Memories of Colder Weather

This just seems so out of whack.  April 6 and we will hit a record high, and just a few weeks ago it seemed that the snow would never go away.  The transition happened so quickly that I didn't get a chance to post a couple of nature photos that I took during the snowy season.  A snow cover gives the landscape a different perspective and this past late winter I noticed things that have probably been right in front of my eyes all along.

I saw more wild turkeys this winter than ever, and in so many different places.  Often times there would be two or three, but sometimes I would see a flock of 15 or more.  They are a beautiful sight anytime of the year, but especially in the winter when the landscape needs a bit of excitement.

The other animal I saw more frequently this winter was a black squirrel.  I noticed them when we first moved here 25 years ago, but during the dog years, the squirrels kept their distance.  I had read recently that squirrels live on average for four years, so I figured our black squirrel was long gone.  It was a very pleasant surprise to look out at the bird feeders one day and see this black squirrel feeding on the ground.  The picture quality isn't great, but squirrels do tend to run away fast when you open the door.

These next few weeks will be super busy as gardening season kicks in to full force.  My nursery opens officially on April 16.  The next garden show is at Hendricks County on April 10 from 9-4.  Daffodil season is going quickly which means that we will be able to dig and divide earlier than usual.  Remeber to wait six weeks after bloom before cutting back the foliage.  And pace yourself in the garden.  It's only April 6.  We could still have more snow, but let's hope for June tomatoes instead.

There's More to Butler than Basketball

We generally root for our alma maters while they are winning, but when they get eliminated from the NCAA tournaments we root for another conference or state team that may still be in the show.  Since Purdue lost to Duke, my loyalties could go to Michigan State since they are a Big Ten team, but who can resist Butler.  They are just such a nice group of kids and they truly represent what is good about the college experience.

And Butler is a great school, too, from the academic standpoint.  Our Indiana Daffodil Society was fortunate enough to have an associate professor from Butler as our speaker this past Saturday.  Dr. Shelley Etnier, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, just so happened to do a grad student research project on the biomechanics of the daffodil.  (Read the story by Adam Summers citing Dr. Etnier and Dr. Steven Vogel's research, or if you want the actual article published in the American Journal of Botany go to this link for the first page.  You'll have to pay to get the whole article, though.) 

Daffodils have been observed to turn away form the wind and bow down in a way that is unique to their genus.  Drs. Etnier and Vogel found this characteristic interesting and developed a project to study just what happens to the structure of the stem when subjected to wind.  Pretty heady stuff for a group of daffodil enthusiasts, but very fascinating.

If daffodils are your thing and you are in the Indianapolis area, be sure to visit Holliday Park on April 14 from 2-5 pm or April 15 from 9-noon to see the daffodil exhibition.  These are not your grandmother's daffodils on display although the historics do make up a nice section of the exhibit.  Most people are amazed by the variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

Tea Time for Master Gardeners

Master Gardeners ask the darndest questions and at last night's training class I got a good one that got me to thinking.  Can we grow tea plants here in Indiana?  I had never thought about that.  We wondered whether it was even legal or if there were some sort of USDA restrictions on the plant.

Well, it turns out that Camellia sinensis var. sinensis is grown in the US and people can grow their own tea.  The plant is hardy in Zones 7-9 which rules out outdoor planting, but not growing it as a container or houseplant.  After reading the cultural info, I suspect that an indoor tea growing experience will be riddled with pests and diseases, but what's the fun in not trying.  An excellent page with cultural information from the University of Florida Extension is a good place to start.  After reading I decided that it would be best to start from cuttings rather than seed for a container grown plant due to the root structure.  A potted specimen could be treated in the same way as other tropicals that we grow outdoors during the summer, then bring in for the winter.  Or it could be grown exclusively in a sunroom or attached greenhouse setting in the home.  Just be mindful of it's minimum and maximum temperature requirements and watch out for those pesky spider mites.

There are probably some online sources for cuttings, but since Camellia sinensis is sold as an ornamental plant in Zone 7 and up areas, a trip to a nursery might be the easiest way to go.  For those who want a real challenge there were several sites with seed for sale.  I didn't follow any of them to get the details, but I do know that seed is viable for only a short period of time.

A quick reminder for those of you who do plant research online.  I always recommend using the university websites as your first line of accurate information.  Those are the .edu sites.  My next resource is sites maintained by the societies or organizations supporting a particular species which are typically .org sites.  When considering information from a commercial or .com site you should always cross reference with a .edu or .org.

