Hi Gardeners
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| Petunia 'Night skies', cleome, geranium |
It’s hard to believe it’s August already. It’s the 218th day of the
year. Here in Michigan the day is 14
hours and 16 minutes long, on summer solstice it was 15 hours and 18 minutes,
so we have lost an hour and 2 minutes of daylight already. The hottest part of summer is supposedly past.
Last night we had a small thunderstorm and a ½ inch
of rain, which was nice because the grass was beginning to brown. But that means I’ll have to mow this
week. I have been watering the past week
nearly every day, so I’ll enjoy a day or two off that chore. The corn is making ears, so it was good it
rained, as the old saying goes rain makes grain. I have radar on now – we may get more storms
this afternoon.
The garden still has lots in bloom. Cannas are really
showing off this week. The shasta daisies,
coneflowers and rudbeckia are all loaded with bloom. My pink hibiscus has been blooming and a
little mandevilla plant I nursed back to health has started to bloom. It has white flowers. The elephant ear tuber I planted finally has
3 leaves, but it has grown so slowly I am very disappointed. The violet stemmed taro I bought and set in
one of my little ponds is putting out leaves that go down in the water and
root. It will be interesting to see if
it forms tubers I can over winter on those runners.
I am reevaluating all the pots of things like crocosmia
and peacock glads and all those other specialty bulbs I keep. Most haven’t bloomed this year. I don’t know if it’s worth overwintering all
those pots again. (They aren’t hardy here.) If they don’t put on a show yet this year
maybe they’ll just get left outside.
I’m also thinking about what bulbs I want to order
for fall planting. The catalogs are here
and if you want the best selection you must order early. This year I may concentrate on lilies. I’m looking at the pictures I took this
spring to see where I can stuff a few more things, places where the deer won’t
have an easy shot at them. Are you ready
for ordering fall bulbs?
August almanac
The Great Lakes Native Americans called this month’s
full moon (August 15th) Sturgeon moon, because that was when these
large tasty fish were easily caught in the Great Lakes. In other places this month’s full moon is
known as the Green Corn moon or the blueberry moon. The moon perigee was the 2nd and
is also on the 30th (sometimes there are 2) and the apogee is the 17th.
If you want to see or catch a falling star this is
the month to do it. The Perseid Meteor showers peak will be the nights of
August 11-12th and the 12-13th. At the peak you should be able to see 60-75 “falling
stars” an hour, about one a minute. The
meteors are the dust and debris in the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle. You won’t see the comet,
but you may see Mars and Saturn. The nearly full moon may
be a problem for viewing. The meteor showers
continue to be visible until August 26th. Go out after midnight, look straight up and
give your eyes a chance to adjust to the dark when watching for meteors.
The August birth flower is the gladiolus. When glads are given to someone they signify
remembrance and integrity, perhaps that is why gladiolus are frequently found
in funeral arrangements. The August
birthstone is the peridot- a beautiful green gem.
August is National Peach month, National Picnic
month, Family Fun month and National Catfish month. The 9th is National Book Lovers
day and the 10th is National Lazy Day. The 13th is Left
Handers day, the 14th is Creamsicle day the 21st is
national Seniors day, and the 26th is National Dog day. The 29th is More Herbs day. August
31st is International Bacon day.
Are native plants really easier to grow?
I don’t know what it is about this time of the year
but if you are looking at garden sites on social media around this time you are
sure to see criticism of someone who has dared to admire and want to plant, a
non-native plant. The person will be told over and over not to plant something
like butterfly plant (buddleia) because it’s an “invasive species”.
One of the arguments the nativists use to convert
others to their view is that native plants are easier to grow and that an all
native garden won’t need any care. It
will be a beautiful paradise you just plant, then sit back and enjoy the bees
and butterflies that will flock there. Sometimes the recommendation is to just
scatter a “wildflower mix” on the soil and stop mowing.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are gardens composed
of all native plants that are beautiful.
But those gardens required quite a bit of effort and they need attention
to remain beautiful, just like any other garden. I don’t consider the places where people just
stop mowing their lawn and let the “native plants” grow gardens. If you do, that’s fine, everybody’s idea of a
garden is different. But gardens, by
definition, are cultivated places.
