Missouri Native Poinsettias

Fire on the Mountain, or wild poinsettia, growing in my hillside garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Missouri Native Poinsettias

You have probably walked by them a number of times as I have. They tend to grow with other Missouri native flowers such as dayflowers. I have stopped to get a closer look, then decided it’s not possible that a native of Mexico would be related to something growing in mid-Missouri. If you haven’t seen poinsettias at your local home and garden, you will soon, the Mexican native is a favorite holiday plant for its colorful leaves. The flowers are actually the small yellow centers.

Typical holiday poinsettias that originated in Mexico. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Turns out I was wrong.

There are actually two Missouri native plants related to that Mexican poinsettia that do grow in Missouri. The first is commonly known as toothed spurge or green poinsettia (Euphorbia dentata). It is an annual, with toothed leaves and hairy stems. Its leafy bracts are green or white at the base. The flowers are the green round items in the center of the bracts. It grows in full sun and mesic to dry conditions.

The second is commonly known as Fire on the Mountain or wild poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora.) It is an annual as well with thinner leaves. It has red toward the base of the bracts and prefers sun and a moister soil.

Both of these plants are members of the Spurge family and are considered herbs.

Bees, wasps and butterflies visit them for their nectar. The sphinx moth eats the leaves of the plants. Toothed spurge is considered a weed by Missouri Extension as it often appears in pastured where it is not welcome.

How about that!

Charlotte

Such a Heel!

The start of heeling in some potted plants for winter. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Such a Heel!

Almost like clockwork I have this conversation with myself. It’s usually when the soil is warm enough again to work, or when I am wrestling an overgrown plant still sitting in my make shift nursery.

Self, I say, I thought you said we weren’t going to do this again this year. That’s right, I will say to my self, we did but time got away from me. And off I will go to inventory what is in the nursery and where it should be planted in my Missouri hillside garden.

The saving grace is heeling the plants into my nursery. I don’t call it a make shift one anymore, it’s been there now for several years and, based on this year’s additions, may be there for awhile longer. I like it as a nursery because it’s easy to get to, has shade in the morning and some sun afternoons. Better yet, it’s full of mulch so it’s easy to make my trenches.

I did make an attempt this year to not end the growing season with plants still in pots. What was left are plants that could use another year of pot growing - tree peonies, a few native Missouri shrubs, a native cherry tree I didn’t have the heart to toss. The one remaining elderberry was plopped into the ground on the last day of fall temperatures in the 60s. I had the spot picked out months ago, just didn’t get to dragging the big pot to the spot.

So heeling plants in was designed for gardeners like me. It’s a simple way to get planted, or bare rooted plants, through winter without planting them in their permanent spots. I have been heeling in potted plants although you can also get bare rooted plants through winter with this as well.

If bare rooted, make sure the plants are well-hydrated. I leave them in a small pond to absorb water for a day before tucking them in.

Pink blueberries purchased on sale are spending winter in my nursery. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Potted plants can be plopped in just as they are although I do give them a long drink of water as well.

Next, build a nice trench as deep and wide as the pots. Add the pots at an angle and cover them with soil. I also dump a load of mulch on top to give them an extra blanket. If planting bare root plants, also place them horizontal to the ground with their roots tucked at an angle. Cover.

On the next warm day, check that they have moisture but don’t disturb until you plan to move them to their final spot.

Now in the past, my blackberries, a pot of strawberries and a wisteria have taken matters into their own leaves and sprouted new plants outside their pots. I did mention that I have left a couple of plants in the nursery too long, haven’t I?

I was fine with the extra blackberries but now I am wondering about planting the wisteria. I would rather not have a repeat of the trumpet vines I planted several decades ago and now spend a slice of spring trying to remove.

Besides running out of time, heeling in works well for those end of season plant sales when you pick up some starts at excellent prices. As long as they have been outside all season, they should do well settling into your well-heeled plant nursery.

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.

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!

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

Fiddle De Dee Fig

This fiddle leaf fig has spent the last year or so in my basement. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Fiddle Dee Dee Fig Philodendron

I had mixed feelings seeing this old friend leave. It was one of a couple of plants our local recreation center re-homed a year ago when they used the community lounge room for extra stationary bicycles.

