The Garden Professors™

Companion plants! Great, what a good idea. When you first hear the term and think about the concept it sounds great but there is a lot to not like about it. The term “companion plants”  implies that these plants are partners and they “enjoy” each other’s company.  The term is an anthropomorphism or overlaying of human qualities on non-human organisms.  A more appropriate term may be plant associates or plant associations, a term taken from plant ecology, which has more basis for use.

Plants naturally grow together in groups which are called plant communities. These plants evolved under certain climate, soil, and environmental conditions that allow them to live together in the same place. Coastal sage scrub, oak woodland, and juniper pinyon woodland are some common plant communities where I reside in Ventura County. All of the plants growing in these communities receive winter rainfall and summer drought (Mediterranean climate) to which they are adapted to grow in. Plants growing here either resist drought through specific plant adaptations such as reflective leaf surfaces (white sage), abundant trichomes (sycamore), microphylly (buckwheat), succulent water storage (agaves, yucca and other lily family bulb forming plants), and C-4 metabolism (grasses). Some plants avoid drought by growing in the rainy season, setting seed and then remaining dormant during hot dry weather. Plants can grow in this climate because they have the adaptations to do so.

Plants compete for resources and while doing so may provide a place for other plants to grow. Trees have an advantage over grasses because they can grow above, catching the sun and shade the grasses out. But shade may also provide a place for shade adapted plants to grow. Plants surviving challenges in a specific environment may end up growing together. Woody plants also provide perching birds a place to defecate and spread seeds. This is why unexpected things may grow under other plants. Shade may even be necessary for development of proper form. We have noticed in studying western hackberry (Celtis reticulata) that the tree has no apical control and will not develop into a tree shape when grown in full sun. When grown in shade apical control is present and the plant grows a straight trunk. Birds commonly eat hackberry fruit and likely disseminate it under the canopies of other plants. I don’t think the hackberry minds growing as a blob but its “companion” plants cause it to change form due to changes in light intensity.

Some plants live very closely with others. Mistletoe is a great example. Leafy mistletoe is a hemiparasite deriving its energy from sunlight of its own leaves but utilizing water and photosynthate from its host. Similarly there are free living plants such as Indian paint brush (a member of the Orobanchaceae) that are also hemiparasitic using their roots to extract benefit from neighboring plants. Holoparasites are true parasites deriving all their nourishment from their hosts, e.g., Dodder (Cuscuta spp.). Dwarf mistletoe is also holoparasitic as it largely lacks chlorophyll. These plants are always found on or near their hosts but it is hard to call them true “companions.” The plants clearly associate with each other and in some cases are detrimental as one of the plants stands to gain nothing from the interaction.

One popular example of “companion planting” is The Three Sisters (TTS) polyculture of corn, squash and beans. This agricultural system is said to be synergistic. Corn provides support for beans and shades the squash, and beans provide nitrogen fixed from the air for the other two members of the system. The system was “practiced” by indigenous Americans all across the continent. Soils, rainfall and climate are quite diverse across the United States, and I am sure that TTS agriculture had mixed success. It is an interesting thought that the human diet can be satisfied by these crops and likely the combination was more about ensuring sustained calories and nutrients for those who grew them. In one published study there was no increase in production when comparing TTS to mono-cultures of the component parts, nor was N increased in soil. This makes sense since it’s not available until the plant dies giving up its nitrogen to the next crop which is the basis of legume cover cropping. Continued use of the TTS system is a zero sum game as corn and squash will rapidly use all the nitrogen from the previous year’s legume crop.

Mutualism is the concept that interactions between two organisms benefits both. There are many examples of plants that have a mutual relationship with insects, birds, fungi and bacteria. I found no examples of plants that have mutual relationships with other plants, e.g., “companion plants”, common to the scientific literature. I thought this was unusual so I called a friend who is a plant ecologist and asked her the question. At first she was enthusiastic and pointed to non-plant-plant relationships. As I redirected her to only plant-plant interactions we could not identify anything. My suspicion is I have missed something important or we will discover one day that there are plants evolved to help one another but for now, it evades me.

There is no doubt that one plant can help another but it’s incidental and not a sign of a mutual relationship. Most plants evolved to grow in communities because the growing conditions are suited to all. Knowledgeable gardeners and landscape architects will group plants that grow well together. This is only common sense.
Understanding how plants grow in nature informs gardeners about adaptations and this in turn elevates the practice of horticulture.

