- Author: Jennifer Hansford
Part 1
BREATHTAKING would be the word I used for Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden which was one of our destinations during our Thailand Vacation. Over 2,500 acres, this garden is situated at the edge of the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park in Chaing Mai. The garden sprawls over a hillside reaching the highest point (in a conservation zone) at about 4,000 ft.
Surrounding this area are gardens, twelve glasshouses, trails, and natural vegetation ranging from hill evergreen through dry dipterocarp forest (family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of tropical lowland rainforest) to pine forest found in the higher elevation.
Within the garden we explored walking trails, gardens and glasshouses all displaying a diversity of plants either in their natural settings or arranged according to a theme or classification.
The Queen's Botanic Garden's focus is strengthening “ex situ” (outside, off site, away from the natural location) conversation of valuable Thai flora. Where they have breeding programs for native Thai orchids.
Our first stop in the botanical garden was a “Canopy Walk,” which is a trail made of steel, mesh metal, glass, and fiberglass (stretches for approximately 1,211 feet), winds through the jungle canopy, providing a bird's-eye view of the forest below. As you stroll along, you will feel like you are living among the wildlife, surrounded by the vibrant foliage.
Of course, there was scenic vista overlook and walkways which provide stunning viewpoints.
There was wildlife but you needed to keep your eyes peeled for fascinating creatures! While we did not spot any “flying dragons” (Draco Maculatus divergens) also known as a flying lizard during our visit, they are known to inhabit the area. this was the beginning of our adventure in the gardens!
In my next article, I will talk about the incredible gardens arranged in themes!
- Author: Brenda Altman
Rain makes the Flowers grow
Poppies are hardy survivors
They are back! A little traffic island on Georgia Street in Vallejo is again a home for the California State flower: the Golden Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)! Every year this brilliant eruption of orange poppies appears! Nature is working hard to make us smile; when I drive by them, I smile back.
Where did these beautiful flowers come from? There is no cut out in the concrete island, there is no soil, there are no hanging baskets, how do they survive? Look closely and you can see where they are anchored. They are growing between the cracks of the concrete! Originally the first seeds were probably windblown and took hold in the small concrete cracks, found some soil, and sprouted. The poppies must like it here because they reseed every year!
Poppies are easy to grow and are drought tolerant. They will grow almost anywhere where they can get at least 6 hours of sun. They need little water and germinate in the fall after the first rains or in the spring when the soil warms. They will self-germinate if they find the soil and other conditions favorable. You may have several years of golden poppy heaven before you have to re-seed. Ideally, they prefer sandy well drained soil but as you can see, they are pretty good in almost any soil. They flower February through September.
I guess these poppies could be considered a weed. A weed is an unintended, unwanted plant. If the City wanted the poppies, they would have put a flower planter there. Unintended but unwanted? I think it is a wanted plant. I enjoy them! I am sure their bright colors bring joy to everyone who sees them.
Now is the time to look for and plant poppies! There are other varieties of poppies white, red, and other colors. A packet of 50 seeds costs less than $4.00. Re-wild our open spaces with our State Flower!
This small wonderland of poppies in an urban setting is spectacular.
If you get a chance visit amazing super blooms now erupting throughout California. According to the LA Times, Lancaster CA has some spectacular displays of poppies. For up to date info on super blooms visit: https://www.parks.ca/gov
- Author: Michelle Davis
The last week of February this year was designated National Invasive Species Awareness Week. While it states “National” in its title, it really is international, since many species are imported into areas where they were never intended to be. Nancy Olmsted, Invasive Plant Biologist,
Maine Natural Areas Program, Maine Dept. Of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, defined invasive as “A non-native species whose introduction causes economic or environmental harm, or harm to human health, and which can establish and spread in minimally managed habitats.” She is talking about plants, but this definition can be extended to the creatures that travel in on or with these plants too.
You may be thinking now of the wild mustard seen in Napa, Solano and Yolo vineyards this time of year or the star thistle that covers Solano hillsides in the summer. The California Invasive Plant Council has a good-size list with pictures https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/profiles/ . A shorter list is available onPlantRight®, https://plantright.org/about-invasive-plants/plant-list/ . Some Master Gardeners have worked with PlantRight® in big box store nurseries in the not-to-recent past to identify the invasive plants being sold at the stores. A more recent threat is the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)and a pest that came along with it, the Spotted Lanternfly. An upcoming Statewide UC Master Gardener program will be addressing these two. Many plants are imported and don't cause any problems. Some are imported and later cause problems that were not foreseen. I have a large black acacia in my backyard that I bought from a Vacaville nursery years ago. It was not on any invasive species list when I bought it. It is now quite large and sprouts root suckers (clones) that I whack off on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the tree also produces seeds that birds can disperse. Rain runoff can also spread the seeds as can my own shoes. The tree, my tree, is now on Cal-IPC's list. A 2013 study reported that 60% of the invasive plants were deliberately imported. (Lehan et al. 2013. Am. Journal of Botany 100(7): 1287-1293).
A short list of problems related to the invasive plants and critters they attract includes the following:
They out-compete the natives and alter the habitat so that native plants and the creatures that survive on them can no longer live. Some of you may have read Braiding Sweetgrass and can recall the author's cleanup of a water land on her own property in New York state. Many creatures returned after her backbreaking work to get rid of the non-natives to make the water clean and clear again.
Desired plants can be choked to death by invasive vining plants or their surrounding soil can be poisoned by invasive plants.
