December 20, 2016, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

December 20, 2016, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter 

 © Kim Willis - no parts of this newsletter may be used without permission.

Hi Gardeners

Bromeliads are looking like Christmas

The last few days have been very cold here, but today is looking better.  The temperature is climbing to the upper 20’s – low 30’s with sunny skies, but the wind is making it feel much colder.  I was just outside to feed the birds, get the mail and collect the trash cans and it was brutal out there.  Gizmo my little dog misses his daily walk so I let him go with me for these quick chores.  He loves it outside and plows through the snow with glee.  It’s me that’s the sissy.

I’m hoping for good weather through the holiday weekend.  Good weather here means not snowing or raining and above freezing.  This last arctic cold front or polar vortex was quite amazing, 48 states had temperatures below freezing at one point.  Lots of cold records were set.  At one point I would have been joking that this is some global warming but I now understand that these cold abnormalities are caused by global warming.  The loss of polar ice has disrupted the normal weather patterns, allowing the Gulf Stream to dip far to the south, dragging the cold air down. The artic was as warm as some places in the states however.   

Our weather will have more and more extremes in the next few years.  No matter what we do now to try and limit climate change, it’s here.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying to limit the warming, but we should also expect and adapt to erratic weather. 

I have been baking and making candy all week.  Since Steve and I avoid wheat and sweets much of the year it’s been a big temptation to over-indulge in these things but after all – it’s the holidays. They will soon be over and it’s back to healthy eating. Since I try to limit sugar it’s amazing how sweet some things taste to me after not having them for a while. The no bake cookies I made were almost too sweet for my taste. (You notice I said almost.)   I am making most of these treats for gifts so most of it will be gone after the holidays. 

This week’s blog is focused on traditions around winter solstice, which is tomorrow, and Christmas and the plants associated with these celebrations in the northern hemisphere.  I hope everyone has a great holiday, whatever you celebrate.  And next week when I write the longest night will be over and the sun will be moving toward spring – Hooray!

The tradition of Christmas trees and wreaths

Why do we celebrate Christmas by bringing a tree inside and decorating it? Green is the color signifying everlasting life in many cultures.  At the time of winter solstice in early civilizations evergreen plants that were still green in winter were considered somewhat miraculous.  The Greeks, Romans, Chinese, early European and Scandinavians all brought sprigs of greens inside around solstice.  Winter solstice celebrates the continuation of life.  Evergreens were often woven into wreaths- a circle- because a circle represents the unending cycle of life.

Wreaths at Arlington National Cemetary

The Christmas tree itself may have early beginnings in Roman Saturnalia celebrations when small evergreens were decorated inside.  The druids ( ancient Celtic peoples) also brought trees inside at winter solstice and decorated them with red apples, which signified fertility, as part of their spiritual ceremonies.

But the traditional Christmas tree as we know it is attributed to Martin Luther, a German Christian reformer in the 16^th century.  He is said to have brought a tree inside around the Christian celebration of Christmas because it symbolized the beauty of nature.  He put candles on it because he saw stars shining through evergreens on a winter’s evening walk and liked the look.  German trees were also decorated with apples and other fruits, cookies and candies and flowers made from paper, particularly red roses.  The trees were lit with candles, a very dangerous practice.

Christmas trees were primarily a German tradition for many years, spreading slowly to France. Then in 1841, England’s Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German-born husband (why wasn’t he a king?) decided to set up a Christmas tree in the castle for his son. The tradition was copied by many of the court members and eventually spread to the rest of the population.

However when the pilgrims came to America they had no Christmas trees, indeed they didn’t celebrate Christmas at all.  Christmas was celebrated in French settlements in Canada, with all the trappings, including trees, and crèches but until the late 1800’s Christmas was not widely celebrated in the northern states.  Pockets of German immigrants celebrated but Christmas and winter solstice were barely marked by most of the population.

The southern states were more relaxed about religion and more likely to favor elaborate celebrations around Christmas.  After the Civil war, and with the migration north of people seeking jobs and slaves exposed to southern traditions, Christmas became more widely celebrated in the north.  The Christmas tree was a popular but dangerous tradition as were wreaths and greenery in the house.

