KTRS 550 Inside Out Show Plant of the Week Saturday October 23 2010 ITEA HENRY'S GARNET

by MaryAnn Fink
Conservation Specialist
copyright 2010


This is a cultivar of the Missouri native, Sweetspire. He is a hardy well rounded adaptable shrub that is native to many states. He is notable for his significant flower display and fragrant sweet honey-like scent. Itea is most impressive in the landscape when he reaches his mature height of 3-4' .

He has many pleasant features. His simple leaf shape and forest green foliage is naturally attractive even when there is the frequent seasonal extremes. The fact that his greenery remains clean and disease free, creates a perfect backdrop for his sweet, tickle my chin clusters of starry fragrant flowers in early summer as well as a perfect canvas to display Autumn’s full color palate. Itea ends the season with a strong finish in deep jewel tones of garnet, hence the name!

The bonus feature is the leaves remain intact till late fall –sometimes even early winter! This is much longer than many other deciduous shrubs, including burning bush! This particular cultivar selection I. ‘Henry’s Garnet’ is touted to have superior fall color than the straight species.

Itea is easy to grow in average soil and conditions. This includes medium to wet, well-drained soil. He grows best in full sun but is very adaptable to light shade conditions. Lower lighting may cause fall color to be slightly less intense or delayed . Flowering is impacted some with lower light levels and extremely dry conditions.

I. ‘Henry’s Garnet’ is a great hedge or transitional choice for a formal landscape that need to "relax a little" as it nears its perimeters. His multi-season casual good looks are also a plus when used as a foundation plant or featured shrub in easy care landscapes, woodland gardens or even green spaces that are focused on butterfly and habitating. Itea is especially nice at the edge of ponds or as the mainstay in rain garden designs.

Care factor Rating: 2 No deadheading is necessary after flowering unless personal preference. Reseeding is not an issue. Maintain moisture levels is necessary while establishing, but he is drought tolerant once well establish (flower and color are best when given adequate moisture) He does like to spread outward from his base, but he is controllable and well mannered when given boundaries.

This is a cane shrub that spreads by increasing from the crown / base by producing new shoots from the base annually. If his individual personality is to remain defined, once he is established, the basal area’s spread can be limited to the desired space in early spring.

Remove any excess shoots with a pruning saw and then cut around the base with a sharp shovel and remove any excess root and woody material. Replace-refill any hole area created with fresh soil to protect the exposed freshly cut roots. This activity will control the gradual but natural expansion of the primary clump. Maintaining base area spread for each individual shrub to a minimum of 2-3 feet wide will permit the individual shrub to remain visually balanced by keeping the height and width somewhat equal. If a continuous hedge desired- only limit the side borders.

Since the Itea’s tendency to colonize, consider establishing a few very choice well placed specimens as stock plants / parents and use the removed new growth as babies/ /pups for developing other areas in landscape ( or as nice give-a ways for friends)


Image curtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

Sharing A Time of Thankfulness and Blessings

I am not sure who here on earth keeps track of all our losses- especially recently with losing my baby sister Joanne last year and my only brother John last month, but this week I also celebrated Rachael's life- in my womb and my heart.

It is a precious time each year when I very consciously think about the private importance of her in my life 29 years ago. We lost her at 41 weeks, less than a month before our 1st wedding anniversary. I never experienced such grief before, it is different but similar in some ways to the way I am experiencing my personal loss of Joanne.

All of my immediate family commemorates this time differently, I am blessed with phone calls from family and special friends like Angie who also experienced the loss of a baby and a special intimacy with Michael who carries his heart pain quietly.

This year I want my adult children to know I pray for them daily. I have been spending precious little time with all of them these days as they hurry through life. I am blessed to be a grandparent for the first time because of my youngest daughter Holly. As she experiences the gift of life and joy of parenting for the first time, I reflected back with her about this unique loss of our beautiful and perfect baby, Rachael-her sister, this made it a new experience for me.

It was no coincidence that Focus on the Family, one of my favorite Christian radio shows that broadcasts at 7am--just when my alarm clock goes on in the morning gave me strength. They were featuring Amy and Todd Smith (singing group: Selah) Although they were sharing a much more recent loss, I felt like I knew exactly they way they felt about their baby except I felt it all in the last two days of my pregnancy.

As the show ended today they ended with this song written about their little girl-finally my feelings have words and a melody! Here are the lyrics, the link to the song and to the broadcasts-I am so blessed!

