Dig This!

 

Special guest at the Master Gardener meeting on April 12 was Mitzi Alexander from Absolutely Flowers. Her shop in Hutchinson produces beautiful floral arrangements of all kinds, but she doesn’t grow her own flowers. Absolutely Flowers relies on wholesalers to gather and provide all the products she uses in her designs.   The past year has been challenging for all businesses, including the florist sector and cut-flower growers and wholesalers. Because of the pandemic and the resulting economic shut-down, the task of acquiring flowers became difficult. Growers had to deal with curfews and staff shortages. Transportation and shipping were curtailed or shut down. Millions of flowers had to be dumped.  In spite of the difficulties, Absolutely Flowers was one of a few businesses that thrived through the pandemic. She credits her loyal employees and customers who used her floral arrangements to comfort and brighten their lives.  She gave us some insight into where these bea...

  Is it dead or is it dormant? Cold temperatures this winter were hard on humans and plants. Even seasoned gardeners wonder what’s gone for good. The best advice overall is to wait, wait, and wait some more. We normally have a few weeks left until the danger of frost has passed. According to a hardiness zone chart for the Hutchinson area, our average last frost occurs during the first few weeks of April. But it hasn’t been an average winter. Coming on the heels of dry weather last fall, have the cold temperatures damaged our gardens? The most important thing now is to wait. If you prune a dormant plant right now and warm weather stimulates growth, the new leaves will be highly susceptible if we have another freeze, and it will then die. If you wait until the danger of frost has passed, you will give your dormant plants a fighting chance. Plants that survive might need much longer to recover this year. A quick stroll through my garden reveals some plants with more...

awaytogarden.com Gardeners who love to travel have no doubt come across gorgeous hellebores or Lenten roses. In moderate climates, these flowering plants are frequently used as foundation or specimen plants. Although they are not as commonly seen in Kansas, Lenten roses are deer resistant perennial shade-loving flowers that are among the earliest to bloom in our gardens. Bloom time varies a little with variety and weather conditions, but the flowers generally appear in early March. The foliage remains green year round.  The most common kind of hellebore sold, the Lenten rose type (helleborus x hybridus), was designed to produce large blooms in a range of colors from white to purple. Double Ladies are hellebore plants that produce double-petal blooms. pixabay.com Look for hellebores in garden centers over the next few months. Selecting a plant when it is flowering ensures getting a mature plant and a variety with pleasing blossoms. Small hellebores will flower between two and thr...

It's that time of year.... for seed and plant catalogs.  You can pore over seed catalogs for months or just head to the garden center in spring to buy what wows you. Either way, you have plenty of options for planning and planting your garden. That includes surfing the internet during these cold winter days. The year 2020 was an unprecedented boom for gardening. The pandemic created an immense interest and desire to garden and it is expected that a large percentage of new gardeners will continue to dig in the dirt. People have discovered the therapeutic and relaxing hobby of gardening helps them to forget all the negativity going on around them. The downside to this trend is that seeds and plants sold out online and in stores before Easter in 2020.       So start early! Many companies have gone to online sales and provide their catalogs in digital format only. If you don’t receive all your favorite catalogs in the mail, here are a few of our Master Gardener's fav...

Poinsettias are absolutely everywhere during the holidays, and for good reason! They're beautiful, festive, and easy to take care of. With proper care poinsettias should retain their beautiful color throughout the holidays.  Poinsettia plants should not be exposed to cold temperatures. They are best placed in a paper plant sleeve to protect the plant from the cold as well as to prevent them from breaking. If temperatures are well below freezing, all parts of the plant should be protected from the cold. Be sure to remove wrapping as soon as possible after bringing indoors. Remove wrapping from the bottom up to avoid damaging your plant.  Choose an indoor location out of direct heat, cold drafts, and sunlight. Your poinsettia will not do well if placed in a busy entryway where doors are constantly opening. Be sure to keep your poinsettia away from windows because direct sunlight and cool temperatures can cause the foliage to wilt or drop. Cooler temperatures will prolong the ...

 Hawai’i, I wish I was there. Sandy beaches and palm trees. (Sigh.) The guest speaker at the November meeting of RCEMG was Dr. Ted Radovich of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. While he was talking and showing pictures of the lush greenery with verdant mountains in the background, we sat here in cold, windy Kansas dreaming about sandy beaches and palm trees (at least I was.) Here in Kansas we tend to think of Hawai’i as a tropical paradise. Dr. Radovich, from his perspective of agricultural systems, showed us the more practical side of the islands.  Born and raised on O’ahu, Dr. Radovich is an extension specialist in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. He leads the sustainable and organic farming systems laboratory and oversees a small plot of organic land. His current state-wide program is focused on understanding how crop yield and quality can be optimized in agricultural systems that reduce reliance on conventional chemical fertilizers and increase...

Faded plants left standing all winter can play a critical role in the overwintering of beneficial insects, as well as birds and mammals. These plants may contain seed or fruit , or offer hiding places during the off-season.  Image: Margaret Roach When to clean up the garden in the fall? The best time to start your fall garden preparation is after the first few freezing nights have killed back much of the flowers and foliage on the plants. Freezing temperatures are a trigger for perennials that it’s time to begin the process of going dormant for the winter. But don't start cutting back your plants too early, it could trigger new growth on the plants, and you don’t want to do that in the fall. Fall flower bed cleanup chores you can skip Leave the foliage on your plants –  Dead plant material is a wonderful place for beneficial insects to hibernate during the winter.  Litter is a critical habitat for various insects and other anthropods, like bumblebees that provide pollina...

Fall is a great time for dividing and planting garden perennials. The Reno County Extension Master Gardeners invite you to our yearly Perennial Plant Swap this Saturday, October 17 at the Reno County Farmers' Market from 8:00 to noon. Bring extra perennial plants (no annuals please) from your garden and exchange them for plants brought by others. Houseplants, seeds, garden tools and books are welcome to be exchanged as well. Please be sure to label your plants and seeds. For more information, contact the Reno County Extension Office.

The term jack-o-lantern comes from the phenomenon of a strange light flickering over peat bogs, called will-o-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern . The name is also tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with Satan and is doomed to roam the earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way.  Jack-o-lanterns are a yearly Halloween tradition that came to the United States from Irish immigrants. In the 19th century, turnips were hollowed out to act as lanterns and carved with grotesque faces and used on Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Left: A traditional Irish Jack-o-lantern in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland. Right: Modern carving of a Cornish Jack-o-lantern made from a turnip. Thanks to Wikipedia for the information! Orb-Weaver Spiders: Spooky Webs But Great For Pest Control Halloween is not too far away and nothing is more iconic than seeing an enormous spider web and a scary-looking spider in the center as part of your decoration...

Master Gardeners were on hand at the Demo Garden recently to help harvest our hops with Jacob and Pippin from Sand Hills Brewery.  Hops are twining perennial bines. The long stems of the common hop are considered bines, not vines. What's the difference? Unlike vines that use tendrils and other means to climb, bines climb with the help of short, stiff hairs along the stems. They grow from rhizomes, which are underground stems that produce the roots and shoots. Planted by Jack and Allen, the hops were started in the Demo Garden from four bare-root rhizomes  and have taken  about three or four years to establish themselves. At full maturity they can grow up to 18 feet tall.  The hops cones were hand-picked from our bines that now cover two trellises.  The hops flowering plants come in male or female and only the female produces the cones for use as hops. Hops cones are harvested for lupulin, a yellow powder clinging to their leaves. Lupulin cont...