Hi Gardeners
Red bed Spring peeper on dahlia |
Let me start by saying to those gardeners who have struggled this
week with floods, winds, and explosions that I feel for you and wish I could
help. Gardens and gardeners are resilient,
and things will get better. Think of it as a chance to get new plants, although
that may be a bit light hearted while the disaster is still fresh.
After natural disasters your environment may be drastically changed.
You may need to rebuild your home. Trees that provided shade fall. Soil washes away or is polluted by flood
water. Litter is everywhere. But nature will help you restore your environment.
Take a deep breath and go slowly. You’ll
need to make decisions and maybe change some things.
I saw people on line talking about how to evacuate their plants, particularly
houseplants. I hope I never have to do that. But don’t ever put the safety of your plants
above your safety.
So, on a lighter note, my garden has a few new plants blooming
this week. The colchicum’s popped up and
are in full bloom. They look like large
crocus. Jerusalem artichokes are
blooming like crazy. I keep trying to
get rid of them, but they pop up everywhere.
Yes, I know they are good to eat but there can be too much of a good
thing.
The trees are starting to color, the sugar maples are maybe at
10%. Oak leaves are already starting to
fall. Fall color seems a little behind
this year. We had a late spring so that’s
ok.
The hosta leaves are starting to tatter and brown. Many things are looking tired. I will soon be out and about gathering seeds
of some things and picking things to dry.
I have a bunch of Japanese lanterns drying out in a vase on the table
now.
Our apples are almost ready to eat. The crop is light and the
apples small, but we will get a few. Maybe
enough for a batch of apple butter. The grapes are gone now, what we didn’t pick
the birds and deer have gobbled down.
I think the hummingbirds may have left. I refilled 2 of my feeders last night, battling
away the yellow jackets, but I think they may be gone. The orioles and red
winged blackbirds left early this year.
I still see a few robins, they usually stick around until the autumn
olive berries are gone.
Have you bought those spring flowering bulbs yet? Better hurry.
Every garden needs spring flowering bulbs and the time to plant them is
near. In cooler weather you can
transplant things and plant new trees and shrubs.
While you are out in the garden take some pictures of your beds
while everything is mature. In the
winter you can look at the pictures and it will help you decide where you need
new plants, or where you can jam some more in.
I have a very long article on salvias this week. I get interested in a subject and sometimes
there is just too much information for one article, but I tried. Salvias are some of my favorite plants and
there are always some in my gardens.
A Granny Smith apple a day may help you
lose weight
It’s the beginning of apple season, is there a type of apple you
like best? You might want to get some fresh Granny Smith apples. There’s some
interesting research that says they may help you lose weight. A study done at Washington State University
and published in the journal Food Chemistry, found that Granny Smith apples had
a beneficial effect on weight loss.
The Granny Smith apple was discovered in Australia in 1868 as a
chance seedling in Maria Anne Smiths orchard. I guess she was a granny. Granny Smith apples are a greenish yellow
when ripe, sometimes with a faint red blush.
They are tart and sweet at the same time, used in cooking and salads as
well as for fresh eating. They are one
of Americas favorite apples and available at most stores.
Apples contain non-digestible fiber and polyphenols. When these apple fibers reach the human colon
they are fermented by bacteria and benefit the good bacteria that regulate
healthy metabolism. We now know that
humans who are overweight have a different bacterial colony in their colon than
those who remain lean. Those with diabetes and other metabolic disease also had
different bacterial colonies than healthy people. Eating apples, particularly Granny Smith
apples, can change the gut colony to bacteria that favor a healthy metabolism
and weight loss.
Granny Smith apples were found to be far better at normalizing gut
bacteria than other types of apples. Granny Smith apples have less sugar and
more indigestible fiber than other apple varieties. Granny Smith apples are high in antioxidants
and they have the highest concentration of phenols among
the apple varieties. There may also be other genetic factors that favor good
gut colonies.
Research done on mice found that the Granny Smith apples rapidly
changed gut bacteria in a beneficial way. Researchers suggest that people
eating one Granny Smith apple a day could help change gut bacteria and
normalize metabolism so that it would be easier to lose weight.
