Almost But Not Quite

Today I was reading an interesting gardening website with a wide variety of advice, some good and some not so good.  As I analyzed the website in my mind to figure out why some stuff was good and some stuff was bad it occurred to me that the problem was that a lot of the stuff that the author was recommending was based on testimonials.  And then it occurred to me that many of you out there might not know what a testimonial is and why recommendations based on testimonials shouldn’t be recommended — and then viola! I had a blog post.

A testimonial is testimony presented by one person about their experiences with something.  It’s like when a friend tells you that dryer lint controls slugs in a flowerbed. Don’t laugh, this is a real suggestion on one website!  This person decided that it was appropriate to put dryer lint around their garden, and when they did, slug damage appeared to be reduced.  Good for them.  But is it good for you?  The answer is maybe.

The problem is that this person is missing the two things that we need when assessing whether a particular thing works.  First, we need a a control, and second, we need replication.  Let’s use the dryer lint example.
We have no idea whether, if we hadn’t put out the dryer lint, the slug population might not have dwindled anyway.  To find out whether it might have we need to treat only a portion of our garden with dryer lint and then see if the treated portion has more or less damage than the untreated portion after a few weeks.  The untreated part of the garden is called a control and it is necessary for a good experiment.  But it isn’t the only thing necessary for a good experiment, so is replication.

It is possible that the part of the garden which was treated with the lint had less slug damage than the control portion of the garden for some reason besides the lint — for example, perhaps the area where the lint was applied happened to be further from the sprinker than the other section — and slugs like it moist.   So to combat possible problems like this you need to conduct your experiment more than once.  In other words, you need to replicate your trials.  This might be done by doing this experiment over multiple years, by having other people in your gardening club try it too, or by dividing up sections in your garden into six or so equally sized sections so that three randomly selected sections get treated with lint and three don’t.  Or, best of all, do all of these things — multiple years, multiple gardens, and multiple plots within a garden!  If we did more testing like that I have a funny feeling that we’d have fewer crappy products for sale.

Testimonials are interesting, but don’t get fooled into thinking that they prove anything.  They don’t.  You need control and replication to demonstate that something really works.

Hues of hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are in full bloom this time of year.  I snapped these photos yesterday of several hydrangeas, all planted along the same strip of land.  Just look at the different colors:

Why so many colors? Most of you probably know that genetics play a role, as does soil pH.  But there’s much more to it than simple soil chemistry and genes.

1. pH:  Strongly acidic soils produce blue hydrangeas, while slightly acid to slightly alkaline soils favor pink or red flowers.  Soil pH can be modified by adding lime to raise soil pH or ammonium sulfate to acidify the soil.

2. Aluminum: Aluminum, a toxic heavy metal, is required for blue hydrangeas. Like other metallic elements, aluminum binds tightly to clay particles under alkaline conditions. As the pH becomes more acidic, aluminum becomes soluble and can be taken up by plant roots.

3. Nutrients: Relative concentrations of phosphate, nitrogen, and potassium have significant impacts on the uptake and activity of aluminum.

4. Pigments: Blue hydrangea flowers depend on the formation of a complex among three partners: an anthocyanin called delphinidin with a sugar attachment, a phenolic acid co-pigment, and aluminum. Co-pigment differences among species and cultivars will influence flower color.

And here’s an interesting factoid about hydrangeas: ever notice that they are rarely bothered by insects or other animals? Accumulation of a toxin like aluminum in their tissues may be the reason.

GP Hit List: Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet)

[And I don’t mean “greatest hits”, I mean “Mafia hit”]

Gardeners, yardeners, and designers are on a perpetual lookout for a good hedge species. Hedges are useful in so many ways: providing backdrop for a border, making good neighbors, containing football players, etc.  In reference to the latter, the field at Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia (cue woofing!) is known as “Between the Hedges”.  In the extensive lore of UGA football, everyone makes like it’s some sacred plant, but (gasp!) it’s just plain ol’ privet. Aside to Jeff, my fellow UGA alum: CNN just reported the dubious distinction that Georgia is the #1 party school in the country (again).  Maybe this is why I can’t remember the Krebs Cycle.


Variegated Chinese Privet in all its shrubby glory; photo from University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension.

Back to privet. Designers of D.O.T. landscapes such as medians and interchanges seem especially enamored. Clouds of variegated privet (L. sinense ‘Variegatum’) dot interstates throughout the South.  Yes, it’s tough, useful, variegated, and touted as “wildlife friendly” by some leading gardening resources. The berries are indeed good bird food; therein lies the problem. Seeds pooped out by birds results in the green, non-variegated version – much more vigorous and deposited everywhere. For the record, the variegated form also reverts like crazy.

