Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club ...digging in Dallas since 1993

Happy Fall!

My fall perennials are blossoming in these shorter days. May I recommend fall asters, dwarf goldenrod, and Mexican mint marigold if you do not have them in your garden? They are amazing, hardy plants that suddenly burst forth when almost all the other spring and summer bloomers are ready to sleep after a long very hot summer. Plus, they make me smile.

The softer light and cooler temperatures have caused me to return to working regularly in my yard. Small tasks like weeding and cutting back overgrown or tired plants are pleasant and rewarding. I am somewhat surprised that I am still soaking my new plants multiple times a week due to the dry October weather, and I certainly hope we can be blessed with some soaking rains soon!

Fall is for planting. Be sure to plant your trees and shrubs now. When we finally get a freeze, be sure to water them thoroughly and cover the tender or young plants. An extreme freeze can take out extremely hardy plants if they are not established. Unfortunately, I know this too well. Don’t be me.

Happy Gardening!

Davene

Cover Crops

Flying over the west central portion of the country, I could not help but notice the difference between the green irrigated crops and the disturbed brown soil in adjacent fields. Flashbacks to the dust bowl entered my mind immediately followed by the importance of keeping the ground covered, when a few crop circles appeared with a slightly patchy but green surface. At a macro level, cover crops save topsoil from blowing away and can help with nutrient deficiencies as well as trapping soil moisture and harboring beneficial microbes. The principle of keeping the ground covered works in our much smaller gardens as well.

Weeds are nature’s answer to bare ground. If the soil receives enough sunlight and a few drops of water, opportunistic seeds lying dormant are activated and can quickly establish themselves. These shade the ground and put down roots to bind the soil to prevent loss by wind or flood.

Instead of cursing the weeds, I use them as a sign that there may be too much open real estate or bare soil for them to ignore. Alternatives to weeds are plentiful.

1. Mulch - shredded hardwood or Texas cedar mulch applied over the ground 2-4 inches deep can save a lot of weeding. I prefer to apply this in the late winter before most of my perennials wake up so I have fewer obstacles to mulch around.

2. Leaves - instead of stressing about raking and bagging leaves every fall (and spring for those of us with live oaks), why not let them stay where they fall - within reason. They can be mulched into turf grass with a mulching mower and spread around planting beds as free mulch. If the leaves are large or many inches deep, consider chopping them up with a mower and then spreading them throughout your yard. Free fertilizer!

3. Cover crops - legumes and some wheat can be grown as cover crops in your vegetable garden to help fix nitrogen in the soil for future crops. Once you are ready to plant your edibles, chop then down and let them mulch the soil. This has benefits above and below the soil line.

4. Living mulch - mulching is not my favorite gardening chore. Taking cues from the weeds, I have started planting ground covers such as sedums, ajuga, lambs ears, sedges, juncus, and natives like frog fruit. Even low-growing shrubs like blue rug junipers, prostrate plum yews, St. John’s wort, and coralberry are great at spreading and covering large areas of ground. Less mulching for me!

What are some of your favorite living mulches?

Our September meeting will feature Stan Aten enlightening us about bulbs to be planted in the fall. The great news is that most bulbs push right through living mulches. This month, you can invest in the future - perennial bulbs and fewer weeds. Best September ever!

Happy gardening!

Davene

AUGUST 2024

Propagation. Just the word itself can be intimidating. Plants propagate themselves naturally via sexual reproduction (seeds), and we can use asexual means to multiply them without much effort or any specialized equipment.

My first exposure to simple asexual propagation occurred while watching my mother place cuttings of house plants in glasses of water in the kitchen windowsill of my childhood home. Inevitably roots would start to grow and the plant would be ready to be share with a friend or added to our garden. Some of the easiest plants to multiply by placing herbaceous stem cuttings in water include coleus, ivy, philodendrons, sweet potato vines, pothos, and tradescantia.

 
- - Simple water propagation

Softwood to hardwood cuttings can be rooted using trimmings to make new plants. If you prune your perennials or shrubs or have a pliable branch that needs to be removed, cut it into 4 to 6 inch sections and then strip the bottom leaves leaving only a couple at the top. Stick these cuttings in moist soil in a bright shade location. Keep the soil moist, but not wet. In a month, check the plant by gently pulling on it. If it does not come out of the soil, then you have roots. Depending on how fast that plant grows and the weather conditions, you might let it grow another month or so, or it could be gently dug and planted in another pot by itself. Some easily rooted stem cuttings include rosemary, many salvias, hydrangeas, grapes, roses, viburnum, citrus, and coralberry. I like to experiment with trimmings as there is nothing lost, and I may find another plant easily multiplied.

  
- - Rooted grape stem from spring 2024.
The vine was more than 36 inches length from a 6" cutting.

For more serious propagating, you can use enclosed containers, grow lights, misting systems, rooting hormones, and greenhouses. To increase your success rate, research specific varieties of plants online for best practices.

To respect the years and significant money expended by plant breeders and to encourage future innovation, I do not asexually propagate patented plants. These are typically newer or very unique varieties so I check online if I have any questions. Older and “pass along” plants are rarely affected.

