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Shady – MSDS – (yes, another sequel)

This is not really a sequel to the recycled article that posted last Wednesday. It just happens to be of the same theme, which was prior to the development of Horridculture meme on Wednesdays.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P80318+

As the Certified Pesticide Applicator working for the ‘landscape’ company that I wrote about earlier ( https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/shady/ ), I assumed several responsibilities pertaining to the pesticides and other chemicals that the ‘landscape’ company used. Among other things, I needed to inventory all the chemicals, monitor their use, submit use reports to the Department of Agriculture for each of the nine counties in which we used these chemicals, and provide MSDS binders for all of the ‘landscape’ company offices and vehicles within their fleet.

MSDS is for ‘Material Safety Data Sheet’. They are actually several pages each. Each MSDS binder contained two copies of the MSDS for every chemical the ‘landscape’ company used, or even had on site, whether it was actually used or not. One MSDS was in American English. The other was in Mexican Spanish.

So every office and every facility and every vehicle in the fleet of the…

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Star Magnolia

Star magnolia blooms before it foliates.

Spring seems to develop suddenly, and without a very precise schedule. Star magnolia, Magnolia stellata, which can bloom as late as early in April, is already finished blooming in most regions. It should be no surprise. Technically, it can bloom before March. Foliage does not compete with bloom on otherwise bare stems. It appears as bloom deteriorates.

The bright white flowers are about three inches wide, and lavishly profuse. Cultivars with pale pink bloom are increasingly popular. Their pink color may be variable, according to the weather. Flowers have more than a dozen narrow tepals. Some are fluffier with twice as many. Fragrance is mild. Stems can be cut and brought inside just as buds pop open.

Star magnolia is more of a deciduous flowering shrub than a small tree. It should not get much taller than six feet, although it can eventually get to be nearly twice as wide. Partly shaded specimens can reach ground floor eaves. The lime green leaves darken through summer, turn pale yellow for autumn, and finally defoliate to reveal sculptural gray stems.

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Vermin Run Amok In Spring

Gophers are busy with homemaking projects.

No one really hibernates here. Well, ground squirrels might, but they are unlikely to be a problem in refined home gardens. Winter weather is sufficiently mild for most of the most troublesome vermin to remain active, even if somewhat subdued. Some are more active in autumn before food gets scarce. They store food for later, and eat more to gain weight.

Now that it is spring, vermin are more active than they are at any other time of year, even autumn. Gophers, squirrels, rats and mice want to party like it is 1999; well, like spring of 1999. Although they all fattened up last autumn, and stored plenty of food for winter, they now want to exploit abundant spring vegetation. So do raccoons, skunks and opossums.

Generally most vermin, which most prefer to describe more politely as ‘wildlife’, are not a problem for home gardens. Some might be beneficial. Skunks may trench into lawns, but only because they want the grubs that would otherwise cause more damage from below. They also eat snails and slugs. Opossums eat snails and slugs too, as well as baby rats!

However, skunks and opossums can do more harm than good. They eat vegetables and fruits as they ripen, and pet food. Raccoons cause more significant damage, and can be very dangerous to pets. These three types of vermin are nocturnal, and therefore difficult to dissuade or confront directly. Fortunately, they are not very common in urban gardens.

Conversely, squirrels are everywhere except the harshest desert climates. Although they cause significant damage to new spring growth, and will later damage developing fruits, they are more tolerable than other vermin. Some people actually feed them to draw them to their gardens! Rats and mice are less tolerable, probably because they lack fluffy tails.

Gophers are likely causing more damage than other vermin now. Their growing families voraciously devour many of the fresh roots that disperse in spring. Now that their tunnels are not too muddy, gophers are remodeling to expand accommodations. Young gophers do not live with their parents for very long, so will eventually infest new adjacent territory. Lawns and vegetable gardens are most preferable.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 4 Comments

Timmy in the Garden

Strangely, deer are not a problem in the landscapes at work. It is not as if their damage is minimal. There is NO damage. No one know why. They certainly damage home gardens in the neighborhood nearby.
After all these years since Timmy left home, I would actually be pleased to find a stub where I had been waiting for a rose to bloom, . . . but only ONE!

