Hi Gardeners,
Winter is creeping back to us.
After a couple sunny but cold days we have freezing mist and gray skies
today. The weather pattern is expected
to shift and our hiatus from snow may be gone soon. More bitter cold is also expected. But when I
went to the barn this morning the little goldfinches were singing their heads
off. You could almost believe spring was
near.
It’s been odd touring the gardens the last few days. Most things are dead, and since I’m a
believer in spring clean-up, everything is a bit messy looking. But the grass is still pretty green, the
bamboo is green and the arum in the front looks oddly bright and green among the
dead ferns.
The deer have already eaten the back side of my huge euonymus as
high as they can reach. I put netting around it, but they pushed it down in
back. On the side facing the house I had
a string of solar lights along with netting and so far, they have left it
alone. The euonymus will recover by
summer but I hate that they trim it for me each year.
Indoors I have several more lemons turning yellow. I need to make some lemonade, I guess. The Christmas cacti are still blooming like
crazy. The dipladenia I brought inside is
blooming but the deep red blooms are barely visible under the purple glow of
the grow light.
I am still searching for marihuana plants or some good seeds of
the varieties I want to try. There is a
large demand for plants around here. But
there is the little catch still that while you can have the plants, no one is
supposed to sell them yet. It’s made for
some tricky maneuvering and I don’t suppose I’ll see them in the local garden
shop this spring, although that would be nice.
Are you getting seed and garden catalogs? I bet the postman hates me. It’s so nice to be able to look through print
catalogs and mark off things I would like to buy. Dreaming away the winter,
looking at all those pretty plants with fanciful names. If I win the lottery –
well that postman will really hate me!
Never Home Alone – a book review
Did you know that the hands of bakers are responsible for the
breads flavor? People who bake regularly have a rich diversity of microbes on
their hands from their environment, and from the flours they use. Bakers often
have more diversity and abundance of microbes on their hands than other
people. These microbes can’t be totally washed
off, and they are responsible for a subtle flavor difference in each
individual’s bread. It may be why the more bread you make, the better the
breads flavor becomes.
You can learn more about this and other fascinating information
from the book Never Home Alone by Rob
Dunn. The book highlights discoveries
the author has made about the hundreds of thousands of species of life that
inhabit our homes, from spiders to the microbial communities in your shower
head and hot water tank and yes, on your hands.
I have fresh support for leaving the spiders and their webs in the
corners of my office after reading this.
With a few exceptions for creatures that carry human disease or destroy
our food and homes like termites, mice, bedbugs and cockroaches, people should
welcome a diversity of life into their homes. Research has shown that people
that live with a great diversity of species in their home ecosystem are
healthier and even happier than those who try hard to exclude other life forms.
Bringing some plants inside, especially with soil, and having pets
increases the diversity of life in your home that you can’t see as well as what
you can. Throw open those windows, even with screens a variety of life will
float inside. The healthiest homes for
humans, especially children building their immune systems, is to have thousands
of species besides humans living in them.
You don’t have to have a “dirty” home for a diverse ecosystem. And you
can’t disinfect and clean away all that life either, no matter how you try.
The study of life that’s invisible as well as visible in our homes
and backyards is new. We know more about
the life in Amazon rain forests than the life in our homes. But that is starting to change. Hundreds of
species are being identified and named and evaluated for their role in our
ecosystem. We now know that microbial life is vital to our heath, the gardens
in our guts, on our skin, and in our homes are essential to life.
Dunn has written other books on those microbes and tiny critters
that live in and on our bodies. This
book is primarily about the ones that live in our homes. You’ll learn that the mold spores that cause
deadly black mold come into our homes in the drywall we install. About half of all new drywall already has the
spores of black mold inside it, the drywall only needs moisture for the mold to
start growing and spreading. And that’s
only a small part of the interesting things you’ll discover in the book.
Never Home Alone is easy for the
average person to understand even while presenting new scientific knowledge.
