Gardening Granny's Gardening Pages: July 2019

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

July 30, 2019 it's C week

After some thunderstorms and rain yesterday the heat and humidity are starting to subside. It’s 10 degrees cooler today than yesterday. It’s hard to believe that July is almost over, until you notice the maturity of the gardens. While things are still a little behind last year it’s obvious that many things are starting to reach or exceed their peak.

Most of the lilies are gone but the sweet scent of Casa Blanca oriental lilies are wafting over the garden. Some daylilies are still blooming. Tiger lilies are also still blooming. The rocket ligularia is in bloom and buddleia, hydrangeas, rudbeckia’s of various types, coreopsis, shasta daisy, beebalm, Maltese cross, and coneflowers. The cannas are beginning to bloom, and the rain lilies. Some dahlias are blooming but many of my dahlias are behind last year’s first bloom time. And finally, some Four O’Clocks are getting ready to bloom.

My tropical hibiscus ‘The Path’ bloomed this week. I highly recommend this hibiscus. It doesn’t bloom as much as some, but the blooms are large and beautiful when it does bloom. And it stays short and compact as a plant so it’s easy to overwinter inside.

We are getting some nice tomatoes and soon I will try digging some new potatoes. The expensive corn has small ears and hopefully I will soon be tasting it. My special “girls” are actually starting to bud. That’s another harvest I am very interested in.

If you haven’t done it already it’s time to renovate the strawberry patch. Thin your plants, transplant daughter plants to other places so the rows aren’t too crowded. Mow all June bearers down to about an inch of crown. Weed and water.

It’s also time to divide German, (bearded), iris if you need to. For my article on how to do this go here; http://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/bearded-iris.html

I am finally seeing monarchs. They have been visiting the milkweed on the property, including the plants I leave by the back door. I am also seeing Comma or Hop Merchant butterflies. These are small butterflies that look like a dead leaf when their wings are folded, with a silver comma on them. The upper side is dusky orange with black spots. They like milkweed too, for the flowers. They lay their eggs on hops and nettles.

Better butterflies than the plague of locusts (grasshoppers) Las Vegas is seeing. The hordes of grasshoppers flying at night are large enough to show up on radar. Lots of pictures are online showing grasshoppers swarming under streetlights and all over buildings and walks. There aren’t many crops near Vegas to be consumed but I would hate to a gardener in that area right now.

Hibiscus 'The Path'

Chile (Chili) pepper may increase dementia chances

If you love your food spicy you may want to read a new study by the University of South Australia that found a correlation in the amount of chili pepper consumed and the incidence of dementia. They found that the more capsaicin, the chemical that causes peppers to taste “hot”, a person consumed the more likely they were to get dementia.

The study found that people of normal or below normal weight who consumed 50 grams (about a ¼ cup) a day of chile peppers in any form, raw or processed, were twice as likely to have memory and thinking problems as they aged compared to those that did not. The incidence was less for overweight people. The study suggests that middle aged and older adults should limit consumption of spicy foods.

This study only examined chile peppers and did not consider capsaicin found in other types of peppers. Since the chemical is identical however, it’s likely all forms of peppers would contribute to cognitive problems. Chile peppers are consumed all over the world and some cultures eat spicy chile products at least once a day. Hot sauce, chili sauce, tabasco sauce, curry powder, and numerous ethnic sauces contain chiles. Dried or fresh chiles are part of many Asian, Latin American and Indian dishes. Americans and Europeans have greatly increased their consumption of chiles in the last few decades.

Because capsaicin is used to dull or deaden nerve pain in conditions like arthritis and sprains, its very possible it may negatively affect the nerves in the brain, causing them to work less efficiently. While less nerve activity is beneficial in controlling pain, it’s not helpful for brain function.

