---

The prominent 19th century English botanist, Francis Kingdon-Ward, wrote manuscripts in great detail profiling his lifelong collection of high-altitude ornamental plants.  Throughout his lifetime, Kingdon-Ward scavenged the Namcha Barwa Mountain crevices and the Tsangpo River Gorge for these select alpine plants during his some 65 explorations through the southeast of Tibet.  These rare plants became the gems of his world-famous collection and ultimately, became his lasting legacy.  Perhaps, the modern gardener’s intrigue for alpine plants can be traced back to Kingdon-Ward’s evocative descriptions of these beautifully rare plants.  In any case, the botanical world has developed a great fascination for these charming ornamentals.  Our fascination is firmly rooted in the marvel of botanical life that is capable of inhabiting and thriving on the so-called “Rooftop of the World.”

The alpine biome can be a place of great reward for those interested in ornamental plants. Alpine biomes are found in mountain ranges all around the world and are frequently defined by altitudes of 5000 meters or more above sea level; spatially, they lie just below the perpetual snow line of a mountain.  In Latin, a translation for “high mountain” is alps.  From this translation, we’ve derived today’s colloquial term alpine.

Mountains and their influence on localized climates often give rise to a greater diversity of plant habitats and species than can be found in similar regions at lower elevations.  The North American Rocky Mountains show great ecological diversity beginning with a desert biome.  As you climb to higher elevations, desert evolves into a deciduous forest biome, then a grassland biome, a steppe biome, and finally, the harsh and cold sub-alpine and alpine biomes.  The alpine environments are characterized by thin air, dramatically increased ultraviolet radiation, damaging wind speeds, erratic precipitation including snow cover, predation, and sharp soils with unique profiles and low fertility.  These unique environmental factors have led to the evolution of particular plant adaptive traits most commonly associated with the alpine species capable of inhabiting these dynamic environments.

In all high mountains, the parent rock has been eroded away through time.  Appalling disasters can accompany these natural forces of erosion and gravity.  These disasters cannot be controlled.  Much of this erosion occurs unnoticed during the monsoon rains in the Himalayas, or as the rocks become detached following many freeze-thaw cycles in the Teton ranges of Wyoming.  The most visible erosion contributors are the glaciers and snowfields found on these mountain ranges.  Since the onset of the first Ice Age, nearly two million years ago, ice has constantly reshaped and changed the world’s alpine biomes.  With the changing environment, plant species have been forced to make similar adaptations.  These changes have resulted in interesting growth forms and distinct morphological features that allow specialized plant species to survive and thrive where others would perish.

Ecological biomes are distinguished, in part, by their relative altitudes above sea level.  In the Himalayas, distinct vegetation zones are home to numerous species of flora from the subtropical, temperate, subalpine, and alpine biomes.  Because of the severe climate of the alpine biomes across the world, plants have developed adaptive traits specific to these conditions.  Though there are only approximately 200 species of true alpines (sp. found at altitudes eclipsing 5000m), this exclusive plant group offers much novelty and charm for its unique role in these select environments.

Above, a low growing, “mat-form” moss campion species from the Grand Teton demonstrates an interesting adaptive technique required for life cycles at these altitudes.  Because of the cold and wind, most alpine species are small perennial groundcover plants that grow and reproduce slowly.  They protect themselves from the desiccation and damage of wind and cold by hugging the ground and growing over parent rock, which can serve temporally to radiate collected heat and offset decreases in ambient air temperature.  At high elevations, adaptation becomes a balancing act; this act can shift course dramatically and without warning.  At alpine elevations, there are reduced levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.  There are high winds and biting cold.  Precipitation levels vary greatly.  The temperature of an alpine zone can change from temperate to freezing in one day.  These environmental factors influence metabolic processes that determine a plants life cycle.  Flora from these elevations is challenged greatly by damaging ultraviolet radiation levels.  Along with novel morphological growth forms, other unique adaptive traits signify the specialization of alpine plants and allow them to thrive in these harsh conditions.

