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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

June 13, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter


Hi Gardeners
Ninebark flowers

It’s a warm and humid day here in Michigan but not as hot as yesterday, when we had temperatures in the low 90’s.  Here in the thumb we are getting a north wind off the Saginaw bay, which has cooled temps to the mid 80’s but is also keeping any rain away, which we need.  All my plants are getting covered in dust blown off our gravel road.  I’ve had to water everyday which subtracts from my weeding time.

I actually don’t mind weeding that much.  It’s kind of therapy for me.  I like to work in the evenings; I’m not a morning person.  I’ll stay out and work until dark some days.  But around here there’s always someplace that needs weeding, when you get that last bed weeded and edged it’s time to start over.  Right now the strawberry bed is calling to me.  I’ll probably work on it tonight, after I finish watering.  I think I should find some ripe berries among the weeds.

Despite the heat and dryness things are still pretty around here.  Peonies and roses are in full bloom. The clematis’s are in bloom.  Along with the ninebark (article below) which is so pretty and loaded with bees, bristly locust, spirea, mock orange and weigelia are blooming.  Some of the cosmos, while still small, are beginning to bloom. The earliest true lilies, the martagons, have begun to bloom.  These are tiny, dainty lilies that I like to tuck in sunny or partly sunny spots in my front yard among the hostas.

I still have only one small, early, heirloom daylily in bloom (Gold Dust), but the rest will be blooming soon as will some of the Asiatic lilies.  Interestingly my Empress Wu hosta which is easily 4 feet high this year has big buds showing.  It bloomed several weeks later last year.

The sweet corn didn’t germinate evenly; there are gaps in the rows.  But the vine crops have taken off in the heat and I even have some tomatoes starting to color up on the Early Girl plant.  We are harvesting lettuce and green onions, although I’m afraid the lettuce will soon bolt and become bitter in the heat.

Mystery pot solved

Last week I commented on a mystery pot of plants that I have.  Well I know people read this blog because one of my long time readers reminded me that I planted some peacock orchids (Gladiolus Acidanthera) last year.  And yes, I went back and looked at some pictures from last year and sure enough there was the pot with peacock orchids in it.  They aren’t hardy here so when frost killed the tops I picked it up and carried it inside to store.  It sat in a corner and almost got dumped this spring because it looked like an empty pot of soil. (Thank You Debby from Lapeer for jogging my memory.)

Peacock orchid
When I noticed a shoot I sat the pot outside and watered it and there are a number of shoots now.  I repotted it into a slightly larger pot and labeled it. I should have flowers for a second year. I have a bunch of tender bulbs in pots this year, just to see what the flowers are like.  I’ll have to remember to carefully label the pots when I bring them in for storage.

The hardy gloxinias (Incarvillea delavayi) I planted in the ground are now blooming. They are one of my bulb experiments this spring, although the root system looked like a dahlia tuber rather than a bulb. There are white flowered ones as well as the pink flowered variety I had bloom in a pot.  I sure hope these beauties are hardy here and return to bloom again. Some references say hardy to zone 5 but others say zone 6 so it will be touch and go.  I’ll save the potted one inside.  These are a nice edition to a partly shaded bed.

Remember to keep feeding the birds

My bird feeders are going through two cakes of suet a day.  I sometimes don’t have a refill on hand but I try to keep enough suet cakes so they don’t have to go too long before one or the other feeder has suet.  Suet seems to be the preferred food for a whole lot of baby birds.  The parents bring them near the feeders where I can watch their begging.  And then I watch their clumsy attempts to get their own suet.  The jelly feeder is also popular now.

If you don’t keep food out for the birds in summer you are missing out on some good bird watching.  Many species are around in summer that aren’t here in the winter.  Helping parent birds feed their young helps keep the bird population flourishing.  Don’t worry that the birds won’t learn how to find their own food in the wild.  Bird feeders are basically supplements to most bird diets, but they are an important supplement to young birds that help get them off to a good start.

