December
29, 2015, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter
© Kim Willis
Hi Gardeners
 |
| Meet Gizmo, my new fur baby. |
Well we dodged the bullet here it seems.
We got about 2 inches of icy snow and some high winds but we kept our
power over night. There was freezing rain at one point. I had a dickens of a time getting the back door
open this morning because the wind from the east had piled the snow up against
the door where it froze. Hot water
poured under the door from inside finally did the trick. It was icy and one had to walk carefully but
I didn’t notice any major tree damage. I
know some of you may have had worse conditions.
It seems we are finally going to get winter weather. But the rest of the week doesn’t look too
bad. No big snow storms on the horizon and
the cold isn’t too bad. I really
appreciate my plants which continue to bloom inside. All the garden catalogs are arriving and it’s
fun to see what’s new and start making lists and orders in my mind for next
seasons gardens.
I got a new fur baby for Christmas.
Gizmo is a Shih Tzu- Pom mix puppy who is very smart and who has a ton
of energy. I haven’t had a puppy here in
a while and I have been going around “puppy proofing” the house. He is a hoarder who drags anything he finds
to his bed. That includes taking the
cloths off the swifter mop as I try to mop and pulling pieces off the tree
skirt and pages out of a Readers Digest.
I have had to examine my plants with an eagle eye and move some of the poisonous
ones well out of his reach, which fortunately isn’t too great since he’s a bit
of a thing.
I hope all of you had a great Christmas- holiday time and are ready for a
new year of gardening. Remember the best
garden is always the one you’ll have next year.
Why eating more vegetables may be bad for the planet
The current USDA diet recommendations want us to eat
more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and dairy and less meat, sugar and fat.
There is some debate whether all of those dietary recommendations are actually
better for you but one thing that recent research has discovered is that
following those recommendations would actually be more harmful to the
environment.
Carnegie Mellon University has just published the
results of research they did on the American diet. This research focused on the environmental
consequences of producing various common foods.
They factored in water use, land use, pollution and damage to the soil
and greenhouse emissions caused by growing, harvesting, transporting and
processing foods and the percentage wasted of various food products to
determine the environmental damage consuming that food caused.
The big surprise was that most of the healthy foods
we are urged to eat more of cause more environmental damage than foods like
bacon. In fact while beef was at the top
of the list as far as environmental damage was concerned most other meats, such
as pork, poultry, lamb, and eggs were much farther down the list than
vegetables, fruits and grain products. In fact
the environmental cost of producing lettuce is 3 times greater than producing
bacon.
Shellfish and regular fish, another recommendation
that we eat more of – are also worse for the environment than most other
protein sources. Dairy products were not
so great either. But some of the foods with the highest cost to the environment
include lettuce, all other greens, eggplant, celery, peppers, tomatoes, grains,
apples, oranges, strawberries, and many other vegetables and fruits. Growing and consuming these foods caused more
damage to the environment than consuming pork, chicken or eggs.
Different diet change scenarios were examined and the
researchers concluded that if we just reduced the calories of the most typical
American, high meat diet we would be far better off than if everyone adopted a
vegetarian diet. The amount of calories we consume is much more than we need
for a healthy diet. Just eating less of
what we now eat would help. But if everyone adopted a vegetarian diet
greenhouse emissions would soar and climate damage would accelerate.
One of the reasons beef and dairy products cause
environmental harm is the way the animals are housed and fed. If all cattle went on pasture and grain in
their diets was cut the environmental cost of eating beef and consuming dairy
products would be much less. In fact
converting land now devoted to growing vegetables and grains to grazing land
would reduce greenhouse emissions and help the environment. Using land for managed
grazing is probably the least harmful way to produce food.
Sugar and fats and oils produced from vegetable
sources are extremely damaging to the environment. That’s because the human diet doesn’t really
need non-animal sources of fat nor sugar.
And these foods are grown and produced in ways that very damaging to the
environment. We need to use less of them
and devote less land to growing them.
