Winter Solstice!!! A review of Fall stuff in our garden!

The first and most important thing is that the angle of the sun changes and lots of sun comes into our south facing bedroom window! It is almost as good as going to the beach on a sunny summer day...so says Sofi! I think that she forgets that summer is not very far away and soon she will be looking for cool spots on the floor!

When we think of fall, most of us who come from...say, the northern midwest like myself think of fall as a time of harvest. Here I share with you some of the fruits that come late summer, fall and early winter in San Diego.

From left to right are: 1)Lingaro berries (Elaeagnus phillipenensis) which is a very attractive large shrub or small tree. Another species E. multiflora or Goumi berry is also used very similarly for food and medicinally.

 2)Red Alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) unlike other strawberry types is both evergreen and everbearing in San Diego and does not produce runners like the strawberries we are familiar with. The pic below is the White Alpine strawberry and as far as I am concerned the most

delicious of all the strawberries! Alpine strawberries are considered a great delicacy in France... and in our garden as well! The berry to the right in the photo of 3 berries- 3)Chilean guava (Ugni molinae) which is like a mini guava and has a distinct, crunchy guava flavor. If you didn't care about the fruit it is an extremely attractive shrub as well with glossy small leaves!

I want to add another word about Alpine strawberries...Forget the "alpine" part as they couldn't be a more productive strawberry for mild climates where it is not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter as here in San Diego! They are small no matter what the cultivar you choose. There are at least half a dozen or so that range from red to yellow to white. They are available through some specialty nurseries or can be ordered online from seed companies that provide heirloom seeds. They are easy to grow from seed and make very good pot plants(so you can move them away from excessive winds and heat!) Unfortunately aphids LOVE strawberries as with other members of the Rose family of plants to which strawberries belong. Frequent cleaning of yellowing and dead leaves and an occaisional spraying of a non-toxic light oil spray or safer's soap will help. Keep those Argentine ants away as they may not only encourage aphids but an occaisional infestation of mealy bugs. Other than that the Alpine strawberry needs regular water and a good organic fertilizer several times a year (because they literally exhaust themselves as they are so productive!)

The Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana) is my favorite guava! According to Sunset Western Gardens Book is the hardiest of subtropical fruits. At any rate they do not even have to be harvested which is a big plus. Just leave a good layer of mulch underneath the tree and wait for the fruit to fall. Pick them up and they are ready to eat or if you have a sweet tooth you can keep them indoors for a few days and then eat them just like you would a Kiwi fruit. Slice them in half and spoon them out. They also have that Kiwi like flavor and texture. Some people describe a kind of pineapple flavor.

This is an example of the many other types of guavas belonging to Psidium guajava. They are soft-skinned and can be eaten directly like apples or grapes. Their skin is soft. There are many types with varying flavor and color. They are very attractive trees or shrubs but I still feel the Pineapple guava is the most attractive and delilcious of them all!

These are some tropical plants that bloom late in the season. The first is the Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) which is actually not a ginger at all but has that look of a ginger. It is a close relative of the "Wandering Jew" plant and the Spiderwort which is common in much of  North America. They all have that silky, smooth sap when the stems or leaves are broken. It is neither goey or sticky like other plant excretions.

This is a kind of morning glory which is different from all the rest. It forms a swollen base or caudex from which shoots arise each season. It is neither viney nor a woody bush like others in this family. I do not like morning glory vines because they simply take over everything. This, the Cartegena morning glory, is quite attractive and manageable. It dies back in winter to the base or to older branches.

This is Hibiscus acetosella the leaves and stem are a very deep red with flowers that are just a little bit brighter red (the flower in the picture is actually brighter than the real flower. Notice a few smaller leaves and buds and stem are dark colored. With cool fall weather the leaves are starting to turn orange and pinkish. This Hibiscus is a very good source for a delicious tea that can be made from the leaves, buds and flowers. Easy to grow from seed. Also has a medicinal use.

This is Tithonia diversifolia, one of the Mexican sunflowers. It grows from a large swollen base or caudex or may maintain almost treelike trunks for a time. They can reach 20 or more feet in just one season! There is no more a timely plant for Southern CA holidays in that it starts blooming with its deliciously honey scented flowers around Thanksgiving and is in full bloom by Christmas. There are at least a couple other plants from some of the same mountainous areas of mexico. They are the Daisy Trees (I have two species here) the following is Montanoa grandiflora. I have M. arborescens which is about 18 years old, just over the roof top, growing in the front yard. Both bloom this time of year and also have a delicious odor!

A winter blooming plant from Central America into Mexico that coincides with both the Tree Daisy and the Mexican Sunflower is one of the Sages, Salvia wagneriana. I have seen three forms. One pinkish red like the one I picture here, one that is more reddish, and one that is of the palest pink, almost white. It is large, though not quite as large as the Mexican Sunflower. It has very aromatic foliage as many sages have and the humingbirds love the flowers!

