Tomatoes, Kumquat, Bargain Basement Peace Rose

It's been a week of hot days, high 80s. The tomatoes obviously like it because they're turning red. Would they turn red anyway, simply as a function of time, regardless of the temperature? I heard that citrus definitely need heat to ripen. The two tomatoes are different types with different times to mature, but they seem to be getting red at the same rate. Maybe one gets deep, deep red over a longer period and the other one is ripe when more pink? Here are two pictures.

I missed the peak flush of the Nagami kumquat, but you can see that there were quite a few blossoms. I forgot to sniff them -- citrus fragrance is wonderful. I hope many of the blossoms form fruit. This plant didn't make any fruit last year. The Bearss Lime tree seems to be still recovering from the root pruning I gave it 2 years ago. This Spring, it flowered and formed a few tiny fruit buds but they fell off.

Other developments in my garden is the Peace hybrid rose is recovering well from near-death. Surprising that it did not tolerate full sun. It has been in bright shade for at least 2 months and is leafing out again. It was one of the very cheap bare-root plants that was on final sale at the hardware store for $3. I thought that it was not bred to be a bargain basement plant so should have as good genes as its expensive cousins; therefore, after a few seasons in a good environment, it should be fine. It seems that I was wrong.

It's naive of me to believe that plants would have less variability within a given specie than in animals. Derivatively, I thought that nurserymen might sort their plants for sale, like transistors are sorted, or like California olives, into "Ultimate," "Superior" and "Fine." But among plants for sale, there is no such grading system displayed; only the reputation of the nursery, or the breeder, like Graham Thomas would be a mark of quality for a rose.

Unusually Cool Summer

Global Warming, huh? We've had two really hot days so far, the rest of the time only high 70s. The plants don't know what to do.

In early May, I planted two tomato plants, taking it seriously this time. Dug a foot deep trench, added more than 25% soil amendment, got premium 4" plants from Yamagami's. I even buried a soaker hose, put on bark mulch and fancy tomato cages. The good part of these expensive cages is the supporting bars clip on so I repositioned them as the tomatoes grew, to support the heavy fruits. Worth the money.

I pointed the sprinkler heads away so that I can water them less frequently but deeply, and not water spot the leaves. I turned on the soaker hose, just a trickle, for an hour or so once a week. Last week, I forgot to turn the tap off so it was on for more than 6 hours! Then I read that soaker hoses emit a gallon per minute per foot. Seems too high a rate, but in any case, that deep watering should ding my water bill.

The big 'muscular' tomatoes are supposed to take 60 days to ripen. See? They're multi-lobed rather than spherical. The fancy 'French chef favorite' ones are supposed to take 70 days. It's been, oh, 65 days. Maybe they'll turn red in the next 5 days? Too much water and no warm weather means even when they turn red, they might not be very sweet.

Here's a picture of the French Chef's Favorite

(not their real name). Smaller fruit, smaller leaves, fewer fruit per branch, shorter plant, and not as red when ripe.

Well, I gotta say, growing big tomatoes is more rewarding than growing cherry tomatoes. All those years of growing various varieties of cherries only end up feeding the bugs. These tomatoes are high enough up, I guess, to keep them bug-free, so far.

Other garden notes: My Nagami Kumquat was looking sad: yellow and no blossoms. I thought it was root bound so finally bit the bullet and put it into the ground. Highly amended soil in a wide but not so deep hole: planted 2-3 inches above soil level; landscape cloth to control soil erosion and bark mulch. Two weeks go by, no reaction at all; leaves still yellow. But today, presto, lots of little flower buds. maybe I'll get some kumquats after all? Will post a photo when the flowers bloom.

Homesick

I miss my garden back in San Mateo. Due to its sometimes unmanageable size, I do not always miss gardening, but I do miss the garden itself. I started a little container garden here in Metz on my windowsill, primarily because I like to cook with fresh herbs, but I finally bought a little chrysanthemum last week, because the sill needed a little brightening!

Even in small towns in France, living is relatively compact. Single family homes are not as common, and buildings tend to have little to no greenspace around them. It is no wonder that it is so common to see plants on display on windowsills! I know that even though my little collection began for practical purposes, I do appreciate the small connection it gives me to something more, for lack of a better word, organic, than the concrete that surrounds me. I suspect it does that for many others, as well.

Also common in France are heavy-duty light-blocking shutters, which seem to be unique to this country. I have a roll-down version on my window, and at night, I lower it to the tops of my plants, so I can still see them, but it blocks the view of the driveway. In the morning, my plants are the first thing I see when I look out my window.

A Luridly Scented Garden

Last week, we had three days of 90-some degrees. That seems to have signaled the flowers to pop out. They're all out now, blooming aggressively even though the temperatures went back to 50s and 60s. The scent from so many different blooms wafts around outside.

