Author: Lilac

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Roses in TheGardenLady’s Garden

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This has been a spectacular year for roses. And the roses in my garden are show pieces. These are photos of a few of the showiest roses in bloom right now. I did not take pictures of the miniature roses I have that are filled with flowers and my Fairy rose is still filled with buds. (see here)

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My favorite rose is Livin’ Easy an orange – apricot Floribunda rose that has rewarded me each year covered with gorgeous flowers. Next to this rose are two Knock Out Shrub roses that also reward me with prolific flowering. And, very important to me, none of these three roses are difficult to care for and none have had black spot or any other diseases. They do attract Japanese beetles, but seem to have their main show of blooms before the Japanese beetles come out to dine.

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Ten Tips for Success with your Garden

Apricot rose and budding alliums by katewrightson

1. Be sure your vegetable garden is in a sunny location away from an area where there might be underlying roots of trees. And it is good to have a watering source nearby.

2. Be sure you have had your soil tested in the last 3 years and you have amended your soil with your extensions recommendations for the plants you want to grow. If you had it amended a few years ago, you can easily get a pH strip to see if the pH is still optimum.

3. Till in the ground cover that was on the soil where you want your plants to grow and work in good compost into the soil.

4. If it’s been more than a couple of weeks since you’ve turned the soil and prepared your beds, then they’ve probably crusted over from rain. Drag a rake over the area a couple of times to break up the crust (you’ll likely need to weed, too). (see here)

5. Make a diagram of your garden with the names of the plants you will grow. It doesn’t have to be fancy. But it will make you decide what you want and how much you need to buy and decide which plants are happy growing together. (see here)

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Enjoying and Growing and Cooking With Persimmons

Diospyros kaki (Persimmon or Kaki)by Arthur Chapman

I enjoy going to Asian or Indian food markets because of the variety of exotic, to my eyes, fruits and vegetables they carry. I always come home with a new taste treat. Some I love and some I don’t care to try a second time. But the experience is so much fun.

I adore the Japanese or Asian persimmons- called Kaki in Japanese, though they originate in China and Korea, too. I like the non-astringent variety, which you eat when it is hard. The astringent types of persimmons, like the American persimmon, you must wait until the fruit is very, very soft to eat it. You can tell the difference in some of the persimmons because most of the non-astringent varieties are flatter in shape; the astringent ones seem to be shaped like acorns. I am not a connoisseur of Japanese persimmons, so I mostly buy fuyu persimmons which are the most readily available in supermarkets or in Chinatown or even my local food store. Persimmons are sold for a longer time period in Asian food markets. I look for the brightest orange ones I can find. Blemishes don’t seem to affect the taste. To see how to pick persimmons when buying, watch this video:

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The root of mustard garlic weed

Photo taken from website called Straight from the Farm

TheGardenLady received this question from Charna.

I think I have this little bugger in my flowerbeds and garden. I really really need to know what the roots look like. I keep pulling up these large carrot type roots that are very often doubled and remind me of what ginsing must look like, and can be rather large clumps. Do you have a picture ofthe root for a mustard garlic weed?

It is so much easier to identify a plant when it is growing above ground when you see the leaves than trying to identify a plant from its roots. And it helps the most for identifying purposes to look at the flower of the plant, if it has flowers.

Garlic mustard is an easy plant to identify when one sees the leaves the first year before it has flowers and also when it has flowers from both the sight and the smell. (see here)

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Plant Diseases, such as Boxwood Blight

Boxwood Blight – Photo taken by Kelly Ivors

One of the frustrations with gardening is the number of diseases plants get. And with the changing weather patterns, we seem to be getting diseases on plants that we never had in certain locations or diseases that are new. TheGardenLady is not a plant doctor. She always recommends that if you see a disease on your plant, that you cut a good sized sample of the plant with the diseased part- cut it all the way back and include some of the healthy specimens with the diseased part when you take a sample- you want a a big sample. Take this sample to your local Master Gardener Office or to your local extension office for them to ID and tell you how to correct the problem or if you should get rid of the plant so that it does not infect other plants. They will also tell you if you should trash the plant or compost it. Some diseases you do not want to put in your compost pile.