Yes, I know, sounds too good to be true. It sure wouldn’t hurt to
try though. Here’s some additional
reading on the subject.
Burdock
If you have farm animals or pets you have probably encountered the
annoying “burrs” in their coats, which are the seed pods of the common burdock,
(Arctium minus). And if you have ever
walked in the woods or fields and brushed against these plants you’ve probably
had the unfortunate experience of trying to pull these sticky balls off your
clothing. The round seed clusters of burdocks will stick to almost anything. This is an extremely proficient way for the
burdock plant to spread its seeds near and far.
Burdock is a bi-annual plant.
In the first year it puts down a thick, long taproot and a rosette of
large broad leaves. In the late summer
of the second year burdock sends up long flowering stems. The stems may be
streaked with purplish red and they have a grooved, rough surface. Burdock has
purple tuft-like flowers at the top of a rounded mass of green, hooked
bracts. The bracts turn brown and form
the familiar round burr as the seeds ripen and dry.
Left alone in good soil burdock leaves can grow huge - 2 foot long
and wide. The leaves have a grayish looking underside because they are covered
with fine white hairs. The hollow
flowering stems can reach 5 feet into the air and are thick and tough.
Burdock usually grows in full sun and prefers rich soil although
it can pop up in other places. You must
be vigilant and remove young plants from pastures and other areas as soon as
you see them as the older they get the harder they are to remove and letting
them go to seed compounds the problem.
Even when kept mowed, burdock will struggle along and produce its burrs
on plants a few inches from the ground. The
flowers will continue to ripen and become burrs if cut from the plant while
still green and are often found in hay.
Burdock |
Asian species of burdock are cultivated for their roots and
American species also have edible roots.
The young leaves of burdock can be eaten as a salad green. The stems can
be peeled and cooked also. Burdock has
many medicinal uses, the roots, seeds and dried leaves are used in a variety of
home remedies.
If pets, livestock or even you get burdocks in your hair cover the
burdocks with gobs of cheap hair conditioner and let it soak in for a few
minutes. In a pinch peanut butter will do. The burrs will then easily comb
out. Don’t pick off burrs from your
socks and gloves and toss them on the ground near your house unless you want
burdock to sprout up there in the spring.
Sorting the Salvias
If you are thinking salvia is those red spiky annual plants you
stick in the annual bed you are missing out on a variety of salvias, annuals,
perennials and tender perennials that can be wonderful additions to your
gardens. There are many species and hybrids of salvia species now available to
gardeners. Salvias come in many colors
and sizes, one that will fit in any garden.
They provide a graceful vertical accent to plantings and hummingbirds
and bees are very fond of them.
Some of the salvias can provide color in the late summer and early
fall when color can be lacking in the garden. Salvia is great in garden beds or
even in containers. There are salvias
that grow in sun or partial shade and most gardeners will find salvia easy to
grow. They are also deer and rabbit resistant.
Salvia hybrid Wendy's Wish |
As members of the mint family salvia has square, ridged stems,
often with hairs. The stems may be colored near the tops similar to the flower
color. Salvia leaves vary a bit among
species, but most are long ovals with a pointed tip, and a serrated edge. They range from medium green to gray-green
and are sometimes hairy. Many salvias
have a pleasant scent to the leaves and stems when handled.
The typical salvia flower is hard to describe. It’s a long tube composed of fused petals
splitting near the end into a “hood” on top which is usually longer than the “lip”
on the bottom. The lip can be one large
lobe or have two smaller lobes on either side of a large lobe. The sexual parts of the flower usually are at
the top, under the hood. Flowers may be
covered in tiny hairs.
An important part of the flower in salvias is the bract. This is papery,
ridged tube that surrounds the base of the flower, split in two so the flower
sticks out of it. It is large and colorful,
with the same or a deeper color of the flower. It may be hairy like the flower.
Long after the flower drops the bracts retain their color and remain on the
plant. The bract will also hold the seeds
after the flower drops, deep inside at it’s base.
Salvia flower |
Flowers are produced on long stems in clusters. Species vary as to
how large the flowers are and when they are produced. The salvias have many man- made cultivars
that have changed the size, color, and number of flowers produced. Some cultivars
have slightly altered flower shape also.