And if we really want to have more fruits and
vegetables in our diets we need to examine how we produce them. If they were grown locally and organically
their impact on the environment would be greatly lessened. If you are a
vegetarian eating bananas and oatmeal, big salads of greens, bread, roasted eggplant
and peanut butter on celery you are doing more harm to the environment than the
person who had bacon and eggs for breakfast and chicken nuggets for dinner.
Another way to eat fruits and vegetables without
guilt is to waste less of them. Food
produced in environmentally destructive ways and then wasted is a double
whammy. And fruits and vegetables are
wasted in far greater quantities than meat products. Americans are used to going into a grocery
store with great quantities of out of season, non-local produce, (of which a
lot has already been discarded on its trip from field to you), and purchasing
big quantities of such produce. They
then let most of it sit until it spoils and then discard it. Think about how
many times you threw out slimy lettuce or rotting apples.
Examine your shopping habits. Buy only what you know
you will eat before it spoils. Choose local, in season produce over produce
that has been shipped from far away. Better
yet grow your own and share your excess. If we grow fewer fruits and vegetables
then the environment will be healthier.
The answer to feeding the world and reducing the effects
of climate change is not by forcing everyone to adopt a vegetarian diet. Meat provides more calories and nutritional
value per gram than vegetables and grain.
It is better to continue to enjoy meat in the diet and actually reduce
the production of vegetables, fruit and grain.
Reference: Michelle S. Tom, Paul S. Fischbeck, Chris T.
Hendrickson. Energy use, blue water footprint, and greenhouse gas emissions for
current food consumption patterns and dietary recommendations in the US.
Environment Systems and Decisions, 2015; DOI: 10.1007/s10669-015-9577-y
Amaryllis
Did you get an amaryllis bulb for Christmas? They are popular gifts for people who like
gardening or houseplants. The bulbs you
get are primed and ready to sprout and bloom with just a little care. You can
discard them after blooming is finished. But if you give them some attention
after they bloom you can successfully get them to bloom again for many years. Well
cared for bulbs will get larger every year and produce even more flowers. And
if no one gave you an amaryllis this winter you may want to buy your own.
Amaryllis (Hippeastrum hybrida) sold as flowering
houseplants are actually hybrids of several species of the Hippeastrum family
and come in a variety of bloom colors, petal shapes and plant sizes. The big trumpet shaped red or red and white
blooms of the most commonly sold gift amaryllis are just the tip of the
iceberg. There are flower colors from
white to dark crimson,orange, yellows and lavenders. There are so many varieties that many people
collect amaryllis.
Amaryllis flowers are produced on a green, hollow
flower stalk with clusters of 2 or more buds.
The stalks range from about 12 inches high in miniature varieties to 2
feet tall in large varieties. Large
mature bulbs may put out several stalks at once. The flowers generally consist of a layer of 3
overlapping petals and then a second layer of 3 petals. There are some
varieties that have narrow, separated petals, (Cybister amaryllis) with
star-like blooms. There are also double flowered varieties.
Amaryllis flowers can be solid colored or streaked or
with contrasting centers. Size of
flowers ranges from about 2 inches across in miniature varieties to about 8
inches across in large ones. The flowers
usually face outwards.
Amaryllis leaves are long and strap like. They may appear with the flower stalk or
after. There are usually 4 leaves per
bloom stalk. When the bulb goes dormant,
(more about that later), the leaves will turn yellow and fall off.
Amaryllis bulbs are oval with an elongated top,
called the neck. Bulb size ranges 6 to 13 inches or so in circumference. The bigger the bulb the more flower stalks it
produces, although miniature and star flowered varieties have naturally smaller
bulbs. The bulbs are covered with a
papery covering like many other bulbs. Over years of good care the bulbs get
larger and produce more bulbs, which can be separated for new plants.
Some common varieties
These are just a few of the hundreds of amaryllis
varieties. There are many nurseries on
line and in catalogs offering bulbs for sale.
These will be dormant bulbs primed to bloom for you in a short time and
are most often available in fall and winter.
