- Author: Sharon L. Rico
In 2012, the Solano Master Gardeners held a class to make succulent boxes. We brought succulents from home and planted them in pre-made wooded boxes. The boxes had been constructed by volunteer Master Gardeners (or their husbands) who were gifted with building skills. The boxes were 6x6x3.5 inches, had a hardboard backing and ½ inch wire mesh on top. Everyone attending filled their boxes with soil, shared succulents and inserted them into the small spaces in the wire mesh. The group was loud and excited. It was a fun-filled, sharing, learning experience.
I came home so excited and mentioned to my husband that I wanted to make another succulent box BUT on a grander scale. Being the inventive and frugal person he is, he found a picture frame our neighbor had thrown in the trash, discovered some left over cement board in our garage and a yellowed piece of plastic lathe that was left over from building our patio. With those materials and a few screws, he created a succulent wall planter, 16x30x3 inches. He spray painted it ‘John Deere’ green so it would blend into the garden. It took awhile to fill each small opening in the lathe with the succulent cuttings I had been snipping from our garden. He placed two eye-hooks on each end of the box and hung it from the fence where two eye-bolts had been placed. This system makes rotating the box simple and keeps the soil inside from ‘slumping’. The first of each month, the box is taken down, placed across the top of our wheel barrow and watered thoroughly. We leave it flat for approximately an hour for the water to saturate the soil. Then it is hung in the opposite direction (using the eye-hooks on the opposite end).
This large succulent wall survived the winter with some minor frost damage. I did not cover it or provide protection last winter. This winter I plan to protect it with frost cloth or move the box into the garage. The frost damaged succulents were removed and NOT replaced. The plants not damaged have grown significantly and now cover the empty holes in the lathe.
The box has turned into a traveling planter, being a display item at the Dixon May Fair. When it returned home, it was not placed in the initial hanging spot. It presently hangs against the garden cottage wall next to the covered patio. It makes quite a statement as you walk down the brick pathway to enter the backyard garden.
- Author: Trisha Rose
I have been traveling a very inviting pathway to a building complex on the UC Davis complex quite a bit during the last few months. As I enter the complex I am put at ease at the sight of the hedges of shrub roses. The shrubs line the parking lots, pathways, and lawns surrounding the various buildings. These rose shrubs have been covered in rosy blooms of pink, despite the very hot temperatures since late May.
I am curious, these roses don't seam to have any disease issues, no black spot, rust, mildew or any aphids. Many years ago I planted two simple rose shrubs. They reminded me of the roses I had seen on my travels up the Mendocino coast. Those roses were leaning on wooden fence rails, tucked under window sills and sometimes stuck right out in an open field. The flowers from these bushy roses were usually a simple form, sometimes with just a few petals lying open to catch the sun. The bushes I planted then were also carefree and only required an annual dead-heading and pruning to keep them in-bounds from the bordering sidewalks and driveway. The roses were not full of thorns, but they weren't the type I would cut and put in a vase. The rose bushes I see now remind me of those simple roses of years ago.
As my husband and I contemplated retirement, and the time we would have to indulge in our hobbies, we both agreed the addition of roses to the gardens would be something we would both enjoy. We took long rides to the rose nurseries along Highway 92 near Half Moon Bay and chose many beautiful roses from the blooming selections. We mostly chose the hybrid tea roses with their elegant stems and glorious fragrant blooms. We placed these newcomers throughout the garden, even creating a bed of standard tree roses nearby the dining room windows, what a beautiful display they would provide.
These hybrid tea roses took a lot more time and effort than what I was used to with the simpler shrub roses of years ago. I expected more dead-heading and pruning to keep the elegant shape, but now I had many persistent disease issues that just wouldn't go away. I did discover that when a disease took over a hybrid tea, that severe pruning would not kill the plant. Roses are tough plants and many times would return with a vengeance, especially the really thorny ones. I also learned that if I pruned below the grafting point with the root stock, the pretty rose on top was no longer part of the plant, duh! So you live and learn. OK, now after about eight years with these hybrid tea roses, I am slowly replacing them with drought-tolerant perennials that actually like growing in USDA Zone 9b with only a little pruning to keep them in-bounds, similar to those bush roses I planted in the early 80's.
