Aloe vera (Aloe vera syn. Aloe barbadensis, Zones 10–11) is only one of many species in the Aloe genus. It is likely native to parts of North Africa where conditions are similar to many areas of Southern California. Probably the best-known species due to its medicinal uses for cuts and burns, aloe vera is also frequently used as a natural topical for softening skin and shining hair. But use it cautiously; it contains aloin, which can cause allergic reactions for people sensitive to latex.
Aloe vera thrives in heat and dry conditions, but watch out for aloe mites
This showy performer has wonderful geometric, sculptural leaves, and tall stalks of bright yellow flowers. And like many other aloes, it is easy to grow in our Southern California climate, a trait especially valuable in our shifting and extreme climate. Aloe vera prefers a little more shade than some other species, but it still likes a fair amount of sunshine. It is a succulent, meaning that it has adapted to heat, sun, and dry conditions by storing moisture in its leaves. Because the leaves function as a moisture reserve, aloes can handle water restrictions, and, so long as they’re grown on a slope or in good drainage, they will withstand even the heavy soaking rains when they come our way.
Aloe mite infestation. Photo: Jane Gates
Although aloe vera is tough, mostly pest-free, and easy to grow, there are some parts of Southern California where it (and some other aloes) is infected by aloe mites. These microscopic parasites are carried on the wind, so they can spread widely. Because there is no treatment for this disfiguring disease, it is important to pull out any infected plants, bag them to keep the mites from spreading, and burn or trash them, culling any new outbreaks quickly when seen.
Aloe vera can be grown in the garden and indoors too
For the most part, however, aloe veras are showy garden plants that require little care and are flexible enough to adapt to most landscapes, even during these years of unpredictable weather. They will also grow indoors so long as they are placed in bright sun, but they are less likely to bloom inside.
Plant them in groups for the best textural and color effects. Or pot one up in a decorative container. They will grow about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, so give them big pots and use a fast-draining soil. With their clumping habit of growth, they are also excellent for covering slopes, lining passageways, or for single or ‘bouquet’ effects.
New plants are easy to grow from runners, divisions, and cuttings
You don’t have to buy a lot of plants to cover territory. Aloe veras are very easy to propagate. You can typically allow them to propagate themselves. By planting larger outdoor areas with well-spaced plants (that will send out runners), the bare spots will fill in with new colonies within just a few years. Clumps are easily divided and transplanted to new areas too.
Cuttings of whole leaves can be taken with a sharp, clean knife. For taking cuttings—and cropping leaves—it’s best to pull off the stalk collar at the base along with the leaf. Allow the exposed cut to dry for a few days, then place it in a mixture of soil and sand or perlite and do not water until new roots form.
Newly rooted aloe vera. Photo: Jane Gates
The succulent trait of storing moisture in leaves makes aloes, unlike most other garden plants, more likely to die from too much water rather than too little. In times of drought, aloes can survive low rainfall with their own stored moisture, but they’re more likely to succumb to rot when it’s too wet, particularly in cool temperatures. The most vulnerable area is at the crown between the leaf growth and roots. In addition to looking attractive, using gravel as a top mulch offers more air circulation to reduce crown moisture that can initiate rot.
Aloe vera is just one of many aloes to grow
There are a number of other aloes that decorate Southern Californian gardens. You can create pools of miniatures with stands of easy-care varieties like coral aloe (Aloe striata, Zones 9–11) and even add height with tree aloe (Aloe barberae, syn. Aloe bainesii, Zones 9–11). Both are easy to grow from cuttings.
Spiky aloe forms are wonderful in the landscape. Photo: Jane Gates
Whether you are looking for striking plants with sculptural forms and colorful flower spikes, plants that can handle the challenging weather patterns of Southern California, and/or plants that are useful for health care and natural grooming, consider making room for at least a few aloe vera plants—and a few others from this fascinating genus. You might even become enchanted enough to create a whole magical aloe garden with a full assortment of sizes, colors, and textures.
—Jane Gates has more than 35 years of professional experience designing and gardening in Los Angeles and is the author of All the Garden’s a Stage: Choosing the Best Performing Plants for a Sustainable Garden.
Freezing peas is easy, and a great way to keep them on hand for adding to your favorite recipes all year round.
Whether you have an overabundance of peas from your garden, or you want to stock up from the grocery store or farmer’s market, freezing them is a convenient option.
Below I’ll show you exactly how to freeze fresh peas with or without blanching, with detailed step by step instructions.
Preparing Fresh Peas For Freezing
Before freezing fresh peas, it’s important to wash them to remove any dirt or debris. Whether you should remove them from the pod or leave them whole depends on the variety you have.
You can freeze snow or sugar snap varieties whole without shelling them. However, you should always remove English peas from their pods first.
To shell them, simply pop open the pod with your fingers. Then run a finger down the inside of the pod to remove them, as you guide them into a bowl.
Do You Have To Blanch Peas Before Freezing?
You don’t have to blanch peas before freezing them, but it is ideal. Blanching locks in the flavor, helps to retain the color and texture, and can help to extend their shelf life by a few months.
How To Blanch Peas To Freeze
Blanching peas is simple. All you need to do is flash-cook them in boiling water for 1 to 1 ½ minutes.
Then move them to an ice cold water bath immediately afterwards to stop the cooking process, and allow them to cool completely.
There are a few methods you could use to freeze peas. The one you choose depends on the variety, how you plan to use them later, and the amount of time you have.
Freezing Peas In Their Pods
If you have snow or sugar snap, you can leave them whole because the pods are edible and have a softer structure to them.
Leaving them whole saves some time compared to shelling. These are great for tossing into stir frys and other recipes, and you don’t even have to thaw them first.
Freezing Shelled Peas
English peas require shelling before you can freeze them because their pods are tough and inedible.
While this is an extra step, it’s still very simple and doesn’t take much time once you get the hang of it. Plus it can actually be kind of relaxing.
Flash freezing is an optional step for both whole or shelled peas. But it will help to prevent them from sticking together in one large clump.
All you need to do is spread them evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and place it in the freezer for an hour, or until they feel firm to the touch.
Below is a list of the tools and equipment you’ll need. But, depending on the process you choose to use, you might not need everything.
Supplies needed for freezing peas
How To Store Peas In The Freezer
The best way to store frozen peas is using zip-top freezer bags. Once you have filled them, gently press out any excess air before sealing them so they take up less space.
Then you can simply store them flat and stack them in your freezer. Instead of plastic baggies, you could use any type of airtight container you have.
How Long Do Frozen Peas Last?
Blanched frozen peas can last for up to a year in the freezer. If you choose to not blanch them they will only last for about 2-3 months. To extend the life, try using a food vacuum sealer.
Here are some of the most common questions I get about freezing peas, along with my answers.
Can you freeze fresh peas without blanching?
You can freeze fresh peas without blanching them first. However, blanching locks in the flavor, color, and texture, and helps them last few months longer in the freezer.
Can you freeze peas in their pods?
Whether you can freeze peas in their pods or not depends on the type you have. You can freeze snow and sugar snap varieties whole, since the pods are edible. But it’s best to shell English peas to remove the tough, inedible pods before freezing them.
What is the best way to freeze fresh peas?
The best way to freeze fresh peas is to blanch them first, then spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place them into the freezer for about 1 hour, or until they are firm, before filling your airtight baggies.
Can you freeze raw peas?
Yes you can freeze raw peas. But flash-cooking (aka blanching) them first will help them retain the best texture, flavor, and color, and make them last longer.
How long do you blanch peas before freezing?
Blanch (flash-cook) peas for 1-1 ½ minutes before freezing them. Remove them from the boiling water and immediately place them into a bowl of ice water to cool them and stop the cooking process.
How do I thaw frozen peas?
To thaw frozen peas, you can either leave them in the bag or place them in a strainer, then run cold water over them for a few minutes.
Can you freeze cooked peas?
I don’t recommend freezing cooked peas or they will become mushy once thawed, especially when you add them to a recipe.
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Share your tips for freezing peas in the comments section below.
Step By Step Instructions
How To Freeze Peas
Freezing peas is very easy and a great way to store them to enjoy all year round. You can use them in stir fries, as a quick heat-and-serve side dish, or add them to any of your recipes.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour37 minutes
Notes
Flash-freezing is optional, but will prevent your peas from sticking together or creating one large clump.
I recommend storing your peas in smaller freezer bags if you know you won’t need large quantities all at once. It is more efficient when it comes time to use them in the future.
To extend the shelf life of your frozen peas and prevent freezer burn, try using a food vacuum sealer.
I distinctly remember my first close encounter with a hawthorn.
I was looking for the perfect pair of trees to hang my hammock between, in the backyard of my new house, and I spotted the right location between some small but sturdy flowering trees.
I started hanging up the hammock, dreaming of reading a book below the gentle hum of the bees feeding on the pretty white and pink blossoms, when I felt a searing pain in my arm.
It wasn’t a bee defending itself, but a vicious thorn tearing through my flesh.
And to me, that perfectly encapsulated the wonders and drawbacks of growing hawthorns. They’re beautiful, but they also have thorns that can grow several inches long.
It’s definitely a “look but don’t touch” kind of situation.
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My painful first encounter aside, hawthorns are actually excellent to keep around.
They’re pollinator magnets, particularly for native bees, moths, and butterflies, and many people grow them in orchards to help improve pollination.
You can find thornless versions, by the way, and you can even use the thorned types to your advantage.
Then there are the blossoms. The flowers are pungently sweet-scented and extremely attractive – both to humans and animals. They look somewhat like apple blossoms, so if you’re a fan of those, you’ll love hawthorns.
The trees are also beloved nesting sites for birds. The thorns provide them with protection and the vibrant fall berries are a nourishing food source.
If you’ve ever witnessed cedar waxwings migrating through the area, they always stop and feed on a hawthorn tree before moving on.
The fruits of these apple and rose relatives are edible, and they resemble rose hips. You’ll just have to fight the birds for them.
Plus, the trees are long-lived, hardy, and pest and disease resistant.
If you were just dipping your toe into the waters of hawthorn growing, hopefully I’ve convinced you to dive straight in.
Here are all the things we’ll go over in this guide to get to know these fantastic trees better:
Ready to make the pollinators and birds in your neighborhood extremely happy? Let’s start growing hawthorns!
What Are Hawthorns?
Crataegus is derived from “kratos,” meaning strength in Greek, a reference to the hard wood, and “akis,” meaning sharp tip, an accurate description if there ever was one.
There are nearly 300 species in the genus, with the majority being native to North America, but they also grow in Europe and Asia.
East of the Rockies, you’ll most frequently find mayhaw (C. aestivalis), anomalous (C. anomala), Arnold (C. arnoldiana), pear (C. calpodendron), Canadian (C. canadensis), fireberry (C. chrysocarpa), scarlet or Ontario (C. coccinea), Kansas (C. coccinioides), mink (C. dispessa), summer (C. flava), Copenhagen (C. intricata), parsley (C. marshallii), downy (C. mollis), Quebec (C. submollis), Washington (C. phaenopyrum), Pringle’s (C. pringlei), frosted (C. pruinosa), beautiful (C. pulcherrima), dotted (C. punctata), littlehip (C. spathulata), and dwarf hawthorns (C. uniflora).
