Festival of Trees at the Union County Heritage Museum

If you are looking for somewhere to go and see Christmas decorations, might I suggest a trip to our own “Union County Historical Museum.”  This year, the museum has put up a display of Christmas Trees and they have done a magnificent job of decorating nine trees with each one having a different theme.  Beginning in the main hall there are six trees, so let’s take a little tour to “whet” your appetite.

Let’s start with the “Princess Tree” that has been decorated with bright green ribbon, along with pink and clear iridescent ornaments.  This has been accented with princess dolls, a tiara, a castle for a topper, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs Cottage, handmade ornaments with pictures of fairy tale princesses, butterflies, and a base with storybooks and a castle.

Next let’s move on to the “Elf and the Shoemaker Tree” that has been decorated with elves, cobbler’s tools, antique shoes, handmade shoe ornaments as well as red and green ornaments, and finished off with red ribbon bows.

The next tree is a blast from the past “Silver Aluminum Tree” decorated with all vintage blue ornaments.  There is a color wheel set at the base that turns shining four different colors onto the tree continuously.  This tree being silver with blue ornaments and from the 1960’s time period should make you ladies dream of Elvis singing his hit “Blue Christmas.”  There is a figurine of Elvis and a copy of the album “Blue Christmas” at the base of the tree.

Moving right along to the next tree, there is the “Nativity Tree” that has been adorned with gold ribbon, angels, sheet music, ornamental musical instruments, and a “Nativity Scene” set within the tree.  At the base there is a handmade manger built by Zack Stewart.  The sheet music in the tree are traditional Christmas hymns.  It is said that Christmas Carols were written and sung to tell people of “The Nativity Story” that could not read.

The next tree is known as “Victorian or Christmas Carol Tree”.  It has been decorated with over sixty handmade ornaments furnished by Mrs. Lila Stewart and were given to her by her mother-in-law.  They are silk balls that have been decorated with sequins and beads and each one is a work of art in itself.  There are other handmade ornaments along with bead garland as well as four antique carolers at the base.  A wooden chair and child crutches are place to the side of the tree to remind you of the character Tim from the story “A Christmas Carol.”  The book “A Christmas Carol” was written by Charles Dickens to remind the people of the “Victorian Era” to be more charitable to those less fortunate.

At the end of the hallway stands the “Hiawatha Tree.”  This tree is decorated with all natural ornaments.  It has magnolia flowers made from corn shucks, flowers made from pine cones and slices of bodock balls, sumac berries, dried hydrangeas, and grape vine garland.  These ornaments were crafted by the Union County Master Gardeners and the Museum Guild members.  Things that were added are deer antlers, handmade bow and arrows, crafted by Zack Stewart, and a handmade “Teepee” crafted by Bill Wiggington.  There are also some redbirds and small bird nests placed in the tree. 

In the furniture gallery is the stately nine foot tree known as the “Night Before Christmas Tree.”  This tree is covered with the older style lights, bubble lights, vintage ornaments from days of old and of course “Tinsel.”  The base has a tray with cookies and a glass of milk left especially for Santa.

There is another tree out in the old store that is decorated with handmade handkerchief dolls that were crafted by ladies from one of the local churches.  The last tree is out in the old Schoolhouse and is decorated with Santa’s crafted from corn cobs and cotton bolls.

  Janet or “Mrs. Christmas” as she is affectionately known by those close to her has a passion for decorating and Christmas is her favorite time of year.   I do hope you will make the journey to see all of these trees on display.  You won’t be disappointed and while you are there ask “Mrs. Christmas” to give you a tour and be sure to ask questions on how these trees were decorated.    

Decorating the Burress' Home for Christmas

Halloween has come and gone and it’s time to get ready for the Christmas season.  The countless tubs of decorations that have been gathered over many years are to be brought from the storage building to the house.  There are also eleven trees to be brought up as well.  Several years ago, storing all the decorations and trees became an issue, so the building of a separate storage building just for decorations was erected. 

Decorations are brought up in stages starting with the trees and outside decorations.  The outside lights are put out the first warm Saturday of November.  The trees are brought up starting with the ones in rooms that are in the inner part of the house.  This is followed up with the trees that are closer to the doors and finally the ones that are outside on the porches.  Setting up the trees is probably the easiest part of the process.  Some are pre-lit and others have to be strung with lights.  Easy part done, now comes the fun.  Each tree has a separate theme, so finding the appropriate box filled with decoration is sometimes a game.  You know, sometimes they just get labeled wrong.  Ms. Janet, better known as “Ms. Christmas” smiles and laughs when I have brought some of the wrong boxes.  She just slides them aside and walks down to the storage building and helps me find the right ones.  It is nice to have an understanding wife, cause even though I don’t really know how many boxes there are, I stopped counting at thirty. 

The tree in the rose room is decorated with small porcelain dolls, pastel pink and silver balls and assorted crocheted snowflakes.  We also place larger porcelain dolls in the tree and around the bottom of the tree to hide the base. 

The tree in the office/playroom is for the kids and is known as the “Stuffed Animal” tree and is decorated with stuffed animals that have been passed down through the years along with others purchased at assorted yard sales and other consignment stores.  For decorations around the base, we use old toys, such as an baby bed and doll bought at an estate sale, old teddy bears, an old doll of Ms. Janet’s that wears clothes that her Mom made for it, and a mixture of other assorted old toys that we have.  We also have a Lego Christmas Village on display that J.T. made.  The kids know that this is their tree and are allowed to remove and play with any of the decorations at any time.  This has allowed us to teach them to leave the other trees alone, because they have one to call their own. 

