Cayenne Pepper

Spring is sprung
the grass is riz
I wonder where
the flowers iz

When we were kids we’d sing that rhyme and thought we were very clever. As a grownup, I know the rabbits are the clever ones.

The top picture from March 15 shows a bunch of crocus. Every year the rabbits mow them down. This year is no different. They ate about half the growing tips by March 15. I rarely get any blooms in this spot.

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The rabbits love the tulips too.

I carry cayenne pepper in my tool bucket when I garden. I buy the largest container I can find – usually at BJ’s or Sam’s Club.

I sprinkled some cayenne pepper on the leaves and a little on the ground around the plants when as I worked on garden cleanup. Sometimes too much causes leaf burn. It doesn't look good but it doesn't seem to damage the plant.

We are also using Deer Off by Havaheart® this year. Deer Off contains “Putrescent Whole Egg Solids, Capsaicin & Related Capsaicinoids, Garlic Oil”. Oh boy, more smelly hot stuff. We will need to reapply the Cayenne pepper and/or Deer Off after every rain.

So far we have controlled the damage. And this year - crocus blooms!


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(I’ve had a lot of inquiries about the Allentown Flower Show. Unfortunately, this show was discontinued two years ago. The Lehigh Valley Green Building Expo continues at Northampton Community College through the weekend.)

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – March 2010

A few sightings of actual plant life in cold, damp Pennsylvania this morning.


Pussy Willow with frozen rain drops on their fuzzy little heads.

Purple crocus shivering tightly closed.

A row of heather (Erica x darleyensis 'Silberschmelze') fearless against the cold.

My favorite weatherman promised warm weather and sunshine by the end of the week. The daffodils buds are near bursting in anticipation.

Visit other (warmer?) gardens follow the links on our host Carol’s blog at May Dreams Gardens. Thank you Carol!

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Philadelphia Flower Show

Despite my camera/photographer problems at the Philadelphia International Flower Show, I have a few more photos to share.

Educational Exhibits

Temple University “METROmorphosis – Transforming the Urban World” Best in Show winner in the Academic Educational category - “. . . well crafted examples of a variety of sustainable approaches to garden design within an urban setting.” A metro-meadow, rain garden, courtyard walls that serve as an aqueduct to a rain barrel, a beehive, an edible wall garden (left), worm farms and more high-lighted a display full of sustainable ideas.

Camden City Garden Club and Camden Children’s Garden presented a “Soup and Salad Garden”, a fresh approach with a touch of whimsy. The display “. . . addressed food security and sustainability—a relevant, pressing matter in low-income urban communities.”

“Horticulture Therapy Around the World” by Mid-Atlantic Horticultural Therapy Network made me think of Kathy at ”Weeds and Wildflowers” blog.

A quote from the American Horticultural Therapy Association website:
“Rehabilitative care of hospitalized war veterans in the 1940’s and 1950’s greatly expanded the practice of Horticultural Therapy.”

Some techniques included in the display:
· Constructing wide, gently graded wheelchair accessible entrances and paths.
· Using raised beds and containers (Inverted Stairs Vertical Garden pictured at right.)
· Adapting tools to turn a disability into an ability
· Creating sensory-stimulation environments with plants selected for fragrance texture and color
· Using accessible greenhouses that bring the garden indoors for year-round enjoyment

W.B. Saul High School of Agriculture “Thru Her Gates” created an outstanding 20 foot replica of the Statue of Liberty. The statue was surrounded by well-marked plants from the continents around the world including Mondo Grasses from Japan and Hens & Chicks from Africa and lavender from the Mediterranean. You can see a better picture on March 4 entry of the Flower Show Blog.

Design Exhibit

One of my favorites “Polar Fantasy” from Shafer Designs created a stark, white on white, icy display. Watch the Video from March 3 entry on the Flower Show Blog and feel the chill.

Horticulture Exhibits

Stunning horticulture displays included Mrs. “Dodo” Hamilton’s Clivia miniata.

and this unusual fern.

I can’t wait ‘till next year.

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Philadelphia Flower Show

Passport to the World

This year the Philadelphia International Flower Show celebrated participation by countries around the world since 1829. Over the years, these countries introduced new plants to U.S. gardens.

