Tuesday, June 4, 2019

June 4, 2019, oh, those garden sayings


Hi gardeners

Allium
It’s June, the half-way point of the year. It’s hard to think that the longest day of the year is just a few weeks away. I am having a hard time believing it’s June, the weather is so cool and wet. On Sunday night we got down to 38 degrees here.  We had a whole dry, sunny day yesterday, with a high of 65.  It’s warm now, but showers are predicted later today.

I used the cool weather to make a trip to the greenhouse yesterday. It’s nicer to walk around in a greenhouse when it’ s cool. I would say it is my last trip of the spring/summer season and I think it should be- but I won’t lie, another trip to some greenhouse somewhere might pop up.  And boy did I load up on plants, things were really calling calling out to me.  But now they need planting, if it doesn’t rain too much I’ll be in the garden much of tomorrow.

I bought some beautiful begonias – angel wings and tuberous- I intended to make hanging baskets with them to replace my baskets of pansies I have up now.  The pansies are growing beautifully this cool wet spring, but they do fade in warm weather.   I made up the baskets using compost mixed with potting medium.  Then I tried to hang them.  The soil is so wet and the baskets so heavy that my shepherd’s hooks tilt over with them.  So that’s a problem to solve.

I used some of the begonias in another project.  Last year I bought some stacking pots at a garage sale, 6 pots for a $1.  They look like 3 six-inch pots joined together in a shamrock shape.  I made two stacks of three pots.  They take a lot of soil to fill but I guess that keeps them from tipping over.  I’ve got one planted, tuberous begonias on top, new guinea impatiens on the second level and wax begonias on the bottom.  I’m still deciding on what to fill the second with.
 
My bargain stacking pots

Blooming in my mid thumb of Michigan garden right now are bearded iris, dames rocket, alliums, lilacs, lily of the valley, wild geraniums, bleeding heart, forget me nots, and mayapples.  The autumn olive is blooming out in the wilder parts of the property and you can smell the sweet scent wafting on the wind. The bees are very happy and covering the plants.  The red osier dogwood is also blooming. The ninebark and bristly locust are just starting to bloom.

My “special” plant Mary Helen got a little sister last week who I named Marcella.  I hope to get these two outside in a locked area soon, it needs to get a bit warmer.   I don’t know what will happen, but it’s been an experience growing them.

My wisteria story

I have an interesting wisteria in bloom.  Well it has one bloom that I can see anyway.  This wisteria has a backstory.  About ten years ago I was teaching a master gardener class and a woman in the class brought a seedpod for me to identify. I recognized it as a wisteria seed pod.  The woman had picked it from a vine in the display gardens of MSU, which she probably should not have done.

After I identified it, she sat the seedpod down on the desk in front of her and class began.  All of a sudden there was a loud pop, and everyone jumped. The seed pod had exploded, some seeds embedded themselves in the ceiling tiles above us.  There was nervous laughter.  One seed landed near me and I picked it up and put it aside.  Later, back in my office I found it among some papers and on a whim, I stuck it in an African violet pot on my desk.

A few weeks later I realized a baby wisteria was growing in the pot and when it was warm outside, I took it home to plant.  I planted it in a raised bed in front of a little chicken coop I later turned into a little unheated greenhouse.

As wisteria tend to do, it grew rapidly.  It twined up and over the greenhouse onto the barn roof.  I had my husband put a beam between the greenhouse and a post for the garden fence and we trained it over that.  It forms a leafy arbor that hides the path to the compost pile.  It sneaks its tentacles into the barn by going under the eaves and a large piece snakes across the dimly lit loft of the barn.  Its aggressive.

However, for the last 10 years it has not bloomed.  I have some native wisteria out on the far lawn that blooms in late spring.  It’s interwoven with another native, trumpet vine.  That’s another story.

As I mentioned earlier, I spotted a bloom yesterday on my seed grown plant.  About time that monster bloomed, I thought.  It’s a lovely pale lavender, almost white with a darker purple “keel” petal, unlike any wisteria I’ve seen.  An internet search however, did turn up some pictures that looked like it, but never really identified as to whether it’s a particular cultivar.

