Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2018
Comic Relief from our Cantaloupe Patch
Garden Gifts, Exploring the artistry of seasonal flora
Beginning this month, dallasgardenbuzz.com will introduce a new idea which allows the natural world to speak to us as seasons change and our gardens evolve. Once each month, we hope to share with our readers the joy of using seasonal gifts from the garden in floral displays, arrangements and more.
Look for fresh and innovative ways of gathering unusual combinations of flowers, herbs, branches and other natural ingredients to display in your home. Let creations from your garden bring happiness to a friend, neighbor or family member. Embrace a mindset of filling your life with beautiful gifts from the garden every month of the year.
To start, we’ll begin with a quintessential summer flower – zinnias! Offering one of the most colorful palates found in the garden, zinnias bold and bright blooms range from white to orange, pink, yellow, purple and red. We’ve chosen to combine our blooms with another plant that is thriving in the Dallas heat – basil.
With dozens of varieties to consider, two types currently growing in the garden were the perfect complement to our monthly arrangement. Basil ‘Wild Magic’ is a robust grower with purple/violet flowers and dark green leaves with purple margins. For leaves with an even deeper purple presence, ‘Red Rubin’ also adds an aromatic touch to arrangements.
If a compact, tight arrangement seems a little too crowded, consider going in a different direction. Give each zinnia space to breath while making its own individual statement. A flower show judge might suggest that a more open design reflects the natural habit of flowers growing in the garden. In this type of arrangement, there’s plenty of room for “a butterfly to move from bloom to bloom”.
And finally, for a moment of simplicity, use individual blooms as illustrated in this arrangement. A collection of vintage ceramic vegetable vases sitting under an oil painting of our house needs only a delicate touch to enhance its beauty. The soft tones of puffy little salmon zinnias are the right choice!
Our promise to you is that all of our displays will feature botanical material growing in the home garden. In other words, these are not flower shop creations. We want you to be inspired and encouraged to appreciate the simple elegance of using gifts from your garden to bring a touch of beauty and charm to everyday life.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Stay Tuned for Honeycomb Facts and Recipes
During the months of July and August, our venture into the world of bees will explore what is
often described as an engineering marvel…The Honeycomb. To better understand the
importance of the honeycomb, we’ll answer several basic questions:
- Why do honeycombs look the way they do?
- Why the hexagon design?
- What does it do for the colony?
Until then, here’s a little something to whet your appetite for honeycomb.
Last year a New York based ice cream company opened a shop in Texas. Van Leeuwan Ice Cream entered the Dallas market with shops located on McKinney Ave and at the Lover’s Lane/Inwood intersection. It can also be found at places like Central Market, Tom Thumb and Walmart. Just a few weeks ago, while shopping for ice cream at Central Market, this is what caught my eye.
Yes indeed, an authentic and absolutely delicious Van Leeuwan Honeycomb ice cream. My husband and I consumed it that night. On a return trip to purchase more, Central Market was sold out. But the good news is that Van Leeuwan’s store front shop on Lover’s Lane keeps a consistent supply of all their brands.
Visit dallasgardenbuzz.com in July and August for some wonderful honeycomb recipes along with fun ideas for using it this summer.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Tomatoes, I Owe You an Apology
Tomatoes, I owe you an apology. All is forgiven. We had some rain and a mild beginning to the summer. You behaved reasonably under those circumstances and gave us an abundance of delicious fruit. I’m sorry for all the negative things I’ve said about you. I have called you names. I have described you as difficult. I have suggested to beginning gardeners that they avoid you and try peppers instead.
Our biggest problem with you this year was that certain bushy tailed scoundrels found you irresistible even when you were green. That was not your fault. Never fear, we are planning our squirrel defense strategies for next year.
Now our high temperatures are in the triple digits and you have developed blight and begun providing food and shelter to stink bugs. You held out as long as could be expected and for this I thank you.
Tomatoes, despite the pain of previous seasons, I am grateful for what I have learned from you-mostly patience.
Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardener, Class of 2018
Tomatoes are the Jerkiest Plants
Tomatoes Will Break Your Heart
Squirrel photo by Don Heaberlin and stink bug photo by Diane Washam
Communication in the World of Bees…” Let’s Dance!”
As humans, we live in an information age where advancing technology continues
to take us to new horizons. Amazingly, for as long as honeybees have been on the
planet, their highly effective way of communicating has remained the same.
