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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

May 30, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

Hi Gardeners

Purple power
Memorial weekend is always planting time for me and I worked very hard getting everything planted around here.  The weather was perfect for planting, overcast to partly sunny and not too hot, with a good rain following it up. The rain held off until late Sunday, when we got quite a soaker, almost 2 inches.  I spent most of Saturday hauling out the houseplants, what a job that was. I figure about 150 houseplants went on summer vacation.  I am seriously considering cutting down on houseplants before next winter.  Yes you read that right.  I have 10 spider plants, and 3 large jade plants to name some of the multiple species. Some of those may be given away next fall.  Just thinking, you know.

The vegetable garden is pretty much planted.  I do have some popcorn left to plant.  My husband kept nagging me to plant some this year.  I have a little space where I’ll put some in a few days. I have tucked petunia, wax begonias and impatiens around in numerous spots.  I planted about 200 little seedlings of zinnias, marigolds, tithonia, cosmos, four o clocks and other things in my new cutting garden.   I still have some plants in the little greenhouse I need to find room for, odds and ends.

We had our first harvest of lettuce this week.  Too bad the lettuce is usually finished when the tomatoes start ripening.  I planted some celery this year, first time in a while.  Sweet corn is sprouting, peppers and tomatoes are setting fruit.

This week the yellow Harrisons rose, which I call the graduation rose, is blooming well, looking pretty with the Dame’s Rocket and Siberian iris.  Weigela and the Korean lilacs are blooming as well as bearded iris.  Knock out roses are in bloom and the trumpet honeysuckle.  Peonies are starting to bloom.  The Prickly Locust is starting to bloom. I have seen wisteria in bloom, but mine still hasn’t recovered from its drastic pruning 2 years ago by the power company.

My hostas are huge this year; the rain and mild winter have made conditions great for them.  My 4 year old hosta, Empress Wu, is truly impressive this year at over 3 feet tall but some other hosta are giving it a run for its title of largest hosta.  And the Ostrich ferns have sprung up virtually overnight to 3 feet high.

Now it’s time for the weeding and edging to begin.  And maybe I’ll get back to housework sometime soon.  Hope everyone had a great holiday.
Empress Wu Hosta way at far end of the path

In defense of Dames Rocket

The beautiful spicy sweet scent of Dames Rocket is wafting through the evening air.  Its purple flowers blend well with the yellow roses blooming by it.  But I know on some webpage somewhere people are being called to action against the lovely Dames Rocket.  “It’s a noxious invasive plant” they holler, “we must pull it all up- join us for a work day pulling this invasive plant!”

Dames Rocket
How ridiculous this is.  Dames Rocket, Hesperis matronalis, has been on this continent almost as long as European people and as long as dandelions and apples and honeybees.  It was a cottage garden flower that also served as an early source of spring greens and it was as carefully planted here by early European settlers as roses and cabbages.  This is one immigrant that fully deserves permanent legal status.

Dame’s Rocket looks rather like phlox, both the native woodland phlox and the phlox of cultivated gardens.  It is in the mustard family however and has 4 flower petals instead of five like phlox.  Its leaves are arranged alternately on the stem rather than opposite each other as in phlox.  Dame’s Rocket is considered to be either a short lived perennial or biannual plant.  It spreads by seed, which is produced in long narrow pea pod like structures.  Dames Rocket is found in most of the Eastern half of the country, southeast Canada and a few places further west.

Yes Dames Rocket escaped early gardens and popped up in unexpected places.  You’ll see the tall clusters of beautiful fragrant flowers in shades of lavender, pink and white blooming along roadsides and ditch banks in late spring.  Many a gardener has stopped and collected some for their own garden.  They bring beauty to otherwise dull and man damaged areas.

Dames Rocket is loved by bees and butterflies.  The larvae of many native butterflies and moths have adapted to eating it and it’s considered a good host plant for several species.  In Europe it’s still a garden plant, and double flowered varieties and other strains exist. So why is there such an animosity against it by some in the “native only” crowd?

Dames Rocket isn’t poisonous.  It doesn’t spread disease or damage agricultural crops. Its only crime is to occupy space that some misguided people feel should be occupied by other plants, native plants. And here’s the funny thing about that.  The places you see Dames Rocket growing are not natural, undisturbed environments.  They are generally found in places already changed drastically by man.  Native plants would struggle to grow in most of these environments and if Dames Rocket wasn’t there some other more unpleasant invader might be.  And Dames Rocket may actually be better for some species of wildlife than many native plants that might grow in these disturbed areas.

