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| Peony lit by the sun. |
It’s sad that
half the year is over, summer solstice is almost here. (June 21). After summer solstice the days start getting
shorter again and we really haven’t had much nice spring or early summer
weather. That could change in a minute I
suppose, but I am really getting sick of this gloomy, wet weather day after
day. Is this English weather?
Weeds are
rampant. It’s hard to keep up with
mowing because the grass keeps growing in the rain but it’s hard to mow when it’s
raining, or the grass is too wet. The
wet weather is causing all kinds of plant diseases to pop up, I’m going to
write about some below. In our area lack
of sun and the heat it creates have slowed plant bloom and development.
In my garden
the clematis are now blooming, and more of the roses. The lovely clustered bellflower a friend gave
me last year has started to bloom. I am hoping it will still be in bloom when
the evening primrose begins to bloom- it’s close to bloom- because the colors will be
stunning together.
Baptisia is
in bloom and weigelas. Some early daylilies
like the heirloom ‘Golddust’ are beginning to bloom. The native wisteria is in bloom. My hosta, after a slow start, are really
getting huge this year, they like cloudy and wet.
The sweet
corn the deer didn’t munch is about 6 inches high. There are some green tomatoes on my plants
and baby peppers too. As I mentioned
before my spinach is going to seed far before it’s ready to harvest. But the kale and romaine lettuce are just
ready to harvest. The cukes and melons
are just sitting there waiting for more sun.
Are you
feeding the birds this summer? They
really appreciate your help while feeding their babies. I am going through a
case of suet blocks a week, and that’s letting the feeder go empty from time to
time. It does no harm to feed birds suet
in summer, they use it to feed their babies. They won’t get gout or other
things rumored in some places. It provides quick energy for them. There’s a lot of discussion about fewer
insects and I really do think there are less.
Feeding birds suet while they are raising young may help them raise
those babies with fewer insects about.
I am also
going through a lot of sugar water.
After the birds learned about the sugar water feeder I made from a chick
waterer, they came to it in droves, many kinds of birds. I also keep sunflower seed and grape jelly
out for the birds. I have my feeders
where I can sit outside and enjoy watching the birds. Feed the birds in summer and you’ll see
species you will never see in winter.
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| Clustered bellflower in front |
The deer discussion
I am getting
sick of deer damage in my garden. I have
never had so much deer damage to my garden and from what I hear from my
neighbors and other gardeners all over the US, this is a bad year for deer
damage. Usually deer damage is confined
to winter and very early in the spring.
This year they are eating the lily buds and sweet corn in my garden among
other things. People tell me they are
eating hosta, roses, shrubs, strawberry plants, broccoli, even flowers like
petunias in containers. They are
wandering city and suburban streets as well as the countryside. I have never seen so many complaints about deer.
I think it’s
partly because the deer, at least around here, are used to eating farm crops
this time of the year and the crops aren’t even up yet here- they just got
planted. In some parts of the country farm fields are so wet they won’t be
planted this year. It’s not because the
deer don’t have plenty to eat though. I think
they get used to certain things and when they don’t have them, they look for other
interesting plants to munch. And because
there are fewer and fewer hunters every year and deer have moved into places
hunting isn’t allowed, there are more and more deer.
One thing I
have learned through years of chasing deer from my garden and listening to
people who also have deer problems is that there is no easy solution for deer
problems and one remedy does not suit all gardens. And deer quickly habituate to any solution
short of shooting them. So, what works
one day to repel deer may soon stop working as they get used to it.
If you can
fence a garden with 8-10 feet high fencing, you may keep out the deer but that’s
awful expensive. And it may not totally
work either. I was at an 8 feet high
fenced community garden in Mid-Michigan one year where people told me deer were
still getting into the garden and saw one leap the fence with my own eyes. But generally, 8 feet of fence will keep them
out. This can be black netting, but that
is easily ruined when deer run through it.
I like
electric fence, that’s one or more electrically charged wires strung between
fiberglass poles. You need the fence charger along with wire and poles, but it’s
cheaper than a regular fence and much easier to install. You can buy battery powered fence chargers (solar
powered rechargeable batteries or batteries you purchase) or use an electric outlet
to power them.
