Facebook Posts, 3/22/2020 to 12/23/2020

Acacia cognate ‘Cousin Itt’

Acer palmatum Japanese Maple

Aeonium arborescens ‘Zwartkop’

Agapanthus praecox – Lily of the Nile

Agave ‘Blue Flame’

Agave ‘Blue Glow’

Agave ‘Cornelius’ Quasimoto Agave

Agave americana var. medio-picta ‘Alba’

Agave angustifolia var. marginata

Agave applanata ‘Cream Spike’

Agave attenuata ‘Variegata’ – Variegated Fox Tail Agave

Agave attenuata—Fox Tail Agave

Agave celsii ‘Nova’

Agave desmetiana ‘Variegata’ Variegated Smooth Agave

Agave filifera ssp. schidigera ‘Durango Delight’

Agave geminiflora ‘Leapin’ Lizards’

Agave guadalajarana – Maguey Chato

Agave Horrida

Agave isthmensis ‘Rum Runner’

Agave kavandivi

Agave parrasana ‘Fireball’

Agave parryi var. truncate ‘Retro Choke’ folder

Agave potatorum

Agave potatorum cv. Cubic

Agave potatorum II

Agave pygmaea ‘Dragon Toes’

Agave schidigera ‘Shira ito no Ohi’ -Queen of White Thread-leaf Agave

Agave titanota – Felix Otero form

Agave titanota – Gentry form

Agave titanota ‘White Ice’

Agave titanota Felix Otero form

Agave victoriae-reginae

Agave x arizonica

Albuca bracteata – Pregnant Onion

Aloe ‘Delta Lights’

Aloe ‘Jeff Karsner’

Aloe arborescens – Torch Aloe

Aloe brevifolia

Aloe maculata – Soap Aloe

Aloe plicatilis – Fan Aloe

Aloe vera

Aloe Wrasse

Alstromeria  aurea – 2 varieties Peruvian Lily

Alyogyne huegelii ‘Santa Cruz’

Anemone hupehensis – Japanese Anemone

Anemone hupehensis – Japanese Anemone seedheads

Anigozanthos hybrid ‘Regal Velvet’

Anigozanthos hybrid ‘Regal Velvet’ CU.jpeg

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis – Pajaro manzanita.

Aristea major

Asarum caudatum – Wild Ginger

Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’

Astroloma foliosum “Candle Cranberry”

Beaucarnea recurvata – Ponytail Palm

Bergenia cordifolia – Piqsqueek

Bletilla striata – Chinese Ground Orchid

Brugmansia sanguinea

Bulbine Frutescens Snake Flower

Calandrinia spectabilis

Calycanthus occidentalis

Campanula Medium ‘Deep Blue’ – Canterbury Bells

Canna ‘Cleopatra’

Cantua buxifolia ‘Hot Pants’

Carex divulsa – Berkeley Sedge

Chitalpa ‘Pink Dawn’

Cistus argenteus ‘Silver Pink’

Cistus ladanifer ‘Blanche’

Cistus ladanifer (Crimson spot rockrose)

Citrus limon “Eureka” – Eureka Lemon

Clivia miniata

Cordyline  australis – burgundy/yellow variegated

Cordyline ‘Festival Grass Burgundy’

Cordyline australis – red/cream variegated

Correa ‘Gwen Elliot’

Correa ‘Ivory Bells’ “White Australian Fucshai”

Correa ‘Ray’s Tangerine’  Tangerine Australian Fuchsia

Correa ‘Ray’s Tangerine’

Cotoneaster lacteus

Cotula coronopifolia ‘Tiffindell Gold’

Cotyledon orbiculata

Cotyledon orbiculata – Finger Aloe

Crassula lycopodiodes – Watch Chain Crassula

Crassula nudicaulis ‘Devils Horn’

Crassula pubescens ssp. Radicans

Crassula tetragona

Crinum moorei – Natal Lily

Cryptbergia ‘Red Burst’

Cuphea ‘Starfire Pink’

Cuphea ignea – Firercracker Plant

Cussonia gamtoosensis – “Gamboos Cabbage Tree”

Dahlia imperialis – Tree Dahlia

Dahlia unknown

Dasylirion longissima “Mexican Grass Tree”

Deuterocohnia brevifolia – Argentine Ball

Dietes bicolor

Dudley brittonii

Dudleya edulis -Chalk Lettuce

Dyckia fosteriana

Dyckia platyphylla – Broad-leaf Dyckia

Echeveria ‘Autumn Flame’

Echeveria ‘Blue Bird’

Echeveria ‘Etna’?

