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December Newsletter

December 9, 2000 

The newsletter devoted to plant enthusiasts!

Volume 2    Issue 47

In this issue

· Citrus Part I

· Did You Know?

· Helpful Tip from a Reader

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If we can help with a gardening or tropical plant question, drop us an email to: driftwoodgardens@juno.com 

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Citrus Part I

Have you ever dreamed of picking your very own oranges in the middle of December from your own tree? Citrus plants can make the perfect tropical houseplant and are really not hard to grow at all.

Citrus, an often overlooked plant for the home garden can make a really neat houseplant as well. Usually considered a shrub, some citrus can become trees, like the grapefruit and orange. They are often times thorny, but their lustrous greenery and fruitful rewards are well worth the effort to grow them.

Citrus was, at one time, used as medicinal plants in ancient India and were the favored and prized plants grown by Louis XIV. Christopher Columbus brought them to the Old World from his many travels.

A citrus plant can be one of the most rewarding to grow and some have even been used in Bonsai culture. They are a low maintenance, evergreen and come in a wide range of varieties from the common orange to hybrids (Tangelo) to some of the lesser known types like the Pummelo. They are perfect for container gardening and can grace your deck in the summer and then add color to a room in your house during the winter. I have had a Blood Orange tree for several years and this year it gave me some of the tastiest oranges I have ever eaten. Click here for pictures. www.driftwoodgardens.com/orangetree.htm

There are, of course varying requirements needed for different varieties, but generally speaking, the lowest temperature they should be grown at is 55° F and the highest should not be over 100° F for very long. They thrive at a temperature range of 70° F - 85° F. The flowers are usually white and are highly scented and can easily fill a room with their sweet smell. They will need periodic fertilizing with manure or a low nitrogen, high phosphate fertilizer mix about three times a year until they reach three years old then two time a year will do.

Most Citrus are propagated by grafting to a standard rootstock, like Carrizo, in order to keep the desired characteristics of the parent tree. But seeds can often be successful and can produce some surprising results with possible new desired characteristics developed. Known as nucellar embryony, one seed can often produce two seedlings. One will be identical to the parent plant and the other will have the characteristics of both parent plants. This phenomenon is also known as apomixes. Basically, one embryo is a fertilized egg and in the other, the cells develop into a viable embryo without fertilization.

Next week: Part II - a special propagating technique for your citrus growing.

If you are interested in trying your luck at growing a citrus tree, just respond to this newsletter and we will send you five citrus seeds of our choice free! (Offer ends when supply is exhausted. So first come first serve.) Be sure to send your shipping address in your email.

Coming soon- another winter project, the Pomegranate, more from Jon Valley and much more!

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If you have an article you would like to have considered for our newsletter please contact us. We would love to hear from you! Just reply to this newsletter for info and let us know about your idea.

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Did You Know?

· A book called The Book of Agriculture written by Arab botanist Ibn Bassal contained a list of exotic plants that were growing in their time. Trees included bananas and citrus. This book was written in 1080.

· Citrus trees were thought to be growing in a monastery near Meaux of France in the 600’s and it is thought that these trees were brought by the Romans.

· Orange trees were over-wintered in sheds, warmed with coal fires in the South of Whales in 1537.

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A Readers Tip

This is the simplistic, non-high tech, no fuss method of rooting roses. I have used this method with roses and just about any other type of plant I start from cuttings. It rarely fails for me.

You will need cuttings, pots of soil, labels and water.

Take your cuttings after a good rain, or after they've been watered well, so they have a good supply of water to start with. Give them a soak in a bucket, too, so they are really nice and plump.

Remove the bottom leaves, so that at least the bottom two nodes are bare, and there are two or three leaf clusters remaining. Poke the cutting into your soil and water well. Mark the variety.

I water every single day, moistening the leaves and wetting the soil good. Only on rainy days do I skip. I keep my cuttings on a bench under a tree, where they get only dappled light all day.

You can use hormones to help kick them into high gear toward rooting, if you like. I rarely do for roses. When I first start them, I poke a lot into one pot, and then pot them on individually after they've rooted in 5 or 6 weeks to allow them to size up.

That really is it. Not much to it, just watching them, watering them and waiting until they are mature enough to move into the garden.

Happy Growing!

Jaclyn Crawford

Special thanks to Jaclyn for this gardening tip!

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We are looking for article contributors. Put your plant growing experience to work! If you would like to contribute a one time, or occasional article please reply to this newsletter with contributor in the subject heading for guidelines. We would live to hear from you! You don’t have to be an expert! Just someone who loves plants!

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Refer a friend! And if you like, feel free to forward this letter on to your friends.  

Copyright © [Driftwood Gardens] December 9, 2000. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher. It may, however, be forwarded, in its entirety, to whom you choose as a referral. 

Thanks for reading!

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December 16, 2000

 The newsletter devoted to plant enthusiasts! 

