TO MY SURPRISE, BRIDAL WREATH(Spiraea
prunifolia) ) is readers’ most touted (to us) “late winter-pre-spring” bloomer this year. Our 4-5-year old bridal wreath (pictured here) is still an infant compared to our “decades-old pre-Harvey” bridal wreath (which would still be alive today if not for Harris County’s “Eminent Domain” excavator!).
JOANIE MALONE (Pasadena), SALLY HOWARD
(Magnolia) and CINDY J. (Pearland), agreed, among others. Bridal wreath easily can reach 8’+, even with its cascading branches. She prunes and roots easily, with prolific dainty white bouquets in late winter/early spring. Mine gets morning sun and afternoon shade.
LOST ‘BRIDAL’ TRADITION: Bernadette E. Kazmarski‘s poem “Bridal Wreath“ (excerpted at top), was inspired by this home (pictured) in Western PA where she grew up.
Bernadette recalls, “Every house had bridal wreath spirea growing in front …everyone was immensely proud of it when it bloomed. Cuttings and small shrubs for planting were given to young married couples who’d purchased a new house. . . “
Any lost “flower traditions” you’d like to see revived?(PS. In PA, bridal wreath blooms in May, not February like here! This site is now . . . sigh! . . . a CVS Pharmacy.)
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FINDING ANSWERS FOR “IS IT DEAD-DEAD“?
- Many folks don’t realize what a fantastic collection of local, national and international experts we have here in the Greater Houston area.
- And newcomers often have difficulty appreciating how different gardening can be even from other parts of Texas, not to mention the rest of the country.
Our local groups are great resources for accurate-for-us growing information based solely of love of plants rather than trying to sell you something. Joining groups — or at least patronizing — sales and open-to-public group events — is an efficient way to save money and learn how to grow specific plants correctly for our area. Google the name of the plant with “society Houston.” If that doesn’t find a local group, email me: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com.
ASSUMING ALL NOT-YET-GREEN-PLANTS ARE DEAD? BIG MISTAKE!
At least some are probably still dormant, waiting for spring to arrive. Root systems on those who DO eventually return will probably be much stronger than any replacement plants. Maybe not, but it might be worth it just to plant some spring annuals around them just to be sure. For example . . .
Nurseries now are full of usually-spring-only bloomers such as (l to r above) delphiniums, foxglove, larkspur, petunias, ranunculus, snapdragons and similar plants that like our spring cold but will probably die when heat arrives. They make great temporary fill-in color around brown stalks you hope will return.
Note: that’s not to say they will dieback for sure (although the hotter it gets, the more likely they will). Last year, one lone snapdragon (pictured) popped up in a narrow opening between our house brick wall and asphalt driveway. Bloomed all summer, bless her heart. Then she went away.
AFTER THOUGHTS:
Had you had any of these annuals listed survive our summers? Do share the “variety” name if you know it. Newer varieties might be more heat- hardy than older varieties!
Stopped by a box store recently and a big sign over hyacinths proclaimed “Color ALL Summer Long!” If so, that may be the miracle of the century. Hyacinths, tulips, crocus and similar Holland bulbs are usually one-shot, spring-only bloomers for us. Pointed this out to only-staff-person-around but don’t know if will be passed on.
I have heard of hyacinths returning a second year, but that would be rare and generally they are small, insignificant and tend to ‘blast’ (try to bloom when stalks are only a few inches high). These Holland bulbs need cold, cold winters to reset potential blooms. Blasting also often occurs with tulips that haven’t been pre-refrigerated here for 4-6 weeks before planting.
GOING WILD — SUZZANNE CHAPMAN, Retired Botanical Collections Curator Mercer Botanic Gardens — and now a Center for Plant Conservation Champion — notes these native wildflowers below are returning as expected in her garden. Check ’em out!:
L to r: Winecups (Callirhoe involucrata); Green-headed coneflower ( Rudbeckia laciniata); Fall Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana); Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata); and Baby Blue eyes (Nemophila phacelioides.
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 227
More and more health professionals are talking about the importance of nutrient dense food. The Epoch Times newspaper (Mind and Body section), had a very nice article in the June 1-7, 2022 issue. In the article by Dr. Fuhrman, he states that a healthy diet can be expressed by the equation “H=N/C,” or in other words health can be defined by the nutrients per calorie in our food.
The chart below clearly shows that as nutrient dense food declines (H), health problems increase.
Every day it is becoming more apparent that the health care system and pharmaceutical industry does not want us to be healthy, as sickness is VERY profitable. The fast food industry also benefits by its high calorie low nutrient foods that are addictive.
In the new book, “Fast Food Genocide” by Joel Fuhrman, MD, he explains the deliberate destruction of a population by the fast food side effects. For example, a paper in the journal Gastroenterology (2022) found that that our fast-food diet is directly tied to colorectal cancer.
As gardeners we need to grow more of our own food (vegetables, fruits, and herbs) as possible on organic minerally enriched soils. Also note, more and more studies are showing that heirloom varieties of vegetables not only taste better, contain more anti-oxidants, more anti-cancer chemicals and have much higher nutrient levels. The heirloom flowers also have much higher quality of pollen and nectar for our pollinators and their seeds are more nutritious for our birds.