I have never been to the gardens at MSU when the wisteria are in bloom so I don’t know what color the flowers are.  I don’t even know what species of wisteria they are.  I am assuming this is a native species, possibly American wisteria,  Wisteria frutescens, because it bloomed after it leafed out. The leaves are right for that species.  Most Japanese and Chinese wisteria bloom before they leaf out.  But I have never seen a native species colored like this.

I may make a phone call to MSU Horticultural Garden staff to see if they can tell me what type of wisteria they are growing and what color the blooms are.  Since this grew from seed and not a cutting it’s possible it’s just a weird color mutation.  I am hoping it will have more blooms next year – or maybe even a bit later this year.  So here’s a picture of my wisteria.

Mysterious wisteria

Those old garden “sayings”

“First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap.” This is a common garden quote referring to perennial plants. But is this quote accurate? Personally, I think it’s accurate for most perennials.  There are some exceptions of course, some because of the nature of the plant species and sometimes because of unusual circumstances, that make perennial plants grow faster or slower than the saying. (I’m talking about herbaceous perennials; woody plants are a whole other ball game.)

The saying doesn’t refer to the age of the plant but the length of time from when you plant it to when it has fully adjusted to your garden. When you plant a perennial, even a large potted one, it tends to take a year to adjust to its new surroundings. The larger, more mature plants may add some new foliage and even bloom. But in general, they won’t be as large or as full of blooms as they will be in years to come. 

If you buy small seedling perennials growth may seem very slow.  Many seedling perennials won’t bloom the first year.  And it will take at least 3 years for them to look mature and have a good bloom count.

I like to buy perennials that are midway between seedling and mature stage, in their second or third year. This is usually a quart or gallon sized pot, depending on species.  You get a decent display from them and they seem to adjust to their new conditions better than larger plants.  It’s a common stage people buy perennials in because while they look nice, the cost is easier on the bank account than larger, more mature plants. But even at this stage it will take several years for these plants to reach their full potential.

1st year

All perennials will not reach their full potential by the third year. But I do think the third year after you plant most perennials is when you look at them and think about how beautiful they look.  Or you look at them and say – “Oh my goodness why did I plant them so close together?”  Some perennials will continue to get better every year after that, hosta are a good example.  But unfortunately, some will begin to decline.
 
3rd year
Perennial doesn’t mean a plant lives forever.  All plant species have a normal lifespan. Some are considered short lived perennials, meaning they may make that “third year they leap stage” and then fade away.  Some may live 10 years; some may live 50.  

And some people don’t realize that many garden stores sell biennial plants as perennials. Some Agastache, campanulas, columbines, coreopsis, delphiniums, dianthus, hollyhocks, violas and many native plants have biennial life cycles.  Biennials tend to die after they bloom, generally in their second year. If you bought them with blooms, it’s the second year and they probably aren’t coming back next year.

There may be perennial species in those families and breeders are always working to make longer lived hybrids but there may not be a “leap” year for some of these.  You did nothing wrong if they don’t reappear the year after you plant one in bloom, which is usually the plants second year, they just completed their life cycle.

Some biennial plants reseed freely, and you’ll often have plants for many years, but it won’t be the same plant.  That’s often why people think a plant has “moved”, it’s a seed grown plant.  The first year it came up it may have been hidden beneath other plants, but the second year it becomes more noticeable when it blooms.

Some plants, bearded iris, for instance, need to be divided every 3 or so years for them to continue to bloom and do well.  But be aware some plants don’t need division and will resent you cutting into them, peonies and cimicifuga are good examples. If you are continually dividing plants, you may never see the glory of a large mature plant or clump of plants. You set that clock back to the sleep or creep year each time you divide.

I know some people like to share plants and others divide so they can populate other parts of the garden, but many people divide their perennials far more often than they should.  Their gardens never have that full lush mature look because the leap year is missing.

“Always plant in threes or fives or odd multiples.”  This is another garden saying and often refers to perennials.  And it’s nonsense if you ask me.  This can be quite daunting to new gardeners who barely have money for one perennial, much less three of the same.  And it’s definitely not necessary to have at least 3 of each plant species to have a nice-looking garden.

