Gateway Gardener
MARCH 2015
THE
速
Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes
Native Groundcovers
to Knock Your Socks Off!
New Plant Fashions for 2015 Grow a Beautiful Edible Garden Protect the Pollinators! FREE Courtesy of:
Gateway Gardener THE
®
Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes
March 2015
Volume 11, Number 2
Founded in 2005 by Joyce Bruno & Robert Weaver Publisher and Editor Robert Weaver Columnists
Barbara Perry Lawton Garden Book Author and Garden Writer Connie Alwood Master Gardener Diane Brueckman Rosarian Joyce Driemeyer Master Gardener Mara Higdon Gateway Greening Abby Lapides Nursery Professional Steffie Littlefield Nursery Professional Jennifer Schamber Nursery Professional Scott Woodbury Native Plant Specialist
Printing: Breese Publishing, Breese, IL The Gateway Gardener® is published 9 times/year by Double Dig Communications, Inc. to promote enjoyable, successful gardening and livable landscapes in the St. Louis greater metropolitan area. The magazine is distributed free to the public at designated garden centers, nurseries, garden gift shops, lawn equipment rental, repair and sales establishments, and other locations supporting sound gardening, lawn and landscaping practices. Please send letters-to-the-editor, questions, event announcements, editorial suggestions and contributions, photos, advertising inquiries and materials, and any other correspondence to: The Gateway Gardener Magazine® PO Box 220853 St. Louis, MO 63122 Phone: (314) 968-3740
info@gatewaygardener.com www.gatewaygardener.com
The Gateway Gardener® is printed on recycled newsprint using environmentally friendly soy-based ink, and is a member of the PurePower® renewable energy resources network.
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From the Editor
won’t say I’m pathologically competitive, but I do have tendencies. I received one of those fitness-tracking bracelets for Christmas, and immediately became obsessed with piling on “steps” to keep up with family and friends in my fitness circle. Even the dog sometimes protests as I haul out the leash for a late-night walk in order to complete my steps goal. native groundcovers (pg. 10). I don’t know if my new beds will I guess those same tendencies ever look like our cover photo, drove me to rogue out a couple but what is gardening without of beds of perfectly fine (but aspirations! considered invasive) English ivy and euonymus (wintercreeper) Speaking of aspirations, here this winter. Those beds were all we are celebrating the 10th that were standing between my anniversary of The Gateway existing Silver certification and Gardener, a far-off milepost but Gold in the St. Louis Audubon’s certainly aspired to in 2005! “Bring Conservation Home” This month we carry on the program, which recognizes theme with two “Top 10” plant home landscapes according to lists, the native compilation various levels of sustainability that regularly accompanies and wildlife friendly habitat. our native plant article, and a Why settle for Silver when special pick of 10 selections Gold was at hand? Once the from a recent “Plant Fashions offending vines were removed, for 2015” presentation (page however, the question remained 12). I look forward to trying regarding replacement some of these newcomers in my groundcovers. Thankfully, Scott garden this year. Woodbury came to the rescue with a perfectly timed article on Many of the feature plants will
On the Cover... Groundcovers can mean so much more when you think beyond ivy and wintercreeper. Consider natives like spring daisy (white flowers), squaw-weed (yellow) and wild geranium (purple). For more ideas, see page 10. (Photo by Scott Woodbury)
IN THIS ISSUE 4 Grow an Edible Garden 6 Protect the Pollinators 7 The Pollinator Project
8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 19 20 20 21 22
do a great job of attracting bees, butterflies and other pollinators to their sweet nectar, and are great additions to gardens designed to attract them. But the often overlooked piece of the pollinator puzzle is the quite specific plant many species require to reproduce: the host plant. The St. Louis Zoo has been undertaking this educational challenge with several recent programs, including new demonstration gardens as part of the “Pollinator Project” at its new South Expansion site (pg. 7). Jennifer Schamber describes how we gardeners can participate with our own pollinator gardens (pg. 6). Even though we were blessed with a relatively mild winter (at least as of this writing), it’s still nice to welcome March, and with it, spring!
Good gardening!
Evening Grosbeak Know The Pros! Native Groundcovers Plant Fashions 2015 Perfect Picks for Veggies & Herbs JT’s Fresh Ideas The Year of Soils March Lawn Care Savory: Herb of 2015 Gardening is a Verb: Book Review Changing World of Roses Dig This Upcoming Events
Grow a Beautiful Edible Garden BySteffie Littlefield
Making your garden of edibles beautiful is really no trick. Start with the lovely
Tammy Palmier
Take a quick trip to your local garden center to get up close and personal with the best seed selections for our area. Look for certified organic seeds, heirloom and local varieties for the best in healthy edibles. Friendly folks at the garden center will help you separate your list between what to start now, later and what seeds are better planted directly into the garden.
This mailbox planting at Missouri Botanical Garden features a beautiful mixture of edible and ornamental plants, including ‘Red Malabar’ spinach climbing the pole.
and frilly lettuce greens along the edges. Combine the Ruby reds with light green bib styles. Accent the garden with Creating Outdoor Spaces that Inspire pops of color from edible flowers like Helping St. Louisans envision the possibilities of outdoor living spaces since 1953. calandulas, pansies and nasturiums.
varieties of tomatoes with lots of colors and tastes that will spark lots of interest in the garden even from the busy teenager. Tomato ‘Missouri Pink Love Apple’ has really big pink fruit and the broader leaves and are less weedy looking than other tomatoes. I love ‘Amana Orange’ tomato with its bright golden color, tomato ‘Michael Pollan’ is speckled green, tomato ‘Orange Strawberry’ is bright orange and heart shaped, reaching to be large 1-pound fruits. ‘Paul Robeson’ is black and brick-red and has a distinctly sweet but luscious flavor. ‘Solar Flare’ has bright yellow and orange stripes on the bright red tomato, and ‘Blue Beauty’ has purple blue skin, and ‘Sunrise Bumblebee’ is orange and yellow even inside its small oval fruits. Another cherry-type tomato that it irresistible is ‘Isi Candy Cherry’ with a yellow star on the blossom end. For decorative and tasty treats look at the
‘Rosa Bianca’ Eggplant
TRANSFORMED
Here are some new
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The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
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015 is the year to grow more heirloom and organic vegetables. Try unique tomatoes to impress neighbors, and harvest homegrown treats the whole family will enjoy. It is fun to see visitors marvel at the variety and decorative vegetables growing in the garden. So where to start and why start now? Because starting your own plants from seed indoors is cost saving and there is more variety in seeds than in plants.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.
the original Tabasco pepper with its green to orange fruit and the Mustard Habenero, which is outrageously colorful but super hot!
‘Missouri Pink Love Apple’ Tomato large selection of peppers. The ‘Purple Jalapeno’, ‘Golden Marconi’, big red ‘Ozark Giant’ and sweet orange ‘Etiuda’ are all beautiful in the garden as well as on the plate. These make gorgeous pepper jellies and can be combined for a sensational stir-fry. For smaller gardens or pots try
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.
‘Tigger’ Melon
lavender shades.
