist report to justify it. Such processes requires inspection.

ISA certified arborists do not invariably perform all the procedures that they recommend. Most work with and supervise a few crews who execute their recommended procedures. Arboriculture is very physically demanding work. Some who do it while younger prefer to become consulting arborists when a bit older. Their work experience is a valuable asset.

The need for arboriculture becomes more apparent at particular times of the year. Winter storms make it more obvious. Also, several trees prefer pruning during winter dormancy. However, various arboricultural procedures are seasonable at various times of the year. Most of such procedures can be performed whenever convenient, at any time of the year.

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Aromatic Foliage Has Certain Advantages

Some plants are perhaps too aromatic.

Culinary herbs are mostly aromatic foliage. Their respective flavors are generally similar to their distinct aromas. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are a few popular examples. So are basil, cilantro, chive, mint, oregano, dill, lavender and bay leaf. Ironically though, herbal flavors and aromas repel some insects or grazing animals. Such is their purpose.

The aromatic foliage of rosemary, for example, is a popular culinary herb. However, such foliage is aromatic primarily to repel grazing animals. So, it is both repulsive to deer, and coincidentally appealing for culinary application. Its endeavor to be unpopular has made it popular. For organisms that lack olfactory perceptions, plants make productive use of it.

Rosemary, though, is also popular because it is useful for landscape application. Some trailing cultivars grow as ground cover. Others are shrubby. Various species and cultivars of lavender are similarly useful for landscape situations. Bronze fennel became popular more for its visual appeal than its aromatic foliage. Many herbs can perform double duty.

Also, several plants that are not herbs have exceptionally aromatic foliage. Both trailing and shrubby lantana are almost obnoxiously aromatic. Society garlic, breath of Heaven, rockrose and some salvias can be also. While aromatic foliage should be appealing, it is sometimes objectionable to some. Warmth and humidity typically enhance foliar aroma.

Some aromatic foliage only exudes its aroma when disturbed. Junipers can be aromatic during their pruning, but may not be otherwise. Incense cedar, camphor and the various eucalypti and conifers are very aromatic. However, their foliage is very often out of reach. Native bay trees are very big, but culinary Grecian bay is proportionate to home gardens.

Because of aromatic foliage, window boxes became popular in ancient European towns. They were convenient planter boxes for growing herbs where garden space was scarce. Also, they sustained aromatic foliage that repelled mosquitoes prior to window screens. Trailing rosemary, nasturtium and ivy geranium are still very traditional accompaniments.

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Utilities Limit Appropriate Tree Selection

Clearance pruning can disfigure big trees.

Trees and utilities should not mix. Unfortunately, on rare occasion, they do. Trees cause electrical outages or fires by dropping limbs onto electrical cables. Telecommunications are also susceptible to such disruption. Arborists maintain clearance for utility cables, but can not eliminate all hazards. Several trees are simply too large and too close to utilities.

Of course, this is more of a problem within rural areas, where native trees grow wild. It is also sometimes a problem within urban areas, though. Many urban trees are too large for their particular situations. Some extend their growth within easements for aerial utilities. Selection of trees that are proportionate to their situations helps to avoid such problems.

Any palm tree that can grow tall enough to reach utility cables should avoid them. Palms grow only upward, so are not conducive to pruning around such cables. Any that get too close to high voltage cables will be subject to decapitation. That entails removal of their solitary terminal buds, which kills them. Then, their dead carcasses necessitate removal.

This is unfortunately a common problem. Mexican fan palms commonly grow below high voltage cables. This is because birds that drop their seed so often perch on such cables. Also, queen palms are popular for planting within rear corners of backyards. This is often directly below aerial utilities. Queen palms reach such utilities within only several years.

Palm trees are not the only concern in regard to utilities. Various sycamores, ashes and elms vigorously grow quite tall. Canary Island pine and sweetgum develop upright form. Actually, any tree that grows as high as high voltage cables should avoid them. Plenty of smaller trees are available. Clearance pruning for aerial utilities is potentially disfiguring.

Pruning any tree near high voltage cables is extremely hazardous. This is why electrical service providers employ professionally trained arborists to do so. Unfortunately though, proper arboricultural technique is not a priority. Safety and reliability of electrical service are. Pruning for clearance of utilities is efficient, but can severely damage subject trees.

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Vines Are Naturally Very Competitive

Some vines climb with clinging roots.

Nature is competitive. Competition is natural. In the wild, vegetation competes for limited resources. Where sunlight is a limited resource within forest ecosystems, competition for it is fierce. Understory vegetation does what it can in the shade of taller trees. Taller trees strive to be the tallest for more sunlight. Vines are the most aggressive competitors of all.

Vines are blatantly exploitative. They rely on trees to do the work of growing to the top of the forest canopy. Then, they climb into and over such trees to grow even higher than the trees do. Some can overwhelm and even shade out and kill the trees that they rely on for support. Strangler fig literally strangles its hosts as it develops its own supportive trunks.

Vines climb with clinging roots, twining stems, tendrils, twining leaves or hooked thorns. Some are perennials or even annuals. Some sprawl over the ground while juvenile, and then climb as they encounter support. As they reach the top of their supports, such vines generate shrubbier adult growth. Then, such adult growth can bloom and generate seed.