The author has an easy, conversational way of writing and his fascination with
unseen worlds is contagious. If you are squeamish about “germs” you may have a
hard time reading it but do try. The key
to saving the larger ecosystem we live in may lay in saving the more intimate
one.
Hawthorns- unappreciated thorny
beauties
Hawthorns are beautiful small trees that have edible fruit. They are very attractive to wildlife,
especially birds. Hawthorns are woven into human history through folklore and
herbal medicine. They are underused in the landscape and gardens and deserve
more attention from gardeners.
Hawthorns, also known as thornapples, mayapples, mayhaw and May
tree, belong to the Rose family, a family that includes apples, roses and pears
among other species. The genus name is Crataegus and there are hundreds of native species spread
across North America, northern Europe and northern Asia. Several ornamental
varieties have been developed from various species.
Hawthorns are small trees, with many species tending to sucker and
form thickets. They have an alternate
branching pattern, the bark is gray when young, with small fissures. As the trees age the bark gets browner and
rougher and deeper fissures and ridges develop.
And hawthorn trees can get very, very old. There are documented trees that are hundreds
of years old.
The leaves of hawthorn vary by species, but most have serrated
edges and are also lobed. Some species
have spring color in the leaves of pink or maroon and many have beautiful fall
color in reds and gold. Hawthorn is
known for its long, sharp thorns that occur along the branches. There are a few varieties that have been
developed to have few thorns or that are completely thornless.
Several butterflies use the plants as larval food. Birds and small
animals nest in and under them, protected by the sharp thorns. Hedges of hawthorn can even keep large
animals enclosed.
Hawthorn has clusters of small (mostly) white flowers produced in
late spring, usually May as the common names infer. They have 5 petals and are
very similar to wild rose flowers or the flowers of pears. The flowers blush
pink as they age. There are species that have pink and red flowers and several
ornamental varieties have been developed from them. There are double flowered
varieties also.
The flowers turn into “haws” which are very similar to rose hips
or crabapples. They are small pomes with a fleshy fruit around one to 5 hard
seeds similar to apple seeds. The seeds
in the fruit should not be eaten as they are poisonous just like apple seeds. The
haws vary by species as to the taste of the fruit, some species have large,
sweet fruit and others have small, woody fruits. The color of the ripe fruit
also varies, most species have red fruit, but some species have golden, purple,
or blue fruits.
The fruits are loved by birds and are a special favorite of cedar waxwings.
People have also been using the fruits for centuries, eating them raw and
turning them into jams, jellies, wine and candy. Many cultures from Native
Americans to northern Chinese and Europeans were fond of the fruit and sought
it out or cultivated hawthorn trees.
All parts of the hawthorn have medicinal uses. Hawthorns are
widely used as living hedges in Europe.
The wood of hawthorns is hard and tough and is used for tool handles,
posts and fences. Pears and medlars are sometimes grafted onto hawthorn root
stock. Hawthorn is the state flower of Missouri. Folklore is filled with tales where hawthorn
is used as good luck, the home of fairies, the crown on Christs head and so
on. Spring is said to have ended when
hawthorn blooms.
Growing hawthorns
Most species of hawthorn are very adaptable. They grow in all types of soil and in either
dry or wet conditions. Fertile, well-drained soil would be their ideal situation,
however. Full sun produces the best growth, but hawthorns will grow in partial
shade. There are species hardy to zone 3
at least and species that grow as far south as Mexico.
Hawthorn can be grown from seed, but it’s a long difficult
process. Seeds must be stratified,
(exposed to freezing temperatures and moisture) and may take 2 years to germinate. Most gardeners will want to buy hawthorn
trees. Suckers can sometimes be dug from
around suckering trees and transplanted.
They are difficult to start from cuttings.
