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If you want to treat your roses and other potted plants to an inexpensive free fertilizer, don't toss out those banana peels.

Bananas are not only wonderful sources of potassium for people, but their peels are a great source of phosphorus, potassium and other important trace minerals for plants.

Phosphorus helps plants convert sun's energy, and other chemicals such as nitrogen, into usable plant food.

A phosphorus deficiency will lead to stunted, sickly looking plants that produce a lower quality fruit or flower.

Potassium helps develop strong flower growth and fight off plant diseases.

Trace mineral elements basically make soil work so you can easily amend tired soil by giving it a banana peel, which will break down very quickly.

Drying banana peels is very easy.

When you buy shoes or other products in boxes, they're usually shipped with drying silica gel packets.

Save those and place them in a basket under paper towels covered in cut-up banana peels.

You don't need silica gel packs if you don't have them.  Place banana peels on paper towels in an open weave basket and allow to dry.

If you want to speed up the drying process, place  basket on top of your refrigerator, where the heat from the back of the unit will dry out banana peels.

If you want to do this more quickly, bake banana peels on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes at 200F.

For a quick plant pick me up, blend a banana peel with 2 cups of water in a blender, then pour it around the base of the plant.

It's a challenge to grow roses in mid-Missouri but with the help of banana peels, I've been more successful than many.

Besides giving my outside roses doses of banana peels through their growing season, I also treat my inside plants.

My miniature roses get several banana shakes through winter. Combined with a southern window exposure, these little miniature rose plants keep me in blooms most of winter.

Wouldn't a little jar of dried banana peel chips make a great gardening gift for that rose lover on your gift list?

I know I would appreciate it!

Charlotte

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Every time I stand in line buying an Amaryllis bulb, someone will ask how to grow these wonderful, South American tropical bulbs.

If there's an easier plant to grow, or one that gives so much back for so little effort, I don't know what it would be.

Amaryllis store all they need to grow in a large bulb.

When you buy an Amaryllis, you can get either the plain bulb or a kit that will include a pot, potting medium and  instructions.

Frankly you can save money by just getting the Amaryllis bulb and using a regular potting soil and adding half a cup of a light medium.

Place the Amaryllis bulb literally on top of a pot of soil.

Allow for an inch around the bulb in the pot, and settle the bulb maybe half an inch into the soil and add a support stick next to it.

Once Amaryllis start growing, you'll almost think you're watching them grow before your eyes. Growth can be as much as an inch a day, depending on the variety and growing conditions.

Water with 1/4 cup of water every 2-3 days and place near but not in direct sunlight.

Once you see flower buds popping up, you may need to tie the stem to the support stick.
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Once flowers are blooming, they'll definitely need to be supported because this ugly bulb turns into stunning flowers.

Bamboo sticks, or something out of your garden will work well as support.

As flowers fade, green leaves will unfold from the bulb.

Cut off dead flowers.

Let leaves grow and develop until they turn yellow.

Leave the Amaryllis bulb without water or light, for a couple of months.

You can re-pot the bulb, or just water for another wonderful blooming round.

Healthy Amaryllis bulbs will produce bulblets growing out of their sides; if you let those little bulbs grow leaves through a couple of seasons, you'll soon have new Amaryllis.

I pot my Amaryllis into summer pots wintering inside and let them grow with other plants.

They usually bloom late January and February, a welcome surprise in the middle of winter gloom.

For a quick update to any home decor, and a wonderful gift for any occasion, pot an Amaryllis bulb with a card with these instructions.

Amaryllis will bring beauty, and interest, to any room or special occasion!

Charlotte

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Remember hearing Purple Martins eat a ton of mosquitoes so every garden needs a Purple Martin house?

Not so, according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

The whole story about Purple Martins being natural mosquito predators was promoted by Purple Martin house manufacturers.

The campaign worked so well, Purple Martins today are the only bird species who depend exclusively on man-made houses.

Purple Martins eat insects, but few to no mosquitoes. If they eat anything interesting, these birds feed their young insects, and small rocks and glass pieces to help them digest food.

After years of watching these birds in other yards, I bought a plastic purple martin house kit  last year I thought I could easily put together. I did but trust me, it takes two people!

