'Tis the Season for Ice Melt by Rebecca Anderson

Photo by Beckie Anderson

Winter is here, along with the snow and ice we don’t have to worry about during the warmer months. Although the snow brings moisture that will help our plants flourish next spring, it does make getting around in the winter tricky and even dangerous at times. Ice melting products help clear away the slick surfaces, but with more products available every season it can be difficult to choose which is right for your situation. 

Summer Vacation is Over for Houseplants by Rebecca Anderson

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) that has spent the summer outside

Most houseplants are tropical and flourish with some outdoor exposure during the summer.  With cooler nights in the forecast it’s getting to be time to bring them back indoors.  Temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit will damage many houseplants, so keep an eye on those nightly weather reports.

Don't Put Your Lawn to Bed Yet! by Rebecca Anderson

Photo by Donna Duffy

With fall approaching, everyone is looking forward to a break from the hot weather and summer yard chores of mowing and watering.  It's true that the grass isn't getting tall as quickly as it did in June, but that doesn't mean that it has quit growing.  In the fall, grasses are forming tillers: side shoots that thicken the grass and help it recover from losses that occurred in the more stressful times of summer. This side growth still requires some water, so don't roll up the hoses or blow out your sprinklers yet.  Water application of 0.5 to 0.75 inches per week is recommended by CSU for the months of September and October.  This is significantly less than the recommended 2.25 inches per week in the hottest months of summer, but is still more than our rainfall totals for most weeks.

Summer Vacation for Houseplants; Tips for Moving Them Outside by Rebecca Anderson

Oxalis Plant photo by Rebecca Anderson

Many houseplants will get a boost from being outdoors during the warm summer months. Increased sunlight exposure will let them recover from the low light levels inside most homes. Since most houseplant originate from tropical areas, they should not be moved outdoors until night time temperatures are above 55 degrees. Place them in an area with partial shade and good wind protection. Ideal locations would include a covered porch or under a tree. After a few days, sun-loving plants such as jade (Crassula ovata), poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and hibiscus (Hibiscus sp.) can be moved to a full-sun location. Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera sp.), umbrella trees (Schefflera arboticola) and citrus plants prefer to stay in the shade. Exposing a houseplant to excessive sun before it has been hardened off will cause photo oxidization, or a yellowing of the leaves. This process is the plant version of a sunburn. 

Don't Put Your Lawn to Bed Yet! by Rebecca Anderson

Photo by Donna Duffy

With fall approaching, everyone is looking forward to a break from the hot weather and summer yard chores of mowing and watering.  It's true that the grass isn't getting tall as quickly as it did in June, but that doesn't mean that it has quit growing.  In the fall, grasses are forming tillers: side shoots that thicken the grass and help it recover from losses that occurred in the more stressful times of summer. This side growth still requires some water, so don't roll up the hoses or blow out your sprinklers yet.  Water application of 0.5 to 0.75 inches per week is recommended by CSU for the months of September and October.  This is significantly less than the recommended 2.25 inches per week in the hottest months of summer, but is still more than our rainfall totals for most weeks. 

For some lawns, fall can be a good time for fertilizer application. Only green, growing lawns of cool season grasses (bluegrass, ryegrass, fescue) will benefit from fall fertilization. Warm season grasses (buffalo grass, blue grama, zoysia grass, Bermuda grass) should not be fertilized after September 1. Fertilizer needs to be watered in with 0.5 inch of water after application, so if your community is implementing a watering cut-off day, make sure the fertilizer is applied before that date. If your lawn has already gone dormant and is brown, fall fertilizer won't help much.  It is better to wait until spring. Check out the fact sheet on Fall Lawn Fertilization of for more information.

Colorado Cicadas by Rebecca Anderson

Dog Day Cicada (Tibicen dorsatus), photo courtesy CSU Extension

I've seen some news articles lately about 2016 being the year of the cicada in parts of the eastern United States.  Brood V of the 17-year cicada, made up of the species Magicicada cassini, M. septendecim and M. septendecula will emerge when the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit and grace a six-state region with their song.  The emergence is expected to occur in May.  The last time this particular group of cicadas emerged was in 1999. 