A vegetable garden is always more work than you imagined, but it can also be a beautiful garden to enjoy with family and To keep your garden looking tidy try some friends. So when you are planning your of the bush varieties of cucumbers and garden include a space to sit, visit and relax. squash. Cucumber ‘Dar’ and Lemon squash And remember while you are starting your are ones that are super hardy, prolific seeds get your recipes for fresh garden producers and smaller growing. A favorite vegetables ready. Enjoy! of mine is ‘Tigger’ melon, a small decorative orb that is highly aromatic, smelling sweet even on the vine. To cover a fence or unattractive wall grow ‘Red Malabar’ spinach, which is not only beautiful and heat loving, but is great mixed with greens for your summer salad. Large purple eggplants are a lovely garden vegetable, as are the newer white eggplants and ‘Rosa Bianca’ with its pastel
Steffie Littlefield is a horticulturist and garden designer at Garden Heights Nursery. She has degrees from St. Louis Community College at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State and is a member of Gateway Professional Horticultural Association and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis.
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Call to action: protect the pollinators! by Jennifer Schamber
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wise gardener once told me that, “A garden is not complete until the pollinators and beneficial creatures have not only discovered it, but designate it as a place to procreate”. It sounds like a simple enough statement, since pollinators like nectar and nectar is in flowers, then that seems like a good place to proliferate, right? Gardeners are experts at planting beautiful flowers, many of which draw in a wide range of our favorite pollinators. We often deem ourselves as successful butterfly gardeners simply because we spot the winged creatures fluttering around our yard. But the most important key component of a truly great garden is the one that is most often overlooked, this being the fact that there are certain plants that play crucial roles in the overall health of the food web, these being our native host plants, which tend to be some of the most overlooked of all plant selections. Yet
these host plants actually serve as the “nurseries” of our gardens, these are where the baby larvae grow and thrive. The beauty of host plants is that you don’t have to dedicate your entire garden to these plants to benefit these creatures. By creating this type of environment in your yard, you can lead by example for others in your neighborhood to follow suit. Over time, you can become a part of a network of gardens that will create a pollinator corridor for our winged friends to roam freely. Consider planting a diverse selection of host plants, such as native milkweeds (Asclepias sp.) to attract Monarch butterflies, Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly or Dutchman’s Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa). For a great “go-to” list of other native plants from our region to consider, visit www.grownative.org. A garden that is abundant with pollinators, beneficial insects and birds can create a balance in our yard that no chemical or product could ever create. We can rely on these creatures to work hard for us by pollinating our fruits and vegetables, keeping less desirable insects from overpopulating and bringing another dimension of life to our yards. All they ask of us is to plant what they like… if you plant it, they will come. Visit your favorite local garden centers and discover what they have to offer that will attract a diversity of beneficial creatures. Jennifer Schamber is the General Manager of Greenscape Gardens, and plays leaderships roles in the Western Nursery & Landscape Association, GrowNative!, the Landscape & Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis and the Horticulture Co-op of Metro St. Louis. She has earned Green Profit Magazine’s Young Retailer Award, and Greenscape Gardens was named the National Winner of the 2015 “Revolutionary 100” Garden Centers by Today’s Garden Center Magazine.
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The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
The Pollinator Project
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The St. Louis Zoo Collaborates Locally and Internationally to Promote Pollinator Habitats and Health By Robert Weaver
t. Louisans are justifiably proud of their worldclass St. Louis Zoo, but many people think of the zoo mainly for its exhibits of large, exotic animals. They are certainly the most widely recognized face of our zoo, but its mission concerns the protection of all the world’s wildlife, including some of our smallest, and yet most important, species: our insect pollinators. According to Ed Spevac, Project Manager for the Zoo’s WildCare Institute Center for Native Pollinator Conservation (CNPC) and curator of Invertebrates, the St. Louis Zoo has been or will be involved in many projects, both within Zoo grounds and throughout the St. Louis region—and even internationally—to promote efforts to improve habitats and health of our all-important pollinators. Beyond the Zoo campus, the CNPC cooperated with an international program called PAUSE—Pollinators/Art/Urban Agriculture/Society/and the Environment—to plant a 3.5-acre pollinator-friendly garden in the City of Florissant along with other projects to raise public awareness of pollinator issues. In the City of St. Louis, The Zoo has collaborated with Operation Brightside and Gateway Greening on pollinator gardens, and has been involved in projects on the City’s north side redevelopment. Throughout the region, Ed has also consulted with Ameren UE on suggesting pollinator-friendly plantings on the utility’s right of ways and easements, and has worked with the Missouri Department of Transportation on pollinator-friendly plantings along roadsides throughout the state. And nationally, the Zoo is an integral founding partner of the Honey Bee Health Coalition, a diverse group of individuals, businesses and groups dedicated
to improving the health of honey bees and other pollinators.
At home the Zoo has big pollinator plans for the new South Expansion site for what they have dubbed the “Pollinator Project.” The lawn area of the new site will feature low-maintenance Missouri native buffalo grass overseeded with pollinator favorites red and white clover. Additionally, the site will feature several pollinator gardens. One will be an experimental garden where researchers can examine the best species of plants to attract monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Another garden will be an interpretive garden with signage explaining the value of pollinators. Other gardens on the site will provide beauty and pollinator education to passersby, while the entire site will incorporate pollinator-friendly trees, shrubs and flowers into the landscape. To learn more about the St. Louis Zoo’s Center for Native Pollinator Conservation, visit www.stlzoo.org, and consider visiting the Zoo during Pollinator Week, June 15th-21st, especially the Pollinator Dinner on June 16th.
And, if you want to get a free plant from among those featured in the Zoo’s Pollinator Project, Greenscape Gardens is supporting the Zoo’s Pollinator Project with its “Pollinator Palette” program, and will be giving away a different featured pollinator host plant each month (with purchase).
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2601 E. 5th Street Washington, MO 636-239-6729 www.hillermann.com
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314-741-3121
MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
618-585-3414
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Evening Grosbeak text by Connie Alwood, photos by Douglas Hommert
A
t the beginning of my presentation on “Birds in the Garden” to various Garden Clubs and other organizations in the area, I always ask how many people in the audience feed birds. Hands shoot up quickly, for in America feeding birds is the second most popular hobby following gardening. Just about everyone can identify a cardinal or a robin. Yet many people, like my brother who lives in California, and my sister who lives in New Jersey, both of whom feed birds, wouldn’t know a House Sparrow from a House Finch. They just like to see that the birds get fed, or as my brother said, “I just like to see them fly.”
Just recently a Jefferson County resident who “just likes to see them fly” spotted some strange birds at his feeders, took some photographs and sent them on to a birder friend. They were
photos of Evening Grosbeaks. When I heard the account, my pulse quickened and immediately I had illusions of Evening Grosbeaks coming to my feeders.
Grosbeaks are large finches with a massive conical bill that can snap open a sunflower seed faster than you can open a beer can. There are several kinds of grosbeaks—all are beautiful, but the Evening Grosbeak is stunning, with the male having a yellow body and a dusky head with a yellow stripe across the forehead. The female is duller, just as the female cardinal is dull compared to the male. Although Evening Grosbeaks are songbirds, the male’s voice is hardly musical. It almost doesn’t exist, just some highpitched notes and chips. Although they breed across northern Canada and mountainous areas of our west, usually in coniferous forests
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The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
where they mostly eat insects, they sometimes “irrupt” south in winter and can once in a while be seen at feeders far south and east of their breeding grounds where they hoggishly devour sunflower seeds. Our last huge irruption occurred in December 1985, when forty or more of these beautiful birds came to the feeders at Tyson Research Center, staying for a few weeks for you are looking at one of before moving on. North America’s most beautiful So it’s been thirty years since birds. Furthermore, if you see the last irruption here, but there a bird in your garden that you they were just in Jefferson can’t identify, take a picture and County, and they may come to send it to me: calwood@charter. your garden some day. If so, net. consider yourself very lucky, Connie Alwood is a Master Gardener and coauthor of Birds of the St. Louis Area: Where and When to Find Them.