Survival in the world of honeybees is dependent upon good communication. Let’s
look at how the concept of ‘moving in the right direction’ plays a major role in the
process.
An Australian zoologist named Karl van Frisch (1886-1982) measured aspects of
honeybees’ dances by artificially manipulating forage sources. He described two
types: the round dance and the waggle (or figure-eight) dance. Scout bees
returning from foraging flights immediately attract the attention of other bees
which huddle close to monitor the scout’s movements in the darkness.
A short Q & A will provide a better understanding of these astonishing dances and
how bees use them to share precise information with the hive.
Why do bees dance?
To communicate the location of food. Foraging is a highly organized operation.
When a forager bee finds a particularly good source of nectar, she returns to the
hive and directs others to the source. Specific instructions for the location are
communicated through the patterns of the dance.
How do bees learn to dance?
Bees need “tutors”. In order to learn the dances correctly, they must follow other
experienced dancers. The concept of social learning ultimately shapes honeybee signaling giving them the ability to use a complex form of spatial referential
communication.
What is learned from the dances?
In a strangely mysterious way, dancing communicates the direction, distance and
quality of a resource to nestmates by encoding celestial cues, retinal optic flow
and relative food value into motion and sound within the nest. If you thought it
was just a colony of bees buzzing around in the hive, it is scientific fact that these
curious movements (bee language) are used to manage the work of the hive.
“Busy as a bee” is truly something to be admired.
How is the waggle dance explained?
Outgoing forager bees gather in a specific part of the hive to watch returning
foragers perform the dance. The dancer walks across the comb in the pattern of a
figure eight, waggling her abdomen back and forth as she moves through the
straight portion of the pattern. The direction she faces while waggling charts an
angle in relation to the sun. Other foragers use this information to help navigate
their way to the source. The more she waggles, the better the foraging in this
area. Also, the longer the dance, the farther the distance from the hive.
What determines how much the scouter bee moves her abdomen?
The fervor with which she vibrates her abdomen during the dance, the greater
the richness of the forage source.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Tomato Time!
June 20, 2023
It’s tomato time at Raincatcher’s garden of Midway Hills. Over 84 pounds were donated and the plants are loaded down with more fruit to harvest this week. It looks to be a very good harvest and we wanted to share the story of our 2023 tomatoes.
Thirty tomato plants, determinate and indeterminate varieties, were started from seeds in January 2023 and put into the ground and in raised beds in early April. This was later than is recommended but the nighttime temperatures were too low in March. It is often difficult in Dallas to get the necessary time for a good crop to mature in between the last frost and the onset of temperatures above 92 degrees.
Prior to planting we amended the beds with compost and MicroLife Multi-purpose fertilizer. After two weeks, Tomato-tone fertilizer was applied and that schedule has continued. The lower leaves are trimmed up off the ground to help prevent fungal disease.
Our team decided that with our hot weather it would be best not to prune the suckers (new growth in the areas between the main stem and branches). Instead we allowed them to stay in place and protect the developing fruit from sunscald. There are many different opinions about this practice but it might be that those advocating for drastic removal of suckers live in areas with less extreme weather.
Harvest before they are ripe, but after color appears. Squirrels keep a keen eye on the ripening tomatoes and early on they ate on the larger varieties before we could take them off the vine. To combat that, tomatoes are harvested at the first sign of color change and ripened indoors. When ripe, fruit is then weighed and donated to the North Dallas Shared Ministries Food Pantry.
The indeterminate varieties, such as Celebrity, Cherokee Carbon, Early Girl, Juliet, and Sweet 100, are towering over 6 feet in the air in a fenced garden area and in tall, raised beds with supports.
The determinate varieties are producing abundantly as well in raised beds. The variety, Patio Choice Yellow (AAS), has impressed our team with its prolific crop, disease resistance, and sweetness.
While we are enjoying this season of abundance, we are aware that the blooms here in North Texas will soon slow to a crawl, due to the lack of cooler weather in the early morning. In general nighttime temperatures over 75 degrees will cause the plants to stop setting fruit. We are quickly approaching that season.
There are two ideas of thought about what to do –
- Cut the tomatoes back severely so when it gets cooler they will begin producing again, or
2. Pull up the plants when the blooms stop coming and prepare to start new tomato plants in July for a fall harvest before the first frost. Smaller varieties with shorter days to maturity are recommended for fall due to the risk of an early frost.
Our dedicated and determined gardeners frequent Raincatcher’s most days, but our scheduled work times are Monday and Tuesday mornings.
