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Resolution

I got so much more than blogging going on.

I am not one to make resolutions for a New Year. Such resolutions can be made at any time. Most should probably be made as they become necessary.

I will say though, that in the future, I should post less frequently to this blog than I have been. I mentioned this a few times since I began posting here a few years ago, but never followed through with doing so.

My weekly gardening column posts in two parts, typically for Mondays and Tuesdays. That is really all that is necessary. Old columns also post in two parts, typically on Thursdays and Fridays. I could continue to recycle them, although, because topics are seasonal, the old articles are often redundant to the new articles that post at about the same time.

All other articles that post on other days are quite unnecessary. Horridculture articles that post on Wednesdays involve too much sniveling. Six on Saturday articles that post on Saturdays are fun for me, but lack substance for readers. Random articles that post on Saturdays at noon and Sundays have become somewhat too random and mundane.

Unfortunately, I can not write well with so much else happening. It is a long story, but what it comes down to is that I really should write less than I have been.

Therefore, for the future, I should commit only to posting my weekly gardening articles, from the gardening column, on Mondays and Tuesdays. I will likely continue to post recycled gardening articles for Thursdays and Fridays, even if redundant, only because they are already written. Although I may continue to post articles for Wednesdays and weekends, I may not. If not, this blog will become merely a compilation of the gardening column articles rather than a real blog. Perhaps less will be better.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Six on Saturday: Bad Botany

These six lack a common theme. I do find the botany of four of them to be annoying, but that is no theme. Leyland cypress has a new genus name, which I did not mention. I still do not believe that the native blue elderberry is the same species as the black elderberry of the East. I still do not know for certain if the double white angel’s trumpet is a hybrid, although I do believe that it is. Although I exceeded my preferred word count limit here, I tried to abbreviate some of the redundancy of nomenclature while including both Latin and common names with the same cultivar name. Otherwise, the first of these six would be Saccharum officinarum ‘Pele’s Smoke’, ‘Pele’s Smoke’ sugarcane, with ‘Pele’s Smoke’ mentioned twice, with a comma in between. I may continue this technique in the future.

1. Saccharum officinarum ‘Pele’s Smoke’ sugarcane continues to grow like a weed on the warm windowsill in the galley at work. It is not bronzing though. I suspect that this fresh new foliage will be too tender to survive outside even after early spring. It is no problem. It will simply make more. Many more cuttings are growing outside. They are slower but more resilient. For less redundancy, I used its same cultivar name after its species name and before its common name. Of course this explanation is longer than any redundancy.

2. Sambucus cerulea, blue elderberry is classified by most botanists as a Western variety of American black elderberry. I know better. I am Californian. Regardless, I am growing a few cuttings from a few different parents because no one seems to know if they should be more productive with pollinators, like European black elderberry is. Four tagged bits are from the same very productive specimen, which must be removed from a landscape. The other pair is from a random roadside specimen. Three other pairs were added later.

3. Agave americana, century plant is too prolific. We installed one of several ‘unwanted’ specimens and found all these pups within its can underneath. We can not use them all.

4. Ulmus parvifolia, Chinese elm became unavailable years ago after it was identified as a host for Dutch elm disease. Watersprouts continue to grow from a stump of a tree that was cut down years ago. If I could, I would grow several of this formerly familiar species.

5. X Cupressocyparis leylandii, Leyland cypress is irrelevant to this illustration of how a chainsaw cuts if one side is sharper than the other. Another saw cut the flatter surface to the left. Incidentally, the ‘X’ preceding the genus name indicates an intergeneric hybrid.

6. Brugmansia X candida ‘Double White’ angel’s trumpet should not bloom now. Either it does not know, or it does not care. Incidentally, the ‘X’ between the genus and species names indicates an interspecific hybrid. Like for the sugarcane, I used the same cultivar name after its species name, and before its common name. Is such abbreviation proper?

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 27 Comments

Six on Saturday: Colorful but Inedible Berries

Snowberry is native here. I have been wanting to grow it because I like its white berries. I just found a seedling where it could not stay, so brought it back here. I am very pleased with it, but did not want to share pictures of it as scrawny canned bare twigs. I got these pictures instead.

