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David ZlesakDaily overhead irrigation of this garden has allowed old floral tissue to hold enough moisture and trigger the seeds contained within to germinate. The daily irrigation has also allowed the natural plant hormone abscissic acid that helps to instill dormancy in developing seeds and prevent premature germination to be leached away. The phenomena of seeds germinating while still in the fruit on the parent plant is called vivipary. Some specific varieties of plants are more prone to it than others and atypical environmental conditions can also trigger it. It is common to find germinating seeds within grapefruits or oranges because of storage temperatures atypical from what would be found in nature. Generally, viviparous germination is negative because seedlings soon find themselves with limited resources and die. For mangrove trees which live in coastal areas viviparous germination is an advantage. A thick young taproot emerges from seeds while still on the parent plant which helps them take hold in the soft soil after they fall and drift into shallow water.
‘Princess’ purple elephant grass in a mixed planter. Mary MeyerPeople love purple plants and this summer two new purple grasses were show stoppers at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Ornamental Grass Collection. 'Princess' (Plant Patent 17,728) and 'Prince' (Plant patent 18,509) are dwarf and semi-dwarf, respectively, purple-foliaged napier, or elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum). Originating from the turf and forage breeding program at Coastal Plains Experiment Station, Tifton, Georgia, these grasses were jointly released by the USDA and University of Georgia College of Ag.and Envi. Sci. Athens Select TM program. Perennials in USDA hardiness zones 8-10, or where minimum winter temperatures are 0-100 F or warmer, these grasses will be grown as vigorous annuals for much of the US. They love warm hot weather, and as the summer heat intensifies, the deep purple foliage color becomes more pronounced. In containers or in the garden, these grasses will grow well in warm weather.
At the Arboretum, quart containers were planted in mid to late June and by early September ‘Prince’ was 50-55” tall and ‘Princess’ was 40-45” in height. Each plant has 30-50 stems, (or culms as grass stems are called) each with 1-2” wide, long dark red- purple leaves.
In colder climates, north of zones 8-10, these plants do not flower, if fact, they can be problematic for self-seeding in mild climates. ‘Prince’ and ‘Princess’ are not recommended for warm areas “where a hard freeze will not occur by Dec. 1” to prevent self-seeding. In Africa, where Pennisetum purpureum is native, it is a wide-spread weed. It has also naturalized in tropical areas of the world, including southern Florida.
‘Prince’ and ‘Princess’ purple elephant grass at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. For gardeners, ‘Prince’ or ‘Princess’ can be planted in a container and makes a dramatic plant for a porch or patio. Other plants in the same container must be vigorous growers also, or they will be crowded out! Ipomoea 'Marguerite', the chartreuse sweet potato vine, makes a good companion plant for these grasses.
In comparison to the purple pennisetum we have been growing, Rubrum grass or Pennisetum advena, with thin purple foliage and long foxtail like purple flowers, ‘Prince’ and ‘Princess’ are taller and coarser, and resemble Phormium, or New Zealand flax.
These two new grasses can be a dramatic focal point in your garden and add a tropical look. However, if you garden in the Deep South, do not plant ‘Prince’ or ‘Princess’ due to reseeding issues.
A few years ago, I had a plot in a community garden not far from my house in northeast Minneapolis. I grew a few flowers but mostly stuck to vegetables because there wasn’t enough room for them in my own backyard garden. A novice at much more than tomato growing, I was proud of my bounty of eggplant, snap peas, onions, zucchini, peppers and even a couple of pumpkins. But the most meaningful thing about the experience was the people all around me, working their plots in the evening light, trading veggies, and advice. Even when I was tired to the bone, it made me happy to go there and dig and water and weed and be part of something.
It’s impossible to calculate exactly how many community gardens there are in the state since many just do their thing and don’t register with a group or organization. But Ila Duntemann, a program coordinator at Minneapolis-based Gardening Matters, which provides support for community gardens throughout the Twin Cities, figures there are at least 200 community gardens in the Twin Cities metro area, which adds up to thousands of dedicated gardeners.