Electric
fence doesn’t kill deer or even your dog. Even a small baby won’t be seriously
harmed. Yes, it hurts for a second and startles you but it’s a pulse, not a
continuous charge and won’t electrocute anything. You can buy units for pets
that have a smaller shock and those will work for deer in most cases. A few
pokes and animals- (including humans) learn to respect them. I work carefully
around such a wire even when I know I turned it off, that’s how effective it
is.
But as a yard
perimeter fence, electric fencing isn’t always successful either. If you live in a rural area deer may already
know and respect such fencing but they also know how to creep under it and jump
over it. If they are running from something they often run right through the
fence, breaking it.
In an area
where such fences aren’t common you may need to flag them, so deer and other
animals easily see the wire. Deer may
need conditioning, that’s teaching them what the wire does. You take little strips of foil and spread
peanut butter on them, then fold them over the wire in various spots. The deer sniff or lick the strips and get a
poke.
I like to use
electric wire directly around the plants I am protecting. Deer are less likely to jump over it when
they are jumping into a small confined area and you can lower the wire so it’s
hard for them to wiggle under it or use a short decorative fence under it. I have a small battery powered unit I can
move around quickly. In my case the 2 d cell batteries the fence uses last 2
months or more. It has an on/off switch
so weeding and harvesting can be done. If electric fencing isn’t allowed as a
yard fence in your area, it may be allowed inside the yard surrounding small
areas like your garden.
Other ways to
repel deer include the various deer repellents sold in liquid form. These often smell horrible and I don’t want
to use them on flower beds close to the house or vegetables. What’s the sense
of having a beautiful flower bed you don’t want to get near? And some can’t be
used on food plants. These must be
reapplied after every rain too. And using things like coyote urine around
plants has the same disadvantages. Many
people have told me those repellents work well at first, but then deer get used
to them. They may be good for winter
protection of evergreens if you apply them often enough.
Home remedies
like Irish Spring soap have the same drawback.
They work for a short time, then deer get used to them. Some home
remedies are laughable. Epsom salts don’t
deter deer nor does dish soap or red pepper.
Rotten eggs don’t bother them either. Who wants that smell in the
garden? All of these things may deter deer for a few days because they are unfamiliar. But as soon as they become familiar smells or
wash off all protection is gone.
The idea of “marking
your territory” with urine is also useless.
Deer that come into your yard are already used to human scent. Like any sensible creature they might avoid
eating a plant with urine on it, but urine on a plant isn’t very good for it
either. And urine near a plant won’t give them a second thought.
Noise makers,
radios left on, white flags waving in the dark, all of those things work
temporarily. When deer find out they don’t
chase them or hurt them they cease being effective. For several years I had strings of solar
powered flashing lights (Christmas lights) on my evergreens in winter and it
worked as a deterrent. This year it didn’t
work. If you want to try things like
this rotate them to something different every few weeks. Noise devices activated
by motion may be the most reliable, but your neighbors may not appreciate
it. Those sprinklers activated by motion
seem to work fairly well, but many people I know who used them have a problem
getting them to work well.
Planting deer
repellent plants among other plants doesn’t work that well either. There are some plants deer won’t eat (according
to legends), but that doesn’t mean they won’t eat the plant next to it. Deer do not like to step into prickly plants
so surrounding some plants with roses or other things might work, but then deer
do eat roses.
You can try
planting only crops and flowers deer don’t like, but here’s the thing, no one
knows exactly what those things are. Deer in some areas eat some things that in
other areas they won’t eat. And some years it seems their tastes change. I’m not going to provide a list of deer resistant
plants because of that. I had deer eat
daffodils this year, which most places put on the “will not eat” list.
The rule of
thumb is; deer will not eat plants you have a lot of and consider a weed. Deer will eat the plant you spent a lot of
money on or that is your favorite. And
they like to eat things just before they bloom or are ready to harvest. Protect
those things.
Other things
that will help prevent deer damage is to never feed the deer. Gardeners who
feed deer are asking for trouble as deer do not understand the corn is for them
but not the hosta. For their own well
being deer should not be fed, even in winter.
It disrupts their natural digestion and impacts their health because deer
congregate at feed sources. Feeding gets
them used to human scent, sound and sight, which isn’t good for them or your
garden.
