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October 29, 2006
Rainfall Monitors Wanted for Northern Arizona
Master Gardener Column 10/28/06
Precipitation amounts can be highly variable across Northern Arizona due to topography and seasonal weather patterns. This is especially true during the monsoon season when thunderstorms can produce heavy storms that are often very localized. My gardening season came to an abrupt halt after my west-side garden was pummeled by an August storm. Downtown gardeners and those north and east of Flagstaff received rain but not the pounding hail storm that was centered right over my garden. I don’t know if my yard received more moisture than other parts of town but with all the damage, it sure seemed like it did!
Moisture variability and the resulting stories of gardening woes are a favorite topic of conversation for many gardeners. But as rainfall totals are officially recorded at the airport, most of us can only wonder how much rain actually fell on our part of town. Gardeners can now go to a University of Arizona web site www.rainlog.org to find an answer to the question “How much rain did my neighborhood get?”
If you have a rain gauge or are interested in obtaining one, you can join the rainlog project and add your own precipitation measurements to the web site. All one needs to participate is a rain gauge, access to the internet, and a willingness to report daily total rainfall amounts through an online data entry form.
Rainlog is a cooperative rainfall monitoring network for Arizona. It is managed by the university's SAHRA center (Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas) and collaborates with Cooperative Extension to track rainfall around the state. Data collected will be used for many projects such as watershed management activities and drought planning at local, county, and state levels.
Volunteer rain watchers interested in joining can register at the rainlog.org site. Enter your address and it will be translated into latitude and longitude for a map to pinpoint gauge locations. After a storm, record the moisture total, log on to the Web site and enter your observations. The Rainlog website displays a map that shows precipitation amounts across the region.
The site also has tips on selecting and installing rain gauges and information on how to collect high quality observations. There’s even a FAQ page to help you get started. And you can order a high quality rain gauge from the site for $12.
Not only will you by sharing your measurements with others, the localized precipitation measurements will give your a better idea of how long to irrigate. This is valuable tool for anyone concerned with water conservation. Those not interested in collecting data can still access the map and view precipitation totals.
Winter measurements are harder to make and will take time. Many rain gauges are not designed to measure snow and freezing rain as frozen precipitation can only be recorded after it melts into the gauge. This will result in a delay in or accuracy of the measurement, particularly after a big snow event. To learn how to take accurate moisture readings of snow, go to www.cocorahs.org and click on Snow.
The rainlog site includes data from over 400 rain gauges in Arizona. We currently have four rain loggers in the Flagstaff area.
I just ordered a rain gauge to place at the country extension office. It will be up and collecting moisture as soon as I find a spot to put it that’s not under a tree or overhang. After the next storm, you can see my readings on the site. As more rain monitors join rainlog.org, we will get a better idea of how precipitation levels differ across Northern Arizona.
By Hattie Braun
The author is the Master Gardener Program Coordinator for Coconino Cooperative Extension. For more information about the Master Gardener program, call 774-1868 ext. 17 or visit our website: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 7:56 PM
October 28, 2006
Make A Difference Day - Olivia White Hospice Home
On Saturday, October 28th, we had a large crew for "Make a Difference Day" in Flagstaff. Some of our regular crew who helped supervise included Karen Kent and Skye Sieber who drops by when she is available on Saturdays. Marilyn Pate the former Director of Northland Hospice brought a large crew of friends, and we had more than 10 volunteers from "Make a Difference Day" that included some young people from juvenile probation and Americorp.
Much was accomplished: weed wacking, painting a new greenhouse, staining and waterproofing benches, planting bulbs for spring, cutting back perennials for winter, taking trash to the city land fill, moving sand and aggregate out of the front garden and mulching.
Photos of some of the more than 25 volunteers that helped.
Thank you:
Master Gardeners Karen Kent and Skye Sieber for help supervising volunteers.
Marilyn Pate and friends for snacks, weed wacking, painting, planting bulbs, hauling trash and collecting worms for our new raised bed.
Leslie Pennick for getting us more mulch, compost, and pine needles.
New volunteer Paula for helping us winterize beds and helping Leslie get more mulch.
