Ideally, you'd be reading this in very early spring, when the dogwood bloom is beginning to work its elegant magic in the older neighborhoods fanning out from Lower Bidwell Park and downtown Chico. Their flowers bloom before dogwoods leaf out, so the blooms appear to float, suspended on slender, graceful branches. But now, although their bloom time is over for the year, the new foliage on dogwoods makes them attractive landscape trees, creating filtered shade in gardens and yards across town.
General Characteristics: Dogwood trees are on the small side, ranging between 15 to 40 or so feet high. Typically, trunks are one foot or less in diameter, and often sport multiple stems. They provide four full seasons of delight: spring flowers, summer leaves, fall color and berries, and once all of those have dropped off in winter, the trunk displays a distinctive patterned bark and a pleasing rounded form with horizontal branching.
Cornus florida: The flowering dogwood is a popular landscape tree throughout the United States, and is commonly seen here in Chico and our surrounding area. The species name florida or florido is Spanish for “full of flowers” or “flowery”. Native to the Eastern US and northern Mexico, flowering dogwood attains its greatest size, up to 40 feet tall, in the Upper South where hot, humid summers contribute to new, lush growth. In other climates, such as ours, heights of 30–33 feet are more typical. This dogwood species' life span tops out at about 80 years. While its berries, ranging from bright red to yellow with a rosy blush, taste awful to humans, they are not toxic, and are an important source of food for many birds.
Cornus nuttallii: The species name of the Pacific dogwood honors Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 to 1841. Nuttall travelled widely and published a number of books on North American plants and birds. Almost 100 plant and animal species bear his name.
Nuttall's namesake dogwood species is commonly known as western dogwood, mountain dogwood, and Pacific mountain dogwood, as well as Pacific dogwood. This species is native to a large swath of western North America, sweeping down the continent from southern British Columbia to southern California, with an isolated population cropping up in central Idaho. On a California map, its distribution pattern looks like a large cane. The short, hooked end starts in the coast range north of the San Francisco Bay, thickening as it bends east through the Klamath and Siskiyou mountains, with the straight side of the cane extending south through the western slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountains to the southern end of the great Central Valley. A small distribution also occurs in the southwestern corner of the state.
Besides its timeless aesthetic appeal, the Pacific dogwood has various utilitarian functions. It was an important plant for the Native tribes of the continent's west coast. Medicinally, the bark was used as a laxative, a tonic, an antiseptic, and for relief of stomach pain. Peeled twigs provided natural toothbrushes, and smaller branches were sometimes used in baskets. Today the wood of the Pacific dogwood is often used for fashioning items such as tool handles and cutting boards because of its hard, strong wood and beautiful tight grain. It has also been used to make thread spindles, golf club heads, and piano keys.
I love the ethereal beauty of the dogwood. Since a large number of cultivated dogwood trees grace our area, evidently so do many others. In fact, dogwood was among the top choices for America's National Tree in a nationwide survey hosted by the Arbor Day Foundation, coming in third behind the oak and redwood: a very respectable ranking!
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
Why are wine bottles tall and narrow? That distinctive shape contributes to the happy marriage between cork and a bottle made tall enough to lie on its side so the wine can “breathe” through the cork as it matures. Lying on its side while stored in cool, dry cellars ensures that the liquid within the bottle will marinate the cork end just enough to keep it from drying out and crumbling.
What do wine, wax, and wrinkles have to do with local trees? In 1904, a cork oak grove was planted in Lower Bidwell Park near the Nature Center on East 8th Street. The grove was located within a 29-acre tract of land that John Bidwell donated in 1888 to the newly created State Board of Forestry for use as a woody plant nursery and demonstration plantation.
Cuttings and young plants were collected from all over the globe for the project, including species of willow, mulberry, linden, maple, oak, catalpa, pine, and eucalyptus. The ensuing planting spree in the 1890s included Sequoia gigantica, a tract of Italian cypress (these trees gave rise to the name “Cedar” Grove), and a large plot of Scots pine. Of those late-19th century conifer plantings, only the cypress remain: the Sequoia were decimated by a freak freeze in 1932, and bark beetles took all but a few of the pines.
The species can reach about 66 feet in height, but is usually smaller than that in its native habitat. There are two notable exceptions: In Portugal, the Sobreiro Monumental (Monumental Cork Oak), is 234 years old and 52 feet tall, with a trunk so large in circumference that it takes up to five people with outstretched arms to encircle it. It is listed as a National Monument, and cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest and oldest cork oak in the world. Closer to home, a Quercus suber in Napa is registered as a California Big Tree. It is 89 feet tall, with a trunk circumference of 20 feet, and a crown spread of 81 feet.