Some plants do look better in groups and for some reason odd numbers are frequently more pleasing to the eye.  If you are striving for a very formal looking garden this “rule” should be considered more faithfully. Groups of the same plant, often alternating with other groups of plants and repeated through the space is a common formal design method. But for many species of perennials and many gardens it isn’t necessary. 

Plants that are narrow and small may need to be grouped to have an impact in the garden.  Two or four may do as well as three.  Full, large plants often don’t need to be grouped for impact.  In a small garden there may be room for only one or two plants of the same species. If you are filling large open areas, then grouping similar plants may look better.  Or one large spectacular plant of a certain species may be your perfect focal point.  Each garden is different, and each gardener has a different idea of what pleases them, and if it’s your garden then it should please you.

The rule of three doesn’t have to mean 3 of the same variety of something either.  You don’t have to plant 3 broad leaved, blue foliaged hosta together, you could plant one blue, one white variegated and one gold variety.  Or plant three blue hosta if you like the look.  Mixing textures and sizes is a generally pleasing look for an informal garden, plant one big blue broad leaved hosta behind two smaller, narrow leaved golden hosta for instance.  Or you may want to fill the space with one hosta, one astilbe and one heuchera.

If you are new to gardening and don’t have a natural eye for design, look at a lot of different gardens both in person and in magazines and online until you get a feel for what you like. And then just get started.  You can usually change things later if it doesn’t please you. After a while you’ll get a feel for what plants need company of their own kind to look good and what plants look fine alone. Most people are constantly tinkering with their garden design.

You should have seen it last week” is a common garden quote too. It’s very difficult to always have something in bloom through the garden season if you only use perennials in the garden.  No matter how carefully you plan there is going to be a time, maybe a brief time, maybe a longer time, when nothing is in bloom. If a group is coming to tour your garden, it’s almost a given that nothing will be in bloom. That is why you must plan so that even without blooms the garden looks attractive.

Plants with variegated foliage and interesting contrasts of foliage textures and sizes will help, as does prompt deadheading so things look tidy. Tasteful garden art helps. But annuals are your friend in the garden. Planting some flowering annuals among your perennials will keep things colorful and interesting when perennials are between bloom cycles.

And that brings me to another garden saying.  A garden is never finished.”  If you are a gardener and not just a landscaper, then you know this is true.  A landscaper throws in a few plants he knows are a good formula look for the space and says, “I’m finished”. Even a landscaper can’t predict what nature and time will do, however.

You won’t “finish” your garden.  You may stop devoting more space to gardening (when you run out of space), but you will never finish a garden. Gardens always change and you must work with the changes. If you have a very simple garden with few plant species, you may have a few years when things will look much the same but don’t hold your breath.  There will be changes.  Even if you work your butt off to keep the status quo, your garden will change.

There are years when everything works out just right and my garden is so beautiful and so perfectly tuned that I wish it could look like this every year.  But I know it won’t.  Maybe it will be even better next year, maybe it will be somewhat disappointing, but it will be different.  Weather happens, plants die, and plants grow bigger. I add plants, I remove plants.  Plants come up from seed. A tree gives more shade or a tree falls.  The septic tank must be dug up or the roofer throws shingles down on the garden. There always comes a time when I say – that’s it for this year- but until winter closes the garden for the year changes will keep happening.

So, make your plans and take your pictures. But know this, a garden is never finished.

Should you dig up spring bulbs after flowering?

If your spring flowering bulbs have finished blooming, it’s a big temptation to cut off the yellowing foliage.  But please resist the urge if you want the bulbs to bloom again next year.  It also seems to be a trend recently to dig up the spring flowering bulbs and store them over summer.  The only common bulbs that might be helped by this tactic are tulips.  Most of the other common spring flowering bulbs don’t need to be dug up and stored during the summer.  You might lose some of these bulbs over the summer, but it shouldn’t be many unless you destroy them planting other things or you don’t allow them to die back naturally.

