National Public Gardens Day: Go Play!

Casa del Herrero

Got spring fever? Itchy feet? How about playing hooky and getting out to visit a community garden?

This Friday, May 11, is National Public Gardens Day.

The fourth annual event, each year set for the Friday before Mother’s Day, is a “national day of celebration that invites communities to explore the beauty of their local green spaces while raising awareness of the important role public gardens play in promoting conservation, education and environmental preservation,” according to organizers.

But cut to the chase. Locally, a host of public and nonprofit gardens that ordinarily charge admission are throwing open their doors to visitors or reducing their rates.

Where to Go

Dwarf coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) spills over a trail at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

In Santa Barbara, you can visit the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden for free on Friday by clicking on this link http://www.bhg.com/gardening/celebrate-national-public-gardens-day/ and printing the coupon. The botanic garden is one of the nation’s oldest, and focuses exclusively on native plants.

Casa del Herrero is discounting its docent-led tours in May and June by 20%. Call 805/565-5653 for reservations. The 1925 Montecito estate, designed by George Washington Smith, is a National Historic Landmark. The garden is a rare, remaining example of the elaborate estate gardens that were designed during what historians call the Golden Age of American Gardens, 1895 – 1940.

Pacific Coast iris at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

Lotusland is offering a 20% discount on tours on May 16 and 17. Call 805 969-9990 for reservations. The 37-acre botanical estate garden showcases Madam Ganna Walska’s extravagant ideas of outdoor beauty, lavishly illustrated by subtropical and tropical plants from around the world.

The Huerta Garden at the Old Mission Santa Barbara is cutting its admission price on May 12 and May 19. Call 805 682-4713, x 166 for reservations. As part of the California mission system, the garden has a strong historical bent. It features plants introduced to California during the Mission Era, 1769 – 1836, along with many California native plants.

Completely Free

Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens), sage (Salvia) and California lilac (Ceanothus) at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

Master Gardeners of Santa Barbara County are leading free tours at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the following locations: Mission Historical Park and the A.C. Postel Rose Garden, Los Olivos and Laguna Streets; Alice Keck Memorial Gardens, 1500 Santa Barbara Street; and Chase Palm Park, 323 E. Cabrillo Street. You can also pick up tickets for free rides on the 1917 Allan Herschell Carousel at Chase Palm Park at the Carrillo Recreation Center, 100 E. Carrillo Street.

In addition, courthouse docents will lead tours of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Gardens, Anapamu and Anacapa Streets. And the Santa Barbara Zoo, 500 Ninos Drive, will be offering a Horticultural Highlights Tour, free with paid zoo admission.

Further Afield

Another look at Casa del Herrero.

A dozen other public gardens in California, including the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, are participating in Friday’s events.

Across the nation, more than 150 botanical gardens, arboretums and preserves are offering freebies. Visit nationalpublicgardensday.org for more information.

So call in sick with a case of spring fever, and enjoy!

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

Also please note: If you see an ad below, it has been posted by WordPress to keep the site free. I receive no income from the ad, nor do I have any control over its content.

 

Celebrate Earth Day Every Day

If you don't already, learn to appreciate gopher snakes.

Earth Day festivities are set for this week throughout the county and the country.

But you can celebrate the occasion year-round in the garden by following a few simple techniques.

The following ideas are easy on the natural world. Some require a little effort. Others might be considered downright lazy.

What they all share is the goal of conserving resources while creating a healthy environment for your plants and the creatures that inhabit your garden.

You can call it ecological, environmental, sustainable or green gardening. But by whatever measure, also please call it common sense.

Fix Those Drips

Stop that drip!

Sooner or later, it seems that most outdoor faucets leak. Aside from the wasted water, a mucky wet spot right up against your house is not good.

Depending on your skills, you can fix the leak yourself or call a plumber.

If the faucet handle spurts only when you turn on the water, the lazy way out is to place a bucket beneath and use the water to irrigate potted plants.

Sometimes it’s not the faucet, but the hose connector. Rather than tossing the hose, replace the connector.

If repairs aren’t in the offing, plant a bog plant under the faucet so that the leak isn’t a complete waste.

Depending on the size of the seep, pretty California native perennials to consider include western columbine (Aquilegia formosa), wild ginger (Asarum caudatum), stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea), scarlet monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis) and Point Reyes checkerbloom (Sidalcea calycosa ssp. rhizomata).

Automate

Taller pop-up sprinklers water this swath of California meadow sedge (Carex praegracilis).

Watering by hand, hauling hoses and moving portable lawn sprinklers gets old quickly. It’s tedious, inefficient and has the potential to waste an incredible amount of water.

Instead, install drip irrigation in your flower beds and around shrubs and trees; and pop-up sprinklers for your ground covers and lawn.

Then install an irrigation controller to automate the system. If you have water-conserving plants that need water every two to three weeks, make sure your timer can accommodate that long of an interval. Some inexpensive controllers only allow intervals of up to a week.

Just because you have a controller doesn’t mean you can ignore it. For instance, if May and June are damp and foggy, your plants won’t need much water. But if clear, windy days persist, they’ll want more.

Regardless of whether you automate or stay manual, water early in the morning, before the wind kicks up. This minimizes evaporation, gives your plants a fresh start and helps reduce fungal diseases that can take hold if the foliage is wet at night.

Fight Bugs Naturally

They may foul your eaves, but cliff swallows eat mosquitoes, too.

Avoid using bug spray as your first line of defense.

If aphids are a problem, hose them off with a blast from your hose. Or release lady bugs or green lacewings to gobble them up. If aphids are infiltrating your late-season broccoli, plant green onions nearby.

Marigolds, calendulas and nasturtiums are also excellent companions. In the vegetable garden, they’ll help to deter bean beetles, cabbage pests, nematodes, tomato hornworms, asparagus beetles and squash bugs.

If giant white fly is a problem, try mulching with cocoa hulls and spraying the undersides of the affected plants with horticultural oil or a mild dilution of powdered dish soap.

Cliff swallows will make a mess as they build their mud nests in your eaves. But they eat mosquitoes by the thousands.

Gopher snakes may appear alarming. But leave them alone. They’ll help keep underground rodents from tearing up your garden. And unlike gopher gas and other poisons, they won’t hurt the environment.

Start a Compost Bin

Yum! Kitchen scraps and a few rose leaves destined for my compost pile.

Compost does wonderful things in the garden. It provides nutrients in an easily accessible form to plants and promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.

You can buy bags of compost or create your own.

Three things go into my compost bins: kitchen scraps, yard waste and leftover potting soil.

Kitchen scraps are fruit and vegetable waste — apple cores, onion peels, celery stalks, leafy greens and the like. Don’t use meat and dairy scraps. They’ll go rancid. I collect the scraps in a stainless pot with a tight-fitting lid, then mix the contents into my outdoor compost bins once or twice a week.

Yard waste is a combination of green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) material. The green is mostly grass clippings, while the brown is crumpled leaves, plus debris swept off the driveway and patio.

I occasionally add water, which seems to help speed the decomposition. Be sure your bins are in a sunny spot. The pile needs to build up heat to break down the various materials. Relegated to the shade, the process can literally take years.

