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! An informal project of garden writers, bloggers, and garden center owners.

You Can Grow That! May 2012: Sunflowers!

Sunflowers!

"Good mornin'.
You sure do make it like a sunny day.
Sunflower
fair warnin'.
I'm gonna love you if you come my way." --Glen Campbell, 1977
I listened to that song repeatedly as I drove across the western states in the summer of 1977. It was Glen Campbell's last top-10 hit, and it dominated the country-western airwaves that year. Between California and South Dakota in the summer of 1977, the ONLY airwaves were country-western. To this day, I frequently burst into song at the sight of a field of sunflowers, much to the chagrin of my kids.
Fields of sunflowers have become a lovely and common sight in Yolo and Solano counties in recent years. Sunflower acreage increased 44% between 2003 and 2004, to over 13,000 acres, with farmers growing them for production of certified seed. Many of the fields that used to be in processing tomatoes now give us glorious blooms in July and early August.
From an aesthetic standpoint, this is a big improvement! The fields are a photographer's delight. Sunflowers also draw beneficial insects and are pollinated by many species of native bees. At least 29 species of native bees have been found visiting sunflowers in fields in Yolo County, especially species of long-horned and sunflower bees, followed by bumble bees and sweat bees. Most of these are ground-nesting solitary species.
In fact, the native bee species are more effective sunflower pollinators than honey bees, and they even make the European honey bees more effective. Why? European honey bees tend to specialize in nectar or pollen, and the two types of sunflowers planted in commercial fields – being male or female varieties -- have mostly one or the other. So the honey bees mostly stick to one type of flower. But the native bees bully the Europeans, chasing them between the rows, and making them up to 10 times more productive! Typical aggressive Americans.
Helianthus annuus is a western North American native. Western Native Americans domesticated it, with archeological evidence of cultivation as early as 2300 B.C. So it would even predate the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash). Sunflowers were used for food, dye, face-paint, oil, hair treatment, and even wart removal, snakebite and sunstroke treatment.
The plant was introduced to Europe and became very popular in Russia, where sunflowers were bred for their oil content (28 – 50% oil). Sunflower oil has been researched as an alternate fuel source, having 93% of the energy of US #2 diesel fuel. Russian varieties were re-introduced back into Canada and the US for vegetable oil production.
There are many varieties for oil, seed, and flowers: an agricultural research station at Iowa State has a repository of over 2,000 varieties. In the last twenty years three new types of sunflower varieties have been introduced. Dwarf varieties include Sunspot and Teddy Bear, each 12 – 18' tall. These are great for containers, and fun for kids to grow.

Cutting varieties branch, producing multiple (but smaller) flowers, and come in colors including red, mahogany, pale yellow, and white. Good examples are Italian White, Indian Blanket, and Parasol Mix. Some are pollenless, a real advantage for cutting since sunflower pollen stains fingers, fabric, and surfaces. Good pollenless varieties include Prado Red (rich garnet color) and Velvet Queen (a 'combination of bronze, burgundy, chestnut red, and mahogany' – Sunset Western Garden Book).
The sun 'flower' is actually a composite structure made up of 1,000 – 4,000 little tiny flowers (florets), compressed onto a flattened stem. Typically there are showy ones along the edge, which are male or 'ray' flowers, surrounding female or 'disk' flowers in the center of the head. Each disk flower has a little nectar to draw the bees; hummingbirds are also very attracted to them.
Why does the sunflower face the sun? The reaction is called phototropism (light+movement). An internal hormone called Indole acetic acid regulates this process. IAA is the hormone in plants which stimulates cell growth and enlargement wherever it is located in the plant. It is very light-shy and very mobile within plants. At night it is all throughout the plant. In the morning it migrates to the shaded west side of the plant, causing the stem to stretch gradually to the east, and in the afternoon this reverses. This continues until the stems become woody.
Sunflowers are incredibly easy to grow in all climate zones! Plant in full sun. They germinate fastest in warm, loose soil. But seedlings can actually tolerate some frost, so in the Sacramento Valley seeds can be started as early as February and planted out in March. Or they can be sown directly in the ground as late as August.
For the tallest plants and biggest flowers, plant in April or May into soil you've enriched with compost and fertilizer, and water frequently. The standard variety for competitive size and maximum production of quality seeds is Russian Mammoth, a variety that's been around for over 140 years. But sunflowers can be planted into mid-summer for pretty flowers, for cutting, and for seed production, and don't require special soil or care. You can just leave the plants to make seed and topple over, and songbirds will thank you.
There are a couple of sunflower relatives worth mentioning, both very easy to grow in full sun and pretty much any soil. Helianthus multiflorus is a hardy perennial that can be grown in every climate zone in North America, with many-branched stems topped with 3-inch sunflowers. There is a double-flowered form. H. tuberosus is the Jerusalem artichoke. This common name mystifies me. It isn't from Jerusalem: it is native to eastern and central North America. And the part you eat doesn't look or taste anything like an artichoke. It is a starchy tuber with a texture like a potato and a slightly nutty flavor. The plant grows to 6'+, with bright yellow single sunflowers, and spreads – shall we say? – freely.