The earliest to bloom was the pink jasmine (Jasminium polyanthum). I finally got it to wrap around the 10-foot tall Salet rose. The effect isn't very obvious yet, but lovely. The Daphne Marginata was just fabulous -- such a wonderful plant! My single hyacinthe bloomed faithfully but after it faded, I forgot its location and stupidly dug up what I thought was an unusually stubborn clump of defiantly gripping crab grass.

The biggest contributor to the scent right now is the Wisteria. I have a love-hate relationship with that plant. It's beautiful, has a lovely scent, is prolific and carefree, and has an Asian heritage, like me, but it's so vigorous that it's strangling the two trees on either side of it. I should have pruned it way back last winter.

The second biggest scent contributor isn't blooming yet -- the Star Jasmine. It's a huge, vigorous plant that many people use for ground cover. I hate using the hedge trimmer on it because it oozes a white sticky milk when it's cut.

I'm surprised the various blooming citrus isn't pumping out fragrance. Lemon, grapefruit, lime, kumquat. Maybe their scent is being overpowered by the other flowers?

A really great, natural nummingbird feeder is honeysuckle (Lonicera). It can be invasive so make sure it's contained and well trimmed.

The classic and English roses are blending their various scents. The Salet with its musky scent is one of the most satisfying roses to have in the garden. The Eglantyne is very, very sweet. The musk rose is just getting started. The Baronne de Prevost is putting out 4" blooms and grew a foot in height last month! The Graham Thomas smells citus-y. My beloved pampered pet, Evelyn, doesn't even have buds yet but has a sucker. The two-tone Peace hybrid has the typical tea rose scent and is blooming very well. The pure Peace, I think should be removed -- it has some kind of fungal infestation. I'll put tuberose corms in that pot.

I'm anxious for the gardenia to bloom -- it should smell great. It seems to be late this year. Thank goodness the Kahili ginger is way in the furthest corner by itself. I don't like its scent although its sheer size is impressive. I would love the scent of the butterfly ginger (Hedychium Coronaria), but it has never bloomed for me, despite lavish applications of fertilizer, compost, manure.

When it stays warm, the French and English lavender and two types of rosemary will dominate the garden's scent. The Stephanotis did well last summer, but was not the powerful scent that I was hoping for. Maybe it likes real tropical temperatures, consistently high 80s and low 90s?

The scented geraniums (real pelagonium, Rose of Attar and Citronella) are blooming but they don't put out scent -- you have to crush the leaves to release the oil. Ditto for the spearmint.

Yard Cleanup

This isn't going to be one of those 'happy happy' posts about everything blooming. It's about yard work.

It's so satisfying to cut off big, big, I mean BIG branches, and pull up 3 foot high weeds. Who knew that all those English roses that I didn't prune in January are actually climbers? Took a deep breath and cut a 5-foot long, half inch diameter cane from the Eglantyne rose (pink flower in the picture, very vigorous and fragrant!). That leaves another 6 feet of that cane. The Salet (dark red rose in picture) is being interwined by pink jasmine (jasminum polyanthum) which was what I wanted, but the star jasmine in front has grabbed branches and is throttling them! It took some patience to cut the rose free.

Then there are the mistakes from my ignorant gardener days. I didn't know that the Japanese Anemone Queen Charlotte is invasive! In addition to springing up everywhere, the spent blooms dry on long, ugly brown stalks and must be pulled out by hand. Maybe defoliant will eradicate it without hurting the tender air roots of the camellia that it's near? Speaking of invasive, I sneered at the asparagus fern ibeing sold for money. How do I get rid of the ones progressing across my yard? They have their own underground nutrition nodes so they're hard to kill.

Alas, there's that oramental tree in the center of the yard whose roots sprout branches. It has infiltrated a hedge (hard to saw off saplings that are inside the hedge), lifted a stepping stone on the main path, and appears among the ground cover. Is it possible that one small tree can propagate a whole forest of itself?

Orchids Blooming

My cattlaya is from a division from an old, old plant. For more than 10 years, that plant grew and grew in a sunny corner in the winter and summer vacations outside exposed to only morning light. I re-potted it and divided it and gave 20-some divisions away, all of which did well. Then it got a fungus or other rotting disease probably from over-watering and not changing the medium (redwood bark) and died.

My sister on the east coast successfully kept the divisions I sent her growing and blooming by giving it full zone 8 sun in the summer and horticultural lights in the winter. After my parent plant died, she sent me 4 divisions of 2-3 nodes each.

Those divisions were positioned in the full Bay Area afternoon sun. Within hours, the leaves burned literally to a crisp. The surviving pieces were put under a tree in very bright but continually shaded conditions where they happily made many new leaves.

The one that grew to 6 nodes is blooming from the 5th node. The fourth node tried to bloom around Thanksgiving but I guess the temperature was too high or the humidity too low, or the November light was too wan... or 5 nodes were still not mature enough to support flowers?

