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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

October 31, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

Hi Gardeners

What a difference a week makes.  I went from having a garden where lots of things were still blooming to a mess of blackened, wilting plants.  After a couple of pretty good freezes last week most of the garden is gone.  I’ve chopped down my cutting garden.  A few petunias, some alyssum, calendula and a bidens in a hanging basket are still managing to push out flowers but it won’t be long before they too are gone.

That golden redbud tree I could see out my office window is now more brown- what little of the leaves remain.  The sugar maple now has more color than it did but it’s rapidly dropping leaves.  It’s been windy and wet and quite chilly here, but I guess it’s fairly average for the cusp of November.

We have a dead poplar tree that is giving off some awful groans and moans in the wind, very suited for the spooky season. It’s been dead for a couple years but it’s in a bad place to work on and a place where it won’t do tremendous damage when it falls.  The tree has rotted right at the base and its now leaning into a big black willow.  When the wind blows it sounds like a Halloween sound track, with the screechy groans.  I had to go out to the car last night after dark and it was definitely spooky.

Daylight savings time ends Sunday.  In the European Union they just voted to stop switching the time seasonally, but can’t decide whether to use winter or summer time all year.  Many countries have already switched to one time all year and the US keeps talking about it but never doing it.  I wish we would.  I don’t know which time to keep- winter or summer- either though.  I like the long evenings in the summer so I guess summer time.  Switching times is bad for our health each year, research suggests, so we should pick one time option and keep it.

The spookiest plants

For fun this week I thought of some plants that might be considered spooky to write about.  There are many other plants with “spooky” qualities but here’s my top five.

One of the spookiest and strangest plants I can think of is Ghost pipes, also known as Indian pipes.  This plant with its ghostly, waxy white flowers and foliage lurks in the deep woods, hiding from the sun.  It is a vampire, (parasitic) not producing its own food but sucking nourishment from the roots of trees.  If you handle ghost pipes they turn black and fall apart, so please don’t touch if you find them.

Ghost pipes are native to many parts of the world, including through most of the United States wherever there are woodlands.  However they are not often seen and remain rare except in localized patches.  Indigenous people of many cultures have considered them sacred and medicinal plants. 

Ghost Pipes - US Forest Service

Ghost pipes grow on the roots of beech, oak, and occasionally other trees.  The plants are often mistaken for fungi, but they are true flowering plants.  The white stems are curved in the shape of a smoking pipe stuck in the ground.  They are about 8” high and covered with tiny scale like bracts which are its equivalent of leaves.  Ghost pipe plants are occasionally dotted with black or flushed with pink color.

One or several stems may come from the mass of fibrous roots that are attached to tree roots just under the forest humus layer.  The roots obtain food, minerals and water from their tree host by using mycelium, a fungus, which connects the ghost pipes roots with the tree roots.  It is almost impossible to successfully transplant ghost pipes and one should not destroy the plants by attempting it.  The plants are not cultivated either, so you will have to enjoy them where you find them.

A white flower appears on the end of the ghost pipe stem in summer. It has 4-6 petals and yellow stamens.  Plants are pollinized by small native bees and flies.  A small seed pod then forms, with dark thread-like seeds. If you could get some of the seeds and have a suitable deep forest situation to plant them in you might have a slim chance of growing the plant.

There are many medicinal/magical properties assigned to the plant but because of its rarity and fragileness I won’t go into details there. No one should be collecting this plant for medicinal use.  The plant is considered to have toxic properties although not much research has been done on it.

Bat Flowers Tacca chantrieri or Tacca integrifolia

Bat Flowers have interesting true black or white flowers floating on long stems above the foliage, with long whisker like appendages.  They are shaped similar to flying bats if you have good imagination. And since they bloom in late summer and fall, sometimes around Halloween, they make a perfect candidate for spooky plant.   

Tacca chantrieri is the black flowered batflower, Tacca integrifolia has white flowers.  There are actually 10 species of Tacca but the two mentioned are those most often seen in cultivation.  They are native to Southeast Asia and China.
 
Black bat flower- wikimedia commons
Here in the United States bat flowers are grown as houseplants except in the most tropical regions, those that are humid and stay above 40 degrees, zone 11 or higher.  Bat flowers have broad glossy leaves and make an attractive houseplant.  They can be a bit tricky to grow inside.  They require bright light but not direct sunlight, high humidity, and warm conditions.  Plants should be in a light, highly organic potting medium that drains well but kept evenly moist.  They should be fertilized every other week in summer through blooming time.  Many tropical plant nurseries have the plants for sale.

Bat faced cuphea- Cuphea llavea

Here’s another plant whose flowers remind people of bats.  They are also called tiny mice, because others think the flowers look like mice. (One company has registered that name for the plants.)  In this case the bats “wings” are red and the “face” of the bat is purple.

Bat faced cuphea is fairly easy to grow as a potted plant.  It’s native to Mexico and considered to be a tender perennial but most people grow them as annuals. In its native home it’s a small bushy evergreen shrub.  In containers the plants tend to get tall and leggy in a long season and should be pinched back from time to time.