Large single flowered varieties include ‘Ice Queen’, purest white, ‘Royal Velvet’ which is deep crimson, ‘Carmen’, rich red with an iridescent
glow, ‘Hercules’, which is rosy pink,
‘Orange Sovereign’, a deep orange, ‘Rilona’, a peachy orange, ‘Minerva’, red and white, ‘Rebecca’, a rosy pink with white stripes
that is said to be fragrant, ‘Estella’,
a lavender pink with white stripe and light fragrance, ‘Lemon Star’, a pale yellow, ‘Daphne’,
a cranberry red dappled with white, ‘Apricot
Parfait’, a pale apricot with white edges
Double flowered varieties include white or red
Peacock, ‘Lady Jane’, which is a orangey
streaked color, ‘Dancing Queen’ which
is red and white, ‘Arctic Nymph’,
which is a stocky short plant with beautiful white flowers, ‘Sweet
Nymph’, which is rose pink with dark pink streaks and a
pale pink edge and ‘Aphrodite’ which
is white with pink highlights.
While dwarf varieties have smaller flowers the
flowers are generally more numerous, appearing in clusters on the plant. Miniature amaryllis are about 18 inches
high. Varieties include ‘Rapido’, a crimson red, ‘Santiago’, red with a white streak
through each petal, ‘Picotee’, white with
a fine red line outlining each petal, and ‘Pretty
Nymph’ which has ruffled pink petals striped with white.
Star flowered varieties include ‘Cybister Emerald’, which is greenish white with red streaks, ‘Cybister Lapaz’ which has 3 maroon
petals and 3 white, ‘Sumatra’ which
is crimson red, ‘Chico’ which has an
extreme spidery form of burgundy red and green, and ‘Rosado’, which is rosy pink with white markings.
Planting the bulb
If you were given a gift Amaryllis bulb or bulbs they
probably came with instructions but if not, here’s how to plant them. Choose a good houseplant planting medium (soil)
for potting. The pot for the bulb should
be just an inch or so bigger than the bulb in diameter as amaryllis likes to be
pot bound. It doesn’t have to be very
deep- just a couple inches longer than the bulbs- but it must drain well. Several bulbs can be planted in one pot with
just an inch between them.
Put a little planting medium on the bottom of the pot
and then set the bulbs in it. The top of
the bulb neck should be about at the level of the pot rim. Now fill in with potting soil leaving the
neck of the bulb and about a third of the bulb itself exposed. If planted too deeply amaryllis won’t
bloom. Do not completely cover the
bulb.
Now water the bulb and set it in a brightly lit, warm
place. It should begin to show a green
bud at the bud neck, sometimes more than one, in one to two weeks. In fact some gift bulbs you receive may
already be sprouting. Sometimes the
flower stalk develops first and the leaves later, other times leaves may begin
emerging with the flower stalk. Every
few days rotate the pot so the flower stalk doesn’t lean toward the light
source.
Just a note on those bulbs that come pre-planted in a
decorative pot. If your amaryllis bulb
came with its own pot make sure the pot has drainage or that the drainage holes
aren’t covered by decorative foil. If
the “pot” is a cardboard one you’ll probably want to put your bulb in a nicer,
longer lasting pot. When these plants
finish blooming it’s probably best to repot the plant in fresh, quality potting
medium.
Amaryllis will bloom in a container with rocks and an
inch or so of water like narcissus bulbs. However when they bloom like this
they are very hard to get to re-bloom in the future, even if they are potted
after blooming. These bulbs are generally discarded after blooming. If you want to keep your amaryllis bulb for future
blooming pot it in a good potting medium when you receive it.
Care during bloom
The flower stalks grow rapidly and bloom may begin in
just 5 weeks from bud emergence. Keep
the pot moist but not too wet as the flower stalks develop. Don’t fertilize at this time. Amaryllis likes temperatures of 65-75 degrees
F for blooming. If the plant gets too
cold it may drop the buds. Bright light
but not direct sunlight is needed at this time. If the plant gets too warm –
such as by a heat vent- it may also drop its buds. Don’t touch the buds and be
careful not to bruise them or knock them off when moving the plant. Buds will
open in succession and each flower may last several days. A pot with several bloom stalks may be in
bloom for weeks.
