Oregon Coast Gardener

Coastal Shrub Focus: Hydrangea

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:03:00 +0000

As a coastal homeowner, it can be challenging to create an attractive landscape that stands up to the climate and doesn't demand endless hours of maintenance. Let's face it, people buy homes at the coast so they can enjoy the beach... not spend weekends doing yard work.

After trees, the selection of medium- to large-sized shrubs is critical in designing your landscape. These large living elements provide the bones for your outdoor space. With a limited palette of shrubs that can survive and thrive on the coast, it's worth noting one standout that can perform.

Hydrangea macrophylla, the common Mophead Hydrangea, offers many benefits. This dependable shrub is largely pest- and disease-free, requires infrequent and simple pruning, provides long-lasting bloom with outstanding color, needs little supplemental water, and can serve as a medium-sized foundation shrub. As a bonus, the flowers can be cut for inside arrangements and even dried for winter.

H. macrophylla 'Nikko Blue'

Hydrangeas are a familiar shrub to inland gardeners, but often present the added burden of regular summer watering. They tend to get crispy around the edges and the flowers wilt in too much direct sun or high temperatures... which makes the coast an ideal climate for hydrangeas. Our mild summer temps and misty cool mornings, along with high levels of organic matter in the soil to retain moisture, help to create a perfect setting.

Believe it or not, most coastal hydrangeas receive no supplemental summer watering and perform just fine. In my front yard, a stunning hydrangea receives late-afternoon reflected heat off a west-facing wall, so I will give it a little water once or twice a week. Even if I forget, the shrub will just droop a little in late afternoon and perk right back up in the evening.

One of the best coastal features of hydrangeas is their ability to withstand our drying winds in summer. The damaging winter winds don't affect them at all since the leaves have already shed in late fall. On many coastal landscapes with direct ocean winds, I have seen hydrangeas survive where most other shrubs fail. Give them just a little shelter for best performance, something to filter the wind like a picket fence or a shore pine.

Picking the right color is one of hydrangea's challenges. The range of color is basically white-blue-purple-pink. Occasionally you will find hydrangeas with greenish flowers, and one unusual variety called 'Quickfire' actually changes color during the bloom, from a white to reddish-pink flower. Oakleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) generally sport white flowers but offer the additional benefit of oak-shaped leaves with remarkable fall color. Another popular choice for different texture is the elegant group of Lacecap Hydrangeas, with their delicate blooms.

Lacecap Hydrangea - Flickr.com

Part of the reason color is a challenge with these shrubs is that soil acidity and mineral availability will shift the final hue. You might for instance purchase what appears to be a pink-flowered hydrangea that in later years moves toward blue or white, a result of our high soil acidity. A good resource for purchasing and learning about hydrangea color and proper fertilization is Oregon grower Hydrangeas Plus. Alternatively, buy your shrub from a coastal nursery and ask questions about which ones perform best.

The other main challenge with hydrangeas on the coast is deer protection, yes even in the city. Lincoln City, for example, has a substantial deer and elk population and hydrangeas are a preferred snack. My favorite way to protect them is with a deer-repellent spray such as Not Tonight, Deer or Liquid Fence. Be sure to wear some clothes and gloves you don't mind getting smelly, as the repellent is odor-based.

Other less-common types of hydrangeas include a climbing vine (Hydrangea anomala var. petiolaris) and the taller tree-like species known as PeeGee Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Grandiflora'), which grows to 15' tall.

Growing Food, and Community, on the Oregon Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:15:00 +0000

Garlic at Taft 7-12

For the past 2 years I have been volunteering to help create a garden and greenhouse program at our local middle/high school, Taft 7-12 in Lincoln City.

The kids' tomato plants

It has been inspiring, interesting, challenging and at times exhausting-- but always rewarding. My privilege in this role is to work with young people who have a lot on their minds, besides the usual challenges of schoolwork and teen romance. Many of these students have complicated lives at home, and it can be daunting for them to find the energy to merely learn the standards, much less excel.

Cover crop to enrich the soil

Besides providing them a place to learn about plants, soil, food, science, biology, math, etc... my goal is to give them a safe place for creativity and expand their world. Give them a reason to get outside, which they do very little. Give them a place to discover things that are unexpected, like a frog that was hiding by the greenhouse, what fennel tastes like, or the pride of harvesting tomatoes they grew from seed. Simple joy.

The UCC Congregational Church garden near NW 25th

Our garden is not alone in Lincoln City, providing a place for folks to gather and learn about growing food. Community gardens are powerful in their singular ability to unite people who would otherwise never meet, much less become friends.

Some ambitious peas at the UCC garden

People of all ages, different cultures, some with kids, all belief systems... who come together with only the common bond of growing food for themselves or family. Community gardens provide the company of others, and in exchange they might impart some long-forgotten tomato wisdom.

Lincoln City Community Garden on NW 21st

Master Gardener demonstration garden- compost bins
and water collection system. This garden is located at
Oregon Coast Community College (north).

Brand-new cloche garden at the Food Pantry, built by master gardener Rick Anderson. Adding fresh produce to the food bank offerings.

Happy artichokes and strawberries at the Taft Community Garden,
located one block east of Hwy 101 near SW 51st
(at the public parking lot).

Visit one of Lincoln City's six community gardens to grow food, find inspiration, gardening knowledge, or maybe just enjoy nature in the city. For an even larger garden community, visit Kitchen Gardeners International and expand your world.

Winning Combinations

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sat, 14 May 2011 02:02:00 +0000

This is a short post, or rather boast, about some plant combinations I'm enjoying right now.

Lithodora diffusa is a popular groundcover on the coast, probably for its evergreen leaves and cheerful blue flowers. Frequently it displays blackened, defoliated branches due to some unknown fungus. The best cure is to cut it severely back, almost as if you are removing it. The established roots respond with new fresh growth and profuse flowering as seen here.

Allow it to swarm around the base of taller plants, like this weeping Alberta Spruce (Picea abies var. pendula) and even visually striking edibles like the spiky artichoke above, a great vegetable for mild coastal summers.

Planting into the shadow of the spruce, and at the top (drier) edge of my small rain garden, I looked for a spot of shade-tolerant color year round. Hence this 'Creme Brulee' Heuchera, also known as Coral Bells. It's just getting ready to flower.

Providing a rosy, but much darker, backdrop for the Heuchera is one of my favorites for the wetter soils of a rain garden or bog area, Ninebark. This particular selection was chosen for its burgundy foliage, in this case a horticultural variety of Eastern Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), 'Summer Wine.' The plant will eventually mature much larger, but I plan to keep it restrained with annual pruning.

Finally, the basin of my rain garden sports a bronzy selection of wet-tolerant sedge, which I think is Carex buchanii. Sometimes I pick up these plants on a whim of late-summer clearance sales or adopt them from the nursery's cull pile, hence I'm not always sure of the exact species or variety.

What combinations are emerging in your spring garden that delight the eye?

Candling Pines

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:10:00 +0000

Some gardening activities are tied to the calendar. When it's February, I prune roses. In March, time to cut back the ferns. And in April (though our cool spring has delayed the season), I am candling pines.

For those who may have not heard this term, "candling" refers to the very prominent terminal buds that emerge on pine trees and shrubs in spring, as they push out their new growth. The upright, long slender buds appear like candles on a candelabra. It is during this period that a gardener can take advantage of the soft new growth to restrict the size and create deliberate shape on plants of this genus.

On the coast, by far the most common Pinus species is the Shore Pine, Pinus contorta var. contorta. It's worth noting for future gardening trivia games that it is the same species known in inland mountain regions as the Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). Which goes to show you what climate will do to cause adaptation in a plant's growth habit. If you're not sure what pine you have, a key identifying characteristic on Shore Pines is the backward-facing cones on the branches, pointing toward the trunk. But I digress.

Another common Pinus species on the coast is the Mugo Pine, frequently planted for its small stature, which varies from a low groundcover size to small shrub. Not all Mugo Pines are alike: many folks select one hoping it will stay low to the ground like the one pictured here. If this is your goal, choose a cultivar like 'Oregon Jade' which has very short internodal spacing (the length of stem between branches).

For both of these pines, and many others, candling is a technique which will allow a gardener to accomplish a couple important goals: determine appearance and restrict size.

Mugo Pine, removing the candles

Essentially what you are doing is breaking off the terminal bud before it has expanded into a longer branch with smaller branches and needles. The closer you break it off to the base, the shorter your eventual branch will be. The goal isn't to remove every last bit of the bud, as you want the plant to experience a little growth each year for its health.

If you are candling for appearance, the goal might be to create a smooth, even look to the shrub, as if you had used the hedge trimmer. Some readers might wonder, why don't we just use a hedge trimmer? What happens with this tool is that instead of breaking off the terminal bud and allowing it to naturally finish expanding, you are cutting through everything including older growth, needles, etc. The result in a month or two is a "burned" look on the top, where all those cut ends turn brown.

Shore pines at Wecoma Park in Lincoln City

Candling for a smooth look (you might have seen the "cloud"-style pruning favored in Japanese gardening) is simple. Just start breaking off the soft growth on the uppermost part of your shrub, at the top of the selected plane or curve. Then work your way along, breaking off the buds to match this general curve or plane as it suits your eye. In a month or so the pine will have grown out evenly-- though there are always a few buds that stubbornly come out late, just remove them when you see them.

One of the nicest features of Shore Pines is the long internodal spacing between branches, which lends itself to "cloud" pruning. Select a few widely spaced branches and remove those that are in between. Then begin your annual regimen of candling to create the "cloud" effect. As the tree grows too tall to reach, it will still maintain a general look of the pruning style, but if you are really fussy you can get up there on an orchard ladder and remove buds.

Cloud pruning, done less formally

If you have a lot of candling to do, one time saver is to use a pocket pruning saw blade to knock the buds off. Once there is an established plane or curve, the buds will be easy to knock off with a swift lateral swipe of your saw blade. You aren't trying to cut anything... but the teeth on your blade will catch the buds and break them off in large numbers. To make cleanup easy, lay a tarp down under the tree before starting.