The University of Delaware page about Camellia sinensis was also good information.  And even Purdue University has a technical paper about the plant.  So there you go brave, young Master Gardeners is Zone 5.  Your challenge is before you.  I'll be over for tea this afternoon.

American Daffodil Society Convention

What a show!  This was my first national show to attend and the display and range of daffodil cultivars was fantastic.  There were 2079 total stems in the show for judging including 549 miniatures.  Ironstone Vineyards was a superb host for the event and they are now going to become a designated ADS display garden.  Their dispaly of daffodils inth e ground and various containers was extremely impressive.  They have planted several tons of daffodils over the years along with thousands of other landscape plants to create a wonderful garden to visit.  It really is way more than just a garden, though.

Miniature daffodils are a fairly new thing for me.  I have seen a few, but the variety at the show was phenomenal.  One that always gets lots of buzz is 'Itsy Bitsy Splitsy' which a split cup  with blooms no more than an inch across.  It is registered as an 11a Y-O which means division 11a with yellow petals and an orange cup which is split in this case.  Very interesting effect.

To get an idea of how small the miniatures are, I asked a gentleman to hold his finger next to one for size reference.  The one shown wasn't even the smallest.  I can't be sure, but I do know there were some on display that were less than 1/2" across.  I did not get the name of this particular specimen.  If you are interested in growing miniatures I was told that Brent and Becky's Bulbs carries a nice selection suitable for the home gardener.  They would also be suitable for competition at your local daffodil show.  Visit the ADS website for more information about a Daffodil Society near you.

I will post some more info about the show, Ironstone, and Murphys, California later.  But for now it is sunny and I gotta get outside!

Daffodil Time!

I leave Thursday for the American Daffodil Society National Convention held this year in Murphys, California. Check out the links to the Ironstone Vineyards and the Ironstone Gardens blog maintained by Larry Ringland.  The photo above is from his blog and I assume was taken by him.  He has a fantastic slide show of blooms from other springs at the vineyard.  The national daffodil show and our conference will be set there. 

These past couple of weeks have been filled with snow management, preparing for the Indianapolis Home and Flower Show where the Indiana Daffodil Society had an educational booth, and preparing for GardenFest our county Master Gardener annual show.  Whew!  I was also down with a virus for a few days.  Fortunately that was during lousy weather.  There is almost nothing worse for a gardener that having a nasty, hang-on, feel like crap virus just when the weather gets nice enough to work outside.

Ironstone Vineyards Blog

In March, I will be attending the National Convention of the American Daffodil Society in Murphy's California.  The meetings and daffodil show will be held at Ironstone Vineyards.  Their groundskeeper, if that is what  is title would be, is Larry Ringland and he has started a blog about the gardens at Ironstone.  Take a moment to check it our and get a spring fix. I find it quite interesting that he and I chose the same background for our blogs.  Must be a gardener thing.

The New Ice Age

Where I live is known geographically as the line across Indiana where the glacier stopped many millions of years ago.  I grew up a few miles north on flat farmland that still yields an annual crop of large rocks, which is why my mom and her mom before her, who lived even further north, were avid practitioners of the American landscaping feature known as the rock garden.  Arrange a group of rocks ranging from two to five feet in diameter into an irregular geometric shape (island) out in the lawn, fill with extra field soil and the stuff from the chicken shed or sheep yard and voila! Ready to plant garden.  At my home where the glaciers stopped and started to melt, we have big ravines, but no big rocks.  I had to import mine from the family farm.  They are gorgeous, big gems of various shades, mostly granite of some sort with flecks of quartz that sparkle in the sun.

This winter has me thinking about glaciers and how they form.  They form in areas with precipitation that don't warm up enough for the accumulated snow to melt.  Hmmmm.  Kind of like my house right now.

The kids always wanted the kind of snow that would pile up so high you couldn't open your doors.  Ha Ha!  They are off in apartments of their own now and have to shovel their own walks.  Ha Ha!

We are used to decent amounts of snow, but one accumulation manages to melt almost completely before the next one hits.  We could actually date our snow and pond ice samples right now.  And the 15 day forecast has only one day with a night time temperature above freezing.  That will put us into the first of March.  When the thaw does start, it will be a mucky mess for quite some time, so I'm anticipating a late planting season this year.
 

In the meantime, it is always nice to have something green around.  The easiest plant, and most appreciated by cats, is winter wheat.  Fill a pot with potting mix, put down a thick layer of wheat, water well and in less than a week you have a little lawn ready to mow.  I always plant up containers with either wheat, which has fatter blades, or shady lawn mix, for Easter decorating.  An Easter basket with real grass is way cooler than with the fake plastic stuff.  Started about two weeks before Easter, it should be mature enough for a cutting on Easter morning.  That fresh, green smell is so wonderful, even more uplifting than the candy scattered throughout the green grass.  And it feels good too.  People can't seem to keep from running their hands across the flat top when it is freshly cut.

Starting Seeds

The first time I ever taught a Master Gardener class, my topic was annuals and perennials.  This was a three-hour session as part of the basic certification, and I had so much information to share that I wondered if three hours was really enough.  This was back before Powerpoints, so I had my trays of slides, and my three page outline handout that covered everything from what they are, their culture, soil prep, basic maintenance, design and of course starting from seeds.  We may have needed a whole semester.

I came prepared with example plants, various potting media, tools, supplies, real soil vs. potting soil, various fertilizers and my homemade seed starting stand.  Of course we started seeds which was more difficult than I thought it would be with a group of thirty adults.  Gardening does not come naturally to many people. 

Needless to say, I have modified the program greatly since then.  The seed starting aspect of the class was eliminated.  The reality of seed starting must be learned through experience.  Every year you hopefully remember the mistakes from the previous year.  Here are some of the mistakes that I have made and learned from.

1.  Starting seeds too early doesn't make spring come any earlier. 

2.  Only plant what you need.

3.  Thin those seedlings out and keep only what you need.

4.  Investing in a heating mat is a really good idea.  I only start one tray worth of seedlings at a time.  That should be sufficient for most home gardeners.  The tray only stays on the mat until you have good germination.

5. The shipping charges on mail order seeds often times encourage you to buy more than you need.

6.  Do a germination test on saved seeds when you get the urge to start seeds.  Then you'll know if you should get new seeds and you'll satisfy that farmer gene.

7.  Use professional grade seed starting mix.  I use Redi-earth Plug and Seedling Mix.  It has a wetting agent that keeps the mix from floating away, starter fertilizer and a excellent drainage.  You can most likely get some mix from a local greenhouse grower.  In any event, use a product labeled for seed starting, not general potting mix and definitely not potting soil.

8.  Don't waste your time with Jiffy 7s.  They sure are cute, but they take up too much space for one or two seeds.  Plug trays are much more effective if you want individual plants.  For some reason, plants do better with a restricted root zone.  Those are Jiffys on the left in the photo.

9.  Label! Label! Label!  You will never be able to tell the difference between the twenty different types of tomatoes that you started, and you'll end up giving all of the Sungolds to your neighbor.

10.  Run a fan in the room with your seedlings.  The air circulation helps to toughen them up, but it doesn't mean that they are hardened off and ready to go out doors on the first nice day.

This is only a portion of my advice on starting seeds.  I could go on for three hours, but I need to go shovel some more show.  For a very comprehensive page about seed starting go to this University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension site.

The Witch Hazels are Blooming!

Hot off the presses.  Heavy snow is falling right now, but the witch hazels are blooming.  Hamamelis intermedia 'Aphrodite' is definitely in bloom now.  A quick check in my nursery stock revealed that Pallida, Superba, and Girard's Purple are also in bloom.  It was too cold to check for fragrance.  I did make the trek back into the woods to check on native Hamamelis for bloom.  None was found, but it may still be a bit early for them.  It was a nice walk anyway.  If you are in the market for witch hazel, I do have four to choose from.  They are nice size plants in 5 gallon pots and they are blooming!

 

Hamamelis intermedia 'Aphrodite'

  

Hamamelis intermedia 'Girard's Purple'

  

Hamamelis intermedia 'Pallida'

Hamamelis mollis 'Superba' looks suspiciously like the 'Aphrodite', but they have their labels.

An Eye for Epiphytes

The Master Gardener program through the Cooperative Extension Service is a wonderful thing.  Programing through local organizations bring the beauty and science of horticulture right to our hometowns in living color.  Such was the case last night when my county association hosted Russ Vernon of New Vision Orchids as our program for the evening.  What a delight during the dead of winter!

