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Tuesday, May 14, 2019

May 14, 2019


Hi Gardeners

Isn't the color of this tulip amazing?
It’s so nice to have a spring day here, sunny and mild.  We have had so many chilly, gray and drizzly days lately.  The flowers are just so perky and colorful, backlit by the sun.  I have some new tulips in bloom, I don’t know the variety name because they came in a mixed bunch, but I have put two pictures on here of the gorgeous soft colors. 

I do love tulips, the color and forms they come in are so varied.  But tulips are something you have to work on and plant more of each year. Some will come back for several years but many just disappear.  Tulips like beds where they are dry during the summer and most gardens aren’t like that.  So, every year you tend to lose some, but if you plant some new ones each year, you’ll always have tulips in spring. 

And even getting them to come up the first year after you plant them can be a challenge.  I planted 100 tulips in the front beds last fall and of those new ones I am finding only about 18, which is very disappointing.  They were nice, big, healthy looking bulbs so I am thinking squirrels and other critters ate the bulbs and caused the failure.  I don’t usually have that problem, but every year is different.

I took the netting away from one of the front beds because everything is getting ready to bloom or blooming and there’s no sense obstructing the view with stakes and netting.  Hopefully those bad Bambi’s will keep their mouths away.  Usually by this time of year they leave things alone but since they snacked on some daffodils a week ago, I am crossing my fingers and hoping.

The fritillaria is in bloom, they aren’t as tall as last year.  This cold cool weather seems to have everything a bit smaller and slower to bloom.   My clove viburnum is in bloom, I much prefer it to forsythia.  There are the same cheerful yellow flowers, very similar to forsythia, but the viburnum has that delightful spicy clove smell that floats on the air and bees love the plant.  Soon my magnolia and the redbud will be blooming.

Here's another lovely tulip
I can’t wait to start moving plants outside.  I have a few things moved out but I’ll be putting more of the hardier things like the pots of summer bulbs, geraniums and the jasmines out this week. Everything is easier to care for outside and the plants love being out there as long as it isn’t too cold.

I have more orioles than I have ever seen this year at the feeders. This year we have orchard orioles as well as the Baltimore orioles.  Orchard orioles are darker, smaller and slimmer than Baltimore orioles, with more of a rusty orange breast than the bright orange of the Baltimore.  They are going through a quart jar of grape jelly every few days. 

Orioles will drink sugar nectar like hummingbirds, but they have a hard time using hummingbird feeders. They need to perch while drinking.  I decided to put together a nectar feeder for them. I dug out an old baby chick waterer and filled it with sugar nectar.  I used an old perforated pizza pan to sit the chick feeder on and to which I attached chains to hang the whole thing. Hummingbirds can use this too, although I still have feeders up for them.  I had a hummer buzzing me as I hung the feeder, so it didn’t have any qualms using it.

I am posting a picture below, hopefully next week I can get a picture with birds on it.  If you want to do something like this, you can buy the chick water base at a hardware or feed store for just a couple dollars.  They screw on to a quart jar, like a canning jar. (Some places sell plastic jars for them too.) Mix up the sugar water the way you do hummingbird nectar, 3 parts boiling water to 1 part sugar.

So much of the country is stormy and wet this spring. Here’s hoping the rains will leave your area and the May sun will shine on you too.

Homemade oriole nectar feeder



Determining what kind of light conditions you have

When gardeners look at plant labels and descriptions, they will hopefully see what light requirements a plant needs so that they can plant it in the right spot.  But before you can choose plants for your landscape you have to know what light conditions you have. You can find plants that will thrive in almost any light conditions and it always works best if you choose the right plant for those light conditions. In most yards there will be several types of light conditions. 

Gardeners should be aware that light conditions may change through the seasons. The sun is at a different angle at various times of the year and trees may lose leaves or gain them and this can change the light conditions plants are in. It helps to observe your landscape for a full year before deciding what light conditions you have.  When deciding what light level you have observe the light during the main part of the growing season in your area.

As trees grow, they may shade areas further and further away from them and when planting perennials this should be considered.  If you are planning to remove trees or remove or build structures this should also be considered as it will modify light levels.

You’ll see plant light requirements listed on plant labels as full sun, partial shade, and shade and sometimes variations on those such as filtered shade, or light shade. Here’s how to determine what you have.

Full sun is pretty obvious.  There are no trees or buildings nearby to shade the area and the area gets sunlight the whole time the sun is shining. In general, if an area gets six or more hours of direct sunlight in the middle of the day (3 hours before and 3 hours after noon) it’s also considered to be full sun.

