Author: Maureen Gilmer

Maureen Gilmer is celebrating her 40th year in California horticulture and photojournalism as the most widely published professional in the state. She is the author of 21 books on gardening, design and the environment, is a widely published photographer, and syndicated with Tribune Content Agency. She is the weekly horticultural columnist for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs and contributes to Desert Magazine, specializing on arid zone plants and practices for a changing climate. She works and lives in the remote high desert for firsthand observations of native species. Her latest book is The Colorful Dry Garden published by Sasquatch Books. When not writing or photographing she is out exploring the desert on her Arabian horse. She lives in Morongo Valley with her husband Jim and two rescue pit bulls. When not writing or photographing she is usually out riding her quarter horse.

How to Transplant an Olive Tree

Fruiting olive trees make resilient landscape specimens for edible landscaping in the West.

Olives (Olea europaea) originate from the Mediterranean region but have been important landscape trees in the American Southwest for the past 70 years, losing and gaining favor as trends change. After World War II, mature olive trees were transplanted to new family homes all over the West. Old trees were moved from California orchards under the hottest, driest conditions; dug and replanted in the dry summer months when moisture-related diseases were less of a worry. Transplanted olive trees were a “quick fix” for barren southwestern yards because they were tough and easily moved by a novice, but eventually, some homeowners became disenchanted by the tree’s fruit mess and copious, allergenic pollen. Thankfully, the rise of edible landscaping has made olives desirable once more.

Now seen as the haute new organic orchard crop for a changing climate, old olive trees have renewed value. Those interested in growing olives may still be able to seek out established, unwanted specimens from old orchards or landscapes. It’s a great way to get a free tree while relieving someone else of an unwanted plant. If the tree is small enough for you to manage alone, or with a little help, you can get a nice fruiting specimen for no more than the effort to transplant it.

How to Transplant an Established Olive Tree

Cut a trench around the root ball edge for access to deeper roots for easy cutting on sides and underneath.

Step 1: Size the root zone. Identify the outside edges of your root ball relative to the size of the tree with a shovel line. Use the diameter of the resulting circle as a guide to determine the size of the hole you will need at the new planting location.

Step 2: Dig and sever roots. Dig a trench around the outside edge of the tree’s root ball line. If you encounter big roots, use sharp cutters or a saw to cleanly sever them on the sides and underneath the root ball. Note the tree bark changes color at the soil line; this is the “bark line” and will guide the depth of your new planting hole. Measure from the bark line to the bottom of the root ball to get the minimum depth of your new hole.

Once the root ball is free, measure its depth and diameter to determine the size of the planting hole at the new location.

Step 3: Move the tree. When the root ball is entirely free, you’re ready to move the tree. Moving can be done with pure manpower, or with the help of a professional. If you are moving it by hand, wrap the ball with burlap or a tarp to lift it and keep it intact. For large trees, hire a professional crane service to lift and transport the tree to its new location; this is easier and safer for very large specimens.

Step 4: Dig the hole. Put a tarp next to your new planting location to place your backfill soil on as you dig. Your olive tree should be planted at the same soil level in a new location as it was in the old, so depth should match the depth of the root ball and the hole should be a several inches wider than the root ball.

Once the root ball of the olive is free it’s ready to be moved and transplanted.

Step 5: Amend the soil. Encourage new root formation by enriching the backfill soil for your olive root ball. It adds vital organic matter that helps to oxygenate the soil to enhance root development, plus it grabs and holds the water in the root zone. Add OMRI Listed Black Gold Garden Compost Blend to the fill dirt and mix it in. Keep another bag on hand to work into your excavated hole before filling.

Step 6: Plant the tree. Place the tree in the hole, and adjust the hole depth and adjacent soil grade so it lines up to the tree’s bark line. Straighten the tree to the same angle that it was growing at before. (One person may have to hold the tree straight while another adds the fill dirt.) Tamp down the soil as you go for stability and to collapse air pockets.

This large tree is being lifted by a crane to be dropped into the new hole just 10 feet away.

Step 7: Create a basin and water. A reasonably sized water basin will have raised berm edges from 6 to 12 inches high, made of the leftover backfill material. Transplanting requires a great deal of water to fill such a basin. This lets it slowly percolates down into the root ball and surrounding enriched backfill, where new roots form. For best results, keep the basin area moist, but not wet, throughout the hot months after transplanting.

Final tip: Speed rooting by adding root stimulant hormones or Superthrive to your irrigation water for quicker root formation.

Larger olive trees, or those in high wind areas, may require staking or tree guy wires that are anchored outside the root zone in undisturbed soil. Blow-over is a serious issue until anchoring roots form to hold such a top-heavy tree.

Olive trees are a miracle of nature that changed the course of history in the ancient world, providing nutritious fruits and oil to feed peoples across many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures. Though they are coming back into edible landscaping, there are also fruitless ornamental varieties available for easy maintenance. The new ornamental olive has left many old, unwanted fruiting olive trees in yards all over the West just waiting to be rescued. Transplanting keeps these valuable trees from going to waste!

