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Unused Azalea Pictures

Contractions are awkward for me. I certainly could use them if I want to, I just prefer not to. It is a pointless habit that I should be more comfortable with breaking sometimes.

Another habit that I should indulge in less is the use of six different cultivars of the same species for my ‘Six on Saturday’ posts. I have done it for camellias, rhododendrons, roses, flowering cherries, bearded iris, African daisies and a few other species, including various annuals. I refrained from featuring six azaleas simultaneously for yesterday morning, although I did feature three bearded iris, which comprised half of the ‘Six on Saturday’. I should remember to limit azaleas to three pictures, or preferably two or one, if I feature them on ‘Six on Saturday’ later, as they continue to bloom.

These two pictures of azaleas were omitted from my ‘Six on Saturday’ post yesterday because, as the theme implies, such posts are limited to six pictures. Perhaps I should have used one or both of these pictures instead of one or two pictures of bearded iris. It is too late now.

The first azalea above is variegated. Its leaves resemble those of variegated andromeda. I do not remember what cultivar it is, although the label remains attached to at least one specimen. At least three specimens inhabit the same landscape together. They are blooming better this spring than they have in the past, perhaps because, annually, they are bigger and more established than they were for their previous season.

Relative to the many azaleas here, the second azalea below is nothing special. I like this particular picture because it happens to show a bee visiting the bloom. My pictures tend to be more technical than artistic. Perhaps I should try to include a bit of wildlife sometimes.

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Green, White & Red

North Fourteenth Street is about as close as I have ever been to Italy; but amongst all the Green foliage here, I can find a bit of White albino Redwood foliage. It is a ‘sport’, which is a silly word for mutant growth. Because it lacks chlorophyll, and is consequently unable to photosynthesize, it is reliant on resources that it draws from the tree that generated it, which has a canopy of normal green foliage. Because of this reliance, copies of this mutant growth can not be grown as cuttings. Such cuttings simply could not sustain their own growth. I have made a few unsuccessful attempts to graft this mutant growth onto normal trees. The scions deteriorate before they can graft. I should try again. This foliage really is as strikingly white as it looks in pictures. I am certainly no expert on floral design, and I know that this foliage does not last for long once cut, but I suspect that it would look striking with black bearded iris or black hollyhock, or on a smaller scale, with black pansies or black petunias. Heck, it might likewise be striking with white flowers. In the early 1970s, albino redwoods, which are merely albino sports of normal redwoods, were considered to be very rare, with only a few documented specimens. Although they really are quite rare, many more have been documented since then, and many more, such as this specimen, remain undocumented. I wrote about this albino redwood foliage a few years ago, and was reminded of it by the wildlife photographer of Portraits of Wildflowers near Austin. Except for a few trees that are barely north of the border with Oregon, coastal redwood is exclusively native to the West Coast of California. It is the tallest tree in the World.

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Six on Saturday: Mix It Up

Six pictures can not represent all that is blooming now. I did not even try. Nor did I post six pictures of six different cultivars of the same species, as I typically do with camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons, flowering cherries, roses, or other flowers that we grow several cultivars of. I posted three pictures of bearded iris, but I could have procured more than six if I wanted to. I likewise could have posted more than six pictures of different African daisy. I tried to mix it up a bit more than I typically do, as I did with the snakeroot here.

1. Persicaria bistorta, snakeroot and (likely) Iris ensata ‘Variegata’, variegated Japanese iris from Tangly Cottage Gardening are happy on the edge of the pond. The Japanese iris is barely visible at the center. The rest of it is on the edge of another stream. Naturalized exotic Nasturtium officinale, watercress to the upper right shows how close the water is. I thought that there were two cultivars of snakeroot, but found three labels for ‘Superba’, ‘Firetail’ and ‘Dimity’. I can segregate their copies later, but will likely leave these mixed.

2. Clivia miniata ‘Variegata’, variegated Natal lily from Brent’s Jungalow tried to bloom, but this happened before I took a picture. Its cultivar is unidentified, but it is variegated.

