Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your question about the change in the appearance of your rose blossoms.
The most common reason for a change in the appearance of rose blossoms is root stock take over, and we suspect this may be the case with your rose. It is not unusual for the rootstock rose to send up suckers and even take over the preferred rose.
Many roses are grafted. This means that a bud from a preferred species is grafted to the rootstock of a different species usually known for its vigor and longevity. Any shoots that grow from stems above the graft union will produce flowers from the preferred species. But any shoot that grows from stems or below the graft union will produce flowers from the rootstock. The two will usually differ in flowers and foliage form and color. You can trace the canes from the rootstock to their point of origination and remove them; otherwise, they will eventually replace the preferred species.
Here are some helpful links to UC information on rose care:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7465.html
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/rose.html
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7463.html
If rootstock takeover doesn't appear to be the cause of the change in your rose blossoms, please give us a call and let us know and we can discuss further.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SLH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk.
You sent a photo of a plant for us to identify. It is rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). While it's not native to California (it originated in the Mediterranean area), it is very well adapted to California's similar Mediterranean climate. Its flowers range in color from various shades of blue to even pink and white. Its growth habit ranges from stiff and erect, rounded, or low and creeping, depending on variety or cultivar.
This plant is also the rosemary used for seasoning food, however some varieties taste better than others. Bees are attracted to the flowers and make excellent honey when feeding on them.
Good drainage and full sun are essential for a healthy rosemary plant. The links following will take you to more information about growing rosemary: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/rosemary.html and http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Rosemary/.
Happy gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your question about compost.
You said that your compost bin is not getting hot. If the compost pile is not heating up, then the pile is too wet or too dry or there is not enough green material (or nitrogen) present. If too wet, the material should be spread out to dry. If too dry, add moisture to make it “spongy”. If neither of these, then the nitrogen is low and this can be corrected by adding materials high in nitrogen (lawn cuttings, etc.).
You asked whether you can place materials which are not fully composted into the garden bed. My comment was that yes this is possible, but that it will draw nitrogen from the soil to continue the composting process in the garden bed. Also, heat is the driving force to kill funguses or other living material in the pile prior to placing it in the vegetable bed.
We discussed making sure there is enough nitrogen present in the composting contents. The document linked below on rapid composting discusses this –
https://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/compost_rapidcompost.pdf
And here is a link on composting basics that you might also find informative:
http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/composting/composting_basics/
Free Recycle Smart Compost Class: You might also be interested in the compost class offered by Recycle Smart. The class is free, and was developed to help residents understand the importance of organics recycling, build composting systems, recycle food and yard waste at their homes, build healthy urban soils and support thriving landscapes. For APPLICATION, dates and more information visit www.RecycleSmart.org/CompostSmart. The application deadline for the next class is February 22, 2019.
Good luck on your compost. Please do not hesitate to contact the Help Desk if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (MCW)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
MGCC's Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program's Help Desk about the grubs in your planters. Grubs are primarily pests of lawn grass, preferring turf grass roots to other plants. While they will feed on other plants' roots, they typically are not a big problem in planters.
It's not unusual to find grubs in your soil in the winter. The larvae overwinter in the soil, and emerge in late spring and summer. Your picking them out of the soil and leaving them on top for the birds was exactly the right thing to do. You don't need to discard the soil. Most gardens can tolerate some grubs in the soil, unless the population becomes very high.
For more information about grubs in a vegetable garden MGCC Help Desk covered previously, follow this link: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25191. Included in that link is another link to using beneficial nematodes to control grubs if you find you continue to have problems.
Happy gardening! Please contact us again if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk. You asked if you should be concerned about artichokes being an invasive plant. Invasive artichoke thistles are certainly a problem in many Bay Area parks and open spaces. Here is more information artichoke thistles from the California Invasive Plant Council:
https://www.cal-ipc.org/resources/library/publications/ipcw/report38/.
You also asked if other parts of the plant are edible. While the leaves and stems of the artichoke plant could be eaten, the leaves are very prickly and the stems are very tough. We grow them just for the very tasty immature flowers. Many people include several inches of the stem when they harvest artichokes. Unless the artichokes are very young, the stems will probably need to be peeled to be edible, but they can be a nice extension of the tasty heart.
Cardoon, a variety of the artichoke thistle, is grown for its edible stems (and even these can be tough), but has the possibility of escaping because its small and the spiny flowers are not eaten and the seed can disperse to other locations.
Please let us know if you have more questions.
Happy gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.