There are actually a few different flowers known as Queen Anne’s lace. The most common species, Daucus carota, that has naturalized and even become somewhat of a weed in some areas, has two and a half inch broad, flat-topped trusses of delicately minute but abundant flowers, with a single red flower at the center of each truss. Apparently, Queen Anne pricked a finger with a needle while making the lace, leaving a drop of blood. Modern varieties have broader and fluffier trusses, often lacking central red flowers. They are a popular ingredient or fill for mixed bouquets with more colorful flowers.
The biennial foliage of Queen Anne’s lace grows to about three feet tall in the first year, with weedy but intricately lacy leaves. It blooms in summer of the second year. It is very similar to poison hemlock, which is poisonous enough to kill Nero, so should not be allowed to grow in vegetable gardens or where toxicity might be a problem; just in case.
Lily of the Nile floral trusses are appealing even without bloom.
Most flowers bloom in spring. Many bloom a bit later and though summer. Not nearly so many start to bloom in autumn or though winter. This time of year, there is more to clean up from fading blooms than there are fresh blooms to cut and bring in.
Much of the color in the garden through autumn is provided by colorful foliage or foliage that gets colorful as the weather gets cooler. Later in winter, some plants have colorful bark and stems that gets revealed by winter defoliation. Coral bark Japanese maple, red twig dogwood and some arctic willows have remarkably colorful twigs.
Blooms of a few plants are sometimes cut and recycled after they fade because their dried flowers, flower stems or seed pods are appealing. Hydrangeas are not so attractive as they deteriorate out in the garden, but can be cut and hung upside down to dry to substitute for fresh flowers later. If done quickly, many types hold their color somewhat. Those that do not hold their fresh color may turn an appealing shade of brown.
Queen Anne’s lace can likewise be a nice dried flower, but is not so easy to hide in the garden while it dries. If cut and hung to dry, individual stems should be hung separately, since they bend and are difficult to separate if hung in clusters. Their flat-topped flower trusses curve inward as they dry, so they look nothing like they do fresh.
The rigid flower stems of New Zealand flax are rather sculptural protruding from their softer foliage. These same stems can be cut, plucked of seed pods, and like dried hydrangeas, used as cut flowers when there is not much else to get out of the garden. Ironically, New Zealand flax flowers sometimes get cut before they bloom, since not everyone appreciates their contrast against their own softly textured foliage.
Years ago, New Zealand flax flower stems were actually dried and spray painted! For those daring to try this technique, it also works well with lily -of-the-Nile flowers stems and trusses (plucked of their seed pods), Heavenly bamboo flower stems, and even dried pampas grass blooms. However, pampas grass blooms are deprived of their fluffiness and most appealing quality by spray paint. Bird-of-Paradise leaves twist interestingly as they dry, to provide texture with or without paint.
Fronds (leaves) of some fan palms can provide bold cut foliage. Mediterranean fan palm is difficult to handle because of the nasty teeth on the stalks, but has nice rounded leave that fan out nicely behind other flowers. They can be cut into smaller fans, or even other not so rounded shapes. Windmill palm is much easier to handle, but is a bit larger, so is more likely to need to be trimmed to shape. All are easy to cut with common scissors, and can be dried and spray painted.
There is probably more in the garden to substitute for cut flowers than would be guessed. Useful plant parts can be found in the least expected of places.
Nothing is official yet. I am hopeful, though. I am currently in training to establish a new Garden Report on Pirate Cat Radio KPCR-LP 92.9 FM in Los Gatos, KMRT-LP 101.9 FM in Santa Cruz, KVBE-LP 91.1 in Portland, and online at KPCR.org. For me, it is daunting. However, those training me are confident of my ability. I have no problem talking about horticulture for an hour. My difficulty is operating the necessary electronics. It is not much, and actually looks quite simple. I am just not comfortable with it. I am intent on doing what I must, though. I miss my former Garden Report gardening shows on KSCO 1080 AM in Santa Cruz and KBCZ 89.3 FM in Boulder Creek. Ultimately, I would like to post recordings of the new Garden Report here on the blog, or at least post links to such recordings. I am told that is not difficult to do, if I record the shows, which is apparently standard procedure. I still need to find “intro” music for the beginning and end of each show, but I believe that I have a source for that. Goodness, although I know this should be easy, I am nervous!
