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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Kim's weekly garden newsletter June 25, 2013

June 25, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter


These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hello Gardeners

 When summer came, it really came.   I want early June back, that nice mild sunny weather.   I was outside watering last night until it started raining.  I am still glad I watered because we really haven’t had that much rain, even though it has been on and off again today.

I had another ripe tomato from the garden and more strawberries.  Peonies are just about gone but the daylilies are just about ready to open.  Roses are still going strong, I got a good bargain on a Sunny Knock Out potted rose this weekend.  It actually has a mild scent.  Keep your eyes open for good plant clearance bargains.

My apple trees are starting to sag with their load of marble size apples.  If I was ambitious I would thin them.  Some of you may have noticed lots of tiny green apples beneath your trees, don’t worry, its normal for apples to shed some fruit in June.  The trees can only support so much.  If you like nice large apples you may want to thin your trees a little more.  Just select a nice sized apple in each cluster of apples, and then remove all the other apples in that cluster by pinching them off with your fingertips.  There are chemicals that thin apples but for homeowners it’s tricky and why use chemicals if you can do without.

The cherries are beginning to ripen too.  I don’t get many cherries, the birds get them first.  My grandfather had a huge Queen Anne sweet cherry tree right by his front door.  To pick the fruit he used a pole pruner and just lopped off branches.  Then we kids picked the cherries off the fallen branches.  They usually had worms but we ate around them.  Grandpa made cherry wine every year.

Pitting cherries is the hardest part of preparing them for use.  An olive pitter can work and you can buy cherry pitters.  Or you can just use your fingers, which will get stained by the juice.  Cherries are said to relieve arthritic pain.  I like cherry juice but it’s so expensive.  Maybe I’ll just ease my pain with cherry pie!

How long has it been since you have seen a common garden toad?  I haven’t seen any in my yard in 2 years.  We do have at least 4 species of frogs around here, but the toads have vanished.  I remember when toads used to be everywhere in weather like this.  Frogs and toads are disappearing from our world at an amazing rate.  I wrote an article on some of the reasons and how you can help you can read here. http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-help-save-frogs-and-toads

I was on a writing roll today on this steamy, rainy day.  So here goes.

Plant sex secrets revealed

Warning- the word sex is going to be used and sexual matters are about to be discussed. I have read several science articles this week on various aspects of sexual reproduction in flowering plants.  I think about this time of year all the flowers blooming put something in the air that seduces researchers into writing stories about plant sex as well as seducing little helpers like bees and butterflies into helping flowers have sex.

Abutilon flower
Going back to plant science classes or biology classes you may have had: flowering plants use various means to swap genetic material.   The sharing of genes makes for healthier offspring and allows for changes to be made to adapt to environments.   Some plants can also fertilize themselves if necessary, but they prefer a partner. 

Female plants produce ova, which will turn into seeds if they get fertilized.  Most ova are inside an ovary, attached to a placenta which nourishes them just as animal placentas nourish embryos.  Each ova consists of two cells, one will make a plant embryo if fertilized, the other makes a food supply for the embryo and a covering that encloses them both. (The seed.)  The ovary of the plant is connected to the outside world by a tube, long in some plants short in others, called the style and at the end of the style is a an area called the stigma, which will receive pollen from a male plant.

Male plants or plant parts produce pollen.  Pollen consists of 3 cells usually enclosed in some protective substance.  One cell produces a pollen tube, and the other two cells combine with the two cells of the ova if they are lucky.  The pollen of the male has to get to the stigma of the female plant at just the right time and plants use the wind, water or animals to transport the pollen to the stigma.

We have known for a long time that the pollen tube penetrates the hard style of the female and allows the two sperm cells to slide down and unite with an egg.  But until recently we haven’t been able to probe some of those plant sex secrets, like how the tube manages to find an ova, and how the female controls the sexual process so mayhem doesn’t result from the thousands of grains of pollen that typically land on a stigma.

Well it turns out that like much of the animal world hormones ,genes, and females control everything.  When pollen lands on a stigma it has to be ready to accept it, if it’s early or too late it will be rejected.  The female stigma is also able to regulate which pollen cells would be acceptable mates, and rejects those that are incompatible.  This is done through complex chemical signals.

According to new research, some pollen has a tube cell that is actually more aggressive and forces itself on the female style, trying to ensure the sperm cells accompanying it win the race.  In the long run this is detrimental to the plant because the ova may not be at the right stage to be fertilized.   But normally when the pollen landing on the stigma has been vetted by the female flower part, hormones in the plant lubricate the style and make it softer and the race of the tubes is on.

Some plants will have hundreds of tubes snaking through the style, some just one depending on how many ova are in each ovary, which varies in each plant species.  The tube is guided and elongated, we recently discovered, by something called MYB transcription factors, which are similar to substances that turn on genes in animal nervous systems that make nerves. The tube has to be in contact with the female style tissue to develop this substance, she turns it on.  The tube has to be guided to where an ova attaches to the placenta and find the tiny hole where nutrients pass into the ova from the placenta, and squeeze through that opening.

Scientists found a way to remove MYB transcription factors from tube cells and discovered that tubes without it continued to grow, curling around inside the style, never finding the hole or bursting to release sperm cells.  Once again this proves that without female help males would be lost.

Now here is where the research gets a bit kinky and just amazingly complex.  In order to fertilize the ova the pollen tube has to explode at just the right instant, and shoot the sperm into the egg.  By using microchips with tiny channels to stimulate styles and ova openings, researchers found that openings just tight enough, (the right size for that plant), promoted the explosion.  If they tightened an area as the tube pushed through the simulated style the tube exploded prematurely and since plant sperm don’t swim, those sperm will never fertilize the ova. (  I presume they were able to give the tubes MYB transcription factors.)

One researcher said “"Our findings show that a tight grip around the tube does result in sperm release.”  He said that it was proof that plants can respond to touch.   Now you have to be chuckling here.  But let’s move on.

Once the sperm hits the ova it needs to fertilize or unite with the two ova cells quickly.  If fertilization is a success the female plant will not allow any more tubes to penetrate the placenta hole.  If the sperm is a dud, the female will allow more tubes to enter until one works or the ova is too old.  How do scientists know this?  Researchers were able to find some mutant pollen where the tube cell would expand normally, burst at the right time and release the sperm, but the sperm cells were duds. 

