Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Blackberries And Raspberries Are Expensive For A Reason.

Cane berries need aggressive pruning, but are no fun to prune.

All the raspberries and blackberries that are now ripening do not come without a price. The canes that produce them may grow like weeds, and in many gardens really are weeds, but they need quite a bit of work. Like the deciduous fruit trees that need such meticulous pruning while dormant in winter, berry canes need winter pruning while dormant, as well as summer pruning as the berries finish.

Blackberry canes that have produced fruit should be cut at the ground as the fruit gets depleted. Then, for ‘trailing’ varieties, about a dozen of the new canes that grew since spring should be selected, pruned to about six feet long, and trained onto the same supports that the removed canes used. ‘Semi-erect’ varieties need only about half as many canes, and get cut about a foot shorter. (‘Erect’ varieties that get cut even shorter are not common locally.) All other canes should be cut to the ground. Through the rest of summer, the pruned canes develop side branches which should eventually get pruned to about a foot long in winter to bloom and produce fruit next year; but that part must wait.

Summer bearing raspberries, like ‘Willamette’, ‘Tulameen’ and ‘Canby’, do not need to develop side branches to produce fruit next year, so do not necessarily need to be groomed of spent canes and pruned just yet, and can actually wait until winter. Everbearing raspberries like ‘September’, ‘Heritage’ and ‘Fallgold’, are not nearly so simple, although canes that were selected while young last winter and allowed to grow through summer likewise need no pruning just yet. The top portions of these canes will produce fruit later in autumn, and later in winter, get pruned down as low as fruit developed. However, the lower portions of older canes that fruited the previous year and got their tops pruned down last winter are now finishing their second and last phase of fruit production, so should get pruned out as they finish.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Sustainable Horticulture Should Be Sustainable

Lily of the Nile is sustainable!

There is no doubt about it. Weeds are sustainable. Otherwise, they would not be weeds. By definition, they grow where they are undesirable. Less sustainable vegetation should be less invasive. Also, it should be less resistant to eradication than most familiar weeds are. Unfortunately, also by definition, weeds are undesirable. They can not become fads.

Sustainable horticulture is a fad though. Unlike most fads, it is actually quite sensible. In theory, it is horticulture that requires as minimal intervention as possible. It excludes that which requires intensive or impractical cultivation. For example, native species that grow wild are sustainable. Tropical species that may survive only within greenhouses are not.

A problem with the sustainability fad is its marketability. ‘Sustainable’ and ‘Sustainability’ have become cliche buzzwords. They too often describe merchandise that is contrary to the fad. Realistically, genuine sustainability is unsustainable within profitable marketing. Truly sustainable merchandise would eliminate most of the need to ever purchase more.

Modern cultivars can qualify as ‘new and improved’ as they first become available. They are certainly new. However, their improvements may be questionable. Hybridization and extensive breeding can cause genetic deficiency. Even natural variegation compromises vigor. Seed is not true to type. Most aesthetic improvements are contrary to sustainability.

Native species are technically sustainable. Once established, they might survive without irrigation or other attention. Unfortunately though, some are not very adaptable to refined home gardens. Some are vulnerable to rot if nearby vegetation needs frequent irrigation. Some perform vigorously only for a few years. Several species are innately combustible.

Ironically, several of the most passe and old fashioned species are the most sustainable. That is why some of them became passe. Lily of the Nile can survive indefinitely. If it gets overgrown, it is easy to divide and relocate. It may be available for free from neighbors or friends. African iris, New Zealand flax, bergenia, most aloe and many yucca are similarly sustainable.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Tree Stumps May Put Up A Fight

Some stumps die immediately. Some do not.

Trees of all sorts are among the most important features of most gardens, and are also the most substantial. Yet, in the end, whether they get too big, too crowded, too hazardous or simply succumb to old age, they eventually need to be removed.

Getting rid of the brush (foliage and smaller limbs) of smaller trees is generally not much of a problem, especially where greenwaste can be left at the curb for recycling. Larger limbs and trunks can be cut and split into firewood. The brush and wood of trees that are so large that they need to be removed by professionals typically gets taken away be the same professionals. The most difficult parts to remove though, are the stumps.

Professional tree services typically offer the option of stump grinding. This works well for the most obtrusive stumps that are accessible. Other stumps get left either because they are inaccessible, or because of the expense of grinding.

Stumps that are within ground cover or shrubbery often get obscured by the surrounding vegetation, and are never seen again. Others are not so easy to hide. Many refuse to die for several years, and may even try to grow back as new trees.

Coastal redwoods (but not giant redwoods), poplars, willows, privets, sycamores and camphors are notoriously difficult to kill. Their stumps can continue to sprout for years. Shoots that emerge away from the stump can certainly be left to grow into new trees if they happen to be where they will not soon become problematic. (Shoots that emerge directly from cut stumps will likely lack structural integrity.)