3. Osteospermum ecklonis, African daisy blooms too generously for anyone to take all its flowers. About six cultivars inhabit this particular landscape with a few more in another.

4. Iris X germanica, bearded iris are blooming so tall that some should be staked. There are too many cultivars in the Iris Bed to take pictures of, so I will show only these three.

5. All cultivars of the primary Iris Bed are unidentified. At least three that were relocated from the forest are likely feral. One is pale white. This pale yellow looks like Tweety Bird.

6. All of the iris here, like the iris in my garden, have history. This iris is from the former home of an respected colleague. He brought it to me before the garden was demolished.

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/

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Horridculture – Thorough Hacking

This is no simple hack job. Someone or a few someones put a great deal of effort into this very thorough hack job. This took significantly more effort than would have been needed to do it properly. Seriously, proper pruning would have been much easier, and much healthier to this victimized vegetation. In the future, this vegetation would have needed much less maintenance. Furthermore, this is more than visually unappealing. It is downright unsightly. Removal of such disfigured shrubbery would be an improvement, even without replacement. As the illustration below demonstrates, this is not merely a single specimen. It is an entire herd of brutally disfigured shrubs. How did someone determine that this was the right thing to do?!

This mangled shrubbery is vine maple, Acer circinatum, which is native to the Pacific Northwest where I got these pictures. I actually like this particular species because it can perform similarly to Japanese maple, but is not Japanese maple, which I am not at all keen on. Part of my dislike of Japanese maple is the result of working with so many that were ruined like these vine maples were. Vine maple is more tolerable to me because it is too rare here at home for me to encounter any that are ruined like these. This is a first for me. Perhaps that is why it was more difficult to ignore than the countless similarly ruined Japanese maples that I do not need to work with, but see around town.

I can not help but wonder what these vine maples would look like if they had developed somewhat natural form with only significant pruning for clearance above the adjacent pavement, perhaps with minor pruning to limit congestion within their canopies.. Would they resemble mature Japanese maples with extra trunks by now?

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Butterfly Amaryllis

Hippeastrum papilio, butterfly amaryllis is an uncommon and weirdly epiphytic amaryllis. It may not be as pretty as the countless more colorful hybrids of the genus, but it is more reliably perennial. All of the few specimens that I have observed within home gardens are potted or in the ground, either because they are easier to grow that way, or because those who grow them are not aware that they are epiphytic. After all, that is quite weird.

This specimen, from my Six on Saturday post earlier this morning, is blooming in Brent’s garden. As I mentioned earlier, Brent did not know what it was when he acquired it from a neighbor who left it with him when she relocated. I know that it does not look like much in this picture, but that is only because Brent is an idiot, and takes bad pictures. I intend to get a copy of this butterfly amaryllis for my garden, and may try to grow it epiphytically.

I find this species to be more appealing than prettier hybrids, both because it is reliably perennial, and because it is a simple species rather than a hybrid. This is also why I dug a few naturalized Crinum bulbispermum, Orange River lily bulbs for my garden. They are none too pretty, but will last forever. The same applies to Amaryllis belladonna, naked lady, but they are a bit too prolific and common to not potentially qualify as a weed. Their bright pink floral color can be a bit obnoxious anyway. But of course, that is why I was so very pleased to find a bulb that bloomed white, which is my favorite color. It is multiplying nicely here now, just like I know the butterfly amaryllis will once I get a fresh copy of it.

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Six on Saturday: Surprise!

Even annual bloom can be surprising after a few or many months without it. Perhaps an unexpected bloom is more surprising. Familiar wildlife might be surprising when it does something unexpected. Unexpected or unplanned ‘wildlife’, even if domesticated, is a bit of a surprise. Ultimately though, the major surprise is the fifth of these Six. The first two pictures are from Brent’s garden, not here.

1. Persea americana, avocado fruit ripens in the tree above Brent’s office for quite a few months. The tree rarely lacks fruit completely. These spiral stairs are from the roof deck. This squirrel saw Brent taking a picture of it taking its avocado down, so took it back up.