Moving on to the kitchen, we have the “Shiny Brite” tree in one corner decorated with shiny brite ornaments.  These ornaments are reminiscent of days gone by from my childhood.  It is one of my favorite trees.  It also has ceramic Snowmen on it along with red and green plaid twisted ribbon that is intertwined with a red ribbon.  Some of the ornaments are handmade and hand painted by Ms. Janet and the Grandkids. The lights are the large old timey lights.  In the other corner is another brightly decorated tree with lots of ornaments covered in glitter and lots of brightly colored ribbon that has been intertwined with each other.  We affectionally call this the red-green tree.  The tops of both trees are filled with branch looking picks that are bright and sparkly.

In our bedroom one tree has a garland made of faux berries, redbirds, bird nests, birdhouses, and other ornaments made from grapevine. This is the one dubbed the “Nature Tree” and is always a favorite among our guests at Christmas time.  The other tree in our bedroom is decorated with glass Christopher Radko and Old World Santa Claus’ and green ribbon with red polka dots.  There are other brightly colored ornaments on this tree also.  This tree sports the new LED lights that give it a different effect when lit.

The two small flocked trees in Ms. Janet’s bathroom are simply decorated with a burlap skirt, brightly colored twigs, and Old World Santa Claus.’  This room has pine cones, pine branches, Old World Santa Claus’, and birdhouses.

The utility room or shall we call it the laundry room has a small tree that is decorated with angels, rust colored balls and rust colored ribbon wound all through it.

In the main hallway is the blue and silver tree, adorned with blue and silver ornaments, along with assorted doodads that resemble crystal fobs from antique chandeliers.  The lights are the new larger led’s and really make this tree pop.

The living room houses the star attraction with a fat, full tree that has over one hundred fifty snow baby ornaments.  It also has ceramic icicles, gold balls, tons of dried hydrangea blooms, and dried rose blooms. This tree has many yards of gold ribbon twisted in and among its many branches, along with a topper made from gold colored stems.  The other tree on the other side of the room has photos of family from the different Christmas’ down through the years.  This tree is the family favorite.

I won’t elaborate too much on the next tree which is in the main bathroom.  It is actually a wall decoration which Ms. Janet made to hang on the wall to look like a tree.  It is simply decorated with pine cones and twisted ribbon.

This comes up to twelve trees in the house, along with fresh branches and twigs cut from evergreen trees to give the house that festive look and fresh holiday smell.  Pine cones are scattered and hung all through the rooms with cedar and pine branches, along with a multitude of wreaths made of grapevines, magnolia branches and leaves, and cedar branches.  Crocheted snowflakes, large and small hang from the ceiling from every possible place.  We try to incorporate as much live greenery as we can in the house by using it in wreaths, mixing it in with artificial garlands and sticking branches in the trees to fill in any bare spots. 

The tree on the front porch gets decorated with large lights and homemade ornaments.  The ornaments consist of paper towel tubes wrapped to look like peppermint sticks and different colored hard candy and packages wrapped in brightly colored paper, then clear wrap over that to add that extra zip.

The last tree, a small tree is on the side porch and is decorated with whatever we can find in the yard, such as berries made into a garland, grapevine and ribbon.

The rest is wreaths on windows and doors and garlands brightly decorated around the doors.

Christmas at the Burress’ Home is a treat and it stays up from November to February and takes about the month of November to put up and about two weeks to take down and another week to pack it back in storage.  It is hard work sometimes but worth every minute of it, especially when the Grandkids smile and say “It’s beautiful Mamaw.”

I hope everyone enjoys Christmas as much as I do.  It’s not about the gifts, but about family, friends, smiles, and most of all “The Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night”  

Selecting the perfect Christmas tree

The Christmas season is here and a lot of folks will be selecting a live tree this year.  There are some simple guidelines to follow to get the most life and beauty from your tree.

First, look for a tree that has branches and needles that are limber and pliable, not dry or brittle.  Make sure your tree is fresh smelling and very fragrant.  A tree that has sour or musty smell or readily losing its needles when you shake it is a good indication that the tree has most likely been cut for a good while.  Next, look for a tree the right height and don’t buy a tree too tall.  Be sure to check and make sure that the bottom of the trunk is long enough to fit in the stand. If the bottom is not long enough, some of the lower limbs may have to be removed, thus changing the appearance and shape of the tree.

Now that you have selected your tree, there is the chore of getting it home.  If you are transporting the tree more than a mile, it is recommended to wrap the tree in a tarp or protective covering.  Most tree lots nowadays have those net bags to wrap their trees for transport.   Now that you have your tree bagged, load your tree with the base to the front of the vehicle and tie it down securely.  

When you get home, cut a slice one half inch thick from the bottom of the trunk immediately before placing your tree in the stand.  Make sure the stand is large enough to accommodate the tree and do not shave the sides of the trunk to make it fit.  Be sure that the stand has an adequate water reservoir and always fill it with cold clear water.  A fresh cut tree will average one to three quarts of water a day, depending on the size of your tree.  A rule of thumb is a tree will use about a quart of water per one inch of trunk diameter per day.  Clean, clear, and cold water is the best solution for your tree, you do not need chemical additives to make your tree last longer. Do not use water retaining crystals or gels in the tree stand as they can cause lack of water uptake.

Keep your tree away from heat sources and if you can lower the temperature in the room, it will slow the drying process and help the tree use less water.  Use only UL approved lights and extension cords to prevent fire hazards.  Be sure and hang ornaments securely to prevent them from falling off or being knocked off easily.  Turn lights off when going to bed or leaving home for safety.

If you have pets, consider placing your tree in a room that they do not have access to unless you are home to supervise them.  Cats do like to climb in trees especially if another pet is chasing them.  Dogs, well trees are fair game for them and cats and dogs think that hanging ornaments are toys for their enjoyment.

When Christmas is over and it is time to remove the tree, take care to remove all ornaments and lights.  Carefully siphon any water from the stand and lay tree on its side on an old sheet, blanket, or tarp and remove the stand.  Wrap the tree and take outside for disposal.  Never burn your tree in the fireplace or wood heater as the sap can cause a flash or even clog the chimney and cause a fire.  There are recyclers who will pick up your tree to keep them out of the land fill.  Some farmers will take them to put in their ponds for the fish to hide in.  Another place is to take your tree to your city mulch yard if it has one.

