Flowers: Not long ago, while strolling in Nahariya, Israel’s most northern coastal city, I came upon a plant with flowers that reminded me of the sort of image seen when looking into a kaleidoscope. As for its form, the flowers were identical to other hybrid Verbenas I had seen, but these flowers — in red, pink, and white — were far more brilliant. To begin with, it must be understood that the uniquely spectacular verbena flower clusters, although no more than a few inches wide, may consist of more than 20 individual florets. Colors include blue, violet, purple, rose, dark red, yellow, and white. Bicolor varieties are also seen, but I had never seen the tricolor variety that I was facing now. Verbena hybrids may also be mildly fragrant, and they attract pollinators of all kinds. They are technically perennial but typically grown as annuals.
Vegetables: Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), or ong choy, is not related to spinach but is a morning glory relative with a speedy growth rate to match. It grows best in warm weather and is suitable for August planting. Water spinach leafs out quickly, and its foliage is ready for consumption within 20-30 days of planting. It is a staple in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine and makes a great substitute for ordinary spinach in stir-fry dishes. Give water spinach at least six hours of daily sun and water freely. It can even grow indoors on a sunny windowsill in water alone. Flowers are white and will remind you of morning glory blooms. However, if you allow it to go to seed, it can become invasive.
Fruit: Summer pruning is recommended once fruit trees have put on more than two feet of growth during the season. The reason for this is to keep the tree at a manageable height, ideally at around 8 feet. However, you do not want to cut a 12-foot tree down to 8 feet at this time of year since this could burn foliage and branches. It is best to leave radical pruning for the cooler and shorter days of late fall and winter. Where cold-sensitive tropicals such as avocado and mango are concerned, prune when the danger of frost has passed in early spring.
Herbs: Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) are closely related and highly sought after by cooks and apothecaries alike. You don’t have to go far to find the rhizomes of these plants since they are readily available in grocery stores such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, and others as well. 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. Morning sun with afternoon shade is the recommended exposure, and soil must be kept moist. Ginger and turmeric are cold-sensitive, so either cover them at night when frost is forecast or dig them up before nights get cold and keep them in pots indoors where they get plenty of light. Remember: A plant that thrives in half-day sun outdoors will probably want to see sunlight for most if not all of the day when grown indoors.
Pests: If you see a sticky black substance covering your citrus or gardenia foliage, know that it is stricken with sooty mold fungus. This is a fungus that grows on “honeydew” excreted by sucking insects such as whiteflies, mealybugs, thrips, scales, and aphids. The key to controlling this malady is to make sure your foliage is exposed to plenty of light and there is good air circulation around your plant so leaves are kept dry. Ants live in symbiosis with these insects since they feast on their honeydew while fighting off beneficial insects that would otherwise devour the damaging ones. Exclude ants by baiting them at the base of your specimen infested with the fungus or apply Vaseline to the trunk of the tree or branches of the shrub in a two-inch wide band. Suffocating horticultural oil or insecticidal soap are non-toxic solutions to eliminating 1-5 feet and a spread stretching to 10 feet or more, depending on microclimate and soil conditions. Huckleberry oak has an unmatched elegance with its small, leathery, yet soft foliage and controlled growth. Its egg-shaped acorns are attractive to every sort of avian and mammalian wildlife. Huckleberry oak’s ground-hugging aspect makes it suitable for erosion control and it has been planted on the slopes around Lake Tahoe for this purpose.
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