By Donna Woodward, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
One rainy winter day I looked out my window and saw a luscious white pansy in full bloom. I rushed right out and bought more pansies.
Anything that will bloom in the winter months is especially welcome. We expect to see legions of flowers in summer, but during the cooler months their numbers and varieties dwindle. I appreciate those that bloom in the off-season even more for their scarcity.
The flowers we see in late fall to early spring are those that thrive in cool weather. Our summers are long, hot and dry, so these flowers don't often last through the year. Some can stay alive if planted in optimal conditions and kept sheltered and watered.
The pansy's petals are delicate, but the plant is hardy in the horticultural sense, meaning it will tolerate frost. I object to the term “pansy” to describe a person who is delicate and fearful. Pansies are tough.
Even if the blossoms wither in the cold, the plants will often survive and bloom again. They are usually planted as annuals, though, because they can become leggy in warm weather.
Pansies can be planted in the early spring or the fall. The ideal planting site will get morning sun but avoid the heat of the afternoon.
One early-blooming flower that I have learned to love is the primrose. I think it, too, has an unfortunate name. Perhaps it's the word “prim” that sounds fussy and prudish. An individual primrose may not be stunning, but a group of them makes a bright, colorful border.
I planted a row of primroses ten years ago and they have continued to thrive year after year. Although they don't like the hot sun, they survive in full sun in my garden due to a trick I discovered by accident.
Alyssum was growing in the flower bed and happened to get established around the primroses. I realized that those primroses that were surrounded by alyssum managed to stay alive, partially hidden, through the summer. Now it's a regular cycle. Once the weather cools, the primroses explode with new life. The alyssum can then be thinned and will be back to protect the primroses by the time it gets hot again.
The first flower most of us see in the spring is the daffodil. Daffodils are a member of the genus narcissus and are sometimes referred to as narcissus or jonquil. They have been bred to include many different configurations of petals and color combinations, but the most common color is the familiar bright yellow.
These heralds of spring usually start to appear in early January but some hybrids bloom later. This year I saw the yellow flowers in January, and I had some white ones open in late March.
Another wintertime flower is paperwhite narcissus, which is often sold for forcing to bloom indoors in the winter. It doesn't require indoor temperatures and can be planted outdoors in our zone. It blooms in mid-winter.
I planted some paperwhites near my front door. They were pretty but they smelled so bad I thought we had a skunk. When I realized it was the flowers, I moved them to a bed farther from the door.
Considering their indoor popularity, I was curious about how people tolerate the smell. I read that the aroma is one of those things that is offensive to some people but pleasant to others. Also, there are several varieties, and their scents vary.
Many wildflowers bloom in the early months of the year. March and April offer vistas of mustard, California poppies, calendula and others. They make a spectacular display because their colors contrast so perfectly against a field of green.
A wildflower is not necessarily a native plant. The California poppy is a true native that deserves its status as our state flower.
Another low-growing orange flower, a species of calendula, carpets the roadsides and hillsides in Napa. It's the same color as poppies and often grows with them. Calendula is native to parts of Europe, Asia and Micronesia. You may be familiar with the larger calendulas grown in home gardens.
I planted a wildflower mix a couple of years ago, and the one species that took hold was calendula. They have spread profusely. I had a similar experience with California poppies.
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful displays of spring wildflowers. If you haven't done so, go for a drive in the country. Our hills offer many scenes of incredible beauty this time of year.
It is not too late to plant some of these cool-weather flowers from starts. Bulbs are best planted in the fall. Next year, just when the world looks drab and dreary, you may find your spirits lifted at the sight of the first flowers of the year.
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, April 11, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplants.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3lC3qs8
Workshop: On Saturday, April 17, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will hold a virtual workshop on “Soil is the Solution: Digging Deeper” from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. Learn about soil, its relationship to climate change and how to enrich your soil to produce healthier plants. Register to get the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021SoilRegeneration
by Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
I often visit a Facebook page for people who share an interest in building and using greenhouses. I read about how they are building them and what plants they may be growing in their greenhouse, depending on where they live. Heating is a subject that comes up a lot as many people are in climates much colder than ours. An electrical connection is a must to run any fans, cloners, heat mats and lights.
