Poinsettias

Joel Robert Poinsett is often credited with discovering the plant named in his honor when he was the US ambassador to Mexico in the early 1800s. It was the Albert Ecke, however, who saw the potential for a plant that "flowered" during the holiday season. The first plants were field grown and the Ecke family sold them from roadside stands in Southern California. Eventually, plant breeders developed varieties that better withstood being grown in containers in greenhouses. It is interesting to note that 90 percent of all the flowering poinsettias got their start at the Paul Ecke Ranch.
Here are some other interesting facts about poinsettias compiled by the University of Illinois:

They are not poisonous. A study at The Ohio State University showed that a 50 pound child who ate 500 bracts might suffer a slight tummy ache.

The "flowers" are actually colorful bracts, or modified leaves. The flowers are clustered in the center of the bract.

A fresh poinsettia is one which shows little or no yellow pollen in the center of the bract.
The Paul Ecke Ranch grows 80 percent of the poinsettias grown for the wholesale market. The poinsettias that Countyside grows come from several different sources. We get them as cuttings and start planting them around July 4th!

There are over 100 varieties of poinsettias, although red remains the favorite(74% of those polled), followed by white (8%) and pink (6%).

To the right are pictures of some of the more unique poinsettia varieties that we grow. My favorite is the Cortez Fire. I also like its cousin, Cortez Hot Pink. The Winter Rose is very unique with its curly bracts. However, I see that I forgot to take a picture of Micheal's favorite, the Cinnimon Star. You'll have to come into the store to see that one!

Winter Containers

Winter Containers
Your summer annuals are history and the fall containers are looking a little sad. What next for the container at your front door or the window boxes? Why, evergreens and berries for a delightful winter display.

If you’ve been to downtown Crystal Lake, you may have noticed the new hanging baskets on the decorative street lamps. Kim Hartman of the greenhouse staff designed those containers and has a few tips for you to make your home as attractive this winter. I spent some time in the "Elf House" with Kim this week and watched the staff at work.

If you are starting with an empty container, back fill it with some heavy material such as pea gravel and then cover it with oasis. The oasis, or green florists foam, helps retain moisture for the greens and is easy to design with. You will need to secure it into the container so your display doesn't flip out of the container. We used twine criss-crossed over the top.

As with your other season containers, you want a focal point, some filler and a "spiller" to soften the edges of the container. The containers the staff was working on this week were more rounded without a specific focal point, but you can use spruce or balsam tops for a more triangular form. First, they used balsam or douglas fir stems inserted horizontally at the edge of the container and in the center to give the container some dimension. Next, Kim gave the container some texture by inserting different greens and specialty foliage such as cedar, white pine, magnolia stems, and dogwood for color.

Hope to see you Friday night at the Crystal Lake

Parade of Lights. And Saturday Kim is leading a hands-on workshop on winter containers. Of course you can always stop by the store and we can assist you with your project.

Overwintering Tropical Plants

I hope by now you have brought in your tropical plants that you plan to overwinter. I brought in my hibiscus and jasmine a few weeks ago. I also brought in the tropical plants from my pond. I have them in the screen room in big tubs of water.

In a somewhat interesting side note to tropical plants, especially the pond plants: The hardy lotus and the arrowhead that I have in my pond entered their dormant phases starting in September while my tropical plants showed no effects of the early frost we had in September or the cooler temperatures since then. When I had tropical lilies, they continued to bloom well into October. I have to admit they are awkward to overwinter and do take up a lot of room in the house, but I think they are totally worth it.

Often when you change the environment for any plant, cooler temps for warmer, less humid indoor temps or brighter light conditions for less bright, the plant undergoes some amount of stress. The first reaction to this stress is loss of leaves. After the plant readjusts to its new environment it will put out new leaves that are acclimated to its new surroundings.
One thing that you need to watch for when bringing in plants is insects and/or insect eggs. For hibiscus plants we recommend that you strip the plant of its leaves before bringing it indoors so that you leave any eggs outside. Keep an eye out for aphids, white fly, scale, mealy bug, mites and thrips. These are chewing insects that can be controlled using systemics or insecticidal soaps. Systemic insecticides come in either granular or liquid forms and are applied to the soil. The plant’s roots take up the insecticide and move it up to the stems and leaves. When the insect takes a bite of the leaf it ingests the chemical and dies. Insecticidal soaps are topical and are not harmful to pets. Ann Larson in the greenhouse also recommends using the True Value cleaner that we sell. This is applied topically with a paper towel or rag. After killing the adult insects, any eggs that they laid will hatch in two weeks, so you need to make several applications.

The Weather Does Odd Things

The Weather Does Odd Things
I hope we all have been enjoying this gorgeous weather, because as we all know it won’t last forever. I have a PJM rhododendron growing near the Endless Summer hydrangeas that croaked earlier this summer and the yews that formerly grew nearby. Rhododendrons and azaleas are broadleaf evergreens that require a little TLC in our climate. A bit more on that later.

They bloom early in the spring on blossoms that set the previous fall, but sometimes the weather fools them. Remember the cold snap we had back in September? Well, that was just enough to make my rhody think winter had come and gone and it was time to bloom. I took this picture last week and now there are even more blooms.

Care of Broadleaf Evergreens
Rhododendrons, azaleas, and boxwood fall into the category of broad leaf evergreen, as opposed to evergreens with needles. The broadleafed evergreens usually prefer cool climates and acidic soils. They grow really well in the Northwest. Sacramento, CA (my hometown) touts itself as the "Camellia Capital," another member of this family that is not hardy here. Because they do not go dormant in the winter, they are subject to dessication, a fancy word for drying out and must be protected. They do prefer shadier spots in the garden and should be planted in protected areas. Late in the fall, spray with Wilt-Pruf and/or wrap with burlap. The Wilt-Pruf puts a waxy coating on the leaves that keeps them from drying out.

