The Digging Fork
A Davis Garden Newsletter
November - December 2007
November
Planting Cool season annuals
Perennials: CA natives,
most everything except
frost tender plants
Cool season bulbs
Cool season vegetables:
broccoli, cabbage, lettuce,
cauliflower, artichokes,
see bulbing onions, garlic,
Plant notes divide & replant clumps
of multiplying onions
Seeding Cool season annuals
directly Cool season vegetables:
into the arugula, beets, fava,
garden carrots, kale and collards,
green onions, cilantro,
see spinach, peas, radish,
Plant notes Swiss chard, turnips,
miner’s lettuce
Fertilize
Spray nectarines and peaches
Pest & at Thanksgiving for peach
Disease leaf curl.
Control Control for snails, slugs,
earwigs and cabbage worms
as needed.
Protect seedlings from birds.
Tasks Cut back herbaceous
perennials (don’t cut back
frost tender perennials
until late spring)
Divide and replant
herbaceous perennials.
Garden clean-up continues.
Compost leaves and plant
debris.
After first frost (or before),
pull out summer annual
flowers and vegetables.
Remove unwanted
seedlings or transplant.
Cultivate with a digging
fork and mulch.
Weed control continues for
cool season annuals and
grasses.
If rains haven’t started, water
Water as needed. Once rains start,
turn off automatic irrigation
systems. Make sure new
plantings have the water they
need.
Toyon with red berries Euonymus ‘Silver Queen’
December
Cool season annuals
Bare-root ornamentals:
trees, roses, shrubs and
vines
Bare-root fruits-vegetables:
artichokes, asparagus,
bulbing onions, rhubarb,
strawberries, berries,
grapes, fruit trees
Cool season annuals
Cool season vegetables:
fava, spinach, Swiss
chard, cilantro, green
onions
Spray nectarines and peaches
between Christmas and
New Year’s Day for peach
leaf curl.
When pruning look for borer
damage and cut off infected
limbs.
Continue control of snails,
slugs, birds, cabbage worms.
Finish November tasks
Start pruning deciduous
trees
Can start pruning roses
toward the end of the
month.
Garden clean-up continues.
(See November)
Water under large eaves if
needed.
Well watered plants are less
susceptible to frost damage!
Tree dahlias grow 10-12 feet in one season, blooming now!
Some Interesting Shrubs
Shrubs serve many purposes in a garden. They blend
into the background of a garden allowing other plants to
take center stage while other times they are used for
utilitarian purposes such as privacy and wind blocks. In
winter, the leafless structure of deciduous shrubs can be
beautiful while evergreen shrubs are sometimes the only
green in a garden. Here are some less planted shrubs and
their contributions to the garden.
North winds in Davis can be brutal. With a wall of
tough shrubs, however, winds can be minimized. To be
an effective wind block, tough leaves and a strong
branching structure is required. The toyon, is a large
California native shrub reaching up to 20 feet tall. The
tough evergreen foliage makes this shrub perfect for
either privacy or a wind block. Toyon can also be planted
in areas of little, if any, summer irrigation. If given some
summer water they will grow faster and look a little nicer.
In the fall, clusters of red berries cover the plant
providing an abundance of food for birds. There is also a
yellow berried cultivar called ‘Davis Gold’. The hopseed
bush, is a 10-15’ tall evergreen shrub. The cultivar
‘Purpurea’ has purple-bronze foliage and grows in sun or
part shade and is moderately fast growing. While the
leaves may not look as tough as a toyon’s, don’t let that
fool you, this shrub can take all kinds of wind. An
excellent wind block, privacy screen or specimen plant,
Euonymus is worth growing for its handsome foliage and
clean fresh look. Growing 6-10’ high and about as wide,
the ‘Silver Queen’ cultivar has light green leaves with
splashes of cream along the leaf edges. The ‘Silver King’
cultivar is similar in growth habit but has whiter leaf
markings. Planted in sun or part sun is fine for this plant
