The Kindest Cuts: Pruning During the Dormant Season

A ladder makes pruning this peach tree a lot easier.

Sharpen those pruners. It’s time to start cutting in the garden.

Despite a run of warm days, this is the season when many landscape plants are dormant — or as dormant as they’re going to be in our temperate climate.

Making corrective cuts now will boost their health and encourage more buds, flowers and fruit.

First up are roses and deciduous fruit trees.

But other dormant plants will benefit from a shape-up now, too. It’s a lot easier to prune when your shrubs and trees are bare. You can see what you’re doing without contending with a canopy of leaves, and pests and diseases are not likely to be active.

Roses

It may seem crazy to cut back roses now. If yours are like mine, they’re still covered in leaves, buds and fresh flowers. But a closer look reveals that they’re tattered around the edges. If you don’t prune, the upcoming growth is destined to become a tangled, thorny mess by summer.

Start by chopping off the top in order to reduce the bush to about 3 feet tall.

Don’t worry about where you make the cuts. This is just the first round. Snip off any remaining flowers. Then strip the leaves and any suckers at the base by hand, using a downward tug. Watch out for thorns. Heavy, elbow-length gauntlet gloves provide good protection.

Use hand pruners to cut smaller branches, such as these rose canes.

Next, stand back and evaluate the framework. Cut out dead or shriveled canes all the way to the base of the bush; old canes that are thicker than your thumb; and new canes that are distorted or smaller in diameter than a pencil.

Roses — like so many other plants — benefit from plenty of air flow through their centers. They also need sunlight to penetrate their crowns to initiate new bud growth, which results in better flowering.

So next, cut out any canes that cross over the middle.

Then shape what’s left. On shrub roses, keep pruning until five to seven canes remain. Trim the canes to 18 to 24 inches tall, varying the heights so that the bush will bloom with a more natural look. On hybrid tea roses, keep at least three to five canes. Depending on who’s providing advice, those canes can be trimmed 18 to 36 inches tall.

Finally, nip back any side branches that cross or rub against other branches or canes.
Make all your cuts just above an outward-facing bud. This encourages new growth to flare out, rather than tilt back toward the center of the bush.

Deciduous Fruit Trees

For all deciduous fruit trees, start by pruning any dead or diseased wood. Then remove rubbing or crossing branches.

Use loppers to cut branches 1 to 2 inches in diameter.

Be sure to make clean cuts next to lower, heavier branches. Fruit trees are prone to diseases that can get their start in stubs that are left long enough to die back, while cuts close to larger branches protect and heal by producing new bark and wood.

Next, know how your particular fruit trees produce fruit.

Apple and pear trees, for instance, bear fruit on fuzzy, nubby spurs that emerge on branches at least a year old. Those spurs flower and fruit every year, so should be kept from one year to the next.

The only winter pruning of an apple tree — other than a light shaping for aesthetics — should be to remove dead or diseased wood, rubbing or crossing branches, and any remaining limbs that interfere with sunlight reaching the center of the tree. Sucker growth should be removed whenever it appears, at any time of year.

Pear trees require a heavier hand, as they produce tall, upright whips that should be headed back during dormancy. Thin the whips so that air and sunlight can penetrate the canopy. Then cut back the remaining whips by two thirds, to maximize the size of the fruit and to keep it in the lower arms of the tree.

Plum trees bear on long-lived spurs that take several years to form. In the meantime, just as with pear trees, thin each year’s new, upright whips so that they’re spaced about one foot apart. Then cut back those remaining whips by two thirds.

Peach trees bear on year-old wood. They also require the heaviest pruning of all because each branch bears fruit only once. As such, the trees should be cut back by more than one half each year.

Start by removing dead, diseased and rubbing branches. Then cut out any branches that have produced peaches.

Next, thin the branches so that all of the new, twiggy growth from last year ends up being spaced about a foot apart and the silhouette of the tree looks like an upside-down umbrella. Then head back the twiggy growth by another third.

This last step is necessary to pump the tree’s energy into the remaining fruit buds, which optimizes the size of the fruit. Otherwise, those full-length, new whips will bear more fruit, but of much smaller size.

Nectarine trees are related to peaches and bear fruit on year-old twiggy branches as well. Follow the same steps, except the twiggy branches can be left closer together, spaced about 8 inches apart.

Groom Grasses and Other Plants

By now, your big, billowy ornamental grasses are likely to be ragged visions of their former selves. If you haven’t already, cut them all the way to the ground. Use a weed whacker, machete or even kitchen scissors. There’s no point in leaving more than an inch or two of the past year’s foliage above ground, as new stalks will sprout from the crowns, not the stems.

Small, cool-season grasses, including the various blue fescues, may still be actively growing, so wield a lighter hand. Use a stiff rake to comb out the desiccated stems, or trim taller blades with a brush mower with the blade set on high.

Use a hand saw to cut branches 2 to 3 inches in diameter or larger.

Also take a look around your garden with a critical eye toward dead flowers and leggy growth. Pinch, nip and tuck wherever necessary to rejuvenate the plants and to pull them away from walls, windows and eaves.

Wait until March or April to cut back tropical and subtropical plants, such as bougainvillea, cannas, citrus trees and palm trees. Leave them alone until all danger of frost has passed and spring temperatures have begun to warm up.

In addition, assign pruning of taller trees to a certified arborist, who will use proper pruning equipment and climbing techniques, and know just where to make cuts to ensure the overall health and beauty of your trees.

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Guides to Pruning Fruit Trees

For information about how to prune specific fruit trees, turn to: “The Home Orchard: Growing Your Own Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees,” by Chuck A. Ingels, Pamela M. Geisel and Maxwell V. Norton, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication 3485; or “How to Prune Fruit Trees” by R. Sanford Martin, Martin Bio-Products, which is often carried in nurseries.

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Seeds of Wisdom

A dead-looking branch may be quite alive underneath. Flex the branch or scrape the bark with your fingernail or a pocket knife. If the branch has give, or if there’s green beneath the bark, it still possesses life.

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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.

 

New Roses for 2012

Stormy Weather - climbing

If your idea of the perfect rose is a long-stemmed beauty with stately, overlapping petals, then this year’s introductions may come as a surprise.

Of the 15 new roses that are sure to be the most widely available in 2012, there’s only one classic hybrid tea rose. Instead, most are shrub roses in one form or another, designed to be planted throughout the landscape, rather than isolated in a formal rose garden.

As for the ever-important flowers — rather than formal and elegant, these newcomers trend toward clusters of loose, frilly petals, with some of the concoctions scarcely looking like roses. Two specimens making their debut are the first-ever of their kind. Several others combine crazy colors, including one called Ketchup & Mustard. Thankfully there are a handful of demure pastels as well.

Regardless of the style, breeders continue to emphasize disease resistance. Indeed, the 2012 All-America Rose Selections winner, Sunshine Daydream, is the first garden rose to receive top honors under a new “no spray” requirement.

Hybrid Tea

Sugar Moon - hybrid tea

These traditional roses bear long-stemmed flowers and grow upright, typically reaching 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide.

The lone hybrid tea rose making its debut this year is a vigorous rebloomer called Sugar Moon. Its white, long-stemmed flowers produce a strong, sweet, citrus and rose scent.

Pointed buds open to reveal 5-inch full, classic flowers composed of 35 petals apiece. Disease resistance is ranked as very good, and the dark, glossy green leaves are a nice contrast to the bright white of the flowers.

Floribunda

These shrub roses bear clusters of flowers above lush, full leaves, and generally grow 3 to 4 feet tall and wide.

Two new floribundas, bearing distinctive red eyes, represent an entirely new look. While most modern roses are offspring of China roses (Rosa chinensis), these new shrubs are hybrids of Hulthemia persica, which is a thorny, sprawling bush that blooms once a year and is native to dry, windswept lands in Iran and Afghanistan.

Eyeconic Lemonade - Hulthemia hybrid

Eyeconic Pink Lemonade - Hulthemia hybrid

What has captivated rose breeders is the red blotch at the base of each petal, which, surrounding the center of the flower, gives the look of a red eye. Breeders have spent decades attempting to conquer the rambling habit of the species, introduce repeat blooming and produce a consistent, visible eye.

This year’s two Eyeconic hybrids are the first hulthemias to become commercially available.