2. Hippeastrum papilio, butterfly amaryllis was left at Brent’s garden by a neighbor who relocated. It is as perennial here as it is there; so I want a copy. Brent did not know what it was until, after two years or so, it surprised him with bloom. Brent takes bad pictures.

3. Malus X (floribunda?) ‘Prairie Fire’ flowering crabapple bloomed spectacularly. It is a relatively modern cultivar from 1982, but is surprisingly old fashioned. I grew up with a tree that was a decade or so older than I am, but it bloomed with a similar reddish pink.

4. Cymbidium orchid of an unidentified cultivar was left by a colleague who only wanted it off his porch. It gets only watering, but blooms annually, and surprisingly abundantly. I should eventually divide it, but I am hesitant to interfere with such a reliable specimen.

5. Koi met an unfortunate demise two winters ago as someone who was unaware of their presence drained their pond. However, a neighbor inquired about two small fish that he saw in the pond soon afterwards. More recently, the same neighbor inquired about this. It seemed to be about a foot and a half long, with a slightly smaller and darker associate.

6. Koi are supposedly schooling fish. Two do not qualify as a school. So, now they have a few more friends to go to school with. These tiny koi should be able to evade their larger classmates, who might otherwise eat them. Actually, I doubt that the larger koi are large enough to eat them anyway. This is not something that I expected to be contending with.

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/

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Volunteer Days at the Arizona Garden of Stanford

Green waste from the Arizona Garden is fair game for volunteers.

(This article is from 2010, so contains irrelevantly outdated information.)

Some gardens are native gardens. Some are wildflower gardens. Others are vegetable gardens, white gardens or rose gardens. There are really all sorts of gardens. Mine though is the only garden that I am aware that is described by some as a ‘felony garden’.

This less than appealing distinction originates from my habit of ‘recycling’ green waste from other gardens. From the bits and pieces of debris generated by normal maintenance, I like to propagate copies of plants that I like for my own garden. Sometimes, I get large volumes of material, such as clumps of New Zealand flax or African iris. Sometimes, I just get small bits of pelargonium or English ivy. Sometimes, the small bits are not exactly generated by maintenance.

On March 20, I really scored big! I procured a pick up full of large canes of a somewhat uncommon species of yucca, along with more than a wheelbarrow full of pieces of various cacti, agaves, aloes and succulents! I suppose that I should feel guilty; but I was helping to dispose of the green waste generated by the volunteers at the Arizona Garden at Stanford University.

The historic Arizona Garden could actually use the help of more volunteers during their Volunteer Days every third Saturday of each month. Most of us were pulling weeds last month, and will likely be pulling more this month. Although there is not always booty to be had, (and no one scores like I did!) volunteers are welcome to the debris they generate from any needed grooming and pruning.

The next Volunteer Days will be on April 17, May 15 and June 19. Volunteers can arrive at any time after 9:00 a.m., and should bring heavy gloves since almost everything in the Arizona Garden is equipped with nasty thorns or spines. Some who stay through noon like to bring bag lunches. New volunteers should contact Arizona Garden Coordinator, Christy Smith at 650 – 723 7459 or christy.smith@stanford.edu before attending a Volunteer Day to get any other necessary information and specific directions to access the Garden.

On April 18, the day after the next Volunteer Day at the Arizona Garden, the Going Native Garden Tour will be visiting more than 65 gardens throughout the Santa Clara Valley and the Peninsula from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. The gardens range from newly planted to established, from townhome lots to acre parcels, but all feature native plants. Some gardens feature talks about native plant gardening. A few gardens will have native plants available for purchase.

It is not possible to see all the gardens within this self guided tour, so guests can choose which gardens to visit. Admission is free, but limited; so early registration is recommended. Registration is required prior to noon on the day of the Tour. Registration can be arranged, and more information about the Going Native Garden Tour and about volunteering can be found at www.gngt.org.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 5 Comments

Parasite

Mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum

Mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum, suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from local ecosystems several years ago. Although it was unlikely completely gone, no one could find any. Carcasas of deceased specimens deteriorated and fell slowly in pieces from their host trees. Regeneration has been a very slow process, and in some local ecosystems, does not seem to be happening at all.

