The Vine Franklin County Master Gardeners

University of Missouri Extension in Franklin County 116 W Main, Union MO 63084 636/583-5141

Vol. 9, Issue 2, June 2011

Floral Abundance in the Far East—A Feast for the Soul Lynne Moll, Franklin County Master Gardener

A lthough observing the

plants of the countries

we visited was not our primary

purpose, being the gardeners

that we are, we could not help

commenting and taking pic-

tures constantly. For us that

was a delightful “secondary”

experience, which we just enjoyed between us. Probably

the people we were with thought we were a little crazy

taking so many plant pictures, but oh well!

Philippines: In the city of Manila we noticed many more

billboards than plants, although there was a street of great

nurseries, at which we never got to shop. I guess it’s not

very portable material for an airplane trip, or clearing cus-

toms, but we looked as we rode by!

However, our conference was located at a very lovely

seaside resort with some professional and lovely landscap-

ing. It was built on a hill going up from a lovely white

sandy bay that was lit up at night. There were well

designed paths lined with white stone dry beds. Many

varieties of palms and tropical plants abounded and were

often set off with little decks, statuary and pebbles. Dave

particularly noticed all the colored varieties of bougainvil-

lea—pink, orange and white, even growing on the same

plant!

Indonesia: In this very densely populated island, we ex-

perienced the heat of the equatorial doldrums. Our friends

lived on a nice size lot in the city, which they developed as

a means of rest and recreation from the hectic life and

noise of the city. Immediately, we noticed some orchids

growing outside the front door on the railings. That would

be a treat. The property also provides food from various

tropical fruit trees. Barbara had banana plants that actually

produced quite a “handful” that we enjoyed while we were

there. She also grew papaya, guava, mango and other fruit

basic to their daily diet. She didn’t have a Dorian tree,

although we were served its fruit in Indonesia and it is the

national fruit of Thailand where I saw a tree growing. It’s

a very large bumpy fruit that really stinks and doesn’t taste

much better. That was a real exercise in congeniality!

In the middle of Timothy and Barbara’s property was a

nice pond with blooming water lilies. And along the back

border they had planted a row of “white teak”, which is

pretty fast growing. In fact, everything was pretty fast

growing and most of their gardening involved removing

things that had become too large. I guess everyone gets to

that point, sooner or later.

As we drove along the roads in a village near the city,

we were able to see rice paddies that were so central to the

economy and food production of the country. You could

tell that many of these were very old and had built up

terraces along hillsides for many years. In the middle of

one was a kiln that the villagers showed us; it is where

they would fire the handmade clay bricks they made. It

seemed like a good location—lots of water and far away

from people.

Since the houses were very close to the road all

through the country, there were not many landscaped

places. One interesting hedge we noticed throughout all

the countries we visited was an annual called Pentas. It

was normally an orange/pink color and used everywhere

as we might use boxwood, but it bloomed all the time.

When we went up into the mountain village we noticed a

croton “tree” that was at least twenty feet tall. Their color-

ful leaves were used decoratively in many yards.

Char & Lynne

Dakak Resort Phillippines

2

Far East (continued from cover page)

Lynne Moll, Franklin County Master Gardener

Thailand: In contrast to Indonesia, the first thing we

noticed, even on the ride from the airport, was how beauti-

fully areas were landscaped. When we walked down the

city street in Chiangmai I was amazed by a very beautiful

plumeria tree. I hadn’t seen that since Hawaii. What a per-

fect flower and lovely scent. I put one behind my ear for

the rest of the walk! Each little storefront had a deck that

had beautiful container plants spilling out, or miniature

water gardens.

We ate at one of the prettiest restaurants I’ve ever been

called The Jungle (something else in Thai). It was out-

doors, covered with a huge pavilion. There was a lagoon

and waterfalls beside the deck where we were seated at

our long hardwood table. Beautiful huge pots of tropical

plants, as well as many planted in gardens abounded and

made an exquisite setting that was so restful. Of course,

Thai food is our favorite too. But the restrooms were the

most memorable, each “water closet” had plants in it and

the hand washing area had gorgeous double begonia plants

beside the faucets that actually came out as small water-

falls.