Please leave a comment below if you have a favorite tomato variety for our area or tomato wisdom to share.
Starla Willis with input from Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardeners
NATURE WITH NO OR VERY FEW—RESERVATIONS
June 15, 2023
Everyone loves nature right—but then not squirrels or rabbits. Not the plants you were told were lovely natives but turn out to be so very successful that you have to carefully and quickly remove them from the neighbor’s yards. And then we can’t even think about nature films—way too often seem to feature chasing and catching and biting—oh no—a bridge too far.
Well,there is an answer its totally natural contains almost no violence and stars—BUTTERFLIES. What is best is they are pipevine swallowtails—beautiful large and showy—and actually are here.
The whole amazing life cycle can happen in your yard right before your eyes amazing really doesn’t quite cover it—and its not hard and doesn’t involve massive expense.
What to get started? Of course. Here’s how plant white veined pipe vine. It’s a ground cover type plant that loves shade or semi shade—but seems very adaptable seeding itself into sunnier areas too—but plant your starter plants in a shady place—think about this—put them where you will see them often—and put them in front of any shrubs or tall plants. Ask around—your friends may be willing to share. Its best to transplant small plants. Now natural processes take time be patient and let your plants grow and thrive.
Now exactly how the lovely black butterfly with blue markings finds your plants—they smell them I believe but they also seem to be looking for them. Eggs are laid in clusters starting in late spring and early summer. Actually we live in an area that can have two full generations—more about that in a minute.
So the butterfly lays eggs and they hatch into tiny larvae—but they don’t stay tiny long the eating of the pipevine is—well I know the word amazing is being used a lot—but sometimes—you will see its totally indicated.
When the larvae have reached there final size—which is big they leave and seem to head for a high place to form a chrysalis—first they find the place—try to leave them alone they know what they want—you don’t!. They then become completely still and form a J this also lasts awhile. However when the time is right the larvae turns into a chrysalis so fast that its hard to believe—honestly about 5 minutes. The chrysalis has to harden but the change is incredibly fast. Now one thing about pipevine—it is toxic—now not to you planting or tending but when the larvae eat it they become very toxic to birds reptiles—things that might ordinarily eat it—you get the idea of this if you pick a leaf—it smells really nasty. I mention this because you actually get to see way more of these larvae actually form their chrysalis instead of being carried away by wasps or birds—just the way nature should be right?
Now the only part that may be unpleasant it the fact that the larvae eat masses of pipevine—your beautiful patch can look truly ratty when they finish—But wait there’s more! The pipevine knows very well that it will be eaten and is prepared. Underground the vine has a storage unit—very like a small sweet potato that helps the vine survive very well when all the leaves have been eaten—very very soon—it has grown back as strong as before and is ready for the next wave of larvae. That is nature at its best.
In picture above, the creatures were relocated to a better patch of pipevine. The larvae are totally harmless just be careful not to hurt them; they will not hurt you.
If you are very fortunate you will see the butterfly come out of the chrysalis dry its wings and fly away.
It just doesn’t make any sense not to plant pipe vine.
Susan Thornbury, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Emerald Fire Jalapeno
June 12, 2023
I’m kind of obsessed with pepper plants lately. This is the second year in a row we have loaded Raincatcher’s courtyard beds with pepper plants and I have 27 pepper plants growing in containers at my house.
I think my obsession started when Jim Dempsey grew the Emerald Fire Jalapeno for our plant sale several years ago. The award winning Emerald Fire Jalapeno has become my absolute favorite pepper plant. It produces an abundance of jumbo sized, glossy green jalapenos that are longer, wider and thicker than standard jalapenos. It turns a beautiful red color if left on the plant. Because of the large size of the fruit, it is great for stuffing and grilling as well as pickling and salsa making.
Pepper plants need full sun and plenty of water during the hottest part of the summer. They do well with a well balanced fertilizer (5-10-10) every few weeks for the best production. So if you have space in your vegetable garden or a have a large container, you might want to consider growing this jalapeno.
Jackie James, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 1993
Note: Start jalapeños as seeds in January or as transplants after that threat of frost has passed.
What’s happening this week in the food gardens?
June 7, 2023
An amaranth volunteer provides climbing support for a Minnesota Midget cantaloupe vine. Since 1948 this plant has been known for producing sweet 4 inch cantaloupes on 3 foot vines.
