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Mother In Law Tongue

61116What an unflattering name for such striking tropical foliage! The pointed and strap-shaped evergreen leaves of mother-in-law’s tongue, Sansevieria trifasciata, stand vertically, about two or three feet tall. They are rather rigid, and seem to be plastic with a glossy finish. Almost all modern varieties are variegated with silvery gray, white, cream or yellow stripes or banding. Dwarf varieties stay shorter, with flared foliage.

Because it tolerates shade and neglect so well, mother-in-law’s tongue has always been a popular houseplant. It is sometimes grown in pots outside where it can be sheltered from frost or direct sunlight that might roast the foliage. Pups can be divided from overgrown old plants, but will develop shorter leaves until they recover from separation. Crowded plants might get green sports (unvariegated mutant shoots).

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Plants Grow Up So Fast

50429thumbShortly after germinating and producing their first few leaves, many seedlings start to produce foliage that is indistinguishable from the foliage that they will produce for the rest of their lives. Other plants might initially be outfitted with leaves that are smaller, thicker, or somehow slightly different from what will appear later. Then there are those that produce juvenile growth that is completely distinct from later adult growth.

There are many reasons for juvenile growth. It might be a competitive advantage for plants that live in dense forests. For others, it might deter grazing animals. Ivy actually has three phases, with juvenile ‘ground cover’ growth that creeps over the forest floor in search of a vertical support, adolescent ‘vine’ growth that climbs the support, and adult ‘tree’ growth that blooms and seeds when it gets to the top of the support.

Eucalyptus trees produce juvenile growth that is more pungently resinous than adult growth, in order to deter animals that would otherwise eat it. Adult growth develops when the main trunks have grown beyond reach of most of the threatening animals. Vigorous new growth that develops in response to breakage or pruning later in life is also outfitted with juvenile foliage so that koalas and other climbers leave it alone.

Avocado trees grown from seed produce no obvious juvenile growth, but without wasting their effort on blooming and fruiting, they grow very fast and lanky to compete with a dense forest canopy, whether real or imagined. For their first several years, they need to be pruned for structure and containment. They eventually produce adult branches, and start to bloom and produce fruit (although the fruit might be variable.)

Avocado trees obtained from nurseries are grafted so that they are genetically identical to a specific cultivar (for conformity of fruit), and so that they can start to produce right away. Their ‘scions’ (upper part of grafted trees) are obtained from adult growth of stock trees, so do not take several years to mature. The same technique works for citrus, which otherwise produce fruitless and wickedly thorny juvenile growth.

Sometimes, juvenile growth is preferred. Ivy gets pruned out of trees and off of walls to preserve the juvenile growth as an appealing and efficient ground cover plant, while also eliminating the potentially destructive climbing vines.51104

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Colors

P71029+Remember the movie from 1988? I don’t either. I never saw it. Gang violence is not my idea of a good time. The title ‘Colors’ refers to the use of distinguishing colors by the gangs of Los Angeles. Gang members wear colors that correspond to their respective gang affiliation.

As autumn progresses, some of us get to gloat about our colors. New England gets the most and best colors, with a full range of reds, oranges and yellows, as well as browns and burgundies. The Appalachian Mountains to the south seem to go lighter on the reds and burgundies, concentrating more on oranges. The upper Midwest around Minnesota excels at the rich reds, with yellows confined to groves of cottonwoods. The lower Midwest does well with clear browns alternating with yellows, and even some oranges. The Rocky Mountains have a good range of color, with more gold than the Appalachians Mountains, but it is not as spectacularly concentrated. The bright colors contrast more with evergreens.

Here on the West Coast, we have yellow. . . . and redwoods . . . and palm trees. The bright yellow cottonwoods are quite flashy farther inland and in Nevada, where they grow along creeks and rivers that flow through the southern deserts. The only orange and rusty red we get from native specie here is from poison oak. Cottonwoods, willows, sycamores, box elders and even the bigleaf maples all turn yellow; and only when the weather is just so. Box elder foliage is more likely to shrivel and turn tan. Sycamore and willow foliage usually gets rather shabby.

To get the bright oranges and reds that everyone else in American enjoys, we plant exotic (non-native) trees; and there are not many choices that color reliably in our mild climate. Sweetgum is probably the most reliable, and the most variable with its color. Pistache and flowering pear are the second best choices, although flowering pear has a serious problem with fireblight here. Gingko colors very nicely, but is limited to yellow, which we already have a bit of.

While everyone else is posting pictures of their autumn color online and bragging to Californians about it, our color is only beginning to develop here. The most reliably colorful of the exotic trees seem to be doing well; but the natives and some of the exotics are defoliating prematurely, without much color at all. Honeylocusts have dropped most of their foliage while it is still lemon-lime green. Box elders just look sickly. Cottonwoods drop leaves as soon as they turn yellow, leaving only green leaves up in their canopies. The English walnut in the picture is the best color I could find.

