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Tuesday, January 7, 2020

January 7, 2020 January thaw


Hello Gardeners
Star of Bethlehem

What odd weather we had over the holidays here in Michigan.  On Christmas day it was sunny, and 52 degrees and I sat outside on the deck for a good while. Most of December was mild and snowless.  On New Years Eve we had 2 inches of snow, but it melted in just a few days.  We had some spit snow and flurries Sunday that gave us a dusting of snow, but today is sunny and in the 40’s and it’s gone. 

We have one cold day coming tomorrow and then the temperature climbs again.  Every mild day is one less day of awful winter weather and I’ll take it. Last year the temps were mild in the first week of January too but by the third week we were below zero as a low for a few days.

I would like to think we are morphing into a higher planting zone, but I am really wary about making that assumption. The problem with climate warming/change is that it isn’t even.  One month we could be having zone 7 weather and the next zone 4. An earlier spring and less snow would be appreciated though.

People are asking me about trees budding and bulbs sprouting. There is really nothing we can do. The bulbs will probably be fine. If trees break dormancy early and buds are killed it’s not great, but they will probably be able to produce new buds. Flower buds on things like magnolias and fruit trees may be lost, but it depends on what’s ahead weather wise still. I am only noticing bud swelling on a few tree species here, willows and poplars, so far. Chickweed and other weeds are growing though, and the grass remains green.

Cruising through the catalogs

I don’t know about you, but I have been getting lots of garden catalogs in the mail.  It’s nice to look at all the beautiful pictures and plan for spring.  My spring orders haven’t been made yet, but I usually do it before the end of January, so the selection is still good.  This month in my blog I will be commenting on things I’ve noticed, new plants, plants new to me, plants I love, good deals and so on. 

I have also been adding new listings to my garden catalog page.  If you don’t have enough catalogs or want to see some different catalogs take a look at the page.  There are links you can click on to go right to a catalog.   I haven’t tested all the links this year yet, although I will be working on that too, but if you find a link that doesn’t work or the company is gone let me know kimwillis151@gmail.com  and I’ll get it removed. You can find the page here;


Special offers

Totally tomatoes is offering two free sample seed packets of tomatoes with any $5 or more order.  With a $50 order you’ll get a tomato growers test kit.  Orders must be placed by March 15, 2020.

Seeds and Such is offering free packages of new basil and tomato seed with orders received by March 31st, 2020.

Gurneys almost always has $25 off your $50 purchase and $50 off your $100 purchase. You can pretty much take half off the cost of each item if you get close to those purchase amounts.

Burpee’s has 20% off orders of $60 dollars or more if you enter code BSC20 before June 30, 2020.

Prairie and wildflower gardens

If you are into the prairie garden style, with lots of grasses, why not add some complementary flowers to the look?  These plants look well with grasses and bring some color to the prairie.

Golden Lace Patrinia scabiosifolia

This plant has strong stems up to 6 feet high that are covered with clusters of bright yellow flowers from mid to late summer. They attract butterflies and bees and are deer resistant.  They are a short-lived perennial that will also self-seed.  Golden Lace is suitable for sunny areas in zones 5-8.


Golden Lace
Select seeds photo
                                                  

Carthusian Pink Dianthus carthusianorum

This plant has been grown in European gardens for a long time but isn’t common here.  It could bring a pop of pink to your prairie or wildflower patch.  It has 2 feet tall, wiry stems with airy flower heads of rose to magenta pink at the top.  It blooms for a long period in summer and is a perennial.  It’s suitable for zones 4-8.  It needs full sun and prefers neutral to slightly alkaline soil that is well drained. 


  
Carthusian Pink
Photo Select Seed
Berkheya 'Zulu Warrior' Berkheya purpurea

This unusual plant from South Africa is an excellent plant to mix with lower grasses or at the front of the prairie patch. It has sturdy, prickly winged stems with dark green rosettes of pointed leaves covered with white webbing. Plants get about 2 ½ feet high and wide.  The plants are an architectural statement on their own. But add clusters of pretty daisy-like lavender flowers with a deep purple center and you have it all. It’s drought tolerant and attracts butterflies. Makes a good cut flower or dried flower and seed pods are attractive too. Full sun. While it is a perennial plant it is not winter hardy below zone 6.  Grows easily from seed and may reseed.