"Make a Difference Day" staff for getting us many volunteers to help with the heavy duty work of creating a new bed for our greenhouse, moving aggregate/sand, staining and planting bulbs.
A resident's grandchildren for helping to fill bird feeders.
We will be meeting once a month throughout the winter to plan for next year and create some more garden crafts for fundraising from the garden. Any master gardeners who need hours can get them by attending. If you want to join us please call me (522-8635) or e-mail. Our garden season will begin again sometime in April of 2007. Watch this site for updates.
Thank you all for your continuing support of the Olivia White Hospice Garden. Your donations of materials and labor are much appreciated.
"Seeds of discouragement will not grow in a thankful heart" Anonymous
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:14 PM
October 24, 2006
Highlands Garden Conference in Pinetop 10/13/06
The seventh annual Arizona Highland Garden Conference was held in Navajo County this year on Oct. 13-14 in Pinetop. One of the keynote speakers was David Salman, the owner and chief horticulturist of High Country Gardens. The talk like the catalog for High Country Gardens, was very practical. The topic was 'Creating a Colorful, Watewise Garden in the High Desert' and David Salman included some wonderful combination plantings for high country gardens. For those of you already thinking of spring planting and creating new low water gardens, I have attached his ideas. All the plants are available through the High Country Gardens catalog www.highcountrygardens.com. The combinations include 3 of my favorites - agastache, salvia and penstemon from the Olivia White Hospice Garden.
Herbaceous Perennial and Grass Combinations
Late Spring Blooming
1. Hymenoxys acaulis (Sundancer Daisy)
Scutellaria x ‘Violet Cloud’ (Hybrid Skullcap)
Salvia greggi ‘Furman’s Red’ (‘Furman’s Red’ Texas Sage)
2. Eriogonum umbellatum (Sulfer Buckwheat)
Penstemon pinifolius (Pineleaf Beardtongue)
Penstemon hallii (Hall’s Beardtongue)
3. Penstemon palmeri (Palmer’s Beardstongue)
Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mt. Penstemon)
Stipa hymenoides ‘Nezpar’(Indian Rice Grass)
4. Salvia dorri (Blue Desert Sage)
Yucca harrimaniae (Dollhouse Yucca)
Penstemon psuedospectabilis (Desert Beardtongue)
Summer Blooming
1. Salvia x ‘Raspberry Delight’ (‘Raspberry Delight’ Hybrid Bush Sage)
Zinnia acerosa (White Flowered Bush Zinnia)
Opuntia basilaris (Beavertail Cactus)
2. Blepharoneuron tricholepis (Mountain Mist Grass)
Callirhoe involucrate v. tenuisecta (Mexican Poppy Mallow)
Calylophus hartwegii v. lavandulaefolius (Sun Drops)
3. Liatris punctata (Prairie Gayfeather)
Zinnia granifora (Prairie Zinnia)
Melampodium leucanthum (Blackfoot Daisy)
4. Zauschneria garrettii ‘Mountain Flame’ (Mountain Flame Hummingbird
Trumpet)
Oenothera fremontii ‘Shimmer’ (Shimmer Evening Primrose)
Salvia pachyphylla (Giant Purple Sage)
Early Fall Blooming
1. Agastache x ‘Desert Sunrise’ (‘Desert Sunrise’ Hummingbird Mint)
Zauschneria arizonica (Hummingbird Trumpet)
Helianthus maximiliana ‘Santa Fe’ (Maximillian’s Sunflower)
Cacti and Succulents with Companion Plant Combinations
Spring/Summer Blooming
1. Penstemon eatonii (Firecracker Beardtongue
Dasylirion wheeleri (Sotol)
Stanleya pinnata (Prince’s Plume)
2. Nolina texanum (Bear Grass)
Arctostaphylos nevadensis (Cold Hardy Manzanita)
Echinocereus triglochidiatus ‘White Sands Srain’ (White Sands Strain Claret Cup)
3. Agave parryi (Parry’s Century Plant)
Echinocereus coccineus (Needle spined Claret Cup)
Agave utahensis (Utah Century Plant)
Muhlenbergia dubia (Pine Muhly)
4. Hesperaloe parviflora (Texas Red Yucca)
Chamaebatiaria millefolium (Fern Bush)
Prunus besseyi ‘Pawnee Buttes’ (Pawnee Buttes Sand Cherry)
Shrub Combinations
1. Cercocarpus intricatus (Needle-leaf Mahogany Bush)
Arctostaphylos patula (Manzanita)
Mirablis multifora (Desert Four O'Clock)
Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
Volunteer Master Gardener
Olivia White Hospice Home
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:37 PM
October 22, 2006
Therapeutic Gardening
Master Gardener Column 10/21/06
The benefits of gardening are many, beauty, fresh air and food, physical exercise, but perhaps the greatest is therapeutic. The emotional and psychological problems with which we are all beset are internally head-bound. They may have originated in external impressions and events, such an abusive childhood, a betrayal, a failure, an exclusion, a rebuff, a physical wound or limitation, an affliction, or maybe even an off-hand remark, but we archive them in our memories where voices from the past keep echoing down the hallways of our years. It’s called down time.