I keep sunflower seed, suet blocks, jelly and sugar water for the hummingbirds out all summer.  Not all bird species visit feeders but many do and it’s a great way to photograph them.  I don’t keep water out all the time, my one bird bath is basically decorative and I fill it if I am watering plants near it.  But my property has several natural watering places.  If your area doesn’t have natural ponds or other water sources a bird bath is also a good way to see birds and very helpful to their survival.
Downy woodpecker and friend

Orphan baby birds and bird nests

While we are talking birds I am also going to mention baby birds that fall out of nests or nests that get dislodged for some reason.  If you accidently knock or cut a nest out of a tree and the babies or even eggs are ok, then simply try to put the nest back as close to the old location as possible as quickly as possible.  The birds will generally go back to the nest, especially if there are young in it, if they can find it.  Baby birds will make noise if they sense the parents are near which help the parents find the nest.  The birds won’t care if you touched the nest or babies. 

I have known people to wire/tie branches they cut out that had nests on or in them back to the tree or shrub they pruned and the birds return to them.  Yes the branches will die, but baby birds mature quickly and two to three weeks is generally all that’s needed to get them out of the nest.

If the nest falls out because of a storm and you don’t even know where it came from or it’s too high to reach you can still try to replace it in the tree or shrub it was found near.  Nests with eggs can just be discarded in this case; the eggs probably wouldn’t hatch if they fell very far, even if not cracked.  The bird will build a new nest and lay more eggs. 

But if the nest had baby birds and they don’t seem injured try putting the nest back as high as possible in the tree or shrub, in a way that it won’t easily be dislodged again.  You may need to use twist ties or wire, just make sure it doesn’t prevent the bird from sitting on the nest or feeding the babies.  If the birds hear or see the babies they will probably continue to care for them.

If you see a ground nesting birds nest when you are mowing or clearing brush just leave it alone.  Leave a bit of cover around the nest and in just a couple weeks or less the eggs will hatch and the birds will be gone.  If the cover around the nest is gone, maybe a teepee of brush or stalks of some kind could offer enough cover.  Most ground nesting birds have babies that move around and feed themselves shortly after hatching, like baby chickens.  If you see these babies just leave them alone.   Take or chase cats and dogs away for a while, that’s all that’s generally needed.  Some birds like wild turkeys may attack you if you bother their babies.

It’s an old wives tale that if you handle a baby bird the parents won’t care for it.  They will take it back even if the dog picks it up in its mouth. If you see a tiny baby bird and can see where came from try to put it back in the nest.  Birds have no way to carry a baby back to the nest but if you can get it back they will care for it.  This applies to tiny birds which are featherless or have only a few feathers.

If a baby bird has most of its feathers and you find it out of the nest it’s probably fledged, which means mom and dad want it out of the nest.  They’ll continue to care for it even if someone touches it.  If it’s in danger where it is, you can move it to a tree limb.  They can flutter and hop higher into the tree.  The parents may be frantically buzzing your head or they may be unseen but they are probably around.  Once the baby is up high and safe, leave the area or observe from a good distance.

If you take a baby bird away from a cat or find one that is injured it’s probably best to humanely kill it.  Birds that have been bitten or even scratched by a cat almost always die from infection.  Even vets may not be able to save them.  An animal rescue organization may or may not accept injured birds.

While handling a baby bird won’t make the parents desert it, it doesn’t mean it should be handled more than absolutely necessary.  That’s especially true of small children handling the bird.  Don’t let them keep it for a few hours or try to feed it. They need frequent feeding by their parents to remain healthy.  The wrong food or food placed in their mouths the wrong way will kill them.  Small hands have a tendency to squeeze too tightly and it doesn’t take much to kill a baby bird.  Dropping baby birds is also quite harmful.  Make sure children wash their hands very well after handling a wild bird as they carry many diseases.  Never let them kiss them or put them against their faces.