Grow Missouri Native Plants! Native plants require less water, less fertilizer and less work; they are also less susceptible to pests and diseases. A few of our favorites:
Wine Cups blooms midspring into fall
Missouri Primrose large yellow flowers
Learn more about natives at one of these sessions: Bring Nature Home, Tuesday, April 7, 5:30pm Join Mitch Leachman of the St. Louis Audubon Society as he fills you in on the Bring Conservation Home Program, an on-site assistance program for landowners in the St. Louis area for the restoration of native plant and animal habitat on their grounds. Landscaping with Missouri Natives, Thursday April 9, 5:30pm Ready to ditch the lawnmower, watering system, fertilizer spreader and leaf blower? Join Betty Struckhoff, a member of Wild Ones Natural Landscapers, for this inspiring session. Missouri Native Gardening Q&A Session, Saturday, April 11, 10am-noon Here’s your chance to learn from the best! At this question & answer session, members of Wild Ones Natural Landscapers will be on hand to share their vast knowledge of Missouri native plants.
Over 2,000 varieties of plants 1011 N. Woodlawn • Kirkwood, MO • 63122 314-965-3070
www.SugarCreekGardens.com
Voted #1 BEST GARDEN CENTER! MARCH 2015
Green-Industry Experts You Should Meet! Each month, we are introducing readers to one of our area’s green-industry professional individuals or businesses. In this issue, we invite you to get to know...
A Little History:
1605 S. Big Bend Saint Louis, MO 63117 314-645-7333 www.gardenheights.com
In 1996, Lou D’Agrosa took his degree in horticulture from the University of Missouri-Columbia and 12 years of experience in the landscaping industry and filled the need for a high quality garden center in St. Louis’ central corridor. In the 19 years since, Garden Heights Nursery has evolved and grown dramatically. A staff of four in the early days has grown to thirty during peak season today with diverse backgrounds in teaching, nursing, graphic design and horticulture, all sharing a passion and one mission – to share their love of gardening with their customers.
You’ve got to see their:
Take the guesswork out of plant selection
Coneflower pink daisies in summer
Know The Pros!
The Gateway Gardener™
Plants and more plants. Garden Heights takes the expected mix of annuals, perennials, tropicals, vegetables, herbs, trees and shrubs and kicks it to the next level by working with the highest quality growers and offering new varieties year after year. Organic choices have multiplied and native plants continue to be on the rise. The people at Garden Heights work hard to keep things fresh and exciting. The redesigned store and lot feature creative displays that change frequently. Stylish new pottery is showcased with gorgeous perennials; containers are planted with unique, eye-catching plant combinations. Their buyers attend markets twice a year to seek out unique items from small, independent companies...the more local, the better.
What’s new for 2015?
Garden Heights will be participating in Gateway Greening’s Perfect Picks program. Customers can choose from a selection of vegetables chosen by local community gardeners as being productive and easy to grow in St. Louis. Fitting its quasi-urban setting, Garden Heights also will expand its offerings for limited-space veggie gardeners – including a new line of raised beds and containers. Great quality, unmatched customer service, inspiration and innovation.
Proud Member of...
Looking for professional help for your garden, lawn and landscape? Search our website’s membership directory or look for the LNAGSL logo in members’ ads in The Gateway Gardener.
StLouisLandscape.org 9
Naturally Natives Ankle-High Groundcovers to Knock Your Socks Off! Text and Photos by Scott Woodbury
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can think of many good reasons to use low-growing native groundcovers. They promote healthy natural diversity in the garden by attracting bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, bugs, flies, spiders and much more. Prairie pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) is off the charts with its late March or early April flowers that attract copious amounts of tiny wild bees and flies. Flies you say, really? Yes, amazing flies. Not just Sedum ternatum (foreground), Iris cristata (midframe), and house flies, but native flies that Senecio (Packara) obovata (in the rear).. bristle, shimmer, iridesce, and heads, bodies, hair, and legs of all sorts reflecting the soft diversify the garden. Wings, spring light that March offers to those who take time to observe. Small patches of this tiny groundcover are audible with the sound of music… wings buzzing in the air. In full sun or part shade and dry soils this one will bloom at 3-4 inches in height and remain a half-inch tall the rest of the year. Its cousin, round-
leaved pussytoes (Antennaria parlinii), is similar but is looser in habit and prefers more shade. Try these under Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelus vernalis) or pawpaw (Asimina triloba) to complete the ultimate early spring fly-pollinator garden. Diminutive native groundcovers like spring daisy (Erigeron pulchellus) prefer gravelly soils and can soften dry-laid stone paths. This early bloomer looks like summer daisies but blooms in April and is pollinated by tiny digger bees. Flowers sit on10-inch stems that sway in the wind while foliage lays flat on the ground an inch high. Plants sucker and fill in stepping stone gaps. They also grow thick, crowding out most weeds. Other stepping-stone toe-knockers include woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), crested iris (Iris cristata) and James sedge (Carex jamesii)
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GreenscapeGardens.com 314.821.2440 2832 Barrett Station Rd., Manchester, MO 63021 Located 1 Mile West of I-270 on Barrett Station at Dougherty Ferry
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Natives are our Specialty!
Featuring the Area’s LARGEST Selection of: • RPM® Native Trees, Shrubs & Evergreens • Native Perennials, Grasses and Prairie Forbs (broadleaf perennials) • Nut Trees + 22 Varieties of Oaks
Native Plants are ideal for:
• Raingardens and bioswales • Bird and Butterfly gardens • Wildlife and conservation landscapes
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The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
Tips and Resources for Growing and Landscaping with Sustainable Native Plants Dig Deeper. Visit
GreenGardeningStL.com for More on Sustainable Gardening
A Grow Native! Top 10 List Featured Category:
Native Groundcovers Under Six Inches Attractive • Low Maintenance • Long lived
Sedum ternatum (white flowers), Phlox divaricata (purple flowersI ris cristata (spikey plants behind Phlox), and Senecio (Packara) aureus (yellow flowers).
Native PlaNt Name
1 2
for shade, and minty-smelling Ozark calamint (Calamintha arkansana) in sun.
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Unfortunately, some introduced groundcovers are highly invasive in the Mid-west like wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunii) and English/Baltic ivy (Hedera helix). I can’t walk twenty steps in the woods in any direction at Shaw Nature Reserve without finding wintercreeper. Euonymus fortunii was introduced in 1860 by Scottish plant explorer, Robert Fortune and it has really taken off since. If only he knew then how devastating this plant is to natural woodlands and river bottoms, I suspect he and his colleagues never would have moved it from China. It has since been a top-selling evergreen groundcover and can easily be found at many garden centers currently. Fortunately there is a native evergreen alternative that grows in shade called golden groundsel (Senecio aureus) that has bright yellow flowers topping out at 16 inches in April. Dark evergreen foliage grows 6 inches high and suckers to form dense weed barriers. This one is even tolerant of water so makes a great shady rain garden groundcover. Its cousin round-leaved groundsel (Senecio obovatus) is also shade-loving but prefers drier soils.
