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Enjoying and Growing Pecans

Pecan fruits in their natural form. (photo by Roger Culos)
Pecan fruits in their natural form. (photo by Roger Culos)

In many American households, Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pecans. Whether in the shell, or roasted, or lacing the syrupy matrix of that Southern staple, pecan pie, this most American of nuts is a near-must for the holiday table.

About Pecans

The story of pecan’s journey to the Thanksgiving table begins, fittingly, in the forests of North America. Native from the central Midwest to northeastern Mexico, Carya illinoinensis (as pecan is botanically known) is a towering presence in rich lowland forests throughout its range, growing to a lordly 180 feet tall (and supported by a massive trunk that can reach 7 feet in diameter). American Indians prized and often planted the nuts, thereby increasing the species’ abundance and distribution. European settlers followed suit, cultivating Carya illinoinensis not only for food but also for furniture, tools, and firewood.

Pecan-growing went commercial in the nineteenth century after farmers learned to propagate superior varieties from cuttings (rather than growing random plants from seed, as formerly). Today, United States nut-growers from the Southeast to southern California harvest and sell hundreds of millions of pounds of pecans annually, supplying some 80 percent of the world’s crop (with Georgia, Texas, and New Mexico leading the way).

Pecan pie is an expected seasonal treat at the Thanksgiving dessert table.
Pecan pie is an expected seasonal treat at the Thanksgiving dessert table. (image by Joe Hakim)

Not all of this pecan poundage is the same, however. Scores of pecan varieties have entered cultivation since the mid-nineteenth century, each differing in various important characteristics such as nut quality, hardiness, climatological preferences, disease and pest resistance, and precocity (i.e., bearing age). Moreover, recommended cultivars for commercial and home use vary markedly from one region to another (most agricultural extension services provide lists of the best cultivars for their respective states).

Pecan Varieties

Southeast gardeners who would like to experience the thrill of growing their own pecans might want to try:

‘Elliott’, noted for its exceptionally flavorful, relatively small pecans, borne on disease-resistant plants.
‘Gloria Grande’, which bears annual (rather than alternate-year) crops of large, thick-shelled nuts.
‘McMillan’, a disease-resistant, precocious, prolific bearer of medium-sized nuts.
Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend pack

Varieties for Southwest and southern California gardens include:

‘Apache’, whose large, thin-shelled nuts are reliably produced each year.
‘Western’ (‘Western Schley’), widely grown for its sweet-fleshed, prolific pecans.
‘Wichita’, an alternate-year bearer of tasty, medium-sized nuts.

Growing Pecans

Whatever the region or cultivar, pecans require ample space, hot summers, and USDA Zone 5b or warmer winters, and grow best in fertile, well-drained, humus-rich soil (sandy or heavy soils can be amended with a rich compost such as Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend). Pecan flowers ripen most of their pollen before or after they’re ready to receive it; consequently, for maximum production plant at least two cultivars with different pollen seasons. Most cultivars begin bearing within several years of planting, their green-husked fruits splitting to disgorge the brown-shelled, sweet-fleshed prizes within.

Pecan aficionados who can’t grow their own – but would like a sampling of named varieties (rather than the anonymous, uniform offerings of their local grocery store) – can shop at mail-order retailers such as Bass Pecan Company and Georgia Pecan Farms. In pecan-growing regions, a few commercial orchards still operate retail stands, where shoppers can browse through piles of freshly harvested pecans in search of the perfect variety for their holiday pies. For cooks who take their Thanksgiving pecans seriously, nothing could be closer to culinary bliss.

Pecan trees
Pecan trees are tough, beautiful, and produce lots of pecans once mature. (image by Bruce Marlin)

Winterberry Garden Gems

Winterberry Garden Gems Featured Image
Winterberries feed many wild birds, such as cedar waxwings.

Berries of cardinal red, golden yellow and orange stud the branches of winterberries (Ilex verticillata) like late-season gemstones. When planted together in masses, they offer clouds of landscape color that can be appreciated both close up and from afar. Cut branches the for festive holiday arrangements or simply keep them outdoors for the birds to eventually devour after more desirable winter food becomes scarce.

Winterberry Origins

Wintergold berries
‘Wintergold’ is a pretty, gold-berried selection that’s commonly sold at garden centers and nurseries.

These are the shrubs for winter. Native to the whole of eastern North America, winterberries are deciduous hollies that offer little more than inconspicuous white flowers in early to mid-spring and green foliage in summer, but when they produce their bright berries in fall, and the leaves drop, they glow.

Like most hollies, they are dioecious, which means some plants produce male flowers and some produce female flowers. Only the female flowers produce fruit, so it is essential to know the sex of your plants because a male pollenizer is required. For this reason, varieties are sold as either male or female, so be sure to plant at least one of each. For larger plantings of winterberry, plant one male shrub to every five females.

There is no shortage of cool, fun winterberry varieties for the landscape. and each year more are introduced. With the newer, better variants, these shrubs become more and more popular with homeowners. Many have denser, larger berries. Others come in warm shades other than red.

Red Winterberries

Winter Red berries
The bright red berries of the classic Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Red’ shine through much of the cold season.