You shouldn’t try feeding a baby bird unless it’s a last resort either.  More baby birds are killed by inexperienced people feeding them than are helped by it.  If you are sure the baby is abandoned try to find a wildlife rescue organization that will take the bird.  Call a nature center, a vet, or your animal control department to find a place to take the baby.  Keeping some species of baby birds may even be illegal in your area.  A pet store may know someone who hand feeds domestic baby birds and that person may also be able to help you.

If you must feed the baby do not use pieces of worm, bread crumbs, dogfood or birdseed.  First you must determine what species of baby bird you have, as different species have different needs.  You can then look up on line what type of food to mix up or buy for it.  Use information from a wildlife rescue, nature center, or experienced bird breeder not just random people recounting experiences or something they heard.

In a pinch little pieces of hard boiled or scrambled egg would be a good thing to try until you get a proper formula for your type of bird.  Pet stores sell powdered baby bird formulas for feeding domestic birds and one of the formulas may work for your orphan, but I warn you they aren’t cheap. 

Taking on the feeding of a baby bird is a big commitment, at least for a few weeks.  Tiny babies need hourly feeding and larger ones need feeding every 2 hours from sun up to dark.  You have to be very careful not to stuff the baby and block its breathing or get the crop, the pouch that holds food before it goes to the stomach in birds, impacted. As they get bigger you have to know how to transition them to eating natural foods.

I know everyone has heard stories about someone who raised a baby robin on earthworms or a sparrow on bread crumbs but those are exceptions.  More than 90% of wild baby birds that untrained people try to feed die.  Try to resist the urge to keep the baby bird you find and find an experienced person to care for it.  The cuteness and novelty wear off quickly.

Ninebark

Ninebark Summer Wine
Ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius, is everything most gardeners could want in a shrub.  It’s native to central and eastern North America, has beautiful fragrant flowers in spring that bees and butterflies adore, seeds that birds like, good fall color and interesting exfoliating bark for winter interest.  Many cultivated varieties also have colorful summer foliage. 


Ninebark is a shrub, the native species is about 10 feet high by 10 feet wide but more compact and shorter varieties have been developed so almost any gardener can fit one in somewhere and they are well worth including in the garden.  Native wild type ninebark is hardy from zones 2-8 and while they like full sun in the north will grow in partial shade further south.  Ninebark is drought tolerant once established and will grow in almost any kind of well-drained soil.

Ninebark is tough and fast growing, blooming when 2-3 years old.  It has few pests or disease problems; powdery mildew sometimes hits the wild form and some cultivars but doesn’t seriously harm the plant.  Many cultivated varieties have good powdery mildew resistance.  Some nurseries and garden writers list ninebark as deer proof but in my garden deer did prune the plants somewhat for me, although they only ate the branch tips.  Ninebark will also grow close to black walnut trees.

Ninebark generally forms a multi-stemmed, rounded, somewhat arching or weeping shrub.  Older stems will have bark that peels in strips, revealing layers of different colored bark, which is where the name ninebark is supposed to come from.  The bark is visible in winter.  Ninebark sometimes suckers, but is not considered to be an aggressive spreader. 

Ninebark has oval, 3-5 lobed leaves, which are thick and somewhat rough, with toothed edges.  Many cultivated varieties have finer foliage.  The species has plain green leaves that turn yellow in fall.  But there are many cultivated varieties with maroon, purple, or golden foliage that is pretty in summer and has lovely fall color.

The flowers of ninebark are beautiful as well as fragrant.  Some writers describe them as spirea- like, but I see nothing spirea about them, except that they bloom close to the same time.  The shrub is covered in late spring- early summer with rounded clusters of small five petaled flowers.  The clusters range from golf ball to tennis ball size.