Helpful website:
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/plant-propagation-by-stem-cuttings-instructions-for-the-home-gardener

Enjoy multiplying your plants and happy gardening!
Davene
GDOGC President

JULY 2024

Roses are red, 
violets are blue, 
it’s so hot outside, 
I don’t want to leave my AC to work in the yard.

Forgive my poor poetry - it must be the heat affecting my rhyming skills. :)

Since we have already had several 100° days, it is hard to be motivated to go outside to water my plants much less weed or install new garden features. Summer is a time to maintain my garden and plan for cooler days in a couple of months.

Since it’s not ideal for outside activities, spend your time indoors, searching for inspirational pictures, plant sources, seed offerings, and demonstration videos online. You can also volunteer for the Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club without leaving your house.

1. We need help from our members to serve on the Nominating committee for the 2025 Board. This is a limited commitment for the fall that involves emailing and or calling other members to query their interest in serving on the GDOGC board next year.

2. GDOGC 2025 Board needs volunteers for officer positions as well as committees. We work as a team and try not overburden any one position, so don’t be nervous! The commitment involves attending monthly board meetings that are 1 to 1.5 hours each and the monthly general meetings at North Haven Gardens. You are encouraged to get non-board members involved with your responsibilities as much as possible.

Even if it’s not for one one of the previously listed official capacities, please reach out to any board member or committee chair and ask questions. They would love to explain what they do and how you can help them!

Happy Gardening and stay cool!

Davene Morgan
2024 GDOGC President
Davene's garden has a lot of shade. Here are some of her favorite plants:
 
Hydrangea paniculata 'Bobo"

 
Tall fragrant phlox

 
Carex oshimensis "Everillo"

JUNE 2024

What a month! May and June have been unusually stormy to the point of flooding and destruction.

Tips for plant - and people- recovery:
Remove only damaged branches and limbs. Save the regular pruning for winter when the tree or shrub is dormant.

1. Be patient. The last 3 years have been extreme - cold, ice, drought, heat and now - rain. Our plants are recovering!

2. Avoid walking on the lawn or planting areas when the soil is wet. Our thick black clay can easily compress and injure roots and reduce available oxygen in the soil.

3. Reduce the bite by using mosquito repellents. BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) dunks can be placed in plant saucers, rain barrels, birdbaths and even gutters. Cedar-based granules are available to treat your lawn and planting areas.

Don’t miss our next meeting on Sunday, June 23. Refreshments at 2:30 PM and meeting at 3 PM. We will learn more about the native black land prairie on which we live.

Happy gardening!

Davene Morgan
GDOGC President

MAY 2024

For those of us with shade in our gardens, finding unique and colorful plants to brighten the space can be challenging. Since many of the of the beautiful blooming ones need sun, we are forced to be creative in our search for color and texture. Before you cut down your very valuable shade trees in order to have variety, let me encourage you to explore the expansive world of Japanese maples.

What began with two foot-long “sticks with roots“ from Aldi more than 10 years ago has developed into a full-blown addiction for me. There are Japanese maples for sun (Acer truncatum) and some for shade (Acer palmatum). They come in colors ranging from bright yellow and chartreuse to greens to dark purple and red black. They have variation with spots, streaks, highlighted margins, and contrasting petioles. They come in all sizes from ground covers two feet tall to mid-sized specimens to immense shade trees. They have very different leaf shapes and sizes (Acer japonicum). They range from extremely weeping to upright column shapes and every height and width in between. In other words, there’s one (or more) for your patio or yard based on your sun, space, and personal tastes.

I now have dozens of Acers planted in pots and in the ground around my garden. Most of these are dwarf cultivars, so I use them where I might otherwise place deciduous shrubs or large perennials. They are very hardy once established in the ground and have weathered all the extremes of our climate.

While they can be expensive for large, mature specimens, small Japanese maples can be found at an affordable price. Some of these cultivars grow up to two feet in a season, so you can have a sizable tree in just a handful of years. Others grow mere inches a year which allows them to happily thrive in places not usually sized for a tree.

APRIL 2024

I heard the low humming as I rounded the corner of my house. Looking up into the old Youpon Holly tree, I was greeted with thousands upon thousands of tiny white flowers and scores of insects enjoying their nectar.

Rusty Blackhaw viburnum

Sometimes I forget that many relatively common trees and shrubs actually flower and serve a key place in our early spring gardens. Not only are the yaupons extremely hardy and versatile evergreens, they also provide food for pollinators. While most trees do have male and female “flower” parts, they are extremely small and are not necessarily available for the larger pollinators like moths, bees, butterflies and birds. Other trees and shrubs that “obviously” flower early include Japanese maples, elderberries, rusty blackhaw viburnum, fruit trees and shrubs, autumn sage, and flowering vines like cross vine and clematis.

Woodland phlox

What are some other woody shrubs and trees that flower early? What animals have you seen visiting them?

This month’s meeting addresses this topic of pollinators in the garden with “Creating a Bee Friendly Yard”. 

Davene Morgan
GDOGC President.

FEBRUARY 2024