Tree Spikes

A weed remover makes adding fertilizer spikes easy after a good fall rain. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Tree Spikes

No, I’m not talking about anything metal. These tree spikes are time released fruit tree fertilizer shaped into a spike. They come with a small plastic top one is supposed to place on the blunt side of the spike, then it is pushed into the ground by pounding the plastic.

Tree spikes are a bit controversial. Because they are concentrated in one spot once placed in the ground, tree roots may not have access to the fertilizer nourishment evenly. A granular fertilizer will provide more even fertilizer along the tree drip line, more evenly encouraging root growth.

However.

I garden on a Missouri limestone hillside. The chances that my granular fertilizer will stay in place long enough to integrate with the soil in spring during heavy spring rains is pretty low to poor. Even so, I will spend a good day in spring making small trenches around the dwarf fruit trees and giving them a good supply of compost to feed them through the upcoming growing season.

In fall, I hedge my bets by placing fruit tree spikes around my fruit trees. With the ebb and flow of fall temperatures and rain, the fruit spikes will decompose and integrate themselves into the soil. The trees are dormant but these should provide my fruit trees with a good start next spring.

Push the tree spike in next to the weeder, then push into the ground. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

In other words, the tree spikes won’t be carried down the hill in the next fall rain.

I use these mostly for my young dwarf fruit trees. They need all of the help they can get in my garden to get strong roots established so they can grow next spring.

Charlotte

Carrion Flowers

My neighbor Elaine shared a couple of her carrion flowers with me. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Carrion Flowers

If you have a ghoulish bent as a gardener, you probably track when botanical garden corpse flowers finally bloom. Those unusual flowers put off a scent similar to that of rotting bodies. Not one of my favorite flowers but I became fascinated when a neighbor shared a couple of her carrion flowers with me.

Carrion flowers (genus Stapelia),  include about 44 species of succulent plants of the milkweed family, native to tropical areas of southern Africa. They are named for the unpleasant carrion odor of their large flowers which attracts certain insects to pollinate the plants and lay their eggs there. A few species are cultivated as ornamentals.

The one my neighbor shared with me is one of them. What makes them different?

First, they appear to have fur.

The furry water-collecting aspects of a carrion flower. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Secondly, they have a deep center well to collect rain water.

The deep center of carrion flowers collect rain water. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Carrion flowers have thick four-sided grooved stems, often coloured or covered with outgrowths.

The plants lack true leaves but have scales or spines.

The flowers have purple, red, or yellow bars and markings and are often hairy or textured. The colors are typical fall leaf colors, similar to the colors some tree leaves turn when autumn comes.

The fruit is a follicle.

The lovely tiny center of a carrion flower. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So back to the scent. We may not like how it smells but the plant doesn’t care, they are trying to attract pollinators that will help them reproduce. In the case of carrion flowers, they are after attracting the second largest of the pollinators, flies.

I have one more word to say about this flower. Fascinating!

Charlotte

November Gardening Chores

Fall is all about extra garden color, like this lovely plum accent from a pink dogwood. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

November Gardening Chores

Snow was back in the forecast for Halloween this year but we are still waiting for a white dusting in mid-Missouri USDA Hardiness zone 5b/6a. I survived moving all of my potted plants inside but just barely, had to escort the usual hijackers back outside – praying mantis, lizards, several garden spiders.

Now that we are all settled inside, I am still moving potted plants around to give them optimum light conditions. My heat is on so leaves are dropping early, especially the ferns. It’s going to be a long winter.

Tree leaves have also been making their way onto flower beds for mulch and a layer that hopefully decomposes into soil over the next few years. I will be adding wood chips from our local recycling center after the first hard frost.

If you want to plant, or move trees, this is a good time. I prefer planting into final spots in spring so my seedlings are now in pots and heeled into the nursery garden bed. That will give me all winter to decide on their final destination.

Fall is the time to save seeds for next year. Here I am collecting garlic chive seeds. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s been very dry so remember to water. An inch a week is a good measure, especially for woody plants, such as azaleas and evergreens. When watering, check for damaged branches and remove. Once winter ice moves in, the ice will cause more damage than necessary on those weak and damaged limbs. I take pruners with me so I can also trim out suckers and branches that are too long, especially along where I regularly walk. No point in putting that off until later when the ground is covered in ice and snow.

If you haven’t done so already, this is a good time to empty most of your composters. Most likely candidates to get the new rich soil amendment include asparagus and strawberry beds.  I also added compost to my deck pots to get them ready for my next crops. I still have red onions growing so I may scatter some lettuce and spinach seeds.

Still need to mound my rose crowns with 6 inches of soil or so before the first frost. I have mounds of mulch already piled nearby to scatter on the plants after I add a layer of leaf mulch for extra insulation.

