This is the month when lots of shrubs and trees are beginning to bloom and some will reach full bloom — such as deciduous magnolias — if they haven’t already. This is an easy month for starting a vegetable garden as daytime temperatures exceed 60 degrees with rain coming down, on average, in a quantity that exceeds that of any other month. It is commonly advised not to plant after it rains or when the soil is wet because such soil is easily compacted, depriving roots of the oxygen they need to grow. However, as long as you incorporate compost or amendments that dry out the soil prior to planting, you need not worry about soil compaction.

See also: 5 things you can be doing in the garden this week and more

Now is the time for spinach. This leafy green does best before the heat comes in another few months. I recommend you pick up spinach starts in six packs from the nursery. Plant them and you can begin to harvest in another month or so. The trick is to pluck a few outer leaves at a time and that way you extend spinach longevity in the garden. This cut-and-come-again strategy is utilized with lettuce, kale, cabbage, and collard greens as well. There are other crops whose leaves are edible that you might not know about. Cauliflower and broccoli leaves taste like a cross between kale and collard greens and sweet potato shoots are fine for eating as well.

There are a number of other plants with spinach in their names. Their high nutritional value makes them worthy of planting here, too. Between them and common spinach, you could create an impressive spinach garden.

New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides) is not botanically related to the spinach (Spinacia oleracea) familiar to us but it does have a similar taste. For years, I have grown and eaten the leaves raw, although they may be boiled as well. This plant was consumed by Captain Cook and his shipmates to prevent scurvy after he landed in New Zealand in the 1700s. It is advisable to keep New Zealand spinach fertilized with a high nitrogen formulation such as 21-0-0 in order to prevent flower formation which stops its growth. New Zealand spinach is a tough plant with minimal water needs and is pest and disease-free. Unlike regular spinach, it thrives in hot weather. You can find 50 seeds for three dollars at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com).

Okinawa spinach (Gynura crepioides), native to Indonesia, is a leafy green you can plant now or anytime. It is unrelated to either regular or New Zealand spinach but easier to propagate than either one. The foliage has a delicately nutty flavor with young leaves being tastier than older ones. Some studies have shown that Okinawa spinach can lower cholesterol. Foliage is highly attractive and gently serrated, green on the top, purplish on the underside. It is best grown with some shade but can handle sun with more frequent irrigation and makes an excellent perennial ground cover. Propagation is a snap as terminal shoot cuttings root easily placed directly in good garden soil or in a glass with an inch or two of water on the bottom. Okinawa spinach grows as a perennial in frost-free zones. Order three plants for $16 at rareseeds.com.

Malabar spinach (Basella rubra) is a highly ornamental vine with heart-shaped foliage and red stems. Native to the Malabar coast of India, it requires moist soil and, although growing best in full sun, can thrive in shade as well. The leaf flavor has pepper and citrus elements. 35 seeds sell for $3.50 at rareseeds.com

Strawberry spinach (Blitum capitatum) is related to common spinach. Rareseeds.com offers 40 seeds for $3.00 and notes that its attractive red fruit has “a watermelon-berry flavor” and is “addictive for snacking and irresistible for desserts,” and its leaves are edible, too. 

*  *  *

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Curcuma longa), which are closely related plants, are highly sought after by cooks and apothecaries alike. You don’t have to go far to find the rhizomes of these plants if you wish to grow them in your garden. They are readily available in grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Sprouts and some others, too. Make sure the rhizomes you take home have eyes from which shoots will sprout. These rhizomes are sometimes sprayed with growth retardant to prevent them from sprouting on the supermarket shelf and therefore, when you take them home, soak them for several hours to make sure they sprout before planting outdoors.

This is the ideal moment to procure your ginger and turmeric rhizomes. Place them on a warm kitchen counter — next to your refrigerator, for example — and watch them sprout. You can grow them outdoors in our area as long as you are aware of their need for steady soil moisture. Morning sun with afternoon shade is the recommended exposure.

California native of the week: Pink chaparral honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula) is native to the Sierra foothills. It is a highly versatile vine or shrub, growing in lots of sun but tolerating lots of shade as well. It is also adaptable to different soil types, including clay. This honeysuckle is an excellent candidate for growing up walls and fences, reaching a height of six feet. It is also known as hairy honeysuckle due to its hirsute leaves. Pink flowers, in bloom when summer comes and visited by hummingbirds, are followed by luminescent red berries that are snacked upon by birds. These berries are non-toxic to people but have a bitter taste. You can find pink honeysuckle at Tree of Life Nursery (californianativeplants.com) in San Juan Capistrano or order it from Annie’s Annuals (anniesannuals.com)

Please send questions, comments, innovative gardening practices, or information about newly introduced or exotic plants to Joshua@perfectplants.com

2. You can still plant a number of flowering herbaceous perennials, meaning certain bulbs (lilies), tubers (dahlias, caladiums), and corms (gladiolus, ranunculus). Where ranunculus is concerned, soak the corms for three hours in lukewarm water prior to planting. The corms are susceptible to rot so don’t oversoak them and make sure they are planted in well-drained soil to prevent garden rot as well. Ranunculus flowers are reminiscent of tightly wound turbans or moderately-sized roses and are universally loved. You will not regret planting large clumps of them when they are in bloom and will wonder why you never planted them before. When planting your selected bulb, tuber, or corm, plant many together for maximum effect. A bonus of these plants that grow from underground storage tissue is that they make wonderful cut flowers. Their stems are invariably strong since, buried several inches underground, they must have the power to poke up through the earth. 

