Monthly Archives: March 2014

cool season flowers, fertilizing, irrigation, mulching, sustainable gardening, weather

Spring Tasks for Santa Cruz Mountain Gardeners

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tulips4You know spring is here when bleeding hearts and tulips are in full bloom. When baseball season begins and song birds start their families. Can you imagine our ground frozen 30″ down like it is in Chicago’s Wrigley Field? My heart goes out to those gardeners still dreaming over seed catalogs. Just yesterday I was in a rose garden in Scotts Valley. The Double Delight roses had already started to open and the fragrance was lovely. All of the roses were lush, healthy and full of buds. Just like all your plants should be. If you haven’t gotten to the following garden tasks now’s the time so your garden this year can be beautiful and use less water.

* Check drip systems for leaks or emitters clogged by dirt or earwigs. Flush sediment from filters and check screens for algae. You may need to add emitters if plants have grown significantly and move them farther away from the crown of the plant and out to the feeder roots under the canopy.

* Spread fresh compost or bark mulch around all your plants. Good soil is the secret bleeding_heartsto successful gardening. The first principle of organic gardening is to feed the soil and it will feed the plant. Remember that all gardening used to be organic. Layer 2-3″ of compost or mulch on top of the soil and let it slowly decompose and filter down into the earth. Bark nuggets and shredded bark do not increase your soil’s fertility like compost of bark chips do.

* Transplant if you need to move any plants in the garden that have outgrown their space or are not with other plants of the same water usage? Now is a good time because plants are full of growth hormones and recover quickly from transplant shock. As you plant new additions to the garden add organic matter to the soil. If your garden’s soil is sandy, organic matter enriches it and allows it to hold water more efficiently. If your soil tends toward clay, organic matter will loosen it up and improve drainage. In well-amended soil, plants grow deep roots, are hardier for cold, more resistant to disease and more drought tolerant.? Organic matter, such as compost, planting mix and well-rotted manure, boosts nutrition and improves soil structure.

* Fertilize if you haven’t already done so. Citrus, shrubs and fruit trees just emerging from dormancy are begging for their first meal of the season. Lawns begin their spring growth now also and benefit from a boost of organic nitrogen. You can also spread a thin layer of composted manure over your lawn. Leaving grass clippings on the lawn will benefit it by shading the roots as it get warmer and as they break down they help feed it, too. Perennials benefit from both a fresh layer of compost or manure and a light application of balanced fertilizer. They respond to the phosphorus from bone meal especially in the spring for root growth, stem sturdiness and flower development. Wait until azaleas, camellias and rhododendron have finished blooming before feeding them.

* Weed – Pull weeds regularly before they set seed. They pull out easily from moist soil. Weeds rob your plants of precious water. Think of weeding as free gym time.

* Check for aphids. They are out in full force sucking plant juices from the tender new leaves of everything from roses to hellebore to Japanese maples.? A strong spray from the hose may be enough to dislodge them.?? If they still persist, you can spray organic insecticidal soap, neem oil or horticultural oil to kill them.? As with all pesticide sprays, do this early in the morning or later when they are not in the sun.? Be sure to test first to make sure the spray doesn’t burn the new growth and always mix according to the directions.

Ants can also bring aphids up into trees and shrubs such as camellias, citrus and roses.? Ants feed off honeydew secreted by aphids, scale and other plant-juice sucking insects.? Ants also protect these pests from natural predators.? To keep them off, wrap trunks with a 1-2″ wide strip of masking tape and coat with a sticky barrier like? Tanglefoot.? Keep the barriers free of dirt and check them periodically for breaks.? Reapply when necessary

* The most important to -do for early spring is to take time out and enjoy your garden and our beautiful surroundings. Those last few weeds will be there tomorrow but you’ll never get another today.

Flowering trees, hummingbird plants, Stanford University trees, trees

Trees of Stanford University

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Flame_treeThe other day I visited the campus of Stanford University to view something from their archives. The campus is beautiful. Flowering trees in bloom every where you look. I was told by a colleague that Stanford has a huge collection of trees some planted back in the late 1880’s when the university was first built and the landscaping installed. The designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, the famed landscape architect also created New York’s Central Park. I wanted to find a mature specimen of a California native, the Catalina Ironwood, which is listed in their Encyclopedia of Stanford Trees, Shrubs and Vines.

The campus is huge and with so many areas to explore I missed the grove of Ironwood. There are over 400 species, 150 genera and 60 families which total 27,000+ individual trees growing on the central campus. Senator Leland Stanford vowed that no healthy oak be cut down and even today the dominant tree on campus is the coast live oak. There has been a loss of diversity from the original tree and shrub plantings of the 1880’s and 1890’s, which is well documented for conifers. Still the sheer number and variety of trees is impressive.

In the main quad by the Memorial Church and the grounds surrounding the Music library and the Green library I found dozens of trees which were all surveyed and named on a map I found online. It was fun to locate each tree.

I’m always on the lookout for mature tree specimens to photograph. When I recommend a tree to be included in a design I like to be able to share the image of what the tree will look like in the future. Trees anchor your house to the land. They are more than just a pretty face to look at from the kitchen window. They provide habitat, food and shelter to birds as well as giving shade in the summer. Some of the trees I saw on the Stanford campus may not be suitable for all gardens but they are interesting to learn about. Here are a few of the highlights of my campus botanical adventure.

