The Community Educational Horticulture Sessions have been suspended for the summer, but go ahead and mark your calendar for the second Monday in September, the 11th.
Shirley Smith and Donna Hagar will present a program on Building a Rain Barrel and Harvesting Rain Water.
Have a safe and wonderful summer. Enjoy your garden!
by Shirley Smith, Somervell County Master Gardener
I love trying new and different plants. But, I do make sure they are either native to Texas and/or adapted for growing in this area. One particularly good find is Jerusalem Sage. The botanical name is Phlomis fruticosa. Some common names are Satiny Wormwood, Mugwort, and Silvermound Artemisia. I have had mine in the ground for about 3 years and it has done well. I garden south of Glen Rose and have “good” soil to a depth from 8” to 24” before hitting white rock. This plant has done well in this soil.
It grows in full sun. I gave it supplemental water the first year (when I could remember!) but after that it has been on its own. It has done well and blooms so prettily in the late spring/early summer. Then (and this is a plus), when it is finished blooming the flowers dry up and even they are interesting so I just leave them on the plant. Also, it is a pollinator magnet.
Here is all the information you might need to make a decision about using this in your landscape. One thing I LOVE about this plant is that the deer leave it alone!
Jerusalem Sage
Happy gardening!
Sources:
TexasSmartScape
USDA Plant Database
This Monday, May 8th, the CHES
program will be on Water Well Conservation,
including understanding your well
and touring a mock well.
Karen Siddall is bringing a demonstration trailer with a mock well, so people can understand
CALLING ALL GARDENERS…
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office of Somervell County, along with the Hood and Johnson County Extension Offices, will be offering a Master Gardener Training starting in March 2017. If you are an avid gardener or someone who enjoys learning about horticulture this is a great opportunity. Training topics will include in-depth classes on plant diseases, soil fertility, trees, grasses, vegetable production, irrigation, organic gardening, entomology and more.
You may ask yourself what exactly is a Master Gardener? A Master Gardener is an individual who has completed extensive training and has served the community by sharing their gardening knowledge through the activities of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. They are enthusiastic, willing to learn and to help others, and are able to communicate with diverse groups of people. What really sets Master Gardeners apart from other home gardeners is their special training in horticulture. In exchange for their training, persons who become Master Gardeners contribute time as volunteers, working through their Extension office to provide horticultural-related information to their communities.
If you think the Master Gardener Program may be for you, contact Zach Davis at the Somervell County Extension Office by emailing [email protected] or call 254-897-2809. The fee for the 2017 Master Gardener training is $150, this includes Master Gardener Training Manual, field trip fees and all other training fees.
by Jes-c French, Somervell County Master Gardener
The holidays are right around the corner, and now is a great time to start thinking about gifts. For those hard-to-shop-for loved ones, sometimes a gardening gift is just the solution you need. Of course, you can’t go wrong with a Poinsettia or a Christmas Cactus, but I’d like to offer a few different suggestions.
norfolk-island-pine-araucaria_heterophylla
Houseplants are a perfect gift year round, as outdoor temperatures won’t hinder their growth. I’d recommend Geraniums for their beautiful flowers. Another popular indoor plant around Christmas time is the Norfolk Pine. Don’t worry; they make beautiful houseplants, even after the holidays have ended.
For those who are planning a garden, seeds would also make a nice gift. Carrots, turnips, spinach, radishes, lettuce, collards, beets and broccoli are some of the vegetables that can be planted by seeds shortly after the New Year in Somervell County.
An indoor herb garden might make a good gift for those who like to cook, even if they don’t traditionally spend their time gardening. Gardening gifts don’t have to be limited to seeds or plants, either. For the gardeners in your life who learn well from books, contact a Master Gardener to see the gardening library at the Extension Office.
by Merilyn Cranford, Somervell County Master Gardener
This plant is an aromatic perennial named for the goddess Artemis. Medicinal and culinary herbs, soft wooded shrubs like the sagebrush of the West, and a treasure trove of silver-filigreed perennials from grasslands and seacoasts around the world all belong to Artemesia.
For prairie gardens the willow-leafed silver sage affords the proper place to begin an exploration of this genus. Tall enough to show in the midst of the grasses or at the side of a pale pink shrub rose, this perennial manages to be pretty yet remains untamed. Wildness is no illusion for the running roots to spread through a garden at a frightful pace. Even so, the slender plumes of frosty gray make this prairie herb among the most visually arresting of silver plants.
When the clumps require weeding, as eventually they will, it is a pleasant task, for the aromatic leaves are the same western “sage” often sold as incense. ‘Silver Queen’, the best known of several cultivars, distinguishes itself with especially white, slightly cut leaves. Many artemesias struggle in the heat and humidity of the South, but this one is foolproof.
So, if you are looking for a native plant that’s easy to grow and maintain, plus one that brings outstanding beauty to your flowerbeds, this one is for you.
Source: “The Moonlit Garden”
by Shirley D. Smith, Somervell County Master Gardener
I have never been afraid to try something different in the garden. In fact, tell me it can’t go where I live and I will more than likely attempt that very plant as soon as I can find it! Gardening is a never-ending search for the different, the fun, the unusual. That’s just one of the many things that makes gardening so much fun.
bat-faced-cuphea
firecracker cuphea
A couple of years ago I tried two members of the cuphea family. I locally found the bat-faced cuphea (Cuphea Ilavea) and a cuphea called Firecracker (Cuphea ignea). The bat-faced cuphea did not make it through the first winter even though I did mulch it fairly well. The taller Firecracker cuphea is still in my garden. It did nothing all summer, but as soon as the cooler weather of fall (finally!) set in, it bloomed and here at the end of November it is still going strong and so pretty. See photo I included. They were both planted on the north side of my house. I will mulch this Firecracker heavily and hope that it will come back next spring. As you can see from the photo, it is healthy and happy and doing very well.