3. Cut branches of ornamental flowering peach, plum, apricot, quince, saucer magnolia, or redbud, since they will adorn your home with vivid flowers even as spring is still, officially, more than a month away. You can plunge blooming branches directly into water or, to enjoy their bloom from start to finish, cut them when flower buds have yet to open. Place these branches in lukewarm water for eight hours and then in cool water. Keep in a cool room until flower buds open and then move them to wherever their presence is desired.

4. Consider bringing non-aggressive mason and leafcutter bees into your garden for pollinating purposes. Unlike European honeybees and bumble bees, mason bees and leafcutter bees do not congregate in colonies but live solitary lives. They are more efficient pollinators than other bees since pollen sticks to the large surface area of their fuzzy bellies, as opposed to being collected in the pollen baskets on the hind legs of honey bees and bumble bees. One mason bee can pollinate 20,000 flowers, work that would require the effort of 60 honeybees. Both mason and leafcutter bees build their nests in small hollow spaces such as those afforded by reeds. A major difference between mason and leafcutter bees is that mason bees use mud to separate the cells in which single eggs are laid within their nests, whereas leaf cutter bees separate their cells with leaf pieces. You may have seen evidence of leafcutter bees, especially among roses, when neat circular or oval cut-outs are observed on foliage. This is nothing to worry about; it is merely a sign that these efficient pollinators are in your garden. To encourage mason bees, you need to have some sticky clay around since that is the material they use — much like a mason’s cement — to separate cells in their nests and plug the holes at the end of the reeds. You can acquire five different solitary, non-aggressive California native bees and all the materials needed for them to nest in your garden — including clay for mason bees — at masonbeesforsale.com. 

5. Whether by seed or from seedlings, you can plant artichoke, cilantro, peas, lettuce, parsley, beets, chard, kale, turnip, mustard, collards, green onions, asparagus, and spinach. Carrots, radishes and cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli) do not transplant well, so it is best to sow their seeds directly in the garden bed. Plant potato pieces with sprouts coming from at least two eyes, garlic cloves, and sweet potato slips (shoots), generated by planting a sweet potato with its bottom portion in fast-draining soil or just by balancing a whole sweet potato in a glass of water with its bottom half submerged. Cut each shoot you see with a piece of the sweet potato attached, and plant in your garden. Sweet potatoes are extremely easy to grow and are widely considered to be the most nutritious of all vegetable crops.

Please send questions, comments, innovative gardening practices, or information about newly introduced or exotic plants to Joshua@perfectplants.com

As the ground warms up, billions of seeds will wake up and grow into all those familiar weeds that we know and hate. Most gardeners get tired of weeding after 20 or 30 hours, so any shortcut to a weed-free garden is welcome.

The satisfaction of looking over a freshly weeded garden (or lawn) is diminished by the knowledge that you’ll have to do it all over again in a week or two. Herbicides can damage non-target plants and should not be your first choice for weed elimination. Goats and sheep are fun to watch, but totally impractical for the average homeowner. Unfortunately, the best way to remove weeds is to pull them out by the roots. Fortunately, there is a way to make maintenance much easier that is simple and environmentally friendly.

Weed cloth has been marketed as an easy and effective way to block weeds in planter beds. Initially, this is true. The weed cloth, when placed over weed-free soil, will block sunlight from reaching the emerging weed seedlings, killing them. Usually, the weed cloth gets covered with mulch and everything looks pretty – for a while.

If the mulch is organic (bark chips or compost), weed seeds can end up germinating on top of the fabric, sending roots right through the weed cloth. This makes the weeding process much worse since the fabric ends up getting torn and pulled up through the mulch. Pretty soon you have ugly tufts of torn weed cloth all through the garden in addition to a bunch of weeds. Eventually, you’ll rake all the mulch aside, rip out the weed cloth, and toss it in the trash.

Now, don’t even think about buying plastic sheeting!

Is there a way to minimize a weed problem without hours of back-breaking work? Veteran gardeners have a saying: “If you have weeds, you don’t have enough plants.” Filling up empty spaces in the garden can keep weeds from getting out of hand. Ground cover plants, low-growing perennials, and ornamental grasses will leave little room for weeds.

If the idea of smothering weeds with plastic sheeting or weed cloth is still appealing, you could use corrugated cardboard under a thick layer of bark mulch. The cardboard will eventually break down, weeds will be kept at bay, and you’ll have found a use for all those Amazon boxes.

