June 11, 2019 Roses are blooming

Hello garden friends

 

Bristly Locust

I’m sitting here on a rainy Monday morning writing about gardening because I can’t be outside doing it.  We had a 3 day stretch where it didn’t rain and was sunny, then yesterday we had misty rain off and on, but I still got a little gardening done along with a visit from my son and great grandson, who brought me some more flowers.

I am down to about a half flat of plants that need planting, mostly wax begonias.  I like wax begonias, the foliage is colorful and they have pretty flowers too.  They survive in most conditions, from shade to sun. I even bring some inside for winter, where they continue to bloom.  I put a large pot of them back outside in my shade garden this spring.

The star of the garden right now is the peonies, which are now in full bloom.  Of course, with the rain they are all drooping over.  The ninebark, bristly locust and viburnums are in bloom.  Columbine is in bloom too, and the Siberian iris.  Kim’s Knee High lilac, which is not knee high, is also in bloom.

My favorite rose, the Harrisons Yellow rose is blooming.  It’s an heirloom, my rose came from a cutting of my grandmothers rose.  This rose starts very easily from cuttings and the runners it puts out. I call it the graduation rose because every one of my siblings and me, plus my mother, had graduation pictures taken in front of it in my grandmother’s yard.

Aren’t “pass down plants” wonderful?  Besides the rose I have a snake plant (sansevieria), that was my great grandmothers, the actual plant, not a start from it.  It’s huge and easily 60 years old, maybe older.  I come from a long line of plant lovers.

The farmers around here were scrambling to get fields planted this week during the dry spell.  This was the last week in this area they could plant and expect to get a crop.  The field conditions still weren’t good, but they got out there and planted.  The hum of those big machines can be annoying as is the smell of the anhydrous ammonia they were using to fertilize with.  But I am glad they got the crops in.  Now the deer will have something to eat besides my garden.

My sweet corn is up and growing, the potato plants are doing well and there are little tomatoes on the plants. I have good sized green strawberries.  The spinach I planted, however, is going to seed at only a few inches high.  It must be the weather conditions. 

If you are having problems getting your garden in the ground this year because of weather I sympathize.  But don’t give up. You may have to switch to faster maturing vegetables in some cases. But even if we get to the end of June there’s still hope. Hopefully the wet pattern is easing up and some wet areas will soon be drying out. 

Wax begonias

Become a Master Grower

Many of you know about the Master Gardener program.  It’s garden classes for home gardeners that are offered by many states through their county Extension offices.  Since those offices receive some federal funding most Extension programs have banned their Master Gardener volunteers from helping people with problems growing marihuana even in states where weed is legal.  They won’t help farmers produce legal medical or recreational marihuana although some will now help hemp farmers.

But the marihuana industry is way ahead of the stodgy Extension rules.  They have created their own courses, many at college level, for those who either want to grow their own pot or who want to get good jobs in the marijuana industry.  And if you like working with plants and want a good paying job in a multi-billion-dollar industry you might want to skip the Master Gardener classes, which prohibit using your certificate for profit or business and get a Master Grower certificate or degree instead.

There is some controversy among the industry as to what courses must be taken to get a Master Grower certificate, just as there are differences in the Master Gardener programs among different states.  But for good jobs in the marihuana industry more and more employers require some kind of specialized training.  Of course for a good job that is also legal you need to be in a state with legalized marihuana.

Some classes can be taken online, but many are now conducted on brick and morter campuses and require 300 or more hours of coursework.  They are serious, professional classes meant to prepare people for well paid jobs.

Here are some careers you could pursue with Master Grower certification or degrees in horticulture with an empathize on marihuana.

Master Grower
Cannabis Gardener- worker in grow farms
Cannabis Trimmer- specialty position
Cannabis Compliance Officer- deals with zoning and other legal issues
Cultivation Consultant
Cannabis Garden Designer
Cannabis Educator

Cultivation Operations Manager
Dispensary Manager
Marketing Manager
Sales Manager
Processing Manager- making extracts and edibles
HR Manager
Nursing Assistant for dispensaries

Cannabis medical research, research assistant

These jobs pay very well and usually come with good benefit packages.  You’ll now find these jobs being advertised on mainstream employment sites.

So, if a good career with plants interests you, I have included a couple good links below.  I am not endorsing any school nor am I getting paid in any manner to promote them.

The Cleveland School of Cannabis

State Certificate Programs are approved by the Ohio Board of Career Colleges and Schools and have been recognized as practical learning that is designed to lead to employment.  Their courses cover basic horticultural knowledge, specialized breeding and growing of cannabis, legal and business aspects, medical growing and research, manufacture of marihuana products, and much more.

https://csceducation.com/programs/

Cannabis Training University

https://cannabistraininguniversity.com/enroll-now/

Oaksterdam University

https://oaksterdamuniversity.com/

You can get a Bachelors degree in medicinal plant chemistry at Northern Michigan University

https://www.nmu.edu/chemistry/medicinal-plant-chemistry

Pruning spring blooming shrubs

Many of the spring flowering shrubs are easy to grow and even thrive on neglect.  But knowing when and how to prune them and some basic maintenance requirements can make the difference between a pretty flower show and an unruly shrub with few or no flowers.

Some flowering shrubs may not need much pruning at all. In an open lawn area with lots of room many shrubs should just be left alone to develop their natural shape. But in smaller yards some shrubs simply get too large for their location if they are never pruned and need to be kept within a reasonable size.

Spring and early summer flowering shrubs include abelia, azalea, daphne, dogwood, elderberry (Sambucus), forsythia, flowering quince, kerria, lilacs, mock orange, ninebark, pierus, rhododendrons, snowball bush, (viburnum),  spirea, weigela, and witch hazel.

