The Appeal of the Sticky Monkey Flower

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

Today’s column is about a California native shrub that widely available, and a fine addition to the garden.

The plant is the Sticky Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantiacus, or Diplacus aurantiacus). Its common name reflects the feelings of some very imaginative observers that the plant’s blossom resembles a monkey’s face.

Orange blossoms — Sticky Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantiacus) and Pacific Coast Iris ‘Canyon Snow’ (Iris douglasiana)

The reference to “sticky” refers to a naturally occurring phenolic resin in the leaves, which deters the feeding of certain butterfly larvae, and also helps the plant retain water in dry environments.

The leaves of some other plants can become sticky from the sugary honeydew secreted by aphids and some other insects. Yet other plants can be sticky naturally because their leaves and stems have tiny hairs that can cling to passers-by and help the plant to spread. An exemplar of this survival strategy is a weed with many names, including Cleavers (Galium aparine).

The Sticky Monkey Flower grows up to four feet tall. Its blossoms are tubular at the base and about one inch long. They are most commonly a light orange in color, but some varieties display other shades, ranging from white to red.

This plant can grow in full sun or partial shade and will be most floriferous in bright sun, presenting an attractive display over a long period from late winter through summer.

Like many California native plants, Sticky Monkey Flower thrives in a wide range of difficult soil types when good drainage is provided. It requires little or no irrigation during the Monterey Bay area’s summer-dry climate.

This plant occurs in many different vegetation habitats and is compatible with a large number of other California native plant communities. For this reason, it offers considerable versatility in the landscape, and can have many other native plants as suitable companions.

The Sticky Monkey Flower attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, and also resists deer.

Maintenance recommendations include installing deep organic mulch to conserve moisture and discourage weeds, pinching back new growth in spring to maintain compact form, and deadheading spent blossoms to foster flower production.

There are at least six species within the genus Mimulus (or Diplacus) and a growing number of hybrid cultivars. For an overview of the genus, visit the Las Pilatus Nursery website (www.laspilatas) and search for “monkey flowers.”

The Sticky Monkey Flower is a good example of a California native plant that offers ready availability at local garden centers, low maintenance, and very good “garden-worthiness.” If you have been hesitant about using California native plants in your landscape, this plant could change your mind.

A timely opportunity to discover new plants for your garden occurs this weekend, at the annual Mother’s Day Sale of Cabrillo College’s Horticulture Department. This academic program is a fine horticultural resource for the Monterey Bay area, and this sale is a both a good shopping event and an important fund-raiser for the Hort. Dept. For information including plant list, search the internet for “Cabrillo plant sale.” Include California native plants in your garden!

Current Trends in Garden Design

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

As I was planning to visit nine exemplary hone gardens in the Santa Cruz area, in a tour organized by the UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden, I happened upon a popular garden magazine’s summary of ten current trends in residential garden design. Redbud soil company online supplier of soil containers.

Most of these trends related to indoor gardening and flower arranging, while eight relate to outdoor gardening. I became interested in how those eight trends related to the Arboretum’s garden tour. Two question came to mind:

Do these trends actually appear in these community gardens?
Do these community gardens actually reflect the trends?

I managed to visit six gardens during the day. I won’t identify the gardens because they are not now on tour, but each garden was unique, nicely designed and developed, and very well presented for this special event.

Here are my observations, with reference to eight reported trends for outdoor gardens.

The Keeping It Low Maintenance

Everyone, it seems, wants a low-maintenance garden, and some strategies certainly can lower the workload, but gardens that shine for visitors show the result of ongoing maintenance plus “sprucing up” for tour day. All the gardens on this tour were neatly maintained: there were no weeds, diseased or neglected plants, or unsightly debris. Congratulations to the garden owners! My findings don’t negate the published interest in low maintenance, but it suggests that low maintenance doesn’t align with garden tours.

Creating a Staycation Spot

This trend focuses on recreational resources in the garden, e.g., outdoor kitchen, furniture, fire features, decorative lighting, etc. All of the gardens I visited included a table and chairs, and some had a basic barbeque set-up, but none appeared to have been planned for a “staycation.” People who invest significant money and effort in their gardens apparently prefer to explore new environments on occasion, rather than to switch from gardener to vacationer in the same place.

