Witchhazels Bloom in Winter

Witchhazel is one of the few plants that technically blooms in winter. Depending on the species, it either blooms in early or late winter. Because of this, they are often missed.

Witchhazel (Hamamalis sp.) is a multi-stemmed shrub reaching 6 to 10 feet high and wide. Witchhazel is one of those plants that offer something of interest in each season. During the summer, it has medium to dark green foliage and interesting capsule fruit. Fall brings beautiful leaf colors of golden-yellow, red, or orange depending on the species. Winter is special for this plant becaus
e that is when it flowers. Yellow to red, 4-petaled flowers appear sometime from January through March and are effective for 3 to 4 weeks. To achieve this long bloom-time, the petals roll up on very cold days and avoid freeze damage.

The most commonly grown witchhazel is the Vernal Witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis). This native shrub offers several desirable ornamental traits. The pungently fragrant flowers are the smallest of all witchhazels, with each petal only about one-half inch long. Flower colors vary from yellow and orange to red and open in January and February. This plant is very adaptable to moist or dry soils and is a great plant for naturalizing.

common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is usually found as an understory plant in woodlands. It blooms from late fall to early winter. Unfortunately, the flowers are rarely seen because fall foliage color develops as the flowers appear.

In addition to being a beautiful plant, witchhazel also adds ecological diversity to a landscape. Its brittle seeds are a food source for critters such as squirrels. Its low, lateral branches are used by many nesting birds, including wood thrushes and flycatchers. According to research done by Dr. Doug Tallamy from the University of Delaware, this native shrub is a food source for 62 different native butterfly caterpillars.

You may know witchhazel by its by-product, which is used in sweet-smelling lotions, eye-gels, and other skin products.

I plan to add both the common and vernal witchhazel to my landscape in a place that is easily seen for fall and winter viewing. If you want additional winter interest in your garden, consider adding witchhazel. You’ll enjoy it all year long.

Avocadoes are Delicious and Fun

 Avocados are delicious to eat and are fun to grow indoors.

Avocadoes are fruits that grow on tropical trees and are very pretty plants. They have glossy, oblong, pointed leaves. I’ve seen them growing in Southern Florida, California, and in Ecuador.

 Several years ago, on a business trip to San Diego, I visited an avocado orchard. It was very fascinating. The trees grew on steep slopes where migrant laborers climbed the trees to pick the fruit. The trees are only about 20 to 30 feet tall. In California, a tree should produce about three bushels per year under good growing conditions. Trees are not as productive in Florida.

 Avocado is a highly nutritious fruit and has long been a staple food in many parts of tropical America. Besides being rich in carbohydrates and vitamins, it also has more protein than any other fruit.

 I eat avocado toast routinely for breakfast or lunch. I also enjoy avocados made into homemade guacamole. See my recipes below.

 Most avocadoes sold here are Hass types. They are typically shipped when bright green and turn dark when ripe. A ripe avocado should give slightly when gently squeezed.

Avocadoes are very easy to grow from seed and make a nice houseplant. Kids particularly enjoy this plant project.

Start by washing any pulp off the seed. Avocado seeds (pits) are quite large (at least 1 ½ inches across). I put three toothpicks into the pit so that it sits on the rim of a drinking glass, with the broad end of the pit down. Add water until ½ inch covers the pit’s base and replenish any water that evaporates. That’s it. Now wait for it to sprout in 2-3 weeks. When it splits, it is ready to sprout.

 After several leaves and a mass of roots have formed, remove the toothpicks, and bury the lower half of the pit in potting soil in an 8- to 10-inch pot. Place the potted avocado where it will get several hours of sunlight or artificial light each day.

 Typically, avocado trees will grow a few feet tall indoors, depending on the pot size, amount of light, and other factors. Shape the plant by pruning the branches. An avocado tree will grow for many years in the home, but it is unlikely to bear fruit indoors.

Avocado Toast

• Toast 2 slices of bread (I use homemade sourdough bread)
• Cut a ripe avocado in half. Save half for the next day or for guacamole. I use an avocado hugger to keep it fresh.
• Cut the avocado  half into quarter and scoop each onto the toasted bread. Smash with a fork.
• Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper.
• I usually also add fresh herbs, usually dill, chives, or basil I grow indoors in my aerogarden.

Guacamole

• Cut a ripe avocado in half and place in a bowl. Smash with a fork (or use a food processor for smoother texture).
• Add juice of half a fresh lime and ½ teaspoon chopped garlic clove
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Optional: Add chopped jalapenos, cilantro, tomatoes, or onions/chives
• Stir and serve immediately. It will darken quickly, so plan to eat it all!

Share your favorite avocado recipe in the comments below.

Originally published in Canton Daily Ledger on 11-3-2001

My Spiritual Trek

In August I did a solo yoga retreat in Arizona. As the only guest, I felt safe, pampered, and grounded in a magical location. As is usually the case, the time alone allowed me to relax, reflect, and unwind from the stressors of everyday life. Here is a journal passage from this trip. 