A special treat was a drive to the mountains with Char

Spreckelmeyer, who also loves plants and is an experi-

enced horticulturist. We visited a lovely orchid farm that

had a restaurant, gift shop and other gardens around it.

The orchids were suspended in rows, which you walked

through. Not all were blooming, but there were such beau-

tiful colors, sizes and shapes. They were not in a designed

setting as you see at orchid shows in our country, but they

were so abundant and vivid in this greenhouse environ-

ment.

We also visited an insect museum and farm for Dave’s

special interest. That’s another story, but I will include the

fact that there was a walking stick at least a foot long that

Dave took a picture of as it climbed on Char’s shirt. Not

me!! He really enjoyed a large display of rhinoceros

beetles and tarantulas, but again—NOT ME! I did enjoy

the butterfly house, though.

The highlight of the trip was to the Queen’s Botanic

Garden, high in the mountains. We drove through most of

it, since it was located on a very steep hill (I thought our

Missouri yard was steep!). There were always workers in

the gardens, which were kept very well. I think it is also a

research garden and the gift shop had many books on

tropical plants. When we walked around we saw plants

that we consider annuals growing out in full sun in

profusion—dahlias, coleus, yellow cannas, hydrangeas, to

name a few. On the very top of the hill overlooking spec-

tacular mountain greenery views seen through huge entry

trellises, were stylized greenhouse displays. There were

about ten and each was a unique delight. Each one was a

special display with a theme: begonias, ferns, orchids,

bromeliads, rare plants, water plants, carnivorous plants

and then a huge rain forest. I recorded in my journal, “All

the botanical desires of our heart were fulfilled! It was

such a treat to see such an unusual, lovely garden.” And

truthfully, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words

for our horticultural adventures. We would love to give

you the opportunity to see some of them!

Editor’s note: Dave and Lynne Moll recently spent a

month in the Far East on a missionary project sponsored

by their church.

Thailand Queen’s Garden

3

From Matt’s Desk You may have read of the announcement by our Governor that higher education will be

looking at additional cuts in state support. Difficult economic times challenge our elected

officials to make decisions about how to spend our tax dollars. University of Missouri Extension

has been planning for these cuts for some time and thus far we have been able to manage by

holding positions open and cutting other costs. In Franklin County we are fortunate to have four

specialist positions and two education assistants, or associates. Franklin County has also been

supportive of Extension and has not reduced the budget to operate your local office. Strong

programs and active volunteers like you deserve the credit to maintain funding for University of

Missouri Extension programming. You are to be congratulated for making a difference in

improving the lives of those in Franklin and surrounding counties.

I also wanted to let you know that we are planning Master Gardener training that will begin with an orientation

session August 29. If you know someone who would like to participate in Master Gardener training please encour-

age them to call our office at (636) 583-5141, or email me at herringm@missouri.edu. We offer the training to 24

people and we seem to fill it each time it is offered.

Looking forward to hearing how your projects and your gardens develop this summer.

Matt

Editor’s note: Since I was

traveling in April and missed

Georgianne’s presentation at

our April meeting, I asked her

to synopsize it for me and our

other members who were not

present. Thanks, Georgianne.

Working with hard clay soils:

One approach is to cover over the soil by bringing in

good soil and creating a berm, or using planting holes,

improving them with peat, sand and compost and

using the clay you removed to fill ruts.

Another way to cover over the soil, is by lasagna

gardening. Briefly, this no till, no dig method piles

organic materials in layers, which rot in place without

turning, assisted by earthworms.

Clay soils can be softened with products like Turface

and gypsum, which are very effective with compacted

soils.

Ordinary dish soap, about half a cup in your watering

can, filled with water is very good for softening soils.

Citrus and mint scent dish soaps have the added bene-

fit of repelling some pests.

