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Tuesday, July 10, 2018

July 10, 2018 Kim’s Weekly Garden Blog


Hi Gardeners
Asiatic lilies
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, although I know across much of the country the heat and humidity were terrible.  We had a simple 4th with my sister and mother, we toured my garden and then went to a restaurant to eat, celebrating old people style.  It was much too hot to cook outside in my opinion. 
While we got some rain about 2 weeks ago, the dry ground soaked it right up and there hasn’t been anything but sprinkles since.  I spend a lot of time watering every day.  The grass is starting to crunch.  Corn in the fields is rolling up.  At least the wheat is drying down quickly and is beginning to be harvested around here.
All around the country people are suffering from unusual weather.  Everyone seems to be hotter, some are wetter, some are drier than normal.  Climate change is obvious this year.  What will winter and the next summer bring?
All of my Asiatic lilies are in bloom.  The OT hybrid lilies are starting to bloom.  It’s so pretty right now but the heat makes the blooms fade quickly, which is sad.  My large hydrangea is in full bloom, hollyhocks, shasta daisies, zinnias and dahlias are beginning to bloom. Ladybells, clematis and yarrow are blooming. Rocket ligularia and the yucca are in bloom.
For their first year with more sun the hosta seem to be doing ok.  The golden variegated ones are much more golden.  I’m a little worried about my  huge Empress Wu, which is turning a bit yellow, that’s not really its foliage color, but it still looks healthy.
I spend more time outside in late evening when it’s cooler now.  I am getting quite a glimpse into the deer population we now have around here.  I have never seen so many deer.  They love the sugar beet field across the road from us and cross my yard every night to go there.  I saw one almost get hit by a truck the other night.  I do not want a dead deer lying in front of my house in this heat!
Here's one of my yard deer. I call her Lily Slayer.
Watering tips for dry areas
Remember to keep those pots and hanging baskets watered if you are in a dry area.  In the heat it doesn’t take long for them to get to the point of no return.  They may need watering twice a day.
Annuals need watering more frequently as a rule than perennials as their root systems are small and they grow faster and are constantly blooming.  In temperatures above 90 degrees they may need daily watering.  Since their root systems don’t go deep, frequent shallow watering is the most helpful for them.
Areas near pavement, rocks and buildings or fences that reflect light and heat need special consideration in watering.  You may need to water these areas more frequently than you water other places.
If you want food crops to grow they need water.  Try to avoid letting plants wilt, each time a plant wilts and then recovers weakens it.  Corn leaves roll up instead of wilt when water deprived.  Water content affects the flavor and quality of many vegetables, without adequate water many vegetables get bitter or less sweet.  Nutritional value also decreases.
Trees and shrubs are often overlooked when we water other landscape plants.  Newly planted trees and shrubs need to be watered if they wilt and at least once a week they need to be soaked.  But even mature trees and shrubs suffer in drought and high heat.  Trees may yellow, wilt or drop leaves but sometimes they suffer silently, and the drought damage shows up when they fail to survive the winter or grow poorly the next year.
Water stress in woody plants often leads to higher than normal insect damage and feeding insects bring diseases.  One way to water mature trees and shrubs is to lay a hose somewhere under the tree canopy and let it run at a trickle for several hours.  You can also fill a 5 gallon or larger container with water, put a couple small holes near the bottom and let it slowly water the plant.
If you notice plants wilting, you should water them.  Initially plants may only wilt in the heat of the day and then recover in cooler times of the day.  But when you see wilting it’s time to water. 
It doesn’t really matter if you water in the heat of the day. You will lose water to evaporation, but the leaves of the plants will not burn.  Let the hose run a bit if the water in it has become really hot, that can harm plants.  Do try to water early enough in the evening so that the plants dry before darkness.  When plant foliage stays wet a long time in hot weather it’s a perfect set up for fungal disease.
July almanac
The full moon in July this year is on the 27th in conjunction with the moon apogee.  The moon perigee is the 13th. This month’s full moon is called the buck moon or hay moon, depending on whether you are a farmer or hunter I guess.  It’s called buck moon because the buck deer’s antlers begin to show this month.  Wheat harvest is this month – it will begin soon if it hasn’t already and I think we should call it wheat moon. 
This month’s flower is the sunflower- very appropriate and the birthstone is the ruby. It’s National Blueberry, Eggplant, Lettuce, Mango, Melon, Nectarine and Garlic month as well as National Hotdog and Vanilla Ice Cream month.  Why isn’t it National Cherry month?  The second week of July is nude recreation week.  Have fun.
The Delta Aquariids meteor showers begin mid-month and peak on July 27-30th.  Because the peak coincides with the full moon you’ll have a better chance of seeing these meteors after the full moon in early August.  These meteors continue into mid- August and overlap with the Perseids meteor shower. Best viewing will be around 2 am for most of the US. Look to the south. 

Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)
Japanese stiltgrass is a non-native plant that is considered invasive in some states. It was recently found in Washtenaw County, Michigan and is found in 26 other states, mostly in the eastern half of the country.  Some states want the grass reported, to report it in Michigan, where it is new, contact Greg Norwood, DNR Wildlife Division, norwoodg@michigan.gov or 517-342-4514.  He would like a picture if possible, the location and date seen and your contact information.  In other states contact your DNR or state Ag department to see if they want sightings reported.
In many places Japanese stiltgrass has become naturalized, having been in this country for 100 years. Common names include: Nepalese browntop, Asian stilt grass, Nepal, eulalia, Mary’s grass, and Chinese packing grass.  It came from Japan, China or Southeast Asia, probably in packing material.

Japanese stiltgrass
National Park Service photo
Japanese stiltgrass looks like a miniature bamboo plant.  It has light green, blade shaped leaves about 3 inches long.  Each leaf has a distinctive silver stripe down the mid-vein. The leaves are asymmetrical, one side being longer than the other.  Plants range from 1-3 inches tall and may be sprawling or upright.
The flowers of Japanese stiltgrass are insignificant, it blooms in late summer, turning into what looks like a small wheat-like seed head. A plant can have around 1,000 small grass-like seeds.  The seeds float in water or are carried by animals or human shoes and can remain viable in the soil for at least 5 years before germination.  Japanese stiltgrass is an annual plant so reproduction is primarily by seed.
Japanese stiltgrass, like many non-native plants, likes to grow in disturbed areas like ditches, roadsides, creek sides, abandoned fields, by hiking trails and parking lots.  It prefers moist rich soil and is very adaptable to soil pH and light conditions, growing from full sun to full shade conditions.
A native grass, white cutgrass, Leersia virginica, looks quite similar to Japanese stiltgrass but doesn’t have the silver stripe on the leaf and blooms earlier.  It is also found in moist shady areas in the same states as Japanese stiltgrass is found.
In some conditions Japanese stiltgrass dominates the vegetation in an area, forming thick, dense patches. Its said that Japanese stiltgrass can form a lawn in dense shade.  (I don’t know what such a lawn would look like, especially if mowed, but that might be a good thing in some people’s eyes.)  Its survival is helped by deer, they ignore the plant and chomp on native plants instead.  So, because it is successful in rough environments, surviving better than natives, it is blamed for “displacing” native plants.
While deer don’t eat it cattle and goats are said to like Japanese stiltgrass and will readily eat it. (There is some disagreement over this.) It may have potential as a forage crop in shade conditions or for hay.  These animals might be used to remove it from an area, if they are put in before it goes to seed.  Seed can be transported in hooves. The grass may also be controlled by pulling, preferably before it goes to seed, or use of herbicides.  The best stage for chemical control is just as it starts to flower.
Where it has naturalized Japanese stiltgrass is a host plant for satyr butterflies, including the endangered Mitchell's Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii).  This butterfly is known to exist in Michigan so don’t remove Japanese Stiltgrass before consulting with the DNR.  The butterfly is also found in other states, so it would be wise to contact your DNR before destroying Japanese stiltgrass and possibly a federally endangered and protected butterfly with it.
If you have read my blog before you know I don’t get too worked up over non-native plants whose only harm seems to be “displacing” native plants. Nature has been “displacing” plants for millenniums. If your state wants you to report Japanese stiltgrass you may want to comply.  You shouldn’t deliberately plant it.  But don’t worry too much about it. 
Oh, by the way, no edible or medicinal uses for the plant are recorded. It’s not known if it’s toxic if eaten although one guy at least, said he ate it without harm but it tasted bad.  Don’t eat it.  It is used for basket waving in Asia.