Most of these shrubs begin the process of producing new flower buds shortly after the current year’s blooms fade. This is called blooming on old wood, as the branch needs a season of growth and then a dormant period to produce flowers.  If you wait too long after a shrub blooms to prune it, you’ll cut most of next year’s flowers off.  Begin your pruning within a month after bloom has ended.

Hydrangeas are a special case.  Many don’t need any pruning except to remove dead branches. Some bloom on old wood, these bloom in spring and should be pruned after flowering in spring, if needed.  If they don’t need branches pruned to keep them in their assigned space leave them alone.

Some hydrangeas bloom on new wood, these usually bloom later in summer.  Hydrangea paniculata, which have white, cone shaped flowers, and ‘Annabelle’ types, (Hydrangea arborescens), should be pruned back to the ground in late winter, while dormant, because they bloom on new wood. 

 

Hydrangea paniculata 'Ruby Slippers'

Some hydrangeas bloom on both new and old wood.  I have some of these and I don’t prune them until they leaf out and then I just remove any dead branches or branch tips.  That’s probably the best way to handle these types. Make sure when you buy a hydrangea you find out which type you have.

Shrubs that are primarily grown for their foliage may also bloom in spring. That includes barberry, cotoneaster, privet and some dogwoods and willows.  If you don’t want flowers these can be pruned at any time.

Of course, pruning and maintenance will never do much for a shrub that is in the wrong location or that is not winter hardy in your area. If you have flowering shrubs and they seldom bloom well in the spring, they may be getting the flower buds killed over winter.  Many rhododendrons and azalea varieties fall into this category.  The plants can be called winter hardy, but since the buds are killed by cold, they will never bloom well for you.  When you buy shrubs research them carefully to see whether they are likely to bloom in your planting zone.

Most shrubs need a sunny location to bloom well.  Over time a shrub that was once in the sun may become shaded by growing trees or new buildings.  There is not much you can do about this other than to move the plant or somehow remove the cause of the shade.

Rhododendrons, azaleas and other broad-leaved evergreens that keep their leaves through winter benefit from being watered on mild winter days.  Pour lukewarm water near their base.  These plants lose a lot of water from their leaves in winter and can’t replace it when the soil is frozen.  This often results in bud loss.

The pruning process

To do a good job pruning you need sharp, clean pruning shears and possibly a pruning saw.   A pass-through type pruner, one that cuts like a pair of scissors, is best for live wood.  The anvil type pruner- they have one sharp blade and a flat surface on the other side, is best for removing dead wood.  If you can buy only one pruner buy the pass through.

I like a folding pruning saw for larger branches and these are large enough for most shrub pruning.  Electric saws and chain saws are seldom needed for shrub pruning unless you have seriously overgrown messes that must be taken right to the ground.  Hedge shears probably aren’t needed either, although some people do turn forsythia into a hedge.

Before you start take a good look at your shrub and learn what a leaf node is. A node is a joint on a stem where you see a leaf or bud.  That’s the only place new growth can occur.  Plants vary in how far apart these nodes are on a stem.  Nodes do remain on parts of branches that will no longer produce foliage.

Make every pruning cut just above a node that currently has leaves for the best appearance and health of the plant.  If you make your cut too far above a node you will have unsightly little dead stubs on the end of branches for a long time. If you cut back to nodes that don’t have new leaves, you’ll probably never have growth again there, just a dead area. Leave some green!  If you cut on a slant just above a node the stems will quickly be hidden by new growth.

Start pruning by removing any dead branches, broken branches or branches that seriously offend, such as those sticking into paths or blocking windows.  Then step back and evaluate the shape of the shrub.  In most cases flowering shrubs look best when allowed to have a natural form and are not trimmed into hedges or balls.  If the shrub has a naturally arching form, such as spirea, try to maintain that shape.

It’s best not to remove more than a third of the shrub when pruning.  Prune back the height to about a foot below your desired height, shrubs will continue to grow over summer. Cut back the width if needed. 

Some shrubs like forsythia and lilac with many individual stems coming from the ground benefit from removing some of those stems, called thinning.  This opens the center of the shrub to sunlight.  Chose the oldest largest looking stems and use your saw to cut them right to the ground.  Try to space thinning cuts so that there are no big holes in the shrub, but each stem has some room around it.

Until you get a lot of experience prune slowly and consider each cut carefully. You will make mistakes at first but thankfully most plants recover from them quite well. Improper pruning rarely causes the death of a shrub.

While pruning cut off any seed pods or dead flower clusters.  Unless you want to try and grow some new shrubs from seed these seeds detract from the shrubs looks and divert energy into seed production that could go into new flower buds.

Lilacs require some additional pruning care.  This pruning is best done in winter when the plants are dormant and not after bloom. In order to keep lilac borer under control some older, woody barked stems need to be removed each year.  Remove about a third of the oldest woody stems each year. Space the stems you leave so that they don’t touch.  Keep lilac suckers which come up around the plant pruned out except for one or two.  You can prune for height and width right after bloom.

If a shrub is seriously overgrown there are some shrubs that will regenerate quickly if cut right back to the ground. Lilacs, willows and spirea are the best candidates for this treatment.  Some other shrubs will also regenerate on occasion but cutting them to the ground is best reserved for worst case scenarios.  Do not do this with azaleas and rhododendrons.  Lilacs may take an extra year or two before they bloom again when this is done.  But you can get them off to a new start in this way and keep them under control as they grow.

Shrubs that flower all season or in mid to late summer and fall are best pruned when dormant. For the small amount of care that they take flowering shrubs are great investments for your landscape. 

Talking roses

June’s flower is the rose and in many areas of the country roses begin to bloom in June, so what better month to talk about caring for them?  Some gardeners won’t grow roses because they expect they will take too much work and there are some roses that do require a little pampering.  But many modern roses are hardy and have disease resistance built into them.  If you have sunny areas in your garden one of the modern landscape roses can be the ideal solution for long lasting bloom and easy care.

