Innehållsförteckning för July/August 2023 från Garden Gate

Do you have a favorite season? I think I usually love whatever season we’re currently in. Except winter. Rarely do I love Midwest winters. Summer can feel both endless and over before you know it. It all depends on how you look at it: As a gardener, weeds, insect bites and too many days worrying about rain aren’t great. But summer is when we pick tomatoes, cut armloads of zinnias, enjoy sphinx moths and cicadas, and sit on the patio with friends til late into the evening comfortably. As much as I might complain about it, I’m sorry to see summer go every year. In this issue we’re featuring some of the best plants summer has to offer: Learn how to grow big, bold perennial hibiscus flowers. Figure out which…

Elderberry rust Puccinia sambuci Appearance This fungal disease affects elderberry plants (Sambucus spp. and hybrids) in mostly aesthetic ways, although severe infections can decrease fruit production. You might first notice bright orange lesions, called pustules, followed by unusual galls, typically the pale yellow color in the photo above. Damage The pustules appear in spring and can cause leaves to defoliate and stems to deform. In severe infections, rust-colored dust covers flower stems and disrupts fruit production. The strange galls appear in summer. If you grow both elderberry shrubs and sedge grasses (Carex spp. and hybrids), there’s a higher risk of infection. In late summer, the spores travel from the galls to the sedge leaves to overwinter, creating rusty spots with yellow halos. Control Eliminating sedge grasses in your yard is…

Drying flowers doesn’t have to be complicated. To get beautiful colors and sturdy blooms, sometimes it’s just a matter of choosing the right ones and using simple techniques. Erin Howell-Conner, manager of Howell’s Greenhouse & Pumpkin Patch in Cumming, Iowa, knows a lot about this process. She’s been designing with flowers she has grown and dried herself all her life. SIMPLE DRYING When you want to make a dried-flower wreath, a posy or even a larger arrangement in a container, air drying is the simplest and easiest method. All you have to do is hang a small bunch of stems upside down in a warm, dry spot—at least 60 to 70 degrees F—out of direct sunlight, such as an attic or closet. This will give you the quickest results with…

For big results with little effort, hardy hibiscus is a great perennial for your summer border. The biggest draw is those gorgeous 8- to 12-inch-diameter flowers —they make quite the statement! You’ll find them in shades of pink, red or white with a long pistil and bright yellow anthers that give it some tropical flair. Flowers aren’t the only attraction here—hardy hibiscus has good-looking (and disease-free!) deep to olive green or purple foliage. And leaf shapes vary from round to maplelike. These big, usually 3- to 4-foot-tall perennials take up a large footprint in the border and mimic a shrub in habit. MEET THE FAMILY Most plants that you’ll find at the garden center are hybrids or cultivars of Hibiscus moscheutos. The species and some older varieties tend to be…

What it looks like This summer annual can grow 1 to 6 feet tall. Stout, almost woody, stems are covered with tiny hairs and only lightly branched. Near the base, leaves may grow 4 to 6 inches long, gradually becoming smaller near the top and at stem tips. You’ll see a reddish tint on stems, especially near the root. And as the weather cools, the color becomes even more pronounced. In late summer to early fall, dense bristly panicles of tiny greenish flowers form at the top and tips of branches. Seeds are tiny, dark brown to black and very prolific. One plant can produce up to 100,000 seeds that can remain viable in the soil for 30 years. Where to find it Pigweed is common across much of North…

here are two ways to keep the color going in your garden through the summer: First, choose a variety of annuals that bloom from the moment you set the seedlings in the ground until frost (the combo at right is a great example of this technique). Second, plant combinations of perennials that bloom at different times. Meet some good candidates for early and late summer on the next pages. Choose one or two of these combos or grow them all in different spots in your garden to guarantee that you (and visiting pollinators) will have plenty of blooms to enjoy from the time the weather warms up until the cold shuts everything down in fall. Show-Stopping Annuals It’s never too late to grab a few annuals at the garden center…