The researchers then were able to mark normal pollen with one color and mutant pollen with another and watch under a high power microscope as the race unfolded.   Some ova would end up with numerous tubes entering them and exploding, until the right one came along.

Now when you walk in the garden today and look at the pretty flowers growing there you’ll marvel at the complex, hidden processes each flower is secretly carrying on. 

Research that the above information was based on was published in Current Biology and done at Brown University.  Additional research was done and published by Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Portugal, and the University of Montreal and Concordia University. Some research was published in Science Express of the journal Science.

Jerry Bakers books dumped

Traffic was snarled and motorists were left fuming for more than 4 hours when a semi load of Jerry Baker books was dumped on US 23 last Monday afternoon.  The semi was traveling west on I96 from Bakers business in New Hudson, Michigan when it took the ramp to US 23 south and flipped over, spilling the books across the highway.

According to Sgt. Mark Thompson of the Michigan State Police, the driver was going too fast for the ramp.  The driver was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.  The 52 foot trailer was filled with boxes of Baker’s gardening books.  I find it hard to believe that he had orders for that many books- maybe the trailer was headed to a composting site.

Tomatoes and slavery

I read a book this month that I highly recommend every gardener or even consumer read.   The book is called  ‘Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit’  ( only $1.99 on Amazon) and it is actually a compilation of articles written by an investigative reporter, Barry Estabrook.  If you have been following my newsletters or took a class from me you know that I am very much for seasonal, local eating and this book only enforces that.

Not only does the book touch on the lack of taste and nutrition in tomatoes grown for shipping and out of season consumption, and the environmental cost  such production creates,but the book details the horrible cost to human lives and dignity this out of season consumption causes.

Slavery in America still exists and the tomato fields of Florida are one of the hot spots for human slavery and abuse. (Other crops are also involved in human abuse and slavery cases.)  Florida actually provides most of the out of season tomatoes for the eastern half of the US.   When I say slavery I mean actual slavery - people owned by others and forced to work for no pay, locked up when not working and hunted down and beaten or killed if they try to escape.  Several large scale slavery cases have recently been prosecuted in Florida and more are being investigated.   (Slavery also exists in other occupations, such as the chain of Seven -11 stores raided last week in New York.)

Even the immigrants who are not held as actual slaves are treated in a horrible manner. They are made to live in housing owned by their bosses and for which outrageous sums are deducted from their checks.  This housing is frequently things like box trailers with rows of beds on the floor and no water or plumbing. They are taken to certain stores where they are allowed to buy food and other supplies at inflated prices, stores either owned or getting kickbacks from the bosses.  If they complain about conditions or cause any trouble they are found floating in irrigation canals.

They are forced to work in fields that are being sprayed with pesticides, or are still wet with them which is against the law, but not enforced very often.  Florida allows the use of some very toxic pesticides not approved in other states, because the tomato crop requires it.  Even pregnant woman are working in those fields and the awful birth defects their children suffer are frequently seen in hospitals that work with immigrants.  The American blacks who used to work in these fields until about the 50’s and 60’s are also coming down with an unusually high rate of strange, rare cancers.

People are forced to work while sick, (spreading those illnesses to the foods they pick), denied water until they drop from heat exhaustion, overcome, burned and blinded by pesticides.  Children as young as 9 or 10 are often found working in fields, against child labor laws.  People are routinely hit, whipped and beaten for minor infractions or not working fast enough.  All of this so people can have tomatoes in winter.

With the spotlight on immigration reform lately, reading this book will give you another perspective on the people who come here or are forced here to do the work Americans don’t want to do.

Black spot on roses

The Consumers’ Association Magazine,  put eight fungicides to the test between April and October last year 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. 
Look at the leaf just to the right of the rose for black spot  beginning.
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, however an organic product tested,  Vitax Organic 2-in-1 Pest and Disease Control, had no effect on the disease.

Black spot is a disease caused by the fungus, Diplocarpon rosa.  It is extremely common in roses, especially older varieties of tea roses.   The fungus cause 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.  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.  If you are going to use fungicides begin spraying in June or as soon as you see even one infected leaf.  Follow label directions and keep up the schedule for best results.  The sprays don’t help already infected leaves but help new foliage stay healthy to make food for the plant.

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 really 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 leafs out.   Pick off any yellowed or spotted leaves and remove those that fall on the ground as soon as seen.   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 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.

Watch out for severe weather the next few days.

Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information
Want to learn how to spot some common weeds in the garden? Here’s a link to an article I wrote, complete with color pictures you can read.


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

June 18, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter



From Kim Willis

These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hello Gardeners

Hardy geranium.
It is a beautiful day out there.  We got about a ½ inch of rain over the last two days and most of the plants are wearing happy faces.  The peonies look a bit bedraggled  but it always seems to rain when they are in full bloom anyway.  The flowers seem to be lasting a bit longer this spring probably because of the cooler weather.  Mock orange and weigela are making quite the show now, as well as the clematis.  Hardy geraniums and dianthus are in bloom.  The annuals are beginning to really fill in and look nice.  I even have some rain lilies I bought from Old House Gardens this spring in bloom.  The bulbs were just planted a month ago.

We ate the first ripe tomato from the garden Sunday along with lettuce and radishes from our garden.  This is the first time we have actually had good lettuce from the garden at the same time we had ripe tomatoes that I can remember.  It was a small, but delicious Early Girl tomato.  I thought I would have bragging rights to first ripe tomato but I was beaten by another local gardener, Elizabeth Stange, who posted a picture of her first ripe tomato Friday.

I have been searching rose catalogs to try and identify a rose I have blooming in my butterfly garden.   Several years ago I planted what was supposed to be the rose “Flutterbye” which was a pink-yellow blend.  It died back to the ground the first winter and came back from the roots, which obviously were not the same rose variety as the top part.  It took several years to actually become a robust bush and bloom well but this year it is loaded with blooms.  They are semi-double blooms of a deep, almost black red with golden stamens, quite striking.  It is a one shot June bloomer and a huge exuberant plant but I kind of like it and I wonder what variety it is.  You can see a picture on my garden blog page, address above.

