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1 week ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
We’re now at the peak bloom period of the highly regarded garden plant, the iris. For the Monterey Bay area, the popular tall-bearded irises typically reach their peak blooms from the end of April to the beginning of May. The bearded iris category includes varieties in several different heights. In my garden, tall-bearded irises and beardless Pacific Coast irises are both in bloom.
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2 weeks ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Today’s big news is the Spring Show and Sale of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus and Succulent Society, which will be held April 19 and 20 in Watsonville. See the details in “This week in the garden” (below). Gardening with succulent plants can be part of our preparation for drought conditions, a future possibility that we should not ignore, despite the lush growth supported by recent rains.
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3 weeks ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
We have entered California Native Plant Month! California’s Legislature has made this month to recognize California as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, with 6,500 different native plants and more plant diversity than any other U.S. state.
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4 weeks ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Today’s column features AI tools to identify plant diseases, garden pests and weeds; monitor climate and soil; and optimize plant care. These are available for download for cellphone use. Some require a monthly or annual fee, which could be worthwhile for those needing frequent assistance in successful gardening. This column complements recent columns featuring two forms of artificial intelligence useful in the garden.
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1 month ago | 
montereyherald.com | Tom Karwin
Our recent column introduced garden-related use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which organizes new content based on existing information, rather than analyzing or predicting existing data. This category of AI can generate text, images, music or video, supporting a range of garden-related projects. That column focused on skills for prompting GenAI to address a specific interest.
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1 month ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Our recent column introduced garden-related use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which organizes new content based on existing information, rather than analyzing or predicting existing data. This category of AI can generate text, images, music or video, supporting a range of garden-related projects. That column focused on skills for prompting GenAI to address a specific interest.
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1 month ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Artificial intelligence is changing the world of gardening and agriculture! This column focuses on residential gardening, so for now we’ll skip recent stories about AI in agriculture, a large-scale version of home gardening. The earliest uses of AI for gardeners emphasize the identification of plants and plant diseases. Applications that work on a cellphone are convenient tools for raising “what is this” questions while walking in the garden.
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1 month ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Gardeners are about to enter the spring season (March 20), so now is the time to plan for the blooms during the summer season. Gardening tasks are about hands-on in the present, and garden planning always focuses on the future. Now, gardeners can plant perennials that will bloom in the summer in the Monterey Bay area’s Mediterranean climate. The region’s mild winters and dry summers favor drought-tolerant, low-maintenance and pollinator-friendly plants.
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1 month ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
Our gardens have not arrived on spring’s first day (March 20) but are coming out of dormancy and have already displayed spring blooms. Astronomically, the first day of spring is marked by the spring — or vernal — equinox, which occurs when the sun shines directly over the Earth’s equator going south to north, providing equal amounts of sunlight to the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Other ways to describe seasonal changes in the garden are based on leaf and bloom indices.
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2 months ago | 
santacruzsentinel.com | Tom Karwin
The current period of dormancy provides gardeners with time planning for the future. In a recent column, we emphasized sequential planning, with the long-term goal of developing a landscape with a year-round schedule of attractive blossoms. This planning includes selecting plants that bloom during each season, acquiring those plants through local garden centers or mail-order nurseries, and installing them early enough for them to establish roots and develop blossoms at the intended time.
