Goin' Legal

Goin' Legal

We all know that it is illegal to grow...er...certain plants, right?  But some plants growing in your back yard can get you so...busted....  Not that I am admitting to anything here, but supposed a woman legally purchased a seed to grow a pretty plant to, say, draw because she was a botanical illustrator and curious gardener. And she grew it (hypothetically) and then found out it was illegal!  What is a person to do?

Nope, I am not thinking of the plant you might be thinking of... (of which you might be thinking, to be grammatical?). I am thinking of growing...cotton.  Yes, cotton.  Cotton is a pretty plant in the hibiscus family that just happens to produce a usable fiber in a seed pod structure called a boll.  And there's the rub. Ever hear of the boll weevil?  This nefarious little insect lays eggs on developing cotton bolls and the larva develops inside, ruining the cotton (this historically caused great economic damage to the South).  Virginia is a state that is under the Federal Boll Weevil Eradication Program.  To grow cotton in the state, you need to register, pay a per acre fee and set up boll weevil monitoring traps.  Unless you are like me, and are going to be growing cotton in a pot on your back porch for non-commercial use of that cotton.  In that case, you can easily get a waiver (and boy was that fast) from the state to grow the cotton!

Isn't it a pretty flower?  It matures from cream to pink before it fades.

I love being legal!

Happy Gardening!

No Impatiens?

This is the first I have heard of this, but standard garden impatiens across the US have been significantly killed off by a disease, a downy mildew, that has no treatment!  Thanks to the Great Big Greenhouse (GBGH) for this information:

http://greatbiggreenhouse.com/Garden-Center/Where-Are-The-Impatiens.aspx

The link also includes a list of impatien substitutes.  Though you might find impatiens at other garden centers, the GBGH will not stock them this season. It is my advice to avoid them, at least for this growing season, until growers get a handle on this disease (though fungal diseases are mighty hard to control).  Once you plant infected impatiens, they will likely contaminate the soil for years to come.

Wednesday Lagniappe: A Blog Entry on Hype

This is a nice (and short) organic garden blog entry the discusses the organic gardener versus the chemical garden industry mindset when tending your garden:

http://tendingmygarden.com/what-you-read-is-it-hype-or-right/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Tendingmygardencom+%28tendingmygarden.com%29

It is a reminder for me of caveat emptor, which I will paraphrase as: let the organic buyer beware.  Large garden centers exist to sell you loads of products, including unnecessary, and potentially harmful, chemicals.  How many times have I gone to a large garden center and heard a customer ask a center employee "how do I kill bug X" and they are given a poison spray.  Instead, it seems to me, the questions asked should be "How do I safely control this pest?  What conditions exist in my garden that encourage this pest?  What are the costs of totally eradicating this pest?  Is the problem the pest or, really, the wrong plant in the wrong place/zone?" These questions reflect the organic gardener mindset.
Happy organic gardening!

Huff and Puff? What's THAT in my Grass? Not the Dog Again!

I have found these brown things in my lawn and flower beds from time to time (no, they are not doggie doo).  These particular specimens are from a neighbor's yard.  I am pretty certain these are members of the fungus family and are mature puffballs.  Puffballs are an aptly named fungus.  They are often first noticed when they are an above-ground, roundish ball which, as they mature, often darken and open up, emitting "puffs" of spores by the thousands.  If you have ever picked one of these up, you have probably noticed the powdery spores all over your hands and puffing up into the air.  These spores can cause allergic reactions if inhaled.
What to do about them? There are complex and costly anti-fungal treatments for your lawns, but for puffballs, I just dig 'em up while wearing gloves and gently place them into a plastic bag for disposal.  They have a very tenuous attachment to the soil. The condition that encourages the growth of these interesting non-plant plants (these ancient organisms are genetically closer to animals than plants) is an overly damp lawn (which invites other, more nasty fungal diseases anyway). So, if you must have a lawn, water in the early morning, so the grass has a chance to dry: never water at night. Do not overfeed your lawn- rapid growth is more vulnerable to fungi.  Walk your lawn in early spring and remove any newly forming puffballs.  It is likely you will not have major problems with them in the future.
Happy gardening!

Wednesday Lagniappe: Gardeners' Glossary

Spur

A spur is a hollow sack, sometimes a spike, often tube shaped, in a blossom.  Spurs often carry nectar and are, therefore, considered "nectariferous" (another nifty word to work into a conversation!)

See the spurs on this "Giant Spurred Columbine?"

From: http://www.aliexpress.com/compare/compare-gardener-aquilegia.html

 

See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur_%28botany%29

What Evil Lurks in YOUR Shrubbery?