These plants had been living on the south side of the room with a huge glass wall giving them sun exposure all year around. When the lounge was converted to exercise bicycles, the plants were in the way and needed to be moved.

The original offer was that these plants were being given away. I love having plants in my home, especially during winter when it’s cold outside and I am still surrounded by plants. I at least can pretend it’s not that cold.

However as my handyman and I picked the large tropical plants up, the recreation center employee who cares for the plants asked if she could get two of them back later and I agreed. She wanted: a sago palm, which I don’t mind returning because the leaves are prickly and need undisturbed space, and the fiddle fig philodendron (in photo).

Both plants spent a cozy winter inside my house. The tropical sego palm had a spot in my den where it could visit with a couple of tropical grapefruit trees. If you have read “The Hidden Lives of Trees” you may have second thoughts about our relationship with trees. I suspect they had some interesting - exchanges - when I wasn’t around.

The fiddle fig spent winter in my torn up basement, the huge draping leaves giving my cats a fun place to hide when playing. I also enjoyed having the large spot of green in the middle of the stark, empty space, it warmed up the rooms while I waited for the work to begin. I like spending winter there, I have my books handy and a nice stash of lap quilts to keep warm.

Once the basement was finished, though, it was time for the fiddle fig to find other accommodations. Luckily about the same time our recreation center moved the exercise equipment out and returned the fireplace lounge back to community use. When I heard from the Mayor that he wanted to encourage people to use the space, I reminded the recreation center staff that I still had the two plants. They will definitely help warm up the space.

Two recreation center employees came by September 19, 2019 to pick up the plants and return them to their spot in the lounge.

The sago palm was easy; it took some muscle to get the fiddle fig back up my limestone hill.

Fiddle headed back up the stairs to return to our local recreation center. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once lifted up the 12 steps - yes, we all counted - the fiddle fig was in the back of the pick up truck.

I enjoyed having this interesting philodendron around. The leaves are huge and I could always count on a few hiding a cat or two waiting to play hide and seek. The leaves are long and it has roots that sometime seek light by springing out from the center.

But now that the basement is finished, there isn’t room for this sprawling, growing plant so time to go home. k I was promised visitation rights.

Here is it, slowly on its way back to its original home. I was assured they would not be driving fast and tearing up the leaves in the process.

And off it goes, back to the community lounge where it originally lived. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I think we are moving them back at just the right time. Temperatures should start to cool off as we leave summer behind, and hopefully the punishing weather as well.

I will stop in next week to see that they are nicely settled in.

In the meantime, happy fall.

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

Stump Garden Seat

Cedar stump seat under my whimsical arch to nowhere. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Stump Garden Seat

I’ve had a love affair with re-using tree stumps every since I can remember. When I had to cut a couple of dead trees out of my hillside garden, I had them cut the stumps to a table height so I can use them as handy surfaces. My old herb garden had a wooden seat with two tree stumps for the base.

So it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that my whimsical arbor that goes nowhere now has a huge cedar tree stump underneath it as a resting area with a smaller piece of cedar as the seat.

This all started when I was visiting our local recycling center and spotted the cut down cedar stump. I couldn’t get it into my car but a young man dropping off tree limbs volunteered to load it for me. Right next to the stump was another, smaller cedar piece in the same shape as the stump so I brought both home.

Testing the smaller cedar piece on the cedar stump for a seat. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once home, my handyman moved it to the final location. After testing it out for several days, we settled on how the base would be oriented. The top cedar piece had to be shimmed underneath to make it level with the bottom cedar piece and the leaning hillside.

When the top piece was finally settled, we added the top with screws I tried to cover with wood filler. Not all screws went into the wood low enough for filler so you an still see a couple of them.

If this tree piece could talk! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

There are several amazing things about the seat. In addition to seeing the holes bugs left, the rings clearly show how old this cedar tree had been, more than 100 years old.

Rings in the cedar stump mark the age of the tree. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I didn’t want the elements to speed up the decomposing so I searched for a product that would help protect the seat.

