North Shore Gardener June 2007

Miltonia - BBarger

Photo: BBarger

June 6, 2007: Desert Cactus, Christmas Cactus, Avocado Tree

Desert cactus not blooming
Q: Some years ago I was presented with a little green cactus in a pot. It is now about 7 inches tall and is surrounded by about 40 offshoot cacti. Although it gets full east window sun and probably too much water, it has never bloomed. How can I tell if it will ever bloom?
S.B. –

A: Can't tell without seeing it what kind of cactuses you have – but over-watering might very well be the problem. (Note that cacti OR cactuses is now accepted as the correct plural!!!) Also, do you allow temperatures to drop at night? A cactus in a desert area experiences a drop of temp most nights. Cactuses live a long time, and the varieties that live the longest are often the slowest to bloom. Some don't bloom for decades! Maybe your forty-40 some off-shoot cactuses aren't mature enough to bloom yet? And all cactus flowers aren't brilliant and beautiful - some blend right in with the plant and are very small and unnoticeable. Could you have overlooked a bloom? Some blooms only last for a day or so...... If you could send me a picture, I could try to identify your plant and give you more exact information.

Christmas cactus emergency
Q: I was at a hospital waiting room the other day when I spotted a once beautiful cactus that had wilted and drooped and seemed like it was ready to take its last breath. I checked the soil and it was dry, sitting in a large ceramic pot. The minute I touched the stem of one of the main stalks, the whole fan of leaves shooting from that stalk fell off the plant and soon the others followed until there was nearly nothing left on the main stalk at all. The nurse there said I could take the plant home because I told her I would like to do all I could to bring it back. I cut the main plant back to 3 dry stalks and a very large root ball and gave it water. Then beside it I dug a few small holes, cut the fallen off stalks (which revealed green inside) and tucked them in and gave them a very small amount of water. A couple of others I stuck in water filled vase, hoping they might root. Please tell me if any of what I am doing may help bring this old beauty back and if not then what I must do to bring it back or is it possible

A: Weren't you nice to take the ailing plant! The Christmas cactus should root easily. I find the easiest way is to put them in water for a few days to re-hydrate them - then dip the cut end in a rooting hormone like Hormonex or Rootone and plant in moist soil - this past year, I had new cuttings which showed their gratitude by blooming a very few months after rooting!. The old, woody center part of the plant may not recover - older plants form such a hard root ball that water doesn't penetrate and the plant withers and shrivels and dies. You did the best you could and will probably have several new, young healthy plants from the pieces you've rooted! Let me know how it grows!

Growing an avocado tree
Q: I read with interest about your avocado tree that you grew from a seed. You see, I've been trying to grow one for years. Almost every avocado that I eat, I try and try to sprout some roots to no avail. The seed sits in the water, looks like it's going to crack open but never does. The crack is really just the outermost coating to the seed. What is the secret to cracking this case? I am yearning for the beautiful avocado plant.
Thank you, S.H.

A:-And you shall have an avocado tree by the end of the summer!! Start with a ripe avocado. This can best be determined by gentle thumb pressure on the stem end, much as you would determine the ripeness of a melon. Make friends with the produce person - overly ripe fruit is considered unsalable - and sometimes, he might save an over-ripe avocado for you, particularly if he knows you're going to grow it. Take the fruit home, and remove the pit very gently from the fruit - make guacamole if you want. Carefully wash the pit under WARM water, removing the brown paper-thin coating - don't scrape it off, just rub off what removes gently. Stick four toothpicks in the seed, about a third of the way from the bottom end - the bottom end is the flatter end and the root will grow from here. Suspend the seed in a wide, deep glass of warm water, and place it in a dimly-lit warm place - it doesn't need sun or bright light at this time, so a dim shelf is fine - but remember to ALWAYS keep the water level constant. Use warm water to refill the glass to the proper level - one day of drying will ruin the growing plant. Unless the seed is sterile, the seed will split and sprout in a few weeks. Don’t give up - it could take as long as a month. When the sprout is about 6-8 inches high, you must cut it back by about a third. I know how hard it is to do, but unless you want a tree that resembles a beanstalk with leaves at the top, it's got to be cut to encourage branching. Cutting will produce a bushier plant, much more suitable for indoor growing. Move the pit from the water into soil immediately after cutting the stem. It will need a good, big pot, that's in proportion to the plant! The plant needs good soil and nutrients to continue good growth - fertilize with an all-purpose plant food as directed - avocados are heavy feeders. And sunlight - gradually move the plant into the best light available- use a grow-light if good light is not available. Plant can happily go outside in summer - but do it gradually, so it doesn't sunburn. Keep the leaves clean with an occasional wipe or bath - they need to breathe. When the plant is outdoors in summer, it's easy to keep clean with a hose - but it collects dust indoors in winter.
P.S. – Success! The reader recently wrote back to tell me several of her pits had sprouted – and were on their way to becoming trees! She will soon have her own grove of avocado trees!

