The Landscaper's Bane: Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy: the mortal enemy of green thumbs everywhere. Every landscaper, gardener, dude who’s weedeated in shorts, and kid who’s played in the woods has inevitably encountered poison ivy, Toxicodendron radicans. And boy they knew about it!

Interesting facts you may, or may not know:

• You grew up hearing your mother say ‘leaves of three, let it be!’ She was mostly right! Poison ivy always has a compound leaf with 3 leaflets, though other plants also have this leaf arrangement.
• It spreads by reseeding- birds love the berries so they are carried far and wide, by creeping roots, and vines that put down roots as they grow.
• It can be a creeping or climbing vine or a shrub.
• It has oil that causes the rash when you contact the leaves, and if you encounter the roots or cut the stem, you’re in a heap o’ trouble cause that releases a crap-ton of oil.
• Some people say they’re immune… they just haven’t gotten it yet. I do admit that there are, obviously, varying degrees of susceptibility.
• If the oil stays on your skin for longer than a half hour, you’re doomed.
• The oil on surfaces such as your gloves, clothes, or garden tools can be just as potent years later as if you’d just touched it.
• You can get it in the winter even though it doesn’t’ have leaves.
• If you burn poison ivy and inhale the smoke… well, I’ll send flowers. (It can be fatal in severe cases but it’s likely you’ll survive with some severe lung irritation and an ER visit.)
• If you come in contact with poison ivy, wash in cold water with a dish soap to remove the oil.  Warm water will open your pores and allow the oil to penetrate... not good.
• No creatures besides humans suffer from the rash from poison ivy.

 A similar plant to poison ivy is poison oak. I grew up with my mother telling me that 5 leaves was poison oak. What she thought was poison oak was really Virginia Creeper- Parthenocissus quinquifolia, bottom photo, which is completely harmless (See update below).  Poison oak is Toxicodendron pubescens, top photo. and looks nearly identical to poison ivy, but does not climb and grows only in shrub form. It also has more deeply lobed leaves.

What to do when you get the rash from poison ivy or oak:

• If it is severe or on your face seek medical attention. 
• There are several prescription or over the counter topical creams to aid the healing.
• Don’t pop the blisters. The juice won’t make it spread, but it’s gross. It could also get infected.
• Hot showers can ease the itching for several hours… it also feels instantly better. Run the water as hot as you can stand it and let it run over the rash, it burns, but at least it isn’t itching!
• Go to the beach. That salt water does amazing things… rubbing alcohol also dries it up pretty well.

Well, there you go: some interesting tidbits on your favorite plant to hate, poison ivy.

Oh, wait.  How do you get rid of poison ivy growing in your yard?  See below. 

Seriously though, several applications of a non-selective or a broad-leaf weed killer should do the trick.

UPDATE:  Thanks to the heads up from a reader I've done some research and it appears that while Virginia Creeper doesn't have the rash-inducing oil on its leaves like poison ivy, it is fairly common for people to have a severe allergy to it.  So, pull Virgina Creeper with caution.  I've never gotten this rash, but apparently it happens.

Jessica Watters, GCLP                             Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Giant pumkpins? Yes, please!

     I have had an epiphany. I want to grow giant pumpkins. Y’all are going to go along on the journey! Well, assuming someone reads this. Mr. Hatfield had purchased some seeds from an Atlantic Giant pumpkin and he and his boys grew some last year. He has brought me a bag of seeds from a pumpkin they grew that was around 130-140 pounds. I’ve started them in the greenhouse today and hopefully they’ll germinate and we’ll be on our way to growing some ginormous pumpkins. The pumpkins pictured to the left were around 400lbs, by the way.

     So, apparently, what you have to do is let the vine get goin’ and wait until it has 6 to 8 baby pumpkins on it and measure the girth of each of them every day and remove all but the fastest growing one, so that it gets all the nutrients that the plant produces. By the end of the growing season, you should have a really huge pumpkin! There are however, obstacles to this. Squash bugs can decimate your vines, the plants require a lot of water and fertilizer because of their fast growth, and they can grow too quickly and bust open! They can even grow so large that they tear their own vine if there isn’t any slack in it! What you need to do is pick a pumpkin fairly close to the base of the plant and pull it back toward it a bit so that there’s a bend in the vine that will allow the pumpkin to grow without putting a kink in the vine or tearing the plant out of the ground.
     I am no campaigning for a PLANET SCD fundraiser of a pumpkin patch for next year. It’s too late to start it this year… wish me luck!
     I’ll keep you up to date with this year’s pumpkins!


