Champion Coastal Conifers

Winter is a great time to assess the bones of your garden. With all the deciduous plants bare and flowers removed or cut back, we can really see the structural evergreen plants.

Picea abies 'Pendula'

Evergreen plants fall mainly into two large categories: broadleaf and conifer. Technically "conifers" should indicate cone-bearing, but for our purposes we will simply consider those plants with needle-like foliage rather than leaves.

The gardener will find a wide variety of conifers available for successful landscape use on the Oregon coast. Do yourself a favor and start your search with a leisurely stroll (or hike) in one of our many public parks or open spaces, for the purpose of observation.  Many mistakes can be avoided, and great ideas discovered, when the gardener begins by observing successful plant communities. Which conifers prefer some shade? Which need shelter from wind? Which are especially resilient near the ocean, and which ones are snapped off in winter windstorms?

The primary coniferous trees on our stretch of the coast include Sitka Spruce, Shore Pine, Western Hemlock and Western Red Cedar. The spruces and pines are most tolerant of high wind, while the hemlock and cedar will thrive in shady and wetter conditions. All of these trees, in the right setting, are potentially very large (50' or more) specimens. The prudent gardener will plant and nurture them where they won't require extensive pruning to fit the space, and instead allow them to fulfill their potential.

Excellent examples of small landscape conifers can fill that next tier on the landscape hierarchy, the medium to tall shrub or small tree. Hollywood Junipers (Juniperus chinensis 'Torulosa') have become a favorite in the Lincoln City area, with high wind tolerance and a naturally "wind-sculpted" look, featuring deep green, non-prickly foliage (rare for a juniper). These fine plants also provide for wildlife, with dense clusters of juniper berries throughout fall and winter.

Picea abies 'Nidiformis' in foreground

The genus Picea (spruce) offers gardeners a vast array of landscape conifers, with some performing quite well on the coast.  Picea abies 'Nidiformis' or Bird's Nest Spruce offers a tidy, dense, dark-green foundation shrub that conforms to a roughly 3' square profile and rarely needs pruning. A focal-point can be achieved with Weeping Norway Spruce (Picea abies 'Pendula'), a medium-height (4-5') narrow shrub that gracefully drapes layers of cascading branches. It will tolerate some wind and only needs minimal pruning to keep from spreading too wide.

The coastal gardener should carefully site spruces that are adapted to inland conditions, like the Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens var. glauca). Between sandy soils, persistent north wind and sparse rainfall in late summer, these alpine trees can really struggle for moisture. They should be given some shelter from summer winds and provided regular water.

Conifers for groundcovers are a popular choice, with two of the most successful coming from the genus Juniperus. The Shore Juniper, Juniperus conferta, is native to Japan but thrives here. A popular variety in our local nurseries is 'Blue Pacific.' If you want quick cover on a large slope that's exposed to ocean winds, this blue-green beauty is the ticket. Be sure to provide good drainage-- sandy soils are ideal.

A more compact groundcover juniper is Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star.' This tidy, composed juniper sports grey-blue foliage and is slower growing than Shore Juniper. Blue Star juniper is an excellent specimen groundcover for landscapes with a bit more shelter from the ocean and very good drainage.

Conifers can also be utilized for color in the landscape during what is an admittedly bleak season. A fine example of this is Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans' or Japanese Plume Cedar. While the species tree in its native range is a towering timber tree much like our own cedars, 'Elegans' is a shrub to small tree, and on the coast it tends to grow more slowly, ranging from low shrub to 6-8' tall tree. The outstanding feature is the soft, ferny (hence the name Plume) foliage that in winter turns bronzy for nice contrast. New growth is a soft bright green, then darkens and turns with the onset of cold weather. A bonus: the needles never drop.

Another fine conifer for the role of small-colorful-shrub is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea' or Golden Threadleaf Falsecypress. This soft-textured weeping shrub (to 3-4') holds its golden foliage year-round, providing highlights in the mostly dark winter landscape and nicely contrasting against blue conifers.

A fine reference book for northwest trees including many of these conifers, is Arthur Lee Jacobsen's classic North American Landscape Trees. For specific information on landscape conifers including great photography and design guidelines, see Adrian Bloom's Gardening with Conifers.

Winter Vegetable Gardening on the Coast

There are those of us who just can't give up the taste of fresh produce from the garden.  Nevermind the December storms, pouring rain, gale-force winds... we have to get our fix.

By now nearly all of my outside raised beds in the garden have been put to rest with cover crop and a blanket of straw.  Perennial herbs and pathways are newly dressed with wood-chip mulch, and tender hanging baskets have been brought inside.  Still, there are opportunities for winter vegetables with a little extra effort.

The enchanted Swiss chard forest in December

Normally this time of year I would still have large kale plants, which after frost come into their glory with sweetness.  Unfortunately this year the kale patch had to be rotated at just the wrong time due to poor planning and I didn't manage to get the winter crop started on time.  Other brassicas fared better, with my broccoli and cauliflower just finishing a few weeks ago (late November).

