Waterwise Plants in NV Desert
Downtown Las Vegas seen from Red Rock Canyon
OK, maybe it’s a stretch to say that you can see downtown Las Vegas in this photo – but you can see it from the top of the rocks in the left of the photo. What you definitely can see in this photo is the lack of vegetation. But don’t let that deceive you. Although summer temperatures routinely exceed 100F and water is scarce, some 600 species of plants are known to grow in the area.
Last week my sister and I hiked one of the Calico Hills trails in the canyon, scrambling up masses of Aztec sandstone, slipping on the fine-grained sand that got into our shoes, and picking our way through piles of rubble from earlier rock falls. I was fascinated to see that even in this desolate area, plants of all kinds found a way to survive, and even to bloom. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what any of these plants are (other than what appears to be some sort of evening primrose in the last (blurry) photo).
Perhaps some of you dry-climate gardeners can help identify the plants?
Fun Facts About Pumpkins
The World's Largest Pumpkin
Last week I was at the New York Botanical Garden where I saw the world’s largest pumpkin – all 1,810.5 lbs of it! Grown by Chris Stevens of New Richmond, WI, it was almost as tall as I am! Looking at it got me thinking – Are pumpkins vegetables or fruit? What are they used for? Why do we carve Jack-o-Lanterns? So this post is dedicated to the funny-looking orange fruit (yes, it’s a fruit) that is seen on display throughout America each Halloween.
A Few Facts
- Around 90 to 95% of the processed pumpkins in the United States are grown in Illinois.
- Over 1 billion pounds of pumpkin are grown in America each year.
- Morton, IL is the “Pumpkin Capital of the World” (at least according to the good folks in Morton).
- Pumpkins are members of the vine crops family called cucurbits, which includes cucumbers and squash.
- Pumpkins originated in Central America. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico, dating back over 7000 years to 5500 B.C.
- Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles, curing snake bites, and preventing prostate cancer in men.
Jack-o-lanterns at the entrance to the Everett Children's Garden
Jack-O-Lanterns
- The most popular use of pumpkins is for decoration as jack-o-lanterns, with 80% of the pumpkin supply in the United States being available in October.
- Keene, NH holds the world record for the most jack-o-lanterns in one place at one time – 28,952 at the 2009 Keene Pumpkin Festival.
The carving of pumpkins evolved from the traditional carvings associated with the Celtic celebration of All Hallow’s Eve or Samhain – except that they carved turnips and rutabaga. On this night, hollowed out turnips or gourds were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles. When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in America they found the native pumpkin to be larger and easier to carve, making it the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns.
Pumpkin "mushrooms"
Eating Pumpkins
- Edible parts of the pumpkin include the flesh, seeds, and flowers.
- Pumpkins are used to make soups, pies and breads.
- Pumpkins are also used for feed for animals.
- Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
- In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
While the fruit itself is a healthy source of vitamin A, potassium, and fiber, by the time it’s been incorporated into a pie or bread, so much butter, cream, and eggs have been added that just one serving can put you over your daily allowance of calories, fat, and cholesterol!
Legal Standing of Pumpkins
After I posted this, my friend Charlie added the following comment to my Facebook wall and I just had to add it to this post!
“Monica,
The lawyer in me can’t help but come out at times like this to clarify the legal standing of a pumpkin. Yes, it is a fruit. No less a body than the US Supreme Court says so. Back in the late 1800s fruits and vegetables were taxed at different rates. So the distinction became $mp$rt$nt. In it’s infinite wisdom, the USSC said plant products usually served as part of the main course of a meal were vegetables. E.g. tomatoes and squash. Plant parts normally served as a part of Dessert were fruits. E. g. pumpkin and rhubarb. Makes perfect sense right? It is the law! Biologists smirk whenever I point this out.”
The Stanford ‘S’
Simple can be very effective
Last month I was out in California where I had an opportunity to spend a few hours walking around the beautiful Stanford University campus. One of the things that caught my eye was the striking display of begonias forming the letter ‘S’. It was so large (about the size of a 25 yard swimming pool) that I couldn’t capture the entire display on my camera. Rather than going for something fancy, the garden designer used only two colors of flower. Sometimes simple really is better!
Last Vegetable Harvest
Yesterday I harvested the last of the vegetables from the garden. As the weather cools, frost is becoming a nightly occurrence and the plants are starting to wilt. So I pulled up the last few Oxheart carrots, picked the remaining red tomatoes, gathered a dozen or so hot Spanish Padron peppers, and dug up the contents of the final potato grow bag.
