All the Dirt on Gardening

With the weather changes we all experienced last growing season, gardeners and plant lovers are wondering which way to go. Wait and see? Or assume this year will be better, back to normal or terrific. I'm holding back somewhat. One of the gardening chores that never goes away is watering. What about planting more and more water-wise plants to have the same amount of beauty with a lower water bill and less work? And, if you're living in an area with water restrictions, water wise gardening will make a big difference. Released in Aug, 2011, "Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens", was recommended to me by Russell Studebaker, long-time garden writer for the Tulsa World. The 200 plants covered in the book include trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers, grasses and sedges, bulbs and their relatives, vines, annuals, biennials, succulents, cacti, palms and fiber plants. Each plant has its own page with photo, growing preferences, attributes and best zones. In ad...

Each year we try a few more plants that will feed the bees. Some work pretty well in our climate one year or another and others are less successful. Here's a composite list of possibilities with a few links at the end. What works for you? Alfalfa - Medicago sativa  Asters - any and all Basil - when the plants flower the leaves lose some quality but the bees are happy Black Eyed Susan - easy to grow and self-seeds Borage - Borago officinalis - the bright blue flowers look great in any bed Catmint - Nepeta Clover - sweet white, yellow or red Coltsfoot - Tussilago farfara Coriander - Coriandrum sativum Cornflower - Centaurea cyanus Cucumber - the bees cover cucumber vines like crazy Elderberry - Sambucus - when they flower you can hear the bees buzzing Evening Primrose - Oenothera Fennel - Foeniculum vulgare - good for butterfly caterpillars, too Fireweed - Chamerion angustifolium Gentian - Gentiana Geranium incanum  Goldenrod, perennial - the native varie...

It would be so easy for each of us to add one more pollinator-friendly plant in a pot or a plot. "Attracting Native Pollinators" provides plant lists by region. The plants were selected to tolerate a wide range of soil land light conditions. Here's a link to the Xerces Society  for more information. First, their list of low cost ornamental plants for pollinator gardens: Perennials: Catnip, coneflower, lavender, giant hyssop, oregano and Russian sage Annuals: Borage, common sunflower, cosmos Shrubs: Rugosa rose, pussy willow and false indigo Pollinator plants by U.S. region - Northeastern U.S. Spring: Wild lupine, eastern waterleaf, cranesbill Summer: Smooth penstemon, bergamot, giant hyssop, butterfly milkweed, Culver's root, Joe-Pye weed Autumn: New England aster, New York aster, Canada goldenrod Trees: American basswood, serviceberry, highbush blueberry Southeastern U.S. Spring: Spiderwort, Eastern smooth beardtongue, Manyflower beardtongue, spotte...

Bees are responsible for the pollination of every third bite of food you take and sip of juice you drink. Other insects such as flies, moths, butterflies and beetles pollinate the rest. We help ourselves by providing nectar for bees and protecting them from harmful gardening practices. Intuitively, we can assume that pesticides and other insect poisons used on and around plants will kill bees. But, in fact, herbicides and weed killers do just as much damage to North American native bees and bee colonies. North America’s bees range in size from one-twelfth of an inch to one inch long. Some bees live in colonies; others live alone. Some bees live in hollow plant material and others dig tunnels in the ground to make nests. Five of the seven families of bees are common in American gardens. Altogether, there are around 20,000 species of bees in the world; and, 4,000 of those species live in America. Warm, dry climates such as CA are home to 2,000 species. But the rest of us have more t...

Two upcoming events of interest - Dig In! - Food & Farming Festival 2012 March 2 & 3, 2012 Real food. Real Farms. Real Local. Global Campus, Fayetteville Square  |   www.diginfestival.com Contact: Leigh Wilkerson, co-organizer: 479-856-2088 or wilkerson.leigh@gmail.com Fayetteville, AR— Dig In! Food & Farming Festival returns bigger andbetter on March 2 & 3, 2012 to celebrate local food, farms andgardens with films, classes, an information fair, seed-swap, tastings and more. The documentary films at DigIn! are selected to uplift, empower and inspire viewers. Several will be screened for the first time in Arkansas. Filmsinclude: Queen of the Sun, Urban Roots, Seed Swap in the Ozarks, Food Fight,Greenhorns & more. Trailer previews are available at www.diginfestival.com . Besides films, there will beclasses on organic gardening, cooking from the garden or farmers market, ediblelandscaping, season extension, food preservation, beekeeping, seed s...

