Visiting Spring Bulbs

Missouri bulbs gifted to my brother in bloom settled into their Virginia flower bed.

Visiting Spring Bulbs

The anticipation was exciting and it had nothing to do with Christmas. My brother in Virginia was doing some garden remodeling and asked if he could send back some of the daffodil bulbs I had gifted him over the years. That way the bulbs could visit "home" for a couple of years and once his new flower beds were ready, the daffodil bulbs could make the trip back to their new garden spot maybe with me in tow. Well, no maybes about it, I will be returning with the bulbs, our family loves nothing more than to spend time together in the garden.

Need you even ask was my original answer. Actually I brought a suitcase full back when I visited earlier in fall and already had those settled in. During that gardening time together, we had discussed whether I should set up a special garden beds for the bulbs.

After much thought, my brother said no, "I'll just go shopping when I'm ready," meaning he will browse my garden and pick out the daffodil bulbs he wants back when he's ready. I suspect he will also be checking out another favorite perennial, day lilies. He’s never been very interested in tulips, and neither have I. Mice tend to snack on the bulbs and most tulips don’t bloom well the second year except for one tiny patch that has now bloomed for several years in a row at the side of my driveway.

I didn't hear much for several weeks. then my sister-in-law broke the news that two boxes were heading my way, and they weighed 70 lbs.

How many bulbs in 70 lbs, I would ask. No one seemed to know including my gardening friend Tom. "Oh, you're in trouble now," was his only answer so I decided not to worry about it until the boxes arrived.

Two boxes of bulbs from Virginia weighing 70 lbs ready to vacation in my Missouri garden.

The boxes were intact and undamaged so I peeked inside the bags. Surprise, there were more than just daffodil bulbs.

The daffodil bulbs had decided to start growing.

Spring bulbs sprouting need to be planted in the ground so roots can keep bulbs fed.

Another bag has iris rhizomes so those will be tucked into a flower bed and heavily mulched until spring. After they get established, they will be moved to their final garden spots next fall.

To plant, I will add compost to the bottom of the planting holes along with bone meal so the bulb roots will have access to nutrients. They already have a head start since all bulbs have roots and some green shoots.

Although the green tops may be nipped once cold weather moves in, the daffodil bulbs should settle in for winter and continue to store food in the bulbs for use when they bloom in spring.

Settling daffodil bulbs in ground mixing soil with compost, then watering after they are covered.

The temperatures for the next week are forecast to be in the 60s so good time to get all of these visitors settled into their temporary accommodations.

Welcome home, daffodils!

Charlotte

Forget Something?

Because some days one just doesn't know what to do with a long white tail.

Margaret Cat Fall Cat Nap

Friends and family know Margaret cat well, she has been my life buddy going on 18 years now. An alumni from the local animal shelter, she was found as a kitten in a cardboard box on the side of a county road with her legs duct taped together so she couldn't get out.

She was smart even then. As the story goes, she saw the shelter dog mascot running around. She figured out how to open her cage so she could get out, too.

I adopted her minutes before she was scheduled to be killed because the animal shelter supervisor didn't like cats and was tired of trying to keep Margaret locked up.

At my house, her inquisitiveness and intelligence is encouraged. If she sees something out of a window, she will come to get me to let me know I should follow her and see what is outside. She wakes me up every morning, is the last one to tuck me in at night.

Margaret is part Siamese, which means she has long legs and that deep voice. And yes, she likes to talk. Sometimes she has a lot to say about life in general, or what the other cats have been doing, especially if I have been gone for any time. In other discussions, she is clear about something she needs, like an ear scratching. She is most eloquent when she decides its time to go outside for a walk around the deck; she prefers that I come with her so she can end the tour sitting in my lap. When I'm running late, she keeps my priorities straight and reminds me to feed her.

This particular day, I was starting to move my deck plants inside for winter. Some are large trees on metal caddies, a messy process dangerous to small animals with dangling appendages who like to stay close to me. Before I started, I tucked Margaret into her favorite napping basket in a sunny window and we discussed the schedule for the rest of the day. Napping was high on the list.

Once I thought she was settled in, I grabbed the broom and started to leave. Something made me turn around. 

That tail.

I suppose if I thought I was a little person in white fur, I might forget I had a tail, too.

Charlotte

November Gardening Chores

Pile falling leaves on flower beds for winter insulation and returning nutrients to the soil.