A hothouse and a greenhouse are pretty much the same thing. A lot of people are interested in building greenhouses to help in growing their own food. And some people are planting crops in them.
In the Napa Valley, we can get by without having to add a heat source to our greenhouses. In colder climates, heaters can be propane, wood and heat-generating compost. One house I saw online had a solar heater.
I have a passive solar greenhouse and it works well for me. Over the years I have experimented with different ways to keep it warm. For a passive solar greenhouse, heat is gathered during the day and given off at night when temperatures drop.
Passive solar greenhouses come in many designs but do not have an alternative heat source. Elements in the greenhouse collect heat during the day and give it off at night to keep temperatures above freezing.
My greenhouse has a wooden frame connected to cement blocks sunk into the soil. This makes the structure stable so it will not fly around in a strong wind. Some greenhouses built from kits are not attached to the soil, and a strong wind can pick them up and move them. Since I live in a flood zone, I don't want my greenhouse floating away.
I learned the hard way that all the wood should be whitewashed with paint. Carpenter bees love to make nests in open wood; they weakened my first greenhouse. The shelves are unpainted redwood.
The floor is a heat sink of 12 inches of gravel with used fireplace bricks placed on top for walking on. The shelving is high enough to accommodate six 55-gallon plastic tanks full of water lying on their sides underneath. The floor and tanks gather heat during the day and give it off at night.
I do keep a thermometer in the greenhouse that registers the temperature highs and lows each day. I keep three tubs of water in there and have several 5-gallon cans full of water. Because it gets so warm in the summer, I don't keep plants in the greenhouse, but instead use it to dry used soils and also my stash of seeds for the next year.
The greenhouse has two vents which I can open if it gets too warm, plus I often leave the door open during the day. Because birds were flying in, I hung a sheet of screening over the doorway. In addition, I have two grow lights and a shop light on a timer which goes on at dusk and off in the morning. All these features add to the warmth of the house.
The sides and roof are made of 2-ply twin wall plastic. In some areas I have the twin wall on the outside wall and also on the interior wall which enhances the heat collection. These twin wall panels are probably close to 25 years old and may need replacing soon.
Some people gather old windows and build a greenhouse using them. Some of the designs I see online are clever and unique. If you use polyurethane sheeting, it will have to be replaced more often.
If you decide to build a greenhouse, be sure to do a lot of research. Just what plants do you plan to put in the greenhouse? Will you try to grow crops?
You can find a lot of information online for different climates. Also study the information provided by manufacturers. Decide if you want to keep plants in the greenhouse over the winter or simply use it for seedlings for your summer garden. I even saw a greenhouse online with a crystal chandelier, so be inventive and build a greenhouse customized for you.
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, April 11, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplants.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3lC3qs8
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.
By Cindy Watter, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
The Solanaceae, or nightshade family, is a large one. Just as our own families can include the kindly grandma as well as the femme fatale, nightshade plants embrace favorite edibles such as potatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatoes, while also claiming toxic plants such as tobacco, brugmansia, belladonna and jimson weed.
The. 2,700 Solanaceae species have diverse habits, but they all produce solanine, an alkaloid toxin. In most foods, the solanine is present in such small quantity that it is harmless.
Let us dispose of the second, more sinister, group first. These plants are attractive in the landscape and useful in attracting pollinators, but you don't want to eat them. None of these toxic plants tastes good, so you would have to have a powerful thrill-seeking urge to consume them.
Even so, emergency rooms are familiar with jimson weed patients, who find the hallucinogenic plant in the wild. These unfortunate folks usually live to learn their lesson: leave foraging to the experts.
The name "nightshade" sounds dramatic, but some believe that the term arose because some nightshade flowers are particularly fragrant at night and some of the plants don't mind the shade.