Here are some rose care articles that may help you with any rose problem you are having.

Black spot on roses

One of the most common diseases of roses is black spot. Black spot is a disease caused by the fungus, Diplocarpon rosa.  It is extremely common in older varieties of tea roses but when conditions are right even roses marked as resistant to black spot can develop a mild case of the disease.  Warm humid conditions, especially when there are heavy dews, or the foliage stays wet overnight, are the prime times for black spot to develop.

Black spot causes black spots on the upper surfaces of rose leaves, surrounded by a yellow area.  If the fungus is heavy the leaves may look almost totally yellow, sprinkled with black spots.  Rose flower petals may show streaking, red spots or distorted areas.  Infected leaves soon drop off the plant. 

 

Rose blackspot
Flickr image

While black spot usually doesn’t kill a plant outright, the plant struggles to put out new foliage and this weakens the plant and reduces blooming.  Infected plants may not survive the winter as well as those with mild or no infection.  And half bare, yellow leaved plants just aren’t very attractive.

Black spot overwinters on rose leaves on the soil or on the rose canes.  Rain and wind move the spores to new foliage on the roses in the spring.  When conditions are right, (warmth and humidity), usually about June, the fungus germinates and infects the rose.

   

How to control Black Spot

If you have had problems with black spot in the past or your area experiences lots of humid, hot weather you’ll want to plant roses with resistance to black spot. Some modern shrub roses have pretty good resistance to black spot and rarely require treatment.  Even some tea roses have recently been bred that have some resistance.  Older roses with resistance are the gallicas, rugosa’s and albas.  If you don’t like chemical spraying choose resistant varieties and hope for the best. 

Resistant varieties are not immune to black spot.  In heavily infested areas and ideal conditions even resistant roses may get black spot. Some resistant varieties perform better in some geographical areas than others.  If one variety of rose always seems to get infected in your garden, try another rose or at least another location in the garden.

Other ways to control black spot are to remove all rose leaves from under the plant in the fall or early spring before the plant leaf’s out.   During growing season pick off any yellowed or spotted leaves and remove those that fall on the ground as soon as you see them. Don’t crowd the roses, they need good air circulation and roses against buildings or with hedges behind them may have more problems with black spot.

Water your roses at the base, trying not to wet the foliage and do so early in the day so the foliage dries before evening.  Keep roses healthy by planting them in full sun and regularly fertilizing them as roses are heavy feeders.  You’ll also want to control rose insects such as rose chafers and Japanese beetles as these weaken the plant and make them more susceptible to damage from black spot.

There are many chemical controls for black spot and other fungal diseases of roses. If you are going to use fungicides begin spraying in June or as soon as you see even one infected leaf.  If you want nice looking tea roses you will probably want to start a spray schedule soon after the plants leaf out. Follow label directions and keep up the schedule for best results.  The sprays don’t help already infected leaves, but they do help new foliage stay healthy to make food for the plant.

 

Several years ago, The Consumers’ Association Magazine put eight fungicides to the test between April and October to combat black spot on roses.  The products they found did the best job were Bayer Garden Systhane Fungus Fighter Concentrate, Scotts Fungus Clear Ultra, and Bayer Garden Multirose 2 Ready-to-use. 

The test was conducted on a variety of modern rose called ‘Silver Jubilee’ which has some resistance to black spot.  Black spot was noticed in June on the roses and treatment according to label directions was begun.  Some roses were left untreated as a control.  The researchers found that any chemical product was better than no treatment.   There are organic treatments on the market but many of these do little or nothing to control fungal disease.

 

Beware of so called “home remedies” for black spot on roses.  Soap solutions do not work on fungal disease.  Alcohol, peroxide, baking soda, milk and other odd substances may actually harm roses. Don’t succumb to folklore and ruin your roses.

With the many disease resistant varieties of roses on the market and a little tolerance for less than perfect foliage almost everyone can grow roses, even without chemical sprays.  Don’t let the fear of black spot or other rose diseases keep you from enjoying them in your garden.

Rose rosette

Rose rosette disease is a fairly new rose disease that is fatal to roses.  It’s been associated with ‘Knock out’ roses but other roses do get it.  It causes odd distortions of rose foliage.  To read more about it go to this article.

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/if-yougrow-roses-you-may-have-heard-of.html

Rose chafer beetles

Rose chafer beetles are tan, sometimes with a greenish cast, with reddish orange legs and short antennae.  They are about a ½ inch long when mature and are strong fliers. In June they emerge from the soil where they have been pupating and begin feeding on everything in sight.  Plants are sometimes covered with the beetles.  If you live on sandy soil your garden may be particularly hard hit. The name rose chafer is misleading.  While they are very attracted to rose flowers, they’ll eat the leaves and flowers on many kinds of plants.

To read more about this pest please go to this article;

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/rose-chafer-beetles-early-summer-means.html

 

Rose Chafer
MSUE image

Identifying plants

I spent some time this past week identifying two plants that popped up in my cutting /pollinator garden.  It’s pretty weedy this year, I left things alone hoping most of the plants from last year would reseed themselves.  These two plants popped up a few feet apart and grew quickly to about 4 and 5 feet high.  I was interested in seeing how they flowered and hoping that would help me ID them.

They put out umbels of tiny pinkish, mildly scented, 5 petalled flowers at the top of the plant and from leaf axils.  The plant had pinnately odd compound leaves with toothed leaflets arranged opposite each other on a hollow, round grooved stalk.  The petioles of the leaf formed a c shape, like a celery stem.

I knew I had seen the plant before, but the name escaped me, and I couldn’t remember how I knew it.  I begin searching in weed identification manuals first.  When nothing popped out at me, I started looking in other identification manuals I have and found it in the herbals.  The plant is valerian, an esteemed herb for hundreds of years.  It’s still a much sold, sedative/ sleep aid in many countries.