If your existing plants are already too close together to make the cardboard solution unfeasible, spreading several thick layers of grass clippings will form a tight mat that effectively suppresses weeds. We use this method in our vegetable garden since it works well around young plants, but it can work under bark mulch as well.

Do not do this if you’ve treated the grass with any kind of herbicide such as “Weed and Feed”. We learned this lesson the hard way when we inadvertently killed all of our baby eggplants.

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu

After a few confused seconds, I realized that my whole apartment was without power. In fact, a blackout hit much of my neighborhood and lasted for the bulk of one winter night. It was a frustrating, though far from catastrophic, situation.

Still, the event left me wondering: In the age of connected devices and smart homes, how do we prepare ourselves for a power outage? 

It’s a reasonable concern. Power outages can be triggered by anything from planned maintenance to a car accident to extreme weather or a natural disaster. In most cases, though, it will catch you off guard. However, with a few supplies ready to access without fumbling in the dark, a blackout might be a little easier to manage. 

“The better prepared you can be before the power goes out, the better off you will be when it does go out,” says Bryan La Sota, an emergency management coordinator for the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management. 

La Sota says that having a plan is important, but also notes that every plan is going to be different. “It’s really each individual looking at their needs and then building their plan,” he says. “No two people, no two families are the same.”

And remember: You don’t have to rush to buy loads of emergency items at once.

“What we like to do in my household is we take it step by step,” says La Sota, explaining that this means picking up extra batteries on one shopping trip and perhaps a few emergency food items on the next. “By doing it in pieces like that, suddenly, we have this whole kit built and we never really notice the impact because everything was bought in really small increments.”

Where to start

“Take an inventory,” says La Sota. “Understand what you need, what you have, what you don’t have.”

One of the first things I noticed is that the very powerful flashlight in my home is rechargeable. It happened to be fully charged during the power outage, but I probably should get a couple of battery-operated ones as well. Thanks to the power outage, I get most of my news and listen to radio stations on my laptop. These all need power, so even a fully charged external battery might not be able to keep them running during a lengthy outage. I might need to figure out if the old boombox still works and re-up on batteries. 

For people with smart home items, there is more to consider. 

“Understand that you can still operate a lot of those manually,” says La Sota. Check your user manuals beforehand so that you know how to open the garage door without power. “Even smart key locks, a lot of them have a physical key as backup,” La Sota points out. If that’s the case for you, make sure your backup key is in a place where you have easy access to it. 

While there are benefits to using today’s tech-forward devices, it’s important to hang onto those old-school devices for backup. “Knowing what exists with the things you have but keeping redundant items that don’t require the same power or internet capabilities is always a good idea,” says La Sota. 

Flashlights are a good place to start. La Sota advises against lighting candles during a power outage. “You need a light source, but that’s where battery-powered items are the best option,” he says. “Burning an active flame is always just an unnecessary danger because you may forget about it. It could be knocked over.”

The radio will come in handy when you can’t rely on the internet or television stations for updates. La Sota suggests getting a battery-operated NOAA weather radio, which is available at varying price points and will tune you in to updates from National Weather Service, as well as information on other hazards or emergencies. A battery-operated AM/FM radio can be helpful too for keeping up on local news reports. 

When possible, pick up a few more battery-operated items as alternatives during a blackout. These can include small fans, reading lights and clocks. A few other useful items to keep in stock at home are heavy blankets and first aid supplies.

If you plan on adding a generator to your emergency kit, consider what kind is best for your home. La Sota says it’s also important to know the risks generators can pose and how to use them safely. A gas generator, he notes, should only be placed outside the home in an open-air environment. Using a generator indoors can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. 

“Be mindful that your solution isn’t creating another danger that you’re not thinking about,” says Sosa. 

How to handle medication

If you use medication that must be kept cool, La Sota says to check in with your doctor or pharmacist to find out how long it can go without being stored in the refrigerator. 

As for medical equipment, there may be help in times of a power outage.

“This is where it’s going to vary, depending on where an individual lives,” La Sota clarifies.

Contact your provider to see if there are programs available to provide assistance with medical equipment in the case of a power-related emergency. They might be part of a medical baseline or similar program, which also allows for additional electricity at homes where there is qualifying medical equipment. Your provider might also have a critical care battery backup program, which provides batteries to keep medical equipment charged during an outage. 

If you don’t have any personal medical concerns, but know someone who might, try to check in on them. In fact, La Sota recommends checking in with neighbors during power outages. “If you have elderly neighbors or you know people in your neighborhood have medical conditions or disabilities, that would be a good first step,” he says, “to check in on them and make sure that they’re doing okay and if they have any needs.”

Plus, when you check in with neighbors, you can compare notes if anyone has heard updates on when power will be restored or information on any services, like portable charging stations during a long outage, that might be available. 