If you’ve ever driven along back country roads you have probably seen apple trees that have grown up along them, maybe from bait pile apples set out for deer or from apples eaten by animals and the seeds deposited in their poop.  These apple trees also pop up sometimes along nature trails, busy freeways and parking lot and retention pond edges.  They occupy space that could be occupied by native trees.  But have you ever seen a campaign to eradicate these alien invasive plants?

I love Dames Rocket and do what I can to keep it blooming here on my property.  I don’t judge plants by their country of origin, just by their beauty and usefulness.  I think the perfume industry should look into turning the fragrance of Dames Rocket into a new scent, “eau de alien” maybe.  And for those who like spring greens try growing Dames Rocket in the vegetable garden.

When someone urges you to take action against Dames Rocket, simply because it’s occupying space they feel belongs to some other plant, tell them to stop interfering with nature.   We rarely need to intervene, although there may be instances when removing truly harmful plants is justified. Nature knows how to heal damaged environments and provide for creatures in the web of life.  Tell them to go pull dandelions and cut down wild apple trees instead.  Make your property a sanctuary city for Dames Rocket.
 
Beautiful Dames Rocket


Growing mayapples in the garden

If you like native plants ( I do like native plants and grow a lot of them, despite defending some non-native ones)  and have a shady or partially shaded area you may want to try growing mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) in your garden.  Mayapples are also known as maypop, American mandrake and ground lemon.  Mayapple is native to the northeastern US and Canada.  The mayapple produces a small golf ball sized fruit which when fully ripe is edible.

Each mayapple plant begins as a leaf stalk rising from an underground stem called a rhizome.  There may be several stems from each rhizome and the rhizomes expand and form colonies of mayapples over time.  Each stalk will produce one or more palmate leaves at the top.  The leaves consist of 5 leaflets joined at a center point which droop slightly and produce an umbrella effect. Like an umbrella they are folded up as they begin emerging in mid spring and unfurl gradually.   The leaves can be 8 inches across and the plant can be 18 inches tall.  
Mayapple foliage right side

A leaf stalk generally needs to fork and produce at least 2 leaves before that stalk flowers.  The single flower, white or rarely pink or yellow, develops at the fork in the leaf stalk.  Each flower has 6-9 shiny petals with many yellow stamens in the center.  The flower is about 2 inches across and droops downward.  To see the flowers you’ll generally have to peek under the leaves.  In most of the US the plant blooms in May, which is how it gets one of its common names.  The plants are pollinated by bumble bees and other native bees.

If pollinated the flower turns into a small oval fruit which becomes yellow when fully ripe.  Ripening happens in mid to late summer. Each fruit has several seeds.  Box turtles and some mammals eat the fruits and distribute the seeds.  Technically humans can eat very ripe fruit, without the seeds, but care must be taken to not eat too many, as mild poisoning will occur.  The fruit is said to taste like over ripened melon.  Never eat the seeds, which are poisonous to humans.

Culture of mayapple in gardens

Gardeners can start mayapples from rhizome pieces or seeds.  Seeds must be planted directly after removing them from a ripe fruit to get good germination.  Rhizomes are generally easy to get started in good conditions. Zone hardiness would probably be zones 4-8.

Mayapples are woodland plants and prefer to be planted under deciduous trees in moist, highly organic soils.  They need shade or partially shaded conditions as the weather warms up. They will quickly spread in good conditions and some people with those conditions consider them aggressive multipliers.  They make an interesting taller groundcover but will die back in late summer or in extreme heat.

If mulched with leaves or compost the mayapples won’t need fertilizer and in most areas won’t need watering.  Pests are few, thrips and leaf miners are occasional problems but plants survive them well.  Mayapple can suffer leaf damage from late frosts in some areas, but plants generally recover. 

I like to see mayapple combined with bleeding heart, wild geraniums, bloodroot, trilliums, lily of the valley and non-natives like hosta.  Remember it will go dormant later in summer.
Mayapple flower

Caution

All parts of mayapple are poisonous, even fully ripe fruit must be eaten in moderation.  Of course as with many poisonous plants there are herbal remedies ascribed to the plant.  Native Americans used it for skin problems such as warts and there has been some scientific interest in it for skin cancer cures.   In herbal medicine it is used as a purgative – you’ll be ridding yourself of anything you’ve eaten from both ends.  Mayapple was part of the remedy ‘Carters Little Liver pills’, actually a laxative, and it is sometimes used as a liver remedy also.  Dried roots are generally used in herbal medicine. 