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Horticulturist Scott Woodbury is the Curator of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve, where he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for more than 20 years.
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6 7 8 9 10
Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) Cedar sedge (Carex eburnea) Crested iris (Iris cristata) James sedge (Carex jamesii) Golden groundsel (Senecio aureus) Prairie pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) Round-leaved groundsel (Senecio obovatus) Spring Daisy (Erigeron pulchellus) Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) Woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
HeigHt
SPaciNg
UNiqUe qUality
2–3"
8–10"
3–4"
8–10"
Long-blooming. Yellow flowers April–July Fine-texture. Slow-growing. Prefers dry-shade.
5–6"
10–12"
Short blooming in April. Textural.
6"
10–12"
Mini prairie dropseed. Prefers moist-shade.
4–5"
12–14"
Evergreen. Shady rain gardens.
1–2"
8–10"
Copious pollinators in March. Prefers dry.
3–4"
12–14"
Evergreen. Prefers dry-shade.
1–2"
10–12"
5–6"
10–12"
Blooms April–May. Solid groundcover. Round leaves. Blooms hidden April–May.
3–4"
8–10"
White flowers April–May.
Grow Native! is a native plant education and marketing program of the
Bring Conservation Home
• Dreaming of your own wildlife sanctuary? • Fascinated by hummingbirds, butterflies or creepy/ crawlies? • Not sure how to get started or which native plants are best? Call (314) 599-7390 or check out our habitat assistance and certification program at:
www.stlouisaudubon.org/BCH
MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
11
Plant Fashions 2015 Our Top 10 Picks!
T
he Western Nursery and Landscape Association, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, is a horticultural organization composed of plant breeders, growers, independent garden centers, landscape contractors, landscape designers, landscape architects, research professionals & public gardens from throughout the United States and Canada. Each January, the association holds a trade show and educational symposium, The Western, in Kansas City, which is attended by green industry professionals throughout the region, including many from the St. Louis area. In recent years, the show has included a “Plant Fashion Show”, introducing some of the exciting new plants that will be available to homeowners in the new season. Here are our Top 10 of the more-than-twenty plants that were featured for 2015.
Funky Fuchsia™ (Buddleia davidii). With a rounded to upright, tidy habit, Funky Fuchsia boasts dark green foliage and rich reddish-pink flowers that are fragrant, upright and non-sterile. Blooms into fall if deadheaded and is easily rejuvenated by pruning back to 12” tall. Crown hardy in Zone 5 and will flush from the base in Jurassic Rex Begonia (Begonia Butterfly Bush First Editions® spring. (Bailey Nurseries) x tuberhybrida). Proven performers in deep shade, gardeners will appreciate these best! t i y late-flowering, colorful and a ers s m o t carefree plants as they continue cus Our to fill out for huge all-season shows. Ideal for deep shade, Jurassic Rex begonias will add interest to your gardens and containers throughout the spring and summer. (Ball Horticultural Company)
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any special treatment. Multicolored show delights year after year, all summer, every summer. Blooms on first year growth, even in harsh winters. (Ball Horticultural Company)
Princess Zoey™ Crapemyrtle (Laegerstroemia hybrid) Red and pink blooms cover this upright dwarf crapemyrtle from summer to fall. New growth is dark green and turns reddish purple in the fall. This moderate grower reaches 4-5 feet tall and 2.5 to 3 feet wide. It’s disease resistant, cold tolerant and perfect as a specimen, in containers or in mass plantings. (Garden Debut)
The Peachy Keen™ Rose. A floriferous pink shrub rose that blooms continually from spring through frost. The rose has L.A. Dreamin’ Hydrangea excellent disease resistance so (Hydrangea macrophylla no spray is required to maintain ‘Lindsay Ann’). The first good foliage appearance in the mophead hydrangea that shows garden. The foliage is dark pink, blue and bicolor blooms green, which contrasts well with without aluminum sulfate or the lighter colored blooms. This The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
Balm). Bright cherry-red flowers form a solid dome of color in midsummer with 2-2.5” blooms on strong, well-branched stems. The dark green foliage forms an upright clump that will fill out containers nicely but won’t run all over the garden. Above average resistance to powdery mildew. (Walters Gardens) variety is hardy to Zone 5. The plant will retain an excellent uniform habit and shape in the landscape if trimmed back by 2/3 every year in early spring. (Star Roses & Plants / The Conard-Pyle Company)
Penstemon Purple Rock Candy™. Colorful and compact perennial plants to use in the garden. Tuck them into mixed plantings at the front of a border. Use along walkways or in patio containers. The colors are strong, but will blend well with others in the landscape. They start blooming in late June and will rebloom well from a trim late into the fall season. Flowers are held above the foliage on sturdy stems and each color variety is hardy to Zone 5. (Star Roses & Plants / The Conard-Pyle Company)
flowers that give way to small, long-lasting red fruit. It is winter hardy to Zone 4 and performs in sun or part shade, wet or dry soils. (Upshoot LLC)
Baptisia DECADENCE™ ‘Vanilla Cream’ (False Yellow Indigo). Selected for its petite size and unique flower. Newly emerging spring foliage has a beautiful bronze cast. As the foliage matures, it lightens to grey-green and forms a wellbranched, full, rounded clump. Ten-inch long spikes of pastel yellow buds open to creamy vanilla colored flowers from late spring into early summer. Easy care, drought tolerant, and deer resistant-- an excellent choice for gardeners looking for low maintenance or ‘nativar’ perennials. (Walters Gardens)
Lo-Hugger™ American Cranberry (Vaccinum macrocarpon ‘Lohzam’. An incredible edible groundcover. It has a natural spreading habit and looks great in a traditional groundcover setting, spilling over a wall or in a mixed container. Its evergreen foliage turns from a dark green to shades of reddish-burgundy in Monarda ‘Cherry Pops’ the winter. It has small pinkish SUGAR BUZZ™ series (Bee MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
Salvia nemorosa ‘Crystal Blue’ Color Spires® Collection (Perennial Salvia). Forms a dense, rounded clump of aromatic, rugose grey-green foliage that looks nice all season long and is not enjoyed by rabbits or deer. The first of its kind—an incredibly unique
light sky blue (most perennial Salvias are darker purple), a cool shade perfectly fitting for a perennial that blooms relatively early in the season. (Walters Gardens) photo credits in parentheses
When you use the original,
it shows.
Holly-tone® will provide spectacular results for all types of evergreens. Grow beautiful azaleas, eye-popping rhododendron, tasty blueberries and more. It’s simple to use and safe for children and pets. It’s no wonder that Holly-tone has been the #1 acid-loving plant food for over 65 years!
A natural in the garden since 1929.
www.espoma.com
13
The Cornucopia Corner Perfect Picks for 2015 Veggies & Herbs By Mara Higdon
C
an you smell spring yet? I grazed the first tender shoots of spring bulbs as I walked out of the house on a cold February morning. It sent a tingle through me and I quickly rushed back into the house to track down my seed and flower catalogues. As you are planning your spring and summer vegetable garden, how do you choose what to grow? Do you pick old favorites, perhaps tossing in a few new varieties? Or are you starting with new cultivars this year since certain crops did not do well? If you don’t
Garden Center
April 11th 9am - 4pm
know where to start, there’s a new program in town that is highlighting organically grown and certified vegetable starts that do well in the St. Louis area for backyard and community gardeners in urban areas. Gateway Greening’s Perfect Picks is a partnership started between Crown Valley Organics, Greenscape Gardens and Gateway Greening, a local non-profit supporting community development through community gardens and urban agriculture. These varieties have been chosen for their prolific harvests, ability to grow well in our growing conditions, and some being best suited for growing in smaller spaces as can generally be found in more compact urban backyard gardens and community gardens. Gateway Greening’s Perfect Picks varieties will be found at local nurseries around St. Louis. You can check Gateway Greening’s web site, www.gatewaygreening. org, for more information.
