PO Box 7594St. Cloud, MN 56302www.munsingerclemens.com

MCBSBoard of Directors

Volume XV | No 1 Spring 2014

In this IssueHorticultural Heaven........................................1&8

What’s Up in the Greenhouse ..........................2

Notice of a Change ................................................2

The Bugs of Spring ..................................................3

Some Plants Have Big Ears ..........................4&5

Looking for the Thaw: A Journal ..........4,5&7

Reflections on the 2013 Growing Season ....................................6&7

Horticultural Heaven continued on page 8

Horticultural Heaven continued from page 1

Co-ChairsJoan Andersen

Jill FlorekMelissa Billig

Mary Margaret BjorklunSam CalvertElaine CarterWilliam CookChris Felsch

Donna GorrellJack Kelly

Pamm MindenLorna Nestel

Mary Ann PhelpsAnne PrzybillaScott Zlotnik

MCBS newsletter is published four timesa year. The next issue will be in May.Articles, comments, suggestions, or

address corrections are welcomed.

Coordinator & EditorDonna Gorrell • 252-8834

dgorrell@stcloudstate.eduLayout & Design

Jill Lucas Design • 743-4471jill@jlucasdesign.com

www.MunsingerClemens.com

Non-Profit OrgU.S. Postage

PAIDSt Cloud, MNPermit #1446

by Anne Przybilla

Your Munsinger/Clemens BotanicalSociety (MCBS) membership card is yourpassport to gorgeous gardens aroundthe country. One of my favorites is the30-acre Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG),a relative newcomer to the gardeningworld incorporated in 1976. The followingyear it was given a double-wide trailerto serve as an office. In 1979 it held aplant sale, the first of many promotionalactivities to raise money for the gardens-to-be, but it wasn’t until 1980 that a 50-year lease was signed with the city. Thislease secured the location adjacent toPiedmont Park in midtown Atlanta asthe home of the ABG for years to come.

My daughter moved to Atlanta in themid-1980s, and I feel as though I’vewatched the ABG and my granddaughtergrow up together. The first permanentstructure, the Garden House, wascompleted just before my first visit tothe ABG in 1986. Their Children’s Garden,which features whimsical sculptures,fountains, and special interpretiveexhibits, was established in 1999, andmy granddaughter arrived shortlythereafter. I remember well the firsttime I pushed her stroller down thegravel path of the fledgling gardens.Both the ABG and my granddaughterhave continued to grow like weeds.

My granddaughter has outgrown the Children’s Garden, but we continueto visit the ABG whenever I’m in Atlanta.Our current favorite attraction there is the Dorothy Chapman FuquaConservatory, which displays plants inboth tropical and desert environments.Priority in this building is given to speciesthat are rare, threatened, or endangered.

Our individual pursuits in theconservatory are quite different, however.While my interests there are centeredon the flora, her focus is on the fauna.She loves the High Elevation House withits massive waterfall because it is alsohome to an assortment of uncommoncritters. The dart frog exhibit, a collabor-ative conservation partnership with ZooAtlanta, fascinates her. She loves watchingthe brilliantly colored poisonous frogs asthey dart about in their glass-enclosednative habitat. Saffron colored finchesfrom South America flit about the uppercanopy of trees while several varieties of quail patrol the underbrush in theirsearch for plants and insects to eat. Apair of alligator snapping turtles residein the pool at the base of the waterfall,and if you look carefully (she alwaysdoes) you may get a glimpse of a tropicalwood tortoise as it sips water that hascollected in a cupped leaf. Though theyare not easy to spot, the mating call of agecko provides evidence that it is there.We both recognize that the successfulcoexistence of plants and animals in thiscreated environment is an example of ahealthy and balanced ecosystem.

I enjoy the High Elevation House for adifferent reason. It, along with the OrchidDisplay House, is part of the ABG OrchidCenter, home to the largest collection ofspecies orchids on permanent exhibit inthe U.S. This amazing display of enchant-ingly exotic plants allows visitors to getan up-close-and-personal view of rareorchids from around the world. Many of these intoxicatingly fragrant varietiesare pollinated by bees, but there’s also anight-pollinated variety from Madagascarthat is pollinated only by a specificproboscis moth. There are sun-loving

Horticultural Heavenorchids and shade-loving orchids. Thereare rock-dwelling orchids from Australiaand stream-dwelling orchids fromSouth America. Did you know that thevanilla bean that gives us the vanillaflavoring used in cooking, ice cream,and hundreds of other products comesfrom the seed capsule of several speciesof orchids of the genus Vanilla? Neitherdid I until I visited the ABG Orchid Center.