Make sure your
pet food dishes are inside at night.
Bird feeders should be hung high out of the reach of deer. They like seeds and will even drink nectar
out of hummingbird feeders. Like the
long legged rats they are, they will adapt to many types of food.
Allow hunting
and encourage it in your area. Deer are not endangered in any way. When there are too many deer in an area, they
not only damage gardens and crops they start getting ill from diseases caused
by close contact and over population. They destroy native plants and cause widespread
damage to the environment. They eat the
young trees that are needed for forest regeneration and succession. Too many deer are a serious problem. Don’t worry too much about invasive plants
causing extinctions of plants, worry about the native deer, which are a greater
threat.
Some deer diseases
may infect humans. Deer do get rabies, and now many states have deer with
chronic wasting disease, a mad cow type prion disease that researchers think
could be transmitted to humans and possibly mutate to become a human infectious
disease. Deer encourage the build-up of
tick populations; ticks carry many human diseases. Deer can carry TB to domestic cattle.
And there are
all those car-deer crashes which kill many people in the US each year and cause
billions of dollars’ worth of property damage and medical bills. More deer equal more crashes.
We have been
conditioned by Disney movies and other tales to think of deer as poor sad creatures
that we displaced from their homes. That’s
far from the truth. There are more deer
now than there has ever been in the US and it’s because of humans moving into
their “territory”. Humans eliminate
natural predators and provide excellent habitat of lawns, gardens and farm
fields. Humans often protect deer from
hunting, and fewer people are hunting now anyway. Deer thrive with people nearby.
Even when I
was a child it was rare to see deer anywhere but the most rural areas. It was a treat and not a curse to see them. Now
they are everywhere, in cities and suburbs.
Sure, they are graceful and pretty, and are just going about their lives,
but they do need to be controlled, for their own sake as well as ours. They are as destructive as rats and more people
die from deer than rats by far.
Deer birth
control has proved to be expensive, dangerous to the deer and not very
effective. Hunting is simpler and more effective, and the meat could feed a lot
of hungry people or pets. A bullet to
the head is more humane than being terrified by capture, penning up and
handling to administer various birth control methods or move deer to other
areas. There is a high death rate from
things like shock and broken legs in this practice.
Using
experienced “snipers” in densely populated areas might be needed, rather than allowing
anyone with a gun to hunt in those areas.
But guns go off everyday in our cities and suburbs so that shouldn’t be
a reason to keep deer from being hunted.
Nature intended
deer to be controlled by predation so other species could share the environment. It’s what is best for the deer population
overall and best for the environment too. Encourage and allow deer hunting. It’s the right thing to do.
Plant problems caused by wet weather
In many areas
of the US we are experiencing one of the wettest spring-early summer seasons in
years. In some areas it’s hot and wet
and in others cool and wet, but it’s been a wet season for a lot of us. (Sorry, to those few who are in dry areas-
wish we could send you some rain.) Wet
weather also comes with cloudy skies and both wet conditions and less sunlight
can impact gardens in a big way.
Diseases and physiological stress on plants are widespread this year.
Many people
are reporting yellowed leaves and plants that look stunted.
This is most common in cool wet areas.
This is usually a sign of nitrogen deficiency. Rain can leach nitrogen through the soil out
of the reach of plant roots. Cool soil
temperatures can keep plants from taking up nitrogen even if its in the
soil. Nitrogen is a nutrient that’s constantly
fluctuating in the soil and when you get a soil test done the results won’t
include the nitrogen levels. That leaves gardeners using their best judgement
as to whether nitrogen is needed by their plants.
When you see
yellowed leaves without green veins its usually a nitrogen deficiency. (If leaves are yellow but have green veins
its probably an iron deficiency.) In
this case using some nitrogen fertilizer on the affected plants can help them
green up and start growing again.
Nitrogen
content of fertilizers is represented by first number on the bag. Lawn
fertilizers which are primarily nitrogen can be a source of that nitrogen, just
make sure they don’t include weed killers or grub control products. Blood meal
can be a good organic source of nitrogen. Use the nitrogen sparingly, too much nitrogen
may keep some plants from fruiting or flowering well. Use about half the amount recommended for
lawns on vegetables and flowers. You can
always add a little more later if needed.
