I want to find an Acer palmatum cultivar
that can manage full sun and high winds. Is this asking too much of the
dainty thing? Can you suggest a type, or a source that lists palmatums
and their various needs and attributes?
The main issue with Japanese maples and wind would be hot, drying winds. According to this information from University of California Master Gardeners, sunburn can be a problem, and hot wind exacerbates it: “Leaf scorch can appear on any type of deciduous tree, shrub or plant. During prolonged periods of drought, windy weather or bright sunshine, Japanese Maples are particularly susceptible, especially young trees.”
I would be concerned about scorching from exposure to hot wind, and
damage from winter wind even if the tree is not likely to lose limbs.
Here is what J. D. Vertrees’s book, Japanese Maples (Timber Press, 2001,
3rd ed.) has to say: “A spot with a constant strong wind will misshape the plant and may burn the leaves. In winter, the wind-chill factor may cause bark and cambium
damage (…) In areas of strong marine breezes, leaf damage from salt
deposits may occasionally occur. Anyone growing plants under such
conditions should be familiar with the necessary protection and the need
for periodic washing of the foliage with fresh water.”(p. 63)
A commercial nursery, Maple Ridge groups Acer palmatum cultivars by type. University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens offers additional information.
I just saw a ball of tiny yellow spiders with black dots clustered on the end of a Santolina stem. Are they beneficial in the garden, or should I remove them?
Your description sounds like the cross orbweaver (also called cross spider, because of the white markings on the back of its abdomen), Araneus diadematus. Its baby spiders (spiderlings) are yellow with black markings, and they crowd together and seem to move as one if disturbed. They hatch (in groups of hundreds to almost a thousand) from a fluffy-looking pale yellow egg sac. The Washington NatureMapping website has a factsheet about this species.
These industrious spiders build a new web each day (after eating the previous day’s web). They are often found close to houses and illumination (at my house, the nests appear behind the porch light) and in gardens. Their diet consists of invertebrates, so in that sense, they do provide some benefit in the garden.
Cross orbweavers in your garden are not a problem, though humans occasionally encroach on their space, and the spiders may bite in reaction to the disturbance. Some people are more sensitive to the bites than others. My strong recommendation is to let them be, and enjoy observing them.
The Carex buchananii in my parking strip garden is now large enough that it’s reaching out over the sidewalk and getting underfoot. Can I safely cut it back? Can it be cut to the ground in spring and allowed to start over?
Sedges like yours should not be cut back too far. The magazine Horticulture says you can “gather up the leaves in one hand and, using a pair of scissors, cut off the top third, including the long flowering stems. This will leave the plant arching out gracefully, but not trailing along the ground. It may be necessary to do this twice a year: at the beginning and end of the summer.”
Val Easton, writing in the Seattle Times (October 8, 2008) says “sedges resent being cut back too hard, so if the foliage lasts through the year untattered, just leave it alone. If the older foliage looks messy, or the tips have been burned by winter cold, trim the sedge back modestly, by no more than a third at most, in March or April.” Another thing you could do is to dig up and divide your Carex in March, and move it away from the edge of the planting bed.
I would like to know if there is some place where I can have my vegetable garden soil tested. For the last two years my vegetable plants were abysmal except for tomatoes and lettuce.
The Natural Lawn & Garden Hotline, sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities, provides the following recommendations on how to take a soil sample:
1) Take about 10 vertical slices of soil from the top 6-8 inches of your garden bed. If there is an area that you suspect to have problems, test this soil separately.
2) Place soil slices in a plastic bag and mix thoroughly. You are getting the average of the soil in your garden bed.
3) Take 1 cup from this mixture and dry it at room temperature. Do not dry in oven, on radiator or in microwave!
4) Put dry soil sample into a Ziploc bag and seal.
5) Label the outside of the Ziploc bag.
6) Mail to one of the soil testing labs below with completed order form and payment.
A WSU has a publication on soil testing for vegetable crops but it is mainly for agricultural growers.
