Overwintering Tender Perennials Indoors

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
             
While perennials are hardy in their native climates, if they aren’t in yours but die with cold in fall, they can be considered tender.  Many of what we consider annuals in our climate are in reality perennials in their native habitats, such as annual geraniums (Pelargonium), salvia, snapdragon, begonia, and impatiens.  Whether annuals, summer bulbs, woody plants such as hibiscus, or exotic plants such as angel’s trumpet, knowing which of the four main climates they prefer will help them to live (or to remain dormant in the case of summer bulbs such as canna and dahlia) successfully indoors all winter. 

Sunny and warm conditions can be provided by windows facing east, south, or west in warm living areas.  Temperatures should remain between 60 and 70 degrees F.  A heated greenhouse or solarium also can provide such conditions.  The cooler the temperature, the drier you should keep the soil.  These plants require as much light as possible.  If plants become spindly with thin leaves, consider adding supplemental light or moving plants to a southern exposure if possible and not there already.  Sunny and warm mimics the winter conditions for many tropical plants.  Plants keep their leaves, and growth slows but remains active.
           
Some common “annuals” that prefer sunny and warm conditions include coleus, begonia, impatiens, lantana, thunbergia, and Egyptian stars (Pentas).  Hibiscus prefers these conditions too.  Flowering maple (Abutilon), fuchsia, begonia, and succulents often survive fine near windows with east or west exposures.  Succulents include such plants as aloe, jade plant and its relatives (Crassula), and kalanchoe.
           
Sunny and cool conditions can be provided in an unheated sunporch or guest room, minimally heated entry halls, or a cool greenhouse.  Temperatures should remain between 45 and 55 degrees F ideally, or at least above freezing.  These cool temperatures help prevent insect problems as an added benefit.  The goal with sunny and cool is to keep plants from growing, or growing very slowly, most the winter.  They are provided a rest period, and so are low maintenance.
           
Most tender perennials prefer sunny and cool winters indoors.  Mediterranean plants such as pomegranate and rosemary, citrus such as lemons and miniature oranges, and silvery plants such as lavender prefer sunny and cool winters.  Some South African natives such as lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus) and annual geranium are in this group, as are the Australian hebes.  Tropical “annuals” in this group include cigar flowers (Cuphea), summer snapdragon (Angelonia), and sages (Salvia).  Many subtropical and tropical woody plants prefer sunny and cool winters, such as oleander, gardenia, osmanthus, and angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia).  Some such as fuchsia and hibiscus do well under these conditions as well as with sunny and warm, just with less growth.
           
Dark and damp conditions are useful for a handful of plants, especially tubers (swollen roots) of sweet-potato vine, dahlia, and canna.  Store tubers in a plastic bin or bag in a barely moist, not wet, material such as sawdust or peat moss.  Fountain grasses (Pennisetum) in pots can be cut back to 6 to 12 inches, and stored here as well.  Some even have luck in dark and damp winters with pots of salvias and geraniums that normally need more light.  Provide these conditions in an unheated cellar, garage, or crawl space.  Lacking those, a cool closet may work.  Temperatures for cool and damp mean between 35 and 50 degrees F. 
           
Dark and dry conditions are needed for a handful of tender perennials, gladiolus corms being the most common.  Some salvia in this wide-ranging genus can be stored here, unless they have formed tubers that should be stored damp.  Similar to dark and damp, cool temperatures should range between 35 and 50 degrees F.
           
Plants dropping their leaves may be a sign of too cool, too much water (rotting roots), adjusting from high light outdoors to lower light indoors (in which case you should see new leaves soon), or simply may be normal.  Some woody plants such as angel’s trumpet, butterfly bush, fig, and lantana normally lose their leaves in winter.  They can be shaped, left in their pots without repotting (so not to stimulate new growth), and kept barely moist but not wet until growth resumes with the longer days of spring.
           
Much more on the correct conditions for many individual plants, as well as tips on such topics as problems and propagation, can be found in the excellent reference from Storey Publishing by Alice and Brian McGowan, Bulbs in the Basement Geraniums on the Windowsill.

