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PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

Archive for the Clippings department

How to choose plants that promote pollinators in the garden

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MSU Extension:

Pollinators are looking for nectar and pollen when foraging in your garden. This is their food, the carbohydrates and protein they need to thrive and produce offspring. Native bees will widely feed on many different types of flowering plants in your landscape and garden.

Think about “serving” up a menu of blooms in early spring through fall. Choose a wide range of flowering plants including annuals, herbaceous perennials and native plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs that are known to support pollinator health. Early blooming plants such as spring bulbs or Pachysandra, or very late bloomers such as Sedum or Anemone are often the most needed food sources for pollinators since there are fewer floral resources available during those times.

Read the rest of the article…

Meet the farmers producing near-perfect vegetables for the most demanding chefs

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The farmers at The Chef’s Garden in Ohio are producing vegetables that not only look perfect but have taste to match. Photo: Michelle Demuth-Bibb/Chef's Garden
The farmers at The Chef’s Garden in Ohio are producing vegetables that not only look perfect but have taste to match. Photo: Michelle Demuth-Bibb/Chef’s Garden

NPR:

There’s a small corner of the restaurant world where food is art and the plate is just as exquisite as the mouthful. In this world, chefs are constantly looking for new creative materials for the next stunning presentation. The tiny community of farmers who grow vegetables for the elite chefs prize creativity, too, not just in what they grow but in how they grow it. They’re seeking perfection, in vegetable form and flavor, like this tiny cucumber that looks like a watermelon — called a cucamelon. The Chef’s Garden is a specialty vegetable farm in Huron, Ohio, about an hour west of Cleveland. It’s a family farm, where three generations of the Jones family work side by side with about 175 employees. It’s a place where vegetables are scrupulously selected and then painstakingly coaxed from the ground.

Read or listen to the full story and view photos here…

Learn how to rebloom your holiday poinsettia

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MSU Extension:

Your poinsettia should be moved outdoors during summer, so it is important to keep it in good condition now. Often, blooms will last for months after January. The first important part is to remove the colored foil covering the outside of the pot. It traps water if it has no holes and plants can be marinating in several inches of water, rotting the roots. Poinsettias need to be close to a west or south window and receive some sun during the day. Michigan State University Extension suggests watering it when the top inch of soil is dry.

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700,000 pound U-M bur oak is thriving in new location one year after move

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A little over a year after it was moved 100 yards, a 65-foot tall, 250 year old bur oak tree is thriving outside the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. The 700,000 pound tree was moved to accommodate an expansion at the business school.

In an interview with The Ann Arbor News, Marvin Pettway, U-M’s senior supervisor for grounds, said, “The tree is doing excellent, especially considering all the factors. It went through the winter well and we gave it a fertilization upon bud swell. It leafed out nicely and had great spring color.”

In honor of the team’s effort to preserve the tree, U-M Grounds was selected to receive the 2015 International Society of Arboriculture Gold Leaf Award for Beautification. Pettway accepted the award at a ceremony in Lansing earlier this year.

Check out a video, photos and the full story on the move here…

Moross Greenway Project aims to revitalize main thoroughfare

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The Moross Greenway Project has broken ground on its plan to landscape and revitalize seven islands on Moross Road on Detroit‘s Eastside, between St. John Hospital and the I-94 service drive. The $600,000 project is the culmination of nearly six years of design work, planning and fundraising. “Moross Road is a main thoroughfare, with more than 19,000 vehicles travelling daily between I-94 and Mack Avenue,” said Tim Killeen, Wayne County Commissioner and Vice President of the Moross Greenway Project. “We are pleased to be at the forefront of the revitalization of this Detroit gateway.”

“St. John Providence Health System is a major supporter of our Project,” continued Sheila O’Hara, Project President. “As one of the largest employers in the City of Detroit, it attracts thousands of patients and their families each day. Given all these visitors and hospital employees who travel Moross, the Greenway will give a strong positive impression of the neighborhood and city in general.”

The Moross Greenway Project, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, is a collaborative effort of volunteer residents of the City of Detroit and its suburban neighborhoods. The project involves the planting of 115 trees, 500 shrubs, and 9,700 native perennial plants. For more information, visit www.morossgreenway.org.

European Experts Don’t Agree On Risks of Glyphosate

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The Salt at NPR:

Glyphosate, widely known by its trade name, Roundup, probably gets more attention than any other herbicide. It’s one of world’s most-used weedkillers, and it is also closely linked to the growth of genetically modified crops.

Monsanto invented Roundup, and also invented crops that grow well when it’s used on them. Farmers find that combination almost irresistible.

So in March, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probably carcinogen, it set off a furor. Monsanto was outraged, and vociferously questioned the IARC’s judgement. Opponents of GMOs welcomed the agency’s conclusion as a scientific validation of their cause.

