April 20, 2021 Mother Nature slaps us

Orange Fritillaria

Yesterday morning it was sunny and fifty degrees when I went outside.  I got some pictures of what was in bloom and did a little yard work.  Temperatures got up to 65 before the clouds rolled in, temperatures dropped, and the rain began. Today I woke up to sun again, but the temperature was 32 degrees. A few hours later the clouds are back, and we are waiting for snow showers.

Where I live in Michigan, we are not supposed to get much snow but it’s going to get very cold. That’s a shame because plants are about 2 weeks advanced here from normal and a lot of these blooms are going to be lost. It’s just going to be cold for about 48 hours and then we warm up again, but the damage will be done.

In bloom this week in my garden are orange and yellow fritillarias, guinea hen flowers, bloodroot, trilliums, lots of daffodils and narcissus, early tulips, hyacinths, forget me nots, corydalis, viola and creeping phlox.  Violets, dandelions, hensbit, chickweed and ground ivy are weeds in bloom. I bought some pansies and violas this past weekend to plant in my porch boxes and here and there in bare spots.  They should be fine with cold and snow.

The hosta are peeking above ground, daylilies are getting quite large, peonies are up 18 inches or so. The clematis and roses are leafing out. Even the buddleias have leaves, which could be bad for them when the cold hits. The apricot and wild cherries are in bloom.  My magnolia and redbud are showing color and just about to bloom. I’m hoping the flowers won’t be killed.

Inside my hibiscus are blooming again. I saw some beautiful hibiscus in the greenhouse when I bought the pansies, and I was tempted but I absolutely have no room left inside for more plants. I have all these seedlings sitting under lights here and there, I’ll be glad when they can go outside.  I also started some coleus cuttings so yes things are tight here.

 Cold and snow and your plants

Some of us are going to get snow today or tomorrow, a cruel sign that nature will do as she will. Many places east of the Rockies are going to see freezing temperatures. But don’t worry too much, unless you visited the garden store and brought home lovely hanging baskets and flats of annuals. Garden stores love the people who feel the first warm days of spring and decide the cold is over.  Next week or month you’ll be back to replace some of those plants you bought.

If you didn’t plant them in the ground, you can move those purchases inside. Covering what you planted in the ground might help- but if temperatures dip below 30 F. for several hours, as predicted for some places, covering probably won’t help. If you are in one of the areas that expects heavy snow in the next few days your covers need to be things that are sturdy, like buckets, large pots and so on, that can take the weight of snow. Flimsy covers like old sheets will simply smash plants as snow covers them.

If you bought perennial plants that are hardy in your area and planted them recently you may be ok.  It depends on how advanced in growth the new plants are and how much time they had to acclimate. You may want to cover them, with something sturdy if snow is expected, if the plants are much further ahead in growth than the same plants that have been in the ground for at least a year. 

Dormant trees and shrubs that are hardy for your area will be fine, even if recently planted. Bulbs planted in the ground that haven’t sprouted yet will probably be fine.

Perennials and spring blooming bulbs that are coming up in established gardens will live, there may be some cosmetic leaf damage from frost.  Snow actually helps the perennials if it covers them, it insulates them from harsher cold. But snow or ice may smash your pretty flowers on spring blooming bulbs.  Cold may harm any blooming fruit trees, the tree will be fine, but the flowers won’t produce fruit.

You’ll have to wait and see how other blooming trees, like magnolias and redbud fare. If the buds aren’t open yet, they may open when the weather warms. Some flowers may brown a bit but remain open, some will fall off or be turned into brown mushy messes. It depends on what happens in your area and what bloom stage the plants are in.

Leaves on trees and shrubs probably won’t be harmed.  Depending on what happens some plants may lose their leaves but should recover and put out new ones when the weather warms. Grass seedlings will be fine.

If you have peas, kale and leaf lettuce up in the garden, they may be fine, much depends on how cold it gets and how much snow falls in your area. A few other early veggies, like beets, radishes, and onions, that are up should be covered and will probably survive.  Seeds that have not sprouted will probably be fine.

If you are a new gardener who planted things like tomatoes, peppers, beans, cukes, melons and other warm weather crops outside already, be prepared to buy some new plants. Covering these plants if temperatures go below freezing probably will not save them. If they do live, they may be stunted and not produce well. Gardening is about learning from mistakes. Impatience is own of the biggest mistakes gardeners make.

