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May 30, 2001

Flowers and Turtles and Snakes, Oh My!
I hope that your Memorial Day weekend was as pleasurable as ours.  Kevin and I piddled and planted more perennials and annuals all day Saturday.  We were exhausted at the end of the day but I think we are close to being finished.  Perhaps a few more annuals for the front garden and that will be it.  Kevin is probably laughing as he reads this.  He knows that I am never quite satisfied with the amount I have planted and I always seem to find more space to plant a few more impatiens or whatever.  Sunday was spent relaxing and finishing our spring "to do" list.  

Memorial Day morning was spent at the Overland Park Arboretum.   It has been sometime since I have been there and boy how the place has changed!  I was amazed at the beautiful waterfalls and the thousands of flowers that have been planted to create gentle flowing paths.  The children were thrilled by all of the wildlife we saw while exploring.  I think that the most impressive animals we watched were snakes.  Now, I have never been a snake fan but I must say that there is something very interesting about watching them in their natural habitat.  These were water snakes and we must have seen five or six of them, three at one time crawling all over each other!  Ugh!  The children loved it.  Morgan, our oldest, has the same fascination I do about snakes.  They're kind of fun to watch when they are not under foot or too close.  Of course you can only guess how the boys reacted.  I thought Jake was going to try to pick one up!  There were also large numbers of turtles, big and small, swimming in the ponds or sunning themselves on large logs.  (Very cute and not as scary.)  One turtle was discovered meandering in the grass so we all gently picked him up for a closer look.  What a great day of fun and adventure!  It's not Powell but I would highly recommend taking your children there.  Nature is at its best with plants and animals coexisting together.  Give yourself plenty of time because there is a lot of ground you'll want to cover.

~ Shelly  

Mulch Matters...
Well, the unofficial start of summer was this weekend and as the real thing sneaks up on Kansas City gardeners we must prepare our gardens for the heat and drought-like conditions that seem inevitable.  Mulching your garden is one of the best things you can do to help retain soil moisture and keep weeds at bay.  Missouri Organic Recycling has already supplied us with lots of beautiful red cedar mulch for our gardens.  Here are some common mulching materials and a few thoughts on each:

Bark Mulches are very common and effective.  They are available as chips, chunks, nuggets or shredded.  In addition to being generally attractive bark mulches resist compaction quite well.
Wood Chips are also common, effective and economical.  They can deplete the soil of nitrogen however so additional fertilizing may be required.
Pine Needles are especially good around acid loving plants like azaleas and blueberries.
Straw is inexpensive and is often used in large vegetable gardens.  Make sure it is free of crop and weed seeds or you're just making more work for yourself.
Grass Clippings should only be used after they have dried out thoroughly.  If the source lawn has weeds your mulched garden will likely get them too.
Rocks can be attractive and effective but they don't provide any of the decomposition benefits of organic mulches.  Rock mulch in direct sun can get quite hot causing problems for some tender plants.
Black Plastic and Fabric aren't much to look at but they do keep the weeds down.

As a general rule mulching with anything is better than not mulching at all.  It's that effective.

For an in-depth look at this important topic don't miss All About Mulch in our Features section.

Itchy, Scratchy, Savvy...
Poison ivy rash is an unfortunate byproduct of working outdoors for many gardeners.  The rash we get from our exposure to poison ivy (as well as poison oak and sumac) is an allergic reaction to contact with an oil called urushiol (oo-ROO-she-ol).  All species of poison ivy, oak and sumac have urushiol in their roots, stems, leaves and fruit.  The oil or sap is released when plants are bruised.  For this reason poison ivy rashes are more common in the spring and early summer when leaves and stems are tender.  The sap may be deposited on the skin by direct contact with the plant, through contact with contaminated objects such as shoes, clothing, tools and animals, or as airborne urushiol particles from burning plants.  

