Bush Tucker, Billabongs and Billy Tea Tour Links

Brachychiton rupestris, the Australian bottle tree -source of water for hunters. 

I'd like to thank everybody who showed up for the Bush Tucker, Billabongs and Billy Tea tour. We had two great tour groups and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for everybody, myself included.

Here are some links to sights that can help you start building your own bush tucker garden:

Plum pine page on Daley's Fruit site (a nursery devoted to bushtucker fruits) Plum Pine or Brown Pine - Podocarpus elatus,

Also an intro to Australian bush foods from that same nursery: Bush Foods Australia

Burdekin Plum (a bush tucker fruit that grows well here in Southern California) SGAP(Qld) - Bush Tucker - Burdekin Plum

A guide to Australian bushtucker - Telegraph

Aboriginal bush foods - Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust - Sydney, Australia

Video of 80's Australian TV series 'Bush Tucker Man', the inspiration for 'Survivorman'; explores bush tucker both plant and animal: Bushtucker man

In our library we have:

• The Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation
• Australian Plants

Australian grass tree. 

Bush Tucker, Billabongs and Billy Tea

Bush Tucker, Billabongs and Billy Tea

Bush Tucker, Billabongs and Billy Tea

Low Water Gardening Links

On Thursday March 20th I'm giving a talk about low water use gardening. Here are some links for the topics I'm going to cover:

Native American Foods:

A Fall Field Guide: Foraging for Nuts - Nature and Community - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Acorn Eating: A Santa Barbara Tradition | Fall 2012

How to Collect, Process and Store Acorns and Acorn Flour | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

doczine.com/bigdata/1/1365559287_0b6a10bf03/acorns_and_eatem.pdf

Acorn Breakfast Recipe

Reflective Mulches:

Reflective Red Mulch Film - Tomato Plant Gardening Supplies at Burpee.com

Viagrow 25 ft. Mylar 2 mil Reflective Film-VMY130 at The Home Depot

Hydroponic Systems and Self-Watering (wick) Pots:

Viagrow Hydroponic Black Bucket Deep Water System (4-Pack)-V4DWC at The Home Depot

Eco Growing Systems 746125 6-Pack Growing System

Autopot 4 Pot System | eBay

Build Your Own EarthBox-Like Self-Watering Planters

Flora-Flow All-in-One Mat RED : Home Gardens

Opuntia

Recipe for Grilled Nopales

Bombs Away? Nooooooo!

Q. My Fucraea plant has dropped hundreds of little bombs during the last rains –what can I do with them? It seems a shame to waste them

The bombs you mention are the way the Fucraea reproduces –in time each of them can form a mature Fucreae –let’s look at the possibilities and which one is most compatible with the environment:

1.     Plant them around your property

a.         Only works if you have room for the 40+ foot plant –of course since the Fucraea that is producing the plantlets is going to die sometime in the near future you have at least one place to plant one of them.

b.         You’ll be looking at the same problem 40-60 years from now.

2.     Pot them and…

a.           Sell them as house plants

                                                    i.     Fucraea are full sun plants and only those in sunny windows will survive

a.     They get quite large and may quickly outgrow the spots they are placed in

b.     They require much better air circulation than most indoor areas provide

b.           Sell them as outdoor landscape plants

                                                    i.     Better option than 2a but you would require a retail nursery license in order to do so.

3.     Plant them surreptitiously on public and private land

a.           Most Fucraea do not scale well to what is considered ‘classic’ guerilla gardening

b.           Trespassing is illegal

4.     Compost them and:

a.           Mulch them around your replacement Fucraea

                                                    i.     Returns Fucraea specific nutrients to the soil

                                                   ii.     Creates a look that is similar to what surrounds Fucreae in the wild.  

b.           Mulch other plants with them

                                                    i.     Fucreae seedlings are quite fibrous, and their persistence may look ‘trashy’

                                                   ii.     There is a small chance that they might exhibit a degree of ‘alellopathy’, a property whereby the decaying foliage of some plants and trees is toxic to plants and germinating seeds.

5.     Toss them in the trash

a.           Noooooooo...

Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer Links

PSHB Online Resources

UCR PSHB Page

CISR: Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources PSHB Page

Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer - Pest and Disease Threats to Southern California Oaks

Don't Move Firewood Page on PSHB -Contains Native and Non-native Host List

Polyphagous shot hole borer | Don't Move Firewood

California Avocado Page on PSHB

Identifying the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer Beetle | California Avocado Commission

Article on Initial Public Conference on PSHB Held at UCR in August of 2012

Have you seen a Polyphagous shot hole borer lately? - Green Blog - ANR Blogs

UCR Power Point Presentation on Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

caforestpestcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/Polyphagous-Shot-Hole-Borer-update.pdf

UCR Today (UCR's online magazine) Article on PSHB -Includes Host List

UCR Today: New Invasive Beetle-fungus Complex Found in Riverside and San Diego Counties

UCR Page about Redbay Ambrosia Beetle

CISR: Redbay Ambrosia Beetle and Laurel Wilt

Study Group for Fungal-beetle Symbiosis

Ambrosia Symbiosis

Article on Native Bark and Ambrosia Beetles

essig.berkeley.edu/documents/cis/cis16.pdf

Infrared Imaging Trade Group Page's Article on Thermal Detection of Insects

IR Thermography for the Pest Management Professional

Pine Trees At The Arboretum

Map of pines at the L.A. Arboretum. 

Killer Parasitic Plant Found on California Pepper Trees

About a week ago I got an email from some volunteers at a local park. They had dodder on their trees and needed to know how to control it. I asked them to send some pictures of the infestation, and I was quite surprised when I received them. Heaps of dodder vine were actually killing the tops of the trees. After doing some research on dodder I was made aware of Japanese dodder, a vine that threatens to become the Kudzu of California. It is what amounts to a super dodder and is considered a real threat to California agriculture. I had to check it out for myself so I visited the park. 

When I got there I was not disappointed; the amount of dodder on the trees was exceptional (see the pictures below).  I obtained some of the plant to try to identify. 

Turns out dodder is real tough to identify, especially if the minute whitish flowers are dry -as the ones on my specimen were. Still I was able to determine that this dodder was not the Japanese dodder due to the shape of the inflorescence (a typical Japanese dodder inflorescence is pictured here) and the fact that stems on the Japanese dodder can be 1/4 pencil thickness or better. 

Cuscuta sp.(dodder) massing on top of California pepper tree. Notice the dead and dying branches where the dodder is most concentrated. 

California pepper (Schinus molle) with substantial dodder infestation. the dodder appears as a golden mass at the top of the tree. 

Notice the thread-like dodder vines massing around the dying California pepper branches. 

Close up of dodder on pepper tree, notice dead branches in the background. 

Closeup of dodder from the pepper tree -notice the leaf in the middle of the picture; the dodder vine that seems to be laying on top of it as actually attached to it and has sucked the life out of it. 

Close up of dodder flowers -the flowers on the dodder vines were all dry -making them impossible to identify positively. However I was able to determine that the plant in question was not the dangerous Japanese dodder -its inflorescence is much different looking. 

Some Links for the Valentines' Day 'Love Potions' Tour

I'd like to thank everybody who took the 'Love Potion' tour this last Valentine's Day. It was a huge success and everybody was real enthusiastic -a great audience and I was privileged to be a part of the whole thing. Some people were asking that I post whatever references I had for the tour and so here are some of them -I'll post more at a later date.   Cheers,   Frank Promegranate (Punica granatum) https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/StudiaAntiqua/article/viewFile/11992/11932 http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pomegranate.html Olive (Olea europa) http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop../janick-papers/fruits-bible.pdf http://faculty.wwu.edu/~zaferan/Ithaca%20Curriculum/agriculture/Sustainable%20Agriculture%20-%20Olive%20Oil.pdf Peaches (Prunus persica) http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Peach https://ia600504.us.archive.org/17/items/mythslegendsoffl00skin/mythslegendsoffl00skin_djvu.txt Apple (Malus domestica) http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/apple_genomics/folklore.html Mulberry (Morus sp.) http://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/cmes.arizona.edu/files/The%20Love%20Story%20of%20Pyramus%20and%20Thisbe.pdf https://ia600504.us.archive.org/17/items/mythslegendsoffl00skin/mythslegendsoffl00skin_djvu.txt Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) http://ucanr.edu/sites/uc_master_gardeners/files/154651.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary http://aromaticamedica.tripod.com/id23.html Mango (Mangifera indica) http://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/conservatory/cpage3.html” Banana (Musa sp.) "In Russia, when a man peels a banana for a lady it means he has a romantic interest in her." http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article01.htm Orchidaceae Meaning & symbolism of the orchid

