Christmas Gifts for Gardeners

      Christmas will be here before you know it!  Since gardening is America's number one hobby, there is probably a gardener on your gift list.  Other than the latest plant, gardeners crave the latest gardening tool or gardening accessory.  Here are a few suggestions of things you might not ordinarily think about buying someone as a present.

Hand pruners - Every gardener needs a good set of hand pruners. These will last a lifetime, but have replaceable parts, if necessary. The scissors-type pruners, also known as bypass pruners, are recommended over the anvil type.  Include a holster for an easy carrying aid.

Trowel - A heavy duty trowel is a necessity. Look for trowels with brightly colored handles and finger grips. The most durable trowels as are made of one continuous piece of metal. I have one of these for about 20 years now and other than misplacing it a few times, it is still as good as the day I got it. There are specially designed trowels for people with limited mobility or reduced hand strength. 

Gardening gloves - Rubberized work gloves are handy for transplanting during damp conditions to keep some of the dirt from getting under the fingernails.  Leather gloves are great when handling coarse items such bricks, rocks, or lumber. If your gardening friend grows a lot of thorny plants, such as roses or blackberries consider a pair of leather gloves with long gauntlets to protect their arms as well as their hands. 

Garden bench - Ever garden needs a bench even though most of us never get the chance to actually sit in our garden. But our guests will greatly appreciate it.

Garden accessories - How about some yard art – a sculpture, bird bath, or sun dial?  Want to really impress someone?  Secretly install a water garden or fish pond with a bubbly waterfall.

Garden gadgets - Is your gardening friend an amateur weatherman?  Rain gauges run from inexpensive plastic, to decorative brass, to wireless remote digital ones with memory!  How about a rain station that monitors several climate factors?  Even a simple and inexpensive minimum-maximum thermometer can be useful.

Books are always a good choice to keep the gardener content during the winter. There are many great books on gardening in the south.  A book of colorful pictures can brighten a dreary winter day.

A few more ideas include:  tool carrier, work apron, boot scraper, garden clogs, leaf shredder, compost turners, or indoor mushroom farms.  

If you are trying to get something for the person who seems to have everything already, how about a gift certificate to their favorite nursery or farmer’s market?  Give a gift of your time in the form of a coupon.  Make the coupon for such activities as pruning, transplanting, weeding, watering, mowing, or raking.   Remember true gardeners are a different breed of people.  How many people do you know that get excited over a load of chicken manure?  Any of these unordinary gifts will make them extraordinarily happy.

Preserving Color in Fall Leaves

Preserved ginkgo and sweetgum leaves

You can already see shades of red and yellow bursting forth from the maples, sumac, ginkgo, and other plants.  Would not it be nice to have some of this color to brighten up the dreary days of winter?  Well, there are several methods by which you can do this.

One of the oldest methods to reserve colorful leaves is to press the leaves between sheets of waxed paper.  To do this place autumn‑colored leaves between two layers of wax paper.  Cover with an old towel or cloth rag.  Press the fabric with a warm iron, sealing the wax paper together with the leaf in between.  Cut your leaves out, leaving a narrow margin of wax paper around the leaf edge. This is a time-tested way to do it.

For the more modern, you can preserve fall leaves in your microwave oven.  Choose fresh leaves with the brightest colors.  You do not want to use fallen leaves that have already started to dry. Take individual leaves and place them in the microwave on top of two pieces of paper towels. Cover them with two additional sheets of paper towels.

You will need to experiment with the amount of time you need to run the oven.  It will vary from 30 seconds to 1½ minutes depending on the wattage of your microwave and amount of leaves.  The drier the leaves, the less time they will need.  You might want to place a small bowl of water in with the leaves so they do not over-dry.  Leaves that curl after removal, have not been dried enough.  Leaves that scorch, have been left in too long.  Let the dried leaves acclimate for a day or two and then finish the leaves with an acrylic craft spray sealant.

Another microwave option that produces really good results is if you include silica gel for drying.  Place a one inch layer of floral silica gel in the bottom of a cardboard box.  Place the leaves lying flat.  Leaves should not touch and should be at least 1.25 inches away from the sides of the box.  Cover the leaves with a one-inch layer of gel.  Place the uncovered box in the microwave.  You want the microwave to operate at about 200 to 300 watts so if your microwave has 2‑10 settings operate it at level 4.  If the oven only has three to four settings, it should be set at half.  If your oven has a high to defrost options, set the microwave on defrost.  Estimated drying time is 2.5 minutes if you're using a half pound of gel and about 5 minutes if using two pounds of gel.

