Tuesday, June 11, 2019

June 11, 2019 Roses are blooming


Hello garden friends
 
Bristly Locust
I’m sitting here on a rainy Monday morning writing about gardening because I can’t be outside doing it.  We had a 3 day stretch where it didn’t rain and was sunny, then yesterday we had misty rain off and on, but I still got a little gardening done along with a visit from my son and great grandson, who brought me some more flowers.

I am down to about a half flat of plants that need planting, mostly wax begonias.  I like wax begonias, the foliage is colorful and they have pretty flowers too.  They survive in most conditions, from shade to sun. I even bring some inside for winter, where they continue to bloom.  I put a large pot of them back outside in my shade garden this spring.

The star of the garden right now is the peonies, which are now in full bloom.  Of course, with the rain they are all drooping over.  The ninebark, bristly locust and viburnums are in bloom.  Columbine is in bloom too, and the Siberian iris.  Kim’s Knee High lilac, which is not knee high, is also in bloom.

My favorite rose, the Harrisons Yellow rose is blooming.  It’s an heirloom, my rose came from a cutting of my grandmothers rose.  This rose starts very easily from cuttings and the runners it puts out. I call it the graduation rose because every one of my siblings and me, plus my mother, had graduation pictures taken in front of it in my grandmother’s yard.

Aren’t “pass down plants” wonderful?  Besides the rose I have a snake plant (sansevieria), that was my great grandmothers, the actual plant, not a start from it.  It’s huge and easily 60 years old, maybe older.  I come from a long line of plant lovers.

The farmers around here were scrambling to get fields planted this week during the dry spell.  This was the last week in this area they could plant and expect to get a crop.  The field conditions still weren’t good, but they got out there and planted.  The hum of those big machines can be annoying as is the smell of the anhydrous ammonia they were using to fertilize with.  But I am glad they got the crops in.  Now the deer will have something to eat besides my garden.

My sweet corn is up and growing, the potato plants are doing well and there are little tomatoes on the plants. I have good sized green strawberries.  The spinach I planted, however, is going to seed at only a few inches high.  It must be the weather conditions. 

If you are having problems getting your garden in the ground this year because of weather I sympathize.  But don’t give up. You may have to switch to faster maturing vegetables in some cases. But even if we get to the end of June there’s still hope. Hopefully the wet pattern is easing up and some wet areas will soon be drying out. 

Wax begonias


Become a Master Grower

Many of you know about the Master Gardener program.  It’s garden classes for home gardeners that are offered by many states through their county Extension offices.  Since those offices receive some federal funding most Extension programs have banned their Master Gardener volunteers from helping people with problems growing marihuana even in states where weed is legal.  They won’t help farmers produce legal medical or recreational marihuana although some will now help hemp farmers.

But the marihuana industry is way ahead of the stodgy Extension rules.  They have created their own courses, many at college level, for those who either want to grow their own pot or who want to get good jobs in the marijuana industry.  And if you like working with plants and want a good paying job in a multi-billion-dollar industry you might want to skip the Master Gardener classes, which prohibit using your certificate for profit or business and get a Master Grower certificate or degree instead.

There is some controversy among the industry as to what courses must be taken to get a Master Grower certificate, just as there are differences in the Master Gardener programs among different states.  But for good jobs in the marihuana industry more and more employers require some kind of specialized training.  Of course for a good job that is also legal you need to be in a state with legalized marihuana.

Some classes can be taken online, but many are now conducted on brick and morter campuses and require 300 or more hours of coursework.  They are serious, professional classes meant to prepare people for well paid jobs.

Here are some careers you could pursue with Master Grower certification or degrees in horticulture with an empathize on marihuana.
Master Grower
Cannabis Gardener- worker in grow farms
Cannabis Trimmer- specialty position
Cannabis Compliance Officer- deals with zoning and other legal issues
Cultivation Consultant
Cannabis Garden Designer
Cannabis Educator
Cultivation Operations Manager
Dispensary Manager
Marketing Manager
Sales Manager
Processing Manager- making extracts and edibles
HR Manager
Nursing Assistant for dispensaries
Cannabis medical research, research assistant

These jobs pay very well and usually come with good benefit packages.  You’ll now find these jobs being advertised on mainstream employment sites.

So, if a good career with plants interests you, I have included a couple good links below.  I am not endorsing any school nor am I getting paid in any manner to promote them.