They will ask you a series of questions such as the name of the plant. (If you don’t know it, don’t hesitate to tell them you don’t.) How old the plant is. What direction it is growing on your property N,S, E, or W. Any changes to the area where it is grown. Did it get any pesticides or chemicals on it- like ice melting substances? To make a good diagnoses it is best to have a lot of information.

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Edible Weed Online Resources

aka “Maypop” by rittyrats

Besides books and videos, there are some interesting sites on using edible weeds.

Remember that some weeds were brought here by people who wanted the plants in their gardens for food, medicine or dyes. Other plants grow as weeds in some parts of the country or another country and are so pretty some clever person realized those weeds could be sold to others as flowers. An example of a weed that this GardenLady wants in her yard is a plant called  or hardy passion vine that grows as a weed in the Midwest but is considered a pretty flower that few people have on the East Coast. Also, Passion vine has a seed pod that is edible, a treat really.This particular Passion Vine will grow in zones 6 till Zone 9 or 10, but it can become a weed in warmer zones.

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Ground Ivy – Another Edible Weed

Ground-Ivy by klm185

TheGardenLady has been writing about weeds in one’s gardens and lawns; but the weeds I have selected to write about are all edible. Some of these weeds are also medicinal and some are used as dyes for fabric or yarn. Many of the weeds were brought to North America by early settlers because they felt these were important plants that they wanted in their gardens.

Unfortunately these plants felt so happy here and have so few natural predators that they not only grew outside the garden but they have become invasive plants, pushing out the native plants. “An invasive plant has the ability to thrive and spread aggressively outside its natural range.” And some of our North American native plants have become invasive weeds in other countries. (When I visited Japan, I was told that goldenrod, Native to North America, has become an invasive weed in Japan.)

One plant that was brought to North America for medicinal and salad usage but mostly to flavor ale was known as ground ivy or creeping Charlie or ground over the gill, Glechoma hederacea. This plant which has attractive leaves and a pretty little purple flower and would make a lovely ground cover but it has become invasive in yards and lawns where it does not let grass grow. Ground ivy is very difficult to get rid of because it spreads in numerous ways, by seeds and by the vining stems which root at their nodes.

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More on Weeds – Garlic mustard

Garlic Mustard by archangelm

Another weed that plagues my garden and yard is yet another of the weeds that were introduced in North America. This one was introduced in the 1860s as a culinary herb and for medicinal purposes. However, once outside of Europe it became an invasive species. This weed has a number of common names, but the most common name where I live is garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata. Garlic mustard, in the mustard family, also became an invasive weed in Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe as many as 69 species of insects including the larve of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth)species feast on garlic mustard, but in other areas of the world garlic mustard has no insect predator. So Garlic mustard, an edible plant for some, has become a noxious weed.

It is a biennial- which means that it takes two years to flower and set seed. Because the first year the leaf pattern is so pretty, when TheGardenLady first saw the plant she let it grow. Unfortunately it looks unattractive when it sends up the tiny flowers. And its leaves smell like garlic and the taproot smells like horseradish.

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Impatiens Downy Mildew

Impatiens Downy Mildew


Gardeners in the US may not be able to purchase the common garden impatiens (impatiens walleriana) for their shade gardens this year. That is because a destructive fungus has attacked them in nurseries and landscapes in 33 states. The fungus is commonly called downymildew which is different from other kinds of plant mildews. Downy mildew causes complete defoliation or plant collapse, especially in landscape plantings under moist conditions and cool nights. (see here)

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How to get lilacs to bloom (Part III)

 

Image Source: Puttering In The Garden

Newer varieties of lilacs, such as the Descanso Hybrids (see image above), thrive in areas where winters are relatively warm and do not require winter chilling to produce abundant highly fragrant blooms in the spring. So if you live in a warmer  climate or your temperature Zone shows it is now warmer where you live, you might want these lilac hybrids.

Descanso lilacs were developed to bloom in very mild winter areas . The Descanso lilac provides the same abundance of showy flower, superb when cut, as do other lilacs.

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