Keeping your food safe

There are a few concerns with food safety during a power outage. Your refrigerator and freezer will stop working, which might lead to spoilage during longer outages. The FDA recommends keeping appliance thermometers in both the fridge and freezer so that you can monitor the temperature. It also recommends keeping ice cubes and frozen gel packs in the freezer so that you can move them to the fridge to keep items cool. 

Beyond these specific food safety issues, you might encounter other problems during a blackout. For one, you might not actually be able to cook anything without power. For another, the lack of electricity might impact your water supply. 

Essentially, you’ll want to have the same food and beverages on hand during a power outage that you would during an earthquake. Think non-perishables that can be prepared without heat, snacks like trail mix and granola bars and bottled water. If you’re a caffeine drinker, consider having some bottles of tea or cans of cold brew that don’t require refrigeration. 

Once the power is back, you’ll need to check the thermometers in the freezer and refrigerator. The best practice here is to follow the FDA guidelines to determine which items need to be discarded and which ones are still edible. 

A “recovery plan” is something that La Sota says people often overlook when planning for a power outage. Once you have power, you should check all of the devices in your home to see what is working as normal and what isn’t. Some things will need to be reset.

“We always recommend looking at the manufacturer instructions for those types of things,” he says. 

When you cleaned out the fridge and made sure that your home is working as it should, you can return to life as normal.  

New York – Many victims of the massive storms now battering California about are to be hit with another heartbreak – discovering their insurance won’t cover the damage.

The typical homeowners’ policy won’t cover loss from flood damage. That is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But in California, where drought, not flooding, had been the more common problem until recently, homeowners are about as prepared for flood damage as hurricane-prone Florida residents are for earthquakes.

RELATED: Main swath of Bay Area storm fury exiting the region

Data from NFIP shows only 52,400 homes and businesses are covered by flood insurance in the eight Southern California counties declared a disaster area because of this storm. That’s less than 1% of 7.7 million households in the affected area with coverage. Those counties have a combined population of more than 22.6 million people, according to the latest estimates from the Census Bureau.

Los Angeles County, with more than 10 million residents, has only 14,600 flood insurance policies in force. That’s roughly the same number as Lee County, Florida, which includes Fort Myers, and has fewer than 1 million residents.

Even some of those with flood insurance could find their policies won’t cover all of their losses. The federal policies have a limit of covering only $250,000 in damage to structures and $100,000 to the home’s contents. Those limits can be quickly exceeded, especially in Southern California. Homeowners can buy excess flood insurance coverage to match the limits of coverage on their homeowners policies, but many do not bother to do so.

Flood insurance can be required by mortgage lenders on homes in federally designated flood plains. But if an area is not judged to be at risk of flooding, there’s a very good chance that homeowners will not have bothered to pay extra for the flood coverage.

RELATED: Bay Area rain chart: Totals from 5 days of atmospheric river storms

That might be especially true for homeowners in California, who are dealing with among the highest homeowners’ insurance premiums in the nation, due to a combination of the high cost of rebuilding and the risk from other natural disasters, such as wild fires. Several major national property and casualty insurers have stopped writing homeowners’ policies in California, driving up prices.

Federal flood insurance is generally available to homeowners and business throughout the United States and its territories.

The NFIP estimates that more than 40% of NFIP flood insurance claims come from outside the high-risk flood zones. Damage in those non-flood prone areas are likely even higher given the lower frequency of coverage.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

Some have described ground covers as “garden thugs” or even worse, since they can brutally bully plants in their vicinity, to the point of suffocating or even strangling them if left to their own devices. However, by choosing shallow-rooted plants that spread quickly and flower abundantly, you may re-evaluate your thoughts on certain select ground covers, at least, and come to see them as friends rather than foes.

One of my favorites is bacopa (Sutera cordata), suitable for both full sun and partial sun locations. It flowers non-stop for several years in white, pink, or blue and stays less than a foot tall. It is also a spiller and will gleefully grow over block walls or out of pots.

Creeping boobialla (Myoporum parvifolium) is one of the toughest ground covers. It blooms most of the year, and the Fine Form variety stays under a foot tall. I have seen it growing near the Dead Sea where average daily summer temperatures exceed 100 degrees. Yet it is also cold tolerant down 18 degrees. 

Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria spp.) benefit from weekly watering but can make do with less. They blanket the ground as they spread vegetatively with their rhizomes’ assistance, creating a living mulch that minimizes the evaporation of moisture from the soil surface. And should you suffer a mid-summer breakdown of your irrigation system, there is no need to worry; even if your Peruvian lilies die back down to the ground, their rejuvenation will come in the form of new vertically skyrocketing shoots, ascending from their resilient rhizomes, when watering resumes.  

A bonus: As cut flowers, Peruvian lilies reliably last two weeks in vase arrangements, longer than the blooms of any other garden plant. Their typically pink flowers combine well with yellow daylilies and blue lilies of the Nile (Agapanthus spp.), although Alstroemerias in yellow, orange, red, and purple are also available. Tiny thread-like insects known as thrips, which may nibble flower petals, are often a nuisance so make sure you shake them out of the flowers you bring inside for vase arrangements. 

