Flower Arrangements from the Flower and Vegetable Gardens

by Carol Kagan, Master Gardener

A few miniature eggplants and a red onion

Look what you can do with flowers from your garden and a little time. Oh, and vegetables, too!

Perfect centerpiece of a picnic table

This lovely centerpiece is made with hydrangeas, different kinds of tomatoes (and  tomatillos) as well as a sunflower. Hosta leaves were used as a base for the basket.

From your yard-zinnias, hosta leaves, Queen Anne's lace, hydrangeas

Master Gardeners of Franklin County created these floral arrangements from flowers and plants in both the demonstration gardens and their own backyards.

Check out the zucchini used for a base and container. Add some greens with different textures, a few colorful flowers and a sprig of parsley.

Zucchini as a base and container

Also, a bell pepper and watermelon. Perfect for this time of year.

There's enough peppers in the veggie garden to eat so use one as a flower vase.

Watermelon with corn, eggplant and lollipop cherry tomatoes

Flowers found in most yards: hostas, zinnias, cosmos, black-eyed susans, Queen Anne's lace and beautiful grasses (if not in your yard, certainly in a nearby field!), hydrangeas, blanket flowers, garlic chives, and petunias.

Hearth basket uses dried grasses for texture

A beautiful hearth basket, or to use by the front door, has sunflowers, dried grasses, blanket flowers and black eyed-Susans.  The stems are not that long but are discarded stems added to the arrangement.

Vegetables and herbs with a few blooms and grasses tucked in

And here's an attractive basket full of vegetables with some herbs tucked in as well as a few dry grasses.

Go out in your yard and find a few blooms, a few green leaves, and maybe a vegetable or two and put together you own celebration arrangement of summer's bounty.

September: Learn about Bulbs, Compost and Getting More Plants

The September programs are now taking registrations. The Fall Into Gardening event is free but register now for the other programs.

Bulbs-Fall Planting program: Find out about choosing, planting and caring for spring flowering bulbs. Learn how to force bulbs to flower during the dreary winter days. More about this interesting topic at "Trick Bulbs Now for Winter Treats." $10 - You'll think it's a bargain when beautiful blooms brighten your windowsill on a gray January day.

"Composting" is a valuable resource and money saver. Learn which of the variety of methods you can use at your house. $10 Sign up now and start composting this month.

Perennials at MG Nancy Miller's house (Laurie Collins)

"Dig, Divide & Multiply Perennials" will help you figure out when and how to divide your perennials to keep them healthy - and to share with others, too! $10 is a bargain for all the money you'll save multiplying your plants.

All course and events are held at the Agriculture Heritage Center, 181 Franklin Farm Road, Chambersburg, unless noted.

Our programs are growing in popularity and now require pre-registration. Call 717-263-9226 for more information and to register. We now accept credit cards to make phone registration easier.

Surviving Sandy and the First Few Frosts

Castor Bean Bloom (Ricinus communis)

I looked around my landscape this past weekend to see what survived the storm and the 3 or 4 light frosts we've had so far.  Here are the pictures.  Of course we were very lucky that there was minimal damage in our area, with only a short loss of power.

Castor Bean Seed Pod (Ricinus communis)

Castor Bean Plant (Ricinus communis)

So beautiful, but oh so Wicked. 



Rudbeckia hirta

Rudbeckia's - these are descendants from some seed heads I gleaned in 2003 from the area that is now used for the Perennial Demonstration Garden, back when we trialed ornamental plants there.




The variety was Rudbeckia hirta 'Cherokee Sunset' although you can see if you check the link, they've lost their double petals and picked up some color variations via natural crosses, or reverting to ancestral progenitors from the original hybrid cross, I assume.

Can't complain about the price, though.

The long season bloom time for a perennial is very welcome.

Rudbeckia hirta

Rudbeckia hirta

Rudbeckia hirta

Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Weed

Asclepias turberosa - Butterfly Weed

I collect seed from multiple sources, including the Wildlife Area, and anywhere else I see the seed pods for this native wildflower and butterfly attractor, so no telling the provenance.

Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Weed

Asclepias physocarpa or Gomphocarpus physocarpus Balloon Milkweed

Another milkweed, although native to South Africa.  Unique seed pods, leading to some interesting other common names.  Excellent larval host plant for the Monarch Butterfly.  Seed pods look great in dried arrangements.  This is my fourth year growing them, seeds originally saved from Steve's cut flower trials.  Although perennial in their native Zone 8 growing area, seeds started indoors in mid March allows for us to grow them as annuals here.  I always start a flat or two for the plant sale, so you can get them then.

Blue Salvia or Salvia farinacea

Another zone 7-8 perennial grown as an annual here in our climate.  These were grown from leftover seeds from earlier year cut flower trials.  They were simply marked "Salvia" in a cellophane envelope, so I had no information about them prior to growing them, which made them difficult to sell at our plant sale.  They have been blooming continuously since July and haven't yet succumbed to frost, and aside from planting them in late May, I've done virtually nothing to nuture them.  More information here and here.

Tithonia rotundifolia or Mexican Sunflower

I only have middling success growing these from saved seed year to year.  Luckily, Laurie Collins starts them, so when I have a failure, like I did this year, she always comes to the rescue with a few plants for me. 

I think this is a dwarf variety, 'Fiesta del Sol', although I didn't mark it when I planted it, so can't be sure.

Monkshood

My Monkshood, to go along with Mary's and Nancy's.

'Yummy' Bell Pepper

One pepper plant left, surviving not only the frosts and storm, but critter depredation as well.  This is an heirloom variety of small, tapered, sweet, orange-when-ripe bell pepper called 'Yummy' that I grow from saved seed every year.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit or Arisaema triphyllum

I think of Jack-in-the-Pulpits as an early, spring woodland species that normally, have gone to seed by this time of year, so I have no idea why this fella is coming up and just starting to bloom now.  All my established ones are gone, with just a few of the red berries visible on the ground.  I tried googling around for information that would explain this late blooming phenomenon, but came up empty.  If anyone out there has more information, please let me know and I'll share it here.

Update: 11:50 pm 11/6 - I sent the picture of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit to Dr. Linda Chalker Scott who responded that the phenomenon is probably an example of ecodormancy - a plant's reaction to somewhat adverse, or abnormal enviromental conditions.  Early season warmth?  Mid-summer drought?  Late season warmth?  I have been unable to find a good source to further describe and explain the term.  You can try here, and here.  There doesn't appear to be a Wikipedia entry.  I forwarded the picture to Dr. Bert Cregg, another one of the Garden Professors, who asked for examples in his post linked above.

What's Blooming - Fall 2012 Edition - Ornamental Grasses

Pink Muhly Grass Muhlenbergia capillaris

Last week, before being distracted by the spider, I took pictures of what was blooming in the Demonstration Gardens.

As Garden Professor Holly Scoggins of Virginia Tech noted recently, the ornamental grasses really shine this time of year.



Pink Muhly Grass Muhlenbergia capillaris

 First up, Muhly Grass, or Muhlenbergia capillaris in the Woodland Meadow Native Habitat Garden (AKA Wildlife Area Demonstration Garden).

According to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center  (There's a link on the sidebar to the right):  

The genus of this plant is named for Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), also Heinrich Ludwig Muehlenberg, or Henry Muhlenberg, who was a German-educated Lutheran minister and the first president of Franklin College, now Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania. He is most famous due to his work in the field of botany. An accomplished botanist, chemist, and minerologist, Henry is credited with classifying and naming 150 species of plants in his 1785 work Index Flora Lancastriensis. Muhlenbergs work and collaboration with European botanists led to great advances in the study of plants and earned him the distinction as Americas first outstanding botanist.

A rather appropriate selection for a Demonstration Garden in Franklin County, wouldn't you say?

Panicum virgatum 'Cheyenne Sky'

Another native, warm season grass, Panicum virgatum 'Cheyenne Sky' is featured in the Drought Tolerant Demonstration Garden.

Seed plumes often persist throughout winter, providing visual interest as well as food for birds. Species plants (Panicum virgatum) were an important component of the tallgrass prairie that once covered much of central North America.

The Drought Tolerant Garden is also home to another ornamental grass, whose common name piqued my professional interest, Mosquito Grass, or Bouteloua gracilis.  This cultivar is named 'Blonde Ambition.'

Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'

Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'

Also called "Blue Grama Grass".

The 'mosquito' part comes from the seed heads, which are purported to resemble mosquito larvae.