References

Martinez, R.T. 2008. An evaluations of the productivity of the native American ‘Three Sisters’ agriculture system in northern Wisconsin. M.S. Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources.

Marsh, E. 2023. The Three Sisters of Indigenous American Agriculture. National Agricultural Library (USDA). https://www.nal.usda.gov/collections/stories/three-sisters

As we close out 2022, I thought I would spend a few minutes reviewing the weather and climate of the past year, both the average conditions and some of the extremes we saw. While this is skewed towards the United States, I did include some events happening in other parts of the world for our non-US readers.

What were the average climate conditions in 2022?

Since the year is not quite over, I can’t provide a final average for temperature or precipitation for the complete 365 days, but there are some websites that allow me to look at all but the last few days. The images below are from the High Plains Regional Climate Center for January 1 through December 28. They show the temperature departure from normal and the percent of normal precipitation for the continental United States. (You can see the global temperature statistics for January through November 2022 at the National Centers for Environmental Information.) In most parts of the U.S., the temperature was warmer than the 1991-2020 normal; the exception was the north central part of the country, where temperatures were colder than normal. This pattern is consistent with the La Niña that we have been experiencing for most of the year, although individual months did vary.

Precipitation was more variable, as the map of precipitation percent of normal below shows. The driest areas in California and the Central Plains are consistent with the extensive droughts that covered those parts of the country throughout the year. The eastern Coastal Plain also shows overall drier than normal conditions for the year as a whole but the timing of wet summer and dry fall caused a lot of problems for the farmers there. The wettest areas were New Mexico and Arizona (due to a vigorous monsoon), the Southern Appalachians and Mississippi, and the Florida Peninsula due to the heavy rain associated with Hurricane Ian.

What extremes did we see in 2022?

The averages show the overall conditions that occurred this year, but don’t begin to capture the extremes in temperature and precipitation that occurred. These extremes get washed out in the averaging process but are far more likely to cause serious impacts than deviations from normal conditions over the whole year. These extremes caused 15 billion-dollar disasters in the U. S. alone as of October 11, and I certainly expect that extreme events since then, including last week’s cold outbreak and snowstorm, will add to that number.

In 2022, we experienced a number of heat waves with record-setting temperatures, including unusual warmth in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, where their highest temperature ever recorded (50.7 C or 123.3 F) was tied in January, their peak summer month. The United Kingdom experienced their hottest year ever, including temperatures in excess of 40 C for the first time. Much of Asia was also very hot in 2022. In the United States, the Pacific Northwest saw heat waves in both August and October, with the Southwest experiencing blistering heat in September and the Northeast in August. By comparison, cold outbreaks occurred both in January and early February and in December, with an Arctic outbreak spreading southeast from Alaska down to southern Florida, bringing extensive freezing conditions that caused significant damage to citrus in Florida and Georgia, bursting water pipes, and a lake effect blizzard in Buffalo NY that eclipsed their previous record-setting snow event set just a month earlier.

Precipitation was just as variable, with floods and droughts occurring around the world this year. Some of the more notable flood events include the rainfall in Pakistan in August that put a third of their country underwater, the floods that destroyed the northern entry to Yellowstone Park in June, and the local flash floods that occurred in eastern Kentucky in summer and fall, and the southwest monsoon that began in June with precipitation 200-800% of normal, easing drought in that area. At the very end of the year, as I am writing this, an atmospheric river event on the West Coast is bringing heavy rain to areas of California that have been plagued by drought all year. That may provide some relief from the dry conditions going into 2023.

Many other areas of the world experienced significant droughts in 2022. They include an extreme drought that occurred over most of Europe, causing damage to many crops and limiting navigation on local rivers. This was also true in the United States, where the long-lasting drought in the central United States led to record low levels on the Mississippi River, stopping barge traffic that usually transports grain from the Midwest down to the Gulf of Mexico. Drought covered over half of the United States for many months in 2022, although it waxed and waned in some areas with the movement of rain-producing systems.

How about the tropics?

