Newsletter - May 2008

Our afternoon winds have begun in Suisun, and I am already weary of broken branches, desiccated plants, trash collecting in the pickets, wind-burned skin (I work outside) and messy hair. We take the bad with the good though. The iris is spectacular as are the weigela and wallflower. The callas continue to provide blooms for inside vases and the strawberries are turning red daily. One of my neighbors has three wonderful red rhododendrons and everybody's roses and pelargoniums are in their first spring flush. We can't complain too much about the wind. I am concerned though about my tri-color beech tree. The west wind is blowing it into a one-sided wonder. I'm experimenting with some of the Japanese techniques I've seen. I've hung fishing sinkers from the branch tips to increase their weight, but that wasn't enough, so I'm tying these branches to a stake placed on the upwind side of the tree. Hopefully, I'll be able to untie them in the fall when the wind goes away and the tree will have a balanced shape.

The chrysanthemum order came from King's Nursery in Lodi last week. Mums are my mother's favorite flower, so I grew up with masses of exotic colorful blooms every fall. These aren't the forced, potted flowers you see for sale at the grocery store. The mums I grow now usually stand between four to six feet tall and the flower shapes are tiny brushes to huge ovular, bi-colored balls with every shape and size in between. Burgundy, gold, red, pink, lavender, purple, orange, brown, green, yellow, white, and combinations of these colors adorn the garden when very little else seems to be blooming. They have to be staked and pinched back and disbudded for the fall explosion, but if you have the time, they are so worth the effort.

Something else I did this week is to prune the pyracantha espalier. I have three along the side of my house that I start about eight years ago and when they berry, the robins and mockingbirds put on quite a show. Espalier is the technique of training a woody plant to grow flat on a support. Usually, the gardener tries to develop a layered, stair effect by tying the branches that are kept and eliminating the ones in between. The result is showy and impressive, but it does take time and a little patience. Pyracantha is one of the easier subjects to use for this application (watch the thorns), but Sunset Gardens in Menlo Park has a fence of espaliered dwarf lemon trees and the nurseries often sell deciduous fruit trees and a few ornamental shrubs such as camellias and flowering maple (Abutilon) already started. These you just plant and keep up the shape. An espalier is great to use in narrow spaces such as the ones between the wall and the walk going to the front door, or any place you need height, or might otherwise use a vine. My husband says it's the perfect technique exercise bossy personalities. Who, me?

We're headed to San Diego this month for a week with family, but I should be able to get away to visit a few of their gardens. It's been awhile since I've been there and usually we go in summer, so I' interested to see what will be in bloom now. I know it's too early for jacaranda, but maybe hibiscus and bougainvilla and some of the other tropical plants. I'll let you know.