May 2010 Archives

It was barely sunrise when Don Moore, a biologist and St. James, MO beekeeper since 1977, pulled his white pickup into my driveway carrying two, duct-taped-shut grey bee hives FULL of  bees.

Don is president of Mid-Missouri Beekeepers and a great source of info and inspiration. He started beekeeping to help family members manage allergies and ended up with hundreds of hives and a honey-producing business, something he said still surprises him.

Don said it would take  a couple of days for 60,000 bees to orient themselves to their new surroundings, Then they would be flying as much as 1.5 miles, pollinating neighboring gardens as well as my own and flying back, leg pouches full of pollen.

Worker bees live only about six weeks, literally wearing their wings down dragging pollen back to the hive. Gave me new appreciation for the expression "busy as a bee..."

Just to be safe, we dressed in long sleeves, pants and the latest "bee-wear" hat and veil.

(Matt, left,  volunteered to get up at dawn to help move the hives, in spite of being bitten years ago when he inadvertently mowed over a ground bee hive!)

Don said my bees will be well-behaved, a cross between Russian and Minnesota bees called Minnesota Hygienic, bred by Moore for gentleness, disease resistance and honey production.

I chose to get locally-bred bees for the same reason I tend to grow native plants - they should be better acclimated to mid-Missouri and less prone to disease and other problems.

The day before, Don brought two small wood pallets and we walked through the garden to find the best spot for the hives; facing east, away from prevailing winds with some shade, but not so much bees can't easily fly in and out.

Several bricks and rocks later, the pallets were level enough to nicely hold the 30 lbs hives.

Once on the pallets, I placed a rock on top of each hive to prevent curious visitors from disturbing the new arrivals. This is the back of the bee hives.

I tend to tuck Self Heal plants into barren shady spots and along walkways. They're not good cut flowers but they hold their purple blooms well in the garden and sometimes will bloom again later in summer.

I like them because their flowers span the seasons. Even if they're inadvertently trampled on, Self Heal tend to easily bounce back. Hmmm, I guess they do heal themselves after all!!








Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

I once thought if I ever needed a special "code" word for some undercover operation, "chiggers" would be a good one since people in other places besides MO know so little about  these cousins to ticks and spiders.

Missouri's chigger season, which starts mid-May, or whenever the weather starts staying warm for let's say 2 days straight, is officially here. These teeny tiny mites are past annoying, they cause unconsolable itching for days, usually around uncovered ankles and legs.

When I first moved to Missouri, I was told to apply nail polish to the red bumps, and to bathe in turpentine, alcohol or homemade lye soap, none of which really work except for maybe Mrs. Williams handmade lye soap. I think the mites respected her more than anything.

Missouri's Department of Conservation has a good guide to dealing with chiggers.

Just don't assume this is like a snipe hunt. Chiggers are a testament size doesn't matter.







Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

It's not as elegant as the plant itself but "cow slobber" is another name for one of my favorite edible Missouri wildflowers, spiderwort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

 

Missouri's state tree, the dogwood, is not always easy to grow.

Although usually beautiful and full, not all wild dogwoods bloom as easily as this dogwood tree off Missouri S&T's golf course.

Theodore, my little wild dogwood,moved to my hillside garden about 13 yrs ago.

Theodore was all of 5 inches, a typical start for Missouri's state tree, or as a former state conservation commission member from here called them, Missouri's "weed tree."

For the record, I love dogwoods. They grow under mightier oaks, giving the forest a white lacy look and usually bloom after redbuds, as much a part of a Missouri spring day as tulips and daffodils. In fall and winter, birds like their little red berries.

 I found Theodore on a walk, a little sapling sticking out from under heavy leaf cover in a friend's backyard. Since he didn't contribute to the desired manicured lawn look, I happily took the little tree home. A Missouri gardening friend told me to plant his root pointing north and to keep his roots moist, but not wet so I tucked him in one of my three-feet wide, rock-bordered flower beds, an attempt to use abundant area rocks to keep the little soil I had from disappearing down hill.

I planted him outside my living room window, thinking that way I could enjoy his blooms. 

The first couple of years he grew about 2 feet. When he reached 3 feet, that's where he stayed. For years!