Looking for Something Unique for your Garden?? Come Stroll Thru Our Gardens and Discover the Pleasure of Plants! 2004 West Boulevard Belleville, IL 62221 (618) 235-2004
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Natives, Not-so-common Trees, Shrubs & Perennials
Skyphos Lettuce Impala (red leafy) Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage (Arrowhead variety)
Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale White Russian Kale Rainbow Mix Chard Skywalker
Herbs/Pollinator Attractors Giant Italian Parsley Chamomile, German
WARM SEASON Legend Tomato (determinate, red, slicer) Black Cherry Tomato (prolific, does well in containers) Black Krim Tomato
Sunkist Tomato - Orange slicer hybrid, very extended yield, disease resistant Dr. Wyche’s Yellow Tomato Olympus Peppers
Corno di Torro Italian Pepper (sweet) Magnum Habanero Pepper Early Jalepeno Hot Peppers
Black Beauty Eggplant
Ping Tung Long Eggplant Herbs/Pollinator Attractors Aroma F1 Hybrid Basil Lemon Basil Calendula
Nasturtium Milkweed
STOP Gardening should be more fun... less aggravating. Try a Gutter Garden.™ (314) 255-1845 • (618) 334-2504
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COOL SEASON Coastal Star Green Lettuce (romaine)
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
Tips for Growing, Buying and Cooking Fresh, Locally Sourced Food for Your Table Mara Higdon is the Program Director at Gateway Greening, Inc. They focus on community development through gardening throughout the St. Louis area. You can reach her at (314) 588-9600 x22 or by email at mara@gatewaygreening. org.
Jt’s Fresh Ideas Beef & Guinness stew
3 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1” pieces 2 tablespoons oil (or more if needed) ¼ cup flour Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 large onions, coarsely chopped 1 oz. dark chocolate (or your favorite chocolate) 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 1 lb parsnips, diced 1 ½ lbs Yukon Gold potatoes diced 4 cups chicken broth 1 ¼ cups Guinness Extra Stout 5 carrots peeled & chopped 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon dried thyme Chopped parsley, for garnish
Preparation Instructions In a small bowl, season the flour with salt and pepper. Toss meat with the seasoned flour. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown the meat on all sides and place in crock pot. You will probably need to do this in a couple of batches. Reduce heat to medium, add the onions and gently cook for about 5 minutes. Add the Guinness, chicken broth, chocolate and brown sugar to the skillet and bring to a boil. Transfer to the crock pot along with the potatoes, parsnips
courtesy www.irishcentral.com
Ingredients
and carrots. Add 2 bay leaves and thyme. Stir and adjust seasonings. Cook on low setting for 7-8 hours or until the beef is tender. Garnish the beef with parsley and serve. This recipe for Beef and Guinness Stew is a combination from recipes found on FoodNetwork.com and BlissfullyDelicious.com.
Please share some of your favorite recipes with us. You can e-mail us at: info@gatewaygardener.com.
Before you know it Spring will arrive. While we weather these last few week of winter, I though I would share this special Irish Stew!
Jt
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Rolling Ridge Nursery Lawn and Garden Center 60 NORTH GORE WEBSTER GROVES, MO 63119
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“Celebrating 50 Years of Quality & Friendly Service!”
MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
15
The Year of Soils by Sara Ryan
“H
ealthy soil is the foundation that ensures working farms and ranches become more productive, resilient to climate change and better prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in January. However, healthy soil is not just important to the farmers and ranchers. Soil is a limited and nonrenewable natural resource and is the foundation of our food supply system. Soil is the number one building block for growing food crops and biofuels components as well as animal feeds and natural fibers. Soils are the location of nutrient cycling and a range
Year of Soils. As a homeowner in an urban or suburban environment, you may think this doesn’t affect you much, or that there’s nothing you can do about it. But did you know that turfgrass—including our lawns—accounts for more irrigated acreage in the U.S. that the top eight agricultural crops combined?! In all, there are more than 40 million acres of turfgrass in the U.S. accounting for 1.9% of our land! Most of ecosystem functions as well dwindling. Luckily, countries people do not understand that as being the starting point for a across the globe are realizing just beneath the surface of their source of clean water. how important healthy soils lawn lies a complex and diverse really are. That is why the ecosystem that sustains our With an ever-increasing global United Nations’ Food and entire existence. population, the area of fertile Agriculture Organization has and healthy soils covering declared 2015 the International There is a simple solution you can do right at home to the earth’s surface is rapidly
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Bayer Garden Shop 5926 Old State Rd. Imperial, MO 63052 (636) 464-2314 www.bayergardenshops.com Kirkwood Material Supply 7201 Barrett Station Rd, St Louis, MO 63021 (314) 966-4840 www.kirkwoodmaterial.com
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Listen to The McGraw Show M-F 6-10am
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
ZICK’S GREAT OUTDOORS CELEBRATING OUR 35TH YEAR
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help the health of your soil and that solution is compost! Incorporating compost into your soil helps enrich it naturally while improving soil structure, porosity and density to create a better plant root zone environment. Compost has also been shown to suppress plant diseases and pests and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. Compost helps increase the infiltration potential of heavy soils, which reduces erosion and runoff. Additionally, compost improves and stabilizes soil pH and supplies beneficial
microorganisms to soil.
With over 8 acres of large trees, perennials, shrubs, annuals and more, come see why, when people come once they come again and again!
Compost is just one answer to help maintain a healthy soil but it is not the only solution. The International Year of Soils offers a chance for everyone to educate themselves about the crucial role that soil conservation and improvement play in the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture.
One of the Midwest’s Best Nursery Experiences AND One of the BEST places for landscape professionals to select products!
Sara Ryan is marketing representative for St. Louis Composting. You can contact her at (314) 482-7740.
636-458-1445 www.zicksgreatoutdoors.com
Open 7 days a week @ 16498 Clayton Rd. (Corner of Clayton/Strecker in Wildwood)
NOW AVAILABLE
Cindy Gilberg influenced hobby and professional gardeners for decades as proprietor of Gilberg Perennial Farms and as a contributor to Shaw Nature Reserve’s Whitmire Wildflower Garden, the regional Rainscaping movement—and more. This full-color book, illustrated with Gilberg’s own garden designs, native plant and personal photos, and a complete plant list, invites readers to explore the pleasures and benefits of ecological gardening.
Get your copy today at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Garden Gate Shop, Shaw Nature Reserve bookshop, and other locations.
MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
17
M
March Lawn Tips
arch is a great time to start the lawn over for another year, depending on your type of turf you can either be real busy or go play golf or some other activity. If your lawn is zoysia or Bemuda, most of this article will not apply, this is going to be about “cool-season” grasses and their early spring care. Kentucky blue grass, rye grass and fescues make up what we refer to as “coolseason” grass types and there are hundreds of varieties and types in each category. The first step is to clean up the winter mess that is all over the lawn, old leaves, sticks and twigs, bark, sweetgum balls and acorns. If your mower is back from the winter tune-up and with a sharp blade, mow on a low setting to remove the grass blades that have been damaged during winter. This also gives you a chance to evaluate your turf. Are there small bare spots, big ones, do you need to seed, are there weeds, was crabgrass a problem? The answers to these questions will help plot your course of action for spring. If the answer is yes to weeds, no crabgrass and a good stand of grass, you may just want to spray
18
By Don Baumstark
a selective broadleaf weedkiller like Fertilome Weed-Free Zone, which works in much cooler temperatures than traditional weed killers. If you have good turf but crabgrass was was a real problem last year, you may choose to apply a pre-emergent, with or without fertilizer, organic or synthetic. Like with all products, timing is everything. You don’t want to apply too early in the season. Pre-emergent sets up a barrier in the soil that kills germinating seeds, and the freezing and thawing of the soil can break that barrier, making the product less effective. Be sure to read labels or ask your garden center pro for restrictions on seeding if you plan to do that. If you have thin grass and there are weeds but not enough grass, that’s when you seed and fertilize. Fertilizing in the spring helps your turf, but avoid high nitrogen products, as the grass will grow too fast with too much nitrogen (the first number on the bag), and can lead to fungus problems in late spring. A good option is a “starter fertilizer,” which has more phosphorus for better roots and more potassium than the higher nitrogen fertilizers. Using starter fertilizer gives me the turf I want without
mowing twice a week.
One other suggestion is the use of agricultural lime. In most of the St. Louis area (at least on the Missouri side) the soil is slightly to moderately acid. Regular use of synthetic fertilizers can also acidify soil. A soil test will confirm you soil’s pH level (acidity/alkalinity). If you have acidic soil and have a lot of trees on your property, you want to apply lime every year or two, otherwise every other or every third year. Acid soil can tie up soil nutrients so that the grass roots can’t absorb them. As always if you have questions, stop in your local nursery or garden center and have your questions answered by the pros. Don Bomstark is coowner and garden center manager of Rolling Ridge Nursery in Webster Groves, MO, where he has worked since earning his horticulture degree from University of Missouri-Columbia in 1974. You can reach him at (314) 962-3311.
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
I
Savory: 2015 Herb of the Year by Joyce Driemeyer
t’s March and the vagaries of our alwaysunpredictable winter make us eager to get outside and welcome almost-Spring. It may be too soon to dig in the garden, but now is a good time to make lists of plants or seedlings you wish to install, so that when plants become available in April at various nurseries and herb sales, you are ready to go on paper. Annuals such as dill, borage, summer savory and cilantro can be started by seed indoors in seedstarter pellets, which are selfcontained and make transplanting into the garden easy and safe by reducing shock. Neither dill, borage or cilantro like being transplanted, and because these containers are easily installed intact where you want them to grow, try them for your annuals. I suggest fern leaf dill (a dwarf form that gets only 10” tall instead of 3ft.), borage to bloom in spring before hot weather sets in, and cilantro ‘Calypso’, which is slower to bolt in hot weather. Keep seedlings inside until all danger of frost is gone. The International Herb Association has designated savory (Satureja) as the 2015 Herb of the Year. We are primarily interested in the perennial winter savory (S. Montana) and the annual summer savory (S. hortensis). The savories are originally of Mediterranean origin and were in use by the
MARCH 2015
R o m a n s in time of antiquity for culinary purposes.
Summer savory is easily grown from seed and is a lanky plant of 12-18” tall. The leaf flavor is slightly peppery and piney, but less strong than winter savory. Leaves should be used only fresh (it does not dry well). Start clipping when the plant is about 6” tall, using as a good addition to soups, green beans,
cabbage, brussel sprouts, s t e w e d tomatoes, or mixed with bread crumbs and lemon juice to coat fish to be baked. Winter savory is a plant of more compact habit and has even been used as a clipped edging for borders. The flavor of the leaves is stronger and more pungent—a little goes a long way—and has a high content of thymol. Leaves can be harvested
for drying, unlike summer savory.
Savory leaves are reported to contain essential oils with antimicrobial, antivirus and antioxidant properties. Except for seasoning, it is recommended that pregnant or nursing mothers avoid so-called medicinal supplements containing savory. photo courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder.
After 30 years as a landscape designer, Joyce is now retired. She has been a MBG volunteer since 1969 and a Master Gardener since 1985. She is also a past board member of the Herb Society of America, and is a current board member of the St. Louis Herb Society.
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Native Gardening Help For Experts and “Hortitorturists” Alike Book Review By Robert Weaver
S
t. Louis native Cindy Gilberg had a unique sense of humor and way with words that sometimes required translation for the uninitiated. One of my favorite “Cindyisms” described—I think—a poor landscape design as “hortitorture” and the person responsible a “hortitorturist” (was she looking at me?!). In response to a question about the maintenance required of a native landscape, Cindy would remind listeners that “gardening is a verb,” translated as: cultivated nature (a garden) is not static; it requires some level of occasional ongoing activity on our parts. Thus the title of her newly released collection of native gardening articles gives readers plenty of information to fulfill their goals of a beautiful and functional native landscape, provided they invest that occasional ongoing activity—no more than is required of any ornamental garden—to maintain it. Gardening is a Verb, published by the Missouri Botanical Garden, is a collection of more than two-dozen of her articles selected from our own pages and other regional media outlets that G AR D E N I N G treasured her IS A contributions. V E RB S u b j e c t s range from landscaping for wildlife to landscaping for people, from planting seeds to harvesting them, from choosing plants for dry prairie to wet woodland, and much more. While there is plenty of hard information for the neophyte gardener, each article is infused with a bit of Cindy’s spirit to inspire the native aficionados as well. Also included in the book are helpful plant lists suggesting choices for the various landscape scenarios we all encounter. C U LT I VAT I N G S PAC E S T H AT N O U R I S H HEART AND SOUL
Selected nati ve plant essays of Cindy Gilberg
Sale proceeds will benefit native plant research, conservation, and education efforts at Shaw Nature Reserve, where Cindy worked, taught and cultivated exceptional native plant landscape designs. Cindy, who passed away last summer, was an expert horticulturist who taught numerous gardeners how to create beautiful landscapes that have served to benefit the environment by using our region’s native plants. In addition to operating the successful Gilberg Perennial Farms, a destination for novice and seasoned gardeners alike, Cindy taught horticulture classes at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Shaw Nature Reserve and many other locations throughout the region for both the residential and commercial gardening community for 30 years. For more information or to order, please contact the MBG Development Office at 314-577-9455. Checks can be made out to the Missouri Botanical Garden and mailed to: Cindy Gilberg Book Project, c/o Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299. The book is also available at Missouri Botanical Garden’s Garden Gate Shop, the Butterfly House and Shaw Nature Reserve as well as other partnering organizations in St. Louis and across Missouri.