It’s a lot of work for little reason to dig up and store bulbs and even digging tulips to store must be weighed against the work you will do and the results you will get.  And if you do this you must still wait until the foliage has yellowed on the bulbs and died down naturally, which eliminates making things look better as a reason for doing it.

Tulips may not reliably return each year in gardens.  That is because they prefer to be dry over the summer and because they are eaten by many animals.  But even if you dig and store your tulip bulbs after they bloom, it’s not guaranteed they will bloom as nicely as they did the first year after you planted them.  Tulips are grown for sale under the best conditions possible and harvested at the ideal time. Then they are stored under exacting conditions until they are shipped to you.  Home gardeners rarely get these professional growers results.

For the best results with tulips you can choose tulip varieties that are marked as being “perennial” varieties or choose the smaller flowered species tulips, which seem to handle our summers better.  Or you can simply plant more tulips each year to make up for those that are lost.

How to care for bulbs after bloom

You can remove the flowers and flower stems of all bulbs as they fade, unless you are trying to get seed.  Producing seed takes energy away from the bulb which needs to store reserves of food to produce next year’s flowers.  Sometimes the seed heads of large alliums are left for structural interest.  The seeds of alliums will drop off and readily start new bulbs, although it may take a few years before they bloom.  Some alliums can become invasive.  Crocus may reproduce in the garden by seeding themselves, but few other bulbs will reliably do so.

Try not to remove the foliage of any bulbs until it has yellowed and died down on its own.  The foliage is needed to produce food for the bulb.  After a bulb blooms its leaves start producing food reserves for the bulb and next year’s flowers.  If leaves are removed too soon next year’s flower may be smaller, or the bulbs may not bloom at all. Even if you want to dig and store the bulbs over summer they should be left in the ground until the foliage has died back naturally.

Should you braid or cut back yellowing bulb foliage?  This may be slightly better than removing it, but it can harm the plants ability to make a nice flower for next year.  Be patient and let nature do things the right way.

Yellowing bulb foliage can be hidden by emerging perennials or you can plant hardy annuals around the bulbs to hide the foliage. This doesn’t seem to affect the bulbs ability to make next year’s flower.  In their natural habitat bulb foliage is commonly covered by later emerging plants.  It doesn’t hurt to plant annuals over and around the bulbs going dormant if you don’t dig them up or cut into them.  If you dig bulbs up accidentally, simply re-plant them.

Daylilies make excellent perennial covers for dying bulb foliage in sunny areas, hostas make good covers if the bulbs are under deciduous trees (shady in summer). Many other perennials can also provide camouflage for dying bulb foliage.  In the fall you can tuck the bulbs you plant under the foliage of these plants.  That way you won’t disturb the perennials root systems and you know the bulb foliage will be hidden after the perennials emerge in spring.

If you naturalized bulbs in a lawn this means you cannot mow until the bulb foliage has yellowed and withered.  This is difficult for some people to tolerate, because they like a neat, mowed look to the lawn.   That’s why naturalized bulbs work best when planted in groundcovers or at the edges of lawns.

How long bulb foliage takes to die back depends on the species of bulb and the weather, but most bulb foliage will be gone by the end of June.   After the foliage is gone there is little you need to do for bulbs until next spring except remember where they are, so you don’t disturb them planting other things. 

After the bulb foliage has died back you can dig the bulbs to divide them or move them if you need to.  You can re-plant them immediately.

If you do want to store tulips or other bulbs, dig them carefully, shake the dirt off, remove any dead foliage, then spread them out on newspaper somewhere warm and dark for a few days to “cure”.  Then pack them in wood shavings and store in a cool dark place.  Plant them in fall after the soil has cooled down.

Lawn grass and flooding

If you can’t mow because the lawn is under water, I understand.  I have areas underwater this year too.  It may save time when you can’t mow, but you may be worried about what is happening to the grass.

Grass that is totally under water for any period of time greater than 48 hours will probably die.  Warm, sunny conditions while beginning to dry the ground, will hasten grass death if water can’t be removed.  Grass only partially submerged will last longer but totally saturated soil leads to rotting of the grass roots and if the condition lasts a week or so the lawn may die.