Olive fruits can be harvested for home-preserved olives and even oil!

5 Big, Beautiful Wildflowers for Dry Western Gardens

This relative of hollyhock loves growing along the dry edges of cactus and succulent gardens.

The American Southwest is rich in wildflowers, and a few have proved to be exceptional choices for arid gardens. When wildflowers perform well and are beautiful, they are ideal candidates for home landscapes filled with existing drought-resistant plants. They also make exceptional problem solvers in desert gardens of cacti, succulents, and rocks where many other wildflowers fail to thrive.

The Big 5 Western Wildflowers

Parry’s Penstemon (Penstemon parryi)

Fast to grow from seed, this amazing heat-tolerant short-lived perennial is a great plant to seed into succulent gardens in fall.

This is one of the biggest most exciting late-winter bloomers for Southwest gardens. Super tall, delicate stems lined with hot pink flowers are produced. The plants are incredibly vigorous from seed sown in the fall and bloom in the first year. Full sun exposures and soils with limited fertility and rapid drainage are required. Once the plant has finished blooming, it produces a low rosette of leaves. This wildflower is reliably hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 8. Flowers are bee pollinated.

Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri)

Matilija poppy is an enormous wildflower that thrives in full sun and sandy dry soils.

A California native, this is among the largest perennial wildflowers with an affection for sandy ground. Big snow white blossoms with a golden ball of stamens resembling a fried egg cover the stems in spring and summer. The large, spreading subshrub reaches 5 feet in height and width and is reliably hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 8. Flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)

Brittlebush has golden spring flowers. (Image by Sue)

This is a more cold-hardy southwestern perennial that is reliably hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 7 and ideal for foothill sites and rocky terrain. Mounding blue-gray foliage and bright yellow spring flowers offer reliable landscape appeal. Brittlebush is especially vigorous and has the constitution of a cactus, making it a desert garden staple. Offer it full sun and well-drained ground that is slightly alkaline. Flowers attract bees and butterflies.

Desert Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)

This relative of hollyhock loves the dry edges of cactus and succulent gardens.

Vivid wands of orange flowers and silvery scalloped leaves make this 1-3′ subshrub stand out in spring, then die back in summer, much like Parry’s penstemon. It reportedly has the largest flowers and most drought tolerance of all the desert mallows. This wildflower is allergic to summer water, but reliably cold hardy up to USDA Zone 6, making it a good choice for gardeners in middle elevations of the Southwest ranges. Flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

California White Sage (Salvia apiana)

Over-harvested to make smudge sticks, this perennial is proving quite adaptable to gardens.

A very long-lived subshrub that’s popular for smudge sticks, California white sage produces stems of small white (sometimes pale lavender) flowers and all parts emit a curious catty odor. The fragrant oils protect these beauties from browsing by rabbits and other herbivores. Summer drought is required for garden success, and plants will survive in USDA Hardiness Zone 8, if provided full sun and dry, well-drained ground. Flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Western Wildflower Culture

What seems to be the single unifying cultural requirement of all these plants is a need for porous soil. They are known to grow on rocky cliffs or sandy washes where their roots are free to travel far and wide. Very little water lingers in the soil in these locations, and what does sinks deep down. Gardens with heavy soils and clay cannot support these plants. Only when grown on slopes or rocky outcroppings can these wildflowers survive the rainy season. On rocky ground, the water runs off so fast, the rootzone remains dry.

The key to growing them in heavier soils is creating beds with a combination of elevation and aeration. Raise the plant up above soggy ground in an island of porous soil. To achieve this you need a retaining wall, raised planter, or planting pockets created between loose boulders or wells of stacked dry stone. Fill the cavity with super fast-draining Black Gold Cactus Potting Mix. Make larger amounts of aerated fill, combining equal amounts of Black Gold Cactus Potting Mix with sandy garden loam. Mix thoroughly in a wheelbarrow before filling your raised beds or garden pockets.

Water applied to plants in these pockets will pass through quickly to the dense soil below. Because clay is slow to absorb water, it will gradually hydrate and provide moisture for the roots to tap into during the heat of summer. This method is also helpful where it’s hard to keep plant root zones dry enough due to summer rainfall.

Brittlebushes are rangy subshrubs and among the most drought-resistant of all desert species.

The Best Pomegranates for Home and Garden

‘Wonderful’ is a popular orchard variety pomegranate that also grows well in home gardens.

Since antiquity, the bright red seeds of the pomegranate (Punica granatum) have been likened to rubies. The fleshy seeds are a sign of the nutritional treasure hidden inside the fruit’s tough, leathery rind. The covering of these Middle Eastern fruits protects them from birds and dehydration, unlike fully exposed stone fruits and berries.

The pomegranate tree has changed little since the earliest biblical references, making it a paleo fruit. They provided vital nutrition for the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and North African people who traditionally grew them in wall gardens that protected the foliage from drying winds and cool weather. This is key to growing pomegranates because a lack of heat or too much wind will limit fruiting. Untimely rains in the fruit’s late-summer and fall ripening season can also cause rinds to crack open prematurely, spoiling the contents.