November Gardening Chores

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 and one baby mouse.

1. Now that we are all settled inside, I am still moving potted plants around to give them optimum light conditions. My heat isn’t on yet so although the first frost for USDA zone 5b is a few weeks away, this should give the plants time to adjust and not drop so many leaves when the furnace kicks on.

2. 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 frost.

3. If you want to plant, or move trees, this is a good time to tackle that job. 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.

4. 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.

5. If you haven’t done so already, this is a good time to empty out most of your composters. Most likely candidates to get the new rich soil amendment includes 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Zinnias are finally in bloom. A bit late but that’s because I planted the seeds late earlier this year. I need to get them in the ground much earlier next year. Other annuals such as impatiens will winter over inside in hanging baskets.

9. Have grass to mow? You should be on the downside of the mowing seasons. 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.

Cut your remaining garden flowers to enjoy in an inside bouquet.

10. All spring-flowering bulbs planted? Me, neither, just found a bag of bone meal to add to the bottom of the holes. Should have all of those in the ground shortly, though!

Charlotte

Mixing Mums

These two mums are keeping the last little pink rose of the season company.

Mixing Mums

One part of my one-acre hillside garden is finally back in order. The flower beds under the driveway retaining wall are getting re-populated with a variety of perennials including chrysanthemums I started earlier this spring.

Several of the mums I planted were also gifts from a gardening friend last fall, colors unknown.

In part of my garden, I planted some starts next to established mums, assuming I would move the starts later. Now I'm not so sure, I love the combination of the white, daisy-like flowers against the deep burgundy ones.

The daisy-like white mums got some burgundy neighbors earlier this year.

Before I had a chance to move the new burgundy mum starts, another clump of mums bloomed downhill. This clump was quite a surprise, a combination of several different colored mums including yellow, orange and pink.

I was going to try to separate them but then decided to leave them. I like the color mix. Besides, the plants are established and I don't want to risk loosing them through another winter.

This combination of three different mum colors formed a mound in one of my lower flower beds.

Around the corner, another nice little colorful combination of pink and yellow.

I was wondering why I was so comfortable with these color combinations when I realized this reminded me of choosing fabrics for some of our custom quilt projects, especially the custom thrown kids clothes quilt. I often walk through my garden to get color-combination-inspired and here was another suggestion, or two...

Another mum combination turned out to be yellow and pink mums growing together.

What a fun idea to mix the mum colors, I may just keep this going. 

In addition to the eye-catching color combinations, now if I want to take a little sprig of flowers, they won't be so missed!

Charlotte

October Gardening Chores

Lots of bulbs to plant this fall, they started in Missouri and are back for a short stay.

October Gardening Chores

This is one of the gardening chores I don’t look forward to, deciding what potted plants come inside for winter. Early in the month it’s time to start pruning and checking for any hitchhikers that may be inadvertently coming inside, too. Welcome to fall, and the gardening chores associated with putting a garden to bed for winter.

To cut down on leaf drop, bring in plants a month before turning on the heat. I tend to wait until a couple of days before hard frost is in the forecast to give my plants as much time outside as possible. Then I have to sweep up dropped leaves for weeks afterwards so don’t do what I do if you don’t like messy plants.

For single plants in separate plants, consider combining them, watering well and the bringing them inside. Even if they only last for a couple of months, they will help to extend the growing season a little longer. Do I sound like I miss my garden over winter? You bet, it's why my house looks like a little jungle mid-January.

If you haven’t been, you need to water. Perennials, evergreens and azaleas need one inch of water a week and we are sorely behind the average. Water with the hose in the ground so the water gets to the roots. Keep watering until our first hard frost. For USDA zone 5d, that is usually around Halloween.

If you have been fertilizing, no more. Also this is not the time to prune anything, wait until January after the plants are dormant.

If you haven’t cleaned up flower beds of spent plants, here’s your last chance to gather seeds. Birds will take the rest after frost. 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.

Last call to bring in fresh herbs: basil, rosemary, parsley, chives and stevia will also easily transition to a sunny, inside window in pots.

Geraniums, coleus, wax begonias, impatiens all will winter over inside if you keep them pinched and bushy. Geraniums will winter over stored in brown bags without soil. Really. I didn’t believe it until I tried it one year. I still prefer to bring them in still in pots so I can coax them to bloom through winter. So hardy, they will, too!

