Midwinter Houseplant Care

When it comes to houseplants, I am happy to have them survive the winter.  Though I only bring in a small start of each at the end of each summer, about this time some are taking over.  Not thick, lush growth, mind you, but a lot of trying to get to the light growth.  Even plants that are holding their own sometimes have some bug issues going on.  Sometime midwinter I get the time and incentive to get things under control.

One by one I bring a plant to the kitchen sink, cut back what needs controlling, clean out dead leaves, spray the remaining leaves to clean them, thoroughly water the plant, flush the soil with weak dish soap water, spray with neem as needed, allow access water and spray to dry for a few minutes, then return the plant to where it belongs.

Before:

What began as a very small start of Oxalis

took over two varieties of Arrowhead Plant

and several varieties of Wandering Jew.

After:

Oxalis thinned and cut back hard

and Wandering Jew trimmed

to make room for the Arrowhead Plant.

All cleaned, watered, treated with neem

and ready to return home.

Garden Artistry

When I was a kid, I loved to draw.  I was not a great artist, but some of the pictures I drew are still around and some are not too shabby.  I loved being creative and experimenting with crayons to get different looks.  There was some kids' show on PBS that had a segment where a man taught little drawing tips like how to draw 3D or flying saucers in motion.  He dressed and acted goofy, but I loved how quick and smooth his Sharpie markers drew on big sheets of new, bright white paper.  I was limited to crayons and pencils and scrap paper.  I loved watching Bob Ross.  I once got a little oil painting set at a garage sale and had a blast pretending to be him until the fumes of the oils and cleaner gave me a headache.  I have heard want-to-be artists criticize his work, but to my untrained eye, his half hour paintings looked better than their paintings that took months.

My freshman year of high school I took a crafts class and loved it and the teacher.  I decided to major in art.  That was my downfall.  I took an art class which turned out to be harder, but the teacher (who taught the crafts class also) still allowed for personal creativity.  I then took an acrylics painting class with a different teacher who allowed for no personal expression.  The entire class was trying to perfectly duplicate a picture or painting.  I took the class hoping to learn to better express myself artistically, but was stifled into imitating someone else's creative expression.  I remember a poster on the wall of the Mona Lisa graded.  All the mistakes were pointed out and I think it got a B.  On it was written, "Good job, Leonardo."  That was pretty much what I got from the class.  If even a master's work could not get an A, how would I ever have a chance? Or if a master's work did not have to be perfect to be a work of art, why did mine have to be?  But then, what do I know.  I am still trying to figure out the appeal of paintings that look like a canvas the artist cleaned the brush on.  My artistic desire when it came to drawing or painting was killed that year.  Since then, the only drawing I have done is doodling while on the phone or on the score sheet when the game is slow.  I limit my painting to walls.

I have always loved photography and took a class on art photography my senior year.  It was a hard class, the teacher was demanding.  He seldom gave an A, but he encouraged creativity.  I loved the class.  I do not remember a lot of the details, but I remember some of the key things.  I frequently "grade" professional photos by what I learned.  I think a lot of high end photographers would fail to get an A in his class.  Years later I had a gift certificate for a high priced professional and learned a lot watching him photograph my son.  To this day I am lost if my camera is not nearby.  I like natural photography.  I want to see the detail and relive the moment.  A few years ago I went to an art show featuring the photography of a local artist.  I looked at over-enlarged photos of segments of dying leaves and wondered why it deserved a showing or if people would really pay the high prices to take them home.  Snobbish people stood around discussing how wonderful they were, how she had such an eye.  Perhaps if I had been drinking the wine as freely as they had been I would have seen it, too.  When I am intoxicated by the fragrance and beauty of a rose, I become just as enamored.

"An old crow watching hungrily

From his perch in yonder tree

In my garden I'm as free

As that feather thief up there."

-- The Garden Song

Though I have always been fascinated with growing things and gardening, the extent of my gardening came about by an inability to grow grass.  It quickly became not just a passion, but an artistic expression.  Though I did not realize it at the time, the soil is my canvas and the plants my paint.  I read, I look at pictures, I take what I like and I store the rest in the back of my mind.  Some have suggested I take horticultural classes.  No!  Like in the painting class, I have seen how it limits your imagination.  I want to dream, create, explore.  I want to learn from experience, not just follow someone else's opinion of what makes the "perfect" garden.  Some great combinations have come from what Bob Ross would have called "happy mistakes."  Formal education tells what plants to use and how many.  It is like painting by number.  That is why office building and parking lot landscapes all look alike.  It teaches that you cannot plant just one of something, that Nature plants in multiples or "drifts" and always in an odd number.  The birds in my area (how Nature frequently plants) are not educated enough to count the number of seeds in each dropping to make sure there are three, five or seven, never one, two, four or six seeds.  They are too busy aiming for vehicles and windows anyway, they do not have time to count.  In my garden I frequently have just one volunteer plant come up.  Not everything seeds itself generously.  That is one of the things that makes some seeds or plants more expensive.  There is nothing wrong with "drifts" of one; I like variety, and if well placed, it works.  Those who have been through my garden agree.