Bat faced cuphea has oval, pointed, hairy leaves.  The flowers are produced in the leaf joints, with two red petals and the purple calyx, to resemble a bat’s face.  They bloom freely all summer and attract hummingbirds and butterflies.
 
Bat faced cuphea- wikipedia
The plants need full sun, even moisture and regular fertilization to bloom well. They do not survive frost and won’t survive all year in zones 8 or lower. Most people discard them at the end of warm weather but some have managed to overwinter them for at least one more season. They should be kept in a cool, about 60 degree location with good light and allowed to get slightly dry between watering.  Indoors they are very susceptible to aphids and whitefly.

Eyeball plant- Acmella oleracea syn. Spilanthes oleracea

Here’s a cute little spooky plant any gardener can grow. The odd olive yellow globe shaped flowers with a red center are said to remind one of bloodshot eyeballs. Another name for the plant is electric daisy, because if you put a flower in your mouth you’ll get an odd tingling reaction and it will make you produce a lot of saliva. It’s a tender perennial most often grown as an annual plant.  Eyeball plant is native to South America but grown in many tropical regions around the world.

Eyeball plant makes a mound of dark green attractive foliage and will bloom for much of the summer.  It likes full sun and well-drained soil. It’s often used in children’s gardens because of its odd flowers.  Gardeners can start it from seed or buy plants.  Seeds require light to germinate, and temperatures above 60 degrees. Transplant to the garden after all danger of frost has passed.

Besides its odd flowers Eyeball plant is also called toothache plant because it is used as an herbal remedy for toothache as it numbs the mouth.  It has several other herbal uses.  The leaves can be used as a fresh salad green or as a cooked green.  A flavoring extract is made from the plant called Jambu which is used in many ethnic dishes. 
Eyeball plant- wikipedia

Devils walking stick (Aralia spinose)

Now here’s a native plant that can give the garden a truly interesting feel of magic and sorcery.  Devils Walking Stick is a suckering shrub or small tree native to Eastern North America and hardy from zone 5 to 8.  The trunks are covered with rows of sharp wicked thorns, from which they earn their name.  Leaf petioles also have thorns. This can make gardening by the plants treacherous but it also provides interesting winter texture.  The plants have fragrant clusters of creamy white flowers in summer which attract butterflies and bees, purple black fruits and beautiful bronzy red-yellow leaves in fall.

Devils walking stick has double or triple compound leaves consisting of rounded leaflets about 2 inches wide.  Total leaf size is the largest of temperate North American trees, 2 feet wide by 3 feet long.  They grow as understory trees, usually in thickets of clones, and require partial shade to do well.  They prefer moist, rich organic soil.

Despite the cruel thorns devils walking stick was cultivated by Native Americans before Europeans arrived. They moved trees to islands and close by villages to protect the berries from animals and make them easy to access.  They may have produced a sort of living fence also.  The thick roots were used medicinally and the berries were used in many food products.  The flowers were prized for their lemony scent, worn in the hair and traded among tribes.

Europeans began to cultivate the plants for medicinal, edible and ornamental use in the late 1600’s.  Young leaves can be chopped and used as a cooked green, and the berries are edible if cooked.  Gardeners can find plants for sale at some nurseries but think twice before planting this shrub.  The thorns are genuinely painful and plants should not be placed near walkways or where children play.  The plant needs partial or light shade.  The plants sucker vigorously and will become an unmanageable thicket of thorns if not kept under tight control.  Yet in some instances devils walking stick can make an interesting garden subject.
Devils walking stick in flower
Wikimedia

How to find more room for houseplants

If you love plants you’ll want to have some in your house.  Most public buildings now incorporate indoor landscapes into their building design. You can too.  Houseplants are known to improve the mood of people in rooms with them.  They may have some benefit in cleaning air in homes.  Don’t worry about having enough space for houseplants or the right window exposure. With a few clever tricks you can double the space you have in the house to grow houseplants.

Group houseplants to make them look more natural and think about varying textures and foliage colors just as you vary your outside landscaping.  Weeping or hanging plants can be intertwined with upright spiky plants and full bushy ones. 

Making the most of window space

Window sills just don’t have enough space for the average plant lover.  You can add a table in front of the window to increase space for plants.  Use tripod type plant stands on top of the table, putting plants in them and under them to double the space for plants.  Aquarium stands are sturdy and about the right height to fit under windowsills without being too wide.  You can often find them at garage sales.  You may need to place a board across the top of them to hold plants.

You can also put a shelf half way up the window to double your houseplant space.  If the window is tall two or more shelves could be added.   You can add shelves by putting shelf brackets on both sides of the window and putting a shelf across them.  You can use pre-painted wooden shelves, glass shelves or wire shelves that are often sold for bathroom or garage storage. 

If you have enough plants in the window curtains for privacy probably aren’t needed.  Curtains just collect dust anyway.  But if you feel the need to add curtains for privacy, set your plant shelf half way up the window or higher and install the curtains below them.  Since the shelf brackets will hold the shelf out from the window, blinds could be fitted inside the window frame, behind the shelves of plants to provide privacy when needed.