The Cleveland School of Cannabis
State Certificate Programs are approved by the Ohio Board of Career Colleges and Schools and have been recognized as practical learning that is designed to lead to employment.  Their courses cover basic horticultural knowledge, specialized breeding and growing of cannabis, legal and business aspects, medical growing and research, manufacture of marihuana products, and much more.


Cannabis Training University

Oaksterdam University

You can get a Bachelors degree in medicinal plant chemistry at Northern Michigan University


Pruning spring blooming shrubs

Many of the spring flowering shrubs are easy to grow and even thrive on neglect.  But knowing when and how to prune them and some basic maintenance requirements can make the difference between a pretty flower show and an unruly shrub with few or no flowers.

Some flowering shrubs may not need much pruning at all. In an open lawn area with lots of room many shrubs should just be left alone to develop their natural shape. But in smaller yards some shrubs simply get too large for their location if they are never pruned and need to be kept within a reasonable size.

Spring and early summer flowering shrubs include abelia, azalea, daphne, dogwood, elderberry (Sambucus), forsythia, flowering quince, kerria, lilacs, mock orange, ninebark, pierus, rhododendrons, snowball bush, (viburnum),  spirea, weigela, and witch hazel.

Most of these shrubs begin the process of producing new flower buds shortly after the current year’s blooms fade. This is called blooming on old wood, as the branch needs a season of growth and then a dormant period to produce flowers.  If you wait too long after a shrub blooms to prune it, you’ll cut most of next year’s flowers off.  Begin your pruning within a month after bloom has ended.

Hydrangeas are a special case.  Many don’t need any pruning except to remove dead branches. Some bloom on old wood, these bloom in spring and should be pruned after flowering in spring, if needed.  If they don’t need branches pruned to keep them in their assigned space leave them alone.

Some hydrangeas bloom on new wood, these usually bloom later in summer.  Hydrangea paniculata, which have white, cone shaped flowers, and ‘Annabelle’ types, (Hydrangea arborescens), should be pruned back to the ground in late winter, while dormant, because they bloom on new wood. 
 
Hydrangea paniculata 'Ruby Slippers'
Some hydrangeas bloom on both new and old wood.  I have some of these and I don’t prune them until they leaf out and then I just remove any dead branches or branch tips.  That’s probably the best way to handle these types. Make sure when you buy a hydrangea you find out which type you have.

Shrubs that are primarily grown for their foliage may also bloom in spring. That includes barberry, cotoneaster, privet and some dogwoods and willows.  If you don’t want flowers these can be pruned at any time.

Of course, pruning and maintenance will never do much for a shrub that is in the wrong location or that is not winter hardy in your area. If you have flowering shrubs and they seldom bloom well in the spring, they may be getting the flower buds killed over winter.  Many rhododendrons and azalea varieties fall into this category.  The plants can be called winter hardy, but since the buds are killed by cold, they will never bloom well for you.  When you buy shrubs research them carefully to see whether they are likely to bloom in your planting zone.

Most shrubs need a sunny location to bloom well.  Over time a shrub that was once in the sun may become shaded by growing trees or new buildings.  There is not much you can do about this other than to move the plant or somehow remove the cause of the shade.

Rhododendrons, azaleas and other broad-leaved evergreens that keep their leaves through winter benefit from being watered on mild winter days.  Pour lukewarm water near their base.  These plants lose a lot of water from their leaves in winter and can’t replace it when the soil is frozen.  This often results in bud loss.

The pruning process

To do a good job pruning you need sharp, clean pruning shears and possibly a pruning saw.   A pass-through type pruner, one that cuts like a pair of scissors, is best for live wood.  The anvil type pruner- they have one sharp blade and a flat surface on the other side, is best for removing dead wood.  If you can buy only one pruner buy the pass through.

I like a folding pruning saw for larger branches and these are large enough for most shrub pruning.  Electric saws and chain saws are seldom needed for shrub pruning unless you have seriously overgrown messes that must be taken right to the ground.  Hedge shears probably aren’t needed either, although some people do turn forsythia into a hedge.

Before you start take a good look at your shrub and learn what a leaf node is. A node is a joint on a stem where you see a leaf or bud.  That’s the only place new growth can occur.  Plants vary in how far apart these nodes are on a stem.  Nodes do remain on parts of branches that will no longer produce foliage.