Time to get spring bulbs into the ground. 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 to separate in a couple of years. If you would rather not, give them some space in between. Mark where you planted them.

Dry leaves help to hold in moisture in flower beds so I layer mine with layers of fall leaves followed by winter mulch after the first frost. Right now I am adding the leaf layer. (Photos by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

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. I started planting perennials this summer with holes lined with wet, dry leaves. Worked beautifully!

Charlotte

A Garden of Mums

Mums are the main flowers in this charming garden in my hometown.

A Garden of Mums

When I think of autumn, I think of hot apple cider, fall leaves, sweaters - ok, the list of things I still need to get done before it gets cold - and mums. Chrysanthemums, one of the longest lasting cut flowers there are have become a fall garden staple where I live.

Chrysanthemums are also the foundation for most of the "safe" bug sprays on the market. Pyrethrum, derived from the Pyrethrum daisy, is not so much safe as it is less harmful than other bug sprays on the market. It should be used only as a last resort and kept away from fish and water sources.

So it was with mixed emotions that I accepted several mum plants. I want pollinators coming to my garden, not getting discouraged from visiting. A quick check and it was good, mums repel roaches, ants, Japanese beetles, ticks, silverfish, lice, fleas, bedbugs and spider mites. Nothing about butterflies and bees.

Shortly afterwards, I was driving around town and saw this charming garden - can you count how many mums it has?

A variety of chrysanthemum colors stand out against the grey of the tree trunk.

Impatiens are in the back, adding color but the front of this garden is definitely mum-dominant.

On the right side, a nice combination of mums and impatiens, both adding more color to this front porch.

Love the size of these white chrysanthemums, they remind me of a snowdrift!

When I got home, I walked through my garden to see what mums were blooming. I have several starts that are small and two mums taking over a garden corner where ground cover roses were blooming earlier. One little rose was still peeking through, a last nod to summer.

See the little pink rose in between the two mums?

My mums will never grow as big as those in that charming garden because they have real soil to grown in. My mums are tucked into rock crevices and soil pockets on my hillside but I still enjoy the pop of color they give my fall garden, even if its only a small pop.

Charlotte

Missing Impatiens

All of a sudden, the impatiens bed at the front of my driveway was empty.

Missing Impatiens

I was taking my usual morning stroll through my garden when I was startled to see the flower bed at the front of my driveway empty. Well, not exactly empty, more like missing the sweet impatiens that spent summer there. 

Of all of the flowers beds I have, I spend a little extra effort on this one because it is the entrance to my property. When I was working full time away from home, it was a wonderful sight as I came home to be welcomed by this little splurge of color.

A lovely little stash of pink tulips used to pop up in spring in this spot, until my local deer family decided to have the tulips for a snack. They pulled up the greenery and bulbs and I haven't replaced them yet.

Pink impatiens added color to the flower bed at the entrance to my driveway.

This is how the flower bed looked earlier this summer. The impatiens were added a little late in the season because I bought them on deep markdown. I wasn't sure they would be happy in this flower bed but for the price I thought it was worth a try.

The flower bed received more sun than the traditional impatiens liked. The increased sun kept their size small, which was perfect for the space they had in the flower bed. They would probably do better with less sun on the north side of the property.

So pretty, and they added a nice and much-needed splurge of color.

So what happened?

The first frost of the season got to the impatiens before I dug them up and moved them inside in a pot. I can just hear a friend saying to me "you can't save all of the plants" but I like having flowers blooming inside. I also usually manage to pull impatiens through winter in pots so not getting to these in time was a double loss.

Now I need to patiently wait until next year to add another dab of color to this flower bed. Will be fun to see what strikes my fancy.

Do you try to save annuals inside in pots over winter?

Charlotte

Fall Bulb-Planting Tips

One of my favorite spring flowers, surprise lilies, ready for fall planting.

Fall Bulb-Planting Tips

One of my neighbors waited until January to plant some daffodils and then wondered why they didn't bloom in April.

Some spring bulbs, like tulips and some daffodils, need at least 12 weeks of below freezing temperatures to set their bulbs for blooming so don't wait too long to get bulbs in the ground. This is as much a reminder for me than anyone!

