Cold Climate Gardening

January Thaw Discoveries: Plants

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:31:56 +0000

The January thaw of last week provided me with an opportunity to “check under the hood”–or, in this case, under the snow cover. It’s always thought provoking, prompting me to think about how different plants respond to this cold season.

I saw this snapdragon last time we had a thaw. It was in better shape then

This snapdragon looked perkier the last time I saw it. I don’t think it will make it till spring.

This foxglove was a seedling last year

Here’s the biggest of several foxglove rosettes that I saw in various places. Sometimes they can look great all winter, but turn brown sometime before May, when I find their dried up remains. I don’t know why. Do you? I wonder if I should be mulching them.

Some colchicums get an early start

It must be spring in the Mediterranean. That’s where a lot of colchicums originally come from (roughly speaking). And they still haven’t figured out that spring comes much, much later here. Not all my colchicums send up such precocious greenery, but many different ones do. I suspect they all share a common ancestor, and I always wonder what it is that triggers their emergence. The tips of the leaves turn brown, but the rest of the foliage looks fine and they bloom right on schedule–in autumn.

S. Arnott snowdrops

These are my furthest along snowdrops, but they aren’t nearly as far along as those of Mr. McGregor’s Daughter. She lives near Chicago. As best as I can tell, she’s had colder temperatures and more snow than I have. I thought ‘S. Arnott’ was a selection of Galanthus elwesii, one of the earliest snowdrops, but perhaps I am mistaken in that.

Lunar Glow bergenia

This ‘Lunar Glow’ bergenia has got to be the most colorful plant I saw on my little garden walk. Do all bergenias color up so nicely in the winter? This is the only one I have, a trial plant from Terra Nova Nurseries. I need to plant more of them where they can be viewed from the house.

The Great Houseplant Census of 2010

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:53:39 +0000

Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, in an effort to promote domestic harmony*, has requested gardeners everywhere to tally up the number of plants they currently have growing inside. Here are my results:

Outdoor Plants Wintering Over

1 rosemary
1 ‘Rehoku Sunrise’ carex (an experiment)
1 apple seedling (my middle daughter’s experiment)
1 orange tree grown from seed by my 16 year old son

Year Round Houseplants

4 Aloe vera
2 Christmas cactus
1 Thanksgiving cactus
1 ivy (my eldest daughter’s)
1 stem of wandering Jew, rooting in water (also my eldest daughter’s)

Forced Bulbs

8 hyacinths (pictured above)
5 Soleil d’Or narcissus (there are actually more narcissus, but some aren’t sprouting)

For a grand total of 26 plants. I would have guessed half that, but then, I probably would have counted the pots of forced bulbs as one each, and I wouldn’t have counted my children’s plants. Good thing we haven’t started any seeds yet!

What about you? Do you know how many houseplants you really have? Do you dare to find out? If so, submit your tally here.

*If you have more indoor plants than Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, you promote her domestic harmony.

Edible Blue Honeysuckle: A Fruit for Cold Climates

Clayton Wiebe — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:07:11 +0000

My first introduction to Clayton was his comment on my post about cold climate seeds. On his recommendation I checked out the links in his sidebar. That’s how I found out he grows edible blue honeysuckle, a fruit that is extremely hardy. I thought my readers would like to know more about it, so I asked him to write a guest post.

Edible Blue Honeysuckle – A New Dream Crop for Prairie Berry and Fruit Growers

If you have been searching the internet lately, you may have come across this title on a blog about growing this very interesting fruit plant. The blog is my personal story about this tough plant which originates in the southern reaches of Siberia and the north of China and as far as the Kuril Islands north of Japan. Its botanical roots are in the Family Caprifoliaceae, Genus Lonicera, species caerulea. Edible blue honeysuckle fruit is also known as Haskap and Honeyberries.

