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Laurustinus

Laurustinus can become a small tree.

Winter bloom may or may not be an benefit of laurustinus, Viburnum tinus. Most grow as regularly shorn hedges that are unable to bloom much between shearing. Those that do bloom often generate a floral fragrance that some find to be objectionable. Nonetheless, with only timely pruning, laurustinus does bloom for winter. Many consider this an asset.

Flowers are small and white or blushed with pink. They huddle together in dense cymes, which are about two or three inches wide. Their dense evergreen foliage is forest green. Individual leaves are paired, about two or three inches long, and half as wide. They have a very slightly raspy surface texture. Mature laurustinus can sucker from their basal roots.

If bloom is not a concern, laurustinus can be a dense shorn hedge, only several feet tall. Otherwise, it can become a dense small tree more than twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Once established, it does not need much water and can actually survive with just rainfall. It is not very discriminating about soil quality. Mites or mildew can become problematic in damp coastal climates, particularly among shaded or very congested specimens.

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Winter Flowers May Be Scarce

Not many flowers bloom for winter.

Evergreen foliage and berries are now popular for home decor for a primary reason. Not many winter flowers are blooming and available for cutting and bringing in. Most flowers prefer to bloom while more pollinators are more active. Not many pollinators are out and about while weather is cool through winter. Consequently, winter flowers may be scarce.

However, they are not actually as scarce as they seem to be. Some winter flowers bloom without drawing attention to themselves. They do not need to if they rely on wind for their pollination. Colorful flowers are colorful only to attract pollinators. For example, redwood is blooming quite privately about now. It produces no prominently colorful flowers to see.

Some winter flowers do not actually intend to bloom in winter. They are merely confused by the local climates. For example, African daisy blooms whenever the weather is warm. It does not know to stop blooming for winter here because the weather is not overly cold. Cala are tropicals, so have no concept of winter. They should not bloom, but might try to.

Camellias are some of the most familiar and popular winter flowers. Sasanqua camellias bloom before common camellias. Different cultivars of each type bloom at different times. The latest sasanqua camellias might actually bloom after the earliest common camellias. Sasanqua camellias bloom more abundantly. Common camellias provide larger flowers.

Although most salvia bloom during warmer weather, a few bloom sporadically for winter. Autumn sage seems to never be completely without bloom. Meanwhile, cultivars of witch hazel bloom curiously on bare stems. So does winter jasmine, but only in yellow. Oregon grape can bloom impressively within cooler climates. It is evergreen and blooms yellow.

Many of the better winter flowers are cool season annuals, which are no good for cutting. These comprise pansy, viola, cyclamen, dianthus, snapdragon, nemesia and primroses. Stock is exceptional, because it can be cut and brought inside and is splendidly fragrant. Ornamental kale and ornamental cabbage are foliar plants that present like wide flowers.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Six on Saturday: Stormy Weather

Several days of stormy weather were predicted, and came with a flash flood warning and a tornado warning for Christmas, but it really was not that bad. No floods. No tornados.

1. Sandbags were readily available for those who might have needed them for the storms that were expected. The wind was strong, but the rain was not as torrential as predicted.

2. Hedera helix, English ivy and a rotten stump of Lithocarpus densiflorus, tanoak were among the vegetation debris that needed to be removed from roadways after the storms.

3. Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas fir contributed to the mess as well. This small bit did not reach the ground, though. Larger branches interrupted electrical service to the area.

4. Cyclamen persicum, florist’s cyclamen looks rather shabby after so much windy, cold and rainy weather without interruption. The weather should be a bit drier for next week.

5. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris has been more resilient to the weather; and it has been blooming for a long time. This might be its third appearance here in my Six on Saturday.

6. Leucojum vernum, snowflake is what we know as snowdrop. Now that snowdrop is so commonly available online, there could eventually be some confusion with their names.

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 · 7 Comments

Major Cutback

After several years of posting daily to this blog, I must cut back drastically. My posts for Thursdays and Fridays had been recycled articles from my gardening column, going back for as many years as this blog has gone forward. So, since this blog began eight years ago in September of 2017, the posts for Thursdays and Fridays have gone back for eight years from 2017, which was 2009. (However, I believe that I posted articles for 2010 twice inadvertently.) These recycled articles will no longer continue to be posted here. Furthermore, the elaborations that I post for Wednesdays and the pictures that I post for Sundays will no longer continue to post regularly. I may post them occasionally, but more likely will not. I hope to continue to post for ‘Six on Saturday’, but I am not even certain about that. Ultimately, I will only commit to posting my gardening articles on Mondays and Tuesdays, since I write those articles for the gardening column anyway. Blogging has been fun, but it is also a time consuming commitment. I may enjoy it more when it is less of a burden, and without the sometimes redundant and sometimes outdated recycled articles.

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Mugo Pine

Mugo pine exhibits very compact growth.

Although it classifies as a tree, mugo pine, Pinus mugo, is more like shrubbery. Old trees may be only a few feet tall, and maybe twice as wide. Not many are more than eight feet tall. Their form is densely rounded. Foliage is deep forest green. Stiff paired needles are only about one to two inches long. Plump cones are not much longer, and are quite rare.