In the garden a green manure like legume, tilled under

will eventually lighten the soil while adding nitrogen.

For really bad soil the best thing might be to simply

replace it, especially for foundation plantings.

Readying the garden for early planting: Laying a large

tarp, ideally at the end of March—heats up the soil, kills

weeds and gets seeds to sprouts faster. It also gives the

gardener more control over when to plant. With all this

year’s rains, it’s been hard to till and plant at the most

ideal times without “tarping”. Good sources for big tarps

are pool and silo covers.

Moving heavy objects: This task can be made easier by

incorporating a track made from 3” round logs. I cut a

fence post into 18” sections. A rock bar wedged at the last

section provides the push (this method does not work up-

hill). You can also use a tarp to drag, mover’s straps or a

dolly.

Digging large planting holes: A rock bar can be used to

dislodge gravel and stones and a sharp ice scraper tool is

the best for cutting roots.

Transporting water to garden areas: Pool tarp hold

downs, or water bags can fit into a wheelbarrow and don’t

spill as large buckets tend to do.

Places like Harbor Freight Tools, Rural King and most

large farm supply stores are great sources for garden re-

lated items; pool stores have water bags, tarps and diato-

maceous earth, a natural product used in pool filters, but

has gardening applications such as insect repelling. A

search on the Internet will yield information on lasagna

gardening.

Gardening Made Easier

Georgianne McClanahan, Franklin County Master Gardener

4

M aybe I’m not a very

sophisticated art con-

noisseur, but Impressionism has

always been my favorite art

form. Although Monet was not

the first Impressionist, he is

considered by some to be the

Father of Impressionism and is

my favorite of the group so

classified. Over the years I’ve been mesmerized by his

haystack and water lily paintings at exhibits in the

St. Louis Art Museum. I dreamed of visiting his home in

Giverny and actually seeing the inspiration for his work

especially, as a gardener, the water lily pond. So you can

imagine how excited I was when I researched my recent

trip to France and learned that Giverny was only an

hour’s drive from Paris.

Before I could broach the subject with our Tauck tour

guide, Jackie, she suggested Giverny as an option for one

of the two free afternoons during our stay in Paris. I im-

mediately asked her to

make the arrangements for

me. Promptly at the desig-

nated time the van arrived

at our hotel and I joined

four other Americans for

our trip to East Normandy

where Giverny is located.

Our very engaging local

driver was accompanied by

a young woman who he

introduced as a “trainee”—

she did handle the credit

card transactions. Shortly

after leaving the environs

of Paris, our driver offered

us a bonus; if we were in-

terested, he would exit the autoroute, (think Interstate),

and take us through the countryside of East Normandy. It

would be a little longer but since none of us had to be back

in Paris before 7:00 P.M, we opted for the detour. Riding

through the villages of East Normandy would certainly be

preferable to viewing endless fields of blooming rapeseed,

(think canola), along the Autoroute. Incidentally rapeseed

is a major crop in France and other areas of Europe.

Shortly we were driving along narrow country roads. In

the villages, the houses, some of which are several hun-

dred of years old, abutted the road, originally designed for

farm carts or one horse and rider. Throughout Europe,

East Normandy being no exception, houses in season are

festooned with window boxes, baskets and any kind of

container with artfully designed flower arrangements.

There are actually two gardens at Giverny, the more

famous water garden and the walled garden. Monet, his

wife and eight children, settled in the pink house in

Giverny in 1883 and he lived there until his death in 1926.

Ten years after his arrival at Giverny, Monet dug his first

pond, which he later enlarged it to its present day size.