While La Niña usually means that the Atlantic tropical season is active, this year was oddly quiet between early July and the end of August, with no storms observed during this period for only the third time since 1950. But once the season resumed, we saw Hurricane Fiona (affecting Puerto Rico and Nova Scotia, although it stayed offshore for the continental eastern U. S.) and Hurricane Ian in September. Ian caused tremendous death and destruction to southwestern Florida as it crossed over the peninsula, dropping feet of rain before it moved into the Atlantic Ocean and then recurved west into South Carolina as a weakened storm. In November, Hurricane Nicole brought devastating coastal flooding to areas that were previously affected by Ian, although it caused less damage than Ian did. Damage from tropical systems was not confined to the tropics, however, as the remains of Typhoon Merbok hit the west coast of Alaska in September, causing significant coastal damage with its incredibly strong winds.

What does the past year teach gardeners?

Most of the United States as well as the rest of the world experienced a warmer climate in 2022, so gardeners will continue to need to choose plants that are appropriate for their warming climate zones. But they will also need to prepare for extreme conditions; devastation by individual storms as well as climate variability will continue to affect home gardens through water stress caused by drought and extreme heat as well as damage caused by floods, high winds, and freezing temperatures. Building a resilient garden that can withstand these extremes will allow your garden to thrive through whatever conditions the atmosphere throws at it.

Thank you for another great year!

Finally, I want to end this year by thanking you all again for your loyal readership and your thoughtful questions and comments on many topics. I encourage you to share your 2022 garden challenges (weather or otherwise) in the comments along with your plans for how you plan to address them in 2023 and beyond. I look forward to reading them! We will see you again in the New Year.

I have a very interesting research project on the effects of urban pressure on Coast Live Oak (CLO). CLO is a California native oak and I am interested in seeing if urban cultural conditions prevent the development of mycorrhizal fungi on their roots.  My study is blocked, that means that all the treatments occur in a block and the blocks are repeated for replication.  Blocking allows the statistics to account for variability in field locations.  Its a good thing too, since one of the blocks has never done well.  One tree died, two are severely chlorotic etc.  This was not just the effect of the urban pressure treatments, but way more severe than any other trees growing in other blocks.  It turns out there was a reason…  I had unwittingly planted my sapling oaks in an area of our research farm where  buried landscape fabric was installed.

So most trees that were covered by the landscape fabric were chlorotic. One died and one grew normally. The one growing normally had extended roots over the top of the fabric and then grown into soil beyond the fabric. Note in the picture above a lack of roots despite adequate moisture.

How does landscape fabric hurt trees? Let me describe the mechanisms… First and foremost soil coverings reduce the ability of soil to diffuse gases, both into and out of soil. As we know from other blogs on this subject in the archive Dr. Linda Chalker Scott and colleagues conducted research on gas diffusion rates under different kinds of landscape or soil coverings. It is important to understand that gases go both ways. For roots to remain healthy, they must convert sugar to energy through the process of respiration. During chemical respiration oxygen is combined with glucose and converted into energy (for cell growth) and carbon dioxide is produced. Carbon dioxide must diffuse out of soil and oxygen diffuse into soil for this reaction to occur.

Many of our blogs have touted the benefits of coarse, fresh, arborist chips for woody plants. One of the supreme benefits is the increase in rooting under these mulches. Unlike landscape fabrics, wood chip mulches eventually modify soil actually promoting gas exchange into deeper levels. Also, landscape fabrics prevent soil arthropods and other organisms from transporting organic matter to lower levels. Think of plastics and fabrics as a suffocating blanket over root systems, they deprive roots of moisture and gas exchange and prevent soil modification and organic matter movement.

While thick, coarse organic mulches actually enhance establishment and rooting of landscape plants without limiting gas exchange they can not overcome the impact of landscape fabrics. A common practice is to lay down fabrics and then apply mulch over the fabric. This often results in a “tatty” look years later when the mulch decomposes and the fabric shows through. Landscape fabrics and weed barriers are landscape pollutants. We should be limiting the use of petroleum products in landscapes because they do not break down easily and they have a bad impact on all forms of life.