Mystery rose.
When people come on my front porch this time of year they often remark on the sweet smell.  It is a multiflora rose, a pest rose if there ever was one, but pretty when covered with its little white flowers and with a sweet, pleasant scent.  The birds probably dropped seeds by the porch post, or maybe the former house owners planted it when they planted the Autumn Olive hedge.  I cut it back hard after it blooms to control it but out in the pasture these things scramble way up in the pine trees, and they can hinder the growth of trees they climb into.  Anyone who has ever tried to walk through a patch of these or pull them from the trees knows just how prickly they are too. 

They are native to Asia and were brought here to make rootstock for less hardy roses and then escaped.  They have tiny bright red rose hips that birds love and these are ornamental too.   It is invasive and I try to root out any seedlings I find but still it has its charms. 

Another somewhat invasive plant, the mulberry, is starting to ripen its fruit.  If you want to attract birds, plant a mulberry.  This one came up under the big spruce we had cut down this spring and as the spruce slowly died the mulberry thrived at its northern edge.   We had the tree crew leave it and it is now at the back of the new vegetable garden, on the north where it doesn’t make much shade but still shades the chicken coop behind it.  It has been filled with Cedar Waxwings each evening who don’t seem to mind that the berries aren’t quite ripe.  The other birds will wait until the fruit is a bit riper.

I used to fight with a neighbor back in Pontiac about the mulberry trees in my yard.  He wanted them cut down because for a week or two each summer the birds bombed his car with lots of purple poop.  I wouldn’t cut them down but I learned not to hang clothes out on the line while there was still fruit on the trees.

I miss my horses sometimes but the old pasture is pretty right now with white ox eye daisies, pink fleabane, red clover, purple crown vetch and yellow hawksweed, a wildflower meadow untouched by grazing.  Unfortunately the iris and yucca that the horses never touched are buried in long grass.  I found a pretty yellow iris I didn’t remember though. 

It’s the season for bargains in the garden stores and I picked up a tender perennial or houseplant I remember from my childhood.  We called it Moses in the Cradle because its unusual flowers are shaped like a cradle with little white flowers inside.   It’s a sprawling plant with long, purple and pink variegated leaves, grown for its foliage, and makes a nice container plant.  My grandmother always had one.  Its official name is Tradescantia spathacea, also sometimes called Rhoeo spathacea.  Another common name is boat lily.  It will grow in shade or partial sun and makes a good houseplant.  There are a couple of color varieties.

Summer solstice

Friday, June 21, is the longest day of the year, called the Summer Solstice.    In a society where people spend more time indoors than out the solstice may have become insignificant to many but the day has been noted and celebrated since the earliest communities of man.   In the more northern countries the celebrations are more marked, probably because the sun is so welcome and vital in these climates and because at summer solstice in the far north the sun never seems to set.   

Different cultures celebrate summer solstice in different ways.  Solstice festivities almost always include fire, with bonfires a requisite of most celebrations.  Oak wood is commonly used in solstice bonfires for luck and magic. People jump over the fires for luck and make talismans of the ashes.  The ashes of solstice fires are spread on crops to bring a good harvest.  However the astrological sign Cancer, a water sign, begins at the time of solstice so water also figures into many solstice festivities.  In ancient cultures burning wheels were often rolled into water or bark boats filled with flowers and herbs were set on fire and floated down rivers.

Wreaths of flowers and herbs are included in many solstice celebrations.  The wreaths are worn on the head and hung on doors and are said to bring good luck.  Rue, fennel, roses, rosemary, foxglove, lemon verbena, calendula, mallow, elderberry, St. John's Wort, vervain and trefoil are plants associated with these wreaths and summer solstice.   Often the flowers or wreaths were left outside to gather the dew on the night of the solstice.  Washing your face with the dew collected on the night of the solstice was supposed to make you beautiful and delay aging.  

The Romans dedicated the month that the summer solstice occurs in ( the month we call June) to honoring the goddess Juno, patroness of marriage and fertility in women.  The goddess of the hearth, Vesta was also honored.  Common traditions include a couple jumping over a bonfire to make it known they were committed to each other and other rituals of fertility and marriage.  (Interestingly a woman’s fertility is also highest at this time.) Conception in June results in a baby born in March, which in earlier times was a good month to give birth.  Food supplies would be more plentiful as the baby began to require more milk, the weather more moderate, and the wife would be recovered enough to help with spring planting.  Even today June is the month most favored for marriage.

Native Americans of the plains tribes held the Sun Dance near the summer solstice.  This was a time of dancing around bonfires, prayer, fasting and tests of strength, depending on the tribe.  In some tribes young men were put through grueling rituals to enter manhood at this time.

Midsummer’s eve is often confused with the summer solstice but is not the same.  It generally occurs a few days later than the solstice, on June 23 or 24.  It is supposed to mark the birth of John the Baptist, who is supposed to have been born six months before Jesus and is a product of Christianity adopting and adapting pagan celebrations.  But there is a great mixture of fairy visits and other magic associated with Midsummers eve in folklore also. The point where the sun is farthest (yes farthest) from the earth, the aphelion, occurs on July 3 at 3 am.

You can start your own summer solstice tradition to celebrate the beginning of summer.  Think sunbathing, swimming and a great bonfire at night, or attend one of Michigan’s celebrations.  Kaleva, Michigan, population about 500, in Manistee County (near Interlochen), holds a solstice celebration in a county park featuring Swedish pancakes and strawberry shortcake as well as a bonfire that many tourists attend.  In downtown East Lansing there is a free two day (June 21-22) summer solstice jazz festival.  And there is the solstice night hike at Seven Ponds Nature Center. (See events below.)

Strawberries

Did you know that strawberries are related to roses?  And strawberries are one of the few fruits with their seeds on the outside of the fruit.  Legend has it that strawberries are an aphrodisiac and newlyweds are often served strawberry soup or other dishes with strawberries.  (Haven’t you watched any old movies?)   Break a double strawberry in half and get someone you desire to eat the other half as you eat yours and they will be magically drawn to you. Strawberries are one of those healthy antioxidant foods and they can be grown in every state, including Alaska.

Strawberry waffles. Get recipe at link in article.
The strawberries are ripening and it’s time to buy local if you don’t grow your own.   When picking strawberries, always pick those berries that are entirely red, with no white spot on the tip or side for best flavor. Strawberries do not ripen after picking. When buying strawberries look for berries with firm texture, and fresh looking “caps” which means they were picked recently.  Strawberries don’t store well so be prepared to eat or preserve the berries soon after you buy or pick them.  Go through any purchased strawberries and throw out moldy or soft berries right away because the mold quickly spreads.   Store strawberries in the refrigerator until used.