In western North America, you’ll see castlegar (C. castlegarensis), cockspur (C. crus-galli), Piper’s (C. chrysocarpa var. piperi), Columbia (C. columbiana), black (C. douglasii), Enderby (C. enderbyensis), cerro (C. erythropoda), Gregg’s (C. greggiana), large thorn (C. macracantha), Mexican (C. mexicana), Okanagan valley (C. okanaganensis), O’Kennon (C. okennonii), riverflat or western mayhaw (C. opaca), Phipp’s (C. phippsii), Reverchon’s (C. reverchonii), river (C. rivularis), willow (C. saligna), fleshy (C. succulenta), Suksdorf’s (C. suksdorfii), Tracy’s (C. tracyi), Turner’s (C. turnerorum), green (C. viridis), and wooton hawthorns (C. wootoniana).
Now that you’ve learned all this taxonomy, go ahead and toss it out the window.
There are so many species and they hybridize so readily that, at least in the wild, you can never be sure exactly what you’re looking at as you hike by in the woods.
This sort of situation is known as being taxonomically unstable.
Not all types have thorns, such as the thornless cockspur (C. crus-galli var. inermis) and C. x mordenensis ‘Toba.’ Some have branched thorns on the trunk, as did the trees I tried to hang my hammock from, rather than just having single thorns on the branches.
Speaking of thorns, whereas roses technically have prickles, not thorns, hawthorns have true thorns. A thorn is defined as a modified stem with a sharp point.
The flowers are typically clustered in racemes of five, and each blossom has five petals. The flowers range from white to pink or red in color, with yellow, ivory, or pink anthers at the center.
The fruit, which is technically a pome or drupe, can be pink, orange, red, purple, or nearly black when ripe.
It’s about the size of a blueberry, and the flesh has a mealy texture and a bitter flavor. You’ll sometimes see these referred to as berries.
Leaves are alternate and simple. They can have smooth or deeply divided margins, and everything in between.
The shape can vary quite a bit from ovate to triangular. In the fall, the foliage turns orange, red, and purple.
Most but not all varieties thrive along streams, in marshy areas, and in disturbed areas like roadsides, as well as meadows and woodlands. They’re incredibly adaptable.
Cultivation and History
Hawthorns have been in cultivation across the globe for centuries.
Recorded use of hawthorn as a medicinal ingredient dates back as early as the 1400s in Europe, and indigenous people in North America have been using foraged hawthorn since well before European invaders came calling.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
By the 1700s, it had become a well-recognized heart medication in Europe. And it was put to the same use in the US by the late 1800s.
Indigenous to China, C. pinnatifida (the Chinese hawthorn), C. hupehensis, and C. scabrifolia are rare outside of Asia and cultivated for their fruit in their native home.
While hawthorn is a popular garden plant in North America, it’s one of the most economically important plants in China, valued not only for its ornamental attributes but as medicine and food as well.
The azarole hawthorn (C. azarolus) is the most common in its native Mediterranean and Middle Eastern home, both commercially and in the wild.
Common or one-seeded (C. monogyna), woodland (C. laevigata), and two-seeded hawthorns (C. oxyacantha) are native to Europe. These became invasive in some areas after European immigrants brought them to North America.
All of these species have been extensively cultivated and are frequently found in nurseries and home gardens in the US and Europe.
C. nigra and C. pentagyna are also common in Europe and are cultivated for medicinal use, as are the other European species mentioned above.
As far as North American native species go, there are a lot to choose from. Some are uncommon in cultivation and others are gaining in popularity enough to compete with the European cultivars.
Indigenous people in North America knew a good thing when they saw it.
They had multiple uses for plants in the Crataegus genus, using hawthorn to treat “general debility,” bladder troubles, pain, upset stomachs, diarrhea, and mouth sores, as a laxative, and to stop menstrual flow, improve circulation, and improve appetite.
Topically, hawthorn was used to treat boils, ulcers, wounds, and arthritis. The thorns were used as needles and skin probes, as well as tines on herring rakes for non-medicinal use.
Today, these plants are primarily used by herbalists as a heart tonic, as all parts are mild vasodilators. Some people also use hawthorn as a memory aid, similar to Ginkgo biloba.
The pomes contain the anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic flavonol glycoside hyperoside, quercetin flavonoids, and the blood pressure-regulating amino acid tyramine.
The fruit also contains oligomeric and polymeric procyanidin compounds.
Propagation
I know I did my best to get you all hyped up about hawthorns, but you aren’t in too much of a rush to enjoy them, right?
If you are, go ahead and skip directly to the section below on planting seedlings or transplants.
All the other propagation methods are slow going. Hawthorns just aren’t in a hurry, and you can’t be either.
Here we go, but not too quickly.
From Seed
With all those berries that form on the tree, it seems a waste not to try to plant a few and start more trees, right?
If you’re in a hurry, try a different method, since it can take at least five years before the seedlings reach more than a few feet tall and start to flower.
Seeds should be planted right away because they rapidly lose viability once they’re off the tree.
Wait until the fruits are fully ripe in the fall. They should be starting to wrinkle slightly. Pull them gently off the tree to avoid damaging the branches. Place them in a bucket and mash them up with a stick or other blunt object.
Don’t mash too hard or you’ll break the seeds. You want to create a pulpy mass, not a crunchy mess.
Pour water into the bucket and mix everything well with your hands, rubbing the pulp between them. You can wear gloves if you’re working with a particularly vibrant or juicy fruit, but most won’t stain your skin.
Let it sit for a few minutes, and then pour out most of the water and the floating debris. Rub the remaining seeds between your hands while holding them in the remaining water.
Fill the bucket with more water, swish it around, and dump the debris out again. You might need to do this several times to get rid of all the debris.
Once the seeds are clean, they’re ready to be placed in a tray filled with moist horticultural sand mixed with sphagnum moss in equal parts. The tray should have multiple drainage holes, so the seeds don’t drown. Make sure they’re covered with an inch of soil.
Place a screen over the tray to protect it from birds and squirrels, and place it outside in a protected spot. Now, your job is to keep the medium moist but not wet for the next 18 months.
In late winter or early spring of the second year, check the seeds. They should be starting to germinate. If roughly one in 10 is germinating, it’s time to plant.
Plant the seeds in prepared soil in the area where you intend to grow your tree. Poke each seed into the soil an inch deep and at least five feet apart.
Gently tamp down the soil and water well. Keep the soil moist and by summer, you should see a seedling popping up. Congrats! Keep the soil moist to support your new garden friend.
From Cuttings
It’s technically possible to grow hawthorns from cuttings, but this is not the best method because it’s unreliable.
Few cuttings will take, so you’ll want to start about six cuttings for each tree you want to grow.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Take your cuttings in the spring just after the leaf buds have emerged. Look for a pliable end of a branch about six inches long.
Cut at a 45-degree angle, remove all but two of the leaf buds, and set the cutting in water until you’re ready to plant. Repeat as needed.
When your cuttings are ready, prep the planting area by amending the soil with well-rotted compost to ensure that it’s loose and rich.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Dip the end of each cutting into a rooting hormone and poke a two-inch hole into the soil. Insert the cutting and firm the soil around it.
Remember, you need extra cuttings, so plant about six in each spot where you want a tree to grow, spaced about four inches apart. Water so the soil is moist but not wet, and keep it that way.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
By the following spring, you should see new growth. Hopefully, at least one of the cuttings will have taken and you’ll see it bud out.
If so, give yourself a big pat on the back for your patience and persistence. If you have more than one cutting take, dig up the extras and move or dispose of them.
From Suckers
Some, but not all, hawthorns send out suckers. If you see little sucker volunteers popping up, you can move them to a different location to start a new tree.
This method is quicker and more reliable than taking cuttings, so if you want to nab a piece of a friend’s beautiful tree, this is the method I’d suggest.
Any tree grown on grafted rootstock shouldn’t be propagated this way unless you don’t care what the new tree looks like.
Typically, hawthorns aren’t grafted this way. Usually, hawthorn rootstock is used as the base for other trees like apple, pear, chokeberry, juneberry, quince, and medlars.
But some growers will graft hawthorns onto hawthorn rootstock, so look for a lump around the base of the tree – the graft point – to determine if yours is one of the rare ones.
Wait until you can see new active growth in the spring, and use a gardening fork to loosen up the soil around the suckers. Gently tilt up the roots and look for the part where the root of a sucker attaches to the parent plant. Sever this using clippers or a knife.
Cut back about half of the top growth using clippers, either by removing a few stems or some of the length.
Dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots and plant the sucker in the ground at the same depth it was previously. Water well and keep the soil moist as the tree becomes established.
Air Layering
I like air layering because the new tree has some support while it’s developing, whereas cuttings are all on their own.
In the late winter, before the tree buds out, you’re going to remove a two-inch-wide strip of bark and cambium going all the way around a stem down to the lighter tan layer underneath.
You’ll need a sharp knife to do this. To make the cut clean, cut all the way around the circumference and then make a second cut two inches below that. Then, use the edge of the knife to scrape away the bark.
Grab some moistened sphagnum moss and wrap a two-inch-thick layer of moss all the way around the exposed bit. You might want to recruit a partner for this part because it’s a little hard to manage when you’re alone.
Hold the moss in place and wrap it with clear plastic wrap. Secure it in place with some twine, twist ties, wire, or tape. Wrap opaque plastic over this, and secure it in place as well.
Remove the outer wrapping occasionally to check for root growth and to see if the moss is drying out. If it is, open the top of the clear plastic and pour in some water.
If you see roots by the fall, it’s time to separate the rooted branch and transplant it. Just cut it right below the rooting area.
If there aren’t any roots, leave the wrap in place during the winter with an extra layer of cardboard or wool packed around it as insulation. If roots have formed by spring, remove and plant it. If not, it’s likely that the layering failed.
From Seedlings/Transplanting
Welcome, to all those with less patience or who opted to purchase a plant rather than propagating it using one of the methods described above!
Transplanting a hawthorn is pretty straightforward. To start, dig a hole twice the size of the container that the plant is growing in.
Unless you have extremely heavy or sandy soil, you won’t need to amend it. But poorly draining soil absolutely needs some well-rotted compost worked in.
Remove the plant from its container and loosen up those roots. Gently place the plant in the hole at the same depth it was at originally and fill in around the roots with soil.
Firm it up and add water. Some of the soil will probably settle, and if that’s the case, just add a bit more.
Add an inch-thick layer of organic mulch like hardwood shavings or leaf litter to protect the youngster from weedy competition.
If you’re planning to grow a living fence, space the trees about 10 feet apart.
