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Fernald’s Iris

Fernald’s iris is rare in nurseries.

The natural range of Fernald’s iris, Iris fernaldii, is actually rather limited. It is endemic to only the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to Santa Cruz County. Although it grows well beyond its natural range, it is quite rare in cultivation. Within chaparral climates that are warmer than its range, it prefers afternoon shade. Its foliage is greener with irrigation.

In the wild, Fernald’s iris develops sparse colonies, typically mixed with other vegetation. Colonies are more compact with cultivation and exclusion of other species. Propagation is very easy by division, or simple separation of wayward rhizomes. Fernald’s iris can be satisfied with shallow soil or soil of inferior quality. Too much fertilizer may inhibit bloom.

Fernald’s iris grows only about a foot tall, with slender, grassy and grayish green leaves. Floral stalks stand a bit more vertically and slightly above the foliage. The typically white flowers are paired on each floral stalk. Flowers might be pale or buttery yellow, or, rarely, pale lavender. Roots are thin but tough. Rhizomes, relative to those of other iris, are slim.

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Flowering Apricot

Flowering apricot blooms almost too early.

Flowering cherries are not necessarily the first of the flowering trees to bloom. Flowering apricot, Prunus mume, is even earlier than all but the winter flowering cherry. Many have bloomed already, and as early as a month ago. The latest will bloom soon. Their flowers are more resilient to weather than those of flowering cherry. However, they bloom briefly.

Although generally fruitless, a few cultivars produce fruit for pickling, as umeboshi. Such fruit, without pickling, is rather unpalatable. Some cultivars of flowering apricot are useful as understock for related trees. Actually, some local flowering apricot trees grew from the roots of other flowering plums. New trees are very rarely available from nurseries locally.

Mature flowering apricot trees are ten to nearly twenty feet tall and almost as broad. They bloom before they foliate. Abundant bloom on big trees can be mildly fragrant. Individual flowers are about an inch wide. They are pastel pink, but can be white or deep rosy pink. Blooming stems can be exquisite as cut flowers, although they may not last for very long. Such stems are a traditional component of ikebana.

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Leopard Plant

Leopard plant enjoys shady riparian situations.

Not much can survive in the shade of broad eaves that extend over a northern exposure. With sufficient watering, that is where the leopard plant, Farfugium japonicum, can excel. It is naturally an understory species that prefers the shade of bigger vegetation. If it does not get too dry, it also performs well with full sun exposure. It enjoys organically rich soil.

Leopard plant is a striking foliar plant, but may also bloom for autumn or winter. Its bright yellow daisy flowers are about an inch wide, and bloom in loose trusses. The glossy and evergreen foliage might be foot and a half high. Some cultivars are more compact, while old cultivars may get slightly bigger. Individual leaves are about three to six inches wide.

Popular cultivars of leopard plant are notably diverse. Most are variegated with yellow or white spots, blotches, margins or irregular streaks. Some exhibit wavy, crinkly or convex foliar margins. Yet, the most popular is likely the old fashioned cultivar with simple, deep green foliage. Their subterranean rhizomes migrate, but rather slowly. Too much fertilizer can cause foliar burn or even inhibit bloom.

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Tomato

Tomatoes epitomize the warm season vegetables.

Like most warm season vegetables, tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum, are actually fruits. They contain seed, whereas actual vegetables are vegetative plant parts that lack seed. Although mostly red, some are orange, yellow, green, pink, brown, purple or pallid white. Some are smaller than small grapes, while ‘Beefsteak’ may grow wider than five inches.

For home gardens, the most popular varieties of tomato are indeterminate. They produce their fruit sporadically throughout their season, on lanky irregular stems. They are neater with the support of tomato cages or stakes. Determinate varieties are shrubbier and more productive, but only for a brief season. They are quite conducive to succession planting.

It is still a bit too early for small tomato plants to go into their gardens. However, seed can start inside or in a greenhouse now. It is possible to sow seed directly into a garden later, but they are vulnerable to mollusks. Nurseries can stock several varieties of tomatoes as small plants. Countless more varieties are available from mail order or online purchases. Many heirloom varieties truly are strange and unique.

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Anemone

Anemone is also known as windflower.

This is not a typical warm season annual. Nor is it a typical cool season annual. Actually, there really is nothing typical about Anemone, Anemone coronaria. It is a spring bulb that is really a tuber that goes into the ground in autumn. Yet, it is more available blooming in four inch pots in spring. It functions as a spring annual because it blooms as winter ends.

Anemone are quite diminutive. Basal rosettes of only a few deeply lobed leaves are less than eight inches tall. Flowers of taller sorts stand above their foliage, but less than a foot high. They can bloom between March and May. Nursery stock blooms earlier than plants that grow from bulbs in a garden. Growth eventually slows as weather warms in summer.

Floral color ranges through red, white, blue, pink and purple. Flowers mostly have black centers. White flowers may have green centers. Some varieties bloom with semi-double or double flowers, or flowers with two colors. Most flowers are about three inches wide or slightly wider. Anemones are good cut flowers; but cutting deprives the garden of bloom.