Make every pruning cut just above a node that currently has leaves for the best appearance and health of the plant.  If you make your cut too far above a node you will have unsightly little dead stubs on the end of branches for a long time. If you cut back to nodes that don’t have new leaves, you’ll probably never have growth again there, just a dead area. Leave some green!  If you cut on a slant just above a node the stems will quickly be hidden by new growth.

Start pruning by removing any dead branches, broken branches or branches that seriously offend, such as those sticking into paths or blocking windows.  Then step back and evaluate the shape of the shrub.  In most cases flowering shrubs look best when allowed to have a natural form and are not trimmed into hedges or balls.  If the shrub has a naturally arching form, such as spirea, try to maintain that shape.

It’s best not to remove more than a third of the shrub when pruning.  Prune back the height to about a foot below your desired height, shrubs will continue to grow over summer. Cut back the width if needed. 

Some shrubs like forsythia and lilac with many individual stems coming from the ground benefit from removing some of those stems, called thinning.  This opens the center of the shrub to sunlight.  Chose the oldest largest looking stems and use your saw to cut them right to the ground.  Try to space thinning cuts so that there are no big holes in the shrub, but each stem has some room around it.

Until you get a lot of experience prune slowly and consider each cut carefully. You will make mistakes at first but thankfully most plants recover from them quite well. Improper pruning rarely causes the death of a shrub.

While pruning cut off any seed pods or dead flower clusters.  Unless you want to try and grow some new shrubs from seed these seeds detract from the shrubs looks and divert energy into seed production that could go into new flower buds.

Lilacs require some additional pruning care.  This pruning is best done in winter when the plants are dormant and not after bloom. In order to keep lilac borer under control some older, woody barked stems need to be removed each year.  Remove about a third of the oldest woody stems each year. Space the stems you leave so that they don’t touch.  Keep lilac suckers which come up around the plant pruned out except for one or two.  You can prune for height and width right after bloom.

If a shrub is seriously overgrown there are some shrubs that will regenerate quickly if cut right back to the ground. Lilacs, willows and spirea are the best candidates for this treatment.  Some other shrubs will also regenerate on occasion but cutting them to the ground is best reserved for worst case scenarios.  Do not do this with azaleas and rhododendrons.  Lilacs may take an extra year or two before they bloom again when this is done.  But you can get them off to a new start in this way and keep them under control as they grow.

Shrubs that flower all season or in mid to late summer and fall are best pruned when dormant. For the small amount of care that they take flowering shrubs are great investments for your landscape. 

Talking roses

June’s flower is the rose and in many areas of the country roses begin to bloom in June, so what better month to talk about caring for them?  Some gardeners won’t grow roses because they expect they will take too much work and there are some roses that do require a little pampering.  But many modern roses are hardy and have disease resistance built into them.  If you have sunny areas in your garden one of the modern landscape roses can be the ideal solution for long lasting bloom and easy care.

Here are some rose care articles that may help you with any rose problem you are having.

Black spot on roses

One of the most common diseases of roses is black spot. Black spot is a disease caused by the fungus, Diplocarpon rosa.  It is extremely common in older varieties of tea roses but when conditions are right even roses marked as resistant to black spot can develop a mild case of the disease.  Warm humid conditions, especially when there are heavy dews, or the foliage stays wet overnight, are the prime times for black spot to develop.

Black spot causes black spots on the upper surfaces of rose leaves, surrounded by a yellow area.  If the fungus is heavy the leaves may look almost totally yellow, sprinkled with black spots.  Rose flower petals may show streaking, red spots or distorted areas.  Infected leaves soon drop off the plant. 
 
Rose blackspot
Flickr image
While black spot usually doesn’t kill a plant outright, the plant struggles to put out new foliage and this weakens the plant and reduces blooming.  Infected plants may not survive the winter as well as those with mild or no infection.  And half bare, yellow leaved plants just aren’t very attractive.

Black spot overwinters on rose leaves on the soil or on the rose canes.  Rain and wind move the spores to new foliage on the roses in the spring.  When conditions are right, (warmth and humidity), usually about June, the fungus germinates and infects the rose.
   
How to control Black Spot

If you have had problems with black spot in the past or your area experiences lots of humid, hot weather you’ll want to plant roses with resistance to black spot. Some modern shrub roses have pretty good resistance to black spot and rarely require treatment.  Even some tea roses have recently been bred that have some resistance.  Older roses with resistance are the gallicas, rugosa’s and albas.  If you don’t like chemical spraying choose resistant varieties and hope for the best. 