The other nightshades, the edibles, are easy to grow. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), brought to Europe from Mexico, was initially considered inedible because of its relationship to the deadly nightshade. When people finally realized that tomatoes were safe and tasty and not just ornamental, cultivation took off, and the tomato became synonymous with Mediterranean cooking. Most of the solanine is in the leaves and stems anyway. The tomato is botanically a fruit: it develops from a fertilized flower and has seeds inside.
Tomatoes can be grown from seed, but it is easier to buy starts. Keep seedlings indoors until at least April. If the weather remains cold, you might have to wait until May or even June to plant them. The soil should be at least 60°F where you intend to plant, and the area should get lots of sun. All-day sun is ideal.
Plant seedlings deeply, so the lowest leaves are just above the soil surface. Rootlets will shoot out from the stem and form a strong base. This rooting also increases the plant's access to water and nutrients. If your soil contains a lot of compost, you will not need other amendments, although aged chicken manure and nitrogen are sometimes helpful.
Water your newly planted tomato seedlings deeply and keep the roots moist. Install supports, such as a cage, stake or trellis, when you plant to avoid disturbing the roots later. A support will keep the vine from sprawling on the ground and possibly rotting.
You can control most tomato problems, apart from gophers, by regular watering. Occasionally you may spot a large green caterpillar on the stems or leaves. That creature is a hornworm; remove it by hand.
Tomato growers enjoy friendly competition, and they love to share tips. One tip I learned last year is that gently shaking the plant when it's flowering will help spread the pollen from the stamen to the pistil, thus improving pollination and fruiting.
Bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) are a sweet pepper that can be eaten when it's underripe, or green. However, a fully ripe red pepper contains more nutrients, with more vitamin C than an orange. Wait to plant pepper seedlings outdoors until nighttime temperatures are above 55°F.
Peppers do well in containers, or you can space them 1-1/2 to 2 feet apart in rows. The warmer the weather during the growing season, the more flavorful the peppers will be. You can use row covers to keep pests out; organic bait will control slugs and snails. However, the least toxic snail bait is a jar lid full of beer. The slugs drown in it.
Eggplant (Solanum melogena) is a particularly beautiful plant. Like the tomato and the pepper, the eggplant is a fruit. Its flowers are lilac colored, and its leaves are dark green. I have seen eggplants used to great effect as part of a landscape treatment. Again, resist setting out seedlings until frost season is over. They like warm weather. Plant them three feet apart.
You can grow lots of small eggplants, or you can pinch off some flowers to encourage larger fruits. The eggplant benefits from fertilizer such as aged chicken manure or worm castings.
I sometimes wonder what the Europeans ate before they raided Montezuma's garden. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a staple of the European diet, yet it originated in the Andes.
To grow potatoes, cut chunks from a seed potato, making sure there is an "eye" (sprout) on each chunk. Supermarket potatoes may have been treated with a sprouting inhibitor, so it's best to start with real seed potatoes from a nursery.
As soon as you can put a shovel in the soil, you can plant potatoes. Plant them in rows in loose soil amended with plenty of compost. If you use fertilizer, don't let it touch the potatoes.
Pile a few inches of loose dirt above the seed potato. Leafy stems will emerge. When the greens are eight inches tall, bury all but four inches in loose soil, straw or shredded leaves. This process, known as hilling, creates more room for new potatoes to develop. Keep building the mound as the potato leaves grow, leaving about four inches of greens exposed. When the vines flower, you can stop hilling. Potatoes need to grow in darkness, so if the ground is disturbed and you see a potato, cover it up. Light will turn the potato green, and the green part is toxic.
The nightshade family produces some of our favorite garden edibles. Colorful tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are beautiful as well as useful. As for potatoes, it's fun to dig them out of their little hills, which add variety to your vegetable bed.
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, April 11, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplants.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3lC3qs8
Workshop: UC Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Growing Tasty Tomatoes” on Saturday, March 27, from 10 a.m. to noon.” Register to get Zoom link:
Napa Library Talks: First Thursday of each month. Thursday, April 1: “Gardening on a Shoestring.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3rn3MF3
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.