Eyeconic Lemonade bears 4-inch flowers that are bright yellow with a medium-red inner ring. Each flower is composed of 10 to 12 petals, and there are three to five flowers per stem. The bushes are dark green and grow 4 1/2 feet tall and wide.

Eyeconic Pink Lemonade bears 3 1/2-inch flowers that open in a pale shade of melon orange with a red ring, then mature to shell pink with a purple ring. The flowers are composed of 8 to 10 petals, with five flowers per stem. It grows only 3 feet tall and wide.

Both Eyeconics are said to bloom continuously, rather than in waves. They are self-cleaning, so don’t require dead-heading. It will be interesting to learn, given their geographic origin, whether they are drought-tolerant as well.

Ketchup & Mustard - floribunda

Equally distinctive, but in an entirely different way, is Ketchup & Mustard. Its two-toned petals are yellow on their back sides and red within.

It’s love-it or hate-it combination when the pointed buds open and the petals curl back, revealing that bright red and deep yellow reverse. The 3 1/2-inch formal, spiraled flowers bear about 25 petals. They bloom above apple-green leaves.

The shrub is round, bushy and offers good disease resistance.

Koko Loko is a classic-looking rose in terms of its fully double flowers, which are composed of 30 to 35 petals apiece.

But its coloring is most unusual, with light chocolate flowers aging to a pinkish lavender. It forms a full, bushy shrub with deep green leaves and has above-average disease resistance.

Orchid Romance - floribunda

Orchid Romance bears pretty, frilly, old-rose flowers that open pink, then fade to a lighter shade with a hint of lavender. Each fragrant, cuplike flower bears an amazing 75 petals, with three to five flowers per stem. The bushes are upright, growing 4 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, and are very resistant to black spot, powdery mildew and rust.

Tangerine Streams also bears cup-shaped flowers, but in a sunny combination of orange, yellow and apricot. Each 3-inch flower is composed of 25 petals, with one to five flowers per stem. The shrubs resist mildew and rust, and grow 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall.

Tequila Supreme is multi-colored as well, but in darker copper and bronze tones. The cuplike flowers are similar in shape, size and petal count to Tangerine Streams. But the flowers are one to three per stem and the shrubs grow taller, reaching 4 to 4 1/2 feet.

Thrive! presents a wild rose look, with only 7 to 8 petals on each 3-inch, fire engine-red flower. Five to 10 flowers bloom on each stem, all at about the same height. The vigorous, bushy shrubs grow 4 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, and have very good disease resistance to black spot, and excellent resistance to rust and mildew.

Grandiflora

Basically floribundas on steroids, these shrub roses can reach 5 to 10 feet tall. They bloom prolifically and produce clusters of flowers on short or long stems, depending on the hybrid.

Sunshine Daydream - grandiflora

The new Sunshine Daydream bears rounded, cup-shaped, pastel yellow flowers above dark-green, glossy foliage. The 2012 All-America Rose Selections winner was tested in 21 gardens across the country under the group’s “no spray” rule and offers excellent disease resistance.

A vigorous bloomer, it bears 25 petals on each 3 1/2-inch flower, produces one to eight flowers per stem and grows 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

English

David Austin English shrub roses combine the shapes and fragrances of old roses with the colors and repeat blooming of modern roses. Both newbies for 2012 are smaller than many older David Austins, and are good choices for the fronts of planting beds or even containers.

Skylark - English

Princess Anne - English

Princess Anne bears dark pink, ruffly flowers that stand up much like a water lily. The clusters of plump, double flowers mature to purple-lilac, providing a multi-colored effect over a compact, bushy shrub that reaches only 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

Skylark bears semi-double, apple and clove-scented flowers that open deep pink, then relax to reveal a small, white center while aging to lilac-pink. Skylark grows 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide as well. But its habit is lighter and the flowers feel somewhat airy, perched on taller stems.

Miniature

These petite versions of full-sized roses feature diminutive flowers and foliage.

All a' Twitter - miniature

All a’Twitter bears pure orange flowers above clean, green foliage. The small, 1 1/2-inch double flowers bear a light fragrance, are composed of 15 to 20 petals apiece and retain their sparkling color as they age. I tested one in a pot on my patio last year and it was the perfect foreground plant to a Satsuma tangerine underplanted with white sweet alyssum.

Itty Bitty Pink bears scads of tiny, 3/4-inch bubblegum pink flowers on bushy plants that reach only 1 1/2 feet tall and wide. The cuplike flowers retain their coloring as well. Itty Bitty Pink offers very good disease resistance and is a great, long-blooming edging plant along a walkway or patio.

Climbing

Stormy Weather - climbing

These roses produce lateral branches to train on a fence, trellis or arbor.

The new Stormy Weather looks a lot like a wild, rambling rose, bearing clusters of smoky purple, open-faced flowers with yellow centers. The 4-inch flowers are composed of 15 to 20 petals apiece and carry a moderate spice scent. It is a mid-sized climber, producing canes that grow 6 to 8 feet long.

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Seeds of Wisdom

The new year kicks off bare-root season. Roses are dormant, which makes them easy to transport without soil attached to their roots. They’re also easy to plant. In January and February, you’ll find the biggest selection and the best prices.

Yes, these are both Koko Loko floribundas.

Tangerine Streams - floribunda

Tequila Supreme - floribunda

Thrive! - floribunda

Itty Bitty Pink - miniature

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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.

 

Holiday Houseplants: The After Care

Charmeur amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Charmeur')

Holiday houseplants are typically in postcard-perfect form when they come into our homes.

Poinsettias are plumped out in traditional red. Amaryllis bear giant, striped trumpets that blare “Look at me!” And Christmas cactus and cyclamen flash impossibly iridescent flowers in shades of red, pink and white.

But after New Year’s, those beauties start becoming bedraggled. Eventually we’re faced with whether to keep them or toss them.

Before you make that decision, it’s useful to know what kind of effort is required to sustain the plants.

It’s also important to realize that despite your most valiant attempts, some holiday houseplants simply will not return to their former stunning selves unless you replicate the extraordinary steps that commercial growers take, which include the use of greenhouses, grow lights, shade cloth and tight control over temperatures at various times during the plants’ life cycles.

That said, here’s what to expect.

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Between 35 and 40 million of these vibrant shrubs are sold in the United States during the holidays, and the lion’s share are sure to be discarded after Christmas.

For most of the country, that’s probably the right call, since poinsettias are native to southern Mexico and detest cold weather.

However, here on the Central Coast, they will grow outdoors if you provide them with sun and moist, fast-draining soil, and protect them from wind and freezing temperatures. Just don’t expect yours to bloom at Christmas. Longer nights trigger the coloring, and commercial growers manipulate the light in greenhouses. Left to nature, yours may not show color until January. Planted within the glow of a porch light or street light, it might not color up much at all.

In addition, your compact indoor plant is likely to become leggy outdoors, easily reaching 6 to 10 feet tall.

If you are determined to keep your poinsettia compact and force it to rebloom in December, don’t plant it in the ground.

Instead, keep it in a pot and place it outdoors in a sunny spot. After the leaves drop, cut back the stems to 6 inches tall, leaving at least two joints on each stem. Water when the top few inches of soil dry out, and pinch back new growth every few weeks to encourage fullness.

The special light regimen begins in mid September to early October. Every night for eight to 10 weeks, move the pot into a dark closet for 14 hours, say from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Every morning, move it into sunlight for the day. That daily cycle of 14 hours of darkness, followed by 10 hours of sunshine, should produce the most vivid holiday color.

Amaryllis (Hippeastrum)

Clown amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Clown') bears a full circle of flowers.

These impressive, giant bulbs, bearing large, showy trumpets, are an increasingly popular Christmas item. But once again, growers have manipulated their bloom time.

In the garden, amaryllis bloom in the spring, right before or just as their broad, strappy leaves emerge. Having just bloomed over the holidays, yours is not likely to replay the show this spring. Instead, you’ll have to wait about 15 months for the next round of spectacular, candy cane-striped flowers.

After the new year, set your amaryllis outside in the sun and water it occasionally. Make sure the container has drain holes. If not, make some, or transplant the bulb to a porous clay pot filled with fast-draining cactus mix. The pot should be on the small side, with just an inch or two of space between the side of the pot and the rough, papery edges of the amaryllis bulb. Plant the bulb high, with up to half of its top exposed.