Milkweeds-
Asclepias species
Growing milkweed deliberately has become quite the thing recently.  While there have been attempts in the past to use parts of the plant commercially until recently it was generally considered a nuisance weed and it’s toxic to livestock, so it was battled constantly.  Now people are almost religiously defending the plant.
I confess I leave a few plants up by my deck so I can photograph monarchs.  Our overgrown pasture is full of them since we no longer have grazing animals, except deer.  (If it killed deer I’d plant more of it, but they don’t eat it.)  But I always remove common milkweed from the rest of my yard and don’t feel guilty about it.  It’s an aggressive spreader and will take over if you let it.

Common milkweed
There are about 140 species of milkweed in the Americas, mostly in North America.  Some are rarely seen, others are extremely common.  Milkweeds are full of toxic chemicals that many native insects have learned to exploit.  Monarchs, (Danaus plexippus), aren’t the only insects whose larvae use the toxins as protection from birds and other animals. The milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetraophtalmus), large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), small milkweed bug (Lygaeus kalmii) milkweed stem weevil (Rhyssomatus lineaticollis), milkweed tiger moth (Euchaetes egle) and milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) all consume milkweeds.
Milkweeds are also an important nectar and pollen source for many bees, butterflies and beetles. The monarch is not responsible for most pollination of milkweeds, nor are honeybees, which are often trapped by the plants unusual flowers. Instead heavier bumblebees and beetles and sometimes hummingbirds, pollinate the milkweed flowers.
Species of milkweeds
Gardeners who want to attract and help monarchs, as well as those interested in native plant gardening or helping native pollinators often plant milkweeds.  (If you keep honeybees you may want to avoid planting milkweed nearby.)  There are several species of milkweed that are more easily found and used in gardening and some milkweed cultivars have even been developed.  Here are some of them.
Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed, is also called butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, cotton seed and Virginia silkweed.  It grows well in many areas of the US and is the species most attractive to monarchs.  It’s a perennial native to the Eastern US and southern Canada.  It likes drier, well drained soils in full sun.  It’s reasonably attractive in bloom.
This milkweed grows about 3 feet high.  The leaves are broad and thick with a waxy upper surface and a white mid vein.  The underside of the leaf is downy.  The thick stems are hollow and exude the typical milky sap if broken.  The flowers start in mid-summer and are pink-purple (rarely white) balls of small individual flowers.  They are fragrant.
Common milkweed pods are fat teardrop shaped things with pale green surfaces covered with hairs and soft spines. Inside are overlapping layers of brown seeds attached to a bit of white fluff that carries them away when the pods open.  The inside of the pod is shiny yellow and smooth and sometimes used in dried flower arrangements.  Pods can turn brown after the seeds disperse and remain on the plant into winter.
Common milkweed has a large, branching root system of thick fleshy roots.  It spreads by roots and seeds and can take over large areas.
Asclepias incarnata, is known as the swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, rose milkflower, swamp silkweed, or white Indian hemp.  It has specialized roots that allow it to live in poorly drained areas.  It prefers moist soil in sunny areas.
Swamp milkweed has narrow blade shaped leaves. The flower clusters are a brighter pink-purple but smaller than common milkweed and in looser clusters.  The seed pods are narrow and rounded, more pencil shaped than the fat pods of common milkweed.  There are cultivars of this species.