Echeveria ‘Mahogany Rose’

Echeveria ‘Moana Loa’

Echeveria ‘Perle von Nurnberg’

Echeveria agavoides ‘Lipstick’

Echeveria agavoides ‘Red’ – Molded Wax Agave

Echeveria Ciliata x Nodulosa  – Mexican Hens & Chicks

Echeveria colorata ‘Mexican Giant’

Echeveria harmsii – Plush Plant

Echeveria lilacina – Ghost Echeveria

Echeveria set-oliver

Echeveria setosa var. deminuta – Firecracker Plant

Echeveria shaviana ‘Pink Frills’  – Mexican Hens

Echeveria shaviana ‘Pink Frills’ – Mexican Hens

Echveria runyonii

Elegia tectorum – Small Cape Rush

Elegia tectorum Small Cape Rush

Epilobium canum – California Fucshia

Eriogonum grande var. rubescens – Buckwheat

Espostoa lanata – Peruvian Old Man Cactus

Eucharis amazonica

Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’

Euphorbia mammillaria – Corncob Cactus

Euphorbia mammillaria – Corncob Cactus revisited

Euphorbia millii supergrandiflora ‘Amarillo’ – Giant Crown of Thorns

Ficus carica – Black Mission Fig

Fockea edulis

Freesia alba

Fuchsia magellenica

Fuchsia microphylla

Fuchsia thymifolia ‘Variegata’

Fucshia ‘Santa Cruz’ (red + dark red)

Fucshia boliviana

Fucshia boliviana-white variety

Fucshia genii ‘Aurea’

Gasteria ‘Flow’

Gasteria ‘Little Warty’

Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’

Geranium × cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’

Geranium maderense

Geranium peltatum  – Ivy Geranium

Gladiolus communis

Globurlaria sarcophylla

Golden Barrel Cactus

Graptopetalum paraguayense – Mother of Pearl Plant

Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’

Grevillea ‘Poorinda Queen’

Grevillea lanigera ‘Coastal Gem II

Grevillea lanigera ‘Coastal Gem’

Habanero lemon ‘Hot Pepper’ – Yellow Habanero

Haemanthus coccineus

Haemanthus coccineus – foliage 12/9/2020

Hardenbergia violacea ‘Happy Wanderer’

Haworthia fasciata – Zebra Plant

Haworthia fasciata ‘Royal Albert’

Hedychium gardnerianum – Kahili Ginger

Hesperoyucca whipplei

Hieracium maculatum ‘Leopard’

Hydrangea quercifolia

Hylotelephium ‘Herbstsfreude’ AUTUMN JOY 

Hymenocallis × festalis ‘Zwanenburg’

Iris ‘Canyon Snow’

Iris douglasiana

Iris pallida

Iris Unk. – blue self (‘Violet Reprise’)

Iris Unk. – rich purple (‘Trick or Treat’)

Jovibarba globifera

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora ‘Flapjacks’

Kennedia beckxiana ‘Flamboyant’

Kniphofia ‘Pineapple Popsicle’

Lathyrus odorata ‘Cupani’

Lathyrus odoratus ‘Nuance’

Lavandula angustifolia – English Lavender

Lavandula x allardii ‘Meerlo’  – Variegated Allard’s Lavender

Lepechinia hastata

Leptospermum scoparium

Leucophyta brownii

Lewisia cotyledon ‘Elise’

Lorapetalum chinense

Mahonia pinnata – Oregon Grape

Mammillaria karwinskiana –  Owl Eyes Cactus

Mammillaria rhodantha ssp. Pringlei – Pincushion Cactus

Mandevilla laxa – Chilean Jasmine

Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ (red edged)

Mangave ‘Macho Mocha’

Mangave ‘Pineapple Express’

Marrubium supinum (Horehound)

Mimulus aurantiacus

Mirabilis jalapa  – Four O’Clock

Monardella villosa

Montanoa grandiflora – Daisy Tree

Nasrcissus papyraceus ‘Ziva’ – paperwhite

Nerine bowdenii – Guernsey Lily

Nerine red unk.

