Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Ginger Ail

White butterfly ginger is still green.

At least seven gingers live here. Five are ornamental. Two are culinary. None have yet died back as they should for winter.

Now that it is time to divide them, I do not know what to do with their intact foliage. For this white butterfly ginger from Forest Garden, I divided the rhizomes and installed them into the landscape with their healthy foliage still attached. I do not want to cut it back until it succumbs to frost. I suppose that it can remain as long as it is healthy. It is likely promoting healthier secondary growth. Because none of the gingers are crowded yet, it should not be difficult to selectively groom out older growth as new growth develops. I doubt that older foliage absolutely must be pruned away during winter. If it were that important, the rhizomes would shed it naturally, with or without frost.

This is a mild climate, with very mild frost; but gingers should still die back for winter regardless. Cannas certainly do, even without significant frost. Even some of the banana trees were somewhat unhappy about the chill.

Actually, the banana trees seem to be bothered more by chill than the gingers. Is this normal? Angel’s trumpet, cup of gold vine and blue ginger (which is not related to ginger) also expressed more displeasure than the gingers.

I really should have sheltered some of these species better. Actually, I probably should not be growing so many species that are so sensitive to chill and frost. I will be going to Southern California again in about April, so could bring back even more tropical species. It is a bad habit.

Technically, the average last frost date is about a month and a half from now. Technically, a bit of frost is possible even after that.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Frost!

Fire and Ice! Frost becomes a concern at about the same time that fire season ends here. Like the article about fire yesterday, this article is from three years ago, in fact, at about the same time.

tonytomeo's avatarTony Tomeo

P71208+K1Yes, we get it too. It took a while, but we finally got it just like most of everyone else in North America and the Northern part of the Norther Hemisphere. It is not much to brag about, but it is enough to melt the big feral pumpkin vine that I wrote about earlier ( https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/too-late-for-pie/ ). It has actually been frosting for a few nights. I just got around to getting this picture this morning.

Now that the foliage is melting and collapsing, a leak is now visible in the exposed valve manifold that was obscured in the previous picture. It did not get cold enough to freeze the pipe, so the water was dripping freely. This confirms the earlier theory about where the pumpkin vine was getting water from.

Two pumpkins are also exposed by the collapsing foliage. They were not visible earlier. Unfortunately, they are too under-developed…

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Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Frost Is Now Old News

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Minor frost can cause major damage.

Frost was something of a nonissue for some of us this winter. For those of us in milder climates, in rarely is. Those who limit selection of what grows in their gardens to species that are resilient to frost need not be concerned with it. Those of us who enjoy gardening a bit too much are more likely to grow a few marginal species that would prefer to be somewhere with milder winter weather.

Protection from frost might have been a concern prior to the onset of cold weather. Then, there was more concern for the few plants that might have been damaged by frost. Grooming and pruning of damaged foliage and stems needed to be delayed until after the threat of subsequent frost. Now that it is so late in the season, subsequent frost is very unlikely. It is safe to clean up any mess.

Pruning and grooming of foliage and stems that were damaged by frost is delayed for two main reasons. Firstly, the damaged material, although unsightly, helps insulate undamaged foliage and stems below it from subsequent frost. Secondly, premature removal of damaged material stimulates premature development of new foliage and stems that are more sensitive to subsequent frost.

Not only is it now safe to prune and groom frost damaged plants, but such procedures should not be delayed while affected plants recover. The same frost damaged material that provided a bit of protective insulation earlier would now interfere with the healthy development of new stems and foliage. Pruning can now promote new growth that was preferably delayed through colder weather.

Because the weather has been so pleasantly mild for quite a while already, new growth may already be developing among some frost damaged plants. Damaged material should be removed as carefully as possible to limit damage to such new growth. Many perennials that were not damaged this year might be pruned as if they were, to remove tired old growth, and promote new growth.

Many of the dormant spores of fungal and bacterial pathogens that overwinter in old foliage will be removed as such foliage gets groomed away.