I’m not much for heights but mygranddaughter is, so we usually take astroll on the Canopy Walk, the only tree-canopy-level walkway of its kind in thecountry. It begins on a bluff in thegardens and meanders for 600 feetthrough the tree tops of assorted tulippoplars, hickories, redbuds, buckeyes,maples, and oaks in Storza Woods, oneof Atlanta’s last remaining urban forests.This aerial pathway provides a bird's-eyeview of the woodland garden with itsnative azalea collection below.

We also pay at least a short visit to theDesert House, which contains a vastassortment of intriguingly uniquesucculents native to southern Africa andthe dry region of Madagascar known asthe Spiny Forest. About 85% of these

species that occur in Madagascar are found nowhereelse in the world. The DesertHouse is ABG’s effort to save these rare plants from the ravages of climate changeand encroaching development.

While I appreciate the ABG’s focus on conservation efforts I’ m even more impressedwith some of their “green” projects. To aid in water conservation, they installed a100,000-gallon underground cistern in 2007. It takes only 1 1/4 inch of rain to fill thecistern completely and it waters almost 40% of the gardens. And they have convertedan older parking lot into an edible garden complete with an outdoor kitchen. Plus, thenew visitor center features a “green” roof that is almost half-covered with growingplants. This roof provides natural cooling in the heat of Atlanta’s sultry summers. Italso provides sound insulation as well as an additional garden display area for visitors.

And I haven’t even mentioned the rose garden, the rock garden, the Japanesegarden (another one of my favorites), the conservation garden, the dwarf and rareconifer garden, the seasonal gardens, and the classes and special events that areheld all year round.

A day at the ABG is a day well spent, and your MCBS membership card is your passportto this horticultural heaven.

Page 2 Page 7

by Joan Andersen, Stearns County MasterGardener

A visit to the greenhouse makes me feel more ready for spring than ever. As I write this in early March there is still no sign of the spring thaw. Because ofthe heavy snow cover, garden bedpreparation may be a little later thannormal in 2014.

Almost all the new annuals and perennialsused in the Gardens are purchased fromspecialty growers who can provide theideal light, temperature, and wateringconditions to germinate the seeds. Oncethe seeds have sprouted and have a fewleaves, they are shipped to the green-house. Depending on the plant, theremay be as many as 288 seedlings in atray, each in a tiny little cell. Largerannuals and many perennials are startedin larger cells with fewer cells per tray,and these are much easier to hold andkeep watered. Ideally, shipments arereceived on Mondays or Tuesdays.Nobody wants a shipment of plugs on Friday!

What’s Up in the Greenhouse, Spring 2014Garden Supervisor Nia Primus prioritizeswhich plants need immediate trans-planting and which can wait a little.When the core group of staff gardenersstarts to return on March 24, their firsttask will be transplanting tiny annualplants from their plug trays to largerpots to begin growing in the greenhouse.Employees also watch plants carefully. Ifit is sunny in the spring the greenhousecan get very warm and cause things todry out faster.

To make things interesting, Nia receivesperiodic emails from growersannouncing a crop failure for somethingshe has ordered. Substitutions areoffered, but they are usually not a colorthat fits the design. Nia researches andfinds a replacement plant that will fitthe design and growing conditions.Everything is recorded on a spreadsheetto keep up with the changes and recordwhat was actually planted in the Gardens.

Some other tidbits:

Nia has discovered that she is interestedin orange flowers. I told her that the

same unexpected thing had happenedto me! Maybe because hybridizers havedeveloped much more interestingplants with softer or more appealingshades of orange and shown us how touse orange with other colors. This yearthere will be an “orange garden” in asunny area of Munsinger Gardens.

Nia often uses the flower bed in front of the greenhouse to experiment withnew combinations. This year she isplanting the bed with Caribbean colorsof mango, purple, and red. If she likes it,this combination may make an appear-ance in Clemens Gardens in the future.