Clayton stands with a 1.5 year-old Polish seedling

I first came into contact with the edible blue honeysuckle several years ago now when I was working at the University of Saskatchewan as a Research Technician in Malting Barley breeding. This department also includes the Horticultural Crops and I had always had a strong interest in fruit growing here on the Saskatchewan Prairies where the climate is a real test of hardiness. It is not uncommon in winter for the temperature to drop to -40C (-40F) on the prairies and with wind chills it can be even harsher. Brrrrrr! Thus it was very intriguing to me to first hear of edible blue honeysuckle sometime in the couple of years prior to 2006. Dr. Bob Bors and Rick Sawatzky (Horticulture Fruit Technician) began to talk of this plant and their work with it in our Prairie context. First it was in conversations and then at Fruit Crop meeting presentations on various occasions.

They were very enthused about the potential of the edible blue honeysuckle because of its hardy nature and good fruit production potential under difficult conditions. They also intimated in those early days that there seemed to be very little problem with disease or insect pests which are welcome traits in this day when less is more in terms of pesticides. All in all this seemed like an interesting plant to bring into the home garden and try. Currently I grow about three hundred of these shrubs, including ten named varieties and numerous seedlings in various stages of growth. I am also seeding to produce about two hundred to two hundred fifty more plants.

What Do Edible Blue Honeysuckles Taste Like?

The berry is a pale to dark blue, sometimes with a waxy overlay which makes it look dusty white. The flavour is described as a blueberry with black currant and black raspberry overtones. It seems the flavour is somewhat dependent on the level of polyphenols (antioxidants) and the soil types. They are certainly better well-ripened. The Russian types can be harvested all at one picking while the Japanese-area types tend to ripen over an extended time and are later by ten to fifteen days.

Clayton's wife created this Blue Honeysuckle Crumble based on a recipe for blueberries. Clayton says honeysuckles have more liquid so it was a little runny. The sauce would be great over ice cream!

We have used the berries for pies, jam, jelly and deep-fried treats. Locally, we have a producer at the Farmer’s Market who makes ice cream. Mmmmm, good! The fruit can be somewhat tart so some mixing of fruit may be helpful. (We did a blueberry/honeysuckle mix and it was very good). You can find examples of their use on the internet. Many products are available, especially on the Island of Hokkaido in Japan, and a search for Haskap or Haskup will bring up sites which illustrate these products.

How To Grow Edible Blue Honeysuckle

This is a plant that is, as I stated earlier, very hardy, so should be able to be grown anywhere where there is reasonable soil for gardening, a little protection from winds (better pollination and prevention of berry drop), and moderate rainfall. Cold hardiness is not an issue! The flowers are known to survive at -7C or 19F. They require very little, if any, fertilizing, but can be encouraged with a very light application of low nitrogen fertilizer, probably after the blooming season, applied at the base of the plant.

They do require a mate to pollinate so be sure you get two varieties. Some pair up better than others, so ask about this when you are purchasing plants. Do not be fooled into thinking you are getting a male and female plant. This is not the case. Rather, both plants need pollen from another plant to be productive and set fruit. One of your plants may not have as good fruit since the pollinator varieties are sometimes chosen because their pollen works better on the good variety. But fruit from both plants will be edible! They should be planted with a good spacing between so ask about the final size of the variety you buy and allow at least five feet between the plants. This will give room for maintenance and harvesting. Commercial growers are encouraged to allow eighteen feet between rows if you are going to mechanical harvest.

Since they bloom very early, as soon as the snow begins to recede and temperatures are constant at 5 to 8 degrees above freezing, the blooming pattern is already set. The flowers are insignificant so this is not an ornamental. The developing fruit will need protection from the birds. Robins and cedar waxwings will fly right into the area while you are putting up the net. For most areas harvest will take place about six to eight weeks after the bloom is finished. This is somewhat dependent on variety. Pest control is not an issue so general weed control will be the only real work while the fruit develops and on into the fall after harvest.

Where Can You Buy Them?

