In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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« November 2007 | In the Garden front page | January 2008 »

December 31, 2007

Polite plant, winter flowers

Q: We're looking for a winter blooming plant that grows two to three feet high. Any suggestions?
Bob Bryans, Lincoln

A: Try Daphne. It makes a beautiful mound about 3 feet high and as wide at maturity, doesn't need pruning or maintenance, though does have a reputation for being picky. It wants good drainage, regular water and some shade. My oldest Daphne is seven or eight years old, and I've never had to prune it.

Now is a great time to see them at nurseries since they are just about to bloom. Truly, the scent is amazing. You can snip a small twig with flowers and it will scent an entire room. One of my favorites is Daphne aureomarginata with its leaves edged in gold.

Another good choice is sweet box, Sarcococca ruscifolia. Books say it grows to five feet tall and as wide, but mine, which is about four years old, is only two feet across and as tall. It seems to grow very slowly, and I think you could keep in to the size you want. It has glossy, dark green leaves that are covered in masses of tiny vanilla-scented flowers in winter. Then it makes berries that go from red to black. The plant often has berries and flowers at ther same time.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:16 AM | Comments

Angels trumpets in winter

Q: I have 1 of each a yellow and white angel trumpet in my garden. They gave our garden gorgeous flowers all through summer. The frost came and all the leaves fell. Please tell me it's not going to die. How do I take care of it? Also, where can I get Osmanthus fragrans. Thank you for your wonderful column.
Pushpa Naresh, Elk Grove

A: The trumpets are going to look ragged and bedraggled during winter, and as long as a really hard freeze doesn't come, they'll be fine.

However, there are a couple of things you can do to help insure their survival.

Make sure they are watered before a frost. Wrap the trunks with a light blanket or burlap. Throw a sheet over the plant, or hang some of the larger bulb Christmas lights in the tree. Even a light bulb will do.

If we get a series of hard freezes, the plant could die completely back. Bob Hamm, author of Sacramento Garden Notes and founder of the AIDS Benefit Plant Sale, says wrapping the trunk will help protect it and the roots so chances are the plant will be fine come spring.

The trumpets fare better in downtown Sacramento because the buildings and streets gather heat during the day and release it at night. It makes downtown a warmer climate than surrounding suburbs and rural areas.

The osmanthus is available at most nurseries. It also comes in a holly-leaved form (Osmanthus heterophyllus). The flowers are generally white, although there is an orange-colored one that blooms in fall that is heavenly scented.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:46 AM | Comments

December 27, 2007

Keep that amaryllis blooming

What do you do with your amaryllis after it’s bloomed for Christmas? Toss it out?

Many gardeners do, but if you’d like to keep this year’s bulb blooming year after year, the email newsletter called “Dig This” has these tips:

Cut off the stem just above the bulb nose once the flower has finished blooming. Leave the plant on a sunny window sill or under plant lights.
Feed with a standard water-soluble houseplant fertilizer at half the recommended strength every two weeks.

Next summer, move the pot outdoors into a sunny spot and treat it like a container plant. Continue fertilizing until the middle of August. Don’t let the soil to dry out, but avoid keeping it soggy.

In fall, before there’s a chance of frost, bring the plant inside and place in a sunny window or under plant lights. The leaves may yellow and die off by late December. Keep the soil moist at all times. Do not let the soil dry out. The buds for the new flowers should appear in January or February.

Sometimes the bulbs will produce small offsets (young bulbs) you can pot up. It will take them several seasons to get big enough to flower.

It's a bit of work, but when the bulb produces those showy, spectacular flowers, and you can tell friends you've grown it for years, it will all seem worth the effort.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:58 AM | Comments

December 21, 2007

Here’s a photo of another tree decorated for Christmas at the Meadow Vista interchange along I-80. This one is also the west-bound on ramp.

Despite the recent rainy, windy weather, this tree still sports its stocking cap and all of its decorations. They're not noticeable from the freeway; you have to take the exit to see them.