Mulch Clippings

A light layer of both fresh and dried glass clippings is a healthy mulch for these variegated iris (Iris pallida 'Variegata'), bloody cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum) and soon-to-bloom yellow Coreopsis.

Don’t throw away your lawn clippings. They contain valuable nutrients. Instead, put them to work in your garden.

You can use a mulching mower, which chops the grass blades even finer than a regular mower, then deposits the cuttings back on the lawn.

If your lawn is purely for show, that’s great. But if you have kids or animals romping across with wet feet, they’ll track those little blades everywhere.

Instead, mulch your flower beds with a thin layer. if the clippings are too thick, the blades will mat together and begin to smell.

Or dump the clippings in your compost pile. Mix them well with the other contents, so that they don’t bind together and form an impenetrable block.

Freshen Mulch

A thick layer of gorilla hair mulch softens the angular effect of these foxtail agaves (Agave attenuata).

Two to 3 inches of grass clippings can make a slimy mess. But several inches thick of loose, organic material, such as walk-on bark, will conserve moisture, moderate the soil temperature and help reduce weeds.

Plus, it looks nice, smells good and provides a consistent look to the landscape.

I’ve had a few clients complain that mulch is a waste, because it disappears. But that’s actually a good thing. That “disappearance” means the mulch is breaking down, releasing nutrients to the plants and improving the texture of the soil.

Weed By Hand

A bulky layer of mulch will inhibit weed seeds that need light to germinate. But other opportunistic weeds will still come through.

Rather than killing the weeds with chemical sprays, set aside time to pull the weeds by hand. Try to get the weeds before they set seed. If I see flowers forming and am short on time, I’ll use kitchen scissors to snip off the heads, then go back later to dig out the leafy parts and their roots.

Use caution if you resort to using a “weed and feed” product on your lawn. The “weed” portion of the equation contains chemicals that may be harmful to kids or animals that play too soon in the area.

Fertilize Naturally

Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost.

Whether it’s in liquid or granular form, or slowly released from fluffy compost or humus, use natural or organic fertilizer as much as possible.

It’s much kinder to the soil, as well as to earthworms, birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

Look for products that contain beneficial soil bacteria such as mycorrhizae, compost, guano, humic acid or humus (compost that has broken down past the fibrous state).

With increasing interest in “green” products, mainstream lawn and garden chemical companies are now offering natural products, too.

Also look for organics that are OMRI listed. The Organic Materials Review Institute tests products intended for use in certified organic production, handling and processing. The OMRI seal means that what you’re buying complies with USDA organic standards.

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Choose Your Battles

A striped monarch butterfly caterpillar begins to devour the tasty leaves of a butterfly weed (Asclepias curassavica).

Sometimes a few defoliated plants are worth the effort to attract wildlife.

In my garden, I willingly sacrifice butterflyweed (Asclepias curassavica) in order to fortify the fat, yellow-striped monarch butterfly caterpillars that somehow know to appear just when the yellow, orange and red flowers are beginning to bloom.

A few years back, little cottontail bunnies nibbled away all my seedling melons. Rather than fighting the gray fluffballs, I planted another round in a raised bed that they couldn’t reach.

But even I have my limits. When slugs and snails begin to defoliate my roses, I draw my line in the sand with Sluggo, a natural granular product containing iron phosphate, which is safe to use around pets and wildlife. This year I’m also planning to try a new foliar spray from Gro-Power called Snail & Slug Away. It’s nontoxic, organic and lists cinnamon oil as its active ingredient. Maybe it even smells good.

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Seeds of Wisdom

If you’re encouraging birds, butterflies and other wildlife to visit your garden, go pesticide free. Otherwise you risk administering a dose of toxic chemicals when the critters forage among your flowers.

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

Also please note: If you see an ad below, it has been posted by WordPress to keep the site free. I receive no income from the ad, nor do I have any control over its content.

 

Citrus Under Siege: The Relentless Advance of Huanglongbing (HLB)

An adult Asian citrus psyllid, bottom up.

After several years of wary anticipation, the dreaded citrus greening disease, huanglongbing (HLB), has been found in southern California. And that has put officials in Santa Barbara County — and throughout the state — on high alert.

The devastating disease was detected in Florida in 2005, and has wiped out $1.3 billion in citrus revenue there. Since then, HLB has marched across a number of southern states, leaving thousands of dead trees in its wake.

HLB is carried by the Asian citrus psyllid. Occasional psyllids have been found in back yard gardens and commercial groves in California over the past few years. I first wrote about the threat in September 2009 (see below). Since then, the closest to Santa Barbara County that psyllids have been found has been in La Conchita and Santa Paula.

The afflicted tree in Hacienda Heights.

Not all Asian citrus psyllids transmit the disease, and up to this point, none proved to be a carrier.

But the infected lemon/pummelo tree found in Hacienda Heights is a real game changer.

It’s the first citrus tree to test positive for HLB in California. Psyllids found in the same neighborhood tested positive for the disease as well.

The tree has since been dug out and moved to a state lab for further testing.

State agriculture officials say they plan to “conduct treatment of citrus trees within 800 meters of the find site,” although what that treatment will be has not yet been revealed.

What is known is that there’s still no cure for the deadly disease.

What’s Next?

Locally, Santa Barbara County agriculture officials hope to prevent HLB from infecting Central Coast citrus trees through a quarantine, inspections and help from the public.

For now, a quarantine put into place in December 2010 is still in effect for southern Santa Barbara County.

The area runs from the Ventura County line to Highway 154, and from the coastline high into the foothills. It includes Summerland, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, eastern Goleta and Painted Cave. No citrus of any type — no plants, clippings, leaves or fruit — is to be transported out of the quarantine area.

Strictly speaking, this means that if you live within the quarantine area and work in the western end of Goleta, you shouldn’t even pack a home-grown orange in your lunch.

The state has set up similar quarantines in Ventura, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.

What to Look For

Asian citrus psyllids are tiny, winged insects that feed with their heads down and their bottoms angled up at about 45 degrees.

Asian citrus psyllids typically lay their eggs on the newest, most tender, unfolded leaves.

They produce tiny, bright, golden-yellow eggs, while the nymphs are dull orange and nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.

The damage that they cause is far more evident: yellow blotches on the leaves and misshapen, not-too-tasty fruit. Indeed, the Hacienda Heights tree had those yellow mottled leaves.

The trouble is, other diseases can cause similar symptoms.

If you suspect something is wrong with any of your citrus trees, take a sample to the county agriculture commissioner’s office. Instructions are listed below.

Here’s what I wrote back in September 2009. Dramatic then, perhaps, but even more so today.

Imagine a day with no fresh-squeezed orange juice. No lemon zest. No slices of lime. No sweet Satsuma tangerines. No citrus of any kind.

That’s a doomsday that California agricultural officials are trying to prevent. And they’re looking for help from everyone who grows citrus trees — from a singe lemon planted in a pot on a patio, to the largest commercial groves in the state.

All citrus — oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, tangerines, tangelos, kumquats, citrons, pomelos and the like — are at risk, as well as closely related ornamental plants, such as orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata), cape chestnut trees (Calodendrum capensis) and culinary curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), which may be shipped in from Hawaii or India.

The Threat

An adult Asian citrus psyllid. Even the adults are so tiny that they're nearly impossible to see without a magnifying glass.