as it will retain its variegation in both exposures.
However, this shrub is susceptible to powdery mildew so
it is best to plant in the most sun as possible.
Some shrubs have absolutely gorgeous flowers and
fruit making them worth planting in the garden. The
smoke tree, ‘Royal Purple’ cultivar has flowers that look
like plumes of pink-burgundy smoke. These flower
plumes rise above purple foliage making this shrub stand
out in any garden. The smoke tree reaches 10-15’ high
and prefers sun to part shade and is deciduous in the
winter. The strawberry tree, can be grown as a multi-
trunk shrub. Shorter cultivars include ‘Elfin King’ to 5’ Local classes and workshops
and ‘Compacta’ to 10’ high. The fabulous trait of this Worm Composting Workshop
shrub is its fruit that resemble 1” yellow, red and orange Saturday, November 17 at 11 am. Held at the Student
gumballs that hang from the tree making it a true eye Co-ops off Regan Drive on the UCD campus. Free.
catcher. The strawberry tree when pruned up is Leave workshop with a fully functional bin and worms!!
exceptionally pretty, revealing cinnamon colored bark. For information contact Project Compost 754-8227
Many shrubs can be pruned up allowing for planting or projectcompost@yahoo.com
space underneath. City of Davis Recycling Program
Two early spring blooming shrubs are winter pink Backyard composting Tuesday, Nov. 6 2 pm
currant and the golden currant. Both currants are Worm composting Wednesday, Nov. 7 2 pm
California native deciduous shrubs best grown in partial Classes held at Community Gardens on Fifth St.
shade of taller trees. The pink winter currant cultivar Free compost bin by taking Davis Compost
‘Claremont’ is covered in light pink flower clusters for Correspondence Class
To sign up for above free classes (530) 757-5686
weeks in early spring. The golden currant is ablaze with
yellow flowers about the same time. These plants are a Master Gardener Workshops
Rose Pruning Workshop January 5 9 to 11 am
little gangly but the flowers make it worthwhile. Both
Held at Woodland Community College
shrubs do not require a lot of watering once established. http://ceyolo.ucdavis.edu/Gardening_and_Master_Gardening/
The angel’s trumpet, is a true garden specimen. Woodland Library Rose Club
While this plant can be difficult to grow due to frosting Rose Pruning seminar January 12 8 am to 12 noon
tendency, it can be done if persistent. An ideal planting Davis Central Park Gardens
locale would be up against a fence or a wall facing south Rose Pruning Workshop Saturday, January 19
or east with some larger trees around to provide filtered For more information
sun. If untouched by frost, this shrub can be trained into http://www.centralparkgardens.org
a single or multi-trunked 5-15’ tree. If top growth is killed Herbarium Specimen Preparation Workshop
by frost, the plant will most likely come back. Be aware Saturday, January 19 9 am to 3 pm
of new growth emerging from the ground being eaten by Held at UCD Cost is $40 to the general public
snails and slugs. The blooms make this plant worth For more information or to register, contact Ellen Dean,
planting over and over again. The blooms are about a Curator of the Center for Plant Diversity (530) 752-1091
http://herbarium.ucdavis.edu
foot long or more and cover the plant at peak bloom time
usually late summer or fall. Most varieties are scented
and are either white, pink or peach shades.
The Osmanthus has one of the most wonderful
fragrances of any plant with a scent resembling apricots.
For this reason it should be planted in most gardens.
However, the plant itself, with its green leathery leaves, is
handsome on its own. A nice benefit to this shrub is that
it grows well in afternoon shade to all day bright shade.
Reaching upwards of 15-20’ this evergreen shrub makes a
nice background plant. The flowers are not showy but the
fragrance can be smelled from a distance away.
Golden currant