I have found fairy crassula (Crassula multicava) to be the ultimate solution for difficult-to-plant areas, especially in half-day sun to shady exposures. This round-leafed crassula grows with a minimum of water in any kind of soil, whether fast-draining or compacted. It will dry out in blistering full-sun exposures with no water — in which case, you will want to soak it occasionally — and will blacken somewhat in a freeze, but otherwise holds its own quite well. 

It is called fairy or mosquito crassula because of its delicate pinkish-white flowers that hover over the foliage in winter and early spring. It grows quickly but is neither invasive nor thatch building and is easily propagated. It can thus supply you with an endless source of ground cover where your budget for new plants is limited.

At any time of the year, detach stem pieces with a few accompanying leaves, stick them in empty garden spots, and they will root and begin growing soon enough. This ground cover consistently thrives where nothing else will grow, including under pine trees and eucalyptuses, and where dense tree roots have compacted the earth.

Sedum confusum doesn’t have a common name and is appropriately possessed of uncommon qualities. It doesn’t get woody and doesn’t build thatch. It grows quickly, but is not invasive. It smothers most weeds. Its roots hold the soil well, but it can be uprooted with a gentle tug. It is a succulent plant that heads the lists of both drought-tolerant and fire-resistant species.

Volcanic sorrel (Oxalis vulcanicola) is a wonderful ground cover, a hidden gem that deserves wider recognition. Three varieties are available: Aureus, with green to golden leaves; Molten Lava, with yellow to orange to light burgundy leaves; Zinfandel, my favorite and the most typically seen, with green to burgundy to nearly black leaves.

The more sun you give volcanic sorrel, the darker its foliage, although it is also suitable for half-day sun or bright shade locations. Like most sorrel or Oxalis species, the foliage of volcanic sorrel is shamrock-shaped. Its starry flowers are bright yellow and adorned with thin burgundy lines at the base of each petal.

Volcanic sorrel is well-suited as a ground cover. Each plant grows six-to-ten inches tall and one-foot wide. It makes an excellent companion to the indestructible purple shamrock (Oxalis triangularis), notable for triangular foliage resembling purple butterflies and mauvish white flowers. Propagation is achieved by rooting stem cuttings in water or by division of the rhizomatous roots.

If you are thinking ground cover around indoor plants or container plants outdoors makes no sense, you may want to think again. String of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus) is a succulent that can take regular water or barely any water at all. Its roots are superficial so it will never compete with the roots of your containerized specimens.

California native of the week: Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is one of the best starter plants for a California native garden because it is virtually indestructible. You can find it growing wild throughout the state and it can grow in almost any soil type, requiring minimal water. It spreads by seed and by rhizomes. White flowers are magnets to bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects. Its dense, mat-like growth and ability to absorb foot traffic makes it suitable as a lawn replacement. Some herbalists consider yarrow to be the most medicinal plant in the world, with curative properties that extend to every organ of the body. Those who know how to prepare and utilize its infusions, its decoctions, and its teas, swear by yarrow for treatment of headaches, flu, stomach disorders and a host of other ailments. Common yarrow is widely available in nurseries that feature California native plants.

If you grow a noteworthy ground cover more people should know about, please share your experience in an email to joshua@perfectplants.com. Feel free to send questions, comments, or garden problems or inspirations here as well.

This can be a challenge. When I shop at the local garden centers and big box home improvement stores, I can find plenty of trees that will get much too big for the average front yard. Some of the more familiar species, such as Palo Verde, Eucalyptus, California Pepper Tree, Sycamore, and the dreadful Ornamental Pear can reach up to 100 feet. A tree this big can look ridiculous on a postage-stamp-sized lot. If you have solar panels on your roof, these trees can eventually render them useless if they grow tall enough to shade your roof. If the top branches reach to your home’s eaves, they can provide easy access to the attic for rats.

When shopping for small trees, Google is your friend. There are many appealing smaller trees that will grow well in Southern California, but you may have to do some homework to find a nursery that sells them. Pay attention to the variety name since some varieties are bigger (or much bigger) than others.

When searching for small trees that will grow in Southern California, I found quite a few suggestions that were inappropriate. Japanese Maple was suggested on several sites, but this tree will not grow well in Southern California’s heat. Some semi-dwarf citrus trees, such as Meyer lemon, are very beautiful and will grow well here, but due to the spread of Citrus Greening Disease (HLB), I would not recommend adding any citrus tree to your garden at this time.

Some of my personal favorite small trees are easy to grow, don’t have aggressive roots, are attractive most of the year, and are not too messy. Here are some that should be reasonably easy to find and are well-behaved:

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), also known as Christmas Berry, is a perennial shrub or small, multi-trunk tree that is native to California. It is drought-tolerant once established and has dark green foliage all year round. In the winter it bears tiny red berries that are attractive to birds. They can reach 10 feet in height relatively quickly. Some varieties can reach 30 feet, but most will top off at about 15 feet.

Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) provides year-round interest. In the early spring, it bears large numbers of bright rosy-red flowers. Some varieties have red leaves, making them showy throughout the summer after the flowers have dropped.

Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) is a multi-trunk small tree or large shrub. It bears white, pink, or purple flowers late in the spring through mid-summer. It can reach 30 feet in height, with a 20-foot spread. Although it grows well in Southern California, it requires extra water in the hottest summer months.

For more information, see https://calscape.org/

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu

1. If you are religious about creating and applying compost to your vegetable plots, you will never have to do much to harvest lush crops year after year. You will never need to dig in the soil where your vegetables grow but simply apply a one-inch layer of compost year after year. You will need to take care to remove everything from the plot prior to laying down the compost but once it has settled into the earth, you can plant. You make compost from a combination of green or fresh garden clippings and fallen leaves or aged garden leftovers. If you don’t have enough raw material to make compost, ask your neighbors if they don’t mind you emptying their green bins into your compost pile.

2. You can prepare potatoes for planting by standing them up in the cells of an egg carton where they receive bright light. In this manner, you chit the potatoes, which means you cause them to sprout. Potato eyes are where chitting occurs, and you can cut the potatoes into plantable pieces where each piece contains at least two chitted eyes, or plant such chitted potatoes whole. If you have kids and want to teach them about how things grow, plant your chitted tubers in a potato grow bag. The bag has a large flap covering a screened window. You roll up the flap to check the progress of your potatoes as they develop in the depth of the bag. When they are ready to harvest, you open the window and extract the potatoes where they grow.

3. Even if it’s a little early to start the spring garden, you can always plant a terrarium indoors. There are two types to consider: one for tropicals and one for desert or succulent plants. In both cases, the terrariums should be made of glass, the difference being that a tropical terrarium will require a lid or plug to conserve humidity, while a desert terrarium should be open and uncovered. Most often, a terrarium is simply a customized aquarium. For a tropical aquarium, select miniature ferns such as button fern (Pellaea rotundifolia), mother fern (Asplenium nidus), and lemon button fern (Nephroplepis cordifolia var. Duffii). Any houseplant soil as well as peat moss or coir would be an appropriate substrate for these plants. As for succulents for your open air terrarium, select from Echeverias, Haworthias, burro’s tail (Sedum morganianum), and panda plant (Kalanchoe tomentosum). Use a cactus mix for your soil.

4. You can still plant California poppy seeds. You may be astonished at how small they are. In fact, there are 20,000 of them in one ounce. While you can just scatter the seeds on the surface and gently rake or press them into the soil — and then cover them with a thin layer of compost — if you want to plant them in pots or discrete garden spots, you may want to try techniques that Yvonne Savio (gardeninginla.net), a local gardening maven, recommends for planting small seeds in general. “A lead pencil provides two approaches,” she writes. “For smaller seeds, moisten the lead end, stick it into the seed packet to pick up one or two, and move them to the rooting medium. For slightly larger seeds, use the wet eraser end. A length of wet string also helps for thick sowing – dip it into the seeds and place it on the rooting medium, string and all. The seeds will sprout around the string, and then the string will rot away.” Other small seeds that could be sown in the above manner would include those of lettuce, onions, and carrots, as well seeds of many herbs such as lavender, oregano, and dill, and the dust-like seeds of pansies and foxgloves.

5. As Valentine’s Day approaches, you are likely to see sweetheart plant (Hoya kerrii) at nurseries and home improvement centers. Sweetheart plant is available as a single succulent heart-shaped leaf — several inches wide and tall — in a pot. Buyer beware: Although it is a novelty sure to win your valentine’s heart, sweetheart plant will grow extremely slowly and may not show any new growth for up to two years or more. Furthermore, even if it does eventually sprout more leaves from the base, it will never flower. This is not true of other species propagated from leaves or leaf pieces which will eventually replicate the mother plant from which they were taken in every way. Snake plants (Sansevieria species), for example, may be propagated by detaching one of its long, leathery leaves and, making horizontal cuts every few inches down from the tip, produce a fair number of leaf pieces appropriate for rooting in a cactus mix. Other plants that can be propagated from leaves that will eventually develop into flowering plants include cacti and many succulents — jade plants and kalanchoes notable among them — and large-leafed begonias. If anyone has had success propagating from leaves, please let me know how you did it and which plants were involved.

Please feel free to send garden questions, comments, problems or inspirations to joshua@perfectplants.com

Experts say now is a great time to plant many annual herb plants and it’s also the time to perform some much-needed maintenance on perennial herbs. 

“This is a really unique time, sort of a small window of time to get some fun herbs that you typically wouldn’t be able to get growing in hotter times of the year,” said Aaron Fox, associate professor of urban and community agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona’s Huntley College of Agriculture. 