The threat starts with the Asian citrus psyllid. On their own, the tiny insects don’t cause irreparable damage.

But they deal a lethal blow to citrus trees when they become infected with Huanglongbing (HLB), a devastating bacterial plant disease that’s also known as citrus greening disease.

Essentially, the disease deforms the fruit and makes it tastes bitter, then kills the tree.

There is no cure.

“The combination of the Asian citrus psyllid and the disease has the greatest potential to impact citrus growing in California of anything I’ve ever seen,” said Bill Gillette, Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner. “The reason for that is that the Mediterranean fruit flies, the other fruit flies, we can get rid of. This one, they haven’t been able to stop it anyplace yet, and it actually kills the trees.”

The deadly duo has ravaged groves around the world, including Asia, India, Egypt, Africa and Brazil. The disease was discovered in Florida in September 2005, and has since spread throughout the state, taking a serious bite out of Florida’s $9.3 billion juice industry. HLB has also been detected in South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula.

An infestation of adult Asian citrus psyllids.

Meanwhile, the psyllids — not yet carrying HLB, as far as anyone knows — are moving into California. They were first reported in groves in San Diego and Imperial Counties in August 2008. Last week, they showed up in Santa Ana on a lemon tree, and in Echo Park on a calamondin tree, which bears small, tangy orange fruit. Quarantines are in effect everywhere the psyllids have been found, including all 800 square miles of Orange County.

A serendipitous finding of the dreaded Huanglongbing occurred in July — although not on a live tree. Instead, an agricultural inspection “sniff dog” at a FedEx facility in Fresno found a duffle bag shipped from India that carried curry leaves and infected psyllids.

Another sniff dog, this one last week at a FedEx depot in Sacramento, detected psyllids inside a package from Texas containing guavas and curry leaves. Fortunately, none of those psyllids tested positive.

“No one can say for sure if the disease will ever get here (to Santa Barbara County),” said Gillette. “One, you hope it doesn’t, but it’s likely it will. Then two, you hope it isn’t going to have the same effect on citrus in this area. But I think that’s pretty naive.”

The Symptoms

According to the California Citrus Research Board, the nymphs are dull orange, have red eyes and produce waxy tubules that direct honeydew away from their bodies.

At 3 to 4 millimeters in length at maturity, Asian citrus psyllids are so tiny, even the experts can have trouble detecting them.

“When I spoke with the entomologist in San Diego County, he said they were really hard to see,” said Brian Cabrera, Santa Barbara County Entomologist.

“Several people, all experts, were looking for the insects. They all looked but couldn’t find them. Then they vacuumed the leaves, and they actually found the psyllid that way.”

So rather than searching for psyllids, Cabrera said, homeowners should look for their damage. Asian citrus psyllids feed on new stems and leaves. That’s why agricultural officials are on high alert now, since citrus trees push out new growth between late summer and early winter.

Psyllids that aren’t infected with greening disease can still harm leaves, Cabrera said. “Their saliva actually has some toxicity to cause the leaves to curl. (And) they produce a tiny amount of wax.”

But the damage is far worse once the disease strikes.

Characteristic yellow mottling of the leaves.

“Homeowners should look for anything suspicious with their trees, any sudden decline in the trees, any abnormalities, or yellowing of the leaves,” Cabrera said. “The fruit is abnormal, lopsided and bitter. The leaves have a twisted, gnarled, deformed look.”

Also, according to the California Citrus Research Board, “As HLB progresses, leaves and whole branches fall off the tree and eventually the entire tree dies.”

Unfortunately, identification is tricky because plenty of other pests, diseases and mineral deficiencies create the same symptoms. For instance, chlorosis, a common iron deficiency in citrus, also causes yellowing leaves.

“The main problem is that the symptoms are not diagnostic,” said Heather Scheck, Santa Barbara County Plant Pathologist. She sends questionable leaves to a lab in Sacramento for molecular testing. “It could also be a nutritional problem. It could be another disease, viral, bacterial or fungal. That’s what happened in Florida. They probably had it in for a long time. It wasn’t until they did the actual testing that they discovered they had citrus greening disease.”

What to Do

HLB-infected trees produce lopsided, misshapen fruit.

County agricultural officials urge anyone who suspects that their plants are being harmed by any type of insects or disease, not just Asian citrus psyllids or citrus greening, to collect samples for testing. The service is free.

“One of our missions is to reduce pesticide use. We accomplish that by giving accurate diagnosis,” Scheck said. “You don’t want to hear that someone has sprayed and sprayed, only to discover that it’s a virus or nutritional thing.”

Insect samples should include both the insects and a few damaged leaves, while suspicious stems and leaves should be on branches at least 18 inches long.

Two of the agricultural commissioner’s offices accept walk-ins between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday: 624 W. Foster Rd., Santa Maria, 934-6200; and 263 Camino del Remedio, Santa Barbara, 681-5600. Or make an appointment to leave samples at 121 N. G St., Lompoc, 737-7733; or 1745 Mission Dr., Solvang, 686-5064.

In addition, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has added the Asian citrus psyllid to its residential trapping program, which is how the psyllids were discovered in Santa Ana and Echo Park. Here in Santa Barbara County, CDFA technicians based in Buellton set traps in neighborhoods, parks and business centers countywide.

“Non-indigenous fruit flies are our main deal. Mediterranean, Mexican, Oriental and melon flies. We also do the light brown apple moth, Asian citrus psyllid and false coddling moth. That’s what we’re trapping for now,” said Jay Burwell, a CDFA Agricultural Technician III. “Right now, we have 368 locations. But that fluctuates highly for seasonal host availability.”

Yellow sticky cards are the trap of choice for the Asian citrus psyllid, which Burwell’s office sends to Sacramento for testing and identification.

“The problem is, there are so many psyllids,” he said. “If there were only one type of psyllid, it would be easy to detect.”

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Stop the Transport

Because there is no cure for Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening disease, the only way to prevent the deadly disease is to avoid transporting citrus trees, citrus fruit and closely related plants, such as orange jasmine, cape chestnut trees and curry leaves.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, “The safest approach is simply to not move citrus plants, ship citrus plants, or buy host citrus plants online unless you are absolutely sure the plant is not from an area that is quarantined for either citrus greening disease or Asian citrus psyllids.”

Santa Barbara County Agriculture Commissioner Bill Gillette echoes those thoughts.

“The message for everybody isn’t so much this particular insect as it is for all fruits and vegetables, whether you’re dealing with Oriental fruit flies or the light brown apple moth or Asian citrus psyllids. Those generally don’t get here by themselves,” he said.

“These types of things, certainly the disease, that’s how it’s going to get in here. Somebody’s going to either inadvertently or smuggle some infected plant material in here. Then we’ve got a problem.”

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Useful Websites

To learn more about the Asian citrus psyllid and Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening disease, read prevention tips, and view photos of the psyllid and the damage it can cause, visit:

The Citrus Research Board
californiacitrusthreat.com

California Department of Food & Agriculture
cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/acp/

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

http://ucanr.org/sites/KACCitrusEntomology/Home/Asian_Citrus_Psyllid/

US Department of Agriculture
saveourcitrus.org

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Seeds of Wisdom

If you suspect any problem with your citrus trees, especially on new growth, take a sample to an office of the county agricultural commissioner for a diagnosis or call the state pest hotline, (800) 491-1899.