Structures as Focal Points

This trend relates to the development of garden structures, e.g., sheds, walls, and swimming pools. One of the six gardens had a small greenhouse and a hot tub, and another had an impressive collection containerized plants mounted on a fence, but there were no other structures serving as focal points. Some gardens include well-designed paths and retaining walls, but these were more functional than architectural focal points.

Private, Secluded Places

This trend envisions a smallish space dedicated to seating for two people, with perhaps a water feature, a wall or plant screen to separate it from the garden, or an arbor or pergola to create an enclosure. I saw one seating area that provided such seclusion; the others were positioned to support viewing and enjoying the garden. Avid gardeners enjoy being in their gardens, rather than relaxing in seclusion.

Notable First Impressions

This was a toss-up. Of the six gardens, three had front yards that were very nicely designed and presented fine streetside impressions. The other three had well-done front yards, but more impressive back yards. Clearly, the private, backyard garden area had the higher priority. Such differences could result by chance, differences in the available gardening space, or particular interest in impressing neighbors and passers-by. Good arguments could be made for both front yard and backyard priorities.

Food in Landscapes of All Sizes

This magazine article envisioned a trend for including edibles in a primarily ornamental garden, whether in containers or raised beds, or mingled with perennial plants. There are interesting ideas for combining edibles and ornamentals, and good books on the creative design of vegetable gardens. Still, I saw vegetable gardening in only two of these six tour gardens, and in both cases, veggies were separated from ornamentals. To be fair, three of the gardens I did not visit reportedly included vegetables and fruit trees, so this tour evidently demonstrated this trend rather well.

Investing in Quality Furniture

Is this a trend? I saw attractive and serviceable garden furniture in good condition, but not the artisan-created teak items or classic showpieces like a Lutyens bench. It has been said that no garden can have too much seating, but gardeners with tour-worthy gardens might have more interest in the selection, placement and cultivation of plants than in the display of sophisticated furnishings.

Giving Back with Gardens

This trend emphasizes gardening that is friendly to wildlife and the environment. The forms of such friendliness include providing wildlife habitats, supporting pollinators, using organic methods to control weeds and pests and not poisoning wildlife or the environment. This trend might be understood also to include using water wisely, in keeping with water conservation priorities. These tour gardens were highly compatible with this trend, with multiple sites featuring drought tolerant plants, e.g., Mediterranean climate specimens and succulents, and avoiding synthetic chemicals. I did not, however, see wildlife habitats, e.g., bird houses, brush heaps, bird baths or bird feeders. Perhaps I just didn’t notice.

My conclusion is that the gardens on the Arboretum’s garden tour exemplify most of the design trends featured in this one magazine’s overview of 2019’s garden trends. These gardens are quite trendy!

We are now in garden tour season, so include at least one tour in your schedule, and enjoy the opportunity to discover unfamiliar plants and new approaches to garden design. An exceptional opportunity is St. Philips’ annual Garden Tour and English Tea Luncheon on May 11, 2019. For information: http://www.stphilip-sv.net.

When you embark upon a garden tour, you might find it interesting to review each garden with reference someone’s perspective on current design trends.

You also could expand this strategy by adding your own thoughts about garden design trends. For example, my design priorities include thematic design for sections of the garden, and landscaping with swaths of selected plants, in contrast to collections of single specimens.

Developing a Chilean Garden

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

Gardening can be made interesting by implementing a thematic plan for part or all of the site. There are many possible themes to choose from: a favorite color or color combination; a plant genus (e.g., roses, irises, dahlias, etc.); a design style (e.g., desert, tropical, etc.); or whatever interests you.

My garden has beds dedicated to each of the five summer-dry climate regions: Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, Australia, California, and Chile.

The world’s summer-dry regions occur within two bands: between 30°and 45° north, and between 30°and 45° south. Chile is a very narrow, very long country, extending from a latitude of 17° south to Cape Horn at 56°. The country extends well beyond the summer-dry region,

The county’s flora have been described in terms of three zones, the desert provinces of the north, central Chile, and the humid regions of the south. Central Chile’s summer-dry region extends from about 30°to about 36° south, making that region comparable in size to that of California, which extends from about 32°to about 42° north.

