Dig This!

Moonflowers! Have you ever seen one? Moonflower  vine has bright white flowers that bloom in the evening just as the sun sets. Butterflies! This is butterfly season. There are lots of photos of caterpillars, crysalises and butterflies everywhere. Here are a few taken by Master Gardeners. Monarch caterpillars snacking on milkweed. Monarch caterpillars have thin stripes of black, yellow and white. Black swallowtails have a stripe pattern that includes dots of yellow, or sometimes orange. Monarchs never have dots, only stripes. Swallowtail eggs on a stalk of fennel. Swallowtail caterpillar Swallowtail chrysalis. Black Swallowtail butterfly ready to fly away. Monarch butterfly Yellow Swallowtail Thanks, Dee, Becky and Bonnie. For more photos, see our Facebook page.

These photos were sent to a Master Gardener who graciously allowed us to share them. Ron and Dee had another hummingbird get into the rafters in the garage, but weren't able to lure it out. When they opened up the garage the next morning, the little guy was lying on the concrete, exhausted and with cobwebs stuck to his wings.  Dee was able to gently remove the cobwebs and tried to get the bird to drink some hummingbird nectar from a little dish, but he was so weak he kept falling in. Ron found a syringe and proceeded to feed him droplets of nectar. He ate for about 15 minutes with a tongue that  was thinner than hair and unbelievably long. They left him to rest and when Dee checked on him about 20 minutes later, he was still there. (Typical male....left a mess before leaving.)  Dee stroked his back gently with her finger and off he flew!   Now, if they can only figure out how to keep these little guys OUT of Ron's garage in the first place!   Then came the butte...

Monday morning started with glorious Kansas weather  and lots of wildflowers along the walking path.  Great waves of Black-eyed Susan rudbeckia in the field, clouds of white  fleabane along  the path and a fringe-leaf ruellia (wild petunia)  named for its hairy stem and leaves. Erect dayflower. A relative of spiderwort, it blooms after the spiderwort is gone.  This one is a soft blue but I have seen many clusters in brilliant blue. Black-eyed Susan rudbeckia (and a bug.) Unidentified purple flowers (must be a new variety never before seen in Kansas.) Dandelion . Of course. Bright purple flowers – I think this is wild alfalfa . White fleabane grows in big clumps along the path along with mounds  of white morning glory . Hairy gayfeather. This prairie clover's purple flowers have faded but the seed heads  are still beautiful.

     Raised garden beds are great for growing small plots of veggies and flowers. They keep pathway weeds from your garden soil, prevent soil compaction, provide good drainage, and serve as a barrier to pests such as slugs and snails. The sides of the beds keep your valuable garden soil from eroding or washing away during heavy rains.       In Kansas, gardeners are able to plant earlier in the season because the soil is warmer and better drained when it is above ground level.       Elevated garden beds are planter boxes on legs. By raising the soil level, elevated beds reduce back strain when bending over to tend the bed. This is especially helpful for older gardeners, people with bad backs or wheelchair users.      Master Gardener Carl has produced two videos with instructions on building garden beds.  The first is a simple raised bed .  The second is a growing bed made from pallets which Carl has elevate...

Some plants will bloom more profusely if the old, spent flowers are removed, a process called deadheading. Annuals especially, focus their energy on seed production to insure that the species survives. If you remove old flowers, the energy normally used to produce seed is now available to produce more flowers. Perennials can also benefit by lengthening the blooming season. However, some gardeners enjoy the look of spent flowers of perennials such as sedum or purple coneflower. Also, the seed produced can be a good food source for birds. Not all plants need to be deadheaded, including sedum 'Autumn Joy', melampodium, impatiens, most flowering vines, Lythrum, periwinkle (Catharanthus), and wishbone flower (Torenia).    Those that do increase bloom in response to deadheading include hardy geraniums, coreopsis, petunias, marigolds, snapdragons, begonias, roses, campanulas, blanket flowers, delphiniums, zinnias, sweet peas, salvia, scabiosa, annual heliotrope, geraniums (Pelargoniu...

The June RCEMG meeting began with an educational program about Bee Hotels by Pam Paulsen. POLLINATORS According to the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service, 3/4 of the world's flowering plants and about 35% of the world's food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. Worldwide there are close to 20,000 bee species and North America is home to around 4,000 species. Approximately 90% fo bees are solitary. Most solitary bees are non-aggressive . NATIVE BEES More than 4000 species. Many are solitary. Better pollinators and less prone to diseases than imported honey bees. 70% ground nesting. To encourage, leave areas of uncovered ground. 30% cavity nesting (hollow stems, wood.) To encourage, leave dead wood, build bee hotels. Insect hotels & nest blocks provide nesting sites for solitary bees and wasps and an overwintering site for beetles, bees, wasps, butterflies and moths. NESTING BLOCK CONSTRUCTION Materials: small logs; tree p...

Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee. Be sure to watch this on the largest computer screen you have; (HD if possible) and have your sound turned on.  The hummingbird doing rolls chasing a bee is not to be missed. Be sure and watch closely, check out the baby bat under its Mother.   If you never knew what goes on in the garden when you aren't paying attention, watch this -  The Beauty of Pollination