It happens this way sometimes. This year, it might be a result of the unusually warm weather so late in summer, after the weather had already started to turn milder. It is impossible to say for certain. We take what we can get. We are not known for autumn color here.

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The Trees Know

P71014The trees look spooky now. Box elders, honeylocusts and alders, and even some of the sycamores, have dropped so much of their foliage since that weirdly hot weather a few weeks ago. The smoky sky as a backdrop enhances the spooky factor. The trees do not seem to be too distressed. They just dropped their leaves a bit early to conserve resources. If they had not dropped foliage by now, they would be dropping it soon anyway.

Trees are not stupid. They know what they are doing. Otherwise, they would not survive as long as they do out in the elements. Sometimes, they seem to know what the weather will do before it does it; like dogs, cats and horses that start to get their undercoats early before a cold winter.

Deciduous trees and other plants defoliate for winter for a few reasons. Those from farther north probably see no need to work so hard to collect sunlight while sunlight is so minimal. Up north, days are shorter, and sunlight is diminished as it passes through so much of the atmosphere at a lower angle. Deciduous plants from colder climates shed their foliage because they know that if they do not, it will get frozen anyway. Those from snowy climates do not want foliage to collect heavy snow that can break limbs. Defoliation also eliminates much of the wind resistance that can break limbs during winter storms. There are a few advantages to being deciduous.

In California, we have a native California buckeye, Aesculus californica. In chaparral conditions, it can be ‘twice-deciduous’. It does not need to be so in less arid regions, such as the Santa Cruz Mountains. It really depends on the weather.

As a twice-deciduous plant, the California buckeye develops new foliage in spring like other deciduous plants do. It stays foliated as long as it wants to; but if things get too dry and warm in the middle summer, the foliage shrivels and falls. To a casual observer, the trees seem to die. However, between the first autumn rain and the first winter frost, California buckeye develops a second phase of autumn foliage to briefly compensate for summer dormancy. This foliage stays late until it gets frosted and falls. Winter dormancy is just like that of any other deciduous tree. In spring, the process starts all over again.

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Wandering Jew

70927It could not have survived out in the desert for forty years. Wandering Jew, Tradescantia fluminensis, would have desiccated before its first summer. Well watered gardens are a completely different situation. Wandering Jew can become invasive and mix with other more desirable ground covers, only to die back and turn dark brown through winter. It starts over the following spring.

The one or two inch long leaves and succulent stems are very tender, sort of like busy Lizzie (impatiens). Stems root wherever the swollen nodes touch moist soil. New plants are ridiculously easy to propagate by cuttings, or simply by scattering pruning scraps wherever new plants are desired, and sprinkling a bit of soil or compost over them. Because it is so tolerant of shade, wandering Jew is an easy cascading houseplant. A variegated cultivar has slightly larger leaves.

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Houseplants Bring The Outdoors In

70927thumbPhilodendrons, dracaenas, ferns, palms or any sort of tropical foliage inside our homes only create an illusion of closeness to nature. Naturally, these plants live in very different climates, mostly thousands of miles away. Not only do they have no business in our homes; they have no business on the North American Continent. Some can live in the garden, but only with unnatural watering.

They are only known as houseplants because they ‘can’ live in the house. Almost all are from tropical regions; and most are understory plants that naturally live in the shade of larger trees. They work nicely as houseplants because they tolerate the shade of home interiors. Because they are from tropical regions, they have no concept of winter, so do not need chilling for winter dormancy.

The disadvantages to their tropical heritage is that they are confined to domestic lifestyles here. Many would not survive frosty winter weather. Some might survive, but would not be happy about it. Others would not like the aridity (lack of humidity) during the summer. Houseplants that get moved out to the garden for part of the year must be grown in pots so that they can be moved back in.

While inside, there are no natural predators to control the insects that feed on houseplants. Scale and mealybug can proliferate enough to not only damage houseplants, but to also make a mess of their sticky honeydew below the houseplants they infest. Spider mites can proliferate where dust accumulates on foliage. That is why houseplants sometimes like to be rinsed by a gentle rain.

Since they are confined to pots, houseplants must be watered more carefully than plants that get to disperse their roots out in the garden. Some large Boston ferns and spider plants may need quite a bit of water to be applied very regularly. Some dracaenas, palms and ficus trees may want to get slightly dry between watering. As soil deteriorates, old plants might need to be repotted.

Houseplants are grown for their lush evergreen foliage, and such lush foliage can be sensitive to fertilizer toxicity. Even if fertilizer is applied lightly, toxins can eventually accumulate if fertilizer is applied very regularly. This problem is usually corrected with repotting. However, plants that never need to be repotted might like to be taken outside to get water rinsed through their potting soil.