Keep the Gardens Going

Don't miss out on the third season of gardening in Oklahoma or other areas in zone 7 and above.

Even though the August heat is still with us, we can plant cool season vegetables, perennials and spring flowering bulbs.

If you don't know your plant zone click on the appropriate link -
United States zones or worldwide plant zones or the AHS heat zone map.

Hazzard's Greenhouse and Seeds lists thousands of varieties of flowers, vegetables, herbs, grasses, and walk-on-plant seeds in their online catalog. You can click on the Search feature and enter a common or Latin name to find what you need.

Joyce Hazzard created a free shipping coupon for anyone reading this. Enter MSFS in the place for coupons at checkout or use the code for phone orders at 989.872.5057.

Start seeds in containers so you can control moisture and temperature. This is especially true for heat sensitive greens. Refrigerate lettuce seeds for a few days and then soak them in water the day before planting.

Flower seeds that like to be hot for a few weeks followed by cold include pansy, alyssum, calendula, corydalis, bachelor buttons, love-in-a-mist, Joe Pye, Datura and many others. Most perennials and many biennials are planted in the fall.

Nasturtiums and Zinnias grow from seed to flowers in 35 days. Also plant seeds of these flowers with 45 days to bloom: Bachelor buttons, Cosmos, Marigold and Hyacinth Bean Vine.

Flowers with 50 to 60 days to bloom include: Verbena, Impatiens, Alyssum, Morning Glory and African daisy. The old Thompson and Morgan seed germination database is available at
Tom Clothier's site where you can look for germination temperatures, weeks, etc.

Plains Coreopsis and Dahlia need 60 days. Flowering cabbage and flowering kale take 11 weeks.

If you want to speed up the process, you can pre-germinate the seeds in moist paper towel or vermiculite. Keep them warm until they sprout and form roots, then plant them in pots until they are ready to plant in the ground.

Garlic and shallots should be ordered now to plant in September. Farmer’s markets have locally grown varieties that are sure to work well.

Look up the number of days from seed to harvest for your favorite vegetables and select those with 70 days or less to maturity.

For example, bush beans mature in 50 days, so seeds started now will have table ready beans by the middle of September. Burpee’s Tenderpod bush bean was the 1941 All America Selection and is still one of the highest rated (http://bit.ly/lbiDU).

Another AAS selection, Buttercrunch lettuce is ready in 65 days and can take the cold (http://bit.ly/zS6eY). Green onion, chive and arugula seeds can still be sprinkled into the garden and harvested before winter. Arugula is good for pesto, late fall salads and on sandwiches.

And put in cool season Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbages. At the Tulsa Master Gardener's site (http://bit.ly/4wgJu9), Sue Gray advises, "But keep the B.t. handy. Bacillus thuringiensis dust or liquid is the smart way to keep cabbage looper and diamondback moth caterpillars off your plants." Bt is sold as Biobit, Dipel, MVP, Steward, and Thuricide.

In August and September these seeds are planted: Kale, chard, mizuna, mache, Asian greens and asparagus. Gray says to watch for flea beetles and cucumber beetles in the fall. As soon as the plants come up, cover them with a floating row cover fabric to keep the bugs off the leaves and prevent them from laying eggs in the soil. Check under the fabric daily.

OSU Fact Sheet HLA 6009 has several ideas for fall vegetable growing at http://bit.ly/oqSdx.

Between August 10 and 20, plant bush beans, lima beans, cucumbers, beets, Chinese cabbage, head cabbage, collards, and green peas. After you harvest the peas, dig under the leaves and vines before the first freeze.

Oklahoma’s best varieties are listed in OSU Fact Sheet HLA 6032 at http://bit.ly/sgCnR.

Tulsa Master Gardeners Plant Sale Orders, April 5 - Sooner Plant Pickup, Sustainable Green Country Conference, Do You Propagate?