A Garden of Ghoulish Delights

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont 
  
Halloween, with its make-believe ghosts, goblins, and witches, comes but once a year. But you can keep the spirit of Halloween alive by choosing plants for theme gardens that conjure up thoughts of this spooky day. 

Granted, it’s too late in the year to actually plant the garden, and most of the plants wouldn’t survive fall frosts and still be around for Halloween. But that shouldn’t stop you from planning for next year now while the spirit of the season is at hand. 

Chances are you may already have plants in your garden with ghoulish connections. While we all know that the broomstick-riding witches associated with Halloween don’t really exist, folklore tells us that once upon a time anyone who was a bit different risked being called a “witch” or being accused of having special powers. Sometimes a woman was declared a “witch,” simply because of the plants she grew in her garden, plants thought to be used for casting spells. 

Do you have witches’ thimbles, devil’s nettle, fool’s parsley, or wolf’s bane in your garden? If you do, and this was several centuries ago, the talk around town might be that you are a “witch.” Don’t recognize any of those names? You may know them by other names. 

Witches’ thimbles is another name for foxglove, a biennial with tall spikes of large, bell-shaped white, pink, purple, or red flowers. It’s a source of digitalis, a heart medicine. 

Devil’s nettle or yarrow was once used as a poultice for wounds. This plant comes in a variety of colors and grows to heights of two to four feet.  While some species are tall and yellow, many newer cultivars (cultivated varieties) are short, don’t spread, and come in a range of colors. 

Fool’s parsley is a hemlock herb, not to be confused with the tree although just as deadly. Wolf’s bane, or aconite, has small yellow flowers. In the 1500s it was mixed with English yew, powdered glass, arsenic, and a number of other deadly ingredients to make pills. A word of caution.: if you plant any of these poisonous plants, be sure to keep curious kids and pets away. 

According to folklore, other plants that “witches” grew in their gardens include cumin and verbena (both for love potions), opium poppies (sleep potions), and morning glories (wicked spells). “Witches” also mixed monkshood, which has spiky purple blooms, with cinquefoil, belladonna, water parsnips, and ashes to make a strong potion that allowed them to talk to spirits “on the other side.” An ointment of monkshood and belladonna supposedly made objects fly. 

These folklore witches also made sure they planted flowers from every birth sign, so they would have the ingredients needed to cast spells on everyone. Chrysanthemums, heather, and thorns were needed for power over a Scorpio. Someone born under the sign of Aquarius could be “hexed” with potions using foxglove and snowdrops. 

For your witches’ theme garden, you also need to plant three or four rows of red flowers–nasturtiums, geraniums, zinnias, vinca, and monarda, for instance–around the edges of the garden to keep “witch hunters” away. 

To keep “witches” out, border your garden with yellow and green flowers and foliage. Plant marigolds, rudbeckia, sunflowers, green zinnias, and Bells of Ireland, for example. These colors remind “witches” of the sun (which they supposedly hate), so they will keep their distance. 

Another way to create a Halloween theme garden is to plant only orange and black flowers. While some gardeners may argue that there are few true black flowers, many near-black flowers are available, especially in the iris and tulip families. There are also some pretty black pansies that will last into fall and maybe even to Halloween. Grow these with an orange variety called “Jolly Joker.” You can find deep maroon (almost black) varieties of bachelor’s buttons, snapdragons, cosmos, sunflowers, and gladioli. Check seed catalogs and ask the experts at your garden center for other varieties. 

For orange, it’s easier. Many common flowers like zinnias, marigolds, daylilies, and cosmos all come in orange. You also might try butterfly weed, orange nasturtiums, and oriental poppies. Of course many fall chrysanthemums are found in shades of orange. 

While not in Halloween colors, “spiky” perennials with their sinister or ghostly appearance can be used for contrast or accent.  Popular in recent years is the artichoke or cardoon with its large silvery, deeply cut and sharply pointed silvery-white leaves.  Or try other silvery spiky perennials such as globe thistle or sea holly.  Yucca, or Spanish dagger, has several cultivars all with long leaves with needle-like tips. 