A final tip: use an old pair of gloves for this task, or designate some for dirty jobs. The candles usually produce pitch that is very difficult to remove.

The Venerable Vine Maple

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 17:10:00 +0000

Vine maple fall color at Tilden Botanic Garden in Berkeley CA,
photo courtesy of drystonegarden.com

Fairly often I am asked by coastal garden clients whether they can plant a maple tree.

Usually what they mean is a Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), like a Coral Bark Maple or a Laceleaf Maple. Sometimes they are interested in an upright, larger species like the taller Japanese varieties, or even a Red Maple (Acer rubrum). Most folks don't have room in the yard to even consider our Northwest native Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum).

More often than not, after determining their specific goal-- color? shade? accent tree?-- my answer is to suggest the coastal native Vine Maple, Acer circinatum.

Other maples will grow here, given sufficient moisture, good drainage and shelter from wind. And I do mean shelter from wind. A coastal gardener might plant a perfectly good Willamette-Valley-grown nursery tree, like an upright Japanese maple, only to see it defoliate on one side, lean away from prevailing winds, leaf tips turning brown and crispy in mid-summer and finally an early drop of sad brown leaves without any fall glory.

One of the primary features sought after when choosing a maple tree is that amazing display of fall color. Depending on the species, it may range from a solid golden showing to a blazing range of sunset hues. So it's pretty disappointing when your maple goes from summer green to dead brown all in one shot. Partly this is due to the climate, since great fall color is a combination of sunny weather and cold night temps.

This is where Vine Maples really shine. Since they are adapted to our mild climate, it takes little of the cold fall air to bring on the color. Even within the city limits of Lincoln City, several blocks from the ocean, the Vine Maple is capable of a display including reds and yellows, and lasting several weeks.

Entering winter we enjoy another fine feature of this tree, the lovely mottled grey-and-white smooth bark. (Young trees have greener bark that improves with age). The bark is best displayed by using an upright pruning style, with the usually multi-trunked Vine Maple cleared of lower branches and excess root suckers. Allow the upper canopy to spread with just occasional thinning as needed for light and wind passage.

Uses for this small tree include placement in tight or shady areas close to a structure or walkway. Because the canopy is fairly narrow, it can be easily pruned to arch gracefully over a path or the eaves of your house, without causing damage. Since the leaves are small (similar in size to Japanese maples) they make for easy cleanup in the fall and are not likely to cause clogged gutters like those of Bigleaf Maple. Underplanting a Vine Maple with spring bulbs or low-growing native plants including perennials is quite charming, and provides an opportunity to explore a shade-loving palette. Vine Maples are especially pleasing if they can be placed where afternoon sun can backlight the glowing leaves, and they are right at home beside a stream or "dry creekbed" landscape feature.

Vine maple is easily pruned in tight location

Caring for a Vine Maple is simple on the central coast. They should be given some shelter from direct ocean winds, but can be used on the lee side of many homes near the oceanfront. Like most natives, they don't require fertilization if they are planted in average coastal topsoil, which tends to be high in organic matter and fairly acidic; if your soil is poor, dig a large hole and add compost to mix with the surrounding soil.

Provide your Vine Maple with a little supplemental water (once a week is plenty) in the dry months of late summer, especially when it's getting established the first couple years. Prune as desired for shape, but please don't top this tree-- it will spoil the structure. Sit back and enjoy your fine native tree.

Resources for Vine Maples: On the central coast, Blake's Coastal Nursery and Landscape in Gleneden Beach (Loop Rd., exit just south of Salishan, continue into Gleneden and Blake's is on the left hand side).

In the Willamette Valley, my favorite for natives is Wallace Hansen's nursery in Salem, which is unfortunately closed at this time but the website offers loads of information on native plants, for free. Take a look. Most nurseries in the Valley that carry trees of any kind will offer Acer circinatum.

Leaks and Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Yesterday we had a welcome preview of summer weather: sunny and mildly warm, with light wind. Coastal summers are typically dry from mid-June to mid-October, just the opposite of our sodden winters.

This year, after four years on our property, my plan is to finally design and build at least the start of a gravity-fed, rainwater-collected drip system for my vegetable garden. I have been planning it (in my mind) since we bought the place, and now it's time to get my hands wet.

The house in background, provides opportunity for gravity feed to garden

The contour of our property is ideally suited for this project. Our house sits above the garden, which is literally "sunken" about 6 feet below the grade of our foundation. Closer to the garden grade, but slightly higher and directly adjacent, is the garage and attached lean-to greenhouse. And our chicken coop wraps neatly around a small building used for storage and processing produce in season, we call the "fruit room."

The soil in the most of my front and side-yard landscape retains moisture (in our relatively cool summers) so that a weekly watering is enough. And because these areas are largely planted with shrubs and well mulched, I prefer to hand-water the shrub beds so I can have a look at everything.

Another good reason on the coast for overhead watering, at least occasionally: salt fog. A local nurseryman reminded me of this fact, in late summer we get little rain and regular morning fog which is laden with salt from the ocean. This salty mist deposits a crust on everything (check your windshield in August) including plants. So occasional overhead watering is a good thing on the coast, to give the plants a rinse.

The needs in my vegetable garden are different; anyone growing food knows the water requirements are generally greater than landscaped shrub beds. In the past couple years I have experimented with scheduling and found watering every third day to be just right. I plant closely in raised beds and add lots of organic matter to the soil, and the "sunken" location of the garden helps to reduce moisture loss. I want to avoid wasting water on pathways, and reduce the constant threat of fungal disease from too much moisture. So the obvious answer is drip irrigation, and lucky me, I came across a deal on emitter tubing last fall.

Coop wraps around 'fruit room'

My irrigation plan as of this writing:

Chicken coop: supply water to the birds by installing a filtered diverter from the fruit room gutters into their 5-gallon bucket waterer, already installed, which includes "nipples" to reduce water waste and keeps it clean.

Greenhouse: install a 2-barrel collector just outside the door, collecting water from the greenhouse roof. This will allow me to shut off the outside water supply to the greenhouse sink that causes freeze-anxiety in winter, due to the fact the building is not heated. The barrel storage will provide plenty for filling watering cans to maintain plants in the greenhouse and outside cold frame nearby.

House to garden: install a large water storage for gathering water off the house, and gravity-feed to garden drip system. Garden beds will be arranged with in-line drip emitter tubing, supplied by a poly main line that can be connected to the filtered tank. When water supplies are low, the drip system can be alternately connected to the city water supply from our existing garden hose-bib.

The first task is to repair our outside water line that I had to cut last fall. As usual, we had a spike in water use around late summer/early fall, due to little rainfall and high garden production. We got the usual notice from the city, to point out our higher-than-normal usage. We didn't actually worry until November, when we noticed the previous bill had not declined... but actually increased. Uh-oh.

Searching for the leak was no easy task, and after checking everything in the house and digging up every outside connection (including the water meter), we guessed the leak was underground and cut the line between house and garden. Wouldn't you know, that wasn't it...grrr. Finally we located a mystery valve under the house (!) leading to another outside line, shut it off and voila! The meter stopped turning.

So now that drier weather has returned... we get to do some repair work.

Other resources:
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply's short video on drip irrigation (beginners).
Supplier of drip irrigation, including several starter kits and parts.

A Walk on the Wild Side

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Wet and cool weather for the whole of March has made it tough to find opportunities in the garden-- much less, to feel like spring has finally arrived.

Alas, the adapted coastal native plants may be our surest signs: a recent wetlands walk had me surrounded by these cheery Northwest harbingers: Hooker's Willow, Skunk Cabbage, and Indian Plum.

In Lincoln City we are fortunate to have several parcels of undeveloped land set aside for the community as "open space." In addition we are lucky to have an Oregon State Park on the shore of Devils Lake right in the middle of town, and this park features a public wetlands trail. The route is short but pleasant, changing from muddy track to raised low-impact boardwalk made from recycled lumber. The construction is a special pier-type system which requires fewer intrusions into the ecology and allows for water passage beneath.

Walk this trail in late March beginning at the park entrance gate-- a small marked footpath to the right-- and the sight of Skunk Cabbage, Lysichiton americanum, will stop you in your tracks. The glowing yellow bracts pushing from the mucky creekbed seem to light your way along the path, recalling the alternate common name Swamp Lantern. I find them every bit as spring-cheerful as daffodils, and somewhat miraculous in their adaptation to the heavy sodden soils of our coastal wetlands. Their notorious odor was not even noticeable on this day.

Strolling further south, the larger trees of the park give way to a sunny (if there were ever sun shining) opening featuring wetland grasses, forbs and shrubs. It's here that both Hooker's Willow and Indian Plum take center stage. Indian Plum, Oemleria cerasiformis, is one of my favorite natives both for its charming delicate blossoms that hang in white clusters and for its brilliant green spring foliage.

Oemleria cerasiformis, Indian Plum

The little flourishes of upright new leaves decorate its branches, startling against a backdrop of dark and dreary forest edge. They are most noticeable along Northwest highways, such as driving through the Coast Range, before all the other deciduous plants leaf out and retire the plum to its background role. Although this little native shrub produces actual plums, valuable as wildlife food, rarely is the plant noticed at that time of year. It's in early spring when Indian Plum steals the show.

A spring bouquet would not be complete without a few showy branches of Pussy Willow... but the coastal native Hooker's Willow, Salix hookeriana, is the one on display in our wetland. An amazingly tough and adaptable shrub, it will grow into the sandy bluffs where drainages flow toward the ocean, as it does in the north end of town on a foot path from NW 50th. Showing its preferences for wet soils, the lovely shrub proliferates on the Devils Lake wetlands trail, those classic fuzzy buds bursting forth on long arching branches that reach overhead.

One method I've been meaning to try is to use cuttings of our native willow to create a rooting-tea: plants in this genus all produce a natural rooting chemical that can be extracted by soaking in water, then used as a drench for propagating other plants. I'm a sucker for free plant products.