• So to repeat, if you want to ensure spring bulbs bloom, get them in the ground before the end of November.
• No need to buy special bulb-planting tools. Use a small pick ax, good trowel and study pair of gardening gloves.
• Loosen the soil around the edges of the hole so their roots have an easier time of growing. 
• Add bone meal, compost or even a handful of sand from your neighborhood sidewalk. These soil amendments will feed the bulbs and help with root development.
• Water after planting. The faster you can get the bulbs reaching out to the soil, the faster the bulbs will get a good start.
• Make sure you know how deep the bulbs need to be planted. If you plant them too shallow, the flowers will fall over. If you plant too deep, flower stems will be too short. Most packages have a guide on the back or ask the person who shared the bulbs with you.
• Plant bulbs behind plants that will grow later in the season and cover bulb greenery as bulbs collect energy before they die down. And don't mow them down before their leaves turn yellow!
• Plant bulbs in a spot where you can enjoy them.

Ok now excuse me, I have some bulbs I need to get in the ground.

Charlotte

Re-Blooming New England Asters

New England asters are a favorite fall blooms in my Missouri garden.

Re-Blooming New England Asters

With bees in my garden, I added New England asters this year to make sure they have a continuous pollen source through the four seasons.

These asters are perennials and easy to grow. Some people toss them after they bloom and that's a shame because once established, they provide a nice pop of color between the end of summer flowers and the fall tree displays.

To help extend the aster blooming season, remove the dead flower heads. They are easy to spot, they look like brown flowers.

To remove dead blooms, just carefully pinch the flowers off the stem.

Gently pinch the dead flower off the stem. You can start with garden scissors but it is easier to just pinch them.

Once the dead blooms are removed, the plants will generate a second wave of flowers, bringing another hint of blue and purple into your fall garden. 

These asters are blooming again about a month after I removed spent blooms.

Aren't these beautiful? Well worth the extra effort to keep them blooming.

New England asters are easy perennials to add to a garden and come in a variety of colors, primarily purples, blues, burgundies and whites. I picked up several on sale. Don't have a clue what color they are, looking forward to next year's fall blooming surprise!

Charlotte

Cat Napping Spot

Boo Boo likes to watch birds in the bird feeder from his favorite perch, a ceramic bird bath.

Cat Napping Spot

This lovely ceramic bird bath used to spend most of the year in my garden, except for winter. Two years ago, I ran out of room in my garage so I snuck the bird bath into my living room to store through the cold months.

I liked seeing it every morning as I bundled up for work, a promise that warmer weather was going to arrive.

I grew up in South America and still struggle with appreciating all of the virtues of winter. I do enjoy some, especially the wearing hats and gloves part. I also like the time to dream about next year's garden, reviewing notes from last year and making new lists for the new year.

One morning as I headed out the door, I did a double-take. There smack dab in the middle of the bird bath was my little Presbyterian cat, Boo Boo Bartholomew. Someone had dumped him in the church's parking lot. He climbed into my car one morning as I was leaving and trying not to run over him. He's been at my house ever since.

And this morning, he was curled up in the bird bath, purring away. I had left a towel on it the night before so he had his own comfortable bedding. The bird bath is right inside the front window where a bird feeder sits, perfect cat entertainment. When I called to him, one paw stretched across the bird bath rim; he kept his eyes closed. He must have been ver-y comfortable.

Cats have a way of making themselves comfortable, don't they. 

So if you have garden decor that needs to winter over, don't overlook bringing it inside and making it part of your home decor, at least for a season. Great way to store them and still enjoy them.

Charlotte

Bug-Busting Mums

Chrysanthemums, or mums, not only add color to our fall gardens but help with bug control.

Bug-Busting Mums

Do you have a mum in your garden? Have you looked at it closely?

Go ahead, take a peek. I will wait.

What did you see?

Ok, so the flowers are starting to fade on one side. And yes, most of us need to water our mums more than we do. See anything else?

That’s my point, no bugs. Although we tend to only enjoy the beauty of mums in fall, chrysanthemums are the source of a popular bug repellent. When we buy “natural” bug spray with pyrethrins, we are essentially buying “Eau de Mum.”

Mums do not provide insecticidal services simply by growing in our gardens. Their compounds, collectively known as pyrethrins, are only available when freshly plucked flowers are dried and powdered, and their oils then extracted. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, there are currently more than 2,000 registered pesticide products on the market that include pyrethrins.