The very windy days we have had this past week made me think of a paper I read from last year. It takes five times stronger or more intense winds to erode soils covered with biocrusts than bare dirt. We continue to learn more every day about the importance of microbes, from our plants to our guts. Bio crusts cover about 12% of the earth’s surface. A paper in the journal Nature Geoscience (2022) found that microbial biocrusts prevent 700 tera-grams (1.5 trillion pounds) of dust from entering the atmosphere each year. We need to change our perception and realize microbes are our friends and not the enemy.
When microbes like a fungus attack our plants, it is not the microbe that is the problem, as they are just doing their job in nature as God intended. They are signaling that something is wrong with the system and they are only the symptom and treating the symptom does not correct the problem.
A new study from researchers at Rice University published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology (2022) has placed a dollar value on the damage done to the environment from artificial fertilizers.
Total annual damages from ammonia were $72 billion, nitrogen oxides were
$12 billion, and nitrous oxide were $13 billion. These emissions not only are major contributors to climate change but also contribute to particulate formation and smog.
The reasons to use modern biological methods (organic) and organic fertilizers in our gardening and landscapes increase every day.
Several times we have talked about the damage fluoride does to soils, microbes, and plants. A paper in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety using data from NHANES 2015-16 survey found a prevalence of the disease called dental fluorosis in 70% of our children. Other new research has found fluoride exposure is neurotoxic, lowers IQ in children, and significantly increases ADHD diagnoses.
As stated above many special interests want to keep us sick. Hence the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is promoting a new fluoridation system that will expose 20 million more Americans to harmful levels of fluoride.
For gardeners it has been found the less we water our landscape with fluoridated water the healthier our plants are. Another reason to use modern organic methods is that plants easily require 50% less water to stay healthy and the saving increases as the soil gets healthier.
Above we talked about how artificial fertilizers are a major contributor to climate change. Hence, a question I often get asked is “What can gardeners do to help prevent climate change.
To quote Dr. Doug Tallamy there are four things a gardener can do in our landscapes; 1) sequester carbon, 2) support pollinators, 3) support the soil food web, and 4) manage our water (watershed).
One of the biggest problems is our lawns and as he states – it is not what a lawn does but what it does not do. Compared to other plants, lawns sequester very little carbon. They require massive amounts of maintenance and resources. Our gas lawnmowers use 800 million gallons of gasoline and spills 17 million gallons of oil into the environment. Most lawns are water hogs usually by using obsolete toxic chemical methods in their maintenance).
The two stroke engines used in blowers, weed eaters, mowers each emit 124 times more volatile compounds as an idling truck or car. The artificial fertilizers required to keep it green require a lot of energy to produce and transport, and then most of the nitrogen escapes as greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change.
So, what can a gardener do? A couple decades ago I removed all the grass in my back yard but left the front yard to meet deed restrictions (cul-de-sac lot) and added more flower beds with shrubs and trees. It costs far less to maintain in both time and money and it is far more attractive than grass. It is also full of butterflies, birds, lizards, etc. I even saw a large bull frog sitting in my pond this morning. I also saw a baby red ear turtle just a little larger than a quarter swimming around. Nature finds a way to heal when given a chance.
The next thing I have been doing over the last couple years is to replace all my gasoline powered lawn equipment with battery powered blowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, etc. I use products made by DeWalt and have found they work very well.
In the Fall of 2022, Rodale Institute hosted the first-everRegenerative Healthcare Conference connecting the dots between soil health and human health. Now, due to popular demand, they are offering this unique conference to the public on our Virtual Campus!
https://courses.rodaleinstitute.org/p/regenerative-healthcare-conference
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ABOUT US
BRENDA BEUST SMITH WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . . but Brenda Beust Smith is also:
- a national award-winning writer & editor
- a nationally-published writer & photographer
- a national horticultural speaker
- a former Houston Chronicle reporter
When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda’s 45-year-old Lazy Gardener” print column — started in the early ’70s as a fun side-project to reporting, it then ranked as the longestrunning, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area. The name, she says, is not just fun, it’s true. Brenda’s gradual sideways step from reporter into gardening writing led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener’s Guide book which morphed into her Lazy Gardener’s Guide on CD, which she now emails free upon request. Brenda became a Harris County Master Gardener and, over the years, served on theboards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty shows on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in “EcoGardening” show on KPFT-FM. For over three decades, Brenda served as Assistant Production Manager of the GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA’S “BULLETIN” magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda’s main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez of Nature’s Way Resources. A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston, Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith. They have one son, Blake. Regarding this newsletter, Brenda is the lead writer, originator of it and the daily inspiration for it. We so appreciate the way she has made gardening such a fun way to celebrate life together for such a long time.
JOHN FERGUSON John is a native Houstonian and has over 27 years of business experience. He owns Nature’s Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He holds a MS degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas. John has won many awards in horticulture and environmental issues. He represents the composting industry on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden has been featured in several horticultural books and “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine. His business has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of their products. He is a member of the Physics Honor Society and many other professional societies. John is is the co-author of the book Organic Management for the Professional. For this newsletter, John contributes articles regularly and is responsible for publishing it.
PABLO HERNANDEZ Pablo Hernandez is the special projects coordinator for Nature’s Way Resources. His realm of responsibilities include: serving as a webmaster, IT support, technical problem solving/troubleshooting, metrics management and quality control. Pablo helps this newsletter happen from a technical support standpoint.
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