My purple coneflowers bloomed well this year so I have trimmed a few seed heads to plant in my nursery bed next year. The rest I leave for winter bird food.

Have grass to mow? You should be on the downside of the mowing season. Make the last cut when you see grass has stopped growing. Let clippings lie where they’ve been cut to restore Nitrogen to the soil. Have fun mowing over the leaves to shred and move them to flower beds.

Don’t forget to stop and enjoy the fall colors. Trees, shrubs and some perennials take on a different color in fall, changing gardens into new, sometimes surprising color palettes. Take note of something you like and plant more next year.

Ok, it can snow now.

Charlotte

Ladybugs Winter Shelter

This is a homemade ladybug house my brother sent me one year for Christmas.

Ladybugs Winter Shelter

My one-acre limestone hillside garden has been chemical-free for decades so I have a pretty busy garden ecosystem that includes native ladybugs. One Christmas my brother sent me a couple of ladybug houses to encourage more ladybugs.

Excited to have the new housing, I did some research to find out how best to set them up. Besides placing them low to the ground, I found out I needed to fill them with leaves, which is where ladybugs like to winter over.

Ladybugs winter over in leaf litter so ladybug houses need leaves inside to encourage tenants.

Now my ladybug house is ready to welcome native ladybugs looking for housing.

One of my neighbors has a house full of ladybugs but it turns out they are not the welcomed kind. She has the Asian ladybugs, a cousin of the native ladybugs. Can you tell the difference?

Native ladybug or Asian ladybug? See the M on the head? This is an Asian lady beetle.

There are more than 400 native ladybugs in North America but they are harder to find as invasive species like Asian ladybugs move in, according to the Xerxes Society.

For more tips on gardening, beekeeping, cooking and easy home decor, subscribe to my weekly Garden Notes.

Charlotte

Bringing Plants Inside

Tropical and potted annuals lining up to get trimmed or moved to the compost pile. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bringing Plants Inside

It is that time of year when I have to go through my tropical and potted plants and make a difficult decision: which ones will spend winter inside and which ones will head to the compost pile.

I confess, this is hard for me. I want to keep all of them, even the scraggly struggling ones, I just know if I had another couple of months I could get them to be full and beautiful again.

And no, the scraggly ones don’t necessarily get tossed. The deciding factor tends to be available space and what lighting the plant needs. If I can’t give it what it requires, I won’t make it struggle for a few months before i have to toss it out, better to do it now.

To get my potted plants ready for the move inside:

1. Trim each plant of excess growth.

2. Check for bugs; treat.

3. Remove top 2 inches of soil; replace with new potting soil.

4. Separate into lighting requirement piles.

5. Clean bottom dish.

6. 6. Add castors to bottom of heavy plants.

7. Shake to remove hitchhikers.

Most of my plants have been with me for a number of years so they have favorite wintering spots already reserved. It’s the newcomers that I struggle with sneaking in, especially if they are small. The larger potted plants can easily take up most of the sunny window space, leaving the shorter plants struggling.

To help the smaller varieties, I use pot stands I pick up during the year. The stands elevate the smaller plants off the ground giving them closer exposure to winter sunlight.

I do - grouse is a good word - as I move furniture and accommodate my green guests. My cats enjoy finding hitchhikers among the branches but I would rather not be greeted by a lizard, or more commonly a frog, sitting on my kitchen counter.

And, wait until that first heavy snowfall when the temperatures are in the single digits and I’m warm and surrounded by flowering greenery. That makes it all worthwhile!

Charlotte

October Gardening Chores

My native dogwoods are turning red, kicking off the display of fall color. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

October Gardening Chores

Looks like we are going to have a long fall again this year. Besides the active sports season, forecasts this year for the peak of fall color are a good 3 weeks behind previous years, although we shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to launch into winter. The winter forecasts are for a rough few months including seven major storms for USDA Hardiness zone 5b/6a.

I am gearing up to winterize my hillside garden, from trimming plants that will be coming inside to mulching flower beds. This year, I am also stashing away items for my winter kitchen.

1. Pick herbs before they have flowered to capture the full flavor. Wait until after they have flowered and cut the new herb sprouts to dry for later use. Except for basil.

2. Besides harvesting, this is the time to freeze extras for later use.

3. Start pruning and checking for any hitchhikers on plants that are coming inside for winter. To cut down on leaf drop, bring plants in a month before turning on the heat, which is usually early October.

4. For single plants in separate pots, consider combining them, watering well and then bringing them inside. Even if they only last for a couple of months, they will help to extend the growing season.