For door walls and picture windows where a shelf across the span wouldn’t be practical, consider plant stands or sets of plant stands that allow you to “stack” plants in the window.  A step ladder can be used as a big plant stand.  Paint a 5-6 foot stepladder an attractive color and place it sideways in front of a window.  Use the steps for plants.  Large floor plants can go in the center of the ladder or you can hang a hanging basket in the center.  Two ladders back to back with the open area in the middle of the window will give you lots of attractive growing space.

You can also add a small shelf bracket to the center of the top window frame and hang a nice plant in a basket from it.  The bracket moves the pot out from the window a bit.  Ceiling hooks can also be installed near windows to hang plants on but make sure they are heavy duty brackets and preferably anchored in a ceiling stud.  There are hooks that fit over the tracks that suspended ceiling tiles rest on but these hooks and the tracks will support only lightweight pots.

Shelves and pot holders that stick to window glass with suction cups are now sold.  These can only be used with lightweight pots however.

Rex begonia leavess


Not just the windowsill

Houseplants need sufficient light for their growth and the amount of light they need varies by the type of plant.  There are many houseplants that don’t need to be restricted to the window sill.  Plants that need lower light levels will also do well in spots farther from windows, on tables or stands or even in large floor pots.  If you can read a book there the spot will be fine for some type of plant.

If you have a regular source of artificial light you can probably place a plant there.  Office lights that are on 8-10 hours a day or more are a good example.  Many plants that thrive in low light will do well in offices or on desks that aren’t near a window. 

Good plants for low light levels are sanseveria (snake plants), spider plants, pothos, philodendron, aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen), aspidistra ( Cast Iron Plant), dracaena, fittonia, hedera (English ivy), and asplenum (birds nest fern).

In general the closer to a source of artificial light the plants are the better they will do. Place plants on top of file cabinets and under desk lamps.  Light colored walls, mirrors and reflective surfaces increase the light available to plants also. 

There are many types of growlight bulbs available now and most can be used in a variety of fixtures.  You might want to consider replacing a regular light bulb in a desk lamp with a grow light bulb.  As well as better light for plants, the light is easy on human eyes.  I use growlight bulbs in my home office, both in the overhead light fixture and the desk lamp. 

I have suspended growlights by the windows in which I have plants because in Michigan winters even a south window may not get enough light for some plants.  I put the plants that need the strongest light right next to the window or directly under the hanging light fixture.  Having growlights in the window allows me to expand my plant window grouping further into the room.

There are commercial grow light stands but these can seem unnatural looking for plants in the main part of the home.  They are great for starting plants or growing hobby plants in an unused room.  But you could incorporate a grow light fixture under a shelf in a bookcase and situate plants on the shelf below it.  Or if you have track lighting put a grow light bulb in the light fixture closest to a plant.   


Keep a grow light stand or reserve a windowsill in an unused room to hold plants that need a little extra time and attention to look good.  This can also be a place to start seeds and cuttings.  Plants can be rotated from poor light conditions to under the grow light or in the “hospital” window to keep them healthy.

Special problems

Having trouble with your cat or dog destroying houseplants?  You can hang plants out of their reach. Or place the plant in a decorative bird cage. You can hang the caged plant or put it on a stand.  You can find old cages at garage sales and resale shops.  A tip for keeping pets out of plant pots is inserting plastic forks in the soil, tines up.  Buy black or dark colored plastic forks for a better appearance. You can also bunch up pieces of black netting into balls and place on the pot surface.

Have a drafty area where you want to place plants?  Place them in a fish bowl, large glass jar or fish tank for an instant terrarium.  If you have a very warm area that dries out most plants, consider cacti.  If you have a plant that gets dry leaf tips because the humidity is low locate it in the bathroom, laundry room or over the kitchen sink.  Locating it near an aquarium can also help.  Or since dry air is also bad for you, consider adding a home humidifier.

There is always room for a houseplant in every home and office.  Keep plants groomed and healthy looking.  Don’t be afraid to prune houseplants that grow too large or lopsided or which have become lanky and bare.  You'll love the feel of a lush indoor landscape and your family and guests will too.

Time to clean out those old pesticides

Now that the garden season is winding down it’s time to clean up your garden supply storage area.  It’s particularly important to examine all your pesticides to see what needs to be discarded and that everything is stored correctly.  Gardeners use more pesticides than farmers and even those who garden organically often have organic pesticides on hand.  These organic pesticides need to be handled just as carefully as conventional pesticides.

A pesticide is anything that kills something else.  Pesticides include weed killers, insect killers and disease control products.  They also include mosquito sprays for personal use, flea, lice and tick control products for pets and livestock, and poisons for rats and mice.  Some fertilizers contain pesticides.  All of these products have the potential for harm if used or stored improperly.

Once or twice a year you should go through your garden shed, garage or basement storage area and examine all pesticides. Make sure the containers are intact, and not leaking, torn or rusting out. Pesticides should be in their original containers, if not they need to be discarded.  Pesticides may be good for one or two seasons if properly stored but any pesticides that have been around for more than 2 years should probably be discarded.  Don’t buy pesticides in quantities that you won’t use up in two garden seasons.

Look for rotenone

If it’s been a while since you have examined the pesticides in your storage area it’s time to check the labels for pesticides that have been banned or recalled.  One of the product ingredients you should be looking for is rotenone.  This product is considered organic and was a very popular ingredient in home garden products.  However as of 2012 there is no licensed or legal use of this product except by licensed applicators for killing fish. 