Jessica Logan Watters, GCLP                     Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Pesky Pest: Japanese Beetles

     Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica, are probably the most frequent pest insect to harm our gardens and landscapes. Native to Japan they were first discovered in 1916 and were suspected to have hitched a ride in a shipment of iris tubers that arrived at a nursery in New Jersey. Since then, they have gone on to establish themselves in nearly all of the eastern United States as far west as Arkansas and north to Ontario Canada.  They are about a half inch long and have a greenish to brownish metallic sheen.

     Japanese beetles are not a problem in their native Japan because of natural enemies that keep their populations down, but here in the US that’s not the case. Here they tend to gather in large numbers and decimate plants. (see photo below, taken by D. Gordon E. Robertson). They eat the tender parts of the leaves between the veins so that they’re ‘skeletonized’. They love roses, filberts, Japanese maples, sycamores, and many, many other plants. They do tend to avoid evergreens, I guess the leaves aren’t as tender.

     Well, how do you get rid of them?  One form of control we’ve seen for years is that bag trap thing you hang in your yard with the pheromone/scent lure. Well, research has shown that yes they do attract beetles very well, but unfortunately, they do not trap that many. The beetles are attracted to your trap and eat your plants on their way to the trap and they eat them as they hang around not being trapped in the trap… So hanging one in your yard will actually cause more damage to your plants than not having one at all. So maybe sneak one in the yard of that mean guy down the street… (kidding!) Seriously though, there are many different chemicals to control Japanese beetle populations out there. Despite this they are still hard to control. You have to apply a chemical to your turfgrass in early spring to kill the grubs, and then you have to spray for adults repeatedly through the summer because they are so mobile they can come to your yard from anywhere. So to me, that sounds like an awful lot of chemicals that aren’t that effective. One old school way to kill them that works for small infestations or small yards is soapy water. You can just knock them off the plants early in the morning when they’re sluggish and drop them in soapy water.  Sraying soapy water is somewhat effective as well.

     Now the best Japanese beetle control, according to our esteemed Mr. Bishop is to make margaritas. His advice is to take the down-the-street-neighbor’s full trap, dump it in your blender, add some water and spray this delightful concoction on your plants. And of course, don’t use that blender again for actual margaritas. Having never done this myself, I can only say that research has shown that live beetles avoid dead of their own kind.

So, good luck!

Jessica Watters, GCLP Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Native Plant of the Month: Bigleaf Magnolia

     The Bigleaf Magnolia, Magnolia macrophylla (macro meaning large, phylla meaning leaf), is a deciduous understory tree that grows to a height of 30-40’. It has the largest leaf and flower of any plant native to the United States, with the leaf measuring as much as 32” long and 12” wide! They are dark green above and silver below and are quite breathtaking.  Now, this photo, above, is quite beautiful but there's no point of reference for you to tell just how large everything is.  That flower is probably every bit of 8" tall.

     I’ve actually been campaigning to get one on campus when I discovered one last month in the woods surrounded by sweetgum saplings! (maybe I’m the only one who didn’t know it was there… I dunno.) Needless to say, the sweetgums are toast. Be sure you check it out next time you’re here- it’s back in the woods near the sidewalk at the hort. building, behind the adult-form ivy.

     If you have a wooded area and are looking for something a little different or unusual this would be an ideal specimen for a filtered/morning sun spot. It’d be a good idea to put them somewhere you won’t mind the leaves dropping in the fall… those big dried up leaves are fairly unsightly.

Jessica Watters, GCLP         Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Beneficial Bugs: The Praying Mantis

     I know, I know. Here’s another ‘beneficial’ insect that isn’t prey-specific. They just eat other bugs. But they eat a lot of bugs, and the majority of them are pest insects. And so, the praying mantis stays on my list.

     There are 17 native species of mantids in the US and they all have the same basic shape but they do have differences in their size and their coloring. Some are camouflaged to look like green leaves, some brown leaves, some tree bark… you get the idea.

