By Mathew Navarro

Looking for a plant who produces large, fragrant, white flowers from Summer through Autumn? How about a plant that requires little care due to its indigenous roots? What about a perennial that can be used as a ground cover, or as a scrambling erosion controller? Look no further than Jimson weed/moon flower/Datura wrightii.

The common name, moonflower, likely derives from its habit of blooming at night. These ephemeral flowers attract crepuscular and nocturnal pollinators alike, making them ideal for the gardener who loves viewing nature and drinking a night beverage. Two summers ago my mom and I had the great pleasure of watching a hummingbird and a giant spotted hawk moth gorge themselves in the massive flowers. Perhaps you need a D. wrightii planted beside a comfortable chair or window.

Some may recognize the genus Datura from Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear. Without spoiling the story, I'll wager sacred Datura has likely affected the course of human history more than we have nudged its own fantastic evolution. Indigenous cultures throughout North America have used this plant for healing and ceremonial purposes. This is to say, all parts of the plant, if ingested, are toxic, even for a highly trained medicine woman.

Maintenance includes: training stems as they reach to cover the ground or lazily cover adjacent plants, pruning damaged leaves/stems to encourage new growth, removing green seed pods if you don't want the plant to self seed (the pods can be used in cut flower arrangements, especially with flowers that have sharp textures), and finally pruning back the main stem as the plant dies back in early Winter. The root ball will remain in good health over winter, sending up a new stem in spring. The plant also responds well to neglect, so the lazy gardener is in luck and may only need to hack it back above the crown in Winter.

If you have not yet planted or acquired a D. wrightii by now, that's OK. Fertilized flowers form spiky round seed pods which hold hundreds of potential new plants. Seeds can be sown directly in the soil, or containers. My luck saw low germination rates (less than 10%), however this is not a problem considering a healthy plant may produce thousands of seeds, so if a friend has one growing you will be in luck. They can also be found at the local nurseries in the native or drought tolerant section. Overall, Datura wrightii has much to offer that gardener as an ornamental perennial, and I highly recommend growing one or more, especially in those places with poor soil in need of boosted curb appeal.

Resources

UC IPM  http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/WEEDS/sacred_datura.html

Nature Collective-San Diego Ca.

https://thenaturecollective.org/plant-guide/details/sacred-datura/#:~:text=Native%20Americans%20in%20southern%20California,medicinal%20plant%20of%20the%20Chumash.&text=The%20Luise%C3%B1o%20used%20the%20smoke,pain%20of%20rheumatism%20and%20earaches.

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits:

Healing the Earth by Healing the Soil – Maximize Living Roots, Minimize Soil Disturbance

This is the third post in this series following concepts and information from UC Master Gardeners of Napa County presentation, “Soil is the Solution, healing the earth one yard at a time,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqA8DqBtRuo . The presentation describes practices we can learn and implement about soil to help slow and ultimately reverse the damage humankind has done. Previous posts were May 24 & June 7, 2021.

It's easy to see how a healthy mass of roots benefits a plant, but there is a lot more going on with roots than making a healthy plant. Roots need carbon to grow and plants have the capability of drawing carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, of course, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas and global warming.

What we're looking at when we inspect healthy roots is not just roots themselves. Through photosynthesis plants create carbon sugars to feed their own growth and deliver it to the soil via their roots.

As roots exude carbon sugar, mycorrhizal fungi are drawn to them, and the active chemistry and microbiology that happens between them in this narrow area around the roots is called the rhizosphere. Part of the mycorrhizae are their hyphae, garden hose like structures that can extend 300 yards. They attach to roots, creating an immense root system. Mycorrhizae metabolize more root sugar, plants grow, pull down more carbon from the atmosphere, and roots transfer minerals absorbed from the soil into the plant. Both plants and soil structures benefit from the interaction.

We're looking at a soil biome that we might compare to a bustling city: busy freeways, construction workers and lots of food trucks and bistros. What happens when we don't have plants, roots and microorganisms creating all this life in the soil and performing this scientific, yet magical dance? As one of the presenters commented, “without (it) we just have geology.”

Organically grown food from a biome we just described has a higher nutritional value. Several minerals are present in significantly higher amounts that contribute to overall health and help combat inflammatory ailments like Alzheimer's and heart disease.

Holding it all together

We have already learned that tilling the soil grinds up the soil biome, destroys microorganisms in our bustling soil community and leaves us only dirt, or, as mentioned above, “geology.”

The soil fungi hyphae in healthy soil make a protective coating called glomalin that literally holds the soil together, making soil into an aggregate. A healthy biome without aggregated soil cannot exist. A demonstration in the presentation made this easy to understand. One plate had a mound of flour on it representing tilled soil. Next to it was a plate with a piece of bread on it representing aggregated soil. Water poured on the flour ran off, penetrating nothing. The bread absorbed the water as does aggregated soil, keeping carbon, nitrogen and minerals in the ground. Aggregated soil has been likened to a “carbon sponge.”