By Cindy Watter, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Snails and slugs never gave me trouble when I lived in the country because my hippie neighbors had a dozen ravenous geese that used to waddle over and gobble up the slimy little morsels. However, after I left that house and moved into town, I spent my tenth wedding anniversary date night plucking hundreds of the creatures off twelve dozen King Alfred daffodils and dropping them into a bucket of beer. Everyone told me that was the non-toxic way to do it. No one told me not to dump them in the compost pile, however. Lesson learned.)
Early spring is the time of year when snails and slugs appear. They love to chew on tender young foliage. If your garden suddenly displays leaves with holes and ragged edges, chances are you have slugs and/or snails. They hide in the cool damp areas of your yard and come out at night to do their work.
A patch of ivy or weeds or a collection of overturned flowerpots is a perfect habitat for them. You should leave a few leaf piles in your yard to promote biodiversity, but some tidying up can fix your problem. You can also capture them by propping a board on cleats to create a nesting place for them to hide in. Then you drop them in a jar of soapy water.
Or you could sprinkle finely ground diatomaceous earth around the roots of your plant or encircle plants or raised beds with copper strips. The diatomaceous-earth granules are uncomfortable to snails and they just don't like crossing copper at all.
You may also put out jar lids at night filled with beer to drown them. Don't use salt; it will hurt your plants. Make sure you have a space between the trunk of the plant and mulch, to make it harder for the snails to hide. If you must use commercial bait, find one made with iron phosphate. Baits containing metaldehyde are dangerous to pets and children.
Slugs and snails are gastropods, invertebrates that are part of the mollusk family. They have a round mouth, called a radula, with hundreds of tiny teeth that rasp and tear soft young leaves.
These creatures also act as nature's scavengers, removing all sorts of debris from forest and field. They have a purpose, but you don't want them destroying your plants.
The only real difference between a slug and a snail is the shell. Management is the same for both.
The brown garden snail (Cornu aspersa) is not native to North America. It comes from Europe and was brought here by well-meaning people who thought that escargots would become a popular food item. Alas, the snails escaped and became garden nuisances. Gourmets consider them a delicacy, and snails do appear on menus in the Napa Valley. However, most people think of these creatures as pests.
They look festive when they come out after a rain, and I should harden my heart and squash them then and there, but I don't. I keep hoping the birds will eat them.
Years ago, when there was a chemical solution for every problem, I stormed down to my garden store with murder in my heart. Snails had eaten my strawberries. I saw a box with an arresting brand name, promising “SLUG AND SNAIL DEATH.”
The package had a terrifying illustration that looked like a stone lithograph, printed on yellow cardboard. It featured three creatures—two slugs in the background and a snail in the foreground—with horns rampant, and the snail had an aggressive-looking frill on its front. These horrific invaders were so large they held their own against the background, a post-apocalyptic vermilion sun. I grabbed the box. Salvation was at hand.
And then I read the label in the lower left corner. (You should always do this, by the way.) It said: "Keep out of reach of children. CAUTION: This pesticide may be fatal to dogs or other pets if eaten. Keep pets out of treated area." So I went back to hand picking, because I had small children then.
The poison was metaldehyde. I have used iron phosphate bait but, unfortunately, my dog finds it attractive. (It smells like dried blood.) It doesn't hurt her, but it unnerves me. I will try diatomaceous earth.
I also have plenty of plants snails won't eat. Geranium, rosemary, lavender, California poppy and fuchsia don't attract them. Basil does, however.
I was discussing my pest-control quandary with an old friend, who told me I would no longer want to kill snails after I read The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. I am sure that is true. Reading this book will make me feel better about the holes in my brugmansia leaves.
Find UC IPM Pest Note for Snails and Slugs here:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html
Find UC IPM Quick Tips for Snails and Slugs here:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/snailsslugscard.html
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, March 14, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Fertilizers and Soil Health.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3r5bgwi
Workshop: UC Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Growing Tasty Tomatoes” on Saturday, March 27, from 10 a.m. to noon.” Register to get Zoom link:
Napa Library Talks: First Thursday of each month. Thursday, April 1: “Gardening on a Shoestring.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3rn3MF3
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.