Let’s talk about the work involved with a native
plant garden and the care needed to integrate native plants into an ordinary
garden that might contain a lot of beautiful non-native plants also. You need
to decide on whether you want only native plants or if you want to mix native
plants with cultivated plants. Don’t let
anyone guilt you into a decision. All gardens require work. If you go only
native it will not be better for wildlife either. That’s a myth. Many non-native plants are excellent for
attracting wildlife and feeding and sheltering them.
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| Coneflower |
First there are plant choices to consider. Just because something once grew in the area
of your garden, before the property was developed, doesn’t mean it will grow
there now. For example, I have records on my property that go back to when the
state first divided raw land and sold it.
The first European people who trod this property found the land covered
with mature white pines and plant communities associated with them. They promptly harvested those huge old
trees. Then the land was used for crops
and pasture. Part of it was
drained. The land today is nothing like
it was once and no one is going to restore it to what it once was like.
There are still some white pines on the property,
none very old. But I don’t desire to
have the whole place covered in them and I don’t want to grow only native
plants associated with a pine forest. Where we have allowed the property to
just go its own way, we find prairie grasses and weeds, red pines, black
walnuts, poplar and lots of autumn olive thriving. Since the white pines and their associated
ecology are long gone and the soil and other conditions have changed, I don’t
expect the land to support the plants it once did.
Now, some nativists are quite flexible in what they
consider native species. If it grows in
the US, it’s fine. That at least gives
the gardener desiring to use only native plants a lot of choices. But you still must make choices based on the
conditions in your garden now, not in the past.
Sun or shade, dry or moist, the soil texture and pH, are what should
dictate your choices not what once grew there or even what grows nearby. And you’ll need to research those choices to
make sure they are hardy in your planting zone if you are choosing from the
broader “native” palette.
While many cultivated garden plants have been
selected to thrive in a variety of garden conditions, many native plants have
very specific conditions that they need to thrive. There are some that seem to grow anywhere,
but many are fussy about growing conditions.
If your conditions aren’t just right, they won’t grow.
You’ll want to consider if you like the looks of the
plant too, what’s a garden if you don’t like the plants in it? And there are some native plants that are
very aggressive spreaders – trumpet vine comes to mind. You may not want these plants especially if
you are looking for a low maintenance garden. You may not be happy with the
native plant choices that do suit your conditions, but that’s ok, just add some
good nonnative plants to the mix.
Once you have the plants, and many natives won’t be
available in local garden stores so you need to mail order them, you must plant
them. (A note; a lot of natives will not do well in pots.) And you need to prepare the area like you do
to plant any garden plants. And after
they are planted you must water and weed them if you want them to get
established well.
Native plants do get diseases and insect
infestations, despite nativists waxing eloquent on their toughness. They may survive them, but they may not look
very good while doing so. And things like native fruits may get insect larvae
in them as a matter of course, which if you thought those fruits would be the
perfect organic substitute for cultivated fruit will surprise you. And deer and rabbits will feast on native
plants, they may actually seek some of them out. Deer will go out of their way to eat
trilliums for example.
In fact, the care of a native plant garden or native
plants mixed into a garden is just about the same as any garden with perennial
plants. Once plants are established, they need less care, but if you don’t want
a messy looking jungle of things there is still weeding, pruning, watering and
deadheading to do. And if you chose
native plants that have many specific needs you may have to do more work to
keep them healthy than if you planted common non- native plants.
I’m not saying native plants are not fine for the
garden, I have many in mine. Sometimes
they are the answer for a problematic garden area. But they aren’t easier to
care for than most nonnative garden plants.
Nonnative plants can attract wildlife and feed and shelter them just as
well as many natives. Most nonnatives
are not “invasive” and invasiveness is greatly exaggerated in many cases. And
in your garden, they aren’t displacing native plants or causing any
extinctions.
From the beginning of plant cultivation people have
collected plants they liked and moved them to other places. New plants and
plant products have always been sought and esteemed. People nurtured and
protected plants they liked or needed. If you are drawn to gardening, chances
are you are drawn to new and unusual plants too. There’s no moral imperative to only plant native
plants and people who choose to do so are no better gardeners – or citizens- than
those who choose to grow nonnatives.
And all gardens are cultivated or cared for, if you
don’t “manage” it it’s not a garden. It’s the type of plants you choose for the
conditions in your garden that determine just how much management the garden
will need, not where the plants originally came from.
