To read the full Janet’s Journal, “Anti-gravity gardening: Planting on a hill,” pick up a copy of Michigan Gardener (in stores by Sept 5) or check out page 32 in our e-edition of the September/October Issue.

Stones meant to slow water’s fall, reinforce or retain a hill
should not sit on the surface where they can slip.

In the series above, a stone placed on a step cut to lean back into the hill. The next stone also leans back, and its face is set back away from vertical. Given stones stacked across the face of the hill, this setback would create a “battered” retaining wall. A batter of 1” back for each 12” rise stabilizes a retaining wall.

At the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland, this 1.75:1 slope (57 percent) features artistically placed boulders but the main retainers are plants.

Those of us who garden on relatively flat lands may gape at how slopes are handled in hillier regions. Once you know something about terracing, you may focus as much on the ways this feat is accomplished as on the unusual plants you see in faraway places. Residents’ attitudes toward hills and their skill in dealing with them can be worth note, too. That is, the residents of up-and-down neighborhoods in the foothills of California’s San Bernardino Mountains regularly stabilize long, steep hills solely with plants such as these rambler roses and honeysuckle vines.

To read the full story on Atwood Elementary, pick up a copy of Michigan Gardener (in stores now) or check out page 28 in our e-edition of the July Issue.

 

 

 All photos by Sandie Parrott

Introduction to bromeliad care: Tips from Paul Wingert

Text and photos by Sandie Parrott

Water. They must never dry out; too dry is worse than too wet. For types with overlapping leaf bases, keep the vase area full of water. Overflow a bit for the roots. Large plants can hold several gallons of water. For terrestrial types without a vase area: keep them evenly moist; they can tolerate some dryness.

Air. Air plants (Tillandsia) are named after a botanist that was afraid of water. Mist every couple of days or dunk and soak one hour, every other week. Air plants need good air circulation—use a fan indoors in the winter and hang them outside during the summer. If elevated, you don’t have to deal with sow bugs or other ground pests.

Light. In summer, bromeliads will do well where hosta plants grow well. Wingert also uses 40 percent shade cloth on his shade house. For winter, they need all the light they can get: a south, west, or east window, or better yet, a greenhouse.

Soil. For vase plants, Wingert makes his own mix of 1/3 perlite and lava rock, 1/3 cypress mulch and aged pine bark (fine), and 1/3 peat moss. For terrestrials like Cryptanthus, Dyckia, and Orthophytum, he uses a professional soilless mix.

Pots. Wingert uses plastic. They are lightweight and fit the pot rings in his shade house. Most bromeliads like to be pot-bound.

Fertilizer. This is a constant source of debate. Some experts do not fertilize. It is believed by some that if you want more flowers and don’t care about the foliage, it is alright to fertilize. If you decide to fertilize, use water soluble fertilizer added to water. Place some in the innermost cup of the plant and a little on the soil. Bromeliads cannot handle urea or copper; make sure fertilizer does not contain either one. Air plants (Tillandsia) need high nitrogen. Guzmanias, billbergias and vriesias prefer an orchid-type fertilizer; they will bloom much better. Neoregelias need a low nitrogen fertilizer, like a cactus fertilizer.

Pests. Not a lot of pest problems exist for bromeliads. Scale will create spotting but won’t kill the plant. Use insecticidal soap and scrub lightly. Rub them off if dead. Reapply the soap in two weeks if the infestation is bad. Mealy bug may appear on flower spikes, but it shouldn’t be a concern. Watch for chipmunks planting or spreading seeds in pots.

Foliage maintenance. It is natural for the lower leaves to brown and dry; just remove them. You can carefully trim brown tips with scissors.

Propagation. Plants form pups or offshoots after they bloom. Remove them when they are 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the mother plant. Sever as close to the mother plant as possible and plant separately.

Seeds and plants. Seeds can be collected from plants or purchased. Most serious growers use their own seed or obtain seeds at seed exchanges from other growers. The Bromeliad Society International has a list of companies selling plants and seeds; visit www.bsi.org.

To learn more or attend a Southeast Michigan Bromeliad Society event, visit their website: www.bromeliad.society.gardenwebs.net/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are additional photos from the Applewood feature in the May issue of Michigan Gardener. If you can’t find a copy of the print edition, click here to check out the May 2012 e-edition.