Pruning and shaping will depend on the variety and what uses you
intend for the plants. Plants used for
wildlife or hedging can be left alone or pruned only to keep them in bounds. If
you plant an ornamental variety and want a garden specimen tree, you’ll want to
keep suckers cut down and limb up the tree so that it looks tree like and not
bush like. Be careful when pruning
because the thorns can be painful. By
the way, hawthorn makes excellent bonsai trees.
Hawthorns are susceptible to many of the same diseases that pears
and apples get. Hawthorn leaf spot,
fireblight and cedar-apple rust are common diseases. If you want to control these diseases follow
a spray schedule for pears.
Varieties of hawthorn to look for
Crataegus phaenopyrum- Washington hawthorn, is probably the
most common hawthorn in Eastern US landscapes. It’s native to the Missouri
Ozarks. It has reddish purple leaves in spring,
white flowers, and red berries. Fall
color can be red, purple or orange.
Crataegus
laevigata 'Paul’s Scarlet' is a double rose
pink flowering hawthorn. It and Crataegus
laevigata 'Plena', which has white double flowers, look like they are
covered in tiny roses in spring.
 |
| Paul's Scarlet Wkimedia commons |
Crataegus
pinnatifida var major 'Big Golden
Star' is grown for its large pear-shaped fruits which are glossy red not
golden.
Crataegus
viridis ‘Winter King’ Hawthorn has lots
of white flowers in spring but is outstanding in fall with foliage in shades of
purple, red and gold and bright red berries that hold into winter.
Crataegus
azarolus – ‘Gold Azarole’ has shiny white
fragrant flowers in spring followed by small golden fruits that have a sweet
apple flavor.
Crataegus
pinnatifida- ‘Red Sun’
(Da Mian Qui) is a Chinese hawthorn that has sweet red fruit.
Crataegus
opaca- ‘Big Red Mayhaw’ has the largest
fruits of the hawthorns, big, dark red, sweet haws with pink flesh.
Crataegus
douglasii - Black Hawthorn is native to the
western US. It has white flowers, glossy dark green foliage in summer,
outstanding fall color in scarlet and orange and red berries in winter.
Crataegus
prunifolia 'Splendens' (Frosted Thorn), is
another hawthorn with outstanding fall color in copper, gold and orange.
Crataegus
monogyna - English hawthorn is the
hawthorn that many English hedge rows are made of. Each red fruit has only a single seed and the
fruits are excellent for jelly and jam.
Medicinal uses of hawthorn
A tea of hawthorn leaves is sometimes used for digestive upsets.
It is used to expel tapeworms. It also
has sedative and diuretic properties.
Hawthorn has been used on the skin for boils, sores, and itching.
Do not chew or swallow the seeds of hawthorn. If you are taking
prescription medicines use great caution with hawthorn remedies. Hawthorn fruit eaten raw or in jelly, wine or
candied is generally harmless.
Monarchs
may have moved their winter home
People all over the country have been concerned that
each year fewer Monarch butterflies have returned to their winter home in the
Mexican mountains. All kinds of ideas about why the population is dwindling
have been floated; from loss of habitat, loss of milkweed, climate change and
pesticide use. But now, new research has
found that some of the butterflies may just have changed their winter breeding
grounds.
Scientists can take the DNA of butterflies and figure
out what area of the country they came from. Dr. Hannah Vander Zanden, from the
University of Florida, sampled the DNA of butterflies on the southeast
coast of Florida and found that many of them came from the Midwest. Butterflies
from the Midwest were thought to over winter in only a few spots in Mexico. The number of monarchs returning to Mexico
has dwindled in recent years.
If the Monarchs have changed where they go to in
winter, then we may not need to be so concerned about dwindling winter
populations in Mexico. About half of the
Monarchs collected in Florida came from the Midwest, which leads researchers to
believe there’s a sizable number of them in Florida. They don’t believe they were blown there by
storms, rather that they migrated to the area deliberately.
