Botanical Blog

Just Let Go

Because of health issues, I let my yard go over winter. Funny thing, but the yard didn’t seem to mind.

The butterfly bushes (Buddleja davidii) — which I normally prune nearly to the ground in winter — have put on 3 or 4 feet of height, providing afternoon shade where none existed before. The catmints (Nepeta x faassenii) — which looked dry and dead in March because I did not trim them back — have roared back to life, are blooming like mad and attracting masses of pollinators. The ornamental grasses (Pennisetum setaceum, P. orientale and Muhlenbergia rigida) did not get their February haircuts. No matter. They’re sending out deep maroon and gray-green shoots and airy pink plumes.

I’ve concluded that my winter garden to-do list just might be too long. Maybe I’ve become too controlling of my yard. Perhaps my new motto will be “Let it go.”

What about you? If you’re uncomfortable knowing you didn’t prune your roses in late January, ask yourself this: So what? I didn’t prune mine — nor did I fertilize them, or check for aphids or powdery mildew, rust or black spot! They are now heavy with blooms as well as lovely rose hips. The roses will be OK.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating the total abandonment of winter gardening chores. There are some things that must happen out there, no matter what. Thankfully, my husband raked up the leafy remains of fall. That eliminates hiding places for insects. He, of course, turned off our sprinkler system in November and turned it back on just recently. And then he gave the whole system a close inspection for leaks and clogs. He also made sure to regularly dump any standing rainwater that accumulated on our property. This limits mosquito breeding. He patrolled for weeds, and yanked them while they were small, ensuring fewer battles with thorny burclover and climbing bindweed. Thank you, honey.

But the freeze-damaged lantana went untrimmed until a month ago. I happily pruned away the blackened branches to allow the strong, new growth to come forward. That chore felt symbolic somehow. I was thrilled to do it.

Next winter I know I will be out there, pruning and raking and cleaning up. Controlling. But not as much — nor as fervently — as before. And the yard will be OK.

— Kathy Thomas-Rico

There are many reasons to garden in containers

I love growing in containers.

Growing plants in containers lets you have a garden even when the space for one is limited or nonexistent. You can install a planter box below a window or use containers to turn a tiny balcony or patio into a leafy haven.

Gardeners with plenty of room appreciate containers, too, valuing the versatility they offer.

Blooming container plants bring seasonal color to garden beds, a porch, or the front steps and are easily replaced with new ones when their flowers fade.

In addition, containers give you the chance to experiment with new plant combinations and with plants not suited to the native conditions.

For instance, if your soil is alkaline or clay-like but you are longing to raise acid-loving plants or those that demand fast drainage, just fill the pots with the sort of soil they need.

Plants too tender for your winters can be moved to shelter when cold weather hits.

Choose containers with at least one drainage hole, so water won’t accumulate around your plant roots. Submerge terra-cotta pots in clean water and let them soak thoroughly. If the pots are too dry, they can initially draw water away from the potting soil. Scrub used containers with a solution of 1 part household bleach to 9 parts hot water.

A good potting soil allows roots to grow easily. It should be fast draining, yet moisture retentive. Quick drainage means roots won’t run the risk of suffocating in soggy soil, while good water retention saves you from having to water too often.

Regular garden soil, even good loam, is too dense for container use. For best success, most gardeners turn to packaged potting mixes, which don’t contain soil.

They’re soil-less mixtures of organic materials (such as ground bark, sphagnum peat moss, and/or compost) plus mineral matter such as perlite, pumice, or sand. Limestone may be added to balance the acidity of peat moss. Fertilizers and wetting agents (soil polymers) may also be included.

Before planting, flush the mix with water once or twice to eliminate excess salts.

Because containers have only a limited area from which to draw moisture, these plants must be watered more often than those grown in the ground.

In hot or windy weather, some (especially those in hanging baskets) may need watering several times a day. In cool weather, it may be sufficient to water less often.

Test the soil with your finger. If the soil is dry beneath the surface, it’s time to water.

Apply water over the entire soil surface until it flows from the pot’s drainage holes. This moistens the entire soil mass and prevents any potentially harmful salts from accumulating in the mix.

If the water drains out too fast, (virtually the instant you pour it in), there’s probably air space between the soil and the container walls. In this case, completely submerge the container in a tub of water for about half an hour. For larger pots, set a hose on the soil surface near the plant’s base and let water trickle slowly onto the soil.

A drip irrigation system can make watering almost effortless. Kits designed for these purposes are widely available.

Container plants need regular feeding, because the frequent watering leaches nutrients from the potting mix. Hydrate the plants before applying fertilizer.

If plants are dry and then fertilized, burning can occur due to too much fertilizer being absorbed. Water lightly first before fertilizing.