The guidelines for a live tree that you intend to plant after the Christmas season are basically the same as a cut tree.  Be sure and buy your live tree from a reputable nursery or tree farm.

Now that you are armed with all this information on selecting a cut or live Christmas tree, “Let the Hunt Begin.”

If you have any questions or comments, send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com  or leave me a message at the Union County Extension Office at 662-316-0088.

Happy Gardening and keep digging in the dirt.

November Rose Care

November is here and while we still have a few blooms hanging on, it is time to get ready for winter.

Please continue to give your roses at least an inch of water per week if it is not raining. 

If you still have any black spot hanging on, spray your roses with Daconil.  Daconil is a great cool weather fungicide.  You will also need to clean the diseased leaves off of your roses along with the old mulch, if you have not done so already.  Be sure and remove disease trash from the beds and bag and remove from your property altogether. 

If you have not fertilized with 0-20-20, do so now.  If you have another dose will not hurt.  Use one cup for large bushes and one half cup for smaller bushes.  If you have not taken a soil sample this year, now would be an excellent time to do so.  Your local Extension Office has the sample boxes and instructions free of charge.  Once you have taken the samples, return them to the Extension Office along with six dollars per sample and they will forward them to Mississippi State University’s Soil Testing Lab for you.  Free shipping, you can’t beat that.  In about two weeks, your results will come to your home address and the great part is they will be in English, not some crazy, jargon that only a chemist can understand.  If you are uncertain about your results, send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com and I will call you and help you out.

I would say about the middle of the month would be a good time to wind prune your taller roses.  Cut them back to chest high or about four feet for you taller folks.  I would also recommend pruning the lower twiggy growth from your hybrid tea roses.

Now it is time to finish up with maintenance for the winter by spreading a layer of your favorite mulch.  I like to put roughly four inches and for hybrid tea roses put an extra dose mounded up around the graft union.  This is a vulnerable point during extreme cold weather.  I recommend about eight to ten inches of mulch to be mounded up around the graft.

The roses have been beautiful this year and have brought much joy and color to our landscape.  They have also made many gorgeous bouquets in our home.

Tune in next January for some good tips to a beautiful rose garden.  If you have any questions or comments send me an email. 

Happy gardening and keep digging in the dirt. 

October Rose Care

Cool weather is here and you should be getting ready for the October and last flush of blooms for this year.   Stop all nitrogen fertilization in October; the only fertilizer to add now is a 0-20-20.  Give each large bush one cup and each smaller bush one half cup of 0-20-20, sprinkle around the drip line and scratch in, water well.  This will help the bushes ease into winter dormancy.

Keep up your spray program this month also, black spot and powdery mildew have not went to sleep for the winter either.  I use one half teaspoon of Honor Guard, three teaspoons of Mancozeb, and one ounce of Talstar per gallon of water.  Take care to spray the underside of the foliage as well as the topside, this is just in case you have had one last case of spider mites as I have had. 

If you have not had your soil tested this year, it would be a good time to do so.  Your County Extension Office can provide you with soil sample boxes and will also send those samples off for analysis. The results usually come back in about two weeks and are easy to read.  They will tell you if you need to amend the soil to readjust the ph.

If you have a place to store them it is time to start gathering materials for winter protection.  This could be compost, mulch, leaves, or pine straw.  It’s not time to add them to the beds yet, jut start stockpiling them.  We’ll do that next month.

Enjoy the October blooms, bring them in the house to put in vases, give them to friends, or pamper them to get them ready for a rose show.

If you have any questions or comments send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com

Happy Gardening and Keep Digging in the Dirt.

September Rose Care

I hope by the time you read this you have already pruned your roses back to get ready for a fabulous season of fall color.  If you are running behind, get on out there and prune those babies back.  You can prune about one third off and cut about one half inch above an outward facing bud eye.

You can work in some granular fertilizer; 13 is a good all around one, the first of the month.  Don’t use any granular fertilizer after the 15^th of September, only water soluble.  The middle of September give each rose about one gallon of a good water soluble fertilizer.  I use 20-20-20 or the blue water works fine too.  The last week of the month give each rose another drink with one tablespoon each of Epsom salts, fish emulsion, and a 10-52-10(Super Bloom) mixed in a gallon of water.

Be sure and keep up your spray program, this time of year roses are susceptible to powdery mildew as well as black spot.  I use one half teaspoon of Honor Guard and one heaping teaspoon of Mancozeb per gallon of water.

Most pests are not a problem at this time of year to roses, although there a couple.  Cucumber beetles (look like green ladybugs) seem to be swarming and can be controlled with a chemical called Talstar.  I mix one ounce per gallon of water and usually one application will do the job. The other pest is a moth that lays eggs on the blooms and foliage just below the bloom.  The old fashioned “Bug Zapper” works best to control the moths that lay the eggs, however to get rid of the egg and larvae you need a chemical called Dipel.  This comes in different strengths, so be sure and read the label and follow directions.

Please be careful and read the label on all chemicals, follow directions and remember more is not better.  Be sure to wear protective clothing, wear a respirator to protect your lungs, and goggles to protect your eyes.

Last but not least, be sure to water.  Give your rose bushes at least an inch of water a week and if you are going to show roses, you might want to water at least twice that.

The rose garden is a good place to teach your young child or grandchild colors and smells.  It is also a good place to teach about thorns.  My good friend and avid rose gardener, Damon Ligon, loaned me this photo of his baby girl, Macy, smelling a rose.  Isn’t she just the cutest thing you ever seen.

Send me an email with your comments or questions at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or you can send me a message on www.facebook/mastergardner.com 

August Rose Care

Rose care for August is fairly straight forward and can be slow.  This is going to be one of the hotter months and also one of the most humid.  Take great care not only to keep your roses watered, but also keep yourself hydrated as well.  During these hot times with little or no rain, roses will need water more frequently.  Water in the morning before the temperature gets too high to prevent a high rate of evaporation before the plants can take up the moisture and other nutrients from the soil.