 
Zulu Warrior
Photo by Select Seeds



Want a rose to liven up your wildflower or cottage garden?  Try TOTTERING-BY-GENTLY, a new David Austin Rose.  This shrub rose has lovely pale yellow, single, wild-looking flowers that would look wonderful among blue flowers.  The shrub grows to 4 feet high by wide. It’s a repeat bloomer so you’ll get roses several times a season. It has a soft musky scent too. Its hardy in zones 5-11 and has good disease resistance.


Tottering by Gently rose
Photo by David Austin Roses


Other flowers

How about an interesting foliage plant?  We all know foliage texture and color are important in a well-planned garden.

Feverfew 'Golden Moss' Tanacetum parthenium aureum

This is another heirloom that deserves a look.  It has golden fernlike foliage in a compact form about a foot high. It’s excellent for color spots among other perennials, in containers or as an edging to beds.  Its perennial, easy to grow, deer resistant, and will grow in partial shade. Feverfew has a spicy, earthy scent when brushed. It has small white daisy like flowers in summer.   Hardy in zones 4-8.

Buy at Select Seeds


Golden Moss
Photo by Select Seeds


Chilean Glory Flower 'Tresco Mix' Eccremocarpus scaber

Want a different vine this summer, one that attracts hummingbirds? Try Chilean Glory flower.  This vine has finely textured foliage and clusters of tubular flowers in shades of red, orange and yellow from mid-summer to frost.  It can grow up to 12 feet long in a warm, long season.  Full sun preferred.  Flowers can be cut and used in arrangements.
Chilean Glory flower is a tender perennial.  It’s not hardy below zone 10 but it can be overwintered if potted and brought in before frost.

Buy at Select seeds

Chilean Glory Flower
Photo by Select Seeds


‘Amazing Grey’ Shirley Poppy Papaver rhoeas

I love the colors of this new poppy; they are shades of gray, silver, and smoky purple.  Some have gold or white edges or rosy throats. Two- three inch semi-double or single blooms with crinkly petals appear on 2-3 feet tall plants in mid-summer.
This is an annual poppy, usually grown from seed. It can be sown outside a few weeks before the last frost and will begin blooming in late spring. It would look beautiful mixed with either deep reds or pastel pinks and blues. The seed pods look good in dried arrangements.
You can buy it here


Amazing Grays Poppy
Photo by Swallowtail Garden Seeds


Now for some edibles of note. 

Bodacious hybrid’ is a new tomato being offered by Burpee’s.  This tomato has large 10-12 oz deep red fruits.  Its crack and disease resistant fruits grow on compact vines. 80-85 days.

Potato Huckleberry Gold

A new potato on the scene this year is Huckleberry Gold.  One of it’s claims to fame is that it is a low glycemic index potato, (lower sugar), making it better for diabetics to eat than regular potatoes. Its also tasty, good for mashing like Yukon Gold, and pretty.  The skin is deep purple and the flesh golden yellow. It was developed by Michigan State University.  It is not a GMO variety.

Huckleberry Gold has medium sized round tubers. It’s not quite as productive as Yukon Gold but is more resistant to scab, cracks and hollow heart.  I see that many catalogs are carrying Huckleberry Gold but supplies are somewhat limited I understand, so if you want it, order early.  Some places carrying it are R. H Shumways, Carter Seed Potato Farm, Renee’s Garden, Irish Eyes Potato Farm, plus more.


Huckleberry Gold
Photo Renees garden


Perpetual potatoes 

If you want to try some different potatoes and are interested in perennial food plants, you may want to try these potatoes.  These are heirloom potatoes and they come in a variety of colors, red, pink, purple, white, blue.  They are small and odd shaped, somewhat like fingerling potatoes, but have a great potato flavor.

If you want them to be perennial you will have to leave some in the ground through the winter of course.  They will increase over time.  Or you could save tubers for replanting in the spring like regular potatoes.  If you are in an area where potatoes are a commercial crop you may not want to try keeping these as a perennial.  They could be a reservoir for over wintering late blight spores if left in the ground.  Late blight is deadly for potatoes.

Find these at Oikos Tree crops  www.oikostreecrops.com/ 

Perpetual Potato
Picture by Oikos Tree Crops



A tuber of another sort Ullucus tuberosus

If you like really unusual edible plants and are willing to do a little experimenting ulluco may interest you.  Ulluco, also known as ulluma, chungua or ruba is an impotant crop in the Peruvian Andes and roadside markets are heaped with colorful piles of them.  They have waxy skinned tubers that look like potatoes in colorful shades of red, purple and yellow.  The taste is said to be like potato with a touch of beet and they are starchy.  The tubers are eaten like potatoes, boiled, baked and fried and are also dried.

