Monroe County Master Gardener Association

Bonsai

April 7, 2012 by pzdila

Please scroll down to see the bonsai. There is a ginko, the small leaved specimen may be a holly, and the autumn colored leaf tree may be an azalea. Southeast Michigan is very lucky to be home to bonsai expert Jack Wickle.

Those unfamiliar with bonsai may not realize that most need to live outside since they are often outdoor plants, usually trees. They do need more sheltered conditions, and watering needs to be carefully monitored. Here are some examples from Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha from last Oct.

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Wilson Park – MG ideas requested

March 29, 2012 by Linda Welch

In Milan there is a new destination in Wilson Park which was created and dedicated in 2012 called Milan Veteran’s Wall of Honor. Milan Garden Club will be responsible for planting the several raised planters in that area and would love to hear what plant suggestions our readers have for the 3 raised beds and the two areas in front of the two raised beds. There are two “L” shaped beds in the front which are 16″ high and planting area is 34″ inside width. The shorter length of the “L” is 9′ and the longer length is 15′.

The third planter is located in the center of the memorial area, is square, also 16″ high, and the inside planting area about 22″ wide. Because of the statue in the center of this planting area the height of plants can not exceed 16″ when mature.

This area faces west and has some large trees on the east and south sides but it receives about 6 hours of sun each day. All plant suggestions must be drought tolerant (there are soaker hoses in the planters) and low maintenance (no shrubs that require pruning for shape). The photos show some mums in pots which were planted last fall for the Veteran’s Wall dedication. These plants will probably be moved to another location.

Plants under current consideration are Lavender Hidcote (18″ x 18″), Bolder Blue Festuca (12″ x 12″), Happy Returns Daylily (18″ x 18), Carefree Sunshine Knock-out rose, OSO Happy Petit Pink Rose, and Pennisetum Little Bunny (12″). The grasses you see in front of the raised planters are Little Zebra and were planted last fall by the city in preparation for the dedication ceremony. They are going to be removed and replaced with a shorter variety grass (and perhaps the mums) because they will mature to be taller than the planters. Suggestions from our readers are needed for that area as well. We are also thinking of using Profusion Zinnias annuals for color this first year while the perennials mature.

Please reply to this post for your suggestions. Let’s help Milan Veteran’s Wall of Honor grow!

Posted in Community Projects, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Expert Pruning Demo March 31 – by Jennie Stanger

March 28, 2012 by Linda Welch

Expert pruning demonstration March 31

Both recent weather and the calendar say it is time to prune many fruit and ornamental trees, but local home orchardists may want to wait for more guidance, because MSU Extension district fruit educator Bob Tritten is scheduled to demonstrate at a local orchard March 31. There is no harm in waiting. In fact, the usual recommendation is to wait until early April to prune the more tender stone fruits like peaches. As the trees begin to come out of dormancy, they are more susceptible to a late spring cold snap. Freshly cut branches are more susceptible, and in April it is easier to see which twigs have been injured by cold because they begin to dry out while the healthy ones remain smooth with swelling buds.

Mr. Tritten has trained professionals to prune, and has demonstrated home orchard pruning for large county audiences in previous years as well as at other sites in the region. The Monroe Conservation District and the Master Gardeners are sponsoring this Saturday morning event at the home of Jennie Stanger, 18918 McCarty Rd, Dundee. It will begin, rain or shine, at 9:30 am and cover the training of young trees as well as maintenance pruning of mature apples and peaches with tips on how and whether to renovate older trees.

Registration is not required but participants should dress for the weather and a donation of $5 is requested.

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New Zone brings New Plant potential

March 20, 2012 by Linda Welch

As I sat this morning in a waiting room, I picked up a “Southern Living” magazine. It was dated January 2006, but the garden information still drew my interest. There was an article on tropical plants for Zone 6. Now that our Zone is 6A, it peaked my interest enough for me to writing down some of the plant names they suggested. Included in the article was a list of websites to get further information about these plants and where you could order them. Upon coming home, I searched these names for some additional information and photos of the plants. Seems most are Zone 7, but with temperature to -10 or -20 degrees, they may survive in Zone 6 with some care.