Garden
fertilizers with numbers such as 5-10-5 are low in nitrogen and may add
potassium and phosphorus that aren’t needed but if that’s all you have you can
use them.
In some cases,
the nitrogen deficiency corrects itself with warmer, drier weather. You may
want to wait a bit to see if that happens in your case. If better weather doesn’t green up the plants,
they will need fertilizer. Epsom salt
cannot correct nitrogen deficiency and should never be used on deficient plants.
Wilted plants even when
there has been plenty of rain may be a sign that the roots have rotted or that
the soil is totally saturated, and plants can’t get oxygen from the soil. This is often seen when gardens have been
submerged by flood water for a few days or they are in a low spot that doesn’t drain
well. It also happens to plants in containers without good drainage. There is
not much you can do except add drainage or move the plants and hope plants
recover.
Snails and slugs love wet weather. Damage from
them may increase when its wet and cloudy because they will be eating day and
night. If you have mulch around the base
of plants like hosta, a favorite of snails and slugs, you may want to pull it
back for a few days, so the soil surface is exposed. This will dry it a bit and leave fewer places
for pests to hide.
Eggshells won’t
work to repel slugs and snails, there are videos online showing them gliding right
over them. Diatomaceous earth won’t work
when it gets wet, and just contact with damp soil will render it useless. Salt only works if you sprinkle it on each
slug.
Beer can work
to trap slugs but when it rains frequently the beer can get very diluted and
less attractive. (You put a flat saucer
of beer near plants being damaged.) Beer
isn’t the best method to control slugs and it may attract pest animals like
coons. You can buy products that attract
and kill snails and slugs but be careful using them. They can be very toxic to pets and children.
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| Slug |
Disease
Many plant diseases
are more likely to occur in wet weather. Diseases caused by fungi are often
troublesome. This year gardeners are
experiencing many of them. For a plant
disease to occur it needs a susceptible plant, the disease organism (a fungal
spore or virus particle) and the right environmental conditions.
Botrytis or gray mold affects a number of garden plants in various ways and is generally found
in wet weather. There are many species
of Botrytis. It causes peony buds to rot,
and sometimes other flowering plants lose buds and flowers from it. Rose buds and flowers are affected by it.
Seedlings can rot at ground level. Soft
fruit may mold.
Powdery Mildew is one of the most common diseases that favors wet
weather. The leaves and stems of your plants
will first get yellow spots and then get a white dusty appearance, then begin
to yellow and eventually leaves turn brown and papery and fall off.
Powdery
mildew is caused by several different fungi species and occurs in a variety of
garden plants from flowers to vegetables. It doesn’t kill plants in most cases
but greatly weakens them. Older plants
and older leaves will get the fungal infection first. New leaves will continue to form in most
cases.
Crowded
plants and plants growing in less than full sun are more susceptible. Cloudy
days favor powdery mildew. Temperatures
between 68-80 degrees and high humidity with or without rain favor infection. This disease is generally blown into the
garden or carried in on plants or equipment.
It can also overwinter in soil or debris and emerge when conditions are
right.
Fungal
infections can’t be cured, only prevented.
Give your plants lots of space and keep weeds out so there is good air
flow around plants. Plant powdery
mildew resistant varieties. You can use
preventative fungal sprays continuing every 7-10 days or as the label directs. If you start spraying when you first notice
any symptoms you may limit the spread of the disease and help plants continue
to grow.
Conventional
fungicides include Daconil, Bravo, Echo, Fungonil and Nova and you’ll want to
look for one of these ingredients; chlorothalonil, azoxystrobin,
trifloxystrobin, myclobutanil
in garden shop brands. Always follow
label directions and make sure the product is for edible crops if used on them.
Note: pesticide recommendations can change from state to state and year to
year.
Organic
fungicides include copper products, neem oil, Potassium bicarbonate (not sodium
bicarbonate or baking soda) and products with sulfur. As with conventional pesticides follow the
label directions and use products labeled for food crops.
Home
remedies like dish soap, baking soda, milk, Epsom salt, compost tea and so on
won’t work and in some cases make the problem worse.
