page links

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

January 15, 2019 Kim’s Weekly Garden Blog


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
 Hawthorn was widely used for heart remedies in folk medicine and modern research does confirm it has some benefit.  It lowers blood pressure and lowers blood cholesterol.  It may help in congestive heart failure, although research results have been mixed on that.  Do not experiment with hawthorn though, if you are taking prescription medicines for blood pressure or your heart, as this could be deadly.
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….

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:
(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page but all gardeners anywhere are welcome)

Newsletter/blog information
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 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 or anyone you know 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


No comments:

Post a Comment