Annual herbs 

Fox said he frequently hears from gardeners that their cilantro bolted – meaning it went to seed – soon after being planted in summer gardens and that’s because they don’t realize how delicate the herb is. Similarly, Fox said that herbs such as dill, tarragon, chervil and mint are more likely to thrive in cooler weather.

He said that, unlike Mediterranean-adapted herbs such as rosemary and oregano that can withstand poor soil and limited water, these winter herbs need nutrient-rich soil and regular watering. Ideally, Southern California should receive a lot of rain this winter to keep them happy. 

“But if not, they’re not drought-adapted, so they need a little more TLC,” Fox said. He recommends sticking your finger into the soil, which should feel moist but not wet. If the soil is dry, it’s time to give the herbs some supplemental water. 

Fox also recommends planting herb plants rather than trying to germinate herbs from seed. The same cool weather that will keep the herbs from bolting also makes it less likely that seeds will germinate if planted outdoors. 

Gardeners should also expect that because it’s cooler out, these plants will establish themselves and grow more slowly than they would during the summer, Fox said. 

Johnny Wilson, one of the farmers at the Ecology Center – a 28-acre organic farm and education center in San Juan Capistrano – recommends providing the herbs with a balanced organic fertilizer at least once a month. 

Wilson said it’s important to watch the plants to make sure they don’t get too large, as this can be a precursor to bolting. 

“If they’re getting too big, even if you’re not going to harvest them, you still want to cut them back, to keep that tender growth coming,” Wilson said. 

Perennial Maintenance 

Wilson said wintertime is a good time to cut back some of those Mediterranean herbs that grow in Southern California year-round. That includes things such as the aforementioned rosemary and oregano, but also sage, lavender and lemon verbena. He said gardeners should look to trim the “three Ds,” which he said stands for dead, diseased or disoriented wood and branches. 

Wilson also recommends working some organic compost into the soil around some of these Mediterranean herbs, but with a caveat: Because these plants don’t like super-rich soil, gardeners should add in the compost sparingly. 

He recommends talking about a handful of compost and working it into the soil around each plant before adding some mulch around the plants. 

Following these steps will help to ensure a flush of new growth on the plants come spring, according to Wilson. 

Looking ahead 

The cool weather won’t last forever and as temperatures climb, gardeners will have to make adjustments to keep their annual herb plants viable. 

Wilson recommends increasing watering as the weather dries up to make sure the soil is moist and suggests putting in more compost around April or May. 

Fox said that gardeners can mitigate some of the sun and heat of the summer by planting their herbs in a spot that will have more shade come summer. He suggests planting them under something like a deciduous tree or grapevine. He said that as these things start leafing out they may provide the herbs with some shade. 

There’s only so much you can do in the long-term though, according to Fox. 

“You can shade them, you can maybe water them a little more, but at some point, I would say, you’re going to have to let them go,” he said. “And that’s fine. I think it makes them special; it makes them have a distinctive season.”

Summer doesn’t mean an end to all annual herbs. Some herbs are still best suited to that season. 

Fox says to wait until the summer to grow basil. 

He said it is possible to grow basil in the winter, especially if it’s already been established, but basil just generally tends to look sad and perform worse when it’s cool. 

“Also, that basil flavor just works so much better with other things like tomatoes, so I say give your basil a break and try some different things, like tarragon,” Fox said. 

Indeed, residents of Southern California reach the conclusion, sooner or later, that the most desirable fruit trees to grow are citrus – oranges, mandarins (tangerines), grapefruits, lemons, limes and kumquats. This is not to say that apricots, plums, nectarines, figs and apples won’t produce. In fact, certain varieties of these trees may yield so much fruit all at once that you end up giving most of it away. 

ALSO SEE: Why you should start fertilizing your citrus trees now for maximum impact

But this is part of the problem with deciduous fruit trees; the fruit ripens during a period of a few weeks. With evergreen fruit trees – citrus, avocado and guava – harvesting takes place over a period of several months. Where citrus harvest is concerned, there is a bonus to being lazy: the longer the fruit stays on the tree, the sweeter it gets.

If you had one Valencia orange tree (for spring-fall eating) and one navel orange tree (for winter-early spring consumption) in your backyard, you would have fresh oranges to eat practically every day of the year. There are also varieties of lemon (Eureka and Lisbon) and lime (Bearss) that produce year-round. Finally, certain kumquats and their hybrids fruit nonstop and are used for ornamental purposes either individually or in hedges. Kumquats are the hardiest of all citrus.

Once a citrus tree is established, it should not require much maintenance. Many homeowners with 20- or 30-year-old Valencias proudly testify to their complete neglect of these trees. Yet there they stand – botanical marvels of greenest green foliage and orangest orange fruit. They have lived through a multitude of California droughts and earthquakes, implacable as the original Valencias that once grew upon the rugged Spanish plain. The oldest orange tree in California today is a Valencia in Valley Center (north San Diego County), planted in 1869. It still produces a respectable crop, while the oldest navel orange, also still producing, is located in Riverside and was planted in 1873. 