The Spanish Padron peppers make a delicious and tasty treat. If you follow the cooking instructions on the back of the seed packet (they were a free sample from Renee’s Garden), you’ll be rewarded with a mouth-watering snack. Simply remove the seeds (be careful – although the packet claims that these peppers aren’t very hot, the seeds can set off the fire alarm!), slice the peppers into large sections, and saute them in hot olive oil until the skins start to blacken. Sprinkle sea salt over them and enjoy!
As for the potatoes, these are organic Russian Fingerlings from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine. I grew them in potato grow bags from Gardener’s Supply which allowed me to place them in sunny locations that weren’t in the “official vegetable bed area.” If you haven’t tried these grow bags, I’d highly recommend them – but that’s a topic for another blog post. The potatoes are absolutely delicious. I boil them up and serve them whole with a home-made garlic aioli – yummy!
In some ways it’s sad to see the vegetable gardening season come to an end, but there’s always next year – I’m already dreaming about the new varieties I can plant in the spring!
What are you planning to plant next year??
Proper Tree Planting Techniques
“We have seen thousands of fine trees planted with a few dry roots crowded into a little hole scooped out of sod and covered with the same. This is called planting? When will such abomination cease?” - H. Garrison (1875). Illinois State Hort. Soc. 9: 366-371.
You may have heard the expression “Plant a $5 tree in a $100 hole.” These days, you’re unlikely to find a healthy $5 tree for sale, but the key point of the message still holds – plant the tree properly! If you mess up this step, it doesn’t matter what else you do – the tree is doomed.
Improper planting technique is the most common reason why transplanted trees die. Usually, it’s because the tree was planted too deeply.
Most of our ornamental trees are budded (a process where a single bud of the desired cultivar is placed on the seedling rootstock and allowed to grow). Budding is usually done about 2″ to 3″ above the ground so be sure that the slight crook in the trunk left over from this process is above the ground.
Don’t plant at the same depth you found the tree in the container! Many containerized trees (and even many that are balled and burlaped) are placed into the container too deep. This is done to help improve stability while in the nursery or garden center (it’s hard to sell trees that keep falling out of their container). In the short term, the tree can survive this; container soils are usually well-drained. But when you transplant the tree, don’t think that “if that’s how it was planted in the container, then that’s how I should plant it in the ground.”
Look for the trunk flare – the base of the trunk where it starts to get wider, just above the roots. You want that to be just above the soil surface – you should see it when the tree is planted.
Dig the hole about 2 to 3 times wider than the container or root ball. The roots need to be able to easily penetrate into the surrounding soil to help stabilize the tree and take up water and nutrients. If the planting hole is too small, the roots can start growing around in circles instead of spreading out; girdling like this eventually kills the tree.
Dig the planting hole only as deep as the root ball. This is not the time to “fluff up the dirt”. You want the soil under the tree to be undisturbed to provide a solid foundation for the tree so that, over time, the tree doesn’t sink lower into the ground. If in doubt about depth, err on the side of shallower is better. Planting high is better than planting deep.
The Easy Way to Make New Garden Beds
An easy planting bed created in the fall
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to fit more plants into the garden. Here’s an easy way to create
a new garden bed that will be ready to plant in the spring—and, as a bonus, creating it now allows you to add
spring-blooming bulbs with no extra effort.
- Mow the grass as short as possible in the area where you want to create the new bed.
- If you want to plant spring-blooming bulbs, now’s the time to do it. Simply remove grass and place the larger bulbs (e.g., tulips and daffodils) where you want them, facing upwards.
- Cover the grass with a thick layer of newspaper – about 6-8 sheets will do. Be sure to use only newspaper with black ink – colored ink can sometimes be toxic to plants.
- Thoroughly wet it down so that the layers of paper are soaked through.
- Spread a 6” deep layer of good quality humus loam on top of the newspaper. If the soil needs any amendments, simply mix them in with the humus loam.
- Plant any smaller bulbs in the new soil at the appropriate depth.
- Leave the whole thing until next spring. Over the winter, the grass and weeds will be smothered by the newspaper, the newspaper will decay, and by spring you’ll be ready to plant in your new bed!
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2010
The monthly view from the back deck - more muted colors this month
Those of you here in southern CT know that it’s cold, rainy, miserable weather today – so I have to admit that I took these photos yesterday. The rain is knocking down the mums, causing the grasses to droop, and blasting the petals off the few remaining roses. But yesterday the garden looked beautiful!