Another option is the University of Massachusetts, Amherst soil testing laboratory.
This page has information and forms to send in with your samples.
For testing of toxics see:
King County’s Resident Self-Testing Page.
A & L Western Laboratories, Inc. in Portland, OR can provide soil and plant analysis.
I am looking for rare Siberian lavender. Can you help?
I think what you mean is Russian sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia. You might want to phone your favorite retail nursery to see whether they carry it (it is very popular). If it is not available, here are two Oregon nurseries that list it in their current catalogs:
Forestfarm in Williams, OR.
Joy Creek Nursery in Scappoose, OR
The following article (now archived) from University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana Extension describes the confusion between Russian sage and ‘Siberian lavender:’
“To the best of my knowledge, there is no such plant as Siberian Lavender. I have heard of English lavender, French lavender and Spanish lavender. By law all of these offers must list the Latin name of the plant; although sometimes it is in the tiniest of print. Check the ad again and see if you can find the words Perovskia atriplicifolia anywhere in the ad. Russian sage. It is a really fine plant, but it is not lavender. It does not look like lavender and it does not smell like lavender.
Do your homework and read the fine print. I know many people are not familiar with botanical names, but that is the only way to know what you are getting. Once you know the botanical name, even if you cannot pronounce it, you can find information about the plant. Botanical names are unique. Common names can be very misleading.
A good example is an ad I saw recently in the newspaper. It was touting the luxurious beauty and fragrance of Siberian lavender. I had never heard of anything called Siberian lavender so I kept reading. The ad stated (with lots of exclamation points) how Siberian lavender produces thousands of flowers and has the delicate scent of lavender perfume year after year. Wow, sounds pretty fantastic. I continued to look to find the botanical name. In the minuscule fine print it said, Variety: perovskia atripliafolia (which I assume to be the misspelling of Perovskia atriplicifolia) also known as Russian sage. Russian sage is a nice perennial plant with silvery white leaves and soft bluish-purple flowers held in loose spikes. However, even from far away on a foggy day I doubt Russian sage would hold even a slight resemblance to lavender. Russian sage does have a fragrance, but it is more reminiscent of sage than of lavender.”
Where can I find information about dogwood hybrids, especially crosses between Cornus kousa and C. florida? Won’t these trees be more resistant to the mildew affecting many dogwoods?
In addition to powdery mildew, many dogwoods can suffer with anthracnose. In his book Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs (Timber Press, 1997), Michael Dirr mentions Rutgers Hybrids (which are a cross of the kousa and florida species of Cornus). These trees were developed at Rutgers University by Elwin Orton, and are resistant to dogwood anthracnose. This article from North Carolina State University Extension discusses powdery mildew resistance. Scroll to the second table at the end which charts cultivars and their resistance or susceptibility to powdery mildew.
Oregon State University provides information about each of the six hybrids of C. florida x C. kousa. Two of the trees on this list are resistant to powdery mildew.
Clemson University Extension offers further information about the insects and diseases affecting dogwoods.
What are the best types of tomatoes for the Pacific Northwest climate?
In Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades (Steve Solomon, 2000, pp.241,242), the author notes that any tomato advertised in a seed catalog as needing more than 72 days for maturity will not likely reach a ripe old (tasty) age in our region. Solomon suggests purchasing seed only from regional companies like Territorial Seed Co. or West Coast Seeds. The varieties he recommends are
1. some that ripen early in the Willamette Valley (bred by Jim Baggett) = Oregon 11, Oregon Spring, Santiam, and Gold Nugget
2. slicers = Fantastic Hybrid, Pic Red, Early Cascade, and Kootenai
3. cherry = most are prolific here, but Solomon prefer’s Jim Baggett’s Gold Nugget
Here is a link to an article by Chris Smith in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (01-19-2006) that introduces some new tomatoes and other vegetables for 2006.