Colorado Stop
Stopped at a State Park in Colorado just past Chimney Rock. I'm on a wildlife viewing trail, under a bridge, where a pergola houses a gentle breeze. As I sit in the coolness of the shady pergola, I sense nature all around me. It is breezy, which helps break up the solar waves of dry, desert heat. I am comfortable. A rocky creek flows next to me. Down the path an expansive concrete bridge presents a sharp contrast to the plants, sand, rocks, and birds around me. Insects buzz around the pergola. I hear birds chirping as they fly past or perch in the nearby aspen and other trees. Sagebrush dots the valley below. All around me in the distance are conifer spotted mountains. Somewhere I hear what might be an animal's call - it is almost French horn-like. 

As I walked the narrow gravel path just past the bridge, I felt the hot sun beating on me. Though I had left the shady pergola, the breeze was still pleasant. The gravel path perched atop a small ridge, with various small shrubs and perennials along it. 

As I sat reflecting, this poem came to me. 

This is my spiritual trek,

A time just for me. 

I'm on a journey.

It's my time to feel whole. 

Yes, I search for Nature's peace,

for its connection to my soul. 

My mind begins to clear.

My body is revived.

I can feel Nature's presence here.

It is slowly seeping in. 

Speaking to me gently.

As if not to overwhelm. 

This is my Right to Act!

The power to be me.

I feel the cosmic energy.

I am grounded, happy, and free. 

Holiday Cactus

Is your holiday cactus ready to bloom? This year my Thanksgiving cactus is in full bloom, just in time for Thanksgiving next week. My Christmas cactus has buds, so it should open during that holiday season. What a delight!

Thanksgiving Cactus

There are many different types of cacti that bloom between Thanksgiving and Easter. Each is appropriately named by the holiday it blooms near. The differences between these plants are found in the leaf edges. Thanksgiving cactus (Sclumbergera truncate) has pointed edges while Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) and Easter cactus (Schlumbergera gaertneri) have round edges. The Thanksgiving cactus is most common, probably because it is easier to get to bloom. They each are available in a variety of flower colors including white, pink, red, and orange.

When purchasing a new plant, look for uniform green growth, and good flower bud set. While “cacti” usually suggest high temperatures and dry air, this is not what these holiday bloomers prefer. Unlike most cacti, these like moist soil and cooler temperatures.

Take care of your flowering cacti much like you would any other houseplant. Give it a cool, sunny window or other location with bright, indirect light. Too much light can cause flower color to fade. Day temperatures of 70^o F and evening temperatures of 60-65^oF are considered ideal. Avoid overwatering during flowering. Do not fertilize when plants are flowering.

Christmas Cactus

Easter Cactus

The secret of getting your holiday cactus to bloom is one of air temperature. All of these cacti require a cool night temperature of about 60^oF to bloom. Long nights are important too for blooming. My parents used to always put theirs in the cool, dark basement to induce flowering. Remember, you must provide the plant a cool location with long nights. Bring it back to a cool, sunny window as soon as buds start to show. Often the Thanksgiving cactus will bloom without manipulating its growing environment, but the others are typically fussier.

If buds start to drop, it may be an indication of one of three things: the plant may need repotting, the temperature may be too high, or the light intensity too low. These plants seldom flower well at temperatures above 70^oF.

If you don’t have a holiday cactus, consider getting one this holiday season. They also make great gifts that, with proper care, will provide beauty for years to come.

Sweet Potato or Yam?

Do you ever wonder if you are eating yams or sweet potatoes for holiday meals? They are known by both, but horticulturally there are differences. Officially a sweet potato is never a yam, but sweet potatoes are often referred to as yams. 

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are yellow or orange tubers that elongate into ends that taper to a point. There are two types of sweet potatoes, which creates the confusion over yam versus sweet potato.  The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam") has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

 Most of us have probably never seen a true yam. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea sp) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. The yam is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, and is slowly being introduced here. The true yam is actually even sweeter than the sweet potato, and the tuber can grow over seven feet in length. The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety.

Another root vegetable commonly used in Central America is called cassava or yuca (Manihot esculenta). It differs from the yucca plant we grow here. When we were in Costa Rica several years ago, the starchy cassava root was peeled and boiled like potatoes. I really liked eating yuca, especially when paired with beans and rice covered in Lizano Sauce. Interestingly enough, when yuca root is dried to a powdery (or pearly) extract it makes tapioca.

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine

Here we grow a couple different types of sweet potato vines in Central Illinois. Ornamental sweet potato vines are popular for their ornamental value as ground covers, hanging baskets, in planters, and even in bottles of water in the kitchen. The ornamental vine’s tubers are edible but are reported to have a bland taste. 