To kill stubborn stumps, shoots must be removed as they appear. Eventually, the stumps and roots below the ground exhaust all resources and die. Of course this sounds simple, but may take years to kill redwood stumps. Leaving shoots to grow prolongs the process by allowing replenishment of resources. A stump from a camphor tree that I cut down in about 1988 but did not regularly remove the shoots from lingered for about twenty years before finally succumbing in about 2008!

Once stumps die, they rot faster if buried or at least covered with other plant material. Less stubborn stumps that are not likely to sprout again, like those of pines, cypresses, cedars, birches and (solitary trunked) palms, can be buried or concealed immediately. Stumps that are not cut low to the ground are not so easy to conceal, but should still rot faster if covered with ivy. I prefer to plant either freshly divided lily-of-the-Nile shoots or geranium cuttings around the bases of stumps, because they obscure the stumps and also promote rot as they get watered and disperse roots into the decaying wood. They can be removed, if desired, as the stumps deteriorate.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Palm Trees Are Specialized Trees

Many palms have palmate leaf form.

A tree is a woody perennial plant with a single tall trunk and branches. Banana trees and tree ferns lack both branches and wood. Arboriform yuccas develop branches but are not woody. Palm trees are no better. Some develop a few trunks but without branches. Doum palms that develop branches are extremely rare in California. No palm is actually woody.

Palms are trees only because of their size and form. In other words, most are big and tall. The most compact of palms are no smaller than Japanese maples, which are also trees. Realistically though, palms are merely large to very large perennials. They are monocots like grass, bamboo or cordyline. Some horticulturists classify them as herbaceous trees.

Only California fan palm is native to California, and only to remote desert oases. All other palms are exotic. Spanish Missionaries imported date palms to produce dates within arid regions. Only a few other palms were similarly utilitarian. The majority are desirable only for their distinctive form, texture and evergreen foliage. They are genuinely ornamentals.

All palms are evergreen. Fan palms produce rounded palmate leaves on sturdy petioles. Feather palms produce elongated pinnately compound leaves on sturdy rachises. Many fan palms also produce wicked teeth on their petioles. Many feather palms also produce dangerously sharp spines on the bases of their rachises. Even lush palms can be mean.

Not many palms get big enough to provide much shade. Many types are shady in groups though. Without branches, palms are not conducive to containment or redirection. Some eventually grow tall enough to shade neighboring gardens instead. Unfortunately, palms that encroach too closely to high voltage cables require removal. They do not go around.

Palm trunks do not widen as their canopies grow higher above. Palms with plump trunks grow at ground level for several years before they can launch. Their single terminal buds must first grow as wide as their mature trunks will ever get. Their foliar canopies likewise grow no broader than they were when they launched. They only grow higher. Most large palms develop distended basal adventitious roots that can get quite wide, though.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Root Of The Problem

Trees need their roots.

Does anyone really know what roots do? We know that they are important parts of almost all plants, that draw nutrients from soil and water, and that they provide structural support so that plants can stand upright. Yet, we really do not know all of what they they could be doing right now, underground, where no one can see them.

Big roots of big trees unfortunately sometimes cause big problems by displacing pavement and other features. They commonly displace pavement because they naturally disperse laterally just below the surface of the soil, and do the same directly below pavement as if it were the thin layer of soil that they require above. Roots of many trees are actually attracted to pavement because it is better insulated than some types of soil, and may even retain moisture better. As roots grow and expand, they displace the pavement above.

They do not displace retaining walls or foundations as commonly because they are not so tempted to go under them. When they do displace such features, it is usually because they disperse against them and displace them laterally.

Although often blamed for such problems, roots only rarely interfere with subterranean utilities like water pipes and sewer pipes. Most pipes are deep enough to avoid the majority of roots. However, very old sewer pipes of unsealed terracotta segments or unsealed iron can leak slightly but enough to attract and become invaded by roots. Also, some types of trees are notorious for invading septic systems.

Various types of root barriers limit lateral dispersion of roots and promote deeper dispersion to protect pavement and features at the surface of the soil. They are somewhat effective for certain types of trees that innately exhibit aggressive roots. Alternatively, trees that innately exhibit complaisant or deeply dispersed roots may be selected for situations in which aggressive roots would be a problem.

Roots that are already causing problems most often need to be severed. Unfortunately, severing substantial roots is very distressful to the affected trees, and can even be destabilizing. Trees with fibrous roots, like redwoods and crape myrtles, recover from minor root damage somewhat efficiently. Many other trees, like oaks and most maples, are very sensitive to such damage. If it becomes necessary to sever major roots or large portions of a root system, an arborist might determine that it would actually be more practical to remove the affected tree than to allow it to be destabilized or to deteriorate slowly before ultimately succumbing to damage.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 3 Comments

Soil Is More Than Dirty

Soil amendments improve percolation of moisture.