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Volume 2 Issue 48

In this issue

· Citrus Part II

· Special Note

· Winter Project – Growing Pomegranates

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If we can help with a gardening or tropical plant question, drop us an email to: 

driftwoodgardens@juno.com 

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Citrus Part II by Dale Johnson

Last week we looked at the basics in growing a citrus tree. If you do decide to grow one or two trees and the variety turns out to be a strong grower and the fruit produces well, you may want to reproduce that exact same tree to carry on all of its genetic characteristics to another tree.

A tree about 3 feet or more with multiple branches will do just fine for this propagating technique, as long as the tree can afford to lose a branch. Pick out a healthy branch or stem. Take a clean, sharp knife, ( you may want to sterilize it in a 1 to 5 ratio of bleach water) and cut a one inch incision several inches up from the joint to the main trunk.

Soften up a clump of sphagnum moss and wrap it around the incision. Seal up the moss with some plastic wrap and tie both ends up with a wire tie or string. You will now need to cut off the light source to encourage new roots to form, so wrap some foil around the plastic wrap. This moss has a natural fungus inhibitor and will work very well for the future root development and help to ensure their health.

Pull back the foil from time to time and check for root growth. When you see a nice clump of roots, cut the branch from the tree and plant in a pot with soil-less mix and keep moist. It is very important to not let these new roots dry out or let the plant wilt. Also keep out of hot suns or bright lights. Moderate light to shade will do nicely. Before you know it you will have another beautiful tree and if you are lucky and the tree lives up to its potential, you may have your winters brightened up by the fresh colors and tastes of its fruit.

Click here for pictures. www.driftwoodgardens.com/orangetree.htm 

Coming soon- more from Jon Valley!

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If you have an article you would like to have considered for our newsletter please contact us. We would love to hear from you! Just reply to this newsletter for info and let us know about your idea.

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 We hope you have enjoyed the newsletter this year and we look forward to next year. Thanks for reading!

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Winter Project – Growing Pomegranates by Patty Johnson

Are the winter blues settling in, but you realize that winter has really yet to begin? The kids are home for a school break and are excited for Christmas and are really, really bored. What are you to do? Well, when the gifts are wrapped and the all the baking is done and you have an extra hour or two, bring a little spring back into the house. Let the kids have a little messy fun with this project, and you will have fun too, and in the process you will instill a little bit of the plant growing bug to the next generation of future plant enthusiasts.

The next time you are at the supermarket pick up a pomegranate in the produce section. We have them, here, most of the year. If you didn’t eat them as a child, they look kind of like a dry red skinned onion with a pointed top. They are generally round and are hard to the touch. You will need only one. There are so many seeds in one that you will have more than enough to plant and eat at the same time. It is, after all, the flesh around the seeds that are so tasty and the seeds themselves or flesh of the fruit should not be eaten.

Set up a few pots and fill to about three-quarters full, with a high quality soil-less mix. Moisten it down and fill again if necessary. Now the fun begins. Cut the pomegranate in half and let the kids scoop out the seeds. Don’t forget to let them taste a few. This part is very messy so you might want to lay down newspapers beforehand. The fruit oozes out a lot of red fluid, but the kids will love the mess.

Plant the seeds on top of the soil and cover with another half inch of mix and then water. Place the pots, in a sunny window, at a constant room temperature. In no time at all, usually about two weeks, little sprouts will emerge. Success! You and the kids will feel a sense of accomplishment at growing something truly exotic and ancient and yet so easy.

Pomegranate trees originated in Persia and are one of the oldest cultivated plant. They grow very shrub-like and will bloom large, scarlet red flowers. They do very well as a container plant. If you get one to fruit, pick the fruit when it turns red and don’t leave on the tree too long or it will split open. You can grow outdoors in zones 8-10. Otherwise grow in full sun in well drained soil. This is a deciduous tree, so expect it to loose its leaves. It will flower all summer long and will bring much enjoyment to you in you gardening experience.

For pictures of the process and little seedlings, click below.

www.driftwoodgardens.com/rainforestpomegranate.htm 

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We are looking for article contributors. Put your plant growing experience to work! If you would like to contribute a one time, or occasional article please reply to this newsletter with contributor in the subject heading for guidelines. We would live to hear from you! You don’t have to be an expert! Just someone who loves plants!

________________________________________________________________

Refer a friend! And if you like, feel free to forward this letter on to your friends. Just hit the forward button in your e-mail program.

Copyright © [Driftwood Gardens] December 16, 2000. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher. It may, however, be forwarded, in its entirety, to whom you choose as a referral.

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © [ Driftwood Gardens - ] May 1998-2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher.    

Unless otherwise noted all photos are taken by Dale Johnson or Jon Valley and are Copyright © [Dale Johnson - Driftwood Gardens - Summers Seeds] All rights reserved. No picture may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher.