Hi Gardeners
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| Black snake root Cimicifuga racemosa, in bloom |
Well it’s still monsoon season here. It has rained nearly every afternoon or night
for a week, some days accompanied by thunder and lightning and winds that blow
my potted plants over. Since last Tuesday we have had over 4 inches of
rain. There’s no real flooding here- the
ground is still absorbing it, but there’s a chance of rain for almost every day
of the coming week. We had rain today
around sunrise and more may pop up late in the afternoon.
The plants are loving the tropical conditions. After the rain the sun comes out and raises
the humidity to 80% or more, combined with temperatures of 90 plus. I don’t like central air, I don’t like being
closed up inside in the summer, but we are seriously thinking about it before
next year. On the news they keep talking
about the smell of fall in the air, all I can smell is sweat and mold.
My tomatoes are all splitting and rotting from the rain. I think when we have a cooler day I will just
tear out the vegetable garden for the year.
The flowers are for the most part doing well. The chocolate snakeroot is blooming, the
anemone and toad lilies are also blooming.
Finally, the peacock orchids are blooming but still no crocosmia.
Dahlias are blooming well but falling over in the wind and heavy
rain. Other tall plants are also
affected. I am carrying around my bamboo
stakes when I venture out to prop up plants.
I have begun repotting some houseplants that are outside on
vacation. I am going to have some huge
plants to bring back inside in a few weeks.
It’s hard to imagine today as I swelter but that houseplant vacation will
be ending soon. I need to get some new
grow lights and make decisions on what will go where and what I need to just
get rid of.
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| Another garden admirer |
September almanac
This month the various Farmers Almanacs come out for 2019.
(There’s the Old Farmer’s almanac and Farmer’s Almanac.) Both Farmer’s almanacs are calling for a
bitter cold, snowy winter. Problem is
the National Weather Service says that’s not what they predict. They predict a mild winter for most parts of
the country. And they also warn that no
one can predict what the daily weather will be more than about a week in
advance, secret formulas or not.
So, are the Farmers almanacs accurate? The Old Farmer’s Almanac said our area would
have a mild winter last winter, it was not, indeed it was colder than
average. They got it right for a hot dry
summer though. I checked the daily
forecasts for July against my own records and they only got one 4 day stretch
right. I have compared before and I have
found these monthly forecasts, generally done in sets of a few days, are
greatly inaccurate. Since it’s a 50-50
chance of a better or worse than average winter or summer it stands to reason
they would get that right sometimes.
I am hoping that their prediction for winter is also wrong and the
weather service is right. This year’s
weather has not been friendly and we deserve a break.
The Harvest moon occurs this month on September 24th.
It’s called the Harvest moon because farmers often used the light of this
month’s full moon to complete their harvest.
Moon perigee is the 7th and apogee is the 19th.
The autumn equinox, the start of fall is September 22nd. We’ll be down to 12 hours of daylight then,
give or take 8 minutes, depending on where you are. On this day the sun sets exactly due west and
rises due east of your home. Go outside
and position a marker or note it on a landmark and you will always know the
true directions around your home.
September in my area is when the hummingbirds and orioles
generally leave along with some other songbirds, for their winter hibernation
areas. Many hawks will also be migrating
south, they fly at night so the flocks are rarely seen. Some say woodchucks go into hibernation this
month but here if it’s warm they will be out feeding through October.
The birth flower for September is the aster or in some places, the
morning glory. Asters are said to
symbolize powerful love and morning glories just affection so choose the flower
you give this month accordingly. The
September birthstone is sapphire.
September is Hispanic Heritage Month, National Chicken month,
Honey month, Classical Music month, National Preparedness month, and
International Square Dancing month.
Besides Labor Day (3rd) holidays in September include
Grandparents day the 10th (who honors us grandparents anyway?)
Patriots day on the 11th, the 13th is National Peanut
day, the 14th is Pet Memorial Day, the 19th is National
POW-MIA day, 21st is International Peace Day, the 26th is
Native American Day and the 28th is both Good Neighbor Day and Ask a
Stupid Question day.
Fall Webworms
If you are seeing “tents” full of wriggling worms on the ends of
tree branches in late summer or fall they are not “tentworms” but rather fall
webworms. They are not very harmful to
trees and if you want more information here’s a link to a previous article I
wrote about them.
Maple leaf tarspot
Another problem of trees noticed in the fall is black spotting on
the leaves of maples, almost as if someone dropped paint or tar on them. This is maple leaf tarspot, also not terribly
damaging to trees. If you want more
information here’s a link.