     Praying mantises are predatory insects in that they catch live bugs and eat them, not by scavenging dead stuff or eating plants. They catch their prey by laying in wait and snatching it with those creepy arms or by running a short distance to catch something. And, the rumor is true: the female does sometimes eat the male after mating. Sometimes just his head, sometimes she consumes him entirely. Ew. But, sometimes he does get away.

     In the fall the female will lay between 10 and 400 eggs in a casing of a light brown, fairly hard structure (left). It’s usually wrapped around a twig or blade of grass or is sometimes laid directly on the ground- depending on the species. The nymphs emerge the next spring and typically resemble ants for their first stage of life (you can see the modified legs though) in an aid for survival.

Did you know?

• That they are commercially available for placement in landscapes where gardeners want to avoid chemical pesticides?

• That they are bred in captivity as part of an exotic pet trade in parts of Asia and Africa?
• That non-native species are illegal to possess and release in the United States, under the Non-Native Invasive Species Act of 1992?
• They are believed to have evolved from cockroaches?
• The Australian mantis is apparently so tough that Austrialian geckos go into evasive maneuvers to aviod them?

....Now you know.

Jessica Logan Watters, GCLP             Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

June Horticulture Book of the Month

Apparently I missed May... Sorry y'all.

This book comes recommended from Bill Gruenewald:

" 'The Encyclopedia of Country Living' is a great book for any one to have. It's got a lot more than just Horticulture, but it has awesome "How to's" for grafting, Bee keeping (very detailed) Cultivating mushrooms and literaly anything you want to know about growing vegetables, shrubs and trees. It's also got a good list of medicinal herbs and ... See more plants that were commonly used "back in the days"(100 years ago) It's a great book! Every one in America should own a copy. Good for beginners and experts alike."


Sounds handy!  Thanks, Bill!

Native Plant of the Month: Solomon's Seal

     I’m starting a new monthly feature that I’ve been thinking about doing for a while, but have neglected so far. Native plants. With everyone worried about water and the huge movement toward low maintenance plants, one of the easiest ways to get on board is by going with native plants as often as possible. If you put a native plant in the conditions where it likes to grow (sun vs. shade, swamp vs. dry) after it’s established, it won’t need any supplemental water.
     So, now I’m trying to decide which of the many natives that are near and dear to my heart do I want to talk about first. A new addition to our perennial ID bed on campus that is native and that I looove is Solomon’s seal, Polygonatum biflorum. This shade-loving perennial adds a touch of elegance to any garden with is graceful, arching stems and delicate white flowers. It is available in variegated varieties (left) as well as ‘giant’ Solomon’s seal which will grow a foot taller than the usual 24” height. It grows in a ‘clumping’ fashion, it doesn’t take over but politely spreads into a nice little group. It is without a doubt, one of my top 5 favorite shade perennials.
     With all the showy choices out there, sometimes it’s nice to have a subtle, elegant addition to your perennial border or bed.

Photo is courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder
Jessica Logan Watters, GCLP     Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Green Roofs: How cool?

     One green concept that has fascinated me for quite a while is the green roof. I am astounded that you don’t hear more about them! A green roof is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a roof that is planted with vegetation.  Please see the photo to the right of a French museum, taken by Simon Garbutt. They’ve actually been around for centuries in Northern Scandanavia and Europe. Checkout the photo of a traditional farm village in Norway, bottom. Did you know, it's estimated that 10% of Germany's roofs are 'green'?

     One of the key benefits of a green roof is temperature reduction of roofing material. As you may know, the majority of buildings in urban areas are roofed with black asphalt and homes are roofed with dark asphalt shingles- they get hot! This combined with asphalt roads and few trees produces a pocket of hot air that surrounds the city, called the Urban Heat Island Effect. This area of hot air has even been known to change weather patterns!