If using a granulated (dry) fertilizer, water lightly before and after application and follow up the next morning with another light watering.

If using a liquid or water soluble fertilizer, water at base of plant and not on foliage. Do this in the early morning or evening instead of the hottest part of the day.

Apply a liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks during the growing season, following directions on the label. Also, you can mix a controlled release type fertilizer into the potting mix before planting.

If roots are crowded and protruding from the drainage holes, the plant has outgrown its container and needs a roomier home. Because you want to keep the soil mass fairly well filled with roots, it’s best to shift the plant to a slightly larger container rather than a much bigger one.

If the pot is too large, the ration of soil to roots will be too great for the roots to absorb all the moisture after watering, a situation that often leads to root rot. Select a new container that allows just an inch or two of fresh mix on all sides of the root mass.

If the root ball is compacted (with tightly wound roots), make four shallow vertical cuts down its sides with a sharp knife to encourage the roots to move out into the new soil.

If you want to keep an older plant in the same large pot indefinitely, you can root-prune the plant periodically. Gently turn it out of its container and use a sharp knife to shave off an inch or two from all four sides and the bottom of the root ball.

Place fresh potting mix in the bottom of the container, replace the plant, and add fresh mix around the sides. Water thoroughly and fertilize with the above mentioned recommendations.

This summer many people are planting vegetables in containers as they lend themselves well to this type of gardening. With some thought to selecting bush or dwarf varieties, almost any vegetable can be adapted to growing in pots.

Vegetables that take little space such as carrots, peppers, radishes, lettuce, or crops that bear fruits over a long period of time, are perfect for containers.

Seed companies have seeds on the market made for containers, including cucumbers, round eggplants and round carrots.

There are blueberry varieties that do well in containers and are easy to grow. Citrus do well in container, too.

There are so many choices of plants that will work in containers you can start filling in your garden today.

If you have questions about container gardening, ask a Master Gardener. We are at the farmers markets, libraries, and other advertised events.

We have a hotline, 784-1322, where you can leave a detailed message and we will return your call. Send us an e-mail at [email protected].

We’re here to assist you with your gardening questions.

Sharon Rico is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

This is the perfect area to grow tea roses

Dont shy away from growing roses. If you understand that any plant will grow only as well as its location permits, you can apply that knowledge to roses well.

After all, all roses are not the same. Some really are easier to grow than others.

A rose is not a rose is not a rose. That is, a Damask is not a polyantha and a hybrid tea is not a tea.

In past articles, Ive suggested growing rugosa roses, the most disease resistant and hardy roses of all classes. Or growing certain shade tolerant roses where the location warrants.

In this article, I will encourage you to grow the roses perfect for hot, sunny climates, those sunbathers, the teas.

When I write teas I do not mean hybrid teas. The latter are a latter-day offspring of the tea rose (Rosa odorata), which derives from China.

Humes Blush arrived in Europe in 1810. It was both the first tea and the first repeat-flowering rose of the Western world. It still survives today in Germanys famous rose garden, Sangerhausen.

The first cultivated tea rose that made a distinct impression seems to have been Adam in 1833. Highly scented, it is of a fawn color with coppery salmon in the center.

Thereafter, the tea varieties multiplied quickly, reaching an apex of 402 different teas by the end of the 19th century. Clearly, they were popular roses.

With the advent of hybrid teas, their popularity declined. Nonetheless, today, though rarely advertised or sold in standard, commercial catalogues and nurseries, they are the most popular of Old Garden Roses. Special nurseries such as Ashdown Roses, Greenmantle Nursery, Texas Rose Emporium, and Vintage Gardens carry many of them.

True, the teas are not winter hardy, meaning that as a whole they do poorly in temperatures below freezing. Their plant tissues adjust themselves more slowly than those of other roses. Thus, they are the roses for the South and for central Californias coast and the Sacramento Valley.

A hot, dry zone is their cup of tea. They thrive in the climates of Dixon, Fairfield, Vacaville, Vallejo and the spaces in between.

In addition, unlike hybrid teas, most tea roses are immune to mildew and seldom troubled by blackspot. They are especially easy to propagate, and they live long.

Many of the old roses found in Californias early cemeteries, abandoned farms, and small Gold Rush towns are teas. Teas that have survived years and years on abandonment and neglect.

As to form and color, they are, as many a rosarian has called them, the aristocrats of the rose world. Their colors are generally subtle and refined. Nothing gaudy, garish, loud, or demanding of attention. They are delicate pinks, delicate yellows, delicate copper, soft whites, and cream.

Unlike the modern hybrid teas, they are not stiff and stout but usually twiggy and gracefully lax or lounging, their heads often bowed in modesty or contemplation. In the climber teas, this trait is particularly attractive as they nod, drape, droop, or hang in festoons or like lanterns or bells around or over porch, pergola, deck, or window. They have, and require, a very long season of bloom, something that much of California offers them.

Tea roses do ask for fertile and well-drained soil. Clay will have to be amended. However, as the survivor teas of early days have shown, they can tolerate poor soil and a certain amount of drought.

But why make them suffer?

Best of all, unlike hybrid teas, they really do not require pruning. In short, think of this rose as the easy tea.

The teas I name below are both the most dependable and the most fragrant. Ive already mentioned the first cultivated tea rose Adam, which, by the way, seems the only tea prone to mildew.

First, then, the pink shrubs.

Bon Silene displays a profusion of deep rose pink flowers. Madame Bravy pink with shades of cream. She has the scent of old-fashioned facial cream. Her bell-shaped blooms have fluted edges.

Duchess de Brabant exhibits warm pink, cupped blossoms on a graceful bush, exuding a strong spice scent. A real survivor, she has often been found in old cemeteries and abandoned places.

A friend of mine found one dug up and tossed into an alley. Dragging it home, she let it sit exposed for a number of days before digging a spot to plant her. Today, the rose blooms gloriously.

Catherine Mermet, soft pink with some peach tints, is an exquisitely refined flower. Mrs. B. R. Cant, a dark pink, is a big, easy rose who will grow 6 or 8 feet high and as wide.

Among the yellow teas is Safrano, a blend of pastel yellow, coral and apricot (some consider it just creamy yellow), often grown in groups of three or more. Its considered one of the best in bud. This rose was enormously popular in Europe, especially in Italy and the French Riviera, from its 1839 introduction right up to World War I.

Le Pactole, one of my favorites, opens white then turns to a soft mellow yellow. Marie van Houtte is lemon yellow edged in rose pink, becoming paler with the heat. And little Etoile de Lyon is a strong golden yellow, about 2 feet tall.

General Schablikine parades a color somewhere between pink and yellow  a bronze red and cerise blend. It is one of the most dependable of all teas.

Francis Dubreuil is one of the very few red teas. Its a dark, dark red hinting at black. Sombreuil, a tall grower at 8 feet, is pure white with layers of lovely scalloped petals and the clean fresh scent of baby powder. This, too, is a favorite of mine.

Most of the climbing teas grow from 12 to 15 feet high. (Several of those I list are alternately classified as noisettes or tea noisettes.)

Climbing Madame Cochet shows off her pink and cream flowers. Aimee Vibert and Lamarque are both pure white and nearly thornless. The first is tolerant of some shade, the second fond of climbing against a porch or wall for shelter.

Climbing Devoniensis wears white or ivory or light yellow, depending upon the weather. Souvenir de Mme. Leonie Viennot exhibits a blend of pink and yellow with some coppery overtones. It, too, is shade tolerant.

Many climbing teas are yellow. Chromatella (also known as Cloth of Gold) is a soft shade of sulfur yellow. Jaune Desprez, is a yellow, buff, and orange blend with mottled stems.

Marechal Niel, a vigorous grower, is butter yellow, and Perle des Jardins lemon yellow with a button eye.

Alister Stella Gray shows creamy blooms blushed with lemon, the center petals being darker yellow. Climbing Lady Hillingdon, can be egg yolk yellow or apricot yellow, often with paler outer petals.

The popular Gloire de Dijon is strongly scented, vigorous, shade tolerant, and is a delicate yellow with peach shades.

Not a climber, the tea rose Alexander Hill Gray (1911), a fragrant 4- or 5-foot shrub bearing full, bright yellow blossoms that change to tawny yellow, was named for a Scottish lord who sold his cooler property and moved to southern England for the expressed purpose of growing his beloved tea roses,

He should have come to California, the perfect location. If any rose is the sunny California rose, it is the easy tea.

