Early Fall on the Cumberland Plateu

Here are a few beauties from the Fiery Gizzard trail, near Foster Falls in Grundy County Tennessee.

 I think this is Callicarpa americana, the native Beautyberry.

 Some pretty colors and mushroom.

 Field flowers above the falls.

More plants that are sort of not-plants.

 The Fiery Gizzard trail, along the southeastern end, is littered with the huge paper like leaves of the native deciduous Magnolia. There are many mushrooms emerging and rhododendrons covering the hillsides. Asters are blooming as well. Fall yields up an abundance of beauty in Tennessee woodlands.

Heat Lovers

For the hot summer days, we get rewarded with a host of beautiful blooms including these:


Ascelpias Tuberosa, Butterfly Weed.

Echinacea 'Sombrero', hosting a black butterfly.

Tickseed (Coreopsis) "Route 66", a lover of heat and sun.

Bear's Breeches (Acanthus mollis) likes partial sun, and I think prefers a slightly alkaline soil and decent drainage.

Echinacea, as most of us know by now, includes the native Echinaceas  purpurea and tennesseensis - the purple coneflowers, and slew of cultivars of crazy bright colors in the white/yellow/orange/red ranges. They grow in full hot sun, don't want extra water, and have not too many problems. The natives grow about 3 feet tall, the cultivars come in all sizes.

Butterfly Weed, part of the milkweed genus, is both a wild and cultivated sun-lover. Best in full-sun, not excess water. It grows about 18 inches high and blooms mid/late summer with a bright orange clusters. It doesnt transplant well but I have saved the seed and started plants.  Be patient in the spring as it really waits for very warm weather before emerging from the ground. I leave a marker at its home spot in my garden so I know where it will be each year. There are cultivars to be obtained as well, but I like the native so much, it's all I want.

Coreopsis is a great sun-lover that is pretty easy care. It doesn't need a lot of water,and blooms most of the summer. Sometimes they can get a little floppy, so may need staking or some friends nearby to crowd them into standing up. They are daisy-like blooms with the cultivars available in yellows, reds, whites and oranges. A fantastic starter is "Jethro Tull" with its appealing cupped bright orange petals.

None of these get supplemental watering in my yard, unless we go through a two or three week drought.

Zone Detour: The Tropics

The Cayman Islands, a British overseas colony, are a group of 3 small islands in the western Caribbean. They have a tropical marine climate. I visited Grand Cayman, an island of about 100 square miles. I was able to visit a private garden, observe naturalized plantings and visit the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, which not only has lovely flora on display but is home to a breeding and conservation effort for the native Cayman Blue Iguana - endangered and found only on the island of Grand Cayman.
 The creature is in fact blue, or brownish and blue depending on how long it may have been sitting in the sun; as it warms up, more of the blue colors emerge. The largest one we saw was about 2 1/2 feet long.
I do not have identifying information for many of the plants pictured here...my knowledge of tropical plants is very limited, and at the QEII park, there was only partial tagging. Beautiful none the less.

First, photos from the QEII Botanical Park (all photos, credit: Louise Zepp):

Zone Detour: The Tropics, part 2

Second part of my visit to Grand Cayman. I did visit much of the island, including Georgetown, West Bay, BoddenTown/East End.

A legume, with caterpillar, growing near a beach.

Orchid, growing on tree trunk, in private garden.

Cactus, in private garden. There were also plums, lantana, palms, vinca, and something that looked like Secreseia/Tradescantia in this garden.

Palm, at Spotts Public Beach.

Another orchid growing on a tree trunk, private garden.

Just Because It's Summer

Some lovely blooms of summer:
Hydrangea quercifolia, a dwarf variety, a close-up of the bloom, and en masse. Then a 'Vision in Pink' Astilbe. And 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea macrophylla.
 By the way, the Hydrangea quercifolia (Oak Leaf Hydrangea) tolerates quite a bit of dry weather. Astilbes, on the other hand, really want some regular moistur

"They're Here!"

Who remembers Drew Barrymore's character in Poltergeist announcing the arrival of the....whatever they are....

Well, Rose Sawflies are back, for their annual spring appearance. These individuals were found in a garden in Green Hills area of Nashville on Friday.

They are just hatching and beginning their big feast on rose leaves. They can munch up a lot of rose leaves within the few short weeks that they are feeding. Then they drop to the ground and enter their pupa stage, and are harmless to the rose. Often the damage isn't noted until it's severe or after the sawfly larva are gone. 