Blackberry season is at its peak. Volunteers harvest and freeze them every day so that the jam and jelly team can work their magic.
Patio Choice Yellow and Cherokee Carbon tomatoes have been especially productive. All of the tomato varieties have to be picked at the first sign of color change and ripened indoors to protect them from squirrels.
The season is off to a great start. We donated 142 pounds of potatoes to the North Dallas Shared Ministries food pantry in May. The peppers, cucumbers, long beans, and eggplant are coming along nicely. The squash vine borers have been distracted long enough to allow us to harvest some lovely round zucchinis.
We welcome Master Gardener volunteers and community support. Drop us a line in the comment section if you are new to our garden and would like to know more.
Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardener class of 2018
Friends of the Garden, Part II
June 5, 2023
14 Fascinating Facts About Ladybugs
(These are excerpts from a story by Rosemary Mosco and orginially published on mentalfloss.com and updated for 2023)
- Ladybugs are named after the Blessed Virgin Mary.
One of the most common European Ladybugs is the seven-spot ladybug, and its seven marks reminded people of the Virgin Mary’s seven sorrows. Germans even call these insects Marienkäfers, or Mary’s beetles.
- They are not bugs!
Ladybugs are not bugs – they are beetles. They are part of Coleonptera, the beetle order.
- Some people call ladybugs birds, bishops, or cows.
In parts of England, and for reasons that are unclear, the ladybug is a bishop. Nowadays, most people in England use the word ladybird, perhaps because these insects are able flyers.
In several languages, the portly, spotted ladybug is affectionately known as a little cow. French people sometimes use the term vache à Dieu, which means “cow of God”.
- Ladybugs come in a rainbow of colors.
You’ve probably seen red ladybugs with black spots – but members of the ladybug family come in a wide range of hues, from ashy gray to dull brown to metallic blue. Their patterns vary, too; some have stripes, some have squiggles, and some have no pattern at all.
- Those colors are warning signs.
To avoid being eaten, ladybug species with bright colors are walking billboards that say, “Don’t eat me, I’ll make you sick!” And that is because…
- Ladybugs defend themselves with toxic chemicals.
A lot of ladybugs produce toxins that make them distasteful to birds and other would-be predators. These noxious substances are linked to a ladybug’s color, the brighter the ladybug, the stronger the toxins. Don’t panic: Ladybugs won’t harm you unless you eat many pounds of them!
- They lay extra eggs as a snack for their young.
Ladybug moms lay clusters of eggs on a plant, but not all of those eggs are destined to hatch. Some of them lack embryos. They’re a tasty gift from the mother ladybug; the newly hatched larvae will gooble them up.
- Ladybug larvae look like alligators.
What hatches out of those ladybug eggs is a long, spiny larva that looks a little like an alligator. Though ladybug larvae may be intimidating, they’re not harmful to humans. They crawl around, feeding and growing, until they’re ready to turn into something even weirder…
- Ladybug pupae look like aliens.
Once the larvae find a nice spot in the garden, they turn into an alien-looking pupa. Protected by a hard covering, the ladybug then makes an incredible transformation from larva to adult, bursting out of its old skin.
- Adult ladybugs fly with hidden wings.
When a ladybug takes flight, it lifts up its protective, hard covered wings, that are not suitable for flight, and slides out another pair of wings that are light weight, slender and perfect for flight.
- Ladybugs survive the winter as adults.
They enter a state of rest and cuddle together in groups, often in logs or under leaves. Some even find comfort in our homes, the harlequin ladybug enjoys the warmth that is provided.
- They’re voracious predators – mostly.
They are a natural form of pest control. They’re favorite foods are some of our worst plant pests: aphids, scale bugs, and mealybugs. A single ladybug can eat 5000 aphids across its lifetime.
- Humans are spreading ladybug species around the world.
People have introduced non-native ladybugs to combat agricultural pests, and in some cases they’ve hitchhiked on imported goods. The results have not always been beneficial as they push out the native species and introduce a deadly fungal parasite.
- They can be bad for your wine.
After devouring the aphids on nearby crops, such as soybeans, if vineyards are nearby, the ladybugs take up residence in bunches of grapes. When ladybugs become frightened during harvesting, they squirt out a smelly defensive liquid fluid. The resulting wine has a particular stinky flavor that has been likened to peanuts or asparagus.
There are additional sources on the use of beneficial insects at:
www.aggies-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/problem-solver
Jon Maxwell, Dallas County Master Gardener
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 