The arctic willow, from the family Salicaceae, is a charming alpine when in bloom. This willow species is uniquely adapted to survive in harsh arctic and sub arctic environments and has an indigenous distribution surrounding the Arctic Ocean.  It grows natively in tundra and rocky moorland and is the northern-most woody perennial plant in the world.  Salix artica is a particularly beautiful, low-growing shrub, which, amazingly, grows to a maximum height of six inches.  As you can see in this photograph, the foliage is coarsely pubescent (hairy).  Pubescence is a common morphological feature in alpine plants.   This specialized plant trait serves a number of important functions for alpine plants including:

• Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells.
• In windy locations, hairs break-up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing desiccation.
• Dense coatings of hairs reflect solar radiation, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats.
• In locations where much of the available moisture comes from cloud drip, hairs appear to enhance the uptake process.

At 4200 meters, the texture of this landscape looks a bit different.  In Peru, indigenous cacti, such as Mammilaria sp., dominate higher altitudes.  The adaptive traits remain the same though- stiff, bristly trichomes, spines, and hairs.

In addition to protecting these plants from unnecessary water loss and light damage, these trichomes and spines help discourage scavenging animals from eating the plants.  Animal diversity in the Alpine biome is as broad as plant diversity and warrants a plant’s protective measures against predation.

Familiar ornamental genera are well represented in the wild by alpine species that display many of the same beautiful characteristics from each respective genus.  Kalmia microphylla is one such representative species.  Kalmias in the landscape are cherished for their colorful, energetic blooms through the summer.  In the case of K. microphylla, this charm is further magnified by the plant’s miniscule mature height of between 5 and 20cm tall.  The flowers, while abundant, are between 5 and 12 mm in diameter (average .47 inches).  K. microphylla is a wildly variable species, known to grow on wet, boggy soils and dry moorland alike.  The diverse distribution range of K. microphylla serves to illustrate the dynamic qualities of highly variable alpine environments.  Adaptation is required of each species in order to survive.

Although alpine plants natively inhabit mountainous peaks in the far-off wild, they have a deserved spot in our home gardens for their brilliance and charm.  In special cases, traditional alpine genera have transcended the realm of academic botanical monographs and become major players and features in our ornamental gardens.  The genus Primula has strong roots in both alpine biomes and ornamental gardens alike.  This highly variable, but universally captivating group of plants frequently serves as one’s first introduction to alpine ornamentals.  Primulas capture many of the ornamental qualities that make alpine plants so desirable and captivating.  There could be no better first introduction.

In total, alpine plants offer great charm and wonder for the world of ornamentals.  Amongst the lore and excitement surrounding ornamental alpine plants, one gleaming interest point captivates:  Few have scaled the world to these “roof-top” alpine heights, sometimes in excess of 16,400 ft above sea level, to see these specialized plants in their native habitat.  Few know that these plants exist and thrive in a place so diverse and so harsh, it cannot be helped but to marvel at Mother Nature’s secret world atop vast mountains.Truly, little could compare with scaling the face of a mountain to 5,000 meters in search of botanical life.  Quite some time ago, Francis Kingdon-Ward searched the world over for these special flowers and their respective pollinators and found a natural world as breathtaking as the thin air that surrounded him.

---

Although winter still holds Minnesota in its icy grasp, smart gardeners are already pouring over seed catalogues and preparing for the season ahead. There are many factors to consider when choosing which vegetable variety to grow this season. One option available to gardeners is disease resistant varieties. These are varieties that have been specially bred or selected for their ability to remain healthy in the presence of a pathogen. Choosing disease resistant vegetable varieties can save the gardener time and money since they will likely not require fungicide sprays or other control measures to prevent the development of fruit rot, leaf spots or other disease problems.