An excerpt from a quote published in "The American Farmer" in 1829:

“Paeonias from China, Lillium longiflora (Easter Lily) from London Horticultural Society, Strelitzia reginae (Bird of Paradise) from the Cape of Good Hope, Euphorbia presented by Mr. Poinsett, United States Minister to Mexico . . .”

The show was a feast for the eyes after a snowy winter. My camera (or the photographer) was not in the best form. I apologize. To see some excellent pictures and videos visit the Flower Show Blog.

A balloon 28 feet above the floor covered with 80,000 dried flowers, created by Barb King of Valley Forge Flowers, soared above the entrance to the displays.

From India, a wedding Scene by Jamie Rothstein Floral Design created an award winning, eye-popping, jewel-colored display.

Singapore, by Waldor Orchids a People’s Choice Award winner, included an orchid tree and loads of blooming phalaenopsis.

The New Zealand colonial-inspired bog garden, interpreted by Stoney Bank Nurseries, Inc., used local flora that mimic form and textures of New Zealand’s plants. The blue-eyed hot water lizard (Moko), compliments of Greg Levitt of Boyertown PA, surprised us popping out of the bog.

A Brazilian Rain Forest with live tropical birds, a South African village with full-sized native figures and an urban Netherlands flower market with hundreds of tulips rounded out the international displays.

Stories behind the exhibits are excellently portrayed in the Flower Show Blog, Page through the blog for a real feel for this over-the-top flower show.

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Search for Crocus

Only 7 days until daylight saving time – 13 days to spring.

Snow is two feet high where we shoveled it on piles but soil is beginning to appear in sunny spots. So where are the crocuses?

Some tiny little crocus leaves can be spotted if you look hard enough.

The daffodils are poking through the soil.

Snow drops are opening everywhere.

And then - one crocus bloom!

Only 7 days until daylight saving time – 13 days to spring.

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Rabbits

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The rabbits will soon be munching in the garden.

I participated in a PA Forestry Web Seminar “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. led by Gary S San Julian, Wildlife Specialist and Linda Wiles Extension Educator, Penn state University. An overview of garden pests included bears, geese, voles, raccoons, skunks, squirrels and many more.

Here are a few things I learned about rabbits.

Rabbits cut foliage with their sharp incisors making knife-like slanted cuts. Deer browse and tear. You can tell the difference between rabbit damage and deer damage by looking at the cuts on young plants and shrubs.

Rabbits only live about 12 to 15 months. But, they reproduce like, well, rabbits. (I guess I knew that part.) Each year a rabbit may have six litters with about 5 or 6 young each.

Rabbits usually don’t eat cucumbers, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and some types of peppers.

Fencing is still the best method to keep rabbits out of the garden. I’ll be using cayenne pepper again this year. I am determined to be vigilant.

A rabbit’s tail is called a scut. (Just kidding. I learned that in a crossword puzzle.)

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(Wildlife Damage Control publication “Cottontail Rabbits”.)

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Botany for Gardeners

by Brian Capon (Revised Edition 2008)

If you are interested in the how and why of plant growth, you may be interested in this book. Questions like - how does auxin cause seedlings to turn towards the light? or how do water and nutrients get from the roots to the top of a tall tree? - are answered. It reads like the Science Channel TV show “How It’s Made”.

It is written with a sense of awe and a love of nature.

A quote from the section on growth:

- “Leaves”

“None of the wonders of our technological age can match the miraculous awakening of a tree from winter sleep, to put on its spring attire of rich, green, fresh new foliage – a spectacle of regenerative power that only nature is capable of performing.”
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Illustrations are excellent and plentiful.

There’s a lot of technical information in this book - everything from abscission to zygote – but It’s a readable reference book.

I picked up much information from “Botany for Gardeners”. The leaf identification drawings were very clear. I’ve got all the names for leaf shape, leaf parts and vein patterns clear in my mind. At least until I don’t.


(Penn State Leaf Identification guide.)

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TRIVIA TANGENT

US/World Population Clock
According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the World, projected to 02/25/10 at 15:04 UTC (EST+5) is 6,804,963,067.

