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Six on Saturday: Elderberry Foliage

Only six of ten elderberries here were selected for “Six on Saturday”. Four were omitted:

Sambucus canadensis ‘Nova’ and ‘York’ American elderberry

Sambucus caerulea, blue elderberry

Sambucus nigra ‘Black Tower’ European black elderberry

I would have liked to include all of them, but realistically, American elderberry and blue elderberry are not much to see, and I was unmotivated to take a picture of ‘Black Tower’ European black elderberry. Although it is my favorite of the European black elderberries here, taking its picture after neglecting to do so while there earlier yesterday would have necessitated a short drive and a long walk. These six are in the storage nursery, either as cuttings, or because they were not installed into a landscape yet.

1. Sambucus racemosa, red elderberry is a gift from Skyler of Tangly Cottage Gardening. They are a group of four seedlings, so can pollinate each other, as well as a more recently acquired ‘Lemony Lace’. The species is native and grows wild in Tangly Cottage Garden.

2. ‘Lemony Lace’ is a cultivar of red elderberry that I acquired with three European black elderberry cultivars, in a manner that is not illegal. I am very pleased that it is a progeny of ‘Sutherland Gold’, which I had been coveting in the garden of The Random Gardener.

3. ‘Black Lace’ is the cultivar of Sambucus nigra, European black elderberry, that started it all. It was here before my time. I was not so keen on it, but learned to like it because so many admired it in the landscape. I procured ‘Madonna’ as a pollinator, and kept going.

4. ‘Madonna’ and ‘Black Lace’ are so MTV in 1989. This ‘Madonna’ is not so exciting. Its chartreuse variegation looks sickly while it is small. I know it will be prettier as it grows. It arrived two years prior to the three other newly acquired European black elderberries.

5. ‘Purpurea’ is one of the three recently acquired cultivars of European black elderberry that arrived with the ‘Lemony Lace’ red elderberry. I am unimpressed by its bland foliar color, but will learn to appreciate it if I work with it long enough. I like its foliar texture.

6. ‘Albomarginata’ was the European black elderberry cultivar that I initially wanted as a pollinator for ‘Black Lace’, but it was unavailable two years ago. I prefer its creamy white variegation and larger size to the chartreuse variegation and compact size of ‘Madonna’.

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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Atemisia ‘Powis Castle’

Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ is more foliar than floral.

The pleasantly aromatic and lacy silvery gray foliage of Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ can either mix well with pink, lavender or light blue flowers, or contrast against bright red or orange. The dark angular leaves of bronze New Zealand flax or bronze cannas are striking against its low and softly mounding form, which stays less than two feet tall and not much more than twice as wide. Contrary to how Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ enhances the color of other flowers and foliage, its own flowers are not much to look at, if they get noticed at all.

Foliage is fluffiest if mature plants get pruned down at the end of winter. New plants can be propagated by division in spring or autumn. As plants get established, good drainage becomes more important than frequent watering.

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Aphids

Aphid enjoy fresh new growth of roses.

Since the seeds arrived in the mail from Renee’s Garden, I have been waiting for the pale yellowish white ‘Buttercream’ nasturtiums to bloom. The appearance of their first few leaves was quite an event. They then started to grow a bit faster like annuals do this time of year. Then, suddenly and without warning, they where overtaken by a herd of hungry aphids!

These small but prolific insects congregate at the tips of new foliage and flower buds. They pierce fresh tissue and suck out the juices within. They are more often yellowish green, but can be grayish black, pale white or sickly pink. Although minute, the fattest aphids can be as plump as caviar.

Fortunately, aphid are typically not problematic for very long, and are easier to control than other insect pests. Even without insecticides, their festivities will be brief before their natural predators move in and break up the party. Pesticides can actually be detrimental by also killing some of the natural predators, and delaying their conquest of the aphids.

Right now though, I do not care! The aphids are hurting the nasturtiums. They must die!

On tougher plants like roses, aphids can be blasted off with water from a hose. Because roses can get mildew if their foliage stays wet too long, they should get blasted early in the day, so that they can dry in the sun. This procedure does not kill all the aphids, and may not even dislodge all of them, but it slows their proliferation so that the natural predators have the advantage.

Nasturtiums and other annuals that are too soft to get blasted with water can instead be sprayed gently with very slightly soapy water, which efficiently kills aphids. Water with a bit of vinegar, or a ‘tea’ made from cigarette butts, also work. Foliage is less likely to be damaged if rinsed afterward. This likewise does not kill all aphids, but controls them long enough for the predators to take over.

Parasitic wasps, syrphid flies, lacewings, lady beetles and predatory midges all eat aphids. They only need some time to do so because they rely on the primary proliferation of aphids to feed their own proliferation. In other words, there must be enough aphids to feed the predators before there can be enough predators to feed on the aphids.