We can create aggregated soil to maximize living roots by planting perennials and trees, both having roots that stay in the ground for a long time. A vegetable garden can be intercropped, that is, planting seedling cool season vegetables beside mature warm season crops that are nearing the end of their harvest. Becoming more and more popular is the practice of planting perennial fruits and vegetables. Common ones are artichokes, asparagus and strawberries. The goal is to have roots in the ground year-round. Our soil has degenerated to such an extent that the establishment of more plants and their roots can be a lifeline as the earth's climates heat up.

We need to overcome the habit of tilling the soil. As much as possible, we need to leave soil intact. Soil is made up of sand, silt or clay, water and air. Only 5% of soil is made of organic matter. Of this 5%, only 5% is made of living organisms. This is indeed a precious commodity, and most of it occurs in topsoil, the top two inches of soil.

Our takeaways are these:

• Protect our soil biome and the rhizosphere.
• Keep the soil aggregate intact and functional.
• Retain healthy topsoil and protect it from erosion.

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Pixabay

by Matthew E. Navarro

While working the 2020 harvest at a large custom crush facility, I lucked into a harvester's loss. Tumbling out of a macrobin fell a simple tool composed of a hard plastic handle and a short curved blade. “That's mine! Dibs!” I shouted to a fellow crusher, who uncaringly grabbed the item off the conveyor belt and handed it over. Little did I know this small, razor sharp blade would become my new favorite tool.

Now, onto why it's my new favorite. I am currently volunteering on an eight acre homestead and farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Daily tasks range from servicing fruit trees, weeding pathways, dragging brush, and so on. I like to keep several hand tools on me to be ready for anything, and have frequently found this grape hook in-hand for a variety of tasks.

Cardoon, a large leaved cousin of the common artichoke, grows wild on site. Our hosts like cardoon for its flower, drought resistance, and easy biomass production for mulch. It's great for chop and drop. I harvest its leaves like one prunes New Zealand flax; I prune out the outermost leaves as close to the base as possible. The razor sharp grape hook cleanly and perfectly slices through the cardoon leaves. I can't wait to try it on phormiums, which I usually cut with a box cutter. The curve of the short blade allows for more accurate cuts, and I can start at the back of the leaf and pull towards me without uncomfortably bending my wrist.

Servicing trees often starts with weeding and removing saplings/suckers. Most of the trees here sport deer resistant metal cages. The fences also make for difficult weeding of tall grasses close to the young trees. The grape hook works as a small grass hook in these situations. Stalks can be sliced and pulled out without damaging the roots of our intentional trees and shrubs. Furthermore, the hook is capable of cleanly pruning out young suckers and water sprouts as I move up a tree. It won't cut through woody stalks, but it saves me some long term strain by taking some work away from the hand pruners.

Frequently, I have the pleasure of installing sheet mulching on the homestead. In preparation for the dry season, the cardboard and bark piles have shrunken. Again, the grape hook has come to replace the box cutter, but this time for slicing cardboard. The short sickle is faster to access than a retractable safety knife, and still relatively safe due to its roundness. Beyond cardboard, it's perfect for cutting lengths of twine and string for other garden tasks.

Using the grape hook more and more, I like to keep it as sharp as possible. A blade honed to a razor finish makes for effortless action when the tool is needed. When working, if I feel any hesitation when making a cut, I take time to hone the blade with a pocket carbide sharpener. I look forward to early fruit and vegetable harvesting on the farm with my new favorite tool, and am eager to find out new ways to use it.

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Matt Navarro

Information links:

North Carolina extension-Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cynara-cardunculus/

Montrovia-Phormium, New Zealand Flax https://www.monrovia.com/amazing-red-new-zealand-flax.html

References:

Lambert, Cindy “It's Harvest Time” 9/14/2020 from the Wine History Project (https://winehistoryproject.org/harvest-tools/)

Protecting trees from deer: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74117.htmlSheet mulching: http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/221117.pdf

by Cindy Watter

The oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a native North American plant.  Unlike the familiar varieties, it is interesting looking all year long. The lobed leaves turn rosy red in the fall, and the branches turn bronze and peel a bit.  It likes some sun, but will flourish in mostly shady areas.  It can grow ten feet tall, and its ten-inch long, spiked creamy flowers are attractive.  If you want a statement, this is one. The bonus is the oakleaf hydrangea requires, at most, half of the water conventional hydrangeas demand. After ten years, I only water mine when it has a visible droop, which is maybe once a week in summer. And in case you are worried about pests – it has none. 

I learned that buds grow on the previous year's growth, so don't prune back too much. You should prune them after they bloom, but you can leave the flowers on for a while, because even when they are dried out they look good.  Then you can cut them off, and do a real pruning in the early fall.  Take a good look at the stems – if you see buds forming next to a leaf, prune above them. 

I have become a real fan of the oakleaf hydrangea.  It needs little care and even less water, which is perfect for our increasingly dry climate.  It is also quite elegant and adds curb appeal to a yard with no lawn. 

Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Cindy Watter

Informational Links:

UC IPM http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/hydrangea.html

UCMG Napa County http://napamg.ucanr.edu/files/262307.pdf

UCMG Sonoma County http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Hydrangea_quercifolia/

Monrovia https://www.monrovia.com/oakleaf-hydrangea.html