With filtered sunlight and occasional water, agapanthus-like leaves should emerge in spring. When the leaves begin to yellow, stop watering and let the bulb and foliage dry out over summer. Flower buds form, deep within, during this rest period. New, succulent flower stalks should then rise and bloom the following spring.

Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera)

Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera)

These sparkly plants share poinsettias’ need for controlled light. But they take only six to eight weeks of going dark for 12 to 14 hours, rather than eight to 10 weeks for a solid 14 hours. Again, that includes blocking any exterior, night-time lighting.

Fortunately, the shorter time frame means that even without any help, your Christmas cactus should bloom during the holidays. But if you still insist on controlling the light to ensure flowers at a particular time, it’s best to leave the plants outdoors and cover them with paper bags each night. Otherwise, they might balk at the twice daily moves and shed their buds in protest.

Whatever you choose to do, after Christmas, move your Christmas cactus outdoors to rest in a spot with bright, indirect sunlight. Mine is packed into a hanging basket. I hang it on a lower branch of a purple-leaf plum tree. The tree is bare over winter, when sun protection isn’t all that important. Then it leafs out to provide filtered shade during spring, summer and fall.

Christmas cactus truly are members of the cactus family, and are at their best in containers with extremely fast-draining soil. Hanging baskets are especially effective, because as the cactus gains size, its jointed arms can gracefully cascade over the sides.

Water yours occasionally, letting the top inch of soil go dry between waterings. Don’t let the fleshy leaves shrivel up.

Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum)

SilverHeart cyclamen

These perky little clumping plants, with heart-shaped leaves and flower petals shaped like flames, are being increasingly marketed as holiday houseplants.

However, they prefer temperatures much cooler than we usually keep our houses, and are at their best indoors next to the draftiest, coolest window possible.

After the holidays, move your cyclamen outdoors to a spot that offers the same filtered shade that Christmas cactus appreciate. But rather than transplanting your cyclamen to hanging baskets, leave the plants in their small pots or put them in the ground, provided you have excellent drainage.

Cyclamen grow from tubers, the tops of which should sit slightly higher than the surrounding soil. They are native to the eastern Mediterranean region, which shares our climate of warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The tubers go dormant over summer and need dry soil during their rest. New leaves will begin to appear in fall, followed by flower buds that will bloom in winter and spring.

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Indoor Care

Most holiday houseplants prefer bright, indirect light indoors, and cool temperatures. Keep them away from south-facing windows and heater vents.

Watering can be tricky. In cooler rooms out of direct sunlight, the soil may stay damp for a week. But in a bright spot or within range of a heater, they may need water almost daily.

Also, because holiday houseplants tend to spill over the edges of their containers, it can be difficult to poke the soil to see if it’s dry. Instead, use the lift test — water your plant thoroughly, then lift it to see how heavy it feels when the soil is saturated. Check it every few days, and when it feels considerably lighter, it’s time to water again.

When you do water, stop when you see water beginning to trickle into the pot saucer. Empty the saucer so that the bottom of the plant doesn’t sit in water.

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Seeds of Wisdom

If you’re still hunting for a quick gift, consider a poinsettia, amaryllis, Christmas cactus or cyclamen. Given the proper conditions and care, all should live long after the holidays, out in the garden.

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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.

 

Fabulous Fall Foliage Trees

American sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Fall has a way of sneaking up on our Central Coast gardens. It doesn’t arrive in one fell swoop like so many places. There’s not a single cold snap or deep freeze to announce that the seasons have changed.

Instead, we get a mish-mash of conditions for a month or two, with temperatures bouncing around from the 40s and 50s at night to the low 60s to the low 80s during the day.

But the trend is still toward shorter days and crisper nights. And then suddenly — indeed, sometimes it seems overnight — our deciduous trees erupt into glorious fall color.

Granted, you’re not likely to see the postcard-perfect images that you’ll find in New England, where vast stands display impossible shades of brilliance.

Hachiya persimmon (Diospyros kaki 'Hachiya')

Much of that is because we have a greater diversity of trees, with many different tropicals, subtropicals and evergreens mixed in with our deciduous trees.

We also have a slower progression of color. Rather than busting loose all at once, followed by a quick fade, our leaves typically take their sweet time to shift color, then drop.

As a result, we may see the first hints of color in September, with Japanese maples starting to turn, followed by persimmons and maidenhair trees. Others, such as birches and sycamores, often come late to the party, not fully coloring up until November or even early December.

But ultimately, it doesn’t matter how fast our trees turn, or whether they’re planted in masses or as single specimens. They’re all beautiful this time of year, especially at sunup and sundown, with the low rays of sunlight shimmering through their tissue-thin leaves of red, yellow, purple and orange.

The following are among the best.

American sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

American sweet gum, up close.

This robust tree bears maple-shaped leaves that turn gold, red and burgundy in fall. It has a nice, upright shape, and grows moderately fast to 60 feet tall and 20 to 25 feet wide. Although American sweet gum is a popular street tree in older neighborhoods, its beefy surface roots can lift pavement. So plant yours at least 10 to 15 feet away from sidewalks, patios, driveways and the foundation of your home. That will also help you to avoid having to constantly sweep the golfball-sized sticker balls that drop much of the year.

But all is forgiven when those leaves turn color and light up the neighborhood.

California sycamore (Platanus racemosa)

California sycamore (Platanus racemosa)

This statuesque native produces giant, leathery, maple-like leave that turn the richest orangey-gold in the coldest spots on the Central Coast.

Just south of Buellton, California sycamores that line the stream corridor along the east side of Highway 101 yield brilliant hues every year.

In milder areas, you’ll generally see a mix of rustic brown and gold, and even a few pale green leaves that never really turn.

After the leaves drop, the solid trunks reveal zig-zagging branches and beautiful, mottled, peeling bark in shades of white, tan, cinnamon and dark brown.

California sycamore grows fast to 80 feet tall and 50 feet wide. It is not for the faint of heart — or for small gardens.

Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis)

If you plant only one tree for fall color, let it be Chinese pistache.

Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis)

Neat and well-mannered, with roots that stay within bounds, it nonetheless trumpets its presence in fall as a raucous fireball of orange and red. On close inspection, some leaves turn yellow and pink as well. Adding to the explosive effect are dangling leaflets that dance in the breeze.

Chinese pistache grows 30 to 60 feet tall and wide. A relative newcomer to many neighborhoods, it will be interesting to watch as the various trees take on size over the next 10 to 15 years. As with many trees, it performs best with good drainage and deep, infrequent watering.

European white birch (Betula pendula)

A European white birch swirls in the wind.

This traditional front yard tree grows narrow and tall, and is often planted in groups.

The arrowhead-shaped leaves, hanging from weeping branches, turn to liquid gold in the fall.

Those leaves offer a beautiful, stark contrast to the white and black furrowed bark.

Mature trees reach 40 feet tall, 20 feet wide and form a surprisingly broad trunk a foot wide or wider.

If you plant several, vary their initial sizes so that they don’t grow into three equally stout trees in 15 to 20 years.

Also know that greedy surface roots will crowd out any underplantings, including lawn, over time.

I’m planning to replace a swath of declining fairy fan flower (Scaevola ‘Mauve Clusters’) beneath my European white birch with an underlayment of landscape fabric topped by dark, polished pebbles, come spring.

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)

Coral bark maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku')

This dainty tree produces some of the earliest and most spectacular fall color, although its delicate leaves drop relatively fast. It grows to about 20 feet tall and wide, depending on the variety.

More than a dozen Japanese maples are commonly available, ranging from Bloodgood, which bears scarlet leaves in fall, to coral bark maple, which turns an ethereal yellow.

Protect your Japanese maple from the harshest elements. It will be at its best tucked into a sheltered corner or beneath a taller, evergreen tree, where wind and heat won’t tatter its leaves and turn them crispy.

Japanese or oriental persimmon (Diospyros kaki)

Fuyu persimmon (Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu')

Often overlooked until it sports fall color, this fruit tree bears round, nearly heart-shaped leaves that shift from green to yellow to deep, glowing orange. Plump, orange fruits that hang on long after the leaves have dropped are a bonus.