After many years of research the use of rotenone has been strongly tied to a greatly increased risk of Parkinson’s disease among users.  It has also been implicated in increasing the risk for some forms of cancer. It is very toxic to bees.  Products with rotenone in them were still being sold this spring on line.

Rotenone was an ingredient in many garden insect killing products, usually in a dust form but also in some sprays and liquids.  Flea and tick control products as well as poultry and livestock lice control products also contained rotenone.  Products labeled organic are more likely to contain rotenone.  Organic farmers have been banned from using rotenone on their crops for several years and it is time that the product is removed from home gardening also.

Other products to discard

If you are one of those people who bought and hoarded certain chemicals when you heard they were going to be taken off the market shame on you.  It’s time to do the right thing and discard those things.  And some people just let time go by, while never cleaning their pesticide stash, and have accumulated products that we know are no longer safe.  It’s time for an inventory and clean up.

Here are some other products/chemical ingredients that you need to remove, lindane, chlordane, DDT, 2-4-5-T, silvex, ethel dibromide (EDB), PCP or Pentachlorophenol, ammonium sulphamate, atrazine, dichlorophen, dichlorprop, arsenic oxide, arsenic trioxide, carbofuran, copper arsenate, methyl parathion, tributyltin compounds, daminozide/alar, 2,3,4,5-Bis(2-butylene)tetrahydro-2-furaldehyde, mirex, endosulfan.  This list is always being updated by the EPA and may not contain all banned chemicals.  Some of these chemicals may be allowed in restricted use applications by licensed applicators.

In addition to the above home gardeners may want to consider removing products with carbaryl or Sevin.  This chemical has been banned in Europe and Australia for many years.  It is very toxic to bees and is considered to be a likely carcinogen (cancer causing agent) by the EPA and may be linked to Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and endocrine diseases.  It may soon be banned in the US.  Permethrin is another chemical banned in Europe and Australia that may soon be banned here and it is another chemical suspected of causing Parkinson’s disease.  It is extremely toxic to cats.

If you find a product with a restricted or banned ingredient in it read the label directions for the proper disposal method.  All pesticide labels are required to have this information.  If you don’t have a label on the product look up the product on line for disposal information or talk to a local health department or Extension office.  Some products require toxic waste disposal, the health department in your county should be able to direct you to a proper place for this.  Never dump chemicals into drains or toilets unless the label says they can go there.   And never dump them on the ground, down holes or old wells. 

Remember that the pesticide label directions are not just recommendations, they are usually instructions for the legal use, handling and storage of pesticides and when you don’t follow those instructions you are breaking the law.  Also remember that almost all pesticides, including those labeled organic, can be hazardous to you and the environment and treat them respectively and responsively.

Roasting pumpkin seeds

Clean the seeds out of one or more pumpkins and try to remove as much of the stringy “goop” as possible.  Place the seeds in a colander and wash with cold water.  Drain and spread the seeds on a foil covered cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.   Lightly spray the seeds with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt to your taste.  Put the cookie sheets in an oven set at 325 degrees and roast for about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally and keep checking on them, don’t let them get too brown.  After roasting they can be stored in sealed containers.  You call hull them before storing if you want.

For spicy pumpkin seeds try this recipe.  Mix 1 1/2-tablespoon butter, 1/2- teaspoon seasoned salt 1/8-teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of Worchester sauce in a bowl and toss the seeds in it before roasting.  It will coat 2-3 cups of seeds.


Preparing pumpkin for recipes

There’s more to a pumpkin than making a Jack O Lantern.  Pumpkin is high in carotene, antioxidants and vitamins and tastes great in a variety of treats like pumpkin pie, cheesecake, bread, cake, soup and much more.  But before you can make most of those recipes you need to come up with a pumpkin puree.  Here are some ideas for turning a pumpkin into that puree so you can prepare something scarily delicious. (Hint: if you paint a face on the pumpkin you can recycle it to puree the day after Halloween.)

Before using any of these methods to make pumpkin puree make sure you scrub the outside of the pumpkin well to remove any soil that could contaminate the finished product. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and the stringy “goop” inside.  A big spoon or an ice cream scoop are good for this. The pumpkin should still have firm flesh inside and not feel mushy.  It should have been fully ripe but it doesn’t have to be orange, white, tan, blue and other color pumpkins can be used.  The best pumpkin for cooking comes from smaller, dense pie type pumpkins but others can be used.

To bake a pumpkin spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and place pumpkin halves on it with the cut side down.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half, the pumpkin is done when it feels soft.  Don’t let it burn, that affects the puree flavor.  Use a fork and poke the pumpkin.  If it slides in easily it’s done.

You can also cut the pumpkin in chunks, put them in a big pan, add about 3 cups of water to a medium sized pumpkin, cover the pan and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Once again don’t let the pieces scorch and it’s done when it feels soft and the pieces have “collapsed”.

To use a steamer cut the pumpkin in chunks, place them in the steamer basket, add water to the bottom of the basket and cook until soft.  This is faster but your steamer probably won’t hold much at a time.