Deb Keiser, Rose Specialist, has workedon the design for the Formal Gardensannual plantings. There are manyperennials in this garden, but annualsare added for color and design. Thisyear, Deb has chosen coral, lime green,and burgundy as her color theme. A lotof the color will be provided by plantsprimarily grown for their foliage becausethey look great for the entire season.Watch for colorful sun coleus, variegatedginger, elephant ear, and ornamentalgrasses to provide a backdrop for flowerssuch as dahlias, cosmos, geraniums,verbena, and petunias. Some perennialheuchera (coral bells) are being addedbecause their ruffled foliage in shadesof burgundy and red will add interest tothe design.

Someone told Deb that roses like coffeegrounds, so she’s been using them onthe tree roses overwintering in thegreenhouse. This is something mymother used to do. The roses mustreally like it, because they are growinglong canes and are covered in largeblossoms. Now Deb is plotting how tofind a reliable supply of coffee grounds.

Finally, we walked around thegreenhouse and checked out all thesucculents, banana plants, and othertender perennials being overwintered.Many will be divided, repotted, andwatered to coax them into a growthspurt to get them ready for the season.Spring can't get here soon enough!

Notice of a ChangeSince its beginning in the year 2000, the Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society has worked

alongside the City of Saint Cloud as a support group for Munsinger and Clemens Gardens,

arranging events such as Music in the Gardens and Art Fair in the Gardens, publishing this

quarterly newsletter, and often providing the Gardens with items not generally covered by

regular funding (such as the winter blankets in the Rose Garden). In 2006, MCBS partnered with

another Gardens support group, Friends of the Gardens, whose major focus is sustainability of

the Gardens through donor gifts. Since then, the MCBS membership list has been handled by

the Central Minnesota Community Foundation as part of the Friends list. Your MCBS

membership was included in the amount you sent to the Friends address.

Now in 2014, effective January 1, Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society and Friends of the

Gardens have agreed to discontinue our partnership, hoping to better accomplish our

respective missions by separating the MCBS membership appeal and the Friends’ gift

solicitation, and by having each group control its own mailings and accounting. Both

organizations will continue to support the Gardens in partnership with the City.

You will have already received a letter from MCBS requesting your 2014 membership renewal,

and you may have already sent us your renewal in the envelope we enclosed with that letter.

If you responded to the Friends letter in November, before the separation was in effect, your

MCBS membership was renewed then. You can also renew membership any time at our website.

Support for Friends of the Gardens can be maintained with response to their letters. MCBS

members receive the quarterly newsletter.

We are confident that both organizations can continue to work together in carrying out our

respective missions in support of Munsinger and Clemens Gardens. We look forward to your

continued support of the Gardens through Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society.

—Donna Gorrell, newsletter editor

Lately I’ve been listening to Norwegianice music. Those Norwegians love winter.They cut ice blocks from the ord andcarve them into musical instrumentslike chimes and horns and big bassfiddles. Then they go out on a frozenspot and play a concert like you’ve neverheard before. I get this music. It speaks tomy inner self. My friggin freezin inner self.

I wonder if we’re going to have aFebruary thaw, says Kay. I wonder whenI’ll see a tulip again, I say.

I wonder what’s going on with my tulips.Right now they’re dormant. Or are they?I’ll bet there’s a lot going on with them.Don’t they constantly monitor theenvironment? We humans sure do. Thiswinter especially. We’re obsessed by theweather. Why wouldn’t tulips also be?

It got this cold in 1935, says Kay. Oh, I say.

I close my eyes and imagine. In their icy dark bed I can see my tulip bulbs

growing roots. Little white tentacleroots spreading out, reaching in the dirtfor water and nutrients. They lie buriedbeneath three feet of snow and a halffoot of frozen soil. It’s very still and quietthere. My tulip bulbs are alive. Each onecontains a future plant. Tiny baby tulipsare in there getting ready to emergewhen all this arctic cold moves out.They’re just waiting for the thaw.

March. As March arrives, gray blacksnow banks, still high, are glossed withice. Streets are frozen ruts of chemicalsand sand slush. Temperatures are stillfrigid. I’ve lost my favorite scarf. I’ve leftmy hat and mittens somewhere. Thezipper on my coat has ceased to work.I’m getting a little crazy and off kilter. I can’t take it anymore.