Darrell g.h. Schramm is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

Master Gardeners: A one-stop shop for horticulture questions

Have you heard of the Master Gardeners of Solano County? Do you know who 
we are and what we do?
We are homemakers, teachers, professors, and people from every walk of 
life. The Master Gardener program is a group of 88 active volunteers 
under the guidance of our county-funded Master Gardener program 
coordinator, Jennifer Baumbach. She is the only paid person managing the 
Master Gardeners.
The office that houses us is known by many different names: UC 
Cooperative Extension, Solano County Cooperative Extension, and 
Cooperative Extension.
These are all the same entity. We are also part of the program that 
includes 4-H clubs, Livestock and Natural Resources, Small Farms and 
Urban Horticulture, and Nutrition, Family and Consumer Science. Most 
people dont realize what a rich and diverse unit this is.
We Master Gardeners are known for our passion of gardening and teaching 
others what we have learned. This past year we have come in contact in 
excess of 3,000 county residents, helping you with gardening questions 
big and small.
To become a Master Gardener requires 50 hours of classroom studies over 
16 weeks of UC Cooperative Extension training in horticulture. Classes 
are taught by professors in the UC system, in the field, and Master 
Gardeners.
The trainees are taught fruit tree growing, safe use of fertilizers, 
ways to use less pesticide by employing integrated pest management, 
water usage, soil management/modification, and pest and weed 
identification, to name a few.
Once we pass the written test and graduate, we are ready to pass this 
knowledge on to you, the public.
Some of the events that you will find the Solano County Master Gardener 
volunteers at include:
The libraries in the county where we give talks on gardening once a month.
Dixon May Fair, Solano County Fair, Lambtown and Morningsun Herb Farm.
We had a workshop at Foster Lumber Yard on making a container and 
growing your own vegetables.
Weve spoken at the Napa Camellia Society, Vaca Valley Garden Club, 
Geranium Club and Leisure Town Womans Club.
Master Gardeners are part of Suisun Valley Family Farm Fun Days, 
Fairfield Health Fairs, Fairfield Tomato Festival, and the Solano County 
Resource Conservation District plant sales in Vacaville.
Weve led garden tours in most Solano County cities as well as working 
with elementary schools.
We write garden articles that are published in the Daily Republic on a 
weekly basis.
Our Seed for Thought quarterly newsletter is completely created by the 
Master Gardeners.
We write articles for the Vaca Valley Garden Club newsletter.
If you have a plant or insect problem and cant visit us in person, you 
can e-mail your problem to us at [email protected] or call our 
hotline 784-1322.
You are welcome to walk into the office at 501 Texas St., first floor, 
Fairfield, and someone will help you with you plant or insect problem.
We designed and planted the Childrens Memorial Garden at the Solano 
County Childrens Health and Social Service Facility, 275 Beck Ave., 
Fairfield. We maintain this garden every month during the spring, 
summer, fall and as needed during the winter months.
Once a year we hold a workshop on propagation where you learn how to 
grow plants so you can create more of the plants you like without having 
to purchase them.
We have had workshops on rose care that included not only how to care 
for them but how to prune them so you will have wonderful roses.
Last year, we held a public plant exchange where you bring in plants you 
no longer want or that you wanted to share and exchange for other unique 
plants.
This way you got to choose from different plants. Maybe one you might 
not have thought you would like, or ones you would like to have but just 
hadnt purchased because you were not sure what they would look like or 
if they would fit in your garden.
Our wreath workshop is the only project that we charge for. But you make 
a beautiful wreath from cuttings we have gathered. You also get to add 
natural decorations and a bow of your choice that we supply. This way 
you have a beautiful wreath you have made yourself to hang on your door 
or above your mantel.
Let the Master Gardeners of Solano County be your resource for all 
things gardening.
Betty Victor is a Master Gardener with the University of California 
Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening 
questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

Why Cut Good Programs?

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that the Master Gardener program and 4-H program may go away. In the proposed County budget the UCCE budget is cut by 36 %.  In a small department, unfortunately, severe cuts result in personnel cuts.  The Master Gardener Coordinator and the 4-H Coordinator positions will be cut to half time.

Both coordinators oversee very active volunteer programs; I will mostly address the Master Gardener program as that is what I am familiar with.  Jennifer Baumbach oversees 88 volunteers who help spread research based horticultural information to the community. We fulfill our mission in various ways: newspaper columns, blogs, library lecture series, speaking at garden clubs, hotline, booths at farmer's markets and fairs, community workshops and plant exchanges. 

Besides basic how to information on gardening; how to improve your soil or how to grow orchids, we also offer information on several issues important in these troubling times. We've given many talks on Integrated Pest Management or how to get rid of your pest with the least environmental damage, or how to choose drought tolerant plants so we can conserve our precious resources. Lately people have been very interested in information on growing their own food, for both the health and financial benefits. 

Requests for speakers and demonstrations are way up. Which makes it even more sad that our program may be crippled. I doubt the program can subsist with a half-time coordinator. It just doesn't make sense to me to get rid of volunteers in these hard times. We've been told that for each one dollar invested in UCCE five dollars of work is done because of our extensive use of volunteers.

Please contact your County Supervisor at 675 Texas Street, Suite 6500, Fairfield, CA 94533.  If you don't know who your supervisor is, please follow this link to who represents you http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/elected_n_appointed_officials/districtlookup.asp 

Please ask them to eliminate personnel cuts at UCCE and save the Master Gardener and 4-H programs.                        
                                                     

Karen Metz, Master Gardener

Meet the UC Davis arboretum all-stars on their Web site

Pardon me, but have you been properly introduced to the UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars? If not, now is definitely the time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Home Gardener may I introduce you to 100 plants that thrive in our Central Valley conditions, remain attractive most of the year, and have been tested in the UC Davis Arboretum. Our Central Valley conditions mimic the Mediterranean climate that means cool, rainy (hopefully) winters and hot, dry summers. Think Barcelona, Rome, or even Athens. The daytime highs in these Mediterranean cities closely match our own. 