How do green roofs reduce Urban Heat Island Effect, you ask? Well, imagine you’re walking barefooted on a July afternoon in Atlanta. You leave your front door and walk across your lawn; it feels nice on your tootsies. The temperature of your lawn is roughly the same as the ambient air temperature. Now, you decide to cross the asphalt road… “%&*@!” ...and your feet are blistered.  Black asphalt can easily reach temperatures of 175 degrees! It is exactly the same with most roofing materials; while a green roof is the same temperature as the air, perhaps even a couple of degrees cooler because of evapotranspiration, the black asphalt or shingles are significantly (80+ degrees!) hotter. Evapotranspiration (ET) is the process by which plants use water and evaporate it from their leaves- same concept as you sweating, the moisture evaporating cools your skin. Imagine how much of a difference this would make if most of the buildings in a city were to have green roofs… we’re talking an 80 degree difference on quite a bit of surface area here!  The photo to the left is a satelite image of New York City, the top being thermal imaging and the bottom being the vegetation.  Notice where the green is the temperature is cooler?  Point made, thank you.

     Another benefit of green roofs is storm water retention. During heavy downpours storm water is a major problem in most urban areas. Storm drains cannot handle a huge amount of water all at once and it causes flooding and puddling. Not to mention all the pollution that storm water washes into the sewers and directly into streams and lakes. A green roof with 4” of substrate (the stuff the plants grow in- regular soil is too heavy) will retain as much as 60% of rainwater. That’s awesome: a green roof will eliminate over half the runoff than what would’ve come off a conventional roof!

     Also a huge advantage is the return on investment that buildings with green roofs get: they lower cooling costs by as much as 30% annually, heating by 10%, and they have double, even triple the lifespan of a shingled roof! Plus, they look really neat!

     The biggest downfall of a green roof is the initial cost of installation. But the fact that energy costs are reduced so significantly and that the roof won’t have to be replaced near as often cancels that out in my opinion! One other drawback is that it is difficult to retro-fit a building to have a green roof, the weight of the substrate and plants is significantly higher than a conventional roof and most buildings are not designed to carry that load. BUT it can be done! The Atlanta and Chicago Citys Halls have installed a green roof on parts of their buildings! See Chicago City Hall, Below.

With all these benefits, why aren’t I hearing more about green roofs? I want to see them everywhere! They’re so much prettier than a nasty old black tar roof, too!

      

Jessica Logan Watters, GCLP               Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Beneficial Bug: The Writer Spider

     The writer spider (Argiope aurantia) goes by several names: garden spider, writing spider, black and yellow garden spider, among others.  Whatever you call them, they are both creepy and pretty at the same time.  This spider can be quite large and is usually found hanging in the center of her web, upside down, with legs together in pairs so it appears that there are only 4.  A particularly interesting thing unique to this genus of spiders is how they construct their web. They create a zig-zag looking design right in the middle where they hang out.  This structure is called a 'stabilimentum' and its purpose is not certain.  Some think it is to camouflage the spider from prey, and others think it is to make the web more visible to larger critters like birds and moths that could fly into the web and destroy it. 

     The spider that you see in the center of the web is the female, the male is much smaller and he often hangs out near, or even in, her web once he finds her. 
     In the fall they lay eggs in one or more sacks (left- this photo is courtesy of Sheri Newell) that look like an onion bulb.  She then dies with the first frost and the babies emerge in the spring and disperse to make their own webs. Now, you may be thinking that this is triggering something from your childhood.  It should be! Charlotte from 'Charlotte's Web' was a writer spider.  Do you remember how her babies left when the wind caught a small bit of web that acted like a parachute?  Well that's really how they do it!

     Another piece of trivia about this spider is an old wives' tale that I heard growing up.  If you come across a writer spider's web and see your name spelled in it... you're doomed!

     Well, how are they beneficial you ask.  They eat bugs.  They are fairly indiscriminate eaters, but do eat mosquitoes, flies and such.  While they don't dine specifically on problem insects like the lady bug does, they are without doubt a great addition to your garden. 
     Their bite, by the way, is similar to a fire ant sting and they have to be severely harassed to actually bite you- they usually just drop out of their web to the ground.

Jessica Logan, GCLP     Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

    

Carolina Wren- The Teakettle Bird

This post comes courtesy of Dub Strickland.  It's not 100% horticulture-related, but we like things in nature other than plants, you know.  Thanks Dub!

The Teakettle Bird

     “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle” “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle” Ounce for ounce the Carolina Wren is the loudest little bird you will ever hear. Thryothorus ludovicianus is about 6 inches long and weighs less than an ounce. He usually keeps his tail about 90 degrees to his body. His upper parts are a reddish brown while the under parts are a buff color. He has a distinctive white supercilium (eyebrow) and a whitish throat. There are several varieties of wren in the United States but the Carolina Wren is a common year round resident in the eastern United States and the one I most commonly see in my yard.