1. Callicarpa americana, American beautyberry is what compelled me to get pictures of berries for this week. I shared a closeup picture of the first of these berries as they began to ripen more than a month ago, which was about two months later than elsewhere. I do not mind. These are my first, and there are more of them now. Perhaps their berries will ripen on time when they are established within the landscapes. The seedlings, as well as white butterfly ginger and, recently, American holly, were gifts from Our Forest Garden.

2. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box typically produces very few red berries that typically fall off before turning black. They are both atypically abundant and atypically black now.

3. Ilex aquifolium, English holly self sows, but most feral specimens seem to be male, or produce only a few berries, in a few sparse clusters. Very few produce clusters like these.

4. Viburnum tinus, laurustinus also self sows. I am not as impressed with it as I am with English holly, but have been learning to appreciate it more, as those in other regions do.

5. Cotoneaster pannosus, silverleaf cotoneaster is naturalized a bit more vigorously. It is not as pretty as I like to think it is. I should retain a few specimens but eradicate the rest.

6. Pyracantha coccinea, firethorn is more colorful with similar but with more abundant and glossier berries. Unfortunately, it is also much thornier, so it is no fun to work with.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 9 Comments

Six on Saturday: Lily of the Nile Division

Now that the weather is getting cooler and almost rainy, it is time to relocate overgrown lily of the Nile. Quite a bit of it has slowly climbed over stone retaining walls to encroach into walkways. I remove rhizomes that are on top of walls, as well as any that are within a foot or so of the walls. After I divide and groom them, I install them where they will be more of an asset to the landscapes. They settle in with cool and rainy wintry weather, so should be ready to grow as soon as the weather gets warmer in spring. I neglected to get any before and after pictures to show where they came from and where they went to, (or to get six pictures).

1. Roots of lily of the Nile can hold firmly onto a silty riverbank as the river floods above. They are impressively densely meshed. They are fleshy though, and therefore easily cut.

2. Rhizomes are also both impressively densely meshed and fleshy. Division is no simple task. I separated these scraps by cutting their roots. I bury them between divided shoots.

3. Foliar shoots or rosettes with a few inches of their rhizomes will grow into new plants. These have been groomed, so are ready for plugging with scraps of rhizomes in between.

4. Gophers claimed all but a few lily of the Nile that were plugged here last year. I should have taken a picture of their replacements here, even if they are not much to brag about.

5. Oh deer! We are very fortunate that deer avoid the landscapes here. They always have.

6. Sugarcane is growing like a weed. This is one of too many cuttings that I brought from Los Angeles. They were pruning scraps from what I believe to be ‘Pele’s Smoke’. Sweeet!

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Six on Saturday: Self-Replication

Kwanzan flowering cherry is spectacular as it blooms for early spring. Only one inhabits our landscapes, and of course, it is dormant and defoliated until next spring. I took these six pictures of it anyway, to demonstrate that it is deteriorating fast, but could be able to replace itself before it succumbs to decay completely. Unfortunately though, it will likely be removed before it is able to do so, so that we can install a purple leaf plum within this particular situation instead. I only assist with this self-replication process because of the very unlikely possibility that replacement with another different tree may never actually happen. It has been delayed for years.

1. This flowering cherry tree has been deteriorating for the past several years. Several big limbs have died, leaving its canopy disfigured and lopsided. Its right half is nearly gone.

2. Only shiners remain where some of the major limbs that died were removed from the trunk. If this tree were to survive any longer, these shiners would decay before they heal.

3. Incidentally, this tree is not grafted. Suckers from the roots are indistinguishable from growth of the canopy. Bark of exposed roots is indistinguishable from bark of the trunk.

4. Therefore, this sucker is genetically identical to the original tree. The roots have been generating suckers for several years. All but this one were removed. Instead, it is bound.

5. The binding stake is nailed to one of the major limbs of the original canopy, as well as to a big root below. Damage to the limb is unimportant. It will be removed soon anyway.