At one point I thought maybe I was growing an outside bonsai because, in spite of my adding mulch and leaf cover, there was still no growth. I had almost given when three years ago, Theodore grew 2 feet. Last year, he grew another couple of feet and this year - yes, Theodore grew a few more feet, and then he bloomed.

It was only one bloom, but - WHAT a bloom!?

Recently I was standing in a check out line with another woman who was buying spring plants  off a clearance rack. A woman behind us turned to her partner and said, in a very loud voice, "I would NEVER buy a plant on sale."

Plants are marked down for sale for reasons that have nothing to do with their quality: spent or non-existent blooms is one; over watering from too much rain is another. Sometimes plants are marked down because there are too many of one kind. One plant manager told me she was marking down plants because one flat was smaller than the rest and she didn't think anyone would pay more for smaller plants by comparison. (Can you tell I always check plant clearance racks??)

I always ask about marked down plants; knowing why they were marked down helps me decide whether I want to take a chance. And then sometimes there are plants that you just can't pass up, ones that aren't blooming, look stressed and couldn't possibly survive, like this unidentified floribunda rose I bought last year for 10 cents. It was on sale July 4 weekend so I took it home, planted it with compost and mulched it. 

It bloomed for the first time over May 8-9, 2010, Mother's Day weekend:

When I last updated you on my first little vegetable garden, deer had nibbled my first two cauliflower plantings.

I applied Melorganite fertilizer, recommended by my friend RD, which kept deer at bay for a few days; Irish spring soap pieces, which my hairdresser said deer don't like smelling. Another friend suggested a product with dried pig's blood I haven't tried. We even discussed collecting human hair to scatter around the garden in mesh bags or old panty hose.

And the winning idea was:

That's 97-cent per yard blue tulle bridal fabric, draped over each of the 3x3-foot raised garden beds.

I wasn't sure what my friend Kay at the fabric store was going to say when I told her I was going to drape my vegetable garden in bridal fabric. I was tired of finding my garden torn up but I didn't want to harm anything; this is really about finding a good alternative.

 "It'll work great," Kay said, "people buy tulle for their gardens all the time, especially to keep birds from their fruit trees."

Well, those are birds; these are big deer.

Now how to keep Balboa, the squirrel, out of trouble. I finally caught him digging this morning through my garden beds...

Pardon me, once I got started with the P's it was hard to pause - but you get the idea, peonies are now in full bloom in Missouri gardens??

There's something very special about peonies.

I like them because of their beauty; their lovely scent; the interesting, bushy way they grow and I especially like the way they add fun to a cut flower bouquet - small buds, BIG flowers!

Around mid-Missouri, peonies and iris often bloom together. One of my Missouri gardening friends says if peonies bloom early, we'll have an early spring next year; if they bloom late, then the following spring will be late. Peonies used to be Memorial Day flowers but they seem to be blooming earlier.

There are many peony hybrids on the market; mine are all old-fashioned ones, gifts from gardener friends or, in the case of the red peony, a discarded plant no longer fitting into a neighbor's landscape.

Oh - and for those of you who were queazy about my earlier post on the beauty of ants on peony buds - you can open your eyes now.


Your peonies not blooming? You may have planted the peony root too deep.

Wait until fall; dig up the plant and reset the root so that it's not more than two inches deep.

The root may break as you dig it up; that's ok, just make sure you have a root piece with at least 3 eyes, or main plant branches, to give the plant a healthy new start.

Once you have them in a good spot, they'll bloom for years - promise!

Not that I'm suggesting anything untoward has been going on in my MO garden but my Ajuga sure seem to be popping up not only everywhere but in different colors.

This perennial ground cover is wonderful for my clay soil, usually holding onto what soil I do have and adding a lovely swath of blue along with blue-flowering Vinca in both sunny and shady spots.

Here's what blue Ajuga, or Bugle normally looks like:


So imagine my surprise when around the corner, in the shade, close to where I have purple iris, I find lavender-colored Bugle:



Several University extension publications mention many plants, including Ajuga, cross-pollinate. I was just surprised to find this going on literally under my nose, in my own garden:

My mother loved my garden.

She would drive in from Ilinois, after days of talking about all the things we were going to do when we were once again together.

We would end up on a garden bench, talking for hours, enjoying the beauty.

My mother died years ago but her spirit is still with, and around me.

"My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being.  I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune." ~Graycie Harmon