Finally, I had to make note of the Red Alder trees just breaking dormancy. Delightful year-round, alders in this season dangle their ornamental cones from last year along with both male and female catkins as they prepare for pollination. The unique stalked, red buds become more deeply colored just before leafing out, lending an overall impression of rosy glow to the dense branches. Alders are somewhat shorter (probably limited by the challenging soil conditions) in the wetland, but lend a nice overstory component to the collection of low vegetation found on this charming wetland walk.

To access this trail, approach from the Devils' Lake Campground entrance gate on NE 6th, just behind the Lincoln City Cultural Center. If you are driving (and not staying at the campground) you can alternatively park in a public lot at the other end of the trail, at NE 1st Street. Turn east from Hwy 101 at the Comfort Inn (on the north side of the D River), and continue on the gravel driveway to its end for the parking lot.

My favorite reference for native NW plants:

Experimental Fruit 101

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:28:00 +0000

Last weekend I visited (for the first time) our local Fruit Scion Exchange, held by the Home Orchard Society in Canby at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds this year.

As an avid fruit grower with just a middling knowledge on the subject, it was a thrilling sight! Hundreds of people cramming excitedly into the building for the chance to get their hands on some rare variety of fruiting plant. Isn't it great that food gardening has become so popular?

For the novice, this event can be overwhelming and confusing with so much to choose from and little explanation of procedure. The volunteers work really hard to make it come together, so it's not meant as a criticism... but the noise level inside made it nearly impossible to ask questions. Would have liked to watch the expert grafters at work but those lines were forever long, as was the rootstock table. I took some grafting in horticulture school but never did enough to get really good at it-- yet.

Female Seaberry leafing out

Basically the way a "scion exchange" works is that you pay an entry fee, which entitles you to as many fruit scions as you want, for free. Scion wood is the part on your tree/plant that produces the edible variety. That part is grafted onto a rootstock, which determines overall height and vigor of the tree, among other characteristics. Your free scions must now be grafted onto something... so you can either stand in the long line to buy rootstock ($5 or so) and do it yourself, or pay the experts to graft it for you (another table). Now you have a complete fruit tree to take home and baby for a year so the graft can knit together.

The other option is to take your scions home and graft them onto existing trees in your landscape. Perhaps you have an old vigorous cherry tree that only produces the tiny sour cherries and you want some sweet ones. Or you have an apple tree with a single variety and you'd like several on that tree. Some folks even graft onto related plants, like a named apple variety onto wild crabapple.

Since I was unprepared as to variety information, I picked up a few scions knowing nothing about them. Some had been recommended to me as a coastal gardener, from folks on the HOS forum. Everything fruit-wise on the coast is an experiment, so I'm willing to give things a shot. Here's what I brought home:

Apples - Honeycrisp (a favorite), Airlie Red Flesh (also known as Hidden Rose), King Luscious
Pear - Orcas (a Puget Sound variety), Swiss Bergamotte
Asian Pear - 20th Century
Grape - Swensen's Red

Other fruits I'm growing in my home landscape in Lincoln City OR are experimental, those already bearing fruit successfully are marked in bold. Others are quite young so it's too soon to tell, stay tuned.

Lingonberry 'Red Pearl' (OGW)
Espalier apple, 3 way: Liberty, Akane, Melrose (BL)
Espalier pear, 3 way: Bartlett, Rescue, Anjou (BL)

'Rescue' pear blossoms

spring peach blooms

Peach 'Frost', fan-trained on south wall (BL)
Thornless blackberry 'Black Satin'
Cascade Berry, gift from our clients' Seattle home
Purple-leaf fruiting plum, unknown rooted variety, heirloom from client
Olives 'Arbequina' and 'Leccino' (OGW)
Seaberry (male & female) 'Garden's Gift' (OGW)
Honeyberry 'Blue Pacific' and 'Blue Velvet' (OGW)
Strawberry 'Seascape' (BL)
Raspberry 'Saanich' (RT)
Asian pears 'Kosui' and 'Chojuro', training into pleached form as screen (BL)
Alpine strawberry 'Mignonette'
Hops- 'Golden' (BL), 'Nugget' and 'Cascade'
Grapes - Sauvignon Blanc, 'Price', 'Crimson Bunch', 'Ortega' (RT)
Black currant 'Crandall' (RT)
Evergreen huckleberry, native
Blueberry- 3 bushes, 'Duke' and 'Blue Crop' (BL)
Cranberry 'Stevens' - creeping groundcover type (RT)
Fig 'Negronne' - potted in greenhouse
Hardy kiwi 'Issai' (OGW)
Pomegranate (BL) - potted in greenhouse, outside summer
Citrus, unknown orange variety - potted in greenhouse, outside summer
Nanking Cherry (bush-type) - heirloom from my grandfather's garden

Non-fruiting food plants, perennial:
Rhubarb, 'Victoria' (BL)
Asparagus - unknown (BL), this will be the 3rd year
Artichokes - 'Green Globe' I think (BL)
Cinnamon vine (tuberous) 'Dr. Yao' (OGW)
Ginger -potted, from organic grocery
Wintergreen - leafy groundcover (OGW)
Tea shrub 'Sochi' (OGW) - man, do the deer love this one!
Saffron crocus (OGW)
Daylilies (for edible flowers) - several

Deer protection on tea

Jerusalem sage - not an herb, but leaves edible - (BL)

Legend: Plants purchased mail-order from Raintree Nursery (RT), One Green World (OGW) or in-person from Blake's Coastal Nursery in Gleneden Beach (BL). Some were obtained from other gardeners. Please note whether they can ship to your state before ordering fruit.

What kind of fruit are you growing in your landscape or garden?

Coastal Rain Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:42:00 +0000

Spring bulbs in rain garden

A little over a year ago, I wrote about dealing with our heavy rainfall on the coast of Oregon and mentioned in that post the idea of "rain gardens." Then last summer I had the opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by Oregon State University on this topic, and wanted to share this idea a little further with readers.

The basic idea of a rain garden addresses this problem: too much of our heavy rainfall comes all at once in a large "event," and rushes across impermeable surfaces like roofs, sidewalks, parking lots and driveways, then flows directly into the storm sewers (or nearby water bodies) without any filtration. When this happens, lots of pollutants including fertilizers and motor oil are swept along with the water, requiring treatment if they make it to the sewer system, or just polluting the water bodies if it flows there directly.

If instead we create a mechanism to slow down the water flow, and cause it to slowly drain through layers of soil, plants and rock, it is much cleaner by the time it gets to its final destination and reduces our need for storm sewer treatment capacity.

Flagstone set into a permeable rock/sand base
provides additional area for infiltration

So the rain garden is simply a designed area which intentionally collects water that might otherwise flow from your downspouts to the storm drain, or across a large paved area, and directs it to an attractive planted feature which can contain the likely amount of water from a single "event" and let it filter through slowly.

"Stream" catches water from center
downspout & sidewalk

Benefits of the rain garden obviously include improved water quality and a reduction in the need/cost of storm water treatment. Other less obvious benefits to the homeowner might include a very attractive landscape feature including grasses, shrubs and flowering perennials; wildlife habitat when using carefully chosen native species; turning a difficult area of the yard into a useful landscape feature; and preserving your structures from additional erosion or mud-splash by directing the flow elsewhere.

Commercial rain garden installation

A terrific guide is available from Oregon State University (free) to help homeowners, builders and landscapers design rain gardens into their ecologically-friendly landscapes. This guide is very thorough including design specifications and plant lists, so I'm providing here some photos of local examples. The tiny residential rain garden is in my front yard, installed last fall. The larger, commercial project is located at our new fire station and the garden is about 3 years old.

Note the curb cuts which allow parking
lot to drain into rain garden

Looking north: varied planting includes
Oregon grape, purple-osier willow, vine maple and rushes

March Preparations

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:23:00 +0000

Raspberry foliage emerging

As the days get longer and the buds begin to swell, we gardeners start to get a little itchy. Time to get to work on something... anything... in the garden. But when the weather is not cooperating, what to do?

First I will point out a few things to avoid in the wet and windy weather we are having this week, as March comes storming in. One of the first things we are tempted to do is mow the lawn. Especially when it starts to look a little shaggy. While it's best to catch the growth before it gets too long and you end up mowing several inches at once, one of the worst things you can do for a lawn is plop your 200 lbs of mower on those little skinny wheels onto sodden soil.

Soil compaction is one of the enemies of growing healthy plants, and this includes grass plants. The more you run around on that saturated ground with a heavy mower, you are compacting the soil particles-- which in more exact terms, means you are removing all-important "pore space." Pore space is comprised of thousands of tiny voids which allow for passage of air, water and nutrients, and penetration of roots. Aerating your lawn doesn't even cure this problem; it remains compacted between the new holes. Let the lawn dry out before you mow, and it will respond with better absorption of nutrients, water and therefore healthy growth.

Another thing to avoid, for the same reason, is tilling wet soil. While it's tempting to haul out the rototiller on the one dry day, the soil around here usually stays wet for a while. Additionally if you receive heavy rainfall in the days following your handiwork, it will merely turn to mud. And more compaction. Get the idea?

Moving on to what we should do in preparation for what will surely be a banner year (one can dream), here's a few ideas from the list that I've been doing in my own and others' landscapes and veg garden:

Empty out the composter or dig out the bottom of the old pile to remove the beautiful finished material. Be sure to protect it from heavy rain while you work, and store it somewhere dry like in a trash barrel with lid. Then it will be ready to use in your garden beds and containers as needed, and the composter will be ready for the next season of trimmings.

Start seedlings for cole crops, also known as brassicas, such as broccoli, kale, cabbage, cauliflower. They germinate well in cool temps and will thrive when you transplant them in a few weeks to their outside bed. Also any salad greens, or Asian greens, will happily germinate in the cooler spring weather. Start warm-weather plants like tomatoes and peppers, on bottom heat. All of these are ideally started under lights or a sunny window, then raised to the stage of transplanting. Seed catalogs are great resources for more exact timing and procedures.