Formerly known as Gardenworks, Gardening Matters is really a “clearing house,” Duntemann says, offering everything from gardening know-how to the nitty-gritty details of how to start and maintain a community garden. Once organized, community gardens usually focus on one or more of these three things: food production for gardeners, beautification of the area, or food production for donation to charities and food shelves. Read on to find out what community gardeners have to say about what they do, why they do it, and what keeps them coming back year after year.
Connecting with the earth
If you want to be a community gardener in Mankato, you’ll want to get a plot at the Community Gardens at Good Counsel Hill. The gardens were started 13 years ago by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, which still sponsors them today. The land had been sitting idle for years and the sisters focused on inviting local immigrants and refugees to use it for food production.
Over the years, the garden has evolved to include a broad cross section of gardeners from the surrounding area. Immigrants who used to be predominantly Hmong are now usually from African countries. Plots are all 10 ft. x 10 ft. and families can have up to six if they like. “Most of the people who take six have usually recently come from agrarian cultures where they’re used to growing their own food,” says Lisa Coons, coordinator for the Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry (www.ssndmankato.org/earth/), which oversees the gardens.
The gardens have been very successful, Coons says. Three years ago, they doubled the number of available plots to 250, figuring it would take years to outgrow the space. But with rising food prices and the high cost of gas, more and more people are looking to grow their own food and already all 250 plots are taken and there is a waiting list for next summer. “We have about 130 people who garden here and they see the value in what they’re doing,” says Coons. “I mean I spent 80 cents on onion sets this spring and harvested 20 pounds of onions for the food shelf.”
But the gardens are about much more than food. At monthly potlucks families who’ve lived all their lives in Montevideo sit down to a feast with families who have made their way to Minnesota from Iran, Vietnam, and Africa. Through educational workshops the gardeners learn how to do things organically and there are even gardening classes for children as young as two. “Our mission is really to connect people to the earth and to each other through the experience of gardening,” says Coons.
Improving the neighborhood
Rebecca Sauser Christopherson is a member and secretary of the Cherokee Heights Garden Club. Established in 1934, it is the longest continuing garden club in the state and represents the Cherokee Heights area on St. Paul’s west side.
The group’s mission is beautification and they’ve worked on several local gardens over the years, including a few located at residential programs for people with disabilities. “We try to do some things like raised gardens that people who are physically challenged can tend,” says Christopherson, whose grandmother was a founding member of the club.
The most visible garden the group maintains is on the south end of St. Paul’s High Bridge. Members started tending the garden in 1984 and have since packed it with an array of perennial flowers. This year they added some red-twig dogwood for winter interest. Everyone in the 36-member group signs up during the summer and helps tend the gardens. Once a year they hold a flower show at Presbyterian Homes in Inver Grove Heights. After the show, all of the flowers are donated to the home, residents, and staff.
Learning how to thrive
In the spring of 2006 a man approached Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin and said he had some land he wasn’t using and wondered whether someone else could. Haslett-Marroquin, director of the Rural Enterprise Center in Northfield (www.ruralec.com), brought the idea up at his church. Six families came forward saying they would like to garden on that land. Today, 38 families work 48 plots, which are either 25 ft. x 25 ft. or 25 ft. by 50 ft. Because the area is rural, there is plenty of room to expand as more families request plots of their own.
While food production is clearly one mission of the garden, Haslett-Marroquin says the real goal is to “bring people together from the Latino and Anglo communities in a place where they can feel comfortable and grow food for their families.”
In his work at the center, Haslett-Marroquin does outreach to entrepreneurs and helps people start their own businesses. Over time, he’s been able to help some of the gardeners turn their plant know-how into good business. “Many of them didn’t even know they had the ability to be entrepreneurs until they got out in the garden and started doing stuff,” he says. “I don’t motivate people. They motivate themselves.”