As a shade tree, persimmon has a nice, rounded silhouette and grows 30 feet tall and wide. As a fruit tree, it’s generally grafted to yield Fuyu, a nonastringent fruit that’s sweet when picked; or Hachiya, an astringent fruit that softens and sweetens after picking.

Maidenhair tree (Gingko biloba)

Maidenhair tree (Gingko biloba)

Year in and year out, this showstopper yields what may be the most vibrant yellow of any Central Coast tree.

It’s also among the most reliable for turning color, even with the mildest of temperatures.

The drooping, fan-shaped leaves then fall nearly all at once, gifting the earth with a golden glow.

Maidenhair tree is one of the oldest flowering plants on earth, dating back some 200 million years. Male trees bear small, inconspicuous flowers, while females produce large, fleshy seeds in late fall that smell positively hideous. Fortunately, nurseries seldom offer female trees for sale.

Maidenhair tree often starts out slow, then speeds up, eventually reaching up to 50 tall and about half as wide.

Purple-leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera)

The already dark leaves of this fruitless plum turn nearly inky black in fall.

Purple Pony purple-leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Purple Pony')

It is especially beautiful when offset by the golden tones of a European white birch or brilliant yellow gingko.

Purple-leaf plum sheds its leaves from the top down, so can look a little awkward just before the last leaves drop.

This tough tree withstands wind, poor soil and street pollution, and is found in neighborhoods everywhere. It generally grows upright, to 30 feet tall.

A dozen or so named varieties, such as Krauter Vesuvius and Purple Pony, may have slightly different forms, and be more rounded or not quite as tall.

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Why Leaves Change Color

Fall color is the result of deciduous plants preparing for winter.

Yet another beautiful American sweet gum.

Before dropping their leaves, the plants convert the starch in their foliage to sugars to store in their branches, stems and trunks to sustain themselves until they leaf out the following spring.

But cold temperatures can hinder the process, preventing the sugars from reaching their destinations. That buildup of sugars often appears as red pigment.

Meanwhile, the green chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down, revealing any other pigments that might have been masked, such as red, yellow, purple or orange.

The mashup of stalled sugars and pigments results in what we see as fall color.

Colder temperatures often heighten the hues, while mild temperatures can dull them. Strong, afternoon sun can intensify colors as well, sometimes to the point that the southwest side of a tree may sport more vivid color than its other sides.

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Seeds of Wisdom

Fall color is not limited to trees. Deciduous shrubs, grape vines and some fruit trees, including peaches, plums and pluots, can produce dazzling foliage as well.

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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.

 

Squeeze Play: Winter Vegetables

Packman broccoli, Buttercrunch lettuce, frilly red lettuce and crinkly spinach fill this raised bed.

When it comes to cool-season vegetables, discard the notion that bigger is better. Instead, think small: small plants and small spaces.

Summer is the time for busting loose, with sky-high corn, voluminous tomato bushes and sprawling vines that bear mighty melons and giant pumpkins.

Winter crops tend to be dainty wee ones, with roots that are happy to live out their lives in confined spaces. Many are content to grow in containers, or tucked into nooks and crannies in the garden.

Cool-season edibles don’t require the same attention as their summer counterparts, either. A long run of cloudy days may slow their growth, but won’t stunt or stop them. Winter rains help with the watering, but don’t particularly promote diseases. Other than snails and slugs, there are few pests to contend with.

Preparing the Soil

Use a garden fork to gently lift your carrots from the soil.

Growing winter veggies is not difficult. But you do still need to take time to prepare the soil properly. Drainage is important. Your plants may not survive if they sit in cold puddles for days on end.

Leafy crops, such as salad greens and spinach, need only 6 to 8 inches of soil, so are perfect in containers, where they can be planted close together. Use fresh potting soil, rather than dirt shoveled from your garden. In a raised bed or in the ground, add fine-textured compost or other well-aged, organic material to help with fertility and get that drainage going.

Root crops, such as beets, carrots, radishes and turnips, need exceptionally loose soil, both so that their downward growth doesn’t become distorted, and so that they’re easy to pull at harvest time. As for how far down to go — in general, you should provide twice the depth of the crop. Radishes may need only a few inches, while a full-size carrot may require 12 to 18 inches or more.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Swiss chard grow bigger, take longer to mature and are more tolerant of wet feet. However, they are happiest when planted in rich soil that drains reasonably well and is at least 12 to 18 inches deep.

Planting Strategies

Stalks of Bright Lights Swiss chard sparkle in a rainbow of colors.

A number of winter crops grow fast. Beets, radishes, leaf lettuce and turnips may all be ready for picking six to eight weeks after they sprout.

The simplest technique for these speed racers is to replant their entire beds several times before warm weather begins next spring. Be sure to rejuvenate the soil between plantings.

Succession planting is a method especially popular with salad greens. Every two to three weeks, sow a new row of seeds or plant a new row of transplants. The plants will mature in waves, rather than all at once.

Or you can match fast growers with slow developers. For instance, interplant lettuce with cauliflower. The lettuce will be ready for harvest well before the three months that it can take for the cauliflower to reach full size.

Other veggies are suited for prolonged harvests. With this method, you snip or clip around the edges and the plants will continue to produce new growth. Leaf lettuce, broccoli and Swiss chard are good candidates. Loose-leaf lettuces can be harvested for six to eight weeks; Di Cicco broccoli for up to 3 months; and Swiss chard for six months to a couple of years.

Seeds or Transplants

Fresh-picked carrots. Yum!

Root crops are difficult to transplant, so sow their seeds directly where you want the plants to grow.

Prepare the soil, then drag your finger in a straight line to shape a shallow furrow. The seeds will be tiny. Pour some from the packet into your hand, then dribble them into the row.

Gently pinch the soil from the sides of the furrow back over the top, creating a cover only a quarter to a half-inch thick. Then thoroughly wet the bed with a gentle spray from a water bucket or hose. Use too much force and you risk blasting away the seeds.

When your seedlings emerge, thin them to the spacing recommended on their seed packet.

Leaf crops can be grown from seeds or transplants. I prefer buying pony packs, for the variety. Rather than sowing a whole row of just one or two types, I can pick and choose at the nursery and grow six or eight different types in the same, small space.

Buying transplants of the larger winter crops, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Swiss chard, saves time to harvest. Otherwise, you might overplant. For instance, a packet of broccoli seeds may produce 25 to 50 plants. Yet six broccoli plants, all maturing at the same time, is plenty for a family of four.

Protect Your Crops

Packman broccoli forms a central head, followed by side shoots that can be harvested for at least three to four weeks.

Early on, wintering birds will be all too happy to devour your new seedlings. Planting your larger cool-season vegetables from transplants bypasses that problem. But for your root crops and anything else that you grow from seed, plan to cover the top and sides of the bed with netting until the seedlings are several inches high and have produced several sets of beefy leaves.

Snails and slugs can be persistent, especially during rainy weather. They love munching their way into the inner folds, crinkles and curves of the leaves.

Hand-pick the slimy pests. Or bait with a non-toxic organic product such as Sluggo, which is composed of iron phosphate; set out shallow dishes of beer or rinds of squeezed oranges; or line the perimeter of the bed with sharp gravel that will cut into their soft bodies. Do not use any products that will harm you or your pets.

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Cool-Season Vegetables to Plant Now

Brush away the top inch or so of soil to check whether your carrots are ready to harvest.

Artichokes
Beets
Bok choy
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Green onions
Kohlrabi
Leeks

Buttercrunch lettuce and frilly red lettuce contrast beautifully in the garden as well as on the plate.

Lettuce
Mustard
Peas
Radicchio
Radishes
Salad greens
Spinach
Swiss chard
Turnips

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Seeds of Wisdom

Cool-season vegetables are at their best with consistent moisture, fertile soil, good drainage and at least four to six hours of direct sunlight — at least on the days that the sun shines.

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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.

 

What’s That Tree?

What's That Tree?

Have you always wondered what that purple-flowering tree was, down the street? Or the one by the post office that turns bright yellow in fall?

Turn to a new book by Matt Ritter, a botany professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and you should have the answer in short order.

“A Californian’s Guide to the Trees Among Us” features 150 of the most common trees growing in urban and suburban areas across the state.

“Ninety-five percent of the trees are covered,” Ritter said, noting that these are trees that have been planted in neighborhoods, gardens, parks and along streets. There are a handful of California natives. But most of the trees living in what arborists call our “urban forest” are from Australia, East Asia and other temperate and subtropical regions of the world.