I have a number of Missouri backyard birds visiting my garden through the year.  I usually spot Purple Martins sitting on utility lines and in Bluebird Gardens mid March, their big wing span and long, double pronged tail marking the arrival of north America's largest sparrow./

Like hummingbirds, Purple Martins winter over in Brazil and make their way back in early spring through Florida. Fun to track their way back to North America; some weather forecasters now even show Purple Martin migration map!

For many years, Fort Leonard Wood, our neighbor to the southwest as the Purple Martin flies, celebrated the arrival of these lovely purple birds with Purple Martin Day on March 14.

Whether you celebrate or not, consider getting a Purple Martin house, either for yourself or to give as a gift.

If you're handy with wood, consider making a Purple Martin house. Some of the most interesting Purple Martin houses I've seen have been lovingly handmade as gifts.

I've given birdhouses, including Purple Martin Houses, as housewarming gifts and birthday gifts, as well as been thrilled to receive them.

One of the more whimsical birdhouses I've seen are handmade license plate birdhouses, which recycle favorite license plates and give birds a nice roof.

We carry license plate birdhouses with, and without, a roof so you can easily install your own.

Pair a Purple Martin House, or a license plate birdhouse, with a book on Purple Martins for a gardening gift that will keep on giving all season.

Once Purple Martins decide they like the real estate, they will keep coming back.

After centuries of peacefully co-existing, Purple Martins have little fear of people and make charming, very interesting garden neighbors.







Charlotte

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There's a wonderful garden gift you can give anyone on your gift list for Father's Day, Mother's Day, as a housewarming gift, for almost any occasion - who has a garden and enjoys wildlife.

Courtesy of  National Wildlife Federation, you can get a garden "certified" as a "wildlife habit."

After answering a series of questions and paying $20, the official certificate is mailed designating your garden as a certified wildlife habitat.

National Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Certification  questions  focus on providing, food, water, cover and pest management without chemicals.

My certificate took 3 weeks to be issued.

Not sure of the answers?

Print off the questionnaire and provide it with a check for $20 so the gift recipient can answer the questionnaire themselves and send in for the certificate.

Just starting your garden?

Use the National Wildlife Federation guide to make sure you are providing wildlife basics.

I frankly was delighted when I got my National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat certificate for Bluebird Gardens. There's something special about being reminded what you're doing is helping the environment.

I was also surprised to be only the 128,583rd certified wildlife habitat - there are a lot of people who enjoy nature the way I do.

If you want to be a little more formal with your certified wildlife habitat gift, have the certificate framed.

I found this frame at a resale store for $2, without glass.

I then took it to our local glass shop and had a plastic piece installed for $3.

I replaced an old mat with the yellow one so the wildlife lettering pops. Dark green or blue would work well, too.

I can personally attest getting my wildlife garden certified as a National Wildlife Federation wildlife habitat is a great garden gift idea for any garden and nature lover on your gift list.



Charlotte

So you think you can't grow anything?

Whether you're looking for a housewarming gift, or just a gift for a garden, these annuals and perennials are easy to plant flowers that will keep on blooming long past the special occasion.

In Missouri and the US Midwest, easy to grow, annual flowers include marigolds, zinnias and cosmos.

My personal, all-time favorite annual flower is Vinca (photo).

Vinca seeds easily, blooms continuously, comes in a wide range of colors, and makes great cut flowers. It also winters over beautifully, and will pick up where it left off last fall as soon as I can get it back outside.

For someone who is starting a garden or welcoming a new family member, consider giving a perennial, which will come back every year.

Some of my favorite perennial flowers include Black-eyed Susans; Butterfly bush, miniature roses and Purple Coneflowers).

If I had to pick one, it would be Purple Coneflowers.

No, make that Black-eyed Susans;.

Actually, either one will work!

Both are Missouri wildflowers and once established, will bloom continuously for years with very little care. Butterflies will keep both company through the season.

Too soon to start planting outside? Give seeds or seedlings that can be planted outside later.

Pots of annuals can brighten a sunny window until the danger of frost is over.

 

 

Charlotte

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African Violets used to be a very popular flowering gift and indoor plant.