In order to make educated decisions about purchasing disease resistant seed, there are a few terms that gardeners should be familiar with. According to the American Phytopathological Society, a resistant plant is a plant that possesses properties that prevent or impede disease development. A fully resistant vegetable variety will not become diseased even if the pathogen is present and the environmental conditions favor disease development. Many vegetable varieties are moderately resistant or partially resistant, meaning that they cannot block all disease development but often are able to resist the pathogen enough to remain far healthier than a plant without any resistance. Similarly a tolerant plant is able to endure disease without serious damage or yield loss. For example a powdery mildew tolerant squash variety may have some powdery mildew on its leaves, but is likely to produce a good crop none the less.

Look for resistant varieties on seed packets or plant labels and in plant catalogues. Many companies indicate disease resistance with a series of initials after the variety name or within the description of the plant. For example a pumpkin labeled PMT means that this variety is powdery mildew tolerant. All initials are typically defined somewhere in the catalogue but you may have to flip a few pages to find the list.

Look for varieties that list resistance to a specific disease problem. For example tomatoes are often listed as VF, resistant to Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt. This tells you that the variety has been tested with a specific pathogen and found to be resistant to it. The genetic make up that results in a resistant plant is typically specific to one disease only, although it is possible to combine multiple genes for disease resistance into one variety. Broad unspecific claims, like Good Disease Resistance are typically not very useful. This may indicate a plant that is generally vigorous, but it is unlikely that the plant has been tested against any specific disease problem.

Remember not all plant diseases are common in Minnesota. Look for varieties with resistance to diseases that have been a problem in your garden in the past or are common in Minnesota. For some plant diseases there are many varieties to choose from that all have disease resistance. This allows the gardener to choose disease resistant seed and also select for several other characteristics. For example there are now many pumpkin varieties with tolerance, moderate resistance or complete resistance to powdery mildew. These disease resistant pumpkins vary from small to large and ribbed or smooth in their fruit characteristics and may grow as a large vine or a small bush. Unfortunately there are not disease resistant varieties for every plant disease. Some diseases like Septoria leaf spot of tomato plants and common smut on sweet corn occur in Minnesota every year, but no resistant variety has been discovered yet. A very comprehensive list of disease resistant vegetable varieties is available from Cornell University at http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/TableList.htm.

Vegetable	Common Diseases in MN	Resistant or Tolerant Varieties
Asparagus	Rust and Fusarium Crown Rot	Jersey Knight, Jersey Giant, other ‘Jersey’ varieties
Green Beans	Several fungal and bacterial leaf spots, several viruses	Many varieties available
Cucumber	Powdery mildew, Scab, several viruses	Many varieties available
Peas	Powdery Mildew, root rot	PM resistance available in many varieties, ‘Strike’ is resistant to Pythium root rot
Sweet Corn	Rust and Smut	Tolerance and moderate resistance to rust available in several varieties. No smut resistance available
Tomatoes	Early Blight Verticillium wilt	Mt. Fresh and JTO-99197 offer some resistance to early blight. Many varieties resistant to verticillium
Peppers	Bacterial Leaf Spot	Several varieties available
Pumpkins and Squash	Powdery Mildew several viruses	Many varieties available

---

Carefree Spirit™ (shrub rose), Pink Promise™ (hybrid tea rose), and Cinco de Mayo™ (floribunda rose) are the three new All-America Rose Selections (AARS) winners for 2009. These roses have proven themselves as top performers among dozens of entries over two seasons of evaluation at over 20 official test gardens across the country.

Carefree Spirit™ is a cheerful, single-flowered shrub rose with a profusion of red blooms with white eyes throughout the growing season. It is relatively compact in Minnesota, producing a mounded, slightly spreading plant that reaches a couple feet in height and a few feet in width. Carefree Spirit™ is a descendant of the famous Carefree DelightTM and shares its strong disease resistance. Carefree Delight™ is an AARS winner from 1996 and is still very popular in northern landscapes. Both roes were bred in France at Meilland International and introduced by the Conard-Pyle Company of West Grove, Pennsylvania.  Beginning in 2004, the AARS trials have stopped spraying preventatively with fungicides on the landscape trial roses (of which shrub roses are included).  Carefree Spirit™ was in the trials in 2005 and 2006 (2007 and 2008 were needed for propagation) and is the first winning landscape rose since this change, attesting to its disease resistance.      