Native trees are not necessarily the best options for home gardens. Valley oak, Quercus lobata, for example, grows much too large. Old trees can grow more than a hundred feet tall. Although unpopular for new plantings, it sometimes self sows. Also, new landscapes sometimes develop around old trees. Formerly rural trees therefore become urban trees.
Old trees are unfortunately very sensitive to disruption of their surroundings. Grading can severely damage their shallow feeder roots. Irrigation to sustain new landscapes is likely to promote rot of older and larger roots. Trees that should live for centuries can succumb to such damage within decades. Younger trees are fortunately adaptable to landscapes.
Nonetheless, young valley oaks are trees for future generations. Also, they require plenty of space. Although it may take a few centuries, trunks can eventually grow ten feet wide. As they mature, such big trees can make a big mess. The deciduous foliage can shed for weeks instead of days. The pale yellowish brown autumn foliar color is rather mundane. Without excessive irrigation, roots are remarkably complaisant.
Autumn foliar color is a reminder that, regardless of pleasant weather, it really is autumn. The days are getting shorter. The weather is getting cooler. Households with operational fireplaces or wood stoves may resume using them. Firewood will therefore become more of a desirable commodity. A few trees might require pruning for clearance from chimneys.
Only several decades ago, firewood was much more popular than it is now. More homes that were modern for their time featured fireplaces. Other options for heating, such as gas and electricity, were relatively more expensive. Firewood was still more readily available from nearby orchards, farms or forests. Air pollution was not such a concern like it is now.
Almost no modern homes feature fireplaces now. Modern building codes in most regions disallow installation of fireplaces or wood stoves. Gas and even electric heating systems are more efficient than in the past. Many orchards and forests that provided firewood are now gone. Not many who inhabit houses with fireplaces have time to cut and split wood.
Besides, fireplaces and wood stoves lack thermostats or any method of regulation. They also generate considerable volumes of ash and are messy to clean. Enough firewood for the season occupies significant space in a garden. Then, firewood must be brought in to the fireplace or wood stove. It is no wonder that modern heating systems are so popular.
Nonetheless, firewood is not completely obsolete. It is a renewable resource that literally grows on trees. Many tree service businesses sell mixed firewood as a byproduct of their work. Ideally, they prefer to leave it where they perform their work, for whomever wants it. Woodcutters provide specific types of firewood from private forests, or perhaps orchards.
By now, firewood for this season must be seasoned, or completely dried. Otherwise, it is difficult to ignite, burns inefficiently, and produces excessive smoke. Wood that is still too fresh will be ready to burn for the next season. Although wood can eventually rot outside. Palm, cordyline and yucca trunks burn too fast without enough heat to work as firewood.
Angel’s trumpet continue to bloom even as the weather cools. Perhaps they will continue until frost. Their floral color is a bit off though, perhaps as a result of the cooler weather. They work out nicely for ‘Six on Saturday’, though. Strangely, not much else is blooming as well as angel’s trumpet is now.
1. Angel’s trumpet probably should not bloom so late, but does not seem to know or care that it is autumn. I was impressed by a previous bloom phase, so will see what this does.
2. This is a more open flower of the same angel’s trumpet as above. Its floral color is the most variable of the cultivars, but has most commonly been more peachy pink than this.
3. This angel’s trumpet flower should be frilly double white. I suppose that it is not so off color. However, it is barely frilly, and lacks double form. I can not complain. It is pretty.
4. This angel’s trumpet flower blooms with the peachy pink color that #2 should exhibit, but should bloom yellow. Again, I can not complain. I just wonder what is going on here.
5. If I remember correctly, this rhododendron is not off color like some angel’s trumpets are but it is very off season. My complaint is that it will not bloom for spring as it should.
6. Rhody might disapprove of all this off color commentary if he were not so thoroughly distracted by someone with goodies. He can not see the same colors as humans anyway.