The study was conducted over 15 years and was done on Chinese adults. It’s the first study done to measure cognitive decline correlated with chile consumption and needs to be replicated. It should also be remembered that studies have found that capsaicin has been found to lower blood pressure, high blood pressure also contributes to dementia. Chile peppers have also been found to lower blood sugar levels, another factor in dementia. There may be some advantages that counter the disadvantages of chile consumption.

Here’s a link to the study

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/5/1183

Cilantro and coriander- a herbal powerhouse

A new study by theUniversity of California – Irvine found that an ingredient in cilantro, dodecenal, may be helpful in preventing some types of epileptic seizures. Cilantro or coriander has been used in herbal medicine for a long time for various things. It is considered to have anti-cancer properties, anti-inflammatory effects, anti-fungal and antibacterial uses, to be cardioprotective, a gastric health enhancer and is said to have analgesic effects. One study several years ago found that cilantro plants could be wadded up and used to filter contaminated water. All of that and the herb has culinary uses too.

Many people don’t realize that coriander and cilantro come from the same plant, Coriandrum sativum. You either like the taste of cilantro and coriander or you don’t. (I don’t.) The two parts of the plant have different flavors which seem to be preferred by different cultures. Cilantro is the name for the herb or leaves used in a wide variety of dishes and coriander is the name for the spice or seeds of the same plant.

In North and South America, the leaves are most often used, in northern Europe the seeds are most often used, and in southeast Asia, Africa and India both parts of the plant are frequently used. Coriander seed is mentioned in the bible and was used by the Greeks and Romans as a medicinal spice.

Cilantro leaves look much like parsley leaves, the leaves are broader near the base but fine and ferny near the top. Cilantro is an annual plant, which will give you both leaves and seeds in a single year. The flowers are small and white and look like carrot flowers. The seeds are small, hard and yellowish brown with a ridge down one side.

Growing cilantro and coriander

You can buy cilantro plants to put out in the garden or you can sow the seeds in early spring where the plants are to grow. ‘Delfino’ has very fine fern like leaves. ‘Santo’ is a classic Mexican variety for salsa making.

Cilantro germinates best in cool weather. Each cilantro “seed” that you plant is actually 2 or more seeds. It forms a clump and clumps should be thinned to about 10 inches apart. You can harvest the leaves as soon as the plants are big enough so that you never need to remove more than 1/3 at a time.

When the weather turns hot, cilantro tends to go to seed. You can prevent this for a while by keeping any shoots that appear to be developing flowers cut off. Of course, if you want to harvest coriander seeds you must let the plants flower and wait until the seeds dry to harvest them. Cilantro is one of the plants that will frequently come up every year once you bring it into the garden by re-seeding itself. In areas with mild winters cilantro can also be sown as a fall crop.

Cilantro needs full sun and well-drained soil to do its best. It seldom needs fertilization and has few pests. Coriander seed should be harvested when it is dry, store the seeds whole in a dry, cool place.

Culinary use of cilantro and coriander

In Latin American, the chopped, fresh leaves are used in many dishes, including salsa and guacamole. In Thai and Vietnamese cooking the leaves are often added to salads and finely chopped cilantro leaves are used as food garnishes. They are also added to stir fried and sauteed vegetables. Cilantro leaves are best used fresh, drying destroys much of the flavor and freezing chopped leaves is only a satisfactory option.

While the leaves are tasty, it is the coriander seeds with all of their aromatic oils that are said to have the most medicinal benefits and are a valued spice. Coriander seeds are an important part of curry powder and in European countries, coriander seed is used to flavor breads and pastries. Coriander seed is also used to flavor a milkshake like drink. Store well dried coriander seed in clean glass containers and grind it just before use with a pepper grinder. Whole seeds are often sprinkled on baked goods. Ground coriander seed is used in spicy dishes and in pastry and bread.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

July 23, 2019, fairies and fireflies

Hi Gardeners

Well it was a wild weather week last week. The extremely hot and humid weather cumulated in a storm that looked like a hurricane with 60 mile an hour winds and sideways rain for an hour or so. The storm had passed, and I was heading out to the barn and the power went out. That was about 7 pm. We have a small generator and my husband waited a couple hours then tried to get it going. No luck.