Good diet links
Restricting the hours of the day in which you eat may help you lose weight or at least
maintain your weight without restricting calories. The suggested time that you refrain from
eating is 14 hours, you are able to eat normally within one continuous 10-hour
period. For more about this here’s an article to read.
Here’s another diet related article you
might be interested in. Treatment with the plant camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) prevents obesity by
altering the gut microbiota and increasing energy expenditure in diet-induced
obese mice. Gut,
2018; gutjnl-2017-315565 DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2017-315565
A Riff on Recycling
Every country in the world has a problem with plastic waste, rich
or poor. But it seems some poorer
countries, who may have more practice than some richer ones in recycling waste,
are turning waste plastic into a valuable resource.
In Africa there are entrepreneurs in several countries who have developed
various building materials from recycled plastics of all types. There are interlocking bricks for building,
sheets of building material and bricks made for paving roads. India is making an asphalt type product for
roads from recycled plastic. In South America they are also using plastic
bricks and paving with plastic materials.
Plastic building blocks are durable, light and strong. They go up quickly, some interlock. Building homes with them can cost less than
half of what timber framed or concrete block buildings cost. Because there are all kinds of plastics and
melted or shredded plastic can be mixed with things like sand, the qualities
and possibilities of plastic building and paving materials are endless.
Old habits are hard to change. What if builders were required to use
a certain percentage of recycled plastic materials in every new building or
road that was built – here in our country?
The piles of waste plastic might become valuable resources and plastic
would be less likely to pollute the ocean and other areas.
I can see plastic roofs – yes plastic can be made fire resistant,
plastic framing like “trex” lumber, plastic flooring made to look like ceramic
or wood- (I am installing some vinyl flooring that looks like real wood) and
even plastic “plywood”.
There are some inventors who say specially mixed plastic blocks or
even pourable plastic mixes for roads can be every bit as durable as cement and
asphalt and cheaper to make. Think of
snap together roads, that would make construction fast and simple and where
damaged portions could simply be removed and replaced. There are even prototypes of these plastic
roads. Wow – a world where all plastic
is reused and becomes an asset would be great.
Recycled fabric
Let’s turn to another type of waste that rich countries have a lot
of- clothing and other fabric items. Millions and millions of tons are discarded
each year in the US. Some clothing is
sold used and that’s great, but there is far more that just goes to landfills
and incinerators.
There are companies that are now taking all those used fabrics of
various types and recycling them into new fabrics. Others make items like insulation, cushioning
and bedding from old fabrics. And some
just make things like handbags and rugs from old fabrics.
While it could be hard for people to turn recycled plastic into
building material even we average adults can take steps to use fabric
waste. Cut old clothing, towels and
bedding into wash rags. Cut them into strips and knit or crochet them into rugs
or throws. Old raggedy cotton underwear makes good cleaning cloths.
If we encouraged and even mandated a certain percentage of plastic
and fabric waste be recycled every year great things could be accomplished for
the environment and our economy.
Catfacing, cracking and zippering in tomatoes
Catfacing is a term for tomatoes that seem to have constricted
areas of flesh or cavities on the bottom of the tomato. It may look like several tomatoes fused or
that areas of gray, scabby tissue have divided the fruit. Catfacing may cause
projections of flesh, often shown in photos where someone is giggling over the resemblance
to a penis sticking out of the fruit.
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| Cat facing Photo credit Mississippi State U. Extension |
Another similar problem of tomatoes is zippering- it looks like
the tomato has a zipper running up the side usually with a hole at one end of
the “zipper”. Zippering and catfacing
often occur on the same fruit. They can be seen on green as well as ripe fruit.
Cracking usually occurs on the stem end and looks like scabby
rings running around the tomato. Or cracks can radiate out from the stem
downward, forming a star-like pattern at the fruit top. The fruit actually
cracks open and heals in some cases, with the scabby cover forming or before it
heals it may mold. Both ripe and green
fruit can crack, but ripe fruit is more likely to mold or rot after cracking.
All of these conditions are physiological disorders, that is they
are not caused by disease. There is little you can do under garden conditions
to prevent the problems. Some varieties
of tomatoes have more trouble with these problems, particularly large round
fruited, older varieties. The fruits are lumpy and unappealing but perfectly
edible.
Catfacing and zippering are generally caused by interference with
pollination/fertilization. If tomato
flowers don’t get pollinated correctly the fruit is misshapen. Nights below 60 degrees during, or even for 3
weeks before flowering, or very hot and humid days during flowering are common
causes. Insects feeding on flowers may damage reproductive parts, causing poor
pollination.
If you are heavily pruning indeterminate plants, you may cause a lack
of auxins (a plant hormone) which may also cause fruits to develop
abnormally. High levels of nitrogen may
also be a cause. Infrequently pesticide drift
may be a cause.