In the species and golden leaved varieties the buds are light pink and the open flowers white.  In dark leaved varieties buds are darker pink and the open flowers are white flushed with pink.  In newly opened flowers the cluster of stamens in the center have red tips, which darken as they age.  Bees and butterflies flock to ninebark in bloom, attracted by the light sweet scent and abundant nectar the plant produces.  If you pull the petals from a flower you’ll see drops of nectar in the cup of the remaining sepals.

The flowers turn into reddish inflated seed pods in dangling clusters.  Songbirds enjoy eating the seeds and the capsules themselves provide some winter interest until the birds eat them.

Varieties of ninebark

‘Dart's Golden’ ninebark is a variety with golden yellow spring foliage fading to lime or chartreuse in summer, which becomes golden tinged with orange in the fall.  It’s a bit more compact than the species at 6 feet tall and wide. It’s hardy in zones 3-8.

'Nugget' Ninebark  is a compact variety, growing 5 to 6 feet high and wide. The leaves are a bit more finely-textured than the species, golden yellow in the spring maturing to lime green foliage. Zones 3-8

‘Amber Jubilee’ or 'Jefam' Ninebark is also a compact variety, 5 to 6 feet high and 3 to 4 feet wide.  Spring growth is yellow orange, summer color lime green and fall color is purple.  Zones 3-7.

‘Center Glow’ ninebark has purple foliage with a gold center in spring, fall color is purple red.   It’s a full sized ninebark- 8 or more feet high and wide.  Hardy in zones 3-7.

‘Coppertina’ ninebark is a full sized ninebark with coppery purple spring foliage, purple summer foliage and red-purple fall foliage.  Hardy in zones 3-7.

‘Diabolo’ or ‘Monlo’ ninebark is a large ninebark with deep burgundy purple foliage all year.  It has some mildew resistance.  Zones 3-8.

‘Little Devil’ or'Donna May' ninebark is a dwarf selection of Diablo, with fine textured very deep purple foliage all year.  It grows 4 feet tall and wide and is mildew resistant.  Zones 3-7.

‘Summer Wine’ or  'SWPOTWG' ninebark is compact , growing about 5 feet tall and wide.  It has good purple foliage all year, pink tinged flowers and is quite resistant to mildew.  Zones 3-7.

Tiny Wine® is one of the newer and smaller varieties at only 3-4 feet high and wide.   It has fine-textured, deep purple leaves  and is mildew resistant, and would be excellent for smaller gardens.  Zones 3-7.



Planting and care of ninebark

Ninebark is usually purchased as a plant, especially if you want a cultivated variety.  These are generally started from cuttings.  Seed from ninebark is relatively easy to grow but you probably won’t get seed grown plants that look like their parent unless you are using the seed from wildtype plants.  Plant seeds in pots in the fall after they ripen and leave the pots outside through the winter for best germination.  Ninebark suckers can be dug up and transplanted.

In planting zones 2-6 I would try to place your ninebark in full sun. In higher zones they will do well in partial shade.   They need well drained soil but aren’t fussy about soil type. Don’t amend the soil in the hole when planting.  Back fill with the soil you removed, no matter how poor you think that soil is.  One application of a general purpose fertilizer for shrubs should be given at planting and then once a year in early spring.  Don’t over fertilize.

Keep the ninebark watered during the first year as it establishes itself. After that they rarely need supplemental water unless it’s very dry for long periods.  Ninebark doesn’t do well in wet soil areas.

Ninebark can be pruned to shape it and control height but it must be pruned immediately after flowering, no later than July 1, if you want flowers the next spring.  If you have a badly overgrown and wild looking ninebark you can prune it back to a foot from the ground but expect it to take two years before it blooms again.

Powdery mildew can be avoided by placing plants where they get good air flow and planting resistant varieties. 

Medicinal and other uses of ninebark

The inner bark of ninebark is powdered and used as a laxative tea.  Indigenous people used a cooled tea as a vaginal douche, said to cure infertility, delayed menstruation (which suggests it may be an abortifacient) and infections.  All plant parts are toxic and only experienced herbal practitioners should use it.  Ninebark bark was mixed with cedar bark and used as a brown dye.

