Select Page

November in my garden

by | Nov 11, 2006 | Uncategorized

A newly planted succulent bowl with babies from other bowls placed around the perimeter. Succulents root so easily that it’s a shame not to take advantage of that fact. Even a single leaf dropped onto cactus mix will root and grow.

Another new bowl that I’ll fill in with starts from my other bowls.

See the babies, i.e. freebies, near the outer rim?

It’s sasanqua time!

This particular hibiscus has done really well next to the house, under a lath patio cover. It still has buds and flowers since we haven’t experienced any frost or freezes yet.

My citrus has put on a nice flush of growth this fall.
I’ve got my frost-protection cloth ready to go if/when needed.

Still harvesting peppers… that’s made it difficult for me to start my cool-season veggie garden.

Yep, still harvesting tomatoes.

Compact strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’) is looking festive

Mums are a great source of color right now.
Blanket of camellia petals and oak leaves on the Santa Barbara daisies… pretty.
Emily is not happy about the shift in the weather.

Despite the fact that I didn’t plant any wildflowers this year,
I’m getting good germination from naturally deposited seeds.

Need to plant seasonal color in tired containers.

Poor man’s orchid (Impatiens balfourii) still blooming

I really like the dark burgundy-brown of the ornamental millet. Adds some drama to the overwhelmingly silver-grey and purple background.
Looking forward to using the firepit.

Ornamental grasses really shine in november.
Roses are putting on their last show of the season.

My ‘Eureka’ lemon is looking a little snail bitten, but has put on a lot of growth.
We’ve had our first couple of real rains of the season, so the seat cushions are no longer tied on. They come in and out of the house, depending on the forecast.

‘Medallion’ and ‘JFK’ roses
My mini basil finally took off once the snail activity abated (mostly)

‘Medallion’ up close

Yes, I need to rejuvenate the chair planter with cool-season plants. This is the “before” picture.

I’m really happy with how nicely this succulent bowl is filling in. The plant in the lower left, commonly called “pork and beans” develops a wonderful blush on the leaf tips and is a great one to share with friends. Roots from a single leaf dropped onto the soil surface.

Slugs and snails are finally leaving my coleus alone.

I like the contrast between the decaying green, yellow and brown chinese ground orchid leaves and white lamium.

Dan loves his new toy, a stuffed duck.

He’s going for the squeaker.

Nasturtiums are still doing their own thing. I started planting them a few years ago and now they happily return on their own.

No, this is not marijuana. It’s a water hibiscus I grew from seed.

A baby gunnera leaf.

My salvia leucantha is a big, sprawling beautiful beast right now. My echium is getting big but still hasn’t bloomed and my princess flowers are finally getting bigger and blooming nicely. They got hit pretty hard by frost last year.

Need a couple more plants to conceal my lovely irrigation system. The nifty bamboo ladder was a $20 score from Emigh Hardware.

I even like the decaying sedum leaves and seedheads.

Filling in with a little temporary color while deciding what this spot really wants to be when it grows up

.

TREE DAHLIA BUDS!!!!!

New! 2007 Placer County Harvest Calendar

by | Nov 6, 2006 | Uncategorized


If you live in or near Placer County or need an excuse for a day trip, you might be interested in the new 2007 Placer County Harvest calendar. The UC Davis sponsored calendar is full color and lists hours, locations and offerings at the farmer’s market, agriculturual fairs and annual festivals. What a great way to see what’s available each month!

I’d like to see a Placer/Yolo/Sacramento/El Dorado version of this calendar, but Placer County is a great start and hey, they did it first, I presume.

The calendar measures 9″ x 12″ and can be purchased for $13 at the UC Cooperative Extension office, 11477 E Ave., DeWitt Center, Auburn, CA 95603. It’s $15 to have it mailed (includes tax and shipping). Please make checks payable to UC Regents and enclose with order.

This’ll make a great Christmas gift for any local who… well, who eats… or who likes to promote local agriculture, or anyone who wants to venture out on the weekends for a little wholesome fun.

Special order fruit trees, vines and shrubs through Dave Wilson Nursery now!

by | Nov 4, 2006 | Uncategorized

Californians (and Hawaiians, Idahoans and Arizonans), you have until November 16 to special order fruit trees, vines and shrubs through Dave Wilson Nursery (DWN) and pick them up at local participating nurseries. For the last two years, I’ve missed the deadline and searched local nurseries for particular fruit tree varieties to no avail.

You can check the DWN website to see what your local nursery ordered (a very thoughtful service on DWN’s part, I might add). If they haven’t ordered that succulent pluot or plumcot or cherrot or plapple (ok, the last two were made up) you’ve been fancying to try, you can fill out the special order form, phone, fax or hand-deliver it to your participating nursery, and pick up your order in January-February!

The participating nursery for greater Sacramento is Capital and in El Dorado County it’s The Golden Gecko Garden Center. Elsewhere in California, click here.


(Photo from Dave Wilson Nursery website)

Since I ended up ordering three dwarf plums and a cherry through Stark Bros. last year (a great experience, by the way), this year I’m thinking about blueberries. For years, I’ve wanted to try growing them and Dave Wilson Nursery provides a recipe for success, including the right container mix and the fact that the Southern highbush varieties do best in low-chill parts of California. Pretty sure Carmichael is medium chill… around 600-800 hours, but I believe I still want to be looking at low-chill varieties because they tend to be more heat-tolerant. DWN says 500 hours and under is considered low chill.

Nov. 6 update: Foiled again! So, this time I remembered to special order in time, but it turns out blueberries aren’t on the the list! I wonder what BDC (Blueberry Defense Council) will have to say about that… Oh, nevermind.

Guess I’ll have to hit my local nurseries and see which blueberry varieties they carry. Grumble, grumble. I’ll look at mail order too. Still, if you’re looking for fruit trees (apples, plums, peaches, cherries, etc.) or nut trees, try the DWN special order program.

For current and historical chilling data for different parts of California, click here. To give you an idea of how many chilling hours we typically receive, the Fair Oaks weather station recorded a total of 655, 1101 and 647 hours from 1997-1999 and 617, 819, 717, 647, 698 and 1103 between 2001-2005. So all you gotta do is get a ballpark figure for chill hours in your area and then pay attention to the minimum chill hours listed for each variety on the DWN website.

The other Sacramento weather station is at Twitchell Island. Anybody know where that is? Sounds Delta-ish. Hours are measured November 1 through February 28/29 and so far this season, the Fair Oaks station has accumulated, um, 0 hours. Go team! The point is, you can see there’s variability from year to year and judging from the last few years, the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks can count on at least 600 hours and some years they’ll even break a thousand. We Sunset Zone 14’ers closer to downtown may not experience quite as much chill.

I’m always a little confused about my burb because Sunset has placed it, in different editions of the Western Garden Book, in both chillier Zone 8 and more temperate Zone 14. With the upcoming edition, who knows? All I do know is that I want it to get cold enough for my plums but not too cold for my citrus. That’s not too much to ask for, is it?

For those of you experiencing California envy, you’ll be happy to know you can buy Dave Wilson Nursery offerings by mail order.