GGG

Granville Gardeners Gazette Promoting Education and Recreation through Gardening Activities

www.thegranvillegardeners.org Oxford, North Carolina May 2021, Volume XI No. 5

WHY BUY? PROPAGATE YOUR OWN!

By Jason Holmes, Curator, Doris Duke Center Gardens at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Durham, NC

Monday, May 24, 7 p.m. at Granville County Expo Center, 4185 Hwy. 15S, Oxford, NC

About the Program

Jason is one of the GG’s favorite speakers because of his vast plant knowledge, well-organized programs, illustrative and instructive photos, and his ability to communicate in an easy and understandable manner. We always learn so much from Jason. He will give an overview of the various methods of asexual propagation such as cuttings, layering, division, and budding/grafting, but the main focus will be on cuttings. And there are several types of cuttings – leaf, root, stem, tip – so many ways to increase our plant population. Propagating more than you can use could lead to a cool follow-up: sharing those extras at a future plant swap!

About the Speaker

Jason is Curator of the Doris Duke Center Gardens at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, which includes the White Garden, Spring Woodland Garden, and the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden. He has worked with plants for over 18 years, and at Duke Gardens some of what he does is plant design, planting, propagation, mulching, watering, and plant record keeping. He loves to travel to places that offer a chance to see new plants and new ways to use them in the garden.

President’s Notes

On April 26 th we held our first in-person general meeting in over a year, and it was great to see everyone. I think we had 30 or more people there, and about the only thing that kept it from feeling like a normal meeting was that the program was presented via Zoom, and several people joined in. I think it went quite well considering that it was the first time I set up a Zoom session for a large group and projected it on the screen. One drawback was that those who joined via Zoom couldn’t hear questions, answers, and discussion from the audience because the only microphone was the small one on my lap. I need to investigate getting one or more microphones to solve that problem. We had a wonderful guest speaker, Falyn Owens, NC Extension Wildlife Biologist. She shared some great information about coyotes as well as ways to deter them from taking up residence close to your house and garden. She stressed that they really are afraid of us -- it’s your small animals that you need to be concerned about. If you want more information, you can call NC Wildlife office at 866.318.2401 Monday through Friday from 8-5 pm. You can also email them at hwl@ncwildlife.org or check the website ncwildlife.org/coyote. Maria Kazmierski, one of our members, is offering an outdoor Herb Workshop at her home on June 12th. You will also get a chance to tour her amazing gardens. Some of us attended the workshop she did in March of 2020 right before everything was shut down due to the pandemic. I am looking forward to learning more. Please let me know if you would like to attend. Triangle Urban Farm (TUF) in Apex, is a vertical aquaponic farming operation that also teams with other local farmers to offer local produce, meats, cheeses, etc. Their greenhouse manager, Dustin Loyd, gave us a great presentation about using organic pesticides during our March Zoom General Meeting. We are planning a field trip to tour the farm on one Friday morning in the next few months. I will keep you posted as more details become available. There is great interest from many members in seeing the hard-to-believe variety of leafy and other vegetables this system produces. The growing towers are also user friendly for home gardeners who want to minimize the space and amount of water conventional planting takes. By the time you read this, our annual Herb and Plant Sale fundraiser will be over. I will give you information about our final numbers in June. As of April 26th , we had about 55 orders from members and the community. It wasn’t as big a fundraiser as previous years because we didn’t include a Market Day on Saturday, but we had a good response from the community and hope to increase it. Next year, we plan return to the way we have done our sale in the past. Our next general meeting will be Monday, May 24 th beginning at 7 pm. We will meet at the Granville County Expo Center. There will be a Zoom option for those who cannot attend in person. I hope you all are enjoying your gardens during this lovely spring. Brenda LaFayette President – The Granville Gardeners

Oxford Yard-of-the-Month

The Oxford Yard of the Month winners for May are Bryan and Ashley Cohn of 119 West Front Street, Oxford. After buying the 1920’s house in 2020, the Cohens set out to bring back the beauty of the landscape by planting approximately 600 varieties of plants. They planted hostas, zinnias, hydrangeas, a thousand tulips, and rehabbed the lawn as well. Mr. and Mrs. Cohn were recognized with a certificate during the May 11th City of Oxford Board Meeting. A sign will be placed in their yard recognizing their efforts for beautifying Oxford. They will be given a 12-month membership in the Granville Gardeners and will be eligible for the grand prize drawings of $75 in Oxford Downtown Dollars, a $25 prize in Oxford Downtown Dollars, and two $15 prizes in Oxford Downtown Dollars. In October, the prizes will be drawn from all of the 2021 Yard of the Month winners of 2021. The Oxford Yard of the Month is awarded May through October. Nominations may be made by submitting the name and address of the property owner with (or without) a photo of the yard to socialmedia@oxfordnc.org. To be eligible for the yard of the Month, the property must be within the City limits and cannot have been awarded Yard of the Month in the past two years. For more information, please visit our website at oxfordnc.org or contact Oxford City Hall at 919-603-1100.