My co-worker, Marge the "Bow Lady" also reports an odd phenomenon: Her iris is now blooming. Again, I have to chalk this up to the weather. And finally, Ann Larson from the greenhouse wanted me to mention that her John Paul II hybrid tea rose, that was ravaged by Japanese beetles earlier this summer, has made a remarkable come-back and is now blooming up a storm. She told me today that stems she cut last 2-3 weeks and were very fragrant.

Tips for Winterizing Roses
Winterizing roses actually begins in August, when you should do your last fertilization and stop dead heading. My roses continue to bloom as well but I am opting not to cut them but instead am allowing them to form rosehips. This tells the plant that it is time to quit growing and get ready for winter. Any cutting done now will produce weak, spindly stems that will not survive the winter.
It is too early to put on rose cones, since most roses would need to be pruned to fit into the cones. Instead you can use rose collars. The collars wrap around the base of the plant and are back filled with black dirt or garden soil. The whole purpose of either the cone or the collar is not too keep the plant from freezing, but keeping it cold after the ground has frozen. This way the odd warm-ups we sometimes have in January or February will not trick the plant from coming out of dormancy prematurely.
Other News from C’Side
We have all been busy transforming the store into a Christmas wonderland. Our department is in charge of the artificial trees, wreaths and garland and we have lots of new styles this year. Our wine tasting this year is Friday, November 9 and our open house is November 17 and 18. Hope to see you soon!

The End of the Season

The End of the Season

I am now spending some time doing fall clean-up. There really isn’t much to do at this point, except rake leaves, skim leaves out of the pond and work on killing some of the perennial weeds such as dandelions that seem to be ever-present. We don’t recommend cutting things back in the fall, so that’s one more thing to cross off the list. Plants shouldn’t be cut back until they are really dormant, which doesn’t happen until late November or even later and who wants to be outside then when you could be snuggled up to the fire with a hot toddy.

I am, however, taking a close look at the garden to determine what worked and what didn’t and what changes I want to make for next year. Actually, I will be making a lot of changes because I will be moving and will have a clean slate from which to work. But it’s good to note what I liked about this garden and more importantly, what I didn’t, so I don’t repeat the same mistakes. Although at my advanced aged I probably won’t remember any of it anyway.

The one thing I was really disappointed with this year was a mass planting of torenia under the crab apple tree. We sell this annual as a plant that will bloom in the shade. Well, guess what, it didn’t. The tag says full to part sun and I think it definitely needs more sun than it got. Michael reported the same results in his garden, so I know it wasn’t just me. I think if I am here next spring to plant, I will plant begonias. The begonias we had at the store looked fabulous even at the end of the summer. Begonias are a great plant that don’t ask for much and bloom profusely whether in sun or shade.

My Endless Summer hydrangeas came up beautifully early this summer but all of a sudden wilted and died. They were established plants and I am still perplexed as to what happened.
Another plant that did not perform as expected were the caladiums I had planted behind my pond. I have a small amount of perennials planted behind the pond but since I use a lot of tropical plants in the pond I wanted to carry that same theme into the background. I had planted white variegated hypoestes, an annual that is also sold as a house plant, in mass and then the white caladiums behind that. The caladiums just never grew and then I think our rabbit ate what was there. (She also cut quite a wide swath through the hostas back there and is now confined to quarters.)

Well, thus ends another gardening year. I am looking forward to gardening in my new house on Douglas Avenue. It will be quite different from this garden as it is mostly shade and much smaller. There is a large deck off the house and I hope to do lots of container gardening. Working with Michael these past few years has given me quite an appreciation for this form of gardening.

I Guess It's Really Fall

The Last of my Tomatoes

Last weeks warm weather caused the last of my "Sprite" grape tomatoes to ripen. Unfortunately the rotten chipmunk that lives nearby got them before I did. Oh, well, I guess chipmunks have to eat, too. I grew these in a half barrel along with some basil. I didn't have any problems with blight or other diseases. Using such a large container reduces the need for constant watering.

Clematis

I've been meaning to write about clematises all summer but other things always came up. This fall my sweet autumn clematis bloomed wonderfully. I thought this would make an interesting article. I had originally planted this along my split rail fence in the front of the miscanthus grasses. I thought it would be cool to have the clematis wind its way along the fence and through the grasse, but it never had the look I was hoping for. The blossoms got lost in the grass and it just never really stood out. So I got the great idea to plant it at the base of a crab apple tree and have it grow up the tree. This particular crab is prone to apple scab and usually by the end of the summer it really doesn't look good. I could spray it but I don't. It has taken a few years for the clematis to get established and for me to figure out how to get it to do what I want. The first year I didn't cut it back and the second year it bloomed so high up in the tree you couldn't even see the blossoms. This past year I cut it back hard early in the spring and it bloomed through out the tree just like I wanted it to.

We get alot of questions about pruning clematis. Basically, there are three groups of clematis (clemati?): Those that bloom on new wood, those that bloom on old wood and those that bloom on both. Clematis that bloom on new wood can be pruned back hard in the spring. Those that bloom on old wood should be pruned immediately after blooming or just selectively pruned early in the spring. Just cut out the dead stems. Be careful, although it is a woody plant, the stems are very fragile. Follow this same pruning advice for the type that blooms on both old and new wood. It is important to properly prune in encourage blooming and to promote plant health. If you don't know what variety you have, you can figure it out by seeing when your clematis blooms. If it blooms early in the season, it is most likely blooming on old wood. Plants that bloom later in the season are probably blooming on new wood. Clematis are heavy feeders and should be fertilized regulary with a general purpose perennial fertilizer.

Here some pictures I took last week of our chrysanthemums