With only a little searching, a gardener can find good plants from the first four of these regions; finding Chilean plants can be challenging. That search can be motivated by the potential of discovering unusual botanical treasures.

A few Chilean plants are readily available in garden centers. The most familiar example, perhaps, is the so-called Peruvian Lily (Alstromeria sp.). There are some 122 species within this South American genus, and only four are native to Peru, while at least thirty-three are native to central Chile, which is the center of distribution for this genus. We’re told that Chileans take offense at having their plant called Peruvian Lily!

Other Chilean plants that are not hard to find include (in no particular order): Chilean Jasmine (Mandevilla laxa), Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae), Chilean Puya (Puya chilensis), Shining Pink Rock Purslane (Calendrina spectabilis), Maiden’s Wreath (Francoa sonchifolia), Hummingbird Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica), Purpletop Vervain (Verbena bonariensis), Chilean Potato Vine (Solanum Crispum), and others.

Interested gardeners can find descriptions of these plants by searching the Internet for their botanical names.

A less common Chilean plant that is particularly attractive in early spring, is the Sacred Flower of the Andes (Cantua buxifolia). This is an upright shrub that produces “a profusion of orange to magenta-pink flowers that have a long tube with a flaring mouth held on thin pedicels so the flowers dangle beneath” (quoting San Marcos Growers). The blossoms are “outrageous,” but the plant sprawls in a way that calls for staking. The older stems can be pruned to improve the plant’s overall form, but because blossoms are produced on the previous season’s growth, pruning should be done only after flowering.

Chilean blossoms — Blossom of Cantua buxifolia (Sacred Flower of the Incas)

Chilean shrub — An unruly shrub: Cantua buxifolia

My continuing quest for interesting these plants focuses currently on the Chilean Bellflower (Lapageria rosea), a beautiful flowering vine that is Chile’s national flower. A few nurseries list this plant on their websites, but it’s generally out of stock.

Persistence should produce results!

Adopting a theme of your choice could provide an alternative to the usual spontaneous approach to gardening in favor of the satisfaction of design coherence and the appeal of an ongoing hunt for botanical treasures.

Time to Prune Salvias

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

Salvias are sometimes called “super shrubs,” at least in this column, because they are easy to cultivate; diverse in form, size and blossom color; and well suited for gardens in summer-dry climates, like that of the Monterey Bay area.

Many salvias have blossoms in shades of red and blue. Some uncommon varieties have white or yellow blossoms. A very uncommon species is the Beach Salvia (Salvia Africana-lutea), which has rusty orange upper petals that turn to a russet-brown color.

Salvia shrub — Salvia africana-lutea (Beach Salvia)

These form, size and blossom color qualities have supported the development of a growing collection of salvias in my garden, to the point that I have lost track of the number of plants, and of their names. I do recognize the genus salvia when I come upon it; on a good day I can name several of the cultivars. My digital files include just about all these plants in my garden, and I do intend to map their locations, one of these days, as part of the ongoing mapping project.

The recent annual Hard Pruning of the Salvias in my garden required substantial help. This necessary pruning process both supports and hinders the mapping objective.

When salvias grow closely together their branches intermingle and merge into a botanical mass that defies mapping. Gardeners who grow salvias know that they benefit from hard pruning in late winter or early spring, as new growth appears at the base of the plant. Hard pruning reduces the plants to six-to-twelve inches tall. This treatment counters ranginess and promotes bushiness, which adds to their value in the landscape. It also supports mapping by enabling the determined mapper to distinguish each plant from its neighbors.

Many salvias bloom throughout the year in our moderate climate, and many have distinctive leaf forms that can be essential clues for identifying the cultivars. These characteristics certainly help in mapping, but hard pruning hinders the process by removing all blossoms and perhaps all leaves.

The ideal time for mapping a mature salvia bed, then, occurs after pruning (while the plants are small in size) and after they begin producing leaves and blooms (which happens in early spring). Salvias’ growth cycles differ somewhat, so the plants are not all in lock-step, but this strategy should work fairly well.