    

They are listed as secretive birds that “creep through vegetation foraging for insects.” But my feeling is they are almost sneaky. They are very territorial so the male does not hide much and with his loud call you will know where he is most all the time. The female on the other hand can be very secretive when it is time to sit on a nest and feed the young. I walked into a little used area of the basement late one morning to find 5 little wrens learning to fly from a nest that was in a half closed cupboard on the wall. She had to wedge through the crack in the door to take care of them.

     They prefer to eat insects but in the winter they are frequent visitors to my suet feeders and the peanut feeder. They also eat more of the mealy worms I leave for the Bluebirds than the Bluebirds do.

     One last thing. Since they don’t migrate this cold weather is hard on them. Clean your bird houses out and put a handful of shredded paper or other dry fluffy nesting material in it. They might thank you.

Dub Strickland

Georgia Master Naturalist
Sautee Nacoochee, GA
dub@wildflyers.com

PLANET Student Career Days

Our First place team!

President of CTC, Dr. Sanford Chandler at the closing ceremony.

Brian Watters working for his second place win in Arboriculture with partner Kevin Porter.

Federico Trejo and Gay Lyn Ferry compete in the Truck and Trailer event.

The majority of the team hanging out after the last event, Landscape Plant Installation is finished.

These photos are courtesy of instructor John Hatfield.

April Book of the Month

Insects that feed on Trees and Shrubs- Warren T. Johnson and Howard H Lyon.  This month's book comes recommended by CTC instructor John Hatfield.  It contains clear color photos of the insect, including adult and larval forms, and the damage they inflicts on plants.  It is an excellent resource for diagnosing pest problems in your landscape.

Horticulture Book of the Month

Dr. Michael Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

This fantastic book is often refered to as the woody plant 'bible'.  It's a great resource for identifying plants and their cultivars.  Though it features only line drawings instead of photos the information in the book is extremely detailed.  This book is more helpful for learning about the plants when you already know what they are than identifying something without any guess as to what it is.

Beneficial Bugs: The Lady Bug

There are many different critters and creepy crawlers that you’ll find in your garden.  What most folks don’t realize is that a lot of them are good guys! Now, I’m not asking you to cuddle up to some freaky spider or to think scorpions are cute; the critter we’re talking about today is much easier to love- the ladybug! It’s also known as a ladybird or lady beetle. There are hundreds of varieties of ladybugs and they range from the red and shiny ones that you know and love to plain brown guys that you’d never label as a ladybug. Nearly all of the ladybug species are considered to be ‘beneficial insects’.

     Ladybugs are considered beneficial insects because they eat the bad guys! They eat aphids, mites, and scale insects- all of which are harmful to our gardens and crops. In fact an Asian ladybug was imported for its voracious appetite for scale insects- it saved the pecan crop from cottony cushion scale! One drawback of these imported ladybugs is that they’ve taken over food resources from the native ladybug species. Native lady bugs are severely outnumbered by Asian and European ladybugs to the point that conservationists fear for the survival of several species of ladybugs. Now don’t hate the intruders; they’re still doing a good job eating bad bugs.

     Ladybugs especially like aphids and they eat them in every stage of their development, the photo of the ugly bug (left) is actually a larval lady bug. I know you’ve seen this guy and said “Ew! Look at that weird bug”! Well, don’t squish him ‘cause he’s one of the good guys!! Don’t let your gut reaction be killing every bug you come across, by spray or by shoe (exceptions being roaches, ticks, and mosquitoes, of course).

     If you’re spraying for insects in your garden you may want to think twice. Nearly any pesticide you spray is going to kill ALL bugs. This includes all the good guys; ladybugs are especially sensitive to pesticides. If you leave them to it, your ladybugs and other good guys will probably keep your pest populations under control. Now you’re wondering how to get the good guys back into your yard after you’ve been annihilating every insect or arachnid you saw for the past who-knows-how long. Well, it’s going to take a couple of years for the ecosystem to regain its balance in your garden and unfortunately the bad guys will reestablish first. There is something you can do however: you can buy ladybugs online. What??! I know! How cool is that? You can just buy a bag (they’re usually shipped as larvae but you can buy adults, too) and release them into your yard! If you do go this route try and find a vendor who sells the native species: we may as well go the extra mile since we’re already being environmentally-minded here.