I Will Carry You

There were photographs I wanted to take
Things I wanted to show you
Sing sweet lullabies, wipe your teary eyes
Who could love you like this
People say that I am brave but I'm not
Truth is I'm barely hanging on
But there's a greater story
Written long before me
Because He loves you like this
So I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry youAll my life
And I will praise the One Who's chosen me
To carry youSuch a short time
Such a long roadAll this madness
But I knowThat the silence
Has brought me to His voice
And He says...
I've shown her photographs of time beginning
Walked her through the parted seas
Angel lullabies, no more teary eyes
Who could love her like this
I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming yearsI will carry you
All your life
And I will praise the One Who's chosen Me
To carry you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLuaGiu73jc October 21, 2010:Choosing Life in the Midst of an Adverse Pregnancy (Part 1 of 2) October 22, 2010:Choosing Life in the Midst of an Adverse Pregnancy (Part 2 of 2)

KTRS 550 Inside Out Show PLant of the Week October 16 2010

Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold'

by MaryAnn Fink
Conservation Specialist
copyright 2010

Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' is a selection of my favorite and easiest to identify tree. He is classified as a deciduous (leaf dropping) conifer (a true gymnosperm).

His distinct, double-lobed, fan-shaped leaves form a well distributed canopy throughout his beautiful almost symmetrical branching. His posture is tall, upright, lean, and strong. His demeanor is proud as if he is aware of the importance of his survivorship since prehistoric times.

'Autumn Gold' is a male cultivar that grows at a moderate rate in his youth but like many of us slows down with age. He is likely to reach his mature height of 35-40' before the inevitable but endearing widening to his mature yet pleasing 20-30’ spread!

His foliage signals the onset of autumn, with a blast of gold that gleams like a well polished French horn. In the forefront of a clear blue cloudless sky, this gingko plays a spectacular solo or blends as needed in a well orchestrated landscape!

The leaves tend to persist and then as if taking a bow, they all drop to the ground in one collective movement. The result is a round of applause from the audience- (at least me) and the ground gracefully and abundantly littered in foliage “show tickets” in the same regal gold!

Care factor rating: 1 This tree was selected for his great representation of this notable fall color trait, but like all Ginkgos, he is easy to grow in average soil in full sun with moist, but well-drained alkaline or acidic soils. He will tolerate compacted clay but not overly soggy soils. All Ginkgos are also tolerant of saline conditions, air pollution and heat.

KTRS 550 Inside Out Show Plant of the Week Saturday October 9 2010 Hydrangea paniculata 'Quick Fire'

by MaryAnn Fink
Conservation Specialist
copyright 2010


Hydrangea paniculata is a group of the genus Hydrangea that blooms reliably on new wood. Regardless of cold or soil pH, this valuable family in this huge genus performs from summer to fall - every year!

Though I am most familiar and very fond of several members of this plant family, I am especially excited about getting to know this new boy in training (He can be seen as a shrub, but I checked him out at Rolling Ridge Nursery, where he has been successfully trained into a tree form). This charmer goes by H. ‘Quick Fire’ but in more familiar circles, he is also known as H. ‘Bulk’. I see why!

He is impressively eager to catch any onlooker’s eye with his big bold, muscular foliage. He has strong sturdy branching that forms the support system for his cherry red new stem growth, well rounded thick leaves and large casually held flower clusters. He holds himself together primarily upright and apparently effortlessly!

He works himself into a lather of soft vanilla cream blossoms a month earlier than any of his siblings! By the time other hydrangeas are begin to flower, he is already sporting his post work-out flush of deep rose that drenches every petal and last well into autumn! (This is when his foliage also puts out an effort to reflect the seasonal color change -he is absolutely handsome!)

Care factor rating 1 Hydrangea paniculata ‘Quick Fire’ thrives in urban conditions. His blooms occur on current season’s growth, so prune only once in late winter to early spring to remove last years faded blossoms. This is a very hardy selection that blooms reliably every year, no matter where you live, how you prune or what the pH. There is absolutely no fussing or guessing like with other Hydrangea!
Read more: http://www.colorchoiceplants.com/quick_fire.htm#ixzz12jtJRMtE

KTRS 550 Inside Out Show Featured Plant of the Week Nine Reasons To Plant NINEBARK

by MaryAnn Fink
Conservation Specialist
copyright 2010

1) Ninebark ‘Center Glow’ has American Heritage

2) Doesn’t need irrigation (once established

3) Looks great without pruning (more time to have fun)

4) Shrugs off summer heat and winter cold (wish I could say the same)

5) It likes Missouri clay soils (thank heavens we have so many plants that like it here)

6) It has a wide range pH tolerance ( stop the uphill battle-accept what we have)

7) Amazing foliage and great fall color ( that holds up spring till autumn - not like the old gold ninebark cultivars with thin leaf foliaged that wore out before it fell off)

8) Barbie doll bouquets of “blush” white flowers (nice size for individual plate floral arrangements!)

