December 15, 2020, solstice nearing

Hi Gardeners

Teasel

 Well, you may have noticed I skipped a week with the weekly blogs. It was a crazy week last week with our roof getting redone. I planned the job to be done after my plants had gone dormant outside so there would be less damage to them but there were still problems. Because of covid precautions and because it was cold, I wasn’t outside much to observe what the roofers were doing. Neither was my husband.

I am a person who leaves the leaves and plant debris on the garden until spring. But on the day the roofers were cleaning up I popped outside and saw one young guy enthusiastically finishing up the raking out all the leaves and other cover from the front garden.  “Look how nice I cleaned up your gardens” he said with a big smile. What could I say? It does look neat and tidy.

The leaves were already in the dumpster and he thought he was doing me a favor. I suppose there may have been some roof debris in there too, although they had tarps down all over. What I didn’t realize until later was that he had also taken it upon himself to toss out some of the old timbers that edged the garden. Yes, some were rotting on the underside and needed replacing but still…

But the worst thing was when they broke a window on the porch when a ladder slipped. It was an accident.  But I have a lot of plants on that porch which can survive cool dormancy. The porch rarely goes below forty degrees even if its not heated. But with cold air pouring in it was getting much colder. It was evening, they cleaned up the glass and helped me tape a piece of cardboard over the window. One guy took out the glass frame and said he’d get it replaced. That was a week ago- and I still have cardboard on the window.

I had to move the huge pot of elephant ears inside- it did get some cold damage, but I think it will survive.  Also, the purple taro and a few other things had to be moved inside. The geraniums and other things out there seem to be ok but (don’t tell my husband) I have been cracking the door going from the house to the porch at night.

My roses don’t seem to be damaged much in the front garden, even though the guys took the heavy-duty cages I put around them to protect them and put them in the lawn. They then put them back before they left, but on other plants. We’ll see in spring how things come up.

The roof had to be done and sometimes you must make trade-offs.  I’m sure the roofers weren’t totally happy working around all the obstacles here- like the handicap ramp and gardens all around the house. The worse thing is that there is still work to be done on the soffits and trim.

Today we are at least getting a little weak sun. What I hate about Michigan winters is days and days of dark, dreary weather. My windows full of plants and bright grow lights help, but it’s still depressing. I do have plants in bloom too, gerbera daisies this week and ivy geranium, plus hibiscus, fuchsia, begonias, Christmas cacti, and streptocarpus.

I have a braided hibiscus tree that I had to put in my bedroom this year because of space limitations. I was worried that the little natural light it would get there and the grow light supplement, wouldn’t be enough for it, but it is thriving and loaded with blooms. It looks better than it did outside this summer. You just never know.

The end of the natural year is almost here. On the 21^st we have winter solstice. That’s the shortest day of the year, technically. After that the sun begins to climb in the sky again and nights start to shorten.

Winter solstice is probably the first event that our ancestors celebrated. Our ancestors felt great relief when they could determine that that the suns cycle was reversing. The ancients knew that the sun was the key to life. At winter solstice it has been resurrected or reborn. When the sun “turned and began to come back” it was a signal that life would continue. This has always been a time for great celebration. 

This year we have great reason to celebrate solstice, because we have now received a signal that life may return to normal here for us too. We have a covid vaccine. At ancient solstice celebrations symbols of the past year’s worries and problems were burned in a fire of oak wood. Wishes were made for better times in the new year.

2020 is certainly a year most of us would like to burn away. Maybe everyone should have a symbolic bonfire – outside with social distancing.  Let us all hope for a better 2021 as the new natural year begins.

 Spring bulbs popping up early

People are writing me to ask about their spring blooming bulbs popping up early. Mine are showing above ground too. Our erratic cold, then warm weather is responsible. Actually, this isn’t uncommon for spring blooming bulbs.

The bulbs will be fine unless the weather gets so warm that they have visible buds showing. Since the length of daylight also affects bloom time to some extent, most bulbs won’t proceed to buds above ground until a little later. Warmth in early March is probably more harmful than it is now. 

Don’t worry about the bulb foliage peeking above ground now. You can cover them lightly with mulch if you like. Snow will probably cover them soon enough, but if that doesn’t happen, I’m fine with it.

 

Make sure to buy seeds early this year

If you remember last spring, people suddenly had a big interest in gardening because of the covid shut down and seeds quickly became scarce. Some seed companies had to close, and some had employee shortages. No one knows what will happen for sure this spring, but I expect there will still be an increased interest in buying seeds.

