Canary Island date palm is the boldest of the common palms here.
The biggest and boldest of the common palms is the Canary Island date palm, Phoenix canariensis, which can get more than sixty feet tall and nearly forty feet wide, with a full canopy of gracefully arching deep green fronds. A young tree actually spends the first many years as a shrubby plant while the base of the trunk develops. Fronds get longer and spread broader every year until the trunk gets big enough to elongate. Vertical growth then accelerates somewhat, but the canopy gets no broader.
Most trees are female, eventually producing ornately orange but messy clusters of inedible dates. Male trees eventually get a bit taller, but are not quite as graceful and bloom with unimpressive dusty tan flowers.
Old deteriorating fronds need to be pruned away close to the trunk. Petiole bases of the most recently removed fronds are often carved into ‘pineapples’ to leave a bit of support directly below the canopy. Removed fronds leave a distinctive pattern on the trunk.
Mexican fan palm might still be the most common palm here, but is not native.
Only a few of the many different palms that can be grown locally are actually common. The Canary island date palm and the Mexican fan palm, which had historically been the most common palms, have unfortunately given palms a bad reputation. Both get too large for small gardens, and need costly maintenance when they grow out of reach.
Since the late 1980s, the formerly uncommon queen palm has become the most common palm. Although it too eventually grows beyond reach, it is still more proportionate to home gardens while young. It has a relatively narrow trunk that is partially ‘self-cleaning’ (which means that old fronds, or leaves, often fall off or can be easily peeled off).
The windmill palm and the Mediterranean fan palm, although no more common now than a century ago, are two of the better palms for home gardens, since they do not get too large, and are somewhat easy to maintain. The Mediterranean fan palm has several sculptural trunks that curve out randomly from the base. Sharp teeth on their petioles make pruning a challenge, but not impossible.
The windmill palm has a straight solitary trunk that is distinctively hairy where old fronds get pruned away. It eventually grows out of reach, but takes many years to do so. By that time, many people allow beards of old fronds to accumulate on the trunks overhead instead of bothering to keep them pruned.
The desert fan palm, which is the only palm that is native to California, is very similar to the Mexican fan palm, but is about twice as stout and half as tall, with a fluffier canopy. Because it grows slower and stays smaller, it would be a better palm for urban gardens, except that it does not like to be watered regularly when mature. It really prefers warmer and drier climates.
Pindo palm and Mexican blue palm would also be great palms for urban gardens, but grow rather slowly before getting big enough to get noticed. In some climates, pindo palm produces strange and messy, but sweet and tasty fruit. Mexican blue palm is one of the most resilient palms, and blooms with really cool long floral tassels that a can drag on the ground from short trees.
‘Feather’ palms, like Canary Island date palm, queen palm and pindo palm, have pinnate (and generally compound) leaves, with small leaflets arranged on solitary midribs. Their fronds must be removed as they deteriorate.
‘Fan’ palms, like Mexican fan palm, Desert fan palm and windmill palm, have palmate leaves, centered around the distal termini of solitary petioles. These are most often pruned away, leaving distinctive patterns of petiole bases, but can alternatively be left to accumulate into thick beards of thatch.
Mexican fan palms are sometimes ‘shaven’ of their petiole bases to expose elegant lean trunks, although the procedure is intensive and expensive. Desert fan palms and some Mexican fan palms drop their own beards naturally.
Even after mentioning several times that I must discontinue blogging and reblogging, I feel terribly guilty about not posting anything for today. However, for the second time, there is nothing more than a few of the most recent articles to reblog, and nothing new to post. So, here is one of the recent articles. (If this sounds familiar, it is because this is the second time. Yes, I copied and pasted, and changed ‘second’ for ‘first’.)
With adequate time, this prostrate juniper slowly evolves from ground cover to shrubbery. Japanese garden juniper, Juniperus procumbens, can sprawl more than ten feet. Without obstruction, it might do so without getting higher than a foot. It grows higher as it depletes space to expand, or reaches its maximum width. It may eventually grow a few feet deep.
The evergreen foliage of Japanese garden juniper is elegantly grayish or bluish green. It contrasts splendidly with deep green junipers or other rich green foliage. The tiny leaves display a visually fine texture, but are actually rigid and prickly. New stems are short and somewhat pointy until they widen with new foliage. Foliar density excludes most weeds.
Like most junipers, Japanese garden juniper is challenging to prune. Because foliage is so dense, it does not extend far below its outer surface. Consequently, there is not much growth to prune back to. Exposed inner stems are unlikely to foliate efficiently. Shearing, although effective, temporarily compromises natural form. Frequent light pruning is best. ‘Nana’ is the more compact cultivar.