The Baja Rose (Rosa minutifolia) reaches the northern-most limits of its range on Otay Mt. in Chula Vista, CA (within view from our back yard). It is actually not usually in bloom right now, because it is "summer deciduous" as opposed to any other roses you might know which go dormant in winter. This recent pic is a plant that I kept watered through the summer and has bloomed off and on while the plants on our hillside have looked very dead all summer and fall and are just now bursting with bright green shoots after our first couple of rains. This little 1" flower has a rose color that many hybridizers of traditional roses tried for hundreds of years to create. It is purplish-red. The leaves are typical rose leaves with 4 or 5 or more leaflets but they are very small and have a corrogated texture. They are quite the opposite from other roses in that they actually thrive on the coastal fogs and moisture that cause so many diseases in traditional roses! The little leaflets are very well designed to capture this night-time moisture and provide the root zone with additional moisture in what would otherwise be absolutely dry conditions during summer! The only problem they have are aphids that get to them probably because I have so many plants in the garden above; but there on Otay Mt. are most likely quite free of any pests at all!

One more tropical plant with all-season interest is the Carribean Copper Plant (Euphorbia cotinifolia). It is slow to produce woody growth so it is more like many succulant plants or other Euphorbia species. Remember... Poinsettias are a Euphorbia! It can be evergreen or deciduous in a more exposed situation as in our garden. It is very attractive with both orangy leaves and reddish-purple leaves which are the normal coloration. I also love the structural value in the way that it branches.

Now this tropical plant is one of my own creations! The normal plant is considered a much larger form of Purple Fountain Grass (Pennesetum setaceum)but is most lilkely a separate species. It may be listed as Pennesetum macrostachyum from New Guinea, Borneo, and adjacent islands. (From the book about grasses and grasslike plants by Rick Darke.) The plant you see here is a mutation from a dying plant in my garden that I have been able to propagate with varying degrees of a very beautiful variegation on the leaves. It ranges from white to varying shades of pink and red. I have shown it to many reputable people and so far no one has seen it before. If I had the money...or the desire to; I could apply for a patent. However I am so discusted with the plant patents that are out there right now that come from the more "corporate" type of nurseries! How can you patent nature!

Darn it why did I get on this subject?! I have had unique hybrids from a tree native to the Channel Islands off the coast of So CA and a cross with a species from coastal Baja. It all started with my planting several of the Channel islands' species- Lavaterea assurgentiflora about 20 yrs ago. I found this really neat hybrid between L. assurgentiflora X venusta known commerciallly as Lavatera "Purrissima" at a nursery and planted it in our yard. I was told that it was a sterile hybrid ie. like the donkey is a sterile hybrid. Well within a couple of years the seedlings that I let grow around all my Tree Mallows, as is their common name, began to produce plants that were more or less tree-like or shrubby. They also started producing different colors. The first was a deep purplish red that was darker than Purrissima and had much less of the whitish center to the flower. Then there were colors with large whitish or pinkish centers some with dark purple lines on the petals or less so. Then there were rose colored flowers. Flowers with almost white petals with pink or reddish tips. Then one of the most recent crosses was one that I hope I do not lose! I lost the original plant but a managed to save one seedling which is not quite as spectacular as the original but is very close. I have dubbed this one as Lavatera "Rasberry-Rose Swirl" It doesn't get as swirly as the original. When the bud first starts to unfold it looks almost like a rose with a predominant pink. As it opens the petals begin to curl back to reveal, when fullly opened seems to be a completely different flower. The rose tipped petals curve back so what you see is a whitish flower with deep rasberry purple lines. Sometimes the petals twist which make it look like black rasberry preserves swirled through vanilla icecream! OK I know that I am not much of an entrepeneur. I have probably waited too long as I noticed recently that one of the big wholesale nurseries already has a hybrid Island Tree Mallow. Since I tried to get City Farmer's Nursery where I used to work to sponsor these hybrids I kept several plants there. Who knows either someone else lucked out or maybe was stolen from the nursery as so many of the plants I kept there seemed to just vanish!

This has got to be SO BORING so I will end it with a pic that is a seedling that has a darker petal and less white in the center than Purrissima:

Now I will show you something that may be a pleasant surprise to all you lovers of fall colors and those who honor the significance of the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21st this year). There is a greater glory in this!

This is a selection of the wild Calif. grape, Vitis californica "Roger's Red". It has produced huge amounts of small, very dark, crunchy grapes that have more flavor per cc than any othe grape that I know! I made fruit rolls this year and everyone who I gave samples to could not believe there was nothing other than grapes as an ingredient! Not even water...just grapes. Forget all the garbage candy from the stores. If you have a sweet tooth this will send you into sugar heaven! I hope to learn the fine art of wine making as I feel that this is a valid candidate for some really great wine! Next year I am sure I will have an ample amount from this single plant!

Here is a plant that is not necessarily a plant with seasonal changes but you shall see that the subtleties of the lower angles of the Sun's light at the winter solstice gives this plant a special magic!