This week’s dirt…………………………………………………………
Don’t stack all that firewood from the past winter’s storms against a wooden house or garage or fence! Doing so provides a pathway for destruction – and a cozy home for termites and ants – as well as promoting rot by holding moisture and preventing air circulation.

June 13: Lilacs, Brugmansia, Asparagus, Bonsai

Lilac propagating
Q: I am a reader of your column and have a lot of regard for your knowledge. I have just returned from Seattle and saw a pretty lilac there that I have not previously seen. It is a purple flower with each flowerlet having a white center. I snipped four green cuttings from this and packed it with a saturated paper towel around the cut end and sealed them in a zip lock bag. I put them in water as soon as I returned and could unpack them. They look a little limp but have somewhat perked up. Is it possible to pull off the lower leaves and place these in soil, keeping them very wet and have them root?
AJR

A: It is very doubtful that your carefully carried cuttings will root properly - but you could try: Re-cut the ends, strip the lower foliage, dip into a rooting hormone, plant in individual pots of sterile soil, and place the pots in a plastic bag to retain humidity. Keep in strong light, but not sunlight, adding water only when necessary - it will take weeks to root, if it does.

The usual way of propagating is to take a rooted sucker from the base of the plant.....this new plant will take three or more years to flower.... Or, if you're in it for the long haul, you could grow from seed - this takes many years to get to the flowering stage!

SOME GOOD NEWS!
I thought what you had was a lilac variety named "Sensation" - it is available from many nurseries, one of them being Spring Hill Nurseries (573.354.1509) - there is a good illustration on their website... But it's not! "Sensation" is purple with a white border, not center - quite stunning just the same! -But you might want to try it if your cuttings fail.....let me know what happens!

Brugmansia
Q: -Saw a beautiful potted plant at a nursery. It’s called Angels Trumpet, and has a huge yellow hanging flower, but I can’t find any information about it. Would it be a good choice for my yard near the kid’s playyard, where it is mostly shady or around the pool where it is sunny – and most important, will it last over winter? They’re not cheap so I want to know before I buy one or two!

A: The plant is a brugmansia and is quite beautiful. It has large, trumpet-shaped flowers, is white or pink or lavender – the flowers hang downward and may have a sweet smell. Most gardeners grow it as a pot plant – it is a tropical plant, so if you intend to keep it over the winter, which is possible to do, you’ll need a sunny window indoors for eight months of the year.

Now for some bad news:
The name Angel’s Trumpet is just one of the common names for brugmansia – one of the other more descriptive and accurate names is Trumpet of Death –and how appropriate that is! It’s not for the kid’s play area – all parts of this plant - leaf, stem, flower, seed and root- are toxic – which means harmful to pets as well as humans. The pool area would be safe, if there were only adults around….. Why not grow some Morning Glories and Moonflowers on a trellis for a similar and safer effect?

Asparagus transplant
Q: I have a question regarding asparagus. They are growing very close to the foundation of the house. When can asparagus be removed from that location? Many thanks for your co-operation.

A: The root mass of an old asparagus bed is enormous and thick not very deep - if your foundation is secure, asparagus roots probably wouldn't be a problem. Is it really necessary to move them? Asparagus doesn't transplant very easily if it's been growing in the same location for many years. But you can certainly try! Dig and divide the crowns after they mature their ferny greens later this summer or fall. Prepare the new planting area very well with large amounts of compost and manure, digging it well into the ground. A transplanting will set your asparagus crop back about two years, just as any new planting of asparagus will. The plants will need time to recuperate before you can cut them again. Water the new bed well until the ground freezes. You might consider a new planting at this time and just removing the problem plants and starting your new bed in a new area with fresh roots in the spring - then you'd be almost certain of avoiding any plant diseases which could be present in the old stock or even in the soil.