How to Grow
As evidenced by their ability to grow in a wide range of environments, hawthorns are adaptable.
Any kind of soil from moderately chalky or sandy to moderately clayey is fine. They can even tolerate poorly draining soil, though well-draining soil is ideal.
They can tolerate heavy winds, so if you have a spot that is constantly buffeted, hawthorns are about to be your new best friends. They can even handle salty wind in maritime environments and pollution in cityscapes.
Of course, if you’re growing yours to use the fruit, bark, and flowers as food or medicine, avoid heavily polluted positions like those along roadways.
Full sun is best, particularly for fruit production, but partial sun is fine. Partial shade will be tolerated, but you’re going to lose some flowering and fruit production.
Beyond sun and soil considerations, you might want to avoid planting anywhere that kids or pets play. You don’t want them getting snagged on the thorns.
Once a year in the spring, apply an all-purpose, balanced fertilizer unless a soil test suggests you need to add more of a certain element or leave something out.
Southern Ag’s All Purpose Granular Fertilizer will do the job.
Suitable for full sun, in a variety of soil types.
Don’t plant where kids will want to climb or play, or select a thornless type.
Fertilize once in the spring.
Pruning and Maintenance
Pruning isn’t required except to remove any branches that are dead, diseased, or deformed.
Deformed growth includes branches that are rubbing together or that just grow in a funky direction that detracts from the look of the tree.
When you cut, put on a metal suit of armor, including a face shield and gauntlets.
If you don’t keep your medieval armory well stocked, you should wear thick rubber or leather gloves and several layers of thick clothing over your arms and torso.
I’d even recommend safety goggles. I have a scar near my eye from a time when I was harvesting pomes and a thorn caught me. Those thorns are no joke.
When they stab into your skin, they can break off and embed themselves, and they can be hard to remove. A thorn that stays in your skin can become infected or even septic. Best to avoid them altogether rather than having to deal with them.
Use a sharp pair of pruners or a small saw and cut back to the next branch or trunk.
When the trees are young, you can remove all but one trunk or central leader and remove the lower branches to encourage a more tree-like rather than shrub-like shape.
For the first few years, replenish the mulch layer every few months to suppress those weeds. After that, you can leave the tree to its own devices.
Species and Cultivars to Select
As you can imagine with a genus that contains so many species and hybrids and that has been cultivated for so long, there are many, many cultivars out there, and new ones popping up all the time.
It never hurts to chat with the employees at your local nursery to see what they recommend for your area, but these adaptable plants can settle in just about anywhere.
Here are some notable options:
Crusader
A popular cockspur (C. crus-galli) cultivar, ‘Crusader’ is extremely floriferous with lots of white blossoms and persistent red berries, all on a tree that tops out at just 15 feet.
It has a pleasantly rounded shape and a dense growth habit.
‘Jubilee’ is a fleshy (C. succulenta) cultivar bred in the Netherlands that forms plump, somewhat juicy (rather than mealy) fruits.
It has a dense, rounded crown on a single or multi-stemmed plant that can reach 25 feet. It’s resistant to fire blight and rust.
Vaughn
‘Vaughn’ is a hybrid cross between C. phaenopyrum and C. crus-galli that brings large fruits and flowers with exceptionally glossy leaves to the table.
It’s largely thornless and has an extremely upright growth habit.
Washington
The Washington species, C. phaenopyrum, has become popular as an ornamental because it’s a late bloomer, dodging all those late frosts, and has particularly vibrant foliage in both the spring and fall.
As the leaves emerge, they’re reddish-purple before transitioning to a deep green for the summer.
With the changing seasons, the leaves shift again, this time to a vibrant array of orange, crimson, magenta, and purple.
Beautiful ‘Winter King’ is a C. viridis cultivar with white blossoms and extremely large fruits.
But what makes it truly fabulous is that it resists fungal diseases and is nearly thornless.
Managing Pests and Disease
Before we jump into this section, I’m giving you a heads up: You’ll probably never encounter any of these issues. Hawthorns are tough.
Don’t feel like you failed or did something wrong if any pests or diseases come visiting, though. So long as you planted in the right conditions, sometimes it’s just the (bad) luck of the draw.
Non-native types tend to be more prone to issues, and you might encounter powdery mildew or apple scab. These are less common on types grown in their native environment.
Insects
There are just two common insects to watch for, and neither requires any sort of chemical control.
When they’re present, it could be a sign that you need to work on creating a healthy garden environment, with plenty of plants that attract beneficial predators.
Hawthorn Leaf Miners
Hawthorn leaf miners (Profenusa canadensis) are probably the most common pests you’ll see.
These tiny larvae of sawflies chomp tunnels through the leaves of plants during the late spring.
The result is unsightly leaves with trails throughout and dead, brown tips. These leaves tend to be more susceptible to further damage from drought and frost.
As new growth emerges after the larvae pupate and take off, the tree will recover and continue on its merry way for the rest of the year. As a result, you really don’t need to treat infestations.
Avoid planting C. crus-galli, C. persimillis, and C. erecta if you find infested leaves to be bothersome. These species are particularly susceptible.
Woolly Aphids
Woolly apple aphids (Eriosoma lanigerum) look like a symptom of fungal infection or mealybugs, but they’re basically just those old familiar aphids we know and love, with a fluffy coat on.
To be perfectly honest, they look scarier than they are. They don’t really do much damage to trees, and they’re usually limited by myriad natural predators.
Trying to eliminate them isn’t suggested, since a lot of the methods of controlling aphids can harm beneficial insects. Your best bet is to just keep your tree and the surrounding garden healthy.
Many plants in the Rosaceae family are prone to fire blight, and while hawthorns aren’t extremely susceptible, it isn’t unheard of.
It causes shoots, leaves, and fruits to turn black and necrotic.
Sadly, if you’re one of the unlucky few, you’ll need to pull up your plant and get rid of it by burning or via disposal. Otherwise, you risk further spread to other plants.
Best Uses
Whether you choose to eat the fruit or just grow your hawthorn as an ornamental, these plants have many uses.
The “haw” in hawthorn is Anglo-Saxon for “hedge,” and that’s what people in England used this plant for. Imagine trying to push your way through a thick hedge of hawthorns. You’d have to be really determined to try it.
In fact, that’s part of why the plants spread out of their native ranges.
European farmers brought their native hawthorns with them to plant as livestock fencing in America, New Zealand, and Australia. They quickly escaped cultivation and have made themselves at home wherever they were taken.
Having said that, if you want to create natural fences for livestock or just to keep out nosy neighbors with a defensive barrier, choose shorter, shrubby options and plant them close together.
If you want to attract native pollinators, choose native species. These are smart options to plant in your garden.
If you choose to eat the fruit, don’t eat the seeds. Cook the berries and remove the seeds or peel the flesh away from the seeds.
A few certainly won’t hurt you, and many a forager has chomped through them while out wandering, myself included.
But the seeds contain a compound of cyanide bonded with sucrose called amygdalin, which is released when the seeds are crushed. When you eat something containing this compound, it turns to hydrogen cyanide in your small intestine.
If you’ve ever studied up on your poisons, then you know that enough of this chemical can kill you.
Apples contain the same compound in their seeds, as do rose hips, peaches, and other fruits in the Rosaceae family. For the average 150-pound human, that would mean eating over 70 hawthorn seeds at a go.
Some species, like C. monogyna, have only one seed, which you can easily remove. This type of berry can be eaten raw. But it’s too difficult to remove them from fruits with multiple seeds, so they need to be cooked to facilitate seed removal.
It’s super difficult to eat the seeds anyway, because they’re hard as a rock. I’d imagine you’d break a few teeth before you could eat enough to do yourself real harm, but let’s not go testing the theory, okay?
The berries are high in pectin, so they naturally lend themselves to jelly-making.
All species are edible (minus the seeds), but not all are delicious. It’s best to taste yours and decide whether the flavor is to your liking before you dive into a complicated recipe.
Foragers will munch on the berries as they explore the woods, and with one bite, you’ll quickly realize how much pectin there is. The juice rapidly takes on a jelly-like consistency the minute you squeeze it out of the drupe.
C. azarolus, C. mexicana, C. pinnatifida, and C. scabrifolia are all cultivated as fruit trees. But Cerros (C. erythropoda), on the other hand, has hardly enough flesh to bother with.
Dried berries can last for years, and the dried flowers and leaves, which make a lovely tea, can last for up to a year. Store them in a cool, dry, dark spot.
All of these can be dried by spreading them out on screens in a dry area out of direct sunlight.
Agitate the berries now and then to move them around and expose them to the air. You can also dry them in your oven on the lowest setting, or in a dehydrator.
Freeze the berries by removing any damaged ones, rinsing them in water, drying them completely, and placing them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. They can last this way for up to six months.
The pomes become a bit more mealy and squishy, as well as a bit sweeter, after a freeze.
It can be a treat when you head outside in the winter and stumble across some that the birds missed. Just don’t try to dry or freeze any that have already been frozen. They don’t keep well.
In western medicine, C. laevigata and C. monogyna are most commonly used. In Chinese medicine, it’s C. pinnatifida that takes all the glory.
If you want to make a medicinal decoction, the standard method is to boil the inner bark, thorns, leaves, berries (minus the seeds), or flowers in water until it reduces by one-quarter.
Four to eight ounces of the standard decoction can be taken three times per day, according to “The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide” by Thomas Easley and Steven Horne.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for your region below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Southwest below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
‘Pink Cloud’ gaura brings a light, airy feel to any garden or container with its wispy flowers that bloom from late spring to fall. The rosy blooms stand tall above red-tinged green foliage. I’ve started to add this fantastic plant to my designs en masse to create the feel of a dancing wildflower meadow. This perennial tolerates high heat and humidity and is perfect for a microclimate near a stone wall or driveway in full sun. Once established, it only needs occasional supplemental water. Best of all, it attracts beneficial insects and pollinators, including butterflies and hummingbirds.
Conditions: Full sun; dry to medium, well-drained soil
Native range: North America
The delightful magic of this plant is that it works well in a naturalized design or a more formal garden. Sometimes called “upright prairie coneflower,” Mexican hat has petals that can be all yellow or a mahogany-red edged in yellow. It blooms from midsummer into fall and looks great during the hottest time of the year. This plant doesn’t just tolerate dry summers; it prefers them and powers through like a champion. The flowers are attractive to butterflies and bees. This beauty is one of the easiest wildflowers to grow from seed and will even thrive in a small container. It makes a great cut flower for arrangements and also dries well.
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; dry, well-drained soil
Native range: Western North America
This plant is an overlooked gem of the West. Drooping panicles of bright blue to violet-blue flowers appear at the tips of green stems. The vibrant blue looks great against the earth tones of the southwestern landscape. Wild blue flax reaches its flowering peak during June and July, but I’ve seen it continue blooming as late as September. The flowers open in the morning and usually close by noon. While the blooms typically only last one day, this plant is such a prolific flowerer that you won’t notice. Preferring dry conditions, it is drought tolerant and often ignored by rabbits and deer. While it can be grown in partial shade and alkaline soil, it performs best in full sun and acidic soil.
