Bulbs

Bulbs come in endless variety which makes them perfect for any type of garden. Varieties include corms, rhizomes and tubers.

Corms are sometimes confused with true bulbs, they are similar in appearance externally but the inside of corms is structured differently.

Examples of rhizomes are irises, Lily of the Valley and cannas. Tubers are begonias and dahlias. Tulips and daffodils are considered true bulbs.

A bulb is a self-contained flower factory.  It contains nearly everything the flower needs to come to life. If you split a bulb open you will see the baby flower bud, leaves, roots, stem and food supply. All it needs is to be placed in the ground at the appropriate season of the year, some water then left to work their magic.

I planted a dahlia a few years ago and it keeps coming back every spring. The one I planted is the cactus type. It has fully double flowers with pointed florets. The flower is pinkish to white in color and around 5” to 10” in diameter. The first year blooms were really big but becoming smaller every year which means the bulb needs to be dug up and divided.  This needs to be done before spring.

Dahlias came from Central America and Mexico. The Aztecs cultivated dahlias for food and decorative purposes. They are also used for ceremonial purposes. The dahlia is named after Swedish botanist Anders Dahl an 18^th century botanist. It is also the national flower of Mexico.

Grape Vine 2

Almost 2 months after the first post about my grapes, some of the fruit of my grape vine is already ripe. The grape is red in color and very sweet but it has some seeds in it. Other than having seeds, I am happy with the grape vine. It is sweet, juicy and has a very fruity taste.

I harvested at least 5 bunches and after removing the unripe and disfigured grapes, washed and chilled them in the refrigerator. Grapes is a very good and healthy snack.

Most nutritionist and health experts would recommend to consume more of red grapes than green grapes. Red grapes has high content of antioxidants called flavonoids. It is also low on calories and contains nutrients and vitamins like vitamin C and B, copper, manganese an potassium and also high on dietary fiber.

   

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are the most common garden fruits in the United States and have the reputation of out-producing the needs of the gardener. Most commercial tomatoes in California are grown under irrigation for use in canning and processing and also for the fresh fruit market.

Basically tomatoes are considered fruit. However since it contains very low sugar compared to most fruits, tomatoes is classified as vegetables.

Tomatoes originated in South America and spread worldwide after the Spanish colonization of the Americas. It is now grown worldwide often in green houses in cooler climates.

The fruit can be harvested ripe or green. Fully ripe tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator but they tend to lose flavor. It is best to store ripe tomatoes at ambient temperature.

With the good climate California, tomatoes are grown extensively. California grown tomatoes accounts for 90% of US production and 30% of world production.

Tomato varieties are divided mostly according to shape and size. Last April I planted 2 cherry tomatoes in pots. I bought the seedlings from a local nursery and they are thriving very well in the pot. Cherry tomatoes are small and round and are generally added in salads and eaten whole.

Herb Garden

Fresh herbs can be very pricey and they don’t last long even when refrigerated. Anybody can have fresh herbs all the time; you don’t have to have a garden to plant herbs. With some sunshine and water, herbs can be planted in pots.

If you have a garden, generally a kitchen garden where you can plant herbs can be an area 20 feet by 4 feet. You can grow some of the most common herbs used in the kitchen like sweet basil, rosemary and thyme. The best area for herb gardening is a spot with a lot of sunshine and with good drainage. Drainage is one of the most important factors in order to have a successful herb garden. Herbs don’t want to grow in a wet soil.

The soil does not have to be fertile. A highly fertile soil will produce excessive amounts of foliage but with very poor flavor. Adding some compost to the soil is enough to help improve the condition of the soil.

If a plot is not available, herbs can be grown in containers, pots and hanging baskets. Herbs planted in containers require more care specially watering. Herbs don’t grow well in wet soil but also don’t thrive in a dry soil.

I purchased a pot of Italian basil and rosemary from Armstrong garden last month and planted them on the ground the next day. It has been a few weeks and the basil is thriving very well. The rosemary though is not as growing as good as the basil.

                                                     Basil I harvested from the garden.

Grape Vine 1

The climate of Southern California has long been recognized as ideal for growing grapes for making wines and for the table. Mists in the mornings, lots of sunshine, cool summer nights, ocean breezes along the coasts produce very good grapes which is ideal for making wines.

Wine growing in Southern California is mostly located in the Temecula Valley, Cucamonga, Ventura and San Diego Counties.

I planted a vine spring of last year. This year it already bears fruit. It has several long and healthy vines with dark green leaves.I am not sure what kind of grape vine I planted and hope the fruit will be sweet and good for eating. The color of the fruit is currently green but I am not sure it changes color when it ripens.  