Inspect your roses now. Look on the underside of the leaf for the pale green creature that looks like a caterpillar. Control it by: spraying with a hard stream of hose water. Organic pesticides include Neem and permethrins. Bt is not effective. 

Don't apply pesticides if there are no pests present.

Most healthy rose plants will survive unless completely defoliated. You can prune off the affected leaves and of course shrub roses, like Knockout roses, will probably bounce back and bloom on the new growth.

Here's a great link with a longer discussion of sawflies and Integrated Pest Management

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/insects/sawflies/rose-and-pear-slugs-sawflies.aspx

Photographs © 2014 Mary Boyd

Sunny Days are Here Again

After last nights freeze, I didn't see much damage at all. But some Hosta foliage was looking like it got nipped. Surprisingly, tulip blooms looked great. One night of frost didn't treat them too badly.

Tonight's Weather...Freezing Temperatures on April 15th...

Because I am getting these questions from several folks in Nashville TN: 

Do you need to cover everything in your yard tonight when it may drop below freezing temperatures?

For plants ....mostly you don't need to cover stuff.
However, here's some things to consider covering: warm weather loving plants or tropicals. For example if you already planted tomatoes, peppers, petunias, vinca, annual begonias...summer stuff, cover it. Cover your elephant ear. If your azaleas and rhododendrons have buds, showing color, then the frost could damage the bud, but not really harm the plant..just maybe you don't get flowers. 
Tulip blooms may freeze and then they're done, but the foliage is fine. Leave it alone until it browns. Just like your daffodils.

One night of frost/cold wont do anymore damage than has already been done. If we had this warm up and then a week of freezing, yes we might be more concerned about damage to other shrubs and plants. That is to say, most of the damage is already done from the brutal winter.

Cover with cloth (old sheets and dropcloths) not plastic. Or use cardboard boxes. You are trying to create an insulating layer of air. I think plastic is bad if it touches your plant tissue.

Related: Later in spring or summer, you may see shrubs or small diameter young trees with split bark. This could be (although there can be other causes) a result of the winter. On very warm winter days, trees and shrubs with good southern exposure may leave dormancy and start to generate fluid movement up their bark. The plant tissue becomes sap -filled. Then if we get extreme cold immediately, the fluid may freeze causing the outer bark to split or be damaged. The damage may not be evident for awhile. Depending on the amount of damage the plant may heal itself.
There's debate about 'wrapping' these damaged areas with cloth or paper. The plant should really by able to heal the edges of this injury itself if not too severe. But it does create a vulnerability for insect/disease damages.

This is life as a plant-loving person!

It's Spring! Get Busy!

 Spring Events to keep on your calendar:

Fermentation Classes and Foodshops in April at  Double N Farms in east Nashville
    doublenurbanhomestead.com
Herb  Society Plant Sale, April 12 at the Fairgrounds  http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/public-events.html
Urban Gardening Festival presented by the Master Gardeners, May 17 at Ellington Agricultural Center,  www.mgofdc.org
Home Gardening Basics classes at Grassmere at the Zoo, presented by Master Gardeners, www.mgofdc.org

On to the many choices of fun to have in your garden and yards...........

Vegetables 
We are not quite past the risk of hard freezes but get ready to plant warm season vegetables around April 15- May 15. Start plants from seed or buy as plants (and you can buy them at the Urban Gardening Festival, see above!)   If your garden plot is new or the soil seems hard to work and you're not going to till it, add handfuls of composted manure with each plant. Mulching will help keep the roots cool and delay the weeds. I like to use wheat straw. You can also underplant taller plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) with a 'green mulch' of lettuce, radishes, herbs, marigolds, borage etc.
Most of the summer vegetables need a lot of sun...6 or more continuous hours of full sun exposure. Water regularly, in the morning, if we don't receive an inch of rain each week.


Pruning
Prune any shrubs that have finished flowering. For example, forsythia can be pruned. Or not. If you want to control the size of the forsythia, prune by removing a quarter of the main stems, randomly selected from the interior, or cutting the larger, older stems; cut them all the way to the bottom. If you're wanting to take the power hedge shears to them...it may be the wrong plant for that location.Or maybe you just like the boxy shape and that's alright too

Young dogwood trees can be pruned for deadwood or structure.
Remember the rule of pruning: think twice, cut once; think once, curse twice.