How Pyrethrins Work on Bugs

Natural pyrethrins are neurotoxins, or contact poisons, which quickly penetrate the insect’s nerve system. A few minutes after application, the insect cannot move or fly away. The natural pyrethrins are swiftly detoxified by enzymes in the insect so some pests will recover. To delay the enzyme action so a lethal dose is assured, manufacturers add organophosphates, carbamates, or synergists.

Synergists enhance the insecticidal activity of the pyrethrins. The synergists also prevent some enzymes from breaking down the pyrethrins, maintaining their efficacy as a bug deterrent.

The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry notes on their website pyrethrum was first recognized as having insecticidal properties around 1800 in Asia and was used to kill ticks and various insects such as fleas and mosquitos.

Six individual chemicals have active insecticidal properties in the pyrethrum extract. These compounds are called pyrethrins. Pyrethrum looks like a tan-colored dust as ground flowers or a syrupy liquid as the crude extract. Pyrethrins are only slightly soluble in water, but they dissolve in organic solvents like alcohol, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and kerosene.

Pyrethrins are often used in household insecticides and products to control insects on pets or livestock. Pyrethrins break down quickly in the environment, especially when exposed to natural sunlight.

Pyrethroids are manufactured chemicals that are very similar in structure to the pyrethrins, but are often more toxic to insects, as well as to mammals, and last longer in the environment than pyrethrins. More than 1,000 synthetic pyrethroids have been developed, but less than a dozen of them are currently used in the United States.

As usual, read the fine print on labels so you know what you are using before you apply it.

Mums are a veritable arsenal against non-welcome bugs: mosquitos, roaches, ants, Japanese beetles, ticks, silverfish, lice, fleas, bedbugs, spider mites, harlequin bugs and root-knot nematodes. 

Keep mums blooming in fall by pinching off old flowers so new buds form, I pinched this mum about a month ago. You can also pinch mums weekly spring through July 4 to keep their traditional mounded shape.

Using Mums in Our Gardens for Pest Control

Planting mums in our gardens can ward off insects. To use mums for pest control, plant them about 1 to 1½ feet from the plants you wish to protect.

If you are more of a linear gardener, plant mums in a row or as a border.

Remember to water your newly-planted mums through winter. Once established, mums are perennials and will keep bugs away for many years to come.

Charlotte

Gorgeous Garlic Chives

Transplanted garlic chives blooming beautifully in my Missouri garden.

Gorgeous Garlic Chives

I don’t mean to brag but I thought I was familiar with most culinary herbs until I found these little bunches of onion-like plants in a neighbor’s garden. Without knowing what they were, I dug up as many as I could and moved them to my garden, planting them along flower borders so I could watch them during the growing season.

So many weeds we have growing in our ditches are herbs that are no longer loved and appreciated. It is a shame since many of them have as much, if not more, health benefits as plants we buy in grocery stores.

Turns out the plants I dug up are garlic chives, a very common herb used in Asian cuisine and quickly developing fans around the rest of the world.

Garlic chives belong to the chive family of onions. The family has two branches, onions and chives. The chive-like leaves add a garlic flavor to any dish, a nice option when one doesn’t have real garlic.

The plants grow about 12-inches high. They prefer a rich moist soil with sun and, once established, easily spread through self-sowing.

The green leaves of garlic chives can be cut and added to salads and dishes.

The leaves look like regular chives, only instead of being hollow tubes like regular chives garlic chives are flat. Both seem to grow about the same size.

I have them planted as flower bed border plants, more so that I could see them when they bloomed and I could confirm the identification.

Garlic chives make wonderful border plants.

Garlic Chives Healthy Benefits

t is interesting to see how herbs were used for medicine. In the case of garlic chives, they allegedly reduce stress and fatigue. Paste of the herb supposedly heals wounds faster and stops bleeding. It was also used in the treatment of liver, kidney and digestion problems.

More to the point, garlic chives can be used in soups, sauces, salads, egg dishes – wherever you like to use garlic but don’t have any available. If for some reason you can’t eat garlic, garlic chives are a good way to add the garlic flavor without any related issues.

Garlic chives are rich in vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium, iron, vitamin A, thiamin and betacarotene. These elements help maintain blood pressure and increase a body’s immunity.

Garlic chives are also low in fat and have a high content of dietary fiber and protein. According to Frank Tozer, who wrote the Uses of Wild Plants, it also helps to maintain a balanced metabolism.

A macro lens closeup of garlic chive flowers.