A Unique Approach

Valley oak (Quercus lobata)

Plenty of books have been written about trees. However, what makes Ritter’s distinct is the approach he offers to identify trees.

Readers can take two paths: flip through the pages until they find a photo that resembles what they’re trying to figure out. That’s generally an easy route, as each of the 150 trees gets a full page treatment, with more than 500 photos and illustrations of mature specimens and close-ups of leaves, bark, cones, flowers, seeds and other pertinent details.

Or the more scientifically inclined might follow Ritter’s keys.

Keys are well-known in botany. Books about native plants — the encyclopedic Jepson Manual in particular — go to great lengths to “key” individual species by posing a series of either/or questions that narrow the choices until an identification is made.

But according to Ritter, no book about commonly planted trees has ever done that.

“There are no keys for regular trees,” he said. “It’s difficult to do (create the keys) because you have to first of all know what you would see. .. It’s training as a botanist that got me the ability to do that.”

Female cone of a Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris).

Ritter’s keys include such deceptively simple either/or questions as “Are the leaves lighter green on the lower surfaces?” or “Are the leaves the same color on the upper and lower surfaces; fruit smooth?” Based on the answers, he identifies the species or refers the reader to increasingly specific keys, where the identification is ultimately made.

When you reach that moment for a particular eucalyptus, for example, he said, “Now all of a sudden, you know it’s a sugar gum, with smooth bark, orange blotches and a lighter color on the leaf. You can be confident you are looking at the same thing, because on page 57 you can see it.”

To make the process easier for novices, he suggests first keying a tree whose identity you already know. He even provides a ruler along the edge of the back cover to measure various attributes of mystery trees.

“I wanted the book to be readable and interesting for the beginner, people who are just starting to look at trees, all the way to a person who’s a curator of an herbarium who wants to know esoteric differences between acacias. I was trying to strike the balance,” Ritter said.

A Light-Hearted Touch

The many shades of sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua).

As a professor, Ritter knows his way around thick, technical botanic tomes. He’s also editor-in-chief of Madroño, an academic quarterly journal published by the California Botanical Society, a group comprised of university professors and researchers.

Yet he has taken a decidedly light — but sincere — tone with this book. Early on, Ritter writes, “This is a book about trees, made from the bodies of dead trees, and reading it is a poor substitute at best for experiencing these wonderful organisms directly and personally. Take it with you and walk out among the trees in your neighborhood.”

He tucks in tidbits about natural history, quotes and tongue-in-cheek lists.

For instance, “Magnolias are an ancient and primitive group of flowering plants that evolved at a time when Earth was covered primarily with ferns and conifers… These flowers evolved prior to butterflies and bees and were originally pollinated by beetles and other ancient insects.”

The many quotes include this one from humorist Jack Handy, “I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They’re sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

And this from French historian and educator Charles Rollin: “The highest and most lofty trees have the most reason to dread the thunder.”

Ritter has fun with his lists, too, such as “Hobo Trees: Common Trees along California’s Roadways and Railroad Tracks” and “The Ten Trees Most Likely to Trip You on the Sidewalk.”

Then there’s “California’s ‘Old-Timey’ Trees: Trees planted in California long ago and now regularly found near old home sites and missions.” The old-timers include such imposing giants as tree of heaven, bunya bunya tree, blue gum and Monterey cypress.

“Another whole goal is to look at things in a different way,” Ritter said. “That’s a plant palette that existed then that doesn’t exist anymore… Now, when you see an area on the side of a hill with an old blue gum and a Monterey pine, even though any evidence of a structure is long gone, you’ll know that an old house existed there because old timey trees are still there.”

What Else is Inside

Ginkgo or maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba)

Each plant entry starts with the tree’s botanic name and common name, along with its Latin translation, pronunciation, plant family, native location, leaf type, habit, shape, sex and height.

“The thing there on every page, the plant morphology, that came from a lot of observation,” Ritter said.

The descriptions benefit from his observations as well. For example, about the tulip tree, which grows more than 80 feet tall, he writes, “A long pole trimmer, brave climb, jet pack, or view from a three-story building may be necessary to observe these majestic blooms closely, but they are well worth the effort.”

What you won’t find, though, are planting instructions or pest and disease diagnoses. Ritter said he didn’t want to duplicate information readily available from other sources.

“As a botanist, the two questions are, ‘What is that thing in my yard?’ and ‘What’s wrong with it?’ Many other books address the second question. This book addresses that first question.”

He added, “My audience is people in urban and suburban environments in California who will pick up the book, flip through it, instantly recognize something around them… Then they’ll get sucked in. A lay person who has a burgeoning curiosity about trees. I want them to become more interested in trees, I want them to become defenders of trees, I want them to plant trees, I want them ultimately to be more interested in general about organisms and conservation and diversity.”

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About Matt Ritter

Author Matt Ritter ensnared in the massive, above-ground roots of the Moreton Bay fig tree that sits near the Santa Barbara Amtrak station.

Author of “A Californian’s Guide to the Trees Among Us,” Matt Ritter is a botany professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is editor-in-chief of the California Botanic Society’s quarterly journal. He writes about lesser-known but worthy trees for Pacific Horticulture Magazine; has written natural history and field trip guides about San Luis Obispo, and numerous scientific papers; and contributed to botanical references, including the upcoming second edition of the “Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California” and the “Flora of North America Project.”

He is also chair of the City of San Luis Obispo Tree Committee.

Ritter shot all of the photographs for this new book. He is particularly proud that while he featured many street trees, not a single automobile is pictured.

Ritter is a lively speaker. His next appearance on the Central Coast will be February 20 at the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History.

In addition to his work as a botanist, Ritter describes himself as “a woodworker, athlete, musician, gardener, and all-around likable guy.”

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Seeds of Wisdom

“A Californian’s Guide to the Trees Among Us”, by Matt Ritter, 2011, costs $18.95. It is available at most independent bookstores, including The Book Loft in Solvang, and online at www.heydaybooks.com.

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Fall is for Planting Wildflowers

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and sky lupine (Lupinus nanus) on Figueroa Mountain.

Drive to Figueroa Mountain next spring, and you’ll see nature in one of its finest moments, with vast sweeps of glowing orange poppies, deep purple and blue lupine, and other colorful wildflowers blanketing the slopes.

But you won’t have to travel so far to view wildflowers if you sow seeds in your garden.

Now is an excellent time to scatter native flower seeds. The soil temperature is just right. Upcoming rains will prompt the seeds to sprout. And next spring, you’ll be rewarded with rich blasts of your own shimmering color.

Getting Started

Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla)

Seed packets that are indiscriminately labeled “wildflowers” can be found just about anywhere, from drugstores to some garden centers.

But don’t buy any packet before reading the label to find out what’s inside. Technically speaking, all flowers can trace their beginnings to somewhere out in the wild. Those generic wildflower packets often contain species native to other parts of the country, if not the world, and the seeds may fail to sprout here.

Worse, they may crowd out any California natives that happen to be part of the mix. Aggressive outsiders used as fillers include sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), bachelor’s button (Centaurea cyanus) and baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata), all of which are native to Europe and central Asia.

instead, select packets that contain only California native seed.

Golden stars (Bloomeria crocea)

Blends are perfectly fine. Indeed, they’re an excellent way to obtain a mix of wildflowers that are compatible with one another.

For instance, the Theodore Payne Foundation, an organization that promotes the preservation of California native flora, offers 21 different wildflower mixes. The Coastal Mixture includes beach suncups (Camissonia cheiranthifolia), dune poppy (Eschscholzia californica maritima), globe gilia (gilia capitata), large-flower linanthus (Linanthus grandiflorus) and miniature lupine (Lupinus bicolor), while the Cool Season Slope Mixture includes yarrow (Achillea millefolium), needlegrass (Nassella cernua), California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) and creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra molate).

That fabulous Figueroa Mountain combo.

If you’re feeling adventurous, go ahead and buy packets of individual native flowers to create your own vision of spring.

In full sun, you can recreate that stunning display on Figueroa Mountain — albeit on a smaller scale — with a simple pairing of poppies and lupine.

