Tuesday, September 15, 2015

September 15, 2015, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

September 15, 2015, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter    © Kim Willis

Hi Gardeners

I am loving this weather.  Today looks like it will be a nearly perfect day and I need to get this newsletter written so I can get outside and enjoy it.  While we may narrowly have missed a frost earlier this week I think we have a good span of days ahead of us when we don’t have to worry. 
Colchicum pops up in autumn.

It’s the second busiest time of year for me.  It’s time to clean the chicken coops, make apple butter, re-pot plants that are coming in soon and starting moving plants back inside, collect seeds and dry flowers, clean up the vegetable garden and do some flower bed renovations.

My fall colchicums surprised me by popping up this week.  They look like giant crocus.  I had put a potted geranium on top of them without knowing and I saw one bloom peeking out from under the pot.  When I moved the pot it took only a few days for the others to pop up.  I still have hardy hibiscus, sweet autumn clematis, sedum and roses in bloom.   The annuals are starting to look tired but some are still going strong.

The Maximillian sunflowers are also starting to bloom.  They are pretty and welcome for their late color but the stems of these things are weird.  The twist and curve and flop and never stand up nice and straight.  The butterflies and bees like them and they are one of the last flowers to bloom but I am still tempted to rip them out.   I am considering chopping that whole bed to the ground.

I am going to be changing my long bed in the center of the yard over to mostly shrubs, and similar things like peonies.  It has been taken over by garden phlox and they have choked out everything.  If anyone wants some phlox plants let me know and I’ll save some of the ones I’ll be digging out.

I have some watermelons that are almost ripe, we are still harvesting carrots and cabbage, the popcorn is drying down, the grapes are ripe and the apples almost there- I may pick some in a day or two.  But the tomatoes are really fizzling out.  I have some volunteer plants that have green fruit and remarkably the plants seem pretty healthy.  If warm weather lingers we may get ripe fruit from them.  I planted 4 kinds of lettuce a few weeks ago but the germination rate was sporadic.  I am hoping more may germinate as the weather cools.

It’s time to order bulbs for spring planting

I just ordered my new spring flowering bulbs.  I’m trying corydalis for the first time this spring.  And I was so pleased by the Asiatic hybrid lily Olina Tango I planted last year – I posted pictures on this blog- that I ordered two new varieties in the same series, Graffiti Tango and Black Eye.  I also ordered some new species lilies, some new tulips, more hyacinths, snowdrops, and a few other things. I even ordered two new hardy hibiscus, the companies know they are blooming about the time you think of fall bulbs and I always think – wow- I should have more of these.  Now I will have more.

Plant crocus bulbs now for spring flowers.
Don’t wait too late to order those spring bulbs. The selection gets picked over and you want to receive the bulbs at the correct planting time.   I have always found the selection to be much better from a mail order source than at local nurseries.  The more you buy the cheaper bulbs usually get and bulbs do look best planted in groups or drifts.  Yes its lots of work in the fall but it’s so worth it in the spring!

I try to order something new to try each year.  There are so many bulbs you can buy besides the old favorites of crocus, tulips and daffodils.  Some bulbs do well the spring after you plant them but then tend to fade away in the succeeding years- tulips are known for this- so make sure to replenish some of your favorites each year too. Heritage bulbs let you keep growing things that could be lost if gardeners forgot them, so try a few each year.

Check the blooming times of bulbs, usually listed as early, mid spring- and late spring.  Make sure you have something blooming all through spring.  Keep early blooming bulbs close to the house and paths so you get to see them.  Also check the hardiness zones of bulbs- there are some that won’t survive Michigan winters.

There are bulbs that you plant in the fall that bloom in the summer too. Lilies are a good example, you can have lilies in bloom much of the summer if you choose varieties carefully.  Lilies often do best when planted in the fall but some can be spring planted also.  You can even get bulbs that bloom in the fall like saffron crocus and colchicums.

As you look at your flower beds this fall you may think there is no room for bulbs, but remember in the spring when the bulbs bloom most perennials are still quite small.  Lift the leaves of hosta and plant bulbs under them.  After the bulbs bloom and die down in early summer the emerging hosta leaves will cover the dying foliage.  Ferns, daylilies and other plants can also hide dying bulb foliage as they grow; you just have to squeeze the bulbs in under them this fall.

Don’t hesitate to plant sun loving early flowering bulbs under deciduous trees.  By the time the trees leaf out the bulbs will have bloomed and completed most of their growth cycle. 