Care after bloom
Cut off the flower stalks when blooming has
finished. The leaves must remain in
strong light and the pot kept watered for a few months so the plant can store
nutrients to make new flower buds. Generally a plant blooming at Christmas or
shortly after needs to be in a sunny window or under grow lights until you can
put it outside. You should fertilize at this time with a blooming plant, water
soluble fertilizer every other week to encourage the plant to produce more
flowers. Several new leaves may be produced.
After the last frost in your area you can move the
plant outside. This is one of the best
ways to get the plant to re-bloom. Put
the plant in a shady location, letting it acclimate and move it gradually into
full sun over two weeks. Most people
sink the pot into the ground but some plant the bulb directly into the ground. Keep it watered through the summer. Make sure
you mark the pot or location so that you’ll know where the bulb is when the
plant goes dormant.
Amaryllis needs temperatures of about 55 degrees or
slightly less for about 8 weeks to induce bud formation. If the plant summered outside it will
probably begin natural dormancy in the fall. Let the bulbs stay outside through
early cool weather, even light frost. When
temperatures fall below 45 regularly bring it inside. It may have lost its
leaves or most of them at this point. If
the plant hasn’t been outside you may want to move it to a cool dimly lit place
such as a basement and stop watering it to induce dormancy.
When all the leaves have fallen the amaryllis has
gone dormant. Stop watering the plant. The
plants need a dormant period to rest before blooming again. It doesn’t need light at this time.
After a few months (10-12 weeks minimum) of storage
the amaryllis bulb can be brought into bloom again by watering the pot lightly
and putting it into bright light and warm conditions. Be careful and don’t
overwater the amaryllis when it’s just coming out of dormancy. If you want to
re-pot the bulb at this time you can do so.
Remember that for best bloom the pot shouldn’t be much bigger than the
bulbs.
If you discover small bulblets when repotting you can
move them to separate pots. It takes a
couple years before they will bloom but they need the same period of growth and
rest that blooming size bulbs get. Many
people leave the small bulbs to form large clumps in a pot with many flowering
stalks.
The bulbs should begin showing green buds within a
couple of weeks after their rest. It will take 5-8 weeks from coming out of
dormancy to bloom. Many people try to re-bloom the amaryllis near the Christmas
holidays although they will bloom at other times. You’ll need to get the bulbs
in a dormant stage by early September for a chance at Christmas bloom. The blooms will still be welcome later in the
winter and it’s easier to aim for a January- February bloom time.
Amaryllis seldom have disease or insect problems in
homes. The biggest problem is
overwatering, letting the bulbs rot.
Failure to bloom again is generally caused by improper management of the
dormant period and not enough light during the spring and summer months. Caution-
amaryllis bulbs and all plant parts are poisonous. Keep them away from pets and children.
Amaryllis can brighten the winter and could become a
plant collectors dream with the many varieties to explore. Why not plant one this winter?
Don’t use sunflower or olive oil on an infant’s skin
One of the “natural” recommendations for several
years now has been to rub sunflower or olive oil on a newborns skin rather than
protecting it with commercial products.
But a research study done by The University of Manchester, UK found that
using the oils on a baby’s skin may be harmful.
Doctors at hospitals in the UK had noticed a large
increase in eczema and other skin diseases in infants over the last few decades. They also noticed an increase in midwives and
other “experts” recommending that mothers use sunflower or olive oil on their
babies skin to prevent the skin from drying out and it was thought to keep the
babies skin soft and hydrated too.
However researchers found that using the oils on a
babies skin kept the skin from producing its own protective cuticle layer. Newborns need to produce this as they grow to
protect the skin from viruses, bacteria and certain allergens. It would seem that the oil would also protect
the skin but researchers found that babies who were regularly rubbed with
sunflower or olive oil had many more skin problems and allergic reactions than
those who weren’t “anointed”.