Pink Promise™ is a classic hybrid tea, producing large flowers on long, cutting-length stems.  Double, well formed blooms are a beautiful blend of pink and white.  The flowers are richly fragrant and plants have above average disease resistance for a hybrid tea. This rose has done particularly well at trial sites in cooler regions of the country. Pink Promise™ was bred by Jim Coiner and introduced by Coiner Nursery of Lavern, California. A portion of the sales will go to support breast cancer education and early detection efforts.

Cinco de Mayo™ is a colorful floribunda that produces flowers with a unique combination of orange with purple overtones.  It is a prolific flowering, vigorous plant like one of its parents, AARS winner Julia Child™.  The deep purple new growth adds extra interest and excitement to the celebration. Cinco de Mayo™ was bred by Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses located in Rancho Cucamonga, California.  He also bred a similar colored rose, Hot Cocoa™, which was a 2003 AARS winner.

AARS has a strong Minnesota connection

There are two official AARS test gardens in Minnesota: the Lyndale Park Rose Garden located in Minneapolis near Lake Harriet (AARS site since 1946) and the Virginia Clemens Rose Garden in St. Cloud, MN which was added relatively recently (2005). These gardens have the unique distinction of being the two most northern AARS test sites. Both of these test sites are open to the public, allowing gardeners to have a sneak preview and try their hand at predicting future AARS winners. These gardens also provide the opportunity to observe present and upcoming trends in rose breeding and marketing. For instance, in recent years there has been an increase in the proportion of shrub or landscape roses. This reflects the greater interest among rose nurseries and the general public for lower maintenance roses for landscape use. If there is a rose you find that you particularly enjoy and it does not win an award, that does not mean you will not have the opportunity to buy it in the future. Many of the roses that do not win AARS awards will also be introduced if they perform well at least regionally or have some traits which make them especially unique.

In addition to the two official Minnesota trial sites, there are two additional AARS gardens in Minnesota that serve as display gardens. These public gardens receive plants of AARS winners the season before they are official winners. This gives the gardening public and press an opportunity to observe the new winners early at four Minnesota locations. The two Minnesota AARS display gardens are the Leif Erikson Rose Garden in Duluth and the Nelson Shrub Rose Garden at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. The 2010 winners will be featured in these four Minnesota gardens and well labeled beginning in June 2009 so as not to add confusion and detract from the spring sales of the 2009 winners.

---

We often hear the saying that saving and starting seeds from hybrids typically leads to inferior plants or plants with too much variability to be worth our while. Even if some variability exists between the seedlings, is it actually so great or the plants so overall inferior that it wouldn’t be worth our effort? To what extent can this be true?

We decided to put this general recommendation to the test and develop a demonstration garden (Seed Savers Garden) at the Master Gardener Education and Research Display Garden at UMore Park in Rosemount, Minnesota to observe what happens.  In the fall of 2007 open pollinated seed was saved off a number of flower and vegetable seed-propagated varieties growing at the University of Minnesota Display and Trial Gardens in St. Paul and the authors’ gardens.  In the spring of 2008 seedlings were started in March in the greenhouse from the saved seed and also purchased seed of the same varieties for comparison.  Some of these seed-propagated varieties were reported to be F1 hybrids and others did not have their breeding methodology disclosed.  In addition to flower and vegetable seed-sold varieties, seed was also saved from some clonally-propagated flower cultivars (‘Lilliput Rose’ penstemon, Mammoth™ ‘Yellow Quill’ mum, and ‘Petite Delight’ monarda) and the seedlings planted out and compared to cutting-propagated plants purchased of the original cultivar.