Difference between miniature plants – and bonsai
Q: I saw an ad for some miniature plants – tiny evergreens and trees for use in tiny Japanese gardens and rock gardens and pots and such. Are these really bonsais that they’re selling? It doesn’t seem possible since these trees are very cheap compared to the price of a bonsai. What’s the difference – other than price? They do say that these little trees never grow bigger – I don’t want to wake up some morning and find a full-grown tree in the middle of the garden.

A: They are true miniatures – if we saw the same ad, they are genetically dwarfed specimens of trees which will never grow larger than advertised.
A bonsai is a plant that has been “manually” dwarfed – it is constantly leaf- pruned and branch- pruned and root- pruned and kept pot-bound. If you leave bonsai plants alone for a few years and gave them room to grow, and don’t meticulously trim or prune or nip new growth, they will begin to revert to their original size – which might be 50 feet tall!

This week’s dirt…………………………………………………………
Water all the plants you have sitting around in pots or other containers. The color of the soil is no barometer of moisture – some of the rich, dark potting soil mixes look damp all the time! Stick your finger in the pot – or learn to lift and judge the water needed by the weight of the pot.

June 20, 2007: Lilacs, Crepe Myrtle, Lily of the Valley, Vegetable Water

Lilacs not blooming yet
Q: I read your column in the Eagle-Tribune and obtain great gardening information. Thank you. My question is my little lilac bush. I obtained it from a larger bush at a house that we sold 12 years ago. The original bush had beautiful lavender flowers. At my new house, I put it in a sunny location, at least 6 hours a day. It is about 4 ft tall. My problem is that it has never bloomed. What am I doing wrong? Was it the division? Any help you can give me is appreciated. G., Atkinson, New Hampshire

A: Your tree may simply be too young to bloom. But did I understand you correctly? Was the tree divided off and moved 12 years ago? That should have been enough time to bloom, unless it was very tiny when transplanted......

Are you using too much nitrogen around the tree? Nitrogen promotes green leafy growth - your plants need more phosphorus. You may not have intentionally given too much nitrogen, but it is heavily present in most of the early spring lawn fertilizers that we use!! Could a high nitrogen fertilizer have been used close to the tree? This would cause lots of lovely foliage but who want leaves? You can't smell lilac leaves - you want flowers!

Is the tree really getting enough sunlight? Trees around and over the lilacs may have grown larger and thicker with the passing of time - and lilacs need a full day of sun. Could the tree be getting more shade than you think? Could you prune the overhanging trees? If all else fails, you might try a soil test - there might be an imbalance other than the nitrogen/phosphorus.

Crepe myrtle
Q: About a year ago, I made a $15.00 donation to a conservation group for 5 crape myrtle trees/bushes. They were bare root and I planted them in 10" plastic pots. They did very good over the summer. I planted one into the ground in the fall, left the other four in pots. As of now, there is no sign of life, all five look dead. Do you have any suggestions as to what went wrong? Thank you for your time. R. J. E., Andover, MA 01810

A: There are many varieties of the beautiful crepe myrtle - and I'm sorry to tell you that most of them aren't hardy outside of the Central-South region of the U.S. A few do make it into Zone 6 around the Cape and shore areas - but only a few - and they're borderline hardy in that zone .Do you know the name of the variety you have? If the little trees show no sign of growth by June, I think you can assume they are dead -but don't discard them too fast - they can sometimes put up new shoots from the base. If this should happen, you would then need to give them complete protection over the coming winters, and treat them as very delicate plants…..or bring them inside as houseplants for the winter.