In April's Yard and Garden Line News, we wrote about how plants know when spring comes. Looking out our windows, April seems like a distant memory. Those maples and poplars seem to think the end of the world is coming, and they want everybody else to know about it, shouting “RED! ORANGE! YELLOW!” For many Minnesotans, the beginning hockey season is certainly not the end of the world. But it is a premonition of the harsh environment to come, especially if you are a plant--rooted in place with very little water in liquid form or shelter from the bracing winter cold. Plants prepare for winter so they can survive and grow again in spring. Preparations include protecting important tissues from being damaged by freezing, and mobilization important nutrients and minerals out of tender tissue and into hardy or protected tissue. But plants don't play hockey, football, or volleyball; how do they know it's autumn?
Well, how do you recognize autumn? You notice your alarm going off in the darkness of the morning hours, unlike in July, when it was light enough to eat breakfast outside. You can't grill outside at 9 PM anymore, and daylight savings is only partially to blame. The earth is getting closer to the sun, but the sun is moving further and further south in the sky and becoming increasingly rare. The Autumnal equinox was Sept. 22, when the sun was directly over the equator. It will make a trip to the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere, then return to the northern Tropic of Cancer next summer. The seasonal changing of daylength is a signal for us to carve pumpkins, and a signal for plants to prepare for winter. Shortening daylength (perceived by plants as lengthening night length) is a reliable predictor of lower temperatures, so shorter days serve as a good signal to begin preparing for winter.
Daylength is is becoming shorter with While the change of color and subsequent leaf loss seems to coincide with the cool, crisp days and nights of fall, it is actually induced with the shortening length of the day for many species. This is a photoperiodic response, or a response to the length of the day. Photoperiod also plays a role in breaking dormancy and flowering for many species. Some of our native Minnesota plants such as red maple (Acer rubrum), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and American elm (Ulmus americana) and ornamental plants such as catalpa tree (Catalpa bignonioides), katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), European larch (Larix decidua), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and weigela (Weigela spp.) respond to the shortening days of late summer and early fall by initiating dormancy.
Temperature also plays an important role in promoting dormancy in plants. Without the chill in the air during autumn, plants would be ill-prepared for winter. In the event of an August day that suddenly hits 10ºF, many plants hardy to Minnesota would die. But similarly, if it never gets below 70ºF until one day in November, when it drops to 10º, the same fate would befall many plants. The declining daylength is a signal for plants to prepare for getting prepared for winter. As the temperature decreases, exposure to the gradually decreasing temperatures enables perennials and biennials to acclimate to the temperatures, which increase their cold hardiness. Plant membranes are like an oily fluid; membranes can flow and allow things dissolved in the membranes to move, which is important for cell function. If the temperature falls and the plant isn’t ready for it, the membrane becomes a solid and the cell stops working. So one way the cells prepare for cold is to adjust the composition of membranes as it gets colder to maintain fluidity at low temperatures.
One way cold hardiness is increased in plants such as trees is with the presence of sap. Sap is water with dissolved sugars that flows through the phloem tissue of the plant. Dissolved sugars in the water decreases the freezing point of the solution below that of plain water. The xylem, water-conducting tissue, has water withdrawn because it would be vulnerable to damage from freezing water as it expands. Individual living cells are protected from freezing as well. So-called ‘antifreeze proteins’ may protect the cells from ice crystal damage. Also, when ice is formed externally to plant cells, it draws water from within the cell. This effectively concentrates the solution within the cell, which again, decreases the freezing point and protects the contents of the cells.
An important part of winter dormancy is to protect next year’s leaves and growing tips, or meristems. With the shortening days of the late summer and early fall, minute leaves on very compressed stems are formed near the axils of leaves and at the tip of stems or underground storage structures in herbaceous perennials. These are the buds that will break next spring and provide next year’s growth. For deciduous woody plants and shrubs, these delicate tissues are above-ground and will be exposed to the cold and dry winter environment, so they will need extra protection. This is provided largely by the formation of bud scales. Bud scales will primarily function in three ways: one, to keep the tissues warm; two, to prevent oxygen from reaching the buds; and three, to keep the low humidity and winds from desiccating the tissue. In addition to protecting the buds during the winter, bud scales serve an additional, albeit, recreational function- they can aid woody plant identification during the winter! For example, willows and poplars have one single bud scale, while lilacs have eight.