Or instead, how about plants with creepy names like bloodroot, bleeding heart, Dragon’s blood sedum, or blood lily for your theme garden? Or scary names like snapdragon and devil’s tongue (also known as the voodoo lily)? 

Add a few stone gargoyles or folk art, such as that found at craft shows, like pumpkin clay pots (for candles) or pumpkin and Halloween character silhouettes carved out of wood. Or how about some orange and ghostly green lighting for the garden? With a Halloween theme garden, you can enjoy this October holiday for many months of the year!

 

Yet Another New Plant Pest

Dr. Leonard Perry

University of Vermont Extension

 

This time of soft fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, and perhaps grapes; if you grow or even buy such from local markets, you may want to read on if you haven’t heard of the Spotted Wing Fruit Fly before. One way it differs from the usual fruit fly is that it can infect fruit already picked, so when you get them home maggots may appear in them.  This insect is now spreading through northern states including Vermont and Maine and Michigan.  Below is from a news release by Dr,. Vern Grubinger of UVM Extension in late August.  Note that late fall may be a good time to trap any adults.

“A new fruit pest, the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), has arrived in Vermont.

This small fly feeds on many different cultivated and wild fruits but is a particular threat to soft fruits that ripen in the late summer and fall. SWD is likely to be a significant problem in small fruits such as blueberries, fall raspberries and grapes as well as tree fruits including peaches and cherries. So far it appears that early season fruit such as strawberries and hard fruit such as apples will be less impacted, but more information is needed.

SWD was first spotted in southern Vermont and parts of New England in fall 2011 and in recent weeks it has become widespread across the state and the region. With this pest being so new to the United States–it was first found in on the west coast in 2008–little is known about how big an impact it will have and what management tactics will be most effective.

The scientific name for this invasive pest from Asia is Drosophila suzukii. It looks very similar to the fruit flies that typically feed on and fly around overripe fruit on a kitchen counter. However, unlike these flies, it feeds on healthy, intact fruits as they ripen. Once a crop has finished fruiting, the flies move on to other crops.

To the naked eye, SWD is hard to tell apart from other species of small flies. A hand lens or microscope is needed to see its identifying features.

Like other fruit flies it is small, only one-twelfth to one-eighth inch long, but it has yellowish-brown coloration and prominent red eyes. The males have a dark spot near the edge of each of their clear wings (thus their common name). However, some other species of small flies also have spots on their wings, so SWD is a bit tricky to positively identify.

If you see fruit flies swarming in the evening around ripening fruit in the garden or on the farm that is a pretty good clue that you have SWD. To date, they have only been found outdoors. Fruit flies found indoors are likely to be a different species.

What makes this insect such a concern for farmers and gardeners is that the females have a saw-like egg-laying structure, which they use to puncture firm, ripening fruit. Once deposited in the fruit, the eggs quickly hatch into small larvae that feed inside the fruit, causing discoloration and decay. Sometimes these symptoms won’t show up until after harvest. In addition to the damage from larvae, infested fruit becomes susceptible to fungi and bacteria that cause softening and rot.

SWD has a short life cycle with many generations per year. After the larvae feed, they pupate and later emerge as adults ready to mate and lay more eggs. Thus, populations can build up over the summer and fall. It overwinters as an adult. Its ability to survive in Vermont is not known, but since it has overwintered successfully in Michigan, it is likely to be able to survive here, too.

Extension specialists suggest several tactics for managing this pest. Timely harvest and sanitation are important to reduce local buildup of SWD populations. This means frequent picking of a crop to ensure ripe fruits are removed from the field as soon as possible and removing and destroying any old fruit remaining on stems.

Fine-mesh row covers may be able to exclude the pest if placed over a crop before any fruit starts to ripen, but this technique needs field research to prove that it works well enough to justify the expense. Certain insecticides will kill SWD, but frequent spraying is needed to adequately protect a fruit crop during the harvest period.

Insecticides must be used according to the label, which often includes a lengthy waiting period until harvest can resume after spraying. For home gardeners and organic growers, alternating sprays of two natural insecticides can protect fruit if the sprays are applied before the insects lay eggs in the fruit.