Full shade is also pretty obvious.  In this case no direct sunlight gets to the area during the growing season.  It can be under deciduous trees and when the leaves are not present in winter there may be full sun.  But for plants, the light condition that counts are during the growing season.

There are some spring blooming plants whose life cycle is short. They can be planted under deciduous trees where they receive full sun before the trees leaf out and they go dormant before it gets shady.  These are called ephemeral plants.  

Very dense shade will not allow many plants to grow. Dense shade conditions are found under evergreens, many deciduous trees and sometimes under overhangs and in the shade of large buildings. Fortunately, most areas have some other degree of shade.

Light shade can mean that the tree coverage is light, allowing brighter conditions, perhaps dappled or shifting sunlight.  It can also mean that at certain times of the day the area gets a few hours of sun, usually in the evening or early morning. The north side of buildings can be considered light shade if there are no trees or overhangs to further block the sun. 

Partial shade is when the area gets about five hours of sun especially if part of that is around midday. The east or west side of the home with no overhang or trees nearby is usually considered a partly shaded location.  In the far south many plants thrive in partial shade that would require full sun in the north.

Here’s another way to determine shade levels. Take a camera out to your shaded area several times during the day.  If you must use a flash to take a picture every time of the day, then you have full shade.  If at some points during the day your camera could take a picture without a flash, you have partial shade. If you can take a picture almost any time of the day without a flash, you have light shade.

Many things can modify shade conditions.  Reflected light from light colored walls or fences or from water can provide more light to an area.  Some plants will grow in shade but struggle in dry shade competing with tree roots near the surface, a canopy of tree limbs that shed water or a roof overhang.  Dry shade is difficult to keep plants growing in unless you supply extra water.  Soil that is compacted, very acidic or alkaline or very wet may also prove inhospitable to some plants regardless of the light. 

It’s wise to choose plants for the light conditions you have and not buy plants hoping they will survive in light conditions you have but that they don’t prefer. And sometimes light conditions change drastically.  A tree may fall, or a new building may block the sun. Sometimes established plants will adjust to the new conditions but many times you will need to move them, or they will die.

Hanging basket care

Almost every garden I know has at least one hanging basket of flowers or foliage. Mine usually has several.  As a young gardener many, many years ago I knew hanging baskets as houseplants, like spider plants, and we often used macramé hangers to display them.  But somewhere along the way hanging baskets became popular for outside plants and that trend doesn’t seem to be fading.

The greenhouses are full of beautiful hanging baskets of all types, sizes and light preferences.  But as many gardeners can attest it isn’t easy to keep those baskets of plants beautiful throughout the summer when they are hung outside.  I’ve learned a lot about hanging baskets over time and I am going to share some tips here.

Right plant - right place

Choose wisely by matching the light requirements of the plants in the basket with those at the site where you intend to place them.  A fuchsia plant that’s popped into full sun will quickly dry up and die.  A pleasing petunia basket will quit blooming and get straggly if placed in the shade. Hanging baskets generally list the plant names and requirements on a tag or label.  If they don’t, ask a knowledgeable salesperson what conditions the plants prefer.  Don’t buy a hanging basket, no matter how beautiful, if you can’t give it the conditions it needs.

If a plant is listed as performing well in sun or part sun, it generally needs about 6 hours of direct sun or filtered sun all day.  If it says shade or part shade, then the plant prefers less than 6 hours of sunlight and that sunlight is generally best if it comes in the early morning or late afternoon.  Or place the plant where it is always lightly shaded.  Only a few plants will do well in dense shade.

Wind can also be a factor when choosing the right plants for a hanging basket.  Some plants are very susceptible to wind damage such as tuberous begonias.  They should be hung in a protected spot.  The stems are brittle and break easily. These plants wouldn’t be a good choice where they might get bumped or brushed frequently either.

Fuchsia

Water - water -water

Hanging baskets require lots of water.  There are a lot of roots in those full lush baskets and little soil.  Windy, warm days may require that you water the baskets twice a day.  Plan for watering before you hang the pots.  If you can’t access them easily you either won’t water them enough or you will want to get rid of them.  There are pulley systems you can buy or devise that allow you to lower the pots for easy watering and long curved wands that you can attach to a hose to water baskets above your head.

Try not to let the plants wilt, even though they may revive when watered, each time they wilt the plant is stressed.  Water baskets slowly with warm water until water drips from the bottom of the pot. Hang your baskets so you don’t have to worry where the excess water drips.