In conclusion: don’t kill ladybugs! Instead of using a chemical spray, use beneficial insects to control your pest insect populations. And lastly, if you purchase them try to find a native species.

Jessica Logan GCLP, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Pruning Azaleas

     Azaleas need to be pruned between the end of blooming in the spring and before the 4th of July. If you prune after this date you will risk losing next spring’s blooms! You can begin the pruning process before they’ve finished blooming- take some of your clippings inside and enjoy them!

     There is a school of thought that disagrees with this rule however. Some experts say that if you’ve got very overgrown azaleas and you want to prune them to dramatically lower their height, called rejuvenation, do it in the late winter or early spring before they bloom. You will lose the flowers for that year. (Rejuvenation means starting over: when a plant is rejuvenated it is cut back to structural branches, usually bare, that act as a base for the plant to come back from- it isn’t pretty and not all plants will tolerate this, azaleas will). The reasoning behind the timing of this theory is that the azaleas will need a significant amount of energy to come back from being pruned severely and they also require a significant amount of energy to produce flowers… so they will come back much better from the rejuvenation if they are spared the stress of producing blooms: this needs to be done before you see any color from the flowers. The photos below are of a rejuvenation project half way done- you can see that the azaleas have been lowered by about 2/3 of their height. The photo on the bottom is a year later; see how much of the fence is visible now?

                                                        

     These photos are courtesy of Rick Smith at The Pruning Guru, www.PruningGuru.com    

    
     Another way to significantly reduce the size of your azaleas but keep your blooms, and avoid undue stress to your plants, is to spread the pruning out over several years: remove a few of the tallest branches every year. Patience, Grasshopper.

     One other concern about the timeline is Encore azaleas that have a second, or even third, bloom later in the year. You’re pretty much sacrificing a bloom cycle by pruning them, anytime. Since the spring bloom is the showiest, prune immediately after that has tapered off. Your fall show may not be as good as last year but you should still have some blooms.

     As with pruning anything, cuts should be made just above a lateral branch, any branch coming out from the main stem, branch or trunk. Cuts made in the middle of a branch will cause several problems: the wood between the cut and the branch below it will die and be an entry point for disease, or a bud (or several buds) along that branch will produce a sucker that will grow straight up, way above the existing canopy- which means more pruning for you, and it will not conform to the regular growth habit, neither result is pretty. Be sure to remove any dead wood.

     While you’re up close and personal with your azaleas it’s a good time to check for any insect or disease activity goin’ on. The most common problem with azaleas is lace bugs. If you see splotchy discoloration on the tops of the leaves and dirty looking smudges on the back, the smudges are lace bug poo and eggs; the discoloration on the top is the damage they cause (below). You may see tiny fly-looking bugs with transparent wings about ¼ an inch in length, these are the culprit. There are a number of chemicals available to nuke ‘em, read the labels at your local supplier or big box store- be sure to spray the underside of the leaves (that’s where the buggies are) when applying the chemical. Read the entire label and follow the directions exactly; pesticides are not to be taken lightly. The damage to the leaves is permanent but future growth should hide the damaged leaves.

                      Photograph by: James Castner, University of Florida/IFAS, used with permission

Azaleas really require very little pruning and maintenance but with just the right amount they will astound you every spring. If you’re rejuvenating your azaleas or they’ve got lace bug damage they’ll appreciate a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10, or similar) in the spring.

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

PLANET SCD

The next SCD meeting is Wednesday March 24th!  Don't forget you need to be studying!!! 
Just for fun here are some pictures of past events.

2009's 3rd place team!

Irrigation assembly

Irrigation troubleshooting

paver installation

it's not all work...

February Book of the Month

     February's book of the month is Ortho's All About Gardening series.  Technically not a single book, this series has books titled Ortho's All About: Roses; Orchids; Lawns; Trees; Perennials; Annuals; Pruning, and on and on!  I personally own Ortho's All About Roses and Ortho's All About Pruning.  These books are easy to read even if you have no technical knowledge of the subject and they have great photos. 