Both spinosad and pyrethrins have a short waiting period and are available in formulations allowed for organic production. Keep in mind that overuse of an insecticide can cause the target pest to develop resistance to it. Use of any insecticide also poses risks to honeybees and other pollinators if a crop is still in bloom. In that case, sprays should be applied in the evening when pollinators are less active.

Trapping may be an effective means of reducing overwintering SWD populations. In late fall, once all ripe fruit is gone in an area, the adults can be attracted to and trapped in plastic cups or small buckets baited with apple cider vinegar plus a drop of dish detergent so the flies will drown.

For more information check out these four factsheets developed by Penn State University Extension: “
http://extension.psu.edu/vegetable-fruit/blog/2012/spotted-wing-drosophila-fact-sheets-completed-and-online

 

Gorgeous Grape Hyacinths

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
 
    
One of the best ways for gardeners to chase away the winter blues is with the blue grape hyacinths.  A spring flowering bulb, it is planted in the fall.  Although considered a “minor” bulb, being shorter and less common than daffodils and tulips for instance, it contrasts well with most other bulbs, and is striking when planted in masses. 

Grape hyacinths are so named because their dense flower stalks, usually about 6 inches high, are comprised of many small flowers (florets) resembling grapes.  Their scientific name (Muscari) comes from the Latin word for musk, referring to their slight scent.  Depending on the species, they come from the Asia Minor region and all around the Mediterranean.  While some selections were made in the last decade, the oldest in cultivation date back 400 years or more.

While there are over 40 species, generally less than 10 and their cultivars (cultivated varieties) are found in catalogs and stores.  Grape hyacinths are related to other spring bulbs such as hyacinths, squill (Scilla), and striped squill (Puschkinia).  Formerly in the lily family, these are now placed by botanists in either the hyacinth or asparagus families.

The various grape hyacinths generally are placed into one of 4 groups, with some botanists considering one or more of these as different genera.  The Leopoldia group is one of these, with taller plants (8 to 12 inches high), and florets spaced less densely along the stems.  Florets are urn-shaped, flower in late spring, and are in colors other than blue.  One species (comosum ) commonly found in this group, the tassel hyacinth, is one of the oldest introductions dating back to 1596.  It has dark purple florets, while the related ‘Plumosum’ feather hyacinth cultivar dating to 1612 has feathery plumes of reddish violet.

The Pseudomuscari group is another that some consider a separate genus, comprising species that are small, often pale to bright blue, and flowering in early spring.  Florets of this group are an open urn shape.  A more common species in this group (azureum) was introduced in 1859 from the alpine meadows of eastern Turkey.

The Muscarimia group has one of the oldest species (muscarimi), introduced to cultivation in 1554.  It has soft yellow florets with amber edges, with lavender florets on top of the stalks.  Native to dry, sunny, and hot hillsides of Turkey and surrounding regions, this species is less cold hardy (USDA zone 5) than most of its relatives.  A related species (macrocarpum) in this group has yellow flowers that turn purple as they age, or in the cultivar ‘Golden Fragrance’ they are yellow with a purple top. 

The fourth and most common group of grape hyacinths, often considered the “true” ones, are those grouped under Botryanthus.  The namesake species (botryoides) comes originally from Italy, and while once the most common is now seldom seen.  You may find a white version of this species, or the cultivar ‘Superstar’ with thick stems and periwinkle-blue florets edged with white.  Other species of this group may have dark blackish-blue flowers (neglectum), bright blue with white edges on florets (aucheri) or its cultivar ‘Mount Hood’ (one of my favorites) which is cobalt blue with a white top, or deep violet-blue with a periwinkle-blue top (latifolium).  The latter originally came in 1886 from open pine forests in northwest Turkey.

