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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November 18, 2014 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.

Hi Gardeners
Ligularia seedheads in November
Winter is making a statement todayIts bitter cold, but we just had a little dusting of snow. There may be more tonight I guess.  In a few days however, we are supposed to be back in the 40’s, I can’t wait.  But it’s supposed to rain and there’s nothing more dismal than a cold November rain.  I’m sure glad I finally got those back ordered muscari bulbs planted last week.

Our pond is completely frozen over and the ducks have come back to the barn.  The bird feeders have been swarming with birds.  There seems to be an abundance of purple house finches this year. The squirrels are fighting and rolling nuts around in our attic, out of the cold.

I succumbed to plant pity last week and brought in the potted mum that was blooming on my deck.  The flowers were limp and brown from cold.  I deadheaded the brown blooms and noticed lots of tiny buds still intact.  So I watered the plant and set it in the porch window inside.  It perked right up and some flowers have already popped out.  I am wondering how long I can keep it blooming. My frozen porch pumpkins went into the chicken coops, where the birds devoured them. 



Making Houseplants Interesting

When I was managing the garden shop at Kmart in the 70’s houseplants were hugely popular and everyone wanted them.  We had a 30 foot “island” aisle with three levels of plants.  Overhead was a large rack where dozens of hanging baskets dangled.   Large plants filled display ends throughout the store.  There were 3 aisles of pots, potting soil and macramé hangers.
Diplodia

We had weekly plant deliveries, some straight from southern greenhouses and little snakes and frogs often accompanied them.  It took us an hour every morning to water the plants.  But houseplants were a money maker, with high mark-ups so how the display looked mattered and we pinched, tidied and watered every day.  We went through pallets of potting soil every week.  I had always had houseplants, even as a young girl but now my house bulged with my “finds” on the job.

My house today has plants in every window.  I rarely leave those tender perennials most people grow as annuals outside to perish in the cold. I take apart containers at summers end to salvage what I can.  I still look over today’s much more restrained houseplant selections in stores for new finds.   I am constantly shifting and re-arranging plants to make room for just one more.

Do you have houseplants?  Gardeners should never be without them.  In our area of the country there’s not much gardening to do from November to April, unless you consider looking at seed catalogs gardening.  But you don’t have to live without plants.  Even if you keep your home cool, you don’t have sunny windows or forget to water them sometimes you can find houseplants to suit the conditions.

Houseplants have a lot to offer besides the fun of growing them.  They clean the air of noxious fumes and floating particles.  They raise the humidity in the home in winter.  They produce oxygen.  Studies have shown that rooms with plants feel more inviting to people, and have a calming effect.  Sick people report less pain in rooms with plants and recover faster.  Homes that are for sale sell better when attractive plants are added to the rooms.

Echeveria Topsy Turvy
If you think houseplants are boring spider plants, (I personally like spider plants), scrawny ivies and bare stemmed rubber trees you haven’t explored the houseplant possibilities quite enough.  Do you long for certain conifers that aren’t hardy in your planting zone?  Many small and slow growing evergreens can actually become great houseplants in the winter and good patio plants in the summer.  Evergreen perennials such as tender lavenders, rosemary, sweet bay, lemon verbena, small thymes, lantana, mints, small tiarellas and heucheras, violas and violets, citrus trees and figs can find places in the home in winter.

Even lovers of ornamental grasses can grow some as houseplants.  Small grasses like ‘Bunny ‘ grasses, and blue fescue, carex, sedges and clumps of bamboo will thrive in a sunny window.  Many garden sedums, even hens and chicks will do well inside.  And there is a wealth of exotic succulents on the market and many make excellent houseplants.

Pond enthusiasts can also garden indoors.  Set up containers with tropical water lilies, water hyacinths, calla lilies, and other interesting water plants.  There are beautiful ferns other than the well-known Boston fern that do well indoors.  There are ivies and vines, including small bougainvillea’s, inexpensive orchids, beautiful gingers, sweet scented jasmines, passionflowers, mandevillas, cane type begonias, rex begonias, exotic cacti and stone plants, streptocarpus,
Easy to grow moth orchid
carnivorous beauties and so many more unusual and exciting plants. 

And of course there are all the old standby houseplants, parlor palms, weeping figs, African violets, jade plants, philodendrons, Norfolk Pines, prayer plants, pothos, and so on, which with proper care, can look quite stunning too.

