What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
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Salvia plants from the Plant Select Program are a great addition to the summer garden. There are several different ones to add to your garden. Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red', Salvia 'Ultra Violet' PP21,411, Salvia pachyphylla, Salvia darcyi x S. microphylla 'PWIN03S' and Salvia reptans 'P016S'. Salvia greggii ‘Furman’s Red’ grows in zones 5b-10 and has moderate to xeric water needs. It does well in clay, loam, or sandy soil and grows best in sun to part shade. In the spring prune dead stems from last season. This plant blooms from June throu...
You probably already guessed that cool-season crops benefit the most from partial shade. But why is shade more beneficial to some vegetables than others? There are two reasons. One, shade keeps the leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce and spinach more tender. With less sunlight, the plants will not grow to the same size as they would with more sun. Naturally, the more sun, the more energy and photosynthesis the plant produces. What is partial shade in terms of hours of sun per day? Partial shade is less than six hours of sun but a minimum of...
Homeowners are starting to remove sections of their lawns. The cost of water is rising along with electricity. Grass is the highest maintenance of any crop. There are xeric plants that are low maintenance and need little to no care once they are established. Low shrubs or groundcovers can replace some of the lawn area. Doing this in areas such as along the curb can save you from watering a section that gets extremely hot and dries out faster. Here are some suggestions below: 1) Mock Bearberry manzanita, Arctostaphylos x coloradensis, is hardy...
Garden to Kitchen Program coming on May 20 is at the Phillips County Event Center in the Ortner Room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Garden to Kitchen Program will allow participants to learn about caring for tomatoes, peppers and herbs and a demonstration on how to prepare and cook the most common herbs. Colorado State University Extension County Specialist, Horticulture, Larimer County Alison O’Connor will present a program on tomato and pepper cultural care. CSU Extension Area Horticulture Specialist, Linda Langelo will present a program on the m...
You probably already guessed that cool-season crops benefit the most from partial shade. But why is shade more beneficial to some vegetables than others? There are two reasons. One, shade keeps the the leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce, and spinach more tender. With less sunlight, the plants will not grow to the same size as they would with more sun. Naturally, the more sun, the more energy and photosynthesis the plant produces. What is partial shade in terms of hours of sun per day? Partial shade is less than six hours of sun but a...
Are you chomping at the bit to get started with the vegetable garden? Don’t be too anxious. When was the last time you did a soil test of your vegetable garden soil? If you haven’t had it done for several years, this is a good time to do it. Then you will know what elements are needed to keep your plants healthy. Then, be sure you know the frost-free date in your area. Go to this link: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate and then go to select location inside a blue box and then go to select first/last dates. These are the first and last fre...
Birds have different niches in which each family of birds needs shelter and food. The key to developing great habitats for birds is to have a diversity of specific plants for the types of birds that visit your yard. It doesn’t require scrapping what you already have in your landscape. It just means adding a tree or shrub(s) or herbaceous perennials. Besides adding plants to your landscape, the more bugs, the more birds as author Sally Roth states in her book Bird-By-Bird Gardening. This means pesticides that kill bugs, kill birds. The A...
Part 1: Holiday cactus Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus or Easter Cactus? Which is which? There are subtle differences in the margins of the leaves. One feature that stands out with Easter Cactus is their flowers represent more of a star shape — the petals are thinner and there are more of them. Naturally, they bloom in the spring but start producing buds in February. Thanksgiving Cactus will bloom one month before Christmas Cactus. Notice the Thanksgiving Cactus has broad segmented leaves with serrated edges on both sides — two-four that com...
What practical garden tasks need to be done in fall? Well, here is one that does not have to be done: raking leaves. Use your mower to break up the leaves and feed the soil and give nutrients to the grass. If you like a nice green spring lawn, then do a fall winter fertilization for the grass to feed the roots and develop a healthy root system. In the spring, the lawn will green up sooner. Continue to water your lawn especially as this has been a dry fall. Watering your trees before the ground freezes will help them start the winter season...
As I travel the Golden Plains Area, I see mistakes that potentially end up contributing to the death of the new tree that was purchased. These are only some of the biggest mistakes. • Before even purchasing a tree do some homework and learn what type of soil on the property and particularly the location of the tree. Every tree has either a range of soils or a soil type that the tree prefers. Elm trees are tolerant of clay, loam or sand that is both acid and alkaline soil. • When shopping at the nursery, check to see the overall health of the pl...
Are you interested in attracting bats? They seem to have a bad reputation. They have some great benefits. According to Bat Conservation International a colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 18 million or more rootworms each summer. Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents and producing gasohol and antibiotics. Gasohol is a mixture of gasoline an ethyl alcohol. If you can spot a bat at dusk on occasion, then it is a...
No one ever thinks it will happen to them. Recently, we had a beautiful Plant Select Garden in Washington County Fairgrounds. But one day, someone who worked for the county came along spraying a nearby area and turned the garden into a brown landscape. Come to find out 2, 4 D was used for broadleaved weeds around the garden. The garden sits at the entrance of the fairgrounds which has a gravel parking lot in front and a gravel entrance road. You can imagine that both the parking lot and gravel entrance road needed to be sprayed for weeds....
The Turf Replacement Program was a bill into law in December of 2022. The second application cycle started as of July 1 through Aug. 31. There has been some mixed messaging about this Turf Replacement Program. First, who is eligible to apply: local governments such as municipalities, counties, cities, public agencies, and municipally owned water providers. Districts such as metropolitan, special districts, water or water and sanitation districts and conservancy districts, like nonprofits such as organizations with 501(c)(3) status who have prog...
