A reader has asked if he can grow 'Pink Lady' apples in Morisset NSW and, if so, does he need a second tree for pollination? Good question, Malcolm!
As a general rule, except for areas of high altitudes, apples are not grown commercially in latitudes of less than 33.00° South because ...
Posted July 7th, 2009 by Aussie Organic Gardening
Posted July 6th, 2009 by Biopact team
Dear friends,
Here is an excellent article on the Audubon Society site about how global warming affects our bird populations. Those of you who have been my readers from the beginning know how much I love birds, and how much we love feeding them and watching them from our backyard garden. I knew that the climate was affecting bird migrations, but didn't know to what extent. Please read this and pass it on to other bird lovers you might know.
In the meantime, enjoy this photo of our resident Mr. & Mrs. Barn (Mud) Swallow, who have graced us with their presence above our front porch. So far, we've had three batches of babies hatched from that spot!
Dig it!
bobbi c.
Here is an excellent article on the Audubon Society site about how global warming affects our bird populations. Those of you who have been my readers from the beginning know how much I love birds, and how much we love feeding them and watching them from our backyard garden. I knew that the climate was affecting bird migrations, but didn't know to what extent. Please read this and pass it on to other bird lovers you might know.
In the meantime, enjoy this photo of our resident Mr. & Mrs. Barn (Mud) Swallow, who have graced us with their presence above our front porch. So far, we've had three batches of babies hatched from that spot!
Dig it!
bobbi c.
Posted July 6th, 2009 by About.com Organic Gardening
There is no such thing as a weekend off.
I was reminded of this over the long 4th of July weekend. I took time of from writing, as well as most housework and even gardening to just kick back and relax with my family. We had a great party on the 4th, and I finally managed to finish reading a novel.
But it's Monday, which means it's time for life to get back to normal. I headed out to the garden this morning to see how everything's coming along, and to snap a few photos, and my eye lit on a big, fat cabbage worm on my broccoli. Of course it was big and fat. It had managed to eat most of a very large broccoli leaf, and had apparently spread to word to its no-good friends about the Brassicas buffet in my yard. A quick scan showed that there were cabbage worms all over my broccoli, and a few on the Brussels sprouts across the path. I grabbed my trusty cup of soapy water and went to work.
About an hour later, I had a cup full of small to largish to rather huge cabbage worms. My husband even took a few inside to meet their demise as breakfast for our turtle, Bowser. It's hard for me to feel sorry for them.
I had been keeping tabs on the cabbage worm situation. As soon as I heard the first gleeful "Ooh, Mommy, look at all of the pretty white butterflies!" from my four-year-old, I started monitoring for the little buggers. I wiped countless tiny eggs off of the undersides of the leaves, only to watch the butterflies laying more eggs right before my eyes. Needless to say, I was torn between admiring this admittedly fascinating process and dreading all of the baby broccoli nibblers I would be dealing with as a result.
So, I'll be spending the next few mornings hunting for cabbage worms. That's all right. As far as garden tasks go, it's not especially difficult, and it definitely gives me the chance to get up close and personal with my Brassicas.
Posted July 6th, 2009 by Kathy Purdy
I visited a hardy rose nursery in Ithaca, NY: http://ping.fm/Hk6mv
Posted July 6th, 2009 by Kathy Purdy
Lee operates Der Rosenmeister nursery from his home outside of Ithaca, NY. I visited there in mid-June with Elizabeth Licata, editor of Buffalo Spree, who also blogs at Gardening While Intoxicated and Garden Rant. We were in Ithaca to visit the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days gardens, but I wanted to pick up a rose my daughter admired for her birthday.
” ‘Russell’s Cottage Rose’ is an hybrid multiflora rambler from before 1826, violet-red fading to lavender and slate gray, strong fragrance, hardy to zones 3-4, very vigorous 10 to 20 feet.”
” ‘Lillian Gibson’ is a Rosa blanda hybrid, developed by Niels Hansen in 1938. It is hardy to zone 3, a once bloomer with a sweet fragrance and thornless new growth that is red in the winter.” (Also pictured in the top photo of the nursery.)