All weeds are plants. Not all plants are weeds. Weeds are a specifiable subset of plants. Specifically, weeds are plants that grow wildly where they are undesirable. Similarly, dirt is likely soil, although it could be anything that is dirty. Soil is not merely dirt, though. Dirt is soil or a similar matter, where it is undesirable. Plants and weeds know the difference.

Most simply, soil is the loose material on the surfaces of most land. Obviously, looseness is relative. Some is quite dense and hard. It is not solid rock though. All of it consists of a combination of various inorganic aggregates. Most also includes various organic matter. Inorganic aggregates range in size from microscopic clay particles to substantial stones.

Soil provides stability and nutrients for vegetation that inhabits it. Roots disperse through it for structural support of their associated stems and foliage. Roots also absorb nutrients and water, as well as conduct respiration. Soils are naturally quite diverse. Vegetation is naturally more diverse to exploit various soils. Very few soils can not sustain vegetation.

Lawns are the carpets of a garden. Hedges are the walls. Tree canopies are the ceilings. Soils are the foundations. They support all vegetation that is not self-reliant in containers or epiphytically. Some soils are sandy, so drain very efficiently. Some are denser clay, so may drain slowly. Like climate and exposure, soils can limit what grows within a garden.

Most common and popular vegetation is satisfied with most common types of soil. Some, particularly vegetables and annuals, are more demanding. Even within good quality soil, they appreciate amendments such as compost. Amendments improve aeration, drainage and moisture retention. Organic amendments also provide nutrients as they decompose.

The most demanding vegetation also appreciates fertilizers. Most fertilizers are chemical or synthetic fertilizers of very precise formulation. Organic fertilizers are only slightly less precise. All allow application of specific amounts of specific nutrients for specific results. For example, nitrogen enhances foliar growth. Also, phosphorus enhances floral growth, and fruit growth.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Warmth Accelerates Garden Activity.

Spring was mild and started late. Summer if now getting started.

Just like the moon is always either waxing or waning, but is really only full or new for the brief moments in between, the seasons are always flowing from one to the next. Even though it is not yet half way through summer, plants in the garden are already planning for autumn. Summer has been mild, but still warm enough for most plants to do what they need to do by this time of year.

If weeds were not pulled when they should have been in early spring, they really should be pulled now. They have already started to sow their seed for the next generation that will grow at the end of next winter. The ground has dried and hardened since early spring, so pulling weeds will take a bit more effort. That is the punishment for procrastinating.

Weeds that are still somewhat fresh and green may not have dispersed all of their seed yet. If pulled soon enough, their next generation may not be so prolific. Those that have dried have likely dispersed their seed already. Their progeny will be back by next spring.

Pulling out the roots of annual grasses is not as important as getting the roots of perennials like thistles. Heck, they are annuals, so will die at the end of the season anyway. Getting their seed in the priority now. Some people are satisfied with simply pulling the seeded tops off of annual weeds, and leaving the lower portions to die out naturally.

Most fruit trees finish their production sometime during summer. Small fruit like cherries finished some time ago. Larger peaches, although related to cherries, may still be ripening into August. They should be picked as they ripen, not only to get the most use out of them, but also to avoid sharing with unwelcome rodents, birds and other annoying wildlife. The ground under fruit trees should be cleaned of any fallen fruit that might otherwise rot and perpetuate disease. Apples and pears ripen later and into autumn.

Warm season vegetables should be picked as they mature to promote continued production. Leaving extra zucchini on the plants inhibits production of new zucchini, while the old zucchini grow into tough and insipid baseball bats. Leaving extra tomatoes both inhibits new tomatoes and also makes a mess of rotting fruit.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Cuttings Become Copies Of Originals

Elderberries grow efficiently from hardwood cuttings.

Seed is the most familiar source of much of the vegetation that inhabits home gardens. It is the origin of almost all vegetables and most annual flowers. Some seed grows directly into its gardens. Some grows in nurseries to become saleable young plants. Seed is not the only method of propagation though. Cuttings, division and layering are as productive.

Cuttings, as well as divisions and layers, are genetically identical to their single parents. Unlike seed, which are products of two parents, they lack potential for genetic variation. Division is the separation of stems with roots from perennials or clumping woody plants. Layering is the rooting of stems by partially burying them while attached to their parents.

Cuttings grow simply as pieces of stem within moist rooting medium such as potting soil. They initially lack roots and perhaps foliage. They develop new roots and foliage as they grow. Their medium must remain moist throughout the process. For many plants, rooting hormone accelerates root initiation. Some species can grow roots as they soak in water.