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil
Native range: South Africa
This perennial originally caught my eye because it blooms all summer until frost. Its salmon-pink flowers are held over finely textured stems with bright green foliage. This award-winning plant attracts butterflies as well as a multitude of beneficial flying insects, including hawk moths. It thrives in containers, rock gardens, and streetscapes and is very heat tolerant. It’s also highly tolerant of wind and poor soil. Coral Canyon® twinspur prefers loamy or sandy soil and has moderate to low water needs. All it requires is a trim after winter to look its best for summer. Deer do browse from this plant, so keep that in mind when choosing a spot for it.pollinators, which adore the blooms. It is tolerant of clay and rocky soil as long as there is good drainage. Water it regularly during prolonged dry weather for best flowering.
Mark Brotton, APLD, owns and operates Living Water Irrigation and Landscape in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Northern Plains below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
Sneezeweed is an underutilized perennial that ‘Salsa’ aims to remedy. It’s party time in the garden when this plant bursts into bloom. The flat, disk-like, bright red flowers have unusually prominent raised centers. As the blooms age, individual flowers take on various hues of orange and yellow, creating a multicolored effect that shouts for attention. At this plant’s peak, abundant blooms completely cover the foliage. ‘Salsa’ is midsize in stature, so it is equally comfortable at the front or the back of the border. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds will be eager party attendees, while deer and bunnies will be noticeably absent. This sneezeweed is drought resistant and tolerant of moist or dry soil as long as it drains well.
Native range: Hybrid of eastern North American species
Coreopsis are classic summer stalwarts, with ‘Gilded Lace’ being one of the most graceful and attractive varieties. A naturally occurring hybrid, ‘Gilded Lace’ sports unique and very attractive foliage. Long, thin leaves create an airy or, as the name suggests, lacy effect that is unusual in tall perennials. Numerous shiny yellow flowers, accented by brown centers, are a favorite of bees and butterflies, making this coreopsis the perfect addition to pollinator gardens. For an eye-catching combo of texture and color, try pairing ‘Gilded Lace’ with the coarse foliage of globe thistle (Echinops spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) or with the stunning dark leaves of ‘Dark Towers’ penstemon (Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’, Zones 3–8).
Conditions: Full sun; dry to medium, well-drained soil
Native range: Southern and western North America
Blue grama grass is a cute, clump-forming, warm-season prairie native. Its long, thin foliage is bluish gray and creates a soft see-through effect in dense plantings. Arching stems appear in midsummer and are topped with unusual one-sided dark flowers, earning it the moniker of “eyelash grass.” These inflorescences dance about in the wind, adding a whimsical note to any planting. Whether planted in small or large groups, blue grama grass is equally at home in meadows, xeriscape gardens, and naturalistic plantings, as well as the front of the border. It attracts small butterflies and is the larval host for many species of skipper butterflies. It’s also tolerant of a wide range of soil types.
Conditions: Full sun; dry to medium, well-drained soil
Native range: North America, Europe, Asia
The common native white yarrow (A. millefolium) is ubiquitous in prairie grasslands, but it’s not the flashiest of perennials. Enter the cultivar ‘Pomegranate’. This plant is no shrinking violet. The dense, flattened clusters of bright magenta flowers seem to shout, “Look at me!” Below, ferny foliage is a soft gray-green and emits a spicy fragrance when brushed. ‘Pomegranate’ is a blooming powerhouse when planted in lean soil and, if deadheaded, will flower from late June to frost. Combine it with tall perennials such as salvias (Salvia spp. and cvs., Zones 5–11), burnet (Sanguisorba spp. and cvs., Zones 4–8), and coneflowers (Echinacea spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) for a gorgeous summer display. rocky soil as long as there is good drainage. Water it regularly during prolonged dry weather for best flowering.
Elaine Rude is the owner of Paintbrush Garden Design in Calgary, Alberta.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Northeast below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
This is a heartstring plant that makes everyone say “Aww” when they see it. The pink blossom hue is perfect—not too dark or too light. It gets absolutely covered with flowers by mid-June and reblooms into summer. This trait enables you to use it as a cut flower without sacrificing color in the garden, which is a cause of concern for many folks. My four-year-old plant provides more than enough blooms for me to fill a vase for my mom’s June birthday. Staking isn’t an issue with ‘Kansas’, thanks to its exceptionally strong stems. This old-fashioned cultivar has been around since the 1940s, and although some describe it as a double red, it’s more of a magenta to my eyes. The foliage is lush and maintains its dark green shade all season long.
There have been a ton of new baptisia introductions the past few years, but one that I simply had to take home from our garden center was ‘Pink Truffles’. The soft pink to lavender spires of flowers remind me of lilac (Syringa vulgaris, Zones 5–7) and appear in late May. They almost always continue putting on a show into July too. This is a big perennial that is sometimes mistaken for a shrub. And it has a serious taproot, so wherever you choose to put it, be sure that’s going to be its spot forever. Baptisias are drought tolerant once established and aren’t prone to any pest or disease problems. In fall the blue-green pealike foliage is accompanied by showy black seedpods, which I leave in place to self-sow. Be warned: This is one of the last perennials to emerge in spring, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see pinkish-green shoots until late April.
For the most part, irises are known more as late-spring bloomers here in New England and not as peak-season plants. But there are a few exceptions. ‘July Yellow’ is a bearded selection that starts flowering in mid to late May and reblooms into July—hence its cultivar name. I got mine from a friend who cut me off a piece of rhizome from her plant in midsummer (not the time to be propagating) that took easily with little help from me. It sports a buttery yellow flower with dark yellow beards and also has a slight fragrance. The light green, broad strappy foliage is attractive, although it can succumb to leaf spot, like many other irises. Taller than it is wide, this perennial needs to be sited at the middle of the border, where it will politely stand upright until late fall.
Conditions: Partial to full shade; moist, well-drained soil
Native range: Hybrid
I appreciate the unique pale coloring of this fern, which makes it truly very ghostlike. You don’t often find that color in the garden, let alone in the shade. It consistently brightens up the darkest areas of my landscape. By early summer this perennial sizes up to an impressive 2 feet tall and wide. The structure is more upright than that of other ferns that have an arching habit, so it becomes an instant focal point. ‘Ghost’ doesn’t spread too much either, so you don’t need to give up much garden real estate to have this beauty in your beds. This fern is drought tolerant once established and therefore is a good choice for planting under trees.
Kirsten Lee-Smith Maskell is a co-owner of Smith’s Acres, a specialty garden center in Niantic, Connecticut.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Northwest below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
1. ‘Indian Summer™’ Peruvian Lily
Name: Alstromeria ‘Tesronto Imp’
Zones: 8–9
Size: 24-30 inches tall and 36 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; well-drained soil
Native range: South America
I’ve fallen in love with this well-behaved Peruvian lily. Its unusual, plum-colored foliage contrasts beautifully with the flowers’ smoldering tones of gold, peach, orange, red, and burgundy when the blooms begin to open in early summer. In cool maritime climates, blossoms occur continuously until early autumn, bringing a tropical touch to your garden. This deer-resistant, easy perennial is robust in growth but is not a rampant spreader, instead forming a compact clump with long, sturdy stems that are excellent for cut flowers. Flowering will be more profuse and will occur for a longer period with regular watering during the summer.
Size: 12 to 18 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; average to dry, well-drained soil
Native range: Garden origin
This cute goldenrod is a compact, upright grower with glowing, golden-yellow blooms. The tiny flowers are arranged by the hundreds in graceful tiers on the sturdy branch tips; they look beautiful in the garden and make excellent cut flowers. The plant forms a tight crown and will not run or reseed as it matures. Originally selected for the cut flower industry, this tough perennial exhibits very good resistance to diseases, is not palatable to deer or rabbits, and is loved by bees and butterflies. Although it can tolerate dry conditions, it will perform even better if given some supplemental water during dry periods.
3. ‘Mönch’ Aster
Name: Aster × Frikartii ‘Mönch’
Zones: 5–9
Size: 3 feet tall and wide
Conditions: Full sun; well-drained soil
Native range: Garden origin
‘Mönch’ adds a welcome cool note to the summer garden as the warm days intensify. It is unique among asters for its earlier and longer flowering time. The first periwinkle-blue flowers with cheerful yellow centers open in late June, and the show continues until early autumn. Its stout stems are well branched and resist flopping later in the season. New flowers form higher on the stem than fading older blooms, making deadheading unnecessary. This aster has shown good deer and rabbit resistance. To help it live longer, protect it from becoming overly wet in winter.
4. ‘Bleeding Hearts’ Ox Eye Sunflower
Name: Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra ‘Bleeding Hearts’
Zones: 3–9
Size: 4 feet tall and wide
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil
Native range: Eastern and central North America
From the moment this tough prairie perennial emerges in spring, its smoky purple-tinted foliage makes a statement. This long-blooming plant opens its first flowers in early July and continues to bloom until early autumn. As the buds open, the petals are an astonishing vibrant reddish orange that will slowly age to a rich golden yellow. At the peak of summer, ‘Bleeding Hearts’ gives a spectacular multicolored show, with individual flowers holding up for over four weeks. New flowers are formed above the older blooms, hiding them and making deadheading unnecessary or mostly so. Deer generally find this plant unpalatable—unlike pollinators, which adore the blooms. It is tolerant of clay and rocky soil as long as there is good drainage. Water it regularly during prolonged dry weather for best flowering.
Contributing editor Richie Steffen is executive director of the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Southern Plains below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
Size: 30 to 34 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide
Conditions: Full to partial shade; average to moist, well-drained soil
Native range: Asia
‘Primal Scream’ daylily is bold and vigorous, with stunning 8-inch blooms that scream for attention. The flowers emerge in late June into July, standing tall atop gracefully arching foliage. The bright orange petals are long and narrow, lightly ruffled, and recurved at the tip. This multiple award-winner is adaptable to a variety of soil types and holds up to high heat and humidity. The plant tolerates drought once established, but the foliage looks best with regular watering. This large daylily works well in the center of borders or planted in massive sweeps.
Conditions: Full sun; adapts to most well-drained soil types
Native range: North America, Asia
This pollinator magnet blooms in my garden from June through the last days of autumn, attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds (hence the sometimes-used common name of hummingbird mint). Densely packed spikes of violet-blue flowers stand atop compact mounds of fragrant foliage. The calyxes hold their color after the flowers fade, but deadheading will encourage continued bloom. The Kudos™ series was bred to combine heat and drought tolerance with improved performance in cold and moist situations, making these varieties quite versatile throughout the Southern Plains. ‘Kudos Silver Blue’ is deer resistant and perfect for water-wise gardens.