The plants were planted in rows at UMore Park in June 2008. This fantastic garden is along highway 46 and free and open to the public between sunrise and sunset. Information and directions to this garden can be found at: http://www.mggarden.umn.edu  We planted the row of the original variety next to the row of the seedlings of that variety for easy comparison. Some varieties had limited numbers of plants and both the original variety and plants from saved seed were planted in a single row (in the following photos the original variety is to the left if there are two rows or to the front of the row if there is only one row and the bars represent mean values with standard deviations). Up to 14 plants each of the original variety and plants from saved seed were planted out. During the growing season when the particular species came either into flower or fruit, data was collected on plant size, flower/fruit number, and other traits that came to mind as being appropriate to document.  For some species data was taken again later in the season because as the plants continued to mature, greater differences were evident or, as in the case of tomatoes, ongoing, weekly fruit yield was recorded and ultimately summed over weeks.

Sometimes, seed packets did not tell us if the variety is an F1 hybrid or an open pollinated variety.  F1 hybrids are developed by crossing two distinct inbred lines that differ from each other and produce a superior hybrid.  They tend to be very vigorous, uniform, and are heterozygous for many traits because the original parents had different alleles for particular genes.  In the next generation, these alleles (forms of a gene) segregate and there can be a lot of variation among the seedlings depending on how these alleles reshuffle in each offspring.  Open pollinated varieties are cheaper to produce as different parental lines are not independently selected and maintained and then crossed to produce seed as in F1 hybrids.  For open pollinated varieties, plantings are made and parents possessing the traits desired are allowed to survive and intermate (those that don’t have the intended traits are pulled out) and seed is saved.  After multiple generations of doing this, the seedlings can come relatively true to type as the genes contributing to undesirable “off-types” have been generally been removed from the population. Following are the summarized results for each variety comparison followed by a general conclusion and some considerations.

Flowers

Dianthus ‘Dulce White’

Plants from purchased seed performed much better than those of saved seed.  They had greater vigor with fuller, more floriferous plants.  All the plants from the saved seed were uniform for white flowers. Although the seed packet didn’t say, having such a decline in vigor among plants from the saved seed suggests ‘Dulce White’ is an F1 variety.

Dianthus ‘Elation Red’

Plants from purchased seed, again, performed much better than that of saved seed.  They had greater vigor, more floriferous plants, and were uniform for dark red flower color.  Plants from the saved seed segregated for multiple traits including the ability to flower and also flower color.  Only one plant from saved seed had dark red flowers like the parent.  The others had salmon or pink flowers.  Sweet williams are also in the genus Dianthus and do not flower until their second year after they have experienced a cold treatment from experiencing winter.  Having this trait appear among the seedlings was very interesting.  There were no sweet williams or other Dianthus species nearby that possessed this trait from which to pollinate the parents. The inheritance of many traits in the seed crops we purchased have not been disclosed and are kept proprietary by seed companies.  The possibility exists that this variety is an F1 hybrid and is the result of crossing a dianthus that requires a cold treatment with one that doesn’t and the requirement for cold is recessive.  It is not expressed in the F1 hybrid, which is a carrier.  The trait then segregates in the next generation.

Marigold ‘Starfire’

This marigold has petite foliage, is well-branched, and has an abundance of single flowers in a wide assortment of colors.  Plants from the saved and original seed are very comparable.  This variety is likely not an F1 hybrid and is an open pollinated variety.  It appears that breeders selected plants with a generally uniform, compact, mounded plant habit and preferred to keep variation for color within their populations.  The result is mixed colors and relatively uniform plant size both purchased and saved seed.