One of the two majestic burr oaks stands beside the rose garden, which also has many other perennials and annuals. (Photo: Sandie Parrott)

The branches of this sugar maple are allowed to grow down to the ground. “It is very happy with all the space, water, and fertile soil it needs,” said Program Coordinator Rebecca Stack. (Photo: Applewood Staff)

Above: Originally the caretaker for the farm and animals lived in the gate house, pictured in the 1930s. Below: It has housed the estate’s archives and now serves as intern housing. (Old photo: Applewood archives / New photo: Applewood staff)

The demonstration garden in the early 2000s. This used to be the farmland and is now utilized to show new plant varieties, plant combinations, herbs, and vegetables to the public. (Photo: Applewood staff)

This perennial hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Southern Belle’) is hardy to zone 4. It is cut back to 3 inches each fall. It comes up late in the spring, so having a permanent tag or stake in the ground is important so the plant won’t accidentally be dug up. (Photo: Ryan Garza)

This gorgeous bloom is peacock flower or Abyssinian gladiolus (Gladiolus callianthus ‘Murielae’). A member of the iris family, it blooms in late summer and is a fragrant, tender bulb that must be stored in winter or purchased yearly. (Photo: Sandie Parrott)

Above left: Rub the leaves of this popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) and it smells like buttered popcorn. This tropical must be treated as an annual and needs lots of water. It has yellow blooms for up to 6 months. Above right: This variegated fig tree bonsai started as a gift included in a planter from a co-worker when McCormack’s father died in 1991. She keeps it as a houseplant, but puts it outside in the summer. (Photo: Sandie Parrott)

Each year, McCormack’s backyard floods until about May. Yet her garden dries and bounces back the rest of the year. (Photo: Margot McCormack)

In 2008 McCormack worked on a Tournament of Roses parade float at the Burbank float barn. She volunteered for three days and had her camera at the ready because she heard HGTV would visit. Paul James graciously agreed to have his picture taken while there. (Photo: Margot McCormack)

“I bought this Japanese tree peony about 20 yrs ago. It adds one more blossom each year. It never fails that we will get a downpour when it looks its best, so it has a very short appearance. The flower petals are so delicate, like tissue paper. I am guessing it might be ‘Yachiyotsubaki’ tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa ‘Yachiyotsubaki’).” (Photo: Margot McCormack)

More stories about enthusiastic gardeners in the Westacres community:

Photos by Sandie Parrott
Mary Beth Ridenour’s trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is around 80 years old. It was moved from a previous home where it grew for many years.

Mary Beth Ridenour

Ridenour’s husband planted over 50 trees and conifers in the originally sparse yard. Just for fun, a red bird relaxes in the arms of this weeping Norway spruce.Dramatic conifers, trees, a bridge, and a giant 80-year-old trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) make up Ridenour’s garden. The vine was moved from a previous house. Concerning its care she said, “I just prune it a little, nothing else. It is just in the right spot—hummingbirds love it.”

In 1971, Ridenour moved into her house that was originally built in 1935. She lived two miles away, rode the Westacres bus and wanted to live in the neighborhood. She attended a meeting and found out a house was available. “No outside advertising was done back then; only word of mouth,” she remembered.

“It was Bill’s garden (her husband, now deceased). I never gardened until he died. There wasn’t a tree on the property when we moved in. Bill planted all of the trees, about 50. He also built the wooden bridge. I wish I had gardened sooner. I enjoy it now,” she enthused.

 

Margie and Mick Popovich

In 1986 Margie and family moved to Westacres to a house built in 1936. “My husband grew up on a farm and had his own ideas about where we should live. I went to school with kids from Westacres and always envied their lifestyle. When we looked at our house, the previous owner (the original resident) had an enormous garden, and the deal was done,” Margie recalled.

Husband Mick is the gardener. Margie claims Mick wears boots from May to October. “He is happiest when he is putzing outdoors. I love going out to the yard with a basket to pick my own vegetables. A basket of corn with basil and tomatoes, or flowers for the house, it just completes me. He does all of the vegetable gardening and I have never seen a prettier, more organized vegetable garden,” gushed Margie.

Margie and Mick Popovich’s garden and barn create a country view in a suburban setting. Mick built the greenhouse and incorporated windows he found in the trash along the road.Mick offers a tip for pests: “The only pest control I do is attracting wrens—they are tremendous insect eaters. We have several wren houses. I always look for them to return in the spring and love the way they sing. Crop rotation is also important. Besides that, a few bugs don’t bother me as much as chemicals do!”

Margie continued, “It isn’t unusual to be standing in the kitchen and hear, ‘Hi Margie and Mick,’ because neighbors are in the garden picking strawberries. We give a call when they are ripe: ‘Come when you like—just lock the gate.’ Kids come and go; I look out and see them picking berries and think life couldn’t get any better!”

This lovely vignette displays a birdbath, picturesque birdfeeder, and Margie’s favorite flower, black-eyed Susan.

