In the Garden
Michael Miyashiro
Spring cut branches
This is the time of the year when flowering fruit and spring-emergence branches come on the market. Branches such as quince, plum, apricot, peach, almond and cherry usually are harvested a few short weeks apart. These branches appear and then disappear, so catch them when you can. The care is minimal and the rewards beautiful. These flowering branches come into bloom with little effort. There are a few basic cultural practices that should be observed so that you can enjoy them to their fullest.
RAINFOREST
Let Pussy Willow stems sit in water until the catkin caps fall.Select branches that have the majority of their buds still covered in sheaths. These sheaths appear like tiny cabbages covering the tips where the actual flower buds emerge. Once the buds emerge, they begin to swell and then color up into flowers. Select branches that don't have a lot of leaves forming. Leaves should be removed when you see them developing, because they tend to use up the stored food reserved for the flowers. The plant will always favor new growth over buds, so it's best to remove these leaves when they emerge as shoots.
When bringing these branches home, scrub the stem ends with a good disinfectant like Clorox, diluted enough so you can't smell it, or other household disinfectant in a diluted mild form. Scrub the stem ends in warm water, and then allow them to rest in a clean bucket of fresh water. Then recut the stem ends with a sharp pruning shear or pruner, and immerse in a vase or bucket of deep tap water. Keep this water clean; the longevity of your branches depends on the water quality. Recutting stems is not as important as keeping the vase water fresh.
To hasten the flowering of these branches, spray them outside with a hose or in the shower with warm-cool water for a few minutes. Wetting them will make them open much more quickly. Keep the stem bud tips misted and wet to encourage the flowering procession. Once the buds begin to open, you may discontinue these sprayings.
For pussy willow maintenance, let stems sit in water until the catkin caps fall. Once done, remove them from the water and allow them to dry immediately. The drying will prevent further development of these catkins from becoming too elongated and leggy. Once the pollen develops, these catkins usually will not be desirable. Do not allow your pussy willow branches to develop leaves. Once the leaves form, catkins will be knocked off, and you'll end up with bare stems of green leaves.
When properly dried, pussy willow stems have been known to last for more than 10 years. Although pussy willow will grow here, it rarely sends out the caps that produce catkins. Hawaii's just not cold enough.
Michael Miyashiro, flower connoisseur and owner of Rainforest at Ward Warehouse, is a graduate of the University of Hawaii horticulture program. Contact him at 591-9999 or e-mail rainforesthawaii@aol.com.
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