Growing Pomegranates

Bright foliage and coral blossoms make pomegranates a beautiful early color source for gardens.

Pomegranates may be deciduous, semi-evergreen, or evergreen, depending on the climate and variety. In the American Southwest, they are deciduous. What makes them so great in gardens is that the small trees or large shrubs are both ornamental and edible. The flowers are vivid coral red, offering early visual interest. As fruits ripen later in the season, they offer more visual interest.

Today’s pomegranate trees come in a huge range of sizes, with smaller trees for city yards or larger trees with abnormally large fruits for orchards or spacious landscape plantings. So long as the local climate is within the cold tolerance range (USDA Hardiness Zones 8-11) and summers are not humid and rainy, pomegranates should thrive.

Just because pomegranates grow well in poor, dry, rocky soils doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from organically fortified soil. Commercial growers know that to achieve the largest juiciest fruits regular moisture and nutrition are needed. If the soil drains well, a pomegranate will appreciate added soil amendment. The best choice is to blend Black Gold Garden Compost into the soil at planting time. This helps young potted trees transition from potting soil to native soil.

The addition of a balanced NPK fertilizer has also been shown to increase fruit yields and decrease fruit cracking. As temperatures rise, mulch the young pomegranate with more compost to keep roots cool and moist as you deeply water them over the first summer.

Each “ruby” inside the fruit has a tart, sweet, juicy outer flesh that envelopes a BB-sized seed Seeds are typically hard, but breeding has reduced seed size. The seeds of some new varieties are nearly non-existent, so only the flesh develops. These types are preferred for eating out of hand, so be aware of fruit quality when choosing a variety.

Pomegranate Varieties

The very ancient pomegranates grown by the Spanish in the California missions did not have attractive fruit. New varieties are different. Twentieth-century breeding has yielded dozens of excellent improved selections with varying fruit and seed color, tree sizes, and tolerance to cool coastal growing conditions.

Choosing the right variety may be as simple as selecting the universally popular heirloom variety ‘Wonderful’ (1898), or picking the right-sized variety for your landscape or patio.

Top Varieties of Pomegranates for Western Gardens

‘Wonderful’: The most commonly grown commercial variety preferred by those who grow for juice.

‘Ambrosia’: Identical to ‘Wonderful’ except its fruit is three times larger.

‘Sweet’: Preferred for cooler summer climates and container culture.

‘Eversweet’: An early seedless variety ideal for short growing seasons further north or at higher elevations of foothills.

‘Pink Satin’: A super sweet, semi-seedless variety for eating out of hand.

‘Red Silk’: A dwarf selection (6′) perfect for small city gardens or for containers on the patio, conservatory, courtyard, or greenhouse.

‘Kashmir Blend’: Fruits have a complex flavor favored by connoisseurs and chefs.

Ripe pomegranate on the branch. The foliage on the background. — Healthy, ripe pomegranates look colorful and beautiful on the branch.

With so many pomegranate varieties emerging from around the world, consider it a jumping-off point to find the optimal fit for your yard. Before you take the plunge, inquire at a local garden center or with a local extension agent for the varieties best suited to your climate to ensure plentiful fruiting.

The American Southwest is an optimal location to grow pomegranates as both decorative garden or productive home orchard plants. Reach back into the Old World to cultivate this ancient crop now updated to become the arid zone’s favorite edible tree, second only to the date palm.

The Well-Prepared Parterre Potager

The grand French Chateau de Villandry Ornamental Parterre Garden is in the foreground with the Ornamental Kitchen Garden in the background. (Image by Maureen Gilmer)

As with most things French, even vegetable gardens can be decidedly beautiful. What makes them so special are parterre potagers, a practice of creating symmetrical, geometric patterns with beds of vegetables of different colors and textures. Within the geometric beds, which are often lined with trimmed boxwood, rosemary, or santolina hedges, are planted many different food crops over the season, sometimes formal, sometimes country casual. What they all share, however, is the highly geometric layouts and the diversity of plants grown there.

Grand Parterres

The vegetable beds at Villandry are edged in boxwood and filled with colorful edibles. (Image by Maureen Gilmer)

Parterres were originally created using clipped hedges and colorful ornamentals placed in grand designs for the French Aristocracy. They were to be appreciated from the high windows of a palace or chateau, such as the famous Chateau de Villandry built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. Patterns can be as simple as repeating squares and rectangles or consist of intricate designs, such as repeating Fleur de Lis, knotwork, and starbursts. The designs were created on a large scale, but their clean geometry also made them adaptable on a smaller scale with more functional plants.

Potager Parterres

The potager parterre doubles as both a kitchen garden and appealing ornamental garden and fits nicely into small spaces. Raised edging can create the same impact as low hedges without additional maintenance. This makes it easier to create a unique look with symmetrically designed beds delineated by edging and gravel walkways.