Cut back any of last year's growth on most herbaceous perennials if you haven't already done so. If you cut back ornamental grasses, watch for any early growth that's emerging. Ferns cut all the way back in early March will allow the new fiddleheads to emerge untouched, for beautiful fresh foliage after a couple weeks.

Plant peas outside in a spot that can support a trellis for climbers; otherwise you can try your hand at 'bush-type' peas. I always have more luck with climbers, and higher yield. These include sugar-pod and shelling types. Other than tomatoes, I think garden peas are one of the best reasons for growing your own veg.
It's a little late for dormant sprays on fruit trees, these should have been completed in February. If you wish to enjoy indoor blooms, now is a good time to trim a few small branches to bring inside.

If you haven't already finished ordering seeds, do it now. There are still many deals available for early ordering in March. Also check your local garden center for seed potatoes and onion sets, if you didn't order them by mail. Onion sets will give you a big head-start on growing onions rather than starting from seed, and your local nursery will order the appropriate varieties for your area. For mail order, my favorite seed catalogs are Johnny's, Territorial and Seeds of Change.

Side-dress hungry plants with complete fertilizer or compost (I prefer well composted chicken manure); this includes plants like raspberries, asparagus, rhubarb, artichokes. Also consider top-dressing your lawn with a thin layer of compost instead of high-nitrogen fertilizer. It should be very fine with no woody pieces.

Clean up storm debris from winter/spring wind events. There are inevitably plenty of needles, small branches and leaves that should be raked up and composted. Raking also just makes things look tidy and gives the gardener a warm feeling of satisfaction.

Finish planning and/or construction of any cold frames, raised beds, cloches or other structures you are planning to use this spring. Once your starts get going you will be surprised how soon these are needed!

Locate sources for potting and garden soil, compost, fertilizer that meets your needs and sensibility. I prefer and recommend organic materials, which can be harder to find and expensive. Spend a little time now talking to others who use similar methods to yours, call the extension office, and find the best places to buy. In NW Oregon, I like the deals at Concentrates Inc.

Tune, clean and sharpen garden tools, including power equipment. Frustrating beyond measure when you need a tool to work and it doesn't... trust me, when you need it to work, the small-engine shop will have a backlog. Do it now!

Control weeds (I mostly use a sharp hoe at this point) before they get too large, and set seed. You will save a lot of work later. Our favorite tool for this is a De Van Koek (Dutch) diamond hoe, which is now the DeWit diamond hoe. To this same end, refresh any mulched or bark areas toward the middle of March so you don't lose it all to heavy rain and wind. The rock yard should have new supplies by then.

Control moles as you see fit; some folks use sound-devices, some use poison or traps. My experience and that of my organic farmer friends is that traps are most effective, but require daily monitoring and a strong stomach. I don't care to use poison for many reasons, not the least of which is non-target animals getting hold of it. Sound devices (I have used many kinds) don't often work. You may have a different outcome. My best luck has been with the non-toxic, castor-oil based repellent products, especially those in a liquid hose-end application which soaks the soil. Be aware they don't kill, but move the critters somewhere else.

Slugs and deer are a challenge in most western Oregon gardens; now is the time to bait (I use the less-toxic iron phosphate kind) for slugs or use some form of control. I used to try beer traps, copper bands, etc. It just depends on your site and how many there are!

If you have a large defined garden to protect from deer, get some fencing up-- not the cheap kind but the 7' tall, strong-as-metal kind. This stuff lasts for years-- ours is over 10 (like new). We had deer knock down our posts one time running into it, the fencing held. If you want to keep out deer it has to be at least 7' tall, they jump. For repellents, I've had good reports of this one and I started using another last year that worked great and smelled a lot better, made from rosemary & mint oil. Might try making it myself. Repellents are helpful where you can't install a fence, or don't like the look of one, like an ornamental landscape.

Finally, if you are wanting a handy guide for western Oregon, check the website of Oregon State University extension, where they provide a handy month-by-month garden calendar. You can click on a printer-friendly PDF for each month and insert that into your garden calendar as a guide throughout the year.

Spring Confusion

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:04:00 +0000

One thing I don't expect living on the mild Oregon coast-- crunchy snow on the steps of my greenhouse.

Note- new olive tree in the background, swaddled for winter.

This, and 22 degrees F overnight in late February... in an area that barely reaches freezing in mid-winter. Suffice it to say the plants are slightly confused.

Just last week I was admiring the blooms on a client's deep-red camellia, and the daffodils are sooo close to opening.

For the most part I'm not worried about a late frost, as it's too soon for us to have un-winterized anything like the water spigots outside.

I will admit to some concern about my prized peach fan, and the just-emerging leaves of my treasured raspberries. The raspberries less so, they will grow more leaves if these are damaged. But early-blooming fruit trees are always a gamble against late frosts, as that short period of bloom secures the potential summer harvest. I haven't the heart to check my espalier pear yet, it almost always blooms the same time as the peach... and the peach was showing its fat pink-tipped buds the other day. Fingers crossed.

Many plants were lured into emerging from dormancy after some pleasant weather earlier this month. Daffodils were already 4-5 inches out of the ground when we returned from our long trip in late January.

The poor winter-blooming heath was in mid-bloom when the unusual snow and ice arrived this week.

Appreciating the snow-light: nothing like a bright clear day dawning on the reflective surfaces to light up the landscape. A photo-hound's dream. Snow just looks right on a blue-star juniper, doesn't it?

One standout shrub, overlooked, in early spring: Berberis darwinii, wow. The contrast of that mango-orange blooms and deep pink pedicels, against the backdrop of shiny black-green leaves.

I'm not usually an advocate of "poke-y" plants (holly, barberry, yucca, etc) since I end up maintaining the painful things. But if you have room for a tall hedgerow, or a steep slope where no people will likely need access, this plant can really highlight your February landscape. It also provides nicely for wildlife.

Finally, when the weather is uncooperative for gardening, take time to step back and appreciate something special.... like the tidepools I was able to explore on an extremely scoured-out winter beach after very high and minus tides last week. Exploring these sculptural gardens and natural water features was something special indeed.

Lincoln City tidepools, just south of the D River

Top 10 Mistakes by Coastal Gardeners

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:22:00 +0000

I love plants-- and truly enjoy working with my clients to fully appreciate the plants in their gardens.

Frequently, I am asked by concerned homeowners the same questions about their landscapes. So I figured it might be useful to make a list of what this professional landscape gardener would advise clients NOT to do in their coastal gardens, and avoid common pitfalls.

10. Planting shrubs or trees because they are cheap or familiar, without any research on coastal conditions. A common mistake: new coastal residents may think, well it's still Oregon, still the same zone, and I like this or that plant. Why not grow it here? The Willamette Valley, where most new residents come from, provides ideal growing conditions for a vast array of nursery plants-- the coast has a much smaller palette from which to draw. Wind, salt, sandy soil, heavy winter rainfall and a much milder growing season (insufficient heat for many plants) are among the reasons. Please visit with a quality coastal nursery and spend a little time talking with the knowledgeable staff, before you design and plant your garden.

9. Failing to provide for torrential rain (drainage) in winter. This might seem obvious but it really gets overlooked when people design the new house and yard, or purchase an existing one. Really take the time to figure out where the water from your downspouts will end up, and where it comes rushing down your street, and talk to neighbors about any problems with storm drains, etc. Many times when we see a tree or shrub mysteriously die in someone's landscape, we dig it up and lo, the hole is filled with water. Drainage!

8. Failing to provide wind shelter (from the north and west) in summer. Coastal homeowners often realize there are strong winds in winter with the dramatic storms, but fail to account for the persistent dry winds that occur in summer. These are mostly from the north, more often than directly from the ocean (west), and usually the cause of brown leaves and dieback on the north side of plants. Often the solution is a simple windscreen (made from shadecloth) for the first couple years until plants are established. Related to this problem is inadequate summer water. If you want to grow a good-looking lawn, it will unfortunately require lots of summer water. Shrubs are less needy but need water if they are exposed to ocean winds.

7. Choosing to grow mostly lawn on the lakefront or oceanfront. Following on the last item... lawns are cheap and easy to install, but we all know they cost plenty to maintain. If you are willing to do all the mowing, there are still the costs of water, fertilizer, weed control, lime, moss killer, and repair/fuel for the mower. While you ponder those costs, allow me to point out the cost to our watersheds. Runoff from fertilizers and the destruction of useful habitat for wildlife are just two of many reasons that lawns are bad for lakes and oceans. If you are lucky enough to own waterfront property, please consider reducing your lawn.

6. Using "quick-green-up" fertilizer, or that containing phosporus, on any waterfront property. If you are still set on the necessity of that waterfront lawn, choose your fertilizer carefully. Common lawn fertilizers contain very high percentages of nitrogen that is immediately released when wet. The fast "green-up" results from that sudden injection of nitrogen to the grass plants. But grass like any plant, can only use so much nitrogen at any one time, and the excess is leached into the soil and our watersheds. Excess nitrogen levels, along with phosphorus, contribute to problems like growth of algae and "dead zones" in the ocean. Instead, choose fertilizer (preferably organic) with low nitrogen percentages, and check the label to see that part of it is slow-release. This means it's not all flushed into the soil at once. Phosphorus is unnecessary to grow a healthy lawn and detrimental to lakes; it's already been banned in Minnesota in lawn fertilizer.

5. Shearing every last shrub into geometric shapes instead of skillful pruning. Take the time to learn about your trees and shrubs, how they bloom and grow naturally. Or hire someone who knows, not just how to wield a hedge trimmer. A few plants sheared is fine-- but really, do we have to torture them all?

4. Resorting to repeated heavy use of herbicides or pre-emergents to control weeds. If we are weeding then we aren't doing our job very well. Weeds can almost always be prevented with careful attention and light maintenance, or caught at a very early stage. Simply patrolling your landscape with a good sharp hoe once or twice a month will catch them small. Mulch will prevent most of them if it's refreshed on a regular (annual) basis. Planting close together will reduce large areas for weeds to get started. Cutting your lawn at a taller height will shade out many new weeds. By the time you get out the herbicides or pre-emergent chemicals, you are just treating a symptom.

