Category Archives: Flowering trees

berries, Bonny Doon, color in the garden, colorful foliage, cool season flowers, Deer Resistant Plants, flowering shrubs, Flowering trees, flowers, fragrant landscape plants

Winter Plants that Flower even in the Rain

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flowering cherryBetween holidays and storms I?m spending more time looking out the windows at the garden than I am actually outside in it. We have been fortunate to have received so much rain. We welcome it. We embrace it knowing that the trees are getting a deep soak and the aquifer rejoices. I?m impressed and amazed how many flowering plants are blooming despite being pounded by 33? of rain up here in Bonny Doon. These plants are my heroes and you might just consider including them in your garden too.

One of my favorite small ornamental trees that blooms several times in my garden during the year is the Autumnalis flowering cherry. I am not exaggerating when I say it blooms in the spring, a little during the summer, again in the early fall and now in December. I?m not sure how it got the name Autumnalis ?cause it sure can?t read a calendar. I was afraid I would loose the December show with so much pounding rain but the pale pink blossoms have mostly come through just fine and and chickadees who land in it before going to the feeder remind me that spring will be here before I know it.

Another tough plant that can take weather extremes is the Lily-of-pieris_japonica_variegatedthe-Valley shrub (Pieris japonica). There are many varieties of this early winter bloomer. Some have pure white flowers, other sport various shades of pink or dark rose. Mine is the smaller variegated foliage model with dainty, drooping clusters of pure white flowers in early spring. Right now it is covered with flower buds so dense that you?d think it was already blooming. The new growth in the spring has a beautiful pink tint. This shrub will hold up to the wildest weather. Another plus for the Lily-of-the-Valley shrub is that is useful for fire scaping in the landscape and it isn?t on the menu for deer either.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACamellia flowers, thick, tough and full of color, easily sail through winter weather. Camellias bloom for a long time and with so many types you can have one blooming from October all the way through May. This showy evergreen shrub is drought tolerant once established. Yes, with some mulch and a deep soak every so often they require much less irrigation than you?d think. There are fragrant varieties, such as Pink Yuletide, a sport of the popular red Yuletide.

Camellias are easy to grow in containers. Even if you only have a small space, a variety like Fairy Blush only reaches 4-5 ft and has a delicate fragrance also. Like other types, camellias make wonderful cut flowers. With short stems they work best floated in a low bowl or container. Group them together for a beautiful display of color inside your house.

A favorite of birds and indoor floral arrangers is the evergreen mahonia.1600mahonia. They are already blooming with cheery, bright yellow flower clusters that will last for months. When each flower sets a purple berry they look like grape clusters. The edible berries make good jelly, too. There are 70 varieties of mahonia including our own native Oregon Grape which grows in the understory of Douglas fir forests. Mahonia aquifolium is resistant to summer drought, tolerates poor soil and doesn?t create a lot of leaf litter.

Other tough winter blooming plants include witch hazel, edgeworthia, michelia and grevillea. Enjoy color in the garden regardless of what Mother Nature brings this winter.

berries, birds, California Native Plants, dogwoods, Flowering trees, plant diseases

Dogwood in the Santa Cruz Mountains

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dogwood_RoblesEarlier this year the flowering plums were the first trees to welcome the beginning of spring. Then came the flowering cherries, crabapples, pears, redbuds and lilacs. But now the flowering dogwoods take over as the stars of the show. They are blooming everywhere I go. Whole neighborhoods, lined with dogwood trees, are coming to life.? I? know of several beautiful specimens along Hwy 9 that bursts into bloom this time of year covered in snowy white, pink or rosy blossoms. There are many types of dogwoods and every garden has the perfect spot for at least one. What better way to honor Earth Day 2014 than to plant a tree?

When thinking about where to plant your dogwood tree consider what role you want cornus_florida_closeupthe tree to play in your garden. You might place it where it becomes the main focal point especially during the spring flowering season but also where you can enjoy the brilliant fall foliage. Maybe one located at the back of the garden would be nice drawing the eye along a path and the flowering shrubs growing along the edges.

Dogwoods need good drainage. If your garden has heavy clay soil plant your tree in a raised bed. They make excellent understory trees in high filtered shade if the air circulation and drainage are good. With 2-3″ of mulch dogwoods thrive in full sun, too. The fungal disease anthracnose is not usually a problem here in our summer dry area if drainage is good. Hybridizers have successfully crossed the Japanese dogwood, cornus kousa, with the eastern dogwood, cornus florida, to create the wonderful disease resistant Stellar series. Also the native Pacific dogwood, cornus nutalli, has been crossed with the eastern variety to produce Eddie’s White Wonder. Both are good choices.

cornus_florida_closeup2The beautiful flowers of the dogwood are actually bracts, a leaf-like structure surrounding a flower. The colorful bracts of poinsettias, the magenta bracts of bougainvilleas and the bracts of the dogwood are often mistaken for flower petals. No matter what you call them, the blossoms are spectacular.

Dogwoods attract a variety of wildlife. All sorts of critters use this tree for food and shelter. The giant silk moth and several species of butterflies favor dogwoods as host plants. The spring flowers provide nectar to bees and other pollinating insects. Robins and sparrow are just two of the bird species than build nests on the horizontal branches and many others seek shelter in the leaves. The high calcium, high fat, fleshy red fruits are eaten by 35 species of birds including titmice, juncos and waxwings.

The fruit of flowering dogwood is poisonous to humans but the root bark was used by Native Americans as a fever reducer, skin astringent, an anti diarrhea agent and as a pain reliever for headache and backache relief. It was also use to counteract the effects of many poisons and as a general tonic. The flowers were infused to reduce fever and relieve colic and several plant parts were used as medicine for blood diseases like malaria.

Because dogwood leaf litter decomposes more rapidly than most other species it has been planted on abandoned strip mines and used for urban forestry projects. The wood is hard, strong and shock resistant, making it suitable for wood products that need to withstand rough use like tool handles, roller skate wheels, golf club heads and knitting needles and spools.

Dogwoods look so great in our area because we get some winter chill.? Some of cornus_capitata_closeupmy favorite varieties include cornus capitata also known as Evergreen or Himalayan Dogwood. It’s a slow growing tree which will reach 20 ft tall after about 25 years and has large white blossoms.

Other common favorites with rosy flowers are Eastern dogwood, Cherokee Chief and Cherokee Brave. Their leaves turn glowing red in fall with fruit lasting well into winter. There are lots of white blooming varieties also and this tree is the parent of the exceptional hybrid Eddie’s White Wonder and the anthacnose-resistant Stellar Pink.

The Japanese dogwood, cornus kousa, starts blooming several weeks later than the Eastern varieties and continues for 5-6 wks. The flowers open along with the leaves which is different than its relatives. This dense multi-stemmed tree grows to 20 ft tall.? With raspberry-like fruits that persist into winter and leaves that turn yellow or scarlet in autumn it’s a beautiful addition to the garden.

Remember a mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year. Trees clean the soil and air of pollutants, act as windbreaks and can muffle noises.

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.