Roger's tree pick for February 2005:

While we are in the depth of the winter season, I must point out the glorious trees that are currently in bloom all around us.

While portions of the country are in the midst of historic snowstorms, blizzards, freezing cold temperatures, wind chill factors and rain, rain, rain, our winter gardens have fabulous flowering trees. Look around your neighborhoods for bright white blossoms of pears, intense golden plumes of Acacia, hot red stems of flowering peach and the sweet scent from an assortment of citrus blooms. Can it get any better than that?

The following is a little background to consider when looking at some of these potential trees for your garden.

Pyrus kawakamii (Evergreen pear): This tree is native to Taiwan and can be a wonderful specimen for its mid-winter intense shower of white flowers that really has no match at this time of year. This species of pear tree can tolerate many diverse conditions. It is very hardy and grows from the coast to the inland valleys. It grows up to 25 feet in height, which is considered a medium-size tree. The tree is semi-deciduous, which means it loses its leaves for a brief period in late fall but comes into its true glory by flowering from January to February, depending upon the weather. After this flowering cycle the new foliage appears.

It has been used as a good standard street tree or can be a wonderful multi-trunked specimen in a garden setting. Because of its falling foliage and intense flower drop it should not be used by a pool.

The overall canopy resembles an umbrella and can be a good shade tree in the right place.

It has small fruits in summer that add a suggestion of an ornamental quality but are not edible. It is also good for attracting wildlife with its flowers and small fruits. I have seen several tiny hummingbird nests within its dense foliage in my garden.

The tree is susceptible to the pathogen of Fire-Blight and Sooty Mold.

Don’t plant other rosaceae plants, like roses and pyracantha, around the pear tree because they can be carriers of this blight.

Acacia baileyana (Bailey’s Acacia): The Bailey Acacia makes a beautiful show in the landscape now when flower color is most appreciated in our gardens. It is indigenous to New South Wales and is easy to grow for your gardens.

It is a fast-growing tree and should be used at the rear of your landscape, for it can grow to a height of 20-25 feet in a short period. The feathery foliage is delightful and there is a cultivar named “Purpurea” that has a tinge of lavender/purple to the color of the foliage. Its yellow puffball flowers are sweetly fragrant and are produced from January to March.

It can be used as an individual specimen or massed with other compatible Acacias, such as Acacia pendula, Acacia cultiformis, Acacia stenophylla and others. I use the various Acacias in my landscape designs, for they have so many variables in shape, form, texture and individual statements. I’ll talk more about Acacias in the future because I feel they are underused in the garden setting.

Some 40 years ago when I worked in some estates of Santa Barbara and Monticeito, there was one large estate that grew Bailey’s Acacia for the cut-foliage industry of the floral trade. They cut and bunched the flowering boughs and wrapped them in a clear cellophane sleeve in the front with a pink background paper. This set the bright yellow blossoms against a pink background. This unique form of marketing doubled their sales at a minimal cost.

Prunus persica (Flowering Peach trees): Wow! Do you want spring blossoms in January? Well, look no further, for the winter’s flowering peach is a sight to behold. Its short, it’s intense, but it is glorious to behold when ornamental flowering trees do their thing... flowers en masse. They are short-lived but worth the moments of pleasure they behold.

The flowering peach come in white, pink, red “Helen Borcher” and a “Peppermint” that is two-toned flowers of red and white.

I have had flowering peaches in my garden for the past 30 years and look forward to that small window of their seasonal flowering. It’s one of those special highlights in life that comes with a quality that is hard to define. A section of my garden is planted with Australian yellow flowering Banksia and dotted with red-flowering peach blossoms in between. Both are in bloom now; need I say more?

If you are a flower arranger, look to the flowering peach as a wonderful candidate for Ike-bana, the oriental art of flower arranging.

The ornamental peach does produce fruit en masse and I have seedlings popping up like weeds. I use these seedlings as introductions in my landscapes.

Citrus tree flowers: Even though we might not think about citrus trees as spectacular flowering trees, go out into a grove in the neighborhood or drive down a back country road in Valley Center or Pauma Valley where citrus is commercially grown and you will be in perfume heaven. Orange and kumquat trees are some of my favorite flowering citrus trees in the middle of winter.

Another wonderful attribute of the many types of trees in the citrus family is their wonderful fruit hanging on the trees in the middle of winter, like exotic ornaments from far away places.

The entire clan of citrus grow so well here in North County it would be a pity if you didn’t have a few to enjoy in your garden.

With orange as the number one favorite citrus fruit, also consider the dwarf improved Meyers lemon for a homemade lemon pie, a Ruby Red grapefruit for breakfast, kumquats to pop into your mouth as you stroll through the garden in the afternoon or a bizarre Citron or a Buddha’s hand lemon for a conversation piece.

There are even citrus trees that have been grafted with many varieties on one tree. They are called “Fruit-Salad” or “Cocktail” citrus trees.

Just imagine a citrus tree in your garden with orange, grapefruit and lemon all on a single specimen. It will for sure be a conversation piece.

So, as the rains of winter and the possibility of cloudy skies are still ahead of us, think of some trees to brighten your garden and spirit in the depth of mid-winter.

As always, remember to “plant the right tree in the right place.”