Finally, which varieties are available, and what do you buy? There are several varieties in the species and those which have come to the North American gardener are likely hybrids of those species. As was stated above, the key is that you will need two plants, usually not related to each other. The selection process has really already been done for you and most places (remember you’re not buying a male and female) will sell plants which are compatible in terms of pollinating each other. The best information on varieties for your location is the local Horticulture Department of your university or Dept. of Agriculture. In searching for information, I have noticed that most northern states and the provinces of Canada have some information. Also check out the local tree nurseries, garden centers, or online – you may have to look for Haskap, Honeyberry or Blue Honeysuckle since nurseries are not uniform in their naming. I refer you to a good article by Craig Larson on the different varieties. Try them – you might like them!

More Information About Edible Blue Honeysuckles

Some good sources for reference on the internet are Plants for a Future Database for the North American cousins, some of which do have edible fruit and Wikipedia which has a good coverage of the included subspecies. Of course there is much information now coming out of various Departments of Agriculture and Universities who are trying to improve on the materials which have come from those places mentioned above. You will find that some of the very earliest information on breeding and selection will be found in articles by Russian plant breeders as well as other member countries that were part of the former USSR. More recently, there is the further development of materials for the Great Plains of the North American continent and the registration of names by breeders and marketers. In this information you will find the names Honeyberries and Haskap. These are still the basic edible blue honeysuckle which has taken on a new identity.

Some good reference sites

Haskap Arrives in North America by Dr. Maxine Thompson
Craig Larson’s Haskap Wine Blog
University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program
Haskaps and Honeyberries at University of Idaho
You can follow my adventures with this berry here.
A search for Lonicera caerulea will bring up many other sources of information and some great photos.

Clayton grows the edible blue honeysuckle as a serious hobby, researching and breeding these plants in the hopes of finding new cultivars suitable for marketing. His current favorite is “#51 in our seedling nursery #2.” Feel free to ask questions in the comment form. We are interested in hearing from anyone who has experience growing these berries–or eating them!

January Thaw: A Video

Kathy Purdy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:16:22 +0000

What happens when the snow melts in the middle of winter? I made a brief video to show you:

Some roads and a few low bridges have flooded, forcing early school closings and rerouting traffic.

A thaw in January is common, but rain doesn’t always accompany it. Sometimes it is brilliantly sunny, inspiring snowball fights in shirt sleeves. A thaw like this is similar to what happens in mud season–except we know winter isn’t over yet. Despite warming up to over 50F today, it will drop below freezing tonight and there’s a chance of snow flurries.

Seventh Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium

Kathy Purdy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:00:03 +0000

Kerry Mendez just emailed me about the Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium: “Six dynamic garden lectures by nationally recognized speakers, great handouts, food, door prizes, and garden gifts. The event takes place at The Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT. Overnight packages and day only rates available. Speakers include garden designer Julie Moir Messervy; Charlie Nardozzi of the National Gardening Association; Joe Kunkel, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and past President of the Perennial Plant Association; Heather Poire from Proven Winners; and perennial specialist Kerry Ann Mendez of Perennially Yours.” For more about the speakers, topics, agenda and registration fee, visit the symposium’s web site or call Kerry at (518) 885-3471.

How Do You Know If A Plant Is Hardy?

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:57:14 +0000

I was just reading Graham Rice’s musings on plants that grow in the coldest climates. He observed that the resources he consulted did not agree on which plants were tough enough to take USDA zone 2. If you’ve been gardening for any length of time (which of course Graham has), this won’t surprise you.

First, there is the matter of statistics. The fewer people gardening in a certain zone, the less data available on any particular plant. I imagine with a lot of plants, to say it’s hardy to zone 2 is as much an educated guess as it is a tested hypothesis.

And then there are so many factors affecting plant hardiness besides air temperature that some people think the whole concept of hardiness zones is a joke. Ellen Hornig of Seneca Hill Perennials admits, “We include hardiness zones largely to pander to popular prejudice and give you a small degree of guidance.” Tony Avent provides a detailed analysis of the problems inherent in the concept of hardiness zones.

