Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

We have been blessed with great winter weather, however, with shorter days and cooler temperatures most all of us spend more time inside.  The cabin fever and longing for spring seems to grow in each of us, as this winter season stretches out.

Houseplants can lift our spirits, give us hope for spring,  and add fresh oxygen to our enclosed homes and offices.  House plant sales are always highest during this season when we are “cooped up” inside so much more.  Not only do houseplants add color, life, beauty and interest to our home but numerous studies by NASA and others prove their value in cleaning our air of pollutants while producing the fresh oxygen we mammals require.  Plants and humans as well as other animals were designed to function or work together.  Plants need the carbon dioxide we give off and that can poison us when levels are too high and we need the clean, fresh oxygen that plants produce whether outside or inside.  That oxygen is important outside for our whole biosphere but it may be even more important inside the closed up spaces of our homes, offices and even spaceships.

All plants have this natural ability to filter our air, cleaning up carbon dioxide and other pollutants but studies show some plants are especially effective like chlorophytum or airplane plant, members of the Dracaena family, and spathphyllum or peace plant.  There are hundreds, probably thousands of different plants which can grow well inside.  Their success will vary depending on your light levels, the temperature you maintain, air drafts, humidity levels and your watering habits.  The early plants grown inside by our grandparents were ficus or rubber plants, philodendron ivy, golden pothos ivy,Boston Fern,  and growing out sweet potatoes or avocado pits in the kitchen or bathroom window.

Today, there are many new selections of ficus, dracaena, philodendron, and pothos that make very successful houseplants.  For very low light you can use the traditional Sansevaria or snake plant, Aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen), or Aspidistra  (Cast Iron plant).  When placed in better light the spathphyllum will periodically produce white “flag” type flowers to add a beautiful contrast to their bright green shiny foliage.  There are several palms that do well indoors including the dwarf Neanthe Bella, Ponytail palms, Rhaphis, Bamboo, and if you have better light Areca and Majesty palms.

Numerous other great house plants include Bromeliads, Crotons, Calathea, Hawaiian Schefflera, Bird of Paradise, selected ferns, Dieffenbachia, Nepthytis, Anthurium and many others.

Remember most all plants will perform better and be healthier with more or better light but many will tolerate and hold up in lower light.  The more light, the more water most plants will need.  Let house plant soil get dry to the touch and then water.  Our home and office heating systems tend to dry out the air, so it is always a good idea to mist the foliage of your houseplants from time to time to raise the humidity around them or you can put the plants on a saucer of gravel filled with water.

Select a few houseplants to add to your space and enjoy the fresh air and beauty they can add to your life.

Welcome to the fresh new year of 2012, just waiting for you to define it and give it character and memories.  This is a special season as we recover from the excitement and intensity of the holidays while getting back in rhythm for a new year.

This is the season when we traditionally reflect on our life, the year gone by and plan or think about the year ahead as we set new goals and plot new directions.  This process of review and planning can also be beneficial when you are thinking about your yard, landscaping, and gardening efforts.  Do you want to create a new flowerbed, do you want to plant more trees or shrubs?  Do you want to add an automatic drip or sprinkler watering system?  Do you want to grow your own fresh vegetables? Do you want to add and landscape a porch, patio or outdoor living area?  Do you want to add a hobby greenhouse?  Do you need to prune and shape your trees and shrubs?  Do you want to add a water garden, a butterfly or wildlife garden?  Do you want to add more garden benches in your yard, start an orchard or vineyard, plant an herb or kitchen garden?  There are so many fun things you can do to improve the appearance and add value to your home or property while getting healthy exercise and enjoying time outside that your yard deserves consideration as you set your goals for the New Year.

We humans are tempted to want to do all these things but if you will focus on a couple of garden or horticultural projects you want to tackle this year, you are more likely to get them accomplished.  Winter weather keeps us inside a lot more and that gives us a little extra time to research your projects in newspaper or magazine stories, in books, seed and garden catalogs, or over the internet.  You can attend classes or workshops at your local OSU County extension office, Oklahoma Horticulture Society or participate in local garden clubs and plant societies.  Don’t forget that one of your best resources is often a good visit with your local nursery or garden center.  Their local knowledge, experience and input can dramatically increase your chances to be successful in your landscaping and gardening efforts.