“There are over 250 species of Cupheas, which include annuals, short lived perennials and small shrubs. Most are native to Central and South America. Cupheas bloom from spring through fall, and are excellent plants for attracting hummingbirds to your garden, as well as stunning additions to your butterfly garden.” The Garden Helper.
These plants are winter hardy to USDA Zones 10-12. Somervell County is in Zone 7. So you might want to grow the bat-faced cuphea as an annual,
plant or houseplant. In the garden, both of these are best grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. They will tolerate part shade. They are easily grown from seed started indoors 10-12 weeks before last spring frost date. They tolerate high summer heat (I can attest to that!) and also tolerate some drought, but perform best with regular moisture. Plants can become leggy as the growing season progresses, in which case stem tips may be pinched as needed to maintain good plant form. If grown in containers, plants may be overwintered indoors in bright, sunny locations with temperatures in the 60s and reduced watering. Plants may be propagated from tip cuttings in the fall for overwintering. It is generally best to start new plants each year. The above description would apply to the Firecracker cuphea except I do leave mine in the ground and just mulch it. So, if we have a mild winter I expect to have the Firecracker come back.
Happy gardening!
There will be no CHES meeting in December – a very busy month for all of us.
In January, the weather often presents some dangerous driving conditions, so we have decided to wait until February to have our next CHES meeting. Yes, we know about February weather, but it’s not usually as “iffy” as January, so we’re going to risk it. Christine Morgan has a great program lined up for us on February 8th at 6:30. Please put this on your calendar.
Common Invasive Species on Rangeland
Characteristics, Management and Control
Are you overlooking a sea of cedar on your property? Wondering what to do about Johnson Grass? Join us on Monday, November 14th to meet our local Natural Resources Conservation Service’s District Conservationist Bill O’Quin. This will be the second time Bill has visited our chapter, and we are excited to have him back with us! Save time for questions and answers, as he also has management grants available for landowners, and is himself a wealth of information!
By Dr. Christine Morgan, ND, PSc.D.
Did you know that there is a nutritious food source literally dropping from your trees each fall? In fact, unless you are a squirrel, you may even see this food as a nuisance. But guess what? Acorns are edible!!
Alas, the lowly acorn was not always seen this way. Historical sources suggest that some of the world’s earliest civilizations ate acorns. In fact, the word for “oak” in Tunisian translates to “meal-bearing tree.”
Although acorns, which contain healthy fats, protein and minerals, found their way into many Native American foods and are the main ingredient of a traditional Korean jelly recipe, most people today shy away from eating them. Why? Anyone who has ever sampled a raw acorn can tell you. They taste bitter because of naturally occurring chemicals called tannins.
The secret to eating…and enjoying acorns…lies in removing the tannins. When you complete this process, you can produce a subtly flavored flour that works well in all kinds of baking recipes and even as a coffee-like beverage.
How to remove the tannins
The first step to removing the tannins is to select only ripe, brown acorns. Avoid green, blackened or mildewed acorns. Then remove the caps and boil the acorns for about 10 minutes. You will need to strain out the brown water and boil the acorns again in fresh water. Repeat this process three to four times until the water looks clear and the acorns can be easily shelled. This is the “work” that most people are unwilling to do to use acorns as a food source, but more and more people are looking for alternative food sources to increase variety in the diet which is important for true health.
Now that the tannins are removed, it is time to dry the acorns. First shell them. Spread the acorn nuts on a baking sheet and place them in a preheated 200*F. oven. Leave the door slightly ajar so moisture can escape. Let them dry until crunchy. You now have acorn nuts!
To make acorn flour
To make acorn flour, the process is a little different. Shell after the boiling process (leaching) and let freshly leached acorns dry out a bit on the counter. Grind slightly moist leached acorns in a blender or food processor. Spread the meal out on a tray and let dry at 200*F. in an oven until dry…or in a dehydrator at 105* until dry. Then re-grind the dry meal in the blender or food processor again to make a fine flour. Store ground flour in an airtight container on the counter or it can be frozen for longer storage use.
Acorns add a nutty, slightly sweet taste to recipes. You can use them as a substitute for chickpeas, peanuts or macadamia nuts. (Put them in banana nut bread or zucchini bread!) You also can use them to make acorn butter, which you can use instead of peanut butter or almond butter. You also can add them to salads, soups and stews for flavor and nutrition.
You can substitute the acorn flour in any recipe that uses wheat or other gluten-free flour, but keep in mind that acorn flour products will have a crumbly texture. If you prefer a spongy texture to your cookies or bread, you will need to mix in some other flour with your acorn flour, or increase the liquids in GF recipes with other flours.
Acorn Coffee
Another option is make acorn coffee. Now, this drink will not perk you up in the morning since acorns do not contain caffeine, but it is a pleasant beverage, especially in cold weather.
Place pieces of soaked (leached) acorns on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven at 400*F. for about 30 minutes. When the pieces are dark brown in color and have a pleasant roasted (not burned) aroma, they are ready.
Add one tablespoon of roasted acorn pieces per eight ounces of boiling water. Let the mixture steep for five to 10 minutes. Reheat if needed. Then you can add your regular coffee condiments or drink the acorn coffee black. Enjoy!