Get some help, I tell myself. Think aboutthe Vernal Equinox that comes in March,when the plane of Earth passes the centerof the sun, when the tilt of Earth’s axis is

Looking for the Thaw continued from page 5

Reflections continued from page 6

In early July, we purchased 16 largepotted hybrid tea and floribunda rosesfrom Linder’s and 24 own-root hybridtea and floribunda roses from RosesUnlimited. They performed well andadded many older varieties to ourgardens. The three plants of floribunda‘Dad’s Day’ with dark velvet red bloomsand the bright red blooms of hybrid tearoses ‘Olympiad’ and ‘In the Mood’ puton a good display along the Upper TrialGarden walkway through the ClemensRest Area Garden. The two pink-bloomed‘Sexy Rexy’ floribunda roses and the two‘Estelle’ hybrid tea roses with their florist-quality russet blooms reversing to yellowdrew many comments from visitors tothe Virginia Clemens Rose Garden.

We were lucky to have only one week of90s in mid-July and another week of 90sat the end of August. Most of the July,August, and September temperatureswere in the middle 70s to low 80s,

inclined neither away from nor towardsthe sun. Just the thought of it gives mebalance. I check out Old Farmer’s Almanaconline. It relates the old folklore sayingthat you can balance an egg on its endon the equinox. OK, here’s the shift Ineed, from ice to eggs. I read on. Signsof Spring: Worms begin to emerge fromthe earth. Good, good, go on. Ladybugsland on screen doors; green budsappear; birds chirp; flowers begin tobloom. Another folklore saying completesmy balancing act: In spring, no onethinks of the snow that fell last year.

I am transformed. In March I amPersephone, returning to the world ofthe living. Winter dark withdraws intodaylight. Singing birds wake me up inthe morning. I eat an egg. I take a walkoutside, and beneath my feet tulipsemerge from the wintery earth.

which made for wonderful workingconditions at the gardens. Our rainfallwas below normal but the new soakerhoses worked well. We fertilized theroses with Alaska Morbloom zeronitrogen fertilizer after August 31 andthe roses continued to bloom.

In September and early October, wegave the Virginia Clemens and UpperTrial Garden roses doses of potassiumsulfate 0-0-50 to help ready them forwinter. We also treated areas of theVirginia Clemens Rose Garden that wereexperiencing growth problems withfast-acting sulfur (calcium sulfate) withthe intent to lower the pH in thoseareas and improve growth for 2014. I will be checking our soil pH again next spring and adding amendments as necessary.

Winter came early with cooler thannormal temperatures in mid-October,so we started our winter protection

process of cutting back the tender roses to 8 inch height. This allows us to cover the rose beds tightly withinsulated construction blankets. Wemulched the roses with two largescoops of finished compost over thecrown and extending out to the sides of the rose plant. With temperaturesthreatening to drop into the teens atnight, we applied construction blanketsto the rose beds in the Virginia Clemensand Upper Trial Rose Gardens onNovember 7 and tucked our roses in fortheir long winter’s nap a few days earlierthan in past years. We have had plentyof snowfall in 2014 for additional coveron the rose beds.

What will this season bring? I hope foran earlier start to our season with lesswinter damage, adequate rainfall, andwarm sunny days for good growth.

Page 6 Page 3

Reflections on the 2013 Growing Seasonby Deb Keiser, Clemens Gardens RoseSpecialist

The weather in April 2013 will beremembered as “extreme” and “record-setting” in many parts of the UnitedStates. Saint Cloud Minnesota was noexception. We broke several long-standing records and experiencedextreme weather fluctuations.

In early April 2013, I began to watch theforecast high and low temperatures todecide when to remove the insulatedconstruction blankets covering thetender roses. In past years, they wereremoved during the middle of April, but with widely fluctuating weather this past spring Mother Nature kept us anxiously waiting and watching forwarm weather. On April 11, Saint Cloudreceived 8.7 inches of snow with freezingtemperatures every night that week. OnApril 18 we received another 9.4 inchesof snow and set a new record for mostsnowfall in April with a total of 24.4inches for the month. On April 20 wehad a record low temperature of 16degrees. Then on April 27 we had a hightemperature of 74 degrees with a lowthat day of 30 degrees followed by a few more 70-degree days that madeuncovering the roses very tempting,except for the 10-day forecast. Justwhen I thought it was finally safe, anearly May snowstorm dropped a record-setting 18 inches of snow on parts ofsoutheastern Minnesota. We werefortunate not to get snow in Saint Cloud,but we did have high temperatures inthe low 40s, a low of 28 degrees, and1/4 inch of rain from May 1 through 4.

