- Author: Jennifer Baumbach
The UC Master Gardeners have upcoming presentations:
- Suisun Public Library, 601 Pintail Drive. 10:30-11:30am. Master Gardeners will talk about pruning of roses and trees. December 19 (this Saturday)
- Liberty High School Open Greenhouse, 351 East J Street, Benicia. 12:30-3pm. MGs will show you the refurbished greenhouse and the projects they have been engaging the students with. January 20, 2016.
- Benicia Public Library, 150 E. L Street. 5:30-6:30 pm. Master Gardeners will talk about Vegetable Gardening. March 10.
- UC Cooperative Extension office, 501 Texas Street, 9am until 12 noon. MGs will have their annual Succulent Exchange. Please propagate and bring plants you grow at home to share with the public and the Master Gardeners. We will also have a MarketPlace where you can purchase items that MGs have created or donated. Cash or check only. April 16, 2016.
- Author: Karen Metz
Late this fall, I spotted something sprouting in my pot of Clivia, Clivia miniata. Now I don't know about you all, but trying to identify seedlings is pretty difficult for me. They all look pretty much alike. Now my Clivia hadn't been doing great in this drought. I don't think it has ever bloomed for me. Now here was this invader. I decided to let it grow and see what it was. As it grew it looked familiar, but I still couldn't quite place it. When it bloomed and then started to make it's small fruit I knew exactly what it was, Tomatillo or Physalis ixocarpa.
Now what is interesting is that I hadn't grown any tomatillo in my garden this year, although I usually do. I am not sure whether the seed blew in from one of my neighbors, was brought in by birds, or had lain dormant from previous year's harvests. It's also not the right time for tomatillos. It's a summer garden plant. I think it must have been some of the unseasonably warm fall days we had that sparked the germination. According to one resource it said tomatillo seeds could germinate in 5 days.
I was intrigued by this happening. Hey at least something was blooming in that pot. So I've let it be, I am always impressed with the curve balls nature seems to throw at us.
- Author: Trisha Rose
What a sweet surprise. Something I have mentioned in previous blogs, "look at neighbor's gardens for inspiration". I chose a Blue Hibiscus for my front entry this past spring because one of my neighbor's has this plant successfully growing in her front garden. I started with a one gallon plant from a nearby nursery and planted in native soil. In spite of the heat and restricted hand watering, my new hibiscus is thriving. So much so that I need to give it another haircut. It has been in the ground barely 5 months and has spread at least 5 feet across and 4 feet tall. It would be taller but I trimmed it back a couple of months ago. The flowers are actually a mix of purple shades and just keep coming. It still has plenty of buds and has given the bees a happy place to forage. I've also seen hummers nearby but not actually sipping nectar yet. The flowers have a texture like crepe paper. When I first started researching this plant the references mixed it up with "Rose of Sharon", Hibiscus syriacus. I compared the flowers and found the stigma is more pronounced with the syriacus, it also shows a deeper purple surrounding the center of the flower whereas the blue hibiscus shows only one color.
Native to Australia and properly known as Alyogyne huegelii this drought tolerant perennial fits well in our local landscape and thrives. It is hardy down to 23 degrees, so give it cover in areas where you expect prolonged frost/freeze. The Sunset Western Garden Book states that only 2% of the globe shares our Mediterranean climate. This hibiscus along with Alyssum, Grevillea, kangaroo paw from Australia, Cape plumbago, Kniphofia, Leucospermum, and lion's tail from South Africa, and from the Mediterranean, rock rose and herbs, rosemary , sage and thyme, are all recommended as stellar plants for our local climate. I grow many of these myself and they have done well so far with little water. Just watch for prolonged frost or freeze conditions as most cannot tolerate the colder temperatures any length of time.
- Author: Betty Victor
A visit to the Grass Valley, Nevada City area a few weeks ago gave us the chance to see the UCCE master gardens of Nevada County demonstration garden in Grass Valley. We had heard about this garden from Sherry Richards, who was a Master Gardener in Grass Valley when she lived in that area. She now is one of our UCCE Master Gardeners- Solano County.
This garden in on an acre of land that the Nevada County Irrigations Department is letting the Master Gardeners use for this garden. Nevada County Irrigation also supplies the water free of charge to them.
As you walk down on a slight hill to the garden, you see different areas of plants, trees and landscaped paths that the Master Gardeners have work in. Each section seemed to me to be devoted to different plants. Most have stakes in front of them with the name of the plant you are looking at.
One garden has a vine covered arbor with a bench; I was surprised to see growing in this garden is a small red Japanese maple tree that grows in the sun according to the tag on it.
There is an orchard with a small fig tree being espaliered and some apple trees growing as well. Also an area of oak trees, I wondered if that was an oak habitat. A large grape vine was growing on a covered structure.
Behind an enclosed screened area which you can walk through. But before you do that-there is a warning at the entrance- a sign- to look but do not take any of the produce or flowers that are growing. Most plants were growing in containers. On this sign it says “the garden is not a public or community garden for harvesting anything other than ideas”. The vegetables that are grown in this area are donated to the local food bank.