Monarda ‘Petite Delight’

Monarda ‘Petite Delight’ is a clonally propagated cultivar.  It is patented and the cultivar is propagated from cuttings or crown divisions (it is a perennial).  The unique trait for this cultivar is that it is very dwarf in stature compared to other monardas on the market.  Purchased plants of this patented cultivar were planted that were propagated from cuttings and compared to the seedlings.  Unfortunately, the purchased plants were very weak and stunted, had curled leaves, and did not flower (photo is of the original plant at the St. Paul Display and Trial Garden from which seeds were saved).  Perhaps they were infected with virus. The seedlings grew well and also did not flower.  Seedlings were quite variable for plant size and had normal looking foliage.

Chrysanthemum Mammoth™  ‘Yellow Quill’

Chrysanthemum Mammoth™ ‘Yellow Quill’ is also a clonally propagated, patented cultivar.  Seedlings were variable and segregated for flower color and also flowering time.  Some were clearly earlier and later in flowering (row of three flowers on top are of the original cultivar and the five flowers beneath are of the seedlings that were in flower September 3, 2008).  Although quite a bit of variability was found among seedling, since mums are a perennial, the potential is there to select and multiply very attractive, hardy seedlings through dividing them and taking stem cuttings.  One can use saved seed to develop unique individuals from which to become new clonally propagated cultivars.

Pansy ‘Antique Rose’

This pansy has well-branched, vigorous plants with above average heat tolerance and an assortment of colors.  Plants from the saved and original seed are very comparable.  This variety is likely not an F1 hybrid and is an open pollinated variety.  It appears that breeders selected plants with a generally uniform, compact, mounded plant habit and preferred to keep variation for color within their populations.  The result is mixed colors and relatively uniform plant size from both purchased and saved seed.

Penstemon ‘Lilliput Rose’

Penstemon ‘Lilliput Rose’ is also a clonally propagated, patented cultivar.  Although likely a perennial on other climates, it does not survive Minnesota winters.  There was surprising uniformity for flower color and plant characteristics between purchased plants of this cultivar and the seedlings.  Plants available for purchase were larger than our seedlings at planting time and throughout the growing season continued to remain ahead of the seedlings in development.  The data is a little misleading because of this.  Data was taken in July and then again in late August.  Number of flowering stems were substituted for number of individual flowers for the August data collection date because the number of individual flowers were staggering. Finding such uniformity among seedlings of a patented cultivar propagated by cuttings is very unusual.

Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’

Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’ is a very vigorous, attractive recent All-America Selections winner. Plants from the saved and original seed are very comparable.  This variety is likely not an F1 hybrid and is an open pollinated variety. Two of the eleven seedlings from the purchased seed were solid yellow and did not have the characteristic darker yellow petal base.  Two of the twelve plants from saved seed had flowers with tubular ray petals (typically called quilled petals in the case of chrysanthemums).  These plants are likely chance crosses with the variety ‘Radiance’ of rudbeckia which was planted next to the ‘Prairie Sun’ plants seeds were saved from. If kept in isolation from other rudbeckias, seedlings from saved seed of ‘Prairie Sun’ should be similar to those of purchased seed.

Petunia ‘Blue Wave’

Petunia ‘Blue Wave’ is an F1 hybrid.  Plants from purchased seed were far more vigorous, spreading much further and producing many more blooms than plants from saved seed. Surprisingly, flower color was very uniform among the plants from saved seed and comparable to the original variety, even though the plants the seed was collected from were surrounded by several other petunia cultivars in many different colors.  Although plants from saved seed were smaller, they were about the same height and a person could just plant seedlings more densely for a comparable effect. This may be an attractive option for gardeners, especially considering the price of F1 petunia seed and the fact that a lot of seed can easily be collected off of petunias.

Petunia ‘Baby Duck Yellow’

Petunia ‘Baby Duck Yellow’ is an F1 hybrid.  Just like ‘Blue Wave’, it came relatively true from seed for flower color.  Plants from saved seed were even more comparable to the original variety than ‘Blue Wave’ for plant size and flower number.

