In The Garden

In the Garden

Ralph Purkhiser, Purdue University Master Gardener

     I apologize to anyone who visited the Indiana State Fair and was confused by my last column.  I was unaware of some of the changes that had been made at the fair.  The 4-H garden and floriculture exhibits have been moved to the Centennial Pavilion, the former boys’ dormitory.  The commercial building is closed and the vendors have moved into the old Horticulture building.  It is a smaller building, so there are fewer commercial vendors.  There are much-improved livestock facilities and a new Farm Bureau Pavilion.  The pioneer village has been expanded, offering more space for craftsmen and glimpses into history.  I hope no one got lost because of my errors.  The Indiana State Fair is still a great exposition of Hoosier agriculture.  It continues through August 18.

      My fair activities left me with a day between fairgrounds visits, so I made a fun side trip north to Shipshewana.  It had been several years since I had visited the flea market there, but I was not disappointed.  This is a gardener’s dream market.  There are several vendors that offer plants.  The quality of plants was excellent, and I found some varieties that I had not seen in garden centers.  There are also many vendors offering garden tools and décor.  The flea market is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so plan accordingly.

     If you are in the area, you may wish to consider another stop at a unique garden.  The Krider World’s Fair Garden in Middlebury is small, at just over two acres, but it is full of whimsy and history.  The garden was originally installed at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, and was disassembled and reconstructed in Middlebury after that exposition.  Middlebury is only seven miles from Shipshewana, and also offers several nice places to shop and eat.

     As if my travels were not enough to keep me away from my garden, I found myself spending a lot of time watching the Summer Olympics.  I found myself watching for sites that were familiar.  I was especially intrigued by the setting of the equestrian events—the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.  Watching gave rise to memories of my visits there.

     King Louis XIII purchased the property in the early 1600’s to use it as a country chateau.  He also had the original gardens constructed.  However, it was Louis XIV who ordered the construction of the grand palace and the opulent gardens.  The central axis of the gardens is the Grand Canal, which is surrounded by numerous bosquets, parterres and formal gardens.

     Louis XIV had been impressed with the fountains of Rome and considered numerous fountains to be a symbol of his importance.  However, the fountains presented a great problem for landscape designer Andre Le Notre.  The fountains of Rome work because of the mountains surrounding the city.  The Romans had learned the art of using progressively smaller pipes to build up water pressure.  However, there are no mountains around Versailles.  Le Notre devised an ingenious hydraulic pump system that is still in use today, but even that would not make all of the fountains work at the same time.  The solution was to just activate the fountains the king could see.  When he went into the gardens, a servant went ahead to turn on the next fountain before he arrived.  Another servant followed him to shut off the fountain he had passed, since the water pressure could not run multiple fountains at the same time.  If you visit Versailles today, you will see beautiful water shows that would have pleased Louis XIV, but would have been impossible in his day.  If you ever travel to France, I suggest you make a visit to Versailles a part of your itinerary.

• Garden

In the Garden

Ralph Purkhiser, Purdue University Master Gardener

      It is State Fair time!  The Indiana State Fair started August 2 and continues through August 18.  The fairgrounds are closed on Mondays, but six days a week, the event is a showcase for Indiana agriculture.  While I hear many people in southern Indiana who say they prefer the Kentucky State Fair, I am loyal to the Hoosier state exhibition.  Indiana’s fair is a true fair, and not just a stay-in-the-air-conditioning business forum.

     Of course, 4-H and FFA are a huge part of the Indiana State Fair.  Hoosier youths have worked hard and have won the right to exhibit or compete at the fair.  Attending their competitions and viewing their exhibits show support for our young people.  Once again, I am serving as a judge in the Horticulture Building, and I am always amazed at the quality of the produce, flowers and herbs exhibited by Hoosier 4-Hers.  The Horticulture Building has a lot more than 4-H exhibits.  There are also exhibits in the open-class competitions and horticulture-related businesses.  You may see competitions for specific flowers and vegetables, gourds and even Christmas trees.  While not a true horticulture product, honey and the bees that make it get prominent billing.  After all, bees are responsible for the pollination of many of our crops.