 

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)

A gardener who likes to identify plants needs several plant identification books.  Yes, you can look online, and there are a few good online sites that give both pictures and identification details on the plant.  You can even submit pictures online and ask someone else to identify the plant on some sites or send them to someone you think is an expert.  But it’s so much more satisfying to look up the plant yourself.  And once you go through the work to look up the plant you usually remember it.   

Here’s how to get started identifying a plant.  First examine the plant carefully.  Don’t just look at flowers, look at leaves, stems, any seeds and sometimes roots.  (If the plant isn’t in your yard or there is only one specimen and you might want to keep it, don’t pull or dig the plant to see the roots.) Notice how tall and wide the plant is and where it is growing.  Is it in sun or shade, a wet or dry area?  Always try to examine more than one specimen of the same plant.

Here are some things to look for.  Is the plant a tree or shrub with a woody stem or are stems soft and green?  Does the plant have an upright form, sprawling form, bushy form, or is it a vine? Do all the leaves seem to come from near the ground, without a pronounced stem? (Think hosta or daylily.)

Are the leaves of the plant simple or compound?  If compound do they end in one leaflet or two? How many leaflets are there?  What color are the leaves, top and bottom?  Are they hairy or do they have spines or prickles? Are the margins of the leaves smooth or do they have lobes, teeth or serrated edges?  What shape are the leaves? Do the leaf veins branch out or all run one direction? How long and wide are the average leaves?  How do they attach to the stem – opposite each other or do they alternate sides along the stem? Is there a scent to the foliage?

How long and thick are the stems? Do the stems have hairs, spines, ridges or grooves?  What color are the stems?  Do the stems have bark?  If you can see the roots are they like tubers, is there a tap root or are the roots fibrous and spread out?  What color are the roots?

If there are flowers what color are they? Do all the same type of plants have the same color flowers?  Are the flowers in groups or single? How many petals do they have?  What shape are the flowers?  Use comparisons such as daisy like, pea-like, bell like, tubular and so on if you aren’t familiar with flower biology.  How large are the flowers?  If they are in a wand or column shape do they open first at the top or bottom? Can you see male and female flower parts or just one sex? What color is the pollen if you see any?  Is there a scent to the flowers?

If there are seed pods what shape and color are they? What shape, size and color are the seeds?

Never taste plants for identification.  Until you identify a plant and know it’s safe keep it out of your mouth.  Some plants can seriously harm you with just a taste.

Try to jot down some notes to help you identify the plant whether or not you take a photo or specimen, as to where it was growing, growing conditions, size of plants and the number of plants and of course answering the questions above.

Don’t pull or cut specimens to take home to identify unless the plant is on your property or you have permission. A single leaf, flower, or seed pod may not be sufficient for identification in some cases.  If you are taking a specimen try to take the entire plant, or at least a small branch, along with any other parts like flowers you can gather.  If you are going to take them to someone to ID make sure you keep the specimen as fresh as possible until then.

 

Sticktight, aka beggerticks, Bidens frondosa

If you can take a picture of the plant do so. Pictures are a great aid to memory.  But blurry pictures or pictures taken from a distance often don’t help much in identifying the plant.  When taking pictures try to get a close up of foliage, how leaves attach to the stem, stems, flowers and or seeds.  Make sure it’s clear what foliage is attached to what flower or seed pod that is in the picture.  Sometimes people take a picture of a flower peeking out of a jungle of all different types of foliage and it’s not clear what goes with what.

Most cameras allow you to check the photos on the device to see if they are blurry.  Check and take better pictures if needed.  

So now that you have a specimen or picture and notes where do you start?   There are thousands of plant species and you need to narrow your search down in some way.  First consider whether the plant may be native to your area, an introduced weed or a cultivated plant. If you have a hunch or think the plant resembles another plant that you do know, start there. 

If you found the plant on a walk in what seems to be a wild area start by looking in identification books for native plants in your region.  Narrow it further down by deciding whether it’s a woody plant, (a tree or shrub), or not.  Identification books/sites usually separate these types of plants.  If it was growing in water or a marshy area you can further narrow the search, most ID books/sites separate wetland or aquatic plants.  After those traits narrow the search, various ID books/sites have different ways to further narrow the search.  Some may use flower color, bloom time or plant families to group plants for ID.

Knowing characteristics of a plant family can really help narrow down a plant ID search.  For example, plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae) usually have square stems and aromatic leaves. If your mystery plant has these, you could narrow your search considerably. I can’t go into plant family characteristics here but here’s a tip.  If you are using a search engine online type in – daisy family or mint family – or orchid family and so on if you think the mystery plant looks like one, and you will get the Latin family name, which can help narrow your search.

If the plant you are trying to ID is in your garden then it could be a weed or a cultivated plant.  Using a weed ID book may be the place to start.  They are usually divided by grassy weeds and broad-leaved weeds.  If you think the plant is a cultivated plant, there are books and sites that describe common garden plants.  Garden catalogs may also help, especially if you have a flower as part of your specimen or photo.  You may also try herbal books, like I did to identify my mystery plant.

A note about cultivated plants.  These plants may be changed from the original wild form of the plant by selective breeding.  They may have different colored flowers or flowers that are double or unusually shaped. Foliage may be different colored or shaped than the original species.

If neither a native plant ID book/site or cultivated garden plant ID book/site help, try using an invasive plant list for your area.  Most of these include pictures and detailed descriptions of plants.

Use a picture of a plant only to get you started in the right direction.  Pictures can be deceiving unless they are close up and detailed, including foliage and the plant form and some way to determine size.  Once you locate a picture of something that resembles your mystery plant then you look up a detailed description of that plant and compare it to the unknown plant.