As I walk the parking lot and up the pathways, past the lawns and the bicycles, I am very tempted to add roses back to our garden. But this time they will be the bushy type shrub roses.
On the UC Davis campus I discovered Arboretum All-Stars program, also on line at arboretum.ucdavis.edu/arboretum_all_stars.aspx . A plant that makes it as an "All- Star" must be low maintenance, drought-tolerant, attract beneficial wildlife, and for trees be power-line friendly. You can search this group on line for more information on each plant in the program. At this site I found Rosa 'Korbin', Rosa 'Perle d'Or', Rosa 'Pink Gruss an Aachen' and my favorite, Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis' . The 'Mutabilis', aka Butterfly Rose, is particularly nice with an open canopy and multi-colored flowers. I have seen this shrub rose growing beautifully alongside various perennials, especially complimentary to many of the gray-green Mediterranean perennials I have seen on campus.
In the fall, when I usually add new plants to the garden, I will once again add roses back into the garden, but this time they will be shrub roses from the All-Star selections.
- Author: Betsy Buxton
We all have a plant that we’re willing to sell the kids for (or at least rent them out). Does this sound familiar to you? I sometimes feel that ya can’t be a dedicated gardener without one “gotta have” plant. Well, my plants are 2 roses. I know, everybody on the block seems to sell roses. BUT I don’t desire any old rose; no sir, I have my heart set on 2 roses that are somewhere in the world, but where?
My quest, on and off for 30 years, started when a dear friend of my mother’s gave her a cutting of ‘McGredy’s Yellow’. This particular rose was introduced in 1934 the father of the present Sam McGrady and was advertised at the time as a “buttercup” yellow. Unfortunately, the writer of captions in The Ultimate Rose Book by Stirling Macoboy disputes this description and claims, “Light lemon yellow would be more accurate in cool climates; in hot, the color could be very pale indeed.” He then continues on about “the rose has deteriorated with age and it takes real skill to grow it to perfection.”
Not will to take the experts on head first, I can tell you that in Santa Rosa, CA, that cutting grew into a magnificent rose bush with butter colored, large blooms. Maybe the bush never read the “expert” review!
Forward on to twenty years plus- years ago. I started to live in Vallejo in a house with a totally non-descript yard. Green foliage plants sparsely planted – no color and no interest. I got a cutting from my mother’s rose bush and as it grew, planted in the front yard next to the porch. I received lots of compliments from the neighbors when it bloomed. By the way, this is considered to large flowered tea rose. In fact, the rose bush was a major selling point when we sold the house. Just one proviso from the buyer: DON’T TOUCH THE ROSE BUSHES, ESPECIALLY THE YELLOW ONE! Okey dokey, will do!
I figured I could always get another rose. WRONG! I have looked all over the internet: finally found two sources! Yea, the looking is almost over –NOT! Both sources: Beales in England and Vintage Gardens in Sebastopol, ca, appear to be gone! Beales never answered by emails (Peter has died) and Vintage Gardens is holding its going-out-of-business sale this month, limited to stock on hand.
Lucky for all of us that Darrell Schramm is a Master Gardener; he also belongs to the Heritage Rose Group. One of the members is running my plea to anyone for cuttings. My fingers are crossed.
Of course, I can go back to the old homestead and see if “my” rose bush is still there. But I don’t to be the crazy old lady having the hissy fit if it isn’t.
The other rose that I had to leave behind over 30 years ago is the ‘Sunset Jubilee’, another rose that is not in production anymore. Jackson & Perkins introduced it in the mid 60’s to honor Sunset Magazine. After a couple of years they renamed it and now positively state they never had such a rose with such a name even when confronted with an old copy of Sunset’s Rose Care Book with the rose on the cover. That search I’m saving for later!