6. The bound sucker is now more than six feet tall. It could develop branches to begin to grow as a new tree next year. It could stay as a replacement after removal of the original.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 35 Comments

Six on Saturday: Springtime

Flowers bloom throughout the year here. I featured bloom this week to avoid the topic of minor frost damage that I should have protected vulnerable foliage from. Frost is minor here, and does not occur every year, but it occurred here prior to some other regions this year. However, this bloom can imply that it is springtime.

1. Osteospermum X hybrida, African daisy should bloom most for spring, but can bloom randomly whenever it chooses, and often blooms most profusely for summer or autumn.

2. Helichrysum bracteatum, strawflower is my favorite of these six because I remember it as the main cut flower crop to the east of my Pa’s home in Montara through the 1980s.

3. Salvia chiapensis, Chiapas sage is a species that I had never met before last year. They grew well through last summer, and even better with more bloom through this summer.

4. Cestrum fasciculatum ‘Newellii’, bastard jasmine has an interesting name. Of course, it is not really jasmine. It recovered slowly from gopher damage, but blooms nicely now.

5. Rosa, carpet rose is my least favorite of these six because it is so cheap and common. I prefer old fashioned and respectable hybrid tea roses that are such excellent cut flowers.

6. Iris X germanica, bearded iris should bloom for spring. Reblooming types also bloom for autumn. I have no idea what this is, but I sort of doubt that it is a reblooming variety. Earlier, it did not bloom much, so now seems to be blooming late for the first phase this year, rather than blooming again for a second phase within the same year. Furthermore, its simple bloom and slim floral stalks suggest that it is not extensively bred. It might be a simple species that is confused about the seasons here, because this climate is so mild.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 10 Comments

Six on Saturday: Unidentifiable

Only Australian tree fern is identifiable. Another is just, well, . . . weird.

1. Alocasia odora, taro was installed by a tenant, into a situation that was too dark for it. Now that the tenant is gone, and before another arrives, I brought it back to the nursery for reassignment. The holes in the leaves are from redwood twigs that fell from very high up. I can not identify its cultivar, and am not ever sure if it is an Alocasia or a Colocasia.

2. Sphaeropteris cooperi, Australian tree fern was next to the taro, so came here with it. Although otherwise healthy, its etiolated leaves were reaching towards limited sunlight.

3. Sphaeropteris cooperi, Australian tree fern that I tried to recycle from the garden of a former neighbor did not survive. It is a saddening loss. It was an excellent tall specimen.

4. Nephrolepis cordifolia, sword fern might make good use of the trunk of this deceased Australian tree fern. Technically, the trunk is not actually a trunk at all; but is merely an accumulation of roots that extended downward through the decayed stem of the original fern. Perhaps the roots of this sword fern can do the same before the dead original roots deteriorate. It seems like a graft, but of course it is not. Nor is it a hybrid. It is just weird.

5. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet of an unidentified cultivar is blooming for the first time. It has been with me for a few years, but dies back each winter. Before it recovers enough to bloom, it dies back again. I got it as a twig from a greenwaste recycle pile in San Jose.

6. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet should be pastel orange. I took the original twig because I assumed that it was of a specimen that bloomed pastel orange. Does this look orange?!

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 35 Comments

Six on Saturday: Williamsburg II

Woodland Gnome of Our Forest Garden awesomely sent me six seedlings of Ilex opaca, American holly from Williamsburg! I had been wanting to get more acquainted with this species since encountering it in school in about 1986, but never justified doing so before. It is unavailable from nurseries here anyway. As with beautyberry, esperanza, poinciana, red elderberry and several other species that I want to get acquainted with, I specifically wanted their wild form, as it grows from seed, rather than cultivars. This is exactly what these seedlings are. I am already very pleased with them, and we are barely acquainted.

1. Cards and letters written by hand with ink on paper and sent by mail have become an old fashioned courtesy. It is gratifying to know that some still express such graciousness.

2. Camellia sasanqua, sasanqua camellia is the illustration for the other side of the card. It very likely bloomed where the contents of the parcel originated from in Williamsburg.

