As a result of our agricultural heritage, the English language includes a great number of expressions that refer to people as if they share characteristics in common with plants. A person who has been "uprooted" and "transplanted" from one locale to another . . . and stays . . . is said to have "put down roots." As a cultural expression, "putting down roots" reflects the anxiety of a farmer who has watched a great many crops wither in the field, implying the process of acclimation takes a long time or that a long time must pass before you can tell if a person has "grown roots." From a scientific standpoint, of course, the time-test of the metaphor is all wrong--as plants cannot acclimate until they "take a roothold."

Cultural interpretation aside, nursery growers far and wide are dedicated to growing plant material that is ready to "send down roots." Certain cultural practices enhance the ability of plants to acclimate successfully to their permanent environment have been developed over time, including the attributes of field containers--size, shape, etc. There is an entire history behind the development of commonly available 1- and 5-gallon containers (that is, why they are not quite equal to 1 or 5 gallons, and perhaps more accurately describe the size of the plants they contain) that leads people to refer to plants by container size and transfer the name of the container to the developmental characteristics of plants grown in containers of a that size. The same is true of Deeplantstm--available from MCR Wholesale Growers and various other nurseries.

The owner of MCR Wholesale Growers, Martin Rippens has drawn on career-long experience to create deep-rooted plants for successful establishment in drought prone Southern California. Rippens gained experience with tall tarpaper pots used in cultivating trees for reforestation and spent much of his career trying to convince various nursery owners and operators to grow their stock in containers that are deeper and narrower than 1- and 5-gallon pots. He finally had to do it himself!

It took five years to determine the optimum planting mix and growing time relative to plant characteristics, but Rippens met his goal. The attributes of Deeplantstm --which result in part from the design of the containers in which they are grown and in part from where they are grown--ready them for quick establishment, hardiness, and drought tolerance. Plant attributes that correspond to the design of the containers in which they are grown include deeper roots since the containers are taller than 1- and 5-gallon pots; any roots that are inclined to circle the perimeter are encouraged downward, redirected by a vertical ridge on the inside of the pot. The narrower surface area minimizes exposure and evaporation at the root zone, while four exit holes and a round bottom facilitate drainage. Because Southern California's focus is on water conservation, MCR Wholesale Growers grows Deeplantstm outside of the coastal influence to improve hardiness and drought tolerance: "It's OK to move the plants to a coastal zone for planting, but growing is different," explained Rippens.

Xeriscape advocates will rejoice that Rippens is considering manufacturing an even deeper container "to get roots to moisture" and a rectangular shape to "eliminate some circling of roots." But the clients LASN talked to seemed to like the present design: For instance, Kathy Cochran with the City of Chino Hills Parks and Recreation Department says, 'We've had great success with Deeplantstm. They seem to establish very well in [our] hilly, clay slopes. . . . better than '1-gallons.'" Indeed, though the City has not conducted any studies to determine the reason, they allow Deeplantstm to be specified as the equivalent of 1-gallon plants and have ordered "upwards of 20,000 acacia myoporum shrubs and are happy with the success rate of naturalization." Also, according to Cochran, the city staff is convinced that the characteristics of Deeplantstm provide operational and cost side-benefits as they are "easier to handle," "easy to plant," and are "not cumbersome" because of the shape and the "little carriers." Because the containers do not have flat bottoms, Deeplantstm come with a carry-rack so that transport is simplified--one man can carry 20 plants in each hand!

Since Rippens makes the containers available to other growers as a distributor, Landscape Architects can arrange for plants to be contract grown for specific projects. Clark and Green, Inc., for instance, has successfully convinced their client to contract grow plant material over successive phases of "Coto De Caza," a hillside community developed in unincorporated Orange County, California by Coto Limited for Chevron Land Development Corporation. One of the principals of Clark and Green, Inc., Bob Clark said, "For Landscape Architects whose clients have the installation responsibility and who can determine the installation schedule, contract growing becomes an issue of enlightening the client of the builder's problems in acquiring quality plant material down the line," said Clark. In the case of "Coto de Caza," the developer not only recognized their "builder's responsibilities," but "the plant palette of natives and drought-tolerant plants was well-established and [they] encountered no contradictory fuel modification issues for revegetating foothill grassland and coastal sage areas on the perimeter." Frank Rademacher of Frank Rademacher Associates, Inc., who first specified acacia redolens ongerup Deeplantstm at Hon Developments's "Niguel Summit" in Laguna Niguel, California confirmed that "recommended use of 'deeplant' nursery stock in lieu of our originally-specified one gallon material proved to be an excellent idea. The 'deeplant' stock is quicker to plant, causes minimum disturbance to compacted slopes, and establishes faster than one gallon material." LASN