I can remember an Illinois neighbor who loved nothing more than getting a new variety of African Violet.

Mrs. Futtrell had more than 30 different African Violet varieties in her living room window collection, including some like this old-fashioned, hardy purple one in photo.

Although not all of my African violets over the years have survived cats knocking them over or lack of watering when someone else was caring for them, I've always had a couple of African Violets around.

Several years ago, I started to notice I couldn't easily find them anymore, especially mid-winter, when not much else is blooming.

According to Stanley Dillon, owner of Stanley's Garden Center in St. James, these native South African wildflowers were over-hybridized.

Stanley said African Violets were so genetically-altered over the years, they reached a point where they could be forced to bloom in a hot house, but would not easily re-bloom, and certainly didn't do well in average home conditions.


Enter US's Space program, the same people who brought us orange drink Tang and vacuum-sealed foods. 

According to EverFloris and Optimara, trademarks of International Plant Breeding out of Switzerland, there's a new strain of African Violets called "Space Violets," developed after  Optimara's Space Violet program "put more than 25,00 seeds into orbit for nearly six years.

"This unusual step, in the annals of potted and flowering plants, turned out to be one giant leap that has produced significant and exciting characteristics for African Violets."

According to the plant sticker, Space Violets are "bigger and easier to grow, with larger, fuller blooms that flower continuously. Unless they're EVerFloris, there's no place on Earth you'll find African Violets like these."

I'm still trying to imagine the conversation at NASA as they were considering space shuttle Discovery's projected payload. Do you suppose anyone said "you want to send what into space??"

Space Violet care instructions are not much different than traditional care for African Violets; keep soil most but never soggy. Keep water off leaves. Give them indirect sunlight, and temperatures between 60-80F. And don't let cats repeatedly knock them over!

Here's my first-ever Space Violet, now available at big box gardening centers. I paid $6.99:

Strikes me as a bit ironic it took years in space to get these hardy, South African wildflowers back to their healthier, ever-blooming roots.




Charlotte

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One of the wonderful signs of spring in Missouri is finding first daffodils in bud.

These early daffodils are small and delicate-looking.

You'll see this old-fashioned daffodil variety throughout Missouri's countryside, one of the markers surveyors use to locate old farming homesteads.

These first, maybe  8-inch high yellow daffodils are one of my favorites.

Besides being first to bloom, they can be picked still in bud form and, once in bloom, their cut flowers last a long time.

To enjoy these wonderful perennial spring flowers, and give them as garden gifts from your garden, pick them still in bud form early in the morning.

Make sure there are no hitchhiking bugs by gently shaking stems before bringing them inside.

Make a clean cut of stem bottoms; then place in a bud vase with room temperature water.

If you want to keep them in bud form longer, place them covered in a plastic bag in your refrigerator, or outside, until you're ready to work with them.

In a few hours in a warmer environment, you'll soon have buds opening and enjoy a lovely bouquet of blooming spring flowers.

Happy Spring!



Charlotte

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There's nothing quite like homegrown fruit - pears in photo -  for yourself or to give as gifts.

If you have a home orchard, or are planning to plant one, Missouri State's Fruit Experiment Station at Mountain Grove, Missouri will hold a free, hands-on pruning workshop Saturday, March 5, 2011 from 8:30-noon.

Horticulturists and field crew who work at the State Fruit Experiment Station at Mountain Grove will lead small groups in pruning fruit trees and small fruits.

They'll be covering how to prune apples, peaches, blueberries and brambles.

You'll also work with a fruit tree for a while, then trade and work on another, as you choose.

Bring your pruning tools and dress for the weather.

Last year, during our Phelps County Master Gardener classes, we actually kept the Fruit Experiment Station speaker almost an hour later than scheduled, including a lively discussion about how best to prune compact fruit trees. (In photo, compact apple, left, and compact pear.)

This free workshop sounds like a great opportunity to learn from experts!

Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station is located at 9740 Red Spring Road, Mountain Grove, Missouri 65711.

For more information, contact Pamela Mayer at PMayer@MissouriState.edu or call 417-547-7533.

You'll find more information at Missouri State's Fruit Experiment Station at
http://mtngrv.missouristate.edu.

Charlotte

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