English ivy, for example, is a practical groundcover plant in its juvenile form. However, it becomes a clinging vine when it finds support. It quite often climbs shrubbery, trees and buildings. If left unattended, it develops into shrubbier growth that blooms and produces seed. Such shrubby growth shades desirable vegetation, and on buildings, promotes rot.

Carolina jessamine, lilac vine, mandevilla and wisteria climb by twining stems. They are generally not as potentially destructive as clinging vines. However, they can crush lattice or small trellises. Wisteria can crush substantial trellises. Like English ivy, star jasmine is likely more popular as a ground cover. It performs double duty, though, as a twining vine.

Bougainvillea neither clings nor twines. It merely produces vigorously tall canes that flop over on top of their support. Long thorns help to anchor them into place. Therefore, such canes need a bit of help to climb trellises or other support. They must be tied in place or woven into their trellises. Various other vines exhibit various and distinct characteristics.

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Catalog Shopping Affords More Options

Exline Iris Garden sells only iris.

Local retail nurseries can sell more varieties of more types of plants than anyone needs. That which is unavailable from one nursery is likely available from another. That which is unavailable from any local nursery might not perform well locally. There really should be no need for catalog or online shopping. Of course, many garden enthusiasts would differ.

Catalog shopping, whether from a printed catalog or online, affords many more options. Such catalogs are from specialty nurseries that specialize in particular plants. They lack in selection of different types of plants, but excel at their particular specialties. Therefore, they can sell more varieties of their type of plant. They do not need to stay open all year.

Exline Iris Garden, for example, grows and sells only iris. Their catalog features nothing else. However, it does feature 1,231 cultivars of iris! Most retail nurseries that market iris can not provide one percent of that. Exline Iris Garden accepts orders only from January to early September. Such orders go out for delivery only from July until early September.

This delivery date range conforms to the dormancy cycles of the iris rhizomes. Similarly, delivery of bare root fruit trees and roses occurs only during bare root season. Delivery of bulbs also happens while such bulbs are dormant. Some plants, particularly evergreens, can be ready for delivery at any time of year. Their roots may be contained in potting soil.

Other restrictions may apply. Some plants are unavailable for import into California from other states. They may have potential to become invasive or transmit disease. Citrus, for example, can transmit disease. Therefore, it is unavailable for import. Some plants might be dissatisfied with local climates. Peonies are not recommended locally for that reason.

Seed has fewer, if any restrictions. Most is cleaned so that it should not transmit disease. Seed for the most invasive plants is mostly unavailable. Seed are much less perishable than other plant items, which facilitates delivery. Each seed catalog features more variety than any garden can accommodate. Nowadays, almost every print catalog is also online.

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Trees Should Fit Their Gardens

Some trees eventually grow very large.

A tree is a woody perennial plant with a single tall trunk and branches. However, several tree types can not conform with this overly simplistic definition. Palm trees and tree ferns are neither woody nor branched. Although branching, arboriform yuccas and dracaenas are no woodier than palms. Banana trees develop a few unbranched herbaceous trunks.

Actually, several types of trees do not conform with their own definition. Many Japanese maples, crape myrtles and olive trees develop multiple trunks. Many citrus are not as tall as big shrubbery. Papayas are merely large perennials that survive for only a few years. Banyans support their canopies with multiple aerial roots instead of conventional trunks.

Generally, though, trees are the most significant living components within their gardens. Not much else within home gardens is as big or as permanent as its trees are. Some old oaks inhabited their gardens centuries before their gardens. Some old redwoods contain more lumber than their associated homes. Many trees influence adjacent home gardens.

This is why proper selection is so important. Trees must be appropriate to their particular applications. They should remain proportionate to their particular situations, even if they live for centuries. They should not generate more mess than those living with them want to contend with. Also, they should not require more maintenance than they will likely get.

Shade trees near houses should be deciduous to allow sunshine through during winter. Evergreens at a distance can obscure unwanted scenery throughout the year. Evergreen vegetation is generally a bit messier than deciduous vegetation, though. It sheds through the year instead of only in autumn. Utility cables and easements limit placement of trees.

Many municipalities have adopted strict tree preservation ordinances. Such ordinances protect heritage trees or trees that exceed a particular size. They often make it difficult or impossible to remove unwanted and problematic trees. Preemptive selection of the most appropriate tree varieties helps avoid such situations. Prevention is better than the cure.

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Colorful Foliage Regardless Of Bloom

Dusty miller has silvery gray foliage.

Home gardens display more floral color now than at any other time of year. So much is in bloom. So much more is generating fresh new foliage. Most, but not all, of such foliage is green. Some is splendidly colorful. Although foliar color is generally not as vivid as floral color, it lasts longer. Some evergreen colorful foliage retains its color throughout the year.

Colorful foliage is not the same as foliage that turns color for autumn, although it can be. Most is evergreen. Generally, it is most colorful as it grows fresh through warming spring weather. Some fades somewhat through summer. Some deciduous colorful foliage also turns color for autumn. Also, some foliarly colorful species provide fruit or showy flowers.

