June 18, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

From Kim Willis

http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-detroit/kimberley-willis

http://www.examiner.com/country-living-in-detroit/kimberley-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. 

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-make-strawberry-jam-and-freeze-strawberries

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-make-easy-no-cook-strawberry-freezer-jam

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-make-strawberry-jam-without-added-sugar

http://www.examiner.com/article/strawberry-shortcake-waffles-simply-delicious

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