Another consideration related to hard pruning salvias: after plants have been pruned seasonally, they are most visible as individual plants, ready for transplanting. As with any plant, transplanting should be done as promptly to avoid drying the roots. A good practice is to dig the hole for the plant’s new location before digging the plant. This strategy avoids any lag time between listing the plant and placing it in the new hole.

Salvias can be propagated also during the pruning season through stem cuttings.

Salvia plants also can be divided at pruning time, but this method is not recommended generally because it leaves each division with a minimal boot structure.

Finally, salvia propagation can be done from seeds collected in the early fall, i.e., around September.

One or several salvias can be botanical assets in your garden.

Plant Sale Strategies

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

This weekend presents a seasonal high point for avid gardeners in the Monterey Bay area. Marking the beginning of the spring planting season, three significant plant sales offer a fine array of plants to choose from for your garden.

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society will offer several categories plants that are native to the Golden State. The sale will be on Saturday, April 13^th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 for CNPS members and 12:00 to 4:00 for the public. There is more information about this sale today in this paper’s Home & Garden section.

The UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden will hold its spring plant sale, presenting collections of plants that are native to South Africa, Australia, and California, plus some from other dry summer regions. This sale is at the same time and place as the CNPS sale. The Arboretum is “a favorite destination for those who love plants, birds and natural beauty. [It] inspires stewardship of the world’s biodiversity through research, education, and the conservation of rare and extraordinary plants.”

The Arboretum’s sale event includes a first-ever Silent Auction of striking and uncommon plants. This activity will be active from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. , with a last call bidding opportunity at 12:55. Winning bidders must be present at the end of the Auction to claim their winnings.

For lists of the sale plants and the Silent Auction plants, visit the Arboretum’s website and click on the Events calendar.

The CNPS and Arboretum sales are at the Arboretum, the entrance for which is on the west side of the campus, off of Empire Grade. For driving directions, browse to the Arboreum website and click on the Visit menu.

South African Blossom — Leucospermum erubescens Photo by Bill Bishoff

Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society will conduct this weekend’s third plant sale. It will be held at the Community Hall, 10 San Jose Street, San Juan Bautista. This is a two-day event, from 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturday, April 13^th, and 9:00 to 4:00 on Sunday, April 14^th. Use Google Maps, MapQuest or other service for driving directions from your location.

The MBACSS event brings together several advanced growers of cactus & succulent plants for a combination of a show of well-grown exceptional plants and a sale of mostly young plants that are easy to cultivate in the Monterey Bay area’s moderate climate, and that bring a fascinating range of colors and forms to local gardens. Many gardeners enjoy collecting different cultivars within a genus, or a variety of different genera from South Africa or Mexico or other areas of the world. In addition to adding plants for your garden, the plant show provides an unique and enjoyable opportunity to see and study outstanding specimens of cacti and succulents.

The sale also includes creatively designed containers and planting supplies.

Advanced growers will be available on request to provide growing advice and background information for specific plants.

***

When planning to participate in one of these sales, or visit a garden, or select plants from a mail-order catalog, optimize your satisfaction potential in these three ways.

1. Determine the plants you want or need to add to your garden. Be specific! What is the desired mature size of the plants you want? Will they be in full sun, partial shade, or full shade? What colors would support your design? What plant forms would work best?

2. Decide on the low and high amounts you want to spend. The low amount would be appropriate if only a few plants meet your objectives, and the high amount would serve to control your urges on an occasion was lots of what you see is appealing.

3. When plant lists are available online, as with the Arboretum’s sale, take the time to mark your targets for possible purchase. Unless you are already a plant maven, this process could require “Googling” the plants by name. With very rare exceptions, such a search will yield good information about the available plants. This preparation is particularly wise for the Arboretum’s Silent Auction.

Your plant search could extend over all three of this weekend’s plant sales. Enjoy the hunt!

Succulent Events Blooming

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

As we write this column on April 1^st, our focus is on cacti and succulents. Three factors inspire this topic, as summarized in these paragraphs.

Spring Show & Sale of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society.

This local organization, an affiliate of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America, presents two of these two-part events each year, in the fall and the spring.