5. Water. Perennials, established trees, evergreens and azaleas need one inch of water a week. Water into the ground so the water hydrates plant roots. Keep watering until our first hard frost. For our part of the country, that usually around Halloween.

My little garden flags help me keep track of passing time. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

6. Stop fertilizing and pruning. Wait until January-February after the plants are dormant and you can better see their form.

7. If you have trees with fungus or other issues, collect those leaves and burn or bury into the ground. I leave most of my leaves on flower beds except for diseased ones, don’t want to spread that fungus. Those I bury in the ground.

8.If you haven’t cleaned up flower beds of spent plants, here’s your last chance to gather seeds. Leave some for the birds, they will eat them over winter. Leave the rest to clean up in spring. By then, most of the greenery will have broken down and become part of the garden mulch.

9. Plant spring bulbs. Add a little bone meal at the bottom of the hole to slowly feed the bulbs. Plant bulbs close together if you don’t mind digging them up in a couple of years to separate. If you would rather not, give them more space in between. Mark where you planted them so you don’t dig them up next year when planting something else.

10. Leave the falling leaves where they are. If you are worried about your grass, run the mower over them. Leaves return Nitrogen to the soil and make a wonderful amendment to flower beds and help retain moisture.

11. Plant trees and bushes; make sure to water daily until frost.

12. Stop long enough to enjoy the beauty of fall as leaves turn, native plants bloom and temperatures turn crisp and cool. A hot cup of tea with fresh honey sounds good about now!

Charlotte

Best Light Show

Missouri Botanical Garden’s Garden Glow changes the garden look. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Best Light Show

If you are looking for something to do through early next year, add Missouri Botanical Garden to your list. Actually it should be on your list all year, it’s one of the world’s renown gardens only an hour or so from mid-Missouri.

The garden, also called Shaw’s Garden after founder Henry Shaw, has a wide range of special events all four seasons through the year, from the Best of Missouri Market coming up next weekend to a model train show around the holidays. That’s not to overlook the gardens themselves from the Japanese Gardens, the Kemper Home Gardens and the seasonal displays of favorites from daffodils to holly.

In fall, Missouri Botanical Garden holds Garden Glow, when the lovely gardens are getting ready for winter and covered in lights. Trees become new shapes; lit paths lead walkers through new imaginary spaces and, the best part of the show, nature adds to the wonder only as nature can do.

As we were walking by one of the light boxes, there she was, a tiny spider weaving her web back and forth in front of the bright spotlights.

At the foot of one of the displays, the best of the garden show. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As my friends and I bent down to get to her level, we watched quite clearly how she spun her web back and forth across the front of the lights. The lights made her new web very clear as she industriously moved her legs back and forth.

We watched a spider spinning her web in front of the lights! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I could have sat there all night watching this spider. Luckily I have my own supply of spiders at home, where I can also watch nature at work.

Charlotte

Saddleback Caterpillars

This was my first meeting with a stinging saddleback caterpillar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Saddleback Caterpillars

Watch the sting!

No, I’m not talking about honey bees, although I have those in spades in my Missouri hillside garden. This sting comes from a tiny, about an inch long caterpillar, knows as the saddleback caterpillar Acharia stimulea because of the brown saddle-like marking on its back.

I happened to brush up against one earlier this fall in my garden as I was pulling out Japanese knotweed. The spots where it brushed me left not only a painful, bee-like sting but raised round welts that lasted a couple of days. The spot on my leg where I brushed against it was also painful.

I didn’t think much about it until later as I was trying to identify this “cute” little caterpillar and came across several warnings about its sting.

We all know before we have moths and butterflies we need to have caterpillars, even one with poisonous spines. This little creature certainly has evolved to protect itself; it has spines all over its body and both ends are marked as heads to throw off aggressors.

Another look at a saddleback caterpillar in my garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The saddleback caterpillar measures about an inch long. It has poisonous spines on four large projections (tubercles) and many smaller ones projecting from the sides of its body. This is not a caterpillar you will want to pick up with your fingers.

The saddleback caterpillar is a general feeder and is found on many plants including apples, asters, blueberries, citrus, corn, dogwoods, elms, grapes, linden, maples, oaks, Prunus species, sunflowers, and viburnums. My garden must be a veritable smorgasbord for them with a couple of exceptions.

The saddleback caterpillar is the beginning of what will become a fuzzy, dark brown moth, which I periodically see around my decks at night. The males show up early evening; the females later at night. Moths are part of our wonderful diverse population of pollinators.

It takes the caterpillar about 5 months to evolve into a moth. I’ve spotted a couple of places in my garden where there is a cocoon under some leaves but I’m going to leave them. Better the fuzzy moth than the prickly caterpillar!

For more tips on gardening, beekeeping, cooking and easy home decor, subscribe to my weekly Garden Notes.