A star of the garden this past year has been 'Bright Lights' chard, with another bumper crop this year, and quite a few of the volunteer seedlings carefully transplanted to the front and side yards for use in the "edible landscape."  If you want to add edibles to your manicured front yard, this selection is outstanding for color, structure and it holds throughout the year.  When it finally bolts to seed there is a spectacular tall (over 5') spike that rises and produces thousands of seeds... so cut that and lay it down where you want a new patch.

Garlic has been planted for next season, and the herbs all neatly trimmed with a final harvest in late fall going to the drying shed.  There are still a few late artichokes on my established plants, and the foliage adds a striking evergreen texture to the front yard landscape.

The tomato house - center lid left in place

Access to the tomato house via end panel

Finally I wanted to share some options for off-season cold frames.  Nearly every ambitious vegetable gardener will know already about season-extension by the use of these adaptable little structures, merely a rectangular frame with some sort of removable glazing for the top. They are useful in starting early or keeping late many marginal crops like baby lettuces or Asian greens, and critical for transitioning plants that were started inside in the spring.

Small cold frame by peach tree - doing temporary duty storing straw

We have identified a few sunny spots in our tight city landscape where we custom-built frames from reclaimed materials, and another is used in the garden for growing tomatoes.  You will note from the pictures the variety of design, depending on how it's used.

Gull-wing cold frame - designed to fit SW facing nook

Important on the coast is to provide a way to secure the lid for high winds.  The last thing you want is an airborne lid crashing through your neighbor's window... or some other tragedy.  Also be sure to create a sloped lid on your frame, so that more light enters from the south.  Remember the sun is at a very low angle at our 45-degrees-north latitude in winter; a box with equal sides will create too much shade inside for your plants.  If you create a very tall frame like our tomato-house, be sure there is access on the sides for planting, harvesting, etc.  It will be impossible to manage just from the top.

Detail of lid construction - note angled top edge

Additional resources - great books I use on this topic include Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest and Gardening Under Cover: A Northwest Guide to Solar Greenhouses, Cold Frames, and Cloches

Coastal Landscape Planning: Hedges

Japanese holly hedge, neatly sheared

We might all dream of a place in the country with acres to spare between our house and the neighbor's... but the reality is that most of us live within view of each other.  Hence, hedges.

As a coastal landscape gardener and designer, a good share of my time is spent maintaining --and subsequently thinking about-- hedges. The usual motivation for planting a hedge is quite frankly, to shield one's eyes from the fellow next door and his laundry on the line.  Or perhaps to create a nice backdrop for colorful blooming plants.  They can also define the edges of adjacent spaces, creating outdoor "rooms."

Whatever the reason, choosing a hedge material is one of the more important landscape decisions.  First, planting a hedge can be a large investment, depending on the length and how large (instant) the plants are you want to purchase.  Some hedge plants are available from 1 gallon container size all the way up to 6' tall.

Some species are certainly cheaper than others, due to their popularity and subsequent supply by nurseries, but please don't let that be your guide.  The bigger investment will be in maintaining your hedge for years to come.  If the plant you choose is needy, requiring multiple shearing sessions per year, or poorly suited for the coast and needs babying... your "bargain" purchase at the big-box store may be anything but.

Based on my experience working in landscapes throughout Lincoln City, Depoe Bay and surrounding areas, here are my picks for coastal evergreen hedges.  Evergreen is usually preferred for year-round screening.

Wax myrtle at far left

Tall Hedges (5' tall or more, depends on variety)
Ceanothus impressus 'Victoria' - shiny evergreen leaves, profuse early summer bloomer, bee magnet.  Be sure you get the right kind, some are low groundcovers.  Ceanothus thrives on neglect, don't overwater.

Myrica californica or Pacific Wax Myrtle - great native, best where it can be unsheared but will take it, very attractive larger foliage than most hedge plants and birds like the fall berries.

Escallonia - most varieties, 'Pink Princess' common, 'Newport Dwarf' smaller.  Get ready to cut hedges, these plants grow like crazy on the coast and need frequent shearing annually.  Will outperform all others on the oceanfront.

Viburnum tinus in bloom

Viburnum - for example, V. tinus 'Spring Bouquet'.  Probably not ideal for oceanfront but highly adaptable.  Look for a future post on this vast genus.  Should be chosen for an unsheared hedge to highlight flowers and shape.

Rhododendron - often used as a very large, unsheared (please!) hedge where there is plenty of width for the plants to grow.  So many to choose from, and they grow magnificently on the central coast.

Low Hedges (4' or less usually, good for defining edges or hiding unsightly structures)

Hebe - another large collection to choose from, a favorite is 'Patty's Purple' on the coast.  Highly tolerant of coastal wind and drought, some with lovely blooms.  H. buxifolia is a good choice to stand-in for boxwood.

Salal - a champion native in our area, salal can vary from a groundcover to a medium hedge depending on its location and method of pruning.  Almost no work, tolerant of most locations on the coast.  Sun or shade.