Perhaps the most common grape hyacinth species and its cultivars (armeniacum) are also in this latter group. These have florets that are either sterile, or closed tightly so they can’t be easily pollinated.  This means that they often stay in bloom longer.  ‘Cantab’ is shorter than the species and flowers later.  ‘Cote d’Azur’,  introduced in 1987, has a rich lobelia-blue color.  ‘Blue Spike’ has double, cobalt-blue flowers.  ‘Saffier’ has an unusual coloration– green flowers that mature to a dusky blue from the top down.   

Then you may find cultivars not in any one group, likely hybrids of species, including a couple of common ones.  ‘Dark Eyes’ has sapphire-blue flowers with white rims, coming from the Caucasus region in 1969.  ‘Valerie Finnis’ with its lovely pale blue flowers came from a garden in England, and is named after the plantswoman who found it.

Grape hyacinths are easy to care for, simply needing full sun and a well-drained soil for best growth.  They will tolerate part shade, and some soil acidity, but prefer a neutral to slightly alkaline soil.  Mix in a small amount of bulb food or just compost when planting, and give some fertility in spring after bloom.  As with other bulbs, depth of planting should be about twice their height– about 2 inches deep.

Unlike other bulbs, these begin growth in late summer, with the grass-like leaves remaining through the winter.  In cold climates, particularly with insufficient snow cover, these leaves may get injured and look poor in spring but usually recover.  Grape hyacinths grow well in USDA zones 4 through 8, often into zone 3 with good snow cover. 

Grape hyacinths are most effective planted in masses, although small groups of 3 to 5 may be interplanted among other bulbs or among perennials such as primrose and low creeping phlox, or may be naturalized in open woodlands.  If in masses, use natural swaths and curves rather than formal blocks or long rows.  They are often used along walks and in rock gardens.

 

The Fragrance of Roses

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont

Most when they see a rose bend down to sniff.  If you’re like me, you probably never really thought much about rose fragrance except if it’s missing, faint, or how nice it is.  Just what gives a rose its wonderful fragrance, and how this is used, is complex and fascinating.

Roses have been around and are documented longer than most of our garden plants.  The earliest record of them seems to be rose leaves found in the Colorado Rockies, dating back 35 to 32 million years to the Paleolithic era.  First mention of them, and their appearance in artistic motifs, was in Asia about 3000BC, with mention elsewhere about 2300 BC.

The fragrance of roses was valued by the Romans, used to scent rooms and after bathing.  Cleopatra supposedly filled a room over a foot deep with rose petals while wooing Marc Anthony.  The two main roses used in this era were the Damask and Gallica types.

Rose oil, often seen as “attar of roses” or “rose otto”, was probably first made in 10th century Persia.  This was the first import of roses to Europe, leading to the subsequent growing of the plants there.

Prior to the Victorian era of the late 1800’s, fragrance in flowers was used for functions such as medicinally or to hide odors.  This period saw the use of flowers in gardens and homes merely for their pleasing fragrance.  This era also saw the first attempts to define and classify scents.  Yet, it wasn’t until later in the last century that the seven main rose scents were accepted, and the responsible chemicals identified.

The seven main rose scents are rose (or damask), nasturtium, orris (which is similar to violets), violets, apple, clove, and lemon (the fruit, not the blossoms).  Orris is a compound used to fix or preserve odors.  Then there are 26 other less common odors you may smell in roses.  These include such diverse ones as honeysuckle, moss, hyacinth, honey, wine, marigold, peppers, parsley, and fruits such as raspberry.

Scent in roses, depending on which one, comes from one or more of over 300 chemical compounds.  Yet in rose oil, only four make up less than one percent but produce over 90 percent of the fragrance.

If you think rose scent is getting complicated, consider how we smell.  These chemicals evaporate and our nose receptors pick up the volatile compounds.  Each of these evaporate at a different rate, which means that rose fragrance will change over time.  For example, clove evaporates 36 times more slowly than citrus, so once you pick up a citrus scent it can disappear with the clove scent appearing later.

Scent not only changes over time, but with time of day.  Early morning is when scents are strongest, the oils most powerful, and so when roses are harvested for rose oil.  Rose scent may be more powerful with the first blooms of summer.  Rose scent even can change from outdoors to indoors.  Just the cutting can change the chemical releases that we smell, so a rose not very fragrant outdoors may be quite scented once in a vase inside.