Charlotte

Hummingbird Moth

This lovely hummingbird moth is the end result of the much maligned tobacco hornworm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Hummingbird Moth

Have you seen these lovely little moths in your garden, they look like baby hummingbirds?

They are actually the end result of a much-maligned caterpillar, the tobacco hornworm. I usually have several on my tomato plants but I’m guessing they are succumbing to the impact of neighborhood pesticides as are other pollinators. North American bird populations are down 30% since 1970. Birds depend on insects for their food.

Although I haven’t use pesticides in my Missouri hillside garden for decades, as a master gardener I know many of us overuse these products; don’t read the label and end up killing off other things besides what they originally wanted to eradicate.

It makes me sad.

For many years, I would have a good dozen to two dozen tomato and tobacco hornworms living on a couple of dedicated tomato plants. I would pick them off the tomato plants and give them a couple of set aside tomato plants all to themselves so they would have food as they grow.

Tomato hornworms turn into another pollinator, the lovely large Sphinx moth. Tobacco hornworms, a close cousin, turn into lovely hummingbird moths on my native phlox in the top photo.

What’s the difference?

The tobacco hornworms have 7 stripes down their sides and a curved horn.

Tomato hornworms have 8 stripes and a red horn on their back side.

Lovely tobacco hornworms turn into these beautiful hummingbird moths. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

In the past I have had dozens of hummingbird moths mid summer flitting through my native pink phlox. This year, however, I only spotted a few late spring.

I usually see evidence of their presence first as frass on the ground around the tomato plant.

Frass from a tobacco hornworm consuming tomato plant leaves. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Sometimes its hard to spot the green caterpillars among green stems so I then look for nibbling signs on green tomatoes.

Hornworms feed on green tomatoes as they grow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

By following the nibbled tomato fruit, I can usually find the hornworms close by.

My one tobacco hornworm this year, hopefully eating hearty. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The hornworms eat for about three weeks, then disappear as they pupate and eclose into lovely moths.

To keep myself in tomatoes, I move the chewed on plants back into the fold. When it is time to move plants inside for winter, I bring those tomato plants inside. By then the leaves have grown back and they are ready to fruit.

We don’t have to declare war on hornworms, we can coexist. They are just as valuable to our pollinator cadre of butterflies as Monarchs.

Stop using pesticides and insecticides. Stop maligning tomato and tobacco hornworms, it’s easy to help them and still have tomatoes.

I have been doing it for years.

Charlotte

Learn About Pollinators

Bumblebee on New England Asters are one of the many food pollinators. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Learn About Pollinators

Want to learn how to make a difference about the decline of birds and other pollinators?

Missouri’s Master Pollinator Steward program will be held in Jefferson City, Mo. starting November 4, 2019. The six-course program will be held on Mondays at the Cole County Extension Center and Thursdays at Runge Nature Center from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Cost is $90 per person.

The program includes information on native bees, honey bees,

Online registration is open at http://www.cvent.com/d/xyqh3h. Alternatively, the extension center can take registration. Call 573-634-2824 (M-F 8AM to 4:30PM) or Coleco@missouri.edu (M-F 8AM to 4:30PM).

You can also host a program in your area, here’s how.

I was among the 11 authors who developed this program, which has won national awards and was featured in my April 11, 2019 TEDx talk at Misssouri S&T on why bugs matter. There are things we can all do to make our world a healthier place, this course is a good place to start!

Charlotte

Last Flowers of the Season

New England Asters are still blooming in my garden! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Last Flowers of the Season

For the first year in many years, I have a new flower still blooming after several snow storms and record low temperatures this fall.

I would venture to say the soil where I live in mid-Missouri is finally frozen although I haven’t actually tested it to confirm. After all, the official beginning of winter is only a few days away.

In the past, the last flowers to bloom in the USDA Hardiness zone 5b season were, appropriately enough, forget-me-nots. Those delicate blue flowers have established themselves in several growing beds along my walks. As soon as I see them in bloom, I know the growing season is fading.

This last growing season had a surprise. Even after the forget-me-nots turned to seed the New England Asters were in bloom. At first I thought it was because one group was in a protected area but when I checked two other congregations, they were all still in bloom.

I know they are hardy perennials but surely a good snowstorm, or two, would dampen their blooming enthusiasm.

Not so, they are a little worse for wear but still popping out a few flowers. I love their purple color and hardiness so I picked one little sprig to add to red geraniums now in bloom inside.

Funny how this tiny little bouquet cheers me when I see it every morning, makes me think about red tulips and my hillsides full of bright yellow, cheery daffodils. Spring is just around the corner, isn’t it?!