In the main quad there are 8 circular planting beds containing over 80 individual trees. One that I was attracted to because of its unusual trunk and branching structure was the Flame tree or brachychiton acerifolius. Although not yet in bloom it will soon be covered with scarlet bells. I learned from the campus encyclopedia that this tree was planted in 1998 after the original specimen died. That flame tree, planted in 1891, was famous for the brilliant display it put on in May and June, covering the ground with a mantle of red bells. The pod-like fruits contain masses of irritating bristles but also nutritious yellow seeds that were eaten by the Aborigines after toasting.

The next tree that caught my eye had such formidable thorns that I wondered where it grew naturally. Floss-Silk_treeHow could it come by the pretty name, Floss Silk tree, with those deadly spines? I learned in September this tree redeems itself with masses of showy pinkish-white flowers so numerous they hide the foliage. Hummingbirds enjoy the nectar of the flowers which are used in Brazil as threads in upholstery. But the most distinctive feature of the tree is the wicked looking array of stout spines that crowd the trunk and protrude by an inch or more. Who knows why they evolved this way? The fruit of the Floss Silk tree is very large and on ripening the pods open to expose masses of white cottony kapok-like material that perhaps acts as a barrier to rats seeking the tiny seeds. Is it rats that the trees are hoping to deter by growing the huge spines?

Red_mulberryRedwoods, giant sequoia and Bristlecone pine live a long time but there’s something impressive about an ornamental tree that is over 100 years old. Planted in 1889, the trunk of the Red Mulberry tree growing in the quad has attained great character and girth. Mulberry leaves are the food of the silkworm and if you grow your own silkworms you can make silk. One silkworm produces about half a mile of incredibly strong monofilament to make its cocoon. The pale berries of the red mulberry are not as good to eat as the black mulberry but both grow quickly to provide shade for your home or patio.

A tree planted for beauty shade, habitat and posterity is a gift to all.

bonsai

Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai 26th Annual Show

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Pete_bonsai_collectionFor the last few years before the Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai club has their annual show I’m honored to visit one of the members for a personal tour of their bonsai collection. Last year I viewed Marc Shaw’s collection in Ben Lomond. Marc is currently serving as president of the club. The year before it was former president, Ron Anderson’s home in Boulder Creek. Both wowed me with their talent creating such awesome specimens.

This year I was most happy to be invited to visit the collection of another member, Pete Logan, at his home in Felton. Over a decade ago I met Pete as he used to come into the nursery where I worked to scour the stock of plants for interesting branching structure. You never know what you might find in the far reaches of a nursery and Pete had a good eye for potential specimens.? Over the years he has honed his skills in creating and nurturing his bonsai collection.

In the back of his home on the San Lorenzo River, Pete has built a pergola to shade his bonsai maple_bonsaicollection of over 100 specimens from afternoon sun. Each tree has a story as interesting as Pete’s own. After returning from combat duty in Vietman, Pete found himself suffering from anxiety but at the time no one knew about post traumatic stress disorder.? “Medication worked for awhile”, Pete said, “but it never went away,”? Developing a passion for bonsai has been a way for him to relieve stress and forget everything as he immerses himself in his art.

His interest in bonsai started after watching the 1984 movie, The Karate Kid. He was always interested in landscaping and plants, he told me, and one day picked up a Sunset magazine that had an article about bonsai. He was hooked. Pete describes his skills in styling bonsai as “self-taught”? but that “being involved with the Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai club for almost 9 years has been very rewarding as far as the knowledge I’ve acquired and the wonderful friends I’ve made”.? He says he would recommend the club to anyone interested in learning the art of bonsai.

boxwood_bonsaiAll the members of the club are busy getting ready for their annual show. Each decides which of their specimens they will offer for sale, to contribute to the raffle or to enter into the show. Moss needs to be collected to be placed over the soil and around the rocks in the pot, the correct base chosen to complement each specimen, training wires removed, pots cleaned and polished. Like many bonsai enthusiasts, Pete’s garage is brimming with shelves of beautiful pots, driftwood, rocks of every color, polished redwood burl slices to be used for bases, soil mix ingredients, tools, wire and soil sieves. He loves all things Asian and has a large collection of artifacts including Chinese cork carvings. I was thrilled when he handed me a tiny cork carving encased in glass to take home.

Pete doesn’t know which of his collection he will take to the bonsai show. Some, like a 15 year old boxwood_bonsai2liquidambar tree, haven’t leafed out yet but might in time for the show. He is training it in the bunjin style. He is also proud of a 2 foot redwood tree in the “root over rock'” or Sekijoju style. The leading branch of the tree died off and from it has created the illusion of age and the struggle to survive or “jin” as the technique is called.

Other favorite bonsai of this remarkable bonsai enthusiast include a Chinese elm and a boxwood, both in the root over rock style. He has three different types of oaks, seven olive specimens, blooming plums, spruce, pomegranate, grapes, yaupon holly, Japanese maples and cotoneaster all in training.

Pete is happy to share his love of bonsai with others and teaches workshops with another enthusiast monthly starting in spring at Scarborough Gardens in Scotts Valley. His next workshop is coming up on the last Sunday of April and will cover creating bonsai from nursery plants.

Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai club meets monthly. You can find out more by attending the 26th Annual Show of Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai which takes place from 10:00 to 5:00 on Saturday, March 22nd and Sunday March 23rd at the Museum of Art and History at 705 Front Street in Santa Cruz. You might even win the coveted specimen created on each day by sensei master, John Thompson. I still have my large dwarf Japanese garden juniper that I won a few years ago and it’s doing well, thank you very much.