A Brief History of Honey Bees by Rebecca Anderson

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) foraging in a Five Spot wildflower (Nemophila maculata).

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have populated our planet for eons.  Fossil evidence of the earliest bee ancestors date to 130 million years ago.  About 80 million years ago, bee fossils started showing characteristics of social structure.  Recent genetic analysis of modern honey bees point to the insects originating in Asia, not Africa as previously thought.  Humans have interacted with bees for millennia.  Rock art from 25,000 years ago depict honeycomb and wild honey bee hives.  Residue of beeswax has been found on artifacts dating back 9000 years.  These artifacts were located in various regions including Europe, the Near East and North Africa.

Inviting Daphne to Your Garden by Rebecca Anderson

Daphne in bloom in April, photo by Rebecca Anderson

The daphnes (Daphne sp.) are a group of broadleaf shrubs that add interest to gardens around the world.  There are nearly 100 species of daphne, which are in the same family as thyme (Thymeaceae).  The most common species in the United States are the D. xburkwoodii, hybridized by British brothers Albert and Arthur Burkwood who were accomplished nurserymen in the 1920's.  The 'Somerset' cultivar is the original popular variety.  A beautiful mutation of 'Somerset' was discovered by New Jersey gardener Carol Mackie in 1962.  Since then, the 'Carol Mackie' cultivar has been widely propagated.  It is listed as hardy in zones 5 to 9, although many gardeners in zone 4 have had success.  'Carol Mackie' joined my flower bed in 2007 as an impulse purchase, and has really made herself at home since.

Honey Bee Swarm Season is Here! By Rebecca Anderson

Bee swarm, photo by Beckie Anderson

Spring means honey bee swarm season.  A swarm occurs when an existing hive gets too full and the bees are feeling crowded.  The queen bee produces a couple of princess bees as her replacement.  Then the queen gathers half of the worker bees to move out of the hive with her.  This results in a ball of bees hanging from a tree branch, eave or fence, peacefully humming to themselves.  

The Right Plant for the Right Place by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy gardeningabout.com

When Master Gardeners and Extension horticulture staff are helping people with plant problems, we usually start with the soil.  It is thought that 80% of plant problems are related to soil issues.  We like to start with soil testing to find out if there are any deficiencies or excesses in the soil that can be corrected so plants will grow better.  But what happens when the soil test doesn't show problems and your plants still aren't thriving?  What else could be going on?

Successful Seed Storage by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy Rebecca Anderson

I confess, I'm a seed saver. Not necessarily seeds that have been harvested from plants I've grown, but I save leftover seed packets from year to year. Most years I don't need 30 zucchini plants, but it seems like such a waste to toss a nearly full packet after only using four or five seeds. I learned recently that this may be a heritable trait. My mother has cut back on her vegetable gardening over the past few years, and during a recent visit she bequeathed me with her stash of seed packets. Some of them date back to the twentieth century!  

My Houseplants Have the Winter Yellows by Rebecca Anderson

Peace Lily, Spathiphyllum sp., with a yellow sun leaf

I take most of my houseplants outside every summer.  They seem to enjoy a few months on the patio, growing a multitude of lush leaves in the more direct sunlight.  Then in the fall as the nights cool off, I bring them back in the house.  After the transition, I notice several of the leaves become yellow and dry up.  I'd like to think they're mourning the passing of another summer, but really they are going through a normal physiologic process to streamline their metabolism for the lower light conditions inside the house.

Support for Vines by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota Extension

Colorado’s summer sunshine really makes the squash, cucumber and melon vines take off in the garden. One way to keep them from taking over is to train them to a trellis before they get too big. Besides helping manage space, produce harvested from trellised vines is cleaner and, in the case of cucumbers, straighter than ones grown on the ground. Varieties that have fruit that matures at less than 3 pounds are the easiest to trellis. Some larger varieties can still be grown vertically, but will require some extra support.  