Ilex crenata or Japanese Holly - another good stand-in for boxwood that is much more tolerant of coastal conditions.  Can vary from low hedge with gold foliage to tall highly sheared and shaped hedge.

Vaccinium ovatum or Evergreen Huckleberry - another great native with the bonus of wonderful fruit.  Lightly shaping this plant instead of hard shearing will deliver more fruit.  Takes well to most conditions, taller in shade, needs a little shelter from the oceanfront winds.

Final cautions:  Popular hedge plants include arborvitae, laurel and boxwood in the Willamette Valley.  They are cheap, available, and familiar.  I don't generally recommend them here, at least not within a half-mile of the sea.  Arborvitae tends to get "burned" on the ocean side, and soon becomes unsightly.  Boxwood does the same and tends to hold onto that hideous orange-leaf color on the coast,  instead of greening up in spring.  Laurel grows fine... but maybe too fine?  If you know how fast it gets out of control inland, imagine what it does here in our mild climate.  Use only if you have an estate-sized property and room for a giant green wall.

An Unlikely Holiday Tree

Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, many of us will set about with holiday lights in hand. One tree that thrives on the central coast of Oregon decorates itself-- Arbutus unedo or Strawberry Tree.

The common name misleads, causing the gardener to imagine a late-spring or summer harvest of the red fruits.  Happily, the fruits in question are actually borne on this tree in late fall and early winter.  While edible, they are a little mushy and don't taste like strawberries.  The fruits are about 3/4", deep red and textured with tiny seeds, but the resemblance ends there.  The fruits conjure tiny Christmas ball-ornaments, seemingly lit from within.  On the coast they appear in late October into November, previewing the season.

This remarkable evergreen tree is native to the Mediterranean coast, and possibly related to our native Pacific Madrone tree (Arbutus menziesii)-- hence the shared genus.  Like madrone, it sports reddish-brown bark that peels gracefully, and is clothed in glossy evergreen leaves.  The clusters of white flowers are typical of the family Ericaceae, to which the madrone also belongs, as well as blueberries, rhododendron and heather.  Like all these family members, the Strawberry Tree appreciates our mild climate and acidic soils.   Set back just a block or two from coastal beachfront, it tolerates the wind and rain just fine.

Arbutus unedo can reach 15' tall.

The Strawberry Tree can be planted and maintained as a striking singular focal point, pruned to expose and highlight the bark and fruit in season.  However on the coast this dense evergreen is sometimes allowed to spread and sheared into a hedge, similar in texture to Pacific Wax Myrtle.  As the fruit takes almost the full year to develop from the flower stage, it will be removed if the timing of pruning is too late or frequent.  For the best fruit display, it should be sheared or pruned immediately after the last crop is gone.

Arbutus flowers in November

If you are visiting Lincoln City, a good example of this tree in several forms can be found on a single public landscape, the post office on East Devils Lake Road (across from the Tanger Outlet Mall).  Walk around to the side of this corner lot and up a set of stairs, and there at the top you will see a very large (15'+) specimen. Continue further toward the building to see several that have been sheared into "green meatballs" for an example of this plant's use as a hedging material.  You will note that no fruit remains due to shearing.  Back down to the sidewalk, walk north to the truck entrance and there is the nicest one of all, a neglected (unsheared) tree that has been allowed to form flowers and fruit, brilliant on my last visit in November.

Flowers and fruit borne simultaneously

Sheared into green meatballs

More fun facts on the history and uses of this wonderful tree can be found on the Oregon State University landscape department website, and many pictures to compare A. unedo and A. menziesii.

Coastal Cash Crop: Raspberries

Harvesting raspberries in late July

It has become quite popular of late to try growing your own food in the backyard (or front yard for that matter). However many home gardeners have limited space, so the question becomes:  which vegetables or fruits are going to give me the greatest return for the time and money spent?

My answer, if you live on the Oregon coast, is to try raspberries.  

One of the great joys of the garden is to pick fresh fruit in season, and raspberries have to be one of the most loved.  Living in western Oregon, we are fortunate that our climate is just right for nurturing these wonderful fruits, along with many other types of berries.  Mild winters, slightly acid soil that is high in organic matter, plentiful water but low rainfall during harvest season.  They are easy to plant and care for, and easier still to harvest.  The work is mostly in the preparation and planning, and your efforts will be repaid tenfold.

Red raspberries are classified as summer-bearing or fall-bearing, to keep it simple.  Start reading on berries and they will go into all kinds of detail on the types of canes and how they fruit.  For the beginner, start with a vigorous summer-bearing type and purchase disease-free stock from a nursery.  A bundle of bare root plants is a cheap investment, usually $10-15.  Each of these rooted sticks will multiply into several canes within the first year, and bear fruit the second.  