Seed catalogs are already arriving at my house and by January most companies will be ready to take orders for 2021. Gardeners should browse those seed offerings early and place their orders quickly if they want certain varieties of seeds. Don’t be disappointed.

You may also want to order plants early, but sometimes this doesn’t help much as orders of plants get sent to the areas where the weather is nice enough to plant them first, and if you are in a lower planting zone, things run out before they get to you. Since few companies charge you now before shipping, they don’t lose anything by filling those requests from warmer zones first even though you may have ordered before someone in a warmer zone. Still if you want something badly I’d order early.

Keep that Christmas tree fresh

If you bought a real tree this year- and in many places there has been a big increase in sales of real trees, you shouldn’t be bringing it inside until right about now, 7-10 days before Christmas. Store it outside in a cool place until you bring it in.

Before setting the tree up, make a new cut across the trunk bottom, about 2 inches thick. Then promptly place the trunk in lukewarm water. Making a new cut opens up the trunk cells again so they can take up water. They tend to seal closed after being cut and stored.

Make sure your real tree always has water. Don’t add things to the water like sugar or pennies. It isn’t needed and won’t help. Just make sure the cut surface of the trunk is always below water.

Keep fresh trees away from heat sources. Never use candles on them or have them around open flames. Discard the tree soon after Christmas for safety. You can cut it up and add it to your compost pile or use the branches to protect other plants in the garden. Some communities have a day after Christmas when they pick up fresh trees for recycling.

 

Sweetheart of a plant scam

A really common “scam” right now is the sweetheart hoya, (Hoya kerrii) a hoya that has leaves shaped like a heart. It’s also sold as Valentine hoya. (And it is a hot seller in big box stores around Valentine’s day.) There is a plain green and a variegated variety. You see these cute heart shaped leaves in little pots for sale. You are told or led to believe the leaf is a rooted cutting about to become a plant.

Hoya kerrii is a vining plant with leaves shaped like a heart. If they are getting enough light the leaves are light green or green with white or yellow variegation. The plants are pretty, easy to keep as a houseplant and after a couple years may give you beautiful star shaped white flowers that are pleasantly fragrant.

But here’s the scam. Growers pluck the heart shaped leaves off the plant. Each leaf is pushed into a little pot, usually a tiny, cute pot, full of potting medium and sold as a plant. The vast majority of those sold never become a plant. If they are taken care of correctly that single leaf can live a long time, yet never become a vine, always remaining one lonely little leaf.

To successfully propagate sweetheart hoya from a leaf, the leaf needs a bit of the stem, along with a node, sometimes called a heel. A node is the place on a stem where new growth can start, it’s where the leaf stem joins the main stem. Without a node the hoya leaf never becomes a plant. 

Sometimes a gardener gets lucky and their leaf does have a node, although even with a node it can take months for a vine to get started. Usually however, the new gardener gets tired of the single boring leaf and neglects the plant until it dies.

If you have one of these leaves in a pot, gently take it out of the pot and wash away any soil. Look for a flat piece of stem attached to the leaf stem, hopefully with what looks like a bud popping up. Even with a bud node, Sweetheart hoya takes weeks to even begin growing and conditions have to be just right. It takes years to get a plant with a stem and many leaves.

If you don’t see a node/bud your leaf may survive for a long time.  It’s up to you whether you want to keep it or not. Put it back in its tiny pot, give it good light but water it sparingly, too much water will rot the leaf.

If it does have a bud repot it in a pot only slightly bigger than it was in. It needs a succulent type soil, very well-draining. You can mix 2 parts regular potting soil with 1 part perlite or bark chips. Water carefully, soil should dry slightly between watering, but don’t let it get too dry. When you see new growth start, lightly fertilize it. Make sure it’s in a bright window, east, west or south facing, or under a grow light. Without strong light growth will be very slow.

If you like this plant buy an actual plant, one with stems and several leaves instead of a single leaf. It’s a fairly slow grower but easy to care for houseplant. They shouldn’t be hard to find in houseplant selling shops/catalogs and aren’t expensive. You may be able to get a small plant for the price of that single novelty leaf.

 

Are purple poinsettias real?

Another scam on the market this time of year are the purple and blue poinsettias. There are many natural colors of poinsettias on the market now other than red, but purple and blue, and sometimes other odd colors, are achieved by dye. A few days before the plants are to be shipped to stores, light colored poinsettias are sprayed with dye. The dye is absorbed into the leaf cells and becomes very difficult to distinguish from the natural leaf.