I hope this grape vine is suitable for eating and not for making wines.

Banana

Banana plants are often mistaken to be trees but they are not. Bananas are the largest herbaceous flowering plant. They can grow as tall as eight meters high and the leaves which grow at the top of the trunk can grow as long as 9 feet.

Bananas grow fruits in hanging clusters. The hanging clusters are called bunch or commercially known as “banana stem”. Most ripe banana fruit turns yellow in color.

The tropics is where most bananas grow in commercial quantity. In regions where it is colder, bananas are cultivated as an ornament.

Last year, I planted a sapling I bought from a local nursery. I wasn’t sure that it will survive. The weather in Southern California is drier than the tropics but with constant watering it not only survived but thrived and is now bearing fruit. 

The one I planted is not as tall as the bananas found in the tropics and the leaves are not as long and as wide either. Other than the size, the plant is very healthy.

I hope the fruit will be sweet.  

Gertrude Jekyll Rose

Gertrude Jekyll rose is an English rose by David Austin. It is a deep pink English rose with a very fragrant sweet old English rose scent. Like atypical English rose, the flower is very double with lots of petals. The scent of the blooms are so strong a vase of of it's flowers will perfume an entire room. 

In Southern California, the  rose will continue to bloom from early spring until late summer. The bush is tall and strong, the foliage are healthy and I never have any problem.

 
This rose is named after Gertrude Jekyll, a famous English gardener and writer. She is remembered for her subtle approach to the arrangement of plants in the gardens she created.She arranged the plants by colors that look like Impressionistic paintings. She arranged plants for color effect.Some suggested that she arranges plants according to color because of her deteriorating eyesight. In a border, lighter colored plants are planted in front and darker colored plants are planted at the back.

I have planted three of this roses and I have not pruned one of them last spring. I was surprised that it had lateral shoots although the blooms from the lateral shoots are not as big. Gertrude Jekyll is a perfect climbing  rose for small gardens.

Peony, May 23, 2012

I bought and planted 3 herbaceous peonies almost 8 years ago. One of them survived and grows back every spring but it never bloomed. This spring it finally bloomed. The flower is huge, almost 5 inches across when it fully opened after a few days.

The flower is off-white with a streak of pale salmon pink towards the center. It is fully double with lots of petals. Peony flower is not usually available in flower shops in Southern California. Trader Joe’s sometimes sell the flower in spring but they are rather tiny with only a few petals. Not the one that I planted.

The leaves are dark green with reddish veins and they look very healthy. The flower stem is about a foot long.

I usually keep the label of plants I plant but I have somehow misplaced the label for this peony since I bought it almost eight years ago. In fact I almost dug it out as it was bearing no flower. Tried to look it up in the internet but I couldn’t find a similar one; so I don’t know what variety is this peony.  

Roses

Garden roses are the most popular and widely planted flowering plants especially in mild and temperate climates like Southern California.

It is believed that roses have been cultivated since 5,000 years ago. Records exist of roses being grown in ancient Chinese and Greek gardens, including gardens in ancient Babylon. Paintings of roses have also been discovered in Egyptian pyramids.

The modern rose as we know it today was bred from wild roses hybridized with cultivars of the China rose. Hybridizing started in Europe with Empress Josephine of France patronizing the development of rose breeding in her Malmaison garden.

There are three main group classifications of roses namely wild rose, old garden and modern garden. Wild roses also known as species roses are low maintenance and have one flush of bloom per year. Old garden roses are roses that existed before the introduction of modern roses; they are also known as heritage roses. Modern roses are hybrids of wild and old garden roses.

Modern roses are further classified into hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, polyantha, miniature, climbers, pillars, English, shrub and rugosas.

Hybrid Teas are the most popular class with their characteristic high centered blooms. Most Hybrid Teas produce large high centered blooms on long stems. Many are fragrant and are disease resistant. Although most Hybrid Teas sold at nurseries are no longer fragrant. They need hard pruning every spring in order to produce large and healthy blooms. In Southern California, hard pruning can be done almost any time of the year. 

Another popular modern rose are the Floribunda roses. They produce clusters of blooms that are smaller than Hybrid Tea blooms. In Southern California they tend to bloom continuously. They are shorter and are great when planted in groups. The Iceberg rose is a  Floribunda.

English rose is a hybrid of Hybrid Tea and Old Rose. English roses are very fragrant and hundreds of petals. This type of rose is hybridized by David Austen.