I'll bet you still cling to at least one of the poison ivy myths below.  Now is a good time to set the record straight: 

  • Myth 1 
    Scratching poison ivy blisters will spread the rash.  Not true.  Fluid discharged from blisters will not spread the rash.  Well before the blisters form, however, you may spread the urushiol on your hands to other parts of your body. 
  • Myth 2
    Poison ivy is contagious.  Not true.  The rash is simply a reaction to urushiol.  The rash cannot pass from person to person; only the urushiol can be spread by direct contact. 
  • Myth 3 
    You can "catch" poison ivy simply by being near the plants.  Not true.  Direct contact or contact with smoke from burning plants is needed to introduce urushiol onto the victim. 
  • Myth 4
    Once allergic, always allergic to poison ivy.  Not true.  A person's sensitivity changes over time, even from season to season.  People who were sensitive to urushiol as children may not be allergic as adults. 
  • Myth 5 
    There's no need to worry about dead plants.  Not true.  Urushiol remains active on any surface, including dead plants, for up to 5 years! 
  • Myth 6
    One way to protect yourself from poison ivy is to keep yourself covered outdoors.  Partly true.  Urushiol can stick to your clothes which you can touch and spread to your skin later.

Source

What Does Green Mean?
Gardeners are often concerned about the presence of green skin on their potatoes.  The green color is caused by the presence of chlorophyll, a natural plant pigment which is tasteless and harmless.  The concern with greened potatoes should not be the color but the fact that solanine, a potentially toxic alkaloid, develops in the same area along with the chlorophyll.  Greened potatoes, therefore, are often higher in solanine than those that have not greened.  The bitter taste associated with greened potatoes is caused by the solanine, not the chlorophyll.  

The amount of greening is not a direct measure of its solanine content, since the synthesis of chlorophyll and solanine are separate processes.  And the factors affecting greening of potatoes include more than light exposure.  Greening is affected by variety, maturity and age, temperature, intensity and quality of light, and duration of light.  White skinned varieties often green more readily than red or russet varieties.

Savvygardeners will make sure their potatoes are well covered with soil or straw to ensure a tastier and healthier harvest.

Source

Rose Tips by Al Karsten...
For roses June means more fertilizer, deadheading, mildew and blackspot prevention, and much more!  A rose lovers work is never done but getting it done right is easier with June Rose Tips by Al Karsten...

Pretty As A Picture?
Don't you hate it when you buy a plant because it looks so good in a picture or display only to find that it doesn't live up to its photogenic promise in your own garden?  This could easily happen with variegated hostas if you're not careful about where you plant them.  You see, the best variegated color pattern is developed on plants in a semi-shady location.  Place them in direct sun and they may just become a single shade of green.

What's Hot On The Hotline...
Our Extension Master Gardener volunteers who staff the Hotline, have been fielding a number of questions about the failure of some perennial plants and shrubs to come back this spring. No signs of life where your Rose of Sharon or Butterfly Bush used to be?  Find out why in this week's What's Hot on the Hotline... 

Tell Me Why...
One of the most common questions we get asked is simply, "Why won't my plant bloom?"  Why indeed.  There are often several factors involved but most can be explained by one of the following circumstances:

  • Age of Plant - Being too young or immature is a very common reason that many trees do not flower.  Plants need to reach a certain level of maturity before they begin to flower each year
  • Shade - Lack of adequate light is another very common reason that many types of plants do not flower.  Plants may grow but not flower in the shade.
  • Cold or Frost Injury - Cold weather may kill flower buds or partially opened flowers.  Plants that are not fully hardy in our area are the most susceptible to this type of cold injury.
  • Drought - Flowers or flower buds dry and drop off when there is temporary lack of moisture in the plants.
  • Improper Pruning - Some plants bloom only on last year’s wood.  Pruning plants at the wrong time of the year can remove the flower buds for next year’s blossoms.  Many spring flowering plants, such as azaleas begin setting next year’s flower buds in the late spring.  Pruning these plants in the summer or fall may prevent flowering next year.  Cutting back a plant severely, such as with climbing roses, can remove all the flowering wood.
  • Nutrient Imbalance - Too much nitrogen can cause plants to produce primarily leaves and stems.  The plant will be large and usually very green and healthy but will have few or no flowers.

Source

Finally...
"Earth, my dearest, I will.  Oh believe me, you no longer need your springtimes to win me over - one of them, ah, even one, is already too much for my blood.  Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the first."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies, 9th, 1923

 

 

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