Horticulture

A tree is a woody perennial plant with a single tall trunk and branches. Banana trees and tree ferns lack both branches and wood. Arboriform yuccas develop branches but are not woody. Palm trees are no better. Some develop a few trunks but without...

Spring is when most rodents are most active. Although they do not hibernate locally, they are a bit less active through winter.  Their activity increases with warming spring weather. Their progeny increases their population. Assorted fresh vegetation that sustains them is most abundant. Their activity...

This is extreme dormant pruning. Pollard and coppice pruning involve complete removal of all new growth. They typically involve growth from a previous season annually. A two-year cycle involves growth from two previous seasons, and so on. This repetitive pruning to the same origins...

Within the outdoor rooms of home gardens, shade trees are ceilings, shrubs and hedges are walls, and turf and ground cover plants are floors. That is why the selection of plants for such purposes is as important as the selection of paint and carpet...

Saturation of the soil should be a rare problem within the local chaparral climates. Water is a limited resource. That is why plants that are not native or endemic to other chaparral or desert climates rely on supplemental irrigation. Many exotic species would not...

Winter is bare root season, which is the best time for installation of deciduous fruit trees. It is also the best time for dormant pruning of deciduous fruit trees. Evergreen fruit trees do not get much attention. Installation and any pruning of evergreen fruit...

Some of the earliest of spring flowers are done blooming. More are just beginning. Then, a few early spring flowers barely qualify as early. Their fresh color is especially pleasing after such an atypically wintry winter. Many are delightful cut flowers. A few that...

In May, the Los Gatos Town Council decided it was going to use $2.9 million of the money Washington gave it to make it through the pandemic toward various capital projects. And on Tuesday, Los Gatos’ elected officials (minus Vice Mayor Maria Ristow, who was...

All cacti are succulents. However, not all succulents are cacti. Actually, cacti are a very unique family. Their distinctive spines and thorns are very specialized leaves and stems. Such specialized leaves can not photosynthesize without green chlorophyll. Therefore, cacti rely on their succulent green...

Indian Summer complicates autumn. It is an imposition of pleasant weather that delays inevitable chill. Gardening is a bit more enjoyable while the weather remains summery. However, late warmth confuses a few species that should decelerate growth for autumn. Deciduous species delay dormancy. This...