When warm weather comes many houseplants can take a vacation outside, they can become part of planters and garden beds, and provide interest on porches and patios.  This will help you have more time to care for the outside gardens.

If this has perked your interest a bit in houseplants or you already know and love many houseplants then you may want to read the book below.

Book review-The Unexpected Houseplant –220 extraordinary choices for every spot in your home by Tovah Martin- 2012 ($3.03 amazon/kindle e-book until the end of the month)

This is a delightful read, not just a care primer for houseplants.  The author talks about her love for houseplants and all plants, her experiences with them, her charming older home and even her cat.  Ms. Martin has written numerous popular garden books and is a frequent article writer for popular garden magazines.

You may not find your houseplant in this book, many of the plants Martin describes are the unusual and eclectic houseplants, some of which I mentioned above.  The more common houseplants are left to other authors to worry over.  But when she’s through discussing her choices, you’ll want to run out and try to find some of them. 

Staghorn fern.
She talks about the plant’s needs, how to display them, what type of container to grow them in, and many other things woven into a narrative story beginning from the best fall houseplants through summer and permanent houseplant residents.  Martin is an organic grower, so there are no plants discussed that require intensive pest control, although she lists what pests and problems a plant may have.  There is a summary of care requirements at the end of each section. And there’s a section devoted to houseplants that Martin doesn’t recommend.

This may not be the book for you if you are looking for basic houseplant care.  But if you are looking for houseplant inspiration this is it. When you get done reading this book you’ll know there is no excuse not to have houseplants.  I bought the kindle version; it’s on sale now for $3.03 until the end of the month.  Of course this version only has black and white photos.  The hard bound version has beautiful color photos but it will set you back a bit more money.  This book would make an excellent Christmas present for any gardener.

Thousand Cankers disease of black walnuts

I have a love-hate relationship with black walnut trees.  On one hand they provide shade, nice lumber and food for wildlife.  On the other hand they are messy, invasive, and their roots discourage many plants from growing near them.  But I certainly do not want them to go the way the ash trees did, we simply cannot afford to lose another common forest and yard tree.

Thousand Cankers disease (Geosmithia morbidai) is a fungal disease that is actually native to this continent.  So is the tiny beetle that carries it, the Walnut Twig beetle,( Pityophthorus juglandis,).  Somehow, in the last decade or so, the disease that once was only a minor problem to walnut trees, evolved to become a deadly killer.  So far researchers have not found a way to control the fungus or the beetle.

Thousand Cankers disease is now known to be in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington,  where its rapidly killing trees.  Michigan, as well as Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wyoming and Montana, have put quarantines in effect that ban walnut trees or walnut wood from entering the state.

Since the disease is now on the west coast, east coast and mid-south there’s little doubt it will continue to spread.  One has only to look at the Emerald Ash Borer and how it has spread.  Emerald Ash borers kill trees directly by feeding on the trees phloem.  The tiny Walnut Twig beetle larvae wouldn’t kill the tree- it’s the fungal disease that they carry that does that.  And Walnut twig beetles are spread the same way Emerald Ash Borers are spread, in firewood, lumber and on nursery stock.  Both the larvae and beetle can overwinter.

The Walnut Twig beetle is very tiny, about the size of an i in this sentence and reddish brown.  The larvae are also small, white and C shaped.  They feed just below the bark in small circular or roughly oblong patches.  As they feed they disperse the fungal disease spores, which infect the wounded area and turn the patch grayish black. If the bark is peeled off an infected area the circular dark patches can be seen.  The fungus clogs the phloem and xylem tubes that transport food and water in the tree. 

Symptoms of tree decline/death are the same as for Emerald Ash Borer infection.  The tree yellows and wilts, branches die and the canopy thins, water shoots appear at the tree base, eventually the whole tree dies.  You can see pictures and read more here: http://www.thousandcankers.com/

This disease infects all kinds of walnuts, including butternuts.  English walnuts seem to have some resistance to the disease however.   There is no treatment suggested at this time.  The disease doesn’t move through the trees cellular system but each patch of beetle larvae feeding and infecting the tree with the fungus destroys more of the trees ability to move water and food through the tree.  Insecticides for the beetles have been tried but research has shown little improvement in the course of the disease from this.