The up times are when we are called out of our archived memories by physical sensations in the present, such as the aroma of a rose, the feel of a baby’ skin, a breath of fresh air, the taste of a good cheeseburger, the pain of a stubbed toe. The therapeutic secret of gardening is sensory attention. We are drawn out of the remembrances of things past into the existential moment. It’s also the reason that so many gardeners, like fisherman, are happy fanatics.
It is perhaps what William Blake had in mind in “Auguries of Innocence.”
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
Effective psychotherapy is not so much about insight as it is about transformation, a person’s transformation from being a victim and survivor into being a prevailer and a pilgrim. It means no longer driving by the rear-view mirror but through the windshield. Transformation turns old memories into new promises. Such is the paradigm of gardening.
For many, autumn is a postlude to summer and a prelude to winter, but for a gardener it is getting ready for spring. It means raking leaves, pruning perennials and trees, and pulling out dead annuals and putting all that refuse into a mulch pile where winter will silently turn it into compost. It means cleaning up the leavings of the past and turning them into nutrients for the future.
We change not so much by advice and insight, but by osmosis in which we absorb the process of change from others. A maimed veteran will more likely triumph over his or her disability if he or she is in the company of disabled conquerors. Being with transformative people is transformative in itself. Change is more likely caught than taught.
Just as psychotherapy is more about transformation than insight so it is more about process than issues, those processes by which we can transform our issues. Gardening is parsing the paradigm of the seasons of change. Paradoxically, the most productive season is winter in which the soil is given a rest to recuperate from the hustle and bustle of spring, summer, and autumn. Winter is a time to get ready for change, fruition, and harvest.
As we work through the seasons we see seeds transformed into plants, buds into flowers, blossoms into fruits, saplings into trees, and refuse into creation. As gardeners, we are part and parcel of the transformation. Everyday, each season, is a day and season of change, a change that seeps into our spirits through the dirt under our fingernails.
The therapy of gardening is more than a sanctuary or a refuge, it is a transformation by which gardening becomes a personal paradigm for parsing our archived memories into anticipations and fruitions.
By Dana Prom Smith
The author is a Master Gardener volunteer for Coconino County Cooperative Extension. For more information about the Master Gardener program, call 774-1868 ext. 17 or visit our website: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:36 AM
October 20, 2006
Rainwater Harvesting and Greywater Systems Workshop in Prescott
Concerned about local water issues?
On Saturday, Nov. 4th from 11 AM to 3 PM, take matters into your own
hands with a low-cost local tour and workshop specifically designed to
empower individuals and communities in becoming water self-sufficient.
Rainwater Harvesting and Greywater Systems is the fourth installment
of workshop series offered by local permaculture expert Andrew Millison
of Millison Ecological, Inc.
This day-long workshop will cover such topics as maximizing retention
of water in the landscape through basic permaculture techniques as
well as backyard rainwater cisterns and alternative irrigation design.
The workshop will include a tour of local rainwater harvesting and
greywater systems currently employed by households in the "Eco-hood"
area of Prescott, as well as other areas of the city. There will be
in-depth discussion and demonstration of the specific dynamics
involved in implementing successful systems.
