IN THE GARDEN SAUCER MAGNOLIAS STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT.

Byline: JOSHUA SISKIN

The moment of my annual ode to the saucer magnolia has arrived. No flower is fresher, cleaner or more refined than the saucer magnolia. No tree species has more delectable varieties in a spectrum of flower colors that stretches from pink to purple, yet with so many slight variations and gradations of color along the way. For good measure, a number of milky white varieties are also available. The bark of saucer magnolias is fittingly gray. Any other color would interfere with the understated elegance of the blooms.

Each year during the last part of January and most of February, the saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) opens its flowers, which, in reality, look more like cups and saucers than just saucers alone. Yet when saucer magnolia flower buds begin to break, just before the outer petals lie flat and horizontal, you will swear you are looking at a tree full of tulips.

With our recent rain, the ground has been sufficiently softened to consider building raised beds for midwinter to early-spring planting. Now is the best time of year to plant lettuce, which thrives in cool weather. You can choose from crisphead, butterhead, romaine, and leaf varieties.

Crisphead types, which include Iceberg, are the most difficult to grow for backyard gardeners and are most suited to commercial production. Butterhead varieties get their name from their interior leaves, which are often butter-colored, and have names such as Buttercrunch and Summer Bib. Romaine or Cos lettuce is the only upright lettuce type and, like the head lettuces, requires 70-80 days to mature.

Leaf lettuce is far more diverse than the other types. It's also the easiest and quickest to grow, maturing in 40-45 days. While Black Simpson is most commonly grown, there are also Ruby, Oakleaf and Bronze Leaf varieties to choose from, displaying unexpected colors and shapes.

To build a raised bed for planting lettuce, or any other vegetables, for that matter, remove the top 10 inches of soil. With a spading fork plunged into the earth, loosen soil below to a depth of 20 inches. As you loosen this soil with a back-and-forth movement of the fork, you will see the earth fluff up. The spading fork has added oxygen to the soil, increasing its volume. Now add amendments to the 10 inches of excavated soil lying on the surface. Use finished compost, leaf mold, peat moss, nitrohumus or whatever decomposed organic material you can lay your hands on, and mix in at least 12 cubic feet of amendment per 100 square feet of raised beds. Upon returning the top 10 inches of amended soil, you will have a bed that is raised several inches above ground level. You can use any basic fertilizer (Kellogg's All-Purpose or one of the Gro-Power products) at the rate of 2 pounds (which will fill one average-size coffee can) per 100 square feet. If you want to go strictly organic, fertilize with blood meal, hoof and horn meal, or cottonseed meal. Grade the bed with a bow rake and you are ready to plant.

Q: We would love to have an eco-friendly yard. Currently, it is almost all grass, which is horribly expensive and difficult to maintain. The problem is that all our neighbors have grass. Is there something that would be easier and less expensive to maintain but not look out of place in the neighborhood?

-- The DiBuccios

West Hills

A: You could put in synthetic grass, which looks better than the real thing. It is expensive to install but the maintenance cost is nil. Or you might consider planting an orchard of fruit trees, a relatively low-maintenance landscape compared to a lawn.

Another option would be to plant a landscape of slow-growing native plants, succulents or cactuses.