It’s very important to match up all plant parts before you say you have made an ID.  There are several plants with yellow daisy like flowers for example.  You need to match up the leaf, stem and growing habits as well as flower color and shape.  If a plant has narrow, opposite attached leaves on a multi-stemmed bushy plant, it isn’t the same plant as one that has a single stem with broad leaves that are arranged alternately on the stem, even if the flowers look similar.

There is no doubt that it is going to take some time and effort to ID a plant. Think of it as a learning game, because each time you identify a plant it will get easier to identify other plants in the future.  And even experts need help sometimes from other experts, some rare plants may be hard to identify.

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

Taking the easy way out

For some of you though, the task of identification will seem too daunting and you will choose the easy route- asking someone else.  This happens on garden websites all the time.  However not all the answers you will get will be the right ones.  Probably the best site for a good ID is this one; https://www.facebook.com/groups/156706504394635/

On this site it’s strictly ID and the post is closed after the correct answer, instead of allowing a million guesses. The Latin name is usually given as well as common ones.

On other sites you could get a dozen answers to your mystery plant’s ID.  Choose the answer with the most likes or posted the most times.  Then do a lookup on a good ID site and compare the results there with your specimen.

Some county Extension offices will have someone on hand to do plant ID or a lab where you can send specimens.  Ask them what their procedure is and whether they need a specimen or if you can send a picture for ID.  Some public gardens and larger retail garden centers will ID plants.  Call and ask first before sending photos or bringing in specimens.

If you are posting a picture for others to ID make sure it’s a good clear one and try to include as many details as you can. Shots from different angles and of different plant parts are good.  The picture must be a close up , not shot from 100 yards away.

There are some things that are almost impossible to identify from a picture.  A very young seedling with only the first set of seed leaves, cotyledons- is hard to ID.  Sometimes a single plant leaf can get you an ID, sometimes it can’t. Plant roots and seeds can also be hard to identify.

It’s almost impossible to post a picture of a daylily (or other garden plant) leaves and ask someone to identify the name (cultivar or variety) of the plant.  Even posting a picture of a flower- a red tea rose for example- may not get you the correct variety name.  Sometimes the foliage or flower is so unique a cultivar name can be given but most times it cannot.

What about those plant ID apps?  You take a picture and the app ID's the plant.  Most of these apps aren’t very accurate.  If you use them make sure to cross check with another identification source.

Here are some ID books I use  A Modern Herbal, (2 volumes), M. Grieve, Weeds of the Northeast, Uva, Neal and DiTomaso, Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs, Dirr, Armitages Garden Perennials, Armitages Manuel of Annuals, Biennials, and Half Hardy Perennials.  I also have a set of old Golden Books- the field guides to trees, wildflowers, water plants, ands so on.  Every gardener should have some good plant ID books on hand.

I’ll certainly remember valerian now.  Even though I thought I had seen the plant before, I hadn’t paid enough attention or had enough contact with the plant to remember it.  Now that I spent time identifying it, I’ll (hopefully) remember it.

“On this June day the buds in my garden are almost as enchanting as the open flowers. Things in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the recollection of the loveliest days of the year, those days of May when all is suggested, nothing yet fulfilled.”     

-Francis King

Kim Willis

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I write this because I love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my research each week (or things I want to talk about). 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 or anyone you know who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is published have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com

June 4, 2019, oh, those garden sayings

Hi gardeners

Allium

It’s June, the half-way point of the year. It’s hard to think that the longest day of the year is just a few weeks away. I am having a hard time believing it’s June, the weather is so cool and wet. On Sunday night we got down to 38 degrees here.  We had a whole dry, sunny day yesterday, with a high of 65.  It’s warm now, but showers are predicted later today.

I used the cool weather to make a trip to the greenhouse yesterday. It’s nicer to walk around in a greenhouse when it’ s cool. I would say it is my last trip of the spring/summer season and I think it should be- but I won’t lie, another trip to some greenhouse somewhere might pop up.  And boy did I load up on plants, things were really calling calling out to me.  But now they need planting, if it doesn’t rain too much I’ll be in the garden much of tomorrow.

I bought some beautiful begonias – angel wings and tuberous- I intended to make hanging baskets with them to replace my baskets of pansies I have up now.  The pansies are growing beautifully this cool wet spring, but they do fade in warm weather.   I made up the baskets using compost mixed with potting medium.  Then I tried to hang them.  The soil is so wet and the baskets so heavy that my shepherd’s hooks tilt over with them.  So that’s a problem to solve.

I used some of the begonias in another project.  Last year I bought some stacking pots at a garage sale, 6 pots for a $1.  They look like 3 six-inch pots joined together in a shamrock shape.  I made two stacks of three pots.  They take a lot of soil to fill but I guess that keeps them from tipping over.  I’ve got one planted, tuberous begonias on top, new guinea impatiens on the second level and wax begonias on the bottom.  I’m still deciding on what to fill the second with.

 

My bargain stacking pots

Blooming in my mid thumb of Michigan garden right now are bearded iris, dames rocket, alliums, lilacs, lily of the valley, wild geraniums, bleeding heart, forget me nots, and mayapples.  The autumn olive is blooming out in the wilder parts of the property and you can smell the sweet scent wafting on the wind. The bees are very happy and covering the plants.  The red osier dogwood is also blooming. The ninebark and bristly locust are just starting to bloom.

My “special” plant Mary Helen got a little sister last week who I named Marcella.  I hope to get these two outside in a locked area soon, it needs to get a bit warmer.   I don’t know what will happen, but it’s been an experience growing them.

My wisteria story

I have an interesting wisteria in bloom.  Well it has one bloom that I can see anyway.  This wisteria has a backstory.  About ten years ago I was teaching a master gardener class and a woman in the class brought a seedpod for me to identify. I recognized it as a wisteria seed pod.  The woman had picked it from a vine in the display gardens of MSU, which she probably should not have done.

