Spring Garden Clean Up: Dos and Don’ts

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Katie Schmidt

Though we surely still have a few cold days ahead, it is clear that spring is approaching. This warm spell is bringing the birds out singing and I spy little bits of green sprouting in our clumps of native grasses. This is a sign that it is time to think about spring clean up and preparing garden beds for new growth. Here are a few guidelines that I am following as I begin to tidy up the arboretum.

DON’T …

…start your garden clean up when the ground is too soft. If the soil is still overly moist from the winter wet, you will be creating compaction everywhere you and your wheelbarrow go. If it is truly muddy, the aftermath of your foot traffic could result in uneven ground, squished or exposed roots, and new puddling areas. I know we are all itching to get outside and play in the dirt, but if your garden spot is still soaked, wait.

When cleaning up large areas of native grass, I hop on the mower and let it fly! If you are mowing your grasses, be sure to set the blades up higher than usual so you don’t strip away new sprouts.

DO …

…cut back all those tall native grasses. It is nice to leave them standing through the winter to add color and interest to the winter landscape, but now is the time to shear them back, leaving only 4 to 6 inches left. Make sure to give grasses a haircut early in the spring so that the new growth doesn’t become entangled with the old, creating quite a hassle. And if you didn’t clear away all your annuals last fall, make haste! Soggy and molding annual debris is the wrong kind of compost and can lead to garden disease, providing nesting sites for microbial pests. Clear it out of there, pronto!

DON’T …

…go hacking away at your woody perennials like a maniac in an effort to neaten them up. Some species bloom on last years wood, others bloom on the current year’s wood. Before taking pruning action, do your research and ensure that you aren’t lopping off the buds of spring flowers.

You will lose out on all the wonderful blooms and aromas if you prune your lilacs in spring. Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASyringa_vulgaris1.jpg

You will lose out on all the wonderful blooms and aromas if you prune your lilacs in spring. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASyringa_vulgaris1.jpg

Lilac (Syringa), Forsythia, Mock-orange (Philadelphus) and Beautybush (Kolkwitzia) are all woody species that should NOT be pruned in the spring because they bloom on last year’s growth. Crypemyrtle (Lagerstromeia) and Butterfly bush (Buddleia) are just the opposite – spring is the perfect time to shape them and remove split or diseased branches. These species benefit from an intense spring pruning, because it jump starts the new growth that buds are formed on.

DO …

…compost as much of your debris as possible. Turn your pain into gain and make your own organic matter to put back in the garden. But be careful – tough-to-contend-with weedy species should not be incorporated into the pile as they will likely reseed themselves. If your compost is well balanced and hot enough at its decomposing center then weed seeds don’t stand a chance … but whose compost pile is that perfect? If I am worried about the seeds of a certain plant coming back to haunt me, I just don’t take the chance.

DON’T stay inside, DO enjoy the outdoors! January and February is the time to make your action plan for the gardening season and when those few warm days hit, get outside and make your plans happen!

Garden Resolutions: Going Green in the New Year

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Katie Schmidt

In honor of the new year, you may be promising yourself to eat better, exercise more or take that dream vacation you deserve. But what about your garden? Here are 5 garden resolutions to make your yard the best it can be this year – for you and the environment!

Skip the Tilling

For gardeners, starting up the rotor tiller is part of the spring routine.
But it might not be helping the soil as much as you think!

By Griffith and Turner Company.; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection. [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tilling is old news – skip the hassle this year!

Tilling thrashes through weeds for the short term, but turning the soil exposes dormant weed seeds to air and light, priming them to germinate.

Also, it can disturb earthworms and
soil bacteria that help to keep your soil aerated and healthy. Try planning out a garden that has specific foot traffic areas and beds that are easy to reach from all sides, minimizing soil compaction and the need for tilling. If you have the hardest-of-hard Kansas clay in your garden and simply must til, try working up only the rows/areas you are going to plant immediately, leaving the soil undisturbed elsewhere.

Save Water!

