By Yvonne Rasmussen, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
What flowers in the dead of winter in Napa County? With few pollinators active then, it's not a great time to have flowers that need pollination. Also, the weather is dicey. It could be cold or icy or raining and blowing. But surprisingly, many plants do bloom between late fall and very early spring. So with a little planning. you can have flowers in your winter garden and fresh-cut flowers to bring indoors.
Camellias, cyclamen, primroses and pansies are all blooming in nurseries now. But don't be fooled. Some of these plants have been forced into bloom using light or greenhouse conditions. They may not repeat that winter performance once naturalized in your garden.
The camellia shrub's glossy evergreen leaves provide a wonderful contrast to its flowers, which bloom in various shades of pink, red and white. The flowers come in many color patterns and bloom times and the shrubs take a variety of shapes. According to the American Camellia Society, there are more than 4000 cultivars. You can search the society's website for a camellia that suits you, basing your search on up to 14 plant characteristics.
To find other hardy winter-blooming shrubs with low water needs, I turned to the UC Davis Arboretum All Star listing and the Sacramento Master Gardener's website. The Arboretum All Star plants have been grown and evaluated at the UC Davis Arboretum and are designated as All Stars based on their ease of care and low water needs. Many are California natives but others are from locations around the world that have similar climates and seasonal drought.
Plants from areas that have a Mediterranean-type climate like ours, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, often do well here. When choosing plants from these lists, pay attention to the specific cultivar or variety. The variety may have been developed for specific conditions, such as low water availability, low light or heavy soil. Or it may have other characteristics that distinguish it from the norm, such as smaller size or early bloom time.
Among the California native shrubs that bloom in winter, consider manzanita. It produces its small pink urn-shaped flowers in late winter through early spring. Bees love them. Mahonia is another possibility. It offers large sprays of small aromatic yellow flowers from fall through early winter. Witch hazel blooms from October through March and can tolerate temperatures in the single digits.
For low-growing plants in shade, consider hellebore, also known as Lenten rose, or Algerian iris (Iris ungulicuarus). Both bloom from late fall through early spring. Algerian iris make wonderful cut flowers for bringing indoors.
For bedding plants, you could choose primroses, which bloom in many colors. Make sure they are English primroses if you want winter bloom.
Cyclamen is another great bedding plant that flowers in many shades of pink, red and white. The plant themselves come in various sizes with leaves that may be variegated, rufflee or plain. If you're looking for annuals, viola and pansies bloom all winter in a variety of colors.
Last but not least, there are many bulbs, corms and rhizomes that will bloom from winter through spring and into summer. Many of these can naturalize given some summer shade under deciduous trees or shrubs. They provide a surprise in the garden each winter and spring when they reappear after being dormant all summer. Bright blue-purple crocus, white narcissus and yellow daffodils can create swaths of color over long periods if you plan well.
Winter does not have to be a dull, dreary, colorless time in the garden. Many easy-care plants can bring you flowers even in the dead of winter.
Library Talk: UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a free talk via Zoom on Thursday, January 6, from 7 pm to 8 pm, on “Introduction to Espalier.” The espalier technique is a great way to grow fruit in limited space and makes care and harvesting easier. Learn how to plan, plant and maintain an espaliered fruit tree in your landscape. Register at http://ucanr.edu/2022JanEspalier.
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
- Author: Alison Collin
Saffron, that most exotic and expensive of spices can be grown commercially only where the cost of the intense labor needed for harvesting can be provided cheaply enough to make the crop cost effective. Much of the modern supply comes from Iran, India, and Spain, but it has a long history having been cultivated in Crete and ancient Egypt. An English town, Saffron Waldon, was so named because it was the center of cultivation in that country during the 16th century.
However, given the right conditions it can be easily and successfully grown in USA zones 5-8 which covers much of the Owens Valley, but one has to be prepared for the challenge of harvesting which is a tedious business! A local gardener grows them successfully in Bishop Community Garden, and even if you don't use them for saffron the flowers are pretty.
The orange threads of the spice are the stigmas (not the stamens) of Crocus sativus, a Fall blooming crocus with violet flowers and yellow stamens. Three long orange stigmas are held in each flower. The flowers are picked as soon as they are well out and are carefully cut open, which enables the stigmas to be extracted with tweezers. It is recommended that these be placed in a dish or on a paper towel to dry after which they should be kept in an airtight container in a dark place since sunlight degrades them. Apparently they do need to be dried before use. When I grew them I tried using them fresh, and found the flavor lacking.
Many catalogs now offer these corms, which should be planted during the dormant season. It takes 75,000 stigmas to produce one pound of saffron, so it is difficult to recommend how many the home gardener should begin with since it depends on expected usage and space available, but it is generally suggested that one should start with about two dozen corms. Make sure that you buy only Crocus sativus which should not be confused with other fall blooming crocus species, or the autumn-flowering Colchicum which is toxic. The corms are fairly large for a crocus, and are dormant in the summer and then send up flowers and narrow grassy leaves as the weather cools — around the end of September in Bishop. After blooming the leaves continue to grow for a time — they are frost hardy — and the bulbs multiply before the plants die down when temperatures heat up the following year. At this point they should be kept fairly dry because they tend to rot if wet, but occasional irrigation might be warranted in our desert climate.
They prefer sandy soil, and should be planted when dormant, about 4” deep and 4” apart in a spot which receives about 6
Interestingly Crocus sativus is an entirely cultivated species which does not occur in the wild. The corms multiply rapidly under ideal conditions, but it is a triploid so it does not set seed since its chromosomes can't pair up properly.
Not only are the stigmas used as a flavoring, but they are also used as a dye for fabric, for making perfumes, and in some places they are used in herbal medicine.
Why not give it a try?