You need to find a sunny place for a permanent well-drained row, 10' or so to start.  Pick a spot with good sun exposure for most of the day and open air circulation, and if your soil stays wet at any time, build it up into a raised (12-18" high) row before planting.  At each end you need a sturdy post 6' tall, to which you can attach a foot long horizontal crossarm at the top.  Then a couple sets of wires, one at 2' high and the others attached to your crossarms.  Then once you plant the row of starts they will simply grow up inside the encircling wires.   (See the diagram in OSU publication below.)

Provide your raspberries with a good annual side-dressing of a rich compost-- don't pile against the canes-- sometime between late fall and late spring.  I like to clean out my chicken coop and make a row of the straw-based material along the side of the raspberry row, about one foot away, in late fall.  It slowly degrades over the winter and in spring the well-fed plants are ready to grow!  You could also use well-composted steer manure or mushroom compost.  An annual side-dressing of complete organic fertilizer in spring is helpful.

My simplified pruning approach is to cut out the old canes (that had fruit on them this year) in late summer, after all the fruit is done.  It's easiest at this stage to see what's a new cane and what's old.  The new canes will be fruiting next year.  Thin out the canes somewhat, so there is plenty of air circulation.  If you want to keep it really tidy, you can loosely tie the new canes to the wires to hold them apart.  Then before winter I remove all the old leaves, top the canes at about 6' tall, and rake up all the debris underneath.  That's it for my pruning.

If you want fall-bearing raspberries you can be even lazier, and just cut them all to the ground in winter.  The new canes that come up in spring will bear fruit in late summer or fall that year.  There are more complicated ways to manage the pruning and maximize yield, but these are refinements rather than requirements.

My pick for a great cultivar of summer red raspberries is 'Saanich.'  Our 2-year old row (10' long) produced around 75 pints of berries this summer, we kept track.  And here's where I come back to that point about payback.  A few hours of pruning and feeding, casual watering as needed through summer, and I literally harvested hundreds of dollars in fruit this year.  Local berries were 3-4 dollars per HALF pint in our area.  I had berries for freezing, fresh eating, jam and still plenty to give away to friends and family.

Can your pumpkin patch measure up?

More information and sources on red raspberries:

Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden, a publication by Oregon State University

Raspberry Cultivars for Western Oregon, also from OSU

One Green World - mail order fruit nursery in NW Oregon

Raintree Nursery - mail order fruit nursery in SW Washington state

Fruits and Berries (Rodale's Successful Organic Gardening)  a good general guide for organic berries

Can't stop the rain, but a good layer of mulch helps

A windy night followed by a rainy day.  Thus we have a typical start to November on the Oregon coast.

As we move into late fall, most of the usual season-ending chores are completed.  The vegetables harvested, the leaves mostly (if not all) picked up, patio furniture cleaned and stored in a dry place.  But have you mulched?

One of the most critical and commonly overlooked tasks is soil protection.  On the central coast of Oregon we not only receive our share of high winds throughout winter, but (not surprisingly) the majority of our annual rainfall.  It doesn't often arrive in a gentle mist but instead with firehose-like force.  Sometimes the rain seems to fall here unrelated to gravity; rather it appears to be driven out of the sky and pounded into the earth.

Studied gardeners know that keeping planting beds free of foot traffic is good practice for avoiding compaction. Compaction is the enemy to thriving plant roots, as the air (pore) spaces are eliminated.  When this happens, not only is it difficult for the roots to expand and grow deeper, but they have a tough time accessing water and nutrients, not to mention necessary oxygen.  Yes, those roots need to breathe!

Heavy rainfall compacts soil just as surely as our heavy tracks, not to mention displacing much of your carefully managed topsoil down the street gutters and into our storm drains.  A good layer of mulch on exposed soil will do wonders to mitigate both issues and protect your soil.

Mulch can be as simple as a 2 or 3-inch layer of barkdust or "beauty bark"-- although our public works department is encouraging use of the more chunky bark pebble or the rough material known as "hog fuel."  Hog fuel is often free from tree services, the mixed roughly cut product of their branch chipper.  Bark dust is apparently causing increased maintenance of storm drains due to the very fine dust that is flushed away.

Another great free mulch option is to place a thin layer of your lawn clippings (1-2") on bare soil areas, provided it's not full of weed seeds.  Straw is easy to come by in the fall from valley farmers, usually wheat or oat straw, and sometimes "grass" straw from the grass-seed fields.  I prefer oat straw, and place a nice layer over my veggie garden beds with cover crop seed sown underneath.

Unique to the Willamette valley is the option of hazelnut (filbert) shells from area farms, which make a semi-permanent mulch that is quite effective at preventing weeds.  A very permanent mulch option is the variety of rock materials we have here, from round river-type rock to lava rock (somewhat out of place here) to locally sourced beach rocks/shells and even commercially harvested and crushed oyster shell.  These materials can be a nice option for paths or permanently planted beds, especially next to gutters and downspouts where the rock will minimize mud-splash onto adjacent buildings.

Heat Seeking for Vegetable Gardeners

Note: I first wrote this in midsummer and forgot to post.  Apologies.