After I identified it, she sat the seedpod down on the desk in front of her and class began.  All of a sudden there was a loud pop, and everyone jumped. The seed pod had exploded, some seeds embedded themselves in the ceiling tiles above us.  There was nervous laughter.  One seed landed near me and I picked it up and put it aside.  Later, back in my office I found it among some papers and on a whim, I stuck it in an African violet pot on my desk.

A few weeks later I realized a baby wisteria was growing in the pot and when it was warm outside, I took it home to plant.  I planted it in a raised bed in front of a little chicken coop I later turned into a little unheated greenhouse.

As wisteria tend to do, it grew rapidly.  It twined up and over the greenhouse onto the barn roof.  I had my husband put a beam between the greenhouse and a post for the garden fence and we trained it over that.  It forms a leafy arbor that hides the path to the compost pile.  It sneaks its tentacles into the barn by going under the eaves and a large piece snakes across the dimly lit loft of the barn.  Its aggressive.

However, for the last 10 years it has not bloomed.  I have some native wisteria out on the far lawn that blooms in late spring.  It’s interwoven with another native, trumpet vine.  That’s another story.

As I mentioned earlier, I spotted a bloom yesterday on my seed grown plant.  About time that monster bloomed, I thought.  It’s a lovely pale lavender, almost white with a darker purple “keel” petal, unlike any wisteria I’ve seen.  An internet search however, did turn up some pictures that looked like it, but never really identified as to whether it’s a particular cultivar.

I have never been to the gardens at MSU when the wisteria are in bloom so I don’t know what color the flowers are.  I don’t even know what species of wisteria they are.  I am assuming this is a native species, possibly American wisteria,  Wisteria frutescens, because it bloomed after it leafed out. The leaves are right for that species.  Most Japanese and Chinese wisteria bloom before they leaf out.  But I have never seen a native species colored like this.

I may make a phone call to MSU Horticultural Garden staff to see if they can tell me what type of wisteria they are growing and what color the blooms are.  Since this grew from seed and not a cutting it’s possible it’s just a weird color mutation.  I am hoping it will have more blooms next year – or maybe even a bit later this year.  So here’s a picture of my wisteria.

Mysterious wisteria

Those old garden “sayings”

“First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap.” This is a common garden quote referring to perennial plants. But is this quote accurate? Personally, I think it’s accurate for most perennials.  There are some exceptions of course, some because of the nature of the plant species and sometimes because of unusual circumstances, that make perennial plants grow faster or slower than the saying. (I’m talking about herbaceous perennials; woody plants are a whole other ball game.)

The saying doesn’t refer to the age of the plant but the length of time from when you plant it to when it has fully adjusted to your garden. When you plant a perennial, even a large potted one, it tends to take a year to adjust to its new surroundings. The larger, more mature plants may add some new foliage and even bloom. But in general, they won’t be as large or as full of blooms as they will be in years to come. 

If you buy small seedling perennials growth may seem very slow.  Many seedling perennials won’t bloom the first year.  And it will take at least 3 years for them to look mature and have a good bloom count.

I like to buy perennials that are midway between seedling and mature stage, in their second or third year. This is usually a quart or gallon sized pot, depending on species.  You get a decent display from them and they seem to adjust to their new conditions better than larger plants.  It’s a common stage people buy perennials in because while they look nice, the cost is easier on the bank account than larger, more mature plants. But even at this stage it will take several years for these plants to reach their full potential.

1st year

All perennials will not reach their full potential by the third year. But I do think the third year after you plant most perennials is when you look at them and think about how beautiful they look.  Or you look at them and say – “Oh my goodness why did I plant them so close together?”  Some perennials will continue to get better every year after that, hosta are a good example.  But unfortunately, some will begin to decline.

 

3rd year

Perennial doesn’t mean a plant lives forever.  All plant species have a normal lifespan. Some are considered short lived perennials, meaning they may make that “third year they leap stage” and then fade away.  Some may live 10 years; some may live 50.  

And some people don’t realize that many garden stores sell biennial plants as perennials. Some Agastache, campanulas, columbines, coreopsis, delphiniums, dianthus, hollyhocks, violas and many native plants have biennial life cycles.  Biennials tend to die after they bloom, generally in their second year. If you bought them with blooms, it’s the second year and they probably aren’t coming back next year.

There may be perennial species in those families and breeders are always working to make longer lived hybrids but there may not be a “leap” year for some of these.  You did nothing wrong if they don’t reappear the year after you plant one in bloom, which is usually the plants second year, they just completed their life cycle.

Some biennial plants reseed freely, and you’ll often have plants for many years, but it won’t be the same plant.  That’s often why people think a plant has “moved”, it’s a seed grown plant.  The first year it came up it may have been hidden beneath other plants, but the second year it becomes more noticeable when it blooms.

Some plants, bearded iris, for instance, need to be divided every 3 or so years for them to continue to bloom and do well.  But be aware some plants don’t need division and will resent you cutting into them, peonies and cimicifuga are good examples. If you are continually dividing plants, you may never see the glory of a large mature plant or clump of plants. You set that clock back to the sleep or creep year each time you divide.

I know some people like to share plants and others divide so they can populate other parts of the garden, but many people divide their perennials far more often than they should.  Their gardens never have that full lush mature look because the leap year is missing.

“Always plant in threes or fives or odd multiples.”  This is another garden saying and often refers to perennials.  And it’s nonsense if you ask me.  This can be quite daunting to new gardeners who barely have money for one perennial, much less three of the same.  And it’s definitely not necessary to have at least 3 of each plant species to have a nice-looking garden.

Some plants do look better in groups and for some reason odd numbers are frequently more pleasing to the eye.  If you are striving for a very formal looking garden this “rule” should be considered more faithfully. Groups of the same plant, often alternating with other groups of plants and repeated through the space is a common formal design method. But for many species of perennials and many gardens it isn’t necessary. 