http://www.teleflora.com/orchids/flowers-plant-info/orchid-detail.asp Vanilla planifolia http://www.orchidsaustralia.com/vanilla.htm

Ivy (Hedera sp.)

http://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/conservatory/cpage3.html

           

Silk Tree (Ceiba pentandra)

http://www.ateccr.org/index.php/tours/description/farm_tours/

Symbolic Meanings of Herbs, Flowers and Trees

http://www.almanac.com/content/meaning-flowers

http://languageofflowers.com/

Myths and legends of flowers, trees, fruits, and plants : in all ages and in all climes (1911)

https://archive.org/stream/mythslegendsoffl00skin

https://archive.org/details/mythslegendsoffl00skin

Lotus

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Fi-Go/Flowers-in-Mythology.html#ixzz2pU4Ew9fA

PLANT MYTHS & TRADITIONS IN INDIA

http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/shaktigupta.pdf

Plants in Shakespeare’s Words

http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Plants

Plumeria

http://www.allthingsfrangipani.com/frangipanis.html#

Plant & animal symbolism

http://www.symbolart.com/symbols.html

The Unseen Arboretum (Amazing Images)

Recently the FLIR corporation was kind enough to lend us one of their thermal imagers in order to determine if they could detect the level infestation of a new and dangerous pest here, the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer. The images produced by the machine, a FLIR T440, are amazing. At night the trees seem to glow (even though the temperature differences are small, the coloration that is done by the FLIR camera highlights them dramatically).  Initial analysis of the images seem show a correlation between the images and infestation levels of the pest. 

A FLIR T440 image of shot hole borer infested oak trees -the differing colors on the trunks are due to temperature differences. 

The spots on this oaks' trunk may be due to shot hole borer activity. 

At night the trees at the Arboretum glow in the eyes of the FLIR T440 thermal camera. 

The bright yellow color indicates hotter areas then those areas showing orange or purple. 

A liquidambar tree in the Meadowbrook section as seen through the eyes of the imager.  

Trees on Tallac knoll as seen through the FLIR T440.

Fugly Tumorous Ball Found on Aloe

 

Fugly Tumorous Ball -What is It?

Sometimes nature throws us a curve ball, and sometimes it can literally look like a ball -a ball of pure 100% ugly. Such is the case with this wild looking tumorous mass of tissue found growing on an aloe plant here. Turns out it's the end result of an infestation of a mite, Aceria aloinis, which injects a hormone like compound into the aloe that causes it to grown in a deformed manner. This is good for the mite because it can hide from predators in these convoluted growths, and in addition they are protected from most 'natural' insect sprays like soap and horticultural oil because the sprays cannot penetrate into these twisted masses of plant material. I'll be working to control this monster (actually the mite is no larger then a couple hundredths of an inch) in the coming month so I'll report back to you on what works for it.

Fiorinia pinicola Scale found on Podocarpus Here.

Podocarpus are stalwart mainstays of landscaping here in Southern California. Their evergreen, feathery foliage does duty as both a standalone tree and a thick, 20-30 foot privacy hedge. One of their best traits is their relative freedom from pests -still there are a few, including this one that was brought to my attention.

I'd never seen it before so I sent it to Gevork Arakelian, entomologist for the County of Los Angeles Agricultural Commissioner's office. Turns out it's a type of scale from asia known as 'Juniper Fiorinia Scale' (Fiorinia pinacola). It's so far nothing to worry about -if it gets out of hand just use soap or oil spray.