Workshop cost is $25 per person. Registration is open, but space is
limited. Call 928-776-8002 or e-mail amillison@gmail.com for information
and registration.
Posted by hbraun at 9:22 AM
Olivia White Hospice Garden Workdays 10/26 & 10/28
On Thursday some of our regular crew (Nancy Palmer, David Hockman, Leslie Pennick and Marcia Lamkin) ignored the temperatures and worked on garden clean-up. We managed to put away some stone birdbaths, cleaned tomato pots, filled the new sitting raised bed with soil, mulched the roses and caulked the new greenhouse. Leslie continues to get compost and mulch for us from Fort Tuthill with her truck. Tim Hainsworth stopped by with a load of unused bagged soil from Mary Lou Parliman. This was used to help fill the sitting raised bed. Amanda Welles also stopped by to check on her drying herbs from the tea garden. They will be processed next week for teas for the home.
Last week while Laura and I were at the Highlands Garden Conference Nancy Palmer and Leslie Pennick continued work on the Faerie Garden. They added side rock walls to prevent erosion into the new steps. Next season some ground covers - probably thyme -
will be planted between the rocks.
Thank you:
Mary Lou Parliman for some much needed soil for our new raised bed.
Leslie Pennick for many loads of mulch/compost throughout the season.
Nancy Palmer for your creative rock work in the Faerie Garden, mulching and getting birdbaths ready for winter.
David Hockman for your heavy duty lifting and multiple skills (caulking this week).
Marcia Lamkin for mulching and helping to fill the new raised bed.
John Gordon and Community Service Crew for a load of compost.
Plans for next week:
Continue general garden clean-up
Mulching
Planting some fall bulbs
Waterproofing the standing raised bed
Finishing caulking
Plans for 10/28 - Make a Difference Day
Painting the greenhouse
Filling in bed/moving rock to prepare for moving the greenhouse further east
Waterproofing benches
Planting bulbs
As usual we will provide water and snacks. Bring a hat, gloves and sun screen. We will be in the garden on both days from 8am-12pm. Come for any part of that time. It will probably be our last workday in the garden. Park in the 1st Congretational Church lot on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive or on the street on Turquoise. If you plan to attend on Saturday please let me know, so we have enough snacks.
Rather than a garden poem this week, I would like to mention the loss of two special garden friends. We lost a special garden friend on September 28th - Andrea Josephs. Her plants will live on in many of the gardens of Flagstaff including Olivia White Hospice Home. Her plants and garden expertise will be missed in Flagstaff, although her home was opened to those who wanted to dig up remaining plants. The garden volunteers will dedicate a brick for the gazebo floor in her honor this year.
The second loss was of Lewie the cat from the Arboretum. He passed over the rainbow bridge at the age of 20 on October 7th. He provided so many stories and so much fun for many of the Arboretum gardeners, and neighbors when he retired to live with Jeff and Wendy Hines. When I was a vegetable gardener at the Arboretum he provided some much needed rodent control to allow us to successfully garden there. He also provided continuing entertainment for the staff,
volunteers and visitors. He will be missed but always be a significant part of the history of the Arboretum.
Hope to see you this week.
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:14 AM
October 15, 2006
Garden Dreams Become a Reality at the Olivia White Hospice Garden
Master Gardener Column 10/14/06
Have you ever dreamed of plunging your hands into the cool dark soil, loamy to the touch, alive with earthworms, micro-organisms, organic matter, all the wonderful things which make soil fertile, fragrant, just waiting for a seed to drift by, snuggle in and bloom into some glorious plant only to open your eyes, find yourself in Flagstaff, Arizona with a caliche bar, or pick axe in hand, sweat upon your brow and hope in your heart that at any moment you’ll come across something that mildly resembles soil or even dirt for that matter?
Such was the plight of a half dozen master gardener volunteers at the Olivia White Hospice Home garden when they attempted to tackle a long and narrow strip of land south of the home on Switzer Canyon Drive a few years ago. Unbeknownst to the garden crew just a few years earlier volunteers had hauled off truck loads of discarded tires, asphalt chunks, entangled pieces of wire and concrete, broken clay sewer pipe and the long lost hood of a Chevy truck from the location. To this day traces of the lands former life as a dump of opportunity continue to be unearthed.
