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Time For Warm Season Annuals

Sweet alyssum is one of those warm season annuals that is too easy to grow to be taken too seriously.

Nasturtium and sweet alyssum seem to be more than warm season annuals. Like many other warm season annuals, they get established best if added to the garden just after winter, and then grow and bloom mostly during warm spring and summer weather. Then, if allowed to stay in the garden as cooler weather inhibits bloom somewhat , they survive through autumn and winter. By the time the original plants die out, new seedling emerge to replace them.

A potential ‘slight’ problem with allowing these annuals to naturalize (perpetuate naturally by sowing their own seed) is that fancier varieties eventually revert to a more genetically stable state. Sweet alyssum that can be various shades of pink or purple as well as white eventually blooms almost exclusively white after a few generations. Nasturtium that might start out with all sorts of shades of yellow, orange, red or brownish red eventually blooms with only basic bright yellow, bright orange and perhaps rarely, cherry red.

The reason that this is only a potential problem is that most of us are totally pleased with white sweet alyssum, and yellow and orange nasturtium! Another slightly more realistic potential problem with naturalization of sweet alyssum or nasturtium is that it leaves us no excuse to try different varieties. Anyone who doubts this should take a quick look through the online catalog of Renee’s Garden!

Nasturtium is easier to grow from seed than from small plants in cell pack, since small plants take time to recover from transplant. Besides only two or perhaps three of the multitude of varieties available as seed can be found in cell packs. Sweet alyssum can either be grown from cell pack or from seed, but like nasturtium, more varieties are available as seed. Although they grow throughout the year, both are still considered to be warm season annuals.

Busy Lizzy (impatiens), petunia, marigold, lobelia, cosmos and zinnia are some of the other popular warm season bedding annuals this time of year. Statice, cockscomb, verbena, moss rose and pincushion flower are also in season. Statice, tall varieties of cosmos and some varieties of zinnias make good cut flowers. Verbena, moss rose and pincushion flower are more often grown in mixed planting rather than as homogenous bedding. Although many more varieties are available as seed, cell packs of any of these warm season annuals provide more immediate results, especially this late in the season.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Horridculture – That’s Just Swale

This makes about as much sense as so-called environmentalists protecting aggressively invasive exotic species that displace native species.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P90424Building and environmental codes are so ridiculous. So much of what I would want in my home is now illegal. So much modern technology that I do not want is now required. Fireplaces and wood stoves are not allowed. Overly elaborate electrical systems to serve every room are necessary. I would prefer a technologically simple home comparable to those built more than a century ago, but am prohibited by law from ever constructing one.
The area outside of a home is no easier to work with. Dead trees inhabited by the wrong sorts of woodpeckers can not be cut down. Excavation can be prohibited if a particular beetle happens to be in the way. Even some of the increasingly combustible trees and overgrown vegetation have more rights on my land than I do. Now, I am a horticulturist; so I know more about vegetation management than the treehuggers formulating these…

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Posted on by tonytomeo

Pygmy Date Palm

Other date palms are significantly larger.

Canary Island date palm is the largest local palm. Pygmy date palm, Phoenix roebelenii, although a species of the same genus, is one of the more diminutive palms. It might take many years to grow ten feet tall, and may never get twice as tall. Its pinnately compound leaves are only about two to four feet long. Thin leaflets are about five to ten inches long. 

Such compact stature is a distinct advantage for some situations. With sufficient sunlight, pygmy date palm is a delightful houseplant. It is also appealing within atriums and cozily compact gardens. For those who appreciate the aesthetics but not the large size of most palms, pygmy date palm is a practical option. It actually resembles a common date palm. 

Like all date palms, a pygmy date palm surrounds its single terminal bud with nasty long spines, which are specialized proximal leaflets. These spines are painful to interact with while grooming and pruning deteriorated old leaves and floral trusses back to their trunk. Unlike most other palms, mature pygmy date palms are not very conducive to relocation.

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Palms Are Very Distinctive Among Trees

Palms provide distinctively lush foliar texture.

Palms seem to exemplify the culture of California. However, only the California fan palm, which is also the desert fan palm, is native. All others are exotic. With its dwarf palmetto, Oklahoma has as many native palms as California. Furthermore, the California fan palm is only endemic within remote riparian ecosystems of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts.