Mugo pine, although native to the Alps, is a traditional feature of Japanese gardens. Yet, it is rare within other types of gardens. It does not grow fast or big enough to be practical for much more than aesthetic appeal. It does excel at that, though, by developing such a distinctly rounded form. It can work well as foundation planting or a short informal hedge.

Mugo pine is not particularly discriminating about local soils or climates. It merely craves sunny and warm exposure. Mature specimens do not need much water, but are healthier with occasional irrigation. Mugo pine appreciates room for unrestricted growth. Shearing deprives it of its natural form and texture. If necessary, selective pruning may be tedious.

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Evergreen Foliage For Christmas Decor

Pines provide delightful cut evergreen foliage.

Berries such as firethorn might be the most colorful features of some home gardens now. Flowers can be scarce for late autumn and winter. Yet, people still enjoy decorating their homes with vegetation from their gardens. Cut evergreen foliage actually becomes more popular than cut flowers had been. It is a basic component of traditional Christmas decor.

Christmas trees are the most extreme form of cut evergreen foliage. With few exceptions, though, they do not grow within home gardens. Instead, they grow on farms and become available for sale before Christmas. Availability from such sources is remarkably diverse. Not many home gardens have adequate space for cut Christmas tree cultivation anyway.

Wreaths and garlands are the second most extreme forms of cut evergreen foliage. Many are available for sale like cut Christmas trees are. However, many people create wreaths and garlands from what inhabits their gardens. After all, wreaths and garlands are merely stylized floral design which lack containers. Most, but not all, lack anything floral as well.

Because wreaths and garlands lack containers, their components must not wilt too soon. The best evergreen foliage is coniferous. However, some broadleaf foliage works nicely. Even defoliated deciduous twigs can be intriguing. Pine cones can substitute for flowers. There are not many rules to floral design, or for the composition of wreaths and garlands.

Collection of evergreen foliage for wreaths and garlands should not disrupt a landscape. Ideally, such foliage should be in need of removal anyway. For example, stems that need pruning can provide significant material. Pruning cuts from source material must be done properly, without stubs or disfigurement. The many rules of responsible gardening apply.

Fir, spruce, pine and cedar are some of the better evergreen foliage for Christmas decor. They are uncommon, though, within local home gardens. Italian cypress, arborvitae and juniper are more common. Boxwood, various hollies and various pittosporums are some broadleaf alternatives. Southern magnolia and New Zealand flax may add bold contrast. So do coral bark Japanese maple twigs or tufts of ornamental grass.

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Six on Saturday: More Unseasonal Azaleas

Half of these blooms are right on time. The other half are azaleas that really should wait until spring to bloom. I hope that some refrain from blooming now to bloom in season.

1. Osmanthus fragrans, sweet osmanthus may not be much to look at, but is exquisitely fragrant. I believe that the current cool and humid weather enhances its floral fragrance.

2. Viburnum tinus, laurustinus, which is not typically very fragrant, likewise seems to be more fragrant with cool and humid weather. This one blooms white without pink blush.

3. Osteospermum ecklonis, African daisy blooms significantly less while weather is cool, but seems to never be completely without bloom. This one blooms with a billowy center.

4. Rhododendron spp., azalea should not be blooming now. Flowers that bloom now will be finished and unavailable to bloom in spring. I believe that this cultivar is ‘Coral Bells’.

5. Rhododendron spp., azalea, which is likely ‘Fielder’s White’, is blooming prematurely also. If I remember correctly, it typically does this, but somehow blooms for spring also.

6. Rhododendron spp., azalea with double bloom is probably a recycled florist specimen. I have no idea what cultivar it is. It certainly is colorful. I hope it saves bloom for spring.

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

Norfolk Island Pine

Norfolk Island pine seems to have been built rather than grown.

            In coastal areas of Southern California, the Norfolk Island pines, Araucaria heterophylla, are among the most distinctive large trees. Perhaps they are better described as ‘unusual’ . . . , or even ‘strange’. They are so symmetrical that they seem to have been assembled from prefabricated kits than to have grown as natural trees. Their strictly organized conical branch structures and remarkably straight central trunks are always visible through their uniformly open canopies. In such mild climates, they can get nearly a hundred feet tall and half as wide, so are not easy to hide. In Hawaii, their symmetry has actually made them popular as Christmas trees. Their finely textured juvenile foliage is comprised of narrow, half inch long pine-needle like leaves, which are wider among adult growth.

            Locally though, Norfolk Island pines are primarily enjoyed as houseplants, particularly since they can grow slowly and live in pots for many years. The climate is just a bit too cool in winter for them to be very happy in the garden. However, as they eventually get too large for their homes, many end up in the garden anyway. They stay much smaller and are not nearly as symmetrical as they are in milder climates, and may be damaged by the more severe frosts every few years, but they have a certain appeal and distinction regardless. Those that get planted in the garden while young seem to be more symmetrical than those that get disfigured by living as houseplants longer. For some reason, trees that develop weak or curved trunks as houseplants tend to continue to grow with interestingly irregular trunks and branch structure.