Monthly Archives: January 2020

pruning roses, roses

Roses in the Garden- Pruning Tips

This beautiful bouquet of mixed roses could be yours, too, if you prune now.

Last fall I designed a garden for some friends after they had a new septic system installed. Little was left of the old garden after the bulldozer left. On Susan and Ken?s wish was a new dogwood, a designated space to grow tomatoes, grasses and a cutting garden. When bare root rose season rolled around Susan got her wish and bought several in her favorite colors: purple, lavender and mauve. They are strongly scented and disease resistant. If you have room for a few more roses now?s the time to get yours in bare root.

And if you haven?t already pruned your roses it?s time to do that too. Here are some tips.

Strike It Rich

Roses are super forgiving so don?t be intimidated by all those rules. Just ask my friend, who shall remain nameless but writes the food column for this paper. Her roses are spectacular.

It?s best to prune your roses before they start leafing out or some of their energy will be wasted. If yours have not dropped all their leaves, pull off old leaves after pruning to prevent the spread of fungal diseases.

Cabbage roses with baby’s breath.

Most of us want our rose bushes to produce lots of roses on a compact shrub and not just a few exhibition size blooms so prune your shrubs moderately. The goal is to keep the center of the plant open for good air circulation aiming for a vase-shaped bush with an open center. Cut out canes that cross, saving the better of the two, prune spindly and diseased stems and dead wood. Also prune canes that appear weak or broken. Healthy canes appear green or reddish while old and dying canes are brown. Cut back the remaining stems by about third. When pruning, cut canes at a 45-degree angle just above an outward facing leaf bud or a swelling on the cane. Slant the cut away from the bud to encourage growth outward. Clean pruners afterward to prevent the spread of disease and keep your pruners sharp to make clean cuts.

Same goes for climbing roses. Cut out extra stems if there are too many and also cut back long established canes to the place where they are slightly thicker than a pencil. Then cut each side stem down to several inches. This will cause the cane to flower along its complete length for a beautiful spring display.

Heirlooms roses such as David Austin, other old antique garden roses, and floribunda roses require less pruning because their open look is part of their charm. Keep this in mind and prune lightly. Old garden roses that bloom once in the spring should be pruned after flowering.

If you have a huge climber de-leafing might not be possible and spraying with fungicide may be your only option if you?ve had disease problems in the past. Rake up the debris beneath the plant and discard to eliminate overwintering fungus spores. It’s a good idea to spray the bare plant, coating the trunk, branches and twigs and the surrounding soil with a combination organic horticultural oil to smother overwintering insect eggs and a dormant spray like lime-sulfur or copper soap to kill fungus spores. If you usually only have problems with black spot you can use a mixture of 1 teaspoon baking soda with a few drops of light horticultural oil in 1 quart water and spray every 7 to 10 days during the spring.

Pruning intimidates some gardeners but when you understand the reasons for making the cuts pruning becomes less daunting. The reasons to prune are for health, appearance and to control size.

Hot Cocoa

Prune your roses throughout the growing season, too. Deadheading or cutting off spent flowers encourages plants to re-bloom. Every time you cut a rose bloom to bring it indoors or deadhead a fading rose, prune the stem down to shape the plant at the same time. Prune to a spot that has at least 5 leaflets. Roses grow from the point where they are cut so consider the overall shape of the plant as you snip.

Don’t worry whether you’re pruning job is perfect. Roses are super forgiving and you can always trim them up again later.

By the way, my friend Susan ended up with a Twilight Zone (dark purple), a Distant Drums (bronze/lavender), an Angel Face (another lavender) and two Mr. Lincoln’s (classic red) which are Ken?s favorite. The Barbara Streisand, which was to be another lavender, wasn?t available.

bare root fruit trees, bare root plants, edibles

Bare Root Edibles

Ginger Gold apples at the Chadwick Garden at UCSC

I live in mountain lion country. With deer high on their list of preferred food choices I?ve opted not to plant fruit trees that would be magnets for the deer. That doesn?t stop me from dreaming about the delicious edibles available during bare root dormant season. Looking over the availability lists of bare root fruit trees and other edibles at our local nurseries I see several new varieties that I?m hoping to find eventually at the farmer?s market.

How delicious does a Sweet Treat Pluerry sound? This is a first of its kind combination with the sweetness of a cherry and the zing of a plum resulting in colorful fruit that hangs on the tree for over a month. Or how about planting a Cot-N_Candy White Aprium from a bare root? This white flesh apricot-plum hybrid fruit tree has incredible very sweet and juicy flavor.