One colorful and interesting plant was Nandina domestica “Heavenly Bamboo”. It had a brilliant red, yellow, pink foliage in the photo; however most photos on other sites showed it with light green foliage. My thought is that color may be it’s Fall coloring or new foliage recently emerged. It’s a sun to shade evergreen or semi-evergreen for Zone 6-9. In spring, it has an abundance of small white flowers at the end of stems which form green berries that will ripen to bright red. Unless devoured by birds; the berries will hold on for months. It’s important to always get further information on reliable web-sites or books; I learned this particular species is considered a Class I invasive species in Florida. Maybe, with the colder weather, it may not be invasive here, but I certainly would like more information prior to a purchase. It may have to be in a container so I can “contain” it’s growth . It has a tendency to sucker outward.

Another listed was Musa velutina a Japanese banana with a pink bloom. Although it was a Zone 7A plant, the article stated that the rizone is considered frost hardy when covered with a thick layer of much and temperatures are above -15 degrees. So it can survive a Zone 6 winter, however fruit may not develop in our Zone. Included in my backyard is a tropical garden on the deck. I just might try some of these to see how they work. Below is a list of some tropical they stated would be able to make it through a Zone 6 winter. Although I found the article interesting…I will research these further to get additional information.

Sabal minor -5 degrees
Rhapedophyllem hystrix -20 degrees
Nandina domestica
Musa basjo & Musa veluntina
Trachyarpus fortunei -10 degrees

Another great piece of information was that there are several Camellias also one 6. Some included Winter’s waterlily, Winter’s Star and Winter’s Chara. You can research further to find other Camellias that will survive our new Zone 6A. Anyway, check some of these out and try them if you wish. I will keep you updated next year on the ones I decide to try in my garden and see if they survive. Maybe a planting close to the house in a bit of micro-climate will help as well.

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Cutting back on gardening? – by Jennie Stanger

March 3, 2012 by Linda Welch

We Monroe Master Gardeners are planning cutbacks to our demonstration gardens. Although there are some special plants and garden areas we have established over the years, there are just too many plants and areas for the current uses and the current level of workers. We are beginning to identifying what is most important to us and what we can better do without. Planning the changes can be a fun and educational project for us and to share with others.

Think how many people you have heard talk about cutting back on their gardens or landscape areas, or complain about not having the time or energy to maintain them as they wish them to look! Focusing on ways to reduce maintenance while preserving the best features of a developed landscape can provide some helpful lessons.

First we want to look at the overall landscape and establish priorities according to the educational purpose of our gardens.

Both due to its educational value and because some very talented and committed gardeners are willing to continue working in it, the children’s garden is at the top of our list to preserve. The herb ovals that comprised our first garden beds provide an attractive entrance to the children’s garden, but present some maintenance problems due to the growing competition from a mature sweet gum tree, so we need to plan changes there.

On the other hand there is the rain garden. Regardless of its history, we need to decide if it adds enough value to the gardens to justify the work it requires. It would be one of the easier areas to return to mowed grass. If we keep it, the highest maintenance plants are the two tallest ones, which we could remove. Then we would have to look at the other perennials that require cutting back during the season. Instead of taking a majority vote at the meeting, once we set priorities, we will just see if there is a team willing to undertake to 1. maintain it more or less as usual, 2. maintain it in reduced form, or 3. dig and discard or distribute the plants and rake it off to be reseeded to grass. In other words, it gets down to the workers making the final decisions on each garden area.

In order to give everyone time to think about each garden, we’ll put more articles like this in the blog before the next meeting. Be sure to attend, or to let someone know your interest and preferences in regard to this major project of our association.

The rain garden in summer. Tall Veroncastrum and goldenrod are out of proportion to the width of the bed.