"Gardening is the art that uses

flowers and plants as paint,

and the soil and sky as canvas."

-- Elizabeth Murray.

The Perfect Garden

Through time, by nature or circumstance, gardeners and their gardens evolve, as does their opinion of what the perfect garden is.  As I work in different people's gardens, I must remember the details that are important to them.  What one person considers a weed, another considers a treasured plant and maybe wants seedlings dug up to share.  Where one person wants plants left at the end of the season for winter interest, another wants everything cut perfectly at ground level.  Their gardens range from one of everything to specific collections, from cottage to formal.  That is the beauty of my work.  Getting to do different things to see what I want to incorporate into my own garden.

When I first started gardening, as many gardeners, I was the one of everything type.  Free plants were especially desirable.  I wanted to try everything.  As time went by, I determined I had to narrow down plants.  Though an extensive list looks nice on paper, there is not room in my small yard for everything.  Especially when they are plants that love to spread ... the type you most often get for free.  One lady I work for laughs that it took her seventy years to get to the point that she did not have to have every plant, but could be content to say, "I grew that once."  Needless to say, by this point, some more invasive plants are very well established and it can be overwhelming to get rid of them.

Through the one of everything phase I did get a good idea of how plants behave and the type I like.  Without fully realizing it, I amassed some nice collections.  In the evolution of the garden, I took out plants that were not spectacular and grouped various collections together to compliment each other as well as show the extent of the collections.  Because of the work I do, I still get lots of free plants, but I always verify first that they are not invasive.

I suppose that now my perfect garden is an organized cottage garden.  I like the lush informal look of the cottage garden, but I also like specific gardens.  Regardless of how the next gardening year turns out, I can already see my shade gardens overflowing with hostas, accented with heucheras, ferns and various shade plants ... rose gardens filled with fragrance and complimented by peonies, day lilies, mums and a wide variety of perennials and self-sowing annuals ... the xeroscape garden lush with grasses, sedums, iris and other hardy plants ... hens and chicks running over in the Sempervivum bed ... a bountiful crop in the veggie and herb gardens.  I am reminded of a joke that they once did an autopsy on a gardener and found she was full of "next years."

Propagating Roses

You can go online and find tons of information about propagating roses, but in my opinion, a lot of it is unnecessary.  Sure, a lot of what is written may be helpful, especially in certain situations, but it is still mostly just their opinion of what is better, and some people like to overcomplicate things.  It is not that I cannot do it, it is that I do not want to.  I do not want to take the time, I do not want to spend the money and I do not want to waste space with clutter.  There are too many other things I would rather be doing.  So!  Here is the crux of the matter when it comes to rooting rose cuttings.  Take it, modify it to fit your needs and have fun making more plants! *

Fresh rose cutting.

Take the rose cutting, obviously from a healthy rose.  It should be a shoot that has already produced blooms and has hardened off.  If it is still very flexible young growth, even if it has produced a bloom, it will likely wilt and die.  Some of the previous year's growth may be useable as well, but you do not want a stem that has matured and turned brown as it will not be as productive in growing roots.  Not too young or old is the important part.  Size is secondary; sometimes you have to take what you can get.  Best is about the diameter of a pencil, but I have been successful with smaller and larger.  The length should be two to three leaf sets (about four to five inches in length).  Get more than one cutting if you can; backup is always a good idea.  If possible, take the cutting in the early morning or on a cool day for maximum moisture content.  Watering the day before also helps.

If you cannot plant the cutting at the time, be sure to store it properly.  If I get a cutting while I am on a job, I put it in a little dish of water and keep it as shaded as possible until I get home. You can also wrap it in a wet paper towel and put it in a plastic bag.  If it is going to be stored for any length of time, it needs to be on ice or in the refrigerator.  Moist and cool are key.

Prepared cuttings. Note the angle of the cuts.