3. Excavating valuable topsoil during construction and failing to replace it before planting. It's a common practice for builders to remove topsoil when building a new home. This gets the structure onto more stable mineral-based subsoil instead of the topsoil that is filled with organic matter. But subsoil is lousy for plants! A responsible builder will stockpile the topsoil and bring back a decent planting depth so you can start your landscape. In my opinion at least 6" should be expected, and more is better. If you are stuck with a final grade that is done with mostly subsoil, you have work to do. Amending large areas before planting a shrub, amending several inches before growing a lawn, adding compost and mulch over many years. It's a big job to try and re-create what nature did over hundreds of years.

2. Cutting down trees or foliage on the ocean bluff. When development was going like crazy on the coast, those oceanfront lots became wildly expensive. As a result, homes built on the bluffs were going to maximize every legal square foot they could build on, and creating "open views." Unfortunately many folks have learned the hard way that vegetation is the only thing holding that bluff together, and protecting the soil from wind/rain erosion in winter storms. Trees and shrubs on the ocean bluff will also provide helpful wind screening from strong ocean storms, and make your yard and deck more habitable.

1. Topping any tree to provide for better ocean views. Lately there has been some debate in our town about a local tree ordinance designed to protect and preserve our city's trees. One of the original requirements was a ban on topping trees. Unfortunately our city leaders received a lot of negative feedback to the effect that they were preventing "pruning." Folks, topping is not pruning. Topping is cutting off the leader of a large-maturing tree. It causes decay to enter through that cut (which does not heal) and creates unstable, new "tops" out of side branches that try to fill the leader void. These branches are weakly attached and become hazards, and the tree is never the same. Instead, thin out some interior branches to allow for a view through the trees, or as a last resort, replace the tree with one that doesn't grow as tall. There are many options of tall shrubs and small trees to choose from, ask your power company for a list.

Coastal Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Manzanillo, Mexico

Followers of this blog may have wondered why no posts in the past month. Well, when you're on a cruise ship, internet access can be difficult and/or extremely (!) expensive.

We had the rare opportunity in January to join family on a 3-week trip beginning in NYC, sailing down to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal, finally ending in LA. Besides the welcome change in weather from wet/cold/windy to warm, sunny and... did I mention warm? The places we visited were remarkably different than our day-to-day, in so many ways.

Since this blog is about coastal gardening, I should begin with the flora. Setting aside NYC, the plants are so different from home in every port we visited. There were the expected palm trees of course. But what took me by surprise, as we were north of the equator the whole time, was all of the flowers. From bouganvillea hedges in Mexico to hibiscus in Florida, to stunning flowering trees in the hills of Costa Rica, everywhere we went plants were blooming. I guess it should have come as no surprise; perhaps the real revelation was how much I had missed them. Color, shape, scent. Sigh.

One of our favorite stops was in Costa Rica, as we were able to connect with a family my husband had known many years ago, and they took us for a grand tour in the few hours available. After a lovely drive through the countryside, surrounded by coffee growing on every steep hillside, we stopped for lunch in an open-air restaurant. Afterward they mentioned, perhaps you would like to see the butterfly farm? Turns out there was a Lepidoptera nursery on the same property. Just walk down the short path, enter a tall shadecloth-netted structure... and wow. Hundreds of beautiful butterflies, gorgeous flowering plants (including a red banana) for their food and shelter, and a gracious young woman who raises them to show us around. My knowledge of butterflies is brief, but a place like this will take anyone's breath away.

Bananas inside the butterfly nursery

Cactus fences in Bonaire help to keep the wild donkeys and goats at a distance

We were lucky enough to observe sea turtles and dolphins alongside our ship, birds of all kinds (including flamingos in Bonaire), and my brother witnessed a gray whale breach at sunrise off the Baja coast. Transiting the Panama Canal is an experience all in itself, but the natural wonders are what will stay with me. To see plants and animals along other stretches of coastline than our own, mostly that I cannot identify, was humbling and inspiring. Returning home to our amazing Oregon coast, I am seeing it with new eyes.

Germinating coconuts in Acapulco

Champion Coastal Conifers

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:09:00 +0000

Winter is a great time to assess the bones of your garden. With all the deciduous plants bare and flowers removed or cut back, we can really see the structural evergreen plants.

Picea abies 'Pendula'

Evergreen plants fall mainly into two large categories: broadleaf and conifer. Technically "conifers" should indicate cone-bearing, but for our purposes we will simply consider those plants with needle-like foliage rather than leaves.

The gardener will find a wide variety of conifers available for successful landscape use on the Oregon coast. Do yourself a favor and start your search with a leisurely stroll (or hike) in one of our many public parks or open spaces, for the purpose of observation. Many mistakes can be avoided, and great ideas discovered, when the gardener begins by observing successful plant communities. Which conifers prefer some shade? Which need shelter from wind? Which are especially resilient near the ocean, and which ones are snapped off in winter windstorms?

The primary coniferous trees on our stretch of the coast include Sitka Spruce, Shore Pine, Western Hemlock and Western Red Cedar. The spruces and pines are most tolerant of high wind, while the hemlock and cedar will thrive in shady and wetter conditions. All of these trees, in the right setting, are potentially very large (50' or more) specimens. The prudent gardener will plant and nurture them where they won't require extensive pruning to fit the space, and instead allow them to fulfill their potential.

Excellent examples of small landscape conifers can fill that next tier on the landscape hierarchy, the medium to tall shrub or small tree. Hollywood Junipers (Juniperus chinensis 'Torulosa') have become a favorite in the Lincoln City area, with high wind tolerance and a naturally "wind-sculpted" look, featuring deep green, non-prickly foliage (rare for a juniper). These fine plants also provide for wildlife, with dense clusters of juniper berries throughout fall and winter.

Picea abies 'Nidiformis' in foreground

The genus Picea (spruce) offers gardeners a vast array of landscape conifers, with some performing quite well on the coast. Picea abies 'Nidiformis' or Bird's Nest Spruce offers a tidy, dense, dark-green foundation shrub that conforms to a roughly 3' square profile and rarely needs pruning. A focal-point can be achieved with Weeping Norway Spruce (Picea abies 'Pendula'), a medium-height (4-5') narrow shrub that gracefully drapes layers of cascading branches. It will tolerate some wind and only needs minimal pruning to keep from spreading too wide.

The coastal gardener should carefully site spruces that are adapted to inland conditions, like the Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens var. glauca). Between sandy soils, persistent north wind and sparse rainfall in late summer, these alpine trees can really struggle for moisture. They should be given some shelter from summer winds and provided regular water.

Conifers for groundcovers are a popular choice, with two of the most successful coming from the genus Juniperus. The Shore Juniper, Juniperus conferta, is native to Japan but thrives here. A popular variety in our local nurseries is 'Blue Pacific.' If you want quick cover on a large slope that's exposed to ocean winds, this blue-green beauty is the ticket. Be sure to provide good drainage-- sandy soils are ideal.

A more compact groundcover juniper is Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star.' This tidy, composed juniper sports grey-blue foliage and is slower growing than Shore Juniper. Blue Star juniper is an excellent specimen groundcover for landscapes with a bit more shelter from the ocean and very good drainage.

Conifers can also be utilized for color in the landscape during what is an admittedly bleak season. A fine example of this is Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans' or Japanese Plume Cedar. While the species tree in its native range is a towering timber tree much like our own cedars, 'Elegans' is a shrub to small tree, and on the coast it tends to grow more slowly, ranging from low shrub to 6-8' tall tree. The outstanding feature is the soft, ferny (hence the name Plume) foliage that in winter turns bronzy for nice contrast. New growth is a soft bright green, then darkens and turns with the onset of cold weather. A bonus: the needles never drop.

Another fine conifer for the role of small-colorful-shrub is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea' or Golden Threadleaf Falsecypress. This soft-textured weeping shrub (to 3-4') holds its golden foliage year-round, providing highlights in the mostly dark winter landscape and nicely contrasting against blue conifers.

A fine reference book for northwest trees including many of these conifers, is Arthur Lee Jacobsen's classic North American Landscape Trees. For specific information on landscape conifers including great photography and design guidelines, see Adrian Bloom's Gardening with Conifers.

Winter Vegetable Gardening on the Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 04:19:00 +0000

There are those of us who just can't give up the taste of fresh produce from the garden. Nevermind the December storms, pouring rain, gale-force winds... we have to get our fix.

By now nearly all of my outside raised beds in the garden have been put to rest with cover crop and a blanket of straw. Perennial herbs and pathways are newly dressed with wood-chip mulch, and tender hanging baskets have been brought inside. Still, there are opportunities for winter vegetables with a little extra effort.

The enchanted Swiss chard forest in December

Normally this time of year I would still have large kale plants, which after frost come into their glory with sweetness. Unfortunately this year the kale patch had to be rotated at just the wrong time due to poor planning and I didn't manage to get the winter crop started on time. Other brassicas fared better, with my broccoli and cauliflower just finishing a few weeks ago (late November).

A star of the garden this past year has been 'Bright Lights' chard, with another bumper crop this year, and quite a few of the volunteer seedlings carefully transplanted to the front and side yards for use in the "edible landscape." If you want to add edibles to your manicured front yard, this selection is outstanding for color, structure and it holds throughout the year. When it finally bolts to seed there is a spectacular tall (over 5') spike that rises and produces thousands of seeds... so cut that and lay it down where you want a new patch.

Garlic has been planted for next season, and the herbs all neatly trimmed with a final harvest in late fall going to the drying shed. There are still a few late artichokes on my established plants, and the foliage adds a striking evergreen texture to the front yard landscape.

The tomato house - center lid left in place

Access to the tomato house via end panel

Finally I wanted to share some options for off-season cold frames. Nearly every ambitious vegetable gardener will know already about season-extension by the use of these adaptable little structures, merely a rectangular frame with some sort of removable glazing for the top. They are useful in starting early or keeping late many marginal crops like baby lettuces or Asian greens, and critical for transitioning plants that were started inside in the spring.