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; dry to moist, well-drained soil
Native range: North America
Named for its fragrant foliage, which can be used in teas, wild bee balm is adored for its fabulous floral display. The tubular, pin cushion–like flowers bloom a dark lavender and cover the plants for three weeks or more, attracting an abundance of butterflies and hummingbirds. ‘Claire Grace’ is a naturally occurring selection with a sturdy habit, full foliage, and a resistance to powdery mildew (though good air circulation is still recommended). Tolerant of clay to dry, rocky soil; walnut trees; drought; and deer browsing, this plant is a problem solver in the landscape.
Size: 12 to 30 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; dry to medium, well-drained soil
Native range: North America
This gorgeous native emerges late in spring but quickly blooms to color roadsides and grasslands with bright orange flowers in June and July. Famous as a host to monarch butterfly larvae, butterfly weed also hosts queen and gray hairstreak caterpillars, while its nectar-rich blooms feed dozens of other pollinator species. Bright yellow-orange aphids are inevitable. You can dislodge them with a heavy stream of water or leave them to the ladybugs. The plant is highly drought tolerant and thrives in dry, sandy to rocky soil, though I find that it tolerates my garden’s clay soil quite well.pollinators, which adore the blooms. It is tolerant of clay and rocky soil as long as there is good drainage. Water it regularly during prolonged dry weather for best flowering.
Kimberly Toscano is a garden designer and horticulturist from Stillwater, Oklahoma. She is also a regional reporter for FineGardening.com.
While we would all ideally have gardens that look at their peak in every season, the reality is often far from that ideal. Very few of us have all the time in the world to dedicate to our gardens, and the hard truth is the planning and work that goes into gardening means we often only get one season where we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
As Executive Editor Danielle Sherry explains, “Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.”
After all of that prep and planning, you want to ensure your summer garden is at its prime when it’s finally too hot to toil. To help ensure your summer garden really shines, regional experts shared their favorite perennials for this peak season. Find picks for the Midwest below, and be sure to check out more fabulous summer selections in Peak-Season Combos.
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; moist, rich soil
Native range: Garden origin hybrid
I have enjoyed and photographed the same patch of this amazing perennial for over six years at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. Blooming for three to five weeks in late summer, this robust cardinal flower hybrid features rose-magenta flowers on rigid, 3-foot stems set against dark green, glossy foliage. Other cardinal flowers can be challenging to grow, but this one appears to be more forgiving. Butterflies and hummingbirds like to visit its blooms, which are lightly fragrant and excellent for cutting. This is a deer-resistant perennial that thrives in damper soils and doesn’t mind wet feet. As a rule of thumb, it is best not to mulch or cover the overwintering rosettes.
Introduced in 2011, ‘Little Henry’ is a top performer with novel flowers and solid garden stature. It is a better fit for small spaces than the larger sweet coneflower cultivar ‘Henry Eilers’, which can grow up to 6 feet tall. Both varieties feature sweetly scented foliage and asteriskshaped, butter-yellow flowers with quilled petals, but the blooms of ‘Little Henry’ arrive two weeks earlier in mid to late summer. ‘Little Henry’ is also noticeably more compact and upright, with sturdy, branching stems. This hardy perennial tolerates clay, heat, humidity, drought, deer, and rabbits. In addition, butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds all love to visit it. It appreciates good air circulation to avoid powdery mildew.
As a gardener in the Midwest, I’ve been wary of the hardiness, adaptability, and longevity of the pink and red coreopsis varieties. However, ‘Red Satin’, from talented breeder Darrell Probst, has become one of my favorites. The finely cut foliage and bushy, rounded habit provide nice texture, but it’s the velvety, rubyred flowers with golden centers that are the stars of a lengthy summer show. The blooms are sterile and prolific over the hottest months of summer and beyond. A magnet for bees and butterflies, they are excellent as cut flowers too. Shearing back the plant after the first flush of flowers typically results in a significant wave of reblooming. Divide this drought- and deer-tolerant perennial in spring.
Conditions: Full sun; average to fertile, well-drained soil
Native range: Eastern United States
Also called American feverfew, this native, clump-forming, taprooted perennial has an amazingly long bloom period. White flowers appear in broad, flat-topped clusters from late spring through the entire summer. These are useful in both fresh and dried arrangements. I’ve long grown wild quinine in a pollinator garden and am constantly impressed with its upright form and the wide range of native bees, wasps, flies, and beetles that take advantage of the broad blooming window, which stretches from June to September. The bold, coarsely serrated leaves have the texture of sandpaper, which deters both rabbits and deer. With few insect or disease problems, this beauty has broad applications in native plant gardens, naturalized meadows, and as an ornamental contributor in any full-sun bed or border.
Mark Dwyer is garden manager for the Edgerton Hospital Healing Garden, operates Landscape Prescriptions by MD in Wisconsin, and is the Midwest regional reporter for FineGardening.com.
The first book which I wrote, Theophilus, was concerned with all that Jesus set out to do and teach, 2 until the day came when he was taken up into heaven. He then laid a charge, by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He had shewn them by many proofs that he was still alive, after his passion; throughout the course of forty days he had been appearing to them, and telling them about the kingdom of God; 4 and now he gave them orders, as he shared a meal with them, not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise. You have heard it, he said, from my own lips; 5 John’s baptism, I told you, was with water, but there is a baptism with the Holy Spirit which you are to receive, not many days from this.
And his companions asked him, Lord, dost thou mean to restore the dominion to Israel here and now? 7 But he told them, It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 Enough for you, that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will receive strength from him; you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and throughout Judaea, in Samaria, yes, and to the ends of the earth. 9 When he had said this, they saw him lifted up, and a cloud caught him away from their sight. 10 And as they strained their eyes towards heaven, to watch his journey, all at once two men in white garments were standing at their side. 11 Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking heavenwards? He who has been taken from you into heaven, this same Jesus, will come back in the same fashion, just as you have watched him going into heaven. 12 Then, from the mountain which is called Olivet, they went back to Jerusalem; the distance from Jerusalem is not great, a sabbath day’s journey. 13 Coming in, they went up into the upper room where they dwelt, Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James. 14 All these, with one mind, gave themselves up to prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus, and the rest of the women and his brethren.
Nothing says summer like a large harvest of homegrown zucchini.
And as much as you enjoy the freshly-plucked fruit, there are several garden pests who feel the same way about nibbling on your zucchini plants.
From the tiny aphid to the colorful cucumber beetle, there are a lot of creepy crawlies around that can’t wait to get their teeth into your veggies.
Scared? Don’t be. While the list of pests that can attack zucchini may seem long, with some quick action, most of them are easily dealt with.
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Ready to find out more? Here’s what’s ahead in this article:
If your zucchini plants are suffering from pest damage, it’s likely to be caused by one (or more!) of the following:
1. Aphids
Aphids are one of the most common garden pests out there, and zucchini plants aren’t immune to these sap-sucking pests.
These tiny 1/8-inch long bugs may be black, red, green, yellow, brown, or pink, depending on the type.
They have pear-shaped bodies with long antennae, and are usually wingless. A single aphid is no big deal, but in groups, they can stunt or damage plants.
These bugs breed profusely, the eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring. During the summer months, females can produce up to 12 live offspring a day.
Zucchini plants impacted by aphids may be stunted or have curling, yellowing, mottled, or dry leaves. The honeydew left behind by aphids can lead to sooty mold, and can also attract ants.
Because they’re so small, you may not notice them until you have a large infestation, or you see signs of damage on your plants.
They don’t always cause much damage, but while you might be tempted to leave them, keep in mind that they may spread disease.
How to Manage Aphids
The earlier you deal with the problem, the better the chance that your plant will escape relatively unscathed.
The first step is to spray plants with a blast of water from the hose to knock the pests loose. Sometimes, they will leave the plant for a different one.
You should also keep your garden free from weeds, so they don’t have a place to hide.
Beneficial insects such as ladybugs, syrphid flies, lacewings, and parasitic wasps are all natural enemies of aphids, so encourage them to take up residence in your garden.
If that fails, you can try neem oil or insecticidal soap. Be sure to spray the top and bottom of the leaves and repeat the application every few days for two weeks.
Applying a reflective mulch around the plants can help to repel aphids.
There are chemical controls available, but it isn’t likely that an aphid population will kill your plant altogether.
As noted by horticulturalists at the University of California, pesticides may kill off the pollinators and beneficial insects that your garden needs to thrive, so I recommend avoiding these methods.
There are two types of cucumber beetles: spotted, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi (also known as the southern corn rootworm), and striped, Acalymma vittatum.
Both are similar in appearance and the type of damage they can do, and you should deal with them both the same way.
Striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum.
As Ric Bessin, extension specialist at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture reports, cucumber beetles are a major pest for zucchini crops, not only because of the damage they cause, but because they spread the deadly bacterial wilt disease.
These pests feed on leaves and stems, and a large infestation can defoliate plants.
They overwinter in protected areas. The larvae begin feeding underground, and then emerge in the late spring or summer to find a plant to nibble on.
How to Manage Cucumber Beetles
Keep weeds away from your garden because they can act as hosts for these insects. To discourage adults from laying eggs, lay down dark landscaping fabric around plants.
If you have the room, plant ‘Blue Hubbard’ squash as a trap crop. Cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and squash vine borers prefer this plant to zucchini, so plant some next to your zucchini plant, or at the ends of a row of zucchini.
The plants should be spaced between 3 and 8 feet apart when mature, so that they have enough distance to attract the bugs without being so close that the pests can hop back and forth.
Your ‘Blue Hubbard’ plants need to be two weeks older than your zucchini plants for this trap method to be the most effective, so plant the winter squash plants two weeks earlier than your zukes.
You can also use floating row covers in late May to early June, but be sure to remove them for an hour a day once plants start to blossom, so the flowers can be pollinated.
3. Cutworms
Cutworms are the larvae of a variety of different species of miller moths and they are active at night.
While the presence of the adults in your garden is no big deal, the cutworm larvae can chew through the stems of plants and kill them. One day your plant will be growing happily, the next it will be lying in a heap on the ground.
Cutworms are plump caterpillars that may be black, brown, gray, tan, or dark yellow.
Some have stripes, dots, or dashes along their bodies. Most are about two inches long when fully grown. All of them have smooth skin that looks almost wet or greasy.
While they look similar to some other types of worms you’ll find in the garden that may not be damaging to your plants, you can be pretty sure you’re dealing with cutworms if they curl up into a C-shape when you disturb them.
How to Manage Cutworms
It helps to have four feet or so of bare soil marked as a perimeter around your plants. This discourages the worms from trying to enter your garden to find a snack.
You can also plant sunflowers around the perimeter of the garden as a trap crop, because cutworms love these plants.
Be aware, however, that because you’re providing food for the pests, you’ll need to go outside every single day to find and kill them. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with a thriving population of cutworms on your hands.
You can also create a DIY collar to protect the base of transplanted seedlings. Cut a toilet paper roll lengthwise and dig down an inch around your plants. Place the toilet paper roll around the base of the plant and inside the depression. Replace the soil.
