All the Dirt on Gardening

Master Gardeners Veggies and More Garden Tour,  June 1, 10 to 3, $10 Plant Sale at Honor Heights Park Papilion  Tickets at Garden Locations Trudy and Sud Sudberry, 2701 North 64th Street West, Muskogee Pam and John Turnbull, 2906 North 24th Street, Muskogee Ruth and David Redding, 106 East Elm, Ft. Gibson ------------------------------ ----------------------------- The Muskogee County Master Gardeners Veggies and More Garden Tour next Saturday will have plenty of unique features to attract gardeners and plant lovers. The tour gardens have annual and perennial flowers, succulents, vegetable gardens and herbs to show and talk about.  At the beginning of each hour there will be talks about gardening topics ranging from raised beds to irrigation and insect control. The Sudberry’s garden is remarkable. A flower and herb garden hugs the house and shed. Down the hill, a fenced vegetable and fruit garden has raised beds, vines and fruit trees. Alon...

The Garden Professors are a group of gardeners, extension agents and other scientifically minded gardeners who research and write about gardening, specifically, what is true and what is myth.  One author quotes Will Rogers to explain their purpose. “It’s not what we don’t know that causes us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” Most of us have been unwitting victims of garden advice that was given to us with an authoritative tone of voice but without any scientific confirmation. Then, it is accepted as fact and repeated. The Garden Professors check out garden myths for us. Examples of their projects at  gardenprofessors.com Weed blocking fabric actually provides a great substrate for weed seeds to take hold. In addition, “all those pores in the fabric that supposedly allow water and oxygen to move through are soon filled with bits of soil.”  Remove the weed cloth and replace it with wood chips. More information -  https://bit.ly/1DgVejP Ep...

Spiderwort flowers bloom for weeks at the base of deciduous tree trunks and shrubs, tucked among their roots. Each individual flower lasts only a day but there are several waves of little three-petaled flowers that keep the show going.  The most common Spiderwort is the American native Tradescantia virginiana or Woodland Spiderwort with blue and lavender-blue flowers.  Tradescantia ernestaniana, Ernest’s spiderwort, or Red Cloud is native to OK, AL, AR, MO and MS.   Spiderworts are hardy from zones 5 to 9, with flower colors from rose-red to blue and deep purple. They share the same plant family, Commelinaceae, with 731 other so-called perennial dayflowers that originated in Canada and the tropics from the West Indies to Argentina. Other Tradescantias with three-cornered flowers include Purple Heart, Tradescantia pallida and Wandering Jew, Tradescantia tricolor, often grown under trees as an annual groundcover. Spiderworts are easy to grow in avera...

Daisies are among the most cheerful and reliable flowers for borders and cut flower beds.  Annual Marguerite Daisy, Argyranthemum frutescens, has yellow, pink and red flowers. They do their best when nights are 75 degrees F and below so when they fade with summertime heat, shear them back and they will return in the fall. Annual Painted Daisy, Tanacetum coccineum, grow 2-feet tall in part shade. Remove the faded flowers and they will re-bloom in the fall. Pale pink Eileen May Robinson and James Kelway are easily grown from seed. Gerbera Daisy, Gerbera jamesonii, are from Africa so they are frost-tender and enjoy summer heat with afternoon protection. Festival and Jaguar Series are multi-colored. Gerberas mature at 10-14 inches, do well in containers with regular fertilizer and water. Experienced gardeners may remember when Gerbera Daisy was called Pyrethrum, Painted or Persian Daisy. Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum is a garden workhorse that is a cross betwee...