 

Earth Day Thursday, April 22, 2021

I’m old enough to remember when Earth Day became a thing.  (I was more interested in 4-20 at the time, if you know what I mean. That’s today so light one up.)  The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, so the celebration is 51 years old this year. This year’s theme is Restore Our Earth.

In 1970 about 20 million people came out in the streets of the US to celebrate the first Earth Day. It was the largest civic demonstration to date. Now Earth Day is an international holiday, with almost 200 countries and an estimated billion people participating in Earth Day activities. In that first year I was a senior in high school and our science class went out to clean up a wooded area.

Most of the Earth Day celebrations are virtual this year because of covid. Earth Day Initiatives Virtual Festival was this past weekend. You can check out clips from the event here http://www.earthdayinitiative.org/2021-events

Many local events are still going to be held on Earth Day and the following weekend.

Climate change is of course, the main focus of this year’s Earth Day message. There is renewed optimism that we may be able to keep the worst scenarios, at least, from happening. President Biden has convened a virtual summit about climate change on Earth Day this year with many other nations. Experts don’t expect that much policy will be produced at this summit, but it at least signifies that the US is once again committed to leading and working with the global community to address climate change.

It’s going to take the whole world and most of its citizens to make some changes if we hope to keep our earth friendly to human survival. Every human being on the planet can do some simple things that will help keep our planet suitable for human life.  People in developed countries can make more of a difference since it is us that contribute the most to climate change.

Here are some ideas for gardeners to help reduce your climate impact.

Recycle garden plastic. Gardeners use a lot of plastic pots and trays, many of which end up in the trash. Some of this plastic is hard to recycle in the regular recycling stream. When you buy plants in flats and plastic pots ask the greenhouse if they will let you return the plastic items for them to reuse.  Some greenhouses/nurseries are glad to do this.

If your local greenhouse doesn’t want the plastic items back, ask a school or group like 4-H if they could use the items for projects. You could also offer to give them away on social media or other places.  Some hobby growers or farm market growers may be glad to take them.

You can recycle those plastic pots for your own use too. I never throw out any pots, I can always find a use for them at some point. With new plastic paints you can paint those pots to make them prettier if you like. Painting and decorating pots is a good activity for kids. Pots can be turned into pencil holders and used for storage too.

When you go to a greenhouse bring flats or boxes with you and transfer the plants you buy to them instead of bringing new trays home.

If you are ambitious start a recycling drive for garden plastic. Our Master Gardener program used this at one point as a volunteer opportunity. You’ll need to find a recycling center that will accept the plastic and then set up drop off points in your community for people to bring their plastic pots and trays to, which you will then take to the recycling center.

Reduce your use of gasoline powered tools. This reduces air pollution and conserves oil and gasoline. Modern gardeners know they seldom need a rototiller. Even farmers now use no till methods for planting. Rent or borrow a tiller for the first time you break the ground for a new garden, then use mulching and other good gardening techniques so you don’t need to till again. Rototilling destroys soil structure, disturbs soil microorganisms that break down organic matter and is not needed in most circumstances. It’s a good way to harm your soil and pollute the environment. Get rid of your rototiller.

Use electric or battery powered tools. They are much stronger than they used to be, with longer lasting batteries and they are generally quieter than gasoline powered tools.

Don’t use gasoline powered leaf blowers at all. If you have smaller lawns use an electric or battery mower and weed whip. Consider mowing less lawn- let it go wild or put more gardens in.

Keep a compost pile.  A good gardener never rakes up and burns leaves or sends them to a landfill. They compost them along with food waste, weeds and garden debris.

Encourage your city/village to start a composting program for yard waste. Some people won’t or can’t have a compost pile, but they should be encouraged to separate yard waste from regular garbage. If you don’t want a compost pile, make sure to use a yard waste program when it’s offered.

Stop wasting food.  It’s healthy to eat lots of fruits and vegetables but they are the items most likely to go bad in the frig and get thrown out. If that happens frequently in your household, you need to change your habits. Buy frozen and canned fruits and vegetables instead of fresh. They are just as heathy and store much better.

Consider what fruits and vegetables you buy. Head or iceberg lettuce is one of the most wasteful and least nutritious foods you can buy. It’s basically green water that is often transported great distances and used lots of water and fertilizer to make that head. Use romaine or leaf lettuce, kale, or spinach instead. Even then greens of any kind are often more wasteful than other vegetables when you compare the small nutrition benefits to the environmental cost of growing and transporting them and how much of them are discarded.