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

Also please note: If you see an ad below, it has been posted by WordPress to keep the site free. I receive no income from the ad, nor do I have any control over its content.

 

It’s Tomato Time

Carmelo heirloom tomato

The perfect tomato.

It may be round and red, with a thick slice providing a juicy, sun-ripened complement to a sandwich or burger.

It may be pear-shaped and yellow, and pack a crisp punch in a salad of fresh greens.

It may be oval, flushed with pink and just meaty enough to create a thick sauce.

Or it may be a sweet, marble-sized orb that’s so delicious that you lose count of how many you pop into your mouth, still out in the garden.

Really, there is no one perfect tomato. Instead, there are literally dozens, any of which may be perfect at a particular moment.

And fortunately, despite those many colors, shapes and sizes, all tomatoes thrive with the same care. Success starts with good soil, good roots and plenty of sunshine. Add proper watering, and you’re on your way to as many perfect tomatoes as you can squeeze into your space.

Getting Growing

Cherokee heirloom tomatoes

Start with rich, loose, well-draining soil in a spot that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.

Raised beds or mounds at least 12 to 18 inches tall are ideal.

Dig down a foot, working in several inches of well-aged compost throughout the bed  to boost fertility and drainage.

Tomatoes are a rarity in that you can intentionally plant them deep to encourage more extensive rooting.

Strip the first few sets of leaves. Dig a hole deep enough to bury the exposed nodes, which will then sprout roots, rather than more leaves. Toss a low-nitrogen, slow-release granular fertilizer into each hole. Cover the fertilizer with a handful of soil to prevent direct contact with the roots.

Freshly planted tomato seedlings, awaiting their cages.

Then space your plants at least 2 1/2 feet apart.

Plums and cherries may go closer, while the largest plants should go 3 feet apart or more.

Tomato cages or stakes — adorned with reflective tape to thwart birds — are a must. I often start with tomato cages, then pound in taller redwood stakes mid-season.

Even the smallest plants need support when their limber branches begin to sag under the weight of developing fruit.

Consistency is Key

Better Boy modern hybrid tomatoes. Note the touch of blossom end rot on the bottom right. Despite our best efforts, the disease is not always inescapable.

Irrigation can be tricky. It should be consistent in order to prevent blossom end rot, an unsightly condition that damages the fruit, yet infrequent enough to tease out the most intense, fresh flavors by the time your tomatoes are ripe.

At the outset, water every day or two to keep the soil visibly damp. I shape basins around my plants, then fill the basins several times each time I water. I use a watering wand to avoid splashing the leaves, which can lead to disease. If your soil crusts or cracks, surround your seedlings with an inch-thick layer of loose mulch.

As new leaves flush out and shade the roots, stretch your watering intervals to every three or four days, then up to a week or even 10 days, still giving a good soak each time. Let the top inch of soil dry out between waterings. Irrigate early in the morning to help the plants stay hydrated in the summer heat.

If you see fantastic vegetative growth but few flowers and weak, watery-tasting fruit, you’re watering too frequently. But don’t stop abruptly. A sudden change in irrigation can disrupt your plants’ ability to pull calcium from the soil, which can result in that dreaded blossom end rot.

So Many Choices

Black Prince heirloom tomatoes

Local nurseries, seed catalogs, internet sites and even drugstores are brimming with tomatoes in springtime. Rather than grabbing the first six-pack you see, consider the size, shape and color, as well as whether you want to eat your tomatoes fresh, in sauces or canned for winter.

Most will be indeterminate types, which send out long vines that keep growing and bearing fruit until frost kills them off. Determinate types, or bush tomatoes, reach a certain size, bear most of their fruit within a couple of weeks, then collapse. They’re worth seeking out if you want to can or preserve your tomatoes all at once.

Lemon Boy tomatoes, VFN hybrids

Hybrid tomatoes are modern varieties bred for certain traits and disease resistance. “V,” “F,” “N” and “T” indicate resistance to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt, nematodes and tobacco mosaic virus, all of which can slay your plants. Super Bush VFN tomatoes, for instance, resist verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt and nematodes.

However, due to breeding, hybrids are not true to seed, and hybrid offspring are not likely to resemble their parents.

Heirlooms, on the other hand, have been passed down from one generation to the next and are true to seed. While heirlooms may not have as strong disease resistance as modern hybrids, they tend to have greater variety in shape and color, and softer skins.

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This article was first published in the Spring 2012 issue of Central Coast Farm & Ranch.

Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

Also please note: If you see an ad below, it has been posted by WordPress to keep the site free. I receive no income from the ad, nor do I have any control over its content.

 

Fish Tales in the Garden

Haskell's Beach, at our doorstep.

Out of the sea and literally into the land might seem like an unlikely path for a fish.

But that’s exactly how some civilizations have fertilized their crops for hundreds of years, by burying fish — or their remains — beneath the seeds that they sow.

Marine plants have been used for centuries as well, to add fertility and improve soil texture. Even seabird poop has its followers.

Cultures around the world gather animals and plants from the ocean to improve their harvests on land. With the Pacific Ocean at our doorstep, it’s another natural technique that we can employ to grow edibles in our gardens.

Bury A Fish

Whether whole, in scraps or simply the entrails gutted from last night’s dinner, fish are a natural fertilizer steeped in history.

In grade school, you may have learned that the American Indian Squanto taught the Pilgrims to plant fish with corn. Academics debate the truth of that tale: some insist that Squanto was merely demonstrating a technique that he’d picked up while living in Europe, where farmers have buried fish as fertilizer since medieval times. Nonetheless, it’s a technique that was also practiced by ancient Egyptians along the Nile and pre-Columbian people in Peru.

Wherever the location, the chemistry is the same: raw fish decay fast in the soil, delivering high doses of nitrogen as well as phosphorous and trace minerals to any plant roots lurking nearby.

If you try this at home, you don’t have to bury the whole fish. Partial carcasses, heads and bones — basically any of the messy stuff that you don’t eat — are effective. Just be sure to go down at least a foot to avoid attracting animals that might dig up the remains, and at least several inches below any seeds or roots of new seedlings that you plant.

Fish Byproducts

A gift from the sea.

If the idea of burying guts and gills beneath your edibles is repulsive, consider processing scraps into an emulsion to use as a fertilizer above the ground by following this recipe from the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance:

Liquefy the fish by placing it in a blender with warm water and blending thoroughly. Pour the emulsion into a 5-gallon bucket with a tight-fitting lid. Stir the contents daily or every other day to mix in air to aid decomposition and promote aerobic microbial growth. Add shredded newspapers, dried leaves, sawdust or brown grass clippings as the emulsion decays. Pour molasses or pureed fruit into the liquid to help control odor and contribute healthy microorganisms. Wait two weeks until the entire mixture has turned brown before using. To reduce the fishy odor, add brown sugar, molasses or pureed fruit and ferment a few days longer.