Try not to let the soil get so dry that it shrinks away from the side of the pot, because the water you add then just pours right through the pot, without much absorbing into the soil.  If this happens take the pot down and soak it in a large bucket of water that covers the pot. Push it into the water so the top of the potting medium is covered and wait until the bubbles stop coming up.  Leave it for an hour and then remove it and let it drain. The soil should have expanded to the pot sides again.

Does it help to add water absorbing granules to planting medium or add a diaper to line the basket? Experts disagree on the water absorbent granules, but some greenhouses do add them.  It’s almost impossible to add them to a full planted basket. If you are planting the basket yourself, you can buy the granules or use potting mixes that already have them. I used to promote the “add a diaper to line the pot” method, but I no longer recommend it. Diapers do hold a lot of water but in dry hot weather they can actually wick moisture away from roots in the center of the pot.

If the hanging basket doesn’t drain freely you could over water your hanging basket. Cool rainy weather and a container that doesn’t drain well can be a problem. Plants that are over watered generally have a swampy smell. They will wilt just like a dry plant because the root system is rotting away.  If the soil feels very wet don’t water the plant.  Empty all saucers or catch pots shortly after you water your hanging baskets.  These sources of standing water also breed mosquitoes.

Feed, feed, feed

Nurseries and greenhouses feed their hanging baskets a diluted plant fertilizer almost continuously. To keep your basket blooming all summer you should feed them too. Use a flowering plant fertilizer designed to be mixed with water at least once a week.  Follow the label directions carefully and use the directions for container plants.  Do not make the solution stronger than the label recommends or you may burn the roots of your plants.

Many of these fertilizers say they can be sprinkled on the leaves and the plants can absorb them.  They may use foliar absorbtion to some extent, but it is better to pour the fertilizer mixture on the soil.  If you plant your hanging basket yourself or repot it, you can add a granular slow release fertilizer formulated for flowering plants and mix it into the potting mix.  Follow the label directions for container plants. This should feed the basket for about 3 months.

Promise to deadhead and protect

Keep dead flowers plucked off to increase bloom. Trim off straggly and broken ends and generally keep the plant tidy.  Some plants will take a bloom break when the weather gets very hot. 

Sometimes trimming back the plant will make it look better and increase the blooms.  Warning - not every plant can be trimmed back drastically to renew it. This works with plants like petunias, impatiens, alyssum, lobelia and a few other things.  If you are going on vacation for a week or two trim them back to about 6 inches and in a couple of weeks you will have a bushy plant with renewed flowering. They must be kept watered and fed during the transition too. 

Don’t cut back plants like tuberous begonias, fuchsia, and lantana. For some of the new and unusual plants in hanging baskets, ask an experienced nursery person or your Extension office garden hotline if they can be trimmed back for renewal.

If you will be gone for days in hot weather take your baskets down and put them in a shady spot.  Ask a neighbor to water them once a day.  If you are gone a lot during hot weather, you may want to reconsider using hanging baskets.  Even when you are home to water them you may want to take the baskets down in a spell of intense heat and sun and put them on the ground in a lightly shaded (for sun lovers) or shaded area (for shade/partial shade lovers).  You will still need to water them, maybe more than once a day but this may keep them from burning up.

If frost threatens cover your basket or move it inside a garage or shed.  You may extend the beauty of your baskets for a month or so in the fall if you cover them when frost is likely. A large old sheet may be needed to cover a large basket.  Make sure to remove the cover shortly after sunrise the next morning.

If you take care of your hanging basket you can enjoy it for the whole gardening season, but you must be diligent in your care.  Plants in a hanging basket can die in just a few days in hot weather if you forget to water them.  But if you like the look of hanging baskets it’s worth the work.


Reasons for not using landscape rocks as mulch

They used to be more common- those white stones people used as mulch in flowerbeds.  There are also red volcanic stones and black stones sold as mulch.  It’s a good thing that fad is waning and here’s why.

Stones don’t nourish the soil.  Even the worse bark or wood chip mulch breaks down and adds organic matter to the soil. Stones impede air flow to the soil too and some soil compaction occurs with rock mulches. Yes, wood mulch must be replaced more often than stones, but the soil microorganisms and your plants will thank you for using wood chip mulch.

It’s hard to add plants or remove them from rock mulched beds.  That’s especially true if you used landscape fabric under the rocks.  Landscape fabric is not good for the soil, especially if rocks weigh it down and block the small perforations in it.

Stones look nice when they are first but down, but after a few months they usually don’t look so nice.  Leaves, twigs, dead flowers and other litter show up prominently among the rocks, especially white rocks.  It’s very hard to get that litter out without removing the stones, washing them and putting them back.  Some people try using a leaf blower to blow out the debris.  But that’s using fossil fuels and causing air pollution as well as noise pollution.  Weeds are harder to pull out of rock mulches too.