Coastal gardeners are a determined lot, particularly those who are bent on growing food.  Between wind, salt and sandy soils there are challenges plenty to frustrate the best of us.  But one of the biggest challenges is something we lack, namely sufficient heat from the sun.

Many of us moved here for the mild seasons.  We enjoy 70ish highs in summer laden with cool breezes and late-summer fog.  The persistent north winds that provide our sunny days in July and August also keep us from building up sufficient warmth for heat-loving plants.

So many of these Mediterranean-adapted plants are among our culinary favorites: tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant, melons, beans and cucumbers.  Even more tolerant plants like beets and corn are slow to germinate or fail to thrive or ripen in the relatively cool summer days on our coast.  But gardeners need not despair, it is possible to enjoy many of these tasty food plants even when you live within the "fog belt."

Certainly there are sites that simply cannot succeed in growing these plants, such as those on the "front line" of the coast: oceanfront or near-oceanfront.  If you want to grow food, you would do well to consider living inland a few more blocks... or build an extremely sturdy greenhouse.

But the rest of us can achieve great results with basic building skills and inexpensive materials.  Cold frames and cloches can work magic in making your crop succeed.  Cloches can be as simple as heavy-gauge wire bent into hoops over raised beds, with plastic or grow-fabric attached.

Cold frames are generally more substantial, with an open-bottomed wooden frame (similar to raised beds) that supports a glazed lid.  The glazing can be made from a recycled window, or new material such as fiberglass or polycarbonate.  The lid can be fully removable or hinged, depending on how it will be used.  We have one of each.  The hinged-lid variety will be used for summer-long crops like basil and peppers that really dig the heat; the removable-lid frame is for acclimating plants as they come out of the greenhouse.  The lid comes off during the day, goes on at night, until they are ready to stand the outside weather.

Finally, our vegetable garden has a large permanent cloche or mini-greenhouse for our tomato crop.  The structure stands about 4' tall at the peak, and spans a 4' raised bed.  It has substantial framing for year-round use, with tempered glass sides and removable polycarbonate lids for the top.  In early spring and late fall we can grow greens inside, and tomatoes thrive in its shelter during summer.

A Tree for All Seasons

A few years back in horticulture school, I fell in love with a tree.

This happens, mind you, to all horticulture students at some point.  After all, you are in Plant Identification class and learning 10 or 11 plants per week, 100 per term, for three straight terms.  That's not counting all the other marvelous specimens that suddenly take on meaning in the landscape.

For me it was Stewartia pseudocamellia.  What the heck is that, you ask?  Isn't there a common name... something better than the clunky Latinesque botanical name that surely came from a botanist, or his king?  Alas, there is no common name that I can find.  It is simply Japanese Stewartia.  If you are lucky enough to stumble upon this wonderful ornamental tree, and can actually identify it, you will see why I became smitten.

A diminutive tree, it is suitable for small spaces and can be grown under power lines.  Therefore it shows up on those popular lists of trees-to-plant in your ridiculously undersized yard, due to the fact that we all need to have 5,000 square feet inside and off-street parking for 10 vehicles.  But the charm of Stewartia is not found in its small size, like those beauty-challenged "fastigiate" trees so common now in the tiny-yard era. (Think maples, oaks, etc. with names like 'Sentry.'  Subtle.)

Stewartia will coax you from season to season, so that you grow to love and appreciate this varied tree.  It is deciduous, with a decent show of yellow to burnt orange and even red in fall highlighting the small elliptic leaves.  Heading into winter the trunk begins to take center stage, with a smooth plated, multi-colored bark ranging from reds to browns to grays, like an artist's smudged palette.  Later in winter you will begin to notice the formation of next year's buds, slightly fuzzy but angled and flattened, resembling sunflower seeds.  The spent fruit of last year may linger, woody spheres that have burst open.

Spring begins an appreciation for simple form, as the bright green leaves emerge from Stewartia's open, graceful branching.  The leaves will slowly expand to reveal a cheerful punch of light green in your landscape, and soon you might begin to note little white globes (floral buds) held daintily in their clutch.  The leaves remind me of dogwood, snowbell or perhaps a small-leaved variety of magnolia. 

Finally the moment we waited for... mid-summer, when all your flowering cherries and plums have fallen into boredom after the spring orgy of blossom as they stole all the attention.  Just when no one is looking, suddenly Stewartia reveals carefully spaced papery-white blossoms 1-2 inches wide, with cheerful orange anthers.  Think a camellia with class, none of that old-lady-lipstick-pink, but purest white.  Flowers are followed by dainty globe-shaped fruit and we are back into fall.

You might guess I have a Stewartia pseudocamellia.  It's in my front yard, an extravagant purchase three summers ago after a good month of landscape work.  It has held up to the coastal winter and summer winds, though my yard is somewhat sheltered from the ocean and the soil is rich and moist, with a little supplemental water in summer.  We carefully staked the tree for its first year and watched it closely through the first unstaked winter.  Though many people don't follow this advice, it's best to stake a tree the first year and untie it the second-- this develops a stronger trunk and roots.  Today the leaves began unfolding.