Two medicines have been made from refined and isolated chemicals from the plant, one for testicular cancer and one for small cell lung cancer and leukemia.  You cannot make these remedies at home.

Toxic reactions include drastic vomiting and diarrhea and severe inflammation of the intestines, which can lead to death.  It should never be consumed when pregnant or nursing.  Only experienced herbalists should experiment with the plant.  Mayapple was said to be used in some native  cultures to commit suicide, but that must have been a terrible way to die.

Some people make jelly or jam from the ripe fruits but I suggest leaving the fruit for wildlife.  There’s a thin line between safe and unsafe consumption of mayapple and much nicer and safer plants to make jelly from.  All plants do not have to be eaten.  Just enjoy them for their beauty.

Tips for planting large containers

Large outdoor containers for planting are very popular and can range from a half whiskey barrel to huge cement pots.  One of the biggest questions gardeners have about planting in these large containers is “Do I need to fill it all the way with good potting soil or can I use something on the bottom to take up space?”  And the answer is – it depends.

First all containers must have drainage holes.  Putting gravel or other things in the bottom will not compensate for lack of drainage.  Inevitably the containers become water logged and plant roots rot.  You may have to drill your own holes in the bottom of the container.  Elevate the container just a bit, maybe a ½ inch, from the ground or a hard surface so water drains freely.  Little pieces of wood or small flat rocks can accomplish this.

Next consider what you want to plant in the pot.  Annuals won’t need more than a foot of potting medium.  They may do well on less but if you have a tall pot give them a foot.  If you are going to put large tropical plants or perennials in the pot fill the whole pot.  This is especially true if perennials will remain in the pot over winter.  You’ll have a healthier potted plant if it has a large area for the root system.

Another thing to consider is whether a container needs weight in the bottom to keep from being top heavy and tipping over.  This is especially true if large plants will be in the pot in a windy area.  You may even want to add a brick or stones to the bottom of the pot in these instances.

Containers outside can be filled with regular garden soil if your soil is loamy and light.  If your soil is clay use a potting mixture. You may be able to use a mixture of garden soil and purchased soil.  You want a loose, absorbent soil that doesn’t crust or compact into a hard mess.   

Compost alone probably isn’t a good choice for pots, a mixture of compost and regular soil would be better.  Fill large containers so that a 2 inch gap remains between the pot rim and the surface level of the soil.  This is so water has a chance to collect and soak in instead of running off.

If you are planting things that won’t need the whole depth of the planter you can use things like crushed plastic bottles, inverted smaller pots, Styrofoam chunks, wood chips, charcoal briquettes, and so on to avoid filling the whole pot with soil and also make it lighter.  Packing peanuts are sometimes suggested but some of these are now biodegradable and will dissolve when they get wet. Remember the container must have drainage even if you do this.

Mix some slow release granular fertilizer into the potting soil before planting.  Additional fertilizer may be needed later in the season.  You can re-use potting soil in containers from year to year.  Stir it up well, add some compost and fertilizer and its good for another year.  Soil will settle and be lost each year in some containers and you may need to add additional doil each year.


Ants and peonies

The peonies are beginning to bloom or are in bloom over a good part of the US right now.  When people look at peonies and peony buds they often notice ants on them and that makes for some interesting conversation. 

Ants are neither bad for peonies nor good for them.  Peonies have many nectar glands, they occur in the flowers reproductive parts, starting when the buds enlarge and lasting at least to the green seed pod stage.  Ants enjoy this nectar.  But peonies don’t need ants to eat the nectar.  They don’t help the buds open by eating “sticky” nectar off and they don’t generally pollinate the peony flower either.  Ants do defend a food source to some extent and may keep things like caterpillars from eating the flowers.  But this is a minor benefit in most cases.

Peonies without ants will open their flowers just fine.  And the ants don’t harm the flowers so there’s no need to control them. There’s plenty of nectar for everyone.  Using pesticides in this case, even organic ones, is not good environmental stewardship.  I saw a recommendation to sprinkle powdered sugar on peony buds to remove ants.  That would probably bring a whole lot more ants, because ants love sugar.  And that kind of tinkering might well prevent peony buds from opening well or looking good.  It might also cause mold to form.  Please don’t try that nonsense.

Ants don’t show up on every peony plant.  Some varieties seem to attract more ants than others, and what’s available in your area for ant food may determine whether you have ants on your peony flowers or not.  If you object to ants being on flowers you are cutting for a bouquet you can shake the flowers or dip them slowly into cold water upside down to remove ants.