But you’ve got to start somewhere. That’s where other local gardeners are a tremendous help. If anyone is going to know what will make it in your garden, it’s someone with the same growing conditions. And many people who are still too isolated to find a local garden buddy now have the benefit of internet access, and can consult and befriend others in similar conditions.

This caryopteris was a gamble that I lost. It failed to return after its first winter.

In the end, the only one who’s an expert on what grows in your garden is you, and you become the expert by trial and error. That means you will kill plants. You will kill plants. After a while, you won’t kill as many, because you’ll develop a better understanding of your extremely local growing conditions. By patient observation you’ll know, for example, that a certain corner is windy, the snow always melts first by the walkway, and the area by the gutter downspout is always a little bit damper.

On the other hand, I suppose you might kill more, because you may become more willing to take chances. I find my willingness to experiment is constrained by the limits of my pocketbook. I will try a perennial rated a zone or even two zones warmer if I think I can provide the other conditions it needs, perhaps shade and moist, acid soil. But I am more conservative when it comes to an expensive tree that requires a lot of digging to plant–and to dig out again when it dies. Gardeners with a bigger acquisitions budget will be braver. Wayne Winterrowd and Joe Eck, in A Year at North Hill: Four Seasons in a Vermont Garden, describe many rhododendrons in their garden that aren’t considered hardy in their zone. But there they are, grown to maturity. Winterrowd and Eck were not assured of success when they planted them.

Graham Rice has a tough job, writing about plants for an area in which he’s never gardened. I imagine after consulting reference works, he’ll talk to friends and colleagues more familiar with gardening in that rigorous climate, and maybe seek out a gardening blog or two. Northscaping, which I’ve mentioned before, is another good source of hands-on cold climate gardening information.

Winner of the Botanical Interests Seed Collection Giveaway

Kathy Purdy — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:38:50 +0000

John Deal is the winner, chosen randomly by the random number generator. Thank you to everyone for participating! Botanical Interests will be holding other giveaways later on this year, so you will have other chances to win.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day January 2010

Kathy Purdy — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:36:57 +0000

There’s Nothing Blooming Outside

The plants I saw two and a half weeks ago are buried under snow.

No Houseplants Are Blooming

The Christmas cactus that provided a bloom this time last year dropped its one and only blossom a couple of days ago.

My Forced Bulbs Aren’t Ready Yet–Neither Hyacinths

My forced hyacinth is just barely getting started:

The green tip on this hyacinth bulb has just barely emerged

According to Elizabeth Licata, the chilling period for hyacinths is about 8 weeks. Then it is another ~~couple of~~ four weeks until they bloom. I started chilling this one on November 29th. Assuming ~~three~~four weeks from end of chilling period to bloom, I should have started it more than a month earlier on October ~~30th~~23rd if I wanted it to bloom for Bloom Day.

Nor Tazettas

These Grand Soleil d'Or tazetta narcissus are a little further along

I also started some Grand Soleil d’Or tazettas. (Tazettas are a kind of daffodil that don’t need a cold winter to bloom. As a matter of fact, they won’t survive in the ground here up north, but Texans can plant them in the ground.) Again, according to Elizabeth, these can take up to eight weeks to bloom. So for them to be blooming today, I should have started them on November 20th. But I bought them at Brent and Becky’s clearance sale, and they were delivered on December 18th, and I started chilling them on December 20th.

The Only Blooms Are On The Wall

Long story short: I have nothing blooming for Bloom Day.

This wallpaper border is as close as I get:

This Waverly wallpaper border is based on paintings by Redouté

According to Waverly, this wallpaper was “derived from Les liliacées illustrated by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, botanical illustrator of the 18th and early 19th centuries, and published in France in 1802.”

Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world publish what is currently blooming in their gardens, and leave a link in Mr. Linky and the comments of May Dreams Gardens.