Pruning of citrus is only necessary for removal of dead or diseased wood or to keep the tree in bounds. Lemons require the most pruning, primarily of vertical growing water sprouts that show great vigor but no fruit production. Lemons and limes are more sensitive to cold than other citrus. Now that the coldest part of winter is gone, you will want to apply fertilizer. It will soak into the ground with our seasonal rainfall, which is typically most abundant in February.

Citrus in containers may defoliate during the winter. When this happens, replace the soil in the container, prune, and fertilize lightly. As the weather warms, foliage will return. Containerized plants may require fertilization several times during the year; an occasional liquid feeding with fish emulsion or seaweed, combined with application of slow-release Osmocote granules should keep your potted citrus happy.

A common complaint concerns homegrown grapefruit that lacks sweetness. If you try to grow the red-fleshed grapefruits – such as Ruby – that are produced commercially in Arizona and Texas, you will be disappointed. The grapefruit variety most suited to our area is Oro Blanco, which you can also grow as a hedge.

An excellent choice for a small ornamental tree with year-round interest is the kumquat or one of its relatives. The kumquat is to the orange what the crab apple is to the apple – a small, tart version of the larger fruit. The limequat – a cross between a kumquat and a lime – has the taste of a lime and the cold tolerance of a kumquat. It is laden with soft-skinned yellow fruit during the winter. The calamondin – a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin – is also cold hardy, and when mature, is adorned with hundreds of fruit at all times. Any of these kumquats can be used as a 4- to 6-foot evergreen hedge.

Most of our citrus tree species trace their origin to China from where they migrated to the Middle East and, eventually, to Europe. The oldest European citrus trees — citrons or sweet lemons — on record were planted in Pompeii, as evidenced by seeds found there, buried in the hardened lava that quickly inundated the city after the volcanic eruption from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. 

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I thought there must be a neighbor who didn’t like me. Each morning, I would find large orange peels in my backyard. “Someone is eating oranges and throwing the peels over the fence,” I thought. 

After several weeks of peel collecting, I discovered the source of this nefarious littering. Orange peels were indeed falling out of the sky, but not through human agency. Running along telephone wires above my yard were squirrels — whose deterrence has been the subject of a recent column. These squirrels often carried oranges and, stopping to suck out the sweet pulp, let the peels fall where they may.

John Lingle, who gardens in Long Beach, has found a solution to squirrels that run along block walls, from where they leap onto adjacent fruit trees. He utilizes plastic spikes that are advertised for deterrence of birds, raccoons, and cats as well. Lingle affixed the spikes to his block wall with double-sided Gorilla tape. To protect strawberries and blueberries from squirrel predations, he covers the plants in green chicken wire, a material from which he also makes tall circular barriers around his fruit trees.

Janice Liebee, from La Palma, recommends a product called Repels-All, which she found at a home improvement center.  “It’s safe for animals,” she writes. “It causes a mild irritation to their nasal passages and they don’t come back. I use it in my front yard and it works great for raccoons” — so I imagine it would be effective with squirrels, too.

Gary Dailey, in Riverside County, has learned to keep rabbits out of his vegetable garden by growing crops that rabbits won’t eat, including zucchini, watermelon, and potatoes. “Rabbits will eat the leaves of sweet potatoes,” he adds, “but usually the plants grow faster than rabbits can eat them so it’s not a problem.” 

Due to citrus greening disease and the citrus quarantine established throughout large areas of Southern California, there are a limited number of nurseries selling citrus trees at the present time. I learned from Lingle that Armstrong Nursery in Long Beach is one such nursery. If you know of other nurseries that currently sell citrus trees, please advise. If you do purchase a citrus tree and live in a quarantined area, you should not take fruit you grow outside your property, consume it solely at home, and dispose of any fruit you don’t eat in the trash.

California native of the week: If you are looking for a living fence that, once established, does not need water, is cold hardy to 17 degrees, and has seeds that provide a precious cosmetic, consider jojoba. Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) develops into a large shrub or small tree, up to eight feet tall and eight feet wide, or even larger, and lives for a century or two. A California native xerophyte found in the Sonoran Desert, jojoba (hoh-HOH-bah) can thrive in sand and is being used around the world as a crop for marginal land and as a species that can halt desertification.

This unique plant produces fruits that contain one to three seeds from which jojoba oil, which makes up around 50% of the seeds’ weight, is extracted. Jojoba is dioecious, meaning there are male and female plants and that you will need at least one of each to produce a crop. In the manner of dioecious plants generally — from pistachio trees to date palms — jojoba is wind-pollinated. Although jojoba can survive on little to zero irrigation, it is best to soak it once a week during hot weather during its first few years in the ground. This is done to establish a strong root system so that it can reach its maximum growth rate of around 12 inches per year. Evergreen jojoba has attractive, waxy gray-green foliage and demands a full sun exposure and fast-draining soil.

Please send questions or comments to joshua@perfectplants.com.