Seattle Tilth has an article by Kirsten DeLara (2011) called “Grow Great Tomatoes in Seattle” which includes a list of the author’s favorite varieties for our area. Also check Seattle Tilth’s annual list of tomatoes available at their sales, and their reports on tomato tasting results.
Mother Earth News published an article on the best Pacific Northwest varieties in February/March 2010.
How can I propagate the Schisandra fruit vine?
It does not sound like the easiest plant to propagate from seed. Cuttings or layering might be less challenging. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has a guide to growing Schisandra, including propagation information. Here is an excerpt:
“Propagate Schisandra by seed, cuttings or layering. The seeds can be planted in prepared seedbeds 1/4-inch deep in the fall soon after they ripen or indoors in March. Dry seeds need to be soaked overnight. In Herbal Emissaries: Bringing Chinese Herbs to the West, Steven Foster and Yue Chongxi say that in China an acid scarification process is sometimes used, because the seeds have such a hard coat.”
Plants for a Future’s database includes propagation details for Schisandra chinensis:
“Seed: best sown in the autumn in a cold frame. Pre-soak stored seed for 12 hours in warm water and sow in a greenhouse in the spring. Germination can be slow and erratic. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in the greenhouse for their first 2 years. Plant them out into their permanent positions in early summer.
“Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 5 – 8cm with a heel, August in a frame. Overwinter in the greenhouse and plant out in late spring.
“Layering of long shoots in the autumn.”
I am interested in the seed germination requirements of Acer triflorum and Acer griseum.
There is information in The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation by Michael Dirr and Charles Heuser (Varsity Press,2006):
Acer triflorum seed is “doubly dormant and when fall planted will germinate the second spring and sporadically thereafter. Seed, unfortunately, is often not sound […] Nine months warm followed by 3 months cold gave reasonable germination. If seed is received dry it may be prestratified for 6 months and then sown. Germination is less than 1% the first year but is very good the second.”
The authors state that with Acer griseum, “the biggest problem is poor seed quality” (between 1 to 8% viability). Also, seed production from an individual tree varies widely from year to year. “Seeds are doubly dormant and if fall planted require 2 years, some germinating the third year and beyond. The pericarp wall is extremely tough and dormancy is caused by a physical barrier as well as internal embryo conditions.” Dirr says that he has cold-stratified seed for 90 days, split the fruit wall to extract the embryos, and planted them in vermiculite with a fair amount of success. Growing this tree from cuttings is considered extremely difficult, and grafting (onto seedling Acer griseum seems to be the easiest propagation method.
I have noticed that Magnolia leaves seem to decompose more slowly than other leaves…can you tell me why that might be the case?
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence regarding your observation. Finding information to specifically confirm it is not easy, however. But some facts about plants physiology help, especially in combination with considerations about the conditions required for decay. I referred to Introduction to Plant Physiology (William G. Hopkins, 1995) for most of the information below.
Lignin is a compound that is an integral part of the cell walls of plants. (It is the second most abundant organic compound on earth after cellulose.) Lignin fills the spaces in the cell walls of various plant tissues, providing mechanical strength to the cell wall and thus to the entire plant.
Lots of lignin in a leaf would result in a slow process of decomposition because it is difficult to degrade. That is, it is not easy for bacteria and water (necessary for decomposition) to penetrate the chemical structure of lignin.
Suberin is a waxy substance that is highly hydrophobic (repels water); its main function is to prevent water from penetrating plant tissue. Suberin is found in the outermost layer of the bark (in the dead corky tissue). The cells in this layer are dead and abundant in suberin, preventing water loss from the tissues below.
Suberin can also be found in various other plant structures, including leaves, where it also prevents the movement of water.
So, the combination of a structural function of lignin and the water-repelling characteristics of suberin – in leaves, in this case – is quite helpful in explaining why magnolia leaves decay at a slower rate than other leaves.
An article about composting from University of Florida Extension mentions that magnolia leaves would need to be shredded in order to be usable in compost (or as mulch).