Chris is an ecologist and program director for The Nature Conservancy.  He is responsible for the management and restoration of about 5,000 acres of Conservancy-owned land in central and eastern Nebraska.  He devotes time to developing, testing, and exporting techniques for prairie management and restoration. Prairie Works Sustainable Landscaping and Ecological Restoration His blog, The Prairie Ecologist, has almost 500 ecology interested followers. This week he wrote an impassioned piece about his love of the prairie and its inhabitants. Here are a few excerpts - Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out why I think prairie conservation is so important. I can list off all kinds of logical and aesthetic reasons that prairies are important.  Prairies build soil, capture carbon, trap sediment, grow livestock, and support pollinators.  Those are all very practical reasons to think prairies are important, but I don’t care deeply about prairies be...

Our weather is going through a strange phase. We have not actually had any winter - no snow, no rain, a few freezing nights but then back to 55 or 70 within a day or two. It bodes poorly for the water table but it has been nice to be outside without a coat, pulling weeds and transplanting volunteers. I've been starting a few seeds all winter in the slightly heated and lighted shed I/we use to contain my hobby but we do not have a greenhouse. Jan/Feb is a good time to start many seeds if your fingers are itchy to get going. In a cold frame or in winter sowing containers such as gallon milk jugs start these seeds, leave them outside and cold until mid-Feb. Then, bring them inside to plant and grow for the spring.  Fringed Gentian seeds - Prairie Moon Nursery  Native/Flowers Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis Gentian cinita, Greater Fringed Gentian Gentian andrewsi, Bottle Gentian Wild flowers Poppy and Larkspur seeds germinate ...

Honeysuckle is one of those plants that gardeners either love or consider a weed to be fought against at all costs. Most of the time, the fight is against the Japanese or Asian species because it has made such a pest of itself throughout all the temperate gardening zones. Japanese, Korean or Chinese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, is spread when birds eat the black seeds that form in the fall. Once it takes hold, it can spread widely (and wildly), choking out all the native plants and tripping hikers. But there are over 200 species of honeysuckle and some of them are   useful on fences, in wooded areas, on stream banks and slopes. Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, in our yard Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, has many common names, including: Evergreen Honeysuckle, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Woodbine, Scarlet Trumpet, Red Honeysuckle, and Red Woodbine. This one is an American native, twining, vine that grows well in its native range, reaching from Ontario Canada,...

In "Perennials for Every Purpose" (c 2000) Larry Hodgson tells readers that Persicaria used to be lumped in with all fleeceflowers, into the genus Polygonum. The family was broken up into Polygonum and Fallopia. Polygonum cuspidatum is now Fallopia japonica sold as an ornamental but potentially invasive. Most gardening books leave it out all together. What stimulated my interest is that I have one that I picked up at a free plant exchange and hear very little about it. Last night I was browsing the Roots and Rhizomes Catalog ("for the discriminating gardener") and there it was. R & R says Persicaria is also called Tovara and Polygonum. Their varieties and descriptions are - Persicaria alata: creeping, trailing and can be invasive so plant in pots. Persicaria amplexicaulis Firetail: bright red flowers above heart shaped green leaves. Fine Gardening has a piece about it here . Roots & Rhizomes Persicaria Painters Palette Persicaria filiformis P...