The acorns of the cork oak have a distinctive fringed cap, smooth chestnut skin, and characteristic green mark at the bottom, and the tree's shiny, deep green, loosely-lobed leaves are attractive. But its bark is the cork oak's claim to fame. Almost ghostly pale in color, the bark is deeply furrowed and springy, and provides an ecologically sustainable cash crop. The thick, insulating bark also makes it possible for the tree to survive fires, after which it regrows branches to fill out the canopy.
Modern uses aside, the method of harvesting the bark from the cork oak dates back to the Middle Ages, using an axe that has barely changed in all that time. Virgin (or “male”) cork is cut for the first time from trees about 25 years old. After that, the bark is harvested every 9 to 12 years. Trees can live over 200 years, and one harvest of bark from a single tree can produce enough to cork 4,000 bottles.
In the harvesting process, the bark is peeled from the tree by hand, using only an axe to strip the bark from around the tree. Absolutely no machinery is employed. It can take up to five people to harvest the bark of each tree. Because expertise and finesse is required to peel off the bark without damaging the trunk's cambium layer, harvesters train for about 8 years.
Our cork oaks in Lower Bidwell park were also harvested periodically; scars from a stripping performed in 1940 and again more recently are visible even now.
In addition to providing cork bark, cork oak groves in Portugal and Spain support another form of agriculture: their acorns provide sustenance to sheep, cattle, and especially hogs. A superior type of ham with a distinctive sought-after flavor is obtained from the Iberian pigs that feed on the fallen acorns.
Our local cork grove in Lower Bidwell Park provides a window into the past by hearkening back to the ancient farming traditions of the Mediterranean countries, and is a living legacy to John Bidwell's quest to, as local naturalist Rex Burress elegantly stated, grow plants “far from their native origins but brought together to mingle in a new habitat.” Best of all, in my opinion, is our cork oak grove's genetic bond to those trees that make a crucial contribution to good wine.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
A beautiful tree sits on the north side of Little Chico Creek, shading the picnic table at site #34 in Lower Bidwell Park. Its thick, smooth lower branches are perfect for climbing, and its form is both rounder and more symmetrical than its relatives at higher elevations. And its occurrence at our low altitude (elevation 197 feet) is rare.
Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy commanded a voyage of exploration and diplomacy from 1791 to 1795 which circumnavigated the globe and made contact with five continents. Madrone's species name honors the Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist, Archibald Menzies, who noted this tree during Vancouver's voyage of exploration. Menzies, who spent many years at sea serving with the Royal Navy and on private merchant ships, recognized its similarity to the European arbutus, A. unedo, which today is a popular landscape tree in Chico. Its red fruits are shaped like strawberries, and in fact the Spanish word madroño translates as “strawberry tree.” Other common names include madroa, madroo, madroña, and bearberry.
While all parts of the Pacific madrone are remarkable, its best-known characteristic is that it freely peels its outer bark. Once this skin-like outer layer is shed, the remaining bark is smooth and polished, with a distinctive reddish color. Young bark darkens to a deep red with age; younger stems can range from green to chartreuse, and young trunks are frequently orange. Older portions of the bark become a dark, brownish red. The deep color of the bark contrasts nicely with the tree's large, glossy, dark green foliage. In spring, sprays of small, bell-shaped white flowers adorn the branches, giving way to red berries in the autumn months.
The madrone has evolved an effective method of seed regeneration: each berry contains between three and 30 seeds, and when the berries dry they develop hooked barbs that can latch onto the fur and skin of passing mammals, hitching a ride to colonize new locations.
The Pacific madrone ranges in height from about 33 to 82 feet but can reach up to 100 feet or more in ideal conditions. In those perfect conditions, it can reach a thickness of 5 to 8 feet at the trunk, much like an oak tree. Ideal conditions include a sunny site such as a south or west facing slope with soil that is well drained and lime free.
The largest known specimen of Pacific madrone lived in Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve on the Big Sur Coast. At least 125 feet tall and more than 25 feet in circumference, and listed on the American Forests National Big Tree list, it sadly was severely burned in the 2016 Soberanes Fire.
Surviving Drought and Fire: At the base of its trunk, the Pacific madrone has a woody, globe-shaped, regenerative organ known as a burl. This structure is a peculiar adaptation to its forest habitat, which historically experienced regular burns at intervals averaging between 10 and 35 years. The Pacific madrone is susceptible to fire, but also relies on fire to regenerate. Its low resistance to fire is due to its thin bark. Conversely, repeated top-kill by fire encourages burl development, enhancing Pacific madrone survival - the burl serves as a source of stored carbohydrates for prolific postfire sprouts. These rise from dormant buds on the burl, and initially grow rapidly after a fire.