Prepare the cuttings.  Here you will get lots of advice to cut, slice, peel or otherwise wound the cuttings in order to expose the cambium layer.  This is a bit more precise and I have not found better results for the amount of time it takes.  I simply make a fresh cut at an extreme angle, just below the bottom leaf node, and more than enough of the cambium is exposed to provide a healthy root system.  Obviously make sure the cutting is not upside down. Take the leaves off, do not take the leaves off, it is up to you.  If you leave them on, cut them back to about two leaves per set to help prevent transpiration, and they will likely fall off anyway.  If you cut them off, new ones will grow back soon.  Definitely remove the bottom set of leaves and the remains of any blooms.

Rooting hormone may improve results, but I have had good results with and without.  In my experience, growing conditions (quality soil, moisture, shade and temperature) have played a bigger role in successful rooting than whether or not I used hormone.  If using hormone, put a small amount in another container so as not to contaminate the entire bottle.  I am not using hormone for the roses being rooted here to show how simple the entire process can be.  Willow water (tea made from cuttings of the Salix family) is also effective to promote root growth.

Freshly planted cuttings.

To plant the cuttings, select a shady location, use a tool to create a hole in the soil, put the cutting in deep enough to cover the first set of leaf nodes, gently push the soil into place and water.  Keep watered.  It is a good idea to label the cuttings and you may want to put the date on the tag as well.

My house is in the shape of an L, forming a cool area of shade with the sun blocked from the south and west.  I like to use this area, whether planting directly in the ground or in pots.  If using pots, I have found that large clay pots work best as they do not dry out quickly and allow the soil to breath; a 50/50 mixture of quality potting soil and sand works well.  Again, to show how simple it really is, I am starting these cuttings directly in the ground.  This area has quality soil and a lot of sand for good drainage.  The main things to remember are shade, moisture and drainage.  The cuttings cannot cook in the sun, dry out or stand soggy soil.

After a short period of time, leaves or small shoots may begin to grow.  While this does not necessarily indicate root growth, it is a good sign.  If at any point the cutting turns brown, it has died and should be removed.

Callused over cut and new roots.

Eventually the area around the cut will callus over.  This is the precursor to roots.  While I do not recommend digging cuttings up to look for this as it can fatally damage the cutting, I did so here for demonstration purposes.  This particular cutting, which not only has callused, but has also begun to form roots, is just over a month old.  Other cuttings may take much longer.  Some cuttings root easier than others and the length of time for roots to form varies, depending upon the variety of rose, time of year, temperature and other factors.

Rooted cutting.

After roots have begun to grow, the cuttings start to branch out more.  The rooted cutting shown here is about two and a half months old.  Though you can leave the rooted cuttings where they are for some time longer, I dig and gently pot the roses in high quality potting soil and continue to keep them in an area that only gets morning sun.  Some recommend leaving them this way for quite awhile, and if you are patient or unable to watch them closely to give them the attention they need, so do I. However, I generally can watch them and am not so patient.  If the rose had a healthy set of roots and a fair amount of growth, I leave it in the shaded area for a week or so.  If it was still rather small, I wait longer to gradually harden it off in the sun.  After I put it in the sun, I monitor it for a week or so, returning it to the shade if there is any sign of a problem.  After the plant has hardened off and is thriving in the sun, I wait for a cool day, preferably before a rain, and plant it in soil amended with lots of organic matter. Again, keep the rose watered until it is well established.

* This same basic process can be used to propagate many different plants from cuttings. Patented plants (PP - Plant Patent or PPAF - Plant Patent Applied For) cannot legally be asexually propagated until the patent expires, which is approximately 20 years.

Wait! Don't Grab That Spray!

Some of my Clematis have been looking a bit chewed on lately.  The other day I was looking closely to find the culprit and I saw an odd looking bug.  A lot of people's first response would be to grab the spray, and the thought did cross my mind, but I chose otherwise.  I observed it for awhile and noticed it was looking for something.  If it was the bug who had been chewing on my plant, it would need to look no farther to chomp down.  There was only one of them and bad bugs are rarely alone, so I thought the odds were good that it was a beneficial insect looking for a meal. Examining it closer, it looked like the larva of a lady bug, though it was a different color than I was familiar with.  I had seen a feast of aphids on another plant earlier, and knowing that is a favorite meal of lady bugs and their larva, I took it to them.  Sure enough, it quit searching and munched down.  Had I jumped my guns and sprayed him, I would have been killing my ally and helped the bad guys to grow in their numbers.  That was a lesson learned the hard way.

Lady bug larva on an aphid infested Asclepias.