Don’t wash your strawberries until just before you prepare them for eating or preserving.  Wet berries are prone to mold.  And do wash before eating, we are all tempted to snack as we pick, but you might pick up a nasty food poisoning bug, even from your own garden.   Visiting birds and other critters can bring in undesirable organisms. We all did it as kids but may not have associated the stomachache we got later with food poisoning and there is a higher incidence of food borne illness now than in the past.  And most strawberries you buy now have been sprayed with pesticides you’ll want to wash off.

Fresh strawberry season is short, 3-4 weeks in June here.  If you plant ever-bearing types you will get sporadic harvests through the summer but the best strawberry harvest is in June.   If you like strawberries at other times of the year do your part to promote sustainable, locally grown produce and preserve some berries for out of season eating.  They are quite simple to freeze; anyone can do it in a very little amount of time.  And then there are jams, preserves and other goodies.

Below you’ll find some links to articles I have written on preserving and using strawberries. 

Sunflowers and Fibonacci numbers

To pack the maximum number of seeds into a small round area plants grow them in spirals.  An example is how seeds grow on a sunflower head.  The spiral pattern is produced by plant hormones called auxins and in one of nature’s mysteries the spirals use a pattern called Fibonacci numbers to maximize space.  Fibonacci numbers use the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on, so that each number is the sum of the last two.

I guess some mathematician actually took time to study some plants, maybe the Fibonacci guy the pattern of numbers was named after.   Scientists are excited about this discovery and wonder how plants can use mathematical models.  Since the plants ability to do this surely pre-dated the mathematicians discovery of the pattern why is it named the Fibonacci number sequence and not the sunflower sequence?

Michigan wildflower and pollinator gardens to visit

With the high cost of gas this summer you may be thinking of a vacation close to home.  In Michigan we are lucky to have so many wonderful things to see and do.  Combine your love of plants and gardening with your Michigan vacation by visiting one of these National Park sites.  The descriptions below are from the USDA Forest Service information sheets.

Loda Lake is an area that includes a small spring-fed lake, a bog-like wetland area, a creek and riparian marshy areas, oak forest, pine plantations, and an early successional old farm site.  Botanist Clayton Bazuin noted, “Loda Lake is ideally suited as a wildflower sanctuary and although near one of Michigan’s busy highways, can still be a natural reservoir of wild plants. This is due to the large number of ecological associations it affords in which they may survive".

Loda Lake is the only Wildflower sanctuary in the National Forest System, a project supported both financially and botanically by the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan for over seventy years. ( Loda Lake is near White Cloud Michigan in Newaygo County.)
To download the Loda Lake National Wildflower Sanctuary brochure, with map, select this link: https://fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5325281.pdf.

Bowman Lake Pollinator garden on the Huron-Manistee National Forest is a registered Monarch Waystation.  Nearly 10,000 people visit the Lake Michigan Recreation Area garden of the Manistee National Forest every year. The Huron-Manistee’s Lumberman’s monument garden overlooking the beautiful Au Sable River, has over 30 native nectar and hosts plants for pollinators, such as cardinal flower and northern blazing star.  There are three different native plant and pollinator gardens planted at the Monument and maintained by the Master Gardeners of Iosco County. Interpretive signs discuss the importance and need for conserving our pollinators communities. Cardinal flower, a hummingbird pollinated plant, and butterfly milkweed bloom vibrantly in July. The nature trail itself takes you past native vines, such as American bittersweet and Virginia creeper, as well as some woodland shade plants like wild lily-of-the-valley, Solomon-seal, and jack-in-the-pulpit, that bloom early in the spring. The trail ends with a spectacular view across Cooke Dam Pond on the Au Sable River.

Lumberman’s Monument is located in Oscoda Township, Michigan. It is at the junction of River and Monument Roads, 15 miles west of Oscoda, and 12.25 miles North of Tawas.

Solstice or wildflowers, take a road trip this weekend.

Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Kim's Weekly Garden Newsletter June 11, 2013

June 11, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter




From Kim Willis

These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners

The sun is again out and a quick glance at the garden a little while ago shows how much the plants appreciated the rain.  They always look so nice and perky after a shower.   We got 8/10th of an inch, a good but not overwhelming rain.  My lettuce is ready to harvest finally and I have strawberries turning color.  The corn is growing well and my potatoes are beginning to flower- they really love the new garden.  It’s not too late to plant some tomatoes or peppers, or even sweet corn if you haven’t done it.

Columbine near Marlette MI.
Black locust, high bush cranberry and currants are blooming in the woods.   My trumpet vine is starting to bloom, which pleases the hummingbirds.   I have been passing a truly spectacular columbine growing in the strip of lawn between the sidewalk and road on my way into Marlette.  It looks like a bush and is loaded with flowers. There’s no other plants around it. 

The roses are just starting to reach their peak.  I have many coming into bloom.  My sage, lavender and chives are blooming.  Shasta daisies are beginning to bloom.  It’s a pretty time of year.

If you follow this newsletter or know me you know about my battles with the red squirrels and how much I dislike them.  However babies will get you every time and I fell victim to their charm yesterday.  I came in from the barn last night and while taking my wet clothes off on the porch I heard scratching coming from the metal trash can where I store my wild birdseed.  I had taken some sunflower out earlier in the day, but had replaced the lid.  Obviously the lid wasn’t down securely though, because inside were 3 tiny baby red squirrels.  They were all eyes and red fluff, just out of the nest.  I reclosed the lid and went in to ask my husband what to do.  He just looked at me and smiled.

So I went back out there, fully intending to dispatch the little varmints, but I couldn’t, they were just so helpless and cute.  So I put a broom in there so they could climb out and out they went, back into my ceiling above the porch.  They left behind several nibbled on black walnuts, totally strange that they carried nuts to a can full of birdseed.  I told them as they struggled to climb back up to their nest that this was their one free pass, next time I see them I will be calling for some dogs.  I hope they remember.

Iris Care

Now is the time to examine iris leaves for tunnels or “tracks” indicating that a borer larvae is working its way down to the rhizome.  If you see a tunnel squeeze it hard at the lowest point to kill the little worm.  As soon as the irises have finished blooming they can be divided. They need to be divided every3-4 years to keep them healthy and blooming.  If you want to remember a color or name you can simply write it on the iris leaf with a magic marker. 