BAG WORMS

"Nice looking evergreen shrubbery.  Bet ya would hate to lose it"  is what I imagine little bag worms saying to home owners. These caterpillars are a nemesis of evergreens...

This shrub, at first blush, looks OK...

...until you zero in on this thing.

This is  bag worm in its "home."

People sometimes mistake bagworms for some natural part of their evergreen, like a pine cone (they have an upside-down pine cone sort of appearance).  But they contain a destructive caterpillar, one that secretes a gooey substance and builds a "house" of sorts for itself.  Bagworms prefer juniper, arborvitae, spruce, pine, and cedar, but may also attack deciduous trees. A serious infestation can kill a tree, smaller infestations can cause death of portions of the plant,
The best organic remedy is to catch the infestation early, and cut each bag off the plant.  This may be impossible if the plant in question is a large tree.  On this case,  Bt, spinosads and pyrethrins are organic controls, but must be applied in May or June, when larvae are small and susceptible.  After they build their "home" they are less susceptible to pesticides and other controls.  In any case, cut off the bags you can reach before you spray.

Happy gardening!
And Happy St. Pat's Day, the traditional day to plant your peas!

Black Plants

Black Plants

I once went on a rant on garden trends I do not like, and that included all-white gardens (I have moderated my position on that a bit).  I thought it would be fun, however, to have an all-black garden, inspired by a recent post  in the Lewis Ginter Botanical garden blog.   Black flowers and plants are not true black, but they are very dark, usually colored by purple anthocyanins in their cells, compared to their kin.  They are great accent plants, though I find I like them by themselves too!

Originally published in the Richmond Times Dispatch Feb. 12, 2012 and at the Lewis Ginter Garden Blog at: LGBG Blog

Common Name	Botanical Name	Cultivar
Elephant Ear	Colocasia esculenta	‘Black Magic’
Purple False Eranthemum	Pseuderanthemum atropurpureum
Bromeliad	Vriesea vinicolor
Bromeliad		‘Mo Peppa Please’
Other plants:
Common Name	Botanical Name	Cultivar
Ajuga	Ajuga reptans	‘Burgundy Glow’
Ajuga	Ajuga reptans	‘Catlin’s Giant’
Begonia	Begonia	‘Black Fancy’
Rex Begonia	Begonia rex-cultorum
Coleus	Solenostemon	‘Othello’
Coleus	Solenostemon	‘Black Lace’
Coleus	Solenostemon	‘Dark Star’
Coleus	Solenostemon	‘Apocalypse’
Columbine	Aquilegia vulgaris	‘William Guiness’
Columbine	Aquilegia vulgaris	‘Black Barlow’
Coralbell	Heuchera	‘Obsidian’
Coralbell	Heuchera	‘Chocolate Veil’
Cornflowers	Centaurea cyanus	‘Black Boy’
Cornflowers	Centaurea cyanus	‘Black Ball’
Cosmos	Cosmos	‘Chocolate’
Dianthus	Dianthus	‘Sooty’
Elephant Ear	Colocasia	‘Black Magic’
Geranium	Geranium maculatum	‘Espresso’
Geranium	Geranium	‘Mourning Widow’
Geranium	Geranium phaeum	‘Chocolate Chip’
Bronze Fennel	Foeniculum vulgare	‘Purpureum’
Basil	Ocimum basilicum	‘Purple Ruffles’
Hollyhock	Alcea rosea	‘Nigra’
Hollyhock	Alcea rosea var. nigra	‘The Watchman’
Millet	Pennisetum glaucum	‘Purple Majesty’
Moth Orchid	Phalaenopsis	‘Spring Prince’
Lady Slipper Orchid	Paphiopedilum	‘Black Bird’
Black Mondo Grass	Ophiopogon planiscapus	‘Nigrescens’
Purple Fountain Grass	Pennisetum setaceum	‘Rubrum’
Ornamental pepper	Capsicum annuum	‘Black Pearl’
Pansy	Viola x wittrockiana	‘Black Devil’
Pansy	Viola x wittrockiana	‘Black Moon’
Pansy	Viola	‘Bowles Black’
Pansy	Viola x wittrockiana	‘Black Prince’
Pincushion flower	Scabiosa atropurpurea	‘Ace of Spades’
Black Baccara Rose	Rosa	‘Meidebenne’
Dragon’s Blood Sedum	Sedum spurium	‘Schorbuser Blut’
Snapdragon	Antirrhinum majus	‘Black Prince’
Sunflower	Helianthus annuus	‘Moulin Rouge’
Sweet Potato	Ipomoea batatas	‘Blackie’
Tulip	Tulipa	‘Black Parrot’
Tulip	Tulipa	‘Queen of Night’