Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Plant Paperwhite narcissus in pots for Christmas gifts.

• Dress up your interior landscape with some new houseplants for the holidays ahead.

• Spray for peach leaf curl with copper sulfate. Peach and nectarine trees may suffer from this fungus disease without a protective spray.

• Plant bright red amaryllis in pots now for Christmas gifts.

Light Up Your Garden With Spring Bulbs

Flowering bulbs, with their great variety of bloom color, flowering time, plant height and shape are an important addition to any landscape or garden.  Since bulbs give us our first spots of color after a long winter, they are always welcome harbingers of spring. In addition, they need no watering except the winter rains.”¨

Bulbs always look nice planted in front of a section of evergreen shrubs.  Many houses have plants up against the house which make a nice backdrop for groupings of bulbs.  A border of bulbs planted along the edge of the lawn will add a splash of color to the lawn area.

Spring bulbs can also be planted under deciduous trees.  The bulbs will bloom before the trees leaf out, giving them plenty of light to make strong stems.  Some bulbs that perform well under trees and shrubs are grape hyacinths, crocus, leucojums and daffodils.

”¨In a perennial bed or border, spring bulbs will bloom during March, April and May before most perennials start to flower.  Locate the bulbs in the planting bed so that the dying foliage will not be noticed.  Spring bulbs used in the perennial border can be left in the ground the year round or they can be removed and replaced by other plants after flowering is complete.

Some bulbs can be planted with low growing ground covers like ajuga, violets, vinca minor or English ivy.  Choose bulbs that are at least twice as tall as the ground cover.  Small bulbs like crocus can also be planted in a lawn.  They will be finished blooming by the time you get out to mow the grass and they look very cute popping up out of the lawn. ”¨

Spring bulbs will bloom between early February and mid-June.  First to bloom are crocus and grape hyacinths, followed by daffodils and tulips through April and May.  The visual feast ends with Dutch iris and elegant Alliums.

Planting bulbs of one variety or color in mass will have greater visual impact.  Never plant bulbs in a single straight row or in a single circle around a tree or bush, except in very formal gardens. Bulbs look better and more natural when they are planted in masses.  Plant bulbs of one color in small spaces in the landscape.  One color will have greater impact and make the planting space look larger.  In large spaces, a planting of two or three colors can be effective. Plant each color together, don’t intermix them. The color of spring flowering bulbs is enhanced when interplanted with pansies or other compatible early flowers.

Try some fun combinations like blue hyacinths with grape hyacinths and white, miniature narcissus. Add some blue pansies for a living bouquet. Plant yellow-and-white daffodil ‘Ice Follies’ with ‘Golden Apeldoorn’ Tulips, or cream-and-pink ‘Elegant Lady’ Tulips with a mixture of pink -and-white daffodils. 

Enjoy painting your landscape with beautiful bulbs.

• Choose living Christmas trees now. Most will be able to be kept in their containers and used for one or two more years as a Christmas tree. Water them every other day while indoors.

• Clean up rose bushes by removing spent flowers and raking up old leaves, but wait until February for heavy pruning.

• Primroses and pansies will add color to your flower beds and containers all winter.

• Wild bird feeders will attract migrating birds so you can enjoy the pleasure of their company.

• Fragrant daphne is an early blooming shrub that will delight you with its strongly scented blooms each spring. Plant it in well-drained soil.

Enjoy the beauty of conifers

Conifers, or cone bearing trees, make up the most valuable softwood forests of the world. They also include some of our most beautiful landscape trees. Pines, firs, spruces and cedars make fine backdrops for colorful deciduous trees and shrubs.

The true fir trees are not related to our Douglas fir, and are known by the name Abies. These trees typically have a formal and stately appearance when young, growing into impressive, majestic specimens.

The White Fir is native to the mountains of southern Oregon and California. It is an important timber tree and a popular Christmas tree as well. It’s bluish-green needles stand upright on the branches, and the cones may be dark purple or bright yellow-green.

The Noble Fir grows from northern California on up into Washington. It forms a tall and narrow pyramid with short, stiff branches and bluish-green needles that sweep upwards.

The Grand Fir grows near the Pacific coast from California to British Columbia. It is a grand and imposing tree with handsome, deep green needles that are fragrant when crushed.

