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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
(This
is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
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publish what I want. Contact me at KimWillis151@gmail.com
I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
research each week. 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
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