Stone is more expensive than wood chips or other organic mulch.  And it does need to be replenished at times too.  It can work down into the soil beneath it.  That’s why many people put what is called landscape fabric beneath the stones, which is bad for your soil as well as being another expense.

White landscape stone reflects light and dark colored stones absorb heat, both things can be detrimental to plants.

Stones can become airborne projectiles when hit by the lawn mower and inevitably some stones will make their way into lawns and other areas.  Children throw them, pets scratch them out. It can be time consuming and difficult to get the stones back to where you put them.

White stone mulch and some of the colored stone mulches too, look glaringly unnatural.  Modern gardens usually feature a more natural look. 

There are some limited areas where a natural colored stone mulch can be effective such as in garden beds of alpine type plants that like gravely soil or in dry desert areas where they are used in place of grass. A small area of stone mulch around water features may help prevent puddles, although wood chips can do that too.  Stones can be used on paths but personally I don’t like walking on rock mulch.  And you still have the problem of the rocks getting into lawns and other areas you don’t want them in.

When you need mulch use something that’s good for the soil, not stone mulch.  Your plants will be healthier.

Don’t plant your garden from the grocery store

I see posts all the time on social media about people starting seeds they found in fruits and vegetables they bought at the grocery store.  While this is a good project if you are just curious, don’t try to start your garden from seeds (or plants) saved from things you bought to eat.  The grocery is not a place to start a food garden from, unless you buy seeds from a seed rack or the store has a greenhouse selling starter plants.

When they cut open a tomato or pepper, or a watermelon or apple, and see all the seeds inside, some people decide to plant the seeds and grow their own.  Why buy seeds if you can rescue them from the trash?  And if that tomato or apple was especially delicious some people think they can duplicate it by growing the seeds from the fruit.  But if you do this you will probably get plants, but not the results you expect.

Almost all fruits and vegetables you find in the market- even the farmer’s market are from hybrid plants.  Hybrid plants are a cross between two purebred plants.  When you cross two purebred plants you can combine traits like taste and color with traits like disease resistance.  Crossing two purebreds results in something called hybrid vigor, plants that grow better and faster in many cases than the purebred strains.

Hybrids are not genetically modified in the way most people think of GMO plants. Typically, GMO labeled plants are those that have genes inserted by artificial means, but hybrids can occur naturally when plants of different strains are planted near each other.  Usually breeders plant rows of one type of purebred plant next to rows of another type of purebred plant they want to cross. The male pollen bearing parts are removed from one variety of plant so that when seeds are produced it must be from a combination of the two varieties.

Growers of produce for market (or home gardeners) plant the hybrid seeds produced from that cross and get a fruit or vegetable with superior qualities inherited from both parent plants.  Plant breeders, through trial and error, know what to expect when they cross those plants. It’s supposed to be an end product; the fruit or vegetables grown from the seeds are meant to be eaten.  The seeds of that hybrid plant are not meant to be saved for planting and here’s why.

Hybrid plants may have self- pollinated or crossed with another hybrid or non- hybrid flower nearby to produce seeds. The genes tucked into that seed are varied and can recombine in several ways during sexual reproduction to produce all kinds of variations in the plants that grow from them. Even seeds from the same fruit may not grow identical plants.  Some of the combinations may be good but a great many of the plants will not be as vigorous, as tasty, or as productive as the parent plant. 

In short, when you save the seeds from many fruits or vegetables you buy at the store and plant them you don’t know what you will get but it most likely won’t be like the parent plant the seeds came from. You cannot tell by looking at a seed what quality of plant it will produce, you will have to wait until the plant is mature to find out what you have. That tasty, pretty pepper you took the seeds from probably will not be replicated from its seeds.

But what if you bought an heirloom tomato fruit at the farmers market. Would you be able to grow the same type of tomato from its seeds?  Probably not.  Many heirlooms are also hybrids.  Even if they are what is known as open-pollinated- (or purebred) they may have cross pollinated with another variety of tomato nearby.  Most growers grow several types of tomatoes for market and don’t grow them far enough apart to prevent cross pollination.

Some plants like apples, cannot pollinate with the same variety of apple, so apple seeds can never give you the same type of apple fruit as the one you saved the seed from.  You will not get a Honeycrisp apple from seeds of a Honeycrisp apple or McIntosh apples from a McIntosh apple seed.  Apples are propagated from cuttings.  If you want a Honeycrisp apple you must plant a tree grown from a cutting.  The seeds of a Honeycrisp apple fruit may produce an apple that tastes good or not, but it won’t be a Honeycrisp.