Mary and Joe Fox

Mary Fox gardens for her family and also their CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture). “My dream is to feed the community! I’m trying to encourage people to eat locally. I garden using organic practices. With demand increasing, I need more space. My neighbors are donating their backyards for me to farm (an original idea by the creators). My goal is to feed my 20 CSA members, sell lettuce, salad greens, herbs and edible flowers, with the surplus going to food banks,” explained Mary enthusiastically.

A section of the CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture) owned by Mary and Joe Fox. Mary promotes eating locally-grown food.Joe Fox shows off one of his ISA Brown chickens.She continued, “My CSA shareholders also can purchase eggs from my pastured chickens. If West Bloomfield allows me to continue what I’m doing with gardening and chickens, it will be preserving the legacy of Westacres. It would take Westacres full circle from Depression era residents in 1936 to recession residents in 2011; quite a tribute for Westacres 75th anniversary.”

Photographs by Sandie Parrott
A monarch butterfly and sphinx moth on ‘Black Knight’ butterfly bush.Natives for butterfly host plants and caterpillar food

To provide places for butterflies to lay eggs as well as food for the emerging caterpillars, choose butterfly host plants. And remember that the caterpillars will be doing some major eating on your host plants—it’s part of the process!

Common name	Botanical name	Butterflies attracted
Aster	Aster	Pearl crescent
Cherry	Prunus	Red-spotted purple, tiger swallowtail, spring azure
Dogwood	Cornus	Spring azure
Elm	Ulmus americana	Comma, question mark, mourning cloak
False nettle	Boehmeria cylindrica	Red admiral, question mark, comma, Milbert’s tortoiseshell
Grasses, sedges	various	Alfalfa sulphur, Eastern tailed-blue
Hackberry	Celtis occidentalis	Question mark, comma, hackberry butterfly, tawny emperor, mourning cloak
Highbush blueberry	Vaccinium corymbosum	Brown elfin
Leadplant	Amorpha canescens	Dogface, silver-spotted skipper
Milkweed	Asclepias	Monarch, queen
Nettle	Urtica dioica	Red admiral, question mark, comma, Milbert’s tortoiseshell
Oak	Quercus	Banded hairstreak
Paw Paw	Asimina triloba	Zebra swallowtail
Sneezeweed	Helenium autumnale	Dainty sulphur
Spicebush	Lindera benzoin	Spicebush swallowtail, tiger swallowtail
Sundial lupine	Lupinus perennis	Karner blue, silvery blue
Swamp thistle	Cirsium muticum	Painted lady
Turtlehead	Chelone glabra	Baltimore, buckeye
Vetch	Vicia	Alfalfa sulphur, Eastern tailed-blue
Violet	Viola	Great spangled fritillary, meadow fritillary
Willow	Salix	Viceroy, mourning cloak

 

Nectar-producing plants for butterfly food

To encourage butterflies to continually visit your garden, choose a variety of nectar-producing plants (for butterfly food) that produce blooming flowers throughout the season. Butterflies are most active in mid to late summer, so make sure you have plenty of flowers in bloom at that time.

	Common name	Botanical name
Spring	Black-eyed Susan	Rudbeckia hirta
	Columbine	Aquilegia canadensis
	Nodding wild onion	Allium cernuum
	Spicebush	Lindera benzoin
	Wild geranium	Geranium maculatum
Midsummer	Bee balm	Monarda didyma
	Bergamot	Monarda fistulosa
	Black-eyed Susan	Rudbeckia hirta
	Blazing star, dense	Liatris spicata
	Blazing star, rough	Liatris aspera
	Butterfly weed	Asclepias tuberosa
	Buttonbush	Cephalanthus occidentalis
	Coreopsis, tall	Coreopsis tripteris
	Dogbane	Apocynum
	Fleabane	Erigeron
	Horsemint	Monarda punctata
	Meadowsweet	Spiraea alba
	Michigan lily	Lilium michiganense
	Milkweed, common	Asclepias syriaca
	Milkweed, swamp	Asclepias incarnata
	New Jersey tea	Ceanothus americanus
	Pearly everlasting	Anaphalis margaritacea
	Sunflower, giant	Helianthus giganteus
	Swamp thistle	Cirsium muticum
	Virginia mountain mint	Pycnanthemum virginianum
	Yarrow	Achillea millefolium
Late summer	Aster, flat-topped	Aster umbellatus
	Aster, heath	Aster ericoides
	Aster, smooth	Aster laevis
	Aster, New England	Aster novae-angliae
	Beggarticks	Bidens aristosa
	Boneset	Eupatorium perfoliatum
	Goldenrod, Ohio	Solidago ohioensis
	Goldenrod, rigid	Solidago rigida
	Goldenrod, showy	Solidago speciosa
	Ironweed, tall	Vernonia gigantea
	Joe-Pye weed	Eupatorium maculatum
	Sneezeweed	Helenium autumnale
	Steeplebush	Spiraea tomentosa

 

Charts courtesy of Suzan Campbell, Conservation Associate, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, and formerly from the Belle Isle Nature Center

Milkweed is a nectar source for many butterflies and hummingbirds as well as a larval food for monarchs (the caterpillars only eat milkweed).