Olea europaea ‘Majestic Beauty’

Oscularia deltoides – Pink Iceplant

Paeonia suffriticosa -Tree Peony

Pandorea pandorana ‘Snowbells’ – Wonga Wonga vine

Papaver somniferum – Opium Poppy

Pelargonium cordifolium ‘Heart-leaved Geranium’

Philadelphus lewisii  – Lewis’ Mock Orange

Phlomis purpurea -Purple Phlomis

Phygelius aequalis ‘Yellow Trumpet’

Pimelea ferruginia ‘Bonne Petite’  – Rice Flower

Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Nigricans’ – Black Matipo

Portulacaria afra – Elephant Food

Puja venusta

Rebutia krainziana – Krainz Crown Cactus

Rhus integrifolia – Lemonade Sumac

Ribes sanguineum – 3 varieties of Flowering Currant

Ribes speciosum -Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry

Ricinus communis ‘New Zealand Purple’

Romneya coulteri

Rosa – Flower Carpet ‘Pink Supreme’

Rosa ‘ballerina’

Rosa ‘Burgundy Iceberg’

Rosa ‘Day Breaker’

Rosa ‘Distant Drums’

Rosa ‘Dortmund’

Rosa ‘Golden Celebration’

Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’

Rosa ‘Iceberg’

Rosa ‘Mary Rose’

Rosa ‘Memorial Day’

Rosa ‘Mulligani’

Rosa ‘Portland from Glendora’

Rose curculio

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’

Ruellia elegans “Elegant Ruellia”

Salvia ‘Amistad’

Salvia africana-lutea -Golden Salvia

Salvia chiapensis ‘Chiapis Sage’

Salvia convertiflora (red)

Salvia dolomitica

Salvia Elegans – Pineapple Sage

Salvia gesnerifolia ‘Tequila’ – Big Mexican Scarlet Sage

Salvia greggii (two cultivars)

Salvia karwinskii

Salvia madrensis – Forsythia Sage (yellow)

Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’

Salvia unk.

Salvia wagneriana

Sarcococca ruscifolia  – Sweetbox

Sedum unk.

Sempervivum tectorum

Senecio haworthia  – Wooly Senecio, Cocoon Plant

Sollya heterophylla – Australian Bluebell Creeper

Spuria Iris ‘Always a Mystery’

Stachys byzantia

Syringa vulgaris – 3 Lilac varieties

Tagetes lemonii

Tagetes lemonii – Mexican Marigold spring & fall

Three Little Cacti

Trichostema lanatum – Wooly Blue Curls

Tulbaghia violacea – Society Garlic

Tulipa ‘Peer Gynt’

Urginea maritima – Giant White Squill

Verbascum olympicum ‘Album’

Weigela florida ‘Variegata’

Westringia fruticosa ‘Morning Light’

Yucca – unidentified

Yucca desmetiana ‘Blue Boy’

Zantedeschia aethiopica – Calla Lily

Zephyranthes candida

Social Distance XVI – Garden Paths

This column continues explorations of three kinds of gardening activities that can respond to our creative energies, support healthful exercise, and improve the quality and enjoyment of our living environments.

Care for Your Garden

We recently touched on the Big Three of Weeding: pulling, solarizing and mulching. In this column, we survey ways to minimize weed growth on garden paths.

Some gardens consist of lawns with planted garden beds that either around or within the grassy area. In landscapes with large garden beds the lawn might take the form of narrow paths between the planted areas. In either case, managing weed growth in lawns requires supporting vigorous growth of the grass (good for the environment) or applying a broadleaf weed killer (bad for the environment).

The following notes focus on non-grassy garden paths.

The most basic garden path is bare soil, compacted by foot traffic. Such areas still can foster weed growth, although a layer of organic mulch could help to discourage weed rooting.

The next level of limiting weed growth is to cover basic paths with decomposed granite (“DG”), which is coarser than sand, with angular grains that can be tamped down to form a firm surface. Landscape fabric might be placed on the path below the DG installation.

A three-inch deep layer of DG provides an inexpensive path that is not hospitable to weed growth but weeds eventually will establish roots in the DG and their removal become a time-consuming maintenance task. While landscape fabric discourages weed growth from below, the weeds begin with seeds that winds and birds bring to the path’s surface.

As the DG path becomes weedy, practical weed management could be accomplished with occasional spraying of 20% or 30% vinegar. This organic treatment requires careful handling to protect desirable plants and nearby gardeners from this harsh chemical.

Some advisers recommend household vinegar (5%) mixed with table salt plus a small quantity of liquid detergent as a surfactant. Spraying with this solution will trouble weaker weeds but doesn’t really get the job done.