Each day I drive by the trees on my way to work or home, they remind me that the Spirit of Christmas - in all of its whimsical, silly, sweet, spiritual or fun manifestations - is alive and well.

Merry Christmas, Happy holidays to everyone. Drive safely, be healthy and enjoy time with family and friends. I’ll be back blogging about vegetables, perennials, shrubs and more next week, and answering any questions you may have.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:53 AM | Comments

December 20, 2007

Tomatoes in December in Sacramento, but not Rio Linda

Rio Linda reader Patrick Connolly wonders why downtown Sacramento gardeners still have tomatoes growing when he’s had to protect his plants since Thanksgiving. “Mine are dying. How do they do it during winter?” he asks.

It has nothing to do with the green thumb of downtown gardeners. It has to do with heat.

With its maze of freeways, streets and parking lots, as well as the hundreds and hundreds of concrete and brick buildings, Sacramento is a heat sink. All that paving and all of those buildings absorb heat all day long and release it on chilly nights.

That extra heat makes it possible for downtown gardeners to have tomatoes growing far longer than gardeners in surrounding communities. It lets them grow banana palms, angels trumpet and other tropical plants with hardly a worry. The city is like a banana or citrus belt in the midst of the frosty suburbs.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:00 PM | Comments

December 19, 2007

Next exit, North Pole

A day or two after Thanksgiving, someone decorated this tree at the I-80 west bound on-ramp at Meadow Vista. A few days later, a tree on the other side of the freeway suddenly sported gold ornaments and garlands. Then another. And another.

It’s been happening every year for quite a while. I’ve never seen anyone out there putting up the decorations, but have to admit it makes me smile every time I drive by get on and off the freeway there on my way home.

I asked Meadow Vista resident Gordon Ainsley, who some years ago adopted the interchange as part of the Caltrans “Adopt a Highway” program and has already planted a small forest of cedars and other trees, if he knew who puts up the decorations. One year, just after Thanksgiving, he explains, someone decorated a tree. Then another. He figures three or four families are responsible for the holiday decorations but doesn’t know who they are.

So whoever you are, thank you.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:44 AM | Comments

December 17, 2007

Gorgeous grasses for tough locations

Q: We bought an older home on a ¼-acre lot. The front of the house faces southeast and has a large picture window with a good size but scraggly garden bed in front of it. I would like to put ornamental grasses closest to the foundation and change out the rest of the bed seasonally. I need a recommendation for a good looking, low maintenance, drought hardy ornamental grass.
Karan Hatzenbeler, Rancho Cordova

A: Ornamental grasses are favorites of mine. I love the way they move with the breeze as well as the way the sun catches their inflorescenses. Winter is their best season. When other perennials are dying back, the grasess, which are also going dormant, are at the height of their beauty.

One of my favorites is feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora) and deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) which comes in both a large and a small variety. I like miscanthus mixed with purple leaved barberry (berberis). Another favorite of mine is blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens). It’s the most amazing light blue color and is, as its name implies, evergreen (actually everblue!). Also don’t florget Stipa gigantea. Plant it where the morning or afternoon sun can catch the flowering stalks.

Visit a nursery and take a look at their selection. Bushnell Gardens Nursery in Roseville has a big display garden with lots of grasses that have been in several years so you can see how they look when they are mature.

While many grasses they are breathtaking now, many will need to be cut back to the gound in January or February.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:06 PM | Comments

December 14, 2007

Replacing an old tree with a new one

Q: We recently removed an 18-year-old redwood from our front yard and will be replacing it with a Chinese Pistache. We’ve heard you shouldn’t plant another tree in the same spot for at least a year, and that the ground up stump makes good fertilizer. Is this true? And what is the correct way to plant a new tree?
Dennis Shun, Sacramento

A: Luanne Leineke, stewardship coordinator for the Sacramento Tree Foundation, says you can go ahead and plant the new tree where you removed the redwood.