You can also use the microwave, cut the pumpkin in chunks, put them in a microwave safe bowl and cover it loosely with plastic or a vented cover.  Cook until soft, checking frequently. 

Once you have cooked the pumpkin remove the skin or rind by either scraping the “meat” off it or pulling the skin off the pieces with your fingers.  Caution hot!  Then mash the pumpkin with a blender or mixer until it is smooth.  You now have pumpkin puree for all your recipes. You’ll need to season it to your taste.  Good seasonings include salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.

Five pounds of pumpkin pieces will give you about 4-1/2 cups of puree.  A 15-16 oz. commercial can of pumpkin puree is about 2 cups.  You can freeze this puree in freezer containers or bags but don’t try to can it.  The puree is too dense to safely can it. 

You can pumpkin at home by cutting it in chunks, cutting the outer rind off the chunks.  Place the chunks in water, allow them to come to a boil and boil for three minutes. Using tongs place hot chunks into quart canning jars.  Fill spaces in the jars with the cooking water or additional boiled water leaving 1 inch of head space. 

You must use a pressure canner for pumpkin and process for 90 minutes at the proper pressure.  For a dial gauge that’s 11 pounds up to 2,000 feet altitude, 12 pounds 2001 to 4,000 feet, 13 pounds at 4001-6000 and 14 pounds above that.  For a weighted gauge use 10 pounds up to 2000 feet and 15 pounds over that.



Pumpkin Soup

On Halloween night, just before trick or treating, or that party, here’s a thick nutritious soup to counterbalance all those sweets.  This is also good at Thanksgiving – or just any cold day.

Ingredients
10 cups raw pumpkin cubes- (4 ½ pounds) rind removed
1 large apple peeled and diced
1 medium onion, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Chives and sour cream- optional for garnish

Melt 2 tablespoons of real butter in a large pot. 

Add the minced onion and a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg.  Sauté until onions are light brown, on low heat to keep butter from burning.

Add apple juice and vegetable broth, cubed raw pumpkin and diced apple.

Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. 

When the pumpkin pieces are soft- about 30 minutes- turn off heat and use a hand blender or mash the pieces until smooth. 

Add salt and pepper to taste and resume cooking to the desired thickness, stirring frequently to make sure the soup doesn’t scorch.  Depending on the water content of the pumpkin and your preferences this can take 5-15 minutes.

Serve with a bit of sour cream and chopped chives.

Are you giving out seeds for Halloween?

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.

How chickens carve pumpkins


And So On….

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 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


Tuesday, October 24, 2017

October 24, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

Hi Gardeners
 
Tithonia still blooming, bee still buzzing
The leaves have left the bur oak by the driveway, hastened by the high winds and rain we had last night.  It’s amazing how many leaves one tree has, the yard and flower beds are covered.  The fall color hasn’t been very good this year and I suspect we’ll lose the leaves of most trees before they color up much.  The sugar maple in the pasture is losing leaves that have just a touch of yellow. When I look out the window near my desk I am mostly seeing bare trees now, the redbud is the one blast of shimmering gold against the gray sky.

Our weather is going to turn sharply colder in the next few days and a freeze is likely tomorrow night.  Right now there are still many annuals in bloom, zinnias, tithonia, petunias, salvia, sweet alyssum, bacopa, and the landscape roses, toad lilies sedum and dahlias are still blooming strongly.  I was outside on the beautiful Sunday we had collecting seeds.  Tithonia seedheads are very prickly things; like a ball of thorns, they must be designed to keep the birds from eating the seeds.  I waited almost too long for the Love in a Mist seed pods, they were scattering their seeds as soon as I touched them but I managed to get some.

I finished planting my bulbs this weekend. I was tucking them under the hosta in front and noticed I have a lot of baby hosta seedlings coming up.  I always get too ambitious with the bulb catalogs and then when it’s time to plant them- about 400 this year- I am searching for spots where I won’t be digging into bulbs already there.  I look at my pictures from spring for help identifying bare areas but when I get there I am sometimes surprised. 

Planting bulbs in the fall, especially new varieties and species I don’t have, gives me something to look forward to in early spring.  Every spring is unique, different bulb combinations blooming at the same time, new colors, little surprises everywhere. 

Inside the houseplants are settling in after their summer vacation outside and adjusting to indoor light.  One of my hibiscuses lost most of its leaves but in just the last week shiny new leaves have popped out and today the plant has 5 large flowers. The hibiscus variety Kona, which has pink double flowers, has been blooming since I brought it inside. I have a Thanksgiving cactus blooming already and my streptocarpus all have a good flush of bloom. The bouvardia and fuchsia are blooming and so is my orange jasmine.

My husband got ambitious this year and collected about a bushel of black walnuts for shelling.  We have a bumper crop this year and few squirrels to collect them. We usually let someone else have them, if anyone stops and asks, because of the work involved before you can use them.  My grandfather collected several bushels every fall from his trees and spent the winter cracking them when he had free moments.

