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
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or opinion you’d like to share, send it to me or you can comment directly on
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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
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