Small cold frame by peach tree - doing temporary duty storing straw

We have identified a few sunny spots in our tight city landscape where we custom-built frames from reclaimed materials, and another is used in the garden for growing tomatoes. You will note from the pictures the variety of design, depending on how it's used.

Gull-wing cold frame - designed to fit SW facing nook

Important on the coast is to provide a way to secure the lid for high winds. The last thing you want is an airborne lid crashing through your neighbor's window... or some other tragedy. Also be sure to create a sloped lid on your frame, so that more light enters from the south. Remember the sun is at a very low angle at our 45-degrees-north latitude in winter; a box with equal sides will create too much shade inside for your plants. If you create a very tall frame like our tomato-house, be sure there is access on the sides for planting, harvesting, etc. It will be impossible to manage just from the top.

Detail of lid construction - note angled top edge

Additional resources - great books I use on this topic include Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest and Gardening Under Cover: A Northwest Guide to Solar Greenhouses, Cold Frames, and Cloches

Coastal Landscape Planning: Hedges

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:13:00 +0000

Japanese holly hedge, neatly sheared

We might all dream of a place in the country with acres to spare between our house and the neighbor's... but the reality is that most of us live within view of each other. Hence, hedges.

As a coastal landscape gardener and designer, a good share of my time is spent maintaining --and subsequently thinking about-- hedges. The usual motivation for planting a hedge is quite frankly, to shield one's eyes from the fellow next door and his laundry on the line. Or perhaps to create a nice backdrop for colorful blooming plants. They can also define the edges of adjacent spaces, creating outdoor "rooms."

Whatever the reason, choosing a hedge material is one of the more important landscape decisions. First, planting a hedge can be a large investment, depending on the length and how large (instant) the plants are you want to purchase. Some hedge plants are available from 1 gallon container size all the way up to 6' tall.

Some species are certainly cheaper than others, due to their popularity and subsequent supply by nurseries, but please don't let that be your guide. The bigger investment will be in maintaining your hedge for years to come. If the plant you choose is needy, requiring multiple shearing sessions per year, or poorly suited for the coast and needs babying... your "bargain" purchase at the big-box store may be anything but.

Based on my experience working in landscapes throughout Lincoln City, Depoe Bay and surrounding areas, here are my picks for coastal evergreen hedges. Evergreen is usually preferred for year-round screening.

Wax myrtle at far left

Tall Hedges (5' tall or more, depends on variety)
Ceanothus impressus 'Victoria' - shiny evergreen leaves, profuse early summer bloomer, bee magnet. Be sure you get the right kind, some are low groundcovers. Ceanothus thrives on neglect, don't overwater.

Myrica californica or Pacific Wax Myrtle - great native, best where it can be unsheared but will take it, very attractive larger foliage than most hedge plants and birds like the fall berries.

Escallonia - most varieties, 'Pink Princess' common, 'Newport Dwarf' smaller. Get ready to cut hedges, these plants grow like crazy on the coast and need frequent shearing annually. Will outperform all others on the oceanfront.

Viburnum tinus in bloom

Viburnum - for example, V. tinus 'Spring Bouquet'. Probably not ideal for oceanfront but highly adaptable. Look for a future post on this vast genus. Should be chosen for an unsheared hedge to highlight flowers and shape.

Rhododendron - often used as a very large, unsheared (please!) hedge where there is plenty of width for the plants to grow. So many to choose from, and they grow magnificently on the central coast.

Low Hedges (4' or less usually, good for defining edges or hiding unsightly structures)

Hebe - another large collection to choose from, a favorite is 'Patty's Purple' on the coast. Highly tolerant of coastal wind and drought, some with lovely blooms. H. buxifolia is a good choice to stand-in for boxwood.

Salal - a champion native in our area, salal can vary from a groundcover to a medium hedge depending on its location and method of pruning. Almost no work, tolerant of most locations on the coast. Sun or shade.

Ilex crenata or Japanese Holly - another good stand-in for boxwood that is much more tolerant of coastal conditions. Can vary from low hedge with gold foliage to tall highly sheared and shaped hedge.

Vaccinium ovatum or Evergreen Huckleberry - another great native with the bonus of wonderful fruit. Lightly shaping this plant instead of hard shearing will deliver more fruit. Takes well to most conditions, taller in shade, needs a little shelter from the oceanfront winds.

Final cautions: Popular hedge plants include arborvitae, laurel and boxwood in the Willamette Valley. They are cheap, available, and familiar. I don't generally recommend them here, at least not within a half-mile of the sea. Arborvitae tends to get "burned" on the ocean side, and soon becomes unsightly. Boxwood does the same and tends to hold onto that hideous orange-leaf color on the coast, instead of greening up in spring. Laurel grows fine... but maybe too fine? If you know how fast it gets out of control inland, imagine what it does here in our mild climate. Use only if you have an estate-sized property and room for a giant green wall.

An Unlikely Holiday Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:40:00 +0000

Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, many of us will set about with holiday lights in hand. One tree that thrives on the central coast of Oregon decorates itself-- Arbutus unedo or Strawberry Tree.

The common name misleads, causing the gardener to imagine a late-spring or summer harvest of the red fruits. Happily, the fruits in question are actually borne on this tree in late fall and early winter. While edible, they are a little mushy and don't taste like strawberries. The fruits are about 3/4", deep red and textured with tiny seeds, but the resemblance ends there. The fruits conjure tiny Christmas ball-ornaments, seemingly lit from within. On the coast they appear in late October into November, previewing the season.

This remarkable evergreen tree is native to the Mediterranean coast, and possibly related to our native Pacific Madrone tree (Arbutus menziesii)-- hence the shared genus. Like madrone, it sports reddish-brown bark that peels gracefully, and is clothed in glossy evergreen leaves. The clusters of white flowers are typical of the family Ericaceae, to which the madrone also belongs, as well as blueberries, rhododendron and heather. Like all these family members, the Strawberry Tree appreciates our mild climate and acidic soils. Set back just a block or two from coastal beachfront, it tolerates the wind and rain just fine.

Arbutus unedo can reach 15' tall.

The Strawberry Tree can be planted and maintained as a striking singular focal point, pruned to expose and highlight the bark and fruit in season. However on the coast this dense evergreen is sometimes allowed to spread and sheared into a hedge, similar in texture to Pacific Wax Myrtle. As the fruit takes almost the full year to develop from the flower stage, it will be removed if the timing of pruning is too late or frequent. For the best fruit display, it should be sheared or pruned immediately after the last crop is gone.

Arbutus flowers in November

If you are visiting Lincoln City, a good example of this tree in several forms can be found on a single public landscape, the post office on East Devils Lake Road (across from the Tanger Outlet Mall). Walk around to the side of this corner lot and up a set of stairs, and there at the top you will see a very large (15'+) specimen. Continue further toward the building to see several that have been sheared into "green meatballs" for an example of this plant's use as a hedging material. You will note that no fruit remains due to shearing. Back down to the sidewalk, walk north to the truck entrance and there is the nicest one of all, a neglected (unsheared) tree that has been allowed to form flowers and fruit, brilliant on my last visit in November.

Flowers and fruit borne simultaneously

Sheared into green meatballs

More fun facts on the history and uses of this wonderful tree can be found on the Oregon State University landscape department website, and many pictures to compare A. unedo and A. menziesii.

Coastal Cash Crop: Raspberries

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:43:00 +0000

Harvesting raspberries in late July

It has become quite popular of late to try growing your own food in the backyard (or front yard for that matter). However many home gardeners have limited space, so the question becomes: which vegetables or fruits are going to give me the greatest return for the time and money spent?

My answer, if you live on the Oregon coast, is to try raspberries.

One of the great joys of the garden is to pick fresh fruit in season, and raspberries have to be one of the most loved. Living in western Oregon, we are fortunate that our climate is just right for nurturing these wonderful fruits, along with many other types of berries. Mild winters, slightly acid soil that is high in organic matter, plentiful water but low rainfall during harvest season. They are easy to plant and care for, and easier still to harvest. The work is mostly in the preparation and planning, and your efforts will be repaid tenfold.

Red raspberries are classified as summer-bearing or fall-bearing, to keep it simple. Start reading on berries and they will go into all kinds of detail on the types of canes and how they fruit. For the beginner, start with a vigorous summer-bearing type and purchase disease-free stock from a nursery. A bundle of bare root plants is a cheap investment, usually $10-15. Each of these rooted sticks will multiply into several canes within the first year, and bear fruit the second.

You need to find a sunny place for a permanent well-drained row, 10' or so to start. Pick a spot with good sun exposure for most of the day and open air circulation, and if your soil stays wet at any time, build it up into a raised (12-18" high) row before planting. At each end you need a sturdy post 6' tall, to which you can attach a foot long horizontal crossarm at the top. Then a couple sets of wires, one at 2' high and the others attached to your crossarms. Then once you plant the row of starts they will simply grow up inside the encircling wires. (See the diagram in OSU publication below.)

Provide your raspberries with a good annual side-dressing of a rich compost-- don't pile against the canes-- sometime between late fall and late spring. I like to clean out my chicken coop and make a row of the straw-based material along the side of the raspberry row, about one foot away, in late fall. It slowly degrades over the winter and in spring the well-fed plants are ready to grow! You could also use well-composted steer manure or mushroom compost. An annual side-dressing of complete organic fertilizer in spring is helpful.

My simplified pruning approach is to cut out the old canes (that had fruit on them this year) in late summer, after all the fruit is done. It's easiest at this stage to see what's a new cane and what's old. The new canes will be fruiting next year. Thin out the canes somewhat, so there is plenty of air circulation. If you want to keep it really tidy, you can loosely tie the new canes to the wires to hold them apart. Then before winter I remove all the old leaves, top the canes at about 6' tall, and rake up all the debris underneath. That's it for my pruning.