We don’t have air conditioning, but I sure do appreciate all the fans we have. And of course, now none of them were working. Since we are country folk our water is also out when the power goes out. Usually if a bad storm is predicted, I fill up a bunch of buckets but this time I didn’t prepare well. I didn’t expect it to be so bad, since there were no severe weather warnings. Luckily the rain had filled up a bucket near the barn and a few other things.

We spent a very uncomfortable 24 hours sweltering, worried about the frig and freezer but we were lucky, and our power came back almost exactly 24 hours later. A shower and a fan felt like heaven. Most of our food was fine- the ice cream turned to soup but that’s minor- and we had just enough water to keep the toilet flushed. We didn’t get much sleep that night because we both use CPAP machines and without them it’s hard to sleep. But we survived.

The storm took down some large branches and my sweet corn had some wind lodging (blown down) - that corn has gone through a lot this year. Maybe we’ll still get some. The tall golden glow rudbeckia was blown over and there were some other minor damages but in all, it could have been much worse.

Our power company DTE, said this was the second worse storm in their history. About half of Michigan was without power and I know there were many, many other states and people without power. Some still don’t have power, and believe me, I feel for you. I hope everyone gets it back soon.

I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t passed the emergency planning challenge. Our generator has now been fixed and if the skies get dark you bet I will be filling those buckets. I bought a new battery powered light and stocked up the batteries although lighting wasn’t a big problem. I just need to find some battery powered fans.

The weather is delightful so far today, cool and sunny. It was nice yesterday too, and I got some weeding caught up. Our tomatoes are ripening nicely now and I have a pepper ready to pick. The lilies are fading but there are some Orientals and a late martagon in bloom, the rocket ligularia is blooming, the hostas are all beginning to bloom. My potted jasmine is blooming. The black eyed susan’s and coneflowers are blooming. The golden glow is falling over because of the wind but in bloom.

The little oxycontin orchid, Epipactis helleborine, the one the native plant purists love to hate, is now in bloom. It has the same chemicals as the drug oxycontin. At my house it grows under an oak tree among lily of the valley. I think it’s pretty and won’t be pulling it out just because it isn’t native. The deer however ate the top of one plant. I wonder if it had any effect on them.

Epipactis helleborine

While weeding last night I found a pot I had hidden behind some others and saw that the elephant ear bulb I planted in May was finally growing. It doesn’t have time to get as huge as it should get, but at least the bulb was alive. There’s a mystery involved there because another plant is growing in the pot too. It appears to be some kind of bulb. I don’t recognize it and I don’t know if I stuck a loose bulb in that pot forgetting the elephant ear was there. Time will tell, I guess.

Storms do some good by fertilizing your plants

It may be hard to imagine when you are sweltering in the heat and sitting in the dark, but storms do have benefits for nature and our gardens. The rain waters the plants for us and washes the dust off them. It clears the air of pollutants and cools things down, at least for a while.

If you have ever thought your plants look better after a good storm, even though you regularly water them, there’s a reason. Rainwater can also fertilize your plants lightly.

Our atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen, but plants can’t use nitrogen from the air. But when lightning passes through the atmosphere the electric current breaks the bonds of nitrogen molecules. They almost instantly bind to oxygen molecules in the air, forming nitrogen dioxide, which then quickly dissolves in water, falling to ground in the rain as nitrates, which plants can use.

So, during a storm plants not only get a drink, they get an energy drink, with just enough nitrogen for a happy little boost. Remember that as the lightning cracks across the sky, just don’t stand out there watching.

Forget fairies, tiny alchemists are flying about your garden

My recent night without power had me sitting outside to keep a bit cooler and it allowed me to enjoy a spectacular show. Its firefly season and the warm humid night had them flashing their love signals everywhere. They soared through the sky like shooting stars and twinkled in the trees like Christmas lights.