The show presents a variety of exceptional plants, representing prime specimens from several different succulent plant genera. This display provides an extraordinary opportunity for both novice and advanced gardeners of these plants to see mature plants that have been grown expertly and shown aesthetically in selected containers.

The sale brings offerings from multiple growers, all of whom are members of the Society. Generally, several tables each present small and reasonably priced, inviting gardeners to select multiple plants to add to their indoor or outdoor gardens. The sale tables might also include specimens of relatively rare plants. Gardeners with special appreciation for unusual plants often quickly gather up these premium oifferings.

The Society will hold this event on April 13^th & 14^th, at San Juan Bautista’s Community Hall, 10 San Jose Street. The accompanying photos can be spotted on flyers posted in garden centers and other public places throughout the Monterey Bay area. Photography by Fred Valentine.

Succulent plant in container — Mammillaria blossfeldiana grown by Elton Roberts

succulent plant — Boophone disticha grown by John and Lisa Bloss

Succulent Blossoms on Stamps

To draw attention to the Society’s upcoming show & sale, the United States Postal Service has released ten new First Class stamps depicting the blossoms of ten cacti. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamps with photographs taken by John P. Schaefer. Visit usps.com/stamps, and scroll to “Cactus Flowers” for more information, including images of the stamps. The many growers of succulent plants will appreciate these stunning stamps.

Succulent Blooms by Month

Some gardeners have impressive awareness of the timing of events in their gardens, particularly when various plants burst into bloom. I am not one of those gardeners, but one who typically discovers new blooms with surprise and delight. A gardener who knows when succulent plants bloom has helped those of us with less awareness with a monthly series of photographic collections of succulent plants in bloom.

The gardener is Geoff Stein, who describes himself as an “obsessive, compulsive collector of all oddball tropical and desert plants.” To date, he has produced photographic overviews of succulents in bloom in December, January, February, March and April. The April issue of this series extends to nineteen pages and includes scores of photos.

Geoff Stein is a prolific garden writer who has created scores of lengthy articles on a range of topics within his interest in “tropical and desert plants.” Each of these pieces includes numerous photographs of the plants under discussion. Some of his articles are broad in scope, e.g.,, “Introduction to Dyckias and Hechtias,” while others deal with specific cultivars, e.g., “Easy Succulents: Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’.” For a list of his articles go to https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/ and search for “Geoff Stein.” His writings are definitely worth exploring.

***

Admittedly, the USPS produced its Cactus Flower stamps in recognition of the growing interest in gardening with cacti and succulents, not specifically for the Society’s Show & Sale. April Fool!

Still, that event will be a pleasure for avid gardeners interested in these fascinating plants.

Garden Shows & Sales

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

Each gardening year includes shows and sales of favored plants, hosted by local garden groups. This column describes these recurring events, organized by three basic scheduling models. Specific dates vary a bit each year because of various factors, so this overview provides only a heads-up for interested gardeners to be on the alert as each date approaches. Locations are mostly the same, year–to–year, but changes happen.

Following this overview, we’ll focus on four upcoming big events in April.

Blooming + Planting Model

In this model, shows occur at the peak bloom period, so growers can display their best blooms, spectators can “OOO” and “AHH,” and thoughtful gardeners can select varieties to add to their gardens during the next planting season.

The sales then coincide with planting season. The Monterey Bay Iris Society (MBIS) and the Monterey Bay Dahlia Society (MBDS) provide clear examples of planting season sales.

MBIS: show late April; rhizome sale early August
MBDS: show late August; tuber sale early April

Show & Sale Combo Model

Some plants grow year-round, so their shows and sales can be combined on the same weekend. Exemplars of this model include Santa Cruz Orchid Society (SCOS), Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society (MBACSS), and Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai (SCBK)

SCOS: annual show & sale early March
MBACSS: spring show & sale mid April; fall show & sale early October
SCBK: annual show & sale mid April

Show or Sale Only Model

A third pattern includes either show or sale, but not both. The Monterey Bay Rose Society (MBRS), the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden (UCSC-Arb), and Cabrillo College Horticulture Department (Cabrillo Hort) follow this pattern.