The best offense at this point is to not move walnut wood and to not buy walnuts or transplant walnuts from other states.  If you think you have Thousand Cankers disease on a walnut near you call the MDARD Customer Service Center (800) 292-3939 or email: DNR-Forestry@michigan.gov  or email: MDA-Info@michigan.gov

Can Pot help cure brain tumors?

New research done at St George University, London and published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics journal found that cannabinoids (THC and CBD), when given with radiation treatment significantly improved the shrinkage of brain tumors in animals over those just given radiation treatments.  Some tumors disappeared completely.  Human trials are going to begin soon.  Brain tumors are very hard to treat in humans and the treatments with marijuana compounds are very promising with few side effects attributed to the cannabinoids.


Deep Fried Green Beans

I know they aren’t being grown locally now but if you are craving something different that’s low calorie, high in vitamins and low carb to boot try some deep fried green beans.  I don’t normally like green beans nor does my husband but we both liked these.  I hear they are the trend at fancy restaurants but they are easy to fix.

Start with about a half pound of clean, dry fresh green beans with the ends removed.  Beat an egg white in a good sized bowl, add the beans and toss them until they are coated.  Next add a couple tablespoons of powdered parmesan cheese with rosemary and garlic, a tablespoon of coconut or almond flour, ( or use unbleached wheat flour)  a little onion powder, some black pepper and seasoned salt to taste.  Toss the beans in the mixture until they are well coated and seasonings distributed.

Heat some healthy oil (not soybean, corn or canola, these aren’t good for you!) or some lard to about 350 degrees in a deep pan or fryer.  Add the beans in small batches and stir a bit to separate them. Don’t crowd them in the pan.  Fry until the outside is golden and crispy, ( about like potato fries) remove and drain on paper towels.  Eat while warm- yummy.

Forcing bulbs

It may be a little late to find the bulbs but it’s not too late to plant bulbs for indoor forcing if you find some on sale in the garden shops or you have some bulbs you didn’t get in the ground this fall.  Paper white narcissus, a yellow narcissus known as Sol D’Or and some hyacinths are probably still available for forcing.  Paper whites and the yellow equivalent don’t need a cold period to bloom. Some catalogs may also sell pre-chilled bulbs for late fall and winter potting.

Any kind of spring blooming bulb can be forced, from tiny crocus and snowdrops to stately tulips and alliums. Fragrant  species are very nice to include if you can.  If you are potting the bulbs in November you won’t get flowers until February and March, but that will still be earlier than they bloom outside for most bulbs and it will bring a burst of spring inside just when you need it most.  If you found pre-chilled bulbs for sale you may get flowers earlier.

What to plant them in

Tulip bulbs forced in water.
 Credit:whatcomflowers.net
Paper white and other narcissus and some hyacinths can be forced in water.  You use cute little vases with a constricted middle designed for this purpose or you fill a container with rocks, glass beads or marbles, put water in the bottom inch or two and partially bury the bulbs in the rocks or other substances. You want just the base of the bulb in water, submerged bulbs will rot.  You can start paper whites just about any time in the fall and winter and expect blooms in about 6 weeks.

Most bulbs, however, do best in potting medium.  This is a soilless mix you buy rather than using garden soil. Since you’ll need to move the pots around and good drainage is a must, a good lightweight potting mix is essential.  Shallow pots are best but they should be deep enough so the bulbs can be lightly covered with the potting medium and still have at least 2 inches of medium below them.  The containers should have good drainage. 

Part of the beauty of spring bulbs indoors can be the pot they are in so you may want to choose attractive containers, maybe in colors that will complement the flowers that will bloom in the pot.  Plastic hanging baskets are good bulb planters and could be painted in pretty colors.  Clay pots can also be painted with acrylic craft paints.  Even cheap plastic mixing bowls from the dollar store can work for bulbs.  You can add drainage holes by heating a fork to red hot on your stove and then pushing it through the bottom of the bowl in several places.

The planting and chilling process.

Except for paper whites and a few designated forcing hyacinths, or bulbs that have been pre-chilled, the bulbs you plant for inside bloom must go through a chilling period before they will flower.  Here’s the planting and chilling process.

Moisten the potting medium, add some to the container, and arrange the bulbs on top.  Fill the container so that the bulbs can be just barely covered with planting medium and still leave an inch or so of space from the top of the medium to the pot edge so that you can water the pot without a mess.