Dig up the clumps and wash off the soil gently.  Look at the rhizomes for any holes or soft spots.  If an iris borer has already found its way to the rhizome you may find a hole with a big pink worm inside.  Areas with borers should be cut out and discarded.  Cut up the clump of iris with a sharp knife, leaving one or two healthy firm rhizome segments and some leaves ( a fan)  with each division.  It’s best to let the divisions sit for a day or two in a sunny spot before re-planting them, this discourages mold and rot.  Throw out old shriveled rhizomes or soft rotted ones. 

Most people trim the leaves back to about 3 inches before re-planting the divisions.  Plant the iris so that the top of the rhizome is just barely covered with soil.  Divisions may not bloom next spring so to avoid having no iris blooming in the garden, divide only a few clumps each year.

Butterfly news

A new North American species of butterfly has been identified, possibly the last new species that will be found in North America.  Vicroy's Ministreak is a tiny gray butterfly with distinctive olive green eyes.  It is found in Texas and other parts of the Southwest.

Some researchers at Yale found that female butterflies are drawn to males with the most “flash.”  They found that male butterflies that had bigger or more colorful spots from mutations tended to attract more females than their normal brothers, even though females are pre-programmed to look for a certain pattern which determines their species.

Monarch and Milkweed.
 And a long held idea about what caused butterflies to develop distinctive markings and spots to avoid predation has been challenged.  For hundreds of years it was thought that birds, a big predator of butterflies, determined what patterns developed in butterfly species.  Now research points to a smaller foe, spiders that don’t make webs, as driving force in butterfly patterns, particularly a pattern where a spot on the wings resembles a head or eye. 

Spiders sneak around butterflies that land on flowers and attack their heads, where the venom they inject will be the most lethal.  If a butterfly has a spot on its wings that resembles a head the spiders often strike there and their venom is basically useless.  The butterfly escapes, sometimes with a hole in the wing.   After observing the behavior in lab experiments, researchers studied hundreds of museum specimens, and often found damage to the wings where there were false “heads”.

In other butterfly news researchers found that female butterflies avoid mating with inbred males by smelling them with their antenna and refusing to mate with butterflies that had less male sex hormones, which is caused by inbreeding.  Inbred butterflies are not as healthy or strong as normal butterflies and further inbreeding results in sterility, which is bad for the butterfly race.

 It’s how scientists determined this tidbit of information that fascinates me.  They had to breed butterflies that were inbred and some that were not inbred.  Then they dusted the male butterflies rear ends with different colored powders so they could tell which butterfly mated with a female.  They also coated the antennas of some butterflies with nail polish so they couldn’t “smell” and then released them all in a cage and observed and recorded the results.

Can you imagine describing your job as a butterfly butt duster?  

Rhubarb recipes

Do you have rhubarb in your garden?  It’s an easy plant to grow and the flowers are even quite ornamental.   It prefers full sun in good soil and is usually started as a plant.  Don’t harvest any stalks the first year but after that up to half the stalks can be removed at a time.  If you want rhubarb for eating keep the flower stalks cut off to prolong stalk harvest.  I let it flower because I like the beautiful white blooms.  Rhubarb needs to be divided every 3-5 years.

Rhubarb and pineapple cake.
 I don’t care much for the taste of rhubarb although my husband loves it.  As a child I did chew on a stalk in the spring along with the other kids, we raided my grandmother’s rhubarb patch quite regularly.  My husband likes to pick a stalk to chew on but he would much rather have rhubarb pie or cake.   You can dip a stalk in sugar or honey to mellow the tartness, as kids we also dipped it in sweetened orange juice.

Only the rhubarb stalks are safe to eat, the leaves contain a lot of oxalic acid and would make you quite ill.  You can eat stalks anytime they are crisp and young, although the taste isn’t great after the weather gets warm and the plant flowers.  Stalk color varies from deep red to greenish red and color really isn’t a determining factor for whether rhubarb tastes good. Rhubarb is high in fiber and antioxidants, it’s also  high in calcium, manganese and vitamins A and C.  Rhubarb can be canned or frozen to use out of season.   Here’s a link to my article on how to can and freeze rhubarb. http://www.examiner.com/article/cooking-and-preserving-rhubarb

I like to mix rhubarb with other fruits; it blends well with pineapple, orange, and strawberries.  Since strawberries are generally ripening at the same time rhubarb is available, strawberry rhubarb pies and jams are quit common.  Here’s a link to my recipe for a great rhubarb and pineapple cake. http://www.examiner.com/article/rhubarb-and-pineapple-cake

Rhubarb flowers.
While most people now only think of rhubarb as a pie or jam ingredient, rhubarb is used medicinally, especially in Chinese medicine.  The roots are usually dried and ground for use as an herbal remedy.  It’s used as a laxative, for menstrual problems and skin diseases.  Externally rhubarb elixir is used on burns and for its antiseptic qualities.

A paste of mashed rhubarb stalks and leaves can be used to clean burnt matter off pots and pans.  A golden hair coloring can be made from boiled rhubarb roots. Some organic gardening recipes use rhubarb leaf tea or crushed rhubarb leaves as an insecticide.

Cattails

There is a Native American saying that where there are cattails a man will never go hungry.  All parts of the cattail (Typha sp.)  are edible.  Even the pollen of the plants can be used as a fine flour, that doesn’t need grinding.  The roots can be dug and eaten, even in the winter.  The leaves of cattails are woven into baskets and mats.  The down or fluff that carries cattail seeds aloft is used as an insulation and padding.  Cattails are used to purify water at waste treatment plants.

Modern research has developed a new use for cattails.   Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Valley have developed a building panel, similar to pressed board from chopped cattail leaves and stems,( patent pending).  This panel is lightweight, very strong, has good insulation and sound proofing qualities and is water and mold resistant.  Builders who have used the panels are very enthusiastic about them.   The price of the panels is very competitive with other building materials.

Cattails are common across the US and in Europe.  They grow in wet areas unsuitable for other crops and as they grow they sequester carbon, clean the soil and water and provide a habitat for hundreds of creatures.  They require few or no pesticides and fertilizers to grow and will make an excellent green alternative to traditional wood products.  An ancient friend to man is proving useful again.