When you plant those spring bulbs use a ruler or a bulb planter with markings so you know you are planting them at the right depth.  Bulb packages usually tell you how deep to plant the bulbs or any bulb catalog can give you the information.  Use a slow release general purpose fertilizer mixed into the soil that you cover the bulbs with.  Don’t use blood or bone meal in bulb holes.  These actually attract animals to their smell, not repel them, and you will have critters digging up the bulbs. 
Tulip 'Sunlover'.

Plant bulbs quite close together for the best spring display.  Plant them in groups or randomly instead of rows, unless you are going for that formal look.  Small bulbs like crocus can be almost touching, larger tulips and hyacinths can be about 2 inches apart.

Cover the planted bulbs with a layer of chopped leaves or straw to disguise it.  If you are trimming roses or other thorny plants you might spread the trimmings over your bulb area.  If you have digging animals like the neighbors cats or squirrels, you can cover the bulb planting site with netting or wire mesh.  Remove it when the soil freezes and before the snow, so you won’t forget it in spring and impede the emerging bulb shoots.  Bulbs planted among large perennials in the fall may go unnoticed by the bulb eaters.


It’s National Indoor Plant week

(I went to the dentist yesterday and one of the things I noticed about the office was that it had no plants, even though it had a nice sunny window in the waiting area.  That’s just sad.  If ever a spot could use some comfort from green plants it’s a dentist office.)

The third week of September is National Indoor plant week.  As we get close to calendar fall it’s time to start thinking about houseplants again.  If you don’t have plants in your home this year is the time to get some.  Plants not only clean your air of toxins and provide oxygen but they improve your mood and mental health.

A spider plant thriving in a dark office.
People asked to rank which room felt the most welcoming or comfortable almost always chose a room with plants over the same room without plants.  A office or home without plants just looks bare and harsh.  Office workers report feeling happier and in a better mood when plants are brought into the office.  Hospitals know that people feel less pain and heal faster when they have plants in their rooms or in areas they can visit.

Children love to have plants in a classroom and no one has to take them home over the weekend.  Studies show that children overwhelmingly choose a room with plants over a similar room without plants.  A school room without plants is like a teacher that never smiles.

If you smoke you need plants in your home.  Plants remove the harmful particulates floating in the air from cigarette smoke.  They will also remove particulates and harmful gases in the air from fireplaces, plastics, wood glues, treated carpets, cooking with Teflon pans and burning candles.

There are houseplants that will thrive under almost any conditions and under almost anyone’s care.  A plant can be a tillisandria or air plant hanging from the curtain or cacti or a gorgeous orchid or a fluffy Boston fern. There are plants that need only the light from artificial sources like the florescent bulbs overhead.  There are tiny plants that will fit under a desk lamp. Some plants can survive low humidity or low temperatures.  And there are plants that will grow exuberantly in a sunny window.  There is just no excuse not to have plants inside your home. 

It’s time to do your research and find a plant for your home if you don’t have any.  It’s time to learn how to care for a houseplant.  If you choose the right plant for your home and lifestyle it’s care will be simple and easy.  Resolve to add just one houseplant to your home and see if you don’t want another sometime soon.

Plants support all life on the planet. People cannot exist without plants, although they would do just fine without us. We are finding out that plants do more than we previously thought- they communicate with each other, feel pain, plan ahead, allocate resources, protect themselves and have sex.  While we as animals cannot understand all the things plants are capable of and we don’t understand their “intelligence” there is no doubt that plants are fully functioning living creatures that have allowed us to share this planet.

If for no other reason we should have plants in our homes to remind us that it is they that control life on earth, not us.

Tender perennials you can save for next year

There are many plants that Michigan gardeners grow in their gardens and outdoor containers as annual plants that are really perennial plants in warmer climates. Some of our most common bedding plants that we treat as annuals fall into this category. If gardeners rescue these plants before a frost they can become attractive houseplants for the winter.

Bring in this abutilon and it will bloom all winter
Thrifty gardeners also know it’s economical to keep a few tender perennials over the winter so you don’t have to buy them again in the spring. Many of these tender perennials can be multiplied by cuttings to produce a whole new selection to use outdoors next spring or to share with friends. Some tender perennials that are over-wintered become large, attractive plants that would be impossible to obtain with one summers growth.

What can be saved

Some examples of tender perennials include: coleus, geraniums, diascia, fibrous rooted and cane type begonias, specialty and species petunias, sweet potato vines, polka dot plants, “spikes” (dracaenas), banana plants, lantana, lofos, aloes, agaves, Joseph’s coat (Alternathera ficoidea), fuchsia, poinsettia, some cacti and succulents, eucalyptus, Chinese hibiscus, abutilon, bougainvillea, mandevilla, gardenia, brugmansia, jasmine, palms, and any tropical plant used outside in containers. These plants need temperatures that stay above 55 degrees, bright light and moderate watering over winter.