I warned Steve about his hands turning black from handling the hulls but he still managed to get black thumbs.  First you have to remove the green husk, then crack the hard shell, and then pick out the nut meats.  He sat in the house while it rained yesterday and cracked nuts.  He had to use a cement block and a big hammer to crack them. After a couple of hours he had about 3 cups of nut meats. (I hope he’s motivated enough to finish the job.) That’s why those nuts are so darned expensive to buy.  I will be using them to make some great cookies and cakes.
 
Tithonia seed head


Seed Collecting

Speaking of collecting seeds (nuts are seeds), it’s that time of year when many gardeners are collecting seeds to grow next year. This is a great idea if you grow old, heirloom style plants, plants that are expensive or hard to find or you are just curious about what the plants will look like in the second generation after all that wild plant sex in the garden this year. 

Make sure the seeds you want to collect are ripe.  Generally this will mean a brown dry seed pod or a very ripe fruit.  Dry seeds can simply be stored in small clean jars; several paper bags or packets of different seeds can be stored in one jar.  Plastic bags can be used to collect dry seeds but since there is usually a little moisture left in the seeds it’s better to transfer them to paper packets that will absorb a bit of moisture.  Seeds sealed in plastic bags are more likely to mold. 
Seeds and seedpods of woodland nicotiana

I like to use envelopes from junk mail to store seeds, they can be taped shut. A bit of powdered milk can be twisted inside a tissue and placed in jars of seeds to absorb moisture also.  Dried rice added to a jar with paper packets can also be helpful to absorb moisture.

Larger seeds like beans need to be spread on a screen and dried in a warm place for a week or so before storing. Corn should be dried on the cob for a few weeks before being removed from the cob. Seeds need to be separated from moist fruits and dried on a screen also.  Some moist fruits, like that of tomato, are best left to rot in a safe place.  Once the fruit has disintegrated wash the seeds in cool water and spread them out on a screen to dry.

Do not dry seeds for planting in the oven or worse in the microwave.  Don’t laugh- someone once asked me why none of the seeds they grew germinated the next year.  After questioning I found they dried them in the microwave.  Drying in the oven may kill the seed embryos and drying the seeds in the microwave will certainly destroy them.  If the seeds are for eating or cooking drying them in the oven is fine.

One of the most vital parts of seed saving is to label the seeds. Believe me; you won’t always remember which seeds are which next year.  Do it at the same time you collect the seeds and make sure the writing doesn’t smear to where it’s illegible. If you deliberately crossed two varieties of plants make sure to write the parent’s variety names on the packets.

When your seed packets are filled store them in a cool dry place that mice and insects can’t get into.  A cool to cold place for storage is important for many types of seeds.  Some plants have special seed storage quirks you’ll needs to consider.  There’s a page with lots of seed information in the list to the right of this blog and there’s a section about special needs of some seeds.

The seeds from newer hybrid plants may not be such a good idea to save as the second generation is often a hodgepodge of inferior types, and it makes better sense to purchase new hybrid seeds next year.  This is also true if you enjoy trying different varieties each year or if a certain variety didn’t do well for you. 

Many gardeners like to share and trade seeds.  Collecting seeds from your garden may be a way to meet other gardeners in your area and also get varieties of plants that may be hard to find.  Many seed pods make excellent dried flower arrangement material too.

Fall seed sowing of common garden flowers

You may think the planting season is over when the leaves fall off the trees but there are some common garden flowers that drop their seeds in the fall.  Those seeds need a period of cold to germinate and may need the freezing and thawing cycle to crack a hard seed coat and allow moisture in for germination.  You may have some of the garden plants that require these conditions in your garden and they will self- seed for you if left alone.  If you don’t have the plants and want them in your garden now may be the time, before the ground freezes solid, to sow some of those seeds.

Seeds that can be sown in the fall include: bachelor's button, coreopsis, cosmos, echinacea, flax, larkspur, moss rose, marigolds, milkweeds, morning glory, nasturtium, pansy, poppy, strawflower, sweet pea, verbena, viola and zinnia.  Buy the seeds or collect dry seeds from friend’s plants if you don’t have them.  Some of these may also be planted in early spring.  Some wildflower and grass seed may also be suggested for fall planting.  Check the label, plant description or a reference.  Chances are if nature drops the seed in late fall it likes fall planting.
Bachelors buttons

When you are collecting seed from the garden remember that seeds from hybrids like most marigolds and zinnias you purchased in a garden center last spring will not come true from seed.  That is they will probably not look like their parent.  But that said they are often just as pretty although you may get a range of sizes and colors.  And you could get something unusual and exciting if you experiment.

What to do

Clear a spot in the garden of vegetation and loosen the soil.  Sprinkle the seeds over the area. You may want to sprinkle them thickly as some will not germinate.  You can thin in the spring.  Very small seeds like poppy seed should not be covered but press them against the soil.  Larger seeds like morning glory seed should have a loose layer of soil about a half inch thick placed over them.  Don’t water the seeds; it tends to wash them into clumps or away from your prepared area.  Nature should take care of the watering for you. 

You can apply a very thin layer of mulch such as pine needles or chopped straw but don’t use leaves or anything that mats over the seeds and don’t make the mulch deeper than a half inch.  (Poppies, larkspur and moss rose will germinate better if not mulched.) Make sure to mark the spots where you sow the seeds.  Some may wait until warmer weather to emerge so don’t be in a big hurry in the spring to plant over them, thinking they didn’t sprout.  If you have trouble with birds pecking at your seeds cover the area with netting.