My family’s farm in northeast Georgia is bordered by the North Fork of the Broad River. Over the years, the river bottom, and then the fence lines at all elevations, have filled with privet. It is, pardon my language, a total bitch to remove and almost impossible to eradicate.  The State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens has an entire squad dedicated to eliminating it from acres of river bottom; ironically, only a few miles from Sanford Stadium. Thought of mostly as a Zone 7-9 plant; we have lots of it in the woods here in the mountains – an entire zone cooler.


Distribution of L. sinense; USDA PLANTS Database http://plants.usda.gov/

Ligustrum sinense is on at least two official Invasive and Noxious Weeds lists by the Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council and Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council as well as several international lists.  Nursery growers and landscapers across the South know these things. So why, why, why, do they continue to produce and spec it?  “Variegated foliage sells. People see it, like it, and then ask for it. It’s a bread-and-butter item.”  This comment came from the owner of a fairly large nursery that sells to independent garden centers.

Our industry yelps whenever a state or federal mandate threatens to impose restrictions on a best-seller (Hedera helix, for recent example).  There are LOTS of terrific woody plants out there, people.  The Dirr book is now up to 1250 pages – thumb through and pick a few alternatives. Cease and desist with the Chinese privet.

 

Friday quiz: The case of the bumpy maples

 

OK, this Friday’s quiz is the real deal: everyone gets to play “Extension Specialist for a Day”.  I am stumped on this and so are my colleagues here at MSU.  I used to work for a guy who liked to say, “None of us is as smart as all of us”.  Let’s put it to the test.

The photos below come from a nursery here in Michigan.  The trees are container-grown Red sunset maples.  Pretty routine crop around here.  The trees look fine: good color, full crowns, growing well.  The only problem is that nearly all of the trees have bumps along the bottom 8” or so of the trunks.  The grower is concerned, and rightly so, about consumer acceptance of the trees.  The trees have been examined by a highly qualified pathologist – no evidence of fungal disease; and by a highly qualified entomologist – no evidence of insect activity.   The grower is sitting on several hundred of these trees.  What should I tell him?


NOTE: The name of the nursery is confidential – they just used the calipers from Schumacher’s in the photo.

Where to draw the line on a vine

Last week’s column on “why do nurseries sell this plant?” struck a chord with many readers as well as with Holly!  So here is this week’s submission:  that ubiquitous vine, English ivy.

First of all, we’ll stipulate than many ivies are sold as English ivy (Hedera helix) but may be entirely different species.  Genetic research on invasive ivy populations in the Pacific Northwest identify most as H. hibernica (aka Atlantic ivy), with H. helix making up only 15% of the invading populations.  Regardless of their species identity, it’s obvious that Hedera is a genus with the potential to escape gardens and invade remnant forests or other environmentally sensitive areas. It grows so vigorously that it can create monocultural mats on forest floors; it grows into trees where its sheer weight can break limbs and in some cases topple entire trees.

But what about other regions of the country – or the world, for that matter?  In colder climates, Hedera spp. are much better behaved, dying back to the ground every winter and rarely able to flower and reproduce.  The absence of a seed bank means the vine can be kept in check more easily.  And it does tolerate tough environmental conditions where other groundcovers might not succeed.

Yet consider another invasive: kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata)   For decades this noxious weed was thought to be too cold sensitive to expand past the American Southeast.  Yet populations have been found in Maine, Oregon, and most recently in Ontario, Canada.  Plants adapt!

So – is it worth the risk to buy a plant known to be invasive elsewhere, simply because it’s not a problem yet?

And why oh why do nurseries in Washington state continue to sell Hedera spp. as ornamentals?

The Importance of Not Leaving Your Veg Garden Unattended for a Week in July


Small dog snout + normal-sized cucumber provided for scale.

This problem is self-explanatory and probably not at all atypical for our readers. Pattypans became UFOs; grey zucchini, footballs.  Note that it’s been very dry here in the Blue Ridge. I shudder to think what would have happened with normal rainfall.


Beans amuck! Scared the hell out of Joel when he opened the fridge. But they wouldn’t fit in the bucket!

If you haven’t tried yard-long beans, give them a shot sometime. Super easy to grow, just need the usual pole-bean structure. Pick daily, or they get out of hand. They have a rich, “beany” flavor and no strings attached. Best sauteed – I toss them with a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce in honor of their Asian heritage. Leave ’em long to impress the kids! I bet one or two beans equals a full serving of vegetables.