The other fact to keep in mind is that scent in flowers, including roses, is not meant by nature for us but rather for the pollinators of the flowers.  Scents in flowers are signals to those pollinators such as some bees to come visit the flowers, and are often smelled before they see the flowers.  Flowers release scent when they are ready to be pollinated, which in roses often translates to a more powerful scent when flowers are half open.

In general, roses with the best scents are darker colors, have more petals, and have thick or velvety petals.  Red and pink roses often smell like what we term “rose”.  White and yellows often smell of violets, nasturtium, and lemon.  Orange roses often smell of fruits, violets, nasturtium, and clove.

Most true rose oil comes from Bulgaria, Morocco, Iran, Turkey, and more recently from China.  The oil is extracted from the petals either with alcohol or through distillation.  The true oil is very expensive as it takes about 250 pounds of petals to make a mere ounce of oil.  For this reason, rose oil is often diluted with similarly scented oils such as geraniol from geraniums, or even the synthetic phenylethanol.  While fine for fragrance uses, and excellent for making them affordable, if using rose oil medicinally you need the true oil and not a product marked “fragrance”.

Rose oil has been used medicinally from the ancient Chinese, through medieval times, even through the present.  One use is for skincare, especially for dry, sensitive, and aging skin.  Another use is as a mild sedative, antidepressant, and for stress conditions.  Rose oil (or tea from the petals) may help digestion, stomach ailments, or sore throat.  Vitamins A, C, and P come from roses.  Rose scent even may aid memory.  In a German study, people spritzed with rose scent during a memory exercise, then again while sleeping, had 13 percent better recall.

The next time you smell a rose, try and discern some of the many possible scents and how they change over time and under different conditions.

 

Prepping your Garden for a Vacation

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
 
Of course we’re not talking about getting your garden ready to take a vacation, but rather to survive while you take one.  How long you will be away, as well as what kinds of plants and gardens you have, will determine whether you need to think about more than just watering.

If you’ll only be gone for a day or two, as on a long weekend, you may not need to do much at all.  Container plantings and pots (I always seem to have some large plants that haven’t gotten in the ground yet) will need the most attention during vacations, even if short.  If you’re gone just a few days, you can just move them out of the sun into a shady site, or even a cool garage.  They’ll lose much less water there.  If soil is showing in large containers, cover with an inch or two of mulch such as pine bark or cocoa shells. Or, if not too large, you can sink the pots up to their rims into a bed or pile of wood chips or bark, and water all well.

If you know early in the season, when planting, that you may be taking a vacation later, put into the potting mix some water absorbing gels.  These especially are great in hanging baskets, even if you aren’t going on vacation.  They absorb water, releasing it to the mix as it dries. Keep in mind too that clay pots will dry out much quicker than plastic ones.
 
Another option is to plant into self-watering containers.  These are especially popular with houseplants.  They often consist of a pot with a false bottom, to which water is added, and that wicks up into the soil through a fabric of some sort.  You can even make one of these yourself.  There are other devices you can buy, or make, that basically wick water from a bucket or tube into the pot.  You may find a plastic tube with holes to screw on a large soda bottle filled with water,  that you invert and push into the soil.  The water will slowly drip from the holes in the tube into the soil over a day or more.

In the garden, watering well before you leave may last a week, depending on the weather.  Best is to start watering early in the season, as needed, deeply and less often.  This will “train” the plants to not need water daily, the roots going deeper and not growing just near the surface.  If you have lots of plants and gardens, too many to all water if it doesn’t rain, just focus on the new plantings this year, vegetables, and more special (or expensive) trees and shrubs.  Even a couple inches of organic mulch, such as bark or pine needles, and straw in the vegetable garden, will help conserve moisture and slow down weeds from coming up.  Lay a lightweight white fabric, as used for frost protection, over annuals and vegetables to help retain moisture, slow down water loss from leaves, and help keep away insect pests.

