A few years ago my husband and I decided to plant a persimmon tree. We didn't know much about persimmons then, but we really enjoyed eating the ‘Fuyu' persimmons in the fall, particularly in salads. I have since come to appreciate persimmon trees even more after doing some research.
The Oriental or Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki) has been grown in China and Japan for centuries. It was introduced to California in the mid-1800s. Virtually all persimmon fruit sold in the United States is grown in California, with the majority from the central San Joaquin Valley.
The persimmon tree is a wonderful ornamental to grow in your home garden, both for its beauty and its freedom from most pests and diseases. It produces delicious fruit, which matures in October and November, long after most fruit trees have already yielded their crops.
Persimmon trees can grow in a wide range of soils, but they do best in well-drained loam. They tolerate clay soils better than most other fruit trees. Persimmon trees are sensitive to boron and salts in the soil. They are drought tolerant but will produce larger fruit and a greater yield with regular irrigation. They take minimal fertilizer and do not have the winter chill requirement that many deciduous fruit trees do.
Two varieties account for most of the persimmons grown in home orchards: the ‘Fuyu' and the ‘Hachiya'. Both produce larger fruit than many other varieties, such as the ‘Hayakuma', ‘Izu' and Diospyros virginiana. The ‘Hayakuma' has medium-sized orange fruit and chocolate- or cinnamon- colored flesh if pollinated. ‘Izu' produces round, medium-sized fruit. Diospyros virginiana, which is native to the U. S., yields small, flavorful fruit. It tolerates both drought and excess moisture, but it suckers badly.
Neither the ‘Hachiya' nor the ‘Fuyu' needs cross pollination, which means that the tree will produce fruit without another persimmon tree nearby. In fact, cross pollination can be a problem if the ‘Hachiya' and ‘Fuyu' are planted within one-half mile of each other. If a ‘Fuyu' is close to another variety producing male flowers, some of the ‘Fuyu' fruit will be seedy. If a ‘Hachiya' is pollinated from another variety, black areas will appear in the flesh and the fruit will have seeds.
The ‘Hachiya' tree gets large and requires an area of 20 feet when mature. ‘Fuyu' trees are smaller and require less space, between 14 to 16 feet. Blossoms and fruit are produced on the current season's shoots that originate from buds near the tips of one-year-old branches.
Persimmon fruit is classified as either astringent on non-astringent. Fruit from astringent varieties must be allowed to soften before eating, while non-astringent varieties are eaten when crisp. ‘Hachiya' is in the astringent category, while ‘Fuyu' is non-astringent.
When harvesting persimmons, allow the fruit to remain on the tree until it develops good color. Use pruning shears to cut the stem, leaving a short stem and the green calyx attached to the fruit. If the fruit is snapped off rather than clipped, the fruit may bruise.
Astringent types such as ‘Hachiya' can be left on the tree until they become soft-ripe, or you can harvest them when they have reached full color but are still firm. In that case, let them soften at room temperature before eating. Harvest non-astringent types such as ‘Fuyu' when they develop their full orange color. The ‘Hachiya' fruit is somewhat acorn-shaped while the ‘Fuyu' has a squat shape, like a flattened ball.
Persimmons can be refrigerated for a month or more. Pull them out of the refrigerator as you need them and allowed them to finish ripening at room temperature.
I often freeze ‘Hachiya' fruit for use at Christmas time in puddings and cakes. In the future, I plan to dry some ‘Fuyus.' The fruit is very sweet when dried.
If you share my enthusiasm for persimmons and would like to plant one, you can find them in local nurseries as bare-root plants in December and January. Their roots are fragile, so plant with care.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners present a workshop on “Edible Landscape Design” on Saturday, October 5, from 10 a.m. to noon. Location is American Canyon Library, 300 Crawford Way in American Canyon. Design your garden to be both beautiful and edible. Learn what to consider and how to integrate edible plants into your ornamental garden. Bring a detailed plan of your garden to work on with guidance from U.C. Master Gardeners. Learn about books to help you with your design from Napa County Library as part of the Eat, Move, Read program. Seating is limited. Register online at http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call 707-253-4147.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? We can be found on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
About 40 years ago I attended a lecture on best practices for tree pruning. Strybing Arboretum auditorium was filled because the speaker was a well-known arborist. When pruning side limbs, he said, the cut should be as flush with the trunk as possible. This allowed gravity to assist the tree in quickly closing the wound. I still recall the arborist’s name, but as subsequent research proved his advice incorrect, I won’t mention it.