References

Cahill, A., L. Chalker-Scott and K. Ewing. 2005. Wood-chip mulch improves plant survival and establishment at no-maintenance restoration site (Washington). Ecological Restoration 23:212-213. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303445066_Wood-chip_mulch_improves_plant_survival_and_establishment_at_no-maintenance_restoration_site

Chalker-Scott, L. and A. Downer. 2022. Garden Myth-Busting for Extension Educators: The Science Behind the Use of Arborist Wood Chips as Landscape Mulches. Journal of the NACAA 15(2). https://www.nacaa.com/file.ashx?id=6c7d4542-7481-4f0a-9508-d8263a437348

Shahzad, K., A.I.Bary, D.P. Collins, L. Chalker-Scott, M. Abid, H.Y. Sintim and M. Flury. 2019. Carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange at the soil-atmosphere boundary as affected by various mulch materials. Soil & Tillage Research 194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2019.104335

If you follow current weather news, you have likely read the astounding story of the recent lake effect snowfall in Buffalo, New York, and other areas downwind of the Great Lakes, where over 6 feet of snow fell in just a day or two in some locations. My mom, who still lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where I grew up, reported that in her city some areas got up to 30 inches during the same time frame. So this month I want to discuss lake effect snows and how heavy snows can affect your trees and gardens.

What is lake effect snow?

Lake effect snow is snow that is caused or enhanced by differences in the temperature of warm water in the lakes and the cold Arctic air that blows over it. Calling it “lake effect” is a bit of a misnomer, since cold, dry air blowing over a warmer ocean can cause the same effect. In the United States, it most often occurs downwind of the Great Lakes, especially in fall when the lakes are still warm and the air blowing in from the north is much colder and drier than the lake surface. It can even sometimes occur downwind of smaller lakes or reservoirs if the conditions are just right.

As the cold dry air crosses the warm water, copious amounts of water vapor evaporate into the air mass and once that warmer, moister air blows onshore again clouds drop huge amounts of snow in the areas downwind of the lakes. The snow usually falls in heavy bands that drop snow in areas that are highly dependent on the direction of the wind. Often the bands are just a few miles wide but if you drive through one your visibility can drop to near zero in just a short distance. When I lived in Valparaiso, IN, near the south end of Lake Michigan, winds blew straight from the north for much of the month of December 2000 dropping 32.0 inches of snow when Decembers there usually get just a few inches, thanks to the lake effect snow that occurred. (I moved to Georgia the next month, although it was not because of the snow—mostly.) As winter progresses and the lakes get colder with more ice cover, lake effect snow is reduced because of the decrease in available water vapor so fall and early winter are the prime times of year for the heaviest lake effect snow.

In this case, weather forecasters were well aware of the potential for record-breaking snow because of their knowledge of the lake temperatures plus the computer-generated forecasts of wind direction and persistence over time. Winter storm warnings and maps of predicted snowfall were produced well ahead of time. Even so, the amount of snow that was produced from this historic event is still amazing.

Source: Carolyn Thompson / AP Photo

Why did Buffalo experience such extreme snowfall amounts?

Buffalo is known for its incredible snowfalls due to its position downwind of Lake Erie, a long and shallow lake that is usually warm well into fall. The long distance of the wind blowing over the lake (called the “fetch”) allows the air to pick up tremendous amounts of water that becomes snow as it hits the land NE of the lake; the exact location of heaviest snow depends on the direction of the wind over the lake (see my poorly drawn map annotated on a screen capture of the Earth Nullschool streamline map for the day of the heaviest snowfall below). In this month’s case, the lake had temperatures well above the long-term average, and the wind across the lake was very consistent over a few days, allowing the snow to pile up dramatically. In some locations snow was falling at the rate of several inches an hour and the extended period of snowfall allowed it to build up to over six feet in some locations in just a day or two, while other areas not along the direct path of the wind received much less. The area of heaviest snowfall shifted as the winds changed direction over time.

The result of this weather event was the nearly complete shutdown of Buffalo and other areas affected by the heavy snow. Even a city that experiences as much annual snow as Buffalo does can be stopped in its tracks for a while by the sheer volume of snow that has to be removed. The weight of the snow also caused problems for a number of building roofs and caused some power outages as well. Even the professional football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions had to be moved from Buffalo to Detroit because of the impossibility of clearing out the open-air stadium and the roads around it for fans to get there safely (or at all).

Does climate change affect lake effect snow?