A Rose By Any Other Name... Will Still Have Thorns

Pruning Roses:

    Grab your leather gloves, some band-aids, and a tube of Neosporin. You’re going to make it out alive, but chances are: you’re going to be scratched up pretty good. Pruning roses can be a time consuming, challenging, and potentially painful process. The way you prune your roses will vary depending on that type of roses you have. If you’ve got your garden-variety shrub rose, like the wonderful Knock Out, they’re not going to be the least bit picky about how they’re pruned.   You could run them over with your truck and come spring they’ll come right back. (This is not recommended.) Other varieties, such as Hybrid Tea roses, will be picky.  These instructions will suit hybrid teas, Knockouts and most other roses just fine.
      Technically you don’t have to prune them: you can let them get as big and as wild and wooly as you like! Pruning does have benefits though: we have a group of red Knock Outs here on campus that is every bit of 8 feet tall! Sure they’re beautiful when they bloom, but they’re kind of monstrous the rest of the year. Aside from maintaining a pleasing and manageable size, pruning encourages better blooming. Roses bloom on new growth; and pruning encourages growth.

     Basically when pruning roses, your objective is to establish a structure for new growth to come out on in the spring. You should prune your roses back to about 12-18” from the ground. (If you’ve got a climber, or a rose that only blooms once a year, you need a different set of instructions). You should remove any canes the look diseased or are damaged. Before you start the structural pruning take a time out and think about the growth that will come from the cuts you make. The direction the bud is facing will be the direction of your new growth; you probably won’t be pruning to a branch like you would for normal pruning, but to an OUTWARD facing bud. If you cut to an inward facing bud the new growth is going to head back to the center of the plant- not ideal or pretty. If you just chop haphazardly, and don’t cut near a bud, the wood will die back to the next bud leaving several inches of dead wood which is a haven for disease.

     I’ve included some photos of one of my roses I just pruned-February to early March is the perfect time to prune them. There are before and after shots and a photo of how the cuts should look (right). The cut on the left is too far away from the bud- that extra wood will die and be a gateway for pests and disease, the cut in the center is too close to the bud- the cut is so close it’s caused structural damage that won’t support a new branch that will come from that bud, and the last one is just right!

     During the growing season removing the spent flowers will encourage most varieties of roses to bloom even more!

If you’ve got a climbing rose I suggest you do a bit of reading before you tackle this one, especially if it only blooms once a year.  A great resource is Ortho’s All About Roses by Ortho Books and Thomas Cairns, for all roses not just climbers.

Quick note: the title of this article implies that there are no roses without thorns, that isn't exactly true.  There are a few of them; Lady Banks climbing rose being the most common in  my experience.

    

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Valentine's Day: A Brief Guide to Giving Roses

     Well, I was going to summarize the history and meaning of giving roses on Valentine's Day. In doing some research I discovered there are many, many different explanations and stories about how and why Valentine's Day and the giving of roses came about. They range from Roman gods to young single people in French society to Middle Eastern myths about birds picking their mates on February 14th. Of course, the history that we are most familiar with is the one of St. Valentine who was a Catholic priest. He was found guilty of performing marriages during a time when the Roman emperor had banned marriage. Saint Valentine was put to death on February 14th in 269 AD.

     What does this mean for you? Well, for guys it means: buy her something pretty or you're in trouble. For ladies it means: I'd better get something pretty or he's in trouble. Valentine's Day is also jokingly called "Singles Awareness Day" where people without significant others would rather vomit than see any more pink and red hearts in store displays.
     What does that flower really mean? The giving of a rose has different meanings depending on the color and the number given.  Giving a single rose is generally a gesture of new love or infatuation.  The giving of a dozen or more represents commitment and devotion.

         Red means passion and sincere love

         White- innocence and purity, young love

         Pink - thanks and appreciation

          Yellow- Joy, Welcome home, delight, friendship and in Victorian times it meant jealousy! 
     Roses aren't the only flower suitable for Valentine's Day: be creative! Tulips are fabulous, daisies are sweet... plus these non-rose alternatives will be cheaper!  Personally, gerber daisies are MY favorite... hint, hint.

The rose pictured above is from my garden, called 'Double Delight,' it's white and dark pink... so it can mean whatever you want it to I guess!

Jessica Watters, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College