Q&A Q: I would like to use ferns in my garden and think they require shade. What are some of the choices for shade, and do any grow in sun? A: There is a large list of ferns that grow well in shade, and quite a few that will grow in sun. All of these are commercially available. Sources: plant sales at the NC Botanical Garden and Duke Gardens, Cure Nursery in Pittsboro, Big Bloomers in Sanford, Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh • Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) a native, transplants readily, so if it grows on your

property and you want a river of them running through your shade garden, transplant in February or early March. It is evergreen, clump-forming, coarse-textured, and its fronds arch. It grows in average soil to 1 to 3’ tall and wide. It is drought tolerant after established, and it will tolerate 2 to 6 hours of sun a day if soil is moist. The NC Native Plant Society says this is the best all-around fern.

• Northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), native, grows best in moist soil in light to dappled shade. One of my favorites with its delicate, horseshoe-shaped fronds and black stems. It spreads slowly into clumps.

• Silvery glade fern (Deparia achrostichoides) native, average soil moisture, part sun to dappled shade. This clumper slowly spreads by underground rhizomes to make a nice groundcover 2-3’ tall and wide.

• Ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron), common native in our woods, along shady road cuts, among rocks, in fields. A lovely 10-15” black-stemmed fern that grows in a small clump in shade to part sun. Charming grown with bluets, windflowers, wild iris, and other small natives.

• Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) is native to Eastern Asia and is widely used in our gardens with its striking rust-colored newly emerging fronds. Its evergreen 2-3’ tall and wide fronds form an arching, vase-shaped clump that slowly spreads by underground creeping rhizomes.

• Hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) may be more familiar as a houseplant, but it is hardy outdoors in our area. It comes from Europe. It’s about 10 – 12” tall and wide and is evergreen. Its texture is quite different from most other ferns. It needs well drained but moisture retentive soil in dappled shade. It likes a bit of lime, so add some crushed eggshells when planting. It thrives between rocks in a stacked stone wall.

Christmans fern Northern maidenhair fern Silvery glade fern Photo credit: Plant Delights Photo: NC Native Plant Society Photo: Kerry Woods CC BY- Nursery www.plantdelights.com NC-ND 2.0 NC Extension Gardener Toolbox

Ebony spleenwort Autumn fern Hart’s tongue fern Photo: dogtooth 77, CC BY-NC- Photo: Jim Robbins, CC BY-NC- Photo: fancyfrondsnursery.com SA 2.0 NC Ext. Gardener Toolbox ND 4.0 NC Ext. Gardener Toolbox In my Oxford garden, I found that Christmas ferns, ebony spleenwort, and Japanese painted ferns will tolerate about 4 hours of sun a day, but the colors were faded compared to those grown in part-shade. Ferns for sun to part sun: • Asparagus ‘Graham’s Cracker’ (Asparagus densiflorum ‘Graham’s Cracker) is native to South

Africa and is hardy here. It grows in a 15 x 15” tight, upright clump, and the foliage turns a beautiful gold before going winter dormant. It grew very well in my Oxford garden.

• Wavy cloak fern (Astrolepis sinuata) makes a 12” tall by 18” wide upright clump of thick green fronds that are white on the backs. It slowly increases by short, creeping rhizomes. It’s native to the southwest U.S. At Plant Delights Nursery, it’s planted in the rock garden with agaves and cactus. In nature, its roots are usually under a rock.

• ‘Mighty Tidy’ dwarf hairy lip fern (Cheilanthes lavanosa ‘Mighty Tidy’) is a 2012 Plant Delights Nursery introduction. It’s a sport of our native hairy lip fern and grows only 6” tall by a foot wide in a tidy clump. Well-drained soil is a MUST for this fern.