Decide for yourself.

Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'

Another specimen from the Drought Tolerant Garden is Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'.

Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'

Also known simply as "Blue Fescue".  This was chosen Perennial of the Month for November 1998 by Dr. Leonard Perry of the University of Vermont.

Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'

Here are some older specimens from the Pollinator Friendly Garden.  The ones from the Drought Tolerant Garden above were just planted this spring. 




Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'

Finally, two unlabeled grasses doing sentry duty for the Pollinator Friendly Garden. 


Feather reed Grass - Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'

I didn't have much luck identifying them, so if anyone out can help out, let us know. [Done. See update below -ed.]

Here are some individual shots.

Feather reed Grass - Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'

Feather reed Grass - Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'

Update: 9:10 pm 10/17/12 - Laurie Collins just emailed me with the ID - it's Feather Reed Grass Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'.  I updated the pictures with the proper caption.  It was named perennial plant of the year in 2001 by the Perennial Plant Association, and perennial of the month in February 2002 by Dr. Leonard Perry of the University of Vermont.

From a Fine Gardening article:

‘Karl Foerster’ grows to about 18 inches wide and only about 2 to 3 feet tall, but when the flower stems are at their peak they stand nearly 5 feet tall, fluttering like butterflies in the breeze. It tolerates full sun to partial shade and any type of soil except a bog. ‘Karl Foerster’ is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 9, but south of Zone 7 it’s not at its best. This cool-season grass remains evergreen (actually, ever-bronze) in mild winters and works well as a screen, as a specimen, and as a container plant with other perennials or annuals. It’s sufficiently cold-hardy to overwinter in a pot in most areas.

I really like working with such a knowledgeable group.  Cheers!

Franklin County MG Videos - Part 1 - Fall Gardening with Kathy Engle

Franklin County Master Gardeners have teamed with The Chambersburg Public Opinion to provide periodic content about consumer horticulture via video.  Back in October, Amber South from the Public Opinion taped this segment at MG Kathy Engle's award winning garden.  Here's Kathy's Colorful Fall Gardening Series from 2010.  And her Mum's The Word post.

Last Friday, November 4th, Denise Lucas and Laurie Collins were filmed here at our Demonstration Gardens - Denise at the Perennial Demonstration Garden, and Laurie at the Pollinator Friendly Demonstration Garden. - providing tips for putting those gardens to bed for the winter.  I'll embed that video when it becomes available.

You can view all the videos, including Kathy's, that the Public Opinion has created here.

2011 Perennial Plant of the Year

Picture by H. Scoggins - from the Chanticleer Garden

Amsonia hubrichtii (am-SO-nee-ah hew-BRIK-tee-eye) has been named 2011 Perennial Plant of the Year. Common names for the plant include Arkansas Amsonia, Arkansas blue star, thread-leaf blue star, narrow leaf blue star, and Hubricht's blue star.

Amsonia is a North American native. The species was found in Arkansas in 1942 by Leslie Hubricht. The foliage is thin and strap—like, often reaching three inches in length. From late spring to early summer, two- to three-inch wide clusters of small, light blue, star shaped flowers appear above the ferny foliage. This amsonia forms a three-foot-by-three-foot mound.

Holly Scoggins blogged about it recently at the Garden Professors, highlighting its fabulous fall foliage.

Exhibits the best boofy habit of all perennials (somewhat like "floofy", but rounder). Native to southern/central U.S. and totally drought tolerant. The pale blue star-shaped flowers in late Spring are fairly underwhelming, especially given all the other stuff going on at the time. The fine, needle-like foliage adds a wonderful soft texture throughout the summer. As the days shorten and the nights cool down, it begins to glow...first a soft gold, and then adds bronze and apricot to the mix - basically a color twin of Sporobolis heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed, previously described in a GP post).

According to the flyer, it:

Prefers average, moist well-drained soil but tolerates less moisture. Once established, it can tolerate drier conditions. Light blue flowers in spring are followed by a marvelous display of foliage in summer. A golden-yellow fall color is second to none among herbaceous perennials. It is uniquely suited as a companion plant or as a feature. This perennial for the seasons is an asset in borders, native gardens, cottage gardens or open woodland areas. It is best when massed. Arkansas blue star is attractive when mixed with ornamental grasses and plants that have attractive seed heads.