Posted on by tonytomeo · 27 Comments

Six on Saturday: Colorful but Inedible Berries

Snowberry is native here. I have been wanting to grow it because I like its white berries. I just found a seedling where it could not stay, so brought it back here. I am very pleased with it, but did not want to share pictures of it as scrawny canned bare twigs. I got these pictures instead.

1. Callicarpa americana, American beautyberry is what compelled me to get pictures of berries for this week. I shared a closeup picture of the first of these berries as they began to ripen more than a month ago, which was about two months later than elsewhere. I do not mind. These are my first, and there are more of them now. Perhaps their berries will ripen on time when they are established within the landscapes. The seedlings, as well as white butterfly ginger and, recently, American holly, were gifts from Our Forest Garden.

2. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box typically produces very few red berries that typically fall off before turning black. They are both atypically abundant and atypically black now.

3. Ilex aquifolium, English holly self sows, but most feral specimens seem to be male, or produce only a few berries, in a few sparse clusters. Very few produce clusters like these.

4. Viburnum tinus, laurustinus also self sows. I am not as impressed with it as I am with English holly, but have been learning to appreciate it more, as those in other regions do.

5. Cotoneaster pannosus, silverleaf cotoneaster is naturalized a bit more vigorously. It is not as pretty as I like to think it is. I should retain a few specimens but eradicate the rest.

6. Pyracantha coccinea, firethorn is more colorful with similar but with more abundant and glossier berries. Unfortunately, it is also much thornier, so it is no fun to work 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/

Posted on by tonytomeo

Raising Cane

Sugarcane has been disturbingly easy to grow. This pair of pictures were taken about a day apart. The picture with smaller growth was taken yesterday morning, and posted with my Six on Saturday post at midnight. The picture with larger growth was taken this morning. If sugarcane grows this fast as a rooting cutting during winter, what will it do in the landscapes? Will it become an invasive weed? I suppose that I should be pleased with such healthy growth, but I am also concerned.

This particular sugarcane is likely ‘Pele’s Smoke’, which is more of an ornamental cultivar that should stay relatively compact. The original specimen from which I got the cuttings was not much more than six feet tall after at least two years, with bronzed foliage that is about the color of smoky topaz. It lives in Brent’s front garden. I pruned and groomed it while I was there for the first few days of November. Of course, I could not merely discard the scraps. I brought them back here and processed them into cuttings. I hoped that a few might take root.

The problem now is that most of the cuttings are beginning to grow. Only the softest of the terminal cuttings did not survive. Sugarcane is a tropical grass, so should not be growing much at all while the weather is cool. The many cuttings are stuffed into a pair of #5 cans, so may need to be separated prior to spring. I thought that only a few would survive at this time of year, and that they would grow too slowly to need separation until late next winter. Of course, I can not discard any surplus as I should. Only a few will go into the landscapes. Perhaps I can share some with neighbors.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 9 Comments

Six on Saturday: Lily of the Nile Division

Now that the weather is getting cooler and almost rainy, it is time to relocate overgrown lily of the Nile. Quite a bit of it has slowly climbed over stone retaining walls to encroach into walkways. I remove rhizomes that are on top of walls, as well as any that are within a foot or so of the walls. After I divide and groom them, I install them where they will be more of an asset to the landscapes. They settle in with cool and rainy wintry weather, so should be ready to grow as soon as the weather gets warmer in spring. I neglected to get any before and after pictures to show where they came from and where they went to, (or to get six pictures).

1. Roots of lily of the Nile can hold firmly onto a silty riverbank as the river floods above. They are impressively densely meshed. They are fleshy though, and therefore easily cut.

2. Rhizomes are also both impressively densely meshed and fleshy. Division is no simple task. I separated these scraps by cutting their roots. I bury them between divided shoots.

3. Foliar shoots or rosettes with a few inches of their rhizomes will grow into new plants. These have been groomed, so are ready for plugging with scraps of rhizomes in between.

4. Gophers claimed all but a few lily of the Nile that were plugged here last year. I should have taken a picture of their replacements here, even if they are not much to brag about.