Most salvia flowers aren’t fragrant like the leaves and stems but are
still loved by hummingbirds, bees and butterflies for their nectar.
Some gardeners collect salvias and I can see the reason. There are so many great plants in this
family. There are also sages that have culinary uses or are used as religious psychotropics,
but I will not be covering them in this article.
The species
What’s confusing about salvias is that your idea of salvia may not
be what I consider salvia. There are
many species of salvia in cultivation and lots of hybrids between species
also. I’ll start with the perennial
varieties that are hardy from planting zone 5 south.
Salvia nemorosa is a species
of salvia that is common in northern gardens. Bloom time is normally early summer but there
are cultivars that bloom in bursts throughout the summer if kept well-watered
and dead headed. It’s native to Europe
and western Asia and hardy in zones 5-9. The species has flowers of blue and purple
shades, but cultivars have been developed in pink, white and various shades of
blue.
Salvia nemorosa is a clump
forming, slowly increasing plant about 36 inches high, although there are more
compact species. The leaves are rough,
wrinkled, oval shaped and toothed. When
leaves and stems are cut or crushed there is an herbal smell. I don’t like the smell, but many don’t mind
it.
This salvia likes full sun in the north
and partial shade further south. It
likes moist but well drained gravely soil. It will tolerate other types of soil
but doesn’t do well in heavy clay soils. It can tolerate drought after establishment
but will not bloom well if too dry.
Dead head it after bloom and keep it
watered and you may get repeat bloom. If
the plants get floppy after flowering cut them back to about half their height.
Salvia nemorosa sometimes get the fungal diseases of rust and powdery
mildew, particularly if grown in shade. Deer don’t like the plant.
One of the most common cultivars is ‘East
Friesland’ which is blue-purple. ‘Caradonna’- is another favorite with
dark purple stems and violet flowers.
Other cultivars include 'Sensation Rose'(pink) 'Plumosa', which is purple
pink with dense clusters of bloom, ‘Blue Marvel’ which is blue with larger
flowers, ‘Bumbleberry’ a wine color, ‘New Dimension Rose’, Crystal Blue, which
is pale blue, and Pink Dawn. Many other
cultivars exist.
Salvia x sylvestris is a hybrid
salvia very similar to S. nemorosa resulting from crosses between S. nemorosa
and S. pratensis. It’s hardy in zones
5-9. They have a somewhat longer blooming period, through most of the summer,
than S.nemorosa. Other than that, care and appearance are similar to S.
nemorosa. 'Mainacht' or ‘May Night’ is a purple flowered cultivar very common in gardens.
‘Tanzerin’ (violet), ‘Snow Hill’ (white), ‘Blue Hill’ (pale blue) are
other cultivars.
Salvia microphylla, also called baby sage, Graham's
sage, or blackcurrant sage. It is native to the southern US and Mexico
and is hardy in zones 7-9. It has tiny
leaves and small flowers and forms a mound like bush 1-3 feet tall. It’s sometimes used as a ground cover. The
leaves are oval and sometimes covered with fine hairs. They have a mint like scent when bruised.
Flowers of this species are ¼ inch to
an inch long and come in all shades of red, pink, rose and magenta. They are
arranged in whorls on the stem. The
plants bloom heavily in spring and fall, with occasional blooms in summer. This salvia was found to hybridize easily
with other salvias and since the 1990’s a number of salvia hybrids using it
have been produced.
Some common cultivars of Salvia microphylla include 'Hot Lips’, which
has a white hood with bright red bottom petals, ‘Red Velvet’, 'Rosita', a good
repeat bloomer with candy-pink flowers, ‘La Foux' which has deep crimson
flowers with almost black calyces and ‘Wild Watermelon' which has large
pink flowers with dark calyces.
Salvia greggii is very similar to Salvia
microphylla and hybrids between the species occur in the wild. It’s native
range is narrow, from southwest Texas, through the Chihuahuan desert and to the Mexican state of San Luis
Potosi. Part of this range is
in the mountains, so some cultivars of the plant are hardy to zone 5. There are dozens of cultivars, some hardy
only to zone 7, so check the description before planting. It’s often sold as an annual in colder zones.