- Author: Jennifer Baumbach
Sometimes interesting plants are right under you nose. Being a horticulturalist, I always have my eyes scanning people's landscapes looking over plants in hopes of seeing something new and interesting. In my own neighborhood, I have spied a plant that is unfamiliar to me. I am waiting to see it bloom again this year. Maybe by then I will have the courage to stop and ask my neighbor what the plant is. I hope they don't think I am some psycho. Not the case-just a complete plant nerd!
About two streets to the East of where I live, at the corner of Pitt School Road and H Street, is there is this eclectically landscaped yard. There was this older woman who would be out in the yard tending to it. She would water, weed or prune this or that. It has been a while since I have seen her out there. I assume she is either ill or passed away. I figured that whoever was living there now might change the landscape, but fortunately, they haven't and they have kept up on its maintenance!
The plants in the yard are a crazy mix from the regular geranium, to the exotic, succulent fig to the two fabulously gigantic agaves which are the specimens of this yard. I am sure anyone from Dixon knows the location of these two plant wonders. Many might think of the yard as a jumble, but to a plant lover like me, it is indeed interesting.
The agaves (Agave americana) always catch my eye. They are especially stunning when they put off a flower. Unfortunately, they are semelparious in nature, which means they flower once and then die. The plant can put off seed, and endeavors to live on by putting off suckers or adventitious shoots.
The reason the agave is so interesting to me is the massive amount of plant there is. It takes a lot of energy to produce such a behemoth. Maybe that is why by the time it flowers, it just doesn't have enough steam to carry on. This also disproves the misnomer of Century Plant, as this agave lives only about 10-30 years versus 100.
If you ever get a gander of these agave, check out their leaves. They are about 6 feet in length tipped with a dagger of a point at the end, which can cut to the bone if you had the misfortune to encounter it. One variety of the agave is a grey-green and the other is the variegated yellow (Agave americana 'Marginata') and grey. Both have the towering flower spike and are putting on their show now.
- Author: Karen Metz
The concept of edible landscaping has been growing in popularity for the last few decades. It proposes that we integrate edible plants into our regular landscape design and plantings. Its proponents argue that since plant-able soil is at a premium for many people, using all our space makes sense. They also point out that in addition to helping us eat healthier by growing some of our own fruit and vegetables, many of these plants are downright pretty.
I found myself on the flip-side of edible landscaping the last few years. I have two raised beds, six by six feet in my back yard that I have grown herbs and vegetables in for years. Several years ago I bought some dahlia tubers at the San Francisco Garden Show. When I got them home, I realized I didn't know where I could plant them. Front and side yards all had established plantings that weren't amenable to some potentially four foot neighbors. I decided to put them in the very back of my raised vegetable beds. Over the years, I got a few more varieties. I thought the foliage and flowers made a nice backdrop for my vegetables.
Then I saw some corms for the most beautiful two-toned gladiolas. I tried a few in the front yard but they kept getting blown over by the wind. The backyard seemed my only solution. I reasoned that since the leaves were tall but slender I really shouldn't have to worry too much about shading out my vegetables. I planted them in a big line right across the front of both raised beds.
The first year was beautiful and my plan worked well. Gradually though the gladiolas multiplied and I found myself with a thick wall of foliage last year. I tried pulling the foliage to each side of the tomatoes to try and let some sunlight in, but it was the worst year for tomatoes I had ever had.
After growing season, I dug up the gladiolas, gave some away and replanted some farther back in the bed in little clumps not solid rows. When it came time to put in the tomatoes this year, I placed them on the edges and right in front. This year the tomatoes are doing much better.
Just to let you know I am a firm believer in edible landscaping. In other parts of the yard I have a fig, a crabapple and an olive tree. I have pomegranate and pineapple guava shrubs and some smaller blueberry bushes. I have artichoke, and lavender plants and some herbal plants and ground-covers.
I love food and I love flowers. As long as we can give them the soil, the light, and the water they need, they will get along just fine.