Winter Color for the Gray, Wet Days Ahead

The weather forecasters have been teasing us for a couple of weeks lately, predicting the “chance of rain”. So far…not much. However, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a wet Thanksgiving. The publication, which bases its weather predictions partly on sunspot activity, says the November rainfall will be about three inches above our normal amount of two and a half inches. Overall, however, they are calling for a below-average amount of rainfall for the fall and winter months.

Predictions aside, the persistent Central Valley fog with daytime temperatures hovering in the 40’s is a regular winter visitor to our area. Now's the time to perk up your yard with colorful, easy-to-grow, cool season annuals for these cold, gray months ahead. All of these choices are available now at area nurseries:

Snaps, Iceland Poppies, white alyssum

• Snapdragons. One of the best cold weather bloomers for sunny areas. Available with yellow, red, pink, or white flowers. A good choice for use as cut flowers. Come in sizes ranging from six inches to 36 inches tall.

• Iceland poppy. These delicate looking flowers can withstand our harsh fall and winter winds. Iceland poppies get one to two feet high with flowers available in yellow, white, orange, salmon, pink, and cream colors. Needs lots of sun for best bloom.

Too Pretty to Whack

• Alyssum. This ground cover, which is in bloom nearly year-round, is an easy-to-grow perennial. Give it full sun or light shade, along with moderate water during dry spells. It can self-sow in adjacent areas without asking permission. It also thrives in poor, rocky areas (witness the alyssum that pops up on its own in the sand joints of our brick walkways).

Calendula

• Calendulas. Sometimes called the pot marigold, calendulas need lots of sun for their big, two to four inch blooms. Flower colors available include yellow or orange. Calendula plants get from one to two feet high, and make good cut flowers.

• Stock. This fragrant winter annual comes in a wide array of colors including yellow, orange, red, pink, blue, purple, and white. A good flower for cutting. Varieties range from 12 to 30 inches high. Plant in full sun to part shade.

Pansies

• Violas. A large family that includes pansies and Johnny jump-ups. These do well in shady areas and grow six to eight inches high. Available in a multitude of colors, many violas will self-sow year after year.

• Cyclamen. Technically a tuberous-rooted perennial, florists' cyclamen produces star-shaped, red, white, or pink flowers above deep green leaves during the winter. The plant dies back in warm weather, but resprouts each fall. Best in shady areas. Great in pots, in combination with summer bloomers such as impatiens or tuberous begonias.

• Primroses. A perennial in milder climates, best treated as an annual here. The fairy or baby primrose and polyanthus primrose are proven performers for shady areas in the Valley. Primroses produce flowers on 12-inch stems in many hues, including white, pink, rose, red, and lavender.

• Ornamental kale. As pretty as it is tasty, kale resembles a brightly colored head of cabbage. But it is the green leaves of kale that have the sweet, nut-like flavor. Give them full to part sun as well as regular water.

Tis' the Season for Cool Season vs. Warm Season Plants

Marigolds and Pansies, Together, in Winter

It's a nice, sunny Saturday in February or March. You decide to do a little shopping, perhaps picking something up for the garden. Off you go to the big box store, the local nursery or (gulp!) the local drugstore or supermarket (which, you may have noticed lately, has that alluring display of colorful annuals and vegetables outside the front door).

You got everything together so you can get out of the driveway...keys, credit, cash, a coffee. Um, wait a minute, before you leave the house...

Do you have any frickin' idea what you are going to buy? No?

You, then, will be crowned "Garden Customer of the Day" wherever you shop. That's because you'll be impulse buying, spending more money on plants that may or may not be right for you and your yard.

But this rant isn't about your shopaholic ways. Another day for that (hint: survey the yard for your needs; make a list or garden plan; stick to it).

No, this rant is about something every gardener should carry in their car and grab it when they walk into a nursery section: a good plant reference book.

Here in California, it's hard to beat the Sunset Western Garden Book for that purpose.

Updating your old Sunset Western Garden Book? Fine. Put the old one in the car trunk.

Elsewhere in the country, good references include the Southern Living Garden Book.

Also, look for the Northeastern Garden Book (a great reference for gardeners at higher elevations in California) or the National Garden Book (if you can still find it!).

Why approach a place of business that's selling plants with such a reference book? Those plants may be there either a) too late in the season; b) too early in the season; or, c) mixed together so that you can't tell whether they are cool season or warm season annuals.

Late Winter-Early Spring Culprit #1:
The Mixed Bag O' Plants Display

Summer vs. Winter: Marigolds next to Violas

An eye-catching rack of annuals and vegetables outside the front door of supermarkets and drugstores.
Here in California, buying cool season annuals - flowers that will disappear with the heat of mid to late spring - is not a bad idea in February or March...if you are planning an outdoor event in April through mid-May. Those cool season annuals will be outstanding at that time. 

Summer annuals, on the other hand, will be just starting their growth spurt. But if you are looking for color that will last all summer - and you live in a hot summer area - choose warm season annuals for color from April through October.

Recipe for Plant Death: Cucumbers in February

Culprit #2: 
"Too Soon!" Vegetables.

February and March is still too iffy to be planting many warm season annuals (flowers and vegetables) outdoors in Northern California. Soil temperatures - and warmer weather - will arrive in mid-April. Cucumbers, beans, eggplant, melons, peppers, pumpkin and other squash need soil temperatures of at least 60 degrees. In February and March, soil temps are still in the 40's and 50's in most areas of Northern California. Here's a link to a previous post containing the soil temperature requirements for various vegetable seeds.

Bougainvillea

Culprit #3: 
Alluring beauties that have just arrived from the Tropics. 
This bougainvillea was shaking its hips outside a local grocery store. In early March. Literally, shaking. It was a 40 degree day with 40 mph winds. Subjecting a greenhouse-grown plant to harsh, outdoor conditions suddenly can induce dormancy and stress, attracting a wide variety of insects and disease. Bougainvilleas can live year after year in the mild climates of the Bay Area or coastal Southern California. Here in Sacramento, where winter temperatures regularly drop to freezing many mornings, that bougainvillea is best treated as a summer annual. Which is a polite way of saying: it will die back in the winter. It might revive the following spring, or it might not. Depends on its location in the yard, preferring an area with reflected heat, such as against a south or west-facing wall. Again, wait until April before subjecting these tender plants to our outdoor world.

A good reference book while plant shopping can help you answer such questions as:

• Is the plant I am looking at REALLY that plant? (compare it to the plant description in the book).

• When is the best growing season for this plant?

• Do I really want this particular variety of plant? (For example, a Beefmaster tomato can offer up large slicing tomatoes all summer; a Roma tomato, though, tends to set smaller fruit all at once which makes it ideal for canning purposes)

• Do I have the right spot in my yard for this plant: Does it require sun or shade? Quick draining soil? Lots of water or little water? Acid soil? Are any of its parts poisonous?

I realize that "sticking to a garden plan" is, well...challenging, especially when you meet up with a comely beauty at a nursery or grocery store. Still, arming yourself with a good reference book while shopping might give you more incentive to drive home, alone.