A DG path can be protected from weed growth with the use of a stabilizer that is added to the DG before installation. This method yields an attractive, durable, and permeable surface that is less expensive than concrete. Stabilized DG is best installed over a bed of crushed gravel. For one example of this product, see https://www.granitecrete.com.

The most stable and durable type of DG uses natural resign mixed in with the decomposed granite aggregate. This creates an asphalt-like material, but with a more natural look.

Then, we have a variety of hardscape paths. These include natural flagstones, cut stone slabs, common bricks, and concrete pavers. These materials should be installed over a bed of crushed gravel for stability plus a layer of sand for adjustment to a level surface. The gaps between the paving materials can be filled with sand, but such gaps eventually will harbor weed seeds and result in a weeding task.

A better method for filling gaps between paving materials is the use of polymeric sand, which is available from landscape suppliers. This filler is a mixture of fine sands and polymers that, when mixed with water, form a binding agent that locks the sand particles together and results in a uniform, durable surface.

Concrete provides ultimate and most costly protection from weed growth on garden paths. This approach includes installing concrete under and between the paving materials or creating a solid path by pouring concrete between forms. In either approach, a bed of crushed gravel is needed in for stability.

Advance Your Gardening Knowledge

As always, useful information on each of these methods for weed control on garden paths can be found by searching the Internet for the respective keywords. A search of YouTube also will lead to video clips that demonstrate the methods.

Enrich Your Gardening Days

The UCSC Arboretum has reopened, following a closure period in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This extraordinary facility offers a pleasant and completely safe opportunity to  enjoy unique garden vistas and gather inspiration for your own gardening ventures.

The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) had been known only from fossils up to 200 million years old, but was discovered in Australia in 1994 and is being grown again in botanical gardens.

Erica mammosa ‘Ninepin’. The species name for this South African heath plant refers to the udder-like shape of the flowers.
The Spider Flower (Grevillea)grows in a wide range of sizes

Photographs with this column have been created by Bill Bishoff, the Arboretum’s volunteer photographer, as samples of the many plants that are in bloom at the “Arb” right now.

The Arboretum’s hours are from 9:00 to 5:00 every day. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children, and free for volunteers and members. When visiting, practice social distancing, wear a mask and bring your own drinking water.

For driving directions and information about being an Arboretum member or volunteer, visit https://arboretum.ucsc.edu/. The website also has links to purchase Arboretum plants online for curbside pick-up.

Keep your emotions positive and your viruses negative and enjoy your garden.

Social Distance XVI – Summer Tasks

Our first day of this year’s summer arrived on June 20th, so we’re already well into the season. We’re also well into this year’s historic pandemic season, which we all hope and trust will end before long, and not return.

We are seeing many thoughtful and creative advisories on coping with the challenges of this crisis. Here are some recent examples oriented to health and emotional well-being: 

  • Care for Your Health
  • Confirm Your Responsibilities (e.g., wear a mask)
  • Vary Your Media Choices
  • Share Your Time and Assets
  • Continue Your Protections

As we consider these recommendations  and expand upon them from our individual perspectives, we recognize them as the beginnings of good advice.

This column adds three categories of gardening activities that can provide opportunities for our creative energies, always desirable exercise, and payoffs in the quality and enjoyment of our living environments.

Care for Your Garden

At this time of the year, caring for your garden focuses on maintenance activities.

Installation of  new plants would be best scheduled for the fall, after the hottest months have passed and the rainy season will soon water your plants. Some plants, e.g., irises, Shasta daisies, etc., can be divided and replanted later in the summer. Many bulbs, e.g., daffodils, can be lifted now and replanted in the fall.

Most pruning of trees and shrubs should be done during the dormant season, but several pruning-type tasks are appropriate for the summer months. Do not prune flowering shrubs that are setting buds for the next season. Examples include lilacs, azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and others. Summer pruning tasks include deadheading flowering plants and herbs to encourage compact growth and avoid setting of seeds and cutting back spring bloomers to promote reblooming, except when you are encouraging plants to self-spread or gathering seeds for planting or sharing. Other seasonal pruning task: removing suckers from hybridized fruit trees and shrubs (e.g., roses).

Watering plants could require regular attention. Plants in containers might need daily watering, and plants in the ground should be monitored during dry weather. Water only when the soil has become dry, and schedule watering for early morning or evening, rather than during the hottest part of the day. When irrigating late in the day, avoid the development of fungus and disease by keeping moisture off the leaves with drip irrigation or low-level hose irrigation.