Lee does, however, custom propagate roses, as he explains, “For custom propagation, customers need to let me know by July 1 what they want propagated and pay for it then… I get my propagating done the first week in July or work to locate a source for them. The rose would be available the following May.”
Lee Ginenthal loves roses. And it’s a good thing for me, and for all you cold climate gardeners out there, that Lee decided to focus on hardy roses which thrive in USDA hardiness zones 5, 4, and even 3.
Lee Ginenthal, owner of Der Rosenmeister hardy rose nursery
The Germans Have Us Beat
Hardy roses can be found in all classifications and types, from heirlooms to recent hybrids, from shrubs to ramblers to climbers. Lee was quick to point out that the Germans are way ahead of us in breeding roses for cold hardiness and disease resistance, thanks to the leadership of the Kordes nursery. For example, their Vigorosa roses are “known for disease resistance, cold hardiness, ease of care and constancy of bloom.”
A Hardy Rose Sampler
June is the perfect time to visit a rose nursery, as most of the spring bloomers are at the height of their powers. Roses just spilled out everywhere. If you ever doubted that roses could grow in cold climates, a walk around the display gardens would have put that doubt to rest. As we toured the nursery, Lee gave us a running commentary on each rose as we drew near it. Here’s some of what he shared with us.
‘Brite Eyes’, hybridized by Bill Radler, is genetically resistant to rose midge. “It is a pink blend, smallish climber/large shrub- disease free, broad leaved foliage, beautiful buds showing pink and yellow.”
Russell's Cottage Rose, an heirloom variety
” ‘Russell’s Cottage Rose’ is an hybrid multiflora rambler from before 1826, violet-red fading to lavender and slate gray, strong fragrance, hardy to zones 3-4, very vigorous 10 to 20 feet.”
‘Kazanlik’, also called Rosa damascena tringintipetala, is one of the roses used to make attar of roses. As you might expect, it is wonderfully fragrant and great for potpourri. We had a sniff of Lee’s shrub, and ah, yes! it smells like roses! Lee didn’t mention its hardiness, but Growing Roses in Cold Climates
says it is hardy to Zone 5.
Lillian Gibson
” ‘Lillian Gibson’ is a Rosa blanda hybrid, developed by Niels Hansen in 1938. It is hardy to zone 3, a once bloomer with a sweet fragrance and thornless new growth that is red in the winter.” (Also pictured in the top photo of the nursery.)
‘Geschwinds Schönste’ was long considered the best hardy multiflora red climber. “It fades to pink from red as it ages. Probably zone 4. I believe it is superseded now by ‘Quadra’, a Canadian Explorer red climber.” (More about Geschwind here.)
‘Red Corsair’ “is a Kordes climber- gorgeous red new growth, blood red flowers. Stunning in the landscape. Can be grown as a large shrub or climber.” (This rose has a lot of names: KORramalu, ‘Temptress’, and ‘Rote Korsar’.)
Custom Propagation, But No Mail Order
At the present time, Lee does not ship roses. You’ll just have to visit his nursery, where you can see the roses trained on every kind of structure imaginable. He makes the structures himself.
Some of the rose structures, as seen from the hoop house.
Lee does, however, custom propagate roses, as he explains, “For custom propagation, customers need to let me know by July 1 what they want propagated and pay for it then… I get my propagating done the first week in July or work to locate a source for them. The rose would be available the following May.”
A Horticultural Vacation
If you can reasonably drive to Ithaca, NY, you’ll find plenty of other horticultural places of interest to visit, even if you don’t manage to arrive for an Open Days weekend.
Further Reading
Posted July 5th, 2009 by Biopact team
Just ran across this incredible database online courtesy of the Organic Materials Review Institute. You can search for suppliers of organic seeds for herbs, flowers, vegetables...you name it! This is an amazing free online resource. Check it out!
bobbi c.
bobbi c.