U.S. population in 2009 - 307,212,123. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 02/25/10 at 15:30 UTC (EST+5) is 308,756,103. Increase of 154,398. Net gain of one person every 13 seconds.

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March

I was looking at some old photos and realized that around the middle of March last year I was pulling weeds. That’s just a little over two weeks away. I know February is a short month but it seems to have whizzed away.

The crocus is still snow covered but by March 16 last year, purple crocus was in full bloom in the back garden.

By March 14, 2008, the bunnies were already chewing on the new growth of tulips.

A load of mulch arrived by the end of March that year.

I have a lot to finish before I start the wicked weed battle.

But first it has to stop snowing.

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Good Bugs

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(Monster-sized lady beetle models from Master Gardener display “Good Bugs/Bad Bugs” at Adventures in Agriculture at Palmer Mall, Easton, PA 2/14/10.)

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If we need another reason to limit our use of insecticides, the risk of killing all the good bugs as well as the bad bugs makes a strong argument. As my grandmother used to say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

One of my favorite references “The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control” provides a list of good bugs (as well as pests). It includes a description, locale, life cycle and how to attract. The illustrations are outstanding. I’m sorry I can’t publish the pictures. How many do you recognize by name? My total was 7.

Aphid Midge (Aphidoletes aphidimyza) – larvae feed on aphids
Assassin Bug (Family Reduviidae)– helps suppress flies and caterpillars
Bigeyed Bugs (Geocoris spp.) – valuable predators of aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, spider mites and small caterpillars
Braconid Wasps (Family Braconidae) – parasites of elm bark beetles, cabbage worms, hornworms, corn borers, aphids and others.
Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) - pollinators
Damsel Bugs (Family Nabidae) – predator of aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, thrips and small caterpillars
Ground Beetles – prey on slugs, snails, cutworms, cabbage root maggots, and other pests that have a soil-dwelling stage
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) - polinators
Hover Flies/Flower Flies (Family Syrphidae) – larvae feed on aphids
Ichneumon Wasps (Family Ichneumonidae) – larva parasites of caterpillars, sawfly, and beetle larvae, and other insects
Lacewings (Chrysoperla (= Chrysopa) spp.) – general predator
Lady Beetles (Family Coccinellidae) – feed on aphids and soft bodied pests
Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) – prey on aboveground species of mealybugs
Minute Pirate Bug (Orius tristicolor) – predators of thrips, mites, small caterpillars, leafhopper nymphs, other small insects and insect eggs
Mites, Predatory (Family Phytoseiidae) – attack spider mites
Praying Mantid (Mantis religiosa) – catch and devour both pests and beneficial insects
Rove Beetles (Family Staphylinidae) – control aphids, springtails, mites, nematodes, flies, cabbage maggots
Soldier Beetles (Family Cantharidae) – larvae and adults prey on cucumber beetles, corn rootworms, aphids, grasshopper eggs, caterpillars and beetle larvae
Spined Soldier Bug (Podisus maculiventris) – attacks caterpillars and grubs, including tent caterpillars, fall armyworms, sawfly larvae and Mexican been beetle larvae
Tachinid Flies (Family Tachinidae) – predators of cutworms, armyworms. cabbage loopers, gypsy moth larvae and others
Tiger Beetles (Family Cicindelidae) – feed on a variety of insects
Yellow Jackets (Limonius spp.) – predators of flies, caterpillars and other pests. Can be a pest at picnics.

I could go on and on about this book. It’s a good reference for anyone interested in organic gardening. I think the short, illustrated section on “Insect Impostors” is worth the price since I can’t tell a soldier bug from a stink bug.


(University of Delaware Cooperative Extension publication “Beneficial Insects”.)

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I had to post a picture of the Krekk Alpacas hanging out at Adventures in Agriculture. Always a big hit. .

Amaryllis

January 18, 2010

ANTICIPATION!

January 28, 2010 (2 plus inches)

February 1, 2010 (about 11 inches)

February 7, 2010 (20 inches)
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February 16, 2010 – (19 days to the jackpot at 24 inches)

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(This plant missed Garden Bloggers Bloom Day but you can see other beautiful blooms (and more amaryllis) at May Dreams Gardens. Thanks to Carol for hosting this fun event on the 15th of every month.)

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