When
you spray a fungicide on plants use a forceful stream to try and get under the
larger leaves and the undersides of leaves so all parts are covered. After rain
events fungicides need to be re-applied.
Downy mildew is a serious disease of cucumbers and
melons, and also damages squash and pumpkins. There is a downy mildew that
affects impatiens and occasionally other plants. It is different from powdery mildew, which is
a common problem but less destructive.
Symptoms of downy mildew are light green turning to yellow spots
on the top of leaves and the bottom of the leaves will have black, water soaked
looking areas, then a purple-brown dusty or dirty appearance to the bottom of
leaves when spores appear. Cucumber
plants quickly seem to dry up and die. Downy mildew is carried to crops by the
wind and usually begins in hot, wet or humid weather. Once in your garden it will spread rapidly.
Cucumber plants rapidly die from the disease. Melons have greatly reduced production. Squash and pumpkins survive but grow more
slowly and are less productive. Impatiens plants usually die quickly too.
The best thing to do is to prevent downy mildew by applying
protective fungicides. Look for home
garden fungicides that have chlorothalonil or mancozeb in the ingredients and
apply as directed. If caught early
fungicides may help crops that are lightly infected. Heavily infected crops
won’t be helped. There are no organic products that are effective for downy
mildew. Baking soda, Epsom salts, dish
soap and so on are useless.
If you can’t bring yourself to use a conventional fungicide on
plants infected with downy mildew then pull the plants once they are infected
and bury them away from the garden or put them in plastic bags for the
landfill. Don’t mess around with home
remedies, allowing the disease to continue spreading. Don’t compost infected plants at home. Don’t plant in the same spot next year and
make sure all plant residue is removed from the garden in the fall. Next year look for varieties that are
resistant to downy mildew.
Late Blight of potatoes and tomatoes is a serious
disease that can occur in wet weather. It
generally occurs late in the summer as the name suggests but when conditions
are right it can occur at any time and in any size plants. Favorable conditions
are when temperatures have been between 50-80 degrees for at least 5 days and
over ten days there has been more than 1.2 inches of rain. Cloudy days and high humidity increase the
risk when combined with the above conditions.
In these conditions, gardeners should inspect tomato and potato
plants frequently or start protective fungicides. Late blight causes dark gray-black wilted
leaves, sunken black areas on stems and black areas on fruit, both green and
red or potato tubers. It progresses rapidly and kills plants in 7-10 days.
There is no cure once it starts. All
infected plants need to be pulled quickly and destroyed. They must be buried deeply or bagged in black
plastic, set in the sun for several days and then sent to the landfill. Do not compost them.
If you suspect late blight contact your county Extension
office. They may be able to give you a definitive
diagnosis and discuss disposal. This is
especially important if you live close to commercial tomato and potato farms.
Tomato anthracnose or fruit rot is one of those
nasty fungal diseases that are so hard to control. This disease also affects the leaves, stems
and roots of tomato plants but it’s the infection of the fruit that is most
problematic. The disease frequently begins with temperatures over 80 degrees
and rainy weather. Once again, there’s no cure, only prevention.
Tomato’s that are ripe or nearly ripe develop what is called
“watersoaked” spots, sunken, shiny areas with a number of small black spots in
the center that eventually create a large black spot and the fruit rots around
and under the lesion. The black spots produce salmon colored spores which can
infect other fruits around them. When
you cut a tomato with anthracnose you often see a black area on the meat inside
below the outer spot. The rotted spots
may also grow a secondary fungus; gray, fuzzy mold if left long enough. Tomatoes can have one spot or several.
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| Anthracnose ofnfruit |
Tomato anthracnose makes the lower leaves on the plants get yellow
spots with a tan center, and they eventually wilt and turn gray-brown. The stems may also develop spots. These foliar symptoms are very similar to
other fungal disease of tomatoes and tomato plants can have more than one
fungal disease going at the same time. In
fact, diseases like early blight weaken the plant and make anthracnose more
common.
Early Blight, Bacterial Speck, Septoria leaf
spot and Bacterial Spot are other
tomato diseases that are all influenced by rainy, wet weather. They are not as serious as late blight but
can really limit fruit production, especially if they begin early in the
season. They have similar symptoms which
include spots on leaves and yellowed leaves that eventually fall off. Like all fungal diseases they cannot be
cured, only prevented with fungicides.