Fireflies or lightning bugs are winged beetles in the family Lampyridae. That’s a Greek word that means “to shine”. This family of beetles occurs all around the world, but not all of the 2,000 some species have the ability to sparkle in the night. Most of the true alchemist species producing night light in the US are in the Eastern half of the country. You can find them in city gardens, but most prefer the countryside near moist natural areas. People usually like fireflies, which is not a common feeling toward most insects, another reason they might be considered magical.

The fireflies that can get “lit” have in their abdomens a chemical called luciferin. This chemical gives them a very nasty taste, so birds and frogs don’t like to eat them, but it also allows them to do something else. When a firefly feels sexy, he or she can combine that luciferin with calcium, adenosine triphosphate, and oxygen to produce a glow or light. They use the light to attract mates. The light can be yellow, orange, green or even appear blue, depending on species. Firefly light is a cold light, it doesn’t heat the bug up. And it’s probably the most efficient light produced on earth, almost 100% of the energy produced by the chemical reaction creates light.

In the nocturnal species that can light up, each species has a distinct flashing pattern, although some mimic other species at times. You can identify them in the dark simply by observing the flashing patterns. Photinus pyralis, one of the most common species of fireflies, flies in an arc, flashing a golden light that appears to form a J. Photinus brimley flies in a straight line flashing every 3-8 seconds. Photinus consimilis flashes twice every 5 seconds. Photinus collustrans flashes three times very quickly, with a pause then another series of quick flashes.

Photinus carolinus is a firefly species in the US that coordinates it’s flashing with other fireflies of the species nearby, performing stunning light shows. In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the rangers conduct firefly tours to observe the phenomenon. The species Phausis reticulata or Blue Ghost, doesn’t flicker, it produces a steady light that appears blue, although technically it isn’t.

So, what do adult fireflies look like in the daytime when they aren’t flashing? That can vary by species. They are winged beetles with soft bodies up to about an inch long. Many are tan or brownish, some have heads of a contrasting color, some are striped. Some have large mandibles for catching prey. In some species the females never become winged, they remain larvae-like except for large compound eyes. They can twinkle however and are called glowworms. In the US most species have both male and female flyers.

Photinus pyralis
Wikimedia commons

Life cycle

After a night of disco loving the female firefly lays eggs in the ground and then dies a few days later. In some species even the eggs will light up if jiggled. The eggs hatch in about three weeks and the tiny larvae begin feeding until cold weather when they go into hibernation. The larvae of most species can glow.

The larvae become active again in the spring and eat for a few weeks until the time is right to pupate, a stage that lasts 1-2 weeks. They then emerge as adults flying and flashing for a few brief weeks. July and early August are when most people will see them.

Fireflies are a gardener’s friend

Besides performing light shows, fireflies are helpful to gardeners in another way. The larvae of most firefly species are carnivorous. Some of their favorite prey is the slugs and snails that cause gardeners so much grief. They also eat the larvae of other plant eating insect species. None of the larvae or adult fireflies are harmful to you or your plants. Seeing fireflies in the garden is a good thing!

Photinus lucicrescens

Some female lightning bugs mimic other species flashes not to attract a lover but to attract a meal. They don’t mind that they are consuming relatives. It’s usually the larval stage that eats other animals but, in some species, adult females like a meaty meal. In their adult beetle stage, many other species eat nothing or consume pollen and nectar.

Fireflies also help people in another way. The glowing chemicals fireflies produce have uses in medicine, and in forensic science. They are used to find blood clots and track cancer medications among other things. We can make synthetic luciferase now, but some companies still collect fireflies to extract the chemicals. This is unfortunate because fireflies, like many insects are becoming scarcer.

When the kids collect fireflies in a jar to make a magic lantern make sure they turn them loose before they go inside for the night. Fireflies are beneficial insects and we want them to prosper.