This year, make a resolution to lower your water bill and your environmental impact. The EPA estimates outdoor water use to be 30 percent of total household consumption. You can cut this figure by irrigating smarter and less often. If you have a sprinkler system, consider only watering in the morning hours to save water from the evaporative effects of afternoon wind and sun. You can conserve even more water by choosing a drought tolerant species of grass for your lawn – for example, a buffalo grass (Bouteloua sp.) lawn works well in Kansas and needs very little irrigation once established, even in the hottest summer months.

Collect Rainwater for Landscape Irrigation

Another way to lower your water consumption is to collect rainwater from your roof for outdoor use. Rain barrels or cisterns are simple to install and can collect run-off that would otherwise cause erosion and burden public drainage systems. There are many affordable, DIY rain collection systems that will lower your irrigation costs in the coming year. Make installation plans now so you can capture all the free water from those summer thunderstorms ahead.

Make Your Own Compost

Compost is good for the earth and fun to play in. Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Compost#/media/File:Compost.jpg

If you haven’t been composting, make it happen this year! Compost is a great addition to hard clay soils, keeps soil organisms thriving and can serve as an alternative to chemical plant foods. The best part? It’s free! Save yourself the time of hauling away yard clippings and leaves, throw them in your compost pile instead. If you want to compost on a smaller scale, then try a compost tumbler. Some great resources regarding composting information and tumblers can be found here. You can purchase one, or make your own!

Plant Native Species

Perhaps best way to be earth conscious in the new year is to plant your garden with native species. Ultimately, native species can give you all the benefits of the practices mentioned above: break up the soil with their deep root systems, conserve water with drought adaptations, and help balance the natural microbial activity of the soil. Of course, the Flora Kansas Spring Plant Sale April 21- 25 here at the Dyck Arboretum is the perfect place to find all the native species you need for your garden this year.

While you are making big plans for the coming year, plan to green up your garden with some of these tips. Make it a priority this year to save time, money, and the planet!

Pine Cone Botany For Beginners

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Katie Schmidt

The start of December means the start of “pre-Christmas”: the time of year when gifting stress sets in and your friends keep posting pinterest-worthy photos of their DIY holiday decorations. Who has time to hot-glue homemade ornaments and make garlands out of twine? It can induce a crippling case of craft-envy for people who have full time jobs and/or lack artistic prowess of their own.

For weeks I have been collecting pine cones from the Arboretum grounds, wishfully thinking I will find time to incorporate them into a hip holiday craft. The crafting is still on hold, but in the meantime I have become inspired by the cone itself! As the symbol of winter and the star of holiday decorating, we owe it to the humble pine cone to learn a bit about its fascinating botany before we dry it, paint it, wrap it in ribbon and hang it from the door knocker.

Pine Cones 101

Pine cones (and all true cones) are produced by a group of plants called gymnosperms. Pronounced just as it is spelled (gym-no-sperm) and originating from the Greek language, it translates to mean “naked seed”. The seed doesn’t get this label because of exhibitionist behavior, but because, unlike seeds of flowering plants, it develops outside of an ovary.

Public domain image from wikimedia commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ovule-Gymno-Angio-en.svg

Don’t be intimidated by botany lingo, it’s actually pretty simple: embryo sac (nucellus) and dividing cell (megasporocyte or “mama cell”) make up the seed, which in non-flowering plants (gymnosperms) is unprotected by fleshy layers. Image from wikimedia commons

Since gymnosperms do not flower, they do not form a fruit as an ovary for their seed. Their cone is a rigid vessel for the developing seed which rests on the top of a scale. When the cone is mature and dries out the scales will open, dropping seeds.

Male pollen cones do not make great holiday decorations

Male pollen cones, bad for decorating.

Seed bearing cones are female, while pollen filled cones are male. Both sexes of cones grow on the same tree, but male cones grow on lower branches so that the wind can blow pollen up to the female cones. Likely all the cones you will collect for decorating are lady cones, since male cones are significantly smaller, softer and less conspicuous.

