Be Careful Who's Under the Mistletoe

Before you go out and buy plants for the Holidays to deck your halls, be aware that some of them may be toxic, and could be injurious to children and pets. Did you know that Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) is a poisonous plant? According to MedlinePlus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus) mistletoe is an evergreen plant with white berries. Mistletoe poisoning occurs when someone eats any part of the plant. Poisoning can also occur if you drink tea created from the plant or its berries. The poisonous ingredient is Phoratoxin and is found in all parts of the plant, but especially in the leaves.

Symptoms of poisoning are blurred vision, diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, weakness and drowsiness. If you suspect poisoning, do not make the person throw up unless instructed to do so by a poison control or a health care professional. If you have an exposure, call your local emergency number (such as 911) or the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.



Some interesting facts about Mistletoe
Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. Mistletoe was believed to have the power of bestowing fertility, and the dung from which the mistletoe was thought to arise was also said to have "life-giving" power. In some parts of England the Christmas mistletoe is burned on the twelfth night so that not all the boys and girls who have kissed under it never marry. 

From The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens:

"From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended with
his own hands a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same branch of mistletoe
instantaneously gave rise to a scene of general and most delightful struggling
and confusion; in the midst of which,
Mr. Pickwick, with a gallantry that would have done honour to a descendant of
Lady Tollimglower herself, took the old lady by the hand, led her beneath the
mystic branch, and saluted her in all courtesy and decorum."



Getting Your Roses Ready for Winter

It's time to think about protecting your rose bushes for winter weather conditions. In September, you should let the flowers remain on the bush. These flowers will begin to become seed pods. Allowing the rose to produce seeds signals the plant that it has successfully reproduced itself and may now rest. Feeding should have been discontinued in mid-September. Where I live in upstate New York it is advisable not to winterize roses until early November. If you cover them too early before temperatures are consistently cold, you can harm them.

To understand why the bushes should be protected, you need to know what happens when winter damage occurs. Each plant cell is composed mainly of water, and when water freezes, it expands. If the water in the cell is allowed to freeze, the cell becomes damaged and could even die.

Lower temperatures and shorter days trigger a two-step process called acclimation. In the first stage, changes occur in the permeability of the cell wall and to both protein and sugar levels inside the cell. This change allows for the water in each cell to move out when the temperatures drop below freezing for extended periods of time.

The second stage begins during this extended time of subfreezing temperatures and results in full winter hardiness so plant tissue can now freeze and recover. When you winterize is important. If you winterize your roses too early, the first stage cannot happen because you will have insulated the plant from the temperature change. Without these metabolic changes to its cells, the water will still be present, and will expand and burst the cell.


Let blossoms form hips (the red capsule left after the petals fall). This helps slow down growth and promote dormancy. Remove all fallen leaves from around the base to keep fungal disease spores, such as black spot and powdery mildew, from over-wintering. Bundle the canes together using twine or strips of cloth. Using light soil, make a mound covering the base and canes to a height of 10 to 12 inches.
Don't use soil from around the rose, since you could expose the roots.

When the ground has frozen, cover the remainder of the canes with with straw, leaves, or any light mulch and wrap them completely with burlap and tie with twine. For hybrid teas, floribundas and grandifloras, I prefer stuffing crumpled newspaper among the canes, as it's much easier to handle than leaves or mulch and easier to clean up in the spring.
You can use foam cones instead of burlap, but I don't recommend them. If you choose the cone methods, you should still mulch the crown and lower stems with soil inside the rose cones, and put some holes in the cone tops so the rose can breathe and excess moisture can escape.


You can use foam cones instead of burlap, but I don't recommend them. If you choose the cone methods, you should still mulch the crown and lower stems with soil inside the rose cones, and put some holes in the cone tops so the rose can breathe and excess moisture can escape.

For climbing roses, you can follow the above method or do the following: Lower the bush from its support, gently arching the canes near the crown, placing it in the ground. Hold the canes down with two crossed stakes every few feet, then cover it completely with 3 or 4 inches of soil.

In spring, remember not to uncover their roses too early. Many gardeners make the mistake of uncovering their roses as soon if it becomes warm in late March and then lose them to a hard freeze in early April. So it's advisable not to remove the wrappings until there is no danger of frost in May.

Protect rose bushes over the winter so you'll still have them next year. 

Winterizing Your Lawn

Didn't have a lush lawn this year. Well, there's always next year and here's how to get a head start. The final feeding of your lawn is the most important feeding of all. Yes, it's more important than the Spring feeding.

While the blades of the grass plants wilt from the frost, the root system remains alive but dormant through the winter. It is the health and vigor of the root system that determines how well the lawn will winter over.

Late in the season it is the natural tendency of the plants, because of shortening days and cooler weather, to shift its growth emphasis from the blades to the root system.

Summer lawn foods are improperly blended for fall feeding. They have more nitrogen (blade growth stimulant) than phosphorus or potash (i.e. 27-3-3. 27-8-8, 10-6-4, etc.) Feeding a lawn more nitrogen than phosphorus late in the season is counterproductive to the health of the lawn. The use of a lawn food with more phosphorus (root growth stimulant) and a healthy amount of potash (body building component) will aid the grass plants in developing a stronger root system before winter. A fall lawn food will have a blend of 14-18-14, 10-18-10, etc.

Winterizers can be used in Spring and Summer under the following conditions:

• Lawns that have suffered from grubs (root damage) can often be saved by repeated applications of   winterizing lawn food.
• Newly seeded lawns will benefit from a high phosphorus food to get the root system developed quickly. This will shorten the critical period of heavy watering necessary to establish grass plants.
• Winterizing (high phosphorus) lawn foods should be applied in any situation where thickening the lawn is the primary goal. 

   

When Should You Prune Azaleas?

When walking through my local supermarket in springtime, I always admired the potted azaleas but never bought them because they are poisonous and could harm my cats. About four years ago, I found a spring special at Hewitt's--Four small shrubs for $20.00. I chose one azalea, two hydrangeas, and one Lemoine Deutzia (never heard of it until that day and happy to report by its third year it reached full size and produces nice white flowers).  

I decided to plant one azalea and one hydrangea against the brick wall of the house, just as you come out the back door into the yard. It doesn't get much sun, and this variety of azalea needs partial shade, so I thought it would be a good location. I use special fertilizer to make the soil slightly acidic. The azalea never flourished, but it has had nice healthy foliage and a decent number of blossoms. I was careful not to under or overwater it. The plant has survived the last few winters and I cut it back right after they bloom in the late spring. I've read that pruning after mid-summer cuts off next year's bloom, as most azaleas start growing next year's flower buds soon after they bloom. Late pruning also runs the risk of the tender new growth being killed in cold climates. 

Well, this year I can see next year's flower buds. However, the branches are a little too long, with some bare branch showing before the greenery at the end of the branch, probably because I didn't cut them back far enough at the beginning of the summer. I decided to leave them alone, as the plant is healthy. It will be interesting to see what happens in the spring! But first we have to weather the winter, which I'm predicting will be a very cold one.