To make the prettiest showing put bulbs close together.  Bulbs with large foliage like tulips need a little more room in the pot but bulbs with narrow foliage like crocus can be planted with only a bit of a gap between them.  Plant bulbs with the pointed end up.  Arrange any tulip bulbs so that the flatter side of the bulb faces toward the pot wall.  The leaves will then droop over the pot sides and the blooms will be concentrated in the center of the pot.

Once you have arranged the bulbs fill up the pot with moistened potting medium. Remember to leave space below the pot rim for water.

Some people recommend pots of various bulb species or layering small early bulbs over larger later bulbs.  In my experience these don’t work as well as keeping species separate.  Mixing the colors of course is fine.  Pots of blue and white muscari or peach and yellow tulips for example are quite wonderful.  You can always exchange pots that have finished blooming with ones that are just beginning.

Once pots are planted they need their chilling period. If they don’t get this flowers won’t form. The ideal chilling temperatures are between 30-40 degrees F.  You can achieve this by putting the pots in an unheated garage or chilly basement or in a refrigerator.  If you are going to use the frig don’t store fruit in it since the ethylene they give off can disrupt flower formation.  A cooler or insulated box on the patio or deck might work. You can stack the pots. One person I know uses a window well for the basement window and covers it with a board.  She brings the pots in through the window.  Some people dig a trench outside, put the pots in it and cover them with straw but you may have a hard time retrieving the pots in January. 

You are trying to prevent the potted bulbs from getting too cold too.  Bulbs planted in the ground are somewhat insulated because they are planted deeper and have more soil around them.  When bulbs in pots are subjected to periods of time below 25 degrees they often die.

Pots need to be kept barely moist while chilling.  Check your pots every other week and add a little barely warm water if they seem very dry. When a pot is too dry it feels very light and the potting medium may draw away from the pot sides. If the soil seems soggy, check to see if the drainage is obstructed and don’t water.  Very wet pots cause the bulbs to rot.

Different plant species require different cooling times to form flowers.  Crocus and grape hyacinths require about 9 weeks of chilling, snowdrops require 15 weeks, species tulips that bloom really early in the garden require about 10 weeks, other tulips require 12-16 weeks.  The later they bloom outside the more chilling weeks they require.  Daffodils and narcissus need about 12 weeks.  Hyacinths need 12-15 weeks. Iris reticulate and alliums may need 15 weeks.

When the chilling period is over wake the plants gently by moving them to a cool area of 50-60 degrees, in indirect light.  Water the pots with warm water.  After a week move them to a sunny spot above 60 degrees. Keep the pots moist but not soggy.  Most will be sprouting by then and will bloom in 2-3 weeks.

If you want to prolong bloom or have a specific time you want bulbs to bloom you can safely leave bulbs to chill longer.  If you have lots of chilled pots stagger the times you wake up the plants.

What to do after bloom

Many people discard bulbs after they bloom and some bulbs won’t do well no matter what you do after they have been forced anyway.  But if you can’t stand to discard the bulbs some will survive with care.  It doesn’t hurt to try.

After blooms have died cut the whole bloom stalk off.  Keep the pot with the foliage in a brightly lit spot, give it some liquid fertilizer or a sprinkle of slow release granular, but don’t overdo the fertilizer.  Keep the pot moist.  As soon as the ground thaws the bulbs can be planted outside, the sooner the better.  Choose a spot that’s proper for the bulb species as far as light and soil conditions. They won’t bloom again this year of course, but with luck you may get blooms the following spring.

Paper whites, the golden narcissus used for forcing and hyacinths forced in water won’t do well outside and should just be thrown out.  Don’t try to save bulbs for forcing again in their pots.  This almost never works.

Spring bulbs blooming in the window sill make a snowy February or March day bearable.  And forcing bulbs is a great winter project for young gardeners.  If you have spring blooming bulbs consider forcing some this winter.

