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

Crape Myrtle shrubs love the hot days of summer and after the nice rains of June they are producing a spectacular show across Oklahoma this year. I truly believe they should be our state shrub and some community should plant them extensively and then host a big Crape Myrtle festival. Crape Myrtle bloom for many weeks starting in late June, often putting on a colorful flower show into early fall. There are dwarf varieties that only grow 2 to 6 feet tall and the more common semi-dwarf varieties that are tall shrubs or even small trees of 7 to 15 feet tall. They are currently beautifying up the Oklahoma Landscape with colorful clusters of light to dark pink, red, lavender, white or variegated flowers. Most of the newer Crape Myrtle varieties are mildew resistant and experience few pest or insect problems. Some of the older varieties still have a problem with powdery mildew which looks like a white powder over the foliage, limits photosynthesis and may require use of a fungicide.

There are hundreds of varieties of Crape Myrtle so select one that will bloom the color you want and grow to the size that fits where you are planting it. When space allows, Crape Myrtle add even more impact when planted in groups of three or in rows or at the corners of a property or building. They are a deciduous shrub and will drop their leaves after the first hard freeze but the bark on the trunks is quite interesting and attractive to add excitement to our winter landscape.

There are many breeders and nurserymen around the United States working to add even more colors and growth styles to the Crape Myrtle catalog. The best of those breeders is right here in Oklahoma. Dr. Carl Whitcomb, formerly of Oklahoma State University and now with Lacebark Publications makes tens of thousands of crosses each year and then grows out the seedlings in his quest for the next great Crape Myrtle. He has already introduced many exciting new varieties to the national market from his breathtaking Crape Myrtle fields at Stillwater, Oklahoma.

You can plant new container grown Crape Myrtle even in the summer heat as long as you will be faithful with your watering. It is always a good practice to mulch summer plantings with a thin layer of bark or hull mulches to help reduce watering and to cool the soil temperature.

Crape Myrtle is only one of many plants who actually like and thrive in the hot weather as long as they get sufficient water in the heat. Many pests and insects also do well in the heat and are exploding in population. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen lots of bagworms, armies of grasshoppers, spider mites, squash bugs and caterpillar damage. The animal lovers are dealing with fleas and ticks. Visit your local nurseryman or garden center to identify your problems and to select the control that works best for you. You can choose to share your crop or landscape with these invaders, provide physical control by hand picking or trapping the pests, release beneficial insects or use an organic or chemical control.

The weeds also love the extra rain these last few weeks and the summer heat. You need to limit the weeds by hand pulling, mulching to reduce the weed population or selective use of herbicides to limit the weed competition with your desired crops. It is years like this that help gardeners understand why farmers spend and apply way more herbicides or weed killers than insecticides or fungicides.

Rodd’s article for Saturday, July 5, 2014

Happy Birthday America! Hopefully you and your family got the weekend of celebrations off to a great start yesterday. Our great country is 238 years old and gardening, horticulture and agriculture have been a key part of our country’s history and success from the beginning. Many of our early Presidents were gifted farmers and excellent botanists and gardeners. To this very day, two of the most visited gardens in America are those of George Washington at Mt. Vernon, Virginia and Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, also in Virginia. These two outstanding former Presidents were great students of the plants around them and not only raised vegetables, herbs, grains, berries and fruits for personnel subsistence and to feed their families, guests and all those who lived and worked on their farms but they planted lots of ornamental plants, shrubs and trees. They both, as did many other early day leaders and pioneer families kept detailed records of plant performance, pollinated and did some of their own crosses or breeding and experimented with different production techniques and timing. From the earliest settlers there were many crop failures, including plants brought from Europe and other areas around the world that did not work or adapt to these new lands and climates. Many other crops did work and that combined with the great natural vegetation of America led to great agricultural and gardening achievements after the first few tough years on this continent. Soon we were exporting cotton, tobacco and many other crops back to Europe and later around the world. Our farmers have been for a long time the most productive in the world because of the experimentation and imagination of our agricultural leaders since the early days of our country. Since the example set in the early days to share plant material, notes and records American farmers and gardeners have almost always shared their knowledge and plant stocks rather than hoarding it. Thomas Jefferson was such an active plant lover and botanist that one of his main reasons to promote the Louisiana Purchase and the following Lewis and Clark Expedition was to discover all the new plants and genetics in the vast new wonderlands of the central and western continent they opened up and later became part of these United States. Abraham Lincoln led the effort not only to keep the young country together but he led the effort to create two major new institutions that dramatically advanced farming and gardening. The Land Grant Universities led the way in agricultural research and opened higher education up to the masses not just the “well to do” and continue 150 years later to expand our knowledge base and to train our leaders of the future.

The Extension Service is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year and has been a huge difference in sharing agricultural and gardening information across our whole country. Their role is to move the information from research and teaching. They help share the successes and the failures in an effort to help us all be more successful the first time we attempt to raise a crop. Those programs continue today through 4-H, Master Gardeners, local extension offices and countless other efforts. We celebrate this great country, its innovative farmers, its gifted gardeners, great forward thinking leaders, the concerned and caring conservationists. They have worked hard to care for this land, feed our families and much of the world while beautifying our communities, cooling and cleaning the environment while producing fresh oxygen in partnership with Mother Nature.

There is still time to plant this season as you mulch and water your existing plants and enjoy the wonders of your yard and landscape.