Spraying roses in this heat needs to be done early in the morning to prevent burning or scorching of the foliage.  Watering well the day before spraying, will hydrate the rose and allow the chemicals and fertilizers to be absorbed into the plant system more readily.  My personal spray regimen seems to work well not only in my garden, but gardens that I tend for others as well.  I use one half teaspoon of Honor Guard, three teaspoons of Mancozeb, and two ounces of water-soluable fertilizer per one gallon of water.  I spray at least every ten days to help prevent blackspot.  I recommend that you give your roses a good dose of organics toward the end August to help them get ready for the fall flush of blooms that come about in late September and early October.  All of these products are readily available at local garden centers, home improvement stores, and at your local Co-op.  If you are experiencing insect problems such as aphids, thrips, or spider mites, there are sprays for them also.  Thrips, and aphids are easily controlled in most cases with a sharp blast from a water hose or in severe cases I recommend spraying with Spinosad or Permethrin.  If you have spider mites, I recommend spraying with bifenthrin.  Please read and follow label recommendations and remember more is not better.

Send me an email with your comments and questions and photos of your roses at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or visit me on www.facebook.com/mastergardner

Happy Gardening and keep digging in the dirt.

   

July Rose Care

Caring for your roses in the month of July means water, water, water. During these hot months such as July, roses will require more water than usual.  I recommend that you water deeply at least twice a week and to water in the morning instead of the afternoon.  I also recommend not to water overhead, but instead use a drip system or sprinklers close to the ground.  If you do not have an irrigation system, just turn the hose on low and lay it at the base of each plant and let it run for about a half hour per plant.  This will water the root system deeply and keep them from needing watering so frequently.

Fertilizing your roses should be kept to a minimum and should only be a water soluable type.  The only other form of fertilizer that I would recommend would be organics.  My formula is nine pounds of organics (equal parts of bone, alfalfa, cottonseed, blood meals and approximately two cups of fish emulsion to thirty gallons of water.  I stir it twice a day and let it steep for at least 48 hours.  This will make a good drench for your plants.  I like to give each large bush a gallon and the smaller bushes half a gallon.  This is only for the hybrid teas and the English roses.  Most of the other roses don’t need any extra fertilizer except what they get in the weekly spray program.

My spray regimen for July is as follows: mix one and one half teaspoons Honor Guard, three teaspoons Mancozeb, two ounces Monty’s Joy Juice, and two ounces fish emulsion. This mix is for three gallons of water and I spray this mix every seven to ten days.  You can substitute blue water for the Monty’s Joy Juice.  I try not to use any pesticides during July, as I grow vegetables in and around my roses and other flowers.

Last, but not least, keep your roses deadheaded. This will allow them to prepare for the next bloom cycle.  I  cut the stems back just past the first set of five leaves and about half inch above an outward facing bud eye.

Be safe and try to do your gardening in the early morning if you can while it’s cool.  Ms. Janet and I try to be out by  6:00 AM and get as much as we can done by 7:00 AM.  So far we have been able to keep up.

If you have any questions or comments send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or find me on facebook, www.facebook.com/mastergardner .  You can also tune in weekly to “That Gardenin’ Guy” at 8:00 AM Saturdays on WNAU1470 AM or listen online at www.wnau1470.com  and click on high school sports and then click on the player that is on your computer. Don’t forget to call in with your questions at 662-534-8133.

Happy Gardening and Keep Digging in the Dirt

Roses-June Care and Maintenance

June is upon us and for the most part our hybrid teas are between bloom cycles, along with some of the other roses in our garden.  It is now time to deadhead our roses and get them ready for the next major bloom cycle.  When you deadhead don’t get to drastic, cut the bloom stem back just past the first set of five leaves and about a quarter of an inch above an outward facing bud eye.  On the hybrid teas take care and cut out the blind shoots or the canes that do not have any blooms developing on these short canes.  Look for suckers or canes that have come from below the graft and cut them out also.

Fertilization is still a concern and I recommend a cup of 13-13-13 or a good rose blend fertilizer like bloom-kote or fertilome for the large bushes and one half cup for the smaller bushes.  Sprinkle it around the drip line and scratch it in.  I also recommend that you add a water soluable fertilizer into your weekly spray regimen.  I am using Monty’s Joy Juice, but the blue water will work well also.  I would recommend a dose of fish emulsion.  Be sure and read the label and mix accordingly, remember more is not better.

Black spot is still running rampant, so be sure and keep up your spray regimen.  I am using Honor Guard and Immunox on a rotating basis combined with Mancozeb.  This keeps the fungi from building an immunity to your chemicals.  Black spot is hard to control unless you spray every seven to ten days.  I always add my water soluable fertilizer in with this mix every week when I spray.

Aphids and spider mites can be a problem this time of year.  If you think that you have either one of these pesky little bugs eating on your rose buds, you can control them with a hard blast of water from the water hose.  If your case is severe, I recommend using Merit or Conserve to control these pests.  I do not recommend adding it to your regular spray mix, but to mix it in a spray bottle and only spray the rose buds themselves.  This way you only target the pests and not all the other insects of which many are beneficial insects.

This time of year, watering regularly is mandatory.  Water your roses frequently and deeply during any dry spells.  They will need at least an inch of water a week, raised beds may need watering more frequently and I recommend that you water early enough in the day that all foliage will be dry before sundown.  This will help control fungi diseases. 

If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or leave me a message on facebook/mastergardner.com

Happy Gardening and keep digging in the dirt   

Roses-May Care and Maintenance

During the month of May, you are about the middle of the first bloom cycle.  If you show roses, you have been most likely babying and protecting your prize blooms for show, if not you have been like me and just enjoying the view.  There is nothing like taking a stroll through your garden and clipping a few roses and a few other pieces of greenery to make a hand held bouquet, then sneaking into the house to give it to the one you love.  I love to watch Ms. Janet’s eyes light up when I manage to get this done before she sees me.