Swamp milkweed
Wikimedia commons
Asclepias purpurascens, the purple milkweed is the milkweed to grow if you have a partly shaded area.  It prefers moist soil in partial shade. The flowers start pink and turn a deeper purple.  They are in small clusters.  This milkweed rarely produces seed pods, spreading by the root system instead.  When it produces pods, they are small and smooth.
Asclepias speciosa or showy milkweed is native to the western US.  It has large round clusters of pale pink to rosy purple flowers.  The plant is similar to common milkweed in most ways and needs well drained soil in a sunny area.  It’s probably the second most favored larval plant for Monarchs.  It’s considered to be the least toxic of the milkweeds commonly cultivated and it does not spread by cloning.
Showy milkweed
Wikimedia commons
Asclepias tuberosa is better known as butterfly weed and is one of the showiest milkweeds.  There are several named cultivars.  The leaves of this plant are narrow, blade shaped and arranged in a spiral around the stem.  The flowers are a showy orange or red and produced in upright facing clusters at the top of the plant.  The plant needs full sun and well drained soil.
While butterfly weed attracts butterflies and hummingbirds to it’s nectar, it’s not the preferred larval food for monarchs.

Butterfly weed
Asclepias curassavica, also known as tropical milkweed or blood milkweed is a very showy milkweed with crimson red flower clusters.  There are named cultivars with other flower colors too.  However, it’s not hardy in much of the US and it may actually be harmful to monarchs and possibly other butterflies. It carries a parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE).  When this is ingested by feeding butterfly larvae it kills them.  Experts are still sorting out how prevalent and dangerous this is in garden plants.  However, if you are wanting milkweed for monarchs I would avoid this plant.

The tricky milkweed flower
One of the interesting thing about milkweeds is their flowers.  A milkweed flower has 5 parts in a “hood and horn” type structure.  Between the 5 parts of the flower are gaps, where a little sack of pollen called a pollinia awaits a visitor.  When an insect attracted by nectar lands on a flower the feet of the insect slip into that gap.  There they get the pollinia stuck to their feet. 
When the insect is ready to fly away it has to pull its feet and the heavy pollen bags attached, out of the slit and this takes some strength.  They then have to fly away, where hopefully they will land on another milkweed flower and their feet will slip into another slit, where the pollinia is scraped off and fertilizes that flower. Milkweed is self-fertile, so the flowers can be on the same plant, but they need an insect to move the pollinia from flower to flower.
That’s why sturdy bumble bees and some beetles are the common pollinators of milkweeds.  If you examine milkweed flowers you will often find honeybees and other small insects trapped by milkweed, unable to pull their feet out of the slits.  Some beekeepers remove milkweed near their hives.  Butterflies seem to fare a bit better, although they do sometimes get trapped.  Butterflies rarely carry pollinia away though and are not considered good pollinators of milkweeds.
Growing milkweed
Milkweed can be grown from seeds or started from root cuttings, or plants can be divided.  Gardeners can find plants in pots in some nurseries.  If you are going to divide a plant, transplant a plant or take root cuttings the best time to do so is early fall, planting the division, or cutting immediately and keeping it well watered through fall and the next spring.  Potted plants can be planted in spring.
Milkweed seeds need a period of cold stratification before they sprout.  Collect the seeds in fall, place them between damp paper towels and store for 2-3 months in the refrigerator.  (You can clip off the fluff.)  In spring take them out and press them lightly into moist soil.  Do not cover them, they need light to germinate.  Transplant seedlings into the garden while still small.
You can also plant the seeds in the fall where they are to grow or in pots left outside over winter.  If you put the seeds on the ground lightly cover them with mulch so they won’t blow or wash away.
Managing milkweed for monarchs
If your purpose for growing milkweed is to help monarch butterflies grow common milkweed.  The butterflies prefer to lay eggs on tender young leaves.  Therefore, the plants should be cut back by about half from time to time, or at least part of the plants cut back, and watered to encourage new growth. This may remove flowers. You could grow other milkweeds nearby, or many other types of flowers, so the adults have nectar sources and a place to lay eggs.
Stop cutting back milkweed in August so the plants can make enough food to sustain them through the winter. Don’t use pesticides on your milkweeds of course.  A big patch of milkweed attracts more monarchs than single plants.