Until the invention of electricity trees were still lit by candles.  Decorations for trees favored fruits, flowers, and birds, both real, (not birds), and artificial.  The round glass ornaments that became popular later were symbolic of fruits, particularly apples. Trees were also decorated with baked goods and candies, and other homemade decorations such as chains made of paper.

Why not try a traditional tree this year and decorate with candy, popcorn strings, cookies, apples and other fruit. A real tree, so you support American agriculture.  Then set it outside, decorations and all, for the birds to enjoy after Christmas.

History of the poinsettia as a Christmas decoration

December 12 is National Poinsettia Day.  The day was set in 2002 to honor Joel Poinsett, the first US ambassador to Mexico, who died on this date in 1851.  Poinsett was an interesting man, trained as a doctor; he had an avid interest in botany and natural history.  While serving as Mexico’s US ambassador (1825-1829) he often wandered the countryside looking for new plant specimens.  In southern Mexico the plant we now call poinsettias grew as tree-like weeds up to 10 feet tall. 

By the time Poinsett was ambassador in Mexico, poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) were already being used in Mexican celebrations of Christmas.  The plant was called Flower of the Holy Night (La Flor de la Nochebuena).  It was pretty, available in winter and had symbolic meaning for native populations and therefore priests were using it to decorate the altar.

Franciscan priests who settled in the area of  Taxco, Mexico in the 1700’s to convert natives to Christianity encouraged the natives to use the plant in Christian celebrations of Christmas, symbolizing the blood that Christ shed for us.  It was a common practice to incorporate “heathen” rituals into Christian ones to encourage natives to participate in Christianity.

The Aztec ancestors of the natives in southern Mexico had used the plant with its blood red flowers as part of ritualistic sacrifices and had cultivated the plant for medicinal and dye uses.  They called the plant Cuetlaxochitl, which has a number of translations.

A Christian legend

Poinsett probably heard the legend of La Flor de la Nochebuena from the locals.  According to the story a poor child, either a girl or a boy depending on who tells the story, had only the weedy plant to contribute to a crib where natives placed tributes to Christ on his birthday. Christ (or Mary in some versions) knew that the child’s gift was from the heart and caused the plant to “flower” in beautiful scarlet.  It is interesting that this legend had sprung up in only the 100 or so years between the arrival of Christianity in Mexico and the arrival of Poinsett.

Poinsett gathered some of the plants and had them sent to his home in North Carolina, where he had several glasshouses.  When he returned from Mexico he experimented with growing the plant and gave some to other interested horticulturists.  A historian, William Prescott coined the popular name to honor Poinsett.  Poinsett was also a distinguished congressman and went on to found the institution we now call the Smithsonian but we remember him for “discovering” the poinsettia.

From the late 1800’s to 1923 poinsettias were grown as cut flowers primarily in the area around Hollywood, California for Christmas sales.  In 1923 something happened to the poinsettia plant that made it much more suitable to growing in pots.  At least two people are credited with developing varieties of poinsettias that branched and made an attractive potted plant possible around this time.  Paul Ecke of California, whose family still has a vast poinsettia empire, is most often quoted as the developer of a branched poinsettia.  However a Mrs. Enteman of New Jersey is also said to have developed an early branched variety of poinsettia.

Design by disease

What no one knew until the mid-1990’s is that the branching of the poinsettia plant is not caused by artful breeding but by a disease organism, a phytoplasmal infection.  The infection causes auxillary shoots to form that turned the poinsettia from a lanky single stemmed plant to a more compact, multi-branched plant that looks good in pots.  Much like the streaking on tulip flowers caused by a virus, the phtyoplasmal infection allowed the poinsettia to become much more valuable to horticulture.

However it happened, the introduction of branched poinsettias caused an explosion of interest in growing the plants as a greenhouse crop.  In the 1950’s many Universities and the USDA Agricultural Research Station began programs to discover the best cultivation practices for poinsettias.  Methods of controlling the blooming and growth characteristics of poinsettias by controlling day length, spacing and temperature were discovered that catapulted poinsettias into a multi-million dollar industry.