Further research is needed to determine if other oils
also have this effect. But for now the
researchers recommend that healthy babies should not be “oiled” with any
products, even natural ones.
The emergence of “invasive biology”
For
the next few weeks I will be examining the invasive species are always bad myth
and invasive species in general. I have done
a lot of research and talked to a number of people to come up with my take on
the issue.
For the last fifty years or so there has been a great
fear among people that changing an environment is always bad. The worry is that removing species or
bringing new species into an area will upset some delicate balance in nature and
result in a cascading chain of events that will lead to utter destruction and
chaos. This fear of change has led to a
whole sub set of biological research called “invasive biology.”
People who believe that losing a “native” species or
adding new “alien” species to any environment is harmful are often very zealous
in protecting and promoting those beliefs, even though the science behind many
of the harmful claims is thin and mostly anecdotal. Recently careful, scientifically based new
research and re- examination of older
“evidence“ that is often used to support
the harmful invasive species argument, has caused many responsible
biologists and environmentalists to change their minds about invasive species.
There is no doubt that man, the most invasive
species, has caused change in many environments and has contributed to the
decline or advancement of many other species.
We have even caused changes that may harm us. But nature is very
resilient. Nature doesn’t recognize invasive species, only successful
ones. Left to its own devices nature can
repair most damages to the planet, including the loss of a species, and
re-build dynamic ecosystems- even though those systems may not be the same as
the system that existed before the damage.
These systems, although they may contain new species, are every bit as
beautiful and wonderful as those that existed in some previous time.
 |
| Dames Rocket- good or bad? |
The fact that man can recognize damage we have done
that may affect our future as a species and make changes in his behavior is indicative
of just how adaptable we are. But the
idea that we can restore environments to their “original” state is foolish,
since there is no original state to go back to.
Do we restore the abandoned lands in Detroit, for example, to the
species and conditions that were there 50 years ago or to before Europeans
first arrived in the area?
The first people to come to the area, now called
Native Americans, also made changes to the land. It is unquestionable that they too brought
along species of plants and animals that were not in the area when they arrived. They cut down trees and started forest fires
to drive game. They may have hunted or
gathered some species to extinction. So
do we restore the land to pre-human arrival?
Species arrive in new places on their own, even in
the absence of man. And there are the varying periods of climate change, the
advancement and receding of glaciers, and many other periods of change in the
land area now called Detroit and across the state of Michigan and the
continent. It is impossible to define an
“original” ecology and “native” species if we are being honest. Even though our ability to look back in time
through modern archeological methods has helped us know what conditions existed
in earlier times we cannot exactly determine all of the species that flourished
and then went extinct or that invaded and are from other places.
And even if we could do this and we choose a time to
“revert” to it is impossible to
replicate the climatic conditions, the soil conditions and species that have
disappeared. It is probably impossible
to eradicate even some of the most recent invasive species. Think of trying to eradicate the brown rat or
the dandelion.
Thinking that we can restore environments that once
existed is a result of guilt and romantic thinking. Instead we should focus on helping nature
create dynamic environments that are suitable for the present conditions and
because self-preservation is necessary for all species, that optimize our
species chances of survival. That may
mean bringing in a non-native plant to clean the soil of dangerous metals and
chemicals or that can survive polluted water or air. It may mean eliminating species, even
“native” ones that pose a threat to our health.
 |
| Multiflora rose- good or bad? |
Using species considered to be native in re-planting
areas is fine because those species are usually adapted to the area. But
species from other places that could adapt to the conditions are also
good. We may want also want to bring in
non-native plants to help other non-native species we find desirable such as
honeybees, which are not a native species.
And we shouldn’t feel guilty about planting non-native species because
they benefit us.
There are very few instances where a non-native
species has actually caused the extinction of a “native” species, unless you
count man as the invasive species. Most
cases reported lack the scientific evidence that it was the new species that
was the problem and not changing conditions which favored the new arrival. Some of these stories have been around for a
long time and until recently were never questioned. Another article will discuss the belief that
extinction of species occurs because new species are introduced.