A warming climate does have some impact on the conditions that make lake effect snowfalls most likely. The lakes are generally staying warmer later into the fall, so when cold continental air does develop over Canada and move across the lakes there is more potential for large amounts of water vapor to be evaporated, increasing the chance of heavy snow. It is likely that there may be some reduction in the production of the coldest, driest air in polar regions, but it will still occur often enough for lake effect snow to continue to be a climate factor downwind of the lakes. It is more difficult to say how or if the weather patterns that determine the direction of wind flow will change as the climate gets warmer.

Source: Dan Taylor-Watt, Commons Wikimedia

How does heavy snow affect trees and gardens?

Lake effect snow is often very wet and heavy which makes damage to trees and power lines more likely. An average snowfall may have about one inch of water equivalent in ten inches of snow, but in a lake effect snow it is often more like six inches of snow to one inch of water equivalent which means it is very dense stuff to shovel. Wet snow may weigh up to four times as much as newly fallen regular snow per square foot. No wonder most heart attacks from clearing snow occur when this very wet and heavy snow has fallen.

The weight of this much snow can easily collapse the roofs of buildings. It can also do a lot of damage to tree limbs and shrubs, especially when the wet snow sticks and freezes to either needles or leaves adding to the weight on the limbs. Trees and bush varieties that are brittle or have poor branching structure are especially vulnerable to damage from heavy snow. Snow on the ground can help insulate the plants from very cold weather, but the moisture that is left after the snow melts can cause saturated soils that can negatively impact roots. Salt added to help melt the snow from paved surfaces can also harm plants and the deep snow cover in some lake effect storms can also provide cover for voles and other critters that like to nibble on bark.

For me, lake effect snow in my Michigan winter when I was growing up was the ultimate fluffy Christmas snow, with big fat flakes drifting down like a picture postcard. But when the flakes come down fast and heavy the holiday snow becomes a problem that can affect travelers, home owners, and gardeners too. I hope that as you travel over the holidays this winter, the snow that you see, whether you stay or go, is a delight and not an obstacle to spending time with your friends and family.

I’m resorting to clickbait tactics to get your attention. Here’s another – “Warning! Graphic photos follow!”

Uncorrected roots in containers or landscapes will create chronic water stress problems for trees.

If you have failing trees on your own property or on property you manage, you need to do one simple thing before you assume that pests or disease are responsible: you need to determine whether the root system is healthy and functional.

Now, I know you can’t see underground, but you can draw some informed conclusions based on whether you can see the root flare. To find the root flare, pull away any mulch or groundcover that’s obstructing your view. Once you can see soil, you should be able to see the root flare. If your tree looks like a utility pole (meaning you can’t see the flare), then it’s been planted incorrectly. This single mistake will have myriad consequences:

• 

• 

• 

No flare = no chance

1. It’s buried too deeply – the flare needs to be at the surface.
2. If it’s buried too deeply, it’s likely the tree was planted without removing the materials surrounding the roots. Bare–rooting woody plants before planting is crucial to their survival.
3. Roots that are buried too deeply will not have sufficient oxygen to establish a fine root system for water and nutrient uptake, much less develop any structural roots.
4. Moreover, without removing the materials around the root, the roots are less likely to establish into the surrounding native soil. Neither are you able to remove poor structural roots. Check out this post for more information.
5. A structurally flawed root system, stressed for oxygen and encased in layers of clay (or potting media) and various combinations of burlap, twine, and wire baskets, is not going to establish quickly or well. Increasingly, it’s not able to supply sufficient water to the growing crown.
6. Oxygen-stressed roots will die, compounding the reduced water uptake problem.
7. As the crown experiences chronic water stress, it will experience dieback while opportunistic pests and disease take advantage of a tree unable to chemically defend itself.
8. Opportunistic pests and diseases are not the cause of tree failure – they are simply indicators of an environmental problem. Proper diagnosis is discussed here and here.

Bare-rooting plants allows you to correct defective structural roots before planting.

You should be able to confirm lack of root establishment by performing the wiggle test (that’s the secret hack). This will allow you to see whether the soil around the roots moves. If it does, that means the roots are not established. If the tree has been in the ground for more than 6 months, it’s probably not going to establish. The sooner you can dig up and correctly replant a relatively newly planted tree the better your chances that will recover and establish.