Fiorinia pinacola on Podocarpus

Fiorinia pinacola on Podocarpus

Drought Emergency Coming

I looks like Gov. Jerry Brown is going to declare a drought emergency pretty soon.  Stay tuned to find out just what this means for Southern California gardeners.

Aloe Aphids



Over the last several years we've noticed some of our aloes have been showing disfigured leaves and leaf die-back starting from just below the first several new leaves. Turns out this is the Aloe aphid. It has been in California and Florida for at at least the last several years and may be tough to control. I'll update later when we find out how to control this thing.

Aloe leaf showing signs of aloe aphid; notice leaf rotting from bacteria introduced by aphid feeding activity.

Aloe aphids clustered near upper attachment point on aloe leaf.

Closeup of aphids.

Higher power closeup of aphids.

Aloe aphid images courtesy of the Patrick Marquez, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer in the News!

Looks like television news is starting to discover how bad PSHB is. 

Scale on Ginkgo, Keeping Peacocks Away from Seedbeds, Bright Red Japanese Wax Plant, Blooming Paperwhites, Dueling Plant Guys

Scale on Ginkgo Leaves

A landscape designer and consultant brought this one in; it's Ginkgo biloba leaves coated with scale. Any other time of year this would be met by an immediate call to Gevork Arkelian over at the Agriculture Commissioner's office but not now -Ginkgo is a deciduous tree and, like all other deciduous tree, is losing its leaves. Right before the leaves drop they're susceptible to all kinds of infestations, most of which are not a concern because soon they will be gasping their last as the leaf they are attached to falls to the ground and rots away. 

Possible Red scale on Ginkgo leaves. 

'Wildflowering' Display is Planted

The artist collaboration 'Wildflowering L.A.' consists of several sights around the city devoted to planted displays California native wildflowers.  Our contribution has been planted and if you go there you will notice our Peacock avoidance strategy -ribbons of bright reflective mylar tied to posts. This seems to be working pretty good for keeping peacocks away. The Canada geese are another story; they're kept at bay with a stylized coyote sculpture that is moved at least once a day. 

Wildflowering L.A. Display

Brilliant Color Change on Japanese Wax Tree 

The Japanese wax tree (Toxicodendron succedanea) is an unassuming small tree located in the Asian, North American section. It really shines in the fall when its leaves turn the most brilliant red of any tree in the Arboretum. Be carefull however, if the genus name of this plant sounds familiar it is; Toxicodendron is the genus name for poison oak and ivy, and yes, if you touch these beautiful leaves the next red thing you will be the itching, oozing rash where you were exposed to it. 

Japanese wax tree. 

Paperwhites in the Meadowbrook section. 

Garden Show Host Nick Federoff Taping Segments Here at the Arboretum

I was honored to meet PBS garden show host Nick Federoff when he was filming for his show here at the Arboretum. Nick's been a perennial garden show host starting back in 1988 when he started his now nationwide syndicated live question and answer show.

I show Nick Federoff what would happen if he ever strays on my turf again.

An Autumn Evening at the Arboretum

New Pest on Fan Palm?

Small pest that is causing the leaves to be disfigured and coated with a white waxy layer can be seen in this photo.

Sometimes it gets exciting around here (at least for a plant pathologist-botanist like myself). A client brought a sample of a frond from his Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops humilis)with a pest that I have not seen before. A cursory search of the Internet turned up palm aphid, but this pest did not look like the adult form. I'm going to send these photos to the Ag. commissioners  office and find out what they know.

UPDATE

I've checked with palm expert Don Hodel at the Los Angeles Agricultural Extension offices and it turns out that the white substance is not from the aphid but from the palm. The pest in question may be a palm aphid, and is mostly harmless to the plant. 

Notice waxy coating and disfigured fronds.

Small pest -it could be a white fly, aphid or scale...or something else.

Another closeup of the waxy coating left by the pest and the pest itself (small spots on the leaves).

In Plant Information Class Today We Looked at Color, LED's, Fractals and More...