Weed management could be prioritized during the summer months. Manual removal of perennial weeds is always a good idea, and removal of annual weeds should be done before they set seeds. Some gardeners find weeding to be therapeutic in some respect, but serious weed management methods could be considered, particularly short-term solarization with plastic sheeting and smothering with a layer of cardboard covered by organic mulch.

Advance Your Gardening Knowledge

The University of California’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program provides excellent online information on weed control. Browse to http://ipm.ucanr.edu and search for “weed management.” For details of the solarization method, search the same site for “soil solarization.”

Any of the other summer-season topics can be researched on the Internet. A search for “pruning plants” could yield an unmanageable flood of information, so searching for “pruning [your plant]” is more likely to provide advice for immediate practical use. As always, searching for a plant by its botanical name works best.

Enrich Your Gardening Days

The regular pursuit of seasonally appropriate garden priorities can be a satisfying experience. To increase the likelihood of this outcome, prepare yourself with studying in advance and schedule your work sessions during cooler times and days.

Keep your emotions positive and your viruses negative and enjoy your garden.

Social Distance XV: Pruning Research

Care for Your Garden

Home gardeners might appreciate the ornamental value of a pendulous (“weeping”) tree, one that has branches that hang down. Many varieties of such trees are available for garden use. While a small number have naturally hanging branches, most weeping trees have been developed by grafting a mutated variety on to a compatible rootstock.

Basic pruning techniques apply to most trees and shrubs, but weeping trees have particular pruning requirements. This column explores the specific task of pruning a weeping tree, as an example of the general task of researching unfamiliar challenges in gardening.

A related memory illustrates the value of timely research. Several years ago, a group of Master Gardeners volunteered for a one-day project to help maintain the fairly large garden of one of the members. The garden included a young Camperdown Elm (Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii’). The garden owner prized the tree’s weeping and contorted branch structure, and had it growing in a large container prominently placed near her house.

The volunteer project proceeded well until one of the participants (not me!) pruned off the Camperdown Elm’s pendulous branches, which the well-intentioned volunteer regarded as misshaped.

This act of horticultural vandalism shocked the garden owner, who was very upset. The specimen tree would recover, but only after several years of new growth.

Recently, in my own garden, I contemplated an overgrown Weeping White Mulberry (Morus alba ‘Pendula’). I received this plant as a gift from a friend years ago and enjoyed its graceful branching as it grew to seven feet high. As I looked for ripe berries, I saw that the tree’s pendulous branches were reaching to the ground and spreading like a trailing gown. The effect was not unattractive, but the tree needed pruning for ideal overall size and form.

Seven foot high Weeping White Mulberry (Morus alba ‘Pendula’) needs pruning.

Surfing the Internet, I soon learned important differences in pruning a Weeping White Mulberry versus a standard White Mulberry. A major difference: for a weeping tree, prune the upward growing branches; for a standard tree, prune the downward growing branches.

Another difference: remove no more than one-third of a weeper’s branches; remove a standard’s branches as much as desired, even to the ground. It will grow back.

A basic recommendation for pruning weeping trees is the same for all trees: prune during the winter months, when the tree is in dormancy and leafless branches reveal the tree’s structure. This is vital for the Weeping White Mulberry, which bleeds heavily when pruned during its growing months.

The time to prune this beautiful tree will be during the coming winter.

Advance Your Gardening Knowledge

This situation brings to mind the carpenter’s traditional advice, and suggests a horticultural version: “Research twice, cut once.”

When the gardener confronts an unusual task and has access to the Internet, a brief search for online advice often will yield positive returns in the form of improvement and in some cases survival of valued plants. Fortunately, most plants will recover eventually from thoughtless mistreatment, but all plants will look and grow better when the gardener uses methods that are consistent with natural processes.

The first step in an Internet search is to identify the subject plant’s botanical name. If that name is not readily available, search for its common name and the botanical name will appear shortly.

Search using key words. In this column’s example, I searched for “prune weeping mulberry.”

Then, explore the links that the search has generated. Review several advisories to screen out any fringy ideas and discover the common wisdom.

Enrich Your Gardening Days

True enjoyment in gardening comes confidence in knowing that you are caring for your garden on a foundation of knowledge and experience.

Keep your emotions positive and your viruses negative and enjoy your garden.