A friend of mine has a fruiting mulberry tree. The first time I tasted one of these juicy blackberry-looking fruits I was hooked. Black mulberries were grown near ancient temples in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, where the trees thrived in the heat, poor soils and drought. They can be grown as a tree or large shrub making them perfect for smaller gardens. I see four varieties available bare root from San Lorenzo Garden Center. Their online availability and descriptions are most helpful and enticing. Did you know that apples and pears can live up to 60 years, apricots have a 70 year life expectancy, plums live for 40 years but peaches and nectarines live only about 20 years?

Shop now for bare root plants while they are still dormant. Even if you want to add fruit trees or other edibles to your garden and the weather has interfered don?t delay. Once leaves emerge or flower buds start to swell the tree roots have already started growing. You want your tree to start developing permanent roots in their new home- yours. Stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, plums and cherries are going to start waking up first so they are best put in the ground soon. Fruit trees like pears and apples wake up later so you can wait a bit longer to plant those varieties.

Don?t plant now in heavy saturated soil with a high clay content. If your soil drains poorly it?s best to place your new bare root tree at an angle in a trench, cover with soil and water in. Then wait to plant until the soil is crumbly and friable with plenty of pore space. Digging in waterlogged clay soil is one of the worst things you can do for your soil?s health.

What?s the correct way to plant a bare root tree? According to research amending the soil is no longer recommended. Mountain Feed & Farm Supply in Ben Lomond has a great web site with all the information you need to get your new fruit trees off to a good start including pruning, staking, mulching and care as they mature.

Cherry trees live 30-35 years bearing fruit in 3-6 years

What fruit tree varieties can you grow here in the mountains? Well, almost everything. Most of us get 700-1200 chilling hours where the temperature is 45 degrees or less during the dormant season. You can give a fruit tree more chilling in the winter but not less. Those in coastal Santa Cruz, for instance, can grow Fuji apples as they require only 300 hours of chilling but not Red Delicious. We can grow both.

What if you don?t get full sun where you?d like to grow fruit trees? Apples, pluots and plums are good choices for an area that gets some sun- at least 5 hours – every day during the growing season. The ideal is full sun but these trees will still set and ripen some fruit in partially shaded conditions. With peaches, nectarines or apricots it?s a different story. These fruits need hot sun to develop sweet, tasty fruit. Too little sun and they will not deliver anything close to what you have in mind.

Don’t miss the opportunity to add a fruit tree or other edible to your garden this winter.

houseplants

RX for Sad Houseplants

Maranta or Red Prayer Plant

Tucked on window sills and tabletops my houseplants clean the air and provide indoor beauty while the landscape outdoors is mostly resting. They are easy to keep healthy if I follow a few tips during the dark days of winter. it?s their time to rest.

A typical houseplant lives in the understory of a tropical rain forest where it gets filtered light. They’re used to warm rain and perfect drainage. We put them in pots inside our homes where they have much different conditions to contend with. Most houseplants will tolerate darker conditions if you adjust your watering to accommodate the slower growth rate.

Water just enough to keep the soil from going totally dry allowing oxygen to move back into the root zone. Let the soil in a 4-6 inch pot dry half an inch down between waterings then water with room temperature water. Don’t let the pot sit in a saucer of water or the roots will rot. If your plant is in a larger pot let the soil dry a couple inches between waterings. A moisture meter is very helpful for larger plants.

Move plants into the best light you have. Even a table lamp will provide light for a plant growing underneath. Remove dust with a moist cloth or place the entire plant under lukewarm water in the sink. Dust blocks light from getting to leaves.

Fertilize less often skipping December and January and starting up again with half strength fertilizer in mid-February. Houseplants are essentially dormant in winter needing fertilizer only when active growth resumes.

Don’t re-pot a plant in winter when they are slow to grow new roots. Replant when the growing season resumes in March or April. Choose a pot only two inches bigger than the old pot each time you transplant. Most plants grow happily for years in the same pot and soil with proper fertilizing and watering during the growing season.

Avoid placing plants in cold drafts near high-traffic areas such as a foyer or hallway. Ficus trees are notorious for dropping leaves when exposed to temperature changes.

Spathiphyllum or Peace Lily can tolerate low light but won’t bloom under those conditions

If you have medium to low light conditions in your house some of the best upright plants are philodendron, peace lIly, Chinese evergreen, cast-iron plant, schefflera, arboricola, ferns and palms. Hanging plants that grow well in low light are heart-shaped philodendron, pothos and grape ivy. Most of these houseplants grow naturally in low light areas of the jungle. Don?t overwater and they?ll be happy.

If you do find insects on your plants, a spray of mild insecticidal soap for houseplants usually does the trick if you do a follow-sup spraying a week later. Horticultural oil works well, too, by smothering insects and their eggs. If you have tiny black fungus gnats flying over the soil, you are watering too frequently. They feed on the algae growing on moist soil. Scrape off the surface, spray with insecticidal soap and let the soil dry out.