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| Cracking Photo by Mississippi State U. Extension |
Cracking is associated with water problems, usually too much water,
sometimes by allowing the plant to get too dry and then watering heavily. If it’s
hot and humid the cracks may develop mold and insects are attracted to the
cracks also.
There is nothing you can add to the soil or put on the plants to
solve these problems. Epsom salt or
fertilizers will not help and can actually cause more problems. Choosing varieties resistant to the problems,
like plum shaped tomatoes, could help if you frequently have these problems. The good news is that if the weather changes
new fruit may not be affected.
Remove badly catfaced and all cracked tomatoes from the plant when
you find them, so the plant doesn’t expend more energy on them and so they don’t
attract insects. This will encourage more bloom, hopefully in better conditions.
Tomatoes affected by catfacing, cracking or zippering are safe to
eat if they aren’t insect infested or moldy. Experts warn that they shouldn’t
be used for canning though, as they may be hard to peel and harbor bacteria or
be less acidic than normal tomatoes. Tomatoes
with mild zippering are probably safe to use.
Canning is not for produce you don’t want to eat fresh, diseased,
overripe, badly bruised or cracked produce should be used fresh or discarded.
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| Zippering on tomato University of Illinois plant clinic |
Burning Bush- Euonymus alatus
In the fall the gardener’s thoughts turn to fall color and one of
the best shrubs for flaming red color in the landscape is the burning bush or wahoo.
(It’s not the burning bush of the bible, but it is the symbol of the
Presbyterian Church of Ireland.) It may
be a bit overrepresented in the landscape and there’s that “invasive species”
label the plant sometimes earns but still this hardy, easy to care for shrub is
one of the best sources of fall color a gardener can plant. Smaller, more compact varieties of burning
bush are now being offered to make them suitable for smaller yards.
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| Burning bush Euonymus alatus Photo from https://www.plantdelights.com |
Wahoo, burning bush or spindle tree is native to Russia, China,
Japan and Korea. It has escaped
cultivation in many countries including the US and may be found growing wild
along the edges of woodlands and in abandoned fields and other disturbed
areas. They are spread by birds eating
the tiny fruits the bush produces. That
is where the invasive label kicks in, but if you know me, you know I think
nature doesn’t mind successful competitors. As the climate changes we may all
have to be thankful for what will grow in our area, whether it’s native or
not. Euonymus
alatus has been in the US since at least 1860, time enough to be a
naturalized citizen.
The species is a large, multi-stemmed shrub, 12-15 feet in height
and width. Cultivars have been developed
to bring the size down to about 3-5 feet.
And burning bush also responds well to pruning so the shrubs can remain
manageable. Burning bush can be used as
foundation or specimen plantings or for hedges. Some nurseries may still use
the misnomer, Euonymus alata.
The stems or trunks of the species have ridges of corky bark
running down them, often referred to as “wings” as they stick out from the
trunk. Many cultivated varieties have
lost these wings and instead have strips of tan bark with green stem showing
between them, especially when they are young.
Older trees/bushes may have thick corky bark and be quite wide and
strong. Plants are sometimes trained to
a single stem for a specimen “tree”.
Burning bush has 3-inch long, oval leaves with serrated edges
arranged opposite each other on the stem.
The leaves are deep green in summer, turning to fiery red in fall. Full
sun is needed for the best color and there are some cultivars that have more of
a pink tone than red. The plant is
deciduous, losing its leaves by winter.
The flowers of burning bush are seldom noticed, they are greenish
white and hidden under foliage. They
appear in late spring. Flowers turn into
papery 4 lobed seed pods that are yellow-tan when ripe and split open to reveal
tiny seeds encased in a bit of fleshy red fruit. This is what the birds like and how the
burning bush gets spread into the wilder areas.
The inside of the pods can be an attractive red-orange color, but the
seed pods are only rarely seen when the leaves drop before they do.
Cultivation of burning bush
Growing burning bush is easy enough for beginning gardeners. They will grow in zones 4-8. They prefer well
drained soil with a neutral or slightly acidic pH. They will tolerate alkaline
soils but may become paler green and have less fall color. They prefer full sun and develop the best
fall color there but will also grow in partial shade. They also prefer regular
watering if the climate is dry.
Usually gardeners will start with small plants, which are started
from cuttings. Burning bush can be
started from seed but if you want a certain variety it’s best to buy a plant.