Lichens may be cure for unusual diseases

Lichens are the lacy green, gray and yellow growths often seen on trees.  They are a combination of  algae, bacteria  and a fungus working together and they are perfectly harmless to whatever they grow on.   They are used by over 50 species of songbirds either as a source of food or nesting material and by many other animals.  Lichens grow only where the air is fairly clean.

Christopher Johnson, Ph.D., a scientist at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center has found another use for lichens.  He has identified an enzyme in lichens that breaks down the proteins found in Chronic Wasting Disease, a deadly disease of deer and elk caused by “prions”.  Prions are infectious proteins that work similar to viruses and that are very difficult to kill.  It is thought that the enzyme will also break down scrapies, a prion disease of sheep, and that it could be useful in treating “mad cow disease.”

Scientists believe that lichens create an unusual range of enzymes and chemicals to aid in their survival.  These are just beginning to be studied and may yield many useful properties.  They are now conducting research to see if feeding lichens to animals with prion diseases will cure them.

Using diatomaceous earth in the garden safely

Many organic gardening articles recommend the use of diatomaceous earth as a non-toxic way to control insects, particularly soft bodied ones like caterpillars, and slugs.  Diatomaceous earth is actually tiny shells of sea creatures and the sharp edges are said to cut soft insect bodies opening them to infection and diseases.  You sprinkle the product around or on plants.  People also feed it to animals to control intestinal worms and give it to chickens to take dust baths in.  It’s also used in swimming pool filters.

While the product is a natural one there are some dangers to the gardener using diatomaceous earth.   If inhaled the dust from diatomaceous earth can cause a serious lung problem called silicosis. Purchase food grade diatomaceous earth as it is slightly less dusty.   If you already have lung problems do not use diatomaceous earth.  Wear a mask when applying the product. Wear gloves as it will seriously dry out your hands.  Be careful working where you have applied the product so as not to raise a dust.  You can apply the dust in water, most packages sold in garden stores will have directions as to mixing it and this lessens the chance you will inhale it.

Remember that diatomaceous earth will harm beneficial as well as harmful insects.  While some gardeners say that it is effective for them, many also say it does nothing.  I have tried it and found no great benefit.  Many researchers note that when it is moistened and mixes with soil it is mostly useless.

Go make a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information

Imprelis update for spring 2013
Posted on June 6, 2013 by Bert Cregg, Michigan State University Extension, Departments of Horticulture and Forestry

June 2013 marks the two-year anniversary of the first signs of problems associated with Imprelis, a turf herbicide released by DuPont in fall 2010, but first widely used in spring 2011. Shortly after lawn care operators, landscapers and golf course professionals began applying Imprelis in spring 2011, damage to adjacent trees quickly became apparent.

The active ingredient in Imprelis, aminocyclopyrachlor, is highly effective on many difficult to control turf weeds such as ground ivy since, unlike most common turf weed killers, the compound is actively taken up by roots. While this property helped Imprelis take out tough weeds, it also resulted in severe damage and death to trees, especially Norway spruce and eastern white pine trees.

Following initial reports of damage by university extension services and media, including the Detroit FreePress and New York Times, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a stop-sale order for Imprelis in July. After the product was pulled from the market, DuPont established a claims process for affected property owners and received over 30,000 damage claims. Total damage estimates range in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Although Imprelis was only applied for a very short window of time in fall 2010 and spring 2011, Michigan State University Extension continues to receive inquiries from homeowners and others concerned about possible Imprelis exposure and related issues. Here are some of the key outstanding issues.

Tree recovery

Predicting the ability of trees to recover from herbicide exposure is difficult even when dealing with well-known compounds: the amount and timing of exposure, tree condition, soil factors and weather before and after exposure all act and interact to determine the tree’s response. With Imprelis, this inexact equation was further complicated since there were no published studies available on the compound’s effect on trees. In many cases, Imprelis killed trees outright; in others, trees were so severely damaged they obviously needed to be removed. Developing a prognosis for trees with minor damage has been difficult and, in some instances, trees that did not show symptoms of damage in 2011 showed abnormal growth in 2012 and growth anomalies continue to appear.

For example, MSU Extension educator Beth Clawson received images from a homeowner this spring that showed club-like callus formation on terminal shoots of a pine exposed to Imprelis. The prospect of tree recovery was further complicated by extreme weather events in 2012. In the upper Midwest, where the greater number of Imprelis damage cases occurred, warm early spring weather in 2012 was followed by a series of frosts resulting in late frost damage to many trees. This was followed by a record-setting July heat wave and severe drought in much of the region, adding further stress to trees struggling to recover from Imprelis exposure. Although it is difficult to say with certainty, it seems reasonable to assume that weather extremes in 2012 prolonged the recovery time needed for many Imprelis-affected trees.

Soil and plant residual

Based on published information, Imprelis in soil has a half-life (time for concentration to decrease by one-half) of 35 to 100 days. If we assume the slowest decay rate (100 days), that means we are roughly seven half-lives out from most Imprelis applications two years ago. Therefore, current soil concentrations should be less than 1/100th the initial concentration. (For you math purists out there, the calculation is 1 divided by 2 to the 7th power.)

The Indiana Office of the State Chemist tested soil from Imprelis-treated sites in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and the concentrations have generally followed this decay. In 2013, they did not find detectable amounts of Imprelis in six out of 11 samples and in the other five, Imprelis was detectable but not quantifiable, indicating levels were extremely low.

While Imprelis levels in soil have largely dissipated, Imprelis in tree tissues appears to be breaking down much more slowly. Gail Ruhl, senior plant diagnostician at Purdue University, reports their group was able to find Imprelis residues from in leachate from container-grown tomato plants that were mulched with ground branches from Imprelis-affected trees. The tomato plants also showed signs of abnormal growth. This information is important as Imprelis-related tree removals continue. Waste material from Imprelis-affected trees should be burned or landfilled, but not mulched.

