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

Ice storms are not my idea of fun. I really enjoy one or two decent winter snows each winter because the trees, shrubs and over all landscapes are just beautiful when cloaked in a layer or bright white reflective snow. One or two nice snows a year doesn’t cause very much damage, just puts our world on slow or pause for a few hours or even a day or two and is just postcard beautiful. Few things are as inspirational or beat the beauty of the sun coming out or a full moon shining on a fresh layer of snow covering our landscape. Ice on the other hand can be quite beautiful when the sun or light bounces off the covered tree branches or leaves like they are covered in diamonds or crystals but ice is so heavy it can cause mind boggling damage and frankly is not much fun as we Oklahomans have been reminded this last week.

I don’t remember so many significant ice storms when I was growing up but the last several years have certainly produced several heavy ice storms that have caused major damage to our trees, shrubs, overhead electrical, telephone and cable wires.  Over 650,000 electric service customers learned a new appreciation for their electric service when they went to turn on the switch and there was no power. The problem was further complicated for those without water if their well pump or the pumps for the water system they use were without power. Imagine our forefathers just 100 years ago at statehood going through the whole year without electric, water, gas or even sewer service instead of just a few hours or days. Maybe these experiences are to help us truly appreciate our blessings, we too often take for granted.

The tree and shrub damage is just heart breaking for me and most of you and not as easily restored as OGE or your electric cooperative getting your power lines back up or your electrician remounting your service box. This ice was heavy enough and thick enough to damage young trees and old mature hardwood trees alike depending on their shape, orientation and locations. We often expect the most ice or high wind damage to fast growing softwood trees like Bradford Pears, Silver Maples, Sycamores, Mimosas and the like. We expect less damage to slow growing harder wooded trees like Pecans, Walnuts, Pin Oaks, Caddo Maples and Sweet Gums. Bradford Pears have probably received the most consistent damage with many now one sided or open style trees. I have seen a few where all the branches peeled down like a banana to leave just a stump or one or 2 vertical standing branches.

It seems that the more vertical the branching style from the trunk the more damage this storm caused and the flatter or more horizontal the branching the less damage. Most Bald Cypress trees branch out almost flat or near 90 degrees from the trunk and appear to have less damage as they did not bend as far down from normal with the ice load as a tree like the Bradford Pear where the branches come out and then turn up almost parallel to the trunk. With the nicer weather this week all the ice load has melted off and some of those branches that looked like they might be lost may have bounced back up to their normal position or at least closer to normal. Trees like Pin Oaks and Magnolias that had not dropped their foliage had a lot more surface area to catch the ice and are two of the trees that look a lot better this week since the ice melted. Although we lost a lot of branches on the magnolias many of the branches that were bowed down so far have lifted back close to normal and will probably be okay. It is best to hire a certified Arborist or a local nursery or landscaper to do the tree pruning and cleanup if you are not able to do it yourself.  Don’t get too anxious and prune too quickly or carried away and prune out branches that might bounce back or survive. With these significant tree losses we need all the tree canopy we can save. Do prune out and make clean cuts where possible when the branches are actually broken out or have structural cracks. I have seen significant damage to trees that were here before statehood, trees planted in the thirty’s to the fifty’s in response to the dust bowl as part of the conservation and wind break effort of our predecessors and even recently planted trees. Many trees had received some damage in earlier ice storms in 2001 or even January of this year. After the tree canopy is altered by earlier ice or high wind damage it seems more vulnerable to additional damage as future ice or wind can reach down into the crown of the tree in new ways with part of the canopy or tree cover missing.

I’m seeing hundreds of truckloads of branches headed to the landfill and it is a terrible waste to send all these years of great biomass to the dump instead of to a collection yard to burn for fuel or even to grind for mulch. Many of our cities could do better in handling this tree growth for a high value use instead of only using it to fill our limited landfill area. We will all need to do a lot more tree planting the next few years to restore and add to the tree canopy of our state. Now is a good time to be thinking about the best spots in your yard and the community to add trees and to be thinking about the type of trees you will want to plant.

Don’t forget there is still time to buy poinsettias, Christmas cactus, amaryllis, flower arrangements, Norfolk Island pines or other plant material to liven up your Christmas celebration. Gardeners love gifts of plants, tools, gloves and garden center gift certificates as you finish your Christmas gift list. Speaking of the beautiful Christmas Poinsettias one of our readers, Janet Williams, did some great research on Ambassador Joel Poinsett and advises me that he was not actually the first director of the Smithsonian Museum as I mentioned in my last column. As a South Carolina Congressman he apparently led an effort called the National Institute for the Promotion of Science that was involved in the debate that led to the Smithsonian Institution we know and love today. He may not have been the first director of the Smithsonian but he did still introduce the poinsettia to the United States and we will always remember him for that. Thanks for correcting us and we hope you each and everyone have a very Merry Christmas Season and a great 2008.