Once next year’s buds are ready, both deciduous woody and herbaceous plants must loose their leaves. This is a two-stepped process starting with senescence and followed by abscission. Senescence is the process of leaves aging, which includes the loss of green coloration. Senescence is important because it allows the plant to hold onto valuable resources, like nitrogen. Herbaceous plants and deciduous woody plants move nitrogen (a valuable resource) from their tender leaves to their hardy stems and roots so the buds can re-use it next spring. Chlorophyll is the green pigment plants use to turn light into biomass, and it (and associated proteins) is full of nitrogen. So when the plant senesces, it moves its nitrogen from the leaves and the less nitrogen-rich pigments which tend to be richly colored remain (anthocyanins and carotenoids). The plant just makes its pigments from scratch next year, and uses the nitrogen it saved up to make chlorophyll and other proteins.
Senescence and abscission are controlled by plant hormones, or phytohormones. When the cytokinin-to-ethylene ratio is high, senescene is delayed; as cytokinin levels drop compared to ethylene, leaf senescence proceeds. Senescence is followed by abscission. Leaf abscission is again controlled by the ratio of two hormones: auxin and ethylene. Auxin, the hormone in rooting powders or liquids that promotes rooting of cuttings, also delays the senescence of leaves. As the ratio of auxin to ethylene decreases, cell walls in a region called the separation layer between the leaf and stem break down. Next to the separation layer is a group of cells called the protective layer. This layer provides protection to the area of the stem where the leaf was attached. Consequently, this is where the leaf scar is formed…another useful too for winter tree and shrub identification! For example, maple (Acer) has 3 bundle scars (dark dots) in each leaf scar, while ash (Fraxinus) leaf scars have a continuous line of bundle scars.
So wake up late this weekend and see the sunrise, get out your jacket and enjoy the fall colors, and enjoy a 7:30 PM dinner by candlelight. Plants will be working hard to ensure they’ll be around after winter to do it all over again.
In part one of the 5 sensing article (July 15, 2008 issue; http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLNewsJuly152008.html#art1) we concluded with a garden metaphor of creeping plants inspired by their short stature and strong crawling habit. Their ability to flow around rocks and cascade over walls giving the effect of moving water. The growth habit of these plants permits additional garden creativity. Bulbs can be planted and the creepers planted over the bulbs or bulbs carefully nestled within established plantings of creepers.
Thymus praecox ‘Albiflorus’ "White Creeping Thyme" (Zone 4) cascading over rocks. www.stepables.comBulbs
One of the realities of bulbs is that although their flowers are charming and often fragrant, the flowering season can be short-lived. It can be disappointing when environmental conditions shorten such a wonderful display. I have a solution. Reduce the impact of this potential disappointment and add charm at the same time. Plant creeping plants over the top of your bulbs. In this case golden archangel (Lamiastrum sp.) provide a wonderful accent to the flowering star of Bethlehem which grow right through them. The golden archangel remains and fills in during the season to maintain interest as the bulbs move quickly through their season of interest.
This requires timing and I believe we are potentially in the window of success. If we plant bulbs too early, higher temperatures can break dormancy and the bulb will begin to grow. This will leave tender tissue to be destroyed by the upcoming lower temperatures and reduce the carbohydrate reserves of the bulb. If we plant too late the creepers can experience frost heaving and damage to their root systems. Frost heaving is caused by alternate freezing & thawing temperatures which can heave or pull perennials from their planting holes in the ground. If planted now, both the bulbs and perennial creepers will have just enough time to establish a healthy root system that will hold them through the winter.
Bulbs should be planted when the soil temperatures drop to 55°F or cooler. This occurs when average night-time temperatures drop to around 50°F or cooler for about two weeks. In our northern climate, planting time is usually from mid-September to mid-October in order for the bulb to grow roots before the ground freezes. See the article on Spring Planted Bulbs – Yard and Garden Brief H120B for more information on planting bulbs.