Common date palms were likely the first of the many exotic palms in California. Spanish Missionaries imported them for date production during the Eighteenth Century. Although initially utilitarian rather than decorative, recycled trees from displaced orchards became popular for larger landscapes. Potentially messy fruit is minimal without male pollinators. 

Long before urbanization displaced date orchards, many other palms came to California merely because of their visual appeal. Some are large enough to be shade trees. Others can provide shade in groups. Many develop elegant trunks or sculptural form. Some stay relatively low or shrubby. All innately provide famously and luxuriantly evergreen foliage.  

Palms are most certainly appealing within appropriate situations. They are very different from other trees though. Like arborescent yuccas and cordylines, palms are ‘herbaceous trees’. Unlike yuccas and cordylines, and with very few exceptions, palms do not branch. Nor do their trunks continue to expand in width as they continue to grow in height above.  

Palms consequently spend their first few years widening their bases at ground level. Big palms, such as Canary Island date palm, likely require many years. Once their bases are adequate, developing palms ‘launch’ into vertical growth. Although palms do not branch, a few, such as Mediterranean fan palm, develop multiple trunks from their primary bases. 

Once palms launch, they grow only upward. They lean only to avoid shade, or if pushed by wind. It is impossible to direct their bulky but singular terminal buds around obstacles, such as utility cables. It is also impossible to contain their shade as they get high enough to shade adjacent areas instead. Many palms are spiny, so are difficult to prune properly, even while young and within reach.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 4 Comments

Banana Slug

Ah, the mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz!

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P90421They are not as dangerous as they look. Really. If they were, just one could do more damage than an entire herd of average slugs. The fortunate truth is that banana slugs consume only decaying plant parts and fungus. Yes, they literally cruise about the garden eating bits of decomposing debris that we may not want there anyway, and converting it into a very nutritious and nitrogen rich ‘fertilizer’. They are actually beneficial to home gardening.
Of course, this does not necessarily mean that we ‘want’ them in our gardens. They really do look scary. This one is only about four inches long, but larger ones can get nearly twice as long! Some rats are not that big! Their bright yellow color, which is typically brighter yellow than this one is, is an expression of defiance. They only stay out of the way because they prefer damp and shady situations…

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If Mushrooms Could Fly

Okay, this one is just silly.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P90420K

If mushrooms could fly, they might look like this. Doesn’t it look like it is ready for take off? Maybe it looks like it is dressed up as a ghost for Halloween. I thought it looks something like the flying nun. Regardless of what it looks like, it was so weird that I took its picture.

I can not explain why it is in this weird position. It appeared just as the weather was warming up, and most of the earlier mushrooms were already gone or deteriorating. Perhaps the upper surface dried out a bit in the sunlight, and tightened up on the lower surface that remained more hydrated. Since I did not go back after getting this picture, I do not know what it did afterward, or how long it lasted. Perhaps it really did fly away!

This mushroom was just a few yards from where I got the…

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Six on Saturday: Rhody’s Roady IV (not Hedera) – Carson

Carson is Rhody’s Roady. Like most of the vehicles here, he is named after a place. Beau is named after ‘Beau’lder Creek (Boulder Creek) (although his name was actually derived from Hobo). Lee the Chrysler was named after Bever’Lee’ Hills (Beverly Hills). Roy was named after Gil’Roy’ (Gilroy). So, Carson is named after Carson City in Nevada. He took Rhody and I to the Pacific Northwest on vacation. We returned two and a half weeks ago with only a few pictures. These six are some of the last, which were taken during the last two days, as we drove back. The drive was totally excellent!

1. Douglas fir grows wild everywhere we went. Red maple is not native, but is very happy in a neighbor’s yard. This could have been a good picture if not photobombed by Carson.

2. Oregon white oak is likewise native to almost all the regions that we traveled through. However, we did not see many. Although uncertain, I think that these are some of them.

3. Mount McLoughlin is visible from only several miles of Highway 5. It seems to be too visible though. Scenery is obscured by dense forests elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

4. Mount Shasta is even more visible for many miles of Highway 5, not only because of a lack of dense forest, but also because highway 5 gets nearer to it. This was at a rest stop.