Keep up your spray program this month because black spot and powdery mildew never rest.  The best fungicides that I have found for my area are Immunox and Mancozeb.  Funginex and Bannermax are two more that work well too.  I still spray once a week just because my garden seems to be a place where black spot loves to live.  I really don’t have a problem with powdery mildew or maybe I just have the upper hand on it.

This is a good time to check periodically for spider mites.  I usually just wash them off with a sharp blast from the water hose.  If you happen to have a bad case and need to  use a chemical spray, I recommend permethrin, a product named Avid, and I have heard of a product named Cinnamite.  I have not tried the latter.

During the month of May, I like to give each bush a cup of 13-13-13 and about 3 tablespoons of Epsom Salts, smaller bushes about half that amount.  I sprinkle it around the drip line and scratch it in the soil.  I also still use Monty’s Joy Juice in my mix when I spray the fungicides.

If you have never attended a rose show I urge you to do so.  The Northeast Mississippi Rose Society will have their Annual Rose Show at the Renasant Bank Lobby on Troy Street, Downtown Tupelo, MS on May 5^th, 2011 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.  If you think you would like to be an exhibitor, please arrive with your roses by 8:30 AM.

If you have any questions or comments, send me a message at colorsbytim@hotmil.com

Add a Tropical Feel to Your Garden

While every garden has its staples; roses, hydrangeas, azaleas, assorted annuals, and other perrinials; I thought why not add a tropical touch to the garden.  Last year Ms. Janet and I added a few plants to give our garden a tropical feel. 

The first thing we added was a Rice Paper Plant that a fellow master gardener from Booneville gave us.  We got it late in the season, so it only grew to a height of about three feet.  This is a plant that can take the extreme Mississippi heat with no problem.  It likes most any soil, but will grow and multiply best in a rich, well-drained soil.  It likes the full sun, but will also grow in partial shade.  It can grow up to ten feet in height and has brownish-frosted green leaves that can grow up to 24-36 inches in width.  The flowers come on in late fall and are creamy white, fluffy balls.  I started with the one plant last year and this year I have half a dozen or so that came back.  It will die back to the ground in this area and come back in multiples next year.

The next addition we made last year was the Castor Bean Plant.  We planted three seeds and they came up and just sat there, then about June they started growing about a foot a week or it seems.  They grow to be about ten feet tall and have large reddish-purple leaves that have five to eleven lobes and can get up to three feet in length.  They look great as a specimen plant and even better planted in groups of three or more.  The flowers are formed in clusters and develop seed pods that contain three smooth seeds about one half inch long and are usually a mosaic of colors.  Plant three seeds this year and next year you will have fifty or more plants come back.  This plant is an annual, but comes back year after year from its own seed.  The down side to this plant is that the seeds are poisonous and are deadly.  If you grow this plant, you will want to teach your children about it.  We grow this plant and have taught our grandbabies that it is a pretty plant, but it is not to be eaten.  If you remove the flower clusters as they appear, no seeds will form making them a safer plant for children. 

Another great plant that has been around for years is the canna lily.  It comes in a variety of colors as well as several colors of foliage.  They can have green or purple or variegated foliage with flowers of red, yellow, or orange.   Canna lilies like moist soil and plenty of sunlight.  Plant the rhizomes at least six inches deep and mulch them to help retain moisture.  They will grow in partial shade, but not as tall as in full sun.  They need to be protected from the wind as they will break easily.  Depending on the amount of sunlight it gets, I have grown them to six to eight feet in height.  These plants look much better in groupings as opposed to being a specimen plant.

These are just a few of the plants that you can add to your landscape to give it that tropical  feeling.  Others are ferns, elephant ears, hostas, and calla lilies.  We have some of all of these in our garden.  Some grow in the sun and some need all shade, but all give that feeling of being on that little island far away.

Happy Gardening and Keep Digging in the Dirt

Lady Banks Rose

The Lady Banks Rose has been in bloom in my yard for a couple of weeks now and has been the topic of much discussion in the form of emails, phone calls, and numerous postings on facebook.  We have three of them in our yard and they have exploded with thousands of yellow blooms.  We have a forty foot pergola on one side of our home, with a Lady Banks Rose on each end of it and they have nearly met in the middle.  The third is a smaller one on an arbor that leads into a smaller garden area.

The Lady Banks Rose is a species rose and not a hybrid that was originally found in China.  There are two varieties, 1)Rosa banksiae normalis which is the natural wild form of the species and has a single style flower with five white petals and dates back to 1796.  This rose was introduced to Europe by William Kerr, who had been sent on a plant hunting expedition by Sir Joseph Banks who was the head of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain; thus the rose was named Lady Banks in honor of his wife.  2)Rosa banksiae lutea is the probably the most popular of the two species and has double yellow flowers with many petals.  It was introduced to Europe by J. D. Parks in 1824.  All Lady Banks Roses have a faint fragrance that is said to resemble that of a violet. 

The Lady Banks Rose is a thornless, vigorous grower and can easily take over an arbor, shed, fence, or even the side of your home in just a few short years.  This rose is not meant for a small spaces.  They are the first rose to bloom in early spring and will have hundreds or even thousands of blooms which provides one of the most breathtaking displays in the garden.  The bark of the Lady Banks has an exfoliating cinnamon brown color on the older canes.  This rose is an excellent backdrop for azaleas, dogwoods, and Japanese maples.  It is very drought tolerant once it is established and is most likely the most disease resistant rose grown.  This makes it a favorite for all rose growers, because it is basically maintenance free. 