Wooly thyme lawn substitution.Substitute Lawns
There are occasions when you have a patch of ground that does not lend itself to turf. It may be difficult to mow if it is small and contains tight irregular lines or significant slopes. One solution is to consider creeping plants. This can create a startling effect as we are so used to using turf to occupy significant spaces (Figure 3). Success at such a venture requires preparation. Table 1 lists creeping plants that are hardy in zones 2 and 3. Using a zone 3 plant provides an added bit of insurance against the year when zone 3 temperatures invade your zone 4 area. By definition this is not supposed to happen but.. Before tackling a complete lawn substitution, I would recommend trying some of the Table 1 plants at your location in a limited way and see how they do. I have had enough success with wooly time in my location to give me confidence in success on a larger area.
Table 1. Some creepers with proven hardiness in zones 2 and 3.
| Plant | Hardiness Zone |
H2O1 | Soil | Sun | Traffic2 |
Antennaria carpertica (Pussytoes) |
2 | L | Sandy |
Part to full sun |
Light |
Cerastium alpinum lanatum (Alpine mouse ear) |
2 |
L |
Clay |
Part to full sun |
? |
Carastium tomentosum (Snow in summer) |
2 |
N |
Any |
Part to full sun |
Moderate |
Silene uniflora compacta (Double bladder campion) |
2 |
N |
Clay |
Part to full sun |
Light |
Thymus praecox pseudolanuginosus (Wooly thyme) |
2 |
L |
Sandy |
Part to full sun |
Moderate |
Viola labradorica (Labrador violet) |
2 |
N |
Any |
Part sun |
Moderate |
Ajuga sp. 'Chocolate Chip' (Dwarf bugleweed) |
3 |
N |
Normal |
Part sun |
Moderate |
Anacyclus depressus compactum (Silver kisses) |
3 |
N |
Clay |
Part to full sun |
Moderate |
Artemesia viridis 'Tiny Green' |
3 |
N |
Normal |
Part to full sun |
Light |
Cymbalaria muralis (Kenilworth Ivy) |
3 |
N |
Clay |
Part sun full shade |
Light |
Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Sternkissen' |
3 |
L |
Normal |
Part to full sun |
? |
Draba repens (Carolina whitlow grass) |
3 |
N |
Any |
Part to full sun |
Light |
Hutchinsia alpina (Chamois cress) |
3 |
N |
Any |
Part to full sun |
Moderate |
Lotus corniculatus plenus (Double birds food trefoil) |
3 |
L |
Clay |
Part to full sun |
Moderate |
Potentilla cranztii pygmaea |
3 |
L |
Normal |
Part to full sun |
Light |
Sedum album 'Coral Carpet' |
3 |
L |
Any |
Part to full sun |
? |
Sedum kamatchiaticum (Variegated Stonecrop) |
3 |
L |
Any |
Part to full sun |
Light |
1. Water needs: L=Low, N=Normal |
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2. Traffic= Light= 1-2 times weekly; Moderate= 1-2 times daily; Heavy= 3 or more times daily |
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Note: Source www.stepables.com |
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It is always a good idea to thoroughly inspect any plant for potential pest problems prior to purchase. This is especially true when buying chrysanthemums for fall color this year. A new fungal pathogen, Puccinia horiana, poses a threat to the US flower industry.
Puccinia horiana causes the disease white rust in chrysanthemum. This pathogen is native to Asia, but has already spread to Europe, Australia, Africa, Central and South America. To date, there is no evidence that white rust has become established in the United States. Unfortunately there are several cases where white rust of chrysanthemum has been found in nurseries, gardens, or on cut flowers in the US in the past several years. It is unknown how white rust was brought into the United States in each of these cases. Regulatory officials suspect that the fungus may have been brought in on cut flowers from over seas or by amateur growers smuggling plant material in from foreign countries. Luckily in all of these cases, the infected plants were identified and destroyed, stopping the pathogen before it could become wide spread.