Sometimes leaves are sprayed with alcohol after the dye to create blotches of white or a lighter color. And then glitter may also be applied, although most people can recognize that glitter isn’t natural to poinsettias. 

Many people will swear up and down that their blue or purple poinsettia is natural and not dyed. But if you can keep the plant alive and growing it will soon become apparent. The new bracts at the top of the plant will have the natural color of the plant. Usually this is cream or white, sometimes its pink or even red. (The colored parts of the plant are actually leaf bracts, not flower petals.) Of course, the main leaves of the plant are green.

These blue poinsettias are dyed

Sometimes the contrast of the natural and dyed bracts is very pretty. Eventually however the purple or blue color of plants is replaced by natural green with top bracts of a natural poinsettia color. If you like purple or blue colored poinsettias go ahead and buy them for your holiday decorating, just realize the color is temporary.

But not all poinsettias that are not red are fakes. White, pink and various shades of red from burgundy to light red are all real plant colors. So are cream, yellow and chartreuse green flower bracts although these aren’t common. Poinsettias with blotches and spots or different colored leaf edges can also be natural variegations. 

There are over a hundred named cultivars of poinsettia.  Most of the time you won’t see a name tag on store plants but if you are looking for specific colors other than red, that are natural, here are some varieties you might look for.

‘Polar Bear’ is white with beautiful green veins. ‘White Glitter’ is red with white flecks.  ‘Ice Crystal’ is white with red edges.  ‘Picasso’ is red with cream streaking. ‘Maren’ is peach colored.  ‘Ice Punch’ is bright pink with cream centers.  ‘Christmas Lights’ is a bright true pink.  ‘Luv U Soft Pink’ has deep pink veins against a pale pink bract, ‘Christmas Feelings Red Cinnamon’ has deep pink bracts with red flecks, ‘Envy’ has chartreuse green bracts.

With the right care poinsettias can be kept alive for many years. They probably won’t be as colorful as the year you bought them, but you can get some color to develop again. For an article on how to keep your poinsettia alive after Christmas click here.

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/if-you-got-poinsettia-for-christmas-you.html

 

Succulent scams

Succulents are a big fad in the plant world right now and people are trying to cash in on the trend. Succulents are hyped as easy to care for and some are, but not every succulent is suitable for every home. Succulents are comprised of plants from a number of species and have many different characteristics and needs.

Succulents are often sold as cuttings. Some succulent cuttings do root easily, but others do not.  (See the sweetheart hoya information above.) And if the seller is advertising plants, you should not receive cuttings. Cuttings are not plants. They are parts of plants or prospective plants. Plants should have roots.

Often small plants from a reputable seller are as cheap as cuttings that some sellers offer. Cuttings are actually more difficult to ship than a small plant and because they are often being sold by inexperienced or uncaring sellers, they arrive smashed, frozen or severely wilted. And plants are more likely to get off to a good start than cuttings.

Buy rooted plants whenever possible. Remember you get what you pay for. Cuttings are rarely guaranteed to root and plants from a good company usually, at the least, guarantee that you will receive a healthy plant. And when you get those tiny pots of succulents, check to see that you actually received a plant and not a cutting stuffed in a pot by slipping it out of the pot and looking. Plants have roots.

I am seeing this a lot with succulents. The advertisement says a collection of six succulents.  But it doesn’t specify six different succulents. So, the buyer gets 5 aloe plants and 1 string of pearls. Worse, you get 5 tiny “pearls” and an unrooted aloe pup. Before you buy know whether you are getting cuttings or rooted plants.  And ads for collections and assortments should specify if you will get just whatever the seller wants to send you or if you will get a certain number of different species.

A reputable seller of succulents will have each plant labeled with both the common and scientific name. They won’t simply be labeled “succulent.” This allows you to look up the proper care of the plant. You may want to look up pictures of the species you ordered and see if that’s what you got too. There are many sellers of succulents simply cashing in on the fad and they know little about the plants they are selling and assume you won’t know anything either.

Before you order any succulent plant look up it’s needs and make sure you can provide the right environment. Some succulents require bright light, like a south or west windowsill or a grow light. Others will burn in those exposures. Some require almost no watering, and some require fairly frequent watering. Some succulents do not make good houseplants.

 

The gift of light we thankfully take

But not shall it be alone for our sake

The more we give light

The One to the other

It shines and it spreads and it glows still further

Until every spark by friends set aflame

Until every heart with joy to proclaim

In the depths of our souls a shining sun flames

-      Unknown-

Kim Willis

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