With volunteers coming for a rose pruningday on May 6, a high temperature of 72degrees that day and 70 degree tempsforecast for the week, I decided that wecould finally uncover the roses. As luckwould have it we experienced freezinglow temperatures the following weekend,followed by a high of 95 degrees twodays later. Only in Minnesota!

When uncovered, the tender roses in the Virginia Clemens Rose Gardenlooked alive but not leafed out as inpast years, and we lost several olderhybrid tea and floribunda roses. We hada late first flush, on July 4th weekend ascompared to Memorial Day weekend in2010, June 20 in 2011, and a mid-Mayfirst flush in 2012. Our season startedlate, our weather warmed up fast, andwe were racing to try to get over 1,800roses pruned before they were totallyleafed out. With only one assistant and a handful of volunteers, we were stillpruning roses in mid-summer.

The long cold spring gave the new rosesordered from Weeks Roses and the newAward Of Excellence trial miniature roseentries extra growing time in our 10,000sq. ft. greenhouse. We received plenty of rain early in the 2013 season, whichgot the roses started growing well oncethey were transplanted outdoors. Manyof the plants were already in bloom. I was especially impressed with the threetest roses that Weeks sent us. The largegolden-orange long-stemmed bloomsof hybrid tea rose ‘Good As Gold’ andthe large fragrant bright yellow old-fashioned blossoms of grandiflora rose‘Happy Go Lucky’ seemed to put on aconstant display. Both were very diseaseresistant. Although grandiflora rose‘Coretta Scott King’ with its beautifullong coral and white buds and disease-resistant foliage did not bloom as muchas the other two test roses, its big clustersof blooms were very long lasting.

The new shrub and Old Garden rosesthat we moved from the University ofMinnesota’s Research garden in October2012 came through the winter very wellwith only compost for winter cover. I was surprised at the winter hardinessof the zone 4b & 5 roses—four ‘DoubleKnock Out,’ seven ‘Carefree Marvel,’ andtwo ‘Salmon Impressionist.’ All of theshrub roses from UMORE grew andbloomed well during 2013. The tenplants of ‘Winnipeg Parks’ on the rock

walls bordering the front and south sideof the Virginia Clemens Rose Gardenwere constant bloom producers. I heardmany visitors commenting on theirbeautiful large pink flowers. The OldGarden Roses experienced nice growthand should bloom for the first time inJune 2014.

The shrub roses in our Lower Trial RoseGarden proved their winter hardinessby surviving the winter with only a 4-inch layer of rice-hull mulch and snowcover for winter insulation. These include‘Pink Home Run,’ ‘Carefree Sunshine,’‘Peppermint Pop,’ Northern Accent roses ‘Ole,’ ‘Lena,’ ‘Sven,’ and ‘Sigrid,’ Easy Elegance roses ‘Little Mischief’ and ‘Sunrise Sunset,’ ‘Carefree Wonder,’‘Como Park,’ ‘Thrive!,’ and ‘The Charleton.’The shrub roses were very disease freethis season.

Due to the late start, fertilizer wasapplied much later than normal, andthe weather at application was hotterand drier than usual. We did not see abig growth spurt in the roses until wehad rain and cooler temperatures late in the season. The roses were muchshorter than normal and did not produceas many blooms as in past years.

We replaced most of the soaker hoses in the Virginia Clemens and Upper Trial Rose Gardens with new 3/4-inchdouble-thick wall soaker hoses with alifetime guarantee. The hoses were putin place prior to the hot, dry weather inJuly and August. They worked very wellduring the season with much betterwater output than the older hoses andno more fixing broken hoses.

The Bugs of Springby Joan Andersen, Stearns County MasterGardener

Last spring I was disappointed to seesome early cosmetic damage to my rosesand perennials so I decided to see if Icould prevent some of the problems thisyear. Even though the damage won’treally harm the plant, I don’t want tolook at the evidence all season! Some ofthe possible culprits are included in thisarticle. Even if you have just a few plants,you may want to check your plants earlyin the season.

Poecilocapus lineatus, a.k.a. the four-lined plant bug, is a native pest namedfor the four black stripes running downits back. Adults are yellowish green withblack stripes and orange heads, and are up to 1/3 inch long. The eggs wereactually laid last fall on the stems ofplants to overwinter and hatch inspring. The nymphs are ready to feedjust as your plants leaf out. At first thenymphs are tiny and red, but in about six weeks they become adults withpiercing-sucking mouth parts, whichmeans their damage takes the form ofunsightly spots all over the leaves ofyour plants. Adults feed until they mateand lay more eggs for next year. There is only one generation per year.