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P80314

Tim Buck II, pronounced like ‘Timbuktu’ in Mali, but known simply as ‘Timmy’, came to live with us while he was just a baby fawn. Mr. Tim Buck Senior left Mrs. Buck to raise little Timmy alone as a single mother. Mrs. Buck then vanished, leaving little Timmy enfeebled on the side of Highway 9 south of town. No one knows what happened to Mrs. Buck. She might have been hit and killed by a car. She might have been eaten by a Mountain Lion. Somehow, she was not there to raise little Timmy.

Traffic was stopped on Highway 9 as little Timmy staggered about, either anemic, or starving from the absence of Mrs. Buck. He could barely walk, and certainly could not bound up or down the steep hillsides to leave the Highway. Most of us who stopped knew that he would not survive, and just accepted it as…

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Poppies . . . again

After this article posted three years ago, someone explained the genetics of the weirdly bred poppies mentioned in the last paragraph. That comment must have been in a subsequent article, since it is not here.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P80317+This one is different though. It is not the characteristic homogeneous bright orange that California poppies should be. The orange in the middle is what the entire flower should look like. The outer yellow hallow is not typical.

California poppies used to much more common than they are now. Not only did they grow wild, but they grew wild in abundance. Some of the East Hills were blushed orange with them when poppies bloomed this time of year. The lower hills just to the east of Highway 101 to the south of San Jose were more than blushed. There seemed to be almost as much orange as there was green. By the spring of 1985, those same hills were neither south of San Jose, nor quite so orange. They were within the suburban sprawl of San Jose, and were mostly green with invasive exotic grasses. Only wispy swaths of orange…

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Six on Saturday: Breakdown

Beau is as old as I am. For a Chevrolet, that is quite elderly. He does not get around like he used to, and is no longer expected to go any farther than he can get towed back from if necessary. However, I needed his help in San Jose this week. He was pleased to oblige, but unfortunately could not get started after parking at the Post Office in Los Gatos so that I could grab my mail. It was actually not his fault. I neglected to replace his very old battery. Anyway, because of the delay, I was unable to return in time to get pictures from the landscapes or gardens, so instead got a few random pictures from where we were stranded. Technically, they are horticulturally oriented, but only slightly so. I should have gotten a picture of Beau as well as Rhody of course.

1. London plane 213 lives just behind the curb at the parking space next to the Post Office where Beau failed to start. He saw it all. This license plate is how the Town Arborist identifies him.

2. Tomato cages that my maternal grandfather made in the 1980s have been riding around with Beau for days. They are bits of wire mesh otherwise used for reinforcing concrete pavement.

3. Arborists and lumberjacks cut wedges (notches) like this out of tree trunks, to direct their fall when cut down. This one is from a coast live oak. Now, it is an extra parking brake for Beau.

4. Peach trees are not expected to produce for more than twenty five years. I planted this one thirty five years ago in December of 1985. It exceeded its life expectancy significantly like Beau.

5. After thirty five years, I cannot yet bear to put the dead peach tree trunk on the woodpile. It has been riding around with Beau longer than the tomato cages. The stump of the tree was not completely dead, but needed to be dug out. I buried it somewhere else, with a big basal stem standing up like a new tree. I hope it grows like a bare root tree. I tried for years to root cuttings.

6. I left Beau to cross the street to the hardware store for this. I do not know what it is, but I suspect that it is an Eastern red cedar. I am not sufficiently familiar with the species to dislike it.

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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‘Shark Bay’ Boronia

‘Shark Bay’ is a new boronia.

Boronia may not be completely new to west coast gardens, but ‘Shark Bay’ boronia, Boronia crenulata ‘Shark Bay’, might not be immediately recognizable as a relative of the more familiar types that have wispy foliage and contrasting brownish red flowers. Instead, it has more substantial light green leaves and soft pink flowers. The foliage and flowers are similarly tiny, just not as finely textured. Bloom is sporadic throughout the year, and becomes more abundant as winter ends and spring begins.