Ornamental foliage and fruit

Millet ‘Purple Majesty’

Millet ‘Purple Majesty’ is a very attractive purple-foliaged, ornamental grass.  Plants were very similar from purchased and saved seed.  There are awns that are part of the heads of grain, like wheat.  Among plants of the saved seed there was a single plant, interestingly, that segregated to not have awns. Just like the petunias and considering the cost of purchased seed of this All-America Selections winner, one may find it an attractive option to grow plants from their own saved seed.

Ornamental Chili Pepper ‘Black Pearl’

Ornamental Chili Pepper ‘Black Pearl’ is an F1 hybrid that has very attractive purple foliage and dark purple-black fruits that are round and upward facing.  Among the plants from saved seed, four of the twelve plants had green foliage and downward facing elongated fruit, while the remaining 8 plants had purple foliage and dark rounded, upward facing fruit like the original variety.  The parent plants the seed was saved from did not have other peppers nearby to cross with.  From the unique segregation for green foliage and downward, elongated fruit we can learn some interesting information.  All three of these traits appear recessive, simply inherited traits and since they all segregate together the genes governing them may even be on the same chromosome. One can easily germinate saved seed and save the purple foliaged ones and be pretty certain the fruit will be round and upward facing.  We tasted these chili peppers.  Wow, they were exceptionally hot!

Vegetables

Tomato ‘Juliet’

Tomato ‘Juliet’ is an F1 grape tomato hybrid and a recent All-America Selections winner.  The plants are indeterminate growers (the shoot tips keep growing, producing fruit throughout the season), ripening over an extended period of time.  The fruit is very sweet, firm, and delicious.  The plants from saved seed segregated widely for fruit shape, size, and flavor.  Some were very elongated, while others were round and small like cherry tomatoes.  The seedlings also segregated for indeterminate versus determinate plant habit (upper left and right photos, respectively).  Determinate plant habit means that all terminals end in flower buds and produce fruit that mature at a relatively uniform time, a trait common in commercially grown field tomatoes that aids in mechanical harvesting and processing. With nine indeterminate to three determinate plants from the saved seed, the data is consistent with indeterminate growth being dominant to determinate growth and the original ‘Juliet’ being heterozygous for the trait and a cross of parents differing for these traits.  At the Dakota County Master Gardeners Annual Picnic, we taste tested fruit from each of the individual 12 plants from saved seed, comparing their flavor to that of the original ‘Juliet’.  The flavor of the fruit from the original ‘Juliet’ plants was very uniform and sweet and pleasant. People thought for ten of the plants grown from saved seed the original ‘Juliet’ had better flavor, one plant received a tie, and one plant tasted better than ‘Juliet’. With the segregation for determinate versus indeterminate plant habit and fruit shape in the plants from saved seed it is suspected ‘Juliet’ may be a cross of a sweet cherry tomato (typically indeterminate in growth habit) and a firm fruited, elongated roma tomato (typically determinate in plant habit). With great variability for fruit size and a general reduction in fruit flavor among the plants from saved seed of ‘Juliet’, it may be wiser to purchase new seed in order to enjoy the full benefits of this superior hybrid.

From this demonstration we learned that for many plants, even some F1 hybrids, saving and raising ones own seed produces plants of acceptable or highly comparable quality.  The decision regarding if we save our own seeds or not and for which types of plants depends on multiple factors including: budget, degree of uniformity needed, and how much satisfaction and enjoyment one gets from the process.  For more informal garden designs where variability is actually a desirable feature in especially ornamentals, much more leeway can be had in saving seeds and utilizing the resulting seedlings.  For more formal designs where mass plantings of more uniform plants are needed and high quality vegetables with uniformity for flavor and other important traits, much less variability can be tolerated.  We welcome you to come and visit UMore Park this summer and see new comparisons between seedlings from the original, purchased seed and saved seed of a different set of varieties.

---

Several people have complained of insects damaging their windows and have either described or sent me samples of grass that they found in it.  When asked when they first encountered this, I was told that this was not new from the winter but had occurred last summer or fall.  When the samples were carefully examined, tree crickets were found amongst the grass.  People never noticed any other insects.