If you plant a huge garden and then let food rot in it, you are also being wasteful. Donate that food to a soup kitchen, neighbors, or food pantries. Then stop overproducing, grow enough for your needs and what you can easily give away.

If you don’t grow your own fruit and vegetables try to eat locally and seasonally. The less food that must be transported the better it is for the environment. Learn to can and freeze seasonal fruits and vegetables to eat when they are not in season.

Plant a tree. Trees store carbon and cool the earth. If there is no room on your property for another tree, find somewhere else to plant one, maybe on school property or at a park or playground. Ask permission first. Trees are your gift to another generation. April is a great month to plant a tree.

Don’t waste water. Plant things that don’t require lots of extra watering in your landscape conditions. Use drip irrigation and careful hand watering when needed. Never leave sprinklers on in the rain and keep them from spraying pavement and running water into the storm sewers. If you must use sprinklers, they should have timers and rain sensors.

Use rain barrels. It’s a myth that many places prohibit them. A few places may require mosquito control methods when they are used.  There may be a few places that prohibit them because of “looks”. When people talk about not being allowed to store rainwater it usually means they can’t damn up a natural watershed. It doesn’t mean they can’t collect water that runs off their roof.

Use fertilizers and pesticides sparingly, even organic ones. Identify the problem and then decide what level of action is needed. Do you really need fertilizer? Or will it wash off into the surface water and seep into ground water? Manure and other organic fertilizers are just as bad for the environment when overused as chemical fertilizers. Do you really need a pesticide or is the damage just cosmetic?

Pesticide use should be carefully considered and only as much applied as needed. This includes so called organic pesticides like neem oil and sulfur and folk remedies mixed up in the kitchen, which can also harm soil microorganisms, kill beneficial insects and pollute water. Epsom salt, vinegar and dish soap, for example, are not safe to use indiscriminately everywhere and they are pollutants. Stop using these products in the garden environment.

You don’t need to kill every insect that gets near or even in your home. Find ways to control pests that don’t involve pesticides, such as dumping out standing water to control mosquitoes, using sticky traps and encouraging beneficial insects. Use ant traps instead of spraying a pesticide all over the house or outside around the house. No one needs preventative pesticide sprayings on a regular basis.

Spraying lawns with weed killers and insecticides is a huge environmental “hit” and source of pollution. This whole country needs a mind shift about lawns and their environmental cost. Don’t worry about weeds in the lawn, pull them by hand if they bother you. Proper mowing and care of a lawn will drastically reduce weeds without pesticides. Lawn areas should be reduced and some weeds in a lawn should be acceptable. Mowed areas are for fire control and to keep down harmful pests like mosquitoes and ticks and for paths between gardens.

Weedkillers can be justified in some cases, such as combating poison ivy near the home, but read and follow label directions carefully and never apply more than what’s needed.

Of course, there are many other things all people can do to help the earth. Drive less, use LED light bulbs, reduce your use of plastic bags and other plastics, use energy saving appliances, support renewable energy, and turn your thermostats down in winter and up in summer.  If everyone does a little it can help a lot.

 Redbud trees for the garden

There is nothing more gorgeous in spring than the graceful branches of the Redbud tree outlined in glowing magenta pink flowers. The Redbud is a small tree, suitable for even the most compact yards, proving that good things can come in small packages. Redbud trees are used in the landscape as specimen trees or as shade tree for small spaces. They are also used in naturalized woodlands. This versatile tree can provide both spring and fall color, flowers in spring and gorgeous fall leaf colors.

The Eastern Redbud tree, Cercis Canadensis, is native to the eastern United States and may also be seen blooming in the woodlands in the spring. There are also redbud trees native to the Western North America, China and southern Europe and Asia. The common name ‘Judas tree’ comes from the belief that Judas hung himself from a mid-eastern redbud tree after betraying Christ.

The redbud tree’s pea-like flowers pop out in early spring all along its branches and even along the trunk as the tree ages. Redbud trees bloom before the leaves appear which makes the flowers even more visible. The flowers of the redbud are edible and can be used in salads.

Redbud flowers pop right out of twigs and trunks.