Or if that process is off-putting, buy a prepared fish fertilizer. Fish meal is composed of incredibly smelly protein-rich flakes, powder or granules; fish emulsion is the slightly less pungent slurry left over from creating fish meal; and fish hydrolysate is created by mixing fresh fish with enzymes that digest the fish, turning it into a thick brew that retains all the proteins, hormones, trace elements and vitamins.

Whatever you chose, read the label: just because it contains the word “fish” does not mean that it’s organic or even all-natural.

Seaweed

Fresh kelp, on its way to the shore.

Seaweed is a quadruple threat — it can be used as a soil amendment, mulch, fertilizer or compost starter.

Kelp is our highest profile seaweed, with the ocean tossing it onto our beaches year-round.

The deep amber, brown and bronze-colored, rubbery bubbles and ropes don’t deliver much nitrogen or phosphorous, but they’re a rich source of potassium and trace elements, including boron, copper, iron, manganese and zinc.

Wading into the ocean to collect kelp requires a sport fishing license and has a 10-pound per day limit. But any kelp that’s been washed up on shore is fair game. Just don’t gather it shortly after a storm when upstream pollutants may have discharged into the water.

Seasoned with sand and free for the taking.

Collect the kelp and take it home. Slash it into pieces and work it into the soil, where it will release nutrients and growth hormones that will stimulate faster and more extensive rooting. Or apply it as mulch, 2 to 4 inches thick.

There are many recipes for making seaweed into liquid fertilizer. The quickest is to mix several handfuls of kelp with 5 gallons of water in a covered bucket. Stir the mixture for a few days, then strain it, dilute it in half, and apply the liquid as a soil drench or foliar spray. A more lengthy, no-stir method is to put a few bagfuls of kelp into a trash can. Fill with water to the top, put the lid on, then wait a couple of months until the water has turned brown and the seaweed has decomposed. Again, dilute before applying.

Guano

The original Bird Island.

Guano often refers to poop produced by both bats and birds.

But seabird poop is the original guano, with the name derived from the Incan word for “the droppings of seabirds.” Indeed, those droppings were so prized that anyone caught disturbing the deposits could be put to death.

Today, you don’t have to swim out to Bird Island off Goleta or scramble over any rocky outcroppings that attract colonies of seabirds to collect their business. Instead, a number of companies sell pellets of Peruvian seabird guano, which are high in nitrogen and phosphorous, and contain trace minerals.

In the garden, till the pellets into the soil, add them to individual planting holes or mix them with water, then spray.

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This article was first published in the Spring 2012 issue of Edible Santa Barbara.

Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

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Welcome Spring With Nonstop Perennial Color

Orange miniature petunia (Calibrachoa 'Aloha Tiki Orange')

They’re here.

Springtime launches the debut of a new crop of brightly blooming perennials.

Visit any nursery now, and you’ll find row upon row of fresh, colorful beauties in 4-inch round or square pots.

Less expensive than a one-gallon plant and bearing a larger root mass than a seedling plucked from a pony pack, these 4-inchers are a perfect size to plant during the first days of spring.

In the garden, they’ll fill in quickly. Depending on what you choose, they’ll also bloom nonstop for as long as 12 to 24 months. However, it’s worth noting that while technically these prolific bloomers are perennials, because they expend so much energy to produce all those flowers, they may eventually collapse and never recover.

So at the end of however long their flowering might be, I give mine a good pruning. If they don’t respond within a few weeks, I yank them and start anew.

That said, the following short-lived perennials are among my favorites for quick, continuous color.

Summer Snapdragon (Angelonia)

Angelface Blue summer snapdragon (Angelonia angustifolia 'Angelface Blue')

Picture a snapdragon for flower shape; a blue, pink, purple or white delphinium for flower color, and any kind of penstemon for slender, pointed leaves.

Combine those traits and you’ll have an Angelonia, which bears those plump flowers on upright spikes that grow 18 to 24 inches tall.

Angelonia blooms most heavily in heat, and prefers full sun and moderate to regular watering.

The plants are said to be deer resistant, although I haven’t tested them. The flowers are self-cleaning, meaning they’ll fall off neatly. Or harvest the spikes early and bring them indoors for a long-lasting bouquet.

Dresden Blue bears medium blue flowers and is among the most popular. Darker blues and darker purples are excellent as well.

Bidens

Goldie bidens (Bidens 'Goldie')

Bidens may look delicate, with its lush, ferny foliage and bright yellow daisy flowers. But this native of Mexico, Guatemala and the southern United States is surprisingly tough, blooming everywhere from cultivated gardens to more difficult conditions.

But provide full sun. My plants thrive in dry, clay soil and are nice, self-cleaning companions to lavender and Mexican sage.

Also check the plant tag for the growth habit. Some Bidens, such as Goldilocks Rocks, form neat mounds about a foot tall and wide, while others, such as Goldie, have a looser habit and trail 2 feet or more.

Swan River Daisy (Brachyscome)

Blue Zephyr Swan River daisy (Brachyscome 'Blue Zephyr')

This fluffy perennial bears petite, daisy-like flowers in pastel shades of purple, pink, yellow or white, all with greenish-yellow centers.

Swan River daisy is a good filler between other plants, although it can be fussy about drainage, living longer in sandy soil than clay. I have grown mine next to a lawn, where its flexible stems and thready flowers have tolerated overspray from the sprinklers.

Provide full sun and regular water. Shear back the flowers occasionally to encourage more blooming.

Miniature Petunia or Million Bells (Calibrachoa)

Yellow miniature petunia (Calibrachoa 'Spring Fling Lemon')

Is there a color this native of Brazil does not bloom in?

Perhaps because it’s such a popular and dependably prolific bloomer, hybridizers have spent much time on this spreading perennial, creating flowers in both pastel and bright shades of pink, rose, red, violet, orange, yellow and white.

The quarter-sized flowers look like small petunias. But the flowers drop off on their own, and the stems and leaves are not sticky. Some varieties grow flat, reaching only 6 inches tall, while others form clumpy mounds. Check to see which type you’re buying.

Provide full sun to light shade, good drainage and let the top inch of soil dry out between waterings.

Twinspur (Diascia)

Twinspur (Diascia hybrid)

This offering from South Africa bears scores of pink, salmon, lavender or white flowers that open one after the next, up twisty, twirly stems. On the backsides of each flower are two curved “spurs” that are said to bear oil that attracts pollinating bees.

Trailing varieties of twinspur are good filler plants and spread at least 2 feet wide. Clumping types grow only a foot or so wide, and grouped together make nice masses of color. The plants are self-cleaning, so once again, no dead-heading is necessary.

Provide full sun to partial shade and moderate water. In the hottest inland areas, blooming may slow down or stop if night-time temperatures hover in the upper 70s or above. Go ahead and trim your plants if that happens. Doing so will encourage branching, which will produce even more flowers once the temps cool down.

Nemesia

Lavender and white Nemesia

This South African native is fragrant, with a scent reminiscent of cloves. Upright spikes of flowers appear in purple, pink, blue, white and yellow.

Blue Bird is among the most widely planted, while varieties in the new Angelart series bloom in even more shades, with fruit names like pear, mango and raspberry.

Nemesia is best with full sun in the morning, then shade in the afternoon.

It also likes good drainage and regular water.

Like twinspur, it may stop blooming if night-time temperatures stay in the high 70s.