Bindweeds

Bindweed is a common name and it can cover several species of plants. Your bindweed may not be my bindweed. What these plants have in common is an amazing tenacity in smothering our garden plants and resisting eradication. Some bindweeds have pretty flowers and some people consider them to be wildflowers.

The morning glory family

True morning glories are in the Ipomoea family. They include the morning glories we grow in our gardens as ornamentals and that have large flowers in a variety of colors. As any gardener knows who has planted morning glories, they have a tendency to re-seed and come back in abundance, sometimes to the point of nuisance. After a few years of coming back from seed morning glories tend to revert back to the smaller, purple flowered, wild version. However pink and other colors may linger for many years.

Morning glories can become a weed, if they are unwanted where they are. They can smother plants every bit as easily as the other bindweeds. All parts of the morning glory are poisonous, and the seeds can cause hallucinations.

Morning glories are annual plants that reproduce by seed. The leaves of common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea are heart shaped. The flowers of various colors are trumpet shaped and in wild types about 1 ½ inches across. Cultivated types have larger flowers. Morning glory flowers open in the morning and close by mid-afternoon except in the cool shorter days of early autumn when they may remain open most of the day.

Morning glories

One other morning glory family member is sometimes found in the northeast, Ivyleaf morning glory. The flowers are similar to common morning glory, but they are blue when they first open and change to a rose purple. The leaves have 3 lobes, similar to ivy, and are covered with fine hairs.

The tenacious vines of morning glory can climb 10 feet or more. They will also sprawl along the ground. They will cover other plants and stunt their growth and sometimes even kill them.

Control of morning glories means preventing them from going to seed by plucking off spent flowers or cutting the plants down before they go to seed. You must be vigilant in pulling seedlings as soon as they emerge, and they will continue to sprout long into summer. Once the plants twine about other plants they are difficult to remove without damaging the plant and you cannot use weed killers if there are plants you want present.

Hedge and field bindweed

These plants belong to the Calystegia or Convolvulus family. The flowers are very similar to morning glory flowers but smaller and they are often called wild morning glories. They are also called Devil’s vine for good reason.

Hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium, has small ½ inch trumpet shaped white or pink flowers. The leaves are arrow shaped, with a pointed front and the two lobes of the back are squared with points on each side. Hedge bindweed has leaf bracts which cover the base of the flower and its sepals.

Hedge bindweed

Field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis has even smaller, usually white, flowers and smaller leaves. The leaves have a rounded point in the front and the 2 lobes in back also come to a point. Hedge bindweed is often seen climbing high into plants or on fences. Field bindweed does climb plants but also makes mats along the ground.

Both field and hedge bindweed are perennials and they spread by both seeds and rhizomes. Any tiny piece of the roots (rhizomes) left in the ground will start a new plant. And the plants return each year if not totally removed. While the tendency to smother and overpower other plants is less than that of morning glories the name bindweed describes what the plants do. They keep flowers from opening and bind plants into a messy thicket, preventing good air flow. Removing the twining stems can damage the plants they are climbing on.

The buckwheat family

Wild buckwheat, Polygonum convolvulus, is also frequently called bindweed. It is not related to cultivated buckwheat, a grain crop. There are other plants called wild buckwheat to add to the confusion.

Farmers and gardeners greatly dislike wild buckwheat as it climbs desirable plants, strangling and shading them and it interferes with mechanical harvesting of crops. It occurs throughout the entire United States. Wild buckwheat grows in any kind of soil, prefers sun but will survive shade, and may be found anywhere from gardens to crops to roadsides.

The flowers of this bindweed (wild buckwheat) distinguish it from other bindweeds. They are small, flattened and greenish white knobs, inconspicuous clusters which arise out of leaf joints near the top of the plant. They are not showy, and you will rarely notice them.

The wild buckwheat flowers turn into small hard, 3-sided dark brown to black seeds. Each is enclosed in a papery pale green cover until it falls from the plant. The seeds can survive in the ground for many years until a favorable time for germination.