If botanists are aware of what happened to the mistletoe, they are not sharing what they know. Arborists are amazed by such sudden death of mistletoe that they had been unable to eliminate from infested trees. Some believe that it was the result of distress of host trees. However, it is unlikely that all host trees, including many within cultivated and irrigated landscapes, could have been so similarly distressed at the same time. Disease could be the primary culprit. There is even a possibility that mistletoe, the most familiar plant parasite, succumbed to another parasite.

Similar die off of various species of mistletoe has been observed within various other ecosystems, at various times, and with various rates of recovery. Perhaps several factors are involved, either individually or in any variety of combination. Because mistletoe is generally considered to be undesirable, investigation of such die off is minimal.

I noticed this particular mistletoe within the same Oregon white oaks in Oregon that I wrote about yesterday. It seems to be adequately healthy and unaffected by whatever killed mistletoe here. I do not remember if it had died off previously, and is now recovering. For all I know, it could be in the process of dying off right now. Mistletoe might be more efficiently controlled or even eliminated from infested trees within cultivated landscapes if someone could identify what kills it naturally. After all, it is a famously persistent and potentially very distressing parasite.

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Oakland

Oregon white oak, Quercus garryana

Oakland, fifty miles north of here, was named for the oaks that formerly inhabited it. Imagine that! Although valley oak, Quercus lobata, is native, and assumed to be the origin of the regional name, coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, was likely more abundant there at the time.

Of the many other towns in California with horticultural names, a few are also named for unspecified oaks, including del Rey Oaks, Oakdale, Oakley and Thousand Oaks. Encinitas, Live Oak and the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles are named more specifically for coast live oak. Paso Robles is named more specifically for valley oak.

Oakland and Oakridge are the only two towns that I could find in Oregon that are named for Oaks. I suspect that Oakland is named for Oregon white oak, Quercus garryana, only because that is the most prominent species of oak there. It is also native here, although I am not aware if I have ever encountered it locally. It resembles small specimens of valley oak, which, incidentally, is also known as California white oak.

This picture of a few main limbs of an exemplary specimen of Oregon white oak is from Cabin Creek Rest Stop on Southbound Highway 5, just north of Oakland in Oregon. To me, it looks sort of Californian, like something that, a long time ago, was more prominent in Oakland here in California, on ‘the Bright Side of the Bay’.

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Six on Saturday: Double Whammy!

Rhody, Carson and I are back from vacation. Now I see that I did not get many pictures

1. If this looks like the same major stockpile of vegetation from Skooter’s Garden (Tangly Cottage Gardening) that I posted a picture of last week, it is because it is. The difference is that it is here at home now. Goodness, it will be a busy week of division and plugging.

2. Cerinthe seed are in the pill bottle to the lower right of the previous picture. So is that obstinate pill to the left. I should have tried cerinthe by now, and this is my justification.

3. Poinciana and esperanza seed from Crazy Green Thumbs are the second of my double whammy! They were likely in my mail before we left on vacation, but we left town before the Post Office was open. Shamefully, they will be my second attempt for both species. It is a long and embarrassing story. This particular poinciana is more commonly known as dwarf poinciana, Caesalpinia pulcherrima. This particular esperanza is more commonly known as yellow bells, Tecoma stans. ‘Esperanza’ means ‘hope’, which I have enough of.

4. My vacation was scheduled to be as late in winter as possible but prior to the bloom of apple trees because I intended to prune eleven apple trees while still dormant. All eleven trees are pruned, and their formerly fresh detritus is gone. Sweet Brown would approve.

5. Bonsai stock is what my Pa grows on his farm where the pruned apple trees and other old fruit trees live. Goodness, I really should have stayed later, and taken more pictures.

6. Star magnolia performs very well in the Pacific Northwest. I rarely see them any more than five feet tall locally. This is an awkward picture because I took it from a moving car.

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/