If these plants are growing in the ground they should be dug up and carefully potted. If they are crammed into a container that is pretty full and lush it would be wise to separate the different plants and pot them separately. Plants that are in containers with true annuals can be removed and potted or the true annuals can be pulled out.

Michigan gardeners often grow some plants that aren’t quite winter hardy in our zone but will survive with some winter protection. Some of these plants go semi-dormant in winter, even when brought inside. They will begin growing again in the spring however, as the days lengthen.

Plants to let rest and go dormant but still protected inside include: rosemary, perennial reeds and grasses not hardy in your zone, lavenders not hardy in your zone, salvia Black and Blue and other perennial salvias, passionflowers, figs, olives, and any other marginally hardy perennials – within 1 or 2 planting zones from yours. Even tender roses, evergreens and deciduous trees can be wintered inside if you have the room.  Bring these tender perennials into a cool, just above freezing place with bright light and water lightly, just enough to keep them from wilting. Trim back straggly ends and yellowed foliage.

Don’t forget that tender bulbs and tubers can also be saved for another year. Colocasia- (elephants ears and taro), Eucomis- (pineapple lilies), caladiums, calla lilies, rain lilies, lycoris, and tuberous begonias can be left in their pots and brought inside to store.  They will generally stay blooming for a month or so but as the days shorten they should be encouraged to go dormant by keeping them in a cool area and letting them dry out a bit.  When the foliage yellows trim it off and then store the pots in a cool, dim place.  Keep the pots barely moist over winter. In March bring the pots into a warm, bright area and begin watering again.

Other tender bulbs like cannas, glads, dahlias, etc. can be dug after a light frost kills the foliage and stored dry, with foliage cut off, in peat moss, sand or vermiculites.

Other tips to overwintering tender perennials

If you are in doubt as to what treatment to give a perennial use these guidelines.  Any plant that is hardy only to zone 9 should be treated as a tropical and kept warm and well lit.  Plants that are hardy to zones 6-8 will probably benefit from a winter rest or dormancy, kept just above freezing and watered less frequently.  There are exceptions and some plants kept in warmer conditions may grow and even bloom for you all winter.

Check the plants and the pots carefully before moving them inside so you don’t bring in small surprise guests like frogs and mice. Use a good, lightweight potting soil if you need to re-pot tender perennials you are bringing inside. It is a good idea to spray plants with an insecticide or use a systemic insecticide on them the day before you bring them inside. Some insects can become a big problem indoors if they hitch a ride inside. Do not fertilize any over wintering perennials until March.
Geranium First Yellow can be over wintered.

Instead of bringing whole plants inside you can sometimes take cuttings of plants and over winter small plants you start from them. It is better to start these plants outside in late summer, and then bring in the small pots before frost. However, if frost threatens and it seems to be too much work to bring a large plant inside, take a few cuttings and try your luck.

Don’t try to save too many tender perennials unless you have a big greenhouse. Just save the most expensive, rarest or your personal favorites. You can propagate cuttings from one or two plants for a new border of impatiens rather than trying to save the whole border. All plants need room and good light and the more you have, the more time you will spend caring for them.  So don’t feel guilty if you have to leave a few plants outside to succumb to winter.  Most plants can be replaced next spring from your local nursery or favorite mail order garden shop.

Renovating the lawn in fall

Fall is an excellent time to plant grass seed or lay sod for a new or improved lawn. With just a little attention to details you can have a new lawn next spring when the snow melts.

Grass germinates and grows well in the cooler, wetter fall weather. Grass needs about 6 weeks to grow before the ground freezes, but can survive frost and light snow without a problem. In Michigan that means you can plant grass seed or lay sod from early September to mid- October.

You may want to have a soil test done before you renovate a lawn, especially if you have been having lots of problems.  Contact your local County Extension office or a large garden shop for information on how to take a sample and where to submit it.  The results can take a couple weeks so allow plenty of time.

Prep work for a new lawn

If you want to totally renovate your lawn or you are starting a new lawn you will need to do some basic prep work. If you are working with subsoil left after new construction you’ll need to purchase some topsoil. About 6 inches of topsoil would be ideal but don’t use less than 3 inches. Smooth the topsoil down evenly over your subsoil and try to avoid making hollows or raised areas. Make sure any debris left from construction is removed.

If the area you are going to seed or sod is hard packed soil, till the soil to a depth of 6-8 inches, even if you intend to put down topsoil. You can work topsoil, compost or peat into the existing soil but do not mix sand into clay soil hoping to improve it. Instead you will create cement.