A few cultivars of European elderberry with bronze or variegated foliage produce berries. Variegated pink lemon is, as its name implies, both variegated and fruitful. Smoke tree is fruitless, but is colorful twice. It is either dark bronze or bright chartreuse yellow for spring and summer. Then, it turns color for autumn. It lacks color only while bare through winter.

Colorful foliage can be bronze, silver, gold or variegated. Bronze is the most varied since it can be bronzy shades of purple, red, orange or brown. Purple leaf plum is probably the most familiar tree with bronzy purple foliage. A few cultivars of New Zealand flax produce foliage that is either bronze or variegated. Their variegations can be bronze, gold or pink.

Silver foliage occurs mostly among plants that are endemic to high elevations or deserts. Such color reflects some of the harshly intense sunlight to protect the foliage from scald. Both Colorado blue spruce and Arizona cypress are naturally endemic to high elevation. Blue agave is endemic to deserts. Silvery foliage can be gray, pale blue or almost white.

Colorful foliage is not otherwise an advantage, though. Gold and variegated foliage has less chlorophyll than green foliage, so grows slower. New Zealand flax, smoke tree and elderberry can be either gold or bronze. Gold cultivars of each are innately less vigorous than the bronze. Coleus and caladium are among the most variegated of colorful foliage.

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Succulents Within Average Home Gardens

Succulents contribute form, color and texture.

All cacti are succulents. So are all agaves. Technically, yuccas are too, even though they are no more succulent than palm trees. Perhaps that is why succulents have a reputation as xerophytic plants. In other words, succulents are supposedly drought tolerant. Most of these examples are. However, there are more succulents than cacti, agaves and yuccas.

Cacti, agaves and yuccas, as well as some of the euphorbias, are the spiny succulents. It is how they defend themselves from hungry herbivores within their natural ecosystems. Although they have a reputation as xerophytic, some uncommon sorts are quite tropical. Some can grow quite big, and because of their spines, can become difficult to work with.

Fortunately, many other succulents are neither as spiny nor as potentially cumbersome. However, contrary to popular conception, many of them are also not as xerophytic. Many that can survive with minimal irrigation perform better with occasional irrigation. Several require regular irrigation. Succulents should not be synonymous with drought tolerance.

Aeoniums, or houseleeks, can easily survive with minimal irrigation for a significant time. However, their otherwise luxuriant foliar rosettes partially defoliate to conserve moisture. With regular irrigation, they are lush, sculptural and colorful. Some are rich bronze while others exhibit delightful variegation. Aeoniums are among the more popular succulents.

Almost all small scale succulents, and a few larger ones, are easy to grow from cuttings. Clumping sorts, such as echeveria, are about as easy to propagate by division. Cuttings or pups of most sorts can be plugged directly where new plants are desirable. They only require frequent watering as they disperse roots. Then, they need only regular irrigation.

Also, almost all succulents can grow in pots. Cacti merely require very efficient drainage. Some big and spiny succulents, though, are not as portable as other potted plants. Large cacti can break if jarred. Agaves can get too heavy and broad to move safely. Otherwise, confinement of roots within pots is no problem. Some potted plants can be houseplants.

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Palm Trees Within Home Gardens

Palm trees make a bold statement.

Trees conform to an overly vague definition. Most simply, they are substantial and woody perennial plants with tall trunks and branches. Yet, several Japanese maple trees are no more substantial than big shrubbery. Tree ferns and banana trees are neither woody nor branched. Arboriform yucca trees and palm trees are technically herbaceous, not woody.

Doum palms, which are the only palms that develop branches, are extremely rare locally. Any other palm which develops a branch is an extremely rare aberration. Therefore, with very few and extremely rare exceptions, palm trees develop no branches. A few, such as the Mediterranean fan palm, develop a few trunks though. All trunks develop at the base.

Palm trees are either fan palms or feather palms. Fan palms have round palmate leaves on sturdy petioles. Feather palms have elongated pinnately compound leaves on sturdy rachises. Most fan palms have nasty teeth on their petioles. Several feather palms have dangerously sharp spines on the bases of their rachises. All palms trees are evergreen.

Once palm trunks begin to grow upward, they do not widen. Nor do their foliar canopies. They grow only vertically. Those that encroach into high voltage cables require removal. Unfortunately, most palm trees grow high enough to necessitate the services of arborists. Although trunks do not expand, some large palms develop widely distended basal roots.

Mexican fan palms are the most prominent of palm trees locally because they are so tall. California fan palms, or desert fan palms, are shorter and stouter but much less common. Canary Island date palms are big and bold feather palms with wide and dense canopies. Common date palms, which only became common recently, are not as broad and dense.

Queen palms develop billowy and feathery canopies on tall and elegant trunks. They are among the most popular of palm trees nowadays. Windmill palms are relatively small fan palms with very shaggy trunks, but can grow tall. Mediterranean fan palms stay lower but with a few curving trunks. These are merely a few examples of many different palm trees. A few more are available. Bismarck palm and hesper palm are becoming more popular.