Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

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Trees flowering in the fall

February 24, 2010 •

Last fall (September and October), I noticed healthy specimens of pear, apple and crabapple blooming. The only times I have seen such plants blooming outside of their normal seasonal patterns are when they are acutely distressed. What would have caused such a strange blooming cycle on otherwise healthy plants?

While most trees only bloom during their normal seasonal time, healthy mature trees do have the ability to set a flower bud early, known as the king flower bud. When the king flower bud has a nice, sunny fall day it will bloom. The secondary flower buds will bloom only after they have gone through their normal winter rest period.

Overwintering sweet potato vine tubers

February 23, 2010 •

I planted sweet potato vines in containers last summer (both the chartreuse and dark purple ones). When I took out the plants for the winter, they had grown banana-sized tubers. Could I have over-wintered these and planted them in the spring? If so, how would I do it.

Believe it or not the sweet potato vine tubers are actually edible. The taste is a cross between a regular potato and sweet potato! This beautiful vine has grown quickly in popularity for its fast growing habit and lush foliage. Yes, you can store the tubers for next spring’s planting. In the fall simply remove all foliage from the tuber, wash off any soil and let the tuber dry thoroughly for about 24 hours. After it dries, store the tuber in dry peat moss and keep in a dark area that maintains a steady temperature between 50 and 60 degrees. Next spring, remove the tuber from the peat and cut it into smaller pieces or plant whole in fresh potting soil and start watering. Place in a sunny area and in no time at all you will have lush green or purple growth!

How to prune Caryopteris

February 22, 2010 •

Is Caryopteris a perennial or a shrub? It doesn’t seen to die back all the way to the ground, but seems like it does have some deadwood on it each spring. I never know how and when to prune it.

Caryopteris, commonly known as bluebeard spirea or blue-mist spirea, is really a woody shrub in more southern areas of the country. Here in Michigan we should consider it a woody perennial since the amount of spring dieback will vary with the severity of the previous winter. Many other shrubs commonly grown in our area can be treated in a similar manner. These include: butterfly bush (Buddleia), beautyberry (Callicarpa), bushclover (Lespedeza) and Hypericum.

Spring pruning can be approached in one of three ways:

Prune all of the stems down to 6 to 8 inches in early to mid-April. This keeps your shrubs approximately the same size each year since they begin their growth from the same starting point.
Wait until May when buds begin to swell and growth emerges. Any wood that remains inactive can be pruned off at this time. Scratching the bark with your thumbnail will also reveal where green living wood merges into brown tissues where dieback has occurred.
An intermediate approach (especially useful after mild winters) is to prune the plant back in April by about one-third to help the shape and overall neatness. Wait until growth emerges later in May, then prune off any winter dieback that remains. Methods 2 and 3 will allow the shrub to gain additional size each year as long as winter conditions allow.

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