The four-lined plant bug is not a pickyeater and attacks a wide variety offlowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables, fruits,and herbs. Favorite plants are in themint family. Damage is usually morecosmetic than lethal to the plant butcan be very visible. If you have haddamage in the past, check your plantsearly so you can see and remove theeggs. Cut your perennial plants downearly in the spring to remove the eggs.For control you can spray very earlywith insecticidal soap or horticulturaloils, or use an insecticide labeled for use on the four-lined plant bug.

Roseslug sawflies, Endelomyia aethiops,are another early season pest of roses.They are related to wasps and bees, and

their larvae resemble caterpillars—butthey are not caterpillars. There areactually many species of sawflies thateach have their own host. Most of themattack the needles of evergreen trees orthe leaves of deciduous trees.

The Roseslug sawfly overwinters in thepupa stage in the soil. Adults emergeearly and lay eggs on the underside ofthe leaves of your roses. The damage iscaused when the eggs hatch and thegreenish-yellow caterpillar-like larvaefeed on the leaves. The feedingskeletonizes the surface of the leaves in between the veins, leaving whitepatches or holes. The damage is mostlycosmetic, but it can have a seriouseffect if the plant is already stressed.Sawfly larvae tend to feed in groups so you should inspect your roses in the spring to see if they are present.You can pick them off the plant or wash them off with a hose. If treatment is desired, use insecticidal soap,horticultural oil, or a chemical labeledfor sawflies (not for caterpillars), anduse it early while the larvae are very small.

Another pest of gardens early in theseason is the rose chafer, Macrodactylussubspinosus. It is common in Minnesota,especially in sandy soil. Females layeggs in the soil that hatch into smallwhite larvae resembling grubs. Thesefeed on the roots of plants and movedown deep into the soil for the winter.In spring they pupate and emerge asadults. The damage is caused in springwhen the adults feed on flowerblossoms. They love roses, peonies,apple and grape blossoms, and thefoliage of many other plants. The rootfeeding of the larvae is not harmful.

Adult rose chafers are tan and about1/2 inch long. You can deal with theadults feeding on your plants bypicking them off (although more mayfly in) and putting them into a bucketof soapy water. Or use row covers to

protect valuable plants until the end ofJune. You can treat with an insecticidelabeled for use on chafers. Fortunately,the invasion of the rose chafers is overby the end of June in a normal year.

Red turnip beetles, Entomoscelisamericana, are mostly a pest of plants in the mustard family and are moreprevalent in sandy soils. This insectoverwinters as eggs that begin to hatchin early spring. The larvae are black andthey feed on cruciferous plants such asradish, turnip, cabbage, mustard, andflowers such as sweet alyssum and rockcress. Larvae feed for a few weeks andthen pupate and re-emerge as adultbeetles that feed again on your veg-etables. In the fall the adults continue to feed and then lay eggs in the soil thatwill hatch the following year. The adultbeetles are red with three black stripesdown the back and are about 1/2 inch long.

Damage is a bigger problem early in the spring if the beetles attack youngvegetable plants. The eggs are red andquite visible. Be sure to rake or till thevegetable garden well in early spring tobury the eggs. Continue to cultivate tokill any remaining eggs or pupae. Youcan get good control of small larvae byusing a spray with spinosad. It kills thelarvae as they feed without harmingbeneficial insects.

As you can see, it’s a good idea toinspect your plants in the spring to see if any of these insects are present.Watch carefully for signs of leaf damageand take action early before there isheavy damage. Keep your plantshealthy and your garden free of weeds,which can be alternative hosts forhungry insects. Try to control pests earlywhile they are still in the immaturestage and before they become a majorproblem. If you are successful, you willnot have to look at ragged leaves onyour plants for the entire season.Reflections continued on page 7

Page 4 Page 5

by Carl Hoffman

I like elephant ears—the plant, that is. I owe my introduction to the garden useof this beautiful, large-leaved, massiveplant via white mold, Sclerotiniasclerotiorum. After a year or more oflistening to my tales of woe, MichelleGrabowski, University of MinnesotaExtension Plant Pathologist, informedme that she was working on a project to determine which annual flowers hadnatural resistance to white mold, andshe asked me if I would offer my gardenas a test site.