Mulching and keeping plants off the ground by
staking or tying them helps prevent fungal diseases. Good airflow is important so don’t crowd
plants. Some weeds harbor the disease so keep your garden weeded. Water at the
base of the plant and try to keep plant foliage from getting wet. Tomatoes require well drained soil and wet
soil often results in bigger problems with fungal disease.
Here’s more information about tomatoes;
Lawns can be affected by wet weather too. Leaf spots, melting-out, slime mold, dollar
spot, rusts, summer patch, and necrotic ring spot are lawn diseases that
pop up in wet weather. Here’s a good source for lawn disease ID and solutions.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7497.html
Fruit trees and small fruit are also affected
by wet weather. If you spray your fruit trees
for diseases and insects you’ll need to spray more often, after every heavy
rain. Rain and cold weather may limit pollination on some fruits. Strawberry
fruit may get gray mold ( Botrytis).
By the Light of the Moon- a Moon Garden
Here’s something lighter to read. I hope it inspires you.
Do you ever go out when the moon is full and
walk in its pale lovely light? Perhaps
you strolled to your garden, only to find it closed up and hiding in the
darkness. You can however design a
garden that will welcome your nocturnal wandering or resting.
A proper moon garden delights all the senses
and makes the night and the garden a magical place. Moon gardens aren’t hard to do and even a
novice gardener can accomplish the task.
Properly done a moon garden is as easy to maintain as any garden and can
look great in the daylight also.
Moon gardens use light colored plants that
float in the darkness, fragrance that wafts on the evening breeze, and the
sounds of tinkling wind chimes or bubbling water to delight all the senses. A
place to sit or lie in this dreamy spot is also necessary.
Locating the Moon Garden
You won’t need a rocket to find a place for
your moon garden, just a patch of soil here on earth. A good location for a moon garden is close to
the house, but slightly secluded, so you can enjoy it in privacy. Perhaps a little used porch or patio can
become the center stage. It is to be
enjoyed by dim light - the moon, or softly lit by strategically placed low
voltage lights. Avoid areas where streetlights
or harsh overhead light intrudes. Moon gardens need to be at least partially
enclosed for best effect. This can be by a hedge, dark wall or fence. This will make you more comfortable when the
air is brisk, insure your privacy and show your plants to their best advantage.
You will probably want most of the moon garden
open to the sky. Moon gardens can be in the shade but the range of plants you
can use is much greater if they have the advantage of sun in the daytime. And at night the twinkling stars and graceful
curve of the moon overhead will make the moon garden more enchanting.
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| White rose of Sharon at night |
What to grow in a moon garden
Moon gardens need plants with white, pastel or
silver foliage or flowers. The flowers
should remain open at night. These
plants can be perennials for your area, or you can use annuals, tropicals, or a
combination. The goal is to have
something of interest through at least 3 seasons, so a combination of plants is
generally used. Fragrance is highly
desirable, but it should be a fragrance you adore.
For spring color choose white tulips, [they
fold at night but still look good], hyacinths, iris cristata ‘Tennessee
White’, and sweet-smelling white narcissus.
White lilacs will add fragrance and late spring color for larger
gardens. Nothing beats a white crabapple
or flowering cherry for a cloud of white on spring evenings. Many white
flowered dogwoods are on the market, one called ‘Elegantissima’ has white flowers in
spring and the leaves are edged in white for even more interest. White flowered magnolias and viburnums are
other choices for larger gardens.
For early summer; white roses, such as
‘Iceburg’, shasta daisies, and white petunias, peonies, stocks, cleome, evening
primrose, Four O’Clocks, coreopsis ‘Snowberry’, white salvia and white bearded
iris are good choices. For midsummer you
can add nocturnal daylilies like Hemerocallis citrina, which is fragrant
and has pale yellow flowers, white Asiatic lilies, white coneflowers, such as ‘Fragrant
Angel’, white phlox,-‘David’ night flowering Jessamine or jasmine,
and hydrangeas.
For shimmering silver in the moonlight add;
artemesia, Lamb’s Ears, mugwort, wormswood or silver thyme. Thyme ‘ Silver Posie’ is low growing with each leaf edged in silver
and is fragrant when you step on it.