Lady Banks Rose likes full sun and well drained soil.  When planting mix lots of organic matter with the exsisting soil.  Dig the planting hole a little deeper and at least twice the diameter of the planting pot.  Pour water in the bottom of the soil, backfill with some organic matter and plant the rose so that the soil line of the plant is about one inch above the soil line of the ground.  This will allow room for mulch without smothering the rose. Water regularly until it has become established, after that watering is not necessary except in extreme drought conditions.  Pruning the Lady Banks is not necessary, but if you must prune for whatever reason, do so within a two week window following the bloom cycle.  The Lady Banks Rose blooms on old wood or last year’s growth.

The Guinness Book of World Records has listed the largest of this species to be in Tombstone, Arizona.  It is said to cover 8000 square feet of area and the trunk of this rose has been measured to be 12 feet in circumference.

If you don’t have one, you might want to consider getting one, because they are beautiful and are a centerpiece of any garden.

If you have any questions or comments, send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or leave me a message at the Union County  Extension Office 662-534-1916.

Happy Gardening and keep digging in the dirt.

Sunday Lunch: Country Style

My father-in-law is a market farmer in a big way.  He grows taters, maters, corn, peas, watermelons, cantaloupes, sorghum, and a few other vegetables. 

A couple of months have passed since tater planting time this year and taters have been dug. They have been safely stored in the barn where we go and get them as we need them.  Ms. Janet and my grandson, J.T., picked a double mess of green beans that were growing in a 4’ x 8’ raised bed that we have in our back yard.  Ms. Janet snapped them and grabbed us some new taters out of the bucket, scraped them, and put them on to cook.  Later in the day the feast began, with a grand meal consisting of fresh green beans and new taters, fresh cucumbers from the back yard, also boiled fresh cabbage donated by my next door neighbor from his garden, hominy, fried bacon, and a pone of skillet cornbread bathed in real butter.  This cornbread was made from fresh cornmeal that my father-in-law makes every year.  Ms. Janet cut a fresh ambrosia cantaloupe (from somewhere in south Mississippi).  Are you hungry yet?  Well, if you’re not, you’re not from around here.  We also have plenty of home brewed Mississippi wine to drink (better known as sweet tea).  After a few minutes of laughter while Papaw Joe gave a rendition of some of his boyhood adventures, Ms. Dorothy made us some homemade skillet fried apple and peach pies.  These magnificent made from scratch delicacies were washed down with a pot of fresh ground and brewed coffee (from Dan Skinner’s High Point Coffee Roaster).

This meal was exceptional and made for a great lesson for my grandson.  He now has an idea where the food on the table comes from and how much better it tastes when you watch a seed grow into something that you can eat.  I recommend that you take your children and grandchildren and plant a little patch somewhere in your yard this year. You don’t need a big garden to teach them a big lesson.  Don’t forget to take them with you to the Farmer’s Market also and let them meet the farmers.  Why, I bet those farmers would love for you to bring them out to the farm for a tour.  It’ll be fun for them, not to mention they will get a bird’s eye view of what food looks like before the food companies get ahold of it.  The quality time and memories will last forever and I’ll bet they teach their kids some day and make their own memories too.

Folks, I believe I hear my recliner calling me, because after a meal like this, my eyes just can’t seem to stay open.

This article is written by Tim Burress, Union County Master Gardener and Farmer’s Market manager.  I live on top of Center Hill, just outside of New Albany with my adorable wife Ms. Janet along with all the flowers and some vegetables too.

   

Gardening with Tim (Union County Master Gardener)

Despite the cold temperatures, I believe that spring is at hand.  The forsythia has since bloomed and now would be the time to do any pruning that it may need.  I hope that you have already finished pruning your roses and started your spray program.

The daffodils, tulips, verbena, grape hyacinths, may night salvia, azaleas, dogwoods, and spirea are now in bloom and looking gorgeous. It is a treat to see everyone’s yard as I ramble about town. If you have not shopped for or ordered your summer bulbs, better get busy before the best ones are gone. Go ahead and get them bought now and put them in a cool place till time to plant.  I would not be in too big a hurry to plant, because the threat of a frost or even a freeze is still at hand.  Grandma used to say that you could plant your summer bulbs when the ground was warm enough to sit on when you went fishing.  The old timers also say that thunder in February means frost in April.  We did in fact have thunder on the 24^th day of February, so they say we have a chance of frost on the 24^th day of April.  I’m keeping track cause that was a new one on me this year. 

I would say that the old adage of planting your vegetables on or after Good Friday this year might just be a good bet.  Some vegetables should have already been planted.  They would be cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, and greens.  Just keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to cover them in case of a frost or freeze.

Tender plants such as hydrangeas will need to be covered in case of a frost or freeze also.  A frost or freeze will not kill your rose bushes, but it might stunt them a bit.  If you have only a few you might consider covering them if the weather is threating, otherwise just keep a watch on them.  If they start to turn brown, just prune them back a little and they will make a comeback.  Roses are very hardy plants.

It is still not too late to use pre-emerge on your lawn to kill summer weeds.  Be sure and read the label and make sure that you use the correct one for your type of grass and be careful not to use on a windy day because it could drift into your flower beds and damage your flowers and shrubs.  The weed and feed combination products are not a favorite of mine.  After all you are trying to kill the weeds, not fertilize them.  You do not want to fertilize your lawn until it begins to green up.

If you have noticed those dreaded fire ant mounds popping up, it’s time to start treating them.  I recommend to first use a broadcast bait to treat the entire lawn and then treat the mounds a couple of days later. 

As with all fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides, please read and follow directions carefully. More is not better.  You should always wear protective clothing and a respirator when spraying and keep children and pets out of the spray area for 24 hours as a precaution.  Clean spray equipment and wash your clothes by themselves.

I noticed my first hummingbird today and it dawned on me to fill up the feeders.  We quickly boiled some sugar water and set it aside to cool.  I didn’t want the little one to do without, so I rushed into town to Fred’s and got some mix to put out for him until the good stuff that Ms. Janet makes got cool enough to put out there.  MS. Janet’s recipe is 6 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar brought to a boil and then cool.  The hummingbirds love it and we usually have lots of them over the summer.