Ninebark is a great shrub for a blooming and colorful hedge.  You could alternate plants with different color foliage.  Smaller cultivars look good in butterfly and bee beds or mixed perennial plantings.  One of the nicely colored cultivars could be used as a specimen plant or garden focal point.

Putting an edge on it

One of the pieces of advice I used to give people whose wildflower or pollinator garden plots were drawing the ire of neighbors because they looked messy was to put a nice edge/border on the garden.  Putting a neat border around even a weedy looking patch suddenly improves the looks and says “yes this is a garden.”  Unless your garden is surrounded by pavement it will look better if it is edged, no matter what type of plants it holds.

Edges define a garden and set it off from lawn areas.  They are pleasing to the eye and provide that finishing touch many gardens need. And edges that are maintained help keep grass and weeds out of the garden.  The width of the edge should be determined by the width of the flower bed, the height of plants in the bed and what appeals to you.  In general wide beds need wider edges and taller plant material also looks better with wider edges.



My gardens tend to be messy and crowded.  I use natural things for edging, old timbers, stones or a simple bare strip of ground.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money buying edging for your garden but if you like a more formal garden with plants discreetly placed rather than jumbled together you may want a more formal type of edging material also.

The simplest type of edging is the trench edge or bare strip.  This is one of the oldest methods of putting an edge on a garden.  A trench provides an air barrier from spreading grass roots.  A bare edge can accommodate a lawn mower wheel and keeps weed whackers from getting too close to plants.
Start your edge a couple inches from the base of plants in the bed.     Extend it beyond the spread of mature plants to your desired width.  If you are uncertain about how wide to make the edge make it narrow and then enlarge it if needed.  Stand back a bit from the garden and eyeball it to see if it looks in proportion to the bed size.  You’ll want the outer side of the edge to be straight and even or follow a curved bed in an even manner.

Start by removing a strip of sod the width of your desired edge.  Simply push a shovel in the ground at the outer edge to cut the sod.  Then slide the shovel under the root system of the sod toward the garden.  You may have to wiggle and shove it to cut under the sod.  Lift off pieces of sod like pieces of carpet and discard them in the compost pile.

If you want a trench cut down with the shovel in a V shape about 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide at the top.  Make sure trenches won’t cut into plant roots by placing trenches at the edge of your cleared space. Mound the soil you remove on the garden side of the trench and smooth it out a little. 

If you simply want a bare strip just remove the sod.  You want to make the bare strip is wide enough so that the wheel of the lawn mower can roll on it, without the mower hitting plants, and the mower blades will keep the edge of the strip neat.  Bare strips will probably need to be wider than a trench to keep grass out of the garden.

Other types of edges

If you don’t like the looks of a bare soil edge around your garden you can use woodchips or shredded bark on that bare edge around the garden.  Resist the urge to lay down layers of newspaper, cardboard, carpet or landscape fabric under the mulch.  I used to recommend that too, to help keep weeds down, but research has shown its not good for the soil, and educated professionals are discouraging the practice.  Mulch helps preserve water but it also needs to be replenished from time to time.


In my area, because there are lots of stony farm fields, many people surround gardens with stones.  This can look very nice if you take care to place rocks with their size in proportion to your plants and bed width. Bigger plants and wider beds need larger rocks to look right.  The drawback to rocks is that weeds and grass will grow among them.  This can be tricky to weed.  Some people place a weed barrier strip under the rocks.  Rocks tend to settle in the ground each year and will sometimes need excavating and resetting.

I don’t recommend white gravel or any kind of gravel as edging or mulch.  It looks nice at first but litter quickly collects in rocks and it starts looking messy.  You can use a leaf blower to blow out debris but it’s an extra step to take with a gas polluting engine.  Gravel also gets into lawn areas and becomes projectiles when mowers pass over them.  Many weeds will grow through gravel also.