TULSA MASTER GARDENERS
The annual plant sale has lots of bargains and plenty of choices. The deadline for pre-ordering is March 28. Here is a link to the list of plants they are offering this year. Pre-orders are prepaid and will be available for pickup April 17.
Another choice you have is to just go to the sale on April 17 and buy what looks good to you.

At their site, plants are listed and described. Flats of 36 plants are $14 and 4-inch pots are $2.50 - Such a bargain. And the proceeds go to a good cause.

The order form is available where it says click here for order form.

SOONER
Saturday April 5 will be the first customer pick up day at Sooner Plant Farm just south of Tahlequah. It's the best way for locals to pick up their Internet orders without paying shipping PLUS we can wander through the plants. Sooner is open to the public only one day a month.

Some of the Best Plants for Oklahoma according to Brian Chonacki,
owner of Sooner Plant Farm are listed here, but go to the website and see all the wonderful possibilities.

1. Asclepias incarnata, tuberosa 2. Baptisia australis 3. Echinacea
4. Euphorbia griffithii, myrsinites, polychroma 5. Azalea ‘Encore
6. Callicarpa 7. Vitex agnus - castus 8. Amelanchier 9. Chilopsis
10. Chitalpa tanchkentensis 11. Acer truncatum 12. Acer buergerianum
13. Taxodium distichum 14. Sedum 15. Wisteria frutescens

Toward the bottom of the Sooner home page there are links to click for trees, flowering shrubs, grasses etc. Within each link there are choices to click on to find the photo and description for each plant.

Photo: This beauty is coming up in the back yard.


Sustainable Green Country is having their Sustainability Conference March 28 and 29 in Norman OK. "Red Dirt, Green Culture: Growing Healthy Communities" is the title.

-30 speakers and workshops on subjects including transportation, biofuels, community building and conflict resolution, alternative energy, religion and environmental ethics.

- Events will be located throughout downtown Norman, at venues such as the Norman Public Library, Mainsite Art Gallery, Norman Chamber of Commerce, Dreamer Concepts Studio and Foundation, Andrews Park and Republic Bank. Transportation between sites will be assisted by bike taxis and walking guides.

For more information and to register for the conference, go to http://www.normansustainability.org/ or contact Gene Perry at (405) 640-9119 or info@normansustainability.org.



DO YOU PROPAGATE
your plants to make more? When do you take the cuttings? What rooting hormone do you use? Are you rooting them in sand, vermiculite, perlite, potting soil?

I've been researching information for propagating some of my backyard plants and thought I would share a few of my finds.

University of California at Davis

Grow It database

Pacific Northwest Cooperative Extension

These and more links are available at the Open Systems Project. Here is the link to the search results.

Last fall I put 8 lavender cuttings into sand and kept the pot warm and around grow lights. Today I dumped it out and found that every cutting had roots. So now I want to do more.

What's your experience with propagating plants with vegetative cuttings?

More cold nights coming. Plan to protect your young plants.

Normal Average Weather, Coldframes

Northeast Oklahoma's growing conditions change every year. Normal average rainfall is 44-inches which makes many high country plants swoon from the humidity. Mexican sage, lavender , penstemons and many bulbs dislike high humidity and having their roots too wet.

The area's normal, average temperatures include 70-days a year at 90-degrees and above, plus 70-days a year at 32-degrees and below.

We are in USDA cold zone 7 and American Horticulture Society's heat zone 8.

These are the factoids we need to take into consideration when planning our gardens for spring, summer and fall. Read catalogs and plant descriptions and try to give plants the conditions they need to succeed. If the catalog says "good drainage" put the plant in a raised bed, on a slight slope, amend the soil with sand or perlite or plant near the thirsty roots of shrubs and trees.

Two resources to keep handy: 1) Tulsa Master Gardeners website and 2) Oklahoma State University Horticulture. Both of these sites have answers to questions you did not even know you had.

The ground is frozen and nothing can be done outside so these flower photos from last March will have to get us through until winter passes. Remember two years ago when there was not one day of freezing weather? The outside work never took a break that year.