Of the red-berried selections, Berry Nice® has bright red, medium-sized berries that heavily cover the branches of this tall shrub and remain for a long time into winter. Another with lots of berries is Berry Heavy®, the difference being that the berries are quite large. The more delicately fruited ‘Sparkleberry’ is an introduction by the  U.S. National Arboretum, which has very long-lasting scarlet fruits that appear on large, upright shrubs. And one cannot write about winterberries without mentioning the classic ‘Winter Red’, which is a reliable variety with consistently beautiful red fruit. The dwarf ‘Red Sprite’, which reaches only 3 to 5 feet, is a pretty variety for small gardens. All of these female shrubs can be pollinated by the male ‘Mr. Poppins’. 

Orange and Gold Winterberries

Aurantiaca orange berries
The unusual, orange-berried ‘Aurantiaca’ has exceptional good looks.

The tangerine-berried ‘Aurantiaca’, is tall and vigorous and looks uniquely beautiful in winter. Plant it alongside yellow- and red-twigged dogwoods for a real color explosion.

Of the gold and yellow-berried varieties, the classic ‘Winter Gold’ offers consistent good looks with its rich, golden berries. Berry Heavy® Gold is a new variety that becomes so heavily loaded with bright gold berries it literally drips with color.

Growing Winterberries

Winterberries are adaptable, thriving in full to partial sun and moist to average soils on the acid side. Fruiting is most spectacular in plants given fuller sun.

Before planting a new winterberry, be sure to amend the soil with organic-rich amendments like Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend and Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss. New shrubs are best planted in spring but are also cold tolerant enough to be planted in fall

Winterberries of all colors look outstanding when planted together in great swaths. Their bright, cheerful good looks consistently make a big landscape statement that will have your friends wanting to plant their own.

Growing Miniature African Violets

Growing Miniature African violets Featured Image

Miniature African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha hybrids), look and act very much like their larger violet siblings. The big difference is the small size. Minis feature a basal leaf rosette that is only 3 to 6 inches in diameter, making them perfect for limited growing space, terrariums and other special situations.

African Violet History

African violets
Traditional purple African violets can come in miniature and micro-miniature forms.

African violets are not true violets, but members of the Gesneriaceae family. Their wild ancestors were first collected in 1892 from forests in what is now Tanzania by Baron Walter St. Paul, a German colonial official, and amateur botanist. St. Paul sent the specimens to his father in Germany, who passed them on to Hermann Wendland, Director of the Royal Botanical Garden, who first described them. Eventually, the new genus was christened Saintpaulia, after Baron St. Paul. The species name, “ionantha” means “violet-like,” in honor of the purple flowers.

The violets arrived in New York in 1894. They caught on with plant lovers and by 1946, they were so popular that a group of enthusiasts formed the African Violet Society of America (AVSA). The society, which is also the registration authority for new violet varieties, now describes itself as “the largest society devoted to a single indoor plant in the world.”

Red African Violets
Petal edges may be exuberantly ruffled.

African Violet Sizes

As the vogue for African violets grew, breeders created new varieties, expanding the range of flower and leaf forms and colors, as well as plant sizes. Miniatures are one of a handful of recognized size categories. The others are micro-miniatures (less than 3 inches in diameter), semi-miniatures (6 to 8 inches), standard (8 to 16 inches) and large (over 16 inches). Minis, micro-minis, and semi-minis are genetically predisposed to small size, but may occasionally grow larger than the dimensions that define their categories.

African Violet Flowers and Leaves

Like their larger relatives, minis may have single, semi-double or double flowers. Traditional single flowered varieties feature five petals, with the two on top slightly smaller than the bottom three. Petal size is more uniform on varieties with single, star-shaped flowers. Petal edges can be flat, slightly wavy or exuberantly ruffled. Color possibilities include shades of white, pale green, pink, red, yellow, purple and blue-purple, as well as combinations of those colors.

Miniature African violet leaves are sometimes as interesting as the flowers, with variations in shape, size, texture, leaf edges and color. Some varieties bear bi-colored foliage with contrasting variegation in shades of green, tan or cream.

Pink African violets
Semi-double varieties may feature bi-colored petals.

Miniature African Violet Care

Beautiful minis need loving care. This starts with a free-draining, soilless potting medium like Fafard African Violet Potting Mix. Good drainage is essential to violet health because too much moisture causes deadly crown rot. Once potted up, minis should be watered whenever the surface of the soil feels dry to the touch. Feed the plants each time you water with a diluted solution of balanced fertilizer (for example 20-20-20), following manufacturers’ directions, or using one 1/8 teaspoon fertilizer per gallon of water. If you water from the top, avoid the leaves, as water droplets cause unsightly leaf spotting. Water from the bottom by filling the saucer and allowing the plant to stand for an hour before emptying out the remaining water.

Indoors, minis need bright, indirect light from east or west-facing windows. South-facing windows may also provide good light in the winter but need to be covered with sheer curtains in summer to prevent leaf burn. Promote balanced growth by turning the plants about 90 degrees each time they are watered. Plants may also vacation outdoors during the growing season, as long as they are positioned in light shade.

Grooming African Violets

Groom miniature African violets by removing dead or dying leaves. To promote flowering and maintain the plants at the optimum size, do not allow them to produce more than five horizontal rows of leaves. Rejuvenate overgrown specimens by removing the lowest row(s) of leaves and repot, if necessary, using fresh potting mix. Minis and other African violets flower best when they are somewhat pot-bound.

For more information on minis and other African violets, contact the African Violet Society of America, 2375 North Street, Beaumont, TX 77702-1722, (409) 839-4725.