Sweet Potato Vines in Garden

Culinary sweet potatoes are easy to grow in the summer garden using starter plants called slips. I particularly like baked sweet potatoes smothered in butter and brown sugar. I also use them as meat substitutes in tacos or covered in BBQ sauce for stir fry.

In the end it doesn’t really matter what you call it. Regardless of whether you call them yams or sweet potatoes, enjoy them often – they are a healthy and tasty choice for your kitchen table.

Woolly Bear Caterpillars and Weather Predictions

Have you noticed all the woolly bear caterpillars lately? While driving back from meetings recently, I noticed numerous woolly bear caterpillars crossing the roadway.

Photo by Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org

Woolly bear caterpillars are about 2 inches long and covered with stiff bristles. They are black with a broad band of red-brown bristles around the middle. These caterpillars are the larval stage of the isabella moth.

These caterpillars feed on mostly wild herbaceous plants such as lambsquarter. Although they seldom attack desirable plants, if they strip the weeds of foliage, they may move on to flowers and other landscape plants. Once they move onto desired plants, they usually are too large to be effectively controlled. In some cases, handpicking the larvae off of the plants may be an option, but in most cases trying to control these caterpillars this late in the season is not reasonable.

According to superstition, the amount of black on the woolly bear’s bristle coating forecasts the severity of the coming winter. It is the relative proportions of the black and reddish-brown portions of the caterpillar that are supposed to predict the winter. The longer the black segments on the ends of the caterpillar, the harsher the coming winter.

One of the problems with trying to forecast the winter using these insects is that the tiger moth has similar caterpillars as its larval stage. Unfortunately, there are about 260 species of the tiger moth and each species has a different color variation. Plus the caterpillars shed their skins or molt six times before reaching adult size, and their colors change with each molt.

According to Donald Lewis, Entomologist from Iowa State University, there is some year-to-year variation in the amount of black hair on these caterpillars, but the differences are caused by age and wetness. Older caterpillars have more black than young ones and caterpillars that fed and grew in an area where the fall weather was wetter have more black hair than caterpillars from dry areas.

So why do the woolly bears cross the road? No one really knows why, but they cross roads and paths on warm days in late fall. Some people even believe that this can predict the weather. If they are going south, it is going to be a harsh winter. If they are headed north, it will be a mild winter. I was driving east and west, so I don’t know what that means!

If you don’t believe woolly bears can predict the weather, you might instead want to look at pig spleens, groundhogs, hornets, persimmon seeds, or read what "The Old Farmer's Almanac" says. You can watch the weather forecasters using their high-tech equipment. Or, you can just wait and see what winter has in store for us. I suggest that you enjoy a beautiful fall day with a nice walk outside while you wait.

Plant Garlic This Fall

Do you use a lot of garlic in your cooking? If so you might try growing your own. Fall is the best time to plant garlic in your garden.

Garlic is a hardy bulb, and thus is best planted in the fall when other bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, are planted. October is the ideal time in this part of Illinois. With garlic, new plants are grown from the individual sections of the bulb known as "cloves." Each bulb may contain a dozen or more cloves, depending on the variety.

Now is the time to purchase garlic for planting. Be sure to buy it from a reliable garden center or mail-order source. Storage temperature of the dormant garlic affects the bulbing of the future plants. Temperatures above 77 degrees F may inhibit bulb formation, so using garlic from the grocery is ill-advised for planting purposes. Garlic that has been stored at about 40 degrees F for several months is ideal for starting a new planting.

After planting, the individual cloves will begin to root and sprout before cold weather begins. Plants will over winter in this vegetative state. In the first thaw of spring, the plants will begin their luxuriate growth.

Garlic grows best in fertile soil that is high in organic matter. Gardeners that grow good onion crops can grow good garlic. Apply 3 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet.

Fall planted garlic will begin forming bulbs the next June. Bulbs can be dug when the tops start to yellow, usually in July or August.

Garlic drying at Barefoot Gardens near Macomb, IL

Bulbs are placed in a dark, airy place with moderate temperature to cure and dry. Tops and roots are allowed to remain on the drying bulbs. Throughout the digging and storage operations, it should be remembered that the bulbs are living things that must be handled with care for best storage and quality. Any small bruise may cause the whole bulb to spoil in storage. Unless garlic is to be used for braiding, tops and roots should be removed once bulbs are cured and dry.

You can also grow garlic in the form of scallions. Topsets or small cloves are planted fairly thickly in a row and the green plants dug, cleaned, and bunched like green onions. The whole plant, tops and all, is then chopped into dishes for flavor.

If you like the taste of garlic, you might also try growing garlic chives. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) is a perennial plant and grows very similar to chives with flat leaves like leek and garlic. The flavor is very much like garlic, and the tops are harvested like the regular chives. Garlic chive has white flowers and grows taller than regular chives.

Enjoy your garlic! Not only is it good to eat, it also keeps the vampires away.