S. greggii is an evergreen semi-shrub (deciduous
in colder zones) with a mounding or sprawling habit. In its native range it can get to 4 feet high,
but most cultivars are more compact ranging from 1-2 feet high and wide. The leaves are small, an inch or less, medium
green and have a spicy scent when crushed.
This salvia blooms best in spring and
fall with some odd blooms in summer.
Some cultivars bloom for a longer period. In the wild flowers are small, less than an
inch long, and shades of red on short stems.
Larger flowers and a great many color variations have been bred into the
plant. Cultivars have a neat, mounded
look with flashy flowers perfect for the garden.
S. greggii likes sandy or gravely, well-drained
soil. It does not do well in clay soils. Full sun in the north below zone 7 and
partial shade in the south are preferred. It likes a moderate amount of water
but can withstand some drought. Do not fertilize this plant for best growth and
bloom. Lightly pruning after the spring flowering burst will encourage summer and
fall blooms.
This salvia species has the only
variegated foliage cultivar that I know of, 'Desert Blaze' has gold edged
leaves and scarlet flowers. 'Wild Thing' is a popular variety that produces hot
pink flowers. 'Furman's Red' is
another well-known variety. 'Big Pink' has a large lower lip and is a
lavender pink. 'Purple Pastel' is a light purple, small flowered variety. 'Desert
Pastel' has pale apricot flowers with yellow streaks. 'Alba' is a white
flowered variety. 'Strawberries and Cream' has yellow and pink tinted flowers.
Salvia sclarea is better known as Clary sage, an old
herbal plant that’s also attractive in the flower garden and as a dried flower.
In this plant the “flower” color comes from the flower bract, the papery tube
at the back of the flower, which in this species is insignificant.
Clary sage is native to the Mediterranean
region and central Asia. It’s been grown
for centuries for its essential oil and medicinal uses. It’s a short-lived perennial, often grown as
a bi-annual and hardy to zone 5. One
common cultivar of clary sage is ‘Vatican White’.
In the first year clary sage produces a
basal rosette of broad, gray-green leaves.
In the second summer it produces long bloom spikes 3-4 feet tall with
flower bracts in white or pink and purple shades. The tiny flowers inside the bract are white
or pale lavender. The stems are square and
feel rough and hairy. The leaves, stems and flowers have a pleasant scent.
Clary sage likes sandy well-drained but
moist soil but will tolerate dry conditions.
It is best in full sun. Prune off the flower stalks before the seed is
set if you wish to coax more years of bloom from the plant. It doesn’t grow
well in hot, humid areas and humid conditions may lead to powdery mildew problems.
Clary sage is considered an invasive
plant in some areas and may self-seed abundantly, spreading through the garden
and into nearby fields.
Herbal uses include as a flavoring for
wines, liquors and other drinks, and as a scent in soaps, perfume and cosmetics.
Essential oil is distilled from flowers and leaves of the plant. A tea of the flowers or seeds is used as an
eye wash and is sometimes taken for digestive and menstrual problems, muscle
pain and insomnia. The flower stalks are
cut and dried for dry flower arrangements.
Salvia jurisicii is also called Serbian sage. Unlike
most salvias it has fine, feathery foliage.
In spring it also has stalks of purple-pink small flowers. It’s hardy to zone 6 but may be hard to find.
Salvia azurea- or Blue sage is a native of the North American
prairies and hardy to zone 4. You may have to look in native plant catalogs to
find it.
Salvia pachyphylla is a native sage from California with
purple-red clusters of flowers. Its hardy in zones 6-9 but can be hard to find.
Salvia argentea is grown not
for its tiny flowers but for its large rounded fuzzy silver leaves. Its hardy in planting zones 5-8 but is
short lived, a couple years in the garden at best. It likes dry, well drained
areas in full sun.
Tender perennial or tropical salvias
Salvia farinacea is fairly common in gardens but only hardy to zone 8 and
native to Mexico and south Texas. It’s also called mealycup sage because the
upper stems and calyx may have a wooly white covering. It has lance shaped, 3-inch-long irregularly
serrated leaves, and has a shrubby habit, growing 1-3 feet tall.