Sunflower
good mornin'.
You sure do make it like a sunny time.
Sun mornin'
good mornin'.
And some da child
I'm gonna make you mine. (repeat'and repeat'.and repeat'.)

You Can Grow That! for April

Check out all these great blog posts in the You Can Grow That! site for April! This is an informal project of writers, bloggers, independent garden center owners, and other garden enthusiasts.
http://wholelifegardening.com/blog/2012/04/04/garden-bloggers-you-can-grow-that-day-april-4/

Rosa banksiae, the Lady Banks Rose: You Can Grow That!

Walking the dogs down the county road at sunset, my son and I came to a stop to identify the fragrance that had suddenly surrounded us. If you’ve been to the county fair, you know the smell of cotton candy. If you had a grandmother that used violet water, you know that faint sweet scent. Put them together, and that was the invisible cloud we had just entered.
“What is that?” he asked.
“The Banks rose in the back yard,” I replied.
“But,” he said.
Yes, I know. The back yard is over five hundred yards away.

Many plants create compounds that volatilize under certain conditions; heat brings out the fragrance of lavender, Brugmansia and Cestrum nocturnum are only fragrant after dark. And many, like the Lady Banks rose, release their aroma at twilight.
You Can Grow That? Pretty much anyone, if living within the hardiness zones, can grow Rosa banksia. If they have enough room.

This is one unusual rose. No thorns. Evergreen. And it only blooms for about three weeks each year. But for those weeks the small blossoms are so abundant you can’t even see the foliage. It climbs by arching and clambering up, over fences, up into trees.
A single plant can cover thirty to forty feet of fence (mine does), or fully engulf a tree. In fact, the largest rose in the world is the Rosa banksia in Tombstone, Arizona, which covers over 8,000 square feet. But it can be pruned. One of my favorite examples is a specimen in downtown Davis (CA), across from Union Bank, which has been trained as a “tree” on two stakes, and has been severely pruned that way for as long as I can remember. It is being kept at about eight feet tall and broad!

The Sunset Western Garden Book tells us that it grows in Sunset Zones 4 – 34, and both zones in Hawai’i. In USDA parlance, that apparently equates to Zone 7a. So here in the Sacramento Valley (Sunset 8, 9 and 14; USDA 9) it is perfectly hardy.

There are three cultivars that I’ve seen, only two of which are in the trade, and not many wholesale growers produce the Lady Banks rose. You may have to search a bit for it.


Rosa banksiae ‘Alba’ is the white, double-flowered form. Flowers are showy, but fragrance is light (some might prefer that).

R. b. ‘Lutea’ has pale yellow, double flowers. It is more fragrant, and less common.


I have the white single-petaled cultivar, R. banksia normalis, which some references say “is believed to be the original wild form.” It is most fragrant of all, and very uncommon in the nursery trade. I got mine at a swap meet of heirloom rose growers in the 1980’s.


Note: a supposed variety called Snowflake has been in the trade for a couple of decades. It is a hybrid with another species, and is easily recognized by the thorns. True Lady Banks rose is thornless. The bloom habit is less abundant, but over a longer period, and it is not fragrant. If you’re expecting the profusion of Lady Banks, you’ll be disappointed. And the thorns are especially nasty.

For more on the Tombstone Rose: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/ezine.php?publicationID=654&js=0

You Can Grow That! is a grass-roots project of independent garden centers, garden bloggers and writers, and other plant professionals!