Bluegrass, the most common Midwestern lawn grass, has some tolerance to flooding while perennial and annual rye is less tolerant.  Bentgrass, common on golf courses is pretty tolerant.  After you can get to the grass dig a small clump to check on it.  If you see firm white roots and bases of the leaf stems, (crowns) the grass may make it.  Black or brown mushy looking roots and crowns mean the grass is dead.

If silt and debris were deposited on the lawn during the flooding the chances of lawn grass surviving may be less.  A small layer, less than an inch, may not impact the lawn much unless it is heavily contaminated with harmful substances such as salt, oil and gas, but a deep layer of mud or debris will kill the grass.  If it cannot be removed with raking or shallow shoveling you will probably want to re-seed the lawn.

If you suspect contamination of the soil, seed a small area with annual rye grass, which will germinate quickly and grow if the debris didn’t contaminate the soil.  Then you can seed with more expensive lawn grass.  If the ryegrass doesn’t grow well you may have to scrape off the contaminated soil down to the original soil, removing the dead sod, before re-planting.

If your grass seemed to make it through the flood it will benefit from fertilizing with nitrogen, especially if it is looking yellow or pale green.  Use a lawn fertilizer without any weed killers or insecticides for this.  Follow the label directions or use about 3 pounds per 1000 square feet.  Unless your soil has really dried out, don’t water the fertilizer into the soil as is normally done, it should dissolve in contact with wet soil.

As long as the soil is wet, limit traffic on the lawn so that the soil doesn’t get compacted or rutted.  You may even have to let it get a little longer than usual before mowing. If you do, only take off a third of the grass blade on the first mowing.  If it needs to be shortened further wait a few days, then mow again.  Keep the grass blades about 3 ½ inches.  Never use a weighted roller on the lawn when it’s wet to “flatten” it.  This will cause serious soil compaction and limit the growth of grass roots. 

June almanac
June is a wonderful month in the northern hemisphere, the month when strawberries ripen, and roses begin to bloom.  Indeed, this month’s full moon, (June 17th), is called the Full Strawberry moon in North America and Full Rose moon in European countries.  We might have strawberries here by the full moon, if they don’t get washed away.  Moon perigee is the 7th and moon apogee is the 23rd.

Meteorically summer begins June 1. The astrological start of summer is summer solstice on June 21, 2019 at 11:54 a.m. EDT. At the time of the solstice the sun is at its highest point and the point farthest north that it gets in the northern hemisphere.  Solstice comes from Latin, roughly meaning sun stands still.  At the solstice the sun seems to pause for a few days, and then slowly reverses its direction, moving back toward the south and lower in the sky.  Sadly, it’s the longest day of the year and the nights get longer after the solstice. 

In ancient times this event, the solstice, was always celebrated.  It’s still a good day to have a campfire, gaze at stars and wonder at the immensity of the universe and our place in it.

Back in May I talked about May folklore and Chilly Saints Days which were the 11th, 12th, and 13th.  In 2019 they certainly were chilly here, and wet. The first Ember Day, which is supposed to predict the weather for June, was May 22nd and it was average in temperature, but it rained all day. So according to folklore June is going to be rainy but normal temperature wise.  So we shall see.

'Harrison's Yellow' rose
June’s birth flower is, of course, the rose.  There are 3 birthstones for June (thanks to greedy jewelers), the pearl, the moonstone and the alexandrite. The month of June is named after the Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage, family and childbirth. To marry in June was said to make a couple fertile and blessed with prosperity.

June is National Rose, Dairy, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables month.  It’s Adopt a Cat month. It’s also Gay Pride month and Fight the Filthy Fly month. 

June 4th is Old Maids Day and the 5th is World Environment day. Flag Day is June 14th and Father’s Day is June 16th this year.  The 17th is Eat your Vegetables day.  The 26th is Forgiveness Day, what a wonderful day to celebrate.

And since all this loveliness cannot be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.     
-      Abba Woolson


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



1 comment:

  1. Hi Kim,
    I enjoy reading your blog.....thanks for all you do....Marty O.

    ReplyDelete