Resistant varieties are not immune to black spot.  In heavily infested areas and ideal conditions even resistant roses may get black spot. Some resistant varieties perform better in some geographical areas than others.  If one variety of rose always seems to get infected in your garden, try another rose or at least another location in the garden.

Other ways to control black spot are to remove all rose leaves from under the plant in the fall or early spring before the plant leaf’s out.   During growing season pick off any yellowed or spotted leaves and remove those that fall on the ground as soon as you see them. Don’t crowd the roses, they need good air circulation and roses against buildings or with hedges behind them may have more problems with black spot.

Water your roses at the base, trying not to wet the foliage and do so early in the day so the foliage dries before evening.  Keep roses healthy by planting them in full sun and regularly fertilizing them as roses are heavy feeders.  You’ll also want to control rose insects such as rose chafers and Japanese beetles as these weaken the plant and make them more susceptible to damage from black spot.

There are many chemical controls for black spot and other fungal diseases of roses. If you are going to use fungicides begin spraying in June or as soon as you see even one infected leaf.  If you want nice looking tea roses you will probably want to start a spray schedule soon after the plants leaf out. Follow label directions and keep up the schedule for best results.  The sprays don’t help already infected leaves, but they do help new foliage stay healthy to make food for the plant.
 
Several years ago, The Consumers’ Association Magazine put eight fungicides to the test between April and October to combat black spot on roses.  The products they found did the best job were Bayer Garden Systhane Fungus Fighter Concentrate, Scotts Fungus Clear Ultra, and Bayer Garden Multirose 2 Ready-to-use. 

The test was conducted on a variety of modern rose called ‘Silver Jubilee’ which has some resistance to black spot.  Black spot was noticed in June on the roses and treatment according to label directions was begun.  Some roses were left untreated as a control.  The researchers found that any chemical product was better than no treatment.   There are organic treatments on the market but many of these do little or nothing to control fungal disease.
 
Beware of so called “home remedies” for black spot on roses.  Soap solutions do not work on fungal disease.  Alcohol, peroxide, baking soda, milk and other odd substances may actually harm roses. Don’t succumb to folklore and ruin your roses.

With the many disease resistant varieties of roses on the market and a little tolerance for less than perfect foliage almost everyone can grow roses, even without chemical sprays.  Don’t let the fear of black spot or other rose diseases keep you from enjoying them in your garden.

Rose rosette

Rose rosette disease is a fairly new rose disease that is fatal to roses.  It’s been associated with ‘Knock out’ roses but other roses do get it.  It causes odd distortions of rose foliage.  To read more about it go to this article.

Rose chafer beetles

Rose chafer beetles are tan, sometimes with a greenish cast, with reddish orange legs and short antennae.  They are about a ½ inch long when mature and are strong fliers. In June they emerge from the soil where they have been pupating and begin feeding on everything in sight.  Plants are sometimes covered with the beetles.  If you live on sandy soil your garden may be particularly hard hit. The name rose chafer is misleading.  While they are very attracted to rose flowers, they’ll eat the leaves and flowers on many kinds of plants.

To read more about this pest please go to this article;
 
Rose Chafer
MSUE image
Identifying plants

I spent some time this past week identifying two plants that popped up in my cutting /pollinator garden.  It’s pretty weedy this year, I left things alone hoping most of the plants from last year would reseed themselves.  These two plants popped up a few feet apart and grew quickly to about 4 and 5 feet high.  I was interested in seeing how they flowered and hoping that would help me ID them.

They put out umbels of tiny pinkish, mildly scented, 5 petalled flowers at the top of the plant and from leaf axils.  The plant had pinnately odd compound leaves with toothed leaflets arranged opposite each other on a hollow, round grooved stalk.  The petioles of the leaf formed a c shape, like a celery stem.

I knew I had seen the plant before, but the name escaped me, and I couldn’t remember how I knew it.  I begin searching in weed identification manuals first.  When nothing popped out at me, I started looking in other identification manuals I have and found it in the herbals.  The plant is valerian, an esteemed herb for hundreds of years.  It’s still a much sold, sedative/ sleep aid in many countries.

 
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)


A gardener who likes to identify plants needs several plant identification books.  Yes, you can look online, and there are a few good online sites that give both pictures and identification details on the plant.  You can even submit pictures online and ask someone else to identify the plant on some sites or send them to someone you think is an expert.  But it’s so much more satisfying to look up the plant yourself.  And once you go through the work to look up the plant you usually remember it.   