Redbud flowers turn into large brown pods, which contain 4-10 bean- like seeds. Some people consider the trees messy because of the pods and in some situations the trees will seed themselves in the landscape. There are sterile cultivars that don’t produce seeds. Birds and other wildlife eat redbud seeds.

The trees are rarely more than 25’ high and about as wide. Some cultivars are smaller than others. The shape of the tree can be manipulated with early pruning to form a single trunk tree. Left alone many redbuds form more of a multi-trunk bush. There are now weeping forms of redbuds.

Redbud leaves are heart shaped and turn golden in the fall. The normal color of the leaves is reddish when they first emerge in spring and green in summer. However, there are many types of redbuds with golden leaves, white variegated leaves and purple or reddish foliage.

 Growing redbuds

Redbuds are hardy from zone 4 to 8. They need some cold weather to form flower buds, but in zone 4, they should probably be planted in a protected area for the best bloom. If you live in zone 7 and south, you may want to try Cercis canadensis var. texensis (Texas redbud) which is better adapted to warm summers and less winter chill time.

Although the redbud will tolerate partial shade it blooms best in sunny locations, particularly in the north. Redbuds tolerate a wide range of soil conditions as long as the area is well drained; they will not grow in wet areas. Redbud trees are excellent for naturalized settings, at the edge of woodlands. They are beautiful against a background of dark evergreens.

The temptation for homeowners who see a redbud in bloom is to buy a large tree so they can enjoy the bloom sooner in their own yard. Redbud trees form a taproot and resent transplanting, so choose the location where you plant your redbud carefully. Small potted redbud trees are the easiest to establish and spring dormant planting is best. Trees grown from seed or cuttings of redbud trees growing in your area will adjust to your site more readily.

Redbuds can also be started from seed planted in the fall where they are to grow or in pots outside. Although establishment may be slower than some other trees, and a little more care is required to get the redbud tree off to a good start, they are well worth the trouble.

A tree shelter or tube helps redbud trees adapt to their new home and protects them from hungry animals. Redbuds usually begin to bloom in their 7th year from seed if conditions are to their liking.

Proper pruning and redbud problems

The redbud tree often begins growing with a short trunk and many small upward growing stems. Trimming off all but one center stem will make the redbud look more like a tree and will avoid the problem of narrow crotches that split from winds or ice. Other than early shaping of the tree and trimming off crossed or rubbing branches, the redbud will not need pruning.

Canker and verticillium wilt are the most important diseases of the redbud tree. Cankers begin as dark sunken areas along the stems, and the area of limb beyond the canker will wilt and die. Canker areas should be pruned out, go at least one inch beyond the canker toward the trunk to make your cut and burn the pruned branch. Sterilize your pruning shears between each cut.

Verticillium causes parts of the tree to suddenly wilt, or some branches may have leaves that turn yellow on the edges and then brown and die. There is no cure for verticillium but pruning off affected branches and fertilizing the tree may keep it alive for a few more years. Have the tree diagnosed by an expert before assuming it has verticillium wilt and removing it. Do not replant redbud trees where one has died from verticillium wilt as the disease remains in the soil for years.

 

Some varieties of Redbud

The redbud ‘Forest Pansy’ has purple leaves and rosy-purple flowers. The variety ‘Alba’ has white flowers. Redbud ’Rubye Atkinson’ has flowers that are a gentle pink. ‘Silver Cloud’ has leaves variegated with white. ‘Covey’ is a redbud with weeping branches. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ has double flowers of deep purple pink and produces no seed pods.

‘Hearts of Gold’ has bright golden spring foliage and chartreuse summer foliage and red-purple flowers.  It rarely produces seed pods. The Rising Sun™ has apricot-gold foliage in spring that matures green, with pink flowers. ‘Texas White’ has green glossy foliage and white flowers, it’s a cultivar of texensis and only hardy to zone 6. ‘Merlot’ has deep wine-red foliage, pinkish lavender flowers and good heat tolerance.

Chinese Redbuds include ’Avondale’, a double flowered redbud that grows more like a shrub. Hard to find Chinese redbud Cercis racemosa or Chain Flowered Redbud, has flowers of silvery rose that hang from the branches in long chains. Some of these are less hardy than the common Eastern Redbud.

  

 "Snow in April is abominable," said Anne. "Like a slap in the face when you expected a kiss." ―L.M. Montgomery

 

Kim Willis

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

 

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

 

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