However, aphids have an ally. Ants dutifully protect aphids from their predators, and actually cultivate aphids on choice plants because they like to eat the ‘honeydew’ excreted by the aphids. (ICK!) That is why lemon trees that are infested with aphids also have an abundance of busy ants commuting up and down the trunks.

Trimming an aphid infested lemon tree so that it does not touch anything else, and circling the base of the trunk with axle grease, will keep the ants out without preventing predatory wasps from flying in. Just like with roses, blasting with water dislodges many of the aphids and  stranded ants; but the wasps simply get out of the way and return when it is safe. It may all seem unfair to the aphids and the ants, but is gratifying for the predatory wasps, the lemon tree and whoever cares for the lemon tree.

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Oem Update

This is the larger of two oem pups.

Oem is beginning its third spring here. Fortunately, it has not yet grown too big to stay. That could change soon now that the weather is warming. I still do not know what to do with it as it grows. It is the largest species of banana in the World, Musa ingens. The foliage of the original pseudostem was frosted enough last winter to get trimmed away, leaving only an unsightly bare trunk. It is only beginning to replace its foliage for this season. Just as readily though, it produced two pups, which will likely grow faster than the original pseudostem did during the last two seasons. They are growing from a larger rootbase. Meanwhile, there are several other cultivars of banana growing here also. There were about fourteen last year. There are about two dozen this year! Only a few will remain compact enough to inhabit the landscapes at work, but even fewer will be appropriate there. Banana trees are not exactly comparable with the style of a redwood forest. Most, including the oem, will likely inhabit a riparian area of my home garden, which is also in a redwood forest. Goodness! I really should have planned this better.

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Pacific Coast Hybrid Iris

Hybridization has produced unnaturally rich color.

Several species of iris are native to the West Coast of North America. Iris douglasiana is probably the most colorful species. Hybridization with the others improved its floral color range and other characteristics. Several of such hybrid cultivars collectively became the Pacific Coast hybrid iris. However, the various cultivars developed from various ancestry.

Most Pacific Coast hybrid iris are finishing their bloom about now. Some bloomed earlier, at the end of last winter. Their flowers can be various shades of blue, purple, red, orange, yellow or white. This includes lavender, burgundy, rust, rose, coral, gold or creamy white. Only green colors lack. Brown pods of sterile seed are visually unappealing after bloom.

Flowers are about three or four inches wide and stand about a foot tall. Individual flowers do not last long, but bloom in succession for quite a while. Grassy and dark green foliage develops low mounds that stay lower than bloom. Propagation is simple by division from large foliar mounds during autumn. Generous watering can cause rot and patchy growth.

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Hybrids Of The Botanical Nature

Fancy gladiolus are products of hybridization.

Botanical nomenclature has gotten sloppy. So has breeding. Hybrids of different species are now common. Their botanical names often lack proper species designation. Instead, their names include only their genus names with their variety or cultivar names. This can seem simpler. However, it complicates the simplicity of binomial botanical nomenclature.

Interspecific hybrids involved different species of the same genus. Therefore, any genus name is the same as that of both parents. An “X” precedes its species name to indicate it as an interspecific hybrid. Its species name is as new and unique as the new hybrid. Any cultivar or variety name follows its species name in single quotes. it is all quite sensible.

Intergeneric hybrids involved different genera. Therefore, an “X” precedes a genus name of an intergeneric hybrid to designate it as such. Its entire name is as new and unique as the hybrid. Like for all botanical names, both its genus and species names are italicized. This designates them as ‘Latin’ names. Variety and cultivar names lack such italicization.

Many hybrids are naturally sterile. Most that can produce viable seed are not true to type. In other words, their progeny is very different from them, and commonly of inferior quality. Most hybrids are therefore cultivars, or cultivated varieties. They are reliant on unnatural cultivation for perpetuation. However, some naturally perpetuate vegetatively, like canna.

Tree ivy, X Fatshedera lizei, is an example of an intergeneric hybrid. The “X” in its name precedes its genus name. London plane, Platanus X acerifolia, is an interspecific hybrid. The “X” precedes its species name. Platanus X acerifolia ‘Liberty’ is a cultivar of London plane. Its species name remains, which is proper with botanical nomenclature of hybrids.

Rhododendron and rose hybrids violate nomenclature rules because of their breeding. It is too extensive for their species to be identifiable. For them, the abbreviation “spp.” may substitute for a species name. It is for “species pluralis”, which means “multiple species”. Although it is Latin, it is not italicized. Nor are their more important cultivar names after it.

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Six on Saturday: Here & Now

These six lack a theme. They are just random pictures of a few flowers that are blooming here and now.