What makes the French garden so fun is that it’s rich in herbs as well as vegetables and other plants that contribute to the famous cuisine. Some may be perennial, such as lavender, rosemary, and thyme, while most others are annual vegetables of all kinds. Often the annuals are cycled in and out of the same ground, as the cool and warm seasons pass. In the South of France, where conditions are warmer, these hard-working gardens are packed with heavy feeding veggies most of the year. Unfortunately, many of these gardens experience a nutrient decline over time unless the soils are routinely fed with quality soil amendments and added fertilizer.

Amending Parterre Soil

When native soil is worn out and the microbial content depleted, it’s best to err on the side of overdoing it. It is rare to experience ill effects caused by too much compost, because it’s quickly consumed by soil microbes, in a healthy organic environment. The more the microbes feed, the more amendments you need to keep their numbers high for consistent soil fertility year in and year out.

BG-GRDNCMPST-BLND_1cu-FRONT — Black Gold Garden Compost Blend is superb food for microbes.

The best choice for in-ground parterres is OMRI Listed® Black Gold Garden Compost Blend, which is superb food for microbes. Compost can be added to natural soil in spring and fall. Turn your earth gently with a fork and blend in the compost at least 6-inches deep before planting. This ensures there will be plentiful organic matter for crops to do their best.

For additional grow power and added nitrogen, amend with OMRI Listed® Black Gold Earthworm Castings Blend. At planting time, work a handful of castings into each planting hole to ensure the roots will encounter a boost of natural nitrogen and micro-nutrients derived from the earthworm’s diet.

For parterres with hedge edges, mulch them with the leftover compost and worm castings to keep them healthy, green, and beautiful. Just leave a 3″ ring of open ground around the base of the hedges to let their trunks breathe.

Petite parterres are a great way to create a formal look or one that’s rooted in history. They can be planted with vegetables, or flowers, or both. That’s what makes this garden style so inspiring. One can grow good food while never sacrificing great design.

hedges — This mid-sized parterre is a good solution for a functional backyard landscape. (Image by Maureen Gilmer)

Blueberries for Western and Southern Gardens

New, heat-tolerant blueberries should be enjoyed in more gardens south of the Mason Dixon Line and in the Southwest.

Forget that blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) are just a crop for the far north because that’s changed. Modern selection and breeding have resulted in a range of hybrids and varieties that extend blueberries into almost every growing zone. What makes this such a great opportunity is that blueberries are produced on shrubs. That means they will fit right into any existing ornamental landscape while producing annual crops of berries.

Best Warm-Climate Blueberries

A blueberry is no different from any other acid-loving shrub in your landscape.

Choose from two blueberry types for warmer climates: drought-tolerant rabbiteye hybrids (Vaccinium ashei hybrids, Zones 7-9, 10-12′), and southern highbush hybrids (Vaccinium corymbosum x V. darrowii x V. ashei hybrids, Zones 7-10, 6′). In the Southwest and California, try rabbiteyes such as ‘Bluebelle’, ‘Southland’, and ‘Tifblue’. In Northwest California and the American South, where there’s higher rainfall, try the southern highbush varieties ‘Jubilee’, ‘Misty’, ‘O’Neal’, and ‘Southmoon’.

While many cultivated blueberries are self-fertile, pollination and yields are increased by growing different varieties with the same bloom times. Blueberries are pollinated by native bees and honeybees, so it also pays to plant extra spring-blooming bee plants to increase pollinator density at blueberry flowering time.

Siting Blueberries

Like rhododendrons and azaleas, blueberries are ericaceous plants that originate from woodland environments with well-drained, acid (pH 4.0 to 5.0), sandy loam with a shallow layer of organic matter, called the “duff layer”, which lies just below the tree litter. This is why they grow best with some shade and have wide, shallow root systems that favor low pH soils. Even if you get a blueberry stipulated for warmer climates, they still require this universal soil condition.

This makes blueberries the perfect edible plant for those properties with good soil drainage and high tree canopies. While most other edibles need direct sun, blueberries do exceptionally well under tall shade trees that provide substantial filtered light and morning sun exposure.

Choose an upland site with low soil moisture and good drainage—sandy to average loam soils are best. If the soil quality is not suitable, be it too alkaline or too rich in clay, be prepared to amend your soil.

Cultivating Blueberries

Peat moss is the best source of organic matter for acid-loving plants like blueberries. Dig a hole three times as wide as it is deep and mix the native soil with 50% Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss. Then add a high-acid fertilizer contain ammonium sulfate or sulfur-coated urea (apply using package recommendations) and backfill. Finish by adding a 3″ mulching layer of Black Gold Garden Compost Blend to help keep root zones cool and moist. Providing an organic-rich, fertile layer of acid soil around the new plant stimulates rapid lateral root growth and helps protect against periodic heat and drought.

Blueberries also grow well in large patio containers filled with OMRI Listed® Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Soil, which is approved for organic gardening and ideal for keeping roots from drying out in the summer months without using excess water.