Today poinsettias are either the number 1 or 2 potted plant grown in the world.  (Some sources say orchids have taken the number one spot in recent years.)  In the US retail sales of poinsettias top 300 million dollars each year, which is remarkable considering that almost all sales are done in a 6 week period around the holidays.  California still leads as a poinsettia grower in the US, but poinsettias are grown in every state. 

There are now over 100 named varieties of poinsettias.  Poinsettias come in dark green leaved, light green leaved and variegated leaved varieties with “flowers” of various shades of red but also pink, white, salmon, peach, yellow and various combinations of colors. Red, however, is still the most popular color.  One of the most interesting new mutations of poinsettias causes the colored bract leaves to curl, giving the “flower” a fluffy, doubled appearance.

By the way the colored portion of the plant that we call the flower is actually specialized leaves called bracts that protect the true flower, which are the small, greenish-yellow cup like structures in the center.  Each cup consists of a singe female flower surrounded by male flowers and is called a cyathium.  There are a number of cyathiums on each plant.

Buy a poinsettia and support the economy

The growing of poinsettias requires attention to detail and knowledge of how to manipulate the environment to produce the desired plant at the right time.  Producers have a tight profit margin on poinsettia sales because so many places grow poinsettias but it does allow a nursery to produce income in the “off” season for other potted plants. 

When you shop this Christmas support the horticultural industry by buying one of the delightful poinsettia plants you will find displayed everywhere.  Remember the plants tropical origins and make sure you protect the plant from frosty air on the way to your car.  Don’t leave it in a cold car while you shop either.  At home keep the plant out of direct sunlight and drafts.  Poinsettias last longest at temperatures between 60-70 degrees.

Poinsettias can make nice houseplants and with a little luck and the right treatment will even “bloom” again.  See the page on the right side of the blog for tips on keeping poinsettias alive after Christmas.

Mistletoe- the strangler and a kiss

Mistletoe is not a plant most gardeners can grow.  However it figures prominently in American and European holiday decorating and has some fascinating history.  Mistletoe is presently either collected from the wild or semi-cultivated for seasonal use.  Mistletoe is best known today for the Christmas tradition of allowing lovers and strangers to kiss without censor if they are standing under a clump of it.

Mistletoe.  Wikimedia commons

The name Mistletoe is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words mistal and tan- translated as “dung on a twig”.  It’s also called Birdlime and Devil’s Fuge.

The common mistletoe of Christmas decorations grows wild throughout Europe and parts of North America. The mistletoe native to North America used for decoration is Phoradendron leucarpum, the mistletoe found in Europe is Viscum album, which has also been introduced into warmer places in the US such as California.  Dwarf mistletoe, (Arceuthobium americanum) is also native to North America but it’s not much good for decorating.   There are related species that grow in South Africa and Australia, 1300 species occur throughout the world.

Dwarf mistletoe can be found in the western US, far northern states, including Michigan, and Canada. Dwarf mistletoe looks more like coral with flat, scale like leaves and would not make great holiday decorations.  American mistletoe is found in the southeastern states and has broad oval leaves and clusters of 10 or more white berries. European mistletoe has narrow oval leaves and berries are in clusters of 2-4.  All mistletoes are evergreen.

Most mistletoes prefer deciduous trees, (those that lose their leaves in the winter), but a few species such as Dwarf Mistletoe, will grow on pines, cedars and other conifers. A wide range of host species is used.  Some trees such as apple, oak and ash trees seem to be colonized more frequently and others, like Bradford Pear and Ginko are seldom attacked.

Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant.  When a seed from a mistletoe plant, usually deposited in a bit of fertilizer from a bird, or wiped off a bird’s beak, lands on the trunk of a tree it begins to grow.  The seeds germinate best on soft barked trees; they are quite sticky even when birds don’t deposit them.  Dwarf mistletoe “shoots” its seeds away from the parent plant, with the hope the sticky fruit lands on a tree.

Mistletoe sticks a root into the cambium layer of a tree and gets its water and minerals from the tree.  The plants thick, shiny green leaves do provide food for the plant, particularly in winter, when the host tree goes dormant and ceases providing the mistletoe with sugars. Sometimes however mistletoe will cease producing its own food and let the host plant provide all its needs.  

