Community Horticultural Education Series (CHES)
There will be no CHES Meeting in December
We are looking forward to the next meeting in January, 2016!
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by lheideman
by Linda Heideman, Somervell County Master Gardener
No flower says Christmas in the United States like the beautiful Poinsettia. It is part of the large and diverse Spurge family, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima.
Poinsettias received their name in the United States in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who introduced the plant into the country in 1828. Poinsett was a botanist, a physician, and the first United States Ambassador to Mexico. He sent cuttings of the plant he had discovered in Southern Mexico to his home in Charleston, South Carolina. The word Poinsettia is traditionally capitalized because it is named after a person. December 12th is Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of Poinsett in 1851.
Today the plant is known in Mexico and Guatemala as “La Flor de la Nochebuena” (Flower of the Holy Night, or Christmas Eve). In Chile and Peru, the Poinsettia is called the “Crown of the Andes”. In Spain it has a completely different holiday attribution: “Flor de Pascua” meaning “Easter Flower”.
Poinsettias have also been called the lobster flower and the flame-leaf flower, due to the red color, but today there are more than 100 varieties in many solid colors, or even marbled and speckled varieties. The Paul Ecke Ranch in California grows over 70% of all Poinsettias purchased in the United States and does about 50% of the world-wide sales.
The showy colored parts of Poinsettias that most people think of as the flowers are actually colored bracts (modified leaves). The yellow flowers, or cyathia, are in the center of the colorful bracts. The plant drops its bracts and leaves soon after those flowers shed their pollen. For the longest-lasting Poinsettias, choose plants with little or no yellow pollen showing. The colors of the bracts are created through “photoperiodism”, meaning that they require darkness (12 hours at a time for at least five days in a row) to change color. On the other hand, once they finish that process, the plants require abundant light during the day for the brightest color.
In nature, Poinsettias are perennial flowering shrubs that were once considered weeds. But they are not frost-tolerant. They will grow outdoors in temperate coastal climates, such as Southern California beach communities. In the ground, they can reach 10 feet tall!
Despite rumors to the contrary, Poinsettias are not poisonous. Some people with latex allergies have had a skin reaction, most likely to the sap in the leaves. A study at Ohio State University showed that a 50-pound child would have to eat more than a pound-and-a-quarter of Poinsettia leaves (500 to 600 leaves) to have any side effects. The most common side effects are upset stomach and vomiting, The leaves are reportedly not very tasty, so it’s highly unlikely that kids or even pets would be able to eat that many! But be aware that leaves can still be a choking hazard for children and pets.
If you’re up for the challenge, it is possible to keep your Christmas Poinsettia through the year and get it to bloom next year, but recreating the size and color of this year’s bracts is almost impossible. These plants are plentiful and cheap. Why not just look forward to new ones every year? They will keep a few weeks if you put them where it’s cool (65 to 70 degrees), where the light is bright in the daytime, and let them dry out between waterings. Remove the pretty outside wrapping and don’t let them stand in water.
Good luck!
by lheideman
by Linda Heideman, Somervell County Master Gardener
Protect tender plants during freezes. Use sheets, blankets, or specially-designed row cover. Construct a cold frame or a “hoop house.” Mulch, mulch, mulch! Water well before a freeze (except for prickly pear cactus). Allow hardy perennials to freeze back, and do not prune them until late winter or early spring, if you can stand it. The dead structure of the plant helps to insulate and protect the living core of the plant, and is part of the winter landscape. In addition, any pruning can stimulate tender new growth, which would be susceptible to subsequent freezes.
Last chance to plant bulbs. It is best to plant them early this month. However, wait until early January to plant tulips and hyacinths.
Plant flower/ornamental seeds. Delphinium, Larkspur, Poppy
Plant vegetable plants. Arugula, cabbage, chard and other greens, lettuce, spinach
Plant strawberries. Spinach is a great companion plant for strawberries.
Plant herbs. All hardy perennial herbs such as lavender, oregano, rosemary, rue, sage, and thyme; other cold-hardy annual or biennial herbs like parsley, cilantro, dill, and fennel (Dill and fennel may need some protection during freezes).
Plant annual flower/ornamental plants. Sweet alyssum, bluebonnet plants, ornamental cabbage and kale, Dianthus, Johnny jump-up, pansy, snapdragon, stock
Plant hardy perennial plants. Some examples are agapanthus, damianita, most ferns, Mexican bush sage, Russian sage, trees, and shrubs. It is especially important, if you haven’t done so already, to plant spring-blooming perennials such as columbine, coreopsis, ox-eye and shasta daisies, Salvia greggi, and wallflower.
Clean and oil gardening tools and equipment. Sharpen and repair, as necessary.
by lheideman
by lheideman
Christine Morgan is a long time resident of Glen Rose and has been quietly in practice for 26 years. She holds a Doctor of Naturopathic Ministry degree from Southern College of Natural Health. She started her career in the pre-veterinary program of St. Mary’s University and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology, majoring in Animal Nutrition Studies, and a Master of Science degree in Holistic Nutrition from the American College of Holistic Nutrition. She is also a Certified Nutritional Counselor, and a Holistic Health Care Practitioner from Leymans University. She has certification as a GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) and Gluten Sensitivity practitioner also. She also is an Amino Acid Therapy Practitioner, and EFT practitioner as well. She has been a researcher of human health all her adult life, and is passionate about continually learning about true health and effective living. She is a Master Gardener and a certified square-foot gardener, teacher and lecturer.
She believes one of the most important aspects of living healthy is eating high quality food. She will be presenting her talk on “The importance of growing some of your own food; and what is most important to grow”. Included will be a discussion on the importance of soil and how to properly remineralize soil, how to get started, and easy tricks to growing food. Seasonal growing and eating will be touched on also.