To start burning bush from seed the seed needs about 10 weeks
above 60 degrees in storage then about 12 weeks of cold, 34 degrees or less,
moist conditions. They are then planted
and transplanted into single pots after they develop 2-3 sets of leaves. Keep the plants in a cool greenhouse or
coldframe the first winter and transplant outside after danger of frost in the
spring.
You can prune burning bush for shaping at any time. The plants look best if they are allowed to
develop a natural, rounded form but can be sheared into a hedge. If a large overgrown burning bush needs
rejuvenation pruning do it in early spring, before it leafs out and take stems
back to about a foot from the ground. It will grow slowly the first year but
should rebound the second.
Gardeners
will probably want to grow one of the burning bush cultivars that are more
compact. Most of the
cultivars don’t have the heavy, corky stem ridges that the species has. If you prefer corky stems try 'Phellomanus' –
which is hardy to zone 4, about 10 feet high, but hard to find.
'Compactus'
is an old and popular cultivar, but it still gets 10 feet tall. It is hardy
only to zone 5. There is a strain- Euonymus alatus
'Bailey Strain' which is hardy to zone 4.
'Select' (FireBall™) is
also a bit more hardy and compact, growing 4-7 ft. 'Rudy Haag' is smaller, typically growing from
3-5' tall, hardy to zone 4.
'Kosho Mayune' is
a Japanese variety with finer leaves and a pinkish fall color. 'Odom' (Little Moses™) is very
compact, only 30-36 inches tall. 'Pipzam'
(Pipsqueak™) is another burning bush with small leaves growing to
about 5 feet tall.
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| As a specimen Wikimedia commons |
Problems of burning bush
Most burning
bush shrubs are problem free. Spider mites may occur in dry summers. Leaves
will look stippled with yellow and fine webbing may be seen under leaves and
between stems. The mites are reddish and
very tiny. Use a strong blast of water
on plants several times a week to help control this if it becomes a
problem. Pesticides for spider mites
should be used as a last resort.
Winged
Euonymus scale sometimes occurs. It
causes yellowing, dropping leaves, and may seriously impact the shrubs
health. The scale insect is brown or
gray and appears like a bump on plant stems and foliage. You will need a systemic pesticide that
covers scale insects to control it.
Chlorosis
is sometimes seen in poor soils or in alkaline soils. It looks like dark green veins in light green
or yellow leaves. Premature fall color may occur. A high nitrogen fertilizer
may help with this problem.
Toxicity and medicinal uses
All
parts of the plant are toxic and there are no safe edible uses. The plant is toxic to cattle, horses and pets
although a good amount must be eaten to cause death and serious poisoning is
rare.
As with
many toxic plants there are old medicinal uses.
Burning bush is used in several Chinese and Korean remedies. In folk medicine it’s politely called a cure
for late menstruation but burning bush is actually used to cause abortions and
pregnant women should never consume folk remedies made with it, unless that’s
the remedy they are seeking.
Koreans
use burning bush to expel worms. Burning bush is also used in Chinese medicine
for lowering blood sugar, to stop itching, as a cure for cancer, for headaches
and body aches, and to thin the blood. There are modern medical studies showing
it may be helpful in diabetes and research is ongoing. Modern medical studies
are also testing burning bush derivatives in cancer treatments and immune
system regulation medications.
Peach Dip
You can
use this tasty peach dip for dipping chicken tenders, shrimp, crusty bread,
crackers, or chips or you can use it to glaze chicken and pork before grilling
or baking. It’s a spicy but sweet
dip. Use ripe but still firm peaches for
this recipe. Peaches can be peeled
easily by dipping them in boiling water for 1 minute then plunging them into
ice water. The skin should slip off
then.
The
recipe yields 2 pints, and it can be used fresh or canned or frozen.
Ingredients
4 cups
of peeled, pitted and chopped peaches
1
medium onion finely chopped
1 cup brown
sugar, packed
½ cup
white vinegar
½ teaspoon
salt
½ teaspoon
ground ginger
½ teaspoon
cinnamon
½ teaspoon crushed chilies or red pepper
(spices
can be varied to suit your taste)
Directions
Put all
the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring slowly to boil, turn down to
simmer.
Simmer
1 hour, stirring frequently.
Remove
from heat and use a hand mixer or blender to blend smooth. It should be thick and glossy.
You can
use after cooling or cool to room temperature and freeze a portion.
To can –
return to heat and bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour quickly into sterilized jars (½ pint are
best), wipe rim and put on lids.
Process
in water bath canner for 5 minutes below 1,000 feet altitude, 10 minutes
1001-6000 feet, 15 minutes above 6000 feet.
Times are for ½ pint jars.
I’m still waiting for that smell of
fall!
Kim Willis
All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without
permission.
And So On….
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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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