Photographs by Steven NikkilaRoots and branches: The connection

When a tree or shrub has roots residing in several properties, differing treatment in one section of the root zone might affect the plant’s entire crown or just one section. In some species, water moves from a given root along a certain path in the trunk to serve a particular branch. Root and branch are usually on the same side of the tree. In such “ring porous” species*, what happens to a given root affects a given branch. In other species, water follows a zig-zag or spiral pattern, so what comes from one root may serve various branches all over the crown.

This post oak lost most of its roots on one side as the hill was cut away preparatory to building a retaining wall. (Arrows mark clipped root ends.) It will almost certainly lose limbs on this side. Extra water for remaining roots, an arborist’s care, and pruning to remove dead wood are in order.

* Including American elm, arborvitae, black locust, catalpa, cherry, false cypress, hackberry, hickory, honeylocust, Kentucky coffee tree, many oaks, mulberry, persimmon, sassafras, walnut, white ash, and yellowwood.

Even large roots can regenerate. These are the roots of a dwarf weeping beech. In two places you can see where the roots grew back from cut ends after the plant was dug from the field for sale. Bury a root, kill a tree? Nope!

There’s oft-repeated advice about grade changes: Don’t put more than four inches of soil over tree roots. You’ll find it in Extension bulletins and gardening books. What you won’t find included is the basis for the advice. After much searching, I found the source and can assure you that in most cases, it doesn’t apply to what gardeners do.

The caution is based on grade changes at construction sites—large scale alteration of the entire root zone, executed with heavy equipment to spread and pack fill soil to builders’ and pavers’ specifications. By contrast, gardeners raise beds of loose soil, using a wheelbarrow and cover only portions of root systems. I’ve done it, dozens of times, and watched both the beds and trees closely, some for as many as 30 years. I’ve also interviewed professors of horticulture who have done the same in demonstration areas and we agree that loose soil over part of a root system, always kept away from the tree’s trunk, is no problem.

The same may apply to loose soil added over an entire root system. A team of University of California pathologists and Extension researchers filled over trees’ root systems with ten inches of soil in a test plot, settling that soil only with watering. In part of the field, tubing meant to bring oxygen into the soil was installed. The trees were sweet cherries, a species known to be intolerant of low soil oxygen situations. Yet “…no visible injury occurred. …no differences in plant growth, health or appearance…”

Gardener, bare that root ball!

Burlap and twine often remain intact and relatively strong for several years in-ground, repelling water and causing serious constriction to trunk and roots. Wire may persist for decades, partially or completely girdling first the flare roots and eventually the plant’s trunk. 

So remove these impediments and killers at planting time. Set the balled-and-burlapped tree or shrub in the planting hole and then remove all twine, rope, wire and burlap from at least the top half of the ball.

For more, check:

Chapter 7, “Planting” of Principles and Practice of Planting Trees and Shrubs by Gary W. Watson and E. B. Himelick, or www.isa-arbor.com/education/onlineResources/cad/resources/educ_CAD_BBTrees_View.pdf

 

Here are various species’ root fans I collected one day while transplanting, to illustrate colors, branching patterns and response to previous root pruning (branched tips). Webbed and netted around the ends of every root fan in good soil are mycorrhizal fungi—helper fungi—as much as 8,000 inches of fungal thread for every inch of root. Roots and fungi fill the soil spaces like water fills a sponge, and absorb water from the surface as readily as a sponge.

This spruce root begins a fall growth spurt, as evident in its pale, starch-thickened tip. Roots have a longer growing season than a plant’s aerial parts. They have a period of rapid expansion right after leafy growth begins in spring, and another lesser spurt in fall as leaves drop. Yet they grow all year-round, whenever the soil is above 40 degrees F and below about 85 degrees F. Thus any given root can add more length each year than a branch can. So if you want a tree or shrub to be all it can be, start by gauging the branch growth rate. If a limb extends itself 12 inches per year, plan to loosen soil and remove competition each year in a ring two- to three-feet out from the branch tips.