Bees and systemics: the smoking gun

Two new studies implicate systemics in bee problems
"Field Research on Bees Raises Concern About Low-Dose Pesticides
Erik Stokstad
Five years ago, bees made headlines when a mysterious condition called colony collapse disorder decimated honey bee colonies in parts of the United States. Now bees are poised to be in the news again, this time because of evidence that systemic insecticides, a common way to protect crops, indirectly harm these important pollinators. Two field studies reported online this week in Science document problems. In bumble bees, exposure to one such chemical leads to a dramatic loss of queens and could help explain the insects' decline. In honey bees, another insecticide interferes with the foragers' ability to find their way back to the hive. Researchers say these findings are cause for concern and will increase pressure to improve pesticide testing and regulation."

Don't apply systemic insecticides such as imidacloprid (Merit) to plants that are visited by bees.

Tomato season: just around the corner!

Tomato season is nearly upon us, and every year we get a new crop of gardeners wanting to grow America’s favorite vegetable.

Good news: we live in tomato country. The plants are very easy to grow here, we have a long growing season, and if you select the right variety you will get plenty of fruit. But a lot of folks are really jumping the gun, wanting to plant before the soil is warm. On Saturday a gentleman asked me, “isn’t it time to plant tomatoes?” He was wearing three layers of clothing and a wool hat. The temperature Saturday topped out at 50 degrees. The low was 37. We had a light frost a little over a week ago (March 19). The soil temperature, according to the Davis weather station, is at 53 degrees.

So my answer to him was No. Are you wearing shorts in the garden yet? That’s a good indicator. Put on your shorts (if you’re modest), go out and sit on the garden bed. Uncomfortable? The plants will be too.

Tomatoes prefer a soil temperature of 70 degrees! We usually achieve that when nights are 50 – 55 degrees and daytime temperatures are in the 70’s for several days in a row. By the calendar, that is usually late April at the earliest. You can plant anytime through June with good results here.

What happens if you plant too early?
The plants sulk and don’t grow. Leaves turn purplish, due to nutrient deficiencies caused by cold soil. If there is rain, and if the plants had any fungus infection, it spreads rapidly from leaf to leaf. Snails, slugs, and earwigs eat leaves. In short, you are planting your tender greenhouse-grown seedling into a hostile environment. Ultimately it may recover and grow when temperatures warm up. But a later-planted seedling that goes into warm soil will give better results.
Nevertheless, there are benches full of tomato seedlings at every garden shop now. So if you do buy some baby plants, keep them up close to the house where the building can provide some warmth. Check those nighttime temperatures. Amend your soil now with compost.

Select the right variety? Don’t they all do well here?
Nearly all tomatoes grow vigorously in the Sacramento Valley. Getting leafy tops is not a problem. But not all produce fruit reliably. A few varieties are more heat sensitive, meaning that the blossoms fall off without producing fruit when daytime temperatures are above about 85 degrees. For that reason, we do not recommend any of the Beefsteak varieties (Beefsteak, Beefmaster, Supersteak) or the heirloom Brandywine tomatoes. The plants grow to 8 to 10 feet, and produce 3 to 4 fruit total. Very disappointing.

What should I look for when buying plants?
Deep green color. It’s not a problem to buy tall, even overgrown tomato plants. Avoid plants with spots on the leaves, as they may be infected with early blight fungus. I pick off flowers, if any, when I plant because I want the plant’s energy to go into growth, not fruit production, in its first weeks. A note about spots: I have seen some plants with bleached-looking blotches on the leaves. Those came out of the greenhouse and got stressed by cold weather. They will recover.

Which ones do grow and produce well?
There are over a hundred varieties of tomatoes available to choose from at local stores. As a generalization, hybrids yield more heavily, and heirloom tomatoes have more interesting fruit. So a mix of hybrids and heirlooms gives the best results. Try some tried and true varieties, and experiment.

What is an heirloom? A hybrid? Are any of them GMO’s?
Heirloom varieties are older varieties that have been handed down for generations. They are open-pollinated, meaning that (with care to avoid cross-pollination) you could save the seed. Most heirlooms have some special character. That could include interesting color, less-acid flavor, meatier or juicier fruit. Often they are regional: the Brandywine heirloom varieties come from Brandywine region of Pennsylvania, where they are well adapted.
Cross-pollinating certain parent plants, to get seedlings with the desirable characteristics of the parents, creates hybrid tomatoes. Disease resistance, higher yield, extra flavor and color, more compact habit. Seedlings grown from fruit of hybrids will not come true.
No tomato varieties that you buy are genetically modified in the sense of having genes inserted into them. Hybrid or not, they aren’t GMO’s.

Do the heirlooms taste better?
Many have special flavor. But hybrid tomatoes often win blind taste trials as well. Early Girl, a popular hybrid variety that is especially well adapted here, scores very high. Flavor is most affected by how you water. Deep, infrequent watering concentrates the flavor of any variety.