The goal is to create a barrier that the worms can’t squeeze under or shimmy over. Leave this in place until it disintegrates.
There are many leafminer species out there, but the one that most frequently causes damage to zucchini plants is commonly known as the vegetable or melon leafminer, Liriomyza sativae.
You may also see L. trifolii and L. huidobrensis attacking crops.
Regardless of the type, adult leafminer flies lay eggs inside leaves and when the larvae emerge, they chew their way through the foliage of plants.
They leave behind a telltale trail of tunnels that looks a bit like a maze. The width of the tunnels increases as the larvae mature.
How to Manage Leafminers
Parasitic wasps are an important enemy of the leafminer. Plant dill, Queen Anne’s lace, cilantro, and fennel nearby to encourage them to come to your garden.
If an infestation isn’t bad, you can simply pinch along the tunnels to squash the larvae inside.
You can try reflective mulch, though reports of its effectiveness vary. Don’t over-fertilize plants – nitrogen can encourage leafminers by helping plants to produce abundant leaves, creating a reliable source of nutrition.
You should also keep weeds out of your garden because they act as hosts.
Finally, you can use row covers during April and early May. Pull the covers off as plants begin to blossom, which usually happens after the laying season for leafminers has passed.
The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, loves to snack on vegetable crops, though you may find other types of spider mites on your zucchini as well.
Spider mites can produce up to 20 generations in a single year, and they prefer hot, dry weather. They look like teeny-tiny spiders.
As these pests suck on plants, leaves may take on a mottled appearance, or they may look dull or wilted.
They may have red or brown spots. If you have a serious infestation, you’ll know it because you’ll see fine webbing all over your zucchini plants.
How to Manage Spider Mites
The first step to manage spider mites is to check your plants often for the tiny arachnids, or signs that they’re around. You should also keep weeds away to avoid providing them with an inviting place to hide and reproduce.
Again, don’t over-fertilize. You should also go outside and spray down your plants with water every day for two weeks if you see them, to knock them loose and create an environment that they don’t like.
Trim away badly infested sections and dispose of them – don’t put them in the compost pile.
Squash bugs are flat, dark gray or brown, and about 5/8 of an inch long. They overwinter in sheltered places, emerge in the spring to mate, and lay eggs in early June.
Adults lay copper-colored oval eggs on the undersides of leaves and there is usually just one generation of these insects per year.
The bugs suck the sap out of plants, which can make leaves turn yellow and brown. This also makes it more difficult for nutrients to move throughout the plant, causing wilting.
How to Manage Squash Bugs
This pest is difficult to control with pesticides and they can scramble away quickly when you’re trying to spray them.
While it takes a lot of work, the most effective approach is to head outside and examine your plants every day.
If you see egg clusters, usually located where the veins of your zuke leaves form a “V,” wipe them away with gloves coated in petroleum jelly. You can also crush the eggs.
Pick off and kill any adults you see, as well. You can trap them by placing a piece of cardboard under your plants. Let it sit overnight, and come out in the morning to collect and kill any you find underneath.
If you do decide to take the pesticide route, use a permethrin insecticide and apply it early in the season, during the nymph stage. Also, be sure to spray the undersides of leaves and the ground around the plants for two feet in all directions.
Adults can overwinter in the soil and in plant debris, so clean up your garden after the planting season is over. You should also be sure to rotate your crops from year to year.
As we mentioned with some of the other bugs on this list, you can also plant ‘Blue Hubbard’ squash as a trap crop.
Finally, use floating row covers starting in early June through midsummer in most areas.
You’ll need to remove the covers for an hour or so a day when plants are blossoming, to ensure pollination. You can also manually pollinate your plants if desired.
Adult squash vine borers, Melittia cucurbitae, look a bit like orange and black wasps with metallic green wings, though they’re actually sesiid moths, known for mimicking Hymenoptera species.
Photo by Jim Jasinski, Ohio State University Extension, Bugwood.org via CC BY-SA.
The adults emerge in late spring to lay eggs at the base of plants. About seven days later, larvae emerge and feed by boring into the stems of plants.
They feed for a few weeks and then burrow into the soil to pupate. They stay there until the next spring to start the cycle over again.
If you have an infestation, you’ll first notice your plant starting to wilt in the heat of the day, though usually only sections of the plant will wilt, rather than the whole thing. Eventually, the entire plant may collapse and die.
How to Manage Squash Vine Borers
If you see (or hear) squash vine borers buzzing about, put floating row covers on your plants for two weeks. This period usually coincides with the time when vines begin to run on zucchini plants.
Photo by Gerald Holmes, Strawberry Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org, via CC BY-SA.
Also, be sure to rotate crops each year, since this pest overwinters in the soil. And as mentioned above, you can also plant ‘Blue Hubbard’ squash as a trap crop.
If you choose to apply pesticide, do it when vines begin to run and use a product containing carbaryl, permethrin, bifenthrin, or esfenvalerate.
Spray pesticides at the base of plants. Repeat every 7-10 days if the infestation continues.
8. Thrips
Thrips are tiny pests that pierce and suck the juice out of plants. They leave behind speckled brown or bleached damaged areas, and spread disease.
Western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, are the most common type, but there are other species that attack zukes as well.
Thrips also attack spider mites, so they aren’t all bad. Consider this when deciding whether or not to eradicate them from your garden.
Yet another tiny sap-sucking insect, this one reproduces rapidly, and can cause plants to turn yellow and die.
Silverleaf whitefly.
Whiteflies also leave behind honeydew, as aphids do, which can attract ants and cause mold to develop.
There are many different species that can attack zucchini plants. The silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is most notable as it spreads viruses and can cause a physiological problem called silverleaf disorder in squash.
How to Manage Whiteflies
Spray down plants with a strong blast of water to knock the bugs loose, and trim away any heavily infested areas of the plant.
You should also use best practices like appropriate watering, weeding, and fertilizing to keep plants healthy enough to withstand an infestation. Encourage beneficial insects to hang out in your garden, and they can help to keep pest populations down. Lacewings and ladybugs love to snack on whiteflies.
Reflective mulches are effective at deterring whiteflies and yellow sticky traps can help reduce the number of bugs in your garden.
A spray of neem oil applied every few days for a few weeks can help reduce the number of whiteflies on a plant, but it won’t eliminate them. Keep in mind that neem oil can also harm beneficial insects.
You may have noticed a theme that’s common to all of these various pests. For the most part, it helps to rotate your crops, keep your gardens well weeded, and clean up thoroughly in the fall.
Keeping plants healthy with appropriate watering and feeding practices, and planting suitable companions like cilantro, dill, and fennel, can help to encourage the good types of bugs to come hang around your garden.
Put these practices in place, and you’ll go a long way towards keeping pests away and helping your zucchini plants to be healthy and happy.
Have you ever battled any of these bugs in your garden? I’d love to hear about what worked for you in your efforts to get rid of them. Please feel free to drop us a line in the comments section below!
Looking for a few more tips on growing zucchini in your garden? Check out the following articles next:
If you grow tomatoes, you have almost certainly run afoul of the fungus that causes the disease known as early blight.
This ubiquitous tomato disease does not usually kill the plants, but it can greatly reduce your yield.
And even if you grow resistant cultivars, your plants still may not be completely safe. You will have to manage them carefully to keep early blight at bay.
However, there are a number of steps you can take to minimize the amount of damage that this disease can cause.
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Here’s what I’ll cover:
What Is Early Blight?
Early blight is a fungal disease caused by Alternaria solani. It can occur at any time during the growing season. High humidity and temperatures above 75°F cause it to spread rapidly.
Photo by Rebecca A. Melanson, Mississippi State University Extension, Bugwood.org, via CC BY-SA.
The fungus overwinters in the soil, and spores can be spread by wind, water, insects, and even on your clothes or shoes.
If you catch an outbreak early enough, you may be able to save your crop. The tomatoes are still edible, particularly if the disease is mostly confined to the foliage.
To avoid any potential confusion, I want to stress that early blight is not the same thing as late blight – the devastating disease responsible for the Irish potato famine.
Late blight is caused by a fungus-like water mold, Phytophthora infestans.
If you think early blight is bad, late blight is much worse. It is generally fatal to both tomatoes and potatoes; it can spread for miles, and it was largely responsible for the death of one million Irish people (although the reasons for that famine were highly political and not just agricultural in nature).
The first sign that your plants are infected with early blight is usually the appearance of dark brown spots on the lower leaves. This disease usually progresses from the bottom of the plant to the top.
Photo by Rebecca A. Melanson, Mississippi State University Extension, Bugwood.org, via CC BY-SA.
These are not just any spots. As they grow larger, they form concentric rings that resemble a bull’s-eye, and the rest of the leaf gradually turns yellow.
Your plants may lose a lot of their leaves, resulting in sun scald on the fruits.
If the stems develop lesions, they will be slightly sunken. As they grow in size, they will develop the same concentric markings that appear on the leaves.
If the spots are near the ground, they can girdle the stems and prevent the plant from thriving by limiting the plant’s uptake of water and nutrients.
Both immature and mature fruit can be affected. The infection starts at the stem end and forms a leathery, dark, sunken area with – you guessed it – concentric rings.
Even seedlings are vulnerable. They can develop telltale symptoms on their cotyledons, and severely affected seedlings will die.
Disease Cycle
Part of the reason that there is pretty much no escape from this fungus is that it overwinters in the soil and in infected plant debris. It is often introduced into gardens via contaminated seed or transplants.
Photo by Rebecca A. Melanson, Mississippi State University Extension, Bugwood.org, via CC BY-SA.
The lower leaves become infected via contaminated soil – either from direct contact or from rain splashing fungal spores onto the plant.
Flea beetles sometimes transmit the pathogen as well as they travel from plant to plant.
The fungal spores require free water, such as rain or heavy dew, or at least 90% humidity to germinate. They are not very fussy about temperature, and will germinate in a wide range of temperatures, from 47 to 90°F.
After the spores have germinated, lesions can form on infected plants in as little as five days. When the spores are present in a garden or field, they can be spread by wind, equipment, insect pests, or human contact.
Resistant Varieties Can Still Become Infected
Many tomato cultivars exhibit some resistance to early blight. However, resistance is not the same thing as immunity.
Regardless of the cultivar that you have selected, your plants can still be infected with early blight if you do not take precautions to prevent the disease.
Ready to harvest in 70 days, you can find packets of 25 seeds available at Burpee.
If you see “EB” listed on tomato seed packets or in catalogs, that stands for “resistant to early blight.” Keep an eye out for this helpful notation when you are searching for resistant varieties.
Fortunately, even though tomato plants may not be immune to early blight, you can take measures to minimize the chances of infection.
Cultural Controls
There are a number of steps you can take during the growing season – or even before it begins – to limit the damage that this fungus may do to your plants.