The Arboretum All-Stars list consists of plants that are native to California and many that are native to the Mediterranean area. They are drought tolerant, require low maintenance, and attract beneficial wildlife. The list takes the guesswork out of plant selection that is appropriate for our area. 

I tend to think of pansies and primroses as winter color, not spring color as many big-box stores would like to have you think. 

The drought tolerance of the Arboretum All-Stars means you can use less water in your garden. This means less water runoff and therefore less erosion. Many of the 100 choices are naturally pest-free. Additionally, many provide habitat for beneficial insects that keep plant pests in check. That means there is less need to use pesticides. Fewer pesticides means decreased amounts of toxic chemicals in our waterways. Lower water and pesticide use relates to green savings and by that I mean greenbacks. Just call yourself The Thrifty Gardener. 

The All-Stars include perennials, groundcovers, vines, shrubs and trees. There are also some lush grasses to add movement to your landscape. The All-Stars are growing in the UC Davis Arboretum. You can visit the arboretum 365 days a year, 24/7 at http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu. The Web site has wonderful information about this outreach program. All of the plants are listed on the Web site with color photos, Latin and common names, cultural requirements, growth patterns and sizes, bloom season, and water needs. 

There is even a podcast. After watching the podcast I paged through the plant guide and found that many of the plants in my own backyard are on the list. It was fun to check off those plants including Aquilegia eximia (serpentine columbine), Echeveria Imbricata (hen and chicks), Heuchera Rosada (rosada coral bells), Nepeta x faassennii (hybrid catmint), Hardenbergia violacea (lilac vine), lavandula x ginginsii and stoechas (Goodwin Creek Grey and Otto Quast lavenders), Rosa Korbin (Iceberg rose), Salvia clevelandii Winnifred Gilman with its maroon stems and blue-violet flowers, and several other salvias, Feijoa sellowiana (pineapple guava), and Crataegus phaenopyrum (Washington hawthorn). Thats over a dozen without even knowing it. 

This spring the Arboretum All-Stars went retail. The Web site provides a growing list of nurseries that carry these plants. Its too bad that there are no nurseries in Solano County featuring these wonderful plants. You can purchase the all-stars at the UC Davis Arboretum plant sales. 

The next plant sale is Oct. 3. Mark your calendar. 

Dottie Deems is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

The Good Life Garden lives up to its name

The University of California, as a land grant institution, is well known for its dedication to community outreach through programs such as Master Gardeners. A relative newcomer on the scene, the UC Davis Good Life Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, continues that mission. Its purpose is to expose and educate a wide audience to the relationship between good food and good health. Its web page at http://www.goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu describes an intention to create a link between departments housed in the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science on campus, and the surrounding Yolo County landscape. The Good Life Garden is a real working garden and contains a year-round edible landscape, featuring organic and sustainable grown vegetables, herbs and flowers. Adjacent to the Robert Mondavi Institute, it offers the perfect practice of what it preaches. I saw the garden at the end of April. It was well-organized, thriving and inspirational. Im eager to return soon to see what it looks like now. With the popularity of books such as Michael Pollans The Omnivores Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolvers Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, has come new interest in eating vegetables grown locally and in season. According to the Web site, The aim of the Good Life Garden is to educate the public on how to buy and plant seasonal vegetables for the best taste and highest nutritional content. Each season the gardens planting list will be available online along with information on how to grow, harvest, buy, and cook the various plants, herbs, and fruits found in the garden. A description like this is irresistible to master gardeners, first time gardeners and most anyone else who eats, Id guess. A list of what to plant each season? Specific to our area? With pointers about how to actually make all that work worthwhile? And if you dont plan to grow your own, its nice to have a place to go that will tell you which of the vegetables in the produce section of the market didnt require a long journey on a jet to get here. The Good Life Garden newsletter is available on the Web site for the asking and keeps all that information current. The Good Life Garden is more than a physical space. A series of successful programs has been launched, including A Tasty Exploration of the Asian Lunar Year, The California Gold Rush: What We Ate, A Mothers Day Brunch and Backyard Edible Gardening: Growing a Successful Vegetable Garden.  The only one I attended was, unfortunately, the only one where no food was served, but the experience was well worth it anyway. Presented by Robert Norris of the Weed Science Program in UCDs Plant Science Department, Backyard Edible Gardening was comprehensive and designed specifically for local gardeners by someone who has grown his own local garden for many years. Norris first caution in his list of essentials for success is the planting date. Plants simply have a much better chance if they are planted at the correct time. Number two was also planting date. Hes obviously serious about this. Third on the list is variety. Some varieties of vegetables grow better in our area than others. Some varieties can tolerate more sun than others, some more wind. Some have been developed to withstand the attentions of common insects; some prefer one soil type over another. We can do ourselves a favor by looking specifically for varieties that seem to match the growing conditions in our own gardens. Why start off with something destined to struggle no matter how attentive we are? Last on the Norris list is everything else. And of course thats true. No matter how closely we follow good advice, some plants are just doomed at our hands .... well, mine anyway. He covered the need to prepare soil properly and to compost and mulch generously. We were cautioned not to walk on the soil around our plants because of the compaction that occurs. He suggests the use of planks. In our Mediterranean climate irrigation is essential. Most vegetable crops are not drought tolerant. On the topic of pest management we were reminded that correct identification of the problem and the pest involved is essential to choosing correct management strategy. The UCD Integrated Pest Management Web site, http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu, is invaluable in helping us get this right. Identification is easy and solutions are environmentally friendly. With so many resources we all have a fighting chance at growing our own edible garden this summer. There are lots of plants in area nursery departments just waiting to show their stuff. Bon Appetit! Marime Burton is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

