Red Berries

Another pleasure of the winter garden is the native California Toyon bush, which is covered with red berry clusters from November through January. Toyon is useful for creating festive decorative arrangements for Thanksgiving and Christmas; for visiting birds looking for a quick meal; and for brightening rainy gray days in the winter landscape.


Toyon berries in winter.

Toyon has seasonal appeal beyond winter. In spring, it is covered with a froth of white blossoms. In summer the blossoms transform into green berries. The Toyon bush can be used as a privacy screen in the garden or landscape, and provides visual interest all year round.

 Toyon blossoms in spring.

Toyon berries in summer.

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Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon, or Christmas Berry) is native to northern and southern California, from sea level to 4000 feet, typically in the chaparral plant community. It is in the Rosaceae family, and grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree to 30 feet. Leaves are elliptical to oblong, four inches long, and leathery. Flowers are small, white, grow in large, flat-topped clusters (corymbose), and have sepals, five petals, and 10 stamens. Fruit is a berry-like pome. Keep in mind the berries are toxic, so use with caution if you have pets or small children.

Winter Movies 2013: The Grapes of Wrath

This month we’re taking a look at movies where plants are the movie stars. This week’s movie is The Grapes of Wrath, which premiered in 1940 and was based on John Steinbeck’s novel from 1939. In the movie, Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda, returns home after a stint in jail to find his family has been evicted from their farm in depression-era Oklahoma, and is packing the car to head for California. The Depression, drought, and Dust Bowl have caused economic hardship. A marketing campaign has painted California as veritable Garden of Eden, and a way out for “Okies.”

The journey to California is filled with peril and death, and on the way the Joad family learns that the “milk and honey” of California has its own perils and hardships. Still, they determine to complete the journey, since there is nothing left for them in Oklahoma. The story is gritty and sobering – a family’s struggle with the land and change, waged against the backdrop of economic hardship and ecological disaster.

I recently watched the first episode of Ken Burn’s documentary The Dust Bowl, and learned more about the man-made ecological disaster of the Dust Bowl. Great expanses of the United States prairies were turned into crop land during the “Great Plow-Up”. The ensuing prosperity came to an end with a decade-long drought, resulting in dust storms of primal proportion. Turns out the prairie ecology required the deep roots of the prairie grass to stabilize the soil of the mid-west. Knowing more about the origins of the Dust Bowl, made the plight of the Joads, and many others like them, all the more gripping. It makes one wonder – could it happen again?

Moss

In our garden, the winter rains cause the greening of the moss. Over the years our small lawn has been replaced by various mosses. Most of the year the moss is dry and brown with a few stray blades of grass poking through. Moss covers the brick stairway and rock garden, decorates the planters, and crops up between the stepping stones. Within days of the first rain, the moss turns green and lush.

Moss strewn with camellia petals.

Moss lined stone pavers.

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Moss is frequently used in Japanese gardens by design. My husband and I visited the Butchart garden in Victoria one October, and were taken with the use of moss in the Japanese garden. The moss-covered forest had a magical quality to it. Moss thrives in moist climates, like the Pacific Northwest, but can thrive for a short season in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Moss covered rock garden.

Mossy back yard.

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Mosses are non-vascular plants in the Bryophyta family of land plants. They are herbaceous, small, absorb moisture through leaves and stems, use photosynthesis to produce nutrients, and reproduce through spores. Many prefer shade and acidic soil, require moisture to reproduce, and can survive desiccation for months.