Asparagus ‘Graham’s Cracker’ Wavy cloak fern ‘Mighty Tidy’ dwarf hairy lip fern By Marty Finkel from NC Extension Gardener Toolbox, Plant Delights Nursery, and growing experience. Photos of sun ferns: Plant Delights Nursery www.plantdelights.com

Meatballs, Save Them for Spaghetti By Tony Avent

(used with permission www.plantdelights.com ) Originally printed in Horticulture Magazine Field Notes

From neighborhood to neighborhood, from state to state, and from sea to shining sea, our country is blighted by the green meatball syndrome. Since America was founded, early residents went out of their way to divest themselves of anything English. While I can't argue with most of the results, I do wish we had maintained the English tradition of great home gardens. Granted we didn't get to bring those old stone walls on the trip across the Atlantic, but we also didn't have a shortage of rocks when we arrived in America. So, what happened? Perhaps we had other things on our mind for the first 350 years, but isn't this a great opportunity to make up for lost time? I think the green meatball syndrome is the influence of the Italians. The older more famous gardens in Italy are not known for being diverse plant collections blending colors, forms, and textures. Instead they are prized for large expanses of lawn and lots of shrubs pruned into little green meatballs. Sound familiar? With our utilitarian mind set, we are now taught to landscape with a pair of hedge shears and a sprayer. Americans have heartily adopted this 'control over nature' philosophy and have become fixated on these verdant spheres, wanting to proudly show them to their community. Green meatballs along home foundations have become a sign of wealth and influence. If you have more than 8 meatballs, then you must know the builder. If you have green meatballs down the side as well as the front, that's a sure sign of prominence. Not only can you afford more green meatballs than your neighbor, but you can afford to have someone else shear them. If your green meatballs are of different sizes, this indicates that you either aren't a very good gardener or you have a very serious pruning fetish and need counseling. All meatballs are not created equal. In the Southeast we have Ilex crenata and Ilex cornuta (Japanese and Chinese hollies). Every homeowner thinks they have boxwoods, so these have gained the nickname redneck boxwood. In the Mid-Atlantic, wealthy people actually have Buxus sempervirens (boxwood). In the Northeast and Midwest, gardeners have Taxus bacatta and Thuja occidentalis (yew and arborvitae) as meatballs of choice. On the West Coast, gardeners can have all kind of meatballs thanks to their wonderful climate, although I'm most fond of the rhododendron meatballs. In the southwest, many plants naturally look like meatballs. You don't even need a set of pruners to make an Echinocereus (barrel cactus) into a meatball. So, how do we get people over their love affair with green meatballs? I was hoping we could explain that the comparable idea of having eight identical green vinyl chairs against the wall in your home would not be 'a good thing.' But what about people with naturally bad taste? I think legislation is the answer. First we ban hedge shears. If New York can ban cell phones when driving, we can certainly ban hedge shears while gardening. Then we must change the regulations for mortgage lenders. Did you know you can't close a loan on a new house without the requisite number of green meatballs in front of your new home? There's a case of horticultural discrimination if I've ever seen one. Surely there's something in the US Constitution we can interpret to make this illegal. Where is the outrage? Where are the plants rights groups when you need them? If we're ever going to see bus loads of gardeners from England coming to America to see gardens, won't you join me in my campaign to put meatballs back where they belong ... in spaghetti! NOTE: The article by Tony Avent, “When Should I Plant My Plants?’ in the April issue was used by permission of Plant Delights Nursery

To-Do List • Put out hummingbird feeders if you didn’t get them up in April. Fill with a solution of 1 part sugar to

4 parts boiling water. There is no need to put in red food color. • Azaleas, climbing roses, camellias, rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs/trees can be pruned (if needed) after flowering • Fertilize crepe myrtles with an organic fertilizer for abundant summer blooms (pruning hard in early spring DOES NOT encourage more and/or heavier flowering and is harmful to crepe myrtles. • Plant seeds of heat loving vegetable (green beans, squash, cucumbers, field peas, butter beans, etc.)

and continue to set out tomato plants. • To help prevent blossom end rot, mulch around tomatoes and peppers, and keep soil evenly moist. • When cool season vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and green peas, sugar snaps, and snow

peas) begin to mature, harvest every couple of days for best quality. Hot weather can cause these crops to be over mature very quickly.

• Plant tender warm season bulbs like canna, caladium, gladiolus, and dahlia now • Fast-growing clematis should be pruned and trained to prevent it from becoming an unmanageable

mess • Cut back plants not cut back earlier because of danger of frost, including: caryopteris (blue mist plant), perovskia (Russian sage), large salvias; any others with hollow stems or that are susceptible to frost damage. • If you haven’t been mulching all along, prepare for dry weather by putting down mulch now. • Plant Bermuda, centipede, St. Augustine, and zoysia grasses now. • To keep annuals blooming all season, deadhead after blooming. To-Do List compiled by Marty Finkel

Image: https://www.gardenia.net/guide/learn-how-to-plant-care-and-grow-impressive-gladiolus

Did You Know?

Did you know that there is a category of lettuce called Salanova? I came across it while looking in the Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog and wondered what put it in a different category. It’s been around a long time. In a March 23, 2011 Washington Post article “Salanova: The Ultimate Efficiency Lettuce,” by Barbara Damrosch, she explained that she had been buying seeds for a particular kind of lettuce from a French company. Several features made this type stand out, such as: • When cut across the base, all the leaves just fall apart into a pile of individual leaves. Unlike other

lettuce, they aren’t attached to a central core that allows leaves to be removed one at a time.

