Recently in Missouri Wildflowers Category

Gardening catalogs are starting to show up in my mailbox.  They're a good reminder that one of the advantages of being a gardener is that you don't really have to grow up.
By that I mean you're encouraged to try new seeds and plants, and to test new techniques and toys - oops tools, I meant tools.

Unfortunately for gadget manufacturers, I'm not too drawn to newfangled gardening accessories, probably because gardening on a Missouri limestone hill means a pick ax is the main, and sometimes only, gardening tool that will work.

The following is my list of top things to try this year:

1. Composting. I like the tumbler-type plastic composters with a side handle for easy turning. I also have a table top Nature Mill composter in my garage. I collect compost material in a bag in my freezer, then move it outside when the bag is full. It's amazing to me how composting reduces the amount of garbage. Colleagues in my business office also have been kind enough to help save coffee grounds and fruit peelings. In return, I bring in fresh flowers for our coffee break room and amend my raised bed kitchen garden.

2. Start vegetable garden seeds a little earlier than end February. I'm still trying to decide how to protect lettuce seedlings in my deck pots, maybe plastic over the top will work.

3. Conserve water. I'm amazed at how much my rain barrels collect during rain storms; and then how happier my plants seem to be when watered with
rain water.

4. Use  soaker hoses to minimize water runoff; add a timer to your irrigation system so you don't forget to turn it off.

5. Make a concerted effort not to use pesticides. Today there are more earth-friendly and safe alternatives. take a little extra time to read labels and learn about non-traditional options like spraying plants with hot pepper-infused water. Being less critical of a less than perfect
flower also helps!

6. Create an inviting habitat for garden visitors by providing food, water and shelter for birds, butterflies and other pollinators like bees. Birds are natural predators, and pollinators will help your garden have more produce.

7. Mow less grass; expand flower beds.

8. Add fruit-bearing shrubs and compact fruit trees. They're not only pretty when in bloom but can provide you with fresh fruit.

9. Plant more low maintenance native flowers. Rolla area is in USDA zone 5B. Natives require less water and will adapt faster; some have long blooming seasons like black-eyed susans.

10. Don't toss out those green tomatoes you finally grew. Try ripening them by storing in a cool, dark place in a brown bag with an apple. They don't have as much flavor as vine-ripened
tomatoes but they are still better than winter, store bought ones!


Which one of these have you tried already?







Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a master gardener sharing gardening adventures in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2012, all rights reserved.

This time of year, I pay particular attention to what is growing in other people's gardens.

With record hot temperatures, I'm looking for plants that can make it through Missouri's USDA Growing zone 5b-6 punishing summers so I can invite them into my hillside garden.

Not surprisingly, many of the hardier plants are Missouri native wildflowers, like purple coneflowers.

There are many new hybrid coneflower varieties but my favorites are still basic pink ones, which attract butterflies and once established, seem to bloom all summer. 

Nadine Moreland, St. James, said her purple coneflowers have never looked better than they do this year and she hasn't done a thing to them, it's  as if they love this hot weather!

Another personal favorite is pink phlox, the perennial mother plant to the wide range of phlox hybrids.

Years ago, a gardening friend told me not to bother buying different-colored phlox because unless I can keep phlox hybrids apart, they will revert back to the basic pink.

Since I've never been good at coraling plants -  I do periodically chase  strawberries that have slipped downhill - I've let pink phlox settle wherever they want to in my garden.

Not surprisingly, their idea of where they should grow is  much better than mine. They've become a staple for a variety of butterflies, honeybees and hummingbird moths.

Have you noticed the lovely large burgundy flowers at the corner of Business Loop 63 and University Drive in Rolla, Missouri?

Those are hardy hibiscus, cousins to the more common perennial Rose of Sharon bushes, and sometimes trees, seen around town.

What I like about Rose of Sharon is they start blooming before fall sets in and once established, use their long tap roots to keep hydrated.

Just be careful trying to dig one up. I would wait until after a good, soaking rain or the long root will break off.

Black-eyed Susans also manage to pull through hot weather with little effort, although the ones facing southwest in my garden needed a little water earlier this week.