5. Oh deer! We are very fortunate that deer avoid the landscapes here. They always have.

6. Sugarcane is growing like a weed. This is one of too many cuttings that I brought from Los Angeles. They were pruning scraps from what I believe to be ‘Pele’s Smoke’. Sweeet!

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo

Horridculture – Sniveling

My colleagues are as totally excellent as my career is!

Horridculture is a collection of rants about horrid horticulture. Almost all of such rants are from my own experience and observation within the various horticultural industries. There are more than I can write about. I have been involved with so much more than just production of horticultural commodities on the farm. Horridculture is a bunch of sniveling about the worst of it.

Perhaps I should occasionally say a bit more about the best of it. If I thought it would be more interesting, I could write much more about the best than the worst. Except for the few experiences that I so frequently snivel about, my career has been awesomely RAD!

Therefore, for this week, I will briefly deviate from the typical Horridculture theme.

While we were in school, the professor who taught ‘Orientation to Horticulture’ told us, “If you want to make a lot of money in your career, change your major NOW!”. Of course, we did not. Brent and I both were naturally horticulturists, even if we were not good students. We studied exactly what we wanted to study. We made our careers of what we do naturally. Brent became one of the most renowned landscape designers of the Los Angeles region. I became a nurseryman.

Not only did I work for two legendary nurserymen within my primary career, but I also worked for at least four legendary arborists. I worked with the production of both citrus and rhododendrons with their companion crops. My gardening column was not planned, but has continued for a quarter of a century. Although not as well distributed locally as it had been, it is presently shared with a few publications between San Francisco and Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles region. These few publications sometimes share it with a few others elsewhere.

So, besides all the sniveling, I have been very pleased with my career. The worst of it may not have been as difficult as retirement might be. Fortunately, I do not necessarily need to retire completely, although I should quit sniveling.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 9 Comments

New Mouser

Rodents departed when she arrived.

Darla, the former mouser here, relocated to a more domestic lifestyle in Santa Clara during the unusually stormy weather and flooding last winter. She is getting rather elderly, and has earned a comfortable retirement. Unfortunately though, rodents of all sorts arrived immediately after her retirement.

Mice and rats infested the buildings while gophers and ground squirrels infested exposed ground outside, including the recovery nursery. Rodents of some sort ate the tops off a few of my banana plugs, and chewed the base of my cup of gold vine. Another chewed into a bag of seed for mixed erosion control vegetation, and made a mess of it.

Then, the rodents seemed to leave as suddenly as they arrived. Even tree squirrels became scarce. At about that time, we noticed, on rare occasion, what seemed to be a stray kitty. I thought that the kitty must live nearby, and would eventually return home. It avoided us, but never completely left the area for long.

The kitty appears to be rather grungy because of its color pattern. I recently learned that this particular color pattern is known as tortoiseshell, and that almost all kitties with this tortoiseshell color pattern are female. I hope that she is not offended if my assumption of her gender as female is inaccurate. She is quite small and lean, with a thin tail that is kinked at the end. I intend to get a better picture of her to share with neighbors, just in case someone is missing her.

A bit more than a week ago, this kitty seemed to become a bit more interested in human activity here. For the first time, I offered her a bit of something that she might enjoy. Because there was no kitty food here, I gave her a small can of tuna from the galley. She enjoyed it so much that I got her some real kitty food. She now comes for it to the meeting room daily after the crew leaves. I have been able to get a bit closer to her daily, and petted her briefly for the first time a few days ago. She purrs quite loudly when petted, although she also seemed to be rather nervous. She prefers interaction with Rhody, who now chews her ears. I invited her into the hallway because it gets somewhat cool in the evening, but she does not want to come inside.

Because I believe that her presence here convinced the rodents to relocate, I would prefer her to stay if she has no other home to return to. If she only wants a bit of food from me, this could be a mutually beneficial situation. If so, we should determine what her name is.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Alocasia or Colocasia? II

Alocasia or Colocasia or both?

While it seems that anything can be found online, it is baffling to see what can not be found online. Horticultural concerns seem to be particularly lacking. Perhaps those who enjoy horticulture innately dislike the internet. Perhaps they are merely too busy in their gardens to bother getting online too much.

