Crassula tetragona is more similar to related jade plant than it appears.
Although the narrow and pointed inch long leaves of Crassula tetragona (which lacks a common name) are not at all similar to the plump rounded leaves of the closely related but much more common jade plant, it is much more similar to jade plant than it appears to be. Both enjoy sunlight but will take a bit of shade. Both can be damaged by extreme exposure (reflected glare and heat), as well as the opposite extreme, frost. Their succulent stems are so easy to root as cuttings, that rather substantial pieces that may need to be pruned off can be stuck into the soil as instant new plants. Even leaves of these and various other specie of Crassula can be rooted as very small cuttings. Besides its distinctive foliage, Crassula tetragona differs from jade plant only because it is limited to about a foot and a half high and wide, and blooms with unremarkable white flowers instead of more prominent flower trusses.
The San Jose Heritage Rose Garden is the most complete collection of ancestral roses in the World!
(This article is recycled from several years ago, so information about events is now outdated.)
No matter how careful I am to avoid spending any money at Spring in Guadalupe Gardens, I have never escaped without purchasing something, or a few or even several somethings that I did not need but really wanted for my garden. My plunder was relatively meager this year, but did include three climbing roses from Liggett’s Rose Nursery.
One is a ‘Renae’ rose that blooms all summer with remarkably fragrant pale pink blooms. Its fragrance is so obnoxiously strong though; that I gave the plant to my neighbor, and told him that it ‘smells good’. It really does smell good, albeit from a distance, such as in my garden.
The other two roses are ‘Lamarque’, with abundant fluffy white blossoms all summer. The robust fragrance is fortunately more tolerable. I really like the monstrous canes that are already reaching out to cover a bare embankment.
The two ‘Lamarque’ roses are manageable so far. I really do not know how manageable they will be next year though. It would be nice if they could go wild, and only get pruned as they encroach into trees and the driveway. However, roses perform best if properly maintained. I will want to be able to prune off deteriorating flowers to promote subsequent bloom. This process of ‘dead heading’ will not be so easy if I can not reach all the canes.
The Heritage Rose Garden has a similar challenge. Although most of the plants are within reach of anyone wanting to prune them, there are simply too many plants for a herd of goats to remove all the spent blooms from. Since goats are not such a feasible option in a rose garden, volunteers are invited to attend a Rose Deadheading Blitz from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. every second Tuesday of each month, beginning June 8 and continuing until September 7.
No experience is needed, either for deadheading the roses or for swilling the ice cream served afterward. Volunteers should bring shears and gloves, and wear closed-toe shoes. Shears are available from the staff if necessary.
The Heritage Rose Garden is located on Taylor Street at Spring Street, just east of Coleman Avenue in San Jose. Volunteers can get more information or sign up by contacting Volunteer Coordinator, Lucy Perez by telephone at 298 7657 or by email at lperez@grpg.org.
My bounty from Spring in Guadalupe Gardens of past years includes many succulents, particularly a few specie of Crassula that were frozen by frost early last winter. Their recovery has been delayed by the lingering cool and rainy weather through spring. Now that I am removing the last of the sludge that remains from the previously frozen leaves and stems, I am finding where snails have been hiding and breeding. Even though the sludge is harmless, the snails within are not. I probably should have cleaned it out earlier.
Foliage of fruit trees, roses or other plants that has been infected with peach leaf curl, powdery mildew or any other disease should likewise be removed and disposed of. Either next spring or later this year, secondary infection is much more likely without sanitation.
Within its native range, wild thorny honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, is a nasty tree! Its wicked thorns are typically as long as four inches but can be twice as long. Some branch into many thorns or thick clusters of thorns. Thickets of many trees can be impenetrable. Female trees produce a messy abundance of brown pods that are about half a foot long.
Fortunately, its cultivars are much more docile. Most are exclusively male, so produce no pods. Old fashioned cultivars that might produce pods as they mature are now rare. More importantly, cultivars are thornless. That is why their common name is now honey locust rather than thorny honey locust. They are as remarkably resilient as the simpler species.
Most cultivars of honey locust grow no taller or wider than fifty feet here. Some grow only half as tall. Some of the more popular cultivars are brightly yellowish green for spring. At least one is ruddy bronze for spring. The finely textured foliage provides dappled shade. Leaves are pinnately and bipinnately compound, and turn yellow for autumn defoliation. Individual leaflets are less than an inch long, so can be difficult to rake.