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Calla

Calla bloom is simple but elegant.

With few exceptions, common calla, Zantedeschia aethiopica, blooms exclusively white. ‘Green Goddess’ blooms with green stripes on bigger and more open blooms. ‘Pink Mist’ blooms with a pale pink blush at the bases of its blooms. More colorful summer calla are Zantedeschia elliotiana, which is a different species. Cultivars of common calla are rare.

Calla is an herbaceous perennial that grows from thick rhizomes. It can be invasive, and difficult to eradicate once it gets established. Its basal leaves stand two or three feet high or a bit higher if shaded. More than the lower half of their height is petiole. The upper leaf portion is broad and arrow shaped. All growth is rather spongy and soft, and tears easily.

Callas bloom mostly sporadically for spring, summer and autumn. Mature colonies often bloom with more profuse phases. New rhizomes do not bloom for a few months, though. Individual blooms consist of a solitary flaring spathe surrounding a spike shaped spadix. Compressed flowers adhere tightly to the yellow spadix. Callas are splendid cut flowers.

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Blood Orange

Blood oranges may be red within.

As weird as they seem, blood oranges are a class of common orange, Citrus X sinensis. Their fruit may resemble common sweet oranges externally, or may be blushed with red. Internally, the flesh exhibits red streaks or blotches, or is more uniformly garnet red. Cool autumn weather enhances red fruit color. ‘Tarocco’ may not develop any red color locally.

‘Sanguinelli’ is likely the most popular cultivar here. It produces relatively small fruits with peachy external blush. Their trees are relatively large and upright. ‘Moro’ produces larger unblushed fruits with darker and more uniformly red flesh. Their trees are relatively broad and low. While ‘Sanguinelli’ is more of a juicing orange, ‘Morro’ is more a dessert orange.

Blood oranges are quite popular in Europe, particularly within the Mediterranean region. Their flavor is more tart and berry-like than that of sweet oranges which are popular here. Blood orange trees are quite happy with the climates and soils here. They prefer regular irrigation while young, but become less demanding as they mature. Dwarf trees are most proportionate to gardens.

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Blue Elderberry

Blue elderberries ripen through summer warmth.

Native blue elderberry, Sambucus cerulea, can grow twenty feet tall and wide in the wild. It is rare among compact home gardens. Domestic specimens are fortunately conducive to various pruning techniques, though. They regenerate very efficiently from coppicing or pollarding. Alternating canes pruning involves more effort but promotes berry production.

Blue elderberries are toxic while fresh, but make good jelly or syrup when cooked. They are also edible dried. Although quite tiny, they grow in large clusters that are three or four inches wide or wider. They ripen through late summer. Flowers, which bloom during late spring, are useful for teas or cordials. Some find their floral fragrance to be unappealing.

Because it grows so large, blue elderberry can be a large shrub or a small tree. It usually develops several trunks. Aggressive dormant pruning enhances foliar lushness. Without much pruning, old trees can develop dense thicket growth with sparse foliage. Individual leaves are pinnately compound, with five to nine leaflets. They are as long as six inches.

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Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Dwarf Alberta spruce stays very compact.

It is a diminutive tree with a big name. Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’ is commonly known as dwarf Alberta spruce. It is a type of white spruce that grows more as shrubbery than as a tree. After many years, it may be only eight feet tall and four feet wide with strict conical form. Because of its form and tame growth, it is practical as a live Christmas tree.

Potted specimens may remain potted for several years. They maintain their conical form quite naturally without shearing or pruning. Their finely textured needles are only slightly bristly. Their primary disadvantage as a Christmas tree is their foliar density. They do not extend lateral stems for Christmas ornaments to dangle from. Their foliar aroma is slight.

Dwarf Alberta spruce is splendid for formal landscapes. Alternatively, it can instill a bit of formality or symmetry into otherwise relaxed landscapes. Although it does not grow very wide, it should have room to grow. Pruning or shearing for containment compromises its strictly conical form. Potted specimens rely on frequent irrigation, but are not demanding.

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Pomegranate

Pomegranates ripen through autumn to winter.

Not many fruit trees have been in cultivation for as long. After several thousands of years of breeding, there are quite too many cultivars to count. Pomegranate, Punica granatum, is now common in many regions throughout the World. It is particularly productive within Mediterranean climates, including locally. Bare root trees are now available in nurseries.

Without pruning, old trees can grow fifteen feet tall, with dense and thorny thicket growth. Fruit is easier to collect from tamer trees that are subject to regular thinning and pruning. Individual trees typically develop a few trunks, but can have only one. They may survive for centuries. Ruddy orange flowers bloom for spring. Foliage yellows prior to defoliation.

Pomegranate fruit ripens so late during autumn that it can linger after autumn defoliation. It is generally brownish red. Individual fruits are about three or four inches wide, but may be wider. They contain hundreds of seeds, which are surrounded by juicy and succulent flesh. Such flesh is generally garnet red, but might be purplish, pinkish or even colorless. Flowers are edible too.