‘Pele’s Smoke’ has been one of the more popular cultivars of sugarcane for home gardens for quite a while, but I can not determine how wide its canes are. Eucalyptus pulverulenta and Eucalyptus cinerea seem to have traded their names since the 1980s, but now, no one seems to know which is which, or if either ever was the other. No one can explain how seed from sterile banana cultivars are available online. Anyone can say anything. There is no accountability.

Alocasia and Colocasia are as baffling now as they were when I mentioned the difficulty with choosing between the two about a month ago. I am still inclined to procure Colocasia gigantea for a riparian landscape at work. However, I am now inclined to also procure Alocasia macrorrhiza. Both are quite appealing. I think that I would like to grow both within the same landscape so that I can compare them later. It would be easier than trying to compare vague information about them that I can find online. Realistically, since I would grow them from corms, both are quite inexpensive. If necessary, I can later relocate whichever is less appealing than the other.

This would not be my first occasion of not relying on the internet. I am working with ‘Pele’s Smoke’ sugarcane presently, and will be pleased with it regardless of how it behaves. I grow both Eucalyptus pulverulenta and Eucalyptus cinerea; although by mistake, since I procured one because I thought it was the same as the other. All of the cultivars of banana that I grow were procured as pups or plugs, since I do not trust seed. Ultimately, I will be pleased with both Alocasia and Colocasia.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Six on Saturday: Self-Replication

Kwanzan flowering cherry is spectacular as it blooms for early spring. Only one inhabits our landscapes, and of course, it is dormant and defoliated until next spring. I took these six pictures of it anyway, to demonstrate that it is deteriorating fast, but could be able to replace itself before it succumbs to decay completely. Unfortunately though, it will likely be removed before it is able to do so, so that we can install a purple leaf plum within this particular situation instead. I only assist with this self-replication process because of the very unlikely possibility that replacement with another different tree may never actually happen. It has been delayed for years.

1. This flowering cherry tree has been deteriorating for the past several years. Several big limbs have died, leaving its canopy disfigured and lopsided. Its right half is nearly gone.

2. Only shiners remain where some of the major limbs that died were removed from the trunk. If this tree were to survive any longer, these shiners would decay before they heal.

3. Incidentally, this tree is not grafted. Suckers from the roots are indistinguishable from growth of the canopy. Bark of exposed roots is indistinguishable from bark of the trunk.

4. Therefore, this sucker is genetically identical to the original tree. The roots have been generating suckers for several years. All but this one were removed. Instead, it is bound.

5. The binding stake is nailed to one of the major limbs of the original canopy, as well as to a big root below. Damage to the limb is unimportant. It will be removed soon anyway.

6. The bound sucker is now more than six feet tall. It could develop branches to begin to grow as a new tree next year. It could stay as a replacement after removal of the original.

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 4 Comments

Horridculture – Cyclamen (deferred from Wednesday)

Cyclamen are too expensive to be as disposable as they are.

Cyclamen persicum is a popular cool season annual. It is known simply as cyclamen here because it is the only common cyclamen that is available. It might be known as florists’ cyclamen where other species are available. Red and white are the most popular colors because cyclamen are associated with Christmas. Cyclamen can alternatively bloom with various tints and shades of pink, salmon pink and purplish pink. Some bloom with two-toned color or picotee margins. Cyclamen really is a delightful perennial.

Yes, perennial. Like many garden annuals, cyclamen is actually a perennial. It can survive in the garden for many years. It merely goes dormant through warm summer weather, and then resumes growth as weather cools during autumn.

Not only is it a perennial, but it is an expensive perennial. It is too expensive to be so disposable. So-called ‘landscapers’ do not mind. Disposable annuals are lucrative for them. Besides, even where cyclamen can perform as a perennial, it is not colorful throughout the year, and even in season, it is not as colorful as it is for its first season away from the nursery that it originally grew in.

Other species of Cyclamen that are available within other regions are becoming available here as well. Their bloom is sparser, with only light pink or blushed white flowers. They are grown as perennial wildflowers that bloom for autumn or winter, when not much else blooms. Although not as garish as common florists’ cyclamen, they are appreciated for their perennial performance.

The few florists’ cyclamen that we install at work bloom somewhat reliably only until spring. Because they were grown within ideal greenhouse conditions, they do not adapt immediately to landscape conditions. By spring, many are already beginning to rot. Those that survive their summer dormancy may become perennial.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 3 Comments

The Hedge on the Ledge

Perhaps no one will notice.