Consider the Lilies

Lilies and lily-like plants deserve more respect.  On the Oregon coast, there are climate-specific limits to which flowering herbaceous perennials and annuals we can successfully grow.  The group of plants formerly known as the family Liliaceae, and those left in the family, includes real treasures and prizes for coastal gardeners.

Among the more well-known lily-like plants is the common daylily, or Hemerocallis, now classified in a different family thanks to enthusiastic taxonomists.  A nice guide to this massive genus is The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies, which provides history, cultivation and great pictures of the many varieties.  Daylilies are popular for a reason, with extended bloom, compact habit, many colors, and easy growing requirements.  They tolerate little or extra water, poor soil and tolerate wind.  If anything is needed for best performance, it's full sun exposure-- though they will tolerate much less and simply bloom less.  For a bonus, these clumping plants are easy to divide and share with your friends or spread to new parts of your garden.  As if that wasn't enough, daylily flowers are edible too-- a quick search will yield dozens of recipes.

Agapanthus is a coastal favorite, commonly known as Lily of the Nile, and again reclassified (this one belongs with onions apparently).  There are few plants on the coast that can tolerate direct exposure to wind, salt and poor soil as the Agapanthus does.  The main limitation is few color choices, but the later-blooming period than most bulbs and spring flowers is a nice feature, holding striking globe-shaped flowers on tall stalks above strappy green leaves.  Most are shades of blue-violet (pictured above) or white, with the standard variety quite tall at 2-3' or more.  Newer varieties offer new shades of bloom and more compact habit/height.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is one of my favorites for mid-summer outstanding focal color.  The true red of this clumping flower, with multiples on long arching stems, makes a stunning splash in any perennial bed.  The tall spiky green foliage before the bloom, and sometime after, is additionally handsome and lends a textural accent to our common framework shrubs.  This lovely perennial is easily dividable from offset bulbs around the clumps, or thinning, and is much better behaved than the similar Montbretia that is very common in older coastal gardens.  Seems there was quite the rage for these shorter, orange-blooming relatives on the coast and they continue to plague with their rampant spreading (click on the map shown to activate video).  They are extremely difficult to eradicate once started, as they propagate by chaining bulbs one on top of the last season.  You dig and dig forever!

If you are truly lucky, you might find your coastal landscape sporting a few native western lilies, like the Trout Lily, the Fawn Lily or the False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum dilitatum).  The latter will often carpet the ground under trees and other shady places on the coast, if the understory has been left undisturbed.  More than once a client has asked me to eradicate these lovely no-trouble groundcover plants, to which I have generally asked "why?"  They fill empty spaces, need no water or fertilizer, the leaves alone make a beautiful shiny green carpet of heart-shaped leaves that only reach 10" or so, then send up delicate spikes of white flowers.  There's nothing better under the inhospitable canopy of the ever-present Shore Pines, so why remove them?  What else is willing to grow in that dark, acidic, dry environment?

As you plan your coastal-adapted perennial bed this spring, remember to consider the lilies.  This passage from the Sermon on the Mount says it well:  "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."


(Agapanthus photo credit to Sir Peter Smithers of www.bulbsociety.org)

Bringing Blooms Indoors

This early-spring weather on the central coast has brought about a flurry of pruning activity.  With buds swelling and some beginning to burst, it occurred to me it's a good time to mention forcing branches.

My peach tree is kept in a formal fan-shape on the wall of my garage, which necessitates regular and fairly extensive pruning to keep it in order.  As I was completing late-winter pruning yesterday, I realized there were some pretty long shoots just laying on the ground, covered with swollen flower buds.  My thrifty mom would never have let this opportunity go to waste-- so, inspired by her, I brought them inside to bloom.

Many other fruiting trees and plants will be ripe for indoor blooms in flower arrangements as well-- besides the obvious apple, pear, peach and cherry trees.  There are many blooming shrubs that set their flower buds in the previous year (on "old wood") rather than on new growth.  Common examples are forsythia (yellow) and quince (usually salmon-pink). If you are lucky enough to have a pussy willow, you can bring inside a few of the prolific branches sporting their fuzzy buds, for an interesting non-floral accent in your arrangements.

Don't limit yourself to the usual choices.  Simply look around your landscape and neighborhood for those swollen buds on shrubs and trees, especially plants you are planning to prune anyway.  A couple years ago I pruned an Exbury azalea (variety unknown) about this time of year, long before its scheduled bloom.  Knowing the buds were set, I thought there was a chance... but suspected the bloom was too far off.  However the branches surprised me, blooming after a few weeks and lasting a few more.  Interestingly, the normal color for this plant is a melon-orange, but these emerged as a pale yellow.  Apparently the dark room and short season must have played a role. I enjoyed the cheerful branches anyway, in spite of the color.