Because blueberries fruit on newer stems, refrain from pruning them in the first couple of years to help them become better established. [Click here to learn how to prune established blueberry bushes.] In fact, it is best to strip off the first-year flowers and blueberries to help plants invest all their early growth towards sturdy roots and stems.

Blueberries are long-lived shrubs that will bring yields to your landscape for years to come. They will also allow you and your family to enjoy the bounty of home-grown organic fruit in just about any landscape or garden.

Heirloom Vegetable Power: Why Old Seed is New Again

A diverse collection of dried heirloom beans.

Every seed has a story. When it comes to heirloom vegetable seeds, those with great stories have been nurtured for hundreds and thousands of years by diverse peoples worldwide. Many heirlooms have been lost in time, but some have been preserved, bringing with them wonderful traits that tell us something about the people who grew them and the environments where they were grown.

For millennia, farmers across the globe developed their own local crop varieties—selecting for flavor, production, and resilience. These became the foundation of modern breeding, but many old varieties were lost when modern breeding took hold. Thankfully, some old crops cultivated in harsh climates using ancient agricultural methods have remained in continuous cultivation. These are being collected and assessed for their adaptability to a changing climate. The potential for increased genetic adaptability of these ancient crops may help future farmers (and gardeners).

Native American Heirlooms

In the Southwest, for example, the selection of agricultural varieties was done by many Pueblo tribes who farmed the desert in innovative ways. Waffle gardens and the Three Sisters methods of planting were both used. Corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers were the favored crops, but others were also grown. The seed strains chosen were selected over thousands of years to become the original diet of the tribes.

After losing many indigenous heirloom seeds over the 20th century, Native Seed/Search, was formed. This nonprofit organization in Tucson, Arizona is dedicated to preserving desert vegetable varieties. Not only do they sell the seeds abroad, but they also make them available to local tribes for their farms and gardens. This keeps crops in perpetual cultivation and helps local tribespeople maintain healthy diets and combat diabetes. Groups like Native Seed/Search protect heirloom strains and their ancient genetics for the future. By purchasing and saving these, gardeners also help maintain them for future generations.

Heirloom Seed Sources

Other heirloom seed sources offer crops from across the globe, but gardeners in the arid or hot regions should opt for those collected from places with significant heat and drought. Israeli growers have many named varieties developed for their dry climate. Similarly, many heirloom tomatoes made it out of Iraq early on and are offered by seed catalogs. Italian varieties and Greek heirlooms are also heated loving and easy to find. With a little geography, you can match origins to your local conditions to create the perfect marriage of adaptability to flavor and yield. Just be sure to check when choosing an heirloom variety from your favorite seed catalog.

Seed Saving Workshops 1 — Native Seed/SEARCH works with local tribes to rekindle their heritage strains and agriculture.

The slow perusal of seed catalogs as the snow flies is a time-honored gardener’s ritual of winter. Though you must await delivery, studying heavily illustrated seed catalogs in January and February allows you to make your list leisurely, then order online. Keep in mind that not all seed is an heirloom, so check before ordering. In addition to Native Seed/Search, we recommend Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Heirloom Seeds, Seeds of Italy, Seed Savers Exchange, and Victory Seeds as reliable heirloom seed sources. Those needing seed in a pinch might also find racks of heirlooms and boutique seed at garden centers.

Be sure to wash and sterilize last year’s pots before reusing, or just buy peat pots.

Heirlooms are open-pollinated and true to the parent. This means the seed is non-hybridized, field-collected, and will yield plants that are genetically similar to the parent plants. It also means that you can save your own heirloom seed. Think of each packet you buy as the start of a long, and hopefully fruitful relationship. After you grow it the first year, save the seed to plant next year. Over time, a gardener can grow lots of different heirlooms and accumulate a nice seed collection of old standbys and new discoveries with each spring garden. (Check out our heirloom tomato seed-saving video to learn an easy technique to harvest your own seed for the future. There are also seed-saving workshops and other resources at Seed Savers Exchange.)

Potting Heirloom Seeds

Once you place your seed order, the next step is to start saving salad boxes for sprouting seeds. They hold in moisture helping your heirlooms to sprout safe and sound in protected conditions. You’ll need a bag of Black Gold Seedling Mix to fill the boxes! (Click here for my full step-by-step guide to seed starting.)

Next, organize your small pots from last year to hold the little sprouts after they transplant from the seed box. Wash the pots well, then dip them in a 10% bleach solution and air dry. If you don’t save pots, newly purchased seedling flats do nicely as do small peat pots. (Just remember to peel the peat off when planting peat pots because it can impede the speed of root growth into natural soil.) When transplanting in the ground, supplement the planting area with OMRI Listed Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Mix to help your seedlings develop large root systems fast.

Whether a great heirloom vegetable was cultivated a state away or on the other side of the world, growing and saving heirloom vegetables brings all of humanity together. By growing and saving your own heirloom seeds, you carry on a time-honored tradition and become a link in the chain of sustainability.