Here’s how to get started identifying a plant.  First examine the plant carefully.  Don’t just look at flowers, look at leaves, stems, any seeds and sometimes roots.  (If the plant isn’t in your yard or there is only one specimen and you might want to keep it, don’t pull or dig the plant to see the roots.) Notice how tall and wide the plant is and where it is growing.  Is it in sun or shade, a wet or dry area?  Always try to examine more than one specimen of the same plant.

Here are some things to look for.  Is the plant a tree or shrub with a woody stem or are stems soft and green?  Does the plant have an upright form, sprawling form, bushy form, or is it a vine? Do all the leaves seem to come from near the ground, without a pronounced stem? (Think hosta or daylily.)

Are the leaves of the plant simple or compound?  If compound do they end in one leaflet or two? How many leaflets are there?  What color are the leaves, top and bottom?  Are they hairy or do they have spines or prickles? Are the margins of the leaves smooth or do they have lobes, teeth or serrated edges?  What shape are the leaves? Do the leaf veins branch out or all run one direction? How long and wide are the average leaves?  How do they attach to the stem – opposite each other or do they alternate sides along the stem? Is there a scent to the foliage?

How long and thick are the stems? Do the stems have hairs, spines, ridges or grooves?  What color are the stems?  Do the stems have bark?  If you can see the roots are they like tubers, is there a tap root or are the roots fibrous and spread out?  What color are the roots?

If there are flowers what color are they? Do all the same type of plants have the same color flowers?  Are the flowers in groups or single? How many petals do they have?  What shape are the flowers?  Use comparisons such as daisy like, pea-like, bell like, tubular and so on if you aren’t familiar with flower biology.  How large are the flowers?  If they are in a wand or column shape do they open first at the top or bottom? Can you see male and female flower parts or just one sex? What color is the pollen if you see any?  Is there a scent to the flowers?

If there are seed pods what shape and color are they? What shape, size and color are the seeds?

Never taste plants for identification.  Until you identify a plant and know it’s safe keep it out of your mouth.  Some plants can seriously harm you with just a taste.

Try to jot down some notes to help you identify the plant whether or not you take a photo or specimen, as to where it was growing, growing conditions, size of plants and the number of plants and of course answering the questions above.

Don’t pull or cut specimens to take home to identify unless the plant is on your property or you have permission. A single leaf, flower, or seed pod may not be sufficient for identification in some cases.  If you are taking a specimen try to take the entire plant, or at least a small branch, along with any other parts like flowers you can gather.  If you are going to take them to someone to ID make sure you keep the specimen as fresh as possible until then.
 
Sticktight, aka beggerticks, Bidens frondosa
If you can take a picture of the plant do so. Pictures are a great aid to memory.  But blurry pictures or pictures taken from a distance often don’t help much in identifying the plant.  When taking pictures try to get a close up of foliage, how leaves attach to the stem, stems, flowers and or seeds.  Make sure it’s clear what foliage is attached to what flower or seed pod that is in the picture.  Sometimes people take a picture of a flower peeking out of a jungle of all different types of foliage and it’s not clear what goes with what.

Most cameras allow you to check the photos on the device to see if they are blurry.  Check and take better pictures if needed.  

So now that you have a specimen or picture and notes where do you start?   There are thousands of plant species and you need to narrow your search down in some way.  First consider whether the plant may be native to your area, an introduced weed or a cultivated plant. If you have a hunch or think the plant resembles another plant that you do know, start there. 

If you found the plant on a walk in what seems to be a wild area start by looking in identification books for native plants in your region.  Narrow it further down by deciding whether it’s a woody plant, (a tree or shrub), or not.  Identification books/sites usually separate these types of plants.  If it was growing in water or a marshy area you can further narrow the search, most ID books/sites separate wetland or aquatic plants.  After those traits narrow the search, various ID books/sites have different ways to further narrow the search.  Some may use flower color, bloom time or plant families to group plants for ID.

Knowing characteristics of a plant family can really help narrow down a plant ID search.  For example, plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae) usually have square stems and aromatic leaves. If your mystery plant has these, you could narrow your search considerably. I can’t go into plant family characteristics here but here’s a tip.  If you are using a search engine online type in – daisy family or mint family – or orchid family and so on if you think the mystery plant looks like one, and you will get the Latin family name, which can help narrow your search.