Again, snip back the foliage to promote more prolific blooming once the night-time temps drop.

Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria)

Giant Blue pincushion flower (SCabiosa 'Giant Blue')

This short-lived perennial attracts butterflies with its pretty pink, lavender or blue flowers that look a little like flattened pompoms atop wiry stems. Individual stamens rise above the flowers, like straight pins stuck into sewing pincushions.

Provide full sun and moderate to regular water. In clay soil, pincushion flower may decline after a year or two; in sandy soil or loam, it should live longer.

This is one of the few 4-inchers that you’ll have to dead head. But doing so will encourage more ample flowering.

Fairy Fan Flower (Scaevola)

Mauve Clusters fairy fan flower (Scaevola 'Mauve Clusters')

This native of Australia is longer lived than most, and forms a dense ground cover of unusual flowers that look only half formed, with nearly rectangular petals arranged like a fan.

Mauve Clusters is the flattest variety, growing only a few inches tall while trailing 3 feet wide. The Whirlwind and Top Pot series, in lavender, pink and white, bear larger flowers and grow up to 1 foot tall while spreading 3 feet wide.

Provide full sun and moderate to regular water. The flowers are self-cleaning.

Bacopa (Sutera)

Nano White bacopa (Sutera 'Nano White')

This popular perennial is widely planted in containers, with its tiny green leaves and bright white flowers spilling gracefully over the edges.

But bacopa does just as well in the ground, provided it receives full morning sun, afternoon shade and consistent, frequent watering. It is one of the thirstiest short-lived perennials. If yours starts dropping buds — even though the leaves are not wilting — it’s time to water.

Also provide enough room, as bacopa tends to roam far and wide. For instance, Giant Snowflake can spread 3 to 4 feet by the end of its first summer, while remaining only 6 to 8 inches tall.

The traditional white-on-green is my favorite. Newer varieties bloom in pink or lavender, and there’s even one called Gold ‘n Pearls, which bears variegated lime and green leaves.

Garden Verbena (Verbena x hybrida)

Lavender verbena (Verbena 'Superbena Royale Chambray')

Rounded clusters of tiny flowers in purple, pink, red, white and nearly blue bloom on top of foot-tall plants that spread up to 3 feet wide. The little flower clusters make great landing pads for swallowtail butterflies to then sup the nectar.

Garden verbena is self-cleaning, tough and tolerates heat and marginal soils. It’s fine with moderate to regular water. But do not use overhead sprayers, which can cause mildew on the leaves and flowers.

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Planting Tips

Pink verbena (Verbena 'Superbena Pink Parfait')

Your 4-inch perennials may be blooming heavily before their toes touch the ground.

In the garden, you’ll need to provide tip-top soil for most, to sustain the show.

Work in lots of well-rotted compost or other fine, organic material into the bed before planting. While the soil does not have to be as rich and loamy as for vegetables, it should still be fertile, loose and drain well.

For maximum impact, follow the spacing recommendations on the labels. For some short-lived perennials, that may be only a foot apart.

Some of these flashy bloomers tolerate overhead watering. But most will topple beneath the weight of waterlogged flowers or even mildew.

For best results, use soaker hose, drip irrigation or rim the area with a basin, then flood it whenever the top half inch to inch of soil dries out. A thick layer of mulch will stretch the time between watering.

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Seeds of Wisdom

Many showy, short-lived perennials bear dainty flowers that are best appreciated up close, planted as edgings along paths or patios, in masses or at the front of a border.

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

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A New Lawn Alternative: California Native Sod

Left to grow naturally, native bentgrass (Agrostis pallens), creates a graceful meadow.

A new product — California native sod — may be the answer to a conflict that I often face: pleasing folks who want a water-conserving landscape yet aren’t willing to give up their lawns.

No one disputes that turfgrass represents a hefty chunk of most residential water bills, or that water is a dwindling resource in the west.

But those are not always compelling enough reasons to convince people to chuck their grass.

After all, lawns provide a soft, safe space for kids to play, and a comfortable place for pets to roam and do their business.

And despite our best efforts to turn clients toward colorful, water-conserving landscapes, many people find an expanse of turf to be refreshing and beautiful.

How to Satisfy Everyone

Until now, we’re struggled with planting reasonable lawn alternatives. I’ve tried meadow sedge (Carex praegracilis). But while it’s a beautiful, fine-textured grass, it’s invasive as all get out, sending opportunistic, underground runners that overtake nearby planting beds.

Other folks tout UC Verde buffalograss. A warm-season grass native to North American plains, it looks terrific during summer and is soft as can be on bare feet. But here on the Central Coast, few clients are willing to gaze upon a swath of straw-colored turf when it goes dormant over winter.

Beyond those concerns, establishing the sedges or UC Verde is a time-consuming process. They’re typically available only as seed, plugs or 4-inch plants. You may have to wait a year or longer for them to fill in, and mount an aggressive weeding campaign in the meantime.

They’re a tough sell compared with the ease — and instant gratification — of conventional sod.

The Holy Grail of Turf?

Clipped and mowed, native bentgrass (Agrostis pallens) stands up to traffic along Sunset Boulevard in San Francisco.

But that could all change with what I found at a landscape expo sponsored by All Around Landscape Supply in Santa Barbara last week.

This new native sod, Agrostis pallens, has fabulous potential. It’s a cool-season bentgrass, a rich, deep green, and it withstands foot traffic. It requires half the water of traditional turf and half the mowing and maintenance. Or it can be left to flop, creating the look of a natural, informal meadow.

It’s even native right here. According to Clifton F. Smith’s “A Flora of the Santa Barbara Region, California,” Agrostis pallens is found “as dense colonies commonly scattered on cool, well-drained woodland/chaparral slopes in Santa Ynez Mtns., west to San Julian area; Vandenberg AFB, Bishop Pine forest north of Lompoc and Point Sal. Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa islands.”

And I repeat: it’s available as sod. You can lay down the 2′ x 5′ strips just like any other turf. What’s more, the netting is biodegradable.

Delta Bluegrass Company grows the sod in Stockton. S&S Seeds, a long-time wholesale purveyor of wildflower, grass and California native plant seeds in Carpinteria, is the distributor for the Central Coast and southern California. The sod is cut to order, then shipped overnight in a refrigerated truck, to be installed the next day.

S&S Seeds distributes five additional California native grass sods from Delta as well. However, the others appear to be better suited for meadow plantings and restoration work. The Native Bentgrass is the best bet for swapping out a conventional lawn.

So instead of grimacing the next time a client requests turf, boy will I have a great solution. And if you would like to be among the first to grow a native lawn that promises to require only half the water and half the effort, plus treads lightly on the earth, please let me know.

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

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Oak Leaf Worms Are Defoliating My Oaks

California oakworm

“Attack of the Oakworms!” may never make it as a science fiction movie. But the concept is playing out in real life throughout the Central Coast.

Take a drive, and you’ll find that our early, spring-like temperatures are encouraging all sorts of deciduous trees to leaf out in fresh green.

Yet the coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) are behaving like it’s opposite day, losing their leaves and looking like brown skeletons looming over the landscape.

Get up close to any coast live oak that still has leaves, and you’ll see inch-long California oakworms (Phryganidia californica) munching through every last bit of foliage.