Charlotte

December Gardening Chores

Find a place to store garden tools where you can easily find them. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

December Gardening Chores

We have had record snow storms and low temperatures already and December is just showing up to the party. The ground where I live in USDA Hardiness zone 5b is still workable so I am hoping the moisture will replenish depleted water tables and still let me do a little last-minute garden work.

 Any broken branches and limbs? Get those trimmed before ice hits, or before someone runs into them visiting for the holidays. You know where they are but people knew to your property are bound to run into them.

 As soon as a hard frost hits, it will be time to mulch. Mulching maintains the soil at an even temperature. During winter, the point of mulching is to keep plants in hibernation. If you still have leaf piles, move those into flower beds, those will also make good mulch.

 To mulch trees, make a well around the tree trunk and leave an area the width of a tire between the tree trunk and the mulch. When mulching, don’t pile mulch up to the trunk or you will create an area for diseases. Leaving a little moat around the tree also reduces girdling.

 Have empty pots, garden carts, rakes leaning against the side of the house? It’s time to clean them off and store them for the season. The rakes, in particular, you don’t want to step on the tines and hit yourself on the side of the head. I have my shovels now hanging from where I usually end up leaving them at the end of a hard day of gardening, easier to find later.

 Leave the dry flowers for now. Birds will eat the seeds and the dry greenery will provide protection for the young shoots growing at the base of the plant.

 Did you plant mums this fall? Remember to water them every couple of weeks this first year. Once they make it through their first winter, mum roots will become established and won’t require regular watering through winter.

 If you saved seeds, this is the time to make sure they are marked and stored in a dry, cool place. Some people store them in a refrigerator. I use an old ice cooler in my garage to keep mice from snacking on the bags through winter.

Still have plants to get in the ground? Bury them in pots then moved to their final place next year. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Still have trees you haven’t planted? There’s still time so get them in the ground and water well.  If you are getting a live Christmas tree, dig the hole now so you can pop it in the ground right after Christmas.

 Let tap water settle overnight before using on house plants. Tap water can be too cold and may have additives that need to evaporate before being exposed to indoor plants. I fill my recycled milk jugs and let them stand overnight before pouring on inside plants.

 Have bulbs ready to bloom through winter? Paper white narcissus, hyacinths and Amaryllis  are all good choices to bloom when it’s cold outside. The first two can also be permanently planted outside and Amaryllis are repeat bloomers.

Make sure to make notes in your garden diary for next year projects, I seem to remember them this time of year as I am putting things away.

Give your gardening friends a gardening-related gift. It almost be winter but gardeners are planners and are already thinking about spring!

Charlotte

They're In My Garden Now: Emerald Ash Borers

Emerald ash borer larvae in ash tree in my garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

They’re In My Garden Now: Emerald Ash Borers

They are now in my garden taking out my ash trees - emerald ash borers. Emerald ash borers Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire are an exotic beetle from Asia that was discovered in North America near Detroit, Michigan in the summer of 2002. The adults look like grasshoppers from the Emerald City in Oz, iridescent green with large black eyes. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage, causing little damage.

The larvae, however, is another story. The immature emerald ash borers feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients, eventually killing the tree.

No one knows for sure but the emerald ash borers probably arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material transported from Asia. It’s suspected they spread by hitchhiking on firewood transported among homes and recreation areas in at least 34 states.

I was working for US Forest Service when it was discovered in southeast Missouri in July 2008 in Wayne County. In September 2013, Missouri’s quarantine expanded to include all 114 counties and the City of St. Louis. The quarantine included not allowing firewood to be brought into Missouri for fear of hitchhiking bugs. It was interesting talking to incoming campers who didn’t understand why they couldn’t bring in their own firewood.

Woodpeckers remove slivers of ash tree bark as they eat larvae. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I didn’t know I had damage to my limestone hillside ash trees until I was walking through my garden checking on what wildflowers were still blooming. As I rounded one of my paths, I saw flecking. Flecking is caused by woodpeckers as they feed on emerald ash borer larvae living under the bark. Feeding starts at the top of the ash trees, where emerald ash borers prefer to settle in first. Woodpeckers will strip the bark to feed on the larvae.

With bees in my garden, insecticides is not an option so my only realistic choice is to cut down the ash trees, which I will be having done shortly.

University of Missouri Extension notes emerald ash borers are similar to Dutch elm disease that killed native American elm trees. This invasive bug is capable of eliminating all ash trees from our forests and cities. This makes it one of the most serious environmental threats now facing North American forests.

Confirmed emerald ash borers since July 24, 2018.

It is expected emerald ash borers will diminish ash trees in Missouri's forests to a very low level. Although ash trees account for just three percent of Missouri’s native forest, the fast-growing shade tree is popular for landscaping. On average, about 14 percent of trees lining streets in urban settings are ash. In some neighborhoods and parks, the figure reaches as high as 30 or 40 percent.