9) Non-messy dry fruit-seed heads loved by birds ( and not hated by my husband)

PLUS A FEW MORE

10) Beautiful dark stems in winter (that eventually develops a sexy strip act-good, mine is too hormonal and heat flash related- not meant for viewing!)

11) Butterflies like the flowers (and I like butterflies AND flowers-imagine that)
Wet and/or Dry- It can be used in rain gardens that dry up in the summer (just wondering if anyone has had to water their rain garden THIS year?)

12)Not preferred by or significantly phased by occasional deer or rabbit browsing (apparently this is like my cooking- available but seldom selected as an option)

13) Recovers well from amateur pruning efforts (I know this from personal experience-I did move but not especially because of my husband’s poor pruning technique on THIS plant)

My favorite Ninebark is Physocarpus ‘Center Glow’ ((P.o.’Centre Glow’is spelled both ways) He originates from our wonderful American Beauty Physocarpus opulifolius which thrives in the lower Midwest.

His foliage begins its show of color when the first leaves unfurl displaying a striking green gold. The burgundy color migrates from the outside edge of the leaves inward toward the heart of the leaf, stopping instinctively as if Mother Nature has given an invisible paintbrush her nod, leaving the characteristic center of the leaf a bright gold.

Growing with vigor, P. ‘Center Glow’ repeats the coloring process as new leaves continue to emerge and the first leaf’s color deepens with age. All season this shrub has a constant dynamic appeal that increases as autumn arrives. The leaves take on an extremely bright scarlet color and remain intact till late fall. Eventually they slip to the ground, revealing dark red-black mahogany and gray branches.

Over time, P. ‘Center Glow’ shrugs off layers of his thin skinned bark, allowing the wind to think, it has won- but it didn’t! The real winners are the homeowner and landscapers that use this selection of ninebark in their most "has to be good" primo site locations!

copyright 2010 / MaryAnn Fink

['Center Glow' was bred by Harold Pellett, executive director of the nonprofit Landscape Plant Development Center in Mound, Minn. He is a committed and passionate plantsman. He cares greatly about “every day pretty”, our environment, sustainability and the ornamental value of horticulture to a community, and all its residents.] photo by Landscape Plant Development Center

KTRS 550 Inside Out Show Saturday September 11 Plant of the Week Salvia azurea

(For Fall turf renovations see Friday's blog!)

Salvia azurea

by MaryAnn Fink

Conservation Specialist

copyright 2010

Missouri native Salvia azurea is also known as Azure Blue Sage or Pitcher sage. He is an easy to grow perennial for a sunny location with average soil.
In the wild he can stretch up to 4-5’’, but with a little well timed grooming he is a stout, 2 ½’ -3’ tall profuse fall bloomer with wonderful manners!

Our Native Azure Blue Sage is a striking plant occurring naturally on limestone glades, rocky prairies, and prairie openings. He prefers slightly moist, gravelly or sandy soils with good drainage-never soggy feet!

His whorls of 2-lipped blossoms are densely dispersed along the uppermost portion of his multiple stems. This creates an equal opportunity for every crystal blue flower to be seen and appreciated!

Care Factor Rating: 3 Care for this sage is similar to mum and aster care. Once his growth is active and about 10-12” tall (usually late spring), trim his new growth back to about 6”tall.

"Tip trim” the new shoots a second time late June / first week of July (2-3”off each branch is enough!) This promotes lateral branching, heavier flowering and wonderful compact growth! (this will also delay flowering slightly)

Trim this sage lightly after flowering to redirect the energy from producing seeds to stimulating more root growth!

With gentle pre-bloom pruning, he tends to bloom late in the summer well into fall. He tolerates drought but blooms longest when not overly drought stressed. Remove spent flower spikes to help extend the bloom period.

Warning: Do not remove the last year’s shrubby stems till new growth is clearly evident (early to mid-spring). Also do not cut back any re-growth or any new stems any closer than 3-4” above ground at this first pruning!


Side Note: We also discussed another favorite blue flowering fall bloomer Caryopteris-also known as Blue mist spirea or bluebeard. There are many cultivars on the market. A tried and true is Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Longwood Blue' - other new ones have been introduced are are probably equally wonderful and always a pollinator's freind!

KTRS Inside Out Show for weekend of Saturday September 11 FALL TURF RENOVATION PROCEDURE

by MaryAnn Fink
Conservation Specialist
copyright 2010

This week's Inside Out show show will be a short 2 hour program so talk time will be at a premium.

I will still have a plant of the week but also in response to the interest in lawn renovation and weed problems, I am posting the advice of MY favorite St. Louis TURF Expert, Glenn Kraemer- with some comments of my own.

I also included his contact information because I believe every situation is unique and he is best suited to help with specific problems.