When a plant starts to look diseased, gardeners head to the store in search of a diagnosis and cure.   The labels on the bottles explain what the bottle’s contents can treat, including black spots on leaves, shriveled stems, insect infestations and other problems that a sharp eye can diagnose. Two years ago, Muskogee resident Phil Pratt retired, ending a 35-year career as an Oklahoma State University plant pathologist and County Extension Director. He agreed to provide a few basics that gardeners need to know before they buy anything to spray on their gardens.  <><><> <><><> Farmer Fred Rant <><><>  According to Pratt, there are two kinds of plant problems: 1) Those caused by pathogenic organisms and 2) those not caused by pathogenic factors. The pathogenic organisms that cause diseases include viruses, fungi, bacteria and nematodes. The plant problems not caused by non-pathogenic organisms, sometimes called ...

Last November   I wrote about the primitive trail at Three Forks Harbor in Muskogee that travels along the Grand River. This afternoon it was 65 and sunny so I set out to go farther up river than I have on previous walks. The trail has been cleared by Muskogee Running Club members and goes much farther than I have. If you are interested in seeing a map of the McClellan Kerr area, I found one at the Wildlife Dept. site. Here's the link . Along my two hour walk, I took a few snapshots to share. Enjoy. The trail bed is soft under foot and two people wide. Look carefully at this photo. On the right side of the trail there is a piece of orange tape. There are several forks in the trail so keep an eye open for the orange tape as guidance about which way to walk. One problem with the trail right now is that trucks and 4-wheelers still use it, making deep ruts.  Walkers have to climb onto the bank and make their way among trees and brush. But! Look at the views ...

Mrs. Robb's Bonnet, Euphorbia amygdaloides robbiae, is a popular choice for part shade that will become drought tolerant after it becomes established. That means you have to water it at least the first year. Mrs. Robb's Bonnet and other wood spurges are deer resistant because the characteristic Euphorbia milky sap is slightly poisonous. Some gardeners with sensitive skin have strong reactions to the sap.  Loved for the chartreuse blooms in the spring, Mrs. Robb's Bonnet is a sibling of Euphorbia pulcherrimna, Poinsettia, another plant loved for its leaves rather than its tiny flowers. Some references say Euphorbia amygdaloides is native of Asia and invasive. Others say it is a European native that grows slowly. Ah, the experts. Hardy to 10 below zero F, zones 5 to 9. Great for rock gardens, pots, mass plantings in dappled shade. Native Sun A Euphorbia sport, Red Martin called Red Spurge, would perk up a bed! It's a cross between  Euphorbia amy...

Seed and plant catalogs can help cure gardeners’ winter withdrawal symptoms. Many companies no longer produce a paper catalog so you have to shop online but the pictures will make you long for spring.   This year’s list includes some old standards for new gardeners, many heirloom seed companies and a selection of unique listings for experienced gardeners.   The companies that our parents ordered from include Burpee, www.burpee.com , 800-888-1447, Parks Seeds, www.parkseed.com , 800-845-3369 and Henry Field’s, www.henryfields.com , 513-354-1494. Also try Hometown Seeds http://hometownseeds.com , 888-433-3106. B and T World Seeds in France, offers gardeners a worldwide perspective. The Master List has 34,000 listings and the sub-lists have 700 specialist catalogs including eco roof garden seeds, Polish native plants, Shady Condition seed list, Terrarium seeds, Icelandic native seeds, 5,000 food plants, etc. http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com   Select Seeds specializes...

Better Homes and Gardens gardening books have some of the most beautiful photos in the publishing world. Their photographers are many of the best in the business and it shows throughout all four of these books I received for review. I must wonder out loud why books about organic gardening by experienced gardeners show worn tools, dirty boots, windblown hair and soiled workbenches while most others illustrate new boots, clean hands, bird houses without chewed openings and spotless glass. My conclusion is that most books are offering us the unspoiled ideal, and for inspiration they can't be beat. These new BHG books, published by Wiley , will raise your gardening aspirations to new levels.  "Orchid Gardening" is both gorgeous and instructional. The Gallery of Orchids from page 132 to 214 is separated by Alliance such as Cattleya, Cymbidium, Jewel, etc. and would be perfect to take to the store with you. Four orchid photos to a page with requirements and ass...