Growing California Christmasberry

Large sprays of bright red berry-like fruits mature in time for holiday decorating.

In my old High Sierra home, I decorated with my own native Christmasberry (Heteromeles arbutifolia, USDA Zone 8) fruit every winter for nearly 20 years. Also called California toyon, this shrub produces large sprays of bright red fruits that are so seasonally welcome, I wondered why it was not more popular in landscaping.

Christmasberry makes a fine alternative to Asian Frasier’s photinia (Photinia fraseri), non-native hollies (Ilex spp.), and other exotic evergreens. Deep, emerald-green foliage makes the red fruits really stand out in the winter garden while providing bird habitat all year long. In the High Sierras, the wild evergreens remained unchanged from the end of late-spring rains to December, when the rains returned. That’s a minimum of seven months with no supplemental water!

Potted Christmasberry

Like so many California native shrubs, Christmasberry is difficult to grow commercially in pots because of its deep, wide-spreading root system — the key to its amazing drought resistance. Natives with large root systems rapidly outgrow nursery pots by the end of the first year, when grown from seed. If not transplanted into a deeper pot, the roots will hit the pot bottom and grow sideways.

Distorted tap and feeder roots will keep a growing shrub from achieving proper root depth once planted in the ground. This is why Christmasberry, and comparable native trees and shrubs, are uncommon in garden centers. So many have disproportionate top-to-root growth. A tiny seedling may have a three-foot-deep root system that refuses to adapt to container culture. This was such a problem with California native oaks, that growers finally gave up on trying to pot them and planted acorns instead.

Purchase the smallest, youngest potted plants, if you can find Heteromeles arbutifolia for sale locally. A big plant in a small pot won’t adapt well to drought.

Growing Christmasberry from Seed

Sowing Christmasberry plants from gathered seed is an even better option. Home-grown shrubs can quickly be planted outdoors, allowing the tiny seedlings to freely root into the soil and adapt to local rainfall limitations.

First gather mature, red fruits and clean each one to release the two seeds inside. In my High Sierra home, robins came each year to feed on the fruits, excreting clean, ready-to-germinate seed on my land. To simulate this same scenario at home, separate the seed cleanly from the fruit and allow the seed to dry. This seed will remain viable for only about 8 months.

Sow the dry seed in winter to get them started, just like wild seed with the spring rains. Choose a light, natural garden soil, such as Black Gold Seedling Mix. Start by filling a plastic lidded salad or fruit box with the fresh mix, and set the seed into the moist media, but don’t cover it. Keep the seeds lightly moist and at room temperature, and they should sprout in about a week. Transplant newly sprouted seedlings into deep pots of Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Mix. Place them under bright light until they reach 1-inch in height, usually within six weeks. Transplant into the landscape once the soil can be worked to ensure healthy root growth and easy planting. Spring planted seedlings should be deeply watered once or twice, then let them grow on rainfall unless conditions are unseasonably arid.

Planting Christmasberry

In the wild, Christmasberry typically grows on rocky slopes with dry, well-drained soils that are sometimes a bit saline. Keep this in mind when selecting a location to plant or sow your shrubs. As long as the roots are free to grow deeply, they will out-perform thirsty hollies and other exotic holiday berries without asking for much, if any, supplemental water.

Mature shrubs are bushy, somewhat shade tolerant, and typically reach 6-10 feet or more. In early summer clusters of white flowers are produced. These are transformed into red, berry-like fruits that persist into winter. Established plants can live up to 200 years.

This relatively young hedge shows how fast Christmasberry produces a drought-resistant screen with high wildlife value.

Other natural, shrubby companions found with Christmasberry are California lilac (Ceanothus spp.), manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), western redbud (Cercis occidentalis), and fremontia (Fremontodendron spp.), all of which grew on or near my old property. This is the essential palette of native California shrubs or small trees that promise beauty in drought.

There is no better recommendation for a species to withstand the perpetual “shake, bake, and irrigate” of the West Coast. Christmasberry survives fire and holds slopes against mudslides, according to Lester Rowntree in her classic 1947 book, Flowering Shrubs of California. Lester wrote: “I have seen acres of toyon [Christmasberry], in solid formation, come back after fire from the roots of old bushes, ringing the bases of burned 18-foot stems, standing black and dead, with the bright rich green of new growth.”

Planting a Barrel Cactus Safely

The ferocious spines of the golden barrel cactus make them very difficult to pot. (Image by Jessie Keith)

The golden barrel (Echinocactus grusonii) is America’s favorite cactus. All over the Southwest, it has become a coveted living ornament in landscapes. When backlit by the sun, the bright canary-yellow spines literally glow, creating high drama against blue agaves and succulents. A big yellow cactus potted on porch or patio becomes the quintessential year-round focal point that never loses its warm color.

Large golden barrel specimens and other large barrel cacti thrive in big, strong pots if they are planted properly. What folks don’t know is that they are darned difficult to handle, and painful, too. The challenge is transplanting the stemless ball of wickedly sharp spines. The combined soil and plant weight makes golden barrel unwieldy to carry, which complicates matters further. Here’s how to do it safely without damage to you or the plant.