2011 was one of the most difficult years of my lifetime, for those raising crops or plants.  We had an exceptionally cold winter last year that set all kinds of record lows followed by a summer drought and heat that tested the very will to live of many trees and plants.  Hopefully we got those extreme weather challenges out of the way last year!  We hope and pray that we can all relax and enjoy a more “normal” year ahead and give all our plants from tomatoes to trees a chance to really perform and enrich our life experiences.  We hope that 2012 is your best year yet and produces great satisfaction and happiness as you become more engaged with nature in your very own yard.

Christmas is just days away and the excitement is growing for young and old as we prepare to enjoy this Holy day and all the family celebrations.  Hopefully you have gotten in the spirit and have selected a Christmas tree, wreath and other greens to help create the atmosphere for these holiday festivities.  The beautiful and elegant poinsettias, Christmas cactus, Amaryllis and many other flowers can help get us in the Christmas mood and add color and pizzazz to our holiday experience.  Many of these horticultural delights became a part of our Christmas memories. Select and dig or cut a Christmas tree with your family, shop for poinsettias with Grandma and share them with relatives who can’t get out. Make a wreath with Mom or Dad from the branches off the juniper in the backyard while creating memories for a lifetime.  Hunt for opportunities to make memories with your family and friends this Christmas.  That could even be after Christmas when you plant your living Christmas tree in the yard or take your cut tree to a recycler to grind into mulch or to weight down in a farm pond to create fish habitat.

Plants of all types are always a good gift for gardeners, but there are many  gift options for those in your life who like to spend time in their yard or gardening.  You can always give garden tools, gloves or pruning tools.  You may give a specific plant you’ve heard them talking about or longing for.  You might consider a membership in the Oklahoma Horticulture Society,  the Myriad Gardens Conservatory or the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden.  You could give a good gardening book, a trip on a horticultural tour or a subscription to a horticultural magazine.  Our state and most every yard could use more trees so consider giving a special tree or shrub.  If the particular tree, shrub or rose is not available at this time of year, you could give a gift certificate from their favorite nursery or garden center so that they select the right plant at the proper season.  Years ago, my brothers and I gave a gift certificate to our grandparents to help in their yard the following spring and then we actually did it.  That was a special gift for Grandma and Grandpa and for us as we really cherish the memories of that time spent together visiting and telling stories while working in their garden.  You may want to give a certificate of your own to help out with pruning, planting, mowing or some other gardening activity to one of your loved ones.

Christmas is a very special time that should be full of reflection, memories, time with family and loved ones.  We hope that you won’t just rush through these events but will make time to enjoy one another and make special new memories to reflect back on in future years.

Take time to sing some Christmas songs around your Christmas tree, to light candles around the poinsettias while you share family stories and to soak in the scent of fresh evergreens as you enjoy the holiday feasts. Merry Christmas to all!

Thanksgiving is past, the fall color is almost gone and our attention has turned to the Christmas season.  Horticulture plays a significant role in our celebrations of this special day and the experience of the whole season.  Many decorate their evergreens and yards with lights, ribbons, bows, and other seasonal decorations.  We hang wreaths, garlands and ropes of evergreens to decorate our doors, mantels and homes.  We celebrate with poinsettias and Christmas trees in key or starring roles for our holiday celebrations.