Hardwood cuttings are mostly from deciduous species as they defoliate for winter. Those from last winter are developing now. Evergreen hardwood cuttings retain some foliage through their winter dormancy. Softwood cuttings can be either deciduous or evergreen. They involve fresh new growth, so can begin as soon as such growth is mature enough.

The lower cuts of cuttings should be just below a node. Upper cuts should be just above a node. Terminal cuttings are tips of stems without upper cuts. Each cutting must include at least two good nodes. Some species may need cuttings to be several inches long in pots. Most grow better from small cuttings that fit into flats. Some can go directly into a garden. Cuttings should lack leaves below the level of their rooting medium.

Softwood cuttings generally require humidity to help compensate for their lack of roots. Most also appreciate partial shade. Evergreen hardwood cuttings appreciate the same as weather gets warmer and drier. Warmth from a heating mat below pots or flats might accelerate rooting. Many species are difficult or impossible to grow from cuttings though.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Cats Gone Wild!

The best cats are domestic.

Rats, mice, squirrels, racoons, opossums, skunks, deer, pigeons and more; it just never ends! There are so many other life forms who often enjoy our gardens more than we do. While visiting my colleague in Los Angeles, his garden became overrun by a swarm of bees! Fortunately, they did no damage and left the same day.

The worst problem in his garden is cats. His neighbor hoards ‘unaltered’ feral cats that have proliferated into a substantial herd. Instead of exterminating rodents from the neighborhood, the overfed cats ignore the droves of rats that are drawn to the cat food left out on the porches. The rats attract opossums. Fleas are everywhere!

All this wildlife brings all sorts of other problems. The well kept domestic cats that live inside the home of my colleague are frequently afflicted with illness transmitted by the sickly feral cats. Flat roofs and basement crawl spaces of several adjacent homes have become litterboxes. The overpowering aroma is horrendous.

Fortunately, such proliferation of cats is rare. Most of us do not mind when a neighborhood cat, or even a few cats, visit the garden. However, when cats become a problem, they are nearly as difficult to remedy as vermin.

Although most municipalities have limited the number of domestic cats that can reside at individual residences, feral cats come and go freely, so are considered to be wild animals who are exempt from such limits. Besides, no one wants to enforce such ordinances with their neighbors, even if the problematic cats happen to be domestic house cats. All we can do is try to limit the problems in our own gardens and homes.

Flat roofs sometimes get used as litterboxes because they commonly have gravel on them and tend to accumulate a bit of other debris. If this is a problem, and if possible, access to flat roofs should be obstructed. Tree limbs and vines should be pruned back.

Basements and crawl spaces are easier to obstruct access to by simply repairing vent screens and exterior basement access. Cats like to use crawlspaces as litterboxes because the soil is always dry and dusty. Around the garden, dry spots are less attractive to cats if sometimes watered, even if there are no plants present. Adding spreading plants is even  better. In a small dusty area behind the garage, I spread out a bit of firewood over the soil. By the time the firewood gets used, it will be raining and too muddy for cats.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Trees Naturally Dominate Their Gardens

Oaks slowly become grand and sculptural.

Trees are generally the most significant living components within a home garden. Even treeless gardens benefit from nearby trees. Some old redwoods contain more wood than the homes that they shade. Some old oaks inhabited their gardens centuries before their gardens did. With few exceptions, nothing in a garden is as big or permanent as a tree.

Japanese maples, citrus trees and other small trees can be among the exceptions. They might be smaller than some of the shrubbery they share their gardens with. Papayas and other herbaceous trees can also be exceptions. Some live for only a few brief years. The definition of what a tree is can be vague. Variable interpretations complicate this matter.

A tree is a woody perennial plant with a single tall trunk and branches. However, banana trees develop several unbranched herbaceous trunks. Palms and tree ferns are neither woody nor branched. Arboriform yuccas are no woodier than palms. Many trees develop many trunks. Banyans use roots as trunks. This definition does not even describe ‘tall’.

Ultimately, the characteristics of a tree are more important than its definition. Shade trees near homes should be deciduous to let warm sunshine through in winter. Evergreens are better for obscuring unwanted scenery throughout the year. Evergreens are messier than most deciduous vegetation though. Their shedding is not so limited to distinct seasons.

Fruit trees are some of the most misunderstood inhabitants of home gardens. Not many grow big enough to function as shade trees. Fruit is difficult to harvest from those that do. Almost all require intensive and specialized pruning and maintenance. Few get it. Most eventually succumb to neglect. Citrus and avocados are some of the least demanding.

Palms, whether or not they qualify as a type of tree, are also misunderstood. They lack branches, so are not conducive to pruning away from utility cables. Their single terminal buds grow only upward. Removal is the only option for palms that encroach too closely to high voltage cables. Even the best palms need grooming from professional arborists. Most quickly grow beyond reach from the ground or even a ladder, and are dangerous to climb.