This is a succulent plant that is shrublike in its growth. It produces huge 12"+ rosettes of thick leaves with cerrated edges. It is known as Aeonium decorum "Sunburst".

This is I believe Iris unguicularis, a fall blooming Iris also known as the Algerian Iris native to Greece, the Near East and Northern Africa. Its blooms singly out of tube like structures at only about 6" -8". I must qualify all my observations as being limited to a subtropical or mediterranean climate Zone 10 USDA or Zones 23-24 Sunset Western Garden. I have been in contact with at least one person and have more info from another web site www.paghat.com/iris-unguicularis. If you live in areas that have snow or hard frosts in fall and winter. You should read this info if this is you! I found it interesting that in colder climates the bloom is more sporadic and may occur in both fall and late winter/early spring! For me it is like clockwork! When it blooms for Thanksgiving and Christmas along with the other plants I have described here! When the Algerian iris is done shortly after new year...it is sexually complete for the year! What follows it the lush grassy leaves that endure through the summer here.

With that said... here in natureguy's garden: If the last season's foliage has not gone dormant (due to additional summer water) the blooms will be mostly lost below the leaves which reach about 12". In this case I would suggest severely cutting back in late summer...but watch out for any of the "tubes" popping up later on or if there is some kind of seasonal disruption. It is drought tolerant and blooms faithfully every fall and early winter in my garden. If allowed to go dormant in summer it has yellowish-green to brown leaves that may be more lax and open in clumps receiving less water. These will not hide the flowers as they might in milder areas and with summer moisture. Now I realize it may rebloom when winter (or perhaps drought)

shuts down the blooming process temporalily. New spring growth in colder areas is equivalent and contrasting to the lush green growth beginning in January here in San Diego! It is a most undemanding plant and the flowers are exquisite!

Another unusual fall and early winter blooming member of the Iris family is Morea polystachya. It is one of the irises that has a corm, which is a very round and smooth storage body much like a bulb except that it is self contained into this perfectly round thing and does not have the oblong shape of a bulb which often has offsets and narrows to a point which covers a crown of the dormant plant within or the crown may be partially emerged. Other irises like the one above grow from underground stems called rhizomes. They creep at or just below the surface of the soil, branch and thus produce new plants. Some plants have rhizomes that creep very far before new plants come up so that they seem to take over the whole garden if you are not careful! Plants like Bermuda grass and some of the Bamboos are like this and there are many plants that may do this that are not grassy at all! The flower is about an  inch in diameter and the narrow grassy leaves are about15" tall.

The next plant also has a corm-like "bulb". It is commonly known as the Mexican Rain Lily, Zephyranthes grandiflora. There are also Rain lilies in white and yellow. What they all have in common is that they thrive in a climate that has multiple wet and dry periods. They can be "bone" dry and with a couple of days of rain the flowers will appear as if out of nowhere, bloom, followed immediately by narrow, flat leaves and if there is no more rain will soon dissappear once again.

I am sorry that I didn't make it in my fall blog with all the wonderful bulbs for So. Calif. that need to be planted in the fall for their spectacular winter,spring, and early summer display! Just for the record I now possess bulbs from 35 genera and of these I have 82 species, varieties, and cultivars! It is my greatest frustration that just because we live in a sub-tropical climate people seem to be addicted to things that bloom and remain green all year round!!! I believe in fall magic with the changes that it brings! I believe in a spring, whether it occurs in "winter" as it does in So. Calif. or in the spring anywhere, where wonderful fairy like things suddenly appear and if you turn your head away for too long are gone before you can get down on your knees and fill your senses with their fragile beauty! To hell with boring flower borders that deny the changes of the seasons!!!!

I will close with these words:

Bathe in the new sun that is born on the winter solstice! The days shall be renewed (the sun will rise and set by about a minute longer each day). If we are of the Earth then we shall be a part of turning more and more towards the sun. We shall look towards each sunrise and feel ourselves drawing ever nearer to the sun. This is not something that we imagine because it is real...we have felt it in the most primitive parts of ourselves for at least a million or more years...It is nothing to snoot at! There is a deep and very real magic in this Winter Solstice! If there ever was a time to renew your love for the earth,all that lives here and your fellow "man/woman" it is now!

I wish you all a happy Christmas only because it is a tradition where family and others come together to renew their bonds and ties to each other. It is a warm and heartfelt time. I regret because we are in more financial trouble this Christmas than ever before that we shall not have any Christmas at all, and are not able to even join any of our family. I put up a few lights. We have no tree and no presents. Our last four checks bounced like ping-pong balls. The Tax Man keeps increasing the tax because we cannot pay!

LISTEN YOU GUYS & GALS:

Friday, December 25, 2009 is my 58th birthday! My best birthday present other than the card my dad sent me would be that you read, enjoy, talk about this latest blog and share it with others that you feel might enjoy it! It is my gift to all of you, but I would be very unhappy if you didn't get it or just ignored it!

natureguy to some; Michael to others