The water garden is full of asymmetries and curves. It is

inspired by the Japanese gardens that Monet knew from

the prints he collected. In this garden is the famous Japa-

nese bridge covered with wisterias, other smaller bridges,

weeping willows, a bamboo wood and of course the

famous water lilies which, unfortunately were not bloom-

ing during my visit. The pond and the surrounding vegeta-

tion form an enclosure, which provided a serenity that

could not be lost even with the many visitors and school

groups who were there. Monet, like no other painter,

shaped his subjects in nature before painting them, thus

creating his works twice. He found inspiration in this

water garden for more than twenty years. As a true Im-

pressionist, he looked for

mist and transparencies

and dedicated himself less

to flowers than to reflec-

tions in water. After the

Japanese bridge series, he

devoted himself to the

giant decorations found in

the Orangerie*. I was so

memorized by the serenity

and beauty of the water

garden that I lost track of

time and suddenly realized

I had not seen the walled

garden nor toured Monet’s

pink house.

The rectangular Walled

Garden, Clos Normand, lies in front of the house, with

archways of limbed plants wrapped around superbly col-

ored shrubs. When Monet bought the farmhouse, he

cleared the area, a tired and untidy orchard at the time, and

ripped out all but a few healthy trees. He laid out the area

in symmetrical beds, split down the middle by a “grandee

allee” covered with iron trellises of climbing roses.

In a deliberately careless manner he threw together

hollyhocks, daisies and poppies. But each flowerbed has

an overall color scheme that contributes to the look of the

whole garden. (Cont’d on page 6)

A Dream Realized

Rosalie M. Laune, Franklin County Master Gardener

walled garden

5

Preventing Foliar Tomato Blights Adapted from: the MO Environments Garden Newsletter May 9, 2011—http://ppp.missouri.edu/newsletters/megindex.htm

O ne of the most revered summer vegetables by home

gardeners is the tomato. Wet growing seasons

aggravate our most common foliar diseases, often referred

to as blights. These diseases are caused by two fungi:

Septoria leaf spot and Early Blight, and two bacteria:

Bacterial Spot and Speck. The disease descriptions are

presented below. However, correct diagnosis can be

extremely challenging, especially when two or more dis-

eases are occurring at the same time. It is best to have

plant problems either diagnosed by a local extension

agent, or by submitting the sample to the Plant Diagnostic

Clinic. Please note that bacterial diseases are controlled

with different chemicals than fungal diseases, as the biol-

ogy of the diseases is different.

The most serious problem has been inattention to dis-

ease prevention. Preventing foliar diseases should start by

minimizing disease inoculum, which can be harbored on

diseased plant residue, or wooden stakes in contact with it.

Dispose of tomato residue away from the vegetable gar-

den, or burn it. If tomato diseases have been a problem,

consider changing to metal stakes/supports, or sterilize

wood stakes by soaking in a bleach solution. Proper spac-

ing is also crucial to preventing disease. It is better to give

a little more space than is required than crowding plants.

Over-crowding plants encourages disease by increasing

the humidity, decreasing air movement, and increasing

competition between the plants.

Several common foliar diseases exist in the soil and are

spread to the plant by splashing water from irrigation and

rain. Mulching around plants will help by reducing water-

splashed soil and the pathogens that are spread with the

particles. However, organic mulches like straw will sup-

press soil temperatures and may keep the soil too wet dur-

ing periods of heavy rainfall in the spring. Plastic mulch

(usually black), or black weed barrier cloth, “landscaping

fabric”, or a similar product are good choices of material,

as they allow water to pass through.

Many gardeners wait until they see disease symptoms

before they apply a chemical for disease control.

“Preventing” the disease is easier than controlling it.

Diseases which may appear:

• Anthracnose (fungus): Anthracnose fruit rot. It is spread

in an odd way, establishing in the leaf lesions of Early

Blight and then splashed onto the fruit. Infections begin on

green fruit and, symptoms become most apparent when

ripe.

• Bacterial spot (bacterium): small, angular, water soaked

spots on leaves and stems. Raised, crusty spots on fruit.

• Bacterial speck (bacterium): The foliar symptoms of

speck consist of small, 1/8 to 1/4 inch black lesions, often

with a discrete yellow halo. The lesions of bacterial spot

are similar, but tend to have a greasy appearance, whereas

those of speck do not. Speck seems to curl the leaves more

severely than spot. Both diseases affect flowers.