For late summer try; white asters, anemones,
chrysanthemums, oriental and hybrid lilies which come in many wonderful white
and pastel colors and are highly fragrant.
A favorite oriental lily is ‘Casa Blanca’, which is outstanding
for a moon garden. Ornamental grasses
with white plumes such as Cortaderia ‘Sunningdale Silver’ are also good
for late fall color.
For moon gardens which are in the shade during
the day try; white astilbe, white impatiens, white tuberous begonias, foam
flower, hosta with white variegations, Goatsbeard, Cardiocrinum giganteum
and Clethra. The silver Japanese ferns
such as ‘Ghost’ and ‘Silver Falls’ are stunning in the moonlight.
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| Nicotiana sylvestris or ‘Only the Lonely’'. T |
No moon garden is complete without two plants,
the moonflower vine and woodland nicotiana ( Nicotiana sylvestris) or ‘Only the Lonely’'. The moonflower vine has huge heart shaped
leaves and equally huge and fragrant white flowers like a morning glory flower,
which open at night. It will need to be started inside in the north because it
takes a long time to begin blooming. Woodland nicotiana is a close cousin to
smoking tobacco and the huge leaves on this plant make it best in the back of
the border. It sends up tall stalks of
white, dangling, trumpet shaped flowers with a delicious fragrance. Both of
these plants attract sphinx moths to the garden.
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| moonflower |
Don’t forget to add the finishing touches, a
bubbling water feature or a melodious but gentle wind chime. Sound carries further on a still evening and
you want subtle noise that won’t drown out the tree frogs and the wind in the
trees. Add the clink of ice in your
favorite beverage and you are ready to enjoy your moon garden.
Don’t use mothballs in the garden
For many years I
have worked to discourage people from using “mothballs” to repel animals from
their homes and gardens. I am now seeing
articles online encouraging people to use them in the garden for all sorts of
things from deterring Japanese beetles to scaring away squirrels. Mothballs are about the farthest thing
imaginable from a safe, natural way to repel pests. I personally wouldn’t use them in the house
even to discourage clothes moths.
Mothballs contain
one of two (sometimes both) highly toxic chemicals, naphthalene and Para
dichlorobenzene. These chemicals are
classified as hazardous and a possible carcinogen by the EPA. There are
sometimes other hazardous chemicals in mothballs too. Pesticides, which
mothballs are, (they are not a repellant, they kill insects), are labeled as to
how to use the product and by law
they cannot be used any other way.
Mothball boxes, if
you read them, do not list the use of the product outdoors, or to repel
animals. So, if you use them in this way you are breaking the law. If you
instruct people to use them in a non-approved way you are also breaking the
law.
But breaking the
law is not the most important consideration. These chemicals do serious damage
to humans and other animals exposed to them. They can be absorbed through the
skin, inhaled, or ingested. The amount of damage done varies as to exposure and
who is exposed, but severe and fatal consequences can occur.
The chemicals in
mothballs can cause hemolytic anemia, damage to the liver and kidneys, neurological
damage, cataracts and damage to the retina. Children, pets, people who already
have liver or kidney problems or some forms of inherited blood disorders are at
special risk. Deaths have occurred from naphthalene and Para dichlorobenzene
exposure in both children and adults.
Soil that is
contaminated with dissolved mothballs is also toxic; plants should never be
consumed if they are grown in soil contaminated by mothballs. It’s not known
how long the contamination remains in the soil.
If you can smell
the mothballs you are inhaling vaporized poison. If a child or pet swallows
just one mothball it can cause serious problems and the poison hotline should
be called immediately. (1-800-222-1222). The pesticides
in mothballs can be absorbed through the skin by children handling them or pets
walking on them. Never put them in pet’s
beds or store them with pet food. Don’t
use them in any food area.
"Tell you what I like the best --
'Long about knee-deep in June,
'Bout the time strawberries melts
On the vine, -- some afternoon
Like to jes' git out and rest,
And not work at nothin' else!"
'Long about knee-deep in June,
'Bout the time strawberries melts
On the vine, -- some afternoon
Like to jes' git out and rest,
And not work at nothin' else!"
- James Witcomb Riley, Knee Deep in June
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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