Home gardens are components of the homes that they serve. They are the exterior of the interior. They are the environments in which homes exist. Some provide vegetables and fruits. Many provide flowers. Ideally, gardens enhance domestic experiences. Therefore, their design is as relevant as architecture. Accordingly, horticultural form follows function.
Gardens can be single open spaces or, like their associated homes, a few spaces. They benefit from features that function like those that define interior spaces. Lawns are floors. Trees are ceilings. Hedges and shrubbery are walls. Patios, decks and fences are static features. Vegetation, though, requires more discriminating selection for appropriate form.
Lawns seem to be the simplest of such functional vegetation to select. Form is not overly variable. Nevertheless, turf grass must be appropriate to its particular exposure. Some is more tolerant of partial shade than others. Some requires less water than others. Ground cover vegetation is more appropriate for many situations. Artificial turf might be an option.
Trees and shrubbery are much more diverse. Although they are the largest vegetation of a garden, some are quite small. They are evergreen or deciduous, and both have distinct advantages. While palms lack branches, other trees and shrubs develop sculptural form. Consequences for inappropriate selection of such significant vegetation can be serious.
Furthermore, different varieties of the same species can behave very differently. Junipers are practical shrubbery for some situations. However, some are prostrate ground covers. A few grow as small trees. Also, while some rosemaries are shrubbery, some are trailing. Selection of an inappropriate cultivar of an appropriate species is a rather common error.
A few species change form as they mature. With confinement, the trailing juvenile form of English ivy is a practical ground cover. However, as it encounters support, it becomes its vining adult form. This clinging growth ruins paint, and overwhelms trees and shrubbery. Star jasmine evolves from ground cover to twining vines even without changing its form.
Summer was mild. Vegetation that enjoys warmth grew relatively slowly through much of it. Then, toward late summer, and without increased warmth, some vegetation seemed to accelerate growth unexpectedly. Banana and heliconia pups grew like they should have earlier in summer. Angel’s trumpet cuttings began to get somewhat weedy. Some that did not bloom earlier began to bloom now!
Brugmansia X cubensis ‘Charles Grimaldi’ is likely the most popular angel’s trumpet. It is the most vigorous, and may be the most fragrant. One cutting that survived the unusually cool frost last winter grew from its roots to more than six feet tall since then. Now that it is time for it to decelerate growth, it is blooming! Such performance is impressive, but not in tune with the seasons. It can not continue for long, before disruption by increasingly cool autumn weather. Unusually vigorous growth that continues to bloom unusually late could be unusually vulnerable to frost next winter.
This is not the only angel’s trumpet that is out of tune with its seasons. A similarly mature specimen of an unidentified cultivar with single white flowers is about to bloom also. Two older specimens of other unidentified cultivars are growing about as vigorously, although without bloom. One blooms with double white flowers. The other blooms with single pale orange flowers.
About nine copies of each of both cultivars that bloom with white flowers are growing like weeds in #1 cans, with more than a dozen more small cuttings of the cultivar that blooms with double flowers in cells. Only the original matured specimen that blooms with double white flowers actually inhabits a landscape, and is incidentally about to bloom, but is not here with these in the nursery. More will go to landscapes after winter, where their bloom can be enjoyed.
Obviously, it is not cup of gold vine, Carolina jessamine, yellow jasmine, yellow trumpet vine, yellow orchid vine, yellow black eyed Susan vine or any of the vines with yellow flowers that Google suggested as its identity. It is more than obviously not lotus, which incidentally blooms with orange flowers rather than yellow, but was somehow, according to Google, a candidate for vines with yellow flowers. It is amazing what can and can not be found on Google.
Brent recognized this vine just like I did, but also like me, could not remember its identity. We had not seen much of it in many years, but could remember that it was somewhat common in coastal regions while we were in school during the late 1980s. It lived at a doughnut shop that we sometimes went to in Morro Bay, and seemed to smell as if a tom cat had marked his territory on it. I can remember it within old gardens of Carmel and Monterey, as well as Santa Cruz, where I found these cuttings. I also remember encountering it while inspecting median landscapes of some of the major roads of Morgan Hill in the late 2000s, and that it did not perform as well within the somewhat inland climate there. Brent observed that specimens in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills seemed to express the same preference for the more coastal climate of Santa Monica.
Now that I got it, I have no idea of what to do with it. I suppose that, without mentioning the faint but potentially slightly objectionable floral fragrance, I can convince neighbors that they want it in their gardens. Some of our landscapes are big enough for it to be pretty at a distance. At least I know what it is, Guinea flower, Hibbertia scandens.