If you are going to totally renovate a lawn and there is existing vegetation in place you are going to need to remove it. The easiest way is to do this is to use glyposphate (one brand name is Round-Up®) according to label directions. Wait about a week and rake off the dead vegetation. Then till the soil to about 8 inches deep, rake and smooth. If you used the glyphosphate properly you should be able to seed within a week.

If you are against using chemicals you will have to remove the old sod and weeds by hand.  Slice down with a sharp shovel about 4 inches then move the shovel sideways, cutting plant roots and lifting off sections of vegetation like removing pieces of carpet.  Shake as much soil as you can off the sections you remove and throw them in a wheel barrow or cart to be removed to a compost pile somewhere. You may have to dig deeper to get out some large weeds. 

When you have bare soil till it about 8 inches deep, rake it and smooth it.  If you think your previous lawn problems were because of poor soil you may want to work in compost or add topsoil.  

After your soil is bare and tilled by whatever method you choose and you have improved the texture of the soil by adding compost or topsoil if it was needed you need to add fertilizer.  If you had a soil test follow the recommendations for improving the soil that should be given you. If you didn’t get a soil test work in some lawn fertilizer without any weed or grub control product added to it. Follow the label directions for the amount but in general it’s about 3 pounds for 1000 square feet.

Sometimes only parts of the lawn need repair. Remove any weed patches with glyphosphate or your shovel. Fill holes and level high or low spots then till the soil in the bare areas, you may have to till small areas by hand.  Work in fertilizer, rake and smooth your planting areas.

Seeding a lawn

In Michigan the best grass seed to use is a variety of Kentucky Bluegrass. If the area you intend to seed is shady a mixture of various Fescue grass varieties would be better. Don’t use a seed mixture with a high percentage of annual or perennial rye in it. This will green up fast and is cheap, but the annual rye won’t be back next spring and the perennial rye will look coarse and unattractive.  Grass seed is one of those things that usually are better the more it costs.  Cheap mixtures rarely give good results.

Spread the seed evenly over the ground and don’t skimp. The package will tell you how much square footage it will cover. Measure your lawn and figure the square footage before shopping for seed so that you will know the proper amount to buy. If you have a large area to seed you may want to use a spreader.

Seed may be rolled with a roller to get it in contact with the soil, or lightly covered with topsoil or mulch. In small renovation spots you can lightly rake seed into the soil.

Laying Sod

Almost all sod sold in Michigan will be Kentucky Bluegrass and sod works best on sunny lawns. In some cases you can do the prep work to save money and then have professionals lay the sod. Some people may want to do all the work to save money. Keep sod in the shade and moist while you are waiting to lay it and try to lay it the same day you purchase it.

Carry sod rolls carefully to the new lawn site and unroll them where they are to lay, with the green side up of course. Keep the edges of the sod rolls together as closely as you can but do not overlap the edges. Sod is generally rolled with a lawn roller after it’s laid to get it in contact with the soil. You can cut sod with a sharp shovel or knife and fit pieces into odd shaped areas.

Care of new lawns

If you experience a lot of heavy rain in the fall that could wash seed away, you may want to apply a mulch of straw or other organic material, especially on a slope. Sod does not require mulch.

After planting your grass seed you will need to water it if fall doesn’t give you rain or snow. Until it is up and growing the soil surface should remain moist. That could mean watering every day. After the grass is up and growing it needs at least an inch of water a week. In sandy soil that drains quickly, 2 inches of water may be better.

Sod will need watering daily if it is warm and dry. You can cut back watering to an inch a week, in two or three applications, after the first two weeks if the weather is cool.

If the lawn grows more than 3 inches before winter you can cut it back to 3 inches, otherwise do not mow until spring. While it’s better to mulch tree leaves into an established lawn, keep fall leaves off new lawns by gentle raking so new seedlings won’t be smothered or sod dislodged by mulching mowers.

University of Michigan studies milkweed and monarchs

Way up north, in Emmet County Michigan, the University of Michigan has a biological research station. Emmet County was once the site of a major milkweed growing operation that produced milkweed “fluff” to stuff life jackets for WWII soldiers.  At the U of M research station researchers Mark Hunter and Leslie Decker are growing 4 kinds of milkweed in 40 plastic boxes. In a separate area they are also hatching out and caring for monarch butterflies.

Monarch and milkweed
The researchers pump various levels of carbon dioxide into the plastic boxes with the milkweed plants, trying to stimulate the environment the plants may have as global warming continues.  The researchers know that as the carbon dioxide levels in the boxes rise the levels of defensive chemicals the plants make to deter insect predation drops.