If you want fall-bearing raspberries you can be even lazier, and just cut them all to the ground in winter. The new canes that come up in spring will bear fruit in late summer or fall that year. There are more complicated ways to manage the pruning and maximize yield, but these are refinements rather than requirements.

My pick for a great cultivar of summer red raspberries is 'Saanich.' Our 2-year old row (10' long) produced around 75 pints of berries this summer, we kept track. And here's where I come back to that point about payback. A few hours of pruning and feeding, casual watering as needed through summer, and I literally harvested hundreds of dollars in fruit this year. Local berries were 3-4 dollars per HALF pint in our area. I had berries for freezing, fresh eating, jam and still plenty to give away to friends and family.

Can your pumpkin patch measure up?

More information and sources on red raspberries:

Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden, a publication by Oregon State University

Raspberry Cultivars for Western Oregon, also from OSU

One Green World - mail order fruit nursery in NW Oregon

Raintree Nursery - mail order fruit nursery in SW Washington state

Fruits and Berries (Rodale's Successful Organic Gardening) a good general guide for organic berries

Can't stop the rain, but a good layer of mulch helps

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:21:00 +0000

A windy night followed by a rainy day. Thus we have a typical start to November on the Oregon coast.

As we move into late fall, most of the usual season-ending chores are completed. The vegetables harvested, the leaves mostly (if not all) picked up, patio furniture cleaned and stored in a dry place. But have you mulched?

One of the most critical and commonly overlooked tasks is soil protection. On the central coast of Oregon we not only receive our share of high winds throughout winter, but (not surprisingly) the majority of our annual rainfall. It doesn't often arrive in a gentle mist but instead with firehose-like force. Sometimes the rain seems to fall here unrelated to gravity; rather it appears to be driven out of the sky and pounded into the earth.

Studied gardeners know that keeping planting beds free of foot traffic is good practice for avoiding compaction. Compaction is the enemy to thriving plant roots, as the air (pore) spaces are eliminated. When this happens, not only is it difficult for the roots to expand and grow deeper, but they have a tough time accessing water and nutrients, not to mention necessary oxygen. Yes, those roots need to breathe!

Heavy rainfall compacts soil just as surely as our heavy tracks, not to mention displacing much of your carefully managed topsoil down the street gutters and into our storm drains. A good layer of mulch on exposed soil will do wonders to mitigate both issues and protect your soil.

Mulch can be as simple as a 2 or 3-inch layer of barkdust or "beauty bark"-- although our public works department is encouraging use of the more chunky bark pebble or the rough material known as "hog fuel." Hog fuel is often free from tree services, the mixed roughly cut product of their branch chipper. Bark dust is apparently causing increased maintenance of storm drains due to the very fine dust that is flushed away.

Another great free mulch option is to place a thin layer of your lawn clippings (1-2") on bare soil areas, provided it's not full of weed seeds. Straw is easy to come by in the fall from valley farmers, usually wheat or oat straw, and sometimes "grass" straw from the grass-seed fields. I prefer oat straw, and place a nice layer over my veggie garden beds with cover crop seed sown underneath.

Unique to the Willamette valley is the option of hazelnut (filbert) shells from area farms, which make a semi-permanent mulch that is quite effective at preventing weeds. A very permanent mulch option is the variety of rock materials we have here, from round river-type rock to lava rock (somewhat out of place here) to locally sourced beach rocks/shells and even commercially harvested and crushed oyster shell. These materials can be a nice option for paths or permanently planted beds, especially next to gutters and downspouts where the rock will minimize mud-splash onto adjacent buildings.

Heat Seeking for Vegetable Gardeners

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:19:00 +0000

Note: I first wrote this in midsummer and forgot to post. Apologies.

Coastal gardeners are a determined lot, particularly those who are bent on growing food. Between wind, salt and sandy soils there are challenges plenty to frustrate the best of us. But one of the biggest challenges is something we lack, namely sufficient heat from the sun.

Many of us moved here for the mild seasons. We enjoy 70ish highs in summer laden with cool breezes and late-summer fog. The persistent north winds that provide our sunny days in July and August also keep us from building up sufficient warmth for heat-loving plants.

So many of these Mediterranean-adapted plants are among our culinary favorites: tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant, melons, beans and cucumbers. Even more tolerant plants like beets and corn are slow to germinate or fail to thrive or ripen in the relatively cool summer days on our coast. But gardeners need not despair, it is possible to enjoy many of these tasty food plants even when you live within the "fog belt."

Certainly there are sites that simply cannot succeed in growing these plants, such as those on the "front line" of the coast: oceanfront or near-oceanfront. If you want to grow food, you would do well to consider living inland a few more blocks... or build an extremely sturdy greenhouse.

But the rest of us can achieve great results with basic building skills and inexpensive materials. Cold frames and cloches can work magic in making your crop succeed. Cloches can be as simple as heavy-gauge wire bent into hoops over raised beds, with plastic or grow-fabric attached.

Cold frames are generally more substantial, with an open-bottomed wooden frame (similar to raised beds) that supports a glazed lid. The glazing can be made from a recycled window, or new material such as fiberglass or polycarbonate. The lid can be fully removable or hinged, depending on how it will be used. We have one of each. The hinged-lid variety will be used for summer-long crops like basil and peppers that really dig the heat; the removable-lid frame is for acclimating plants as they come out of the greenhouse. The lid comes off during the day, goes on at night, until they are ready to stand the outside weather.

Finally, our vegetable garden has a large permanent cloche or mini-greenhouse for our tomato crop. The structure stands about 4' tall at the peak, and spans a 4' raised bed. It has substantial framing for year-round use, with tempered glass sides and removable polycarbonate lids for the top. In early spring and late fall we can grow greens inside, and tomatoes thrive in its shelter during summer.

A Tree for All Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:27:00 +0000

A few years back in horticulture school, I fell in love with a tree.

This happens, mind you, to all horticulture students at some point. After all, you are in Plant Identification class and learning 10 or 11 plants per week, 100 per term, for three straight terms. That's not counting all the other marvelous specimens that suddenly take on meaning in the landscape.

For me it was Stewartia pseudocamellia. What the heck is that, you ask? Isn't there a common name... something better than the clunky Latinesque botanical name that surely came from a botanist, or his king? Alas, there is no common name that I can find. It is simply Japanese Stewartia. If you are lucky enough to stumble upon this wonderful ornamental tree, and can actually identify it, you will see why I became smitten.

A diminutive tree, it is suitable for small spaces and can be grown under power lines. Therefore it shows up on those popular lists of trees-to-plant in your ridiculously undersized yard, due to the fact that we all need to have 5,000 square feet inside and off-street parking for 10 vehicles. But the charm of Stewartia is not found in its small size, like those beauty-challenged "fastigiate" trees so common now in the tiny-yard era. (Think maples, oaks, etc. with names like 'Sentry.' Subtle.)

Stewartia will coax you from season to season, so that you grow to love and appreciate this varied tree. It is deciduous, with a decent show of yellow to burnt orange and even red in fall highlighting the small elliptic leaves. Heading into winter the trunk begins to take center stage, with a smooth plated, multi-colored bark ranging from reds to browns to grays, like an artist's smudged palette. Later in winter you will begin to notice the formation of next year's buds, slightly fuzzy but angled and flattened, resembling sunflower seeds. The spent fruit of last year may linger, woody spheres that have burst open.

Spring begins an appreciation for simple form, as the bright green leaves emerge from Stewartia's open, graceful branching. The leaves will slowly expand to reveal a cheerful punch of light green in your landscape, and soon you might begin to note little white globes (floral buds) held daintily in their clutch. The leaves remind me of dogwood, snowbell or perhaps a small-leaved variety of magnolia.

Finally the moment we waited for... mid-summer, when all your flowering cherries and plums have fallen into boredom after the spring orgy of blossom as they stole all the attention. Just when no one is looking, suddenly Stewartia reveals carefully spaced papery-white blossoms 1-2 inches wide, with cheerful orange anthers. Think a camellia with class, none of that old-lady-lipstick-pink, but purest white. Flowers are followed by dainty globe-shaped fruit and we are back into fall.

You might guess I have a Stewartia pseudocamellia. It's in my front yard, an extravagant purchase three summers ago after a good month of landscape work. It has held up to the coastal winter and summer winds, though my yard is somewhat sheltered from the ocean and the soil is rich and moist, with a little supplemental water in summer. We carefully staked the tree for its first year and watched it closely through the first unstaked winter. Though many people don't follow this advice, it's best to stake a tree the first year and untie it the second-- this develops a stronger trunk and roots. Today the leaves began unfolding.

Consider the Lilies

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:42:00 +0000

Lilies and lily-like plants deserve more respect. On the Oregon coast, there are climate-specific limits to which flowering herbaceous perennials and annuals we can successfully grow. The group of plants formerly known as the family Liliaceae, and those left in the family, includes real treasures and prizes for coastal gardeners.

Among the more well-known lily-like plants is the common daylily, or Hemerocallis, now classified in a different family thanks to enthusiastic taxonomists. A nice guide to this massive genus is The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies, which provides history, cultivation and great pictures of the many varieties. Daylilies are popular for a reason, with extended bloom, compact habit, many colors, and easy growing requirements. They tolerate little or extra water, poor soil and tolerate wind. If anything is needed for best performance, it's full sun exposure-- though they will tolerate much less and simply bloom less. For a bonus, these clumping plants are easy to divide and share with your friends or spread to new parts of your garden. As if that wasn't enough, daylily flowers are edible too-- a quick search will yield dozens of recipes.

