Best Gifts for Gardeners by Patti O'Neal

What do I get for the gardener or my favorite new “wanna be” gardener on my list this year?  Most of my friends are seasoned gardeners and they are the hardest to buy for – they already have all the basics.  So I have been “shopping” the best websites and catalogues and nurseries to find unusual items, the most sustainable items or just things that I might not have thought of.  I am sharing them with you in hopes that you will find the perfect item to surprise and delight that gardener in your life.

Start with the 2012 Jeffco Master Gardener Calendar for everyone on your list.  At $13.00 it's a real bargain and available at many garden centers in Jefferson County.  Check here for the information.

For the Beginning Gardener

Radius ergonomic hand tools.  These come not only in hand tools but also in every spade, shovel and fork configuration imaginable.  These tools are a   pleasure to use and reduce stress on wrists and forearms.  Your wrist maintains a natural position while you work.  They are bright chartreuse so you cannot lose them in the garden or yard.  Also very sturdy and beautifully crafted.  You can find them locally at Paulino’s, Echters, and Arapahoe Acres.  Call first as none of these locations carry the full line.  I particularly love my round handled pro shovel and my hand trowel.


A Gift Certificate for Garden Classes. The best deal around is offered by the Jefferson County Master Gardeners.  They are offering a Spring Gardening Symposium on January 28, 2012, called Vegetable Gardening A –Z: Hitting the Basics.  It is a full day of six classes and covers Soil Preparation & Amendments, Vegetable Basics, Starting your Garden from Seed or Transplants, Tomatoes, Container Vegetable Gardening and Mountain Vegetable Gardening.  All this plus handouts, seeds and lunch for $70.  There is an optional lunch and learn class on Basic Flower Gardening for an additional $10.  Spend the day with these people who have access to the best research based gardening information, and in addition to the classes learn how the Jefferson County Master Gardeners can assist you with your gardening adventures all year long.  Call the Master Gardener line (303-2712-6632) to get a Gift Certificate and set your favorite beginning gardener (maybe yourself!) up for success.  What a great gift!

    Atlas Nitrile Garden Gloves. A favorite of mine as they are lightweight (almost like no gloves at all) and colorful, so hard to lose if you remove one to tie off a tomato plant.  Easy to find at nearly any garden center and really inexpensive at $5-6 per pair.   

 Gifts for the Gardener Who has Everything

Living Walls. Portable and Freestanding, these triangular living walls allow you to grow garden-fresh produce inside or out, beautifying your living space and removing pollutants.  They can be used on a patio or balcony as well as in a bed to create more growing space. 
Green Living Technologies, 800-631-8001 or www.agreenroof.com


A Beautiful Harvest Basket. For harvest time or for a quick trip to the Farmer’s Market to fill in with something you are not growing or that has not come in yet.  Baskets from The Blessing Basket Project are handcrafted in Ghana from elephant grass with goat leather wrapped handles.  This nonprofit pays its artisans Prosperity Wages designed to bring the artist out of poverty and increase financial independence.  Giving a beautiful, useful and sustainable gift and feeling a sense of helping someone all at the same time.  A blessing indeed.  The Blessing Basket Project. www.blessingbasket.org

   Wingscapes Timelapse Plantcam. Create awesome time lapse videos of your favorite plants growing with this amazing little camera.  Weatherproof and comes with stand to capture nature unfurling right before your very eyes.  What else are you gonna do?  www.Amazon.com/gardening


Gifts For Apartment Dwellers


Terrarium. Once again, all the rage.  An entire garden landscape under glass which requires little attention to delight its owner.  They come in all sizes, open or closed, with all kinds of themes.  And if that person is so inclined a gift certificate to Denver Botanic Gardens class on Terrariums and Dish Gardens might be just the ticket.

 Houseplant Tools. These handy little tools make keeping houseplants tidy so much easier.  They are just the right size for digging around in small pots and not disturbing tender roots.  The set consists of a tiny shovel, trowel and cultivator.  Tied with a lovely bow and attached to a matching spray bottle to mist plants with a little moisture, especially in forced air heated homes; this makes a great gift for around $10.  www.amazon.com 


Worm Box and Gift Certificate for Worms. Even apartment, condo, patio home dwellers can compost with a worm farm.  One pound of worms can eat up to 5-6 pounds of kitchen scraps per week.  Resulting vermicompost can be used on houseplants or maybe traded with the neighbor down the street for fresh veggies in the summer.  Present the giftee with a Rubbermaid 60 gallon box and a gift certificate for a pound of worms and make someone and the world happy!  Call CSU Extension office in Jefferson County (303-271-6620) for a Vermicomposting fact sheet to include with your gift that gives directions to build out the box and exactly what you can and cannot feed and bed the worms with. 