Everyone is invited to attend. We’ll meet at 6:30 at the Citizens Center in Glen Rose.
by lheideman
Christine Morgan, a Somervell County Master Gardener, will present a program on Fall Gardening complete with the latest how-to’s and the health benefits of the wonderful foods we love to grow and eat at this time of year.
Come and enjoy her informal program with plenty of opportunity for your questions and comments.
Always the second Monday, this time November 9th, at 6:30 pm, Citizen’s Center, Glen Rose.
It’s free to all, so come and bring a friend.
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by Julie Connor, Somervell County Master Gardener
Before heading to the nursery for a tree, do some analysis of your landscape by making a diagram of your property. Are you planting for privacy or to enhance your yards’ curb appeal? There is also the view from your windows. The trees of choice should have a harmony within your yard whether symmetrical, asymmetrical or a repetition of the plantings. The height and form of the tree should have a scale appropriate to the house and yard. The size of the mature tree will dictate where it is planted.
Evergreen trees will have foliage year round thus making a good screen or wind break. Deciduous trees will shed their leaves giving winter warmth, if planted on the south side, but also shade during the summer months. How much maintenance will the tree require? Will it need to be pruned yearly and how suspectible to disease or insects? If the tree is a fruit or seed bearer will this cause a messy yard?
Trees will come one of three ways from the nursery: bare-root, balled and burlapped roots or a container grown plant. The selection will dictate how and when to plant the tree. When selecting a tree at the nursery choose one with a smooth trunk, free of blemishes such as wounds or scarring. Inspect the leaves for insect damage or disease. Just like your Christmas Tree, you want the branches to be evenly spaced around the tree.
Take your diagram with you to the nursery and review your wants and expectations for your yard with the business owner. The nurseryman can give you additional information regarding your selections. Because we live in Texas, keep in mind the native species, as they are more tolerant of our weather conditions. If, at the nursery, you come across a good looking tub of mums, I’m just saying, it IS fall.
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by Jes-c Brandt, Somervell County Master Gardener Intern
My interest in gardening didn’t start in a garden, but with a house plant. It was a spider plant, to be specific. When I moved from Massachusetts four years ago, my boss gave me a little plantlet that her own spider plant had put off. Since then, that plantlet has grown into a great big spider plant that reproduces plenty of its own.
Now that spider plant, along with being beautiful and easy to care for, represents something I love about gardening: sharing. I can’t count the number of little spider plants I’ve potted for friends and family, and likewise, I can’t count the number of other plants I’ve received from fellow gardeners.
When I think of gardening, I think of childhood summers when our kitchen counter was filled with zucchini and tomatoes from our neighbors’ overflowing harvest. I think of my mom, gathered with her friends, shucking countless ears of corn for each of them to stock up their freezers. I think of a fresh bouquet of flowers shared with a friend. I think of jars of jelly, applesauce and salsa being shared amongst family, when there is more than enough to go around.
There are many ways for a gardener to share her passion, be it sharing the harvest or helping to propagate new plants. Spider plants, like many houseplants, easily propagate through asexual reproduction, producing a new plant that is genetically identical to the first. A spider plantlet can begin to root in either water or soil. Personally, I prefer to use soil, leaving the plantlet connected to the parent plant by the shoot until it has had a chance to take root. Once it’s rooted, snip the shoot, and the new plant is ready to be shared.
If you have any questions about propagating plants of your own, contact the Somervell County Master Gardeners.
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by Linda Heideman, Somervell County Master Gardener
Fall is a great time of year to plant wildflowers in our area, especially bluebonnets and poppies. These plants will germinate in the mild weather of fall and go through winter as small plants until time for their annual spurt of colorful growth in the spring.
Cool season vegetables may be harvested in November. It is important to harvest when they are at peak quality. For example, broccoli should be harvested when the heads
are still tight and prior to buds loosening to prepare for opening their yellow flowers. Harvest beets and other root crops while they are still young and tender. Fully mature, they will not have the same taste and eating quality.
Leaf season is here! Those tree leaves that are littering your landscape contain 50-75 percent of the nutrients that the tree took up during the year. Don’t throw them away! Gather them for mulching and composting. Think of them as nature’s own slow release fertilizer and as free mulch.
Fall is the absolute best time to plant trees, shrubs, and woody vines. Fall planting gives the plant all winter to settle in and start to establish new roots, which helps it become better prepared for next year’s hot summer weather.
Clean out the remains of your summer annuals and till in some compost to prepare the soil for your favorite cool season flowers. Set out transplants of pansies, violas, snapdragons and ornamental kale and cabbage. Dusty miller is a good foliage plant that is hardy. A thick mulch layer helps protect these favorites from an early freeze.
Choose berrying plants at the garden center now while they have berries on them. Holly species, such as yaupon and possumhaw, have separate male and female plants. So you’ll want to make sure your plant is a female, if you want to enjoy berries in your landscape.
Plant perennial spring-blooming bulbs soon to allow time to become established before spring. However, wait until early January to plant tulips and hyacinths. Buy these bulbs now, but keep them in the refrigerator (away from produce) until time to plant.
(Researched in the Texas Gardener Magazine, November/December 2015 issue, by Skip Richter.)
by lheideman
from Amy Meindl, Secretary of the Prairie Rose Chapter
The Prairie Rose Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas will meet on November 3 for a hands-on presentation of all things succulent by Kimberly Hewett. Kimberley moved to Hamilton after working many years alongside one of the top Cactus growers in the Tucson Ariz area. She will talk about how to grow, propagate, and care for all things in cacti, yucca, agave families. She will have some plants on hand for a show and tell.
Feel free to bring a plant if you have a particular question or comment.
Meeting will be at 6:30 at the Somervell Citizens Center in Glen Rose.
As always, please bring a friend!