These are the guidlines I followed while managing the turf area in the Bird Garden at the MoBot's Kemper Center for Home Gardening- It looked fabulous during the time I worked with Glenn to create a more eco-freindly routine.

In a short time, the weeds were gone, the chemical use was reduced by more than 85% and supplemental water appplications by more than 50%. IN short it is almost alwasy possible to make positive environmental changes in how you care for your lawn!



Step by Step Fall Renovation Plan for Cool Season Grass by Missouri Botanical Garden’s Turf Educator Glenn Kraemer with MaryAnn Fink’s commentary!

The best time for fall turf renovation starts with weed control in mid to late Aug, Turf seeding begins in early September- and the ultimate goal is to finish all steps including three mowings before mid-late October!

Decide if broad leaf weeds (as in not “grass like” foliage) are a problem- if so a post emergent herbicide spray may be necessary- apply per label’s instructions. Be sure the final application is two weeks prior to seeding! Use Turflon Ester for violets and ground ivy, Trimec for all other broadleafs. Sprays only. Be sure to read the labels!

If you are trying to control nut sedge with Sedge Hammer or Pro-Sedge-there must also be a two week interval between the last treatment of the sedge product and the seeding or reseeding effort! Always follow product directions as stated on the label. Be aware that heavy a infestation of nutsedge or long established mature nutsedge (nutsedge is maturing when it begins developing their spiky seed heads) may require more than one application of control product!

Remove any leaves or sticks and spread a thin layer of top soil to level any areas as needed.

After dropping mower blade to 2” height-mow grass- and then reset mower back to 31/2” mow height ( do this so that you don’t mow that low again till late October when you do your final cut! You want your grass to have grown well enough to need at least three mowing before cold weather sets in so it is mature enough to withstand winter)

Flag all irrigation heads and utilities that can be damaged by machinery!

Power rake and / or core aereate-you can’t aererate too much! Using both machines is best but expensive! Rake up and remove thatch- any healthy turf that remains intact- leave it intact. Grass debris can be composted or disposed of with yard waste/ trimmings.

Spread first the seed (make sure it is fresh and premium quality blend of turf fescue-I prefer not to use any annual or perennial blue grass or rye grass mixes- consult with Glenn for his seed recommendations for your specific site)

Spread the seed starter fertilizer (not all fertilizers are compatible with seeding-check the label. Some fertilizers are too strong and some have pre-emmergents added- both will interfere with starting a new lawn or renovating a lawn).

Power rake or use a leaf rake and re-rake the entire area again! This incorporates the seed lightly. Don’t try to bury it! This rate procedure will insure good seed to soil contact and will also help prevent the grass seed from washing away. This also decreases the grass seed’s visability from scrounging birds. Do NOT use straw which is filled with all types of viable –ready to grow the minute you turn your back, weed seeds!!!!!!

If an area is complete bare of any turf, or very thinly populated with grass, top dress (spread thinly) the seeds and soil with a thin layer of peat moss, finely grated soil or Penn Mulch (available thru G.R. Robinson’s seed company) I have used the left over thatch material I had raked up with various degrees of success- it frequently clumps too heavily and suffocates the grass seed) DO NOT USE STRAW-ALL TURF PROFESSIONALS KNOW NOT TO USE STRAW!!!!!!!! Only incompetents or people who don’t care about the end result use straw!

Water the soon to be the most beautiful lawn enough to keep the top ½” of soil moist for 2-3 weeks. You will have to water every day and some days perhaps twice- drying out is fatal to grass seed- and so watering so much that there are puddles!!! Avoid heavy watering, infrequent watering and beware of creating puddles! The goal is evenly moist not wet/dry or soggy!

Between the second and third week, mow the entire grass area with the mow blade set at 31/2” height –bag the clippings. Bagging is necessary to help prevent smothering the new baby grass.

After the second mowing, start watering more deeply but water just every 3-4 days.

If weeds start sprout up- (and they might-weed seeds live in the soil a long time waiting for the first chance they get to take hold) Do not apply any herbicide (weed killers) until you have mowed the grass at least 3-4 times. By then it may be too cool for effective control of weeds-READ THE LABEL! Fall is a great time to control weeds but it also the best time to grow a thick strong turf which is the BEST control for decreasing weeds next spring!!

If you are having a lot of leaves falling on the new grass don’t let them accumulate for more than 2-3 days. Blow them off with a leaf blower or cut the grass at the 31/2 “ mowing height with a bagger. Leaves will smother out the new grass!

Thanks to Glenn Kraemer , GR Robinson Seed Company, 8674 Olive Street, 63132, (314) 432-0300 for his input, his love of turf and the quality turf products he provides to both the horticulture industry and retail customers. Please call Glenn for any additional information, grass seed or turf products!