These two blossoms have deep purple petals with bright yellow throats, no scent. Maybe the other divisions will bloom later this Spring? I hope so.

A miniature varigated Phalanopsis (you can't see how dark pink the varigation is, in these poorly done photos) was given to me last May so it's been in my care for about 10 months. You can see from its bare stems that it had three stems with 13 blooms when it arrived. It lives on a east-facing windowsill with frequent watering, occasional half-strength 20-20-20 fertilizer, and even less occasional doses of a vitamin solution ("Thrive!"). Maybe I should lower the N and increase the P in the fertilizer to encourage more flowers and less foliage? It grew several really big leaves which was a very satisfying indication that it was happy. Maybe dark green leaves mean it's not getting enough light? Should Phalanopsis also have light green leaves, like Cattlayas?

I still pine for my specie Brassia with its elegantly long stem and outrageously pointy flowers. Four types of orchids are enough for now, however emboldened I might be with these two blooms.

And now, for the two orchids that haven't bloomed ever, while in my care. One is more than 6 years old and since I've never seen the flowers, I don't know what kind it is. Oh, I know I can identify it through leaves but that's really taking it seriously. The other is a 2-year old pink Miltonia. At least they're both alive and making leaves!

Miniature Pomegranate

Got this plant in a tiny 4" pot from Trader Joe's when all the leaves were falling off and it looked moribund. I repotted it into a nursery gallon pot (which is less than a gallon). Carefully loosened the roots which were wround tightly around and around. Put in a cool south-facing spot for a few weeks and voila! Blooming. I wonder if it forms miniature fruits?

The tag that came with it said it can withstand dry conditions -- no kidding seeing as the plant originated from Central Asia: Iran through to India and is grown commercially in the drier parts of California and Arizona, presumeably not in Death Valley or the basin around Phoenix. I read that it is also grown in the South where it's pretty humid and hot. In Europe, it seems to prosper around the Med, including North Africa.

The Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park (which used to be a historic Spanish ranch) has several mature, fecund pomegranate trees. Oh how wonderfully tasty those fruits must be! The ones for grocery stores were probably picked before they were ripe so they have time to be shipped. Tree-ripened fruit are the best.

I wonder what Allied Arts does with its pomegranates, extra large olives and citrus fruits? I would love to buy them. Once, I saw canvas spread under the olive trees with ripe olives all over them so they are collecting them but maybe not for sale? I hope it isn't gardeners cleaning up, throwing them away. They can't be composted.

My doctor friend tells me that pomegranates are excellent anti-oxidants but the commercial juice has too much sugar in it. The fresh fruit tastes so much better! Next season, I'll make pomegranate sorbet!

Eveything is Already Blooming!

I was forced by a power failure to go into the yard to re-set the automatic sprinklers, so checked a few plants. The Helleborus which was entirely green, including the flowers, when I got it last year, is blooming with pink flowers! Pretty good performance for complete neglect! Do the flowers change color due to soil acidity levels, like hydrangrias? See the many, nice big buds on it? Nice, huh?

The stephanotis isn't doing as well, one of the growing tips looks like got cold damaged, however, the other tips look fine. No buds, though, probably not warm enough. Here's a picture of its flowers from last summer. Such wonderful fragrance and tough flowers.

Unfortunately, the daphne has needed repotting for a long time. It's blooming, and smelling just fabulous, but the blossoms are small, with small leaves on long leafless stalks. I need help to move all my plants around. The lime tree out-grew its half barrel despite root pruning only last year. Ditto for the Nagami kumquat, rosemary, night blooming jasmine, several English roses...

The weather is getting warm and bright enough to move the miniature pomegranite that is wintering indoors, out. It's blooming too. The orchids did well over the winter so they should be sent for spring/summer vacations! That's a rack just outside my front door. So much to do!

Maybe some gardening friends would trade their labor for lunch and refrushments?

LOVE Persimmons, especially when they're ripe

Speaking of persimmons (see next post, below), I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Both kinds: Fuyu and Hachiya. I love them so much so that I look for them in November and eat as many as possible before the season runs out.

Last November, I saw several persimmon trees around the neighborhood. One of them is obviously not prized by its owner because I slipped on the ripe fruits that were splattered on the ground. So I left a note in the mailbox saying, "May I have some of your persimmons?" with my phone number. I left a similar note in two other mailboxes.

Only got one call-back but one was enough! She said 'sure' and 'thanks for asking.'

I put the 7' ladder into the car and was off! I brought a friend and several empty grocery bags. I picked about 25 fruit in various stages of ripeness. That didn't even begin to denude one corner of the tree -- plenty left for everyone else. They were huge -- beautiful, heart shaped ones, some with those lovely black markings on the orange skin. Yummmmm.

I aligned them carefully on the kitchen table: 15 lovely persimmons. They brighten my spirits every time I went into the kitchen, and I controled myself to savor them for weeks!