Successful Strawberries by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy PlantTalk Colorado

Fresh strawberries are a sure sign that summer has arrived. Strawberries (Fragaria ananassa) do well along the Front Range, even at higher elevations, making them a crop that can be rewarding for home gardeners. When establishing a new strawberry bed, try to pick a site that has not had raspberries, cherries, tomatoes, potatoes or eggplants growing in the past 5 years. These plants carry diseases that can infect and decrease the productivity of the strawberries. Select a site that gets at least 8 hours of sun during the summer. A soil test prior to planting is ideal so the soil can be amended according to the pants' needs, but if not possible, work one to two inches of compost into the bed one month before planting. 

There are many strawberries varieties to choose from. They all fall in one of three categories: June bearing, ever bearing and day neutral. June bearers produce the earliest fruit that is the largest and some say the sweetest.  However, they bloom the earliest and are prone to blossom damage from our late frosts. Ever bearers are considered the hardiest for the Front Range. They produce a spring crop and a fall crop and a few berries in between main crops during the summer months. The day neutral varieties produce berries for 6 week intervals 3 times during the summer. For gardeners who are going to pick one variety, ever bearers are recommended. Varieties that do well here are Ogallala and Fort Laramie. Some gardeners like to plant a few of each type to hedge against any failures of a specific variety. June bearing strawberries recommended for this area include Guardian and Honeoye. Tristar and Tribute are recommended varieties of day neutral strawberries. 

Onion Decision Tree by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy PlantTalk Colorado

Onions are a good crop to plant when the weather is still cool and the garden is calling for some sort of action. Take a tour of any garden center or seed catalog and you will find a plethora of onion selections. How does a gardener decide which is best for a Front Range garden?

Gardening Power to the People: Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden

It's that time of year to think about flowering plants to add to your landscape this year. In this short video, Rebecca Anderson, Jefferson County Colorado Master Gardener, gives you tips for attracting bees and other pollinators to your garden.

A Pulse in the Garden by Rebecca Anderson

Photo by Rebecca Anderson

I was reading an article recently about changes in the global human diet. While this is a topic for volumes of blog articles, there was one specific word that kept catching my eye. Pulse. "Many cultures have traditionally relied on pulse-based diets."  "World-wide consumption of pulses have declined in recent decades."  I'm accustomed to using the word pulse in relation to the cardiovascular system, but I wasn't sure about its botanical definition. That led to a little research.

What Makes a Weed a WEED? by Rebecca Anderson

Photo by Rebecca Anderson

This is the time of year when our landscapes are becoming greener and new plants are sprouting every day.  As I spend more time doing projects in my yard, I'm often faced with a decision: is a particular plant a weed or is it a beneficial landscape plant?  Here are some guidelines I use to help come to a conclusion. 

1. Plants growing in the wrong location are weeds. This defines all the traditional weeds like the dandelions (Taraxacum sp.)in the lawn, but it also helps when evaluating more mobile landscape and garden plants. The morning glories (Ipomoea sp.) growing on the trellis where I planted them can stay. The ones climbing up the arborvitae (Thuja sp.) need to go. 
2. Plants that are unattractive are weeds. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but many of the common weeds lack attractive characteristics we value in other plants. This benchmark may apply to an intentionally placed landscape plant that has become scraggly over time, too. If pruning can't bring it back to the desired form, then perhaps removal is another option.

A Tree in a Tight Spot by Rebecca Anderson

Winter is the time of year when I'm planning my landscape improvements for spring. This year I've got a new area to design because we had a tree removed last fall.  There was a mature red maple (Acer rubrum) planted in a strip between our driveway and the neighbor's. This 40 foot tall, 24-inch diameter tree was confined to a concrete-free zone of about 36 square feet.  Looking at CSU's formulas for calculating for rooting space, the tree's roots probably occupied an area close to 4,000 square feet.  Of course it had to be sending roots under driveways and sidewalks, but those roots under the hardscape didn't have the access to water and oxygen that roots in an open area would have.

Keeping Spring Flowering Bulbs Happy by Rebecca Anderson

This morning I found some crocus (Crocus sp.) leaves peaking through the mulch.  It’s a sure sign spring is on its way when the crocus, daffodils (Narcissus sp.), hyacinths (Hyacinthus sp.) and tulips (Tulipa sp.) make their appearances.