With the warm temperatures we had in February, and with the lack of rain in the middle of our rainy season, our plants have to be confused. I am certainly confused. The plants are growing and budding earlier than normal. The farmers are praying they don't get an end of season hard freeze which would damage those delicate buds
On top of that baseline confusion, I noticed something else that was off in my side yard. I have to admit that I don't make it out there very often in the winter. In wet years the dry creek bed of stones, that serves as the only walkway is submerged, draining water off the property. This year water wasn't an issue, but I was having some balance difficulties which made walking out there a little challenging.
When I finally made it out there, I saw two sights that were a bit odd. The first most striking sight was my rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, bush. Half was in full bloom with beautiful sky-blue blossoms. The other half didn't have a single blossom but had lush green growth. I know this is all one bush because years ago I planted an after-season rosemary “Christmas” tree in a wine barrel. Over the years the wine barrel has decomposed leaving me with a shrub growing out of a mound of soil.
The other strange looking thing was my pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana. This looked to me like a turkey with large tail feathers. Then it dawned on me what was going on. It all goes back to a hurried afternoon in early December. With that clue, I'll bet the other Master Gardeners are all nodding their heads with the answer.
The Master Gardeners of Solano County put on a Wreath Workshop each year in early December. The main greenery used is Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, which is communally gathered. However, the Master Gardeners also bring in additional greenery from their homes.
Usually, this gathering is done under less than optimal circumstances. It's always cold, and it seems like we are always racing to get it done with the waning light. Some years it is raining or still wet from a rain a few days before. After cutting the branches it's all bagged up. The next day it is transported to a central location where it is cut in smaller pieces, soaked in water, drained then boxed up for the workshop.
I was in charge of cutting the rosemary. I avoided the left side of the shrub because it didn't have branches that were long enough for a wreath, possibly from being pruned last year. So, I cut extensively on the right side. That December pruning, never an optimal time, stimulated branch and leaf growth, but at the expense of early spring blossoms. Because the left side hadn't been touched, it had beautiful flowers. Because rosemary is so hardy, I expect the right side to bloom later in the season.
But what about that strange-looking pineapple guava? The explanation is that was as far as my husband could reach without bringing out the ladder. He was doing the cutting and I was dragging it out and bagging it. Decked out in our now dripping rain suits we were running out of time and daylight so we had called it a day leaving the back of the shrub near the fence unpruned.
I do plan to haul out the ladder in the next couple of weeks to even out the pineapple guava. A wonky side yard is a small price to pay for being a Master Gardener.