     Yet another way to preserve the leaves is to submerge them in a solution of glycerin and water. Use a mixture of one part glycerin to two parts water.  Place the mixture in a flat pan, and totally submerge the leaves (in a single layer) in the liquid.  You'll have to weight them down to keep them submerged.  In about two to six days they should have absorbed the liquid and be soft and pliable.  Remove them from the pan and wipe off all the liquid with a soft cloth.  Done correctly, the leaves will remain soft and pliable indefinitely.

The Azalea Caterpillars Are Here!

Have you noticed that something is eating the leaves off your azaleas? Maybe you have seen an orangish-brown banded moth about 2 inches long flying around them.  Azalea caterpillars are showing up on azaleas already this year.  The moths are sort of pretty until the lay their 100s of eggs on your favorite azalea and the caterpillars start eating.

Azalea caterpillars primarily attack azaleas.  They will however feed on blueberry, viburnums, and apples. This large (2 inches at maturity), strikingly marked caterpillar is an occasional pest of azaleas throughout the South. Newly-hatched azalea caterpillars are yellow with longitudinal reddish stripes, but their appearance changes markedly as they grow. Older caterpillars are black, checkered with yellow or white, and have a reddish-orange head and legs. If you disturb the caterpillars, they will raise their heads and tails raised, creating a broad u-shape. Sort of like they are smiling at you while destroying your plants.

          Newly-hatched larvae feed together on the undersides of leaves, causing leaves to look like nets.  As larvae get larger, they spread out and feed individually, causing progressively greater amounts of defoliation. Heavy infestations can cause total defoliation of entire plantings of azaleas. A single caterpillar will eat 80 to 90 percent of the total leaf area during the last 3 to 4 days before it forms a pupa. This is why severe defoliation can seem to appear overnight. Plants that appear perfectly fine on Sunday afternoon can be totally defoliated by Wednesday afternoon.

Be alert for early signs of leaf netting caused by the young caterpillars. Early detection and control of young larvae can prevent serious defoliation later.  If you find only a few caterpillars, simply remove them by hand.  If there are large numbers, you might need chemical controls.  Any insecticide labeled for outdoor use will be effective.  People wanting to use organic controls should select products containing B.t. (Bacillus thuringiensis).

Designer Pear?

      Recently I judged the fruit and vegetable entries at the Neshoba County Fair.  The cool July allowed for some pretty good produce. The pear entries this year were probably the best I have seen.  They all had good size, shape, and color.  The only exception to this was an entry where all the fruit was apparently infected with cedar-apple rust.  Normally you will see spots on the leaves that look like these.   This is the first time I have seen it on fruit. 

     

      While I was making photos of the infected fruit, someone asked me if that was normal or was it a ‘designer’ fruit.  Good thought. Can spots on fruit make them more attractive?   Most of the time spots on fruit indicate rot underneath.  In this case these spots are only on the skin and can be easily peeled off.

‘National Water a Flower Day’

Talk about a wasted special day!  Today is ‘National Water a Flower Day.’  It is celebrated each year on May 30.  Anymore rain at my house and I am going to declare ‘Meridian Build a Boat Day!  A few days ago the thought of watering my flowers today would have been a good idea, but after 3 days of off and on rain I do not need anymore.

It is probably not the same in other parts of the nation so people need to get up and get to watering.  Some people have a garden full of flowers and will not be able to stop with watering just one flower but that is okay.   You can also include you indoor plants and flowers on National Water a Flower Day.  Okay, thankfully it is not rainy inside my house.  Maybe you have a vase full of flowers, this is your reminder to give them fresh water today also.

Today is a fun day; a day to enjoy the happiness that flowers bring to people.  It is possible that you know someone that is home-bound, hospitalized, needs some cheering up or that you want to say “thank you” or just to “make someone’s day.”  If so, then today would be a great day to take them a bouquet of flowers, but remember to “water the flowers” before you deliver them!

Or if you live somewhere in or in states surrounding Mississippi, just set you flowers outside.

Have a ‘Happy Water a Flower Day!’