Pruning techniques are very diverse to serve various purposes. Dormant pruning during winter concentrates resources for spring or summer growth. Hedging or shearing merely contains growth. Thinning or grooming removes superfluous growth to enhance sunlight diffusion. Clearance pruning directs new growth that might otherwise become obtrusive.
There are too many distinct pruning techniques to mention. Some, such as shearing and thinning, are mutually exclusive. Shearing actually initiates the sort of congested growth that thinning eliminates. Techniques such as dormant pruning and clearance pruning are mutually compatible. After all, almost all pruning is less stressful with winter dormancy.
Clearance pruning merely becomes a concern now as spring growth becomes obtrusive. Much of the worst require professional assistance. Only arboricultural professionals can safely prune trees away from high voltage cables. Such cables are extremely hazardous! Utility services generally try to arrange such procedures before major problems develop.
However, arboricultural professionals are necessary for other clearance pruning as well. Many trees are simply too large or hazardous for anyone but professionals. Some extend over roadways that need clearance for the largest of trucks. Some extend over chimneys that could ignite vegetation that gets too close. Many simply extend beyond a safe reach.
Street trees seem to require the most clearance pruning. They must be a specified height over any roadway, as well as over any sidewalk. Also, they must not obstruct street signs or views for cars backing out of driveways. Ideally, their interference with light from street lamps should be minimal. Vegetation that is closer to buildings presents other concerns.
Besides chimneys and exhaust vents, roofs also need clearance. Stems and foliage are abrasive as they move in any wind. They collect debris that causes rot and clogs gutters. Furthermore, walkways and navigable areas are more efficient with adequate clearance. Clearance pruning should direct growth away from any obstruction, rather than contain it.
New Guinea impatiens (with ivy geranium) from last year.
Annuals complete their entire lifespans within a single year.
Perennials survive for more than a single year.
Biennials grow vegetatively during their first year, and then bloom, disperse seed and die during their second year, but that is another story.
Most species that are appreciated as annuals here actually have potential to be perennials, even if only short term perennials. They are only replaced annually because it is easier than maintaining them through their dormant season.
For example, busy Lizzy is a warm season annual that gets installed for spring and replaced with cool season annuals for autumn. However, if cut back and sheltered from frost, it can survive through winter to perform for the following spring and summer. Actually, it can survive perennially like this for quite a few years, and as it ultimately deteriorates, it can replace itself with its own cuttings or layered stems.
Brent did this with New Guinea impatiens from last year. He neglected to replace them for winter (which is quite brief there), and then noticed that they resumed growth as winter ended. Now, they are huge and even more spectacularly florific than they were last summer.
The picture above shows where I camp out in his backyard when I go to Southern California. Most of the white bloom to the right is actually ivy geranium that cascades below the New Guinea impatiens, but most of the white bloom to the left is New Guinea impatiens above ivy geranium. (White on white was not quite as monotonous when each of the two species maintained its distinct form last year.)
Small terrace at the western margin of the garden.
This other pair of potted dwarf Alberta spruce surrounded with the same New Guinea impatiens above, with a close up below, flanks the steps to a small terrace at far western margin of the garden.
These New Guinea impatiens are huge because they resumed growth from last year.
That is what this uplit Canary Island date palm seems to be responding to. It seems to be surrounded by police, with their spotlights aimed at it as they proceed with an arrest. It actually seems to be guilty, although it might merely be humiliated.
Brent is a renowned landscape designer in the Los Angeles region. I know that I should not question his work. After all, aside from all the other unusual horticultural work that I do, my primary work is supposed to be on the farm. I merely grow the material that Brent’s crews assemble into their landscapes. I know that Brent knows what he is doing, and his clients appreciate it very much. I just do not quite get it.
Although I happen to be fond of Canary Island date palms in other peoples’ landscapes, I do not think that I would want one in my own garden. I would prefer a fruiting pair of date palms. Even that is a stretch. They occupy significant space, and probably would not produce good fruit here anyway. Even if such palms inhabited my garden, I know that I would not want them uplit like this. Such trees seem to be embarrassed or annoyed about being kept up late. They really deserve to get some sleep at night like everyone else.
Uplighting became popular in the 1970s. By the time that Brent and I were in school, and he was studying landscape design, lighting of various colors had become popular. I can remember a landscape in his Parents’ neighborhood that was done up like a horror movie with red lights. Another was done up like a circus with various tacky colors. Eventually, white lights became most popular, although colorful lights are not completely unpopular.