Photos: Native violets on the left and Leucojum blooming on the right.

Hotbeds and Coldframes have been taking up some of my research time for the past 6-months. I'm not sure I need them now that the shed provides a protected place to raise seedlings under grow lights.

But, what about hardening them off in a coldframe for 3-weeks before planting out? Maybe that would increase their survival rate.
North Carolina State University has a fact sheet that explains the basics.
Home and Garden Television has some simple construction tips.

Do you have an outdoor cold frame or hotbed? If so, do you use it very much? How was it constructed? Any advice for those of us who are considering building one? How big for a starter coldframe? Is yours dug into the ground 8-inches deep as recommended by NCSU and HGTV?

Themed Gardens

Themed gardens can vary from all blue flowers, all roses, all succulents, or all grasses.


Flowers are wonderful for a few weeks. Developing a passion for a particular type or color flower is fine but can limit the number of weeks your garden looks its best.


One of the challenges is to identify plants that are attractive spring, summer and fall. For this reason, experienced gardeners form a background of herbaceous perennials. These plants create a reliable background and live for years.

Oklahoma State University Horticulture and Landscape Extension Fact Sheet HLA-6410 has everything you need to know to select suitable ones for your yard. Categories include: Cut Flowers, Large Background plants, plants that Prefer Shade, Vines, Showy Foliage, Edging, Borders and Ground covers, Dried Flowers or Showy Fruit.

Large plants provide the backbones of a landscape.

Sit in your favorite chair and notice what you see out the window. Consider putting a large shrub with winter interest or a specimen tree in the site line of the windows where you spend time.


Click through the websites for Sooner Plant Farm in Tahlequah and Tulsa Master Gardeners for ideas.

How much time are you spending outside in these 100-degree August days?

Consider the number of hours you are willing and able to invest when making plant decisions. Put in some low-water plants such as those suitable for Xeriscape. The Texas Extension Service has a link with Xeriscape ideas.

A new bed in our landscape is filled with spring and summer bulbs that are finished blooming now. What's left in the bed for August and September is a collection of shrubs and plants that require only weekly water and very little maintenance.

Sun! Deadheading Rain Weary Plants

A shady corner in my sister's back yard.

Hens and their chicks.

SO MANY WEEDS SO LITTLE TIME

This is supposed be the only sunny day in a string of rainy ones so we pulled weeds, deadheaded flowers, staked peppers, picked and trimmed tomatoes, sprayed fungicide and whatever else could be done before the sun made it too hot to work any more.

Deadheading includes cutting off the flowers that are no longer fresh. While you are out there, trim back a little of the legginess that plants have taken on with all the cloudy days. For example, if the petunia has one lone flower at the end of an 8-inch long stem, trim back the stem. Where? Hold the stem in hand and look at the places where new little leaves have emerged when earlier flowers fell off. Select a new leaf cluster that is growing upwards and cut the stem just past that spot, leaving the upward facing leaves in tact. Don't worry if you cut it wrong the first time, just cut down a little farther.

"Cut to the earliest green on the stem" means to look at where the stem attaches to the root and identify the nicest looking new growth along the stem closest to where it comes out of the ground or off of the trunk. Cut there, leaving on the healthy looking growth .

Follow this link to Tulsa Master Gardener's website with specific guidelines on deadheading and pruning flowers, trimming trees and shrubs - with pictures even!

Orchids, 2007 Tulsa MG Homes Tour

BOOK OF NOTE

The new book, Orchids, was recently released by DK Books. The book is an over size 124-page coffeetable book of fascinating information about orchids. The photographs are the stars of the book - unusual, unique and wild looking.

The text was written by Pascal Descourvières, a botanist and biology instructor who specializes in orchids. The photos were taken by Manuel Aubron.