I’m told St. James, Mo. is loosing many of its old ash trees to emerald ash borers. Since its discovery, emerald ash borers have killed trees, created regulatory headaches and cost millions in control measures. It has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in at least 34 states, caused regulatory agencies to enforce quarantines and fines and cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries millions of dollars.

Well, at least we tried to keep them out.

Charlotte

A Touch of Winter

Welcome to snow-covered Bluebird Gardens. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A Touch of Winter

Winter snuck into mid-Missouri earlier than usual fall 2018. Two snow storms, the second dropping 3-4 inches of snow, covered my garden in a lovely fluffy white blanket.

These snow storms inspire some of the quilts I carry including snow in the garden.

Enjoy this peek at my garden covered in snow, no need to bundle up.

Blue bench suggests the color underneath snow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins.)

A compact dwarf plum tree holds onto its green color. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins.)

Pond water doesn’t freeze after the first snow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Cedar trees with a blanket of snow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My honeybees have been tucked in for winter. They cluster during cold weather, eating honey for food and coming out to fly when temperatures are over 45F.

The southern apiary is tucked in for winter. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A birdhouse gets exposed after leaves have fallen. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The view off the west side of my house. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Stay warm, winter isn’t officially here yet!

Charlotte

Learn How to Help Pollinators

One of my honeybees visiting New England Asters. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Learn How to Help Pollinators

Interested in helping pollinators, including honeybees? There is a brand new program in Missouri, indeed it is the first such independent program in the country, designed to help the wide range of Missouri pollinators.. Your local bee club can sponsor the program, get programming for half a year and generate revenue for club operations.

The Missouri Master Pollinator Steward Program officially launched fall of 2018. The six-session program is designed to teach participants about pollinators, why they are important and what participants can do to help them.

Local bee clubs can work with their local University of Missouri Extension offices to request the program in their area; to get class participants registered and to host the sessions, which include hands on activities.

The suggested cost of the program is $90 per person. The recommendation is that $25 goes back to the local bee club; another $25 is a required University of Missouri state fee. The remainder $40 is used to cover expenses like printing and supplies, and any surplus kept by that local University of Missouri Extension office. “Details of how funds will be dispersed is part of the discussion a bee club should have with their respective county extension center council,” according to Jim Quinn, University of Missouri Extension specialist and steering committee member.

For the past three years, the University of Missouri has sponsored a steering committee to develop the Master Pollinator Steward program. The purpose of the program was to capture those 9 out of 10 people who want to help pollinators but don’t want to keep honeybees, the largest of the pollinator groups.

Goldenrod in formal flower bed provides bees fall food. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One out of every three bites of food we eat are pollinated by honeybees.

Lack of plant diversity and poor nutrition sources is one of the four major challenges to keeping bees alive worldwide. The other two are overuse of pesticides and pathogens carried by a tick-like mite called varroa. More than two dozen viruses have been identified that are vectored by the varroa mite, which deplete bees of their immune system.

“It’s been exciting to see this program evolve and to take it out for a test in May,” said former Missouri State Beekeepers Association President Valerie Duever, another working group member. “This program should be a great resource for local bee clubs and other groups interested in helping to restore Missouri’s foraging areas.”

Bees visit flowers to collect pollen and nectar, which becomes honey. Honey is what bees eat to stay alive through winter.

Other steering committee members include Travis Harper and Bob Pierce, MU Extension specialists; Mike Conroy, Sedalia Beekeeping Association; Jim Duever, Boone Regional Beekeeping Association; Bob Lee, Master Naturalist representative; Amber Edwards, Conservationist educator and myself. I helped to author the chapter on honeybees, reviewed some of the other chapters, tracked down photos and came up with hands on activities.

For more information on Missouri’s master pollinator steward program, visit https://extension2.missouri.edu/programs/programs-master-pollinator-steward 

Guidelines on how to set up a Master Pollinator Steward program class are here:http://extension.missouri.edu/pollinator/startup.aspx

A narrated overview of the program that can be used to share it has been posted here: https://youtu.be/0AvESofVLuI

For more information, contact Jim Quinn at quinnja@missouri.edu.

Charlotte

Shredded Leaf Mulch

Shredded Leaf Mulch

If you have a riding lawn mower you can have wonderful shredded leaf mulch. Shredded fall leaves, combined with grass clippings, will make rich soil conditioner that will retain water and return nitrogen into the soil that you can’t buy at any garden center.

This time of year, people are raking fall leaves and bagging shredded ones, then dumping them at our local composting station so let’s look at some options.