If you look at the white garlic chive flowers closely, they look very similar to wild onion flowers, which bloom in late spring. When trying to tell the difference between the two, wild onion leaves are tubular while garlic chives are flat.

Natural Pest Deterrent

Another advantage of garlic chives is they are supposed to deter pests such as Japanese beetles, black spot on roses, scab on apples and mildew on cucurbits. I will move a few around next spring to increase my natural bug repelling efforts.

I have used both garlic chive flower stems and cut up leaves in salads and can’t tell a difference between the two, they both add a nice garlic flavor.

Wild onions and garlic were a Native American food staple. Bulbs were gathered in large quantities for winter use. Whole bulbs were roasted in fire pits, something we can duplicate by wrapping bulbs in aluminum foil and baking in a 350-F oven, or the ashes of a fire, for 45 minutes.

Native Americans also used wild onions and garlic as insect repellants, simply smearing them on their skin. I have heard alleged garlic cloves repel vampires but I am sure smearing garlic all over will repel people.

Charlotte

Not Forget Me Nots

Not Forget Me Nots

I was walking through my garden when I spotted a little dash of blue.

Spotting the first of several patches of Blue boneset in bloom at Bluebird Gardens.

The tell-tale sign of what I found was there, the tiny blue flowers that look like tiny puff balls with spiky hair. These are not forget-me-nots, which is how I first identified them many, many years ago, but a blue boneset, also called wild ageratum and more commonly referred to as a mist flower.

Fall-Blooming Missouri Wildflower

This native Missouri wildflower is part of the daisy family and blooms July through October. The usually grow along ditches, lakes, streams and any moist low areas according to Edgar Denison, Missouri Wildflowers.

Under cultivation, it spreads rapidly with an interwoven mass of roots and can be highly aggressive. One of the advantages of gardening on a limestone hillside is that some aggressive plants have a hard time of it. This little patch of Wild ageratum has been in the same spot for years with little expansion.

If I would make a note of it, I could trim them in summer next year and they would grow into more of a bush shape but I like being surprised finding them growing as they will.

Wild ageratum at Bluebird Gardens, one of the last flowers to bloom before season's end.

Favorite Pollinator Plant

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, butterflies, skippers, and bees are strongly attracted to the flowers. Other insects eat the foliage. Not many mammals eat this plant because of its bitter taste.

End of the Season

Wild ageratums are the last flowers to bloom in my garden. Since I mis-identified them to begin with, I still think of them as forget me nots and my reminder to take notes about what went well in this year's garden so I can get better prepared for next year.

Charlotte

Last Scented Pink Rose

The last scented tea rose for the season from my garden.

Last Scented Pink Rose

This little scented tea rose has been in my garden for at least a decade. It's nothing impressive, you would probably walk by the plant if you were visiting my garden.

I, however, have her planted close to the walkway so that when the plant blooms, one does not miss the scent of the sweet, old-fashioned rose. These flowers remind me of David Austen roses although I don't have any proof of the pedigree. I tend to buy plants on sale and this one didn't have a tag when I brought it home.

The last rose of the season was waiting for me when I returned home late September. It was a lovely gift, not a bug mark or black spot on the leaves, the flower in perfect bud form.

I carefully cut the stem above a 5-leaf node and brought it inside to keep me company in my den. By morning, the bud was open but the flower was too heavy for the stem.

I clipped the drooping flower head to an orchid support with a clip to hold it up.

Taking a tip from my moth orchids, I borrowed a stick and clipped the flower to the stick so I can enjoy not only the flower, but the scent as well.

No orchid pins? Use those little hair clip pins, they are made the same way and in similar sizes, available at any hair supplies section. They are sold on little cardboard slips, usually six on each cardboard piece.

This would work well for a number of droopy flowers, especially peonies. Clip the rod to the back of the flower so that it is not obvious the flower is clipped. I left it longer in the pictures so you can see how it works.

Scented tea rose keeps my little potted orchid in my den company.

Don't they look like they are getting along quite nicely?

Charlotte

University of Missouri Extension Fruit Growing Guides

University of Missouri Extension Fruit Growing Guides

I clearly remember keeping the Fruit Experiment Station representative two hours after the scheduled end of our master gardener class. We had a lot of questions about how to raise a variety of fruit in Missouri's growing conditions, and the speaker seemed quite happy to entertain our questions, and stories.