The narrow strip of land was a “hell strip” in the truest sense of the term first coined by horticulturist Lauren Springer Ogden to describe strips of land surrounded by sidewalks and streets, parched and neglected, barren to all plant life except the most obnoxious of weeds. Lauren’s idea was to transform such strips into low-maintenance, low-water, colorful, lush flower beds. The “hell strip” is now more graciously referred to as the “inferno strip”.
With Lauren’s idea in mind, Terra Crampton, a member of the tenacious garden crew, chose equally tenacious perennials and bunch grasses - germander, gaillardia, fall aster, little blue stem and blue fescue - for the area. Soil adversities aside, the strip was tilled, the perennials planted, and the plants were watered regularly until established. The plants in the “inferno strip” receive an annual dose of cinders and are occasionally run over by an errant sidewalk snowplow, and they receive only minimal attention from garden volunteers. And yet, amazingly enough, these perennials not only survived the first year, but in the ensuing years have thrived. What more could a Flagstaff gardener ask for? …a couple earthworms, some organic matter, a little more rain…
The following are descriptions of the “inferno strip’s” most successful.
Michaelmas daisy (Aster novae-belgii), a white, purple, or pink flowered aster, has flourished in the inferno strip. Smaller flowered asters such as this one require less care and are more drought tolerant than their larger flowered counterparts. Like most asters, they do best in a well drained soil with full sun.
Hoary tansy aster (Machaeranthera canescens) is the lovely native purple and yellow aster which has been blooming throughout Flagstaff this fall. It grows in any soil type, in full sun to light shade, and requires little water and less care.
Blue fescue (Festuca glauca) is a densely tufted, evergreen perennial grass that prefers a well drained soil and sun to light shade. ‘Elijah blue’ with its powder blue leaves is a favorite cultivar.
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is a native bunch grass. Contrary to its name, little bluestems turns bright red in fall retaining some of its color throughout the winter. This grass prefers a well draining soil but is adaptable to heavy clays and rocky soils. It grows best in full sun to light shade and with low to moderate water.
Blanket flower (Gaillardia pinnatifida and Gaillardia x grandifolia) is a good choice for areas which receive full sun. They require low water and grow in any soil type. The showy red and yellow flowers of both species attract butterflies and honeybees.
Germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) has done extremely well planted in both the rose garden and the inferno strip at the hospice home. Germander is a member of the mint family, has woody stems, small glossy leaves and purple flowers. It grows well in any well drained soil and can take sun to part-shade.
By Laura Davis
The author is a Master Gardener volunteer for Coconino County Cooperative Extension. For more information about the Master Gardener program, call 774-1868 ext. 17.
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:52 AM
October 9, 2006
Skye Seiber's Landscape
Master Gardener column 10/7/06
Skye Sieber knew what she wanted when she landscaped her yard. She wanted beauty, specifically a beautiful yard. She also wanted a yard with authenticity, one that was a fit for Flagstaff and faithful to the Colorado Plateau. For her efforts she received an honorable mention in Flagstaff’s recent Xeriscape Contest. As a daughter of the Mountain West she was already aware of the scarcity of water. However, she liked lush beauty which meant she wanted an abundance of foliage and flowers which needed little water. She discovered that the best way to create such a yard was to go native.
One of the first things she did was sign up for the Master Gardener Course so that she could find out how to create a lovely yard in Flagstaff. She listened to the people at the Arboretum and several of the commercial nurseries. Skye soaks up information.
As an environmental planner for the Forest Service in Flagstaff and active in the community, she is a woman with little time to spare for her garden. She wanted a lush, low maintenance, drought-tolerant, authentically Southwestern yard. She created one, not ex nihilo, but by evolution out of dirt, rocks, ground glass, flagstone, plants, and grass. As with most gardeners in Flagstaff, she began with the tohu wabohu, “without form and void” (Genesis 1:2), of a developer’s detritus.