However, the tree crickets are not responsible for the grass.  The actually culprit is a sphecid wasp known as Isodontia.  This insect is called bird-nest wasp or grass carrying wasp.  It belongs to a group of sphecid wasps known as thread-waisted wasps.  They have a very thin stalk or waist (actually part of the abdomen) connecting the thorax with the abdomen.  The most common species in Minnesota is Isodontia apicalis.  It measures ½ - 3/4 inch long, is dull black in color, and is active from July to September.

A bird-nest wasp uses a preexisting cavity to construct its nest.  Worldwide, they have been known to use hollow plant stems, rolled leaves, abandoned bee nests, and even crevices between stones.  In Minnesota, home residents occasionally find them inside window cases.  The bird-nest wasp flies to her nest site, carrying grass, sometimes several inches long.  This grass is used to form cells in her nest.  She provisions her nest with insects to feed her young.  Isodontia prefers katydids or crickets - a particular species will prefer a specific insect as its prey.

Although the activity of a bird-nest wasp can be a little alarming or disconcerting, they are not actually damaging anything.  Just remove the grass and insects you find.  It is unlikely you will have an ongoing problems with this wasp.  If you saw it one year, you probably will not see it the next.  This is fortunate as it would be very difficult to exclude them or otherwise control them.

 

 

 

---

Are you ready for some spring blooms?  Consider cutting and brining in some stems for forcing of early spring flowering shrubs like forsythia, pussy willow, and flowering almond.  Stems of these shrubs have flower buds already developed and they are ready to quickly grow and develop in a warm environment after receiving their chilling requirement over winter.  Treat cut stems like standard cut flowers by changing the water frequently and using floral preservative.  Once the flowers begin to appear, their life can be extended by keeping them in a cooler portion of the house, out of direct sunlight, and away from drafts.

Continue to start seeds of bedding plants indoors at the appropriate time for each species.  Different species grow at different rates and the slower ones benefit from being started earlier so plants will be of good size when it comes time to plant them out after danger of frost.  March is a great time to start many bedding plants to provide them with about 8-10 weeks of growth before being transplanted outdoors.  Common bedding plants that would be great to plant in March include: dianthus, cleome, cole crops, hollyhocks (those that flower the first year from seed), peppers, petunias, rudbeckia (black-eyed Susans), and snapdragons.  Tomatoes grow very quickly from seed and can be started in late March or April for decent sized transplants in late May.  If one wants to get a jump start on the season with tomatoes and has the space to accommodate them, they can be started now.

March is a great time of year to prune many trees and shrubs.  Exceptions include species that tend to bleed heavily in spring like some maples and birch.  Spring is a great time to conduct rejuvenation pruning on many shrub species.  Rejuvenation pruning involve removing a small proportion of the oldest stems as close to the base as possible.  If one does this periodically (each spring or every other year) this will help keep shrubs producing new, strong stems that tend to be more vigorous, healthy, and flower better.  Extremely overgrown shrubs that have not been appropriately pruned for a long time can be cut completely to the ground as a last resort.  Most commonly, this technique results in a lot of strong growth from the base as there is a well established root system to support it.  Sometimes cutting an overgrown shrub completely to the ground may stress it out to such an extent that it may die or come back poorly at first. Spring flowering shrubs, like lilac and forsythia, are often pruned after they are done flowering so a season of flowering is not missed, although later pruning can add extra stress to the plant.

---

For larger views of most images, just click on the image.

Back issues Yard & Garden Line News for the past nine years are online.

For plant and insect questions, visit Ask a Master Gardener. Thousands of questions have been answered, so try the search option in the black bar at the top left of the board for the fastest answer.

Receive an e-mail reminder when the next issue of the Yard and Garden News is posted to the web:

Name

Email

unsubscribe

Happy gardening!

David C. Zlesak, Ph.D.
Editor
Extension Educator