Some time after that class, I was at my local University of Missouri Extension office and found a nice variety of pamphlets on growing fruit in Missouri: from blueberries to raspberries, the paper pamphlets were available for a nominal fee, varying from 50 cents to $2. 

You bet I took them all, they are part of my winter reading assignment to make sure I am following the best practices in my garden. I still dream of the day when I can step out into my garden and pick a variety of my own fruit. I have had good luck with my semi-dwarf pear tree, only 30 years after I first planted it. I had given up on seeing any fruit until wasps moved into some of my birdhouses and started pollinating the blooms. So exciting to finally see pears on that tree!

My compact peaches and nectarines have borne fruit within the first couple of years, but I don't always beat the squirrels to the fruit.

I have blueberries, raspberries and blackberries planted as well but haven't seen fruit yet. I have added wood chips to mulch the blueberries and blackberries to acidify their soil. I need to have a chat with my raspberry patch, the plants have literally taken over one of my raised beds. I wouldn't mind so much if they had fruited but not so far.

Maybe next year.

Charlotte

September Garden Chores

If you don't store your terra cotta pots, they will end up peeling off like this one or worse, broken.

September Garden Chores

Welcome, fall, a season when gardeners try to get a head start on next year. At least I do!

The following are my September garden chores, in no particular order:

1.     Get plants ready to bring inside. Trim off extra growth to reshape your plants into a manageable inside size. Spray with dishwashing liquid drops in water to remove hitchhikers. Determine good lighting spots inside your house for the plant needs.

2.     Plant trees. Make sure to check how big the tree will get when mature and select an appropriate location for that size. I have a compact apple tree I need to move because the tree is now growing in front of a bay window. Guess the root grafting didn’t quite take! Also dig the hole at least twice the size of the root ball, it does make a difference.

3.   Plant garlic. Get garlic bulbs at local garden centers or clean out your refrigerator crisper. Divide the garlic bulbs and get them planted before the first frost. You should have garlic for cooking next year.

4.   Harvest your bounty. It has been a late season for my tomatoes, onions and peppers this year but there is still time to harvest and store for winter. I freeze some of my bounty in plastic bags for soup-making later.

5. Weed and mulch your garden beds. If you weed now, you can remove plants with seeds and hopefully reduce next year’s weeds. Compost those plants after removing seed heads. Mulch your garden bed: hay, cardboard, grass clippings, non-treated wood chips all work well to amend your soil.

6. Make note of what you grew where. The general rule of thumb is to not plant the same thing in the same spot for more than 2 years in a row.

7. Wash, clean and store pots. You don’t want to harbor bugs or diseases so wash out plant pots before storing. It’s also a nice way to get a head start on spring planting.

8. Stop fertilizing roses. Trim them and mulch.

9. Cut and freeze herbs so you will have them for use this winter.

What garden chores do you like to do in September?

Charlotte

Why Leaves Change Color

Why Leaves Change Color

Having grown up in South America on the Equator, where the “seasons” are rain or shine, I can still remember the delight of seeing my first fall in North America. We were visiting friends the Midwest.  It was the peak of fall colors, the farm countryside covered in peachy sugar maples, red dogwoods, yellow hickories and orange brown oaks. Until we moved back years later, I thought trees in North America were different colors all year around.

Tree leaves, such as these red dogwood tree leaves, do have different colors. We just don’t see them until a change in light and temperature triggers the decline of green chlorophyll to let colors shine through.

Why Leaves Change Color

Leaves are fascinating solar-powered factories that produce most of the food trees need. Leaves contain chlorophyll, which absorbs sunlight and turns carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch.

Hidden in those leaves are yellow to orange pigments, which also give carrots and pumpkins their color. 

In fall, changes in daylight and temperature signal trees to stop producing food. Chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible.

In fall, trees in my garden turn a variety of colors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

How Leaves Turn

As leaves undergo other chemical changes, additional colors appear, such as red anthocyanin pigments. Those pigments give leaves their reddish to purplish colors, while sugar maples show peach and orange. All these colors are due to the mixing of varying amounts of chlorophyll residue and other leaf pigments.

Temperature, light, and water supply have an influence on the degree and duration of fall color. Low temperatures above freezing will favor trees producing anthocyanin. Early frost will weaken the brilliant red color. Rainy and overcast days sometimes increase fall color intensity.

Rainy days can also mark the immediate end of fall colors when wind blows leaves off.

Charlotte