Wild buckwheat

The leaves of wild buckwheat are arrowhead shaped, with a sharp tip and 2 points at the back which curve slightly toward each other. The color is blue green to green, and young leaves may be slightly reddish on the back.

Wild buckwheat is a sprawling vine. In favorable conditions each plant can cover 6 feet or more of space. It is an annual plant, appearing when the weather warms in May from seeds that over winter. It prefers to climb on other plants, wrapping its slender stems around them tightly, but it will scramble good distances along the ground if there are no plants to climb.

Controlling bindweeds

Don’t you hate it when someone says you can’t get rid of it? All of the bindweeds are hard to eradicate, and most gardeners have to settle with just controlling them. As the weather turns hot, we are less likely to be out weeding and this is when bindweed populations grow quickly

You must be alert to the beginning growth of the plants in late spring and keep pulling or cutting them. If the bindweeds get into the garden plants you may want to trace the vines down to ground level and cut them off there rather than trying to pull them off the plants. After they have been cut and they dry for a few days they are easier to remove. Pulling them off while green and growing can damage your plants.

It’s extremely hard to pull up all of the bindweed roots and treating with weed killers is difficult if they are among other, wanted, plants. Mulch rarely controls them. Some people have dug up whole beds of perennials, washed the roots, sifted the soil looking for bindweed pieces and still had bindweed appear. That’s because it also spreads by seed and it’s easy to miss minute root pieces.

Monitoring and cutting it off at ground level is your best bet for control. The more you can prevent it from going to seed and the more you can pull out of the ground the less likely it is to increase its population. But because it probably in the lawn or unused areas around the garden, total eradication of any of the bindweeds is unlikely.

Freeze those blueberries

Blueberry season is upon us and while it’s great to eat fresh blueberries they are even better for you if they are frozen before eating. Research done at South Dakota State University found that blueberries are higher in anthocyanin, (the healthy antioxidant that comes from the deep blue color of blueberries), after they are frozen. The freezing bursts cell walls and makes the anthocyanin more available when the berries are consumed.

Blueberries are an almost unique fruit of the US, with the US producing 84% of the world’s blueberries according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. Some blueberries are also produced in Canada, Chile, Mexico and Central America and a few European countries. Michigan is the state that usually has the highest yield of blueberries.

Freezing blueberries in a single layer then pouring them into a container keeps them from sticking together and makes removing some for a recipe easy. To freeze whole blueberries spread them on a cookie sheet a single layer thick, put in the freezer about an hour and then dump into a zip close bag or plastic container. You can freeze and add more berries to the container as you get them.

When using berries from the freezer container, take out the berries and promptly return the container to the freezer so they don’t begin to thaw and stick together.

When blueberries are defrosted, they hold their shape, but the texture is softer than fresh berries. They need to be used quickly after defrosting. If baking, you can just throw frozen blueberries in the recipe without defrosting.

Blueberry Buckle

You can make this with fresh or frozen blueberries. It’s kind of like a coffee cake and is simple to make.

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter softened
1 egg
2 teaspoons lemon zest or 1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 ¼ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cream or milk
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch cake pan

Put the blueberries in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the flour and toss to coat them, set aside.

Cream egg, ¼ cup of the butter, lemon, and ¾ of the white sugar together.

Add salt, baking powder, 1 ½ cups flour and cream or milk, beat until just blended.

Fold the blueberries into the batter. Spread batter in pan.

Mix together the remaining ingredients as a topping. It should be crumbly. Add a little more butter if crumbs don’t form. Spread evenly over the batter.

Bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.

The Michigan Lily- a wildflower to search for

Some 15 years ago a Master Gardener gave me 3 bulbs of a native wildflower, Lilium canadense ssp. Michiganense. They are commonly called Michigan lily and are found throughout the eastern states. These plants are a bit tricky to grow in the garden, some years they do well, sometimes they don’t even bloom. They must be kept weeded and the stems are fragile and easily damaged when you are pulling weeds around them.