• Early blight (fungus): starts at bottom of plant and ad-

vances upwards, as dark-brown circular spots with con-

centric rings, or “targets,” on leaves. Tissues around spots

become yellow. When spots are numerous, leaves wither

and dry up.

• Fusarium wilt (fungus): lower leaves turn yellow and

dry. Leaves roll up and wilt during hot part of day. Inner

stem tissues have dark discoloration.

• Septoria leaf spot (fungus): small, roughly circular spots

with dark-brown borders and gray centers on leaves.

Leaves may die and drop off if heavily infected.

University of Missouri, Lincoln University, U.S. Department of Agriculture & Local University Extension Councils Cooperating.

http://extension.missouri.edu/franklin equal opportunity/ADA institution Live. And Learn.

6

W eather challenges plagued our May and June

activities. In May, member, Karen Geisert, in-

vited us to view her peonies, which under normal weather

conditions, would have been in full bloom by early May.

Unfortunately, cooler than normal temps this spring de-

layed their bloom cycle and, adding insult to injury,

shortly before our 6:30 arrival, it started raining.

However, Karen rose to the challenge preparing her

garage for our meeting and enlisting her grandson, um-

brella in hand, to flag and direct traffic. Karen’s home,

which has been in the family for three generations, over-

looks the Missouri River. The peony garden includes some

heirloom plants, which are as old as the property. Since

many of these plants are no longer common, Karen has

done extensive research to learn their names and history.

Some of the peonies were starting to bloom and under um-

brellas we walked around the house, viewed the peonies

and also Karen’s beautiful hosta gardens. Following our

tour and refreshments, we held our annual plant exchange.

Just as we were leaving, the sun peeked out from between

the clouds. Thanks Karen for inviting us to your home and

gardens.

Betty Altemeyer coordinated our June activity, a Satur-

day excursion to the annual Hermann Garden Tour. I

guess we can’t hold Betty responsible for the heat wave,

including on the day of the tour, which beset much of the

mid-west in early June. The plan was for the MG’s to

meet in Washington and arrive in Hermann at 10:00. Betty

and I left from New Haven along with four members of

the New Haven Garden Club. We ran into Karen Geisert

and the Molls when we arrived in Hermann. We broke

into three groups and at noon reassembled for lunch.

Later on, we met Carlyn Cikovic and her husband. The

tour features gardens in town and in the country. Partici-

pants can opt for the complete tour or the city tour. Most

of the gardens in town were within walking distance. Two

of the country gardens were in the Rhineland/Starkenberg

area and one was in New Haven. I’m sure we would have

had more participants if the weather had been more ac-

commodating. Thanks to Betty for doing the legwork on

this activity.

From the Editor –May and June Activities Rosalie M. Laune, Franklin County Master Gardener

A Dream Realized (Cont’d from page 4)

Rosalie M. Laune, Franklin County Master Gardener

Seeing it from the second floor of the house, one looks at a

perfect Impressionist painting. Giverny is open from April

through October and the walled garden is in bloom during

the entire cycle. After a quick tour of the gift shop, it was

time for our return trip to Paris.

I think Elsepth Thompson in her June 13, 2011 article

in The Telegraph sums up Giverny best: ―Apart from

painting and gardening, I'm not good at anything‖ Monet

once remarked. Yet his talents in both areas put most

other painters and gardeners in the shade, and they came

together in the creation of the garden at Giverny. Com-

posed as if it were a painting, and the subject of much of

his best work, it is considered by many to be his greatest

legacy – as beautiful and inspirational to today's garden-

ers as it was a hundred years ago.‖

*The Orangerie, built in 1852, is located in the Tuller-

ies Gardens near the Louvre, and was in walking distance

from our Paris hotel. On the Sunday following my visit to

Giverny, I went there to see Monet’s panoramic cycle of

eight water lily paintings, which he donated to France to

celebrate the end of the First World War. The restoration

of the building to accommodate his gift took twenty years

to complete and Monet spent over a decade to complete

the monumental paintings.

lily pond