     Of course, there is much more to the fair than just the horticulture building.  My personal favorite spot is the pioneer village and the gardens in that area.  The village also features pioneer crafts, traditional music and exhibits of antique farm equipment.  Since I am a collector of old garden tools, I love to look at the various implements and try to figure out how they were used.  It has been a tradition for me to buy a new broom at the fair.  One may watch a broom being made, and these “corn” brooms are of top quality.

     There are a few other display gardens at the fairgrounds, and I always visit them to see what has been changed since my last visit.  The butterfly garden outside the DNR pavilion is always a busy place.  Another educational garden area demonstrates the importance of plants in water quality.

     Animals come and go at the fairgrounds, so it depends on the day you visit as to what animals you may see.  I urge you to take time to watch 4-Hers showing their animals.  You will be impressed by the skill of these young people.

     No fair visit would be complete without visiting the old-fashioned Hook’s drugstore and the commercial building on Main Street.  You will find all sorts of merchandise being demonstrated.  After all of that, you owe yourself a treat.  Food vendors are everywhere, and the variety is staggering.  I always try to get something that is not generally found around my hometown.  I cannot confirm it, but I have been told that calories consumed at the Indiana State Fair do not count against your diet.

     I rarely visit the midway, but I am told that it is one of the best carnivals around.  My rides are usually limited to the tractor-pulled trams that circle the fairgrounds constantly, helping visitors to get from one event to another.

     Rated as one of the ten best state fairs in the nation, the Indiana State Fair is definitely Hoosier pride on display.  Make a trip to Indianapolis and enjoy a Hoosier tradition.

In the Garden

Ralph Purkhiser, Purdue University Master Gardener

     Several people have asked me recently why their spring-flowering shrubs are blooming again.  The short answer to that question is that the plants are under stress.  That stress may be from extreme heat, drought, disease or even storm damage.  But why should stress cause a plant to bloom out of its normal season.  The answer to that is a bit more complicated.

     The primary purpose of all plants is to reproduce themselves.  For flowering plants, that is the reason for the flowers.  The flowers attract pollinators, which carry the pollen to other blooms and complete the process of pollination, eventually resulting in the production of seeds, which will fall to the earth and germinate, producing a new plant.

     When a plant is stressed, the need to reproduce becomes the highest priority.  That is the reason that stressed plants produce flowers, even if it is outside their normal bloom period.  Unfortunately, those out-of-season blooms rarely result in completing their mission and producing new plants.

     The good news is that most plants will recover from the stress that triggers re=blooming.  The key is to find the cause of the stress and do what you can to alleviate it.  If the stress has been caused by drought, water the plant regularly if there is not sufficient rain.  If the plant has been damaged, pruning out the damaged portions and allowing them to heal may help the plant recover.  If the cause is disease, determine the disease and research to see if there are ways to combat that problem.

     Certain plants are more prone to re-blooming.  Weigelas, for instance, set a major bloom in the spring, but often will sport a lesser number of blooms later in the summer.  Weigelas may actually bloom several times, and this phenomenon does not seem to adversely affect the next year’s blooms.  Lilacs also are prone to re-blooming.  Actually, there are some cultivars of oriental lilacs that have been bred to re-bloom.  Bloomerang lilacs may set blooms several times, with a fall bloom that nearly rivals the initial bloom in the spring.  The old-fashioned lilacs are especially susceptible to fungal diseases, and many people have noted that the leaves of the lilacs are turning brown and crisp.  There is not much one can do to fight a fungus, once it has started, but if the plant is otherwise healthy, it will survive and may set new leaves in a few weeks.  Do your best to clean up the old leaves and either burn them or dispose of them far away from the lilacs.  This will help reduce the danger of a repeat occurrence next year.  In worst-case scenarios, you may have to resort to a complete rejuvenation, cutting the shrub to the ground and cleaning up all of the debris.  If the roots are strong, the shrub will re-grow, but it may take a few years for it to bloom again.