A few things have changed since my last GBBD post in September – the mums are (or were) all in bloom, the Limelight hydrangea blossoms have turned pink, the asters are in their full glory, and the sedum petals have lost their color. It’s definitely a fall garden, with lots of browns, rusts, and golden yellows. But there are still some beautiful flowers providing splashes of color. Here are some of the brightest blooms in my garden this October.
Echinacea 'Green Envy' is still in bloom - 6 months and counting!
Somehow an orange mum got mixed into the red ones - nice contrast, but unplanned
Anemone 'Whirlwind' - a gorgeous double white anemone that reminds me of a rose
An unknown toad lily that I got at this year's Fairfield County Plant Swap - just burst into bloom yesterday
Anemone 'Pamina', variegated Solomon's Seal, and a panicle hydrangea - if I'd pruned the hydrangea properly, this combination would never have happened (sometimes laziness pays off!)
This coreopsis is another one of the "blooms forever" flowers in my garden - good to have late-bloomers for all the bumblebees
Not exactly a flower, but it sure is colorful - and it's taking over the fence behind the vegetable garden - will have to cut it back next year
For more October gardens in bloom, visit May Dreams Gardens, where Carol so graciously hosts all of us garden bloggers.
Turn Fallen Leaves into ‘Black Gold’
Ea
ch fall, some time in October, the leaves start to fall and homeowners are faced with the question of just what to do with all of those leaves. Many people simply rake them out to the curb and let the city pick them up. Or they place them in paper bags for disposal. But leaves can be a valuable source of nutrients for your garden so, this year, follow these easy steps to create your own ‘black gold’.
Step 1—Collect and shred the leaves. There are several easy options for gathering leaves:
- Rake them up, place them in a large trash can, and shred with an string trimmer inserted into the can.
- Rake them into a pile and mow over them with a mulching mower. If you have a bag attachment, this will make clean-up much easier.
- Vacuum them with a lawn blower with a bag attachment. Your neighbors may not appreciate the noise (be aware that some neighborhoods prohibit the use of lawn blowers) but it’s an effective way to collect and shred leaves.
Step 2—Store the leaves. Place the shredded leaves in a pile, in an empty trash can, in a bin, in a large bag – anything that will hold them and prevent them from blowing around. Add a little water to moisten the pile (but don’t turn it into a soggy mess).
And that’s it. Just leave the pile until spring and you’ll have a plentiful supply of leaf mold to use as a mulch or soil amendment. If you’re feeling energetic, you can turn the pile periodically over the winter to aerate it and speed up the decomposition process.
Turning Hydrangea Blooms Blue
In areas with alkaline soil, bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) typically bloom in various shades of pink. The high pH makes aluminum unavailable to the plant and it’s the aluminum that turns the flowers blue.
While it’s difficult to change the pH of a large area, it may be possible to encourage blue blossoms by using the mix below around each hydrangea plant.
Recipe for Blue Hydrangea Blossoms
- Excavate the soil to a depth of 12″ and a width of 12-18″
- Mix 25% of the excavated soils with 50% fine to medium shredded pink bark and 25% peat moss (1:2:1 by volume)
- Place the plant in the hole
- Put the mixture in the hole
- Press the mixture firmly around the root ball
- Topdress with 1 oz of aluminum sulfate per plant
- Water in well
Has anyone tried a recipe like this one? Does anyone have any other recipes or suggestions that have worked for them?
Four Reasons Newly Planted Trees Die
We’ve all seen it happen – a beautiful specimen tree newly planted in the ‘perfect spot’ slowly declines, drops its leaves, and dies. It can be heartbreaking to watch. And the saddest part of all is that it’s usually entirely preventable.
A transplanted tree usually dies as a result of one of four dominant factors:
- Not matching the requirements of the tree to the site conditions (i.e., wrong tree in the wrong spot)
- Buying and planting a poor quality tree (“It was on sale!” is not a good reason to buy a sub-standard tree)
- Improper planting technique (usually, this is a case of planting the tree too deeply)
- Lack of care after transplanting (there’s no such thing as a “no-maintenance” transplant)
Really, it’s not all that hard to grow a tree. But it’s surprising how many people treat trees like annuals – buy a pretty specimen, shove it in the ground, pour on the fertilizer, give it some water, and expect it to put on a show all summer. And then they wonder why the tree is dead the next spring…
So keep a watch for my upcoming posts on selecting trees, buying high quality stock, proper planting, and after-care of newly transplanted trees. With a little knowledge, anyone can grow a gorgeous tree that will live a long and healthy life.
Check out my post on Proper Planting Techniques for Trees.