Abundant lush foliage is actually the main asset of blood-red trumpet vine, Distictis buccinatoria, with the sporadic clusters of three inch long tubular flowers blooming as an added benefit during warm weather. Bloom can certainly be impressive when least expected though; and has a sneaky way of getting a late blast of color out during Indian summer weather patterns, when the weather gets warm after a cool phase in autumn. Contrary to the name, the flowers are more ruddy orange with yellow throats than blood red. The rich green leaves are compound, with a pair of three inch long leaflets and a three fingered tendril reaching out from between.
The vines are somewhat aggressive and can climb more than twenty feet, so need adequate support. They should not be allowed to overwhelm smaller or slower plants, or escape out of reach into adjacent trees. The tendrils can grab onto and damage shingles and light fences, but are an advantage for covering chain link fences. Given the opportunity, blood-red trumpet vine can even climb rough cinder block or stucco walls.
Some of the most familiar flowers to bloom in the earliest of spring get planted now as bulbs. They sit and wait in the garden to finish their dormancy, perhaps get a bit of a chill through winter, and get an early start to their bloom cycles as soon as weather permits. Because winters are so mild here in the Santa Clara Valley, some do not even bother to wait for spring, but are instead happy to start bloom before winter ends.
Bulbs become available in nurseries when they can be planted. Those that are not available yet will become available when it is time to plant them for later spring or summer bloom. The first to become available are generally the first to bloom; although bearded iris seem to know when they want to bloom, regardless of when they get planted.
As long as they do not get stored too long or get planted too late, bulbs do not need to be planted immediately, and actually extend their performance if planted in phases. The earliest phases to get planted will bloom earliest. Phases of the same bulbs planted a few or many days later should bloom about the same amount of time later.
With proper planning, later phases bloom as earlier phases finish. For example, because crocus flowers do not last very long, different phases of bulbs can be planted only a few days or a week apart, so that more flowers start to bloom in time for earlier flowers to fade. Freesia flowers last a bit longer, so different phases can be planted two weeks or so apart.
Narcissus and daffodil bulbs are not so discriminating about how deeply they get planted, so various phases can be put in the same spots. As long as they do not get planted too deep, the earliest phases can be planted deep and covered with only a bit of soil, so that later phases can be planted above. If similarly covered with only a shallow bit of soil, later phases of the same bulbs can be stacked, as long as the last and shallowest phase still gets planted deep enough.
Not many bulbs are actually real bulbs. Most are corms, tubers, rhizomes or tuberous roots. They all do the same thing though; store resources through dormancy to sustain quick bloom as weather allows. Although many bloom reliably only once in their first season, some naturalize to bloom at about the same time each year. Tulips are capable of naturalizing, but rarely get enough chill in winter to bloom after their first season.
Anemone (windflower), hyacinth, lily, rananculus, tulip and small colorful callas are the less reliable of spring bulbs after their first year. Crocus, freesia, hymenocallis and harlequin flower can be more reliable if they get what they want. Grape hyacinth, narcissus, daffodil, watsonia, bearded iris and the old fashioned white callas are the most reliable of bulbs that get planted about now.
It has been nearly seven years since I documented the discovery of this mysterious Pet Rock in a hanging pot of zonal geranium at work. Until only recently, it had remained where it was for all this time. I did not want whomever left it to return to find it gone. Even after the zonal geranium were replaced with ivy geranium, it was returned to its original position. Unfortunately though, the ivy geranium did not perform much better than the original zonal geranium, so their hanging planters were recently removed completely with no plans to replace them. The Pet Rock was regrettably removed with them. There are no other planters nearby to deposit it into. I can only hope that whomever left it will not miss it. Realistically, I suspect that it was forgotten about shortly after it was left there. The difficulty is that I do not know. Well, the Pet Rock remains in the nursery at work, just in case someone asks about it. Perhaps it will eventually be deposited elsewhere in a landscape for someone else to wonder about. Perhaps that is how it was deposited into the hanging pot of zonal geranium where I found it!
Tony Tomeo 