The flowers of S. farinacea are violet blue in the species but
many other colors have been developed.
It blooms throughout summer and will bloom in sun or partial shade. It will grow in almost any soil type but
needs evenly moist, well drained planting areas.
There are many cultivars of this salvia on the market. 'Victoria Blue' is an
old one that’s still great, ‘Cirrus' is a delicate blue with white, ‘Mystic Spires Blue', Evolution, deep
blue, ‘Fairy Queen’, a pink color,
‘Sallyfun Blue
Emotion’ is true blue with a touch of white in throat.
Salvia guaranitica is also
called blue anise sage. It’s native to South America and hardy only to planting
zone 8. The leaves are dark green, lighter underneath, pointed ovals that have
a wrinkled appearance and are up to 5 inches long. The plant smells faintly
like anise. Plants are considered semi-shrubs and can get up to 6 feet high in
warmer areas.
The flowers of S. guaranitica are true
blue with a darker calyx produced on long wands that float above the plant.
Blooming time is mid-summer until frost in the north where it’s treated as an
annual. It will grow in sun or partial
shade and likes rich, loamy well drained soil.
This salvia has produced some of my
favorite cultivars, ‘Black and Blue’ has deep blue flowers with an almost black
calyx. 'Argentine Skies' has pale blue flowers, 'Purple
Splendor' has light purple flowers.[
Salvia coccinea is also called scarlet sage, Texas sage, or tropical sage. It’s
native to Mexico and hardy only to zone 8.
It has oval to triangular deep green leaves about 2 inches long that are
lightly hairy. The species has long wands of scarlet red flowers, loved by hummingbirds,
in summer. Cultivars have been developed with other colors.
This salvia likes well drained, moist soil such as a sandy
loam. It prefers full sun in the north,
partial shade in the south. It may
self-seed, even in colder climates.
‘Lady in Red’ and ‘Coral Nymph’ (coral colored) are two better
known cultivars.
Salvia patens is a true-blue
flowered salvia from Mexico, only hardy to zone 8. It can be grown as an annual in other
places. It prefers full sun. It grows about 3 feet high and has a long
summer bloom period. This salvia is also
known as spreading salvia because in warm areas it will spread by rhizomous
roots. These rhizomes may be dug and
stored like dahlias in areas colder than zone 8. It is also easy to start from seed.
One cultivar of S. patens is ‘Blue
Angel’.
Salvia leucophylla is native to
California and is often called purple sage.
Leaves are gray-green and look like the wrinkled leaves of culinary
sage. It has purple-pink whorls of flowers in spring and summer. The flowers are said to be very
fragrant. It likes dry sunny areas and
is drought tolerant. It grows as an
evergreen shrub, up to 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. There are several cultivars, 'Bee's
Bliss’ is a common one. Its hardy only
to zone 8.
Salvia leucantha is native to Mexico and is often
called Mexican bush sage. The foliage is interesting in this species, it’s gray
green and velvety. It’s a winter or fall bloomer in warm areas,
putting out dense arching spikes of white flowers with purple-blue bracts all through
the cooler season. Plants are 2-3 feet
tall and wide. It can be grown as an annual in cooler areas and looks good in
containers. It’s hardy to zone 8.
Salvia hybrids- from various crosses of the species exist. ‘Wendy’s Wishes’, (magenta
pink and burgundy) and ‘Love and Wishes’ (red-purple and deep purple bract) are
two popular cultivars developed in Australia.
I am quite fond of these two. Even
grown as an annual they make large 3’x 3’ plants loaded with graceful colorful
flower spikes all summer long. They are
sterile and do not produce seeds. They
will bloom in partial shade or full sun and should be kept well-watered. They are hardy only to Zone 9.
Salvia Black and Blue |
The annual salvias
Salvia horminum or Salvia viridis are the blue annual sages. They are native to the Mediterranean area. They grow 1-2 feet tall and bloom all
summer. This salvia likes full sun to
light shade and regular watering. There
are many cultivars, some now have pink and white flowers. ‘Blue Monday’, and ‘Pink Sunday’ are popular cultivars.