Happy Thanksgiving! What a remarkable week with all the celebrations for our state centennial and now one of my favorite holidays – Thanksgiving. Civilizations have had various types of harvest festivals for centuries to commemorate the end of another growing season and the successful harvest of grains, corn, vegetables, fruit and other food to help sustain them through the winter and into the next growing season. Our ancestors learned to save the best seeds or roots from one season to start the crops anew the next season. When the pilgrims made it to New England and struggled with the first crops as they were learning to farm the new land they were especially grateful for that first life sustaining harvest. The American tradition of Thanksgiving became our harvest festival that very first autumn. They shared the Thanksgiving celebration with the Indians they had befriended and who helped them get established.  This began the tradition of sharing this holiday celebration with family and friends. Since before we were a country we have gathered to celebrate our bountiful harvest and the many blessings we enjoy in our lives.

Although we still face lots of problems and challenges in our daily lives I have to think we have it pretty cushy compared to our forefathers when they landed on the east coast to establish that first colony or even our  ancestors who were settling our state a mere 100 years ago. Those early pilgrims had to spend most all of their time and effort planting, raising and harvesting the crops that provided them food, clothing and shelter. Even 100 years ago most of the early Oklahomans had to concentrate on raising the crops and the animals to provide their basic necessities. By statehood we did have local markets to buy and trade produce, eggs, grains and meat so part of the population was able to move into retailing, teaching, law, manufacturing and other activities besides farming. Most early Oklahomans were still tied to the land as subsistence farmers.  As the years progressed folks started growing more flowers or plants for beauty and personal enjoyment in addition to their all important food production. With the land run and the tens of thousands of new small homesteads and the influx of so many subsistence farming families the native prairies were cleared and planted from edge of property to edge of property.  In many cases this intense clearing and over use of the land helped lead to our serious dust bowl problems a few decades later in the 30’s when we hit a period of significant drought. Hundreds of thousands of families fighting for survival and to establish homes, farms and communities had cut down the native trees and brush for fuel and to maximize their growing land to support their families. For the most part the land responded and produced crops to support many growing families. When the drought hit families along with the stock market crash and the collapse of many financial institutions many families did not have sufficient harvests and had to leave this new land. Many headed west to California or back to where they had immigrated from. The early Oklahoma settlers had stripped much of the land and when the new crops would not sprout and grow from the parched land it left millions of acres to blow in the wind. As a result of that crisis Oklahomans learned the importance of working with the land and Oklahomans became leaders in conservation and have done a pretty good job at practicing sustainability before it was cool. These early settlers and farmers brought many new crops and plants to this state and did the hard work in figuring out what crops and plants grew here and over time have helped select the strongest and best plants we grow today.

 I am so thankful that I can raise vegetables, fruit trees and flowers because I want to, not because I have to. I am thankful for my wonderful and understanding wife, Dona, my remarkable Mom, my sweet sister and sharp brothers and their special spouses and my wonderful nephews and nieces. I am thankful for my special church family, the wonderful people I work with and so many fantastic friends. I am thankful for my good health, the talents I have been given and the special experiences and challenges I have enjoyed. I am thankful to be an American and to be able to travel where I want, work the kind of job I want, to be able to worship, speak and generally associate with those I choose. I’m thankful to be an Oklahoman and to share this young state with so many warm, friendly people who are usually glad to help when needed and still exhibit a pioneer spirit. Please take a little time to count your blessings and celebrate the life of choices we enjoy including the freedom from subsistence farming and the dust bowls that challenged those Oklahomans before us.

First we had the centennial to celebrate the first 100 years of our state as we look ahead to the next 100 years. Now we celebrate Thanksgiving and give thanks for our respective harvests and the fruits of our labor even as this growing season ends this Thanksgiving weekend with a hard freeze. We look ahead to Christmas, a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and to give and share from our bounty or harvest with family, those special people in our lives and those in need. As we look ahead to the season of poinsettias enjoy your family and be in a spirit of Thanksgiving.