Ulluco has thick leaves like spinach or beets, and the leaves are also edible, unlike those of potatoes.  The leaves are high in vitamins and minerals and are boiled or eaten fresh.  The plants form a sprawling vine about a foot high.

Ulluco can be a bit difficult to grow in North America.  It likes a cool, (temperatures below 80 F), but long growing period, although it is somewhat frost tolerant. It needs 10-13 hours of daylight to form tubers.   It will grow in poorer soils and will survive moderate drought but does best in loamy soil with consistent moisture.  Ulluco must have full sun.

There are several domestic varieties of ulluco being cultivated that withstand North American conditions better than those varieties growing in the Andes region. If you like experimenting and breeding plants developing ulluco for temperate climates could be a project.  It can be grown from seed, stem cuttings or dividing tubers like seed potatoes.

Buy ulluco at




Ulluco
Photo Cultivariable



I’ll have more catalog finds next week.

What is OSSI seed?

You may see this term mentioned in seed catalogs this season- OSSI seed.  In May of 2012 the Open Source Seed Initiative was formed.  People who belong to the organization are plant breeders, researchers and others who are either breeding new varieties of plants or preserving heirloom plants. They have pledged to keep their seed patent free, allowing anyone to grow them, and save seed from them and sell the seeds without paying a fee to the original breeder or restricting who can grow them.

Many seeds and plants today are patented and the original breeders force people who want to sell the seeds to pay a patent fee.  People are prohibited from saving seeds to grow the next year without paying a fee.  And if they want to produce the seed for sale, they must ask permission from the patent holder and pay a fee. This used to be primarily done with crop seed like wheat and soy, but the practice had begun to seep into garden vegetables and flowers.  OSSI members want to curb this practice.

That does not mean OSSI seeds are free.  People can and mostly do, charge for the seeds. After all it takes money to develop a new variety and grow a crop of seeds to sell.  But if you save the seeds from this new variety to grow next year, and even grow more of the seeds to sell, you do not need to pay a fee to the original breeder.  And if you sell the OSSI seeds yourself, you cannot restrict the people who buy them from you from saving the seed or growing it to sell themselves.

OSSI seeds can be open pollinated or hybrids.  They cannot include cannabis seeds yet, except for some hemp varieties. No GMO seeds are included.  The organization mostly operates in the US and Australia because the European Union has other standards seed sellers must follow.

A seed that is OSSI certified is not necessarily organic.  The label has nothing to do with the quality of the seed, some OSSI seeds may be better or worse than seeds that are not OSSI varieties. It means that you are free to grow the seeds any way you want, save seeds for next year, use them to make new varieties of the plant, or grow them to sell.

More information:



Does Elderberry syrup work to prevent flu?

The flu season is hard upon us now and the big news spreading across social media is the false idea that by drinking lots of elderberry syrup you can avoid getting the flu. I was pretty sure I knew the right answer to the question posed above, but I did some research anyway.  Here’s what I found.

Short answer; there is no evidence that elderberry extract can prevent flu.  If you get the flu, there is some evidence that certain elderberry extracts may help ease your symptoms and make you feel better faster. There is also some evidence that elderberry syrups and extracts produced by home methods do not work well, and that for there to be substantial benefits, the elderberry extract needs to be a highly refined and filtered, lab produced product.

Now for the deeper explanation. First there is some evidence that taking elderberry extract, not a homemade sugar filled syrup, may help ease the symptoms of flu. There have only been two small studies that involve actual humans with the flu taking a commercial elderberry product, but both found that taking elderberry shortened the time that people suffered flu symptoms compared to a control group. These studies were very small and in both cases the researchers said that more and larger studies were needed to confirm the results. There were also studies using home made elderberry products and in these no benefits were found.

In a few research studies elderberry extracts, (commercial brands with stringent, highly refined production methods), could inhibit the growth of the flu virus in cells in lab cultures. As people trained to interpret science studies will tell you this does not mean the results will transfer to living animals or people. What kills or inhibits cells in the lab very often does not work in living subjects, especially with viruses.

And so far, no studies have been done on giving people elderberry extract and then exposing them to the flu virus vs a control group not given extract and exposed. Since the flu can be deadly, this type of study is probably not going to be done. Studies could be done on people who refuse the flu vaccine and take daily elderberry extract and then go about their daily lives vs a control group who did not take the extract or a vaccine or who just got a flu vaccine and also were just allowed to go about their daily lives.