Salvia splendens are the most common salvias in
the garden shops. They are native to Brazil. Once mainly red and tall, this annual salvia
now comes in almost every color, bi-colors, and in several sizes. These are the bedding salvias your
grandmother grew. They are still
excellent bedding plants for sunny areas and make excellent container
plants. You’ll find then in every color
from white to crimson to orange to apricot to deep purple and more. If your
color scheme is an odd one these salvias can probably help you out.
Sun and moderate watering are needed for good flowering. They bloom from early summer until frost and
new varieties don’t need deadheading.
The bracts in various colors make excellent dried flowers. They aren’t as hummingbird and bee attractive
as other salvias but still worth growing.
They grow easily from seed but saved seed will not come true to color or
form. They sometimes reseed themselves
in the garden.
Most of these salvias will simply be marked salvia in the garden
shop. If you are an older gardener you may remember 'Van Houttei', a tall red
salvia, it’s still available. Some
popular cultivars are ‘Salsa’ (red), 'Issanchon', a small plant with white
flowers striped with pink or red, ‘Ablazin'® Purple,
and ‘Saucy Wine’.
This article does not cover all salvia species. There are dozens more that aren’t as common in
gardens but still might make a good garden plant. If you like collecting plants the salvia
family will give you plenty to choose from.
Using fresh sage in cooking
Since I wrote about salvia this week I
decided to write about cooking with it instead of the usual recipe. There are a couple of types of cooking or
culinary sage, white sage Salvia officinalis, is the best one for most recipes. There are purple and golden leaf varieties.
For more about growing culinary sage go
to my herb page at the link below. The
individual herbs are listed in alphabetical order at the end.
Sage can be dried for winter cooking or
used fresh. If you didn’t grow sage in
the garden- why not? Well, you can always buy some at the farmers market. Here are some ways to use sage just as it
comes from the garden.
A new, trendy treat is fried sage
leaves. You can batter the leaves or fry
them without batter. Choose larger sage
leaves and remove them from the stems.
Wash and dry the leaves. Heat some cooking oil to about 350
degrees. If you want to batter the sage
leaves make a thin batter of water and flour with seasonings like garlic
powder, pepper and salt. Dip the leaves
and quickly add them to the hot oil. To
fry sage leaves without batter, add leaves to hot oil. Let the leaves lightly brown on one side,
then flip them and brown the other. This will only take a minute or so. Work in small batches and don’t crowd the
pan. Remove them to paper towels to
drain and eat them hot. You can sprinkle the hot fried leaves with powdered
parmesan cheese or use them with a dip also.
Fresh sage leaves can be added to butter
in a frying pan and heated just enough to lightly brown the butter. The leaves are then strained out and the
flavored butter is used in soups, sauces or to baste meat.
Here’s how to make an interesting orange
sage marinade. Blend together 1/4 cup unsweetened orange juice, 2 tablespoons
lemon juice, 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 1
teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 cup Dijon mustard in a large bowl. Marinade up to 3 pounds of boneless chicken
or pork pieces in the mix for 1-3 hours (in the refrigerator) before grilling
or broiling them.
You can use fresh sage to season baked
chicken or other poultry. Lightly coat a
whole chicken or chicken pieces with oil or melted butter. Sprinkle on chopped
fresh sage, rosemary and marjoram with salt and pepper to suit your taste
before baking the chicken.
Here’s a recipe for a fresh sage dip. Combine 1- 8 oz. package of cream cheese, 1/3
cup sour cream, 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1
tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves, and 2
tablespoons fresh chopped celery leaves in a food processor and blend until
smooth. Place in a bowl and refrigerate 5-8 hours to blend flavors. Serve at
room temperature.
You can dry sage by harvesting fresh
stems with leaves and hanging them in a warm, dark place, or in a dehydrator,
microwave or oven. Make sure the sage is
completely dried, it may take longer than thin leaved herbs, before storing, or
it may mold and taste musty. Store
completely dried leaves in a clean glass container in a cool place. Sage leaves can also be frozen in water and
will taste more like fresh sage when used than dried sage.
Saturday is the first day of fall, enjoy the last bit of summer
Kim Willis
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permission.
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