In nature Monarch butterfly caterpillars feed on milkweed almost exclusively. Monarchs have evolved to use the chemical toxins in milkweed called cardenolide toxins to keep predators from eating them and to kill parasites that might infect them. Some milkweed plants produce more toxins than others and it is known that female Monarch butterflies seek these out to lay their eggs, if they themselves are infected with parasites. This helps protect the next generation.  

The researchers measured the toxins milkweed plants produced under different levels of CO2.  Then they fed the milkweed to their hand reared Monarch babies and exposed them to a common caterpillar parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha and recorded the results.  Milkweed plants exposed to carbon dioxide levels about double the current CO2 in our atmosphere produced fewer plant toxins.  And milkweed caterpillars eating those low toxin plants were more likely to die from parasites than those caterpillars eating milkweed with high toxin levels.

The toxins that plants produce to defend themselves are the medicines we harvest to cure various human ailments.  Researchers speculate that as the climate changes plants may produce fewer defense chemicals and that could affect the potency of plant based medicines.  It may also be a reason contributing to the decline of Monarchs since they may not be able to harvest the toxins they need to defend themselves from predators.

Marijuana may help in organ transplants

Cannabis is surely one of the most helpful plants people can grow (if the government allows them to grow them) and now researchers have announced new findings about this miracle plant.  Studies in animals found that THC, an active ingredient of marijuana, helped prevent organ transplant rejection.  The study was published in the September 2015 issue of The Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

Researchers say the administration of THC delays or prevents the rejection of transplanted tissues, even when the donor and recipient were not close matches.  Soon trials will begin on human patients and researchers say that THC may also help in other immune response related diseases.

More trees than we thought

Two years ago scientists thought that the global population of trees was probably about 400 billion, about 67 trees for every human.  But pushed to do a better, more comprehensive study of the number of trees still on earth the scientists were surprised to find that their estimates of the tree population were woefully low.

Based on combined studies of satellite, aerial and ground counts of trees scientists now believe the tree population on earth stands at about 3.04 trillion trees or about 422 trees per person.  While that seems wonderful scientists have to mention that tree cover has decreased to almost half of what it was before modern humans evolved. ( Maybe they are wrong there too?)

The areas with the most trees were the tropics, 43 %, and the northern sub-arctic boreal forests with 24%.  The research study involved scientists from 15 countries and was led by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.  Study results were recently published in the journal Nature.

It’s a beautiful day to get outside and hug a tree.

Kim Willis
 “He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero


Events, classes and other offerings
Please let me know if there is any event or class that you would like to share with other gardeners.  These events are primarily in Michigan but if you are a reader from outside of Michigan and want to post an event I’ll be glad to do it.

Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share?  Post them here by emailing me.

An interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook

Here’s a seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/875574275841637/

Here’s a facebook page link for gardeners in the Lapeer area


Here’s a link to classes being offered at Campbell’s Greenhouse, 4077 Burnside Road, North Branch.  Now open.

Here’s a link to classes and events at Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor
Here’s a link to programs being offered at English Gardens, several locations in Michigan.

Here’s a link to classes at Telly’s Greenhouse in Troy and Shelby Twsp. MI, and now combined with Goldner Walsh in Pontiac MI.

Here’s a link to classes and events at Bordines, Rochester Hills, Grand Blanc, Clarkston and Brighton locations

Here’s a link to events at the Leslie Science and Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road Ann Arbor, Michigan  | Phone 734-997-1553 |
http://www.lesliesnc.org/

Here’s a link to events at Hidden Lake Gardens, 6214 Monroe Rd, Tipton, MI

Here’s a link to all the nature programs being offered at Seven Ponds Nature center in Dryden, Michigan. http://www.sevenponds.org/education/progs/springprograms/

Here’s a link to events and classes at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Mi
http://www.meijergardens.org/learn/ (888) 957-1580, (616) 957-1580

Exhibitors/demonstrators wanted
Seven Ponds Nature Center ( Dryden Mi.) Heritage Harvest Days, scheduled for September 19 and 20 is looking for additional artists and crafters who can demonstrate, display, and sell their work, especially that related to nature.  All exhibitors receive free admission to the event, as well as free lunch on one day of the festival. Please contact the center at 810-796-3200 if you would like to set up a booth or exhibit this year.


Newsletter information
If you would like to pass along a notice about an educational event or a volunteer opportunity please send me an email before Tuesday of each week and I will print it. Also if you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to me. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly notes. You must give your full name and what you say must be polite and not attack any individual. I am very open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine but I do reserve the right to publish what I want.
I write this because I love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my research each week. It keeps me engaged with local people and horticulture. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If at any time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who would like to receive these emails have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com



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