If the plant you are trying to ID is in your garden then it could be a weed or a cultivated plant.  Using a weed ID book may be the place to start.  They are usually divided by grassy weeds and broad-leaved weeds.  If you think the plant is a cultivated plant, there are books and sites that describe common garden plants.  Garden catalogs may also help, especially if you have a flower as part of your specimen or photo.  You may also try herbal books, like I did to identify my mystery plant.



A note about cultivated plants.  These plants may be changed from the original wild form of the plant by selective breeding.  They may have different colored flowers or flowers that are double or unusually shaped. Foliage may be different colored or shaped than the original species.

If neither a native plant ID book/site or cultivated garden plant ID book/site help, try using an invasive plant list for your area.  Most of these include pictures and detailed descriptions of plants.

Use a picture of a plant only to get you started in the right direction.  Pictures can be deceiving unless they are close up and detailed, including foliage and the plant form and some way to determine size.  Once you locate a picture of something that resembles your mystery plant then you look up a detailed description of that plant and compare it to the unknown plant.

It’s very important to match up all plant parts before you say you have made an ID.  There are several plants with yellow daisy like flowers for example.  You need to match up the leaf, stem and growing habits as well as flower color and shape.  If a plant has narrow, opposite attached leaves on a multi-stemmed bushy plant, it isn’t the same plant as one that has a single stem with broad leaves that are arranged alternately on the stem, even if the flowers look similar.

There is no doubt that it is going to take some time and effort to ID a plant. Think of it as a learning game, because each time you identify a plant it will get easier to identify other plants in the future.  And even experts need help sometimes from other experts, some rare plants may be hard to identify.

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

Taking the easy way out

For some of you though, the task of identification will seem too daunting and you will choose the easy route- asking someone else.  This happens on garden websites all the time.  However not all the answers you will get will be the right ones.  Probably the best site for a good ID is this one; https://www.facebook.com/groups/156706504394635/
On this site it’s strictly ID and the post is closed after the correct answer, instead of allowing a million guesses. The Latin name is usually given as well as common ones.

On other sites you could get a dozen answers to your mystery plant’s ID.  Choose the answer with the most likes or posted the most times.  Then do a lookup on a good ID site and compare the results there with your specimen.

Some county Extension offices will have someone on hand to do plant ID or a lab where you can send specimens.  Ask them what their procedure is and whether they need a specimen or if you can send a picture for ID.  Some public gardens and larger retail garden centers will ID plants.  Call and ask first before sending photos or bringing in specimens.

If you are posting a picture for others to ID make sure it’s a good clear one and try to include as many details as you can. Shots from different angles and of different plant parts are good.  The picture must be a close up , not shot from 100 yards away.

There are some things that are almost impossible to identify from a picture.  A very young seedling with only the first set of seed leaves, cotyledons- is hard to ID.  Sometimes a single plant leaf can get you an ID, sometimes it can’t. Plant roots and seeds can also be hard to identify.

It’s almost impossible to post a picture of a daylily (or other garden plant) leaves and ask someone to identify the name (cultivar or variety) of the plant.  Even posting a picture of a flower- a red tea rose for example- may not get you the correct variety name.  Sometimes the foliage or flower is so unique a cultivar name can be given but most times it cannot.

What about those plant ID apps?  You take a picture and the app ID's the plant.  Most of these apps aren’t very accurate.  If you use them make sure to cross check with another identification source.

Here are some ID books I use  A Modern Herbal, (2 volumes), M. Grieve, Weeds of the Northeast, Uva, Neal and DiTomaso, Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs, Dirr, Armitages Garden Perennials, Armitages Manuel of Annuals, Biennials, and Half Hardy Perennials.  I also have a set of old Golden Books- the field guides to trees, wildflowers, water plants, ands so on.  Every gardener should have some good plant ID books on hand.

I’ll certainly remember valerian now.  Even though I thought I had seen the plant before, I hadn’t paid enough attention or had enough contact with the plant to remember it.  Now that I spent time identifying it, I’ll (hopefully) remember it.

“On this June day the buds in my garden are almost as enchanting as the open flowers. Things in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the recollection of the loveliest days of the year, those days of May when all is suggested, nothing yet fulfilled.”     
-Francis King

Kim Willis

All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

And So On….

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:
(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page but all gardeners anywhere are welcome)

Newsletter/blog information
I write this because I love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my research each week (or things I want to talk about). It keeps me engaged with people and horticulture. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If you are on my mailing list and at any time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you or anyone you know who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is published have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com


No comments:

Post a Comment