Lawn timbers, railroad ties, or small straight logs can be used as edging.  You won’t want to use treated lumber as an edge for edible plants but for ornamental plants its fine.  These items can be hard to fit around curved or circular beds.  I find that when I have used logs around beds, which slowly decompose, I get a lot of ant colonies setting up near and under the logs. They can make things quite miserable when you are down there weeding.

Paving stones and concrete edgers look good in more formal garden settings but they can be expensive.  There are all kinds of ways you can make a border with these items, laying them flat, stacking them, turning them on edge and so on.  Recycled rubber and plastic edgers are available, some look nice, and some are cheap and flimsy.

How about plastic edging, the kind you bury with just the rolled lip above ground?  This might keep grass out but it just doesn’t look nice.  It might work on the outer edge of a strip covered with mulch.  And what about low fencing?  This can look nice at the outer edge of a bare or mulched strip but that fencing can be a pain to weed around.  It’s good for areas that people might be tempted to walk on.

Whatever you choose to edge your garden with, do give it an edge.  The right edge or border puts the finishing touch on your garden.



Rose chafer
In my zone 5b-6a garden rose chafer beetles are beginning to show up.  Some of you may already be experiencing rose or other plant damage from them.  They feed on a wide variety of plants including grapes. You can read more about them and how to control them here.


How long does a perennial actually live?

If you are a gardener that shops for plants that are perennial because you want to plant them once and have them forever, you may be wondering why some plants sold as perennials fail to return after a few years in a garden.  You may blame a hard winter, the nursery that sold you the plants or bad luck for the plants death when in truth it may just have lived out its normal life span.

Phlox and coneflowers
When gardeners begin to take an interest in plants as something other than decorating material they learn that plants have various lifespan categories, assigned by botanists as perennial, biannual (biennial) or annual.   Annuals are those plants that live one season; they bloom and produce seed in their first year of life, then die.  Biennials make some foliage growth in their first year, bloom the second year and then die.  Perennials are plants that live more than two years.  

The problem is that some perennial plants barely make it past the two year mark, and some of them are common garden plants.  There are just some species of plants whose lifespan is short, even though they are classified as perennial.  While they may give you a good show for a year or two they will need to replaced far more often than other types of garden plants.  Gardeners need to be aware that not all perennial plants will last for a long time in the garden.

Culture and conditions contribute to plant longevity

While the normal lifespan is indeed a factor in how long a plant lives other things can also affect a plants lifespan.  Plants that are at the edge of their tolerance range for cold or heat will probably live a shorter life than those that are in an ideal climate.  Make sure to check the planting zone rating for the perennial you are considering.   While most plant tags or descriptions will give you the cold tolerance rating very few list heat tolerance ratings for plants.   A few nurseries now list heat tolerance but in general if you live in an area that gets very hot for long periods each summer you’ll want to look up heat tolerance ratings for non-native plants.  Some plants won’t bloom without a certain number of cold days also.  Tulips and daffodils are examples.

And don’t just check the zone for the species in general.  Some cultivars or varieties of common garden plants may be less hardy than others.  For example buddleias and lavender each have varieties that are quite hardy, surviving in Zones 5 or less, but they also have varieties that need warmer zones to thrive.  Sometimes perennials or varieties of perennials that are not in the right zone will live for a year or two but then die when there is a colder winter or warmer, more humid summer.

Some climate factors other than temperature may have to be considered also.  Plants who originate in regions that have dry winters may suffer and have a shorter life in wet snowy winter areas. Many plants that come from the Mediterranean areas, like rosemary, and some bulbs, like tulips, don’t like wet winters.   Plants can also have varying tolerances for windy areas or long periods of drought.

When garden plants are hybrids of several species that have different lifespans in the wild or come from vastly different climates, some of those hybrids may have a shorter or longer life in the garden or perform better and last longer in some places than others.  An example of this was the red coreopsis that was being offered several years ago.  These hybrids rarely lasted more than the first season in the garden.  It can take several years after a new hybrid of an old garden favorite is put on the market for its hardiness and longevity to be established.