Stocking Stuffers


Crabtree and Evelyn Ultra Moisturizing Hand Therapy.  It’s been around forever it seems, but I love it
Mosquito dunks. This may sound funny, but a package of the mini dunks is handy to have around in the heat in the summer when the mosquitoes are pesky to pop into your bird baths, fountains and ponds.

Leap Organics Soaps. These amazing bars are vegan, biodegradable, cruelty-free, triple-milled and produced using renewable energy.  The riotous packaging is 100 recyclable and manufactured using wind energy.  Aside from feeling luxurious to use, you can’t get any more sustainable than that!  www.leaporganics.com
A gorgeously bound garden journal. An essential for the conscientious gardener is keeping records.  Keeping notes on your favorite plant of the year, how certain vegetables did this year and maybe why, i.e. the weather is key to success the next time around.   It’s hard to make corrections when you can’t remember why you did something a certain way last year.  Always best to make notes on your successes as well as failures.  Also a great place to stick photos of the progress of a new bed or plant you are trying.  Barnes and Noble has all kinds of beautiful journals, leather bound, handmade paper, ribbon markers – you name it, great choices.
Window Mounted Thermometer.  Every gardener needs to know what the temperature actually is, especially if he or she is growing crops that are temperature sensitive.   This totally cool looking 4 ½” circular thermometer allows you to read the outside temp in both Celsius and Fahrenheit without leaving the comfort of inside.  It has large readable markings and can be removed to clean the window.  A super value at $9.95 and can be found in the Lee Valley online catalogue, one of my all time favorites, as it is full of fabulous gadgets that you never knew you couldn’t live without!  www.leevalley.com

Some of my favorite sites or catalogues for great garden “stuff” are Lee Valley Tools, Walt Nicke Company Fine Tools for Gardeners and Gardeners Supply.  All great companies to deal with as well.  Hope this inspires your holiday shopping.

Scan Away by Patricia Barry Levy

Many of us enjoy taking pictures of our flowers and gardens. But have you ever considered recording the beauty of your plants using something besides a camera?

Your typical flatbed scanner can show off botanicals in a really interesting way. When selecting pieces to scan bear in mind the coverage area of your scanner. Letter size, or 8.5 x 11 is common and plenty large enough for many leaves, flowers, grasses, etc. Use a high enough resolution to allow you to print onto some nice paper, and voila, you’ve made art. Leaving the top of the scanner open in a dark room will give you a dramatic black background. Or try propping a white or colored sheet above your plant material – I’ve even seen fabric prints used to add pattern to the background.

In this example, I scanned peonies at different stages, using a small box to surround and support the flower head. Now’s the time to visually preserve that last perfect tomato, seedpods, leaves as they turn colors – you get the idea.

Happy Fourth of July ! Natures' Fireworks

Photo by GayleL Art

Fireworks are commonly seen in the United States on the Fourth of July as a celebration of independence.

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
- The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the US

So here are 10 sparkling shots of starburst fireworks in nature.

Thanks to the online magazine "Environmental Graffiti".

Happy Fourth to all you gardeners!

What's Blooming in Your Garden? by Carol King

Here's what's blooming in my garden! What's blooming in yours? Email me your pictures at jeffcogardener@gmail.com and I'll post them also.

Black Eyed Susan

Clematis

Coreopsis

Delphinium

Heuchera

Lilies

Choosing Healthy Plants at the Garden Center by Carol King

Garden centers and big box stores are starting to be filled with tempting plants for your garden. How do you choose the healthiest plants; plants that will be successful in your landscape? Here are four steps to help you do just that!

1. Inspect the leaves.  Look for foliage that isn’t discolored, spotted, dried out, wilting or curling.  Spots can mean insect damage or  viral or fungal diseases. Curling, crispy or brown leaves can mean  drought stress or disease or insect damage.    Wilting plants indicate either too much watering or not enough.  Discolored foliage can mean that the plant hasn’t been receiving proper nutrition.  Check the back of the leaves also.  Don’t purchase if there is white fuzzy fungus or rust colored spots on the back.

2. Look for insects. Aphids, scales, white flies, mites and other insect pests can affect the health of your plants.  Small green or whitish bugs covering the stems means the plant is infested with aphids or scales.  “Spider” webs with brown or black dust spots means spider mites.

3. Check out the root system. Tip it out of the container .  Be careful and don’t damage the plant.    The whole root ball (the roots and soil that are contained in the container) should come out together.  If half the soil is soggy, wet and still in the container, the plant hasn’t fully established its root system.  If all of the soil came out with the plant then check to see if the roots are healthy. Healthy roots should be white to pale tan and clean looking.  If the roots are brown, grey, black, or slimy then the roots are unhealthy.

4. Choose the plant with the most branches and the most buds, not the one with the most flowers.    Plants that are just starting to bloom will establish new roots easier than plants that are older. If there aren’t any plants without blooms, cut the blooms off when you transplant.  This might seem wrong, dear gardener,  but it will actually cause the plant to put more energy into growing roots, thus becoming a healthier plant.  If you just can’t bear to cut off the blooms, at least deadhead the old blooms off as they age.