Fall colors are in various stages across our great state as we have been teasing our trees and gardens with a few light frosts as they and we prepare for our first hard freeze. Northwest Oklahoma has already dealt with that four hours below 28º hard freeze weather that kills most annuals and puts most perennials, deciduous shrubs and trees into winter hibernation. The rest of us will have that experience very soon as we make the annual march into winter. Make sure to bring inside any plants or cuttings of tender plants you want to save until next season. If you believe we may have a nice extended Indian summer after a light freeze or two you may want to cover or protect some selected tomatoes, other vegetables or flowers for a few early light freezes to see if you can earn several more weeks of flowers or vegetables. You can cover tender vegetables and annuals with sheets, blankets, towels, boxes or commercial row covers to try and extend the season until the freezes come too hard or too often.

The pretty fall color on our trees and shrubs is one of my favorite annual nature shows and everyone gets to enjoy it no matter where you live in our state. No question it is more impressive in the areas with more trees and some rolling terrain as in southeastern Oklahoma or northeast Oklahoma but a single maple or other tree in your own backyard or nearby park can be quite amazing. Fall color goes pretty quickly, not as fast as a sunrise or sunset, but like them, the fall leaf color is constantly changing so make some time at this season of year to enjoy the fall color as you take your daily walks, bicycle rides or drive to work. There are pretty and interesting trees in every neighborhood and it is fun to watch the leaf colors transition from green to tones of red, orange, yellow and then brown. It is even fun to watch the leaves release from the trees like magic carpets and fly, glide or float to the ground to land on the earth. Their highest and best use is as compost or mulch across the ground or used in flowerbeds as mulch and then to add nutrition back to the ground. Please find a use for them in your gardens in building up the soil instead of dispatching them to the landfill. The leaves want to return to the earth and enrich the soil as they complete their cycle of life.

It is a good idea to mulch the top of the soil around tender perennials, shrubs and plant material that is marginal for our temperature zone with a natural mulch of bark, collected leaves, cottonseed hulls, pecan hulls or compost. The mulch will act like a blanket or comforter to help keep the soil warmer and more consistent in temperature. A 2 to 4” layer of mulch on top of the soil should help tender plants survive the long, hard, cold winter. Remember to water your trees, shrubs, and overwintering plants periodically this winter if we don’t get some regular rains. This will help your plants to avoid dehydrating and increase this chance of winter survival and success next spring.

If you have not already planted some pansies in your yard please get out and get some to plant in your flowerbeds, by your front porch or into container gardens and urns. Few plants are as encouraging and uplifting as seeing the fun flower faces of pansies persevering through a cold, dark winter to greet you each time you come or go from your house or as you look out the window. These crazy guys bloom during ice or snow and on very cold dreary days. On the worst days they look a little wilted but as long as you water them every once in a while they will bounce right back and are downright perky anytime the sun is out.  They are available in all kinds of funky purple, red, blue and yellow colors, many with a lower face of black or other bold color to create a lively winter show. Plant pansies in a bright sunny area to get the best show this winter and early spring before they wither in the heat next spring.

Tulips used to be only for the very wealthy of European royalty as tulips were one of the first great collecting, breeding and trading fads. A single cherished bulb would trade for tens of thousands in current dollars. Today all of us can collect and plant the amazing tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and other spring flower bulbs to enjoy in our own yards and at a very reasonable prices. No matter which of these spring bulb crops you most enjoy, now is the time to get them planted. Plant some crocus along your main sidewalk, in the front flowerbed or planted randomly out amongst the lawn to give you your first glimpse of spring color. Plant tulips for their royal display of proud petals reaching for the sky in the sunny flowerbeds where you want to make a real statement.

The beautiful yellow, white and orange flowered narcissus or daffodil is probably the best adapted spring bulb for our area. It often will naturalize and come back year after year to make impressive clumps to let us know that spring really has arrived. If you go buy and plant your bulbs by early December, you can plant them normal depth. If you wait later you will need to plant them a little shallower to still get blooms this spring.   The sooner you plant them with a little bone meal or blood meal the more root growth they will have this winter and the more impressive they will be this spring.

Here we are just changing daylight savings time, flirting with our first hard freeze and we are already talking about spring. Please get outside to watch the leaves do their fall color, plant some pansies and spring flowering bulbs and soak in the great outdoors.

The weather is clearly changing as we have nighttime lows down in the 40’s and the tree leaves are starting to color and get ready for their autumn dance to earth. You can smell the cooler fall weather and the weathermen are talking about wind chill temperatures again. The first frost and then the first freeze normally arrive in the next two or three weeks on the calendar. Now is the time to start planning on any tropicals or annual plants you want to save and bring inside for the winter. Some plants may be too large to save but you may want to take some stem cuttings to root and carry over to next spring. Most tropicals need to be kept near windows in good light if you are going to try to overwinter them in the house.