‘Shark Bay’ boronia likes somewhat regular watering, and to be in full sun amongst other plants. Harsh exposure or too much glare (such as from pavement or exposed walls) can fade foliage. Light shade is not a problem, but too much shade inhibits bloom. Because it grows rather slowly and does not get too big, ‘Shark Bay’ boronia does well in containers, and plays well with annuals and complaisant perennials. Mature plants do not get much more than two feet high.

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The Spring Rush Is On

Pittosporum can be pruned aggressively now.

It is safe to say that any remaining frost damage can be pruned away. Frosted foliage and stems were only left through winter to help insulate inner stems from more damage by subsequent frost, and to avoid stimulating new growth that would be even more sensitive to frost. Now that there is no threat of subsequent frost, and surviving but damaged plants are growing anyway, there is no reason to retain unsightly frosted foliage. The few plants that do not regenerate probably did not survive.

Spring is the busiest time of year for most plants. By now, most have either bloomed or will be blooming soon. Early spring bulbs have already finished. Later bulbs will be blooming soon enough. Deciduous plants that were bare through winter are developing new foliage. Evergreen plants are likewise growing new foliage to replace older foliage that will get shed later in the year.

If necessary, flowering cherry, flowering crabapple, lilac, forsythia and mock orange (Philadelphus) can be pruned as they finish bloom. Flowering cherry should not need much; but flowering crabapple might be in need of aggressive structural pruning. Some of the older canes of lilac, forsythia and mock orange can be pruned to the ground, where their replacement canes are probably already emerging.

Overgrown or disfigured oleander, photinia, bottlebrush, privet, pittosporum and juniper that need restorative pruning can be pruned now. They recover most efficiently in early spring, and have plenty of time to develop plenty of new growth before they slow down again next autumn. If pruned much earlier, they would have stayed bare longer, since they would not have grown much through winter. Besides, almost all pittosporum are susceptible to disease if fresh pruning wounds are exposed to rainy weather.

Seed can be sown for any of the warm season vegetables and flowering annuals, such as zucchini, corn, okra, nasturtium, lupine and sunflower. Tomato, pepper, eggplant, petunia, marigold and busy Lizzie (Impatiens) can likewise be grown from seed, but are easier to grow from small cell pack plants. Cuttings of jade plant, iceplant, sedum and all sorts of succulents, as well as divided pups of aloe, agave and yucca, really get going well this time of year.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Shady

This three year old article posted prior to the establishment of the Horridculture meme on Wednesday, but conforms to it exemplarily.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P80310+++++Shady applies to more than trees. It applies to many of those who are hired to maintain trees and landscapes. In my career, I have worked for some of the best arborists, nurserymen and other horticulturists. In fact, some of my colleagues, particularly a landscape designer, two nurserymen and at least three arborists, happen to be legendary. I would say that I don’t mean to brag, but that would be inaccurate. I will write about some of them sometime. This here is not about them.

Sadly, I have had the misfortune to work with some really shady characters and businesses. They may seem to be more professional than the real professionals who take their professions very seriously, but it is all for show. I can tell you all about the brochures, and use all the buzz words, but it is all a lie. From sustainability and planting natives to save…

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‘Carmel Creeper’ Ceanothus

Such true blue color is rare.

Its narrow native range stays near to the North and Central Coast of California, including Carmel. However, its nomenclature is all over the map. The genus is Ceanothus. After that, the species name might be any combination of thyrsiflorus, griseus or horizontalis, or omitted. ‘Carmel Creeper’ is its cultivar name, with or without the species designation.
It is certainly no horror movie starring Clint Eastwood. Carmel Creeper is one of the more practical ceanothus. It spreads out laterally as a deep and densely foliated groundcover. With room to sprawl, it can stay less than three feet tall. Shiny evergreen foliage remains after the fuzzy denim blue bloom of early spring. Individual leaves are distinctly rounded.
Like all native ceanothus, or California lilac, California creeper ceanothus does not want much water once established. It dislikes major pruning too, so prefers areas where it can sprawl freely. Partial shade inhibits bloom and foliar density. Birds enjoy the cover. Bees enjoy the bloom. Unfortunately, even happy plants may not live longer than fifteen years.