Posted in MC Demonstration Garden | 2 Comments »

Stretching the Gardening Season into Winter – by Mary Ellen Babich

February 26, 2012 by Linda Welch

We use our gardening knowledge and experience to challenge ourselves to create gardens we can enjoy into late Autumn. Then Winter arrives, most gardening activities come to an abrupt halt, and we become armchair gardeners, paging through seed catalogues and occasionally looking out the window to see if the birdfeeders need filling. Maybe we should get up out of our cozy chairs, take a critical look at our Winter gardens, and consider how we can improve them to extend the gardening season even further by adding more Winter interest.

Spring, Summer, and Autumn gardens are relatively easy to plan and execute when compared to Winter gardens. During the warmer seasons we spend most of our gardening hours, hands-on, drawing, digging, planting, weeding, mowing, and simply enjoying everything connected to being outdoors. Winter changes all of that. The drop in temperature alone presents gardeners with an extreme obstacle to overcome: we don’t want to go outside into the cold. And there aren’t any flowering or green leafy plants to enjoy. But gardening and garden designing are not just warm weather endeavors.

Winter presents us with an opportunity to enjoy the overall structure of our gardens because there are no plants to distract us. Think about how you can adjust your landscape canvas by adding various elements when the weather permits. Adding trees, shrubs, and grasses with dramatic colors or interesting shapes clearly extend the garden season beyond Summer and into Autumn. To make an easy transition into Winter interest, plant deciduous shrubs likecontorted filbert and red twig dogwood. To take Winter interest even further, add evergreens such as hemlock, spruce, or pines. To complement the plant material, add hardscape elements such as fences, sculpture, or fountains.

To fully appreciate Winter gardening, we must engage our senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing with greater intensity. To do this you must go outside and observe your gardens like you do in the other seasons. Look around. With shorter days and tree canopies gone, the lighting is very different. Breathe in the cold, clean air. Touch the shaggy bark on a deciduous tree. Taste a snowflake or an icicle. Listen to the rustling of tree limbs in the wind.

Once you’ve engaged your Winter senses, identify a structural element that you enjoy observing from inside your home during the Winter months and begin to track it with the seasons. The structural element you choose can be a tree, stone bench, rose arbor, or fence. Does the element complement or compete with the surrounding plant material? Should the element be relocated or should plant material be rearranged to create a more harmonious design? How can you design this space for optimum appeal year round when viewing it both from inside and outside your home?

I track several structural elements in my gardens, but I particularly enjoy tracking the garden seasons around the cairn my husband and I built in my shade garden. Cairn is a word of Scottish origin meaning literally a “heap of rocks.” As you will see, this heap of rocks, a permanent sculpture in my garden, changes with the seasons.

CAIRN 1 SPRING

Color in the Spring shade garden abounds where Trillium, sweet woodruff, ferns, and ginger punctuate the foreground of the cairn.

CAIRN 2 SUMMER

Long blooming Cornus kousa dogwood adds a splash of color lasting several weeks in the Summer shade garden.

CAIRN 3 AUTUMN

Golden leaves crunch underfoot while the shade garden foliage continues it’s show in the Autumn garden.

CAIRN 4 WINTER

Obscured by a deep Winter snowfall, the cairn becomes a perfect cone rising out of the landscape.

If you don’t include your Winter gardens in your ongoing design process, you’re missing a great opportunity to extend your gardening into another season.

Posted in Garden Showcase, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Native Notes at the River Raisin -Native Plants in the Landscape– Five Reason Why

February 5, 2012 by naturale12

Cup Plant

: Dutchman’s breeches

: Switch Grass

Native plants are defined as those that grew naturally in our area before plants from distance places were introduced. In Michigan, native plants are plants that were here before Europeans settled in the 1700s. The five reasons I choose native plants; wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and grasses, for my landscape are:

Native plants are adapted to the local climate, soil condition and are easier to grow and generally require less water and less effort in pest control. They help reduce mowing costs, conserve water, and protect the soil and by the reduced used of fertilizer and pesticides.
By introducing natives into my landscape I have provided a habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Local wildlife, birds and butterflies have a relationship with native plants. They rely on them for food, shelter and nesting. Because of human activities such as urban development, native habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate. Planting natives is one step in restoration of the ecosystem.
Natives rarely become invasive and we all know how invasive introduced plants can be, such as garlic mustard, Russian olive, and purple loosestrife just to name a few. These aliens crowd out our natives and reduce biodiversity. The use of natives can help reverse the trend of species loss.
Natives require very little long-term maintenance if they are properly planted and once established. Because they are adapted to a local region, they tend to resist damage from freezing, drought, and common diseases.
Native plants can be as attractive as the introduced ornamentals. The truth is that many native plants have interesting forms and foliage with a variety of textures and shades of green. The use of natives also helps preserve our cultural traditions. Historically natives have played a significant role in Native American culture. Many have been used as food, medicine, and dyes. Early settler also used natives for similar domestic purposes.

Posted in Native Plants and Gardening | 5 Comments »

A Profusion of Zinnias – By Naida Albin

January 18, 2012 by Linda Welch

I was not familiar with “Profusion Zinnias” until our MG group toured the home of Karen Hehl two summers ago. In her garden were rows of these great mounds of very bright and colorful zinnias that just knocked your socks off! Our entire group was drawn to these plants and Karen advised us that she had started them from seeds. Well, I can tell you that when the seed catalogs started arriving last January my priority was to find and order those seeds.

I bought two packages of each (25 seeds to a packet), yellow, white and cherry intending to only use the yellow and white at my home and the cherry at Hack House Museum. I very carefully planted each color in separate containers and marked them well. When the seedlings were ready to transplant I again carefully segregated the colors and put them in separate flats with visible identification. Ah, the best laid plans…..I won’t even tell you what happened over the course of growing them on, before planting them in the garden, but when it was time to plant there were several containers that I didn’t have a clue about and others I was quite sure about but even using those caused surprise – as you can see in the photo – when they started to flower. This photo was taken in late summer – colors had faded some but were still vibrant.

If you like a colorful bed of annuals I believe Profusion Zinnias are one of the best flowering annuals available. They bloom the entire summer and stay looking good because the new leaves and 2″ flowers cover the old ones so deadheading is not required. The seed books state “they are very tolerant of mildew (true) and other foliage diseases that plague many Zinnias, are easy to grow and can even be direct-sown.” They are available in many colors, with double or single flowers, and a mature plant is about 15″ tall and 15″ wide!

Think Spring!

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Trees from the Ford-Edison Estate

January 11, 2012 by Linda Welch

I had the pleasure of visiting the Ford Edison Estates in Fort Myers Florida when visiting my daughter. There are beautiful gardens and much history to learn about there. During our walk through the garden I photographed a few of my favorite trees. The Banyan tree, a fig, that has an aerial root system extending from the branches. It was not in bloom during my visit. Another that I enjoyed was the Kapok that has large root system protruding above the soil. The tree was nearly 100 feet tall. It too was not in bloom, however I learned that the fiber from the seed pod was used in floatation vests for the Navy. Today it’s often used as an alternative fiber in stuffed animals and pillows. The Royal Palms with all their majesty were lined along the walk in front of the estate. My favorite was the Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia). It was in full bloom with beautiful red flowers and a fern like leaf. A seed pod forms after the bloom falls. These pods are about a foot long and are extremely hard cased. There was a beautiful specimen outside my daughter’s apartment. We gathered a seed pod and I planted it. Today it’s about two fee high in a pot. Someday I hope it will bloom. Of course it’s tropical so must be kept inside during the winter. The most interesting tree was the Sausage Tree ( Kigelia pinnata). Growing from it were huge sausage appearing pods. It also has an interesting flower. One of the buds had fallen to the ground and I photographed it. These trees have a somewhat prehistoric appearance. These are just a few of the over 120 trees on the estate. Make sure if you are in that area that you take the time to tour these gardens.

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