Bundle up, put on the soup pot and grab some coco
Kim Willis
 “He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero

More Information

Indian pipes: Oddities of the plant world

Indian pipes are a plant lacking chlorophyll that hitchhike with native Michigan trees like oaks.
Posted on November 14, 2014 by Rebecca Finneran, Michigan State University Extension

When is a mushroom not a mushroom? The answer is when it is a “ghost plant.” The Michigan State University Extension lawn and garden hotline (1-888-678-3464) receives questions about many gardening subjects. Some of the oddest questions are stimulated by a quiet walk in the woods or park where people encounter plants of the weirdest kind.
Indian or Ghost Pipes.  Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

One of the things that define a plant is that it can make its own food. The green pigment in the plant parts, primarily leaves, contains a substance known as chlorophyll that appears green. Chlorophyll contained in organelles known as “plastids” in the leaf is synonymous with life on earth – the chemical equation for photosynthesis is the source (byproduct) of the oxygen we breathe.

So when you come upon an odd collection of white-stemmed “plants,” one might ask is it really a plant, or am I in OZ? The answer may surprise you. Commonly known as Indian pipes, ghost plant and oddly enough, corpse plant, Monotropa uniflora are kind of an anomaly in the plant kingdom. Completely lacking chlorophyll, this plant makes life happen by “networking” with fungi relatives known as mycorrhizae and the roots of plants (trees) that are conducting photosynthesis. In short, these plants optimize their root relationship with the fungi that are uniquely connected to and fed by the green plant. Brilliant!

The short-in-stature plant features a single bloom on a single stem that has tiny leaves that are all white. Aptly named, M. uniflora is a relative of the common blueberry (Ericacea family), which has a very similar shaped bloom. It can actually grow in the darkest area of a woodlot since it needs no sunlight to survive. I usually find this plant growing in the root zone of oak woodlots, but it is also commonly found under maples.

You might think this is sort of cheating the system, but some sources claim that the hijacking of nutrients through a third party is not an offence to the tree that is busy making the food. Most of the literature cites that the trees don’t even notice since the mycorrhizae fungi are actually beneficial to them. It’s like the distant third cousins living in the apartment next door who drive a Ferrari and look really cool, but don’t ask for much. Huh – wish I could do that!
As it turns out, this is only one of about 3,000 non-photosynthetic plants in the world. Who would have thought? So, on your next walk through the woodlot, watch for this strange adaptation of nature and just enjoy it!


This article was published by Michigan State University Extension.

Events, classes and other offerings
Please let me know if there is any event or class that you would like to share with other gardeners.  These events are primarily in Michigan but if you are a reader from outside of Michigan and want to post an event I’ll be glad to do it.
Master Gardeners if you belong to an association that approves your hours please check with that association before assuming a class or work day will count as credit.
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share?  Post them here by emailing me.

I have several free roosters, bantam and full sized if anyone is interested.  Also free 5 male Muscovy ducks, young, mostly black feathered.    Excellent eating, less greasy than other duck- taste like beef.  Or great for decorating your pond.     Kimwillis151@gmail.com

A Note to readers- Garden classes will be less frequent during the next few months.

MSU offered a variety of on line seminars for those who were interested in beginning farming topics of various types.  Some of those are now available free to watch at the address below.  Gardeners may be interested in topics like organic pest controlGet the list of topics and links here.

Michigan Great Lakes Expo December 9-11, 2014- Devos Place Conference Center/ Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, Michigan

This annual conference is for fruit and vegetable growers and the greenhouse industry but it is open to anyone who wishes to attend and there are numerous educational classes, several bus tours, lots of educational booths and more than 400 vendors.  Many home gardeners enjoy attending as well as those contemplating or operating a farm market, greenhouse or nursery business.

Pre-registering for the event by Nov. 20 will save you about $20 per person.  It’s $75 for the 3 day admission with several discounts also being available for spouses, employees, members of certain groups etc.  It will be $95 if you pay at the door.  Children under 18 are free.  There is also a one day admission for Thursday, Dec 11 of $40.  Admission includes all educational sessions and exhibits but does not include bus tours and the various luncheons and dinners. 

You can get the brochure describing the educational events and tours plus more information and register on line at this link: http://www.glexpo.com/images/2014/GL_Expo_Brochure.pdf
You can also call 734-677-0503 for more information.



Skeleton Trees, Sunday, November 30, 2:00 pm,  Seven Ponds Nature Center 3854 Crawford Rd, Dryden, Phone:(810) 796-3200

Now that most of the trees are bare let’s see if we can figure out which tree is which during this nature walk. $3 admission for non-members.



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


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