Or add to the show by planting fare-well-to-spring (Clarkia amoena), a showy pink bloomer that thrives in coastal fields and clay soil; ankle-high tidy tips (Layia platyglossa), with yellow, daisy-like flowers edged in white; and tansy leaf (Phacelia tanacetifolia), which sends up tall stems of light-blue “fiddle neck” flowers that uncurl from the tops of their stalks and provide nectar to butterflies.

Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii)

While most of our wildflowers thrive in full sun, there are a few to try in filtered shade.

Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla) bears lavender and white rings of flowers stacked in tiers on upright stems; grand collomia (Collomia grandiflora) produces clusters of salmon, trumpet-shaped flowers on slender stems; and one of my favorites, baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) is named for its charming, blue flowers marked by white “eyes.”

Preparing the Site

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) with goldfields (Lasthenia chrysostoma) and lupine (Lupinus).

What nature makes seem so effortless actually requires some work in the garden. If you think sowing wildflowers is a matter of sprinkling some seeds in the dirt, you’ll be sorely disappointed next spring.

For starters, create as weed-free an environment as possible.

The trick is to pull, scrape or spray any weeds while avoiding any major roughing up of the soil. Otherwise, you may inadvertently bring up dormant weed seeds that have been lurking right below the surface. That same warmth, water and sunshine that you provide to your wildflower seeds will encourage those weed seeds as well.

Shooting star (Dodecatheon clevelandii)

If you’ve chosen a spot that has been especially infested with weeds, clear it first, then water the bare dirt for a couple of weeks to bring up any stragglers.

Before you sow your seeds, use the back side of a steel rake to smooth the soil.

Broadcast the seed. You’ll quickly discover that wildflower seeds can be tiny and difficult to scatter. Consider mixing the seeds with fine sand first. The extra weight and bulk will help make for a more even distribution.

Brodiaea or blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum)

Then flip over your rake and lightly rake the bed. This will create seed-to-soil contact, which is necessary for germination. The thin covering should also protect the seed from being instantly gobbled by birds. Don’t bury the seeds too deep — most wildflower seeds should be within an eighth to a quarter of an inch from the surface.

If you don’t feel you can get enough precision with a rake, sow the seeds, then sprinkle a thin layer of fine, loose, organic material on top.

Tending Your Wildflowers

Chocolate lily (Fritillaria biflora)

To kick-start your wildflowers, water the newly planted seeds right away. Once your seeds receive that first dose of moisture, they’ll continue to need it on a weekly basis until next spring. So if it doesn’t rain for a while, you will have committed yourself to an ongoing regimen of watering until it does.

Provide frequent, light sprinklings, rather than deep irrigation. The idea is to keep the soil evenly moist, not to inundate it with puddles.

Or just sow your seeds and wait for rain. After all, seasonal rain is what awakens the slumbering seeds in nature. Note that you will still need to irrigate if storms prove to be far and few between this winter.

Annual wildflowers generally sprout within two to four weeks of getting wet, whether from a hose or up above. Perennials may take at least twice as long. Blue-eyed grass may not germinate until its second year.

Fringed Indian pink (Silene laciniata)

If birds threaten to devour your seedlings, set up pinwheels or attach shiny tape to stakes to deter them.

If it’s a relatively small area, cover the bed with bird netting until the seedlings grow several inches tall.

Weeds can be a significant obstacle, especially early on when it can be difficult to distinguish between a weed and a wildflower.

If you’re not sure, buy a plant identification book or plant a handful of your seeds in a test plot or container for comparison.

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Sowing Seeds

Some folks choose to sprout their wildflower seeds in flats of sand or fast-draining mix, then transplant the seedlings.

Sky lupine (Lupinus nanus)

But that can be difficult, especially with plants that early on send down deep tap roots, such as California poppies and lupine.

If you do start those wildflowers in containers, be sure to transplant them within a few days of sprouting to avoid damaging their already lengthening roots.

Likewise, if you buy poppies or lupine in pony packs at a nursery, select the tiniest plants, rather than ones whose leaves have already begun to spread beyond the edges of their containers.

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Seeds of Wisdom

If you’re sowing wildflower seeds on a hill, disperse most of the seeds across the top. The seeds are likely to migrate down the slope with irrigation or when the rain begins.

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Another look at Figueroa Mountain.

California Wildflower Seed Sources

Larner Seeds
www.larnerseeds.com
PO Box 407
Bolinas, California 94924
415-868-9407

Theodore Payne Foundation
www.theodorepayne.org
10459 Tuxford St.
Sun Valley, CA 91352
818-768-1802

The Wildflower Seed Company of the Napa Valley
www.wildflower-seed.com
PO Box 406
St. Helena, CA 94575
800-456-3359

Tree of Life Nursery
www.californianativeplants.com
33201 Ortega Highway
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
949-728-0685

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Garlic: The Stinking Rose

California Early garlic

What’s not to love about the stinking rose?

Other than its name, of course.

Garlic has been called the stinking rose for nearly a century, thanks to a French writer and physician, Henri Leclerc, who in 1918 roughly translated garlic’s ancient Greek name, scorodon, to skaion rodon, and then to rose puante, or stinking rose.

Leclerc apparently did not intend the name to become a term of endearment. But stinking rose stuck, and when garlic aficionados use the term today, it’s often accompanied by a sly smile.

But garlic by any name has been an essential ingredient for thousands of years — in food as well as in medicine, rituals and even commerce. It’s said that during the time of King Tut, 15 pounds of garlic could be swapped for a healthy male slave.

Fortunately it’s far easier to obtain the pungent plants today.

Garlic is simple to grow in the garden. And October is the time to plant it.

So Many Choices

Early Italian garlic

While hundreds of different varieties of garlic are cultivated throughout the world, they are split into two broad groups: soft neck (Allium sativum) and hard neck (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon).

Soft neck garlic is the one most commonly found in supermarkets, and is grown widely in California, Texas, Louisiana, Mexico, Spain, Italy and France. The bulbs are sheathed in layers of papery parchment that run up their necks, making them easy to braid or hang on a string.

Most soft necks are artichoke types: somewhat like the scales of an artichoke, they bear larger cloves in an outer ring, then smaller cloves within, all encased in white or off-white parchment. They include California Early, Early Italian and Extra Select.

A second type of soft neck is called silverskin, and includes Nookta Rose and Silver Rose. The papery covering on these bulbs is bright white or silver, and the bulb is composed of many smaller cloves.

Spanish Roja garlic

Hard neck garlic has a woody stem and a stiff neck, and is typically grown in Central Asia and Russia. Its cloves are fewer, but more balanced in size, and form a circle around the thick stalk. Above ground in spring, the stem sends up little bulbils, or scapes, which can be harvested. Many of the hard necks are easier to peel and tend to have stronger flavors than the soft necks.

As to which kind to grow on the Central Coast — soft neck garlics have been bred for mild climates with temperate winters and summers. They are your best bets in Santa Maria and Lompoc.

Most hard neck garlics have been bred for northern climes with colder winters, cooler springs and hotter summers. While they are not likely to do well along the coast, select varieties such as Korean Red and Spanish Roja may be worth a try in hotter, inland valleys, such as Santa Ynez.

In the Garden

Nookta Rose garlic

Garlic is slow to reach maturity, often taking a full nine months from planting to harvest. So plant it where you can leave it alone for a long time.

Good drainage is key. Without it, you risk your bulbs rotting in cool, wet soil over winter, and never even knowing it.

For folks with heavy clay, it’s imperative that you plant in a raised bed or container in order to keep the water moving. For those who might otherwise bemoan their sandy soil, that’s now an advantage.

Either way, however, mix a few inches of well-aged compost into the top 6 inches of soil before planting, to improve the fertility and tilth. Also make sure your garlic will receive full sun for at least 4 to 6 hours during winter, and even more next spring and summer when the sun swings higher in the sky.

Korean Red garlic

After your soil feels fluffy and light, use your finger or a trowel to shape a furrow a couple of inches deep and several feet long. If you plant in rows, space the furrows 12 to 15 inches apart.

Break open the bulbs, then space the individual cloves 4 inches apart in the furrow. The cloves should be flat-side down and tip-side up, and deep enough that their tips will end up 2 inches below the surface.

Cover up the bulbs. Add a layer of mulch, composed of loose, ground-up leaves, fine compost, topper or straw. Then water the bed thoroughly.