Pine Cone Diversity

Pines, cedars, and spruce trees are examples of common gymnosperms, but baldcypress, ginkgos and cycads are all unexpected members of this group as well. Cones from pine and spruce trees are my favorite to decorate with because of their classic Christmas charm and uniform scales, but you may want to hunt down some more exotic cones for yourself! The Arboretum grounds are home to many mature evergreens currently bearing cones, each with their own charisma.

From left to right: Norway Spruce, Pinion Pine, Austrian Pine, Austrian Pine (Opened), Ponderosa Pine, White Pine, Black Hills Spruce.

Lesser-known Cones

Alder flowers look like tiny cones.

I must note that some of my favorite cones are not true cones at all! The alder tree on the east border of the Arboretum makes adorable little cones as big as your thumb tip, yet this species is not a gymnosperm.

These cones are actually flowers that resemble their cone-bearing ancestors; flowering plants evolved from gymnosperms, yet alder trees have retained some characteristic reproductive structures.

If you can’t impress your friends with precision gluing and glitter technique this holiday season, impress them with your botanical knowledge! They may wish they had spent less time slathering peanut butter on pine cones and more time learning about them.

Not-So-Sweet Smells of Fall

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Katie Schmidt

Fall is a wonderful time to be the Arboretum grounds keeper – watering duties slow down, weeds are relenting, and I can wear my favorite sweaters to work. Brisk mornings and the coppery hue of the landscape make for a pleasant work week.

But wait … what’s that smell?

Working in many different areas of the Arboretum has led me to discover some autumnal aromas that are downright unpleasant. It isn’t the cinnamony smell of pumpkin spice latte on the wind, but a stench of skunk and old cheese! Early fall moisture and warm days bring out the worst of smells in some of our flowers and shrubs, causing me to cringe when working near the fetid few.

If you have visited us recently, perhaps you too are wondering about the foul air. Wonder no more! I introduce to you the top three smelly plants at the Arboretum:

1. Cypress (Cupressus arizonica)

While cypress trees traditionally have a pleasing aroma, this variety emits an odor redolent of skunk. The icy blue foliage may be off putting at first sniff, but if you rub the needles between your fingers the scent becomes influenced by citrus and spice, making it somewhat less offensive and almost forgivable. Almost.

(Left) Arizona Cypress tree in the Northwest corner of the Arboretum. (Right) Cypress foliage

Many evergreens have strong scents, and they get their classic “Christmas” smell from gummy resins, which contain high concentrations of terpene alcohols and acids. Unfortunately, this tree smells less like Christmas and more like roadkill.

Penstemon digitalis seed pods

2. Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis)

Penstemon is a showy spring bloomer that produces reddish, tear-drop shaped seed heads. But when you decide to cut those seed heads down for clean up or collection, I suggest pinching your nose! The bloom doesn’t have a strong scent, but the smell of the seeds and pods has been likened to animal vomit, or very acidic urine. The seeds themselves, though tiny, seem to make the biggest stink – after handling seed, it takes many rounds of hand washing to remove the tangy, kitty-litter smell from your fingers.

3. Rough-leaved dogwood (Cornus drummondii)

Dogwoods grow in dense thickets and are a popular choice for creating natural borders. Because of their thick cover, they are attractive to wildlife and nesting birds. But they are not attractive to the human nose. Dogwood leaves smell ever so slightly of curdled milk. In calm, humid weather, walking near our dogwood plantings can feel as if you have a dirty gym bag on your face. Luckily, as cooler weather sets in, the foul air around these plants seems to dissipate.

So, why the big stink? For flowering species, exuding sweet smells is a signal to bees and butterflies that nectar is ready. No two floral scents are alike in molecular makeup, allowing for specific pollinator attraction. Most plants that give off an unpleasant balm are attracting a less charismatic type of pollinator – flies and beetles. If not for pollination purposes, a malodorous plant may be using its sour perfume as protection from herbivores such as rabbits and deer.

Whatever the reason, I won’t hold the smell against them…but I may choose to avoid pruning them for as long as I can get away with it!