Experiments by a university professor, whose name I won’t mention because I don’t quite remember it, showed that trees possess cells that form a barrier to decay just beyond the junction of a side branch and the trunk. You can see this little raised ridge, known as a collar.
Pruning just beyond this collar leaves the protective cells intact. It is true that a callus of bark would quickly form over a flush cut, but rot would permeate the trunk. Some trees became like a glove, with a healthy-appearing exterior but a decaying interior.
In my time as a landscape contractor, I used a variety of procedures that improved on previous methods but were later superseded.
At one time, conventional wisdom held that the planting holes for shrubs and trees should be twice as wide and twice as deep as the root ball. Later, the thinking was revised to twice as wide but only as deep as the root ball. Then the recommendation changed again: to twice as wide but square. The most recent advice I have read suggests digging a saucer-like planting hole that is two inches less deep than the root ball is high.
These revisions happened when people realized that the roots mainly grow in the top 18 inches of soil. Roots require oxygen, and there is little available below that depth. Gardeners and landscapers also realized that disturbing the soil beneath the plant caused the plant to sink later. A certain way to kill almost all shrubs and trees is to plant them with the crown beneath the soil. The square hole was intended to counteract the tendency of plants grown in round containers to keep circling their roots.
Another commonsense practice is to shear a plant before transplanting it. The thinking was that roots damaged by transplanting would have less demand placed on them. But now we know that this thinking is incorrect.
The top most stem of the tree or shrub generates a hormone known as auxin. This hormone inhibits lower side stems or branches, thus keeping the main stem dominant. As auxin flows down the connective tissue, the phloem, it diminishes sugar flow to leaves that, being in shade perhaps, are using more sugar than they are producing. But the major effect is that, upon reaching the roots, auxin greatly promotes root growth.
The roots also generate a hormone, cytokinin, which has the opposite effect. Cytokinin inhibits root growth but promotes shoot and leaf growth. Consequently, the best preparation for transplanting is to shear the plant but leave the main stem intact. The auxin from the main stem promotes root growth, which generates cytokinin, which promotes top growth. These hormones provide the best chance for plants to quickly flourish in their new location.
As we understand more of the inner workings of a healthy plant, we are better able to supply the care it needs. And the more we know, the more we realize how staggeringly complex nature is.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners present a workshop on “Edible Landscape Design” on Saturday, October 5, from 10 a.m. to noon. Location is American Canyon Library,
300 Crawford Way in American Canyon. Design your garden to be both beautiful and edible. Learn what to consider and how to integrate edible plants into your ornamental garden. Bring a detailed plan of your garden to work on with guidance from U.C. Master Gardeners. Learn about books to help you with your design from Napa County Library as part of the Eat, Move, Read program. Seating is limited. Register online at http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call 707-253-4147.
Garden Tour: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a self-guided garden tour, “Down the Garden Path,” on Sunday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit seven unique gardens in and around downtown Napa, all maintained by Master Gardeners. Tickets: $25 advance/$30 day of event. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call 707-253-4147. Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?
Order your spring-blooming bulbs now to have the best selection. The bulb growers will ship your bulbs in time for proper planting in our area. Local nurseries also stock bulbs to coincide with the best planting time for our area.
Select the largest bulbs available; mature bulbs produce more flowers. Choose heavy, dense bulbs with no decay or mold. Pre-packaged bulbs frequently cost less, but they are likely to produce smaller blooms.
Plant your bulbs in the fall when temperatures remain consistently cool and the soil temperature has cooled to below 60 degrees. If you plant too early, when the soil is still warm, you are likely to end up with lots of top growth and fewer flowers.
If your bulbs arrive before you are ready to plant, open the packages to give the bulbs good air circulation. Store them in a cool, dark, dry place.
Despite what your grandmother may have told you, it is not necessary to pre-chill bulbs in our area. Tests done by Sunset Magazine and the U.C. Master Gardeners showed that there was little difference in the performance of pre-chilled and non-chilled bulbs.
Choose a location for spring-flowering bulbs that receives at least five to six hours of sunlight. You can even plant under deciduous trees as the trees generally do not leaf out until after the bulbs have bloomed.
It is critical to plant bulbs where the soil drains well. Bulbs hate to have “wet feet” and will let you know by rotting instead of blooming.
Plant all bulbs with the pointy end up and the root scars down. Follow directions on planting depth for that type of bulb. The general rule is to plant most types of bulbs three times as deep as the bulb is wide.
Bulbs need water while they are actively growing. Even though you cannot see them after planting, remember to irrigate until winter rains begin.