Keep the top layer of soil moist, but not soggy, until any rains take over.

While the soil is still warm, the bulbs will begin to send down roots and possibly push up shoots. They’ll then go dormant over winter, which is a necessary step before they can initiate new growth next spring.

Care & Harvest

Silver Rose garlic

Come spring, the bulbs will stir and begin to produce strappy leaves.

If you’re growing hard neck garlic, harvest the scapes as they rise.

For all types, keep the bed free of weeds, and water every week or so, after the rains stop.

By mid-May or June, the leaves should start to turn brown.

Stop watering. Brush away the soil to check the size of the bulbs and the condition of their papery wrappers. If the cloves haven’t filled out the bulbs yet, and there are still many layers of parchment intact, wait another week, then check again.

Extra Select garlic

But if the bulbs are plump and only a couple of layers of parchment remain, it’s time to harvest. A word of warning: if all the layers of parchment disintegrate, the cloves will open up and become quite difficult to get out of the ground.

Lift out the bulbs with a hand fork or pitchfork. If you yank them by their tops, they may snap.

Wash off the dirt. Dry the bulbs outdoors, out of the sun, for a week or two. Once they’re dry, trim off the roots, pull off any straggly parchment, then braid or hang your garlic for storage.

The ideal storage temperature is 50 F. However, your garlic should still keep for several months or more, if you store it in single layers or hang it in a dry, well-ventilated dark location.

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Elephant Garlic

Elephant garlic

Botanically speaking, garlic belongs to the allium or onion family, which is composed of about 750 different species. All true garlics are varieties of the species Allium sativum, while the closely related elephant garlic is a different species, Allium ampeloprasum.

Scientific issues aside, individual bulbs of elephant garlic can weigh up to a pound and produce cloves two to three times as large as true garlic. And the taste tends to be more onion-like and mild.

In the garden, elephant garlic and true garlic require the same conditions. Just be sure to space the elephant cloves at least 8 inches apart, to accommodate their larger, mature size.

Also, elephant garlic may self-sow. If you grow it once, it’s likely to return.

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Garlic Sources

You can try planting garlic from the grocery store, but depending on whether and how the bulbs were treated, they might not sprout.

You can expect better luck by planting organic bulbs from specialty stores or farmers markets.

Or purchase your bulbs online, where you’ll find greater variety.

Blossom garlic

www.burpee.com
W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
300 Park Ave.
Warminster, PA 18974
800/888-1447

www.groworganic.com
Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply
P.O. Box 2209
Grass Valley, CA 95945
888/784-1722

www.thegarlicstore.com
The Garlic Store
5313 Mail Creek Lane
Fort Collins, CO 80525
800/854-7219

www.hoodrivergarlic.com
Hood River Garlic
P.O. Box 1701
Hood River, OR 97031
541/386-1220

www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com
(an online marketplace of garlic growers)

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Seeds of Wisdom

Cook fresh garlic quickly over high heat for a sharp, pungent flavor. Cook it slowly over low heat for a soft, warm taste. Or serve it minced and raw for a real bite.

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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.

 

Fall: It’s Time to Get Planting!

Torbay Dazzler cordyline with California poppies and El Dorado ceanothus.

Have you noticed the changes? Our evenings are cooling off. The light is at increasingly sharp angles at sunrise and sunset. And just a week or so ago, it became official. Yes, fall is here.

From a trivia standpoint, it might be useful to know that the autumnal equinox marks the midpoint between the longest and shortest days of the year.

Far more important to gardeners, however, is that fall is the best time of year to plant just about everything.

With shorter days and cooler temperatures, there’s scant chance of new, small plants wilting or drying out. The ground is still warm and inviting for roots. And for us humans, the air is clear, crisp and comfortable for working outdoors.

What to Plant

Raspberry Ripple sunrose

Most landscape trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers, bulbs and cool-season vegetables can go in the ground now.

The only exceptions are tropical and subtropical plants, such as begonias, bougainvillea, fuchsias, hibiscus and palms, as well as avocado, citrus and exotic fruit trees. Fleshy succulents, too, may suffer if they start out by sitting in cold, rain-soaked soil for several months.

Other than those frost-tender types, now is an especially good time to plant plants that are native to our Mediterranean climate, which is marked by dry, warm summers and wet, cool winters.

Dark red monkeyflower

Plants native to this regime often slow down during summer when moisture is scarce, then ramp up growth during the rainy season. This is in marked contrast to plants native to areas where year-round rain supports a lush, summertime green.

Altogether, four other regions share our distinctive climate: the basin surrounding the Mediterranean Ocean, which includes the coasts of France, Spain, Italy, Greece and the northern tip of Africa; southwestern and southern Australia; the cape of South Africa; and central Chile.

Our common ground starts with rainy winters and summer drought. We are generally within 30° to 45° latitude north or south of the equator. And we’re mostly coastal, sandwiched between cool, ocean currents and dry, inland deserts.

A wide range of beautiful, water-conserving plants thrives within these confines. The following are just a sampling of what you might find.

The Mediterranean Basin

Variegated spurge

Many of our best plants come from this region, including lavender, rosemary and thyme. All three are nearly ever-blooming, fragrant, edible and grow in myriad forms, from sturdy shrubs to trailing ground covers. They thrive in full sun and fast-draining soil.

Other shrubs include rockrose (Cistus), which bears large, flat flowers in pink, purple or white in spring; pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), which sends up plump cones of blue-purple flowers in early summer; and tree mallow (Lavatera maritima), which envelopes itself in bi-colored lavender and white, hibiscus-like flowers most of the year.

One of my newest favorites is variegated spurge (Euphorbia characias ‘Tasmanian Tiger’), a bold, rounded succulent perennial. Its upright branches, which bear cream-striped leaves, emerge from a clump at its base.

Majorcan teucrium

Blue oat grass

Blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) is a shapely ornamental grass.

At 2 feet tall and wide, it’s twice the size, but nearly a carbon copy of ankle-high Elijah blue fescue (Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’).

Closer to the ground, look for sunrose (Helianthemum mummularium), which greets the sun each morning by opening dozens of cup-shaped flowers in burgundy, red, purple, orange, yellow, pink or white.

Other ground-huggers include Majorcan teucrium (Teucrium cossonii), which bears bright pink flowers atop wispy, blue-gray leaves; and ground morning glory (Convolvulus sabatius), which blooms in a lovely shade of purplish-blue.

Australia

Yellow kangaroo paw

Spiky kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos), with its fuzzy, chenille pipe cleaner-like bloom stalks, may be the favorite Aussie of the moment. And Big Red, which stands 5 feet tall, is likely the most widespread. But other varieties, blooming in orange, yellow and pink, can be found as well.

Australia also offers a number of terrific foundation shrubs.

Little John callistemon (Callistemon ‘Little John’) is medium in size. It’s neat, tidy and bears bottle-brush-like puffs of dark-red flowers year round.

Coast rosemary (Westringia) has a larger silhouette, with gray, green or variegated foliage, and lavender, pink or white flowers.

And the many grevilleas range from tall, billowy shrubs to low ramblers similar to ground cover rosemary. Most bear unusual, curly flowers in shades of coral, red or soft yellow during winter, when that punch of color can be very much appreciated.

South Africa

Here’s an astounding statistic. The Cape of South Africa is said to compose only 3 percent of the land mass of the world’s Mediterranean climate regions, yet is home to more than 80 percent of all Mediterranean plant species.

A number of those species are tiny, obscure bulbs and wildflowers. But they also include the long-used gazania, which, with a number of new hybrids, is undergoing a resurgence in popularity.

Pink African daisy

Somewhat similar are new varieties of South African daisy. In particular, Pink African daisy (Arctotis acaulis ‘Big Magenta’) is especially appealing, with big, bright-pink flowers blooming much of the year above spreading, grayish-green leaves.

On a larger scale, two delicate, yet hardy shrubs are cape mallow (Anisidontea), which bears tiny, pink, hibiscus-like flowers; and breath of heaven (Coleonema), which blooms in pink or white and produces soft, needle-like leaves that smell like mint when crushed.

Far more outspoken — and gaining in popularity — are pincushion shrubs (Leucospermum). These, and the related proteas, have been favorites with florists for years. They are difficult to grow, requiring just the right gritty, acidic soil and the world’s best drainage. But newer varieties have been bred to tolerate more general garden conditions. I recently planted an orange hybrid, Sunrise, and am hoping to see my first blooms this winter.