Many people look at the killing fall freeze as the end of a special season or memory and a chance for a fresh start or clean palette to start their garden anew next spring. Others can’t bear to lose their beloved plants, large porch or patio gardens or special plant collections. You can save a few plants in your house but space, limited light and family relations often limit the amount of plants you can bring in the house and make a hobby greenhouse the best option. A hobby greenhouse can also be a lot of fun to produce your own vegetables through the winter, to grow your own seeds and cuttings, to start your own transplants for next spring or to start your own collection of orchids, begonias, bonsai or the special plants of your choice. 

You can buy a kit greenhouse at local stores or over the internet or you can build your own greenhouse frame and cover it with a number of good greenhouse skins or glazings.  Decent kit greenhouses start at around one thousand dollars and go to as high as twenty thousand dollars for houses in the 60 to 180 square feet range depending on the strength of the frame and type of glazing. Most of the inexpensive kits are made of light weight galvanized metal or polycarbonate extrusions and are covered with either plastic film or single wall polycarbonate panels. The frames go up in cost as the metal frame gets heavier, you switch to aluminum frames or painted frames. There are a few kits that use redwood or cedar wood as the frame but over 85% of the kits sold use metal frames which probably offer the best value of strength for the money.

The earliest greenhouses were glazed with panes of glass and glass is still available but not used as often because of glazing cost and the fact that it takes more structure to support the glass. Glass is available in 1/8” thick tempered glass and in energy saving insulated glass panels. The most popular glazings these days are single wall corrugated clear polycarbonate panels or the energy saving twinwall polycarbonate in 6 or 8 millimeter thick panels. Some kits still use corrugated fiberglass and some newer kits use the more expensive corrugated or twinwall acrylic panels that will stay clear much longer.  The greenhouse grade ultraviolet resistant polycarbonate panels probably offer the most strength, durability and light transmission for the money. The twinwall panels save almost 30 to 35% in energy. Greenhouse copolymer plastic film with either one or four year life based on UV resistance is the least expensive glazing. When you install two layers and blow air between the layers as you see on many commercial quonset or barrel roof structures greenhouse plastic film is one of the most energy efficient choices. If you build your own wood or metal frame or convert a garage, shop or other building you can buy good greenhouse glazing to put on your frame. You can use 4’ wide corrugated polycarbonate panels that install by overlapping the panels and screwing to the frame. The twinwall panels that look like a sheet of square soda straws in a row install with “U” extrusions to cap the ends and sides of the 4’ or 6’ wide panels and “H” extrusions to go between the panels.

You will also need heat in your greenhouse and a unit heater is usually the best choice. Natural gas, if available, is generally the cheapest commercial fuel, followed by propane. Electric heat is the cheapest to install but costs the most to operate. Even if you are only using the greenhouse for the fall, winter and spring you will need some ventilation as all greenhouse owners very quickly appreciate the power of solar energy. You can provide winter cooling with side and roof vents or with a motorized shutter on one end and an exhaust fan on the opposite end. It is usually best to automate the ventilation on a thermostat as we often need some cooling near the middle of the day even in the winter.  It is not unusual to have the fan come on to ventilate on a 40 or 45 degree day if it is clear and sunny outside as it is possible for the greenhouse temperature to rise to over 100 degrees with solar radiation if you are not ventilating. Next summer you will probably need to add shade cloth and an evaporative cooler if you want to use the greenhouse through the summer months.

Although you can buy hobby greenhouses from mail-order catalogs or over the internet I would encourage you to buy this specialized equipment locally for the best advice on frames, glazing materials, sizing heating and cooling equipment and shade percentages for this area. There are several good suppliers in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa that would be familiar with our conditions to help you select the right hobby greenhouse for your application and crops.

Now is the time to be planting your pansies, viola, ornamental kale and cabbage and selecting and planting your spring flowering bulbs like Tulips, Crocus and Daffodils. This is also a great time to mulch your more tender hardy plants to help insulate their roots and protect them for the winter ahead.

Oklahoma hospitality is really something very special. We often forget or take for granted just how wonderful our state and its people are, until we get to spend time here in our state with people visiting from all over the country. It is a real joy to hear visitors bragging about this great state we call home. Since our last visit the National Garden Writers held their national conference in Oklahoma City with side trips to gardens here, in Stillwater and Tulsa. Over 500 garden writers were here from major magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Horticulture, American Gardener and Fine Gardening as well as most of the major newspapers in the country. We also hosted many garden book publishers and writers. Most were from large cities and many from the two coasts.