I can explain. Firstly, I should mention that this is an industrial building at work, not a home garden; so no one else cares what it looks like. Secondly, although this building is outfitted with an abundance of external electrical lighting, it lacks external electrical outlets. Thirdly, I brought a ‘Double Mahoi’ banana tree back from the Los Angeles region less than a month ago, so divided its pups at the most inconvenient time, as autumn weather was getting cooler. Fourthly, I should stop numbering all these individual statements, and get on with a simple explanation of this visually unappealing contraption.

The banana tree went to its permanent home already, where it can hibernate through winter. However, its pups languished and immediately began to deteriorate here. Because they will not grow much until warmer weather after winter, their rudimentary corms can rot faster than they can recover from their division. Therefore, I purchased an electrical heating mat to warm their media from below, and accelerate root and corm growth. It was not a pleasant purchase, since I object to reliance on such technology, but that is another topic for later.

I did not want to extend an extension cord too extensively from a window to the nursery benches on the deck to the lower right in the illustration above. I thought that this shelf would be less obtrusive. Perhaps I should have thought a bit more about it. I successfully extended and obscured an extension cord for the fountain on the mountain, but again, that is another topic for later.

Now that it is installed directly outside the window, without the need for an extension cord, the shelf fits the heating pad reasonably well, and suspends eight #1 cans with three 4″ pots nestled in between.

By the time this explanation posts at midnight next Sunday morning, the largest of the four ‘Double Mahoi’ banana pups, which incidentally is already in the process of generating another rudimentary pup, might be exhibiting a slight bit of accelerated growth. The two smallest of these four pups were cut back to their corms, and the third will likely get cut back also, so will take a bit longer to exhibit growth. All four are arranged in the front row at the bottom of the illustration below.

The three 4″ pots that are nestled in between the #1 cans contain tissue cultured plugs of ‘Gran(d) Nain’, ‘Cavendish’ and ‘Orinoco’ banana. With all seven pups and plugs of banana neatly arranged on the heating mat, remaining space accommodated a few cuttings that should also benefit from the warmth of the heating mat.

The four #1 cans in the rear row at the top of the illustration below contain cuttings of passion flower vine and cup of gold vine. The passion flower vine to the right of center is unidentified, but ‘Constance Elliot’ is to the left of center, with a single cutting of ‘Frederick’. Almost predictably again, that is another topic for later. Nine cuttings of unvariegated cup of gold vine to the far right are shabby because they were superficially damaged by minor frost earlier. Six cuttings of variegated cup of gold vine are to the far left.

Although shabby, they do not look so silly from inside.
Posted on by tonytomeo

Too Late To Divide Cymbidiums

New floral shoots appeared almost immediately after the former bloom finished.

Cymbidium orchids perform quite well here, and seem to be happier with a bit of neglect. Actually, those with a tolerable bit of foliar blemishing or discoloration bloom better than those with exemplarily healthy and vigorous foliage. Those that get everything that they supposedly want, such as coarse chunks of fir bark to disperse their roots into, and regular application of fertilizer, are likely to produce an abundance of healthy foliage with only moderate bloom.

Only two cymbidiums inhabit my garden. I gave all others away many years ago. I acquired one of these two from a neighbor in the early 1990s, and have divided many copies of it since then. It remains potted within a bunch of leafy debris that I raked from my driveway under a massive valley oak many years ago. I suspect that the debris has decomposed to soggy muck at the bottom of the pot, although it remains friable on top, where I only rarely add a bit more leafy debris. I am not so keen on its simple pink bloom, but I continue to grow it because it has been with me for so long.

The other cymbidium was a gift from a colleague here. It originally grew ‘properly’ in a pot of coarse fir bark, but was removed from its pot many years ago, and left to die on top of a pot of potting soil that something else had already died in. It grew unattended there for a few years before coming here. It has bloomed splendidly and annually since its arrival. I want to divide it, but have not managed to do so between bloom phases. Its bloom continues for so long, that by the time it finishes, the next bloom phase is beginning. Fortunately, it is not too overgrown yet.