Michigan lily is already listed as endangered in some states (they do occur in other states) and may soon be listed here in Michigan. The plants are delicate and slow to reproduce, and the overly abundant deer herds are rapidly removing them from many places. They are found in moist meadows, at the edges of woodlands and sometimes in roadside ditches. They prefer moist, rich soil and sunny to partly sunny conditions. You rarely find large clumps of the Michigan lilies; they seem to exist in small groups of 2-3 plants or singly and the slightest environmental change can make them disappear. They were never really common and finding one in the wild now is a real challenge.

Michigan Lily

The Michigan lily has long narrow leaves that are whorled around a delicate stem and are concentrated near the base of the plant. Most Michigan lilies produce a single flower at the top of the plant on a long stretch of leafless stem. Plants sometimes branch at the tip to produce two or three flowers.

The Michigan lily flowers are orange on the outside, with a yellow and orange inside flecked with purple to brown spots. The flower petals are curved backward until they almost touch the outside base and they dangle facing downward with orange stamens clearly visible. The flowers are about 1½ to 3 inches in size and plants range from 24-40 inches tall. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds and long tongued moths such as sphinx and hummingbird moths and larger butterflies such as the Spicebush Swallowtail and the Monarch.

Michigan lilies reproduce very slowly from seed, taking several years to bloom. The seedpods are small dark 3-sided capsules filled with flat seeds that have papery wings. The seeds are wind dispersed. (I have yet to see a seed capsule in the garden.) The plants have a small scaled, yellow bulb and they are said to produce rhizomes underground that eventually can produce new bulblets and then new plants, although I have seen no evidence of that.

The Canada lily is much more yellow in color and the flower petals do not curve backward except for a bit at the tip. The Canada lily is a little larger and more robust plant but they too are endangered. Michigan lilies are also like the cultivated Turks cap lilies, but those have larger flowers and plants, the center of the flower generally has a green throat and the bulbs are white instead of the pale yellow of the Michigan lily. The anthers of the Michigan Lily are a ½ inch or less in size and Turks cap lilies have anthers larger than ½ inch.

Michigan lilies are also mistaken for tiger lilies; those have a different leaf, bulbils in the leaf axils and are larger with petals that don’t curve backward as far as the Michiganese. See last weeks blog for more lily identification tips.

Please don’t pick the flowers or dig up these lilies if you find them. Any endangered species is illegal to pick or move (unless they are on your property.) If you see them for sale, make sure they are grown in cultivation and not wild collected. As they are quite tricky to grow you may want to buy some easier to grow lilies and leave these to experts with perfect conditions.

You may be a plant hoarder if……

Some people garden because they want to produce their own food. Some people garden because they want to beautify their surroundings. These people are content to grow the plants they like to eat or the plants that produce the ornamental effect they desire. They limit their plant collection to the space they have available and the time they want to devote to care for them. Not me. I am a plant hoarder. Here are some signs that you may be a plant hoarder too.

You can’t pass a plant sale without stopping, even if the plants look terrible.
You have a plant budget imposed on you by a spouse.
You don’t need curtains on your windows because there are so many plants in them.
You pinch off seed pods or a teensy cutting at public gardens.
It doesn’t matter if it’s not hardy in your planting zone, you’ll worry about that later.
You have to walk sideways on your porch or patio to avoid plants.
You save all your geraniums and other tender perennials over the winter.
You can always find space for another plant.
You ask your neighbor for space to grow plants.

10. Only you can tell the difference between this iris/daylily/hosta variety and the next.

11. You spend more time with your plants than your family.

12. You have considered stealing a plant.

Do you know any more signs of a plant hoarder? Tell me your plant hoarder secrets.

“One of the pleasures of being a gardener comes from the enjoyment you get looking at other people's yards.”

― Thalassa Cruso, To Everything There Is a Season: The Gardening Year

Kim Willis

And So On….

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118847598146598/

(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)

Newsletter/blog information