MBRS: annual show early May; continuing show at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Watsonville
CNPS, Santa Cruz Chapter: Spring sale early April; Fall sale early October;
CNPS. Monterey Chapter: annual wildflower exhibit
UCSC-Arb: Spring sale early April; Fall sale early October; continuing show at the Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Cabrillo Hort: Mother’s Day Sale, early May
Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz: Fungus Fair, early January

Monterey Bay Dahlia Society’s Annual Tuber Sale

If you visited the Society’s annual show at the Museum of Art & History last August, you would have enjoyed the great diversity of the array of dahlia blossoms. This plant offers an extraordinary range of blossom colors, sizes, and forms, making it a source of endless fascination and a great temptation to become a collector. The blossoms can be appreciated both individually and as a grand display of natural specimens of botanical beauty.

As you anticipate spring in your garden, you could be thinking about adding new blooming plants for summer and fall color splashes. The dahlia is an excellent bloomer to add to your garden, and now is the right time to find dahlias to plant.

The Monterey Bay Dahlia Society will hold its annual tuber and plant sale on Saturday, April 6th, 2019, from 9:00 –11:00 a.m., at Deer Park Shopping Center in Aptos, on the Center’s upper level, near the Red Apple Café. This sale provides a fine opportunity for gardeners to select from a wide variety of cultivars that have been grown locally, and benefit from good prices. Prospective buyers should arrive early, as the tubers are sold quickly.

Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai 31th Annual Exhibit

April 6 – 7, 2019 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. both days at †he Museum of Art and History, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz. The highlight of each day’s show will be at 2:00 p.m. when Bonsai Masters, Mike Pistello (Saturday) and Sensei Katsumi Kinoshita (Sunday) will demonstrate the techniques for creating an artistic tree from common nursery stock. The newly created bonsai tree will then be offered in a raffle drawing along with other trees and items donated by club members. These trees have been cared for, designed, wired, and potted in bonsai pots so individuals winning the trees can begin enjoying this art form immediately.

Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society’s Spring Show & Sale

The Society will hold this event on April 13^th & 14^th, at San Juan Bautista’s Community Hall, 10 San Jose Street. We’ll have more about this increasingly popular show & sale before that date, but mark your calendar now.

California Native Plant Society, Monterey Chapter’s 58th Wildflower Show

This amazing, eye-opening event will be held April 19-21, 2019 at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, 65 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove. While visiting nature’s bounty in person is an incomparable experience, this show provides a unique opportunity to study and appreciate California’s wildflower treasures without trampling them.

If you are a gardener with broad horticultural interests, you develop your own calendar for benefitting from the creative offerings of our local garden groups.

Meet the Bromeliads

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

By happenstance, my thoughts turn this week to bromeliads. This plant family includes fifty-one genera, almost all of which are native to the tropical Americas. The most familiar member of this family is the pineapple, which certainly has value as an ornamental, but we will focus here on the bromeliads that we can enjoy in our homes or gardens.

There is considerable diversity within the Bromeliad family. Earlier this week, Brian Kemble provided a photographic tour of Puyas, which he calls “Bromeliad Royalty,” for the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society. Kemble is the long-time curator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek and a student of, and prolific writer about, succulent plants.

The Puya genus includes about 230 species, the largest of which is Puya raimondii, which can reach 10 feet tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 33 feet tall. Other Puyas range around more garden-friendly sizes. In Australia, several years ago, I had the opportunity to examine and photograph a grove of the Chilean Puya berteroniana, called the Turquoise Puya. This plant grows up to 10 feet tall, and display “waxy, metallic blooms of the most unearthly emerald-turquoise. “

Blossom of the Turquoise Puya (Puya berteroniana)

I have a young specimen of this plant in my garden, planted with enough space to accommodate its mature size. Once well established, however, it could spread into a cluster of plants that will require stern control.

The Puya is one of the terrestrial Bromeliads, which was the topic of Bromeliad collector Dennis Cathcart’s recent presentation for the San Francisco Cactus & Succulent Society. He focused on the popular Cryptanthus (Earth Star), a native of Brazil. Other terrestrial Bromeliads include prickly Dyckia (no common name) and Hechtia (False Agave).

