The monthly meeting of the Western Horticultural Society should also be of interest. The next meeting at 7:30 p.m. on April 14 will feature a lecture, "Designing with Color in the Garden," by Keela Meadows. There will also be a plant raffle and plant discussion. The meeting will be at Covington Elementary School at 205 Covington Road in Los Altos. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Iris enthusiasts should enjoy the West Bay Iris Society's annual show and sale of tall bearded iris on April 17 and 18. The event is at Regan's Nursery, located at 4268 Decoto Road in Fremont. More information may be obtained by telephoning Mike Abrams at 650.947.0100.

Spring in Guadalupe Gardens will of course be April 24, but we can discuss that later. This is the only event that will prevent me from working at Bay Laurel Nursery on that same date. I will instead be staffing the "Ask the Horticulturist" booth at Spring in Guadalupe Gardens and look forward to seeing you there.

After all this discussion of horticultural events, there is not much space left for questions, but I wanted to mention an interesting email sent by a reader named Jordan. Jordan was primarily concerned with elimination of messy loquat fruit, but had also inquired about black, rotten fruit that hangs in the tree throughout the year.

The rotten fruits are known as "mummies" and are caused by fungal rot organisms. They are most prominent among loquats, but also infect other fruit of the family rosaceae, such as apple, pear and various stonefruit. Mummies are actually where the fungal organisms overwinter. The fungal infection inhibits abscission of the mummies so that they remain suspended in the trees, facilitating subsequent infection of developing fruit the following year. Mummies should have been removed prior to the development of fruit, but rarely infect substantial quantities of fruit.

Foliage of the Week:
Swiss chard

Can you fill in the blank? "Turnip is to turnip green like beet is to ____." The answer is "Swiss chard," which is actually the distended foliage of a diminutive beet. Like pencil tree, discussed earlier in this column, this specimen was found at the exhibit of Dirt Mama's Li'l Gardeners at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show. It was featured in a garden created by the kindergarten class of a Ms. Winkler at Saint Hilary School.

Swiss chard is one of the many vegetables that are also appealing outside of the vegetable garden. The dark green or dark reddish foliage is attractive alone or among blooming annuals. Red chard is the most popular and is supposed to have better flavor. Green chard usually has pale white petioles (foliar stems), but the petioles of some varieties may be pale shades of yellow, orange, pink or lavender. These colors may be interesting when serving chard "stems," but are mostly obscured in the garden by the profuse foliage.

Swiss chard may be grown from seed like beets or acquired as seedlings in six packs if only a few are desired. They prefer full sun exposure and regular irrigation, and should be planted prior to the beginning of summer.

Outer leaves may be removed and cooked and will easily be replaced as interior leaves expand. As a vegetable, foliage is better when somewhat small and immature, but for foliar display, it may be left to mature. Chard may occasionally bolt (begin to produce a taller floral stem). Bolting plants may be discarded because flavor will be compromised and the floral stalk may not be appealing. Chard is biennial, but is typically removed after the first year before it bolts during the second year.

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574 or at LGHORTICULTURE@aol.com.