Ornamental cabbage tip. Plant sales and events

UCD Arboretum
Lots of great tours coming up!!
For information www.arboretum.ucdavis.edu
Plant Sales at The Gifted Gardener
Saturdays January 26 and February 23 9:30 am to 3 pm
18th and J Streets, Sacramento. Sales benefits local charities
Information GardenNotes@sbcglobal.net (916) 923-3745
Friends of the Davis Library Book Sale
December 6 to 9 Often good finds on gardening books!
Late February Late October For information and times (530) 758-4754 or 757-5593
Last fall a single rosette of ornamental cabbage was planted. In Davis Garden Club
late February as the weather started to warm, the plant bolted Saturday, December 8 Wreath Making
(flowered). The stem showed new buds, so the top was cut off. Special event at a member’s house
All spring and summer new rosettes grew but they were green Meetings generally held at the Davis Public Library
and not at all showy. With cooler weather this fall the purple Usually meet the 4th Monday of the Month 7 to 9 pm
coloring appeared. The moral of this ornamental cabbage story For information 222-3052 www.davisgardenclub.org
is to cut back when they bolt – don’t pull out. Plant some now!

2
 Plant notes!
Here is more information about some plants mentioned in this newsletter.

Shrubs:
angel’s trumpet Brugmansia Frost sensitive specimen grown for
foot long, fragrant trumpet shaped flowers. Does best in partial sun
on south side of fence or wall. May die to ground in winter. Bait for
snails/slugs when new growth emerges. 5-15’. All parts toxic if eaten.
Euonymus japonicus Evergreen variegated shrub . Does best in full
sun and grows 6-10’. Susceptible to powdery mildew. ‘Silver Queen’
and ‘Silver King’ are nice cultivars.
golden current Ribes aureum CA native shrub 5-10’. Does best
in partial shade. Covered in bright yellow flowers early spring.
Deciduous.
hopseed bush Dodonaea viscosa Evergreen tall shrub used for
a windbreak or privacy. ‘Purpurea’ cultivar has unusual bronze Strawberry tree fruit and flowers
foliage. Evergreen shrubs 10-15’.
Osmanthus Osmanthus x fortunei Evergreen large shrub grown
for its wonderful apricot scent. Takes all day shade.
pink winter current Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum Botanical Names of Plants
‘Claremont’ CA native deciduous shrub 5-12’. Pink flowers cover the Plants have common names and botanical names. It
shrub early spring. Prefers partial shade. would be nice to ignore seemingly confusing botanical
smoke tree Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ Unusual plumes plant names (also called scientific names) and just use the
of flowers. Grows 10-15’ in full sun to part shade. Deciduous.
strawberry tree Arbutus unedo ‘Elfin King’ and ‘Compacta’ common names. But there can be many, many common
are shorter cultivars. Plant grown for unusual colorful fruit and names for the same plant and these sometimes differ
interesting cinnamon colored bark. Takes full to part sun. Evergreen. depending on where you live. The same common name is
toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia CA native evergreen shrub that takes often used for many different plants as well. To be
wind, heat and drought conditions. Grows up to 20’ in sun to part sun.
Colorful fall berries birds love. certain exactly what plant you are buying or planting, the
tree dahlia Dahlia imperialis Not really a shrub, but acts like one plant’s unique botanical name will be the most helpful.
during the summer months. The plant dies to the ground each winter, This name is recognized all over the world.
then grows up from the tuberous roots to 10-12 ft. in one season.
Sometimes frost kills the top of plant before it blooms in Oct. or Nov.
Plants belong to families, have a family name and
share similar cultural requirements, physical
Cool season annuals: characteristics or problems with other plants in the
See September-October newsletter for ideas. family. Family names end in “aceae”. Examples of plant
families include the Rose family, Rosaceae and the violet
Cool season bulbs: family, Violaceae. Rarely is the family name on a plant
Still plenty of time to plant daffodils, Darwin hybrid tulips, Dutch
label.
iris, crocus, grape hyacinth and many more. Too late to plant
ranunculus and anemone as they need to time grow roots before In theory, there is only one botanical name for each
the cool spell. unique plant. But, because plants are often reclassified,
the botanical plant name might change. When this
Cool season vegetables and fruits: happens, the former name is shown in parentheses, often
Fava Vivia faba Most Fava have white and black flowers, the red with “syn.”. For example, the botanical name for
flowered cultivar is hard-to-find.
See September-October newsletter for information. hollyhock is Alcea rosea (syn. Althaea rosea).
Botanical naming uses a binomial classification
system with names mostly in Latin, but sometimes Greek.
There are strict rules for writing these names!!

Bird Protection Raphanus sativus or Raphanus sativus

Birds will eat and pull is the scientific name for radish
up seedlings. This wire
The first name is the genus and is a noun that is always
cage protects the newly
sprouted seeds until they capitalized. The second name is the specific epithet and
are big enough to is an adjective and not capitalized. The two names
withstand bird damage. together are the plant species. The species name is either
It is made with 18” wide italicized or underlined and is unique to the plant. The
chicken wire (1” holes),
cut to whatever length is specific epithet can help distinguish among the various
needed. The ends are characteristics of the plants in the genus. These
folded closed and U adjectives describe something about the plant -- it can tell
shaped irrigation pins you where a plant is from, tell you the color of the
are used to hold it in
place. Hibbert Lumber flowers or foliage, form of the leaf or plant and many
sells chicken wire by the other peculiarities. The Sunset Western Garden Book
foot and irrigation pins. (current edition, page 754) has a nice list of some of the
Beet seedlings protected from common epithets used.
birds and rabbits