Soil preparation depends on whether you are planting for repeat bloom. Bulbs contain all of the nutrients they need for the coming season’s growth and bloom. But if you want bulbs to repeat in successive seasons, amend your soil with compost and other nutrients. Do not put fertilizer in the planting hole as bulbs are susceptible to root burn. Instead, dig bulb fertilizer into the soil under the root zone or broadcast fertilizer over the beds after planting.
For repeat blooming, leave the bulbs in the soil after flowering and allow the leaves to turn brown so that the bulbs build back their reserves for the following season. Daffodils, native iris, muscari and scilla are the most reliable repeat bloomers in our area.
I have a love affair with tulips but have finally admitted that they do not repeat well in my garden. I also have very active gopher and rodent populations, and they consider tulip bulbs a culinary delight.
My solution is to treat my tulips as annuals. I grow them in strategically placed two-foot diameter pots that I also use for summer annuals. When the annuals are giving up the ghost in fall, I remove them from the pots and plant tulips in the same soil. There is no need to enrich the soil at this point as the bulbs contain all of the nourishment they need for a single season. When the tulips have finished their spectacular demonstration, I remove the bulbs, renew the soil in the pots, add compost and fertilizer and plant flowering annuals. This way, I have an almost continuous display of blooms in the same pots with minimal effort.
Because the critters do not seem to like daffodils, I have had success in naturalizing daffodils for repeat bloom in several locations in my garden. Daffodils do not require the cooler winter temperatures that tulips demand so are much better suited for repeat blooming in the Napa Valley.
Whether you choose to naturalize daffodils in your yard, grow tulips as annuals in pots or experiment with varieties of bulbs you have never tried, now is the time to plan your spring bulb garden. A small amount of effort this fall should provide you with a magical floral display next spring.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will present a workshop on “Planting Spring Bulbs” on Saturday, September 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Plant bulbs now for a colorful display in early spring and find hidden beauty in your garden. Learn about different kinds of bulbs, how to plant them and what they need to thrive. Online registration (credit card only) Mail in registration (cash or check only).
Garden Tour: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a self-guided garden tour, “Down the Garden Path,” on Sunday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit seven unique gardens in and around downtown Napa, all maintained by Master Gardeners. Tickets: $25 advance/$30 day of event. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call 707-253-4147. Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?
Having a shady spot to rest in your garden should be one of your goals as gardeners....a place to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors. If you have lived with your garden for a while, you will know your favorite places. Investigate these areas as possible sitting areas.
A woodland setting on a hot summer day offers a protective canopy of tall trees. These shady retreats may not always be as showy as sunny borders, but they offer interesting scenes, with a layering of understory trees or shrubs and a mix of herbaceous plants at your feet.
The best sitting areas have both sun and shade. But if you have to choose one or the other, generally a sunny location is better. There are ways to provide shade if the sun becomes too bright: an arbor, an umbrella or an awning, for example.
Note where the sun falls in your garden. The south side of the house is in the path of the sun for most of the day and is the warmest. The west side gets the afternoon sun and is the next warmest, followed by the east side which receives morning sun. The north side of the house is the coldest because it is shaded most of the day.
Small gardens, usually partially shaded by buildings, need cheerful places where sunlight streams through the foliage and pools on garden furniture, flowers and paths. Study how the light falls in your garden and devise as many opportunities as you can to make the garden sparkle. Variations of shade and sun throughout the day create different visual effects during day and evening hours.
The “show” changes as light moves and fades. Paving and ground covers provide a surface for catching the play of light in the garden. To bring light into an entrance garden shaded by trees, remove the lower branches and thin the canopies, allowing sunlight to dapple the garden below. Cream or white variegated leaves lighten up shady parts of a garden. Chartreuse or gold foliage also has a warming effect in shade. White or blue flowers can brighten up a shady area.
Dappled shade is prettier than dark shade and usually sufficient protection from heat and glare. Select trees with open branches and delicate leaves and trim any dense vines. If a patio is shaded by walls, try to create a view from the patio that is bathed in light, where you can watch sunlight playing across the garden.
Trees and shrubs that are adapted to dense shade are valuable in the garden. Plants including Fatsia japonica, the hollies and mahonias are notable for their foliage, while others such as camellias are grown for their spectacular color. When planning your shade garden, think about layers: ground covers, small shrubs, and larger bushes. Think about colors and textures and your space.