A standard pile of drying leaves that haven’t been shredded. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Dried leaves can be good garden mulch provided the leaves are fully dry and not still green, or yellow. The leaves that aren’t dry yet need to be dry before applying to a bed but both can be used if this pile is first run over by a riding lawn mower.

Bunched leaves holding moisture that haven’t bee shredded. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Here is another leaf pile, this from the inside of one of those paper bags. See the black spots on the leaves? I would be tempted to skip this leaf pile, those black spots are an indication of some kind of spores on the leaves I would rather not spread to my garden.

Shredded and unshredded leaves are a good combination. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Now we are getting somewhere, this is a leaf pile with both shredded and regular dry leaves. This combination provides good immediate garden cover with the shredded leaves and will continue to work as the new leaves decompose.

Dry shredded and unshredded leaves combined with grass clippings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A combination of dried leaves with grass clippings will also work as long as there are more dry leaves than clippings. Grass clippings will quickly remove nitrogen from the soil and generate heat so try to keep the mix at least even.

My favorite pile, shredded leaves and clippings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This pile would also make an excellent composter addition, a mixture of both “brown” and “green.”This is the shredded leaf pile I have been bagging and hauling home to add to new garden beds. A combination of shredded dried leaves with maybe a quarter grass clippings. I wear gloves as I pack the bags in case the mulch included poison ivy spores. Even so I still managed to get a long scratch on my right index finger.

I have also been raking my dried leaves in my garden and moving them to cover garden beds but this shredded mix is a real treat for my flowers and one that will keep on giving next year.

Charlotte

Homemade Bird Feeder Covers

Can you guess that this bird feeder top is homemade? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bird Feeder Covers

This doesn’t come under the heading of major world developments but it is an inconvenience for the birds visiting my garden feeders after a good rain, snow and ice storm. My sturdy metal bird feeders are rectangular in shape and don’t have protective covers to keep the seeds dry.

When I checked into the prices for plastic covers, I balked a bit at paying the $59.95 and more per cover. The $60 cover was the least expensive I found. Most of the plastic bird feeder covers were closer to $75 each with some fitting only custom bird feeders.

I headed down to one of my favorite local thrift stores, the Community Partnership Resale Shop, and found three potential bird feeder plastic top candidates for $1 each.

Three possible bird feeder covers to keep seed dry. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two of these bowls started their life as some form of kitchen utensil. The third open wire shape was a hanging basket missing the hanging chains so I thought I could wrap plastic wrap around it if the other two don’t work. If the first two work out, I still have another hanging wire basket so it’s all good.

Using a half-inch drill bit to cut holes, the two plastic bowls were then attached to the top and caulked with what was supposed to be a clear caulk for bathrooms and wet surfaces.

Not exactly a clear caulk but it is keeping water out. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After waiting a couple of days for the caulk to dry clear, I re-attached the bird feeder hanging rings and took them out for a test in the upcoming rain.

One of the plastic bowls now keeping bird seed dry. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So far so good.

The bird feeder tops lift with the plastic bowls attached so I can easily refill them. On closer inspection, the bird seed seems to be staying drier with their plastic umbrellas. Now let’s see how these work over the cold and wet holidays and if the birds get used to their new bird feeder decor.

Squirrels like to visit my bird feeders, too, even with their new tops! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Strange-looking bird!

A wren takes refuge under the bird feeder cover during a snow storm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A sure sign of whether these work was during our first snow storm of the season.

Birds were sitting in the bird feeders taking refuge and getting a snack so I’m ready to say this worked quite well, don’t you think?

Charlotte

This Rose Truly Offers Double Delight

Double Delight hybrid tea rose has a lovely spicy scent. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This Rose Truly Offers Double Delight

I am so enjoying this last rose bud from my garden. This hybrid rose was introduced to the Rose Hall of Fame in the mid-80s and won the All-American Rose award in 1977.

That’s a long time ago and something I missed when buying this rose. I picked it up on sale without knowing what kind of rose it was, not a problem for me because I love surprises.

One of the better growing conditions for roses is sunny days and cool evenings, which we have been having. I didn’t expect to see any roses blooming until I passed this rose bush and saw this bud falling over. The sides had a splash of pink while the bud looked yellow, similar to the colors in this vintage roses twin quilt.

Once in a vase, I had to check for a scent. Wish you could smell this rose, it’s fruity and delicious, just the way one would want a rose scent to be!

Double Delight hybrid tea rosebud a day after I picked it. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Don’t know how much red color the rose bud will have at this stage but I don’t care, my nose will happily spend the rest of the season enjoying this wonderful scent!

The Double Delight hybrid tea rose finally fully open! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once open, the Double Delight hybrid tea rose looks like a creamy white rose and lasts about a week as a cut rose.