Corralling Lily of the Valley
Q: Is there any way to confine the spread of the so- lovely Lily- of- the- Valley? Specifically, if I were to bury a pressure treated wood barrier in the ground, how deep would the barrier have to be to inhibit root spreading? 6 inches? 12 inches? More??? G.D., Methuen

A: So you’re ready to do battle with your Lily- of- the-Valley? Good luck to you! You can win the battle of Lily- of- the- Valley - but you can't conquer it! Keeping Lily- of- the- Valley within boundaries is a little like herding squirrels - there is always one that gets loose. Your idea of an underground barrier is the right idea – but all of that digging is very laborious! A little more expensive than using timber, but easier to install, would be to use one of the garden edgings which can be pounded into the ground, rather than dug in, to contain the invaders. You'll get the needed depth with this edging barrier because you won't have to leave it above the ground as far as using it as an edging would require.....at least 6 inches deep is about right - most Lily- of- the- Valley roots are surface roots. Either method should contain most of the roots, but there will always be an escapee.
And what can be done about the plants which will grow from seeds? Surely it is impossible to pick all the flowers before even one goes to seed - and wind, weather and animals will spread the fine seed. You could invite the kids to pick a bouquet for their mother and thereby take the seeds home.....but some seeds will always escape. Maybe you could give some to an unsuspecting neighbor - but that wouldn't be nice, would it? But it would reduce the population of your roaming plants.

Some good news! You can consider yourself a very wealthy man!
If it makes you feel any better, the going price for just a few pips of white Lily- of- the Valley, if you bought them for your garden, is near a dollar a plant –( Or if you would like to buy 6 pips ready to bloom in a basket from FTD, the charge would be over $32.00 not including delivery.) Maybe this changes your mind about Lily- of- the- Valley and you will let it roam!

Vegetable water on plants
Got a real oddbally for ya, but i know how much you like the oddballs! I remember years ago you said you poured the old cat bowl H2O into plants and that they seemed to like it. Naturally, i've been doing the same ever since and they Do seem to like it. So, what about steamed or boiled veggie H2O ? I steamed some Brussels sprouts the other nite and i couldn't help but think that that dark green H2O in the pan just had to have nutrients that a plant would love. But, not having consulted the GURU, i dumped it. E.

A: I've never heard of using the vitamin- rich cooking water on plants - but it certainly makes sense! After all, we are advised to use the water in soups and gravy and not throw the vitamins down the drain. I have a friend who drinks the stuff - but I've never heard of anyone using it on plants!
I have heard (but not scientifically documented!) of people using the water from boiling eggs on their plants with good results......
Let me know what happens! And maybe one of our readers has heard about it......
As usual - thank you for your interesting note!

This week’s dirt…………………………………………………………
Prune any flowering shrubs that have finished blooming – forsythia, azaleas, rhodys -these plants will be forming next spring’s buds now – so if you wait much longer, you will reduce next springs bloom. And continue to let the foliage of spring bulbs grow and mature until they’re dry and brown and can gently be pulled or raked out and the stems composted…

June 27, 2007: Fertilizer, Weeping Cherry

Fertilizing for the year
Q: I am all organized and finished planting the garden, both vegetables and flowers – but I’m really lazy about fertilizing. I know regular fertilizing is necessary, but isn’t there an easy way to do it without having to mix a whole battery of chemicals? I don’t have knowledge to compound and the money to buy all sorts of fertilizers. What should I use? Make it simple!

A: You’re right! Plants need to be fed to grow well – and plants that grow well can repel insects better, too. But it doesn’t have to be difficult:
Basically, all fertilizers are made up of three major elements – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, known as the NPK – N and P are clearly the symbol for nitrogen and phosphorus - and K is the chemical symbol for potassium – remember your high school chemistry???) The percent of each of these ingredients is always listed on the front of the package as a number, whether the fertilizer is sold as a liquid or pellets or powder or crystals – its content is listed in numbers on every bottle or sack of fertilizer sold. These three ingredients are always given in the same order, NPK -and the numbers tell you the proportion by weight, not volume. In addition, there are trace elements – but these are the basics.

Each of these fertilizer ingredients is necessary for plant growth: It’s easy if you think of them as UP, DOWN, and ALL AROUND - here’s how it works:

N (nitrogen) makes plants above ground grow UP and become greener. You will often see fertilizers with a high first number used in early spring lawn green-up fertilizers. This would not be a good fertilizer for blooming plants because the plant would be encouraged to make lots of foliage, not flowers – but it would be great for your green houseplants, as well as non-blooming ground covers, like ivy.

P is for the phosphorus, always the second number. BELOW ground , phosphorus stimulates root growth. It also promotes bloom and fruit growth , and seedling development.