True gardeners love all types of plants and don’t
care what country they came from. Don’t feel guilty if you want hosta, roses,
lilacs, daylilies, bearded iris, buddleia, lavender, shasta daisy, oregano,
thyme, rosemary and many other common garden plants in your garden. If you like them and your conditions are
favorable for them just grow them. It’s
your garden.
I have written extensively on this subject before and
if you read my blog you know I don’t believe most non-native plants are a
threat. You can read some of those articles, which do contain references to
support my views, on this page. There
are also articles discussing good native plants and shrubs to plant.
Could feverfew cure leukemia?
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| Feverfew wikimedia commons |
Researchers at the University of
Birmingham, UK have published the results of a new study that shows promise for
a new drug derived from feverfew, (Tanacetum
parthenium). Feverfew is a common herb long grown for its
medicinal properties. Researchers were
able to isolate a chemical compound from it called parthenolide that shows
promise in killing cancerous cells of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Researchers say the herb as it’s sold over the
counter now does not have the ability to kill cancer cells. But by isolating
and concentrating chemicals in the plant they think they may have developed a
new drug to cure or control CLL. This is
how new medicines are developed from old herbal remedies, determining the
helpful ingredients and separating and enhancing them.
Feverfew is a member of the Aster family and it has
tiny white daisy like flowers with yellow centers and ferny, light green,
aromatic leaves. It is sometimes confused with chamomile which it resembles. It’s
a short-lived perennial plant native to the Balkan peninsula, but now found
around the world.
In herbal medicine feverfew is used for treating the
pain of arthritis, earache, toothache, swelling, and insect bites. It’s used for headaches and to counteract
opium overdoses. It’s used to treat
constipation and expel worms. It’s used to treat skin conditions like psoriasis
and dermatitis.
Feverfew is also a “women’s tonic”. It was used to regulate menstruation, which
means it may cause abortion in stronger concentrations. It was also given during labor to speed
birth.
Feverfew is usually administered as a bitter tea made
of dried leaves and flowers. The herb is now being studied for uses in modern
medicine.
More reading
Why
don’t I have any squash, cucumbers, melons on my plants?
Every year new gardeners ask this question when it
seems like their vining crops are blooming and blooming but they aren’t getting
any “fruits”. Most vining plants like
squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers need a long growing season and warmth to
do their best. They also need full
sun. But by August they should be
flowering and here is where the confusion begins. The gardener sees the flowers and wonders why
they aren’t making fruits.
All of these plants produce two types of flowers,
male and female. They look similar
except that the female flowers have a baby “bump” at the stem end. This looks like a tiny squash, pumpkin,
cucumber or melon.
Male flowers usually begin blooming first on a
plant. They will bloom and die, because
they can’t produce a fruit. But if
conditions are right female flowers will soon start appearing along with the
male and if there are pollinators around, the baby bumps will begin
growing. The withered blossom often
hangs on the developing fruit for a short time.
Most of the vining crops grow their fruit at a fast rate. Some like cucumbers and summer squash will be
ready to eat in just a couple weeks, as these crops need to be picked when they
are still small for the best eating.
The fruit of vining crops may not look like what you
expect when they first begin developing but don’t panic. Cantaloupe develop the netting on their skins
later in development. Many squash,
melons, gourds and pumpkins have a different color from when they are mature-
melons and gourds may develop spots later for example.
 |
| This is a female gourd flower. See the fruit already on the back? Male flowers lack the fruit. Pumpkins, cukes, squash and melons also have tiny baby fruits at the back of female flowers. |
Pumpkins start out green like many squashes, and then
they develop color later. Cucumbers
should be green when picked unless you are growing one of the rare white or
lemon varieties. They will change color
to orange, yellow or brown when mature but those mature fruits don’t make the
best eating.
It’s not unusual for plants you thought were one type
of squash or melon to turn out to be something else. Plants that look similar like pumpkins and
squash sometimes get mislabeled in nurseries. You may get the wrong seeds in a
seed packet. Cross mating between the different species will not cause this
year’s fruits to be different. If you
save the seeds and plant them though, next years fruits could be hybrids and
look different.
So, when you see both types of flowers on a vining
plant you should expect to see the fruit begin developing soon. Some melons, squash, gourds and pumpkins can
take a long time to begin blooming – they need long seasons to make fruit. So, check the maturity dates on these types
of plants when you buy them or seeds for them and in Zones 5 and 6 stick to
those that say 120 days or less to maturity.