Spruce trees make very fine ornamental trees. The Colorado Blue Spruce is well-known as a living Christmas tree. It has very stiff, horizontal branches which easily hold up the ornaments. Foliage varies in seedling trees from dark green through all shades of blue green to steel blue. It makes a fine landscape tree in our area, with branches that grow all the way to the ground.

Cedar is a name given to many different trees, like the Deodar Cedar and the native Incense Cedar. The Deodar Cedar makes a beautiful, large tree with silvery needles and openly spaced, graceful, upturned branches. The cones are very decorative and look like wood roses.

Incense Cedar is a dense, symmetrical tree with reddish brown bark. Its rich green foliage grows in flat sprays and gives off a pungent fragrance in warm weather.

There are three types of conifers known as redwoods: our native Coast Redwood trees, the Giant Sequoia, native to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Dawn Redwood, which comes from China. They are all beautiful large trees. The Dawn Redwood is unusual in that its lovely, light green foliage turns light bronze in autumn before it drops from the tree, remaining bare all winter.

Just as many shades of green make up an artist’s palette, many varieties of conifers can add year-round beauty to your property. This is an excellent time to choose and plant conifers.

• Primroses and pansies will add instant color to pots and flower beds. Combine them with bulbs for an extended season of bloom.

• King Alfred daffodils, those big, showy, golden, trumpet-flowered daffodils, can be planted now from bulbs for glorious spring flowers.

• Broadcast wildflower seeds and annual ryegrass on hillsides to stop erosion and give you lots of flowers next spring.

• Empty birdbaths and fountains and cover them for the winter, to prevent water freezing and cracking the bowls.

• Mulch asparagus beds with three inches of well-rotted manure.

Colorful Persimmon Trees for Home or Orchard

Oriental persimmons are the perfect trees for fruit enthusiasts who have little time for orcharding. They form a perfect umbrella shape without any pruning and they are virtually pest and disease free.

Persimmons are a favorite fruit throughout the Orient where they are native. The botanical name, Diospyros, means “fruit of the Gods”. They are prized not only for their fruit but also for their attractiveness as a medium-size ornamental tree.

Because they bloom so late, the blossoms are rarely bothered by late frosts. Fall frosts deepen the color of the fruit. In October or early November they yield a crop of bright red-orange fruit which, if not picked, stay on the tree after the leaves fall. Persimmons put on a brilliant display of autumn color with crimson leaves and orange fruit.

Although regular watering increases yields, persimmon trees are drought-tolerant and thrive in most well-drained soils. They must have good drainage around the crown of the roots. Trees reach 30 feet tall with broad leaves shading an area 25 feet in diameter.

There are two basic types of persimmons: the astringent varieties which must be allowed to soften before their astringency changes to a rich, sweet flavor; and the non-astringent types which are sweet and firm when ripe. In cool summer areas, where limited heat is available for ripening fruit, non-astringent types are recommended. They are well adapted in most areas around Willits.

The best known persimmon is the ‘Hachiya’. It is large and acorn-shaped with deep orange skin. Astringent until ripe, the soft red flesh is exceptionally rich and filling. It makes delicious breads, cookies and cobblers. It can be picked while still hard, by cutting the stems with shears, and allowed to ripen indoors.

‘Chocolate’ persimmon has sweet, spicy, firm, brown flesh with superb flavor. It is self-fruitful but astringent until ripe.

There are several non-astringent persimmons available. ‘Fuyu’ persimmon is very popular in the Orient. The shiny red, smooth, tomato-shaped fruit are light orange with firm flesh and a delicate, sweet flavor. The fruit can be peeled and eaten like an apple. It is good for baking but best when eaten fresh.

‘Coffee Cake’, pollinated by ‘Fuyu’, and ripening a month earlier, has a unique spicy-sweet flavor that instantly brings to mind hot coffee and cinnamon pastries. Plant the pair for the perfect persimmon experience.

‘Izu’ has large, round fruit that is very sweet, tasty, and non-astringent. It makes a relatively small tree, a good choice for the backyard.

Persimmons are a wonderful fall fruit to add to your orchard or to stand alone as an handsome ornamental tree.