The Bromeliad family includes several epiphytes, including the popular genus Tillandsia (Airplants), which includes 650 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants native to northern Mexico and southeastern United States. These must qualify as the most easily maintained plants in existence, making them favorites of dorm-dwellers and other occasional gardeners.

A significant species within the Tillandsia genus is Spanish Moss (T. usneoides), which is the smallest Bromeliad. It is native to southeastern United States and other areas, and grows on larger trees in tropical and subtropical climates.

An epiphytic Bromeliad that I enjoy in my garden is one of the 255 species within the Aechmea genus: A. gamosepala (Matchstick Bromeliad). This epiphytic plant is is often grown in a container with some soil. It is easily propagated from offsets that it produces easily. The plant blooms in mid-winter, so my plant is out of season at the time of this writing. The photograph shows a blossom from the San Diego County Fair, where it won (not surprisingly) first place for the best multi-colored bloom.

Blossom of the Matchstick Bromeliad
(Aechmea gamosepala)

The Bromeliad family has a great diversity of form and texture and includes the most unusual and striking blossoms within the universe of ornamental plants. Many of them can be grown without extraordinary effort in the Monterey Bay area. These plants are commonly available in garden centers, but some varieties are offered locally from time to time, and many can be found by searching through the offerings of mail-order suppliers.

Apple Trees & Codling Moths

Posted on May 23, 2019 by tomkarwin

If caterpillars are eating your apples, they are almost certainly the larvae of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella). This is North America’s most important insect pest of apples, both in commercial orchards and home garden trees, which can be maintain with the use of a tree removal service to get rid of the rotten trees . My garden includes four dwarf apple trees, so I have codling moth concerns.

This pest can be difficult to eliminate completely in the home orchard, but it can be controlled to the point that the gardener will have plenty of fruit while sharing a small percentage with these vexatious invaders.

A recent recommendation in “Things to Do This Week” was to spray apple trees with carbaryl (sold as Sevin) a broad-spectrum insecticide. Correct use of this product requires careful timing, using a maximum-minimum thermometer and a degree-day chart, as noted by the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management Program (ipm.ucanr.edu).

This product is quite effective by over-stimulating the nervous systems of insects, resulting in the inability to contract breathing muscles and ultimately causing death.

Carbaryl is also effective in killing honeybees and other beneficial insects and quite toxic for people. The National Pesticide Information Center (npic.orst.edu) reports that brief exposure while spraying can cause weakness, dizziness, and sweating. Additional reports have included pinpoint pupils, lack of coordination, muscle twitching, and slurred speech. People could also experience headaches, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, or drooling.

Greater exposure can cause high blood pressure, decreased muscle tone, and seizures. Other serious signs include difficulty breathing, constriction of the airways, mucous production, fluid buildup in the lungs, and reduced heart and lung function.

Given these problems, I looked into non-chemical management of codling moths. As one might expect, this involves knowing the pest’s life cycle. The adult moth emerges right around now, mid-march to early April, is active for only a few hours before and after sunset, and mates when sunset temperatures exceed 62 degrees F.

The female deposits eggs on apple leaves or fruit. When the eggs hatch, the larvae bore into the fruit, causing the damage we don’t like to see.

After the larvae mature, they drop from the tree, sometimes still in apples. They continue their life cycle by pupating in the soil or debris under the tree, or in bark crevices until they emerge as adult moths.

The first step in non-chemical management of this pest is sanitation, which involves removing and destroying any fruit that the larvae have entered. Thinning the infested fruit in this way also helps the remaining fruit to develop.

Sanitation continues during May and June by removing any dropped fruit from the ground.

The next good management action is to bag the fruit when it is one-half to one-inch in diameter, using No. 2 lunch bags. The bagging method can be very effective, even when limited to the number of apples the gardener wishes to protect. The bags can be opened a week or two before harvest to allow color development, at some risk of late arriving larvae.

A relatively new insecticide called CYD-X has been found to be both effective and safe to use in the garden. This product is a naturally occurring granulosis virus that infects and kills the larvae of the codling moth. It is highly specific to the codling moth and is non-infectious toward beneficial insects, fish, wildlife, livestock or humans. The National Organic Program has listed CYD-X for use in organic orchards.