     Encore azaleas came on the scene a few years ago.  These are plants that were bred to re-bloom.  Like the lilacs, the fall bloom period is usually lighter than the spring bloom.

     The most unusual re-blooming that I have noticed at Sandhill Gardens is on a China Girl blue holly.  The shrub bloomed well in the spring and has set abundant berries, which have started to get a little blush color on them.  I was looking forward to a good crop for wreath-making this Christmas season.  Recently, however, there have been some branches on which the leaves have turned brown, and the rest of the shrub is blooming again.  I suspect that heat stress has caused this problem, and the only thing I can do is make sure the shrub gets enough water and keep it as healthy as I can otherwise.

     Since there is little that we can do about re-blooming, the best advice I have is to enjoy the out-of-season blooms.  This may result in fewer blooms in the spring, but some fertilizer and good watering practices should help the plant get back on track.

• Garden

In the Garden

Ralph Purkhiser, Purdue University Master Gardener

     I just saw my first goldenrod blooms for the year, and right on time, my eyes are sticky and watering and my nose is running.  However, the two events are not really related.  It seems that I repeat this explanation annually, but I still hear people saying that the goldenrod gives them hay fever.

     To understand the situation, we must discuss the different ways plants are pollinated.  Some plants release their pollen into the air and depend on the wind to carry it and complete the pollination process.  In other plants, the pollen is carried from one plant to another by pollinators, including insects, birds and other animals.  It is those plants that release pollen into the air that cause hay fever symptoms in people.

     If a restaurant wants to attract people, the owners put up a sign.  Flashing neon signs get the attention of would-be diners.  Flowers play the same role in the realm of plants.  The flowers advertise the presence of nectar, and as pollinators stop in to eat, they get pollen on them, which they carry to the next flower they visit.  Such pollens are generally larger than those released into the air, and usually are a little sticky.  Since they are heavy and sticky, they are not released into the air and are not the cause of allergy symptoms.  In general, flowering plants do not cause hay fever!

     That being said, some people develop specific allergies that may be triggered by the scent of flowers, but such symptoms are specific sensitivities and not true hay fever allergies.  Some people also have tactile allergies to the sap of plants, usually resulting in skin rashes instead of hay fever symptoms.

      So why does the sighting of the bright yellow flowers of goldenrod signal the start of allergy season?  Is it all in our minds?  Not at all.  It is simply that goldenrod happens to bloom at the same time that ragweed blooms.  Ragweed flowers are tiny and green, so they are not showy and advertising for pollinators.  They release their pollens into the air and are the major cause of hay fever in the Midwest.  Another plant that is air-pollinated is corn.  When you see the tassels on the corn, you may find yourself having allergy symptoms.  Grasses and many weeds also release pollens into the air, and the beautiful goldenrod gets the blame, because it is more noticeable.

     The oft-maligned goldenrod is actually a beneficial plant for the eco-system.  In Indiana, there are more than twenty species in the genus Solidago, with one for just about every site.  Some tolerate dry soil, while others thrive in wet conditions.  Some are only about two feet tall, while others top out over six feet tall.  The flowers have many forms, but all have that beautiful bright yellow color to attract the pollinators.  The goldenrods are essential for late summer and fall pollinators, providing the energy needed for some to migrate and supplying the food that others need to get them through the winter months.

      As noted, the latex sap of Solidago may cause rashes for some people, but that latex has been investigated as a replacement for rubber, and research continues into other possible uses.

     Meanwhile, the flying pollen of common and giant ragweed continue to cause watery eyes, runny noses, scratchy throats and sneezing.  I encourage efforts to cut or pull those plants before they get to bloom stage.  It is not likely that we can get them all, but reducing the numbers will help keep the air clean.