The voracious eaters devour the stiff, prickly leaves, methodically moving from one tree to the next.

The relentless march began in my coastal canyon neighborhood a couple of months ago. It has slowly proceeded up the canyon, only recently reaching our trees. The first sign was some browning at the tips. Now, amid a sprinkling of spring’s usual new leaves and pollen tassels, are brittle, twiggy branches, stripped of life.

And then there were two...

Apparently heaviest infestations can be tied to uncommonly warm, dry winters, which could explain our current outbreak.

Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot we can do about the worms, other than to simply wait them out.

There’s no spray or treatment that will magically eliminate them. Instead, they’ll eventually morph into fluttery, dove-gray moths that can be annoying as well.

But despite the frustration of seeing our beautiful trees defoliated, the devastation will not last forever. The word from local arborists is that healthy oaks should rebound without serious harm.

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Visit Joan’s website at www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com, or post a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” back up at the top.

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Planting Bulbs for Summer Blooms

Pink tuberous begonia

With fall-planted bulbs — daffodils, anemones, hyacinths and the like — just beginning to pop up, it may seem too soon to think about planting bulbs again.

But plant an entirely different set of bulbs in the garden this month or next, and you’ll have another round of blooming bulbs from summer through fall.

This set includes tuberous begonias, caladiums and dahlias, all of which come from fleshy tubers; gladiolus, which sprout from dry, papery corms; and calla lilies, which rise from rhizomes.

Tuberous Begonias

Red tuberous begonia

It’s amazing that such unimpressive brown disks can produce such magnificent flowers within months of planting.

Unless you have terrific drainage and are willing to roust snails daily, plant your tuberous begonias in hanging baskets or pots.

Fill the container with loose potting soil or a mix of leaf mold, coarse sand, finely ground bark and peat moss. Place the dusty brown tuber on top, dimpled side up. Cover the tuber with a thin layer of potting soil. Water thoroughly.

Then keep the soil moist through the rest of the growing season. Tuberous begonias grow best with lots of water, high humidity and filtered sunlight.

In addition, apply a mild dose of a high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer twice a month until May, to encourage the crinkled, succulent leaves to grow. Then switch to a low-nitrogen fertilizer to boost blossoming and blooming.

In the fall, after the stems fall off, lift out your tubers, dust off the dirt, and store them in a cool, dry location until the following spring.

Caladiums

How's that for tropical?

These flashy foliage plants provide a dose of the tropics, with large, heart-shaped leaves in crazy combinations of red, green and cream. Give them bright light, but keep them out of direct sun, which can burn their paper-thin leaves.

Caladiums are happiest in pots, where you can control the drainage and snails.

Start the tubers in a loose, fertile potting mix similar to what you’d use for tuberous begonias. Place the tubers bumpy side up. Cover them with 2 inches of soil, then water well.

Once your caladiums are up and growing, water them at ground level. Over-head water can spoil their leaves. When the leaves begin to fade in the fall, taper off watering. After they shrivel up, dig out the tubers, trim the dead stems, brush off the dirt and store them in a cool, dry place until spring.

Calla Lilies (Zantedeschia)

Graceful, upright swirls are the hallmark of calla lilies.

The erect, swirling white flowers of this rhizome are long-time favorites for both weddings and funerals.

They’re also among the most flexible of the summer-blooming bulbs, thriving in sun and shade, and in soils ranging from loose and well drained, to heavy clay.

Give your callas lots of water and they’ll bloom frequently. Let them go dry, and they’ll cycle in and out of bloom and dormancy.

Pant the common white calla rhizomes 6 inches deep and a foot or two apart. The dainty, dwarf hybrids, which bear pastel, speckled flowers in shades of pink, peach, yellow and red, go about 2 inches deep.

Don’t worry about digging up the rhizomes at the end of the season. Calla lilies easily naturalize on the Central Coast, forming ever-broadening clumps.

Dahlias

Mystic Dreamer dahlia

Dahlias are fussy to get started, but their show-stopping flowers are great payback.

Dig a hole about 1 foot deep and wide. Mix the excavated soil with loose potting soil, compost or other medium-textured organic material. Put 4 inches of the mix back in the hole, then place the tuber on top, with its eye up. Cover the tuber with another few inches, then water thoroughly.

As the tuber sprouts, gradually add more of the loose material until you fill the hole.

If you’re growing large, show-quality plants, put a 4 to 6-foot tall redwood stake or rebar in the hole at planting time. Pound in a stake later, and you may pierce the tuber and kill the plant.

If your dahlias decline at the end of summer, whack them to the ground and keep watering. The plants should send up new branches and resume blooming in October and November.

Some folks dig up their tubers for winter. I grow mine in raised beds and leave them alone.

Freesia

These sweetly fragrant flowers from South Africa are most commonly planted in fall. But you can put them in the ground in late winter, too, for summertime blooms.

Plant the marble-sized corms at least 2 inches deep, with their tips up, in a sunny spot. Freesias need good drainage, but not much water. Irrigate them while they’re up and growing and flowering. After they fade, you can ignore them until the following year.

Freesias also do well in pots. But be patient: the corms may take four months to bloom.

Gladiolus

Plump flowers open upward on each stalk of this Oberbayern gladiolus.

These regal, flowering swords have been staples of the cut-flower industry for years. Plant them now, and you have a good chance of avoiding thrips. The persistent, tiny pests disfigure the flowers and foliage during warmer weather.

Choose smallish corms that are about as tall as they are wide. Bigger, flatter ones may be past their prime. Plant the corms several inches deep and 4 to 6 inches apart in rich, loamy soil in full sun. I grow mine along the edges of raised vegetable beds. I will have harvested the flowers by the time my summer veggies need the space.

Water once a week, and apply a mild liquid fertilizer after five leaves have appeared, then again after the flower buds begin to swell.

Harvest each spike, just above the bottom three or four leaves, as the first flower opens. The remaining buds will open indoors.

After the plants stop blooming and the bottom leaves turn yellow, chop the stalks to the ground. Dig up the corms every few years and cut them apart to create new plants.

Glory Lily or Climbing Lily (Gloriosa rothschildiana)

The dancing flames of glory lily.

The upward-flaring flowers of this tropical vine are an incredible combination of scarlet red and banana yellow. Unusual tendrils that help the vine advance emerge from the tips of long, triangular leaves.

Glory lily thrives in sun or filtered shade. It can clamber up a 6 to 10-foot trellis or pole in a single summer, and is fine in a large container.

Place the tuber on its side in the same kind of loose mix that tuberous begonias and caladiums adore, and cover with 4 inches of soil.

After the tuber sprouts, water it regularly and apply a balanced liquid fertilizer every three weeks. In late summer as the vine finishes blooming, scale back the water. Stop completely after the foliage dies.

If your glory lily is in the ground, dig up the tuber and store it indoors. If it has been growing in a pot, store it, pot and all, in a dry, sheltered place.

Mexican Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)

Fragrant spikes of white flowers rise a couple of feet above clumps of grassy leaves on this native of Mexico.

Select the largest tubers possible. Plant them 2 inches deep in the ground or in a container. Water well, then let the top inch of soil dry out between waterings until the tubers sprout. Once you see green, start watering once a week.