Settlement process
DuPont’s claims settlement process has been a source of frustration for many homeowners and others with trees that were damaged or killed. As one would expect in a process involving 30,000 claims in dozens of states, claims settlement has been complex and fraught with delays. Claims were settled based on the extent of damage and the size of the tree affected. Property owners received up to $7,000 for trees 40 feet or taller that were killed or damaged to the point that removal was required. Owners of trees that were damaged but not removed are eligible for a tree service package to restoration.
Dr. Cregg’s work is funded in part by MSU‘s AgBioResearch.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Kim's Weekly garden newsletter June 4, 2013




June 4, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter
From Kim Willis

These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners

Bristly Locust flowers
Is there anything prettier than the blue of the sky in June?  Maybe it’s the yellow roses spilling down among the purple iris and Dames Rocket or the frothy white of spirea or the pink weigela.  All of those things are blooming here, along with poppies, baptisia, peonies, and my huge bank of bristly locust with its pretty pink and lavender pea-like flowers the hummers are buzzing through.  I have a clematis beginning to bloom.  The little pink fleabane daisies are blooming in the fields and the drifting fluff from the cottonwoods is floating on the air.

I do love June, especially when the nights are cool, the days sunny but not too hot and the birds are singing.  I was a little upset when I had to cover my plants on the 2nd of June to protect them from frost.  We had light patchy frost around here, but even the things I didn’t cover seem to be making it.  Hopefully that’s the end of that nonsense. 

The barn cats loved the covering the plants experience, both this week and last.  All of those exciting tents to explore and mom was laying out cozy things to cuddle on. I was afraid the cats would do more damage than the frost.  They were really fascinated by the “tents” I erected over my newly planted dahlias for some reason.  I had already staked and tied them so the coverings stood up a little higher than most and swayed in the breeze.  I have a netting fence around that bed to keep them out but they were so fascinated by the tents they were trying to climb it.  I had to sit by with a hose to spray them for an hour or so before they got the message.

Painted Turtle
I was sitting by my pond for a bit yesterday and saw tadpoles along with clouds of tiny fish.  I still don’t know what type of fish we have in there- we never see the big ones but there are always hundreds of little ones in the spring.  We put a few bluegills, some koi and some goldfish in there at various times.  It’s a huge pond and the fishy inhabitants are a mystery still.  I ordered a long handled minnow net and I am hoping to snag some of fish and look at them closely.  See what retired people are up to?

I watched a huge painted turtle digging in the bank of my pond yesterday. Turtles are crossing the road now, I am seeing them everywhere.  They are looking for places to bury their eggs.  If you want to help one, help it go in the direction it was traveling, even if that seems away from water. They are looking for sandy, loose soil.  Turtles are another animal in which we are seeing a decline in numbers so give them a break if you can.

June almanac

This month’s full moon was known by Native Americans as the strawberry moon.  Other names for June’s full moon include rose and hot moon.  The moon is new on 8th, first quarter is the 16th, full on the 23rd, last quarter on the 30th.

The summer solstice, the longest day of the year is June 21.  This is a bittersweet day for me as it means the days will now be getting shorter.  The length of the day is 15 hours and 18 minutes on that day.  Starting the 23rd we lose about a minute a day until mid-July, then it jumps to 2 minutes a day until mid- August when it jumps to losing about 3 minutes a day.

Good days for planting above ground crops are the 19-20th and below ground crops the 27-28th.  The best time to harvest above ground crops is the 14-16th.  Better get to harvesting below ground crops today, as the best days are the 4-6th. ( Of course good gardeners also harvest when the crop is perfect for picking, regardless of the moon.) Prune to encourage growth on the 12-13th

In June we celebrate World Environmental Day on the 5th, Flag Day on the 14th, and Father’s Day on the 16th.  Its National Dairy Month, National Rose Month, National Men’s Health Month, National Cataract Awareness Month, and National Safety Month.  The birthstones are the pearl and moonstone and the flower of the month is of course, the rose.

Bringing the houseplants outside

Many houseplants benefit from a summer outside but you don’t have to empty the house if you don’t want to.  Make sure the nights are staying above 45 degrees, maybe warmer for some really delicate plants, and all danger of frost has passed before you put them outside. (Maybe that will be next week.) 

Always start houseplants in a shaded location outside, even if they were in a sunny window inside.  They will burn and wilt if you don’t.  Some plants can gradually be moved to a partly sunny or sunny location but many will do best outside in at least light shade.  I put my cacti, jades, aloe, lemon tree and lemon verbena in sun after a couple weeks but most of my houseplants stay under the shade of a cedar tree where they get some filtered, dappled sun part of the day.  You may have to look for the right spot for houseplants, sometimes a porch facing east or north will do.

Leave houseplants in their pots.  It is less traumatic for them when they are moved back inside in the fall.  You can partially bury the pots or mulch around them.  Group them together to make it easier to water them and remember that potted plants may need more water than those in the ground, so check often.   You can fertilize and re-pot the plants when you put them outside if you want to encourage growth.

Some houseplants can actually be incorporated into your landscape.  I bury the pots of my rex begonias and cane begonias in my shady border and use spider plants in containers.  My lemon tree goes in the front flower bed.   Many people use large tropical plants on patios and decks.

Plant tags

There is a controversy in gardening circles as to whether one should tag their plants in the garden with the variety name.  Some think tags detract from the garden, even if tucked down almost out of sight or if made out of fancy copper.  In a public educational garden such tags make a lot of sense but are they needed in a private garden?

Of course you are going to take the price tag off the plant- (actually I have seen people leave them in case the plant dies and they have to return it, that’s tacky,) but many of us who have poor memories like to have the tag there to remind us what the plant is when someone asks “What’s the name of that one?”  And you should remove any tags actually attached to the plant, because they will eventually damage the plant by girdling the stem or branch.  Place them near the plant.

One solution is to record the plant location and name in a binder, some even paste the tag the plant comes with in a binder.  You could also add a picture. There are computer record keeping programs for gardeners that help you do this too.  But when strolling the garden with a visitor how often will you have that binder with you ?  So those of us whose memories are not that great leave the plant tags.  Plant tags on perennials may also alert you that the newly emerging foliage is not a weed or that there is something planted underground you may not want to disturb in early spring when you are looking for a spot to plug in the new plants you bought.

You’ll see plant tags in my garden. I use a variety of ways to keep the tag with the plant.  On my tomatoes and other veggie plants I use a hole punch to make a hole in the tag and then attach it with a twist tie to the tomato cage or a stake.  I have put tags on fences or trellis behind plants such as grapes.  On some perennial plants I just use the plastic plant tag that came with the plant and just bury it by the plant so only a small amount of the top is visible.  It can be pulled out if needed to check the name. 