She didn’t set out with a completed design in her head. Hers was not a graph paper, T-square, and triangle design. However, she knew what she wanted. The design gradually unfolded in her mind’s eye as she began working in her yard, taking horticultural courses, and bending the ears of knowledgeable people. She terraced her front yard because she had a pile of dirt left over from putting in an additionally driveway. Using the volcanic rock she and her husband Todd gathered with a Forest Service permit from A-1 Mountain, she built a three-tiered series of terraces dominated by a hummingbird mint (Agastache) complete with bees and hummers.
Her front yard is rife with color and texture, both in the plants and rocks. A “hell strip” between the driveway and walkway is planted with a colorful variety of Artemisia, catmint (Nepeta x faassenii), and a few native plants.
Authenticity of design means as few straight lines as possible. Nature does not believe in straight lines, and neither does Skye. As with most houses, hers and Todd’s is a series of right angles and rectangles, but her yard strolls as though she were mimicking nature. The terraces in the front yard are curved and asymmetrical. The plantings in the rectangular hell-strip don’t march lock-step but appear random.
The backyard was designed with people in mind as well as beauty. A path winds amongst various plantings, passing, as it goes, an arbor, a small meadow, a couple of chairs, some penstemon and natives, and onto a bench. In the back of the yard in ascending raised beds are tomatoes, vegetables, and herbs.
Of course, a part of authenticity in Southwest gardening is collecting rainwater and composting. Tucked unobtrusively here and there are water barrels and bins. Behind the house are two handmade wooden frames topped with bent plastic pipe. When covered, they portend fresh greens during the winter months.
Without spending vast sums of money, but jamming her head with information, and using lots of imagination Skye evolved a design and brought it to fruition. She created a yard which is not only faithful to the Southwest, but which also as a thing of beauty is a haven for the human spirit.
By Dana Prom Smith
The author is a Master Gardener volunteer for Coconino County Cooperative Extension. For more information about the Master Gardener program, call 774-1868 ext. 17.
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:21 AM
October 7, 2006
Garden Club
Thursday, November 2, at 7 p.m. NAU Biology Building greenhouse.
J.J. Callan will discuss growing requirements of orchids, some varieties that he has cultivated and do a planting demonstration on how to correctly transplant an orchid. He will also discuss the plants that grow in the greenhouse.
Everyone is invited.
Driving and Parking Directions: Drive south on Beaver Street, past South Beaver Elementary School. Go through the stop sign at Franklin and Beaver. The building on your right is Biology. At the south end of it is a small parking lot. Turn into this lot. You will see the greenhouse straight ahead. (This is NOT the greenhouse where Brad Blake raises trees). Park here and go into the door of the greenhouse that is on the right (north) end.
The Garden Club meets for mutual interest and support. There are no dues or membership requirements. To receive email notices of club events, email your name, email address and phone number to djhockman@npgcable.com..
Posted by hockmanj at 9:21 PM
Olivia White Hospice Home Workday 10/19/06
With a small crew of regulars, David Hockman, Elsie Ellis, Laura Davis and myself, we were able to water, clean and fill birdbaths and feeders, replant 5 oak trees, plant 5 fall asters, reorganize the shed and level and begin to fill the sitting raised bed.
The greenhouse is now in place and ready to be painted on "Make a Difference Day".
Laura and I will not be in the garden on 10/12 because we are headed to the Highlands Garden Conference. Regulars are welcome to come and work on their projects and we usually have weeding/watering to do.
Still blooming:
Many fall asters, roses (although again visited by the local white tailed deer), phlox, agastache, larkspur and much of the 1st inferno strip. Leaves are changing on the maples and several other shrubs, but with the expected rainfall we may loose them.
Plans for 10/19:
Continue work on the Faerie Garden hardscape
Continue filling the sitting raised bed
Plant some bulbs?
General garden clean-up
Mulching for winter
Upcoming on "Make a Difference Day" October 28 8am-12pm:
Paint the greenhouse
Waterproof the benches and standing raised bed
Plant bulbs
Mulch
Please come join us in the garden on Thurday 10/19 from 8am-12pm. We will be in the garden weekly from now until the end of October, weather permitting. Bring a hat, sunscreen and any tool you like to use. Park on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Dr. or in the lot at the First Congregational Church. Water and snacks are provided.
