Here are five things to do in the garden this week:
1. Fruit Trees. Cherimoya trees are easy to grow as long as the winter is sufficiently mild but coaxing fruit out of them is another matter. Pollination is problematic because the beetles that pollinate cherimoya trees in their habitat of montane tropical South America are not found anywhere else. Thus, some gardeners resort to hand-pollination with a small artist’s paintbrush. Yet this process is laborious and requires perfect timing to make it work. However, there is another option. I once spoke with a cherimoya grower who hung bananas in his trees when they were flowering. As the bananas aged, they attracted fruit flies that were instrumental in pollinating his trees. You can germinate seeds from store-bought cherimoyas with confidence that the trees that grow from them will produce a quality crop. After soaking the seeds in water for 24 hours, plant them in a mixture of half peat moss, half sand. Cover the container with plastic to retain moisture and place in a worm location. The seeds should sprout in a few weeks’ time.
2. Vegetables. If you are interested in cultivating a vegetable crop that will last a lifetime, consider winter-hardy or long-season leeks. Upon uprooting a whole plant when harvesting, cut the stem so that the bottom inch of it remains with roots attached. Then replant the root-and-stem pieces one inch below the soil surface. Cover with mulch and the plant will regrow. You will also see that some leeks have sideshoots which can be detached and planted as well. Blue Solaise is a long-season leek that does well in Southern California gardens.
3. Herbs. There is no herb more drought or heat-tolerant than rosemary and this summer’s heat, at least for me, has proved it. I have a rosemary shrub three foot tall by three feet wide, growing in half-day sun that was not watered once this summer and yet it looks just fine. Moreover, my wife likes it kept as a globe so it was pruned twice this summer to keep its spherical shape. I have often seen trailing rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis var. prostatus) defoliate over the summer where watering was excessive. This is especially true where trees were growing overhead. Rosemary can take some shade better than most herbs, but in such an environment, it should probably never need watering after one year’s growth.
4. Ornamental shrubs. I sometimes wait to see how long plants can go without water and have reached the conclusion that, given half-day sun exposure, many established flowering shrubs — from Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis spp.) to butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.) to Gardenia to heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) — do quite well with no more than one or two monthly soakings, even in the hottest weather. From my experience this year, established lantana growing in half-day sun never needs watering, even when temperatures soar above 100 degrees.
5. One message that comes through loud and clear from visiting nurseries these days is that the golden age of annual color — of pansies, snapdragons, primroses and the like — is past. Beds of these vividly colored standbys are shrinking in favor of more water-thrifty and longer-lasting fare such as succulents and flowering perennials. Another noticeable trend, as if to compensate for the loss of annual color, is the increasing availability of perennial plants with multi-colored foliage such as Abelia grandiflora ‘Kaleidoscope,’ New Zealand myrtle (Lophomyrtus ‘Little Star’) and Cistus ‘Mickie,’ a variegated rock rose. And then, of course, there are the many variegated mirror plants (Coprosma spp.) from which to choose.
If you have questions or comments you would like to share, please send it along to [email protected].
