Joan Swenson: Readers share success stories on tomatoes, poinsettias and trees
| Thursday, Jan 15 2009 02:03 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:40 PM
Loading Stories
Advertisement
From the mail bag …
TOMATOES IN WINTER
I received e-mails from several gardeners this fall who said that they left tomatoes growing in their yards for weeks after the warmth of summer had passed and they were still picking fruit.
Bob and Ulla Thomason did just that.
“On Sept. 19 we left for an extended trip to Europe leaving behind a sorry looking assortment of tomato plants,” the Thomasons wrote just before Christmas. “We came back on Nov. 4 to a fallen-down trellis and dozens of ripe tomatoes. We have been picking them ever since. Lately they have not been ripe, but after a week or so inside they are every bit as good as shop bought ones.”
The Thomasons said the tomato variety that did so well was Beefmaster, which they purchased at Home Depot.
We have left some tomato plants growing through the fall months, too, and brought in the most beautiful green tomatoes, smooth and crack free. Ours didn’t always ripen up, but those that did were OK to eat. The plants improved in appearance, too, turning bright green for weeks after the fall heat faded.
POINSETTIA SUCCESS
I’ve always advocated throwing away Christmas poinsettias. They can be a lot of work to get them to turn color again and Bakersfield’s frosts can kill them outdoors. Plus, I think they look pretty shabby in the post-holiday months.
Proving that they can do just fine is Alice Desilagua, who sent me a picture of a pretty poinsettia that her parents bought at Bakersfield College’s plant sale in Christmas 2007. Her parents planted the poinsettia under a patio on the west side of their house following Christmas. A year later, just weeks before Christmas 2008, the poinsettia turned red again. “They didn’t do anything special to it,” Alice wrote. “We were all surprised to see it bloom this year.”
OTHER COLORFUL TREES
Fred Simon wrote to me with a list of trees that color up well in the fall, along with their descriptions, as an addendum to a column of mine a few weeks ago. Simon, a landscape architect, suggested some trees that he says are less likely to be planted in the Bakersfield area, but that can be good alternatives to the typical fall color trees:
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)— small tree; red, orange, yellow fall color even in partial shade.
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)— large tree; red fall color; needs room to grow.
White Birch; River Birch (Betula alba; Betula nigra)— small to medium size; both have good yellow color; probably grow best in the northeast part of the city.
Raywood Ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa)— medium tree; red fall color; like the Modesto Ash, it has the same rooting, pruning and pest problems.
Oklahoma Redbud (Cercis canadensis)— small tree; yellow fall color; Oklahoma is the best to plant in this area; some pests that can be controlled.
Persimmon (Diospyros kaki or D. virginiana)— small tree; yellow/orange/red fall color all on one leaf; D. virginiana may not fruit without pollinator.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum)— small tree (there is also a dwarf under 8 feet); yellow fall color punctuated with red fruit, very nice combination.
Golden Rain Tree/Chinese Flame Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata/ K. bipinnata)— medium-size tree; yellow fall color; capsules on K. bipinnata are red and orange; great tree for our area.
California Sycamore (Plantanus racemosa)— large tree; yellow and rust fall color; use only in very large yards; do not prune.
Valley Oak (Quercus lobata)— large tree; yellow fall color; fantastic tree for our area; use in very large yards.
Sour Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)— medium-size tree; yellow, orange then red fall color; color graduates up the tree; great tree, likes acid soils, so plant with azaleas, hydrangeas, etc.