Invasive plants can attract invasive creatures that eat what is required by part of the native food web be it plant or another creature.
Invasive plants and animals can totally alter native habitat. I immediately think of kudzu in the South and Burmese pythons in the Everglades.
Invasive plants can fuel wildfires. Grasses that have overtaken open areas, and eucalyptus trees and their debris are just a couple of examples of potential fuel. Cal-IPC.org estimates the cost of just trying to mitigate the problem through education/outreach, monitoring and control at $82 million a year. That does not include the cost of wildfires!
Preventing spread of invasive plants and creatures is key. Here are a few ideas.
Check the plant you want to buy to ensure that it is not invasive. There are knowledgeable plant nursery gardeners and reference guides that will help you to “plant this and not that”.
Clean your shoe treads and clothing when working near invasive plants. Clean your boat when you come ashore, so that invasive creatures will be left where they were picked up initially. Signs encourage this at Lake Solano Park.
If you love a plant that is identified as invasive, find a version of it that is sterile. For example, many new butterfly bush varieties are now listed as sterile and not capable of reproducing.
Prune suckers and dig up offshoots while they are small. Yank out seedlings when you see them.
Do not compost invasive plants. They belong in the gray toter.
- Author: Tina Saravia
As i sit here facing our large window looking at the front yard, I can see new growth on the nasturtium, light green leaves on the tip of the passionflower vine, I can feel spring coming our way. The sun is shining brightly. According to the weather app, the temperature will go to a high of 64°, with a 47% of rain.
I've started my first batch of seeds, I'll have to check if any have sprouted. The fava bean (Vicia faba) plants I sowed in early winter have continued to grow and covered bare surfaces.
As I'm writing this, the sun has decided to hide behind the dark clouds. The rain is coming. I can feel it in my bones, as the old timers used to say. And now the sun is out again. I love the anticipation of spring. It's a promise of brighter days.
Yesterday, I saw our first California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) blooms. It won't be long before the front yard is carpeted with bright, orange flowers.
I can't wait to use my new tree identification book that I bought last fall, “A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among Us.” I learned about this book from the tree class I attended last fall at the UC Master Gardener Conference. It's the best tree identification book I've seen in a long time. By the time I ordered the book and it's arrival, the trees I wanted to identify have already lost their leaves and gone dormant.
Our chickens have started laying eggs again. Chickens are great at scratching the ground and eating weeds, and giving us manure. They are my overall best garden helpers.
The sun is hidden again, I'll have to wait a little longer.
- Author: Karen Metz
In February I took out the last of my tomato plants. Some I had removed in December when we were threatened with a multiple day freeze. But I had left the Sweet 100, Yellow Pear and an Early Girl that was tangled up between those two. The Sweet 100 and the Yellow Pear had done well in spring, but were very lackluster in summer and only seemed to start producing again in late fall. That is why I had left them in the ground so long, trying to get every last fruit that I could.
I pulled them up and noticed that the roots seemed odd, with multiple swellings. I hit the books, mainly Pests of the Garden and Small Farm by Louise Flint, a University of California Publication. I also went to the UC ANR IPM website and found that I was probably dealing with Root Knot Nematodes, Meloidogyne spp. These are tiny worms that lay eggs and feed in plant roots. They have a six-stage life cycle. Their presence stimulates the roots to make more cells which lead to the swellings or knots that we see. The nematodes can also move out into the soil. I did open up some of the lesions, see picture. I couldn't see any of the pinpoint sized females which can sometimes be found and are described as being pearly. I did not have a dissecting microscope and I suspect February is not the optimum time to see them.
A root knot nematode infestation reduces a plant's ability to take up water and nutrients, which explained why the plants didn't do well in the stress of the summer heat. It didn't kill the plants but it did decrease vigor and yield. Root knot nematodes are very common in California soil. They grow vigorously in warm temperatures. I suspect if I had pulled the plants up earlier, when temperatures were warmer, the knots would have been even more impressive.
There are many management techniques to decrease root knot nematode levels and many seem to work better in combinations. Allowing an area to go unplanted or fallow for one to two growing seasons can decrease levels. You do have to keep the area weeded as many weeds are host to the root knot nematode. A very extreme form of soil solarization is helpful but very difficult to achieve the high temperatures needed.
Planting French Marigolds, Tagetes patula, as a rotation crop with a thick solid planting in an infected area, can decrease most root knot nematode levels. Just interplanting them between other vegetables was not effective.
Planting resistant varieties seems to be the key. Look for the letters following the variety name when you buy the tomato seeds or seedlings. You will frequently see V and F indicating resistance to Verticillium and Fusarium diseases. But you need to look for varieties that also have an N to denote Nematode resistance. They are a fair number out there. Celebrity and Better Boy are resistant varieties and generally fairly easy to find. I found that only one of the varieties that I had grown last season was nematode resistant; that was Carmello which had done well.
So, I think I will not grow any tomatoes in their usual raised bed home this coming season. I'll try and plant French marigolds in their place. Since I have to have some tomatoes, I will grow a few in containers this year. The following year I will try to plant resistant varieties back in my raised bed. I will also try to do better with irrigation since water stressed plants are more sensitive to root knot nematode damage. I will also try and remove plants from the soil much earlier. Hopefully this combination of things will give me better results in the future.
For more information on Root Knot Nematodes please refer to the Nematode Pest Note at ipm.ucanr.edu