5. Apple trees were still being pruned where we stopped for the night on the return trip. The trees to the left are finished. The vigorous trees to the right are about to get pruned.

6. Orchard House was our lodging for the night. It was as grand as Cedar Lodge! Rhody, of course, is near the lower center of this picture. Carson, Rhody’s Roady, is to the right.

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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Flannel Bush

Abundant golden blooms are really spectacular, but because of irritating foliar fuzz, flannel bush should be enjoyed from a distance.

There is no way to say it delicately. Flannel bush, Fremontodendron californicum, is not easy to work with. It grows rapidly and rampantly with awkward form to about ten feet high and broad, but then starts to deteriorate when only about twelve years old. It can deteriorate even sooner if well irrigated. The fuzz on the foliage and young stems is irritating to the skin, especially during warm weather, so is very uncomfortable to handle. Otherwise, for out of the way spots, flannel bush is a striking native plant with impressively abundant bright golden yellow bloom this time of year. Neglected plants that do not get pruned or watered seem to be happier and more colorful, and can get older and much larger.

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The Stakes Could Be High

Some unfortunate trees become so reliant on staking and straps that they are never able to support their own weight.

The irony of landscaping and gardening to bring nature closer to the home is that it is so very unnatural. Plant specie are imported from all over the world, grown in synthetic environments, and then expected to perform in unfamiliar climates and soils far from home. Most plants have been bred for optimal retail appeal at the expense of their natural adaptations.

Trees grown in nurseries need to be staked tightly to develop the sort of straight trunks that branch at just the right height to be marketable. In the landscape, trees need to be staked because they have become so dependent on the stakes that they grew up with. Eventually though, trees need to learn how to carry their own weight.

When new trees get planted and staked loosely with heftier stakes that stand up to wind, old tightly bound nursery stakes should be removed since the tight binding interferes with trunk development. By the time trees gets planted, the nursery stakes are probably nearly rotten through at the ground anyway. The new heftier stakes should not hold trees tightly in place, but simply be there to keep them from getting blown over.

Straps should likewise not be tightly bound, but instead allow for a bit of motion with the breeze. Straps should cross over in a ‘figure eight’ pattern between trees and their stakes, so that trunks do not rub so abrasively against the stakes. Most trees need only two straps each, or two pairs of straps if two stakes are used, with support up high, and lower support to prevent outward bowing. If there are no branches to hold straps in place, straps must be nailed or otherwise attached to the stakes.

Some sturdy trees, like well developed redwood trees and small magnolias, may not need stakes. Palms and yucca certainly do not. However, limber trees like the various eucalyptus may need more support than just two straps. The problem is that many trees become dependent on their stakes and will not develop strong trunks if they do not need to.

It is better to prune maturing staked trees to limit weight and wind resistance (that might cause them to blow over) than to provide more support with heftier stakes. If a maturing young tree is relying on stakes and straps for support, it needs to be pruned. A young unstaked tree that begins to lean from the weight of its canopy should likewise be pruned until it regains its posture without getting staked and bound. Trees should never be tied to other trees, buildings or anything else that can be damaged by the tension.

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Horridculture – Pale Clivia Syndrome

Since writing this, I found a small clump of three shoots of clivia growing wild outside of our landscapes. I dug and canned the three separately before the vegetation was cut down in the area. Although I will not be disappointed if they bloom yellow, I hope that they are rich orangish red.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P90417Back in the good old days, Kaffir lily, Clivia miniata, which is probably most popularly known simply as ‘clivia’, bloomed with big round trusses of exclusively bright reddish orange flowers. It was such an excellent color that no one thought to change it. Flowers of feral plants that sometimes grew from seed were potentially more orange and less red, but were flashy nonetheless. There was no need, and minimal potential, for ‘improvement’.

Then the allure of the ‘rare’ happened. Yellow Kaffir lilies had previously been so rare that very few had seen them. Once the rest of us became aware of their existence, many of us wanted them, only because they were so rare. However, after seeing them, some of us came to the conclusion that they were rare because no one wanted them when the species was first introduced, and cultivars with the best color were selected and…

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