The list of 20 or more species plants that Michelle provided included threeelephant ears of an unlisted variety. I had used some elephant ears in pots in shady areas with limited success and I was apprehensive about growing themin the full sun of my annual border. I wasamazed at the results. These plants werenot only resistant to white mold, butflourished in the border. They grew five to six feet tall and the longest leafmeasured was 39 inches. They were so striking that many people stoppedalong the road to look at them. Need Isay that I fell in love with elephant earsas a garden plant? When I dug the tubers

in the fall, I had to force each of the clumpsin a five-gallon pail to overwinter them.

The spring of 2011 found me with somehealth issues that made it very difficultfor me to plant my gardens. But I amvery fortunate to have friends, many ofthem master gardeners who heard ofmy problems and cleaned and plantedmy gardens for me. I had purchasedeight potted Colocasia plants, a ProvenWinners introduction called ‘Tea Cups,’and 18 sweet potato vines, Ipomeabatata, half of them the dark burgundy-leaved ‘Blackie’ and the other half thechartreuse-leaved ’Margarita,’ whichTerry Engels and Sharon Schlick plantedin my border. Added to that were thethree large tuber clumps that I hadoverwintered and about 30 TropicalRose cannas and a mixture of otherannuals that I had started from seed. Bymidsummer I had an annual border thatwas a real show stopper. The ‘Tea Cups’elephant ears had grown to heights offour to five feet with large cupped leavesthat were green with dark purple veins,and whenever they filled with waterthey would tip and empty themselves.The sweet potato vines grew aggressivelyand soon covered the other annualsand started to explore the lawn area.

Add to this foliage palette the beautifulrose colored ‘Tropical Rose’ cannas and I had a garden that rivaled any in thetropical climates. My grandsons told methat all that was missing in my junglewas an elephant or two.

If you look in catalogs that featureelephant ears, you will find that theyhave become a new “darling” of plantbreeders, much like those myriads ofnew Echinacea and Heuchera plantsthat have resulted from the same status.For example, Plant Delights Nursery lists34 varieties of Colocasia, and anothersource estimates that there are over 70varieties worldwide. If you flip throughpublications and catalogs, you will seethe genus of elephant ear listed asAlocasia or Colocasia. There are variousdescriptive differences between thesetwo genera, but in this article I will referto all elephant ears by the genus Colocasia.

Plant breeders have hybridized anddeveloped many appealing varieties ofColocasia that will add a tropical touchto patios, gardens, and water features.They vary in size from the three- to four-footers, which make great thrillers inlarge pots as well as garden accents, to‘Borneo Giant,’ which has been reported

Some Plants Have Big Earsto grow to a height of 15 feet, with 7 to10 feet being more realistic. Leaf colorvaries from the very dark ‘Madeira,’ ‘BlackRunner,’ and ‘Black Coral,’ to the paletteof green shades including ‘Maui -Gold,’‘Jack’s Giant,’ and ‘Ruffles.’ Addvariegated-leaved varieties like ‘Mojito’and ‘Yellow Splash’; leaves with ruffledor contorted edges like ‘PineapplePrincess,’ ‘Black Coral,’ and ‘DiamondHead’; those with colored petioles suchas ‘Rhubarb,’ ‘Pink China,’ and HawaiianPunch,’ and those with dark prominentveins like ‘Blue Hawaii’ and ‘Coffee Cups.’I readily admit that I have seen only afew of these varieties in a garden settingand that most of the descriptions comefrom catalogs and publications. I haveincluded the varietal names for the sakeof illustrating the many attractive charac-teristics in these large-leaved plants.

I have found that elephant ears are easy to grow. They can be purchased as “bulbs” (actually tubers) or pottedplants. They prefer full sun to brightshade, a reasonably well-drained soil,plenty of moisture, and a layer of mulch.They make attractive water plants (Taro,often sold for use in water features, isColocasia) but should be planted in pots

and then placed in thewater feature. Elephantears are heavy feeders;fertilizer should be appliedto the soil at planting timefollowed by regular feedingthroughout the growingseason to encouragepotential growth. I have found thatwell-nourished, sturdy plants are ableto withstand wind storms, and mineeven came through the hail storm of2011 reasonably well.