White rust can infect all chrysanthemums including pot mums, cut mums, garden mums (Chrysanthemum morifolium, Dendranthema x grandiflorum) nippon daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum), and giant daisy (Leucanthemella pacificum and Chrysanthemum serotinum). There are no symptoms of the disease for five days to two weeks after the initial infection. This means plants that initially appear healthy could be carrying the white rust fungus. The first symptom of disease is yellow colored spots on the upper surface of the chrysanthemum leaves. Raised pinkish pustules soon form on the under surface of the leaves directly below the leaf spots. These pustules mature into waxy white pustules often described as resembling tiny cauliflower on the lower surface of the leaf. Gardeners should take care not to confuse chrysanthemum white rust with brown rust of chrysanthemum. Brown rust, caused by Puccinia tanaceti, is common in the United States and results in chocolate brown pustules on both the upper and lower surfaces of the chrysanthemum leaf.
The white pustules on the lower leaf surface give white rust its name. Each pustule is full of microscopic teliospores. During cool humid weather (40-73F, 96-100% humidity) basidiospores are released from the white rust pustules and are carried by air currents to start new infections on nearby chrysanthemums. Spores can also be carried by splashing water or by gardeners handling infected plants.
The teliospores located within the white rust pustules on plant leaves survive only 8 weeks on dead plant leaves and even less time if the leaves are buried. Unfortunately if hardy mums are infected, the fungus can survive within the plant, allowing the pathogen to survive and start the disease again in the following year.
Chrysanthemum white rust could result in serious damage to cut flower production facilities, nurseries and gardens if it were to become established in the United States. All suspected cases of chrysanthemum white rust should be reported to the University of Minnesota Plant Disease Clinic (http://pdc.umn.edu) or the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (1-888-545-6684).
Field ants are moderate sized insects, 1/8 - 1/4 inch long, that nest in the soil, constructing mounds up to one foot wide. They are typically found in exposed sites, particularly in fields, although they can occasionally nest under objects, likes logs or stones. These nests, like the colonies of nearly all other ant species, periodically produce mating swarms, i.e. males and fertile females (queens after they mate and become fertilized).
While some ant species swarm during spring and early summer, field ants swarm from July to September. This September in particular, many people in Minnesota witnessed large congregations of winged field ants. You can distinguish between the genders as males are smaller sized with a relatively small head while females are larger with a normal-sized head. Males often come out of nests first and are later joined by females. They mate while flying in the air with the queens dispersing to find places to start new nests while the males die shortly afterwards.
In nearly all cases these winged ants were found outdoors. There was one instance where they were reported inside a home which was probably due to a nest being directly adjacent to the foundation or just under it, apparently allowing the winged ants to inadvertently move indoors. Ant swarms are a common occurrence, and despite the large numbers of insects involved are harmless to people. They are temporary and go away on their own.
There are essentially no dangerous spiders native to Minnesota (the northern widow is found in the southeast corner of the state but is rarely encountered by people). Despite that, many people are very cautious around spiders, especially if they do not recognize them. When they see a spider they suspect is dangerous, they may use information they find on the Internet or field guides and to try to identify them. People generally use color and shape to identify spiders. Unfortunately, these characteristics do not always allow people to accurately diagnose spiders.
In one recent example, a homeowner believed she was seeing brown widow spiders (found in southern Florida, parts of the Gulf Coast, and the coast of southern California) in round webs on the outside of her home. She looked on the Internet and believed that images she found of brown widows matched what she was finding including a red hour glass-shaped marking on the underside of its abdomen. She also received an apparent confirmation from a (non-entomology) graduate student who searched the Internet and found pictures he also believed agreed with her diagnosis.
When the spider was submitted to the Dept. of Entomology, it was determined to be an orb weaving spider (possibly Cyclosa sp.). It’s coloration was dissimilar to that of a brown widow. While orb weaving spiders and combfooted spiders (the family widow spiders belong) are similar in shape and form, there are differences in the arrangement of their eyes and hairs on their legs. You can also distinguish them from the type of web they produce. Orb weaving spiders spin a circular, flat web while widow spiders make an irregular, tangled web.