It’s not too late to plant the seeds until the ground freezes solid.  After all nature will still be dropping them, even after the snow falls in some cases.  It’s an easy, inexpensive and effective way to get more plants into your garden.

Marigold

Sleeping with plants

Should you keep houseplants in your bedroom?  The answer is absolutely yes, if you have a suitable spot for them.  There’s an old myth that plants absorb oxygen at night and therefore are dangerous to sleep by.  While it’s true that plants take up some oxygen at night and don’t give off as much as they do in the day there’s absolutely no way that plants will deprive you of oxygen as you sleep.  You could have a room that’s tightly closed up full of plants and still not have to worry.

During the day when plants are in light and are photosynthesizing (converting light into a simple sugar), they give off oxygen as a waste product of that process.  That’s really good for us animals, because we can’t produce our own oxygen. At night or in darkness plants cease photosynthesis but continue to use a little oxygen for life processes.  

When the glucose that’s produced by photosynthesis is broken down to be used by the plant, waste products of carbon dioxide and water are released through plant pores. This process, called respiration, happens around the clock if the plant is alive. All living things use respiration to break down food into useable energy for growth and maintenance of the organism.  Plants are releasing carbon dioxide in the daytime as well as the night and using oxygen too, but they are also taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere- usually at a much higher rate than they give off during the day.

Who wouldn't want to sleep with these beauties?

The amount of carbon dioxide released by plants at night is harmless to humans, even if the room is packed with plants.  I think many people confuse carbon dioxide with carbon monoxide, which can be dangerous to people in relatively small amounts, but doesn’t come from living plants.  Carbon monoxide comes from burning fossil fuels or wood.  (Carbon dioxide is also produced by fires but in smaller quantities.)  While too much carbon dioxide could also harm you it’s very rare to be poisoned by it and certainly houseplants, even in a closed room, are not going to produce enough carbon dioxide to harm you.

Any small amount of carbon dioxide released by plants at night is offset by the additional benefit plants have for indoor air, cleaning it of harmful pollution particles.  If a person has allergies to molds though, plants in the bedroom might trigger that allergy in some circumstances.

Sleeping with pets or another person in the room uses much more oxygen and produces much more carbon dioxide than plants do and most people are fine with those scenarios. Astronauts slept with plants on board will no worries, and a space craft is a prime example of a closed system.  You shouldn’t worry about sleeping by plants either.

How old is your houseplant?

I have a Snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciate) that I brought home from my mother’s last year when she decided she could no longer care for it.  She got the plant from her mother before she died. The plant is verifiably 50 years old and it’s probably older. The plant is 5 feet tall and about 2 feet wide.  I have a smaller sansevieria that came from an arrangement at my great grandmother’s funeral, roughly 30 years ago.  Also at my house is a Thanksgiving cactus that’s about 30 years old.  In our family houseplants are passed down through the generations.

I know that there are other people out there who have houseplants that are pretty old by any standard, often passed down to them by family members.  I was curious and decided to do some research to see what the oldest houseplant was and where it was.  The Guinness book of world records says that the oldest houseplant (actually the category is potted plant) is a prickly cycad (Encephalartos altensteinii) that was planted inside the Palm House of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Surrey, UK in 1775.

However I see that as soon as this was announced many other conservatories and greenhouses around the world disputed the record and countered with records of their own. If you goggle oldest houseplant you’ll probably be referred to the cycad at The Royal Botanical Gardens but other research will give you even older examples of indoor plants.

I guess it all depends on what you consider a houseplant, or indoor plant.  Bonsai plants are probably some of the oldest potted plants and many have well documented records.  These oldest plants are generally in conservatories or museums and not maintained in homes.  An Italian Bonsai museum has a ficus bonsai over 1,000 years old.  There is a Japanese White Pine bonsai at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington that’s over 400 years old.  It was in Hiroshima Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945 and survived. It was tended by 4 generations of the Yamaki family before it was donated.

As far as an ordinary houseplant kept in the home I came across the story of a Christmas cactus belonging to the Kraft family of Bozeman, Montana.  Martha Kent, the family’s great, great grandmother brought it from Pennsylvania on a wagon train about 1864.  The family has documented each owner of the 3 x 3 feet cactus since then. 
 
Thanksgiving cactus
Houseplant species that live the longest tend to be those that are adaptable to many conditions and tough enough to survive some neglect.  Every species of plant has an estimated lifespan, but just like the human lifespan that can vary tremendously even within a species.  If a houseplant is lucky enough to land in a home where it’s well cared for, and it’s lovingly passed down to another person who takes care of it, it may outlive its original owner and possibly several owners.

The longest lived houseplants are considered to be: cacti, Schlumbergera or Zygocactus, (Thanksgiving, Christmas cacti), sansevieria, Jade plants, euphorbias, (Crown of Thorns), kalanchoes, agave, Chinese evergreen, Ficus, philodendron, pothos, and various types of bonsai.  That’s not to say other species can’t live a pretty long time.  I have spider plants here that are 15 years old.  My mother has a Chinese hibiscus that’s 20 years old.  A friend had a 30 year old Norfolk pine; I have one that’s 12 years old.