Spray application of this product must occur during the day or two after the codling moth larvae have hatched and before they penetrate fruit. This time period occurs from late May to mid-June. Precise timing requires the use of a degree-day model, which regretfully requires more explanation than this column can accommodate. For the home gardener, weekly applications during egg hatch throughout the season will be quite effective. Adding 1% horticultural oil to the application can improve effectiveness.

The larva must ingest the product to become infected with the virus. The product is extremely virulent, so it is effective at very low use rates.

Another safe and effective insecticide is Spinosad, a biological product made from a naturally occurring bacterium. It is a lower-toxicity material that is safe for most beneficial insects as well as for people, pets, and the environment although it is more toxic to beneficial insects than granulosis virus. Repeated applications during egg hatch for each generation are necessary for acceptable control.

The availability of non-chemical controls of codling moths enables gardeners to keep highly toxic chemicals out of their gardens and still enjoy pest-free apples.

Organic gardening is its own reward.

Creating a Hotel for Native Bees

Posted on March 6, 2019 by tomkarwin

I enjoy gifts that lead to interesting projects.

For a gardener, there are many possibilities for such gifts, definitely including plants that would complement the landscape, or add something that is both compatible and unusual.

This year, my most intriguing gift is a “hotel” for native bees. It qualifies as a hotel by including nesting facilities for multiple occupants.

This gift leads to an interesting study of the bees themselves, and of ways to entice them into using the hotel.

Some 4,000 species of bees are native to North America. This column is not suitable for an overview of native bees, but it is worth noting at the outset that the familiar honeybee (Apis mellifera) is not native to this part of the world, but emigrated from Europe to the United States.

Native bees are excellent pollinators, more efficient than honeybees in that work. An important difference between these groups: most native bees are solitary, nesting in cavities or the ground, while honeybees are social, nesting in hives.

According to the Xerces Society (which seeks to conserve bees and other invertebrates) about thirty percent of our 4,000 species of native bees nests in cavities that they find or create in nature. The other seventy percent nest in the ground. There are also few other native species, like the Western Bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis) that are social creatures that nest in larger cavities.

My native bee hotel would be of interest, hopefully, to cavity-nesting species that live in central California. My initial expectation was that this nest would attract mason bees, but the Xerces Society lists only a few species that are found primarily in Washington and Oregon. There are many other species, however, including the Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria),that might live in California.

Another cavity-nesting native bee species that could appear in my garden is the carpenter bee (Xylocopa californica), which, according to Las Pilitas Nursery, will spend weeks digging a 1/2 by 4–to–6-inch hole into a tree for their nest site. We might expect that carpenter bees would be attracted to a nest that is already for occupancy.

In addition, many other species of native bees might welcome this native bee hotel.

While there will be variations in nesting by different native bee species, the common model has the newly hatched female bee emerging from its nesting place in the early spring, and busily mating and seeking a cavity for its eggs. The bee gathers pollen to stock the nest, then deposits an egg, and seals the nest with a wall of mud. The bee repeats this process so that a single cavity could include five–to–eight chambers, each with its own egg and pollen stash.

During the summer, the eggs develop into larvae, then into pupae, and finally into adults, which remain in the nest until the following spring.

To support this process, the hotel manager, i.e., the garden host, should install the nest complex in a east- or southeast-facing location, where it will enjoy morning sunlight. It could be three–to–six feet above ground for convenient observation, and near a good supply of flowering plants (preferably California natives) and mud for construction of nest chambers.

I will plant a selection of California native annuals near this nesting unit, for the bees’ easy access to pollen. I will also provide a supply of muddy clay soil, for the bees’ use. My garden’s clay occurs in a rather deep layer, so I will need to import some clay soil, and keep it moist in a container, such as a large saucer for a plant container.

A good source of seeds for pollinator flowers is the Early Blooming Beekeeper’s Mix, offered by Renee’s Gardens. This mix includes twenty-two varieties, many of which are California native plants.

Bee experts recommend moving the nesting unit into a dark, unheated garage or shed during the winter months to protect the bees from predators. The gardener should then return the unit to the garden in the early spring, well before flowers bloom. As the days warm, the gardener can watch for the new generation of bees as they emerge from the nests.