However, she suggests removing all of the sawdust and shavings from the ground up stump and replacing it with soil from another part of your yard. The reason is the sawdust/ shavings will take nitrogen away from the soil in order to decompose, and that means it will be taking that important food away from your new tree. It’s fine to use it as a top dressing, but don’t mix it into the soil. Leineke says let the new soil settle in for a couple of weeks and then plant the pistache.

For tree planting tips, visit The Sacramento Tree Foundation website, click on “tree info” and you’ll find instructions on how to plant a tree.

A pet peeve of mine is tree staking. Potted trees often come with a small stake tied directly against the trunk of the tree. This is for the tree’s protection in the nursery and while it is potted. Remove that stake! Further, most newly planted trees do not need to be staked. If the tree trunk is weak and wobbly, yes, stake it. Otherwise don’t. Swaying in the breeze helps a tree trunk develop the strength it needs to withstand stormy weather. Keeping it staked all its life is akin to us using crutches in case we might fall down.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:18 AM | Comments

Pesky racoons

Q: A raccoon comes each evening and eats the cat food. We’ve already fixed the small pond in the garden so the raccoons can’t get the fish, but how can we keep the racoons from raiding the cat's food bowl?
Dell, Sacramento

A: As a resident of rural Placer County, I have lots of experience with raccoons - as well as possums and skunks. I fed the cat on the front porch, and after a while it became a nightly parade of critters coming for cat food. So I moved the cat bowl to the back deck, thinking - wrongly - that no wild critter would want to climb a dozen steps.
So my solution? I remove the cat food from the front porch every evening by about 7 p.m., later in the summer. Next morning, the cat bowl is put out where it stays all day. After a few days the wild varmints learn there’s nothing to eat, and hunt for cat food at someone else’s house, I suppose.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:04 AM | Comments

December 12, 2007

Winter flower with heavenly scent

Yikes! December has not only crept upon us quickly and quietly, it’s beginning to zoom by and soon it will be Christmas and then before you know it, 2008.

But just because winter is near it doesn’t mean it has to be flowerless. After all, this is sunny California. Over the next few weeks I’ll write about various winter blooming plants. Many are highly scented.

My favorite late fall/early winter bloomer is Osmanthus fragrans. For ten months of the year it’s nothing special, simply a green leaved shrub/small tree that blends well with almost any sort of foliage or flower. Suddenly one chilly fall day you’ll pull into the driveway, get out of the car and be greeted with the most heavenly fragrance. It will fill the air. It will be everywhere, and smell sweet and heady yet light. Neighbors will come and ask what’s blooming.
The white flowers are tiny, and come in clusters. Who would think something so small could scent an entire yard?

Osmanthus leaves are reminiscent of camellia, and from a distance you could mistake it for one. It isn’t exciting, not does it attract a lot of attention. That is, until it flowers. It’s a tough shrub, tolerant of many kinds of soils. Further, it doesn’t demand lots of water. I have an orange-flowering osmanthus growing behind the deck where there are no water lines. It gets watered when I remember, yet never fails to bloom and grow.

I recommend an osmanthus in every yard.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:38 PM | Comments

December 10, 2007

Pesky mushrooms in the lawn

Q: How do we get rid of mushrooms which grow in the lawn and flowerbeds? We have a magnolia tree and a courtyard with shrubs and the mushrooms come out each winter. Is there a safe, non-toxic way to prevent them?
Joy Bonds-Baird, Sacramento

A: Mushroom grow in a lawn because they find food to survive. They feed on decaying organic matter, such as old mulch, decaying wood, even animal waste. Rotting stumps are famous for providing food for mushrooms. Having mushrooms means you have plenty of organic matter in the soil. The mushrooms are simply part of Mother Nature's plan to clean things up. The good news is once the decaying matter is gone, the mushrooms wil be, too.

Kicking off the tops won’t totally solve the problem because the part we see above ground--the mushroom--is simply the fruiting body of the “roots.” In addition, mushrooms can produce thousands of spores, and the spores can even blow in from a neighbor’s yard. But certainly picking them out of the lawn can help. Be sure to wash your hands afterwards.