                Christmas trees have played an important role in our celebrations for centuries as the early Europeans started the custom of bringing evergreen boughs and trees into their homes after everything outdoors had frozen and turned brown except for these evergreens.  The evergreens brought life, pleasant scents and energy into the celebration and evolved with the customs of gift giving and Santa Claus.  Today many use fake or artificial trees to simulate this excitement.  If you want the real thing,  select a tree from Oklahoma Christmas tree farms or trees shipped from Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Minnesota or Wisconsin.  With the interest in sustainability, living Christmas trees (container grown or balled and burlapped) from better nurseries are growing in popularity.  After Christmas, they can be planted outdoors and added to the landscape in your yard, at a local school or neighborhood park.  Don’t forget to keep the living tree watered while in the house so it will not get too dry and dehydrated.  The longer a live tree is in the house at warm, dry conditions the more it may stress the tree and adversely affect its success when planted outside.  On cut trees make sure that you use a good tree stand, make a fresh cut on the base of the trunk. Keep the water filled in the stand to keep the tree fresh as long as possible.  There are additives like polymer gels and preservatives you can add to extend the life of the tree and to keep the needles fresh.  On both living and cut live trees it is a good idea to mist or spritz the foliage with an atomizer or mist bottle. 

                Poinsettias were discovered in Mexico by our U.S. Ambassador, Joel Poinsett, back in the 1800’s.  He sent the first plants back to botanist friends in the U.S. and soon these beautiful bracts of brilliant red poinsettias came to be known as the Christmas flower.  Breeders have taken those early poinsettias and bred varieties that stay showy for months, are naturally short, for use on tabletops, desks and counters.  They have developed all different tones of red, white, pink and marbled bracts to add excitement to our Christmas holiday festivities.  Poinsettias like to be warm and watered anytime the soil starts to feel dry.  Enjoy the beauty and excitement of this Holy Christmas season.

The trees have been showcasing a spectacular and ever changing chorus of fall colors the last few weeks as we make the annual march of time towards winter. Frankly the fall colors have been much more colorful than expected after the kind of drought we have endured this summer. The yellow colors have been especially bright and impressive this year with poplars, pecans and walnuts among those dressed in bright yellow right now. The maples were impressive in red and bronze tones but are almost done. The ornamental pears are the trees closing out the fall foliage show in reds and bronzes. Soon the yellows, reds and bronzes will all be gone and we will be left with lots of leaves, rich in nutrients, on the ground and the brown tannin filled leaves on the oaks and the few other trees that cling to their leaves into winter.

This fall color is like a big message board encouraging all of us to plant more trees and shrubs. This is a great time to plant container grown or balled and burlapped field grown trees. Add new trees and shrubs to your yard or take advantage of this fall planting season to replace trees or shrubs lost in the recent ice storms, hard freeze of last winter or the recent summer drought. Visit with your nurseryman to select the right tree for your location. You can select for size, summer color, fruit, fall color, bark, speed of growth, soil type or many other factors.

This is also the planting time for pansies and spring flowering bulbs. The pansies will provide a great show of color and hope all through the winter. They will eventually “wear out” as the heat intensifies late next spring. The spring bulb crops should be selected, purchased and planted now. We won’t see them at all through the winter as they hide under ground. During the winter they will be growing roots and the new leaves and their spring flowers will be getting positioned to spring from the ground at the start of next growing season as the days get longer and the temperatures warm up.

The crocus and the grape hyacinth are usually the first to raise their flowers from the ground as if to announce that spring is getting close. They will be followed by the narcissus or daffodils as they trumpet the actual arrival of spring with their yellow, orange or white flowers waving in the wind. The daffodils are followed by the sweet scent of hyacinths and the majestic floral displays of the tulips. It is hard to believe that so much beauty and color can come so quickly from those bulbs you plant this fall, but it does. You are not able to enjoy the spring flowering bulbs next spring unless you think ahead and plant them now. There are also many varieties of lesser known bulbs that you may want to try as well. Many of the bulbs, like most varieties of hyacinths and tulips need to be replanted each year as most won’t come back in future years and if they do, their flowers are not as impressive in those future years. The daffodils are the exception, and a great choice for Oklahoma, as they will often naturalize and come back in impressive fashion year after year.

Enjoy the chorus of tree colors this fall, the uplifting charm of pansies this winter and plant spring flowering bulbs for a symphony of early spring color.