Autumn is not much to brag about here. Not only is the change of the weather mild, but foliar color is limited beyond synthetic landscapes. Redwoods are only a bit messier now because they did not shed as much as typical while summer weather remained atypically mild. Fireplaces at work get a bit more use, but only for ambience. A few autumn flowers bloom between summer flowers and winter flowers.
1. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood is evergreen. Its foliage does not turn colorful for autumn. It certainly sheds though. It sheds mostly while the weather is warmest and driest through summer. However, without such weather, it sheds more as summer ends.
2. Firewood is too mixed for identification of all species that might be involved with this picture. It comes from the various trees that must be removed and pruned here. Because fires at work are more for ambience than heat, the quality of such wood is unimportant.
3. Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Japanese anemone exhibits why I find ‘Honorine Jobert’ to be so appealing. This is the only anemone here, and it is ghastly pallid, neither pure white nor pinkish. It actually seems to be slightly grayish. Ick! I learned this species as simply Anemone japonica, but now learn that it is supposedly Eriocapitella japonica.
4. Chrysanthemum X morifolium, is more discolored than anemone, but is instead quite pretty. It was likely white when left here after a wedding. It now lives in a garden nearby.
5. Tagetes patula, marigold is as customary for autumn as chrysanthemum is. Its bright yellow and orange are splendid. This one though looks too much like Ronald McDonald.
6. Tagetes patula, marigold should look more like these. Brownish red is traditional too. Marigold is the official flower of Dia de los Muertos of the first and second of November.
Texas selected a distinctive state tree; the pecan, Carya illinoensis. It is happy in the south and middle mid-west, where naturally grows about seventy feet tall. It can get almost as large here, so is best in big spaces. Summers are a bit too mild for reliable nut production in autumn, but single trees can sometimes make plenty. Two different trees (to pollinate each other) can actually be quite productive, although not quite as well flavored as in warmer climates. The pinnately compound leaves have about eleven individual leaflets that are about five or six inches long. Shade is not too dark.
Despite the pleasant warm weather, it will be autumn soon. This is the time to get ready for cooler weather through autumn and winter. The plants in the garden do that on their own without our help. They somehow seem to know what time it is. We only need to clean up the mess and empty the gutters when deciduous trees start to drop their leaves later. Most of our work involves features that are not plants.
Winters are so mild here that some of our work often gets delayed until it becomes necessary. If needed, we can paint, stain and seal decks, fences, patios and anything else outside anytime the weather allows right through winter. Many of us leave patio furniture outside all year both because the weather is not too harsh on it, and because patios are usable spaces even through winter.
Firewood is also commonly neglected or not even needed, but for different reasons. Many fireplaces were damaged or destroyed by the Loma Prieta Earthquake decades ago, and never repaired or replaced. Modern building codes outlawed the construction of new fireplaces even prior to that; so newer fireplaces are instead pellet stoves. Those of us who still use old fireplaces and stoves have more difficulty obtaining wood now that the orchards are gone and the outskirts of town are so much farther from home.
The advantage of pellet stoves is that fuel (which looks like stove food) is always available so does not need to be accumulated, stored and seasoned. The fuel also burns cleaner. Synthetic logs (made from compressed wood byproducts and fuel) are an expensive alternative for conventional fireplaces and stoves, but also burn cleaner than wood, and are always available. They are lightweight and clean, so can be picked up at the store and brought home in the trunk of a small car whenever a fire is wanted in the fireplace.
Good old fashioned firewood is both more work and stigmatized because of pollution. Those of us who do not have firewood available within our own gardens can purchase it from some tree service companies. It is most commonly obtained already split and seasoned directly from the wood yard where the tree service company stores it. It can be delivered for a price. Some people even like to pay a bit extra to get it stacked.
Firewood obtained in this manner is typically a mix of random woods from trees found in local landscapes. There is often a preponderance of a particular type of wood. No one ever knows what to expect. The specific type of wood is designated only when a large tree or group of trees needs to be removed, and can be isolated from mixed wood. Palms and yuccas, known as ‘herbaceous trees’, do not produce effective firewood! A few pieces in a load of firewood should not hurt anything, but palm or yucca ‘wood’ should not be purchased. Mixed wood often contains some resinous wood and eucalyptus, which burns just fine, but produces a bit more soot that needs to be cleaned from chimneys.
Firewood should be obtained annually in quantities that are likely to be used each winter. It is perishable, and can rot if stored several years outside. Even if it does not rot, it can become infested with rodents if it stays idle too long. Besides, excessive firewood simply takes up space that could be used for something else.
Tony Tomeo 