The UC Cooperative Extension says mushrooms in lawns are often the result of over-irrigation or poor drainage. Its Pest Notes publication called “Mushrooms and Other Nuisance Fungi in Lawns” says, “Removing excess thatch and aerating the soil to improve water penetration may help in some cases. You can eliminate mushroom flowering from organic matter by applying nitrogen fertilizer at a rate of one pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn.”

Further, they say, the nitrogen should be readily available as opposed to slow release. Nor should you use water-soluble fertilizer. “Examples include five pounds of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) or special lawn fertilizers such as six pounds of 16-6-8 or four pounds of 27-3-4 per 1000 square feet of lawn.” The reason fertilizers work is they speed up the decaying process of the organic matter in your soil.

If you have small children - and kids tend to put things in their mouths - I'd certainly be diligent about removing all mushrooms I see. As far as pets, I've never heard of dogs eating mushrooms.

Often the only mushrooms coming up are common white-colored ones, but sometimes you'll see really unusual varieties and colors. They can be quite beautiful.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:31 AM | Comments

December 06, 2007

Plan now to protect citrus from a freeze

While it’s raining, there’s no need to worry about frost, but we all know it’s only a matter of time before Jack Frost comes knocking at the door. While we’re cozy and warm inside the house, our plants are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Rain, fog, wind, frost--there’s no getting away from it.

But we can help.

Citrus trees, especially young ones, can be damaged or killed by a hard freeze Here are a few simple precautions. A word of advice, though. Plan ahead and have everything ready to protect your plants before the weather turns.

*Move citrus in containers to sheltered areas. Put them against the house or under the patio cover.

*Make sure they’ve been watered. This applies to ones in containers and in the ground. Plants - except succulents and tropical plants - can withstand freezing temperatures much better if there’s moisture at their roots.

*Throw a sheet or a blanket over the citrus if frost is predicted. If freezing weather is coming, hang large bulb Christmas lights in the tree for warmth.

*For a more permanent protection set-up, put four posts around the tree. When cold weather comes, wrap row cover or plastic around the posts and be sure to throw an old sheet or blanket over the top. This way, the plastic won’t be touching the leaves and you don’t have to worry about building a support structure each year for the plant. Take the blanket and plastic away when the frost is over. Never leave plastic on a plant on a sunny day.

*Some experts recommend harvesting ripe fruit while others say no. You decide. I’d go ahead and pick what’s ripe.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 04:00 PM | Comments

December 05, 2007

Tips for going green

It’s refreshing to see businesses and consumers getting on the green bandwagon. There’s just no reason to hold on to our wasteful ways when so many organizations and businesses are offering tips for “green” living and gift-giving.

Home Depot, for example, has these tips for green gift-giving:

Buy rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. According to the Environmental Protection Agency about 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Rechargeable batteries save money and keep potentially harmful materials out of landfills.

Choose energy efficient appliances. The Energy Star label tells you an appliance is energy efficient, even estimating the annual cost of operating the appliance.

Recycle gift wrap. According to Home Depot, “If every family reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.”

I’ve always tried to save gift wrap to reuse. In a pinch, one of my favorite gift wraps is to use the Sunday comics from the newspaper. You’ll be surprised at how many people will want to read the package!

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:20 PM | Comments

December 04, 2007

Raised garden in winter

Q: We just built a raised garden. What vegetables can be planted in Dec/Jan/Feb? In the past I have raised summer veggies only so need your help.
Kay Barry, Sacramento

A: There's still time to plant bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, radishes, all sorts of lettuce, onions and garlic. Garlic is an especially satisfying crop--trouble free and easy. Just plant the cloves and let it grow until next June.

Check your local nursery or garden center for starter plants for crops like broccoli and cauliflower since it's too late to start them from seed. Nurseries will offer onions in sets or seedlings. Cool weather crops like peas, spinach and lettuce can still be started from seed.