Photo by Dwight Sipler, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
These are the most effective ways to prevent it from taking hold in your garden:
Rotate Your Crops
When you harvest a bumper crop one year, it is so tempting to plant in the same spot the following season.
However, if tomatoes are the crop in question, restrain yourself! You increase the chance of developing an early blight infection if you grow tomato plants in the same place in consecutive years.
Wait at least two years before planting in the same location again, since the spores can persist in the soil and any partially decomposed plants for a year to follow.
This is true even if you didn’t see any symptoms of early blight, since the pathogen can start building up without your knowledge.
This applies to any crops in the nightshade family as well, such as eggplant, which can also be infected by the fungus.
Purge Nightshades and Volunteer Tomato Plants
Plants in the same family as tomatoes (solanaceous plants, or nightshades), and volunteer tomato plants can also serve as hosts for Alternaria species. These can pass the infection on to your tomato plants.
This is true for edible crops such as potatoes, as well as hairy nightshade, black nightshade, and horse nettle, so be vigilant and keep these weeds out of your garden.
When you remove the weeds and volunteer plants, make sure you destroy them – do not place on your compost pile.
Keep Your Plants Dry
The Alternaria spores require a lot of moisture to germinate.
Tomato plants are used to growing in dry climates, so they are unusually sensitive to water on their leaves, which makes them more prone to fungal infections than many other crops.
Take every precaution you can to minimize the amount of moisture on your tomato plants. In the presence of spores, this can help to prevent a fungal infection from getting worse. Try to avoid working with or around your plants in wet weather.
Using drip irrigation instead of watering from overhead will help to keep your plants dry.
Stake Your Plants
When your plants are staked, this helps to create better airflow around them, helping them to stay dry.
Another benefit is that there will be less contact between the leaves and the soil that could be contaminated with spores. Pruning the suckers at the bottom of the plant will also help.
However, don’t wait until your tomatoes are fully grown to stake them.
You should put the stakes in at the time of planting. If you stake them later on, you risk damaging the roots.
If you see signs of early blight on one or two of your plants, it’s best to pull them up and destroy the debris immediately. Do not place it on the compost pile.
You’ll then need to inspect the rest of your crops to check for symptoms, and treat accordingly, as discussed below.
Organic Treatments
Even if they aren’t showing any symptoms, if one plant has been infected, then it’s likely that the infection has already spread to your other plants. There are a few treatment options available.
This is a strain of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis that can help prevent the infection from spreading.
While the copper fungicide dust will kill existing infections, CEASE decreases the likelihood that any remaining fungi will spread throughout your crop.
In other words, if a fungicide targets one specific aspect of the organism’s metabolism, resistance develops much more quickly than if the chemical targets a number of different biochemical processes at the same time.
You may want to apply fungicide as a preventative measure. If so, apply it at fruit set, or just before, and reapply every 7 to 14 days, avoid harvesting your tomatoes within 7 days of application.
Always follow the manufacturer’s recommendations when you use chemical treatments.
There Is Hope Against This Ubiquitous Pathogen
Despite its frequent presence on tomatoes, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk of initial infection and subsequent spread of early blight.
Some of these are standard protocols for growing tomatoes, like removing all plant debris at the end of the season, and rotating your crops.
Others are more specific to the problem, like using biofungicides or chemical fungicides to treat the infection.
Have you had success battling early blight? Let us know how you fared in the comments.
We were not able to really work on the front and side yard, as there was a giant sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua, Zones 5–9) in the easement that was too expensive to take out. It had created significant damage to the driveway. A third of the tree fell into the house during a windstorm, and we quickly seized the opportunity to remove the remainder of the tree (rotting on the inside) and excavated the entire front and side yard.
I was able to fulfill a dream I had had to put in brick walkways and antique iron gates and a small courtyard with a fountain. We met many neighbors during the project who planned their walks to see the progress we made each week after the tree fell. Here are a few pictures. It is a work in progress.
Here’s the “before” photo—not bad, but not very exciting.
And here is what it has turned into! Terri says it is a work in progress, but it is sure progressing well.
View through the iron gates to the new courtyard and fountain.
And stepping inside, it is a beautiful, formal garden space. Those chairs look like a perfect spot to sit and enjoy the sound of the fountain.
Taking a step back, you can see the new plantings around the courtyard. And you can see that this isn’t a big area. You don’t need a huge yard to make beautiful garden spaces.
Abundant, romantic flowers soften the formal lines of the garden.
Repeated hedges and blooming hydrangeas (Hydrangeaarborescens, Zones 3–9) unify the space into a harmonious whole.
A garden sculpture is half-hidden by the flowers around it.
A romantic old flowering cherry tree (Prunus sp.) is set off perfectly by the formal hedge around it.
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
We haven’t yet met a soft place to sit that we didn’t like. If it’s in the garden—even better. And with summer fast approaching, portable mattresses (also referred to as bedrolls, throwbeds, and floor mattresses) can easily transition from atop a sofa to outdoor lounger, chair, or lawn. We’ve rounded some of our favorites.
Above: Available in beautiful paisley prints or stripes, Plumo’s block-printed Cotton Mattresses, £69, come with handles at either end.Above: LA-based Hedgehouse makes a large selection of Throwbeds in classic preppy patterns (think stripes and gingham); from $270.Above: Caravane’s collections lean towards beautiful subdued palettes. The Raana Sofa Cover, €185 is no exception, made with block-printed cotton in indigo, red, and khaki stripes and finished with corner tassels.
If you’re a gardener in a hot climate (like me!), you may have grown okra and wondered what to do with the excess harvest. How about using the abundance in okra water? In this blog post, we’ll explore the health benefits of okra water and show you how to make and use it.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
How to make okra water
To make okra water, all you need is fresh okra and water.
Start by washing the okra pods and cutting off the stems.
Then, slice the okra pods in half or coarsely chop them.
Place the okra in a jar or a large bowl and cover it with water.
Refrigerate and let it sit overnight or for at least eight hours.
The water will turn slimy, slightly thick, and have a neutral or somewhat earthy taste.
Once the water has infused with okra and turned into a gel-like substance, strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
Add lemon juice or honey to the water to add flavor.
Store the okra water in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Health benefits of okra water
This tender vegetable is an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants and has many health benefits.1 Okra water can help you boost your immune system, fight inflammation, and improve your heart health.2
Okra water contains a high amount of soluble fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C, which makes it a nourishing drink for your body. Here are some of the health benefits of okra water:
Boosts immune system: Okra water contains vitamin C and other nutrients that can help strengthen your immune system and protect your body against infections, viruses, and diseases.
Prevents constipation: The soluble fiber found in okra water can help regulate bowel movements and reduce symptoms of constipation, as it acts as a natural laxative.
Regulates blood sugar levels: If you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, drinking okra water may help stabilize your blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity. The fiber in okra water slows down the absorption of sugar from your intestines and into your bloodstream, which can prevent blood sugar spikes.
Lowers cholesterol: The soluble fiber in okra water can also help reduce harmful cholesterol levels in your blood. By binding to bile acids in your gut, the fiber prevents them from being absorbed, forcing your liver to produce more bile from existing cholesterol, lowering your cholesterol levels.
How to use okra water
You can drink okra water as a refreshing beverage by adding ice cubes, lemon wedges, mint, herbs, or your favorite sweeteners. Okra water can also be used as a base for smoothies, juice blends, or tea infusions. Use okra water in recipes that call for liquid, such as soups, stews, and sauces.
When using okra water in cooking, remember that it has a neutral taste and can thicken liquids due to its natural mucilage. To avoid slimy textures, use okra water in moderation or mix it with other liquids.
Tips for growing and harvesting okra
Okra water is a simple and affordable way to boost your health and enjoy the benefits of this nutritious vegetable. Whether you grow your own okra plant or buy fresh okra from your local farmers’ market, you can enjoy the many flavors and nutrients that okra has to offer. So try okra water and see how it can benefit your body and taste buds!
Sources that offer more information on the health benefits of okra:
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post about the potential health benefits of okra water is for educational purposes only and not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before changing your diet or lifestyle. The author and publisher of this blog post are not responsible for any adverse effects that may arise from using the information provided herein.
If this post about the health benefits of and how to make okra water was helpful, please share it:
Living in a hot climate like the low desert of Arizona, I enjoy growing crops that flourish in the heat. Okra, which thrives in high temperatures, is one of my favorites, and just one or two plants provide us with all the okra we need.
This Southern favorite is a must-have in dishes such as gumbo and fried okra, but it’s also tasty when served fresh. The best part is that okra is a low-maintenance crop to grow. Discover how to grow okra with these helpful tips.
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
How to Grow Okra
All about okra:
Okra is a tall, warm-season annual that produces beautiful flowers. Once the flowers fade, they turn into a fiber-rich vegetable that is packed with folate and vitamin K. Okra also has the benefit of slowing down the digestion of carbs and sugars.
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is also known as gumbo, lady’s finger, and bhindi in different parts of the world. It is part of the mallow family and is closely related to cotton, roselle hibiscus, and cocoa.
An annual plant that can grow up to 6 feet tall, okra has a spread of about 3 feet. This heat-loving crop grows best in warm climates with plenty of sunlight.
Try different varieties of okra:
There are several varieties of okra to choose from. Clemson Spineless is a popular variety that is easy to grow and has a high yield. Emerald is another popular variety that is resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt diseases. Burgundy has deep red pods and is a unique variety to grow in your garden.
Okra thrives in hot weather, so it’s important to wait until the soil has warmed up before planting it outside. The soil should be at least 70°F for the seeds to germinate. In the low desert of Arizona, plant okra from the middle of March through the end of May.
If you have a short growing season, consider starting okra seeds indoors. Sow the seeds about 4-6 weeks before your last expected frost date. Fill a seed starter tray with potting soil and plant the seeds about ½ inch deep. Transplant them to your garden when the soil warms in the spring.
Okra growing tips:
Okra prefers well-drained soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.8. Loamy soil is perfect for growing okra but it will also grow in sandy soil. If your soil is heavy clay, amend it with organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure to improve drainage.
Okra needs at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day to grow well. It’s important to choose a location with full sun exposure for your okra plants.
Plant seeds ¾” deep and about 6” apart. Thin to at least one foot apart; mature okra plants are tall and wide and need plenty of room to spread. Be aware that because the plants grow tall, okra can shade other plants.
Water okra to a depth of 8-12”. Keep the soil moist but not soggy, and water your plants deeply once a week if there’s no rain. Mulch well to conserve moisture and prevent weeds.
Okra doesn’t require much fertilization, but you can add a balanced fertilizer about halfway through the growing season if the plants look like they need a boost.
As your okra plants grow, you may want to consider pruning them to keep them at a manageable size. Prune the lower leaves to encourage air circulation and prevent the shading of nearby vegetables.