Tomatoes usually do well for me in summer heat but this year, my tomatoes seem to be holding their breath at green.

Plants at 95F or higher go into survival mode and don't produce pollen or allow fruit to ripen.

In the spirit of Native American's "Three Sisters" gardening, I'm letting green beans grow around my tomatoes to try to keep parts of them shaded. Squash is moving under the tomatoes, hopefully shading tomato roots.

Annuals like marigolds, vinca, petunias and zinnias have for years done well in hot weather, although I did spot a patch around 18th Street that looked a bit wilted.

Even hardy plants can use a little helping water now and then.

Mrs. Emma Johnson, who used to live with her son and his family off Soest Road, years ago shared her "secret" to keeping her plants doing well through "hot spells."

Instead of fertilizing her plants once a month, she cut the dosage to one fourth of the original amount and fed her plants from the bottom every time she watered, which she said encouraged her plants to grow longer roots and thereby grow faster.

I use a similar watering principle every time I bring sale plants home.

Instead of immediately popping them into dry ground, I give them a little diluted, fertilizer cocktail and give them a week or so to recover before transplanting them into a garden spot I've saturated with a gallon or two of water.

That way, dry surrounding soil won't compete for water from the potted plant.

Jerry Baker, Master Gardener extraordinaire, has an interesting recipe for a garden tonic to use every three weeks all season long. Mix and apply with your hose sprayer:

1 can of beer,
1 cup of ammonia,
1/2 cup of dishwashing liquid,
1/2 cup of liquid lawn food, and
1/2 cup molasses or corn syrup.

At this early stage of a long hot summer, plants can use all the help they can get!












Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill gardening to distraction.

If you've ever tried to grow foxgloves, Missouri Wildflowers Beard-Tongue will quickly become a favorite.

A hardy perennial that likes shade and semi-shady areas, Beard-Tongue will survive a lot of abuse and still come back the following year as hardy, and pretty, as ever.

Unlike foxgloves, Beard-Tongue is shallow-rooted and self-seeding, making it an easy wildflower to add to a garden.

My first Beard-Tongue plant came from a friend's house; she didn't remember what the plant was and I had a shady spot that needed greenery.

Now years later, part of my spring routine is taking a weeder and after a rain, digging Beard-Tongue plant starts out of my driveway and moving them back into flower beds.

The name comes from a middle lip that is hairy, an open invitation to pollinators like honeybees and butterflies.

Beard-Tongue also makes a nice cut flower. Check the flowers before bringing them inside, I usually find a hitchhiker or two!

If you enjoy watching hummingbirds, its easy to plant flowers that will bring them, and keep them, around your garden.

I have a number of deck pots full of plants specifically for hummingbirds, including various colors of salvia, which look like tiny hummingbirds, and petunias, all in a range of hummingbird favorite colors of red, pink and purple.

Don't these red salvia look like tiny hummers?

Hummingbirds are also very fond of single-blossom tropical hibiscus, which are native to hummingbirds summer grounds in Brazil. Since hummingbirds use their long tongues to lick, single blossoms are easier for them to access nectar.

There are also a number of Missouri wildflowers that I've personally seen attract hummingbirds,  including bee balm, columbine, purple coneflower and, I hear, indian paintbrush, something I have yet to successfully grow from seed but I'm still trying.

Hummingbirds also enjoy coral bells, fuchsia, honeysuckle,  russian sage, purple coneflowers and phlox.

If I had to choose only one flower to plant for hummingbirds,  it would be basic pink phlox. Once these perennials start blooming, they seem to maintain flowers the entire growing season, attracting a variety of not only hummingbirds but  a wide range of butterflies and hummer moths, often confused for baby hummingbirds.

If you don't have room for a lot of these plants, and still want to attract hummingbirds,  hang a hummingbird feeder from a tree tropical hibiscus.

There are a number of hummingbird feeders available on the market.

I recommend plastic ones so they don't break when raccoons take a drink, or two...

To make hummingbird sugar water, mix 1 part sugar to 4 parts water - no need to add red food coloring - and replace every few days, especially if the temperature is hot.  Don't wash hummingbird feeder with soap; use only hot water.

By offering both plants and sugar water, you are sure to attract these amazing birds into your garden!












Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill gardening to distraction.

Nationwide figures are in.

According to US Department of Agriculture, beekeepers lost about 30 percent of their hives last winter.

Although there are a number of theories why honeybees are dying in record numbers - one out of every three fruit or vegetable we eat is courtesy of honeybee pollination - not having enough good pollen sources is sometimes mentioned as one of the factors.According to US Department of Agriculture, beekeepers lost about 1/3 of their hives last winter.

So last year, after getting my two honeybee hives settled in, I thought I would find a list of favorite honeybee plants and start adding them to my garden.

It wasn't that easy.

First, honeybees don't dart around. Once they find a pollen source, they farm one area and even share the location with other honeybees through a little dance. They may also  travel up to 1.5 to 2 miles to locate pollen, so to produce a certain flavored honey, honeybees have to be given access to 8,000 acres of just one crop.

Honeybees also have color preference.

They  prefer blue and yellow flowers, as opposed to hummingbirds and butterflies, who prefer flowers in the pink to purple range.

 That explains why dandelions are a favorite early, sometimes first spring honeybee pollen source, as well as fall's yellow wildflower goldenrod and my hummingbird feeders full of sugar water.

According to "The Hive and the Honey Bee" by Dadant and Sons, the following are favorite honeybee flowers:

Alfalfa; Asters; Basil; Blackberry; Button Bush; Catnip; Chickweed; Chicory; Red and White Clover; Coneflower; Dandelion; Goldenrod; Honeysuckle; Locust; Milkweed; (yikes) Poison Ivy and Poison Oak; Privet: Redbud; Sage;  Sumac; Thyme; Willow and Yellow Rocket.

In terms of fruits and vegetables, honeybees are also fond of Cantaloupe; Cucumber; Gourds: Melon; Pumpkin; Soybeans: Lima Beans; Squash. Apples; Apricot; Cherry; Peach; Plums and (photo) Pears.

I have to confess, when my garden was up for "inspection" last May before my two beehives arrived, I was very nervous. I knew not using pesticides over the years was good, but I couldn't imagine what else honeybees would need besides a good source of pollen.

Turns out a source of water is important, and honeybees don't particularly like clean water; they're attracted to water with a little taste to it, like leaves.

Honeybees also need a spot where hives are protected from weather elements but still have a clear flight path. The idea is to minimize cold winds getting into hive entrances; bee wings will freeze at certain temperatures.

So far, my honeybee hives seem to be doing well. May-July is the peak of honey-making, and one of my hives is doing exceptionally well.

The hive named after Mildred, my grandmother, has one super full of gorgeous yellow gold honey, a second super half full and I added a third one last weekend.

I wasn't sure how the bees would react to having two top, honeybee full floors, or supers,  moved to make room for a third one. Except for raising the noise level in the hive when I applied smoke to gently move them down into the hive, the process went smoothly.

The new super is designed to help bees produce easy-to-remove comb honey. I'm not sure I put them together correctly but that's part of the adventure!











Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill Gardening to Distraction.
 

If there's one Missouri wildflower that says spring to me, it's wild columbines. Don't they look like old-fashioned granny's bonnets?

I first came close to columbines on a Colorado vacation to Estes Park. Hummingbirds were all over the flowers so I decided I needed to buy seeds and grow columbines in my garden.

A few years later, after several unsuccessful attempts to raise columbines by seed, a friend gave me a start of Missouri's wildflower version.

These lovely red flowers with yellow accents look almost ethereal in early morning sunshine.

Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, about
Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill.

Years ago, I first saw Blue-eyed Grass by the side of my gravel country road.

Thinking I needed new glasses, I went back a few days later trying to find the lovely blue flowers, only to come across clumps of what looked like grass.

Once I identified the flower in my Missouri Wildflowers book and understood it was actually a tiny iris, it was much easier to spot them.

Several weekends ago, I got a call from a neighbor.

"Come quickly," the male voice  said, "it only opens when its sunny."

As I walked up to Lyle Purcell's front door, I noticed beautiful yellow flowers that looked like long-stemmed dandelions.