Weeding and pre-emergents
For all the trouble weeds give us, they should be simpler to control. But we have to identifythe weeds and their life cycles to control them effectively, and to not waste money or over-medicate the environment.

Weeds can be annual or perennials.
Annual weeds can be winter or summer annuals. The big crop you're seeing now are probably winter annuals like chickweed, henbit, purple deadnettle which germinated in late fall and are coming to maturity. Summer annuals (spurges, bedstraw,knotweed, Japanesestiltgrass etc.) are just little seeds germinating now and you likely cant see them, yet. You can help to prevent annual weeds by distributing a pre-emergent herbicide in fall and spring. Always read the labels and don't over-apply.
Perennial weeds include: ground ivy, dandelion, sedges, plantains, clover. Controlling perennials weeds takes a little more effort, including hand weeding and selective use of post-emergent herbicides.

Here are some links about weeds that might be helpful:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB956part1.pdf?what=pb956part1
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm

Veggies!

FOR THE RECORD

Fruits

Squash

Tomatoes,

Peas

Beans

Bell Peppers

Corn

Cucumber

Watermelon

Vegetables

Onions

Potatoes, carrots

Beets

Spinach

Collards Sweet Potatoes spinach

Radishes

Friends

Basil, Sunflowers, Marigolds, Cilantro, Parsley

  

A fruit is the fleshy body surrounding the seeds of a plant. It’s actually a ripened plant ovary. A vegetable is the other fleshy or leafy material of a plant, like a leaf or root. You can grow them all in your garden and we call most of them vegetables. You might have some other plant-friends in your garden like culinary herbs or spices, or flowers which are edible or provide some other purpose like repelling certain unwanted insects. Or inviting certain wanted insects.

Winter Vegetable Gardening

Now through March you can plant winter vegetables and plant seeds indoors in small containers to get summer vegetables started.

Winter vegetables, or ‘cold-season’ vegetables prefer cool temperatures, and will not survive into the heat of summer in middle Tennessee. Plant now: collards, kale, turnips, radishes, onions, potatoes, broccoli.

This past 3 weeks I have planted onion sets, beets, and spinach. I may plant some greens (collards and kale) if I have time and space.

Planting much later and it will get too warm for your winter greens and broccoli, which may bolt before they are ready to eat.

Now is the time to be planning your summer vegetable garden, which should be planted after April 15 or May 1.

Summer, or ‘warm-season’ vegetables are not tolerant of freezing temperatures and must be seeded or (‘starts’ set out in the garden) after the last hard frost. Make a plan for these summer vegetables: Tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, corn, squashes and melons, beans and peas, annual herbs such as parsley and basil.

Fertilize at planting time with an all purpose organic fertilizer, or fertilize every couple of weeks with an organic liguid fertilizer like fish emulsion or  compost tea.

Any Minute Now

     The last day or two of sunshine have been so inspiring. Temperatures are going to warm up quickly. I predict daffodils will bloom within 7-10 days, maybe even sooner if they are in full sun. Pansies may or may not recuperate from this brutal winter. I have been itching to get into my vegetable garden but admit that either frozen ground or chilly temperatures have deterred me. Before we know it, we’ll have wonderful work temperatures and more than enough to do in our yards.

February Gardening Projects:

                Ornamentals

                Pruning Liriope (monkey grasses)

                Cutting back winter burn/last year’s leaves on Helleborus

                Pruning cool season ornamental grasses if you can trim back a few inches and see new green growth. Don’t’ prune sedge/Carex and Festuca

                Evaluating tree health and having large tree pruning done

                In the vegetable garden

                If you can work the soil, you can plant onion sets, spinach, collards and kale and turnips, beets, broccoli.

                Do your soil test now to determine pH and any macronutrient needs for lawn/ornamental/vegetables.

               

                And make plans for these fun events: 

Nashville Lawn & Garden Show at the Nashville fairgrounds  Feb 27 - March 2

Urban Gardening Festival, sponsored by DC Master Gardeners May  17 at Ellington Ag Center in Nashville. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/169295886673/

                

Community: there are many volunteer and learning opportunities at Nashville area gardens, through Hands On Nashville, Davidson County Master Gardeners, and probably in your local schools.

Here comes the sun!