The greenhouse industry estimates the average life span for a foliage type houseplant is only 4-6 months.  That’s pretty sad considering that many types of houseplants can easily live 20 years or more with good care.  When you buy a houseplant research its care needs thoroughly.  Think about the plant as a long term commitment not as a temporary decorating prop.

Who will take your plants if you die or can no longer care for them?  You may want to think about this if you are a plant lover and leave some written instructions. If you are considering passing the plant along to another family member make sure they know about its care and document the time you have had the plant in writing so that any interested family member can keep the record updated. 

If no family members want the plant maybe a friend will continue its care.  You might consider donating a large ancient plant to a local public conservatory, (a living museum for plants), call and ask if they would want it when you can’t care for it any longer.  You could ask garden clubs and Master Gardener Associations if they have a member who is interested.
 
My elderly sansevieria 
If you are buying plants at estate sales- and I have seen some very large, old plants offered for sale, see if the sellers have any idea of how old the plant is.  You may hear some interesting stories to go along with the plant.  Don’t pass up the plant because it’s old, it may outlive you. And write down those stories if you get them.

It’s pretty amazing to think of people caring for house plants on a long hard wagon train journey, or on a ship crossing from the old world and in the drafty, cold houses in the wilderness.  If they managed to keep plants alive for 50 years surely we can manage it in our modern climate controlled homes.

Normal needle drop of evergreens

Every fall a lot of people panic when they see the needles of their evergreens, particularly pines, turning golden and falling off.  What they don’t realize is that evergreens must shed their old needles at some point just like deciduous trees shed their leaves.  Some evergreens or conifers, shed their needles a few at a time, others have a more massive seasonal shedding.

Pines typically shed 2 -5 year old needles in the fall.  White pine sheds its needles every 2 years, scotch pine every 2-4 years, red pine about every 4 years.  Drought and other stresses can cause heavier than normal needle drop.

Some other conifers, such as larches, bald cypress and dawn redwood, actually shed all their needles and look as bare as their deciduous counterparts through the winter.   If you were not aware of this you might think the tree had died and cut it down- a big mistake.

Spruces, cedars, yews and other plants we consider to be evergreen tend to drop old needles irregularly and don’t cause as much concern to homeowners because the smaller needle drop doesn’t draw much attention.   Needle loss on the inside of the tree, involving just a layer or two of needles is seldom cause for concern.  Evergreens will also lose needles where the tree has become too dense and shaded in the interior and this is normal too.

In normal needle drop, the needle layers closest to the trunk turn yellow or brown and eventually fall off.   As long as the outer needles toward the tip of the branch remain green and the tree looks healthy there is no problem.   Pines do not replace the needles that fall off, this area of the tree will remain bare, growth and new needles occur on the ends of branches in the spring.

Pine needles, or other evergreen needles, should be left beneath the tree if possible.  This is what nature intends for them to do, provide mulch for the tree to conserve moisture and breaking down to return nutrients to the soil.  If the needles fall on walkways though, they should be removed as wet needles can be very slippery.

Some people worry that evergreen needles added to compost piles or used as mulch around other trees and plants will make the soil too acidic.  Unless you have an awful lot of pine needles this effect is negligible. Pine needles can take a while to break down in a compost pile, so if you need compost quickly you may want to make a separate pile for needles.

It’s important to identify the trees in your landscape, to find out whether they are pines, spruces, yews, arborvitaes, larches so you can look up information to see what’s normal for that species of tree as far as needle loss goes.  There are many tree guides sold that can help you identify trees. 

If you have a question about tree disease, or still worry about your tree dropping needles, take a sample to your local Extension office.  There is an Extension office in nearly every US county and you can generally find the location in the phone book in the government section.  To find your Extension office you can go here:  http://npic.orst.edu/pest/countyext.htm

A good sample contains part of the area you are concerned about- yellowed or discolored needles and some healthy needles. A dead branch is not usable and neither is needles gathered from beneath the tree.  The branch sample need not be large.  Many Extension offices have someone who can examine the branch and give you an answer on the spot, which is generally free of charge. In some offices branches will be submitted to the diagnostics lab and there will be a small charge.
Fall needle drop in white pine

Easy Broccoli Soup

Fall is the perfect time to make soup.  This is a slow cooker recipe that lets you do other things, like read a good book or pass out Halloween candy, while it’s cooking.  If you use freshly harvested broccoli for this recipe soak the heads in a large tub of cold water with a ½ cup of salt added for about 10 minutes.  This will soak out any hidden insects.  The recipe makes about 6 cups of soup.

3 cups broccoli florets, if frozen thaw and drain
1 8 oz. jar of Cheese Whiz™
1 can of condensed cream of celery soup
2 cups half and half or cream
1 thinly sliced small onion
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper

Place all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for about 3 hours or until the broccoli is soft.

Put soup in blender or use a hand blender and blend until smooth.  Soup will be thick.

Serve hot with croutons or warm bread.  This soup freezes well also.

October

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

-Robert Frost-

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

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