1. Lavandula stoechas, Spanish lavender posed for this picture, which was not adequate for the gardening column, but is too pretty to delete without sharing here. It looks like it is about to fly away with those long wings. A bee posed with it for the gardening column.

2. (Hespero)Yucca whipplei, chaparral yucca is blooming again after blooming last year. This floral truss is about twelve feet tall, and still growing. Seed that it provided last year is now growing abundantly. It is the first species of Yucca that I met in the wild in 1985.

3. Scilla peruviana, Peruvian squill has been reliably perennial for about three years but has not grown much. Although the floral trusses are bigger than they were last year, they are no more numerous. Just nine remain in three groups of three, just as I planted them.

4. Rhododendron spp., like the bearded iris and cymbidium orchid, is of an unidentified cultivar. Many others are blooming now also. I refrained from posting six pictures of six different rhododendrons like I usually do though, because that can get a bit predictable.

5. Iris X germanica, bearded iris was difficult to take a good picture of at the time of day that I encountered it. Its pale color did not help. I am fond of this iris though, since I got it from Cedar Lodge at Kidder Creek, on the way to the Pacific Northwest two years ago.

6. Cymbidium spp., has been blooming very slowly. The buds appeared over winter, and have been extending since then, but only recently opened. I never liked this orchid much anyway. A white orchid that typically blooms so impressively here did nothing this year.

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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Orchid Rockrose

Orchid rockrose, as well as other rockrose, are remarkably resilient.

Out in the most remote islands in the vast parking lots of Westgate Mall, the three inch wide, bright pink flowers of orchid rockrose, Cistus X purpureus, defy the harsh exposure and sun baked soil. They begin to bloom somewhat abundantly about now after winter rains, and continue until the beginning of summer. Sporadic flowers can occasionally bloom out of season. The center of each flower looks like a starfish wearing a fuzzy sweater, because each of the five petals has a brownish red spot at the base, surrounding the bright yellow stamens.

Mature orchid rockrose plants are typically less than four feet tall and broad, with somewhat grayish green, aromatic foliage. Individual leaves are about one or two inches long. Older stems can be pruned out as they start to deteriorate and drop leaves, in order to promote new growth that lasts longer. Otherwise, plants look tired after a few years, and eventually die out. Orchid rockrose does not want much water once established, and can only tolerate frequent watering with good drainage.

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Real Drought Tolerance

Even native manzanitas, which really are drought tolerant, need water until they disperse their roots.

Nearly every landscaper and gardener brags about using plants that do not need much water. Buzz words like ‘drought tolerant’, ‘native’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘xeriscape’ have become all too common, even though few actually spell ‘xeriscape’ properly. (It is NOT ‘zeroscape’!) Unfortunately though, most gardeners water so frequently and generously that drought tolerant and native plants are less sustainable than plants that want more water.

The difficulty is that drought tolerant plants generally need rather regular watering immediately after planting, while they are still dispersing their roots, but then want to dry out between watering once they are established. Otherwise, they are very susceptible to rot if the soil is constantly moist. Most drought tolerant plants should therefore not be mixed with plants or lawns that want regular watering.

Trees like incense cedar, beefwood, carob, silk oak, olive, California pepper tree and some eucalyptus, pine and oak can be nice shade trees in lawns that are not watered too much, but do not live as long as they would with less water. (Although many are messy in lawns anyway; and carob smells bad when it blooms.) California laurel, African sumac, Australian willow, strawberry tree and most acacia and cypress are less tolerant of lawn irrigation.

Eucalyptus, pine, oak and acacia have sensitive roots, so do better if planted while young instead of as larger specimens. For example, #5 (5 gallon) red ironbark eucalyptus get established faster and grow larger than 24” boxed red ironbark eucalyptus installed at the same time.

Bottlebrush, oleander, cotoneaster, hop bush, firethorn, grevillea, some types of wild lilac and all sorts of juniper can be happy with or without regular watering. Manzanita, coyote brush, rockrose, flannel bush and western redbud really want to dry out between watering. Like many plants from arid climates, wild lilac, coyote brush, rockrose, flannel bush and western redbud are naturally relatively short lived. Western redbud fortunately has an efficient technique of producing an abundance of seed and replacing itself with new seedlings before if finishes.

Lily-of-the-Nile is one of the most useful perennials, and can survive with annual rainfall or nearly saturated conditions. New Zealand flax is nearly as adaptable, but is more susceptible to rot if watered too much. Rosemary and several iceplants are nice ground covers with or without regular watering.

The various yuccas, aloes, agaves and their other relatives are some of the most practical perennials for arid climates, and many tolerate somewhat generous watering if necessary. However, most agaves and yuccas have nasty sharp leaves; and some agaves get too big to keep at a safe distance. Also, their bold personalities are not adaptable to every garden style.