20
Changing World of Roses
T
By Diane Brueckman
he reason I went into the rose business was to encourage people to grow roses as perennial shrubs not annuals. There was a time that roses were selected, in the breeding process, for a beautiful bloom with great form and color. Somewhere along the way the health and vigor were dropped by the wayside. The other casualty of the drive for the perfect high center bud form and novel color was fragrance. David Austin was the first to strive for the less formal, old fashioned bloom with fragrance. The DA roses became the rage because they touched the hearts of those looking for more than a Hybrid Tea bloom. Bill Radler showed the World that an attractive, disease resistant rose was possible. In Europe, the restrictions on pesticides have been pushing the hybridizers to more disease resistant plants since at least the 90s. ADR (an acronym for the long, long name of a German rose-trialing organization similar to the All American Rose Selection), selected the best roses for promotion. One such rose is ‘Iceberg’ a 1960 winner and still a great rose by any standard. ADR reserves the right to pull the award from a rose that deteriorates or becomes disease prone over the years.
I was an AARS judge for many years and it always bothered me that the test gave more weight to the bloom quality than the health and vigor of the plant. The plants were evaluated and scores compiled for the entire country. A one-size-fits-all mentality. The plants were sprayed during the test period until around 2006 for landscape and the following year all spraying was discontinued in the test gardens. The 2013 AARS winner was a Hybrid Tea ‘Francis Meilland’ from a French hybridizer, which won with a no-spray program. Other AARS winners from the later programs were ‘Carefree Spirit’ (2009), a shrub from the French Hybridizer and ‘Walking on Sunshine’ (2011), a Floribunda from Jackson Perkins. AARS has closed down and it is being replaced with the AGRS (American Garden Rose Selections)
The AGRS is patterned after the European ADR. The country is divided into 6 regions, giving more value to the results for individual areas. The scoring is weighted to the disease resistance and vigor of the plants. A major difference in judging between the 2 organizations is the number of times the plants are rated. The AARS only rated the plants twice in each of the 2 years it was in the test garden and the AGRS evaluates the roses 7 times in 2 years. There are 12 test gardens scattered among the 6 regions and a rose, to win the AGRS award, must win in 3 of the 6 regions. The test gardens will be open to the public with signage explaining the test. Roses are eligible for the program if they were introduced since 2000 and are not an AARS winner. The roses will be numbered and not named in the test to preserve anonymity. The first group of winners will be announced in the March/April issue of the American Rose Society’s magazine the “American Rose”. Winning roses will have a tag with the logo of the AGRS and noting the regions where they won. For more information about AGRS see their web site. www.americangardenroseselections.com I really believe the roses will be more diverse in flower form, plant habit and certainly easier to grow with fewer pesticides. Diane Brueckman is a retired rosarian with Missouri Botanical Garden, and currently owns Rosey Acres in Baldwin, Illinois. You can reach her at (618) 7853011 or droseyacres@egyptian.net.
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
Dig This!
Gateway Gardeners and Businesses in the News GrowNative! Honors Ambassador
T e r r y Winkelmann, founder of the annual Sustainable Backyard Tour, was selected to receive the 2014 Grow Native! Ambassador Left to right, Betty Grace, Grow Native! Award. Grow Committee Chair, 2014 Grow Native! Native!, a program Ambassador Awardee Terry Winkleman, of the Missouri and Carol Davit, Executive Director of Prairie Founthe Missouri Prairie Foundation dation, presents the award annually to an individual, business or organization, to acknowledge their achievements in promoting education about, and encouraging the use of, native plants in gardens and landscapes. The award was presented at the annual Grow Native! Membership Conference in Columbia, Mo., in November.
New Gardening Group Beautifies Community
A group of gardening enthusiasts have banded together and are seeking fellow citizens to help beautify their community of Glendale, Missouri. Grow Glendale Gorgeous hopes to enhance their community with gardens, containers, landscapes and environmental education. The group was founded in November 2014, and that same month, a group of 15 volunteers did some pruning and clean up work around Glendale City Hall. They also provided a few beautiful winter arrangements at City Hall and a neighborhood grocery store. Plans for the spring/ summer include adding containers throughout Glendale in addition to a few small neighborhood perennial beds at neighborhood entrances. The City Hall improvements will include a beautiful “St. Louis Planter” donated by Bill Ruppert, a local green-industry professional, in honor of his parents, who lived in Glendale for many years. MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
Volunteers and donations are needed. GGG is a 501(c) organization led by a board consisting of Julie Grimm, President, Allison Knight, VP, Robin Caringer, Treasurer, and Kelli Hickenbotham, secretary. Please contact growglendalegorgeous@gmail.com for more information.
Garden Center Earns National Honor
Greenscape Gardens in M a n c h e s t e r, MO, was named the 2015 Revolutionary 100 Garden C e n t e r s N a t i o n a l Winner by T o d a y ’ s Garden Center magazine. The Left to right, Tammy Behm, Jennifer a n n o u n c e m e n t Schamber and John Loyet of Greenscape was made during Gardens. the Revolutionary 100 Roundtable event and annual awards banquet on Feb. 2, 2015. Greenscape was among five Revolutionary 100 regional winners, all of which were finalists for the national title. The retailer was selected and recognized as the national winner by a panel of its peers for its innovative approaches to building its success through social impact marketing, as well as its strong performance in business practices like inventory management and employee training.
Community Gardens Help Feed St. Louis
In 2014, Gateway Greening-supported gardens in the area harvested 193,000 pounds of food to the St. Louis community, valued at over $639,000. Recipients of the fresh fruits and vegetables included Operation Food Search and St. Patrick’s Center, as well as area churches, food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and farmers’ markets. Additional quantities of produce were used in educational cooking demonstrations and provided area students with healthy school lunches and snacks. Gateway Greening currently supports more than 200 community and youth gardens across the St. Louis area. The majority of the food grown is used by growers, some of whom informally donate any surplus they may generate. Additional community gardens are operated exclusively as pantry gardens that donate 100 percent of their harvest. 21
Upcoming Events FUN FOR KIDS March 7 9am—Children’s Garden ClubGrowing in the Garden. FREE, no reservations required, everyone welcome. Sherwood’s Forest Nursery & Garden Center, 2651 Barrett Station Rd., (314) 966-0028. th
Meetings, Classes, Entertainment and More Updates to this information are often posted on our online events calendar at GatewayGardener.com, so check there for the latest details. Give us the details of your upcoming gardening, lawn or landscaping event and we’ll add it to our website and include it in our next issue. Deadline for printing in May issue is April 1st. How to reach us: Mail: PO Box 220853 St. Louis, MO 63122 Email: info@gatewaygardener.com
March 7th First Saturday Kids. Bring the kids anytime between 11am-2pm to play in the greenhouse to make a bag of Bird Nesting Material. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-239-6729, www. hillermann.com. March 21st Great Green Adventures: Spectacular Spring! Search for the first signs of spring as the Garden starts to wake up. For children ages 6 to 12 with an adult. Great Green Adventures are held the third Saturday of every month from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Walk-ins welcome. Meet at the Children’s Garden Ticket Fort. $3 per child. Missouri Botanical Garden.
2015 FREE Gardening Seminar Series You are cordially invited to attend our FREE gardening seminars, starting Thursday Feb. 19th running through March 26th, 2015. Attend and receive professional advice on how to be successful with your gardening and landscape endeavors.
Seminars Each Thursdays at 2 PM and 7 PM These are great programs by professional industry experts, come as often as you like!
