winter 2012 dakota gardener

7/31/2019 Winter 2012 Dakota Gardener

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Dakota GardenersAKA

“ Claybusters”

Winter

2012

Officers for 2012

Presidents: Sande Speck and Judy RauVice-President: Anna Marie Joh nsonSecretary: Mary Bit t nerTreasurers: Linda Wilt f ang and Rick MenkMembers-at-Large: Linda Beek and

Konnie Thom psonAdvisor: Pam Farrel l

Winter

A time of reflection,A t ime for some snow,

A t ime t o decide,The seeds we will sow.

Plans we wi l l make,For t he things we wil l grow,

Such hope for t he Springt ime,True gardeners know!

Our website is up and running! Go to

www.Dakotagardeners.org

Please check out this exciting website.

It’s a privilege to be part of this club! As members, we all

need to pitch in and do our part to make the club as

successful as it can be. The members below are helping

and would love to have you join them. We need

“Chairs or Co-Chairs” for the Perennial Plant Sale and

Summer Garden Tours. As far as tours, we already have

gardens for July planned.

Please let us know at the next meeting

• Committee Chairs:

Holiday Party: Judy Rau

Annual Plant Sale: Konnie Thompson

Quarterly Newsletter: Jackie Overom

Door Prizes: Mary Bittner

Membership/Website/E-mail Notices: Pam Farrell

Alternative sender of E-mails: Judy Finger

• Need Chair Persons for

(1) Perennial Plant Sale

(2) Summer Garden Tours

-Gardeners are longing to smell like dirt!

-Never go to a doctor whose office plantsare dead! Erma Bombeck

Please step up and give

us a hand! We can do

great things with

little effort with

many helpers:)

T h a n k s !



What a wonderful evening for all those attending. We truly need to

thank so many for all the help in planning and the generous donations of

door prizes. A couple very special thankyou’s go toJudy Rau, our leader, and Konnie Thompson, our creative guru!! From

the food, to the entertainment, to the favors and centerpieces

everything was delightful. As usual, Pam Farrell made lovely

centerpieces for each table. The following list is of the businesses and

individuals that donated door prizes. Please support these generous

folks throughout the year.

Bachman’s Cardinal Corner Donna McCarthy

Faerie House Gertens Gift, Home, and Garden

Highland Nursery Konnie Thompson Leitners

Lilydale Pahl’s Market Rusty Rabbitiques

Tangletown Terra

Holiday Party—2011

If I’d had my way in this world, I’d outlaw electric

trimmers. People get carried away. We have no

glue to cement those limbs back on after they’veerroneously taken them off. To preserve a natural

look, you should avoid severe pruning.

Cy Klinkner 1995



The time has come to let go of something sentimental. Boy, not an easy thing to do! This

famously wicked tree was once a large buckthorn in our front yard. You heard me right, a

master gardener nurturing a buckthorn! This was our daughters growing tree. She chose itfrom the woods when we first moved here and we planted it as a family hoping it would grow

along with her. Not knowing what it was at the time:) Our son chose a red oak, but poor

Heather chose a buckthorn. Tim and I decided finally to let it go. With a few tears the old

tree came down—but not all the way. We made it into a bird feeding station. A new life! A

very successful new life I might add. We now feed lots of little friends including a group of 6

gray squirrels we call “The Bully Boys.” It is a new adventure and we are actually enjoying the

new life of this tree. If you have a buckthorn (or a few) in your area it’s a good thing to get

rid of them. Buckthorn is very invasive and has a toxin it produces in the root system which

inhibits the new growth of our native species here in Minnesota. The other very bad aspect of

this tree is that the female produces literally

zillions of seeds. They are purple and not only

stain what they land on, they all sprout—every

one of them:) I have been picking buckthorn

seedlings by the basketful for years out of my

front garden. I hope now to have a big chunk of

my gardening time to spend on better weeding.

So, if I can do it—you can too. Get out thereand pull that buckthorn. Use a saw if you must,

but take it down:) Or part way down!

New Life for an Old Friend.