Light requirements can be crucial to longevity too.  If you plant a shade lover in full sun or vice versa you will probably shorten the plants lifespan.  Soil type and soil pH (acidity or alkalinity) are also factors.  A plant that likes acidic soil for example, may survive in alkaline soil for a few years but it probably isn’t a healthy, happy plant and will be more susceptible to disease or insects or just disappearing from the garden.  The old adage of right plant in the right place gives each plant the greatest potential to reach its normal lifespan.

How long a plant takes to reach maturity and how it handles competition from other plants may also affect its lifespan.  In general a plant that is slow to reach maturity will live a long time when it does manage to reach that stage.  But these plants may take a little extra care in getting them established or they will die out early.  These plants will need to have more rampantly growing species around them kept from overtaking them or competing for light and water until they are large enough or well established enough to fend for themselves. 

Plants that fool you

Sometimes plants that have been in your garden a long time are not the original plants you planted.  But they are so successful in spreading or seeding themselves that the lifespan of the individual plant is less important.  Hollyhocks for example, are biannual plants, but they reseed so freely that once established in the garden you almost always have them.  Plants that reseed freely such as comfrey and columbine may not have long lived individuals but persist in the garden.  Even some annual plants may reseed and seem to be perennial in the garden.

In general plants that spread quickly through rhizomes or tillers (underground stems) are short lived individually but long lived as a species in the garden.  Bearded iris put out new rhizomes each year but the old rhizomes die after blooming.  A bed of irises may persist 50 years or more.  Plants that produce “daughter” plants around the original plant and make large clumps of plants, such as hosta, are also long lived, sometimes as individual plants or sometimes as a “family” or colony. 

Plants that have woody or semi-woody stems are also longer lived than plants that die to the ground each winter.  Plants that remain evergreen (retain leaves) in the winter are generally longer lived than other types of plants. 

So which plants live the longest in the garden?

When plants have everything they need to thrive and excellent care from you some will still live longer than others.  There is a natural lifespan for each species, hamsters have shorter lifespans than dogs, coreopsis has a shorter lifespan than hosta.  A perennial is considered short lived if it lives 2 to 4 years on average.  It is medium in lifespan if it lives 5 to 8 years and long lived if it lives on average 9 years or more.  Some plants, like peonies, may live longer than 50 years if they are in the right spot.

Peony
Long lived perennials (averages more than 8 years in the right conditions)
These lists are for non-woody perennials.

Acanthus mollis- (Bears Breeches)
Aconitum spp.(Monkshood )
Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle )
Amsonia orientalis(Blue Star)
Anaphalis  triplinervis (Pearly Everlasting)
Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard )
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed )
Baptisia australis (False Blue Indigo)
Centaurea montana
Chelone oblique- Turtleshead)
Cimicifuga racemosa (Snakeroot)
Crosmia spp.
Dictamnus albus (Gas Plant)
Ferns (various species)
Filipendula rubra ( Meadowsweet)
Geranium spp.(Hardy Geraniums)
Helleborus spp.( Hellebore)
Helenium autumnale ( Sneezeweed)
Hemerocallis spp (Daylily)
Hosta spp
Iris sibirica (Siberian Iris)
Liatris spp (Blazing Star)
Lunaria rediviva (Money Plant, Honesty)
Narcissus spp (Daffodil, narcissus)
Nepata x faasenii ( Cat mint)
Ornamental Grasses (most perennial species)
Paeonia spp (Peony)
Papaver orientale ( Oriental poppy)
Platycodon grandiflorus (Balloon Flower)
Pulmonaria spp (Lungwort)
Rudbeckia fulgida (Black-eyed Susan)
Sedum spp ( Stonecrop )
Veronicastrum virginicum ( Culvers Root)