Protect Yourself

To start, you’ll need long, thick, solid-leather gloves, because picking up pots of golden barrels is a wrist and knuckle nightmare for bare skin. Loosely wrap the cactus in a piece of carpeting, or find a cardboard box that fits over the spines tight enough to “catch”. The box is a bit better because it lets you turn the cactus upside down to stand while you carefully remove the pot. This exposes the root ball and facilitates preparation for transplanting.

When inspecting the root ball, look to see if your large cactus has been field grown and recently potted up. Field-grown cacti are cultivated on slopes that provide rapid drainage. They are dug and potted up in nursery soils that typically drain more slowly and are less suited to cacti longevity because they’re viewed as temporary. To protect your investment, inspect the bottom of the plant and remove any organic matter that may provide excess moisture. Then you will want to prepare your container for planting.

Planting Barrel Cacti

bare root — Newly dug from the grower’s field, the shallow, wide roots of the golden barrel are exposed temporarily until transplanted.

Your decorative pot must be wide enough to contain the cactus and have at least 1 inch or more free space on all sides to allow for new growth, watering space, and surface evaporation. Use a concave pottery shard to dome over the drain hole to prevent erosion. Then open a fresh bag of Black Gold Cactus Mix, a fast-draining medium containing a blend of perlite/pumice or cinders, earthworm castings, and compost. It encourages vigorous growth while ensuring ample aeration and drainage.

Use dry potting soil right out of the bag when potting up your golden barrel cactus. Place a layer of soil at the base of the pot, then set the top of the cactus root ball about 1-2 inches below the pot’s edge, and hold it there while you pour in the mix around the sides. Allow the mix to filter down and lightly pack it to create a porous yet solid base.

Do not water the cactus directly after planting, and put it in a partially shaded location. Wait a couple of days before watering, so any injuries to roots during the planting process have had time to heal themselves. Then water in thoroughly. Add more potting soil where settling or pockets occur.

For more visual interest, try adding a surface layer of gravel, glazed tile shards, or tumbled glass. Place in full sun.

Finally, try raising the bottom of the pot up with broken tile shards to create a gap between the drain hole and saucer. This facilitates rapid drainage to create the perfect conditions for cacti and succulents. It also protects decks and paving from what can become a very heavy, beautiful and ferocious plant in your garden.

Rehab Raised Beds Inside and Out

Raised-bed hoops and row covers can help you protect crops from harsh growing conditions and winter cold.

Second gardens are always better than first gardens. When those first gardens were your raised beds, then maybe it’s time to raise the bar. Bigger, better, and more prolific are garden characteristics that all gardeners want, so perhaps it’s time to rehab and expand in preparation for next year’s summer garden.

So many raised beds were at first experimental or created with the kids as a family project without long-term planning and smart design. That’s why they often don’t last as long as they should. Earth-to-wood contact (something forbidden in house building) introduces wood rot and invites pests, such as termites. You need to know what you are doing to get more life from your raised bed.

Choosing the Best Raised Bed Building Materials

layers — Redwood ties are naturally rot resistant and great for raised bed building.

Early on, wooden railroad tie beds [read more about railroad tie beds] became popular and kept the rot problem at bay, but ties are made from heavily treated wood. They contain dangerous heavy metals and creosote, which can leach into the soil and be taken up by edible plants. Pressure treated wood has the same problem. It is treated with fungicides and other compounds to reduce rot that can leach into the soil.

Untreated woods are not all the same. Many break down fast, resulting in short-lived raised beds. If you want long-lasting beds, avoid soft or rustic reclaimed woods certain to rot quickly. Instead, choose long-lasting red cedar or redwood. Both decompose slowly and are the most recommended for beautiful frames that resist rot. Trex, and other polymer/wood alternatives, also last forever and look great. All of the rot-resistant options are initially more expensive but worth it if you plan to garden for years.

Rehabbing Your Raised Bed

coir — Just Coir creates a good organic base layer for raised bed gardens.

If you already have raised beds made with fast-to-decompose wood, you may already be experiencing the unfortunate and very common results. They are rotting, bowing, or breaking open at the seams due to decomposing edges weakened by the weight of soil, plants, and mulch. This means it is either time to rebuild or refurbish the frames.

Moreover, if you have had your beds for a while, the soil will be low and in need of replacement. Like all garden beds, soil volume falls as microbes consume the fine humus, and nutrients are depleted by garden plants. Poor garden soil will produce poor garden plants.