We may want to remove or prevent the establishment of
some species of plants and animals that pose a threat to our health or to our
food security and that’s fine too. But
we must stop believing that all non-native species (except for a few chosen
crops) are dangerous and stop wasting resources on removing or controlling
those which do little than offend us because they aren’t what we believe should
be there.
We can guide nature in rebuilding an ecosystem so
that’s its pleasing to us. That’s called
gardening whether it’s in our backyard or in a vast nature preserve where we
assiduously remove species we don’t want and add ones we do. Or we can let nature do its thing and develop
its own ecosystems, protecting an area from any human intervention at all. We can remove the most invasive species of
all, us, and stop even pretending we know what is best for a specific environment.
Some forests and grasslands that nature develops by using all species
available, including alien ones, work better than what existed before alien
species arrived. That’s what wilderness protection should be-letting nature
determine what lives and dies.
Happy
New Year, drive safely, and have fun
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
Events, classes and other offerings
Please let me know if there is any event or class that
you would like to share with other gardeners.
These events are primarily in Michigan but if you are a reader from
outside of Michigan and want to post an event I’ll be glad to do it.
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share? Post them here by emailing me.
Free seeds
I have
these seeds that I collected from my garden that I am willing to share
free. Look at the list and if you would
like some contact me at kimwillis151@gmail.com
I will tell
you where to send a stamped self-addressed envelope for the seeds. If you want
popcorn or black walnuts it will take several stamps. I have published this list on the seed swap
sites also. I’ll try to give everyone
who asks some until they are gone.
Lilies, a
seed mixture of assorted hybrids, oriental- Asiatic- trumpet- Casa Blanca, Stargazer,
La Reve, purple tree, yellow tree, Silk Road, more
Anise
hyssop
Morning
glory – common purple
Scarlet
runner bean - few
Japanese
hull-less popcorn
Hosta asst.of
seed from numerous varieties- lots
Ligularia desmonda
(daisy–like flower)
Ligularia
rocket – spires of flowers
Yucca
Glad mixed
Zinnia
mixed
Foxglove Dalmation
peach
Calendula
mixed
Baptisia
blue
Jewelweed
Cleome
white
Columbine
mixed- small amount
Nicotiana
small bedding type- mixed colors
Nicotiana
alata ( woodland tobacco, Only the Lonely)
Daylily
mixed
Kangaroo
Paws orange
Hollyhock
mixed
Black
walnut- few hulled nuts
An
interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook
Here’s a
seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/875574275841637/
Here’s a facebook page link for
gardeners in the Lapeer area
Here’s a
link to classes being offered at Campbell’s Greenhouse, 4077 Burnside Road,
North Branch. Now open.
Here’s a
link to classes and events at Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor
Here’s a
link to programs being offered at English Gardens, several locations in
Michigan.
Here’s a
link to classes at Telly’s Greenhouse in Troy and Shelby Twsp. MI, and now
combined with Goldner Walsh in Pontiac MI.
Here’s a
link to classes and events at Bordines, Rochester Hills, Grand Blanc, Clarkston
and Brighton locations
Here’s a
link to events at the Leslie Science and Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road Ann
Arbor, Michigan | Phone 734-997-1553 |
http://www.lesliesnc.org/
Here’s a link to events at Hidden Lake Gardens, 6214
Monroe Rd, Tipton, MI
Here’s a
link to all the nature programs being offered at Seven Ponds Nature center in
Dryden, Michigan. http://www.sevenponds.org/education/progs/springprograms/
Here’s a
link to events and classes at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Mi
http://www.meijergardens.org/learn/ (888) 957-1580, (616) 957-1580
Newsletter
information
If you would
like to pass along a notice about an educational event or a volunteer
opportunity please send me an email before Tuesday of each week and I will
print it. Also if you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly notes.
You must give your full name and what you say must be polite and not attack any
individual. I am very open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine but I do
reserve the right to publish what I want.
I write this
because I love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across
in my research each week. It keeps me engaged with local people and
horticulture. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If at any time you
don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who
would like to receive these emails have them send their email address to
me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
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