Short lived perennials (3-5 years)
Aquilegia spp (Columbine )
Coreopsis grandiflora (Tickseed)
Delphinium spp (Delphinium )
Dianthus spp (Pinks)
Echinacea spp.( Coneflowers)
Gaillardia x grandiflora (Blanket Flower)
Gypsophila paniculata (Baby's Breath)
Heuchera spp (Coral Bells )
Hyacinthus orientalis (Hyacinth )
Leucanthemum spp.(Shasta Daisy)
Linum perenne (Perennial Flax )
Lupinus hybrids (Lupine )
Lychnis chalcedonica (Maltese Cross )
Monarda spp. (Bee Balm)
Papaver nudicaule (Iceland Poppy)
Scabiosa spp.(Pincushion Flower )
Tanacetum coccineum (Painted Daisy )
Tulipa spp (Hybrid Tulips )

You’ll notice that some popular garden plants are relatively short lived.  (Some reseed or sucker though.)  Remember this if you are spending large sums of money on a new variety of one of these species.  Some common garden plants aren’t listed because they fall somewhere in between long and short lived or that they have so many varieties and hybrids with different life spans.   Roses for example can be very long lived in some species or hybrids and short lived in others.
 
Echinacea, short lived but pretty
This doesn’t mean that you should avoid certain perennials, just that you will need to replant some varieties if you want the same display in your garden each year. Some short lived perennials are popular because they are great performers in the garden while they last.

So if a plant has disappeared over the winter don’t assume it was killed by disease or something you did. It could just have reached its natural lifespan. Plant another one and garden on.

Strawberry  shortcake waffles

One of the best ways to use up some of those great strawberries from your garden or from a wonderful farm market is to make strawberry shortcake.  Another great way is to put strawberries on waffles.  So why not combine the two?   Break out that waffle maker and don’t worry about heating up the oven on a warm summer day, your waffle maker can make shortcakes quickly while you stay cool.  If you don’t have a waffle maker this batter can be cooked like pancakes too.

First prepare the strawberries.  They need to sit at least an hour, overnight is better.  Wash the berries and remove the leafy caps.  Slice or half the strawberries.  For every 2 cups of sliced strawberries add a half cup of sugar and toss the berries in it.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  This will make a light syrup as the sugar draws out the strawberry fluid.  If you like your strawberries sweeter you can add a little more sugar.  Two cups of sliced berries is enough for 3-4 small waffles.  For the recipe below you may need 4-5 cups of sliced berries to cover all the shortcake waffles.

Next you’ll need to prepare your shortcake-waffle batter.  Actually you can use any recipe for plain waffles, the results will be fine.  But this shortcake batter with a touch of lemon is delightful.

Ingredients

2 cups of baking mix, such as Bisquick® or Krustav®
1 lightly beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1/8 teaspoon- (few drops) lemon extract

4-5 cups sliced strawberries in syrup
pan spray or melted butter for waffle maker

Read your waffle maker instructions again if you don’t remember how to use it!  Then blend all the ingredients, adding milk gradually, add just enough milk until the mixture is thin enough to pour easily.   Spray or coat the waffle maker with oil or butter and add batter.  A gravy ladle makes a great batter spoon.  Smooth batter evenly in waffle imprints.   Just barely cover the bumps in the waffle maker with batter, don’t overfill. 

It generally takes just a minute or two to cook a waffle.  Your waffle maker may have lights or other signals to tell you when the shortcake-waffle is done.  Otherwise cook until lightly brown.  Re-coat the waffle maker with pan spray or melted butter for each batch of waffles.

Remove shortcake-waffles to a plate and top with strawberries and then a dab of whipped cream or ice cream.   Depending on shortcake-waffle size this recipe makes 6-10 shortcake-waffles. You can also freeze unused waffles for quick snacks or breakfasts later.

Frozen, thawed fruit can be used when the local fresh fruit is gone.


June is like a beautiful girl on the cusp of womanhood

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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