The hardiness zone listed for mostelephant ears is zone 8, and even withthe new hardiness zone map they wouldnever survive winter below zone 7.Therefore, they must be overwinteredindoors as either greenhouse plants orstored tubers. Dig and store tubers afterthe plants have been killed by frost.Digging can be a bit of a task, becausethe tubers tend to form large clumps ina single season. Use care not to damagethe covering, because wounds willinvite decay organisms during storage.Use a light spray to wash off most of thesoil and then allow the tubers to dry fora week or so out of sunlight. Pack thedry tubers in sphagnum moss or wood

shavings and store them in a dark place at a temperature of 40-50degrees F. I had tostore my bulbs andtubers in a place wherethe temperaturetended to stay at 50-55

degrees F. and found that covering thecontainers loosely with a sheet of plastichelps prevent desiccation during thewinter. It is important that air can enterthe storage containers or you will have asmelly, rotting mess in the spring.Although they can be planted directly inthe garden, starting the Colocasiatubers indoors six to eight weeks beforeoutdoor planting time will give you alonger period of time to enjoy the plants.

For a garden, patio, or water feature thatwill have your neighbors talking, plantsome elephant ears this summer. I predictthat we will find many interestingvarieties at garden stores and nurseriesthis spring. Contrary to what many of us have heard, they do not have to beplanted in the shade and actually preferfull sun. Keep them watered and fertilizedand you will have big-leaved, tropical-looking plants of which you can bejustly proud.

by Idella Moberg

January. Everything’s suddenly quiet.Eerily still. I stand for a moment, listening,then slowly I draw aside the curtain onthe front door and look. They’ve gone.Have they? I open the door and stepout. They’ve gone. Bulldozers anddiggers and city utility trucks of everysort and size. Gone. The army of men inhelmets and electric lime green vestsare gone too. They’ve been here allweek. And now they’ve gone. Mountainsof rusty brown dirt and gray chunks ofpavement have disappeared. Orangeand white striped warning markers blink

on and off next to where holes in thestreet gaped only hours ago.

Subzero temperatures are to blame. Ourneighbors’ pipes froze. Streams of watergushing out of two houses on our blockno longer flow down the hill and aroundthe corner, no longer do they freeze intolumpy puddles at the bottom of our hill.It’s all been cleared away, smootheddown. And even though the garages ofboth houses are still open, suggestingthat cleanup work is still going on inside,it mostly seems to have been taken careof. Now all we need is a January thaw togive us all a break from this weather.

It’s gotten political. Polar vortex? Whatkind of twaddle is this? No, no, says AlRoker. It’s in my old textbook fromweather school. And onto the televisionscreen flashes the very excerpt, whichhe reads to us. That should settle it. Butfor some it all smacks of some kind of aglobal warming something or other.How about that global warming. We’reall freezing to death and they’re talkingabout global warming. A scientist explainsever so patiently for the umpteenthtime that we do have this thing we callwinter. Since December the vortex hasbulged southward from the north pole.Arctic cold has blown south for the

Looking for the Thaw: A Journalwinter. Traffic in Atlanta—Atlanta!—isstymied, and mayors and politicians arethrowing blame balls.

Remember that one January thaw? says my mother-in-law Kay. She’s 96. The tulips came up. I have a spot justoutside the kitchen that always stays alittle warmer. And the tulips, they justappeared one day. I do remember. Itwas sometime in the 1970s or ‘80s. Hertulips shot up as though it was spring.Spindly yellowish spikes.

February. January has melted intoFebruary without a thaw. It’s still cold. Imean frigid. We’re having an arctic blast

of historic dimensions. Down south800,000 people are sitting in the dark.Trees and power lines are covered inthick ice. This has been one of the mostsevere winters ever.

There are things I can do to avoid thesevere cold. Regrettable things. I cancrawl under a big quilt, with candy andchips and a bucket of ice cream. I canwatch TV. Movie binge on Netflix. Watchsix seasons of something. Anything. I have SADD, I can say, as though thatexplains it all, which actually it does, I suppose. I’ll stay out of Florida for now.Should have gone to Mexico.

I can do this. I can make it through thewinter, but I’ll need to change mythinking. Get out there and act asthough I enjoy it. I can walk at the mallor go to the gym. It’s really kind of funshoveling the driveway day after day. Ican wear layers. Wear a hat. The currenttrend is hat hair. I can swerve and spinlike a ballerina driving to the grocerystore. Plastic buckets aren’t just good forice cream. I can fill them with water andset them outside overnight and makeice lanterns. Make one a day. I couldsurround the house with them and lightup the yard while I wait for the thaw.

Looking for the Thaw continued on page 7