Russ, a horticulture graduate of Ohio State University, began his love of orchids at age 12.  He very easily conveyed orchid culture to our group and repotted a couple of specimens as a demonstration.  It is always so great when speakers bring visual aids, and Russ had a nice assortment of them.  One, of course, came home with me even though I had to bum a few dollars from my friend Judy to make the purchase.

This is Oncidium 'Mackenzie Mountain Jans Gem' HCC/AOS from New Vision Orchids.

One of the most important things that we learned from Russ is that orchids need a ten degree difference in temperature for a two to three week period to induce blooming.  Many people have a plant with lots of foliage, but no blooms are set because they stay in a consistent indoor temp of 65 - 70 degrees day and night.  So to get the blooms to set, either set back your thermostat at night or set up an environment that will have a ten degree range.

My friend Diane has no trouble with orchids and getting them to rebloom.  She has them in the house across from a west facing window.  They keep the house cool during the winter, but the orchids get warmer temps in the afternoon when the western sun warms their area.  In the summer, she does not run her air conditioning, but instead leaves the windows open.  So the ten degree phenomenon happens naturally.

The second really important issue that we learned is about watering with an ice cube.  Listen up!  It is NOT a good watering method.  The water does not move evenly and completely through the potting mix.  Even though some orchid distributors list this as a watering technique on their label, do not do it.  Remember, they need for you to keep buying orchids to stay in business.  Proper watering is done with distilled water once every 7 - 11 days.  The water should be allowed to run through the medium and drain out.  If the water that drains out is tan colored, it could be an indication of mineral build up which means you need to replace the potting mix.

Speaking of minerals, Russ very simply explained the interaction of plants and minerals.  Plants do need minerals for healthy growth, but the issue is having the minerals available in the right pH environment for the roots to be able to take them up.  So it is important to know the pH range needed by a particular plant.  The pH of the water can be adjusted or you can use mineral free water.  Using water with minerals, and not adjusting the pH for the plant results in accumulated minerals in the potting mix which is probably like never washing your hands.  EEEWWW! So do a little research about your houseplants to find out what they need to thrive.

I can't begin to share all of the information that we learned.  If there are any orchid collections near where you live, you should go visit.  Russ is involved with the Wheeler Orchid Collection and Species Bank at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.  He said that a good time to visit is late March and into April then again in November.  Another excellent resource is the American Orchid Society.  You do need to be a member to access some of their resources, but that will be money well spent.

By the way, the other wonderful thing about the Master Gardener program is "Helping Others Grow" which is the point in sharing this information with you about orchids.  If even one of you quits putting ice cubes on your potted plants as a watering technique, progress has been made.

Chamaecyparis Answer

Two posts ago under 'You're Never too Smart to Learn" I posted a photo of some Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Mops' shrubs that were displaying different shades of the chartreuse coloring they are grown for.  The question was why so much variation in the color given that they are healthy and well established.  In a winter landscape the answer might not be so obvious, but look closely and you will notice a tree adjacent to the specimens that are a dull green color.  Shade!  The tree is south of those shrubs and has grown to a size that casts a sufficient amount of shade to affect the plants coloration.  This is an important consideration when siting plants in the landscape.  The Chamaecyparis are perfectly fine growing in the amount of shade cast by the tree, but they just won't color up like the ones in a full sun site.

So take a look around the whole site as you plan the landscape and keep in mind that plants do grow.  We plan to pull out the Chamaecyparis and move them to a new location.  They have actually out grown the space that they are in anyway.  They were just so cute when they were little one-gallon plants!  Did that tag say 5' x 5'?

Waiting for Spring

It is about 20 degrees outside and there is snow on the ground, so I have to look at photos from last year to keep my spirits up.  Although, there are a number of plants that look great right now including the yellow and red twig dogwoods, the grasses, and my beloved beech trees, but it's just so cold out there.  This is why you landscape in such a way that the views can be enjoyed from the inside of the house!

I do hear the winter birds gathered around the feeders whenever I let the cats in and out.   There are some very pretty songs going on out there.  Need to add "Install an outdoor microphone hooked to indoor speakers to hear the birds indoors" to my list of things for "him" to do.

