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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


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