When I first started gardening, I decided I was going to have the "perfect" garden.  I went to the store and bought a bunch of herbicides and insecticides to kill everything that did not belong in my garden.  The clerk told me that was not a good idea, but what did he know ... he was a chain store checker.  Every day I went outside and diligently sprayed every cucumber beetle and squash bug I could find.  I was going to win this war and have all kinds of veggies, and it seemed to work for awhile.  Key words, "seemed to" and " for awhile."  I went out one day to find pitiful looking plants covered in what I learned to be aphids.  At that point, the battle was over, the bugs won, so I backed off on spraying.  A short time later I was looking and saw a bunch of terrible looking bugs I had never seen before.  These little alligatorish looking bugs had to be bad and I just about grabbed my spray, but my curiosity was stronger than my desire to kill them.  I looked page by page through an old insect book until I found a drawing of what I had seen.  It was lady bug larva. I read a little bit about them and found that they were there to eat the aphids.  They were my allies!

At that point I began diligently going out daily to flick squash bugs into soapy water and crush any of their eggs I could find.  I learned about beneficial nematodes and bought them to eat the larva of cucumber beetles.  I hardly have a problem with either any more.  I have traps for the Japanese beetles and flies; not only do the the ones I trap die, but the more I trap, the fewer there are to reproduce.  I have not found another way to get rid of flea beetles on the eggplants, but I only spray when they are doing extensive damage.  Likewise, I minimally spray the iris for borers.  I have decided to let nature take its course with thrips on the roses because it seems to be a losing battle regardless.

Whenever you spray any pesticide (fungicide, herbicide or insecticide), it kills most of what you are after. Key word, "most."  Those who survive are resistant and spread, creating super weeds or bugs, etc.  In the case of insects, the spray kills both the pests and the beneficials who feed upon them.  Since there has to be a greater ratio of pests for beneficials to survive, not only do more pests survive the insecticide, they also reproduce faster than the beneficials.  Unless there is great destruction, it is best to leave pest insects alone so the beneficial insects can move in and do their job.

Instead of herbicides, be diligent about weeding and use mulch freely.  One year's seeds is seven years' weeds.  Only use herbicides on the most difficult weeds that cannot be pulled or dug. Remember that not all uninvited plants are bad and biodiversity is a good thing.

When pesticides are needed, they should only be sprayed in the early morning or late evening when beneficials, including honey bees, are least active.  Even organic sprays can be toxic to beneficials.  Avoid spraying when there is a breeze to help prevent overspray.  Always make sure what you are spraying, insect or plant, is really an enemy.  Do not necessarily go for the most toxic spray and ALWAYS USE ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS.  More or more often is not better. In fact, it is worse because it adds to the resistance problem which effects everyone and everything.

Update: July 5, 2012 ... Another unidentified insect that turned out to be an ally.  It looked vicious, but there was only one, so before killing it, I took the time to find out what it was.  While it can inflict a painful bite to humans, the wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) is also a beneficial insect that among other things eats Japanese beetles.

Arilus cristatus - wheel bug nymph

Also see Beneficial Insects and Why Organic Garden?

Down the Chocolate Path

As with all gardeners, my style has evolved through the years.  At one point, much of the hardscape of my garden was reused/recycled materials.  For years I had a little pathway of recycled bricks.  Weeds became an issue, so Jim put landscape fabric under them.  That became a problem because the bricks could not seat themselves into place and the edge ones would often flip up.  Jim was going to take them all up, add sand and reseat them, but as he began the project, a different idea came to my mind.  Mulch!

Most mulch is chunky and I did not want that for a path.  I wanted something fine.  Pea gravel would be perfect ... for awhile.  However, it is hard to keep clean and it is hard to change if I change my mind, which has been known to happen.

At the botanical garden I used to work at, one of the areas had previously been mulched with cocoa hulls.  By the time I started, most had broken down, but there was enough left that I was fascinated with it.  A year or so ago I saw bags of it at Menards and was still impressed with it, but did not know exactly where I could use it at the time.  It immediately came to mind when I thought of mulching the path.

It looks wonderful!  The bag recommends a depth of one inch, but Jim put it two to three inches deep, so it is a bit loose to walk on.  Wetting it is supposed to make it mat down and perhaps it will compact with time.  The one thing about it that I did not fully realize is how fragrant it is. Throughout the whole yard is the smell of a baking cake!

The big warning with cocoa hull mulch is if you have dogs.  They may be attracted to it, and chocolate is toxic to dogs.  The bag recommends dog repellant if that is an issue.