Plants that are narrow and small may need to be grouped to have an impact in the garden.  Two or four may do as well as three.  Full, large plants often don’t need to be grouped for impact.  In a small garden there may be room for only one or two plants of the same species. If you are filling large open areas, then grouping similar plants may look better.  Or one large spectacular plant of a certain species may be your perfect focal point.  Each garden is different, and each gardener has a different idea of what pleases them, and if it’s your garden then it should please you.

The rule of three doesn’t have to mean 3 of the same variety of something either.  You don’t have to plant 3 broad leaved, blue foliaged hosta together, you could plant one blue, one white variegated and one gold variety.  Or plant three blue hosta if you like the look.  Mixing textures and sizes is a generally pleasing look for an informal garden, plant one big blue broad leaved hosta behind two smaller, narrow leaved golden hosta for instance.  Or you may want to fill the space with one hosta, one astilbe and one heuchera.

If you are new to gardening and don’t have a natural eye for design, look at a lot of different gardens both in person and in magazines and online until you get a feel for what you like. And then just get started.  You can usually change things later if it doesn’t please you. After a while you’ll get a feel for what plants need company of their own kind to look good and what plants look fine alone. Most people are constantly tinkering with their garden design.

“You should have seen it last week” is a common garden quote too. It’s very difficult to always have something in bloom through the garden season if you only use perennials in the garden.  No matter how carefully you plan there is going to be a time, maybe a brief time, maybe a longer time, when nothing is in bloom. If a group is coming to tour your garden, it’s almost a given that nothing will be in bloom. That is why you must plan so that even without blooms the garden looks attractive.

Plants with variegated foliage and interesting contrasts of foliage textures and sizes will help, as does prompt deadheading so things look tidy. Tasteful garden art helps. But annuals are your friend in the garden. Planting some flowering annuals among your perennials will keep things colorful and interesting when perennials are between bloom cycles.

And that brings me to another garden saying.  “A garden is never finished.”  If you are a gardener and not just a landscaper, then you know this is true.  A landscaper throws in a few plants he knows are a good formula look for the space and says, “I’m finished”. Even a landscaper can’t predict what nature and time will do, however.

You won’t “finish” your garden.  You may stop devoting more space to gardening (when you run out of space), but you will never finish a garden. Gardens always change and you must work with the changes. If you have a very simple garden with few plant species, you may have a few years when things will look much the same but don’t hold your breath.  There will be changes.  Even if you work your butt off to keep the status quo, your garden will change.

There are years when everything works out just right and my garden is so beautiful and so perfectly tuned that I wish it could look like this every year.  But I know it won’t.  Maybe it will be even better next year, maybe it will be somewhat disappointing, but it will be different.  Weather happens, plants die, and plants grow bigger. I add plants, I remove plants.  Plants come up from seed. A tree gives more shade or a tree falls.  The septic tank must be dug up or the roofer throws shingles down on the garden. There always comes a time when I say – that’s it for this year- but until winter closes the garden for the year changes will keep happening.

So, make your plans and take your pictures. But know this, a garden is never finished.

Should you dig up spring bulbs after flowering?

If your spring flowering bulbs have finished blooming, it’s a big temptation to cut off the yellowing foliage.  But please resist the urge if you want the bulbs to bloom again next year.  It also seems to be a trend recently to dig up the spring flowering bulbs and store them over summer.  The only common bulbs that might be helped by this tactic are tulips.  Most of the other common spring flowering bulbs don’t need to be dug up and stored during the summer.  You might lose some of these bulbs over the summer, but it shouldn’t be many unless you destroy them planting other things or you don’t allow them to die back naturally.

It’s a lot of work for little reason to dig up and store bulbs and even digging tulips to store must be weighed against the work you will do and the results you will get.  And if you do this you must still wait until the foliage has yellowed on the bulbs and died down naturally, which eliminates making things look better as a reason for doing it.

Tulips may not reliably return each year in gardens.  That is because they prefer to be dry over the summer and because they are eaten by many animals.  But even if you dig and store your tulip bulbs after they bloom, it’s not guaranteed they will bloom as nicely as they did the first year after you planted them.  Tulips are grown for sale under the best conditions possible and harvested at the ideal time. Then they are stored under exacting conditions until they are shipped to you.  Home gardeners rarely get these professional growers results.

For the best results with tulips you can choose tulip varieties that are marked as being “perennial” varieties or choose the smaller flowered species tulips, which seem to handle our summers better.  Or you can simply plant more tulips each year to make up for those that are lost.

How to care for bulbs after bloom

You can remove the flowers and flower stems of all bulbs as they fade, unless you are trying to get seed.  Producing seed takes energy away from the bulb which needs to store reserves of food to produce next year’s flowers.  Sometimes the seed heads of large alliums are left for structural interest.  The seeds of alliums will drop off and readily start new bulbs, although it may take a few years before they bloom.  Some alliums can become invasive.  Crocus may reproduce in the garden by seeding themselves, but few other bulbs will reliably do so.

Try not to remove the foliage of any bulbs until it has yellowed and died down on its own.  The foliage is needed to produce food for the bulb.  After a bulb blooms its leaves start producing food reserves for the bulb and next year’s flowers.  If leaves are removed too soon next year’s flower may be smaller, or the bulbs may not bloom at all. Even if you want to dig and store the bulbs over summer they should be left in the ground until the foliage has died back naturally.

Should you braid or cut back yellowing bulb foliage?  This may be slightly better than removing it, but it can harm the plants ability to make a nice flower for next year.  Be patient and let nature do things the right way.

Yellowing bulb foliage can be hidden by emerging perennials or you can plant hardy annuals around the bulbs to hide the foliage. This doesn’t seem to affect the bulbs ability to make next year’s flower.  In their natural habitat bulb foliage is commonly covered by later emerging plants.  It doesn’t hurt to plant annuals over and around the bulbs going dormant if you don’t dig them up or cut into them.  If you dig bulbs up accidentally, simply re-plant them.