Ants and cornmeal

Here’s another common myth concerning ants.  Someone wants an organic solution for getting rid of ants and someone else recommends sprinkling cornmeal- or grits- where the ants are to get rid of them.  Somehow the idea that ants eat cornmeal or grits then bloat and explode got started and it’s hard to make that false idea die.  There’s no evidence that ants ever die from eating cornmeal or grits.  And the biology of the ant’s digestive system makes that explosion pretty much impossible.

Ants don’t digest solid foods they may gather, like pollen grains, pieces of dead caterpillars, leaves and so on.  The solid bits go into a special pouch area and get carried back to the nest where they are fed to the ant larvae, which do digest solids.  The larvae then regurgitate a liquid which is shared through the colony of both worker ants and larvae.  There’s no gas build up since they have the ability to regurgitate.  Researchers have fed cornmeal and other substances to ant colonies with no problems. 

The nonsense of cornmeal killing ants probably got started because cornmeal is often used in ant pesticides as an attractant.  A poison is liquefied then added to cornmeal which absorbs it.  The cornmeal makes it easier for the ants to carry the poison deep inside a nest and the starch in cornmeal is tasty to ants.  But the cornmeal needs to be saturated with poison before it kills the ants.

When you sprinkle cornmeal around in the garden you aren’t killing pests, you are attracting them.  You’ll get ants as well as mice and squirrels and other critters.  And cornmeal can also mold and look and smell nasty.  When you hear someone recommending using cornmeal to make ants explode just laugh.

Do you have illegal poppies in your garden?

This article was first published in my Detroit Examiner Gardening column in January 2014.  (Detroit Examiner no longer exists.)  I noticed that conversation about the legality of poppy growing is popping up again in garden forums so here’s my take on that.

If you have been going through garden catalogs lately you may have noticed the many poppy varieties being offered, both as seeds and plants.  Some of them are quite gorgeous and you may be considering adding them to your garden.  But before you add certain poppy varieties to the garden you may want to consider this.

Growing any Papaver sominiferum poppy varieties or the closely related Papaver paeoniflorum varieties (which are just double flowered P.sominiferum) is illegal. The Poppy Control Act of 1942 was repealed in the 70’s but controlling the growing of opium poppy plants was transferred to current laws and regulations on producing or possessing illegal narcotics.  You can have the seeds of any of these poppies because the use of poppy seeds in cooking is fine.  But cultivation of these species, growing the plants, is illegal and a federal crime.  It is also illegal to have dried opium poppy seed pods or stalks on your property. Note: It is also illegal to have opium poppies in Canada.

Still, since so many beautiful varieties are available- and they are offered in so many catalogs - surely this is a crime that is rarely prosecuted? But it seems that recently the DEA has stepped up efforts to get these poppies off the market and prosecute growers.  The internet may have had something to do with this. 

Making opium from poppies isn’t as hard as once thought

Until recently it was commonly thought that growing poppies to get opium was something hard to do and that the narcotic poppies had to be grown in certain climates. Processing the opium from the poppies was considered to be difficult and not something the average person could do.  Even the USDA and the DEA officials shared these ideas with the public.  But it seems that some people have always known that opium poppies grow just fine in the US and most of Europe and that it is extremely easy to harvest raw opium from poppy seed pods. It was also easy to produce narcotic concoctions from other poppy plant parts. These people began to share their knowledge on the internet (a quick search on the net will tell you several easy ways to produce opium and other narcotics from poppies), and a pamphlet was written that got the USDA and the DEA’s attention.

Now the DEA is still not scouring gardens for illegal opium poppies and arresting the average gardener but they have begun to use the poppies in creative ways.  If some agency suspects you of doing something illegal, they can get a search warrant based on the fact that you are growing opium poppies and might have illegal plant parts or drugs in your house or property.  If they want to they can also arrest you for possession of narcotics just because you have some pretty opium poppies in your garden or even some opium poppy seed pods in a dried flower arrangement.

There have been a few interesting cases recently where one disgruntled gardener will turn in a friend growing the poppies and when this is done, law enforcement agencies are required to make an arrest. In most cases a lawyer will successfully argue that you were a naïve gardener and you won’t go to federal prison for manufacturing narcotics.  But if there is any evidence that you did know the poppies could produce opium or if you seemed to be storing unusual amounts of seed pods or stalks, or that any poppy seed pods were “scored” ( cut)  in your garden you could be in trouble.  (You could also be in trouble if you simply pissed someone in charge off because as most of us know- ignorance of the law is generally not considered to be an excuse.)