If you have any questions please send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com  or leave me a message at the Union County Extension Office at   662-534-1916.

Happy Gardening and keep digging in the dirt.

Roses (April Care and Maintenance) Tim Burress

April is here and you should have completed all of your heavy pruning.  Lime sulphur should have been sprayed and organics applied to the bushes and worked in.

Bushes should be leafing out and some are already starting to bud.  Lady Banks should be full of buds and by the end of April she should be in full bloom.

The first week of the month give each bush about three tablespoons of a rich nitrogen fertilizer and three tablespoons of Epsom salts.  Sprinkle this mixture around the drip line of the bush and work into the soil. Mid-April, I recommend that you give each bush another dose of fertilizer. The mixture that I use is mix one tablespoon of a good rose bloom food (Bloom Kote, Super Bloom), one tablespoon of Epsom salts, one tablespoon of fish emulsion, and one tablespoon  of chelated iron.  I mix these items in a gallon of water and pour them around the drip line of each rose.  The roses that I do this to are hybrid teas, floribundas, and grandifloras.  The other roses in my landscape I give them about one half cup of triple 13.  The last week in April I repeat this same fertilizer program.  This formula is for large bushes and I cut this formula in half for mini roses and smaller new bushes.

April is also the time to get your roses on a regular spray program.  I spray all my roses every seven to ten days with a mixture of fungicide, insecticide, and miracle grow.  The only roses that I do not spray this often is knockout roses and I spray them at the beginning of the season and then once every six weeks.  The fungicides that I prefer are Compass, Daconil, Banner Maxx, and Mancozeb.  There are others on the market and Daconil is not a good choice after daytime temperatures reach 85 degrees on a daily basis. I add Malathion to this mix to control insects.  I also add a few drops of dish wash soap to the mix to make the chemicals stick to the bushes. I like to alternate the fungicides to help prevent fungi from building an immunity to them.  Keep a close watch when the buds start to show color and mist them with a hand spray bottle to control thrips and bud worms.  I use Malathion, but other insecticides will work also.  If you only have a few roses (a dozen or so) I recommend a product that is a soil drench, that you use about every six weeks.  That product is called Bayer Once and Done.  It is, however not cost effective if you have a large number of roses in your landscape.    

Sprayers are available in all sizes and styles.  I prefer the four to six gallon size that are on wheels or as a backpack and are battery powered.  These sprayers are available from Rosemania at 888-600-9665 and Rose Inc. at 918-455-7673.  Both of these companies have good reputations and have fairly quick delivery times.  These sprayers are on average $125.00 to 200.00 and are good investment if you have a large rose garden.

As always when using chemicals, especially when spraying, wear protective clothing and a respirator.  Please read the labels and follow the directions, more is not better.  If you have any questions, send me an email at colorsbytim@hotmail.com or give me a call at 662-316-0088.

Happy Gardening and Keep Digging in the Dirt.

Roses: Care and Maintenance

Roses can be high maintenance or they can be low maintenance. It just depends on what kind of roses you have and how many.
Late February and early March is when serious pruning is done. The general rule of thumb is about the time that Forsythia starts to bloom or Presidents Day.
I prune my hybrid teas back to about two feet high and make my cut just about an inch above an outward facing bud eye. I cut at an angle away from the bud eye so that water will run away from the bud eye instead of over it. Cut all dead canes back to the base of the bush. All canes that are smaller than a pencil in diameter should be removed from the center of the bush for better air circulation. This will help with control of black spot.
Climbing, running, and old garden roses should only have the dead wood cut out at this time. These roses bloom on last year’s growth, so any pruning to these bushes should be done within a two week period after they finish blooming. Even then I don’t recommend heavy pruning unless it is to contain a bush that has overgrown its spot.
Shrub, miniature, and carpet roses can be pruned at this time also. I like to cut the shrub back to about waist high or in the three foot range. Miniature and carpet roses usually get pruned no more than one third.
Now, you will need to gather all dead, diseased foliage and canes and dispose of it from your garden area help get rid of as much of the black spot fungi as possible. This is a good time to spray with lime sulfur to help control fungi that are hiding in the old mulch and top layer of soil. Be sure and spray all parts of the rose plant as well as the surrounding area. Do not put the pruned canes or the foliage from the roses in your compost pile. The fungi will infect your compost pile and render it useless to put back around your roses.
I spray my hybrid teas once a week with a good fungicide and all the others every two weeks with exception of the Knockout variety. Knockout roses for the most part do not need to be sprayed at all. I spray them about once a month just for good measure. The fungicides that I use are Daconil, Mancozeb, and Banner Maxx. I also like to rotate these chemicals to keep fungi from building up an immunity to them. If you only have a few roses that are susceptible to disease, you can use a product named “Once and Done” by Bayer. You mix it up and pour it around the base of the bush and you are done for about 45 to 60 days. If you have a lot of roses you need to break out the spray rig and get busy.
I like to give all my rose bushes a good dose of organic fertilizer this time of year. I use composted leaves, alfalfa meal, bone meal, cottonseed meal, fish emulsion, blood meal, and my favorite, worm castings. The organics are slow release and will better condition the soil for uptake by the plant.
This should get you through till April, when I plan to give you your next installment in rose care.