Count the feeders:)

You have to think and think to get something simple. Ron Lutsko 1997



Some very good questions!

A couple of questions were sent to me and the following is the best advice I

could come up with.

1. Is it still a good time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs this winter with all

the warm weather we are having?

The dormant season, late fall or winter, is the best time to prune although deadbranches can and should be removed at any time. Even though our winter has

been unusually warm, the trees are dormant. Pruning during the dormant periodminimizes sap loss and subsequent stress to the tree. It also minimizes the risk of

fungus infection or insect infestation as both fungi and insects are likely to be indormancy at the same time as the tree. Finally, in the case of deciduous trees,pruning when the leaves are off will give you a better idea of how your pruning will

affect the shape of the tree.

How To Prune

Large trees aside, there are many pruning jobs that you can do on your own. In all

cases, the key is to prune the unwanted branch while protecting the

stem or trunk wood of the tree. Tree branches grow from stems atnodes and pruning always takes place on the branch side of a stem-

branch node. Branches and stems are separated by a lip of tissuecalled a stem collar which grows out from the stem at the base of the

branch. All pruning cuts should be made on the branch side of this stem collar. This

protects the stem and the other branches that might be growing from it. It also allowsthe tree to heal more effectively after the prune. To prevent tearing of the bark and

stem wood, particularly in the case of larger branches, use the following procedure:

1 . Make a small wedge shaped cut on the underside of the branch just on the branchside of the stem collar. This will break the bark at that point and prevent a

tear from running along the bark and stem tissue.

2 . Somewhat farther along the branch, starting at the top of the branch, cut

all the way through the branch leaving a stub end.

3 . Finally, make a third cut parallel to and just on the branch side of the of the stem

collar to reduce the length of the stub as much as possible.

The best advice about pruning I can give you is to be safe, and if you have a branch

larger than a couple of inches in diameter it is probably best left to a professional.When choosing your professional always make sure the crew has a certified arboristworking. Those folks know what they are doing .

A garden is a gymnasium: an outlet for energy, a place where accidents

occur, where muscles develop and fat is shed. Geoffrey B. Charlesworth 1994



Where’s Winter?

How are all of our gardens going to survive this warm winter, no snow cover, littleground moisture? Boy, that’s a tough one. I don’t think I ever remember times likethis. As master gardeners, I don’t think any of us can really say. Hopefully you did

some extra watering this last fall and did some mulching after the ground froze.

The sensible advice is that if we have a dryer spring than normal you should beginwatering as soon as the ground thaws. Even though we have these unusually warm

January days the ground is still frozen below the surface. Cold nights are on theirway and things won’t really thaw yet. So in reality, we will all just have to wait andsee. If you have any trees or plantings that have been struggling at all, pay extra

attention to them this coming year. Good water and fertilizer may just be enough tgive them the little extra “TLC” they may need.

If you guessed spider mites you are correct. Spider mites are real houseplant pests this timeof year. They can come in on Christmas trees or any plant material brought into the home.

Sometimes they just show up with no apparent cause. They love the dry winter conditions inour homes. They begin feeding on the underside of the leaves and then multiply. Real cute!!

Since they are hard to see with your own eye, you can place a white paper under the leaves andtap the leaf. If you have little black spots that move on the paper then you have identified your nuisance. To rid yourself of these nightmares you will need to be diligent. Wash yourplants with warm water that has a little dish soap in it. Just a few drops of soap added to 4cups of water is enough. Then you can put a granular household insecticide on the top of thesoil and water your plant. Bonide makes a very good one that sells for around $8.00. It pro-

tects your plants for up to 8 weeks. It will also help your plant to mist it occasionally. Moisture

and humidity are needed with our furnaces constantly drying the air out.

What in the world

could this be!!!

A neighbor suggests that I might put up a scarecrow near the vines

which would keep the birds away. I am doubtful about it: the birds

are too much accustomed to seeing a person in poor clothes in the

garden to care too much for that. Charles Dudley Warner 1850

winter 2012 dakota gardener

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