There's much more thorough instructions and ideas on branch-forcing here.  Learn a little about it, then head outside with your (sterilized) shears in hand, and an eye toward creativity.  Spring branches will enliven your home and inspire you for the gardening months to come!

Green Shoots

This week we have been enjoying unusually warm and mild weather on the central Oregon coast.

Late January is not known for sunny days, light wind and lack of precipitation. In past years, we have taken to calling it "firehose season" in honor of the horizontal-rain effect that seems directly trained on our windows for days or weeks at a time. So this week of mid-50s to 60s has taken us, and our plants, by surprise.

This winter has been dubbed an "El Nino" year on the Pacific coast, bringing warmer and drier weather than the recorded average. You may recall we experienced extreme cold temperatures in December, but what followed was quite the opposite. So many of our perennial plants and shrubs have decided it's already time to waken from their winter slumber.

So far I have noted the following early beginnings in Lincoln City landscapes:
- Fruiting trees and berries: the buds on my pear espalier are already swollen anticipating bloom, though the apples are holding firm. Raspberries are showing green-tip, and some runners are popping up with new shoots. Strawberries are sending up the first new leaves.
- Spring bulbs/flowers: primroses bursting into bloom, and most of the spring bulbs are up. Daffodils were first up, with tips breaking the soil just after New Year. They are now 8-10" tall but not blooming yet. Tulips are now coming up, about 2-3" leaves. Grape hyacinths have just now started blooming.
- Perennials/small shrubs: tea roses are beginning to leaf out, weeks ahead of schedule. Heathers have been blooming for weeks, and daylilies (among other lilies) are well into their spring growth, with shoots 3-4" tall.
- Larger shrubs: hydrangeas are pushing out new vegetative buds and even some leaves.
- Lawns are suddenly kicking into gear, if they were well fertilized in late summer/fall and have good southern exposure (remember, the sun is still quite low in the sky). It amazes me that we can legitimately fire up the lawnmower, as many clients' lawns are already shaggy.
- Weeds are on the rampage, especially Little Western Bittercress, also known as "Touch-me-Not." This last nickname aptly describes the gardener's frustration when trying to pluck out these prolific little weeds, only to have their pods explode on contact, sending seeds forth.

With all this early activity, it may be hard to decide what tasks are appropriate, or if it's too late for some. Here are a few that, in my opinion, should be on your list for the coming week or two.
- Get control of weeds as soon as you see them. The sooner you knock out weeds with a sharp hoe or pull them from the ground, the fewer will set seed or get established. You will appreciate the lighter workload come May 1.
- Complete any dormant pruning and/or dormant spraying you have put off, for fruit trees and other plants that might benefit from the off-season treatment. Dormant oil and copper or lime/sulfur sprays are commonly used on these plants while the leaves are off and before bud-break, to control various diseases and pests the rest of the year. Consult your local extension office for the appropriate plants to treat, and what sprays to use, in your area.
- Plant and/or prune your roses as we head into February. Normally this is recommended closer to President's Day, but with the roses moving quickly into leaf, they are saying "GO!"
- Clean up mulched areas of fallen leaves under disease- or pest-susceptible plants, such as fruit trees or rhododendrons (root weevils). This hygiene practice will help to greatly reduce the population of pests or disease by removing their overwintering and reproduction habitat.
- If you haven't applied lime to your lawn, now is still a good time. It's early for a dose of spring fertilizer, and this will give the lime more opportunity to work into the soil and help with correcting the acidic coastal soils.
- Start seeds indoors for planting out later. The list is too long to mention everything, but I will usually get my tomatoes and peppers going (with supplemental bottom heat) in February for an early start, which we need on the coast. Many salad greens can be started inside without extra heat, especially in a cool greenhouse, for planting out in a month or so-- think spinach, lettuce, Asian greens, brassicas, etc. If the weather stays mild, start peas and radishes outside, or plant the peas in peat pots. Check your seed packs for germination temperature.

Enjoy these early bursts of spring, and share your observations of the season in comments below!

Heaths and Heathers for the Oregon Coast

When the calendar turns to a new year, we are generally challenged to find any plants that offer a display of colorful blooms. It's pretty dark, wet and cold out there, and most plants are in hibernation. This is when winter-blooming heath rules the roost.

Heath (Erica spp.) is the lookalike cousin (frequently confused) to spring and summer-blooming heather (Calluna vulgaris). It is common for nurseries to even label heath as "heather," preferring to list a name more familiar to their customers. Inspect the two plants closely and you will find significant differences.

What is normally sold in winter or early spring, in bloom, is heath. Common varieties-- overly planted in my opinion-- are 'Mediterranean Pink' and 'Mediterranean White.' Don't ask me why this symbol of Scotland is given the moniker conjuring points south. My own plants of 'Pink' are blooming at this writing. Take a look at the branches and greenery, and you will find that Erica sports a needle-like leaf on thin woody stems, and tends to grow rather closely to the ground. It usually doesn't exceed 12 inches in height and can spread several feet in every direction.