Making a garden allergy friendly

By Betty Victor

The hills are green and the trees are in bloom

Its a beautiful time of the year. But for allergy suffers it can also be a time with watering eyes and sneezing, especially if you love to work in your garden.

While there is no such thing as an allergy-free garden, there are some things that can be done to put the enjoyment back into gardening and make it more allergy-friendly.

Start off by knowing what trees, flowers or shrubs you and your family, as well as your pets, are allergic to and eliminate them. If you eliminate a few each year in time you will have an allergy-friendly garden.

Try not to garden on warm, dry, windy days. The wind blows the pollen into the air. Garden when it is cooler or overcast, if possible.

To reduce the skin coming into contact with pollen wear gloves, long sleeves, and glasses to protect your eyes not just from the pollen but also from the sun. A hat will help keep some of the pollen out of your hair.

After gardening change your clothes if possible before going inside your home, so you dont bring any pollen.

Plant flowers, trees, shrubs that are pollinated by insects like butterflies and bees rather than plants that are easily airborne pollinated. This will help in an allergy friendly garden. Airborne pollen stays rather close to home.

Use native plants from our area when you can. They have adapted to our climate, will require less fertilizer or pesticides, are easy to grow and use in an allergy-friendly garden.

Make sure the plants you are adding to your garden are put in the right place to make them grow and thrive. Putting them in a place that they dont thrive will add to mold and spores and attract insects and disease.

When looking for shrubs or trees to plant, its important to know that some species can be male and female within a single plant, like a gingko. But only the male produces allergy causing pollen.

As a rule female trees and shrubs are messier than males. While females arent pollen producers, they help trap and remove pollen from the air. But they stink.

Male trees that are sold as fruitless or seedless are often very heavy-pollen producers. One of the highest allergy producing plant is bottlebrush. Its flowers contain a lot of pollen.

If you love bottlebrush and suffer from allergies plant it away from your home so the pollen doesnt drift in through an open window.

Plant a pollen-free tree rather than one like a sycamore. Sycamore trees produce fuzz on their leaves and stems, which becomes airborne. This can cause irritation to your eyes and throat.

Cottonwood, pecan, olive, ash birch and elm are a few trees that you might want to avoid in your allergy-friendly yard. Instead try a dogwood, redbud, poplar or magnolia as they are low-allergy trees.

If you have a hedge, thin it out so the air can circulate through their leaves. Hedges are very often heavy dust, pollen and mold collectors.

Keep your garden as weed free as you can as most weeds are also heavy pollen carriers.

Whenever possible look for a disease-resistant plant. They dont get infected with mildew, rust and other plant disease as easily so the air around them will be healthier.

Hybrids that have double flowers lack male pollen parts. Double chrysanthemums, tuberous begonias, alyssum, columbine, geranium are all pollen free plants. If you have a shade garden, you can plant hosta, azalea, camellias and hydrangeas as they are pollen-free plants.

If you love roses, petunias or daisies, plant them. They are low-allergy plants. Because pollen is heavy and sticky in perfectly (plants with both reproductive structures) flowering plants, they are not airborne pollinated. Insects pollinate these.

If there are plants you love and must have in your garden, but are high pollen producers, plant them where they can be seen, so you can enjoy them but not suffer because of their pollens. Keeping them away from the house, patio or deck also helps.

Trees are planted for their beauty and shade, but thinning them out to let the sun in so the air can circulate helps reduce mold and spores. There is a book by Thomas Leon-Ogren titled Allergy-Free Gardening. In it he lists more than 5,000 plants and how they rank as to the pollen each carries with No. 1 being that lowest allergenic and No. 10 the highest.