Michael Pollan, a well-known botanist and garden writer, was thinking along the same lines a few years ago and he did some extensive research on the subject of opium poppy growing for ornamental reasons and he admitted, a curiosity about whether he could actually produce opium at home.  Pollan  interviewed USDA and DEA people on several occasions and he intensively interviewed the man who wrote the booklet on producing opium at home. This man was arrested and indicted on Federal drug charges soon after the book was brought to the attention of the DEA by a man who was fighting with him.  He wasn’t growing any poppies, but he had several dozen dried poppy seed pods in his house that he had purchased from a local florist.


It’s a long but fascinating piece.  The short version of it is that Pollan concludes that the growing of opium poppy species carries some risk for the gardener.  Even using the attractive dried seed pods of the poppy for floral arrangements could be risky.  At one time these seed pods were sold in many craft and floral shops.  They are the urn shaped pods with “shaker” holes on top.  Pollan says the DEA began asking floral organizations to voluntarily stop selling the pods.  He also says that certain public gardens were being asked to remove opium poppy species from the gardens.

It’s kind of interesting that catalogs continue to sell seeds and even plants of opium poppy species.  Of course seeds would be legal to sell and possess.  But in at least one case a seed company was asked to stop selling poppy seeds (Thompson and Morgan) after a “raid” in one garden turned up hundreds of opium poppies and records showed the seed for those poppies was purchased from that company.

So what poppies are legal to grow?

Oriental poppy, a legal species
There are poppy species that are legal for gardeners to grow.  Papaver rhoeas, Shirley or corn poppies, Papaver orientale, Oriental poppies, and Papaver nudicale or Iceland poppies are all common ornamental and legal poppies, at least for now.  There are also plants that use poppy in the common name that are not Papaver species, such as the Himalayan Blue Poppy and the Prickly Poppy which are legal to grow.  If you are considering buying any poppies make sure you know the Latin name of the species so you can decide on whether or not you want to buy them.

Opium poppies are annual plants but they readily reseed themselves in the garden.  They can persist for years in even neglected gardens.  You may have some and not be aware of what you are growing.  Most double flowered and pom-pom poppies are opium species and the pretty heritage poppy Danish Flag is also an opium poppy.  Perennial Oriental poppies are the poppies most often sold in local garden stores and they are not illegal. 

Some gardeners will be fine with taking a chance growing opium poppies, especially if garden catalogs keep offering them.  But you may want to avoid them if you have anything to hide or have some bitter enemies.   Federal prison is no place for gardeners.

Here’s where you can see the Schedule II Controlled Substances (2005) law for the US.

Colache

Colache is also called Mexican salad.  It’s not really a salad but it’s a good side dish for a cook out.  You may even be able to cook this on the grill. It will serve 4-6 people.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
¾ cup lime flavored beer (you can use any Mexican style beer too)
1 cup fresh green beans cut in small pieces
½ cup diced red sweet pepper
6 small summer squash, cut into chunks
2 large fresh tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 cups of canned tiny baby corn, drained or 3 ears of fresh corn, sliced into thin rounds
1 teaspoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

Cook the onion in a skillet in the butter, low heat, until the onion is golden.

Add the beer and vegetables.  Cover and cook on low, stirring occasionally.

When the squash is tender remove the colache from the heat and toss with the lime juice and salt.  Serve warm.


Chocolate is good for the heart.  Have you had some today?

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

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

And So On….
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share?  Post them here by emailing me. You can also ask me to post garden related events. Kimwillis151@gmail.com
Join the
LAPEER AREA HORTICULTURE SOCIETY on our 35th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, JUNE 19th at 6 P.M., SUNCREST DISPLAY GARDENS, behind the Lapeer County Medical Care facility, 1455 Suncrest Drive, Lapeer, Mi.

All Past, Present, and Prospective members are invited to attend this special event. This will be a special time to meet old friends and share some of our memories of the activities of this group.

Guests are welcome.

Displays will be set up showing past activities, as well as old newsletters of the group. Refreshments provided.

For more information contact:
Dave Klaffer at 810-656-7770 or 664-8912

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:
(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
An interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook

Here’s a seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook

Newsletter/blog 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 or you can comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly note if you email me. 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. Contact me at KimWillis151@gmail.com

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 people and horticulture. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If you are on my mailing list and at any time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is published have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com


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