Homemade salad dressings
It’s fresh produce season, the garden is bursting
with good salad ingredients and if you don’t have a garden, the local farmers
market can supply you with the fresh ingredients. And what better way to top those salads than
with good, healthy homemade salad dressings.
Soy and canola oil are not healthy for the human body
but they are found in almost every store brand of salad dressing because they
are cheap (and probably getting cheaper.) The recipes below will help you use
healthier oils to go with your healthy produce.
It may take extra time but it’s not that hard to make your own salad dressing.
The best oils to use are olive oil, coconut oil, palm
oil, peanut oil, walnut oil, hemp oil, (hard to find), sesame oil and grapeseed
oil. Some of these are very expensive
and may also flavor your salad dressing.
Olive oil, extra virgin or cold pressed, is probably your best bet. Besides
soy oil, avoid canola- a very nasty oil that’s produced with lots of chemicals,
and corn oil. Sunflower and safflower
oils can be used sparingly but they aren’t properly balanced in the “omega
acids”.
In dressings like ranch, mayonnaise and other creamy
dressings you can even use butter or bacon grease, which is quite good in some
dressings. The small amount of saturated
fat you consume in these dressings will hurt you far less than soy or canola
oil. Ranch dressing uses buttermilk or
sour cream also.
Homemade
Italian Dressing
Most Italian style dressings use 1-part vinegar to 3
parts oil with some seasonings. You can
even buy packaged salad seasonings, just use a healthy oil to mix with
them.
½ cup balsamic (or other) vinegar
1 ½ cups olive oil
½ teaspoon salt – or to taste
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (find in the spice
department of any store)
(Additions can include a bit of dry or wet mustard, a
small amount of sugar or honey, lemon juice, onion powder or minced onion,
tomato juice, sundried tomatoes finely chopped, black pepper, paprika, cayenne
pepper, chili pepper, bacon bits, garlic juice or finely minced garlic or other
spices and herbs you enjoy. Experiment.)
Put this in a jar with a tight lid and shake until
mixed or whisk together or use a blender.
After mixing store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Basic
Mayonnaise recipe
2 egg yolks, pasteurized -see how to pasteurize eggs
below
1 ½ cups of olive oil or use 1 cup olive oil and ½
cup bacon grease
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
¼
teaspoon
salt
You can add your own seasonings such as a bit of mustard,
pepper, garlic or onion. Some people
prefer to use vinegar in place of lemon juice, but you must use an acidic
ingredient for food safety.
You place all of this in a food processor and blend
until creamy. It makes about 1 ½ cups.
Keep it refrigerated. Keep dishes made
with homemade mayo refrigerated too.
A problem with homemade mayonnaise type dressings is
the safety of the raw eggs, which could cause salmonellosis if not handled and
stored properly. Usually the acids and salt in the dish will make the raw egg
yolk safe as long as it’s kept cold, but you may want to use pasteurized eggs
which can be found in some stores.
People with poor immune systems or children should not use dressings made
with raw eggs that aren’t pasteurized.
Here’s a homemade way to
pasteurize egg yolks. It may not be
quite as safe as buying commercially pasteurized eggs. Place 2 egg yolks- or the amount for 1
recipe- in a small metal pan with a bit of water. Try to slide the yolks into the pan and don’t
break them. Place that pan inside
another pan filled halfway with cold water. (Double boiler) Put a candy or
other food thermometer in the pan with the water. Slowly heat the water to 140 degrees and hold
it at 140 degrees for 5 minutes. It
takes careful watching. This should not
cook the yolks, but if they do cook just a bit it won’t hurt. Use the eggs in your recipe right away.
Ranch
dressing
½ cup homemade mayonnaise
½ cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon minced garlic or amount to your taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Salt to your taste and diet needs
You can shake this up in a large jar with a tight
lid, use a blender in short pulses or whisk it together. It makes about a cup of dressing. Keep refrigerated.
The garden suggests there might be a
place where we can meet nature halfway. – Michael Pollan
Kim Willis
And So On….
Find Michigan garden events/classes
here:
(This
is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
Newsletter/blog information
If you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me or you can comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have
the item published in my weekly blog if you email me. You must give your full
name and what you say must be polite and not attack any individual. I am very
open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine, but I do reserve the right to
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
time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know
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