To hear them talk many were not excited about coming to Oklahoma before their arrival. It is amazing to this day how many folks that have never been here still expect cowboys and Indians or the wild west. Amongst garden writers many expected the dust bowl and very limited horticulture or gardening. I had numerous visits with folks like the Philadelphia writer that told me she really had not wanted to come to Oklahoma City because she expected a gardening wasteland still dealing with the dust bowl. She said a writer at another paper who had been here previously talked her into coming saying she would love the people and be surprised by the gardening. By the end of the conference she was telling me it was the best meeting she had ever attended and the people she met at the hotel, on the streets and on the garden tours were the friendliest she had ever met and the gardens were amazing.

The garden writers probably only agreed to come because of our state’s centennial and the leadership of Steve Dobbs, a former writer of this column who just finished a two year term as National President of the garden writers. The enthusiasm of the local host committee helped attract them to our state as well. Once here it is the regular folks our visitors meet at the airport, in cabs or busses, at hotels, restaurants, shops and on the street that really sets our state apart. The local arrangements committee led by John Fluitt, Linda Horn and Patrick Bones put together an amazing set of seminars and special events. Hundreds of Okie volunteers pitched in to make each event special.

The Myriad Gardens is a special treat anytime but is almost magical on a perfect fall evening for dinner among the beautiful outdoor gardens followed by a special Route 66 story telling program under the stars. Another evening had 10 tour busses going out to visit the new Route 66 “Pops” gas station with 400 kinds of pop from all over the country and hay wagon tours through the impressive new wholesale Deep Fork Tree Farm. The surrounding Arcadia Farms is a magnificent showplace of natural plains and wildlife habitat that hosted special Oklahoma food and beverage stops along the way. The final night was at the beautiful Cowboy Hall of Fame with its pretty grounds and magnificent art and western collections.

The star attraction besides the warmth of our people was beautiful landscaping and gardens. Many visited the Bricktown Canal, Arts Museum, Zoo and other public attractions on their own but the private gardens stole the show. Many of the tour stops will show up in future months in national magazines and you heard repeatedly from folks that they could not believe they were finding these gardens in Oklahoma. When you get a chance to see any of these yards on neighborhood garden tours from time to time, buy a ticket and go to enjoy these remarkable gardens.

Hugh and Jennifer Stout, national leaders in the daylily and iris societies were one of the most photographed stops and have a lot of fun plantings and artwork incorporated into their gardens. OSU Oklahoma City was a big hit with their beautiful gardens, All American Trials, greenhouses and Farmers Market where many peanut eating writers got to see and take pictures of their first actual peanut plant loaded with below ground nuts. The Kenneth and Nova Minick water gardens were spectacular and the impressive Express Ranch gardens with their “Dallas” style mansion overlooking the gorgeous river valley full of cattle and an oil well or two was a special sight and just would not all fit in a single picture.

The Bombing Memorial has a powerful but solemn impact on our visitors and this group was especially touched by the endurance and persistence of the survivor elm. Two small yards in Crown Heights had a significant impact beginning with the beautiful English style Vater family garden topped off with a colorful cutting garden hidden behind her studio. The MacMayhill and Baker garden featured one of the most imaginative and relaxing outdoor living areas I have ever seen literally nestled in a beautiful oasis.

The final garden tour to Nichols Hills featured the magnificent Italian gardens of Christian Keesee and the beautiful yard and great kitchen garden of Don and Fanny Bolen. The new gardens of Jackie and Barbara Cooper are less than 2 years old but already look like a great European style estate garden while the David and Kirsten Griffin Gardens feature some beautiful formal boxwood plantings and another impressive and comfortable outdoor living area. Two of the biggest hits were the Guilford gardens of Kamela Gamble where she grows many of her own vegetables, herbs, edible and cut flowers for her Kam’s Kookery. The Japanese inspired gardens of Jerry and Sherry Cash are absolutely stunning and feature incredible ponds, bridges, rockwork, koi fish, over 20 varieties of bamboo, water lilies and other impressive plantings.

We have a great state, a great city and wonderful people. We all need to believe in ourselves, be a little prouder of our state and keep showing that great hospitality to everyone whether they are here for business, for pleasure, for horse shows or the garden writers national conference. This next weekend the National Zoo horticulturists are going to be in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Lets make the same great impression on them.

Now is the time to plant hardy mums, pansies, ornamental kale and cabbage. You can also select and plant your spring flowering bulbs to make your garden a special Oklahoma treat.