Check the library to see if this book is available.

When you go to your favorite nursery ask for help in choosing the right flowers, trees or shrub to help keep your garden as allergy friendly as possible so you can continue to enjoy gardening.

Betty Victor is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

Flowers are a reminder of a treasured pet

By Sharon Leos

When we first moved to Fairfield, there was a house down the block from ours that, from spring through late summer, had a beautiful border of pink flowers along the sidewalk.

Although we never noticed them giving off any fragrance, our chocolate Labrador retriever (his name was Moose) liked to rummage through the knee high bed and sniff whatever it is dogs enjoy sniffing.

He would emerge from the flower patch with yellow pollen clinging to his face. From then on, we referred to the flowers as Moose poppies because the flowers had several large lobed petals and a papery texture and appearance similar (to my amateur eye) to Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule).

I could have knocked on the door and asked exactly what they were, but I was happy to call them Moose poppies.

Time passed on, as did Moose. Three years ago I noticed the Moose poppies had escaped their yard and were growing in the landscape strip next to the street.

I knew they would not be there long because the landscape maintenance company in our neighborhood is very efficient at either digging out or spraying herbicide on anything that does not look like plants that are supposed to be growing in the strip.

So I dug a few small plants out and brought them home to our garden as a memorial to our faithful friend. It was during the heat of summer and I kept the transplants well watered but they did not look like they were going to survive the move.

I forgot about them until the early spring of the next year when what I thought were weeds popped up where the transplants had been planted.

I was about to pull them when I realized the it was the Moose poppies. New growth was emerging from the soil and a few weeks later, several beautiful pink flowers opened.

I have since learned the true identity of the Moose poppies is oenothera speciosa, also known by several common names including: Mexican evening primrose, pink evening primrose, sundrops, and pink ladies.

The evening primrose is a naturally occurring wildflower in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is not a California native, but was introduced here and has naturalized in the wild. While not officially listed as an invasive plant species in California, if left unchecked the evening primrose can rapidly spread in the garden by rhizome runners and seed.

The Sunset Western Garden Book describes members of the genus oenothera as being able to succeed in tough, rough places. This explains why it does so well next to the concrete sidewalk in our clay soil and also endures the hot summer weather.

Although they are called evening primroses, flowers of O. speciosa open in the morning. Two inch diameter, four petaled flowers emerge along stems that are roughly 18 inches tall.

The common flower color is light pink with a yellow center, but all white varieties are also available. The plants grow to about three feet wide in a shrub-like shape and do best in areas that receive full sun but will tolerate partial shade.

Once established, they are drought tolerant plants that require moderate to little water. A perennial, the evening primrose will die back in the winter and emerge again in the spring. Plants started from seed usually do not bloom until the second spring.

Many sources list the evening primrose as virtually pest and disease free and I have found this to be accurate. While the aphids are busy trying to feast on the plants surrounding them, the evening primroses in our garden remain clear.

Slugs and snails pose a hazard to tender new growth, but can be controlled by handpicking or baiting if necessary. If you decide to use bait, choose one that contains iron phosphate as the active ingredient (it is safer around pets, children, and wildlife) and read and follow all of the manufacturers instructions.

This year we have a beautiful mound of dozens of Moose poppies that are a daily reminder of the wonderful dog we once had. I read somewhere that nostalgia is the thief of time, but I think a little nostalgia in the garden helps keep me grounded in a wild world.

Sharon Leos is a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Fairfield. If you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners office at 784-1322.