If you’ll be gone for longer periods, or vacation more often, you may want to invest in an automatic watering system.  More expensive are ones you have professionally installed, that may even run off mini computers, similar to athletic fields and golf courses.  Rather inexpensive, on the other hand, are soaker hoses made of recycled materials.  Water slowly seeps out of these hoses that you lay throughout the beds, or along garden rows under mulch.  You can have a house sitter turn these on as directed or needed, or you can put these on timers.  The timers are relatively inexpensive devices, found at many home and garden stores, that you put on the faucet and then attach to the hose. 

You’ll want to plan a few weeks out to make sure your beds are weeded, otherwise these will take up water your plants need, will create competitive stress for them, and may be hard to get under control once you’re home again.  Then check plants a couple days before leaving to make sure no pests, and treat if so.

In addition to watering, you’ll want to make sure your lawn is mowed before leaving.  This may last a week or 10 days, depending on weather.  You don’t want to mow extra low, as this will only stress the grass.  Better to have it be high when you return, then mow once again and again lower in a few days.  Beware if you have a well-meaning friend mow that they don’t scalp your lawn either!

If you have repellents out for deer, make sure to rotate them or add new ones.  They are quick learners, and if they learn that a noise or smell isn’t an issue, they’ll move in to feed while you’re away.   If you have a smell repellent, move it elsewhere and add another type.  Lights and sound especially should be rotated every few days around the garden. 

If you have herbs, pinch flowers off so new growth will develop.  If they’re ready to harvest, do so and dry while you’re away.  Pick any produce from the garden or fruits that are ripe, or that can continue to ripen once picked.  Otherwise they can get too large, lose flavor, rot, fall off, and cause disease.  Letting a plant sitter harvest your garden while you’re gone may be an enticing benefit for them to help you.

Don’t plant within a month or so before going on vacation, so you’ll be around to water and tend the plantings until they become somewhat established.   Don’t fertilize annuals just before leaving, as this will just stimulate new growth that needs more water.  You can if you’ll have a reliable plant sitter tending them daily. Wait until cooler at the end of the season to fertilize perennials.  Don’t fertilize shrubs and trees in the north after the first part of July, as doing so will stimulate new growth that doesn’t harden properly before fall.

If you’ll be gone for  more than a few days, or have lots of containers that dry out quickly, you may need to line up a plant sitter.  Make it easy on them, starting with a list so they don’t forget certain plants or tasks.  Walk through what needs doing, such as how much water to add.  Group containers so they’re easier to water, even into lower and higher water groups. You might even consider banding with friends or neighbors that can work together to take turns tending each others gardens while away.  Don’t forget to bring back a thank you gift for your plant sitter!

Lupine pests and blister beetles

Dr. Leonard Perry

University of Vermont Extension Horticulturist

 

Have lupines?  If so, how did they bloom this year?  If poorly or worse, chewed, perhaps they had one of the two main pests of lupines– aphids and blister beetles.  I heard of the latter here in Vermont for the first time this year.  The species (there are several dozen) seen here was distinctive with its elongated black body about an inch or so, and orange legs (Lytta saydi).  This beetle in the Meloidae family is a natural biological control for grasshoppers, feeding on eggs, and of ground bees.  In years with more grasshoppers, or regions such as the midwest, it can be more of a problem.  It is often listed as a pest on some field crops in the midwest such as alfalfa.  In home gardens it can also chew up other legumes such as the false indigo (Baptisia).  Luckily the blister beetle only has one generation per year.

A forceful hosing off with a stream of water every couple days may be all that is needed for either pest.  If using insecticides listing beetles (organic or synthetic), make sure and apply according to the label.  Spinosad and products containing neem are often seen recommended for these pests. If hand picking beetles, use gloves as they can secrete a toxic compound causing blisters (hence the name).

Many species of blister beetles produce cantharidin, a toxic compound similar in effect to strychnine. Yet this has been used since Greek and Roman times medicinally and as an aphrodisiac.  Such obviously is not recommended, and this is only used in limited applications by veterinarians.  The compound is in the blood of the insect as a defense mechanism if attacked, or is used by the female to coat the eggs for protection.