Mistletoe eventually makes a bushy plant, 3-5 foot in diameter hanging from the host tree. The evergreen mistletoe is quite obvious when the trees have lost their leaves in winter.  Some mistletoes turn yellow in winter.  Trees can have several plants in them.

Mistletoe has small whitish flowers in late spring that turn into waxy white berries in early winter. The plants are dioecious, male and female flowers are on separate plants and only female plants produce berries. The berries hang in clusters at the branch ends.  These fruited branch ends are what is collected for Christmas decorations. 

Mistletoe branches become thick and woody over time and places a considerable burden on the host tree. It greatly weakens its host and often kills it by strangulation. It may eventually form the entire crown of a tree, using it to get closer to the sunlight and provide it with an anchor and water.  Mistletoe is hard to kill once a root has firmly inserted itself into the trees cambium layer. Mistletoe may grow back from the root inside a tree for several years after being cut out. 

Mistletoe in tree. Wikimedia commons

Still, mistletoe has its place in nature; the berries are eaten by birds, deer, elk, chipmunks and other animals. Many birds take shelter or build nests in its bushy mass.  Northern Spotted Owls often roost in clumps of mistletoe. Hairstreak butterfly larvae feed on mistletoe. Mistletoe was the state flower of Oklahoma until 2004.

If you have a tree you don’t mind harming you can grow mistletoe by collecting fresh, fully ripe berries from a species native to your area.  Don’t use berries from Christmas decorations as most of these berries are not ripe and won’t germinate.  Collect berries in January instead.  Make a small slit in the bark of a tree limb and insert the seed.  You might want to lightly wrap the slit area.  Start several plants since it takes two to pollinate and produce berries.  If you are lucky you will get mistletoe plants.

Medicinal uses of mistletoe centered on curing nervous disorders, it is often cited as a cure for epilepsy.  Some older herbals also list it for arthritis, headaches and fertility cures.  In Europe mistletoe is currently being studied and used as a cure for some cancers and for respiratory problems.  There are now clinical trials in the US for treatment of certain cancers.  Since mistletoe is very poisonous it’s not advised for home herbal use.

The mystery of mistletoe

Mistletoe has a long association with magical or religious rites and herbal medicines. The druids were said to climb oak trees and cut mistletoe to throw it to people standing below.  Mistletoe is never supposed to touch the ground or it will bring bad luck. Those who caught the mistletoe brought it inside to bring good luck to the New Year. 

In Scandinavian folklore Frigga, the Norse goddess of love, was crying over her son Balda, who was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe wood. Her tears fell on the mistletoe wood and white berries appeared.  Frigga declared that from then on the berries would symbolize love and those who met under the mistletoe must kiss. In early Scandinavian custom not only lovers kissed but enemies who could be tricked under the mistletoe had to embrace and declare peace.

Fertility is also associated with mistletoe.  Mistletoe ripens its berries at the time of the winter solstice, when most other things are barren.  Another old use for mistletoe was to cure sterility.  If a man and woman meet under a hanging clump of mistletoe they are supposed to kiss and then pluck a berry from the cluster. When the berries are gone, the mistletoe is no longer of value.  I guess that was supposed to make babies happen, which might be a good reason to avoid standing under mistletoe.

Dwarf mistletoe

Be careful with those plucked berries and any mistletoe you bring into the house.   Never consume any part of mistletoe. Mistletoe is poisonous and can cause convulsions and/or death in people and pets.  Even the dried plant is toxic and should be kept out of the reach of children and pets.

Winter Solstice or Saturnalia

Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 5:45 am (EST Flint MI.) is the moment of solstice, something that has gladdened the hearts of humans since the beginning of time.  A new year will begin, not of the calendar, but of the natural world.

Mt. Ranier National Park

Solstice marks the turning of the sun, when the sun has reached its lowest point and most southern point.  The sun has seemed to be paused for a few days but now, at the moment of solstice it will begin to climb in the sky and move north again, if ever so slowly. It has been resurrected or reborn, and since the sun means life this is a time for great celebration. 