Sunset’s Western Garden Book offers many suggestions for shade plants. A favorite of mine is Ajuga reptans (carpet bugle), which spreads by runners. There are several varieties with varied leaf colorings but all send up blue flower spikes in spring and early summer. Daphne odora ‘marginata’ (winter daphne) will take partial shade, provides a heavenly scent and is an evergreen. Hostas provide elegant foliage and a huge range of color. Lamium maculatum is a vigorous ground cover reaching six inches in height, with heart-shaped gray-green leaves with silvery markings. Pittosporum tobria ‘variegata’ is a dense, rounded shrub five to ten feet tall, with creamy white, fragrant orange blossoms in early spring. Vinca minor (dwarf periwinkle) makes a spreading mat of shiny, dark green leaves with blue flowers. There are many varieties available.
Visit a local nursery and browse through the shade plants. Be sure to note the plant’s mature size, usually indicated on the plant tag.
Let your garden reflect your environmental concerns as well as your aesthetic sense. It should be in harmony with nature, a place where you can enjoy the sounds of birds, insects and animal life and appreciate the patterns of light that change throughout the day. A shady oasis that provides the possibility of peaceful enjoyment can be a restorative place for you.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a composting workshop in partnership with the City and County of Napa and NRWS/NCRWS. The workshop is Saturday, September 7, at 9 a.m. at the Yountville Community Center. Learn how to turn yard waste and kitchen scraps into wonderfully rich, free compost for your garden. Discover the basics of backyard composting, worm composting, and grasscycling. Register here: http://compost.naparecycles.org/index.html.
Garden Tour: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a self-guided garden tour, “Down the Garden Path,” on Sunday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit seven unique gardens in Napa, all maintained by Master Gardeners. Tickets: $25 advance/$30 day of event. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call707-253-4147. Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?
Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow. They sprint to maturity because they only have a few weeks of hot weather to produce their bounty. Examine the many varieties offered at farmers’ markets: heirlooms, hybrids, paste tomatoes, huge slicers and tomatoes in many different colors and shapes. Some weigh a pound or more, and some, like ‘Sungold,’ are small and prolific. Knowing the tomato plant’s requirements and monitoring closely will almost always produce good results and enough tomatoes for the neighbors.
Before planting, follow all directions on plant labels and read about tomatoes in Sunset’s Western Garden Book. The best guarantee of a healthy crop is soil well-amended soil with compost and a three-inch top dressing of well-aged manure.
Tomatoes need six to eight hours of sunlight a day and a consistent watering schedule. Watering deeply encourages deep roots. If the soil is amended, fertilizer isn’t necessary, but one or two feedings of a water-soluble fertilizer won’t hurt and may help. Too much nitrogen will produce lush foliage and few tomatoes.
Plants displaying holes or chewed leaves indicate that creatures are eating their daily meal. Snails chew tender leaves when plants are small, while the tomato worm likes to settle into the fruit. The large hornworm can consume large amounts of leaves and stems.
Common sense tells us to use pet-safe deterrents for snails. Hand-pick hornworms and put in the yard-waste bin. If you see whiteflies or aphids, blast them with strong jets of water.
Occasionally, one side of a plant will show leaf yellowing and sudden wilt. These are symptoms of fungal disease. Watering won’t help. Uproot the entire plant and place it in the yard-waste bin, not the compost pile. Fungal spores remain in the soil over the winter, so plant tomatoes in a different area the following season. Look for seedlings with a label that says “VFN resistant,” which indicates that the plant is resistant to verticilium wilt, fusarium (both fungal diseases) and nematodes.
Perhaps the most confusing and prevalent tomato problem is blossom-end rot. You’ve done everything right and your tomato plants look healthy. But when you pick the fruit, you notice a circle of sunken, hard brown skin on the blossom end. This damage, typically about the size of a fifty-cent piece, is a common problem. The cause is probably a lack of calcium due to inconsistent watering.
Water moves nutrients to feeder roots. You may have plenty of calcium in your soil, but if the soil is dry, the plant can’t get it. Plants need moist but not soggy soil. Too much water and the fruits may crack.
If we meet the tomato plant’s requirements, it will reward us with larger and more abundant fruit.
When the weather cools, you may still have unripe tomatoes. Dust thick slices of green tomatoes with seasoned flour and sauté them in a bit of bacon grease for two minutes per side.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a composting workshop in partnership with the City and County of Napa and Napa Recycling and Waste Services. The workshop is Saturday, September 7, at 9 a.m. at the Yountville Community Center. Learn how to turn your waste and kitchen scraps into wonderfully rich, free compost for your garden. Discover the basics of backyard composting, worm composting, and grasscycling. Register here: http://compost.naparecycles.org
Garden Tour: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a self-guided garden tour, “Down the Garden Path,” on Sunday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit seven unique gardens in and around downtown Napa, all maintained by Master Gardeners. Tickets: $25 advance/$30 day of event. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa or call 707-253-4147. Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?