"That's Krigia biflora or false dandelion," Purcell said. "I don't know why but they've settled here on their own, probably brought in by birds."

The yellow flowers were lovely and a testament to why planting native wildllowers are a good idea, even if the gardener is a bird.

Although Lyle doesn't have bird feeders around, Lyle's garden is a bird haven. In addition to planting plants that attract birds, he keeps his garden chemical-free to attract insects, which are nature's bird take out.

Lyle started planting his garden for wildlife long before it was a trend. He included wild columbines, one of my personal favorites, and native Missouri red buckeye.

Planted several decades ago, Lyle said he had to search for the plants and ended up buying them out of state.

Luckily today, native Missouri wildflower plants, and seeds, are now offered at local nurseries.

Besides being accustomed to our changing weather, native wildflowers easily settle themselves into a garden with very little care.

 It was fun to walk through Lyle's garden and see where False Dandelion. wild columbines and violets, another personal favorite, where popping up.

"Columbines have been out for a couple of weeks but I only saw my first hummingbird early May," Lyle said.

It does seem hummingbirds arrived a little later this year from their winter migration to Brazil.

After reading a book about perennials that are low in maintenance, Lyle said he also planted a lovely patch of blue across the path from the almost tree-size red buckeye.

One of the larger but harmless garden bees is the carpenter bee.

About as big as a bumble bee, these large, black solitary bees flit from flower to flower with acrobatic grace, moving quickly, and sometimes dizzily, until they find a place to light.

This carpenter bee spies a nice grove of Missouri wildflowers Virginia Cowslip, or Bluebells.

I'm guessing these lovely wildflowers would look like trees to a carpenter bee...

It's hard not to notice the lovely flower garden outside Dr. Jim Bass's office off Hauck Drive in Rolla, Missouri.

What you may not know is half the raised garden - the part closest to Dr. Bass's office - is a treasure trove of old-fashioned medicinal plants.

Planted four years ago as one of Ina Bicknell's Phelps County Master Gardener projects, the garden is a combination of medicinal herbs, native wildflowers and fun annuals "for a spot of color."

Ina said she had fun researching the background of plants and herbs used a century ago to treat diseases, such as lavender for flatulence, fainting and nervousness.

That's quite a combination, I told Ina.

"Sometimes the plants were so bad for you, you forgot how bad you felt because you weren't nervous any more," Ina said.

Starting at the corner of the garden closest to Dr. Bass's office door, flanked with one of my favorite perennials, ever-so-soft Lamb's Ear "for decoration:"

Feverfew, used for fevers and chills, which probably gave the plant it's name.

Chamomile, used for nervousness, a weak stomach and hair rinse.
 
Suppose there was a connection? I'm thinking if I drank my hair rinse, my stomach wouldn't feel very well, either!

Creeping Thyme, a cure for baby colic and headaches. Now there's definitely a connection there.

Catmint, an anti-spasmodic, sometimes confused with catnip. Trust me, cats know the difference.

Oriental poppies, getting ready to bloom, represent opiate painkillers.

Digitalis, growing in the center, was used for heart problems.

On the other side of the garden, several different-colored Columbines, although poisonous, are a reminder that at one time, they were used to treat the equally deadly plague.
 
Don't you wonder how they figured out if it actually worked?

Around the corner from varied color Columbines, in front of petunias,  is a row of strawberries "popular with Dr. Bass's staff and patients who come in with juice on their mouths," who Ina said sometimes sneak out to "pick a berry or two."

Patients waiting for doctor's appointments also sometimes ask if they can wait outside so they can sit on the brick edge and enjoy the garden.

A bunch of onions towards the center are a tribute to helping babies with croup and snake bites.

Nearby is sage, one of my favorite seasoning herbs, once thought to treat coughs, colds and stomach worms.

Ina said her biggest challenge with this charming garden is keeping "chewing gum and cigarette butts" from taking over.

She keeps the garden looking good by adding compost and mulch, then periodically weeding.

Raised on a farm, Ina said working soil is in her blood. She's also the creative hand behind the lovely Native Plant garden that welcomes visitors to Rolla's Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.

Ina said anyone can plant a theme garden.
 
"Start with a subject close to your heart and get planting!"











Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO