Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

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

• Spray citrus and other tender plants with Cloud Cover to give them some protection from frosts.

• Japanese maples are some of the most colorful trees in the fall. Plant them now and give them a head start on spring.

• Fragrant hyacinths make a colorful display in a garden bed, or can be grown in pots. They come in red, pink, blue, white and soft pastels. Plant them now for spring flowers.

• Compost falling leaves to make excellent garden mulch by next season.

Colorful Persimmon Trees

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

Persimmons are a favorite fruit throughout Asia 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 reddish-yellow 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 are real “pucker-producers” and must be allowed to soften before their astringency changes to a rich, sweet flavor; and the non-astringent types that 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.

Persimmon trees are a little more expensive than the average fruit tree because the propagation is expensive. Fruit trees are propagated by budding, a form of grafting that uses a growth bud rather than a twig to attach the named variety to the rootstock. Not only are persimmons hard to bud, but the buds don’t always take, and sometimes less than 60 percent of the trees survive being dug-up out of the nursery rows where they are grown.

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 the most popular. The shiny red, smooth, tomato-shaped fruit is 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.

• Plant pansies, snapdragons, stock, calendulas and primroses now to replace summer annuals.

• Garlic sets can be planted now for an easy crop that you can harvest next spring. Choose from hard-neck, soft-neck or Elephant garlic varieties now available.

• Plant cover crops in the garden where summer plants have finished. Fava beans and crimson clover will grow through the winter and improve your soil for spring planting.

• Choose shade trees for fall color now and plant them while the soil is still warm.

• Wildflower seed broadcast with the first rains will take root over the winter and burst into flower next spring.

Paint your garden with tulips

There’s magic in tulips. Their sleek brown bulbs hide a rainbow of beautiful flowers which are yours for the planting. Whether it’s bright reds and yellows that you love, or pretty pastel pinks and purples, you can design a palette of their gorgeous colors by planting the bulbs this fall.

Tulips require three or four months of cold during the winter before they will bloom. In Willits, this is no problem: just plant the bulbs in the fall and they will be ready to bloom next April and May. In milder climates, and to force into bloom indoors, you have to refrigerate them for 14 to 17 weeks before they will be ready to bloom.

Plant a succession of tulip varieties and colors for six weeks of spring flowers. Begin with Fosteriana tulips, commonly known as Emperor tulips. They have large, velvety flowers on 16-inch stems. Brighten your border with ‘White Emperor,’ a perfect white tulip.

Single Early tulips come in bright colors with egg-shaped blooms. ‘Yokahama’ has golden, sunshine-yellow petals that bloom over a long season.

Next come the Triumph tulips with their traditional tulip shape and strong stems. The tall and graceful ‘Blue Beauty’ is a purple/pink bicolor with a traditional tulip flower shape. ‘Negrita’ has dark burgundy, upright flower cups on 18-inch stems and ‘Orange Cassini’ has delicate red-orange blooms that give off a gentle fragrance.

Darwin Hybrids flower in mid-season with long-lasting flowers on strong stems that make them perfect for bedding and for cutting. Look for the bright ‘Oxford,’ with scarlet red flowers blushed with purple, ‘Golden Apeldoorn,’ which has a primrose yellow exterior and a golden yellow inside, and ‘Van Eijk,’ with vibrant, dark pink blooms.

End the season with the Double Late tulip, ‘Upstar.’ With its soft, rose pink, ruffled, peony-like flowers, it will bring an elegant close to the tulip season.

Tulips need sunshine when they are in bloom. If they are in a shady area, they will lean toward the light on elongated stems. It’s fine to plant bulbs under deciduous trees if the trees won’t leaf out until after the blooming season ends.

Plant tulip bulbs 6 to 8 inches deep, putting some bone meal at the bottom of the hole. As soon as the flowers have faded, cut them off so that the bulb will store up energy for next season rather that putting that energy into producing a seed pod. Leave the foliage and stems until they die down naturally.

Tulips can easily be grown in containers. Use potting soil and add bone meal or bulb fertilizer. Set the bulbs close together and barely cover them with soil. Set the containers in a cool place out of direct sunshine. Sun will warm the soil and make the bulbs bloom before they have developed an adequate root system. Keep them in a cool place for 3 or 4 months then, when the shoots appear, move pots to a place with light shade. When buds appear, move pots where you can enjoy their beautiful blooms to the fullest.

Fall is the time to plant tulips and other spring-flowering bulbs for a splendid show next spring.

• Holland flower bulbs are now available for fall planting. These lovely gems will bloom for you next spring.

• Protect the pond from the worst of the leaf fall with a fine-mesh net over the surface of the pond.

• Fragrant Paperwhite narcissus will bloom indoors by Thanksgiving if planted now in rocks and water.

• Pansies, snapdragons, stock, calendulas and primroses can be planted now to replace summer annuals.

• Garlic should be planted now for an easy crop that you can harvest next spring. Choose from Early White, Late Pink, Spanish Roja or Elephant Garlic.

Using Native Shrubs in the Landscape

Our climate here in Willits consists of cold, wet winters and hot dry summers. As every gardener knows, this is a very challenging place to garden. However, there are a number of plants that are native to California and accustomed to this extreme climate that will grow here with minimal care.

One of the best known natives is Manzanita, or Arctostaphylos. This plant comes in many different forms from large shrubs down to low-growing ground covers. The ground cover plants are fast-growing and make a rich green mat, 6 to 12 feet across. Their pretty pink bell-shaped flowers hang from the ends of the branches in spring.The low-growing ‘Emerald Carpet’ is a particularly fine plant with a dense, spreading habit and pleasing flowers in the spring.

Bush Anemone, or Carpenteria, is a large, evergreen shrub with attractive leaves and showy, fragrant white flowers up to 3 inches across in early summer. They can be used as a specimen or in groupings, and will grow well under native trees.

Ceanothus, or California Wild Lilac, is well-known for its display of rich blue flowers each spring. (Actually the variety that is native to this area has white flowers.) With its dark green foliage, varieties such as ‘Dark Star’ grow 5 to 6 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide. Ceanothus ‘Concha’ makes a handsome 4-ft. round shrub with bright, cobalt-blue flowers. ‘Yankee Point’ is lower growing to 2 feet high and 10 feet wide. It covers the ground quickly. Plant them where they have room to grow.

Heteromeles is known as Toyon or Christmas Berry. This large shrub can grow 6 to 10 feet tall and as wide. It makes a find background or screening plant and the berried branches can be used for winter decorations.

There are two kinds of Ribes that are useful landscape plants in partial shade. The Pink Flowering Currant is a deciduous shrub to 6 feet or taller. It has attractive pink flowers in 6-inch-long clusters in March. Hummingbirds love the flowers. It is drought tolerant but grows faster with some summer watering.

Evergreen Currant makes a fine, shrubby ground cover in dry, shady areas. It grows 2–3 ft. high and can spread to 8 feet wide with glossy, dark green leaves. It works very well under native oak trees.

White sage, Salvia apiana, is a 5-foot shrub with soft grey leaves. The flowers emerge in summer and are white with a little lavender. It is a fine shrub for hot, dry banks and needs no summer water once established. Use it to make your own smudge-sticks. It has many medicinal and sacred uses.

When planted in the fall, native shrubs will become established over the winter and be able to withstand considerable drought by next summer.