Don’t miss our Botanic Interests seed giveaway, going on now through Sunday!

Seeds for Cold Climates

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:46:59 +0000

Seeds waiting to be sorted

Seeds of vegetables grown in cold climates need to have a short length to maturity and an ability to tolerate cooler than typical temperatures–day and night. You can look in any general seed catalog for terms like “short growing season,” “early-bearing,” “tolerates cool evenings,” or even the magic words, “especially bred for northern growers.”

It’s even better when you can find a seed company that specializes in seeds for cold climates. Recently, a reader asked me just that:

I live in Norway long term and am trying to find cold climate food seed for my garden.

On my Cold Climate Merchants page I have Fedco, High Altitude, Johnny’s, and Pinetree. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of them ship to Norway.

Readers, Can You Help?

Do any of you know of other seed merchants that specialize in vegetable seeds for cold climates? If they ship to Norway, that would be a bonus.

Don’t miss our Botanic Interests seed giveaway, going on now through Sunday!

Botanical Interests Seed Collection Giveaway

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:01:31 +0000

Lauren's Grape

Botanical Interests was a new seed company for me when I hosted a giveaway of their seeds last year. Since then I’ve had a chance to grow their seeds. My favorite has got to be the Lauren’s Grape poppy. It is gorgeous paired up with ‘Dark Towers’ penstemon.

Over 300 Kinds of Seeds

But Botanical Interests sells much more than poppies. They sell all kinds of flowers, as well as vegetables and herbs. You can also search on their website for organic seeds and those of North American native flowers. They are even working with botanic gardens to offer seeds of “species that are rare and endangered or may become so if not maintained.” And their website search engine makes finding what you want a breeze. Update: You can now request a print catalog as well.

Attractive and Informative Packets

And have you seen their seed packets? Botanically accurate artwork on every packet, and detailed information both outside and inside the seed packet. Some of that artwork is now featured on canvas grocery bags.

They Know Social Media

If I’m really honest, though, what I like most about Botanical Interests is how social media savvy they are. They were one of the first seed companies on Twitter and took the initiative contacting me and several other garden bloggers last year for their first seed giveaways. They are also on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Ning. They’ve even created an iPhone app that lets you search their site for growing information and gardening tips. (I don’t have an iPhone. I just have iPhone envy.)

The Giveaway

Gourmet Greens Gift Collection

This year Botanical Interests has started offering seed collections. Each collection is organized around a theme, such as Fragrant Flowers or Cat Lovers, and is attractively wrapped for gift presentation. I’m already thinking Mother’s Day, housewarming, and thank you to the outgoing president of the garden club. Really, any plant lover or potential plant lover would be thrilled. And even if–perish the thought–the recipient chose not to sow the seeds, the artwork is a pleasure in its own right. There are typically six to ten seed packets in each collection, and they are all under twenty dollars. Botanical Interests is giving away one seed collection of the winner’s choice.

How to Enter

Go to the Botanical Interests website and look over their themed seed collections.
Come back here, and in a comment, tell which collection(s) you like and why. (Only one collection is being given away, but you’re allowed to like more than one.) Make sure you enter your name and a valid email address in the comment form. It is the only way I have to contact you if you’re the winner.
Extra credit! Tweet this giveaway on Twitter and in a separate comment include the link to your tweet. (Click on the date stamp of the tweet to get a url you can paste in your comment.)
Giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday, January 17, 2010 as determined by the datestamp on the comments. One winner will be randomly chosen from all valid comments and announced on Monday, January 18, 2010.
The winner’s email will be given to Botanical Interests and they will email the winner to ask for their postal address. Currently Botanical Interests can only ship seeds to the United States, so you must have a U.S. shipping address to win. (They hope to ship to Canada soon, but the details haven’t all been worked out yet.)

Have fun, and good luck! The giveaway is over. Winner was announced here.

FTC Disclosure: Botanical Interests has sent me a seed collection without charge.