Daylilies make excellent perennial covers for dying bulb foliage in sunny areas, hostas make good covers if the bulbs are under deciduous trees (shady in summer). Many other perennials can also provide camouflage for dying bulb foliage.  In the fall you can tuck the bulbs you plant under the foliage of these plants.  That way you won’t disturb the perennials root systems and you know the bulb foliage will be hidden after the perennials emerge in spring.

If you naturalized bulbs in a lawn this means you cannot mow until the bulb foliage has yellowed and withered.  This is difficult for some people to tolerate, because they like a neat, mowed look to the lawn.   That’s why naturalized bulbs work best when planted in groundcovers or at the edges of lawns.

How long bulb foliage takes to die back depends on the species of bulb and the weather, but most bulb foliage will be gone by the end of June.   After the foliage is gone there is little you need to do for bulbs until next spring except remember where they are, so you don’t disturb them planting other things. 

After the bulb foliage has died back you can dig the bulbs to divide them or move them if you need to.  You can re-plant them immediately.

If you do want to store tulips or other bulbs, dig them carefully, shake the dirt off, remove any dead foliage, then spread them out on newspaper somewhere warm and dark for a few days to “cure”.  Then pack them in wood shavings and store in a cool dark place.  Plant them in fall after the soil has cooled down.

Lawn grass and flooding

If you can’t mow because the lawn is under water, I understand.  I have areas underwater this year too.  It may save time when you can’t mow, but you may be worried about what is happening to the grass.

Grass that is totally under water for any period of time greater than 48 hours will probably die.  Warm, sunny conditions while beginning to dry the ground, will hasten grass death if water can’t be removed.  Grass only partially submerged will last longer but totally saturated soil leads to rotting of the grass roots and if the condition lasts a week or so the lawn may die.

Bluegrass, the most common Midwestern lawn grass, has some tolerance to flooding while perennial and annual rye is less tolerant.  Bentgrass, common on golf courses is pretty tolerant.  After you can get to the grass dig a small clump to check on it.  If you see firm white roots and bases of the leaf stems, (crowns) the grass may make it.  Black or brown mushy looking roots and crowns mean the grass is dead.

If silt and debris were deposited on the lawn during the flooding the chances of lawn grass surviving may be less.  A small layer, less than an inch, may not impact the lawn much unless it is heavily contaminated with harmful substances such as salt, oil and gas, but a deep layer of mud or debris will kill the grass.  If it cannot be removed with raking or shallow shoveling you will probably want to re-seed the lawn.

If you suspect contamination of the soil, seed a small area with annual rye grass, which will germinate quickly and grow if the debris didn’t contaminate the soil.  Then you can seed with more expensive lawn grass.  If the ryegrass doesn’t grow well you may have to scrape off the contaminated soil down to the original soil, removing the dead sod, before re-planting.

If your grass seemed to make it through the flood it will benefit from fertilizing with nitrogen, especially if it is looking yellow or pale green.  Use a lawn fertilizer without any weed killers or insecticides for this.  Follow the label directions or use about 3 pounds per 1000 square feet.  Unless your soil has really dried out, don’t water the fertilizer into the soil as is normally done, it should dissolve in contact with wet soil.

As long as the soil is wet, limit traffic on the lawn so that the soil doesn’t get compacted or rutted.  You may even have to let it get a little longer than usual before mowing. If you do, only take off a third of the grass blade on the first mowing.  If it needs to be shortened further wait a few days, then mow again.  Keep the grass blades about 3 ½ inches.  Never use a weighted roller on the lawn when it’s wet to “flatten” it.  This will cause serious soil compaction and limit the growth of grass roots. 

June almanac

June is a wonderful month in the northern hemisphere, the month when strawberries ripen, and roses begin to bloom.  Indeed, this month’s full moon, (June 17^th), is called the Full Strawberry moon in North America and Full Rose moon in European countries.  We might have strawberries here by the full moon, if they don’t get washed away.  Moon perigee is the 7^th and moon apogee is the 23^rd.

Meteorically summer begins June 1. The astrological start of summer is summer solstice on June 21, 2019 at 11:54 a.m. EDT. At the time of the solstice the sun is at its highest point and the point farthest north that it gets in the northern hemisphere.  Solstice comes from Latin, roughly meaning sun stands still.  At the solstice the sun seems to pause for a few days, and then slowly reverses its direction, moving back toward the south and lower in the sky.  Sadly, it’s the longest day of the year and the nights get longer after the solstice. 

In ancient times this event, the solstice, was always celebrated.  It’s still a good day to have a campfire, gaze at stars and wonder at the immensity of the universe and our place in it.

Back in May I talked about May folklore and Chilly Saints Days which were the 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th.  In 2019 they certainly were chilly here, and wet. The first Ember Day, which is supposed to predict the weather for June, was May 22^nd and it was average in temperature, but it rained all day. So according to folklore June is going to be rainy but normal temperature wise.  So we shall see.

'Harrison's Yellow' rose

June’s birth flower is, of course, the rose.  There are 3 birthstones for June (thanks to greedy jewelers), the pearl, the moonstone and the alexandrite. The month of June is named after the Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage, family and childbirth. To marry in June was said to make a couple fertile and blessed with prosperity.

June is National Rose, Dairy, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables month.  It’s Adopt a Cat month. It’s also Gay Pride month and Fight the Filthy Fly month. 

June 4^th is Old Maids Day and the 5^th is World Environment day. Flag Day is June 14^th and Father’s Day is June 16^th this year.  The 17^th is Eat your Vegetables day.  The 26^th is Forgiveness Day, what a wonderful day to celebrate.

And since all this loveliness cannot be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.     

-      Abba Woolson

Kim Willis

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I write this because I love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my research each week (or things I want to talk about). 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 or anyone you know who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is published have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com