Agapanthus is a coastal favorite, commonly known as Lily of the Nile, and again reclassified (this one belongs with onions apparently). There are few plants on the coast that can tolerate direct exposure to wind, salt and poor soil as the Agapanthus does. The main limitation is few color choices, but the later-blooming period than most bulbs and spring flowers is a nice feature, holding striking globe-shaped flowers on tall stalks above strappy green leaves. Most are shades of blue-violet (pictured above) or white, with the standard variety quite tall at 2-3' or more. Newer varieties offer new shades of bloom and more compact habit/height.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is one of my favorites for mid-summer outstanding focal color. The true red of this clumping flower, with multiples on long arching stems, makes a stunning splash in any perennial bed. The tall spiky green foliage before the bloom, and sometime after, is additionally handsome and lends a textural accent to our common framework shrubs. This lovely perennial is easily dividable from offset bulbs around the clumps, or thinning, and is much better behaved than the similar Montbretia that is very common in older coastal gardens. Seems there was quite the rage for these shorter, orange-blooming relatives on the coast and they continue to plague with their rampant spreading (click on the map shown to activate video). They are extremely difficult to eradicate once started, as they propagate by chaining bulbs one on top of the last season. You dig and dig forever!

If you are truly lucky, you might find your coastal landscape sporting a few native western lilies, like the Trout Lily, the Fawn Lily or the False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum dilitatum). The latter will often carpet the ground under trees and other shady places on the coast, if the understory has been left undisturbed. More than once a client has asked me to eradicate these lovely no-trouble groundcover plants, to which I have generally asked "why?" They fill empty spaces, need no water or fertilizer, the leaves alone make a beautiful shiny green carpet of heart-shaped leaves that only reach 10" or so, then send up delicate spikes of white flowers. There's nothing better under the inhospitable canopy of the ever-present Shore Pines, so why remove them? What else is willing to grow in that dark, acidic, dry environment?

As you plan your coastal-adapted perennial bed this spring, remember to consider the lilies. This passage from the Sermon on the Mount says it well: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

(Agapanthus photo credit to Sir Peter Smithers of www.bulbsociety.org)

Bringing Blooms Indoors

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:10:00 +0000

This early-spring weather on the central coast has brought about a flurry of pruning activity. With buds swelling and some beginning to burst, it occurred to me it's a good time to mention forcing branches.

My peach tree is kept in a formal fan-shape on the wall of my garage, which necessitates regular and fairly extensive pruning to keep it in order. As I was completing late-winter pruning yesterday, I realized there were some pretty long shoots just laying on the ground, covered with swollen flower buds. My thrifty mom would never have let this opportunity go to waste-- so, inspired by her, I brought them inside to bloom.

Many other fruiting trees and plants will be ripe for indoor blooms in flower arrangements as well-- besides the obvious apple, pear, peach and cherry trees. There are many blooming shrubs that set their flower buds in the previous year (on "old wood") rather than on new growth. Common examples are forsythia (yellow) and quince (usually salmon-pink). If you are lucky enough to have a pussy willow, you can bring inside a few of the prolific branches sporting their fuzzy buds, for an interesting non-floral accent in your arrangements.

Don't limit yourself to the usual choices. Simply look around your landscape and neighborhood for those swollen buds on shrubs and trees, especially plants you are planning to prune anyway. A couple years ago I pruned an Exbury azalea (variety unknown) about this time of year, long before its scheduled bloom. Knowing the buds were set, I thought there was a chance... but suspected the bloom was too far off. However the branches surprised me, blooming after a few weeks and lasting a few more. Interestingly, the normal color for this plant is a melon-orange, but these emerged as a pale yellow. Apparently the dark room and short season must have played a role. I enjoyed the cheerful branches anyway, in spite of the color.

There's much more thorough instructions and ideas on branch-forcing here. Learn a little about it, then head outside with your (sterilized) shears in hand, and an eye toward creativity. Spring branches will enliven your home and inspire you for the gardening months to come!

Green Shoots

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:12:00 +0000

This week we have been enjoying unusually warm and mild weather on the central Oregon coast.

Late January is not known for sunny days, light wind and lack of precipitation. In past years, we have taken to calling it "firehose season" in honor of the horizontal-rain effect that seems directly trained on our windows for days or weeks at a time. So this week of mid-50s to 60s has taken us, and our plants, by surprise.

This winter has been dubbed an "El Nino" year on the Pacific coast, bringing warmer and drier weather than the recorded average. You may recall we experienced extreme cold temperatures in December, but what followed was quite the opposite. So many of our perennial plants and shrubs have decided it's already time to waken from their winter slumber.

So far I have noted the following early beginnings in Lincoln City landscapes:
- Fruiting trees and berries: the buds on my pear espalier are already swollen anticipating bloom, though the apples are holding firm. Raspberries are showing green-tip, and some runners are popping up with new shoots. Strawberries are sending up the first new leaves.
- Spring bulbs/flowers: primroses bursting into bloom, and most of the spring bulbs are up. Daffodils were first up, with tips breaking the soil just after New Year. They are now 8-10" tall but not blooming yet. Tulips are now coming up, about 2-3" leaves. Grape hyacinths have just now started blooming.
- Perennials/small shrubs: tea roses are beginning to leaf out, weeks ahead of schedule. Heathers have been blooming for weeks, and daylilies (among other lilies) are well into their spring growth, with shoots 3-4" tall.
- Larger shrubs: hydrangeas are pushing out new vegetative buds and even some leaves.
- Lawns are suddenly kicking into gear, if they were well fertilized in late summer/fall and have good southern exposure (remember, the sun is still quite low in the sky). It amazes me that we can legitimately fire up the lawnmower, as many clients' lawns are already shaggy.
- Weeds are on the rampage, especially Little Western Bittercress, also known as "Touch-me-Not." This last nickname aptly describes the gardener's frustration when trying to pluck out these prolific little weeds, only to have their pods explode on contact, sending seeds forth.

With all this early activity, it may be hard to decide what tasks are appropriate, or if it's too late for some. Here are a few that, in my opinion, should be on your list for the coming week or two.
- Get control of weeds as soon as you see them. The sooner you knock out weeds with a sharp hoe or pull them from the ground, the fewer will set seed or get established. You will appreciate the lighter workload come May 1.
- Complete any dormant pruning and/or dormant spraying you have put off, for fruit trees and other plants that might benefit from the off-season treatment. Dormant oil and copper or lime/sulfur sprays are commonly used on these plants while the leaves are off and before bud-break, to control various diseases and pests the rest of the year. Consult your local extension office for the appropriate plants to treat, and what sprays to use, in your area.
- Plant and/or prune your roses as we head into February. Normally this is recommended closer to President's Day, but with the roses moving quickly into leaf, they are saying "GO!"
- Clean up mulched areas of fallen leaves under disease- or pest-susceptible plants, such as fruit trees or rhododendrons (root weevils). This hygiene practice will help to greatly reduce the population of pests or disease by removing their overwintering and reproduction habitat.
- If you haven't applied lime to your lawn, now is still a good time. It's early for a dose of spring fertilizer, and this will give the lime more opportunity to work into the soil and help with correcting the acidic coastal soils.
- Start seeds indoors for planting out later. The list is too long to mention everything, but I will usually get my tomatoes and peppers going (with supplemental bottom heat) in February for an early start, which we need on the coast. Many salad greens can be started inside without extra heat, especially in a cool greenhouse, for planting out in a month or so-- think spinach, lettuce, Asian greens, brassicas, etc. If the weather stays mild, start peas and radishes outside, or plant the peas in peat pots. Check your seed packs for germination temperature.

Enjoy these early bursts of spring, and share your observations of the season in comments below!

Heaths and Heathers for the Oregon Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Coast Gardener) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:16:00 +0000

When the calendar turns to a new year, we are generally challenged to find any plants that offer a display of colorful blooms. It's pretty dark, wet and cold out there, and most plants are in hibernation. This is when winter-blooming heath rules the roost.

Heath (Erica spp.) is the lookalike cousin (frequently confused) to spring and summer-blooming heather (Calluna vulgaris). It is common for nurseries to even label heath as "heather," preferring to list a name more familiar to their customers. Inspect the two plants closely and you will find significant differences.

What is normally sold in winter or early spring, in bloom, is heath. Common varieties-- overly planted in my opinion-- are 'Mediterranean Pink' and 'Mediterranean White.' Don't ask me why this symbol of Scotland is given the moniker conjuring points south. My own plants of 'Pink' are blooming at this writing. Take a look at the branches and greenery, and you will find that Erica sports a needle-like leaf on thin woody stems, and tends to grow rather closely to the ground. It usually doesn't exceed 12 inches in height and can spread several feet in every direction.

Calluna, by contrast, is unlikely to be blooming in winter or early spring. These beauties tend to grow more upright, though they also spread. Height can reach 24' without shearing. The blooms are denser and often more brilliant, sporting many shades of pink, white and red. Foliage is often a soft silvery-grey resembling lavender foliage, and offers a contrast with other evergreen groundcovers year-round. The foliage is more scale-like than Erica, resembling tiny rounded leaves rather than needles.

Both Erica and Calluna are members of the same family, Ericaceae. This huge family includes other acid-loving evergreens with urn-shaped flowers, including Pieris, kinnickkinnick, blueberries and huckleberries, rhododendrons and even our native Pacific Madrone trees. So it should be no surprise that heaths and heathers love it on our central coast. The native soils are acidic, well-drained (sandy) with plenty of rotted organic matter and retain enough moisture to get the plants through dry summers. They also appreciate our mild temps, with best blooming on sites with good exposure to light.

The many attributes of these fine plants include low- to no-maintenance in the right spot, with only optional shearing for size or neatness. They require almost no supplemental water on the coast, and although they will appreciate occasional acid-plant fertilizer, they don't require it. Bloom time can be staggered over the many varieties, especially when you include the colorful winter/spring foliage on cultivars like 'Spring Torch' or 'Robert Chapman.' The plants are all evergreen, and fit neatly within a well-planned landscape to suppress weeds and cover hillsides. They can perform well under deciduous trees if the shade canopy is not overly dense, which will cause them to become thin and leggy with sparse blooms.

Great sources for heath and heather include our local nurseries Blake's in Gleneden Beach and Bear Valley in Lincoln City. For a wider array of choices by mail order, check out Heaths and Heathers in SW Washington state, and Highland Heather in Canby OR. I have used products from both and found them to be exceptional in quality and knowledge.