Cottonwoods are fast growing trees in Populus genus. These trees are hardy to zones two through nine. Cottonwood trees produce cotton every other year. They preserve their resources. There is a cottonwood fluff produced around the seed which are cotton fibers. These seeds will cover the lawn or driveway and other parts of the landscape. This can go on for two weeks or more starting late April or early May through either June or July. Is there a way to control the cottonwood seeds? You can reduce the cottonwood seeds with an annual treatment...
Want to water less? Want to mow less? Then here are some newer options of turf grass for you to try. Just how much water does buffalo grass need to survive? How much water does Kentucky Blue grass need to survive? These figures might surprise you. Buffalo grass needs from 0 to 20 inches a year and if you want it to stay a nice green, water weekly during the season. Kentucky Blue grass needs 16 to 30 inches and can still be watered every few days. If you apply more than that in a season, you are overwatering your turf. Not everyone can have...
During these times of increased rates for our utilities, come and join us to learn more about watering and designing your landscape to utilize water more efficiently. The water conservation program will be held on April 8 in Yuma at the Orphanage from 10 a.m. to noon. If you cannot make that date, then come April 22 and join us at the WRAC from 10 a.m. to noon. Brunch is included at both program sessions. Have you heard about the seven principles of water wise gardening? Come learn about some of the simple changes you could incorporate into you...
Did you know who coined the term "Nativar"? Allan Armitage, author of Armitage's Garden Perennials, horticulturist and professor at Georgia University coined the term "nativar" "to show customers that the industry was offering what they wanted: garden plants developed from documented native sources, known in the scientific community as genotypes" from What's in a Nativar? by Carol Becker. A nativar is a cultivated variety of a native plant that has some ecological value in the environment. Nativars can be a native plant that is a genetic...
What is mindfulness? How do we practice it? According to Kabet-Zinn the effects of mindfulness are an “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally.” Practicing taking walks through your yard or the park and just noticing what is around you without actively labeling everything. This is an active way of quieting the mind. Another term for it is called just being. From one moment to the next there is nothing but that moment. Practicing mindfulness stops the judgement we consistently bring in...
Here are the new introductions that you can purchase for your gardens in 2023. These are the plants that did well during their trial period and were chosen to be a Plant Select Plant. Ultra Violet Salvia or Salvia ‘Ultra Violet’ PP 21,411 is more cold hardy and more compact than most Salvia greggii. It has iridescent, deep purple flowers that bloom in late summer. This is a xeric plant that establishes easily in the garden. It is rabbit and deer resistant. Better Homes and Gardens magazine lists it as a top perennial for dry sites. TIDY lit...
Why does a walnut produce a chemical, juglone or hydrox juglone? This is a naturally occurring chemical that is a defense mechanism protecting the walnut tree from surrounding plants. What happens to the surrounding plants? It stunts the growth of surrounding plants. Juglone inhibits plant respiration. If there are sensitive plants under a walnut, the juglone will deprive these plants of water and nutrient uptake. Symptoms such as wilting or yellowing leaves occur. Juglone is not soluble in water. Consequently, it does not move very far in the...
Trees and shrubs still require water during fall and winter. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, soil that stays most stays warmer in the fall and winter. If the trees and shrubs have cells filled with water, then this helps protect them from winter damage. This condition is called turgid. The best practice for watering is to let the water soak in the soil slowly. Trees uptake soil better with that type of condition. Be sure to soak the top 12 inches. Keep watering on a regular basis until the ground freezes. Once the ground freezes, if ther...
Ips pini, or the Engraver Beetles are insects that develop in pines and spruces. Ips are everywhere in the United States. They are attracted to pines and spruces under stress from drought, root injury, disease or defoliation. These insects are not necessarily lethal to the pines and spruces. Attacks can be limited to the tops of trees and large branches. However, Ips can show a uniform needle discoloration and death like the Dendroctonous bark beetles with the blue stain fungi. This can happen but not always. The adults of this insect are...
Trees are a major part of our landscapes. They can make a town memorable in a negative way or memorable in a positive way. Trees can brand a community. They are worth a monetary value for the air they clean, the erosion they can stop, the cooling capacity they provide and their aesthetic value. If we lived in an ideal world where all the trees, we planted were the proper tree in the proper location, then there would not need to be ordinances for trees placed too close to a sidewalk and creating overhanging limbs blocking visibility of traffic...
High and dry gardens are needed now more than ever. What are they? A high and dry garden demonstrates which plants can survive on natural precipitation. There is a high and dry garden located in the northeast corner of the Washington County Fairgrounds in Akron. We have used it for trialing plants to see how well they fare in drought. What defines a drought? According to Oxford dictionary, a drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water . In the Golden Plains, a prolonged period could mean 10-14 days....
Lilacs evoke the sweet smell of spring. These shrubs were brought to this country in the 17-century called Blew (blue) Pipeflower, for its hollow stems and grown in English gardens according to https://www.thetreecenter.com/the-story-of-lilacs/. In 1750 lilacs were the first shipments of plants sent to America to satisfy the memory of new settlers in their homes. In 1852 a Frenchman called Victor Lemoine started breeding lilacs and flower petals went from four to eight petals in a dense cluster. This shrub was named “Azurea Plena” with a blu...