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Longwood Gardens grows the largest mum outside of Asia

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longwood-mum-111115
Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has unveiled the largest mum ever grown outside of Asia: the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum. This amazing plant features 1,509 uniform blooms on ONE plant. The Thousand Bloom is a highlight of the annual Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens.

Called the Thousand Bloom, the plant derives its name from the ambitious goal of cultivating a single plant to produce as many perfectly placed blooms as possible. This ancient technique, known in Japan as Ozukuri, originated hundreds of years ago in Asia and is the most exacting and challenging of all chrysanthemum training styles. Longwood’s Thousand Bloom measures an impressive 12 feet wide and nearly 8 feet tall and took 18 months of careful nurturing and training to grow into its final form.

MSU Extension publishes new guide to support and encourage pollinators

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NativePollinators-COVER-5-6-15MSU Extension:

Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them is a new Michigan State University Extension publication that provides an overview of the diverse community of wild and managed bees across the Great Lakes region. Packed with photos of the most common bee species and showing photographs and descriptions of wildflowers that are attractive to bees, the guide also provides a section on bee conservation with some practical steps to take.

Bees are essential for pollination of many crops and they also pollinate flowers in the garden and in wild areas, helping to support natural systems. Approaches to supporting these insects is generally similar for all habitats: provide them with some food (flowers), give them a place to nest (habitat or artificial cavities) and don’t kill them (use bee-safe insecticides or follow label restrictions to protect pollinators).

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Invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Pest Found at More Sites in West Michigan

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The public is asked for continued help in looking for invasive pests

The small cottony masses characteristic of adult hemlock woolly adelgid. (Credit: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Archive)
The small cottony masses characteristic of adult hemlock woolly adelgid. (Credit: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Archive)

Thanks to an alert citizen working in the area, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) today confirmed hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an invasive tree-killing pest discovered in Ottawa County in June, has now been found at locations in southwestern Muskegon County. The finds in Ottawa and Muskegon counties are the first instances of HWA occurring in native forest hemlock.

MDARD and its partners have been actively monitoring and controlling HWA since 2001, but until this year, all HWA infestations found in Michigan were restricted to nurseries and hemlock landscaping. Each infestation was treated, eradication activity took place, and continued surveillance occurred after eradication activities were wrapped up.

“Once again, citizen involvement played a central role in early detection. Continued citizen involvement and citizen reporting is crucial for the management of this pest or any other exotic pest,” said Gina Alessandri, MDARD’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Director. “Examine your hemlock for HWA, and if you find something suspicious, contact MDARD immediately.”

Hemlock trees are typically green in color, but in advanced HWA infestations, twig and branch mortality can occur, giving infested trees a grayish hue. The small cottony masses characteristic of HWA are found on the underside of the branch at the base of the needle; they are never found on the needles themselves.
HWA can be very difficult to detect at low population levels because the insect is so small.

Since its discovery in Virginia in 1951, HWA has spread rapidly across most of the native range of hemlock in the eastern U.S., decimating hemlock forests from Georgia to Maine. To protect Michigan’s hemlock forests and the wildlife they support, MDARD has maintained a strict quarantine against out-of-state hemlock since 2002. Current and past infestations in Michigan are likely the result of hemlock from these areas shipped into Michigan prior to, or in violation of, this quarantine.

To report a possible HWA detection, contact MDARD at 800-292-3939 or MDA-info@michigan.gov.

New blueberry plant for home gardeners

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‘Nocturne’
‘Nocturne’

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was recently awarded a patent for ‘Nocturne,’ a blueberry cultivar developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. The new plant came from a blueberry cross made in 1993, and the plant was subsequently selected and evaluated from 1996 to 2011. ‘Nocturne,’ tested under the name “US 1056,” is a cross between ‘US 874’ (a mixed species hybrid) and ‘Premier’ (a commercial rabbiteye blueberry). This cross incorporates germplasm from three different blueberry species, including one with extreme cold-hardiness.

‘Nocturne’ is a vigorous, winter-hardy, black-fruited blueberry. “This variety is intended to be a specialty market plant for home, landscape, and ornamental use,” according to ARS plant geneticist Mark Ehlenfeldt, who hybridized the plant. It is especially notable for having winter hardiness comparable to northern highbush blueberry cultivars and for being slow to break dormancy in spring, making it unlike any other rabbiteye blueberry hybrids currently available.

In New Jersey, where ‘Nocturne’ was developed, the plant bears fruit reliably, averaging 12 pounds per plant. Unripe fruit is vivid and red-orange, providing attractive landscape interest. Ripe fruit is black, sweet and medium-sized, with a flavor atypical of either rabbiteye or highbush blueberries. Fruit ripens in late midseason to late season. The scar quality—how cleanly the fruit separates from the stem—is fair, and the fruit has only moderate firmness, so it is not recommended for storage or shipping by commercial growers. ‘Nocturne’ plants are expected to be available for retail purchase in 2017.

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