Chile

Rock purslane

While only a smattering of drought-tolerant plants from Chile have made it into mainstream nurseries, there is a spectacular exception: rock purslane, also known as calandrinia (Cistanthe grandiflora).

One of the hottest new plants, this succulent sends up tall, leafless stems that bear a series of electric pink flowers from spring through fall. Give it full sun or part shade, good drainage and a drink of water now and then, and you’ll have everyone in the neighborhood asking to snap off a piece.

Several bromeliads from Chile are conversation pieces as well, including the sun-loving sapphire tower (Puya alpestris), which forms a grassy-like clump, then sends up a fat, 5-feet-tall stalk of metallic turquoise-blue flowers.

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Don’t Forget Our Natives

Sugar bush

Taking a vicarious tour around the world in search of Mediterranean plants is fun. But don’t overlook plants native to our patch of earth.

If nothing else, sow a packet of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) for a bright spring. The cheery orange flowers are a great foil at the base of our native California lilacs (Ceanothus), which bloom in pale to dark blue and vary from low ground covers to large shrubs or even small trees.

Other big, easy-to-grow natives include sugar bush (Rhus ovata), lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia) and toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia). All reach at least 10 feet tall and wide.
Of slightly smaller stature are a number of manzanitas (Arctostaphylos). Many bear beautiful, smooth, dark-red bark. Howard McMinn is among the most widely grown.

Much smaller are knee-high coral bells (Heuchera) and the many new monkeyflower (Mimulus) hybrids. Both bloom most of the year, require little irrigation or care, and work well in traditional flower beds.

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Seeds of Wisdom

Mulch around your new Mediterranean plants at planting time, then give them a good soak. Continue watering until winter rains take over.

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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.

 

Make Your Home a Habitat

A monarch butterfly sips nectar from a bog sage (Salvia uliginosa).

In a grand sense, we all know that birds, butterflies and other wildlife need food and shelter to flourish. But what may not be as well known is the extent to which our own, individual gardens can contribute to wildlife’s general well-being.

The National Wildlife Federation is seeking to change that, by encouraging both home gardeners and communities worldwide to create a network of mini-refuges for wildlife through its Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

While the name may sound intimidating, the process for creating a certified garden is not. And size doesn’t matter: your habitat garden may be as small as a patio, or cover several acres or more.

All that’s required is that you supply four components — food, water, cover and a place to raise young — for at least one type of wildlife. Then incorporate sustainable gardening techniques to maintain the space.

The Basic Four

Another monarch, this one snacking on the tiny blossoms of a yellow butterfly bush (Buddleia).

“Your plants are going to be the things you should really focus on, for food, shelter and places to raise young,” said David Mizejewski, a NWF naturalist.

Indeed, plants are a primary source of food for many wildlife, providing berries, seeds, nuts, pollen, sap and nectar. As a secondary food source, they sustain insects that are part of the food chain as well.

Native plants, in particular, are a good choice because they’re already part of the natural ecosystem. They’ve adapted to the climate and soils. They’re not usually fussy or require much care. And local wildlife already depends on them for survival.

In addition, brushy, grassy and thorny plants provide shelter from the elements and predators.

“Planting dense patches of shrubs, keeping mature trees on your property, and planting a prairie or meadow or some kind of grassland environment are great ways to create shelter,” Mizejewski said.

Often overlooked, Mizejewski added, is providing a place for animals to raise their young.

“We want people to realize that wildlife has different needs at different parts of their life cycle,” he said. “For example, butterflies need specific host plants where they can lay their eggs. If they don’t have them, they’re not being supported at that time in their life cycle.”

As for water, Mizejewski suggests, “Go with what’s most natural for your area. No way is better than another. It could be a shallow dish on the ground, a birdbath on a pedestal, or a puddling area for butterflies.”

What to Attract

What's not to love about this Pacific tree frog?

It’s not necessary to try to lure every last living, breathing creature into your garden.

Instead, Mizejewski said, “You can say, ‘I’m doing a butterfly garden.’ That’s one way to meet those four components. Or you could have a frog pond, for amphibians. You’re not putting in nesting boxes for birds, or a rock piles for animals to go into, to bear babies.”

At spartan times of year, Mizejewski said it’s fine to supplement food produced by native plants with bird, squirrel or butterfly feeders.

However, he cautions against setting out people food that might bring in larger animals, such as raccoons, coyotes or even bears.

“There’s a difference in creating a wildlife friendly garden, versus attracting mammals,” he said. “A lot of people think they’re helping wildlife by putting out giant bowls of cat food to attract raccoons. But that doesn’t end well.”

Ongoing Care

Going green is fundamental.

Western scrub-jays are large, inquisitive and have a loud squawk.

Pesticides and other chemicals are out, because of their potential to harm wildlife.

Mulching, shrinking lawns and installing drought-tolerant, native plants are in, because they help to conserve water and reduce the effort and resources needed to maintain them.

That’s not to say that your habitat garden will inevitably look like a tousled mess.

“It’s one thing to be a garden vigilante and create this wilderness habitat,” said Mizejewski. “It might be fabulous for wildlife, but if you’ve alienated all your neighbors and they associate wildlife gardening with breaking rules and bringing down values… We encourage people to work within the aesthetic of their neighborhood. Push the envelope, but do it in a positive way.”

Certifying Your Garden

Steps to gaining recognition as an official certified wildlife habitat are easy to follow on the NWF’s website.

Log onto NWF.org. Click on the sage green box on the right, “Learn How to Certify Your Garden as a Wildlife Habitat.” Then either click the middle green button, “Certify Now,” if you’re ready to get started. Or click the blue “Create” button on the upper left to learn more.

Here’s what your garden should offer:

• Food sources (at least three): food provided naturally by plants, such as seeds, nuts, berries, fruits, nectar, sap, foliage/twigs or pollen; or supplemental seed, suet, hummingbird, squirrel or butterfly feeders.

• Cover (at least two): a wooded area, dense shrubs or thicket, meadow or prairie, evergreens, ground cover, roosting box, water garden or pond, bramble patch, burrow, cave, brush or log pile, or rock pile or wall.

• Water (at least one): a bird bath, butterfly puddling area, water garden or pond, rain garden, lake, river or stream, seasonal pool, ocean, spring or shallow dish.

• A place for wildlife to raise their young (at least two): mature trees, dense shrubs or thicket, meadow or prairie, host plants for caterpillars, dead trees or snags, or water garden or pond.

While Pacific tree frogs can change colors under different conditions, the dark stripe across their faces remains a consistent feature.

If your garden doesn’t yet offer the required elements, the website provides plenty of information about how to achieve them.

“A lot of people walk through the process and discover that they already have things,” Mizejewski said. “We hear from people who say, ‘I thought I had to rip up my yard. But I went through the checklist and have half of this stuff. Now I know what I’m missing.’ A lot of times, it may be something simple, like a bird bath, or host plants for butterflies.”

Pay a $20 fee and Voila! You’ll receive a certificate, an official spot on NWF’s registry, become a member of NWF and receive a year’s subscription to National Wildlife Magazine.

Your garden will also be part of a network of more than 10,000 certified wildlife habitat gardens in California, including 100 in Santa Barbara County and 145 in San Luis Obispo County.

While it may sound silly, there’s a certain personal satisfaction that comes with registering, and joining a broader community of like-minded gardeners. I signed up several weeks and have already received our certificate, which lists my husband Tom’s and my garden as number 151,190. While most certified habitats are in the US, there about 500 in other countries, including Canada and Guam.

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Connect with Nature

Yet another beautiful monarch.

Who doesn’t enjoy watching a monarch butterfly flutter from one blossom to the next? Or admire the madcap determination of dueling hummingbirds jockeying for position on a feeder?

Setting up a habitat garden clearly helps wildlife.

It also provides an ongoing push to send us outdoors.

“This is about giving people that connection with nature. It’s so important, on physical, emotional and spiritual levels,” said David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation.

“Creating a wildlife garden is a fun way to give yourself the opportunity to get outside, and experience and observe nature. You’re going to see it and enjoy it if you create a wildlife habitat, rather than a typical lawn.”

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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.