3. Ilex opaca, American holly was the contents of the parcel. There are six seedlings. For me, this is a remarkable acquisition, like beautyberry, red elderberry and Louisiana iris.

4. Ilex opaca, American holly seedlings were canned and happy shortly after arrival here two weeks ago. They can now disperse roots through winter to sustain growth next year.

5. Hedychium coronarium, white butterfly ginger came from the same source two years ago. Some was planted at the Chapel. This remaining specimen is higher than three feet. It really wants to be in the ground. The mild warmth last summer likely inhibited bloom.

6. Callicarpa americana, American beautyberry was an even more excellent acquisition two years ago. The mild warmth last summer likely inhibited the ripening of the berries. Larger clusters of berries are still green. This yellow foliage will likely be gone after rain.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 10 Comments

Six on Saturday: Los Angeles to Los Gatos II

Ilex opaca, American holly would have been a better topic for Six on Saturday this week. Woodland Gnome of Our Forest Garden sent me six seedlings from Williamsburg! They are now happily canned. I will share their pictures next week. For now, these are a few of the many goodies that I brought from Southern California. I sadly needed to go there for a memorial for an old college friend.

1. Carson is a 1994 Buick Roadmaster touring sedan, not a pickup. He diligently brought all this from Southern California anyway. It includes so much more than these six below.

2. Pimenta dioica, allspice is apparently quite rare. Brent had me trim his so that I could process these scraps as cuttings. However, it is dioecious, so requires a mate to set fruit.

3. Solandra maxima ‘Variegata’, variegated cup of gold vine was acquired in accordance with one of our collegiate traditions; theft. I processed these two scraps into six cuttings. Incidentally, I was uninvolved with its initial acquisition. I will merely grow the cuttings.

4. Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Variegata’, variegated Boston fern or tiger fern is a smaller copy of the mature specimen that provided picture #4 of my Six on Saturday of last Saturday.

5. Hedychium coronarium ‘Variegatum’, variegated white butterfly ginger should bloom with white flowers comparable to those of white butterfly ginger from Woodland Gnome of Our Forest Garden. However, I suspect that it is actually ‘Tahitian Flame’ with peachy bloom. To its right, Alpinia galanga, galangal is a culinary ginger with mundane bloom.

6. Canna of an unidentified cultivar is likely the most important of all these acquisitions. It was acquired by the same means as the variegated cup of gold vine #3, but worse. It is from the Baptist Church that hosted the repast for the memorial of our deceased friend.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 15 Comments

Six on Saturday: Los Angeles to Los Gatos

Six on Saturday is hasty for me this Saturday. The last few days have been rather hectic. It is now about midnight on Friday. I am presently in Los Angeles, and will be returning to Los Gatos in a few hours. It is a long story. I did not get many pictures.

1. Washingtonia robusta, Mexican fan palm is the most familiar palm of the Los Angeles skyline. This one is very unique though. It grew under the onramp from the northbound Harbor Freeway to the westbound Santa Monica Freeway, on top of an embankment on northbound Toberman Street. It grew vertically until it encountered the underside of the onramp. It then crept along the underside of a merge lane toward the south. It resumed vertical growth after reaching the edge, and escaping from below. Countless commuters who drive past it, and perhaps also over it, are unaware of its extraordinary contortions.

2. Coleus scutellarioides, coleus is still performing nicely within Brent’s garden. Autumn is a bit later and significantly milder within Los Angeles than within Los Gatos or Felton.

3. Coleus scutellarioides, coleus is familiar among my generation because it was popular as a houseplant through the 1970s. It is likely more popular in home gardens nowadays.

4. Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Variegata’, variegated Boston fern or tiger fern is one of several species that I will bring back from Los Angeles because I can not procure it in Los Gatos.

5. Three little kittens are new residents of Brent’s garden. I doubt that they are related to those that Los Gatos is named after. They will eventually help with rodent management.

6. Rhody is normally terrified of kittens. He does not seem to be aware that they are just small cats. Now that we are about to leave, he is much more tolerant of their playfulness.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/