Yard-longs (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis)  come in both green and a dark red that keeps its color after cooking! They’re actually in the cowpea genus. Normal green bean at top of plate for scale (it now has a complex).

 

The importance of knowing your plants

One of the first courses a horticulture student takes is plant materials, or, in the case of a forestry student, dendrology.  Why?  Pretty simple; it’s hard to select plants if you don’t know what they are and what they’ll do in the landscape. Of course, the classic example is a large tree or shrub planted in a tight spot that eventually devours an entire house.  But we usually don’t have to look too far to find situations where a homeowner or landscaper clearly had no idea what plant he or she was dealing with.  To wit, a couple of recent examples of poor plant choices (maybe this can be our next series after “Why do nurseries still grow THAT?”)

I spotted the first example wandering through downtown in my hometown of Olympia, WA.  At first glace it looks like an ordinary hedge; boxy to by sure, but nothing remarkable.

As I passed by though I noticed the hedge was actually a weeping Norway spruce (Picea abies ‘pendula’ – actually it could have been an ‘inversa’ – the repeated butchering made it hard to tell).  Either way, what could have otherwise been a fairly interesting plant had been reduced to a squared-off blob of blech.  The other side, of course, is that if a squared off blob of blech is truly desired there are cheaper and easier ways to achieve the effect.

The other example of the perils of not knowing your plant material comes from northern Michigan.   This case represents that other extreme of trees that grow too large for their space.  Here the homeowner wanted to screen his house (on the left but out of camera range to protect the guilty!) from the railroad track on the right of the photo.  Solution: Plant some conifers! Sounds like a good idea to me.

Only problem – the owner chose to plant the screen with dwarf Alberta spruces!  As with the blob of blech, the property owner could have achieved the desired screen in a couple of years and at a small fraction of the cost with seedlings from their local conservation district or seedling nursery.  In any event, we’ll check back in about 40 years and see how it’s working out for them…

 

Clematis calamity solved

Some good and creative guesses about why the Clematis leaves had interveinal necrosis.  While iron and manganese deficiencies both cause interveinal chlorosis (veins are green, areas between are yellow), the necrosis indicates tissue death between the still-living and green veins.  Very simply, this has been caused by water loss.

During transplanting of the vine, I had to remove them from the fence and lay them out on the ground.  They remained this way for a couple of days.  For much of the foliage, this meant that the lower leaf surfaces were now exposed to the sun.  As with many broadleaved plants, the upper and lower leaf surfaces are morphologically distinct:  the upper surfaces have a thicker waxy cuticle and epidermis, with few stomata, while the lower surface lacks much of the cuticle and is loaded with stomata.  When the leaves are turned upside down, the shade-adapted lower surfaces now receive intense sun exposure: water evaporates quickly from these unprotected leaves and the tissue dies.  The only parts of the leaf that don’t die are the veins, which remain full of water as long as the roots are functional.

So both LisaB and Benjamin identified sun exposure as the culprit behind the damage.  But as with many environmentally-induced plant problems, the ultimate cause is water stress.

Friday quiz – yet more clematis calamity!

If you’ve been following the saga of our clematis, you’ll know that first they suffered iron toxicity (from the waterlogged soil they were in) and then were dug up and replanted in containers.  Last week I showed you what happens when you vigorously work wet soil – yet more waterlogging!  During the transplanting process, I took more pictures:

This damage is NOT from the iron toxicity problem.  It appeared during the transplant process.  What caused it?

Answer on Monday!

Jicama (The Yam Bean)

Every once in awhile I get the urge to try and find something interesting in old literature, and today was one of those days.  So I went over to my pile of old “Journal of Economic Entomology” journals and snatched a 1943 issue from the top.  The pest issues that we had to deal with during the war years were interesting because resources were tight — we had DDT (and lead arsenate), but all of it was going to the front to protect our soldiers from lice.  So scientists back home were trying new things.  One which I had never heard of before today was getting a serious look: The yam bean.  The yam bean is a tropical legume which has a great deal of potential as a high nutrient food crop (the root of the bean is what is edible, not the seeds).  The food part is interesting to me, but more interesting is the fact that a dust could be made from grinding the beans into a powder which would kill insects.  After looking through some articles I discovered that the primary source of toxicity in the yam bean is rotenone and some similar chemicals.  I’m not a big fan of rotenone, still, this plant is fascinating.  An edible root and seeds which can be used very effectively as an insecticide.  Why wasn’t this plant more common 50 or 100 years ago?  What other plants are we missing out there which are useful?