Posted July 5th, 2009 by Biopact team
Dear friends,
As the unusually high temperatures here in central TX stay in the 100's and higher, we've had issues with keeping our veggie garden watered. It looks drab and crispy by now, and there's not much we can do about it but hope that we'll get some cooler weather.
Our landscape plants, however, are thriving! I learned about Xeriscape gardening over 15 years ago, and believe me, it works. The concept is simple....use native or highly adapted plants in your landscape that don't need a lot of water. Mulch like crazy, cut down on lawn areas or plant things like buffalograss that are native, low-water grasses.
A great resource for information on native plants, wildflowers and native grasses is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.
One of my favorite front yard shrubby plants is my vitex tree. This is a young one, planted just over a year ago. When full grown, it will probably be around six-feet tall.
The purple spikey flowers on it appear off and on in all the warm months, and look great against the yellow house. I'm glad to see that a lot of the landscapers around here are using vitex in their commercial designs now. The small, shrubby tree makes a great companion to rosemary. The bees love both, and once established, almost never need to be watered. Other plants I use in the front are autumn sages (salvias), artemesia, Russian sage, lavenders, salvia guaranetica and Texas bush sage. Notice all the sages/salvias? I use them because they are great plants, attract bees and butterflies, are drought tolerant, and are very hardy in this crazy climate.
This morning we're dumping another carload of mulch on the front to help keep the runoff in the yard instead of flowing down the street into the storm drains. That is, WHEN it rains.
For more information on low-water gardening using Xeriscaping, check out this website. Water conservation is already an issue here in Texas, and will become more so as years go by.
Oh, and for more information on Xeriscape landscapes, check out this website.
Dig it!
bobbi c.
As the unusually high temperatures here in central TX stay in the 100's and higher, we've had issues with keeping our veggie garden watered. It looks drab and crispy by now, and there's not much we can do about it but hope that we'll get some cooler weather.
Our landscape plants, however, are thriving! I learned about Xeriscape gardening over 15 years ago, and believe me, it works. The concept is simple....use native or highly adapted plants in your landscape that don't need a lot of water. Mulch like crazy, cut down on lawn areas or plant things like buffalograss that are native, low-water grasses.
A great resource for information on native plants, wildflowers and native grasses is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.
One of my favorite front yard shrubby plants is my vitex tree. This is a young one, planted just over a year ago. When full grown, it will probably be around six-feet tall.
The purple spikey flowers on it appear off and on in all the warm months, and look great against the yellow house. I'm glad to see that a lot of the landscapers around here are using vitex in their commercial designs now. The small, shrubby tree makes a great companion to rosemary. The bees love both, and once established, almost never need to be watered. Other plants I use in the front are autumn sages (salvias), artemesia, Russian sage, lavenders, salvia guaranetica and Texas bush sage. Notice all the sages/salvias? I use them because they are great plants, attract bees and butterflies, are drought tolerant, and are very hardy in this crazy climate.
This morning we're dumping another carload of mulch on the front to help keep the runoff in the yard instead of flowing down the street into the storm drains. That is, WHEN it rains.
For more information on low-water gardening using Xeriscaping, check out this website. Water conservation is already an issue here in Texas, and will become more so as years go by.
Oh, and for more information on Xeriscape landscapes, check out this website.
Dig it!
bobbi c.
Posted July 4th, 2009 by Kathy Purdy
Alina is the winner of the garden gloves. Her comment number was picked by the random number generator. Thank you to all commenters for participating. I hope you’ll come back again!
Posted July 4th, 2009 by Great Big Plants Blog
A great way to extend your garden into the fall and winter is by planting ornamental grasses.
These ornamental grasses can be used for borders and to break up your landscaping and add a more exotic look to your outdoor view.
Ornamental grasses can be grouped into two categories. There are the warm season ...
Posted July 4th, 2009 by Great Big Plants Blog
What is a Cybister Amaryllis and is it a plant worth having?
Reading organic gardener today I came across a short piece on Cybister Amaryllis.
The article mentions that it is easy to grow in the winter and gives you a tropical, exotic feel with its sidery-pedals and bright colors.
In many cases, ...