DID YOU KNOW? The colocasia tuber, also known as taro, is a major food source in the world, but must be thoroughly cooked because it is toxic if eaten raw. Colocasia Colocasia spp. and hybrids Commonly called elephant ear or taro, colocasia may be a tropical plant, but it is easily grown anywhere. Its enormous leaves can grow up to 3 feet long or larger, ranging from shades of green and chartreuse to black, purple, burgundy and cream, often with striking patterns or mottling. WHERE IT WORKS BEST This statement plant grows best in a sunny spot with plenty of water. Colocasia is an eye-catcher in garden borders and container plantings, where it works well alone as a specimen plant or in a combination surrounded by trailing vines and mounded…

Deciding on a fertilizer plan can seem overwhelming. Do you just skip it because you don’t want to make a mistake, or do you just pick one, use it on everything and hope for the best? The fact is, soil conditions, time of year, the type of plant and your particular soil all play a role in choosing the best way to feed plants. Here are some questions you might have and the answers to help you feed almost anything. In his work as a field specialist in horticulture with the University of Missouri Extension, Robert answers lots of questions from gardeners about how to feed plants. HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PLANTS NEED FERTILIZER? Fertilizer and water go hand in hand, so when your plants are getting enough…

It is devastating when a tree loses the battle with an insect pest, leaving a hole in the landscape that can’t be refilled quickly. Sadly, many trees fall prey to invasive insects—here are three destructive ones to watch. But before you panic and kill an unusual or new-to-you insect you have found, make sure it is correctly identified and not a native harmless or beneficial bug lookalike. “Confirm Before You Crush” at right will help you avoid a case of mistaken identity. ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE Anoplophora glabripennis Found in New York, Ohio, Massachusetts and South Carolina, this beetle has the potential to spread and devastate trees in backyards, forests and parks. It prefers hardwood trees, including maple (Acer spp. and hybrids), birch (Betula spp. and hybrids) and sycamore (Platanus spp.).…

Perfectly poised florals Joanne Meyer, IA Level up your home-grown floral arrangements with this simple hack: Re-use plastic drinking straws to support cut flowers with floppy heads. Just rinse the straw and slide it on or slit the straw down the side and wrap it around the stem. It’ll provide extra support for weak spots along the stem and drooping flower heads. Professional florists use a similar product to keep blooms upright, but you can achieve the same look—for free! Tomato shade Eva Woodring, TN When the weather turned from cool spring to hot summer in a matter of days last year, Eva looked for a way to get her tomato seedlings into the garden as soon as possible without letting the tender plants burn in the hot sun. Some…

While your baskets are filling with your long-awaited tomatoes, zucchini and peppers, you might not be thinking about the months to come. But the garden season doesn’t have to end when the weather cools off. Midsummer is the perfect time to start plants for a second harvest. Here are five vegetables you can plant right now and enjoy in a couple of months. Happy harvesting! Marisa plants early and late crops like these to make sure she gets every last harvest out of her Wisconsin garden. SWEET BASIL Ocimum basilicum By midsummer, basil is usually sending up flowers and setting seed, causing the flavor to decline. Although basil isn’t a cool-season crop, now is the perfect time to plant another round so you can keep the harvest going until temperatures…

Q I finally got my garden mums to survive winter, but this year they are so much taller than they were last year. Why? Marge Hunt, IL A Garden mums (Chrysanthemum hybrids) grown for sale as potted plants are often treated with plant growth regulators (PGRs). These hormones keep plants compact, making them easier to ship or display. The following year, planted in the garden, mums grow to their normal height. But you can keep them compact by using the pruning technique at right. Or if you prefer, wait until your mums are taller and shear off the top third to half of all of the stems at once. The plant will look rough for a week or so, but will quickly fill in with new branches. Stop either technique…

Schaumburg Monarch Initiative | Schaumburg, IL schaumburgmonarch.com In 2016, three lunching “grannies” embarked on a mission to bring awareness to the population decline of the iconic monarch butterfly. Now this group of more than 70 volunteers raises monarchs at the Spring Valley Nature Center, releasing butterflies twice daily from late May to late September, and educating the public about butterflies in a fun and interactive way. They also work with Monarch Watch to tag butterflies in the fall to track their migration. The organization’s “No Milkweed — No Monarchs” initiative encourages the planting of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), the monarch caterpillar’s only host plant, along with collecting and distributing free milkweed seeds. The team advocates for this native plant’s use in all landscapes to create monarch “waystations,” food stops for the…