Fall is the best time to replenish raised bed soil and fix repairs. Take advantage of the fabulous fall weather to replace all rotting or bowing boards or edges, and revive sad, tired soil. Here’s the five-step process in a nutshell:

Remove existing soil, if it’s degraded to mostly woody matter and perlite. Stockpile the old soil material for future use as summer mulch, or layer it into the compost heap.
Inspect the newly exposed sidewalls by stabbing questionable spots with a screwdriver. If the metal penetrates the wood, then there’s rot, and they need to be replaced. Also, check and reinforce loose corners.
Make repairs to sidewalls using Trex or long-lasting, untreated wood boards. Consider adding more height if you would like to grow plants with deeper root systems. Not only should you use strong, quality wood, but investing in heavy hardware will add to the longevity of your beds. Choose heavy wood screws tightened with an electric screwdriver to keep beds from loosening with the seasonal shrink and swell of the wood.
Replace the soil in stages. Black Gold Just Coir creates a 100% organic matter barrier that holds water and repels root-knot nematodes. The heart of the raised bed should contain a rich mix of local topsoil amended with Black Gold Garden Compost Blend and a soilless potting mix, such as Black Gold Natural and Organic Potting Soil. The combination depends on the quality of your local soil; great topsoil requires fewer amendments. In general, an even mix of 2 parts topsoil to 1 part compost and 1 part soilless potting mix will yield great results. If drought is a problem in your area, adding a mulching layer of Black Gold Just Coir or Garden Compost Blend will reduce surface water loss.
Add an all-purpose fertilizer, at the manufacturer’s prescribed application, to help drive explosive growth.

Irrigate and Sow

Gently water your raised beds to allow them to settle and marry over the winter months. If you don’t already have it, drip irrigation is highly recommended for effortless raised bed gardening. Try soaker hoses or buried underground inline drip tubing that invisibly waters your garden without ugly surface tubes and emitters. If you want to expand next year, put in a new bed close to the old one and share the irrigation.

While watering your rehabbed raised beds, throw in some seeds for beets, radishes, turnips, and other root crops that germinate at temps down to 40 degrees F. The addition of row covers will protect cool-season crops well into winter. Harvest the leaves, eat the sweet roots, and enjoy long winter yields as your refreshed raised beds do all of the work for you.

Late-Summer Vegetables to Grow From Seed Sowing

Late-summer and fall vegetables grown from seed.

It’s absolutely counterintuitive to plant anything in August or September, but intuition is not always right. Go against your instincts, and sow cool-season seeds right now. Do it soon, and you’ll get your fall and winter garden started just in time.

Starting Fall Vegetables

If you’re a beginner and have never grown food outside the strict summer garden, now is your chance to give it a try. Sowing now takes advantage of the natural transition toward ever shortening day length and cooler temperatures. In the hot Southwest, frost holds off until later in the season, so a fall garden can often feed a family deep into the winter.

Drip irrigation is a great way to keep seedlings well watered.

Though the summer food plants are in decline, many are still producing. Once a plant stops or dies, take it out promptly, and start sowing leaf and root crops like kale, carrots, beets, and chard. All of them can be sown directly into garden soil in late summer when it is warm enough to stimulate germination. The transition will be more gradual than spring planting because soil is prepared incrementally as space is freed up by plant removal. For example, after an aged squash dies back or mildews, simply take it out and sow cool-season seeds in its place.

BG_EARTHWORM_8QT-FRONT — Earthworm Castings are high in nitrogen and great for feeding fall greens.

Sowing Fall Seeds

Every time you take out a dying summer plant, prep the soil before sowing because that soil has consumed much of its spring fertilizer and amendments. Lots of rich humus is needed to drive leaf- and stem-producing edibles. This requires amending the area to about six inches deep with a claw or fork to open the ground, then generously working in Black Gold Garden Compost. Don’t compact the soil, leave it fluffy so the seeds settle down into the moisture-retentive humus. Lightly cover seed with compost or sprinkle Black Gold Earthworm Castings on top of freshly sown seeds to introduce fresh microbes and micronutrients. (Fall seedlings can also be started indoors. Click here to learn how.)

The biggest challenge in getting the fall garden started is keeping the seedbeds adequately moist. An old method uses burlap laid right over the sown seedbed and pegged down on the corners. Water is applied right through the burlap which prevents dislodging the soil particles and acts like a mulch to keep the seed bed from drying out in the sun. Burlap is moved only after the little green shoots appear. A heat wave at this stage may require little burlap shade structures to shelter the seedlings until they harden off to direct sun. Drip irrigation is a great way to keep plants well irrigated once seedlings have popped up from the ground and the burlap is removed.

Choose Leafy Greens

Don’t overlook the ability to sow cool-season leafy vegetable seeds everywhere you can. Sow beets in the window boxes, colorful Bright Lights chard on the patio, but make sure you leave plenty of room for Dinosaur, or ‘Lacinato’, kale. This big burly kale from Italy takes more heat

and cold than any other. Though rather bold looking, it’s great eating because the best-tasting leaves are the old ones!

Cut-and-come-again lettuce is the perfect cool-season crop for fall and winter gardens.

Keep in mind that nitrogen is important to any plant that produces an edible stem or leaf. Puny growth is often due to nitrogen depletion. Slow growth may not happen all at once, but you may see a reduction in plant size by late fall or early winter. Concentrated liquid fish fertilizer is the best organic nitrogen source for the long fall and winter growing season in the West.

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