K is for ALL AROUND potassium. Potassium promotes strong cell walls, health, tolerance to disease and drought and adverse conditions. It is often found in winter fertilizers.

And then are the important numbers- let’s say the numbers on the package are 3:6:10: That indicates that there is 3% nitrogen, and 6% phosphorus, and 10% potassium by weight in the package – (remember the letters designating the contents are always in the same order). But you say that that only equals 46% - what happened to the other 54%? That, my friend, is a small amount of trace elements ---and a filler of no nutritional value..

Lazy ways to fertilize are fully acceptable and even encouraged! No need to apologize! Try time- release pellets once at the beginning of the season or anytime indoors - sprinkle the granules around your plants-- and be done with it for the growing season. Osmocote is the best known granular and is available in several formulas, including one for acid-loving plants, like rhodys and azaleas and indoors for citrus plants and gardenias.

Try MiracleGro’s “LiquaFeed” spray – it attaches to a garden hose - just spray to water, ground and foliar feed. Replacements bottles of the premixed fertilizer are now available in several formulas. You must buy and use their multi-spray applicator which can be left on the hose, and used as a water sprayer with the turn of a knob when you’re not fertilizing. The replaceable fertilizer bottle is screwed in to the unit and quickly replaced when empty. Two formulas are available – one for general plant use - and now there is a Bloom Booster for ease in feeding all flowering plants.
There is no excuse to not feed your plants! Your plants will reward you!

Weeping cherry - did the grafter goof?
Q: I’ve included pictures of a weeping cherry purchased from a landscaper six years ago. The branches that go straight up and don't weep seem to be a different tree than the weeping parts. You can actually see the graft in the center if you stand next to the tree. Can you tell me what my mixed breed tree is made up of? Obviously the grafter goofed! Thanks for all your great tips, Dana

A: Your weeping cherry is a good example of plant grafting, a method of growing a piece of one species to part of another plant of the same species in order to gain strength or beauty. (Now, note that I said "same species" - you can't graft a cherry to a blueberry – or a strawberry to an apple - they have to be the same species.) You are probably familiar with grafted roses: A particularly delicate rose might be grafted onto a very sturdy root stock to produce a stronger plant.... In the case of your cherry, the weeping characteristic was what was desirable. Even without your wonderful pictures, we know that what has sprouted or "suckered", HAS to be some sort of cherry stock, used to produce the taller, straight trunk.( The most used stock is the straight- stemmed "Mazzard" rootstock, grafted to a weeping form of cherry, often "Tanaka".) This little tree was expensive, because all of the grafting was done by hand and took several years’ time.

Often, the strong rootstock of any grafted plant will send up shoots of its own kind. If left unattended, the graft rootstock can take over the tree and make it quite unattractive. In your case, the suckers are growing straight up from the point of graft, and not cascading the way the rest of the branches are doing.

What to do: You have to watch any grafted plant carefully – they are always more delicate than non-grafted varieties. On plants with a low graft, beware of damage from weed whackers and weeders and mowers. Remove the sprouts or suckers as early in growth as you see them - the sooner, the better. With many grafts, these sprouts occur at the base of the plant - but in a weeping tree, grafting was done several feet above ground. You’ll have to watch for the odd sprouts to appear for the entire life of the tree. So it wasn't exactly your landscaper's fault – for the life of the tree, it will be your job to watch for and prune out the odd sprouts, although your landscaper should have instructed you in how to do this or offered to stop by and do it for you.

This week’s dirt…………………………………………………………
Stick with your regimen of deadheading all the annuals in your garden for more bloom– this includes pots and window boxes and hangers! Deadheading is summertime must – and doing it gives us all a green thumb! Petunias are sticky, marigolds are stinky, lisianthus is tough, cosmos is stringy -

Snap or cut, don’t pull off the dead flower – remove the entire flower and the green calyx at the base of the bloom…Do it with your fingers, use a fine nose prunner or scissors – but do it faithfully every few days. (Aren’t you glad that at least some of your plants are “self-cleaning”?!) By removing the dead flowers, you suggest to the plant that it needs to bloom again in order to make seed – and you want to remove the seed –producing pod, which would use unnecessary plant energy to produce seed. It’s only necessary to let a plant make seed if you plan to use it.