Dig up and divide the clumps during dormancy every three to four years. The youngest, smallest bulbs may take several years to gain enough size to bloom.

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When to Plant

Yet another luscious tuberous begonia, this one in yellow.

Buy your summer-blooming bulbs at local nurseries and mail-order catalogs now. But make sure your ground has dried out before you plant them, as they may perish in cold, wet soil. Instead, they like it warm, loose, and with excellent drainage.

If you don’t want to wait, pot up your bulbs.

Some, such as tuberous begonias and caladiums, will be content to live out their lives in containers. But plan to transplant others, including dahlias, gladiolus and calla lilies, which do best in the ground and may even naturalize there.

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Seeds of Wisdom

Most summer-flowering bulbs require watering once or twice a week, so plant them within reach of a hose or faucet.

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Planting Bare-Root Fruit Trees

May Pride peach blossoms.

Bare-root season is not just for roses.

Deciduous fruit trees go dormant, too, and are equally accepting of being dug up, having the soil removed from their roots and then being transported to nurseries where they’re available now.

Remarkably, within a few years these stick-like plants will grow rapidly, bud out and produce delicious, tree-ripened fruit. Your choices include apple, apricot, cherry, fig, mulberry, nectarine, nectaplum, peach, pear, persimmon, plum, pluot and pomegranate trees as well as almond, pistachio and walnut trees.

But first, as with roses, you’ll find nondescript, tan or gray bundles of trunks, branches and twigs stuck in bins filled with moist sand or sawdust to protect their dormant, stringy roots. As with roses, you’ll likely see enticing photos posted above each. And as with roses, it’s critical to read the descriptions to make sure that whatever you take home can be expected to thrive in your garden.

Consider the Chill

May Pride peaches only require 150 to 200 chill hours to set fruit properly.

Your most important factor at the nursery is how much cold a particular tree needs to properly set fruit. Cold is calculated by measuring chill hours, which are the number of hours the temperature drops below 45 degrees between November 1 and February 28.

That number is key because many pome and stone fruit trees require more chill hours than certain Central Coast neighborhoods offer.

For example, some apples, cherries and pears require 1,100 to 1,500 chill hours, yet our mildest, coastal areas rarely get more than 300 chill hours. You have far more options if you live in the Santa Ynez Valley, which accumulates at least 1,000 chill hours most years.

UC Davis compiles the numbers, and this season has proved chilly so far. As of February 2, Santa Maria reported 593 chill hours; Lompoc, 832; Santa Ynez, 1,035; Nipomo, 630; and Santa Barbara, 312.

Selecting Stock

After narrowing your choices, gently tug a tree out of its bin and check for the following:

The roots should be plump, hairy and evenly spaced, not shriveled or lopsided.

The bud union, where the root stock is grafted to the bearing wood, should appear smooth and strong.

The trunk should measure 1/2 to 5/8ths of an inch in diameter. Smaller than that may result in poor growth; any larger, and it may not be in balance with the roots.

Any limbs should flex easily. If they snap, they’re probably dead.

The branching structure — unless it’s entirely out of whack — is not as important. You’ll be trimming the top and side shoots after planting.

Selecting the Site

Anna apples require 200 chill hours.

Sunlight, good drainage, wind protection and the coldest spot in your garden are all key.

Fruit trees need at least six hours of direct sunlight to stimulate buds and develop mature fruit. That direct light is most important during the growing season. It’s not a problem if the sun swings low in the dead of winter.

However, good drainage is important year-round. If water puddles where you plan to plant, shape a mound at least a foot tall or build a raised bed.

Fruit trees don’t like wind, especially when they’re budding out in late winter and early spring, and again when the fruit is beginning to mature. Fierce winds can literally blow off buds and rip off ripening fruit.

As for that all-important chill: avoid planting your bare-root fruit trees up against your house, driveway or patio, as all three can radiate considerable warmth. Instead, seek a low spot where cold collects.

Planting Time

Anna apple trees bear heavy crops, especially when cross-pollinated by Dorsett Golden or Einshemer apples.

Dig a hole as deep as your tree’s roots and at least three times as wide.

It’s fine to work in compost over the general planting area. But don’t worry about amending the hole. Instead, just break up any clods, line the hole with quarter-inch aviary wire if gophers are a problem, then form a dirt cone on the bottom of the hole to support the roots.

Pack down the cone and set the tree on top. Orient the bud union so that the flat notch faces the north or northeast, to prevent sun damage. Start filling the hole.

If you’re not sure how deep to plant the tree, lay a shovel across the hole. Look for the faint soil line on the trunk, then hold the tree over the hole to see how that soil line matches with the existing soil.

Plant your tree an inch or two high, to allow for settling. Ideally, the bud union will end up sitting 3 to 5 inches above the soil line, while the uppermost of the largest, thickest roots will be buried several inches below.

Shape a watering basin about a foot away from the trunk. Apply an inch or two of mulch, avoiding direct contact with the trunk. Then soak the tree.

Don’t fertilize. The tree possesses sufficient energy in its tissues to break dormancy, and any salt in the fertilizer may burn emerging roots.

Shape Up Your Tree

May Pride peaches are early bearing and produce sweet, smooth-textured, medium-size fruit. They're easy to peel and have freestone pits inside. Yum!

Once your tree is in the ground, it’s time to prune.

Most likely, your tree is composed of a whip and possibly a few side branches. Despite its paltry size, you still need to trim it in order to initiate good branching. Cut off the top about a quarter inch above a bud that’s 30 to 36 inches above the ground.

Then trim any side branches to 3-inch stubs bearing two or three buds.

In no time, it should start sending out whips and shoots in every direction. Toward the end of summer, prune your developing tree with an eye toward its future framework. Cut back new growth by up to a half in order to encourage evenly spaced, strong, balanced branches and to maintain plenty of air flow through the tree.

Some folks advocate keeping fruit trees compact and bush-like so that they’re easier to care for and harvest. If you’d like to adopt that technique, often referred to as Backyard Orchard Culture, trim your tree to 18 to 24 inches at planting time, to force lower, bushier branching. Then cut it back twice — by half in late spring, and by half again in late summer.

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Watering Your Fruit Trees

While you should keep the soil moist if winter rains don’t oblige, new, bare-root fruit trees don’t require a lot of supplemental water until temperatures warm up and new growth takes off.

According to UC Cooperative Extension, a healthy, first-year fruit tree that’s not mulched needs 5 to 10 gallons of water a week during the summer, and much less water if it is mulched.

Obviously the amount of water that a new fruit tree in your own garden needs depends greatly on your soil type, air temperature, sun exposure and overall conditions.

It’s okay to let the top couple of inches of soil dry out between waterings. But the soil further down in the root zone should stay moist. Use a soil moisture probe or dig down 4 to 6 inches with a screwdriver or hand weeder occasionally to check.

When you do irrigate, use drip irrigation, attach a bubbler to your hose or set your faucet to a trickle so that the water flows out slowly and gives your tree a deep soak, rather than a quick blast solely to the surface.

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Seeds of Wisdom

If recent rains have made your soil too wet to dig, put your bare-root tree in a bucket filled with moist sand, sawdust or even shredded newspapers. Set the tree in a shady spot out of the wind and keep the temporary mix damp but not soggy.

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