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Plantology Archives

Bring Nature Close to You!

Bring Nature Close Plantology bring you a spotlight on a different plant every month. Some times it is a food plant sometimes a beautiful flower, we mix it up! If you want to know about a specific plant let us know. We are dedicated to giving you new information to Bring Nature Closer to you! Here are the last few months if you missed them.

Rose

     There is evidence of roses some 35 million years ago. They were used by nomadic tribesman and highly evident in the 1st century. Modern roses, hybrid teas, were first bred by the French breeder Guillot in the19th century. By the 20th century there were 10,000 types of hybird tea roses.
     Rose oil is a favorite perfume and brings back memories if you have ever smelled old roses as a child.
     Modern roses come in every color imaginable. They are usually grafted to a sturdy root ( an old red rose). Infact, if the grafted rose dies, often the root will grow it's own rose. My dad had such a rose. It grew into a beautiful climber that bugs and disease did not touch.
     Today, one can buy a $3.00 bag rose (usually hybrid tea or a climber). Probably not great stock, but I've seen incredible rose plants with beautiful blooms come from these "bags".
     A step up and most common are 1 gallon planted roses. They have been in a green house in spring and have been leafed out for you. Buy these from a good nursery in your area and expect to pay $8.00 (+ or -) to $35.00 depending on the nursery and the time of year.

     Roses can be planted almost any time of the year unless the ground is frozen. If you live where the ground freezes it is a good idea to plant or transplant roses at least 2 months before the frost sets in. This gives the roots time to realy take hold and get adjusted to the new placement.
     Water is important for transplanting roses. Soak the roots and root ball in a bucket. Dig your hole where you want your rose. Fill the hole with water. Place the new rose in the hole and fill with water again. Fill the hole with water. Pack the soil down firmly around the roots. Make a moat around the base of your plant for future waterings. Regular watering is a must, especially on hot summer days.
     Mulch with Alfalfa hay to add nitrogen to the soil. Use manure tea June through September, once a month. Spray with Horsetail tea (Equisetum sp.) for insect pests and mildew.
     It is a good idea to water early in the day to prevent mildew. If mold, mildew or Black Spot appear, spray with Horsetail tea daily until it clears up. Mulch with the left over "tea leaves" and /or fresh or dried Horsetail plants. Horsetail is a great fungucide/ moldicide for these problems.
     With all plants, water well right up until the ground is frozen. This gives the plants enough water to make it through the dry winter. That said, Roses should never "sit" in water as rot will set in.

Next Spring buy a $3.00 bag rose and see if you don't catch the rose bug!

Maple Tree

- Acer

     Maple is a decidious tree grown mostly in the northern temperate regions. They grow between 30 and 145 feet tall. I personally love Maples. The trees have palmate leaves. This means that they look like a "hand" (sort of). Leaves are generally green but turn beautiful shades of yellow, salmon, orange and red in the fall.
     In the spring just after the first set of leaves appear, the flowers appear. They can be red, green, orange or yellow. They look like fairy petticoats to me. As they elongate they are even more interesting and change in color. These flowers produce pollen and nectar for bees early in the year.
     The flowers are followed by many many palmate leaves that are opposite each other. So they come out in pairs along the small branches and twigs of the tree. Through the summer the seeds grow and in about 6 months from flowering the tree forms distictive fruits. These seeds grow in pairs and form "whirlybirds". When they fall to the ground they twirl down as a helicopter blade would. The seeds require about 120 days to stratify in order to germinate. They are very prolific and produce copious amounts of sprouted seed.
     The roots are dense and fiberous and many develop clonal colonies from root sprouts.
     Maple syrup is made from the Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum. The sap is collected in special buckets and then boiled down in shallow trays. It takes 40 cups of sap to make 1 cup of syrup.
     Maple is called a "tonewood" which means that it is good for making musical insturments. It is some of the best tonewood. The only trouble is that it is a heavy wood and cannot be used for the whole insturment.
     Maple trees will grow in a variety of soil. They thrive in most soil, except unwatered deserts and overly wet places. They like to be planted alone and off to them selves. They can take shade when young, but do better in full sun.Tamp the roots down well when planting. Stake the young tree until the roots can establish a thriving base to support the tree.

Cup and Saucer / Canterbury Bells

- Campanula medium

     Cup & Saucer are easy to grow and have the look of an exotic. These plants grow to 2' plus and are a biennial, which means they are herbacious the first year and flower the second. The flowers are white, pink, blue and light purple, and form large bells. The flowers are held up well on stiff stems and face outward away from the stem.
     Campanulas like some what fertile soil and will grow in sun to partial shade. They like the soil on the alkaline side, with medium water requirments.
     In spring sow the seed in 11/2" X 3" cells filled with good composted soil. When 2 or 3 sets of leaves develop, transplant to the garden when all danger of frost is passed. The mature plants survive the winter well but the new starts need some protection from frosty weather. The second summer the plants will start blooming. Let them reseed or cut the interesting seed pods off and scatter them in the fall. New plants will grow in the spring. Eventually there will be some plants that bloom each year. Basal cuttings for propagation can be taken is spring.
     They have few problems and most insects won't chew on the prickly stems. Occasional problems include slugs, snails, spider mites, leaf spot and southern blight.