I also like to sprinkle in a few flowers to dress up the vegetable bed. You can plant calendulas, primrose, pansies and snapdragons now.

A good idea is to browse through the nursery or garden center and see what’s available. I always find vegetables to try I’ve never grown before.

Send us your questions by clicking on the "Ask a Question" link below, and we'll get them answered quickly.

Posted by kmckenna at 11:52 AM | Comments

Trees for tough places

Readers want to know.....

Q: we have about 10' on the west side of our home to the fence. Currently, there are 3 liquidambers that we are having removed because their roots are causing our neighbors' sidewalk to lift & they are very messy trees. What can we plant in their place that will grow tall, but not get the root system the liquid ambers have, provide shade for our home & privacy.
Cindy Ott, Gold River

A: My favorites include crape myrtle, smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria), as well as Sasanqua camellias. The crape myrtle and smoke tree are both deciduous, which means they will lose their leaves each fall. The camellia is actually considered a shrub, but many of them grow politely to 20 feet or more. Their growing habit is graceful and somewhat open, and theybloom in early to late fall.

Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, suggests Tilia cordata. He describes it as "a well-mannered tree with a pyramidal shape. " It grows about three feet a year, he says. "The Calleryana pears are less and less popular due to limb breakage, but the Capital variety has a strongly upright habit, nice fall color, and seems less problematic than other varieties. It grows about five feet a year with regular watering. The upright form of European hornbeam -- Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata' -- is another rather formal-looking upright grower. I think it's boring, but it fits the criteria. Along my own driveway I used Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the Dawn redwood. Fast (5'+ a year), narrow, lovely, but not common in the trade; you may have to look around or special order it. It provides a light shade.” Finally, Shor says, a great evergreen tree is the old stand-by Laurus nobilis, or bay tree. "It's tough, grows about three feet a year, and can be pruned to whatever height they desire.”

Send us your questions by clicking on the "Ask a Question" link below, and we'll get them answered quickly.

Photo - a crape myrtle in full bloom - by Owen Brewer, Sacramento Bee

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:50 AM | Comments

December 03, 2007

Those pesky food moths

Moths in the pantry have been on many readers’ minds - and in their flour, cereal and pasta - this fall.

I’ve been there. I won't see evidence of food moths for ages, then suddenly one day I'll walk in the kitchen one morning and find tiny brown moths are zooming around, flitting from cupboard to cupboard. I’ll hunt far and wide for their food of choice, and often they simply elude me. One year I cleaned out everything. Or so I thought. After I’d tossed the pasta, bags of beans, corn meal, flour, anything I thought they’d like, I still had moths. I finally found them gorging on jello!

Carmichael reader Carolyn Loveridge has this advice: “There are some easy solutions to the problem of little moths that seem to float around in the pantry. If you put all grain products into your freezer for 48 hours when you bring them home from the store, you will eliminate the eggs that become larva. For those moths that are already flying around, buy “The Pantry Pest Trap” by Safer. I keep a trap in my cold cereal cupboard and don’t worry about freezing the cereal. Using these two strategies have eliminated the moth headache."

Once you see the moths, you can be sure the little fellows have finished their feeding frenzy---they eat our baking supplies in their larvae stage. Sacramento Master Gardener Carol Hunter says the moths common in this area include the Indian meal moth, brown house moth and Mediterranean flour moth.

In a recent "Garden Detective" answer, she wrote, “The larvae spin webs and web together the stored products in which they feed and develop. Mature larvae also may leave the food source and crawl about the cupboard, walls and ceilings. The brown house moth eats not only foodstuffs but also feeds on carpets, paper, furs and insects.

"Proper sanitation is the primary technique for avoiding these pests. Do not purchase quantities of flour, dried pet food or cake mix that cannot be used in a reasonable amount of time. Products stored longer than six months often are sources of infestation. When infestations do occur, locate the source and get rid of it immediately.”

Posted by Pat Rubin at 02:09 PM | Comments

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