How to grow okra as a companion plant:
Here are some companion planting ideas for okra:
Tepary beans climbing okraCloseup of tepary beans and okra growing as companion plants
Tepary Beans: These drought-tolerant beans grow well in the same soil as okra and can utilize the tall structure of okra plants to climb for support.
Climbing Beans: Other climbing beans, such as French beans, Lima beans, and runner beans, can also be grown alongside okra to take advantage of its height and structure.
Sweet Potatoes: Okra uses tall space while sweet potatoes grow below ground, and their vines can climb the okra. This maximizes vertical space and improves soil health, as sweet potatoes add organic matter to the soil, and the okra acts as a natural trellis.
Okra and sweet potatoes as companion plants
These plants make great companions for okra, as they have similar soil and water requirements and can help improve soil health. By planting them together, you can create a more diverse and sustainable ecosystem that benefits you and the environment.
To help with watering container-grown okra, consider adding an oya, a terracotta vessel that gradually releases water over time. This keeps the soil evenly moist without overwatering, which is especially important for okra to produce tender, tasty pods. I use oyas from Growoya. (Use code GROWING for a discount.)
Okra harvesting tips:
Once okra flowers, it will be ready for harvest in 3-4 days. The taste of okra pods is best when harvested at 2-3” long. Okra pods longer than 4” begin to be fibrous and inedible. (Pro tip: You can use them for okra water if you wait too long to pick them!)
Make it a point to harvest okra daily while it is producing (leaving pods on the plant slows or stops production). Always harvest okra by cutting with a knife or pruners (pulling the pods off can damage the plant).
Okra plants can produce pods for about 8-10 weeks. However, if you take good care of your plants, you may be able to extend the growing season.
Once the plants start to produce less, it’s time to cut plants off at the base (the roots will add organic matter to the soil) and move the plants to your compost pile.
Cut off spent okra plants at soil level. Roots will add organic matter to the soil.
How to save okra seeds:
Saving seeds from okra plants is a great way to preserve the variety of okra you have grown and to save money on buying new seeds each year. Here are some steps to follow when saving okra seeds:
Allow the okra pods to fully mature and dry out on the plant. The pods should turn brown and become hard and woody.
Once the pods are completely dry, remove them from the plant and cut them off with garden shears or scissors.
Next, put dried okra pods in a paper bag or envelope labeled with the variety’s name and the year.
Store the bag or envelope in a cool, dry place for several weeks to allow the seeds inside the pods to fully dry and separate from the pod.
Once the seeds are fully dry, gently shake the bag or envelope to release the seeds from the pods.
Remove any debris or chaff from the seeds by sifting them through a fine-mesh sieve or strainer.
Store the seeds in an airtight container (such as a glass jar), and keep them in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to plant them.
Storing and using harvested okra:
To avoid spoilage, it is best not to wash okra until you are ready to use it. Instead, wrap it in a dry paper towel and place it in a plastic bag or container. Store it in the vegetable drawer of your fridge or at a temperature between 45°F and 50°F. For the best quality, consume within 3 to 5 days and wash before using.
Enjoy okra in a variety of ways:
For the best taste, prepare okra as soon as possible after picking. Okra is a versatile vegetable that can be used in a variety of ways. To prevent the slimy texture often associated with okra, try slicing it thin and cooking it at high heat with acidic ingredients like tomatoes or vinegar. Okra can be used in stews, curries, stir-fries, soups, and salads, or even battered and fried for a tasty snack.
In addition to its versatility, okra is also packed with health benefits. It’s a great source of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants, and has been shown to help lower cholesterol, improve digestion, and support heart health. Fresh okra is ideal for salads and stir-fries while drinking okra water (made by soaking sliced okra in water overnight) is a popular way to reap the benefits of this nutritious vegetable.
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A mainstay in many shade gardens, astilbe will be at its best when given the right food at the right time.
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But fertilizing is not a one-size-fits-all solution if you want to see these flowers reach their full potential.
We’ve got all you need to know right here, so without further ado, here’s our guide to fertilizing astilbe.
You’ll be able to give your plants everything they need, all without anything extraneous, while providing maximum impact on their growth.
What Does Astilbe Need to Feed?
This shade-loving perennial prefers a setting with consistent moisture and slightly acidic to neutral soil. You can learn more about the basics of growing astilbe in our guide.
It can be a heavy feeder if allowed to really take off and do its thing, and in my experience it values receiving two good feedings each year.
Because these plants spread via rhizomes and flower profusely in season, they can use up a lot of nutrients annually.
At the very least, a slow release fertilizer should be applied in the springtime for the happiest and healthiest plants, but a secondary fall application is beneficial as well.
That fall fertilization is important for astilbe that blooms early in the spring. Let’s look at the specific types of fertilizer I recommend, and then we can look at when to apply each.
Types of Fertilizer
While I’ve picked out a few specific types of fertilizers for you to use, you can get away with using either of the first two options and calling it a day.
Compost
A tried and true favorite, using compost offers the lightest touch we can have when fertilizing anything in the garden.
Compost is a well-rounded option that provides a slow and steady boost to garden soils.
When applying compost as a fertilizer, aim to add a layer of about one to two inches around your plants.
That’s more compost than I’d normally recommend, but astilbe will eat it all up.
If you aren’t making your own compost you can buy some from local garden centers or big box stores with a yard and garden department. Many local townships offer free compost as well.
Osmocote
I’ve been using Osmocote Smart-Release Flower and Vegetable Plant Food for as long as I’ve been gardening.
It’s an excellent general purpose, slow-release fertilizer, and you can use it on pretty much anything in your garden.
This specific style has a 14-14-14 NPK composition and it is what I prefer to use on outdoor flowering plants.
If this is the only fertilizer you use in your garden, your plants will do alright.
Blood Meal
While it sounds ghoulish, blood meal is a common fertilizer in the garden, and there’s nothing nasty about it. It’s dried blood sourced from slaughterhouses that is then ground up into “meal.”
Okay, that is pretty ghoulish, but it’s very good stuff for the garden.
It’s very high in nitrogen and is best used as a fertilizer later in the year. Every time I get the chance I’ll suggest an Espoma version of a fertilizer, and this is no exception.
Their blood meal is the only one I’ve used for awhile, and I’ve never had a reason to change to something else.
Find 12-0-0 NPK Organic Blood Meal from Espoma available on Amazon in three-pound bags.
Plant-Tone
What do you know, another plug for Espoma. If you’re trying to get one product with a little bit of everything from this list of fertilizers, you’d be wise to use their all-purpose, standard mixture.
With a 5-3-3 NPK, it’s made from naturally derived organic ingredients. As an added bonus, it also includes various strains of healthy bacteria to improve soil health.
Unlike Brawndo, it’s actually got what plants crave. (Any “Idiocracy” fans out there?)
I use this for everything and go through a few bags a year. Pick up a four-pound bag on Amazon.
When to Apply Fertilizer to Astilbe
Apply your fertilizers early in the spring to encourage strong and healthy growth for the season. If you can only feed your astilbe once a season, spring is the time to do it!
A secondary application in the fall can be beneficial as well to give your plants a head start leading into the next year.
If you have a type that blooms early in the season, this second feeding is more important to provide.
How to Apply Fertilizers
While you should always follow the directions on the label when applying fertilizers, plants like astilbe benefit from a larger portion.
For that reason I suggest following the directions on each package and then adding an extra application at one-half the recommended rate.
The exception is when using blood meal. Already extremely high in nitrogen, adding anything beyond the recommended rate is unnecessary and can actually inhibit flower growth.
Kitchen’s Closed!
Fertilizing astilbe is a very straightforward process, and I think you’ll have no problem producing strong and healthy plants in your garden.
I’d love to hear all about your plants, and also what suggestions or questions you have about the process, in the comments below.
What comes to mind when you think of “old school” or “classic” plants? You might think of your grandmother’s bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla and cvs., Zones 5–9), common lilac (Syringa vulgaris and cvs., Zones 3–7), forsythia (Forsythia spp. and cvs., Zones 5–8), or her ultimate classic—rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus* and cvs., Zones 5–9). Native to China and India, rose of Sharon, or althea, was introduced to the Americas prior to the 1600s. It has stood the test of time for several reasons, including its ability to thrive with virtually no care. It is also the only woody Hibiscus species that is hardy north of Zone 8. That, combined with its ease of growing from seed and its dependable blooms, made it a great pass-along plant for hundreds of years—a blessing and a curse.
Rose of Sharon did fall out of favor in the latter part of the last century, but in recent years there has been a resurgence in new and improved cultivars. Breeders have been developing plants with variegated foliage, double flowers, and dwarf and columnar forms, as well as plants that don’t produce seed. I have amassed a collection of over 25 of the newest cultivars at the University of Tennessee Gardens in Jackson. There are so many good ones that it is hard to choose a standout, but if pressed, I would say that Pollypetite® is among my most recent favorites.
Growing into a small rounded habit, this selection has large, dark green, maple-like leaves, and large, soft, lavender-pink flowers with no eye. It begins to bloom in late spring. Both its leaves and its flowers are bigger than those of conventional rose of Sharons, making it look more like a tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and cvs., Zones 9–11) but without being garish and gaudy. When it is grown in average to good garden conditions, blooms continue into fall. For the best flower production, this shrub should be grown in six or more hours of direct sun. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are attracted to its nectar, and the large petals make for an easy landing.
Pollypetite® is a second-generation hybrid and has the highest level of sterility ever seen in rose of Sharons, effectively solving the problem of unwanted seedlings in your garden. It is the result of an openpollinated cross between two cultivars of Hibiscus paramutabilis × syriacus, ‘Tosca’ and ‘Lohegrin’, by legendary horticulturist Polly Hill (1907–2007). The hybrid, given the cultivar name ‘Rosina’ in 1997, has been recently rebranded and brought to market with the trademark name Pollypetite®.
Like other rose of Sharons, Pollypetite® is tolerant of a wide range of soil types; once established, it is drought tolerant as well. It is also deer resistant. I have found it to not be very attractive in a nursery pot and to be a little slow to start in the landscape—like some other dwarf shrubs—but it is well worth the wait in the end. Its compact size, sterility, and ability to thrive in a wide range of conditions make this plant a winner in most gardens.
Pollypetite® rose of Sharon
Hibiscus ‘Rosina’
Zones: 5–9
Conditions: Full sun; adaptable to a wide range of average to dry soil types
Jason Reeves has been putting plants to the test at the University of Tennessee in Jackson since 2002 and can be followed on Facebook at “Jason Reeves – in the garden.”
Adding a splash of sunflower sunshine is a whole lot easier with this dwarf hybrid. It is a perfect fit mixed into large borders or showcased in tight spaces. A winner of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Merit, ‘Happy Days’ is an easygoing perennial that has cheery yellow flowers featuring anemone-like double centers on strong, well-branched stems. It plays well with other late-season perennials such as sedums (Hylotelephium spp. and cvs., Zones 3–11) and ornamental grasses. ‘Happy Days’ also brightens up the indoors as a cut flower in a vase.