Roses of Shady Character and their Friends

By Darrell g.h. Schramm
Because Solano County invites temperatures above 85 degrees during the summer months, many of us have, in retaliation as it were, invited shadowy characters into our landscapes and gardens.
Usually that means we have welcomed trees and shrubs to grant us shade and some cooling. Those of us who love roses have heard over and over again that roses love sun. But what if we have more shade than the love of roses seems to require?
The fact is that some roses -- not many, mind you -- are shade tolerant. 
Let me suggest then a dozen shady ladies and a few shadowy gents of the rose family who can do with less sun than most. I will also name some non-rose escorts -- other plants -- to accompany those roses.
Morning sun with shade in the afternoon or dappled sunlight is usually enough for these roses. A rose such as Complicata or the 1913 hybrid musk Moonlight, for example, will grow under a tree and, with some training, even climb into it. Of course, well-draining soil, sufficient water, and nutrients are a given.
One shady lady in white is Sally Holmes. Her whiteness doesnt disguise her bold, buxom growth and prolific bloom, spring through autumn. A tall one (to seven feet), she can do with companion plants around her naked knees. Danae, also a hybrid musk, is a medium yellow rose, growing to five feet, with arching canes. The color and shape fit this mythic beauty who was visited (and impregnated) by Zeus in a shower of gold. Ghislaine de Feligonde dresses herself in apricot pink, sometimes a blended yellow with pink. Since she is a rambler, generous with reblooms, she needs space.
The other shady gals favor various hues of pink. Felicite Parmentier, one of the most fragrant, is clothed in pearl pink. Shes an old Alba rose from 1855. Equally highly fragrant, Great Maidens Blush is an even older Alba from before 1550, who accentuates her soft blush pink with a coat of grey leaves.
Sometimes we desire thorns -- to keep out deer, robbers, and other creatures. A hedge of Sarah Van Fleet might serve the bill. About five feet high and not quite as wide, she is a very thorny hybrid rugosa in clear pink. A late Bourbon rose of 1919, Kathleen Harrop is also a clear pink, a climber growing ten feet tall. Konigin von Danemark (Queen of Denmark), an Alba with a lovely scent and modest growth, is a warm pink. Theresa Bugnet, another hybrid rugosa, is a bright pink. Dont begrudge her tendency to send up suckers too much since her flowers are as lovely as they-- and she -- are loose.
A grand dowager of the Bourbon family, Louise Odier wears rose-pink. She is both old-fashioned, unforgettable, and five by four -- not an hourglass figure. Cornelia, a loose-limbed, somewhat spindley gal in my experience, is a coral pink blending with age into a blush. Zepherine Drouhin, though somewhat susceptible to powdery mildew, is another Bourban rose, a profuse bloomer with wonderfully scented blossoms of medium pink -- among my favorites.
The twelfth is a rose of legend: Nur Mahal, a bright red, with some quilling (that is, a white streak on the occasional petal), growing eight to 10 feet. Remarkably disease-free, she does well, trained to a pillar. Supposedly she is named for the wife of Emperor Juhangir of India, as the woman who discovered attar of roses (rose oil) -- though some claim it was her mother who did so. Nur Mahal was the aunt of the woman for whom the Taj Mahal was built.
Some of the shady male characters are Alberic Berbier, a rambler bearing creamy white blooms with yellow centers; Alfred de Dalmas, a tidy pink shrub; Fritz Nobis, a six-foot gent suited in varying shades of apricot, cream, and pink, and not prone to blackspot or mildew; the distinctive Ferdinand Pichard, a tall hybrid perpetual who flaunts intense fuchsia and pink stripes. The red Henry Kelsey is good for a trellis or fence.
If you are interested in low life, Ralphs Creeper is an excellent groundcover; his orange-red petals are yellow and white on the reverse side. He wears an apple blossom cologne. Deeply red and exquisite, with an old rose scent, is Souvenir du Dr. Jamain, a hybrid perpetual whose long canes can be pegged in arches to the ground, thereby stimulating him to send out even more shoots and thus more flowers.
Charles de Mills is an old gallica whose date and rose breeder are lost in the mists of time. This rich mauve rose on an erect bush can reach six feet and is sometimes called the perfect Old Garden Rose.
(A few neutered characters you might also consider are Alba Semi-plena, Ballerina, Bougainville, Little White Pet, Sea Foam and The Fairy.)
A garden of only roses can be monotonous. Variety of color, shape, leaf, and flower add texture and thus interest to a garden. Depending on the space around, beneath, between, or behind your shade-tolerant roses, you may want to include other shade-loving companion plants.
Among the larger and bushier plants are oakleaf hydrangeas (especially Hydrangea quercifolia Snow Queen) and Hydrangea paniculata Limelight, most azaleas, and fragrant hostas such as Aphrodite, Honeybells, and Venus. Sweetspire (Itea virginica) has pendulous, clustered flowers, tiny but fragrant: Henrys Garnet grows three or four feet high and a bit wider; Saturnalia and Little Henry are smaller. White wood asters (Aster divaricatus) thrive in shade as well.
Meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium) creates clouds of fluffy lilac-colored flowers on two to three foot slender stems, somewhat like Heuchera. Foxgloves (Digitalis) are thick with flowers on more solid stalks from two to six feet high or so. Peach Blossom astilbe, a very fragrant plant of pale salmon pink, grows to two feet. Cranesbill (both Geranium phaeum and G. sylvaticum) do well in shady moist ground. 
Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) grows one to three feet high. Its soft green leaves and pink heart-shaped flowers contrast well dark-leafed roses.
Shorter, and growing in a clump, is the Lenten Rose Hellebore (Helleborus orientalis) offering white, cream, pink, purple, and green colors, some with spots. Campanula of various sorts -- trailing, creeping, or tufted -- serve as groundcover in blues and white. And finally, violets, of course, are another choice of shade-loving plants for these shady ladies and shadowy gents, the shade-tolerant roses.