A crosswalk connects a rose garden at work to a fancy perennial and annual bed across a narrow road. As much as I would like to maintain certain standards within both of these two distinct gardens, neither is perfect. Each is inhabited by something that should be of the other. One stays because of its justification for being there. The other stays because I can not easily separate it from the roots of what moved in over it, and because we sort of like it there now. Anyway, I added another picture from Arizona a month ago, and one of Brent’s useless pictures, just because they are too pretty to discard without sharing here.
1. Distictis riversii, royal trumpet vine demonstrates that, no matter how much he wants to get one of his pictures into his local Canyon News, Brent does not provide a good one.
2. Lantana camara, which is known simply as lantana, bloomed within the same garden as the orange cultivar of last Saturday; so this picture is from a month ago near Phoenix.
3. Rosa, which is an unidentified miniature rose, is designated as the lily rose because of its stubborn occupancy of a former lily colony within a garish perennial and annual bed.
4. Although pretty, it really should be in the rose garden across the road. I can not move it over there, because of its sentimental significance for the person who installed it here.
5. Lilium, which is an unidentified Oriental lily, is designated as the rose lily because of its stubborn occupancy of a former perennial and annual bed that is now a rose garden.
6. Although pretty in bloom, it really should be with this colony of abundant lilies, which I shared a picture of last Saturday, in a garish perennial and annual bed across the road.
Hall’s honeysuckle climbs aggressively by twining.
The unrefined twining vines of good old fashioned Hall’s (Japanese) honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’, seem to fit in so naturally with lilacs, hydrangeas and bearded iris; the sort of plants that grow in grandma’s garden. Grandma may need help controlling it though, since it can climb more than twenty five feet, and get overgrown and invasive. It is best pruned back to main canes or to the ground annually at the end of winter. Even though it is evergreen, it drops some of its foliage and looks rather tired by the end of winter anyway.
Just as the fragrance of the earlier spring blooming flowers gets depleted, Hall’s honeysuckle begins to bloom with its own distinct sweet fragrance, attracting bees and hummingbirds. Bloom is typically most abundant in spring, and followed by sporadic bloom until autumn. Fluctuations of weather or watering can cause subsequent phases of abundant bloom during summer. The pale white tubular (and bisymmetrical) flowers fade to pale yellow that is perhaps the color of French vanilla ice cream. The simple light green leaves are about two inches long. A few leaves on the most vigorous vines may be lobed.
Bougainvillea does not cling to its support. It merely leans on it, or must be tied.
Harvesting grapes from a pear tree last summer reminded me why it is so important to control the grape vines this year. Without proper confinement to the fence below, the grape vines had climbed into and overwhelmed the pear tree above. My neighbor who witnessed the consequences of my lack of diligence in the garden, and helped me with the harvest, mentioned that the ‘grape tree’ was more productive than the vines had been when properly maintained during the previous year. I was embarrassed about my transgression nonetheless.
My colleague in Southern California has no problem grooming the many different kinds of vines that adorn arbors, trellises, walls, fences and railings in his garden. I certainly could not let him find out that I was vanquished by my single grapevine, which he refers to as ‘Dago wisteria’. I probably remind him of how important it is to control his vines more often than I am offended by racial slurs.
The trick is to select vines that are appropriate to each particular application. Vines for small, light trellises must be relatively complaisant, like lilac vine, pink jasmine, Carolina jessamine or clematis. Aggressive vines like wisteria, grape (the ‘other’ wisteria) and the larger trumpet vines need hefty trellises or arbors. Brambles and scrambling plants like bougainvillea and climbing roses do not actively climb, so need to be tied or ‘tucked’ into their supports.
Some of the seemingly innocent vines can actually become somewhat aggressive. Mandevillea, potato vine and star jasmine have wiry stems that seem harmless enough, but can eventually tear apart lattice or light trellises. Perennial morning glory and passion vine are potentially invasive. Trailing nasturtiums and annual morning glory really are as innocent as they look, so are nice small annual vines where space is limited. I prefer pole beans though.
Vines like Boston ivy, Virginia creeper and creeping fig that attach to their supports with roots or discs (modified tendrils) are too destructive for most applications in home gardens. They are fine on unpainted reinforced concrete buildings and concrete walls, such as the retaining walls and sound walls of freeways, but will ruin paint, siding, stucco and shingles. Unlike the other vines, these lack colorful bloom. Boston ivy and Virginia creeper produce remarkable fall color though, but then defoliate revealing bare stems through winter.
Algerian and the various English ivies are good ground cover plants that will become climbing foliar (without showy blooms) vines if they reach support. Unfortunately, they root into their support like creeping fig does, so have limited practicality. Honeysuckle is an aggressive vine that can also double as a ground cover.