For those who attended Plant Information class today here's a list of the links I mentioned and some I didn't mention as well:

Feng Shui and Garden Design:

Feng shui garden design may be good way to design a relaxing garden:

6 Easy Steps to Feng Shui Garden Design

baguaMap1.jpg (400×400)

Residential-Bagua-Map1.jpg (640×480)

...but just keep in mind the concept that we are prey and like to see what can sneak up on us and you've got a lot of what feng shui is about. 

New Outdoor LED Lighting and Gardens:

Outdoor lights have come a long way since the low powered 'Malibu Lights' of the past. Right now chinese factories are pumping out all kinds of outdoor LED lights, including spot lights, string lights, LED fluorescent lights etc. and their varied spectrums and energy saving properties now make outdoor lighting almost environmentally responsible (attention still has to be paid to observatory obsoleting light pollution and possible plant and algae growth considerations, but at least these don't rule out LED lights altogether, they just mean you have to pay attention to the wavelength of light coming from them -something that's easy to do with most LED's discrete wavelengths). Check out these links below to examples of LED's used in landscaping and companies offering LED outdoor lighting. 

Interior. Beautiful Minimalist Garden House Interior Design: Glowing Blue Colored Fences For Garden House ~ Ciiwa

led landscape lighting - Google Search

Lee Eunyeol’s Stunning LED Landscapes Light Up the Night Starry Night by Lee Eunyeol - Gallery Page 4 – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

LED Light Bulbs, LED Lighting, LED T8 Fluorescent Tubes - LED Liquidators Inc.

CabLED 6 ft. Indoor/Outdoor LED Ribbon Light Starter Kit-S008K35HW-A0-A1 at The Home Depot

Outdoor Led Ribbon Lights, Outdoor Led Ribbon Lights Products, Outdoor Led Ribbon Lights Suppliers and Manufacturers at Alibaba.com

Accent - LED Landscape Lighting

Fractal Garden Design:

Something that's not been used much in garden design but should be are fractal based designs. Check out the links below for some fractal gardening ideas, including Arthur C. Clarke's explanation of fractals and several pages showing fractal generated landscapes. 

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation | That's How The Light Gets In

Fractal Gardens Can Be Rolled and Arranged into Infinite Patterns | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

▶ Weird planet II - Amazing 3D fractal landscape - YouTube

Purity Ring - Lofticries - Fractal Landscape - YouTube

▶ Crazy Fractal Worlds - Terrain Rendering 3 - YouTube

Fractals in Nature - YouTube

Fractals - Hunting The Hidden Dimension [Full - Hd 720p] - YouTube

Deepest Mandelbrot Set Zoom Animation ever - a New Record! 10^275 (2.1E275 or 2^915) - YouTube

Arthur C Clarke - Fractals - The Colors Of Infinity - YouTube

Imaginary Voyages Pt 7 Fractals and Soundscapes - YouTube

Imaginary Voyages Pt 4 Fractals and Soundscapes by Landscape Windscreen - YouTube

Deepest Mandelbrot Set Zoom Animation ever - a New Record! 10^275 (2.1E275 or 2^915) - YouTube

Color and Gardening:

The links below (especially the PBS video) are good primers on using color in the landscape. 

The Effect of Color (PBS Video)

Landscape Basics: Color Theory | CAES Publications | UGA

▶ The Garden Gurus - Psychology of Colour - YouTube

The Garden Gurus - Psychology of Colour - YouTube

Using Color in the Landscape

English vs. French Gardening:

Ever wonder why class-based Great Britain did not experience a class revolution like the French did? The answer might well be the type of garden design that became popular just after the French Revolution in England; the Parkland style -a style that incorporated the aristocracy's estate landscaping into that of the English countryside, thereby fostering a sense of stewardship rather than the feeling of ownership fostered by the 'outdoor room' style of French estate gardening in pre-revolution France. So...

...compare Lancelot 'Capability' Brown's Gardens:

▶ Sheffield Park Garden! USELESS TREES - YouTube

British Gardens: Stowe & Herstmonceux - YouTube

With that of the French emperor:

▶ Versailles, from gardens to Trianon palaces - YouTube

...which one would you feel more comfortable in (assuming you didn't own them).