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 More gardening tips!
Brassica oleracea var. italica broccoli
Brassica oleracea var. capitata cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. botrytis cauliflower
Nasturtium can be challenging to grow in Davis. If sown in
Above are the scientific names for three common the fall, there is a chance of frost damage, so best sown in
vegetables. They are all the same species, but nature has full sun with some protection. The south side of a fence or
modified the plant to create three varieties of vegetables house will usually give winter blooms. When sown in the
that are unique to us but similar in many ways. The spring, they need afternoon shade because they dislike the
botanical varieties are subclassifications of the species heat.
and differ in some way from the species. The
abbreviation “var.” stands for variety and is not Spraying peach and nectarine trees with copper based
capitalized, italicized or underlined and ends in a period. fungicide with at least 50% copper will help prevent peach
The variety name is italicized or underlined but not leaf curl. Cover the entire tree with the spray.
capitalized.
Bare-root plants usually become available in late
Brassica oleracea var. capitata ‘Copenhagen Market’ or December. If there is something you are especially looking
Brassica oleracea var. capitata cv. Copenhagen Market for, ask nurseries to hold it for you. Nurseries put in their
‘Copenhagen Market’ is the man-made cultivated variety orders to the growers long ago and already know what they
will be receiving.
or cultivar. Gardeners often call ‘Copenhagen Market’ a
variety of cabbage, but it is really the cultivated variety or Cool season vegetables. The planting of cool season
cultivar. The cultivar name is not in italics, all words are vegetable seeds and starts generally stops during the coldest
capitalized and either in single quote or proceeded by the part of the year. Planting begins again in late January and
abbreviation “cv.” which stands for cultivated variety. To February.
add to the confusion, for many of the vegetables and
common flowers, the scientific name is dropped and only Soil compaction. Wet soil is very easy to compact. Avoid
the common name and cultivar name used. Often even working and walking in wet beds.
the quotes are dropped so that Cabbage Copenhagan
A fan rake is very useful for getting leaves out of flower
Market is what is most often found on the seed packets
beds. It is light and springy enough to rake over most well
or plant labels.
established plants. Two sources:
The botanical naming of hybrids can get a bit Peaceful Valley Farm Supply www.groworganic.com
confusing. When two genus are crossed, the hybrid genus Lee Valley Tools Ltd. www.leevalley.com
is written x Chitalpa tashkentensis (Catalpa
bignonioides x Chilopsis linearis). Sometimes the
parents are in parentheses. When two species are crossed,
the resulting hybrid species name is written as in the
example for the common strawberry Fragaria x
ananassa (F. chiloensis x F. virginiana). Since the
genus remains the same, it is shown as the initial and the
reader assumes this refers to the previously stated genus.
F. chiloensis is a California native species.
Now we come to the most difficult part of scientific
naming – pronunciation. Many gardeners are intimidated
because they are afraid to say the name wrong. When
learning any foreign language, the goal is to
communicate. A wise gardener once said that as long as
Fan rake Red flowered fava (hard-to-find)
others understand what you mean, it really doesn’t matter
if you pronounce the name (botanical or common)
Cover crops are good to plant in the fall if ground isn’t
incorrectly. For many plants there is more than one
being used until spring. They help protect from erosion,
common pronunciation. Below are some websites to help smother weeds, improve the soil and can be nitrogen fixing.
with pronunciation of botanical names, but they don’t Fava beans used as a nitrogen fixing cover crop are also
always agree. good to eat.
www.taunton.com/finegardening/pguide/pronunciation-guide-to-
botanical-latin.aspx This site has audio pronunciation as well.
Newsletter created by:
http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/pronunciationguide.html Marlene Simon -- UCD graduate in Horticulture
www.rainyside.com/resources/reference/PronunciationGuide.html Patricia Carpenter -- Garden Design and Education,
with 30 years of Davis gardening experience.
www.audioenglish.net/dictionary
The bi-monthly newsletter is free if received by email. If mailed,
Using the botanical name of a plant should help insure the cost is $15 per year. To be added to the subscription list or to
that you get the exact plant you want. unsubscribe, contact us at: TheDiggingFork@gmail.com