Roses (The Queen of Flowers)

Some of the most beautiful flowers grown in the landscape today are roses. There are some 25,000 to 30,000 different rose cultivars grown around the world today and are grown for a variety of reasons. Roses make gorgeous cut flowers that you can show off in your home, give to your sweetheart or friends, make arrangements, or even exhibit in a show. You can use them to anchor your landscape or compliment your pool, deck, or patio. Some roses can even be successfully grown in containers.
Roses are fun, but can also be serious work. Some require little care and others demand a lot of time and money. If you have very little time that you can spend in your garden, I would suggest that you plant shrub or Earth-kind roses. The most popular of these roses would be the knockout roses. Others would be some of the David Austin and Buck roses. These roses require only a few hours a month maintenance and are very disease and pest resistant. If you have two to five hours a week to spend in your garden for rose maintenance, then I would suggest the old garden and old tea roses. Old tea roses are the ones that have been around since the pre- 1900’s. These would be the roses that your Grandmother grew and could also be found in an old cemetery. These roses are also fairly disease and pest resistant, but do require deadheading and some pruning. If you have five to eight hours a week to spend on maintenance, then you can go for the hybrid teas. They are known as the “Queen of the Flower Garden” and will be the most fragrant of all roses. They produce long stems and large showy blooms. These are the flowers that will take the big prizes at exhibitions. They are great to cut and take in the house. When placed in an arrangement in the house their fragrance will fill a room for days. These roses also demand a lot of care – pruning, deadheading, fertilizing, and spraying for pests and diseases.
Roses are amazing flowers and I can go on and on about them. Ms. Janet and I have two hundred plus roses in our garden and we love them. They are a lot of hard work, but the rewards are great. I love to go out and cut several stems from different roses, sneak in the house, and watch Ms. Janet’s face light up when I hand them to her.
I think roses should be a part of every garden. If you are serious about growing roses, I recommend that you join a local rose society and learn all you can from them. Ms. Janet and I belong to two rose societies and we learn something new at every meeting. It is a good place to ask questions, because there are usually at least three to five Consulting Rosarians there and can give good solid answers to your questions. They usually have made most of the mistakes already and can guide you through most anything. There are several good reference books that you can purchase also. Take the time to go to a rose show, observe and ask plenty of questions. Rose people love for you to ask questions about their roses. When you buy roses, always purchase from a reputable source.
If you have any questions, email me at colorsbytim@hotmail.com

Gardening with Tm

Pretty Little Poisonous Plants 

I was walking through the lower part of the property looking for materials to make wreaths to sell a few weeks ago, and was about to pull some vines from a tree, when this ugly thought came to mind.  Don’t pull that vine because it is poison oak.  Most folks do not realize that it is just as potent in the middle of the winter as it is in the heat of the summer.  It is also just as potent after it dies as it is while it is alive.

  My adorable wife can just walk by the stuff and break out.  When Jeremy was a boy, someone was burning a pile of wood across the road and he got the smoke in his lungs and off to the doctor he had to go.  Smoke inhalation from these plants can cause not only a skin rash, but also a nasty and painful allergic reaction to the lungs and nasal passage.  Poison oak, ivy, and sumac are beautiful, green vines that contain a very potent oil called Urushiol.  The danger of this plant is you don’t even have to touch it.  It can be on garden tools, gloves and clothing, or even an animal’s fur.  Doctors say that three out of four folks are sensitive in some degree to these plants and just because it doesn’t affect you this time doesn’t mean it won’t next time.

  The reaction to poison oak is not an instant reaction and may pop up in as little as a few hours to a few days or even a couple of weeks.  The rash appears as red streaks or patterns on the skin where contact was originally made and is transferred to other parts of the body after you scratch the infected area and scratch somewhere else. 

  Poison oak, ivy, and sumac all grow in this area with poison oak seemingly being the worst culprit around our neck of the woods.  Poison oak and poison ivy are both vine like with green leaves and are similar in appearance, with poison ivy having clusters of leaves in groups of three and poison oak having leaves also in groups of three that are shaped more like an oak leaf.  Poison sumac grows as a woody shrub and each stem will have seven to thirteen leaves arranged in pairs with clusters of green drooping berries.

  If you think that you have been exposed to one of these plants, wash the affected areas with cool water and soap immediately if not sooner.  Change clothes and wash them along with camping gear and any other items that may be affected.  Clean any garden tools that you may have been using to remove the oil from them and bathe any pets that may have come in contact with the plants. 

  There are many products out there that claim to help with the itching associated with these plants, but where one will work for some, it doesn’t for others.  If the rash is mild you can try some of these, but if the rash is severe, I recommend to go on and see the doctor.  I do not seem to be affected but we usually take Ms. Janet on to the doctor for a shot.

  I recommend to teach  yourselves and your children to identify these plants and remove them from your landscape.  If you are allergic or even think that you are, hire someone else to do it for you.  As the young lady in my last class at Ag Safety Day said “Leaves of three-Stay away from me!!!

What to do with those Poinsettias

  Christmas is over and what do we do with those poinsettia?  Well, we can throw them away cause they didn't cost much anyway.  That way we don't have to babysit them for another year till next Christmas, but hey what's the fun in that.  We're gardeners right, and we love a challenge.  Ok, Ok, so I do anyway.
  Here's what I do:  They are ugly and leggy, so cut off the red foilage leaving only the green leaves.  Keep them in spot where they get bright light and only water them when the soil is dry to the touch.  Chunk that foil wrapper thats on the pot too so that they can drain properly.  When it gets warm enough, usually about late April, move them out to shady spot on the patioand cut the stems back to about six inches.  When the plants start to put on new growth, move them out to get a little more sunshine and if needed, transplant them into larger pots so that they don't have to be watered as much.  I even plant pot and all in the ground to cut down on watering.  Fertilize them with a good houseplant fertilizer, I prefer organics, in April, June, and August.  I like to prune the longer branches back a little during the growing season to make the plants stockier and more compact.  On October the first, I  start the darkness, light thing to make them form the red foilage and set blooms for the Christmas season.  I do the darkness, light thing by putting them in a dark closet for about fourteen hours and then put them in the light for ten hours.  I keep up with this by putting them in the closet when I get home from work and setting them out when I leave for work.
  With any luck at all, TA DA, they are much bigger and more beautiful than last year, not to mention, you did it yourself.
  Happy Gardening and Keep Diggin' in the Dirt.