Since flu viruses that become prevalent each year vary, people who were previously exposed to a virus type circulating in the present will have immunity. Also, people’s immune systems vary and something as small as how often people wash their hands could alter any studies done. However very large well controlled studies could give us some indication of whether elderberry extracts would prevent the flu. Those studies have not been done.

Given what we know about viruses, researchers doubt that elderberry extract will actually prove to be an effective preventative for flu. There’s always hope of course, but for now we do know that vaccines are pretty effective (effectiveness does vary by the viruses circulating) and that everyone should get them before flu season begins. And we know for certain that vaccines do not cause autism.

If you get the flu, there is evidence that some elderberry products may help you feel better faster. This is probably because the antioxidants in the elderberry products boost your immune system. Other concentrated plant-based products with high antioxidant levels could also help boost the immune system. But even people with highly functioning immune systems can get viral diseases, including the flu.

Homemade elderberry concoctions might help a little if you get the flu and if prepared in a safe manner, they won’t hurt you. But most researchers say a refined, concentrated elderberry extract from a reputable lab is your best bet to achieving any symptomatic relief. They recommend 600-900 milligrams per day of a product like ‘Sambucol’®. It should be started immediately when you start feeling symptoms.  You can take it all the time; it won’t hurt you but remember it probably won’t prevent the flu.

And on another note: those people who knock the flu treatment ‘Tami Flu’ and say elderberry is better should know that Tami Flu is made with a large amount of another plant product, star anise.  It’s probably as “natural” as many commercial elderberry products.
Flu can be deadly, it’s not something to take chances with. Even if you have a flu shot or take elderberry extract or do both, you could still get the flu.  If you do and you don’t improve in a few days, please contact a medical professional, don’t rely on herbal remedies. And please get that flu shot.  It really is your best bet to stay healthy.

If you would like to do your own reading; there are some science-based links below. Be wary of natural remedy sites and general news sites that state elderberry prevents or cures flu (easing symptoms is not a cure) even if they give some references. That’s because they don’t expect you to read or understand the studies. Often, they don’t really understand the very articles they reference. When it comes to health topics everyone should learn what is scientific information and how to interpret it.






January Almanac

January’s full moon, which happens on the 10th is called the Wolf Moon or Old Moon. On that day a penumbral eclipse of the moon occurs, but it will be barely visible in the US. 

Moon perigee is the 20th. Moon apogee was the 1st and will occur again on the 29th.  I track the perigee and apogee of the moon because my weather keeping records for the last few years tell me the chances of precipitation around the perigee are high for me. For other areas this might not prove to be true. Try tracking the moon perigee and apogee events with your weather and see what you discover.

The perigee is when the moon is closest to earth in a monthly orbit cycle.  There is a slight increase in the moons gravitational pull at this time.  Apogee is the farthest point the moon is in its orbit from the earth.  Research has proven that there can be slight influences on earth’s weather near these moon events.  When either a new moon or a full moon occurs near perigee the chances for seismic activity, (earthquakes or volcano eruptions), increase.  Eclipses or other planetary alignments occurring near this time increase the chances of earthquakes and volcanoes even more. The full moon also looks slightly larger when it occurs close to perigee. 

The January birth flower is the carnation.  In the language of flowers, the carnation is supposed to portray love, fascination and distinction. If you send a striped carnation to someone it means your regret that the love isn’t shared. A white carnation means pure love, a red carnation “carnal” love.  A pink carnation means friendship and a yellow one means rejection. An alternative birth flower is the snowdrop.  It has a lot less colors to worry about. The birthstone is the garnet.

January is National Blood Donor month, National Hot Tea month, National Oatmeal Month, and National Soup Month to name a few.  The 10th is Houseplant Appreciation day, the 13th is International Skeptics day, the 15th is National Hat day, as well as Penguin Awareness day and National Buttercrunch Day, the 18th is Winnie the Pooh Day, the 19th is National Popcorn day, the 21st is Martin Luther King Day, the 22nd is National Blond Brownie day and the 23rd is National Pie day. Chinese New Year is the 25th. The 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day and the 28th is Fun at Work Day. The 31st is Backward day and Inspire Your Heart with Art day. 


"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter.  One is the January thaw.  The other is the seed catalogues."
-  Hal Borland

Kim Willis
All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

And So On….

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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



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