Charlotte

Raspberry Cedar Arbor

The raspberry cedar trellis borders the front of a soon to be raised garden bed. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Raspberry Cedar Arbor

Old gardening books recommend growing raspberries in home gardens because they are delicate to move and hard to keep fresh. I decided to grow them because I love the berries and have had some in my garden in the past.

Helping the vines grow in a semi-orderly fashion has not been very - well, pretty. The recommendations are usually to build a flower bed with tall wires or to grow them along a wooden fence. Since I don’t like either, I decided to build a raspberry bed using cut down cedar branches.

I was inspired by my friend Tom’s garden. As a gift last year, he gave me an air compressor with a nail gun, a must to easily shape the cedar branches into fences, arbors and gates.

Frankly the part that takes the most time is cutting and collecting the branches. For several weeks, my pile of cut down cedar branches looked like I was getting ready to start a huge bonfire in the middle of my driveway.

Cut cedar branches in a pile waiting to become garden arbors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

At first I trimmed some of the branches, then decided to wait until after I had them attached. There is a bit of art and a good dab of carpentry skills to not nail my finger with the nail gun but it is not hard to do. I found the most challenging part was choosing cedar branches that best fit the openings between the vertical supports, similar to one of my Irish Chain quilt patterns.

Here is my finished raspberry cedar trellis, now installed in the center of what I have dubbed the “berry patch.” This is one of several beds in the area. Another bed has blueberries.

I started by making the two short sides, about 3 feet long. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Each piece was made to size and separately, then tied together in the actual berry patch.

The large center arch was finished in the berry patch to make sure we had it covered.

Next came the almost 10-foot back fence. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

You can add as few or as many cedar pieces as you want. I left an opening in the top to allow sun through.

This is the other short side of the cedar fence. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My raspberry patch has milk jugs sunk into the soil to help keep the soil moist.

Cedar branches are woven inside the fence border. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Established raspberry plants now wind their way around the cedar arbor. I also added a couple new potted raspberry plants that should fill up the bed nicely next year.

A raspberry now fills the corner of the cedar arbor. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It may take several years before I have berry-producing canes but I don’t mind, I ook forward to watching this berry patch grow!

Charlotte

November Gardening Chores

Bring in favorite herbs to winter over in a sunny window, this is a rosemary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

November Gardening Chores

1. Not the highest item on my November gardening chores list but one I am looking forward to doing, which is getting my gardening books organized all in one place in my renovated basement library.  Even though it’s easy to assume all books are available online, that’s not true, especially the more scholarly horticultural books.

 Other gardening chores for this month include:

 2. Settling potted plants into windows that will give them the light conditions they need. Some potted herbs in particular need good sunlight over winter.

 3. Check the last of the garden center plant sales and bury the plants still in their pots into the ground. Make sure to water and mulch so they will successfully pull through winter.

 4. Dry leaves make good flowerbed mulch. Add a layer of aged mulch on top of leaves to develop a good protective layer.

 5. It’s been very dry so remember to water. An inch a week is a good measure, especially for woody plants, such as azaleas and evergreens. When watering, check for damaged branches and remove. Once winter ice moves in, the ice will cause more damage than necessary on those weak and damaged limbs. I take pruners with me so I can also trim out suckers and branches that are too long, especially along where I regularly walk. No point in putting that off until later when the ground is covered in ice and snow.

If you planted mums, remember to water them every other week through winter so they can get established. I planted this mum last fall and it nicely regrew on its own this year. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

 6. Empty most of your composters on asparagus and strawberry beds. This year I will also feed my new raspberry and blueberry beds.

 7. If you have newly-planted roses, mound 6 inches of soil around rose crowns and add a layer of dry leaves covered in mulch for extra insulation.

 8. If you haven’t saved seeds for next year, split the difference with your local birds and collect half of your seed supply to dry. The other half will give birds a nice winter treat.

 9. You should be on the downside of the mowing season. Make the last cut when you see grass has stopped growing. Let clippings lie where they’ve been cut to restore Nitrogen to the soil. Have fun mowing over the leaves to shred and move them to flower beds.

 10. Did you pull a poinsettia through the year from last Christmas? I have two. They are now sitting in a room that doesn’t get evening light hoping the bracts will turn color in time for this holiday.

 11. Which reminds me, if you want your Christmas cactus to bloom next month, this is a good time to place it with your poinsettia. Mine started blooming in September because they are temporarily staying in my dining room as we finish the basement work. I’m good with the splashes of color any time of the year.

 12. Update your garden diary with what worked well and what you want to try next year. I have found it’s easier to do it now than to try to remember details mid-January.

 Charlotte