Calluna, by contrast, is unlikely to be blooming in winter or early spring. These beauties tend to grow more upright, though they also spread. Height can reach 24' without shearing. The blooms are denser and often more brilliant, sporting many shades of pink, white and red. Foliage is often a soft silvery-grey resembling lavender foliage, and offers a contrast with other evergreen groundcovers year-round. The foliage is more scale-like than Erica, resembling tiny rounded leaves rather than needles.

Both Erica and Calluna are members of the same family, Ericaceae. This huge family includes other acid-loving evergreens with urn-shaped flowers, including Pieris, kinnickkinnick, blueberries and huckleberries, rhododendrons and even our native Pacific Madrone trees. So it should be no surprise that heaths and heathers love it on our central coast. The native soils are acidic, well-drained (sandy) with plenty of rotted organic matter and retain enough moisture to get the plants through dry summers. They also appreciate our mild temps, with best blooming on sites with good exposure to light.

The many attributes of these fine plants include low- to no-maintenance in the right spot, with only optional shearing for size or neatness. They require almost no supplemental water on the coast, and although they will appreciate occasional acid-plant fertilizer, they don't require it. Bloom time can be staggered over the many varieties, especially when you include the colorful winter/spring foliage on cultivars like 'Spring Torch' or 'Robert Chapman.' The plants are all evergreen, and fit neatly within a well-planned landscape to suppress weeds and cover hillsides. They can perform well under deciduous trees if the shade canopy is not overly dense, which will cause them to become thin and leggy with sparse blooms.

Great sources for heath and heather include our local nurseries Blake's in Gleneden Beach and Bear Valley in Lincoln City. For a wider array of choices by mail order, check out Heaths and Heathers in SW Washington state, and Highland Heather in Canby OR. I have used products from both and found them to be exceptional in quality and knowledge.

Water Runs Downhill

We are challenged by water on the central coast of Oregon.

In the summer, at the height of our growing season, it can be downright scarce. At that time of year, it's plain that the lack of planning for adequate water-- given our wind and sandy soil-- is to blame for many gardening failures.

But in January... oh yes and November, December, February, March etc... it's the opposite. We receive some of the highest rainfall counts in Oregon, 70-90 inches. Cascade Head, only 10 miles north of Lincoln City where I live, receives around 100 inches per year. By comparison, Portland receives merely 37-40 inches. Gives you some idea of what is considered "normal rainfall" on the central coast.

So what happens to all that water? Certainly the vast majority ends up in our rivers, streams and eventually the ocean. But it has to get there first... which gets me to the point of this post's title. Many homeowners here just don't plan for where the deluge is going to go, and what damage or benefit it may leave in its path.

One of the most obvious and lasting effects is on our soil. High rainfall totals equal acidic soils. Did you ever wonder why our soils west of the Cascades are "acid" and those east of the mountains are "alkaline" or less acidic? The falling rain leaches minerals like calcium and magnesium. In order to make our soils more palatable to the widest array of plants therefore may require annual applications of lime to boost the pH level. This is generally recommended for vegetables and lawns, and many other herbaceous plants.

The soil is likewise compacted by the constant falling rain, if it's exposed throughout winter. Protecting unplanted areas with mulches (bark, compost, straw) will make a huge difference come springtime. If the area is to be planted in spring/summer, simply pull back the mulch and compost it. In areas that you don't want lawn or shrubs, consider planting groundcovers in place of the annual chore of mulching. Many are low-maintenance and will thrive without extra water in summer. See my earlier post for some recommended spring-blooming groundcovers.

Drainage is no joking matter here. Take a good look at the slope of your property, locate your downspouts and storm drains. Now, where is the water going? Newer homes may have connected the downspouts to a storm sewer connection, but we have seen many that just drain out next to the house, across your treasured plant's roots, washing away bark and soil. The bigger the roof, the more water diverted, and the more potential damage. If you are not handy, consider asking a landscape contractor to look at whether you need French drains or other means to handle runoff.

When planning areas of hardscape (walkways, driveways) homeowners should consider permeable surfaces instead of concrete or blacktop. Selecting concrete pavers on a gravel foundation for your driveway, or even just using gravel as the drive surface, can help to keep vast amounts of water out of our storm sewers and improve groundwater by slower filtering as it moves through layers of rock and soil.

A personal pet-peeve of mine is bark on top of weedcloth, on steep slopes. The first time it rains hard, here comes your 3 inches of barkdust rolling down into the driveway, leaving ugly swathes of uncovered plastic fabric. Yuck. Again, this is a situation for groundcovers. Plant a dense selection and enjoy the view as they fill in; the added benefit is in preventing soil erosion from your steep slope. Plant roots hold soil in place better than anything else.

Obviously this is a big topic, and I am just scratching the surface. Let this be a gentle reminder to plan for rainy winter storms when you have the chance in summer. Happy New Year!

An update: OSU SeaGrant has posted a terrific resource guide for planning/planting "rain gardens." This could provide a beautiful and lasting solution to many homeowners' runoff problems.