Do they need special food?
Don’t over-fertilize tomato plants! We have rich soil here. Too much nitrogen leads to too much top growth and poorer fruit production. My preference is to turn in a planting compost that contains some organic source of fertilizer at the time of planting. That’s all I use. If you use a fertilizer, lower-nitrogen types are best. The first number on the bag should be less than 10, such as 4-5-3 or 5-5-5.

How much sun do they need?
Tomatoes yield best in full sun. Half-day sun can work, but at least four to six hours is preferred. If you have more shade than sun, consider a cherry or sauce tomato. Or look for the new hybrid called Shady Lady, which produces a surprisingly large crop of large, flavorful fruit in less sun than most others need.

Should I plant them deeper in the ground?
Yes. We don’t do this with other plants, but tomatoes benefit from deep planting. They will send out roots from the nodes (where the leaves are) and get a better root system.

You said they get eight feet tall?! Don’t they run all over the ground?
The tomato plant is a vine. A few shorter varieties exist. Those are called “determinate,” and they only grow to 4 feet or so. All others get 6 to 8 feet or bigger, and they will run all over the place if you don’t stake or cage them. Techniques vary. For example, a single stake on each plant, to which you continue tying the plant until mid-summer. Better is a metal cage made from concrete wire, anchored securely, which the plant fills up. You reach in to pick the fruit.

Some favorite hybrid varieties.
o I always plant Early Girl hybrid for reliable yield and excellent flavor.
o For production for processing, I do one of the reliable vigorous hybrids such as Champion or Better Boy. Mortgage Lifter and Stupice (pronounced Stew-peach) are high-yielding heirlooms.
o For sauce and salsa, I wouldn’t be without Juliet hybrid.
o For people to nibble in the garden, the most popular cherry tomato ever is the orange-fruited, tangy-flavored SunGold hybrid.
Some of my favorite heirlooms include:
o Abraham Lincoln is becoming a favorite, with deep red fruit, high yields, and rich flavor.
o Costoluto Genovese, an Italian variety with large, meaty, fluted fruit. This one yields exceptionally well for me and has become one of our favorites.
o Pineapple. Very large yellow fruit are striped with red, very sweet; the plant is very productive. Lemon Boy is a yellow hybrid with high yields and good flavor.
o Plant a striped or purple variety, just for interest. Mr. Stripey, Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, are good examples.
o Caspian Pink and Giant Belgian are very large-fruited heirlooms (fruit often over 1 lb each) that have given good yields some years. They are very sweet.
o Red Currant and Yellow Pear are small-fruited heirlooms popular with kids. Very high-yielding!
o Try something you’ve never heard of! You may find a new family favorite.

What about peppers and eggplants?
Don’t plant them in cold soil. Plants that go in too early never yield as well as those that are put into warm soil later in the season. May is best.

Tomatoes are subtropical plants! When it feels subtropical, go ahead and plant your garden. Meanwhile, keep the seedlings warm, get your garden ready, and start collecting recipes.

Charts of tomato (and pepper) varieties can be found on our website at redwoodbarn.com


Click on link for pictures:

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is a good all-purpose red heirloom tomato. Good yield, excellent flavor.

Costoluto Genovese
Costoluto Genovese: our family’s favorite heirloom! Big fluted fruit, beautiful color, rich flavor, and very meaty. This heirloom gives me good yields consistently.

Juliet
Juliet hybrid is prolific! The plants produces well over a hundred small, pear-shaped meaty fruit. Freeze them whole, use in salads, salsas, and sauces. Or just eat right off the vine.

Lemon Boy
Lemon Boy is a yellow hybrid tomato. Medium-size fruit is abundant. The skin is a little tougher than other yellow types, so it hold up better in bad weather.

Pineapple
Pineapple is a beautiful heirloom tomato, yellow with a red blush and often with red streaks in the skin and flesh. It has a sweet, very large fruit, and reasonable yield. The thin skin is somewhat vulnerable to weather damage.

Shady Lady
Shady Lady is a new hybrid tomato that produces well with less sunlight than other varieties. Determinate type, meaning the plant gets to only 3 to 4 feet tall. Excellent flavor and yield.

Sungold
Sungold hybrid cherry tomato has become a garden favorite. It produces hundreds of golden fruit, with rich, tangy, sweet flavor.

January's Davis Enterprise column: choosing trees to reduce water use.