Elinor Teague on Gardening: It’s time for bare root trees and bushes

In late December and into mid-January, nurseries and garden centers bring in their stocks of bare root trees and bushes.

Bare root plants are young, usually only a year old, with small root systems that make them easier to transport, store and plant. Prices for quality bare root plants can be up to one-third less than the cost of more mature field and container-grown plants. Because bare root plants take up less space in the nursery or garden center and can be temporarily stored in sawdust or kept in plastic bags or containers filled with a lightweight planting mix, the selection in winter is much larger.

Roses and fruit trees are the most popular bare root plants. In order to make sure that your rose or fruit tree is suitable for growing in the conditions in your garden and our growing zones (zone 7 in the foothills and zones 8 and 9 in the Central Valley), it’s important to read plant labels carefully. A good label should provide a lot of information.

The labels on roses should describe the size of bush at maturity, color and fragrance type, bud shape and size, rose name and variety (tea rose, floribunda, climber, etc.), sun and/or shade tolerance and heat tolerance, and, most importantly, the petal count.

Summer temperatures in the Central Valley can get so hot that many roses become semi-dormant and stop producing new buds and growth in July and August. The petals on the few flowers that do bloom lose fragrance, color and substance. Roses with more than 20-25 petals tend to hold up better in the heat than other types. (There are exceptions, of course; “Sally Holmes” which has five petals, is a very hardy rose in our climate).

Some of the vocabulary on a good fruit tree label may be new to you. “Chill hours” refers to the number of hours of temperatures below 45 degrees during the annual dormancy period. Fruit trees differ in their chill hours requirements. Some varieties of peaches produce well with 400 chill hours and some peach trees need 900 chill hours. Last year, Fresno State recorded 589 chill hours; in 2014, 968 chill hours were recorded. A big difference that affected fruit production in 2015 for those trees that need 600-plus chill hours. As a general rule, for best fruit production in our climate, you’ll want to choose fruit trees with chilling requirements from 400 to 800 hours.

Good fruit tree labels should provide harvest period information so that multiple trees can be planted to extend the harvest through the entire growing season. Look for terms such as “early’’ or “late” harvest or the harvest month(s).

Many of our local nurseries specialize in roses and fruit trees that do well in our climate and well-trained staff can help you choose. Some nurseries offer new varieties and hybrids as bare root stock that aren’t commonly available during other planting seasons. The San Joaquin Rose Society’s website, www.rainforest2548.org, is a good source of information on roses and the Dave Wilson website, www.davewilson.com, is a great primer on everything a home gardener needs to know about fruit trees for our area.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Elinor Teague on Gardening: It’s time for bare root trees and bushes."