On the outside of this screened area, there was a border with a sign that said “Rockery Garden”, inside this border there are small to medium size rocks with succulents and native plants growing- all drought tolerant, needing full sun and deer resistant.
Tucked behind a small building there are 2 chairs and a table for relaxing, maybe after a hard day's work.
A large covered structure with a cement floor featuring a sign on it that says “Nevada County Master Gardeners, U.C. Cooperative Extension Demonstration Garden, Nevada Irrigation District”. You can't miss the inside where there was a long bench that looked to be the ideal place to hold their many garden demonstrations for the public.
From what I saw, it looks to be a real cooperation between Nevada City Irrigation local business's and the Master Gardeners. There is a large shed with individual signs that have the names of all the major donors who have helped this garden.
Because of the time of year we visited, not many things were in bloom. Yet I could see the love and devotion from all who have a part in this to make this garden what it is and what more it will be.
- Author: Lowell Cooper
Being a tourist can be a strange experience, as in some ways it should be. We (my wife and I) just came back from 3 weeks in Madagascar – long enough to have reasonably varied experiences but not long enough to have much perspective on what we were experiencing. The country was quite friendly to our overtures of conversation and interest, and at the same time we weren't there quite long enough to tell if what we were seeing and hearing held true.
For instance, the roads were a complete mess and in places undriveable, even though our driver was quite skilled and we got around without mishap. We did, however, spend several harrowing hours traveling on the notorious ‘chicken' bus – a van for 10 with about 20 people in it including a mountain of stuff tied to the roof, as in chicken coups, tires, and luggage and whatever else could be held down by ropes. It was stifling hot. But it got us where we wanted to go after several hours of fascinating driving through gorgeous mountains and villages, by the end of which we were mainly concentrating on our very full bladders. At one point we witnessed a bus having just gone off a mountainside with many people trying to figure out how to get to the injured. No AAA to call. Was all the road experience just par for life in Madagascar, or were the local people also on edge about how to survive road travel?
On the other side, the mountain driving was quite beautiful. Long expanses of forest, rice fields, no traffic, and small villages along the way. So here was the wonderful side of being in a relatively undeveloped country. In general there were hardly any cars. The tourist spots had some, the cities had a fair share, but the village areas were one main street with vendors lining both sides of the road, and just about everyone on foot. I had the impression that the overall economy was poor. This was confirmed when we talked with people who said that the government couldn't be relied on to provide road repair or much education or much in the way of civic projects. Foreign money had dried up after donors realized that the money was going into bureaucrats' pockets. So village life was subsistence farms. The place was in many ways out of another century.
One of the other rather eerie experiences happened when driving through the countryside. There were fires. Lots of them. Apparently, and we couldn't verify this any more than hearing it from more than one person, that setting fires was a form of social protest against the government for one policy or another. It is also quite possible that the fires were set (also) to foster the growth of new grass. Some of the fires were quite large and looked like they stretched over many acres – especially near the national parks. The parks were apparently a flash point since the government was wanting to move people to protect the parks – flora and fauna. The lemurs lived there and were a joy to see and track. The national parks and the lemurs are a big tourist draw and there was good reason to protect them. We couldn't tell how the government was responding to protest by fire.
We never felt in danger – perhaps foolishly – and went freely where we wanted. We didn't have much time to really take advantage of this privilege, but it was nice to think it was available.
The island-country had the natural biological advantage of isolation. The natural surroundings had some rather unique features – one of which were the lemurs, many species. The flora were also at moments quite extraordinary. The baobabs (Adansonia digitata) were quite numerous in some areas and they are so unusual to look at that they never ceased to attract our attention. They have edible fruit and the bark is used for paper, rope and cloth. Because the canopy is so distinct with no branches coming out of the trunk at a lower level, the tree has the appearance of being upside-down, as if the roots are on top. The smaller varieties grow in the company of other more ordinary looking trees. Some species can apparently grow quite tall, as in the attached picture, and quite old – maybe 950 years.
I believe that 6 of the nine varieties live in Madagascar; all different sized and somewhat different shapes. Most are amongst other plants, but this so-called avenue of the baobobs (in the picture) is almost mystical, especially at sunset, in its other-worldly colors and size. They are a draw for local people as well as foreign tourists and there is a village community nearby the ‘'sacred' street, with goats and other domestic animals grazing in nearby pools. For me, this was as moving as temples in India.
Another spectacular plant, ravenala (Ravenala madagascazriensis)or “travellers palm” is the national symbol of the country. It is very striking; I hope the picture conveys some of this. Very tall and fan-like. There is some controversy about where it belongs botanically, but some put it in the plant family Streliziaceae. It is not really a palm but the fan is striking and the plant is quite wide-spread. It is called ‘travellers palm' because apparently the branches hold water which desperate traveller can access. But this is not advisable, better take bottled water.
I have many other impressions which I could share, but I have to say, that the flora and fauna seem undeniably real, different and special. The various events surrounding the people I feel less confident about. I'll just have to go back and spend more time there, so I can verify or disprove my observations.