Great care was taken by the astrologers in early times to plot the exact moment of the solstice. And the solstice is truly a moment in time, the exact time the suns axis is tilted the farthest from the earth.  After that moment, the days begin to lengthen.  Stonehenge and the pyramids were tools to figure out the solstices and other celestial events. It is amazing to me that they could determine the tiny incremental increase in daylight that begins the day after winter solstice by using these things as tools.

Long before Christians were celebrating the birth of their savior every civilization known was celebrating a winter holiday centered on solstice.  It was generally the most important celebration of the year, when the longest night was over and it was assured that the days would begin to grow longer again. The first day of winter is said to be December 22^nd (the day after Solstice). Although it’s easy to think of winter as the end of the year, it’s actually the beginning.

The Romans began celebrating Saturnalia on December 17^th and celebrated for 7 days.  The Scandinavian Feast of Juul (Yule) was celebrated long before Christianity began.  A huge log, often a whole tree, was brought inside to the hearth where the end of the log was laid inside the hearth with the rest of the tree stuck out into the room.  Someone with clean hands lit the fire in the hearth with a piece of log saved from the last year’s fire.  For 12 days the fire was kept burning. (12 days of “Christmas”).

Yalda Night was celebrated by the earliest occupants of the Mid-east and Central Asia.  Certain foods such as watermelon and pomegranate were eaten and as with most solstice celebrations, great fires were lit.  In Central America the Inca and Mayan civilizations had elaborate ceremonies to celebrate solstice.

The older European solstice celebrations usually involved bonfires or Yule logs.  You burn your troubles and fears and wish for good things in the coming year. People carried tokens, often acorns and oak branches, representing things they wished to get rid of and threw them in the fire.  Oak logs are the traditional fuel for these fires.  In some cultures ashes of the fires were saved through the year for good luck.

The first people of North America also celebrated winter solstice.  Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the site of an ancient indigenous city from 600-1400 AD contains evidence of a pole circle, that similar to Stonehenge  marked the celestial events including winter solstice.  At the winter solstice point artifacts were found that would correlate with symbolic celebration of the day.  The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio has the head pointed at the summer solstice point and the tail at the winter solstice point. Across North America various ancient mound sites are aligned so that they can “tell” the solstices. 

Rielkes Bayon

The various civilizations that thrived across North America before Europeans arrived had many customs and celebrations tied to winter solstice. Prayer sticks were a common custom, taken from a tree that the person felt a connection to, decorated, often with feathers or red cloth with tobacco and planted.  Prayers, story-telling, feasting and other ceremonies mark the day. In some tribes small gifts like feathers tied in bundles with the givers hair are exchanged.

Christmas came much later than other solstice celebrations. Early Christians decided to make it easier for followers used to celebrating winter solstice to make the birthday of Christ (some 200 years after it was said to happen) right after the solstice.  “Christmas” was set near the end of the traditional solstice celebration.  And the winter solstice does symbolize birth, a new beginning.  (Most religious historians place the actual birth of Christ as sometime in the spring, when taxes were collected in Bethlehem and when a peculiar star formation in the East occurred.) 

The time around the solstice, between the 21st -24th, is when the ancients believed that man’s mind was most open to spiritual enlightenment and positive life changes. It was a time of meditation and reflection. You are to wish for self- improvement, knowledge, healing of spiritual wounds and the ability to meet personal goals.  In ancient times it was not a time to wish for material things and if gifts were given it was to the very poor or the gifts were symbolic in nature. 

I encourage everyone to spend three days in meditation and reflection before the great orgy of worshipping material things that Christmas Day has become or the various religious celebrations that build on solstice. Take it back to the primitive state of mind when we were more in tune with the cycles of the natural world.  Clear your mind from thinking about shopping and cooking and anxieties about money or personal relationships. Give to charity and visit your family with love in your heart. The old year is done, new beginnings are here. Throw your cares and worries into a fire and rejoice that the sun, the most significant thing in our lives, has once again entered a New Year.

Undine Falls, Yellowstone National Park
Photo by Neal Herbert

May you have a spiritual Solstice and a New Year filled with joy and wisdom.   

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Bodhi Day, , Happy Soyal,  Merry Yule, Festive Saturnalia, Happy Zartusht-no-diso, Happy Holidays- whew-

Kim Willis

 “He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero

And So On….

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