"The lost leaves measure our years: they are gone as the days are gone."
Richard Jefferies The Life of the Fields (1908)
Thanks,
Loni
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:11 AM
October 2, 2006
2006 - A Fruitful Year
Master Gardener Column 9/20/06
This year almost every fruit tree in town is loaded with fruit. Even neglected trees and trees that haven’t produced in years are bearing a very heavy crop.
Many parts of Northern Arizona experience killer spring frosts that limit fruit production. Though our average daytime temperatures are similar to other parts of the country, our nighttime lows often freeze flower buds. Before flower buds begin to open, they are pretty hardy and can handle our cold winter temperatures. But once the buds break dormancy and start to open, they are far more susceptible to cold. For apples, 90% of open blossoms will be killed if the temperature drops below 25°F for just one-half hour. Other types of fruit blossoms are slightly more susceptible than apples to cold temperatures. However, most other fruits including apricot, peach, pear, cherry and plum bloom many weeks before apples so their flowers have a greater chance of getting nipped by frost.
Why was 2006 an outstanding year for fruit production in Flagstaff?
To get some insight to my question, I went to the local weather data that’s available on the internet and looked at temperature and moisture data for 2004, 2005 and 2006. Weather data collected by the Arizona Meteorological Network (AZMET) are available for the Flagstaff area for the last three years. The station is located in the Continental Country Club area and the data can be found at cals.arizona.edu/azmet/. You can also get weather data from the National Weather Service at www.weather.gov/.
Why did the killer frost that occurred on March 14, 2006 do so little damage to fruit tree flower buds? Temperatures hovered around 0°F in the wee hours of that morning. It’s likely that the unusually dry winter conditions delayed bud opening. The mid-March snow storm eventually provided much needed moisture to allow for buds to break dormancy and start growing.
A look at the temperature data confirms what most of us know – we received few killer spring frosts after mid-March. A couple of nights in March dropped down to the teens but for less than an hour so minimal damage occurred.
Remember the fruit crop of 2005? There wasn’t one. On March 16, 2005 temperatures dropped into the single digits likely killing all opened blossoms and damaging developing buds. Perhaps the wetter than normal December and warmer than normal January and February encouraged early bud development increasing susceptibility to killer frosts.
2004 was another really good apple year though not so for other earlier flowering fruit. On several mid-March days the temperature dropped below 20°F for several hours likely damaging the just opening blossoms of apricot, peach, and cherry. Later blooming apples had yet to open their blossoms and thus retained their winter hardiness. Subsequent April temperatures seldom dropped below freezing.
Temperature has a lot to do with why fruit trees bear a crop or not but why is this year’s crop so heavy? For an explanation, we have to look at what happened the previous year when flower blossoms started to develop. Remember that in 2005 there was little if any fruit crop. This allowed for the carbohydrates produced that season to go towards new bud initiation and storage instead of fruit growth.
Back to 2006, this fruit season also benefited from a milder than normal winter that limited winter damage to flower buds. Nighttime temperatures rarely dipped below 0°F.
Once bloom occurred successfully, conditions were excellent for pollination. There were many days in April were temperatures reached 65°F which is perfect for bee flight to ensure good pollination. In addition, the slightly warmer April temperatures likely helped with pollen viability.
If you are curious about how fruit production will fair on your property, get a maximum/minimum thermometer and compare your local temperatures to those posted in the paper or on the internet. This will give you an idea about the microclimate of your property. The warmer your gardening site, the greater your chances of success.
Knowing that fruit production in Northern Arizona can be frustrating and highly unpredictable, I have yet to give it a try. My thanks go out to all the friends and neighbors who dropped many bags of cherries, peaches, plums, pears and apples at my doorstep. Receiving such gifts is almost as rewarding as growing it myself.
By Hattie Braun
The author is the Master Gardener Program Coordinator for Coconino Cooperative Extension. If you have a gardening question, call the Master Gardener hotline at (928)774-1868 ext. 19. To learn about local gardening events, visit the Master Gardener blog at highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:31 AM