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.
By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Winter is the season of cyclamen. I love the variety of colors these beautiful plants have. To me they look like a gathering of butterflies hovering over bright green leaves.
In a village in Sicily last November, I saw the biggest cyclamen I had ever seen. The beautiful red blooms were two or more inches across and stood about 12 inches above the leaves. Since my return I have looked for such big ones but have not found them.
Years ago, while walking down a path in rural Greece, I spotted many small cyclamen growing down a hill, all in bloom with small pink flowers. The hill had trees shading all these beautiful little plants. I realized then that cyclamen are native to that area. Later, I did some research and confirmed that cyclamen are native to the Mediterranean and extend as far east as Iran.
The cyclamen we see in nurseries during this season are all hybrids and are often called “florist cyclamen” (C. persicum). They are grown in many parts of the world. Online, I found planting tips from sources in Australia, England and places in between. Some varieties (C. purpurascens) have a sweet scent. The florist hybrids no longer have any scent.
The leaves and flowers grow from a tuber which sits just above the soil and anchors itself by many roots. During the summer the tuber loses the flowers and leaves and goes dormant. Cyclamen leaves are beautiful unto themselves. Some are all green while others have patterns of white and green that look as if they were drawn on each leaf.
Years ago, I decided to collect seed from a plant I had purchased. I let the seed pods stay on the plant and ripen. When I harvested the seeds, I was hoping they would produce a duplicate of the parent plant. I should have known better. Hybrid seed does not breed true. The seedlings I grew from these seeds bloomed in pink, just like the small native ones I saw growing in Greece. I planted them in the garden where they are still flowering.
Cyclamen are not pollinated by bees but rather by hoverflies and other small insects. You can also pollinate them by hand using a small paintbrush.
Cyclamen are winter flowering in their native habitats. With hothouse cultivation and hybridization, the plants have been coaxed to bloom all year. In the garden they are dormant in summer. When the days shorten and the weather cools, they come to life.
You can divide a dormant tuber to produce more plants identical to the parent. To do so, lift the tuber, cut it into pieces, then replant. Do this in the fall before the plant produces leaves. Put rooting hormone on the cut surfaces to help the bulb heal. Plant in well-drained soil; cyclamen roots do not like to be too wet.
Snails and slugs will eat the tubers of garden-grown cyclamen. Be sure to control for these varmints.
Next workshop: UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will conduct a workshop on “Rose Pruning” on Saturday, January 11, from 10 a.m. to noon at University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. For more details and online registration visit http://ucanr.edu/2020rosepruning or call 707-253-4221.
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.