• The leaves generally are small, similar to baby lettuce

• They produce two to four times as many leaves as a standard head

• They are easier to clean and use, with less waste, than other types

• They are extra tasty compared to baby lettuces because Salanova types are grown long enough to develop heads, thus enhancing taste.

Salanova was developed by Dutch seed specialists Rijk Zwaan, and it has a registered trademark. In Damrosch’s article, she said she began searching U.S. seed companies after the French company stopped selling in the U.S. She found a few varieties of a type similar to Salanova at The Cook’s Garden, Jung Seed Co., and John Sheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. That was in 2011. Now in Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog, there are 20 varieties. Among them, available in red and green, are butter, Batavia, sweet crisp, oakleaf, and deeply incised, heavily frilled. Seeds for hydroponic growing are also available. This fall, guess what kind of lettuce I’ll be trying?

I didn’t look in other seed catalogs for Salanova varieties. They may be widely available now. By Marty Finkel from source cited in article. Photo credit: Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Did you know that microgreens and sprouts are different? Both add extra taste, give a vitamin-packed health boost, and are fast and easy to grow and harvest. Both are different stages of the same plants.

Sprouts are the earliest stage, consisting of the seed and the newly emerged plant before it gets its true leaves. They don’t need light to grow, and they have to have high humidity and water. The seeds need to be rinsed and drained at least twice a day to remain fresh and disease-free. They can be grown at home in a cupboard in a jar that has a tight-fitting lid. Some of the best seeds for growing sprouts are: lentil, alfalfa, radish, sumflower, pumpkin, wheat, chick peas, and broccoli. You can harvest these within 6 days and use them in salads, on sandwiches, in stir-frys, in omelets – your imagination is the limit.

Microgreens are planted in potting soil in containers and placed on windowsills or anywhere else there is light strong enough for phytosynthesis to occur in developing leaves. There should be good ventilation to discourage mold from growing. Depending on the seeds, you can harvest greens in from one to three weeks, which is the time it takes for a set of true leaves to grow. Leaves and stems are eaten, and the later the harvest, the stronger the taste. Microgreens can also be grown hydroponically on foam or fleece in a nutrient solution with sunlight or grow lights. There are over 100 different types of microgreens, and these are among the fastest-growing: mustard greens, radish, water cress, kales, red cabbage, broccoli.

Herbs and flowers also can be eaten as microgreens. Different catalogs have specialty mixes, such as spicy, Italian, zesty, Asian, etc. and single seed varieties.

Spicy microgreen mix Daikon radish Basil, Italian large leaf

Lemon balm Celosia Gem marigold By Marty Finkel from sources: Gardening Channel online, Do Not Disturb Gardening online Photo credits: Johnny's Selected Seeds

Plant of the Month

Canna Lily

Canna lilies are low maintenance and easy to grow, and both their flowers and foliage offer long-lasting color in the garden. The flower color may be red, orange, or yellow. Depending on the variety, foliage color varies from green to maroon, bronze, and variegated types. They like plenty of heat, so place them in full sun. They can also tolerate partial shade. Cannas like moist conditions too, but will tolerate nearly any well-draining soil] that is either neutral or slightly acidic. They appreciate bog-like conditions as well. The soil should also be rich in organic matter. While technically they don’t have a top or bottom, most canna rhizomes can be planted horizontally with the eyes facing up. Cover the rhizomes with 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm.) of soil. Water well and apply a layer of mulch [7] to retain moisture. Source: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/canna/canna-lily-care.htm

Also in Bloom This Month

Note that bloom times vary, depending on climatic and meteorological conditions, and many plants bloom several months in a row (and sometimes rebloom). These are in bloom at the Raulston Arboretum.

Astilbe Bear’s breeches Bottlebrush Calamint Cape Jessamine Columbine Common butterfly-weed Common yarrow Deutzia Dianthus Dogwood Foxglove Garden amaryllis

Giant catmint Heuchera Hydrangea Jack-in-the-pulpit Japanese snow-bell Japanese yellowwood Mariposa lily Mock-orange Ozark blue-star Prickly-pear cactus Spirea Sweet Betsy Viburnum

Photos of Some of the Plants in Bloom This Month

Deutzia glabrata Sweet Betsy

Calycanthus floridus

Garden Amaryllis Mariposa Lily Bear’s Breeches Calochortus superbus

Astilbe Jack-in-the-pulpit Giant catmint

‘Deutschland’ Plant of the Month and Also in Bloom compiled by Ed Neal