Other uses for milkweed
Milkweed has been used for a number of projects through the centuries.  The stems contain 2% latex and every so often, generally during rubber shortages, someone turns the sap into rubber.  Tires have been made from it.  However, the process is more expensive that other ways of making rubber and commercial interest is limited.
The milkweed seed fluff has been used as a down substitute, it has good insulating qualities. The First People often used the seed fluff for insulating footwear and infant swaddling. During WW2 it was used in life vests. Several Canadian companies are producing milkweed commercially to make coat and outerwear filling currently.
Milkweed seeds have been compressed to make an oil which is high in cinnamic acid.  This is being explored for use as a sunscreen ingredient.
First People (Native tribes) had a number of uses for milkweed medicinally. It had a reputation among several tribes as a contraceptive, decreasing fertility.  The sap was used on warts and ringworm. Decoctions were used for several female problems, including mastitis, increasing milk flow and preventing hemorrhage. It was used as a laxative.
Experimenting with milkweeds in home remedies is not recommended as the plant is extremely toxic and can cause death.
Common milkweed seed pod
Toxicity of milkweed
All milkweeds and all parts of milkweed are poisonous. Plants contain cardiac glycosides, resinoids, (galitoxin), and small amounts of toxic alkaloids.  Milkweed is extremely toxic to livestock and farmers and ranchers always try to remove any milkweed in animal pastures and from hay fields.  The plant remains poisonous when dried and found in hay.  Animals prefer not to eat the plant but will eat it when hungry or when its part of hay.  This can cause severe illness and death.
It is true that Native Americans sometimes ate parts of the plant in emergency situations, but they understood it was toxic and did not eat the plant when other things were available. There were various ways to try and remove some of the toxins.  It was NOT a delicacy nor a favored plant, it was a survival food, when nothing else was available. We have no idea what exposure to the toxins did over the long term.
The current foraging movement has people using milkweed in various dishes, the young shoots and the seed pods are usually what’s eaten.  This is a dangerous practice. And from most accounts the plant does not even taste good. Modern medicine has found that detectable serum digoxin concentrations are found in the blood after any consumption of the plants.  While you may not feel sick immediately this may have long term effects (like infertility). A little too much and dinner may be the death of you. Here’s a story you can read about a guy who decided to eat some milkweed pods and his medical adventures.
Symptoms of milkweed poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, severe seizures, coma, bradycardia or tachycardia, heart arrhythmias, hypotension and hypothermia.  Animals may get bloat or colic as well. https://extension.psu.edu/toxic-weed-milkweed
The sap of milkweed can cause severe eye damage and blindness.  Gardeners should take care when handling the plants not to get the milky sap in the eyes.  Wash your hands after handling the plants.  Don’t rub sweat off your face when near plants, especially if they are broken or you have pruned them. Keep children and pets from playing with the plants.  If you get sap in the eyes seek medical help immediately.
Milkweeds are easy to grow native plants that many people want to include in their gardens to help monarchs and attract other pollinators.  As long as you respect and understand the plants toxic qualities it should be fine to include them in the garden.

Lemonade pie
This recipe is quick and doesn’t require cooking.  It’s an excellent hot day dessert.  You can make this with frozen orange juice concentrate or any other flavor concentrate also.

Ingredients
1- 6 oz. can frozen lemonade mix, thawed
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1- 8 oz. tub of whipped topping or 3 cups of heavy cream, whipped
1 stick butter, melted
2 cups of finely crushed lemon sugar cookies (or vanilla wafers)

Directions
Blend together the cookie crumbs and butter. 
Press mixture firmly into the bottom and sides of a large pie pan.
Freeze 20 minutes, while you whip up the rest of the pie.
Blend together the milk, lemonade, zest, and whipped topping or cream.
Pour into the crust.
Freeze until firm, about an hour.
Thaw slightly before serving.


“Dirty fingernails and a calloused palm precede a Green Thumb." 
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions

Kim Willis
And So On….

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