By Cindy Watter, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
When Hernando Cortes brought his army to Mexico in 1552, he was looking for more than Montezuma's gold. The most durable treasure carried back to Europe by the conquistadores was plants. The invaders ransacked Montezuma's famous gardens, in search of new varieties of vegetation that could feed their people back home. Crop failures and food shortages were a regular feature of European life at that time, and anyone who could allay those inconveniences would be rewarded.
The Mexican marigold (Tagetes lemmonii) was one of those plants. Along with potatoes, peppers and corn, it went to Europe, where gardeners adapted it into the local horticulture, most famously in France, where "French" marigold blossoms appeared in salads and soups.
Farmers planted the Mexican marigold in vegetable gardens to attract bees and fed the dried flowers to chickens to produce eggs with bright yellow yolks. European colonizers took the seeds to South Africa, and the "African" marigold was born. These hybridized plants, however, originated in Mexico.
My interest in the Mexican marigold is fairly recent. I was walking down Sixth Street in Berkeley a few years ago and noticed a delightful daisy-like flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk. Plants that flourish under neglect rank high in my pantheon of flora, right up there with "invasive."
I was not, then, a fan of yellow flowers, except for sunflowers and daffodils, but this one was so appealing, and it looked charming planted next to red poppies and purple lavender. I took a picture and asked a friend what it was.
The Mexican marigold was unknown to gardeners in the United States until 1880. John and Sara Lemmon, a husband-and-wife team of botanists, discovered it while camping in Arizona on their honeymoon. Asa Gray, the famous Harvard botanist to whom they sent a cutting, named it after them. They took it back to their home in Oakland and propagated it.
The Lemmons were a remarkable pair. Both were highly educated Easterners, both teachers, both Civil War veterans. John was a soldier who somehow had survived the notorious Andersonville prison in Georgia. Sara's health broke down after being a wartime nurse, so she moved to California. She was the manager of a bookstore in Santa Barbara that eventually became the town's library.
The two met in Santa Barbara where John Lemmon was giving a botany lecture, married, and together launched a career discovering new plants. Their herbarium on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley was a great success. They traveled all over the West, and Mount Lemmon in Arizona is named after Sara, because she was the first white woman to ascend it. We can also thank her for writing the legislation that made the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) our state flower. After the Lemmons died, their plants went to UC Berkeley's University and Jepson Herbaria, and their papers went to the University as well.
I bought a potted Mexican marigold at a California Native Plants Society sale, left it in its pot for too long and finally put it in the ground. Today it is six feet tall and six feet wide. It can easily go three weeks without water, making it perfect for our dry climate.
It likes full sun but does well in the dappled sun in my yard. I apply compost regularly and prune it haphazardly to keep the flowers coming along, but it's fun to reserve a few branches so the flowers can go to seed. Hummingbirds and bees love it.
Mexican marigold is easy to propagate from a cutting or by dividing root clumps. You can prune it into a hedge or trim it into mounds. It can survive a freeze, but you should prune the frostbitten parts.
Tagetes lemmonii has a unique scent that people either love or hate. Deer don't like it at all, so that's is at least one plant they won't eat. I find the scent pleasant—a sort of cocktail of citrus, mint and a bit of anise. The blue-green leaves have more fragrance than the flower and are shaped like little feathers. They look attractive against the flat golden flowers, which resemble daisies and are about 1 1/2 inches wide. I planted my Mexican marigold with lavender and ‘Hot Lips' (red) and ‘Amistad' (purple blue) salvias.
Penny Pawl, a friend and fellow Master Gardener, saw these marigolds in Mexico on the Day of the Dead. They were heaped on wagons, altars and graves in the belief that their golden flowers and fragrance might lure the spirits of the dead back to their homes. Of course, the flowers look like little suns, a source of life. The Mexican marigold is a true heritage plant that will add life to your garden.
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, March 13, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Fertilizers and Soil Health.” Register to get Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3r5bgwi
Napa Library Talks: First Thursday of each month. Thursday, March 4: “Compost at Home.” Register to get Zoom link. https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=32577
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.