Here is a lovely little clump of mosses I typically sees while walking down the path to the shelter house. It is a mix of reindeer moss from the woods around Dale Hollow Lake and some native moss.  The reindeer moss doesn't seem to want to establish here in my woods.  I collect a bit every once in awhile and bring it home.  It is such a nice texture and color in a woodsy setting.  I have a photo from several years ago of a hillside at Dale Hollow Lake that is just covered with it.  The effect is very fairytale-like.  You would expect to see tiny nymphs and gnomes in such a setting.

I mentioned the large witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in the Jens Jensen landscape I worked on last summer in an earlier post.  Here is a photo of it from March 2009.  My six-foot tall son is standing next to it, so my estimate is that it is at least 30' x 30'.  I think Michael Dirr would find this one to be a contender for National Champion.  He lists one in Bedford, VA at 35' x 30' in his fifth edition of "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants". 

I need to go out and check my Hamamelis vernalis in the nursery for signs of blooming.  They bloom in late winter as opposed to  the H. virginiana which bloom in fall.  I found a large colony of witch hazel in the woods last summer, but did not think to check for bloom in the fall.  So I will check them this winter for signs of bloom and solve the mystery as to their species.  I will have to pull on the winter boots for that trek.

You're Never too Smart to Learn

I learned something this morning at the Garden Rant blog.  That there is an even better blog at The Garden Professors!  I may never make it back outside.  Anyway, it seems that each post on The Garden Professors is a short lesson suitable for Advanced Master Gardener Training.  The Friday Puzzlers are always great, and even though it is only Wednesday, I have one to share.

In the photo above you see a planting of Chamaecyparis pisifera probably 'Mops', well established for over ten years, healthy and yes, they are all the same species planted at the same time.  I think there are six plants total.  No trick photography, just a nice picture taken on a January day in Indiana.  As you can see there is a great deal of variation in the coloring.  They are supposed to be bright yellow as exhibited in the plant on the left.  So what is going on here?

You can post your thoughts and I will let you know if you are correct.

In the meantime, I would like to report that the learning continued at the Porter County Master Gardener Show in Valparaiso, IN this past weekend.  It was fantastic as usual.  Kudos to the Lake County MGs who also helped.  We always take a large group to this show because they have such great presenters including Connor Shaw of Possibility Place Nursery, Galen Gates from the Chicago Botanic Garden, Rich Eyre of Foxwillow Pines Nursery, Kunso Kim and Donna Smith from The Morton Arboretum, garden writer Jean Starr and several local MGs who lead programs as well.  The vendors are fantastic, too particularly Gene and  JoAn Bush of Munchkin Gardens, and I hear the food is good, but I never get away from the presentation room long enough to find out.  All this for $7, what a deal!  Gee I said that last year, too.

It's About Time

As you can tell, it has been almost a year since I posted anything.  Needless to say, it was a busy year.  My gardener friend Diane and I spent a great deal of the year restoring a Jens Jensen landscape in Indianapolis at a private residence.  The project is important to me on so many levels, and I am anxious to see the plantings develop over the next several years.  Diane and I had help from our husbands and various other people on occasion, but for the most part it was her mostly and me and the homeowner out there in the yard.

Here is Diane watering in a super quality native Hawthorne from Possibility Place Nursery.  It took some effort to find the native species plants indicated in the original Jensen design, but we are sure it will be well worth it.  In all we put in thousands of plants ranging from daffodil bulbs and tree seedlings to 1 3/4" caliper crab apples.  Diane and her husband also spread two semi loads of mulch on this 3 acre project.

The original stone paths were found by the homeowner during prep of the site.  It was completely overgrown with locust trees, honeysuckle and big leaf winter creeper.  The large oaks and maples were saved.  Here is a new bench placed per the design near the pond.  It looks lovely at the base of this tree.  A "house of bugs" was found at the base of the bench which turned out to be yellow jackets.  They were sprayed repeatedly and finally cleared out.

Here is the witch hazel in full bloom in October.  It is a glorious specimen at least 30' tall and wide.  We planted several more to form a colony.  I have no doubt that this was an original from the 1920s. Way in the back of this photo you see the neighbor's house.  They were so upset by the removal of all of the vegetation that they had a row of very large arborvitae planted right on the property line as a screen.  How sad that they will miss out on the view of a Jensen design out of their windows.

Diane and I will be preparing a program about this project  that we will present at our local Master Gardener meeting in November 2010.  We will have a whole year of photos to share.  I'll keep updates on the landscape's progress on this blog.