Now the search is on to find areas in Florida where
the butterflies congregate like they do in Mexico. This would let scientists get a better idea
of how many Monarchs remain. It also
leads researchers to wonder if there are other places that the Monarchs may be
going in winter. The news means that we
may learn that Monarchs have just shifted their preferred habitats, in winter
and maybe even in summer, rather than populations actually diminishing. They’re
not gone they’re just hiding.
More reading
Animal Migration,
2018; 5 (1): 74 DOI: 10.1515/ami-2018-0006
Is
non-native habitat better than no habitat?
If you read this blog, then you know I am not that
alarmed by what are often called “invasive species.” Often nature knows better than we do as to
what should grow where. And another new
study confirms this.
A new study by scientists at Duke University and the
University of North Carolina-Wilmington and published July 17 in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences finds non-native plants can be very
helpful in some situations. They studied
the coastal mud flats of North Carolina, focusing on an “invasive’ Japanese
seaweed called Gracilaria vermiculophylla.
Mudflats provide the coast line with soil
stabilization and erosion control; storm surge and flood protection; and create
nursery habitat for important food species of fish, shrimp and crabs. But in many places, human interference and
acts of nature have destroyed native vegetation on the mud flats and the
communities they support. Because the
soil and environmental conditions have changed native plant species have been
unable to repopulate effectively in some areas, despite human efforts.
But in areas were the Japanese seaweed had arrived
and was growing abundantly the ecosystem had been virtually restored. Erosion and silt deposits were stopped by the
seaweed. Fish, shrimp and crabs were
using the seaweed as nurseries and biodiversity was high. The ecosystem was
healthier than coastal areas where restoration of native plants was being
tried.
Researchers suggest that multimillion-dollar efforts
to restore native plant communities should be reevaluated. Some nonnative plants can help the
environment much better than trying to restore native plants, which are no
longer suitable for the conditions. It
may not be the same exact ecosystem that was there years ago but if it’s
working for nature who are we to try and change it?
More reading
Two
unusual flowers
Do you like to grow flowers for bougets? Are you looking for things to sell at a farm market? Or do you just like something different in
the garden? Why not try these two
beauties this year? They will probably
need to be grown from seed.
Craspedia or drumstick flower produces little (1”)
golden globes of flowers on long stiff stems.
The leaves are grass-like. The flowers are long lasting in a vase and
excellent as accents or fillers in bougets. The flowers are easy to dry and
retain the yellow coloring, although the dried flowers can be dyed for arrangements
also.
 |
| Craspedia - Johnny's Seeds |
Didiscus or blue lace flower has flowers in lavender,
pale pink or white that resemble small queen Anne’s lace flowers. The flowers have a light clean scent and airy
look that makes them ideal for cut flower arrangements.
 |
| Didiscus- Chiltren's Seeds |
Both of the above flowers prefer full sun and are
easy to grow. They bloom in mid to late
summer.
How
do you pronounce that?
Abelmoschus = ay-bell-moss-kiss
Ageratum = aj-ur-ay-tum
Centaurea = sen-taw-ree-uh
Cerinthe = seh-rin-thee
Datura = da-too-ruh
Dianthus = dye-ann-thus
Helenium = hel ee-nee-um
Helianthus = heel-ee-ann-thus
Hibiscus = high-biss-kiss
Impatiens = im-pay-shens
Linaria = lih-nare-ee-uh
Lobelia = loh-bee-lee-uh
Lobularia = lob-yew-lair-ee-uh
Mirabilis = meer-ab-il-iss
Nigella = nye-jell-ah
Oenothera = ee-nah-thee-ruh
Papaver = pah-pay-ver
Phlox = flox
Rudbeckia = rood-bek-ee-uh
Salpigossis = sal-pi-gloss-is
Scabious = skab-ee-oh-suh
Stokesia = sto-kee-see-ah
Tagetes = tah-jee-tees
Tanacetum = tan-ah-see-tum
Tithonia = ti-thoh-nee-uh
Be a voice, not an echo
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 (or things I want to talk about). It keeps me engaged with
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