Tucked into the back cover there is a practical and useful 60-page 9 by 6-inch paperback that has Descourvieres' growing and care tips. One of the tips is to use bottled mineral water or collected rain water for orchids. Another is to use one gram of powdered fertilizer in one-ounce of rainwater or one ounce of fertilizer for one gallon of mineral water. Light feeders, those orchids.

TULSA MASTER GARDENERS HOME TOUR JUNE 23RD 9 A.M. TO 4 P.M.
At the fairgrounds in Tulsa, the Master Gardeners staff the phones to answer questions and they have planted the area around the building. The photos below are from a recent trip there. The members are active not only in gardening on the grounds, they run classes and have a great website.

This coming Saturday, June 23rd is the 2007 Tour of Tulsa Master Gardener Homes. A home built in 1926 will display shade gardens, a 1948 vintage home will have unique plants and container plantings, another features water gardening and wildlife and just west of Sand Springs a vegetable garden will be on tour. Tickets are only $5 in advance or $8 the day of the tour, June 23. Call - 918.746.3701 - for tickets and information.

Quince tree at the OSU Master Gardener Gardens at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.

Arum Dragon

Japonica Pruning

Nasturtium bud and fading flower in today's garden.

A reader asked, "When is the best time to to prune a Japonica?"

I did a quick internet search and found at least a dozen plants with Japonica in their name, including: Japonica Lonicera - Japanese Honeysuckle, Flowering Quince Japonica, Cryptotaenia Japonica, Euonymous Japonica and Caradina Japonica. Fatsia Japonica is commonly known as aralia. The common names for Spirea Japonica is Japanese Spirea.

So, the answer is, "It depends on which plant you have."

Here is the shorthand answer - Many spring blooming shrubs and vines are pruned just after flowering so they can make the flower buds for next year on the wood they grow this summer. Other spring flowering plants are pruned in the late winter.

If your Japonica is a Honeysuckle, prune it late winter because they bloom on new growth. If it is the Spirea Japonica, prune it next February according to The Missouri Botanical Garden's home gardening site.

Pruning can be a confusing topic. For example, Butterfly Bushes (Budlia) are pruned depending on their variety, confusing gardeners even more. According to the Tulsa Master Gardeners website, Budlia alternifolia blooms on the previous season's wood (so cut after flowering) and Budlia davidii blooms on new wood so it is cut to the ground in spring before flowering.

Could your Japonica be a flowering Quince with pink to red flowers in the spring? Its Latin name is Chaenomeles speciosa. The University of Arkansas Extension Service has an online pruning guide that recommends pruning flowering quince immediately after blooming. See page 4 at that link for a list of shrubs and when to prune them.

No matter which plant you have, pruning dead, diseased and damaged growth can be done at any time. Up to one-third of any shrub can be removed for shaping purposes. If you decide to remove entire branches of a shrub, cut out a few of the largest and oldest first, leaving the youngest branches in tact. Stand back and look, then cut more.

If this does not help, can you describe the plant? Maybe I can help identify it. Is your Japonica a shrub or a vine? When does it flower and what do the flowers look like? Once we know more about it, the advice can be more specific.

Gardening Info - TulsaMasterGardeners.org

The graduates of the OSU Master Gardening program in Tulsa are active and their website is a resource for local gardeners.

The newest offering is an email newsletter that is offered to anyone who signs up at

www.tulsamastergardeners.org

Also at their site: A link to the OSU Fact Sheets and Announcements of events, including their plant sale. Here is a quote about the sale from the link:

The plants in our sale are sold in two different ways: one group is to be preordered and prepaid no later than Friday, March 30, 2007 (click here for an order form). Preordered plants will be available for pickup on Thursday, April 19,2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We will also have perennials and premium annuals available for purchase only on April 19, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on a first come, first served basis. In this exciting part of our sale, we will be offering over 100 different and unusual varieties. of perennials, premium annuals, herbs and hanging baskets priced from $2.00 to $14.00. We will offer as many Oklahoma Proven and other award winners as possible.