No advertising here, this is the product I found through Amazon. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Enter Rustoleum with their two-step process to protect materials from water. What attracted me to use this was the water beading on the grey center photo on their marketing information.

It takes two different sprays to protect the cedar tree stump.

Here is the seat after the base spray was added and yes, there was a little gray spot on the edge of the cedar seat:

After waiting at least 30 minutes, then I sprayed the second finishing spray.

The wood treatment leaves a hazy film but it repels water. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Not sure I like the milky look to the wood but it does seem to repel water and give it some protection from the elements. Not to mention once I wipe it off, it keeps the seat of my pants from getting wet!

Rain beads up on the cedar stump top now that it has been treated. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Now it is ready to welcome garden visitors including butterflies and me who may want to sit down and enjoy the garden view from this vantage point.

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

Missing Gardening Pick Ax

Do you see it hiding in the leaves and vinca? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Missing Gardening Pick Ax

I garden on a Missouri limestone hill which means my main gardening tool is a pick ax. And a good set of sturdy boots.

When my last pick ax literally fell apart, I bought a new, improved one with a plastic handle and a weight I could better manage. The only problem was the handle was green, which meant as soon as I set it aside in the garden I couldn’t find it.

Enter my handyman who said he could fix that and sprayed the plastic handle a bright red. Now you should be able to find it wherever you leave it in the garden.

The next day as I was cleaning up, no pick ax ANYwhere!

Back track your steps and see if you can find it where you were working earlier, my handyman suggested. I did. Several times. Nothing.

Then earlier today, I saw it. Actually I saw the bottom of the pick ax sticking out next to a tree where I must have left it. And was it the red that caught my eye?

No, it was the original green still visible on the pick ax bottom.

The bottom of the pick ax stood out among the greenery. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Reminds me of my missing green claw glove that’s still somewhere in the garden. The claw gloves are also mainly green with black tips but now I’m wondering if painting them will make any difference in terms of finding them.

This pick ax was painted red all over!

My newly-painted gardening pick ax for easy spotting. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Well, it’s back and now with hard frosts killing off most of the greenery, I should be able to more easily spot it - at least until next spring.

Charlotte

Too Hot to Handle

My leftover mulch pile, almost moved into the garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Too Hot to Handle

Mulching is as much a science as it is art. A landscaping friend used to say mulch was his best friend and garden tool, an easy way to finish off a garden project, hide unsightly landscaped areas and make a garden design look finished.

I like mulch for other reasons. Gardening on the side of a limestone hill, shredded tree bark makes for decomposing matter that quickly turns into planting areas. The key, though, is knowing when and where to use it.

When a friend first started bringing me mulch, I used it to cover and even out paths so that I could more easily navigate through my terraced garden beds. To make sure plants next to the mulch were not burned, I added cardboard first. Then newly-cut mulch, which still is generating heat, was added to help squelch unwanted plants.

My small piles of mulch come from the mother load, huge hills of chipped trees, leaves and branches dropped off at our local composting station up the hill from the recycling center.

Newly-chipped mulched at our local recycling center. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

During the growing season May-October, a loader on Wednesdays scoops the mulch and adds it to the back of trucks and trailers. My gardening buddy Tom is particular about which pile his and my mulch comes from but sometimes the on site loader makes the choice. This year, Tom warned me one of my loads might be extra hot because the mulch mounds at the composting station were literally smoking most of summer.

Curious about what that looked like, I drove by to take a peek.

New mulch pile literally smoking. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Several times when I pulled into the composting area, a fire truck was pulling out so apparently the fire department was also keeping an eye on the smoldering mulch pile.

The point of sharing this is that if you put brand new chipped mulch that is still hot on flower beds, that heat will kill the plants so make sure the mulch is no longer smoking and is cool before it is applied to growing areas.

When I suspect my mulch pile is still hot, I spread it out thinly so that it cools off before I apply it to my flower beds. A good rain, and letting the pile sit over winter, are also good ways to make sure the mulch won’t be too hot to add to flower beds.

Mulch after smoldering most of this past summer. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you have any area that you want to clear of unwanted growth, then this hot mulch is the ticket.

Just make sure you are applying the right mulch to the correct location for the result you want to have in your garden.

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