Feb. 19th
Perennial Plant for Seasons of Color
Feb. 26th
Conifers, More than Just Foundation Plants
Mar. 5th
Design a Beautiful Garden with Missouri Native Plants
Mar. 12th
Naturescaping: Gardening for the Birds and Their Friends
Mar. 19th
Veggie 201: Natural and Organic Way of Growing
Mar. 26th
The “Other” Part of Gardening: Care and Maintenance of Flowers & Shrubs
Barry Ritter, Ritter Perennials
Melissa Green, Monrovia Nursery
Bring Your Questions!
Monica Barker, Native Landscape Solutions
Mitch Leachman, St. Louis Audubon Society
Andy Chidester, Ladybug Natural Brand
Nancee Kruescheck, Continuing Education, SLCC-Meramec / Owner, Naturescapes Nursery
11530 Gravois Rd. • St. Louis, MO (314) 843-4700 1-1/4 mi. East of I-270, just one block east of Sappington Road on Gravois
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March 28th-29th 9am-4pm—Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden: A Missouri Adventure Seasonal Reopening. Two fun-filled days of hands-on activities. Work with staff to help plant our new edible garden and pot an edible plant to take home. Make a seed packet to start your own home garden. Visit with Finn, the Children’s Garden frog mascot, and get your cheek painted with fantastic art. The Children’s Garden.9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Presented by Macy’s Foundation. Missouri Botanical Garden.
CLASSES, LECTURES AND EVENTS Through Mar. 22nd 9am-5pm— Annual Orchid Show. “Orchids and their Pollinators.” Features 800 blooming orchids from one of the world’s premier orchid collections. The Orchid Show is the only time of year when a vast, rotating selection of orchids from the Garden’s collection is available for public viewing. Orthwein Floral Display Hall at Missouri Botanical Garden. Garden admission plus $5; free for Garden members.
March 5th 10am-2pm—Hillermann’s Farmers’ Market Opens. - The Farmers’ Market will be open every Thursday and Friday. Shop the vendor booths on our parking lot for local grown and made products. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636239-6729, www.hillermann.com. 2pm and 7pm—Design with Missouri Native Plants. Monica Barker, Native Landscape Solutions, guest speaker at Sappington Garden Shop, 11530 Gravois Rd. (314) 843-4700. FREE. March 6th-8th Washington Home, Garden and Outdoor Show. Visit the Hillermann booth at the Washington Home Show in the Washington City Auditorium. New items and ideas in gardening, landscaping, equipment and more. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636239-6729, www.hillermann.com. March 7th 10am-2pm—Webster Groves Herb Society Workshop. Members from the WGHC offer free demonstrations on the simplicity of home seed propagation, how to make a simple herb infused facial scrub, how to make their famous herbal moth repellant, and more. Participants may take home recipes and samples. Beaumont Room, Missouri Botanical Garden. Included with Garden admission. www.mobot. org. 10am—Let’s Make a Terrarium. We provide all the supplies along with an experienced terrarium tutor to guide you through the process. $45. Bring your own glass container and save $10 on class fee. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070 for reservations. March 12th 2pm and 7pm—Naturescaping: Gardening for the Birds and Their Friends, Mitch Leachman, St. Louis Audubon Society, guest speaker at Sappington Garden Shop, 11530 Gravois Rd. (314) 843-4700. FREE. 1-4pm—Native Plant School: Greenhouse Propagation. Bring your questions, comments, photos, drawings, and plant specimens for discussion. Session includes hands-on tours and demonstrations. Audience participation encouraged. $15 ($12 Garden members). Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve. Register and pay online at ShawNature. org, or call (636) 451-3512 ext. 0.
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2015
March 14th 10am—Herbal Medicine Making 101. Learn how to make your kitchen garden into an apothecary. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070 for reservations. March 14 -15 8am-4pm— Mid America Regional Lily Society Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are sold by the areas top growers, who are on hand to offer plant care advice and share information about their organization. Lily enthusiasts share their knowledge and answer questions. Meeting is open to the general public. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Beaumont Room, Ridgway Visitor Center Included with Garden admission. www.marls.org. th
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Metro East Home & Garden Show. Featuring a live broadcast of Mike Miller’s the Garden Hotline from 8am to 10am on Saturday. Showcasing some of the latest products and services from a variety of home & garden businesses. Concessions available plus Free Admission & Parking. www.mehgs. org or call 618-656-0043 x150. Metro East Lutheran High School, 6305 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville. Community Based & Non-Profit. March 19th 7pm— Soil Preparation. Help to get your garden off to a fresh start. Presented by William Klopfenstein, IL Master Gardener, and sponsored by Mississippi Valley Garden Club. Located at Bethalto Senior Center, 100 East Central, Bethalto, IL. For further info call 466-5892, gardenfriends@hotmail. com or visit www.mvgclub.weebly. com.
March 19th 2pm and 7pm—Veggie 201. Andy Chidester, Ladybug Natural Brand, guest speaker at Sappington Garden Shop, 11530 Gravois Rd. (314) 8434700. FREE. March 21st 10am—Window Herb Garden Make-N-Take. Make a window herb garden to take home and grow herbs in a windowsill to have them handy for cooking. (Supply fee). Please call to RSVP. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-239-6729, www.hillermann.com. 10am—Beginning Perennial Gardening. Learn how to design successful perennial gardens that will suit the existing conditions of your own yard. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070 for reservations.
April 2nd 10am—Spring Gardening Tips. Guest speaker Karen Collins, author of Karen’s Garden Calendar, offers tips for early spring gardening. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070 for reservations.
April 4th 10am—Easy Landscape Design. Free. Hand’s on workshop with one-on-one advice. Bring photos, pictures and sketches. Effinger Garden Center, 720 South 11th St., Belleville, IL. (618) 234-4600, effingergarden.com.
April 3rd 9am-5pm—Arbor Day Tree Giveaway. The Kemper Center for Home Gardening will give away Missouri native tree saplings. Tree saplings will be distributed on a firstcome, first served basis, one per visitor while supplies last. Master gardeners will answer questions and give advice on planting trees. While supplies last. Missouri Botanical Garden. Included with Garden admission. www.mobot. org or call 314-577-5100.
April 4th and 5th Noon-5 Sat., 9am-5pm Sun.—Greater St. Louis Daffodil Society Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are shown by the area’s top growers, who are on hand to give plant care advice and share information about their organization. Beaumont Room at Missouri Botanical Garden. Included with Garden admission. www.mobot.org.
March 26th 2pm and 7pm—Care and Maintenance of Flowers & Shrubs. Nancee Kruescheck, Continuing Education, SLCC-Meramec, guest speaker at Sappington Garden Shop, 11530 Gravois Rd. (314) 843-4700. FREE. March 28th 11am-1pm--Easter Bunny Lunch. Enjoy lunch and take pictures with the Easter Bunny. Activities included. $5 charge per child. Please call to RSVP. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636239-6729, www.hillermann.com. 10am—Succulent Container Garden Make-N-Take. Make a succulent container garden for your home. (Supply fee). Please call to RSVP. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636239-6729, www.hillermann.com.
NEED A SPEAKER for your Garden Club or Group? Master Gardener Speakers Bureau volunteers are available to speak to garden clubs, church, civic and other groups. Choose from over 50 different programs, from Aromatherapy to Winter Damage, Birds in the Garden, to Soil Preparation, Daylilies to Orchids. Explore the complete list of topics at www. stlmg.org. Look for the Speakers Bureau tab in the top margin. (A $50 fee funds Master Gardener programming in our community.)
MARCH 2015
The Gateway Gardener™
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