While some types of fruit- tart cherries for instance, can be pollinated by the same variety of fruit and technically produce the same fruit as the parent, most don’t.  Many types of fruit will be pollinated by another cultivar of that fruit and the seeds will not produce the same variety as the parent.  If you save the seeds of these fruits and plant them you probably won’t get the same fruit; grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, pears, peaches, sweet cherries and some citrus fruits. 
 
You could plant these seeds but you probably
won't get a melon like this
Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, squash and pumpkins, are also plants that we eat the fruit of, and these plants also do not produce the same fruits as the parent when grown from saved seed in most cases.  You might get avocado’s the same as the parent if you grow a plant from the avocado pit.  (But its doubtful you’ll ever harvest avocado fruit from it.)

Plants that can self-pollinate and that have been isolated from other fruit of the same variety might produce fruit very close to the parent, but some genetic recombination occurs here too.

Furthermore, many fruit tree species are grafted onto other rootstock.  This is often done to make the tree hardier and more disease resistant and to control the mature size of the tree.  A fruit tree grown from seed may not be hardy enough for your area or may not have any disease resistance. 

Plant breeders do have to cross different cultivars to get new cultivars. But they wait until the seeds produced from the cross are planted and grow to maturity to evaluate them, then they discard all the poor plants and take cuttings from the best plants to produce new varieties. Or in the case of plants like tomatoes and peppers if the cross produced tasty fruit and vigorous plants, they may repeat the cross and sell the seeds. You could do the same, but it takes a lot of space and time.

So, what about the potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic and onions from the supermarket?  Can they be grown and produce new plants? The answer here is yes, but again unless it’s just an experiment it’s not a good plan. 

If you plant a sprouting white potato you’ll get potatoes exactly like the tuber you planted.  But you run the risk of spreading potato diseases that overwinter on untreated and untested tubers. Buying certified disease-free seed potatoes is the best plan.  Some eating potatoes have also been treated with products to delay sprouting and may never grow well.

Sweet potatoes can also be started from tubers you buy in the grocery, here again you run the risk of disease, but it’s less risky than white potatoes. Don’t start the sweet potatoes in water if you want to try this, plant them in the soil.  Usually after several shoots have developed these are then separated and used like cuttings.  It’s easier to buy cuttings, called “slips” for planting.

You can plant garlic cloves you buy in the store, but most likely they are not a good variety for your area.  Most garlic in stores is grown in California or even other countries and they often don’t grow well when planted in other areas.  Research the right type of garlic for your area and buy the right cloves to plant.

You can plant sprouting onions but it’s kind of a useless endeavor.  Usually you’ll see several stems developing inside a soft sprouting onion bulb.  Separate and plant them if you must, but like garlic many won’t grow well in your growing conditions, unless they were grown locally originally. Most won’t make a bulb, but will go right to seed, as onions do in their second year. You could use them for green onions, I guess.

I have heard of people planting the cut off root ends of green onions (scallions). Some of these do indeed grow new shoots. (Most won’t.) They will never make onion bulbs though; most purchased green onions are grown from seed and never produce a bulb.  If you just like a snip of the greens for salads maybe this is something you might do.  But it’s far easier to start some onion sets (small bulbs) or grow onions from seed or tiny purchased plants. 

I have also heard of people planting the bottom of celery clumps to try and root them. If it works, the shoots that grow will quickly go to seed without making much of a stalk.  You could plant whole beets or turnips with the roots and tops still attached and many would grow, but why? They were probably harvested at the right stage to eat and will only go to seed if replanted.

Other things people try to grow from the grocery are ginger- it will grow but its tropical and takes a couple years to make a new large tuber, spice seeds – most won’t grow because they are too old or they have been irradiated so they can’t sprout, pineapple tops- they sometimes grow but rarely make a new pineapple and are also tropical, and various tropical fruits, which will need to be grown for several years and overwintered inside if they are to have the remotest chance of producing fruit. Dried beans might grow if they aren’t too old.  I have heard of people growing an unroasted coffee bean as a novelty plant, once again it’s tropical.

Using the supermarket or the trash heap to start your garden is not a good idea, unless you are desperate.  It sounds clever and like a good way to re-cycle, but you can recycle those bits and pieces in the compost pile just as well.  The seeds of fruits and vegetables you bought at the grocery generally won’t give you the plants you are expecting, even after lots of time and effort.  You’ll have far better luck with a garden if you buy seeds and plants that are intended to be planted, not eaten.  

All things seem possible in May.
Edwin Way Teale

Kim Willis

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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 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


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