Timely Tips for Gardeners

How to Tour an Arboretum, Zoo or Botanical Garden

Arboretum layouts are arranged by continents especially in zoos, and thereby uses so you can map out your garden by water use (drainage) and sunlight (heat tolerance) zones. Visit them at different times of the year to get ideas of when things bloom and re-bloom. Get ideas of colors and textures that go together. Write down botanical names because common names change with different states, countries and areas. Don’t expect nurseries to be able to obtain all the varieties seen in an arboretum, although, nurseries can often obtain more varieties of certain species. If you have mature oak trees, note the varieties planted under the arboretum oaks. Usually Correa (Australian fuchsias) and other drought and shade tolerant plants sparsely planted. Often, there will be a chef’s garden, or Italian herb garden or medicinal garden and wildlife garden for attracting birds and butterflies.
Many of these same ideas are often found in the better nurseries like here at High Hand and Capital Nursery. Remember to use potted plants on the patio and in the garden areas that have shallow or rocky soil. Ask your nursery for handouts for flyers on subjects that interest you ie. Butterfly gardens, fragrant gardens, cutting gardens, chef’s garden, Wildlife garden, Gardening under Oak trees, etc. Handouts will help you get the most out of your yard.

If you ever get to the San Diego Zoo, be sure to observe the plants at each "continent change". As you see animals of different continents, the plants change accordingly. If a botanical tour is offered, take it. You'll be fascinated by the amount of effort taken to collect and assemble the proper plants around their exhibits. It's as much work as collecting and caring for the animals. Their fern grotto/jungle river is spectacular! Private tour by the head botanist is five stars, if you can swing it. I was on a nurseryman's tour after the zoo closed, so I think it was out of the ordinary.

For sheer beauty, nothing beats Hilo, Hawaii's Tropical Botanical Garden. Hawaii's Tropical Botanical Garden click here. You start off traversing through a bamboo forest over a suspended bridge and then wind through a Parrot's beak/Crab's Claw (Heliconica) Hanging Garden.
Orchids of all colors are everywhere as are Bromilliads. You'll want to plan to spend at least four hours here. Bring lunch or at least a snack and water. It's the prettiest garden on the Big Island. On the Kona (dry) side, there is a Hibiscus Garden that is beautiful, but it doesn't have the tropical humidity and feel of this garden. Hilo is the wet side so bring an umbrella and rain gear. You'll love it. Five stars. Nearby, Turtle Bay Gardens is a leisurly walk along the beach and is self guided. It is pretty, requires that you already know lots of plants or have a good guide with you to identify plants and flowers. If you decide to drive between Hilo and Kona, stop off at Thurston Lava tube in the middlle of a huge fern forrest for a unique lava tunnel treat. The tube is lit, but bring your flashlight anyway. Hawaii has some plants that we can grow in Northern California, but not many can be kept perennial because of our cold winters. How about a leisurely and spectacular trail ride? Bring a sweet apple for your partner.

You'll recognize many as "house plants". (Is there really such a thing???)

Happy, Healthy Gardening,

Ken Brizzi

California Growers are Fortunate

Californians are spoiled!

 We have fresh food all year. We can grow whatever we want in our own yards or just buy fresh at farmers markets. Most other states grow lots of food, but limited varieties. We grow everything. When they get our food, it is days to weeks old, picked green for shipping, and then “pushed” to ripen by being subjected to ethylene gas to ripen. My sister moved to North Carolina and complained about the poor quality of Apricots.

Growing up in San Jose, we lived adjacent to an Apricot orchard and then worked in it when we were teens. We had fresh fruit all summer because we also had nearby cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, and prunes. With five siblings, we have fond memories of taking family walks in the warm summer evenings and eating fruit as we passed and said our “hellos” to neighbors. As we walked along, we'd sometimes spit cherry seeds into the gutter drains or bushes. I worked in agriculture at the age of 15. I had to get a special permit from the school and my parents. The workers, mostly Hispanic, didn’t like kids taking their jobs. I remember making fifty cents an hour. Piecemeal work was fifty cents a lug or flat, which, for me was an hour of work. The experienced workers were much faster and finally realized that I wasn’t a threat. Once I had enough for a Honda motor scooter, I quit and was off for teenage adventures to Santa Cruz Boardwalk Beach and mountains. The Santa Clara Valley was the Fruit tree capital of the nation at the time.

Due to California's many micro climates, an extremely wide variety of food is grown. In the Sacramento valley, we have enough winter chilling hours to grow nearly all fruit trees and plenty of summer heat to sweeten the fruit. Also, the winters are warm enough to grow most citrus without frost damage to the trees or fruit.

Let’s get back to my sister; she was determined to have fresh Apricots. I contacted her agricultural extension specialist for her part of North Carolina, who confirmed what my books said: Apricots would not produce fruit in her area. Well, she was very determined, so I contacted my good friend at Dave Wilson Nursery, one of the world’s largest fruit tree growers and suppliers to orchards and homeowners. Manager Ed Laivo said that if any Apricot would have a chance to survive and produce, it would be ‘Tomcot’. I purchased one and sent it to her as a 2’ stick in 2008. By 2011, she had an abundant crop that was the envy of Charlotte, North Carolina. Now, in 2012, the tree is enormous and I’m giving her advice on pruning it not only in winter, but summer too, just to control its size. She and her family are thrilled. Last year, it didn’t produce much, due to a late frost, but that is normal for N. Carolina and hence the prediction for failure in her area. She is trying to keep the tree to 15’ tall and wide. Now she prunes every summer after harvesting the fruit. See Dave Wilson’s instructions for summer pruning and Backyard Orchard Culture: Backyard orchard culture explained.( click on link while holding down the control key) to open in a new window. Two year old Tomcot Apricot in North Carolina will be summer and winter pruned in half to keep to 15' tall.

Along with fruit trees, we can grow several successions of vegetable crops. Usually two summer crops and one winter crop. Right now, in March, I am harvesting Broccoli, Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, Chard, Onions, Leeks, Sugar Snap and Sugar Pod Peas, Radishes, Carrots, Beets, Turnips, and Collards. Ready to plant from seed is all of the above, and from seed or plants: potatoes, garlic, herbs, Nasturtiums, Pansies and Calendulas. Preparing for April garden planting, I’ve planted seed for Tomatoes, Eggplants, Cucumbers, Peppers, Basil, Herbs, Sage, Rosemary, Marjoricum, Stevia, Thyme, dill, parsley, and have starts for Raspberry Oregon 1030 (cane berries that are everbearing and don’t take over the garden.) The plants I’ve started from seed at home in flats or small pots and kept from night frost will go into the garden in mid-April after the last frost.

As plants stop producing this summer, replace them immediately for more summer harvest. September will be the winter changeover.

Happy, Healthy Gardening,

Ken Brizzi