Cheese Fly Larva

June 21, 2012 update:  After a bit of rain, gazillions of little worms started jumping like popcorn, but only on the cocoa mulch path.  A little searching, and it appears to be cheese fly larva.  I am not sure about this one, whether the mulch is a good thing to use or not, but considering that we have since put the mulch on some garden beds, there is not much that can be done about it now. I suppose the flies have always been around anyway, so the only difference now is that I know about them.

Cheese Fly

September 12, 2012 update:  I decided to use cocoa mulch on gardens throughout the yard.  A few of the larva appeared a time or two after the initial hatching, but it does not seem to be an ongoing occurrence.  I suppose after the oil and smell dissipate, so does the attraction.

Thrips :(

The rose bushes outdid themselves this spring when producing buds.  We had a few frosts afterwards, so I assumed that was what caused the damage on some of the buds.  But wait! Newer buds were looking a bit damaged, too.  Hmm ... the plants all looked fine, so surely it would grow out of it.

A few days ago I was working at the Rose Lady's house.  Some of her roses had the same damage.  I asked her if it was frost or what.  She said it may have been, but last year she had problems with thrips, so they may be back.

Thrips?  Home to the internet I came and checked it out.  Come to find out, they are tiny little bugs that burrow deep into the buds and are very hard to get rid of.  I went out and pulled back the calyx of some of the bad looking buds, and sure enough, little critters scampered out of sight.  I looked into the petals of the open roses and found them in many of them, too.  What to do now? A lot of experimenting.

Thrips look like tiny slivers inside the rose bud.

I began with the first suggestion, something that was very painful to do.  I cut all of the flowers and buds from 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' and 'Graham Thomas' and threw them in the trash.  From what I have read, that disrupts the life cycle enough that it may get rid of them.  My well established unknown rose appeared free of thrips at first glance.

After that, recommendations became conflicting.  Some sources recommended a systemic pesticide (the pesticide is drawn into the vascular system of the plant, making the plant toxic to the insects eating it), so I immediately bought Bayer Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed.  I then double checked the unknown rose and found that it did, indeed have thrips.  Being so abundantly full of buds and blooms, I could not bring myself to cut it back, so I simply applied the systemic pesticide while I was treating the other two roses.  Then, upon doing more research, some sources said that the vascular system of the plant differs from that of the flower, so systemic pesticides do not work.

Some sources recommended Neem oil while others said it does not work because the thrips burrow into the rose and do not necessarily come into contact with it.  Being as it does not harm beneficial insects unless they are sprayed with it, I bought some, and late in the evening, sprayed the unknown rose.  That, too, appeared to be pointless.

Today I finally gave the Rose Lady a call to ask her what she uses.  She did not know the name of it, but told me to come by and she would give me some.  The product turned out to be Conserve SC.  I had an internal battle as to whether or not to use it, but in the end I did.  I hate using pesticides, but if I am going to have roses, it may be necessary from time to time.

In my research, some people were able to exterminate thrips and they never came back.  That is what I am hoping for, because if pesticides are routinely necessary for roses, to me it is not worth it.

All of the sources stressed a few things.  Tackle thrips as soon as they are spotted because they multiply so quickly.  Keep debris from around the base of the roses to help prevent thrips from overwintering.  Always throw spent roses in the trash rather than in the compost to prevent spreading thrips.  Flooding the base of the roses may be useful in drowning thrips in the soil, which is where part of their life cycle is usually spent.

For more information see http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html.

May 29, 2012 update:  A few days after spraying, it appeared as though all thrips had disappeared.  Then they started reappearing, so after seven days, I resprayed.  Today, on one of the newly rooted cuttings that had not been sprayed, I saw that the only bud was badly damaged by thrips.  Since Conserve should only be sprayed twice in a season, I decided to take drastic measures to try to get rid of all the thrips and prevent reinfestation.  I removed all buds and blooms from all roses and pruned back the larger roses rather hard, putting everything I removed in the trash. I then used a nozzle with a harder spray to wash off the remaining foliage on the roses that had not been treated with systemic pesticide and later sprayed them with Neem to get those I had missed.  I flooded the soil around all of the roses, as I have been doing about every other day, and sprayed the newly rooted roses with Conserve since they had not yet been treated.  If this does not work, I do not know what will.

June 2, 2012 update:  Though I have not purchased it and hopefully will not need to, I have learned of a new product called Naturalis O that may be worth trying.

July 19, 2012 update:  With the heat of summer, the thrips have all but disappeared.  Cooler weather is when they make their comeback.  Hopefully by then beneficial insects will have gotten them under control.

September 19, 2012 update:  After a very hot and dry summer, cool weather and rain have arrived. I keep check for any signs of thrips, but as yet, have found none.

See Beneficial Insects for an update and further information.