Also recently, a homeowner in Minneapolis was fearful they had found a brown recluse. This was ‘confirmed’ by a worker at a local garden center. The specimen was later submitted to the University of Minnesota where it was identified as an orb weaving spider. It is not clear what the garden center worker saw that led him or her to this identification as the submitted spider had a light brown body, red banded legs, a bulbous abdomen, and lacked any dark colored markings on its body, completely dissimilar to a brown recluse.
While you can potentially identify a brown recluse from its distinctive violin marking on its body, this is not reliable and people often mistake this coloration on other types of spiders. A more reliable method is to count the eyes and observe their arrangement on the spider’s ‘face’. Most spider have eight eyes while a brown recluse has six eyes arranged in three pairs of two.
The take home lesson is be careful when identifying spiders, especially if it involves a potentially dangerous one. Even when you think spiders match pictures on the Internet or a field guide, a person’s interpretation of color and shape is not always accurate. Using color to identify spiders is challenging enough for people that study them and they use other characteristics to verify a spider diagnosis. Ultimately, if there is any question about whether a spider is dangerous, submit the specimen to someone that is experienced in identifying them.
If you still have some spring blooming bulbs plant them soon so they have a chance to root in before the ground freezes. Good root development before winter helps the plant to get off to a strong start in the spring and produce higher quality blooms. If one has a large rodent population consider spreading hardware cloth or chicken wire over a newly planted area to prevent them from digging up bulbs. Remove the wire as the bulbs emerge in the spring. In addition, if gophers are a problem, one can line the planting bed with buried wire.
Consider decorating for fall with things such as flowering cabbage or kale, mums, corn stalks, bittersweet stems, pumpkins, and gourds. Flowering cabbage or kale can endure considerable cold before their appearance is compromised. A hard freeze can damage blooms on mums. If mums are in containers and easy to move, consider brining them in on an especially cold night. Consider making a trip to a small farm that has pumpkins and other fall products for sale as well as family-friendly entertainment. Picking out ones own pumpkin from the field, going on a hayride, and meandering a corn maze can provide a great adventure for children and adults alike.
Consider a family adventure to a farm with pick your own pumpkins and other seasonal activities. David Zlesak
Dahlia tubers can be lifted before the ground freezes and stored over the winter. David Zlesak
Begin lifting tender bulbs and other geophytes such as gladiolus, dahlias, cannas, caladium, and tuberous begonias. Typically they can stay in place until the top growth experiences damage from a frost, but can be dug before this point as well. Temperature and moisture are the critical factors that will impact successful overwintering. Gladiolus corms have a thick waxy coating that helps to retain moisture and they typically survive well just kept dry. Most of the others, however, will begin to dry out and shrivel if stored dry and benefit from being packed in a slightly damp material. Saw dust, vermiculite, or peat moss typically work well. Keeping the material slightly damp is best as too much moisture can encourage rot. Temperature is also important. Dahlias, tuberous begonias, and gladiolus can be stored relatively cold at about 40-45F. This will help to keep them dormant longer over our relatively long winters before they start to sprout. Cannas and caladium are warm season plants and need to be stored at warmer temperatures (about 50-55F) or they will suffer from chilling injury.
After the ground has begin to freeze is the time to add extra mulch to insulate tender perennials. The goal is to keep the soil frozen without dropping too far below freezing and to prevent alternating cycles of freezing and thawing. Putting insulation on too soon can trap moisture and encourage fungal growth and be inviting to overwintering rodents. Mulch that is more open and airy such as ground wood and bark and oak leaves are typically better than maple leaves that become soggy and matt. One can use bagged leaves right over beds. The air spaces between the dry leaves inside the bags will add extra insulation value and the bags are easy to remove come spring.
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Happy gardening!David C. Zlesak, Ph.D.
Editor
Extension Educator