A massive, wide-spreading root system increases its ability to withstand summer drought. In fact, the tree prefers dry, well-draining soils and does not tolerate direct watering during the summer months. Once established, Pacific madrone is windfirm, drought enduring, and somewhat tolerant of wet, freezing conditions.
Native American Uses: The Concow tribe calls the tree dis-t?'-tsi or kou-wät′-chu. Native Americans sometimes ate the berries, but were more likely to make them into a type of cider, or chewed them to cleanse their mouths, since the berries' high tannin content makes them astringent. Madrone berries were used in necklaces and other decorations, and as bait for fishing. Tea made from the bark and leaves was used to treat stomach aches, cramps, skin ailments, and sore throats. The wood was used to make implements and it was particularly useful as firewood; its density and hardness ensures it burns long and hot -- even better than oak.
Pacific madrone is a particularly beautiful tree, with its reddish curved trunks supporting a broad, spreading crown of deep green leaves. It is most often seen as a single specimen tree displaying its finery among the more common Douglas fir and tanoak. It is currently declining throughout most of its range, unfortunately due to 100 years of forest fire control and urban development in its native habitat. We are lucky to have our lovely, rare specimen in Lower Bidwell Park.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
Summers are getting hotter in much of the U.S., including our local environment. One way to counteract this change in climate is by planting trees to provide more shade in the summer months. But adjusting to a shadier garden also means shifting to different plant choices. While it is true that most colorful garden flowers (like roses, zinnias, poppies, and hollyhocks) require full sun, there are still many options for blooms available to the shade gardener. White flowered gardenias and pink or blue flowering hydrangeas are common shade plants in our area. Here are some less obvious selections of shrubs that are easy to care for and can provide interest in the shade garden at different times of the year:
The genus Spiraea includes many species that do well in lightly shaded areas in our climate. There are two main types of Spiraea: those with long, graceful, arching branches lined with clusters of tiny white flowers (these are often referred to as the “bridal wreath type”); and those with a shrubby growth habit which produce clusters of white, pink or red blossoms at their branch ends. Both types are deciduous, and the leaves of many of these species turn bright shades of red, orange, or yellow in the fall.
Spiraea thunbergii is a bridal wreath type that can reach six feet high and wide, with many thin, arching branches. In early spring, the bare branches are lined with clusters of tiny white flowers. These are followed by very narrow, inch-and-a-half-long, blue-green leaves that turn yellow or reddish brown in the fall. Another stunning bridal wreath type is the fast-growing S. x vanhouttei. On this shrub, diamond-shaped blue-green leaves emerge first, followed by flat clusters of white blossoms covering the plant in mid to late spring.
By planting several different species of Spiraea, you can have blooming shrubs in shadier areas of the garden from early spring into summer, with the added bonus of beautiful fall-colored leaves, and often, brightly-colored bare stems in winter.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
Companion planting combines diverse plants in an informed manner to bring a balanced ecosystem into the garden. This approach to gardening has been used by organic gardeners for decades. The idea is to plant herbs and flowers with vegetables to create sustainable gardens with better crop yields.
The “three sisters,” corn, beans, and squash, are perhaps the best-known example of ideal plant companions. They support one another's growth, maximize the growing area's crop yield, and provide a solid diet for their cultivators.
Another well-known group of companions is that of legumes (like beans), with clover and alfalfa. Bacteria invade the root hairs of legumes and make nodules where these beneficial Rhizobium nitrogen-fixing bacteria live. The nitrogen these bacteria fix becomes available to the legume plant and the soil around its roots. Legumes can be worked into the soil, renewing and replacing nitrogen. This reduces the amount of manure and chemical fertilizers needed for heavy-feeding plants.
Companions can help prevent pest problems by repelling pests or attracting the beneficial insects needed to keep down the population of insect pests. Onions are one plant that repels some pests. Marigolds contain thiophene, which deters root nematodes. Chives planted alongside roses repel aphids. Nasturtiums act as a decoy crop for kale and tomatoes by attracting aphids away from the more desirable edibles (once the nasturtium plant has attracted aphids, it is removed from the garden before the aphid young develop wings). Aromatic herbs like basil, rosemary, lavender, and sage, will repel many pests. Mix these in with pest-susceptible plants. The presence of diverse plant species disrupts the ability of herbivorous insects to discover host plants for feeding or egg-laying. The time wasted on non-host plants reduces the reproductive efficiency of specialist insects.
Lists of specific companion plant combinations can be found on websites and in gardening books. Find the best friends for your garden plants, to create sustainable gardens with better yields. Remember to experiment, observe and record how these companions work in your own garden.
PLANT SALE! Mark your calendar for our plant sale on Saturday, May 18, 2024 from 9 am–noon. The sale will be held at the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch. The plants, which are selected to thrive in our climate, have been propagated by UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. For more information and a partial list of the plants that will available, visit our website.