Plastic window blinds cut into proper size pieces, popsicle sticks, plastic spoons or knives all can be written on with a marker and put near the plant if you don’t have a printed tag.  I use a taller piece of white window blind on plants where I might be more likely to damage them, such as on my hardy hibiscus, because they emerge late.
Some creative people paint stones with plant names or tiny clay flower pots to place by plants.  Others make copper, brass or steel name tags.  Imaginative people can find hundreds of ways to mark their plants.

As a backup I also record the name and location of any new perennial plant in a notebook.  I keep the names of some veggie or annual flowers too, and record whether I liked them or not at the end of the year.  Having that backup helps when a grandchild presents you with a handful of tags collected from the garden!

Radish recipes

I am harvesting tiny radishes from some seed I received as a bonus in a seed order.  Maybe you are harvesting radishes too, and wondering what you can do with them other than making little radish flowers for a veggie tray or slicing them into a salad.  Radishes served with butter and sea salt is a popular new dish in fancy restaurants, and comes to us from old French recipes.  To make fancy cuisine with the little round radishes wash and trim them, then make those cute little radish “roses”.  Put each radish in a small cup like a mini muffin cup, then pour melted butter over the radish and sprinkle with sea salt and let cool before eating.  Honey butter works well with this too.

The French take a crusty piece of French bread, spread it with butter and add thinly sliced radishes, then sprinkle it with sea salt or coarse kosher salt.  This is often served at picnics.  You can use any kind of radishes or bread.  This was a favorite of my grandfather, who planted radishes very early every year in a cold frame so he could have radish sandwiches.
You can also slice radishes of any kind very thinly; add some thinly sliced green onion and fry them in a small amount of hot bacon drippings or if you are a vegetarian in olive oil.  This is a good low fat sub for fried potatoes. 

If you don’t have radishes growing and these recipes interest you, plant radish seeds and be harvesting radishes in 4-6 weeks. Radishes come in many types and colors.   The ones I am growing are small round purple ones. Some have a “hotter” flavor than others.  Try a variety of types to see what you like, you can get seed packets with a mixture of varieties. If you have trouble with worms getting into the radishes grow them in containers using potting medium, not garden soil.  Harvest radishes while the roots are still small, as they get bigger they get woody. You can also buy radishes at the farmers market.

More benefits of Marijuana

Marijuana has been used medicinally to help such things as chronic pain, nausea, insomnia, glaucoma pressure, and loss of appetite.  But Prof. Yosef Sarne (of Tel Aviv University's Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine) has found another use for a chemical found in marijuana, THC.  He found that THC protects the brain from damage from loss of oxygen, whether it is used preventatively or given shortly after an adverse event.

Professor Sarne’s research found that a very low dose of THC, 1,000 times less than the amount of THC found in a typical joint, could protect mental functioning when given 3-7 days before a brain injury- (such as a planned surgery that might result in low blood flow to the brain) or 1-3 days after a traumatic event such as a seizure, stroke, or chemical poisoning. 

The researchers found that THC stimulates cell signaling and new neurological cell growth, helping to quickly repair brain damage.  More research and clinical trials need to be done but it’s being suggested that THC might be a good treatment for those with chronic seizures, heart problems that involve low blood flow, and other medical conditions that involve mental functioning.  So you tokers out there – toke on.  This is another good reason to legalize marijuana. If you get the munchies try a radish sandwich!

Watch out for the turtles,
Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information
Michigan gardeners shouldn't panic over Giant Hogweed
By Kim Willis, Examiner, June 2012

I wrote this article last June, but it is just as applicable this year.  Every summer the media tries to get people excited over this noxious plant. I’m seeing stories all over.  There’s a link to this article if you are interested in the plant at the bottom.

Don’t panic over the recent news stories about Giant Hogweed. Giant Hogweed is a dangerous plant that has occasionally been found in Michigan but it has not suddenly become more prevalent. Your chances of running into Heracleum mantegazzianum are very small. Read more at:

Something a little different.

After Oklahoma Tornado, USDA Assists in Pet Rescues

Posted by Dwight Cunningham, Public Affairs Specialist, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, on May 31, 2013 at 10:05 AM

“His name is Zeke,” read the Facebook posting after the May tornado that devastated Moore, Okla. “He’s a male boxer, almost 6 months old. Wearing green collar. Last seen near NW 63rd and Portland. He is fawn, black mask with white marking on face, chest and paws. We miss him very much. Please return.”
There are a lot fewer missing or homeless “Zekes” today due to the efforts of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) and partners who are working to reunite lost pets with their heart-stricken owners.

The May 20 tornado that swept through Moore displaced many animals in the area.  ODAFF worked with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) within an Incident Command structure to triage animals and place them in shelters so that they could be reunited with their owners.  Home Depot allowed ODAFF to set up the triage facility at their location, and animals were then moved to several shelters in the area that were housing pets until they could be reunited with their owners.
Just days after the disaster, hundreds of dogs and cats have been reunited with their owners, state officials said.

As recovery efforts continue, ODAFF is working collaboratively with APHIS to provide support for pet and livestock owners. While much of the heavy lifting is being done by state and local staff and volunteers, APHIS’ primary focus has been on response coordination and planning, pet shelter assessment, and providing technical assistance for animal carcass removal.

For example, hours after the storm ODAFF established the Home Depot pet triage center, operated by ODAFF veterinarians and staff as well as volunteer veterinarians. APHIS assisted with scheduling volunteer veterinarians and veterinary technicians to staff these shelters, and to support record-keeping efforts where requested. APHIS also provided assistance in preparing a site physical safety analysis at the shelters and provided expertise and recommendations to address temperature and other animal welfare concerns.

“The cooperative efforts of USDA-APHIS in conjunction with ODAFF staff and area shelters has resulted in many reunifications of displaced pets with their owners,” said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Jim Reese. “It has taken the hard work of federal and state staff as well as many volunteers to assist with our response.  We will continue to work cooperatively with all those involved to reunite animals with their owners.”

In all, more than a dozen APHIS employees were deployed to the rescue/recovery/reunification effort as part of the agency’s emergency response mission.

Meanwhile, an ODAFF spokesman said efforts are ongoing to use social media and other avenues to reunite owners with pets, including Zeke.
Bristly Locust hedge in background
To learn more about efforts to assist pets and their owners in Oklahoma click here. http://www.oda.state.ok.us/tornado-relief.htm