Plant Trees and Shrubs in Phase Two of Fall Season
Now that November is here, the fall planting season moves to Act II: “The Planting of Trees and Shrubs and Other Permanent Things.” The more seasonal plants--all the annuals and bulbs, excepting tulips--should already be in the ground so they have as much growing time as possible before flowering.
If these haven’t been planted, no need to worry: Winter is coming slowly to California and this weekend again promises to be warm and clear and perfect for planting (because no rain has fallen yet, be sure to keep everything watered).
Our Indian summer won’t last forever, however. Just this week I noticed that the liquidambars are beginning to turn, that nights are a lot more chilly than they were even a week ago, and that the shadows have lengthened considerably (see item on this below). Soon it will be too chilly for anything to make much growth until the weather begins to warm again in the new year.
However, the closer we are to the rainy season, the better for those more permanent things in the garden. Trees, shrubs, most perennials and many ground covers will make very little growth until spring and won’t benefit as much from the warm October weather. What you get by planting now is help with the watering. I usually save these plants for last and hope that the first good storm of the season comes soon after the plants are in the ground.
You might want to try the latest recommendation on planting trees and shrubs: Do not amend the soil that goes back in the hole. Current thinking suggests that the plants will start a little slower but in the long run will be healthier and stronger. This is appealing because you don’t need to bring sacks of soil amendment home from the nursery, but you must thoroughly pulverize the soil that goes back in the hole. You might even run it through some coarse screening to make sure there are no clods included. Be sure to add a complete granular fertilizer to the soil that goes back in the hole, however.
Pay particular attention to the lengthening shadows of winter when planting this month. Watch out that you don’t plant flowers that need sun where the sun will soon not be. And be careful not to plant those more permanent things that like shade where the shade is going to be short-lived.
You might also notice that with the sun so low, it now reaches into areas that are normally shaded from above, especially under trees. This is a good spot to plant tulips in particular (because they will grow in sun, but flower after the sun has climbed higher and they are again in shadow so flowers last longer), but also it is a good place for many winter-flowering annuals that will have finished up before they are plunged back into shade.
You also can take advantage of this extra sunlight in normally shady places to get shade plants off to a strong, sturdy start. Planting now helps avoid their being too lean and floppy.
One popular permanent plant you might consider not planting, at least until the drama unfolds, is the eugenia, that favorite hedge plant. A new and very serious pest from Australia (also home to eugenias) showed up around the L.A. Airport area in May and has rapidly spread up to Santa Barbara and down to Anaheim.
It is a tiny insect called a psylid (pronounced “sil-lid”), which severely blisters leaves with its feeding, causing defoliation. Their scientific name is Trioza eugeniae and they are related to aphids but are not so sedentary (they have been called “jumping plant lice” because they leap about when disturbed). The suggested control for the moment is the insecticide Orthene, but it looks as though that will only bring temporary control.
In the San Fernando Valley, an even worse pest appeared in August, a new whitefly that is being called the ash whitefly. It is found on ash trees, ornamental pears and pomegranates. It is Siphoninus phillyreae , and the control on pomegranates is Sevin, with any other whitefly control (Malathion, Diazinon, Orthene) recommended for the other host plants.
Both of these are so new, and with the agriculture people so busy with the Mediterranean fruit fly, little is known about them. As we learn more, we will pass along the information.
A remarkable series of talks, the Fleming Lecture Series at Pomona College in Claremont, begins Wednesday. Each season, these lectures focus on a different topic, all relating to the “built environment.” This season, gardens get their turn in “Gardens and History: A Sense of Place.”
The first talk, by Douglas and Regula Campbell, a distinguished Santa Monica landscape-architect team, is “Landscape Projects in Southern California and Their Historic Precedents.”
In December, architect Patrick Bowe of Dublin will speak on Spanish and Mediterranean gardens, and London designer Maggie Keswick will speak on Chinese gardens in February. In March, James Yoch will tell how family connections were an early form of “networking” in California gardens. I am particularly fascinated by the final talk in April, by the Earl of Shelbourne, on “Boxwood: It’s Creation and Evolution Through 10 Generations.”
In general, all of the talks will focus on the landscape traditions that have influenced California garden design and our own “sense of place”--food for thought. The talks start at 4:15 p.m. in Lyman Hall, Thatcher Music Building, College Avenue at 4th Street, in Claremont. Information: Eric Haskell, guest curator for this year’s series, at (714) 621-8000, Ext. 3606.