Following these few tips will help you choose the most healthy, successful plants for your garden.

Bloggers' Dreams and Nightmares. Plant Hopes and Desires!

Taking our cue from a Denver Post article about their garden writers' desires for the garden season, here are some of our bloggers' dreams and nightmares! 

MARY SMALL

Plants I'll always plant:  Tomatoes because I enjoy making fresh salsa and blts with them; penstemons because there is such a variety, I find them easy to grow and they "go" with everything.

Plants I'm itching to try: Blueberries…in Colorado? 'nuff said.

Forget about it!  Chocolate flower.  My soil is builder's clay, poorly drained and poorly oxygenated.   I can meet the sun requirements, but it needs better drained soil than I can provide.

DONNA DUFFY

Plants I'll always plant: More and more floribunda roses. Many of them are perfect for Colorado's climate and they provide a beautiful bloom throughout the summer.


Plants I'm itching to try: More native plants and shrubs! Last summer I experimented with about 10 different natives and I'm anxious to see how they fared over this crazy winter.


Forget about it! Geum - that lovely perennial with yellow or orange-red blooms just doesn't do well in my yard, regardless where I put it. Bummer.

JERRY PETERSON

Plants I'll always plant: I like various ornamental grasses and will probably always try to include them. They come in many varieties and sizes, and provide year-round textural interest.

Plants I'm itching to try: I've never planted clematis and would like to try it. I have a spot in mind, but have to build a trellis of some sort first.


Forget about it! I really don't care much for most junipers and arbor vitae. It's not that I can't grow them, I just think there are much better choices. Juniper and arbor vitae tend to split with age and turn brown.

JOYCE D’AUGUSTINO


Plants I'll always Plant: I am a big fan of heirloom vegetables, especially tomatoes, so I will continue to plant and enjoy favorites I have grown previously and try out new ones as well. I also plant something that produces at the end of the summer, just to squeeze out a little more growing right at the end, so I also always plant pumpkins of some variety and gourds.


Plants I'm Itching to Try: Most melons are challenging to grow here, but I am determined to do it successfully this year! I have a banana melon that I can't wait to try out. It is supposed to be very succulent and aromatic, just sounds heavenly! Also am looking forward to trying the "Cinderella Pumpkin" a large, somewhat flat pumpkin that is a deep orange red and was supposed to be the model for the pumpkin coach for the Cinderella movie! Lots more I am itching to try but also want to try out Zuchinni rampicante - a large zuchinni that climbs up a trellis and is supposed to be very prolific with interesting shaped zuchinni.


Forget About It!  Not too many that I have given up on, but have to say one would be "Furry Yellow Hog" tomato. I got it as a free seed from an heirloom company. It was very prolific and has light yellow, somewhat fuzzy tomatoes (I guess along the line of the peach type tomatoes) but they lacked flavor and I couldn't even get my friends to try it (because of the name and the fuzz)!

DUANE DAVIDSON


Plants I'll always Plant: Since reading  a gardening magazine article entitled "Plants with Impact" I often find myself judging new plant possibilities on how showy, how striking, even how unusual they would appear if they got to do their thing in my yard. So I'm a fan of tall, colorful amaranth, particularly "Fat Spike," a variety with heavy thick deep-crimson seed heads. I love the huge palmate leaves of castor beans and their colorful flower/bean stalks. And directly from the magazine article, I've adopted American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), an herbaceous shrub that grows six-foot tall stalks anew each year and produces racemes of dark purple berries.


Plants I'm itching to try: I'm itching to try a couple more plants that seem to be in the same category. One would be from among the Eremurus hybrids (Desert Candle, Foxtail lily). But it needs a spot where its tall colorful flowering spires are protected from the wind. Secondly, I have a couple of large open spaces where I would like to try an ornamental rhubarb. One of the Rheum palmatum varieties will produce six-foot stems with erect panicles of thick white, pink, or crimson flowers. Our winds might be a problem for them, too.

Forget about it! I'm very tolerant of "volunteers" and the occasional stranger turning up in my flower beds, but I dislike aggressive, takeover plants, even when I've brought them into the yard myself. I made the mistake some years ago of starting from seed a species of Yarrow I soon came to fear. It was Achillea ptarmica, which looks nothing like the more common Yarrows we all grow. It was low-growing, bore small white flowers, and spread by root stolons. It took years to get rid of it. I had a similar experience with Vinca minor, which seemed a good idea until I found it wouldn't stay in its intended place. There are many other hooligans in this category, but I'll mention only one: Campanula rapunculoides (Rover, Creeping bellflower), which bears three-foot stems of pretty violet-purple flowers, but spreads everywhere, by seed and by rhizome. It usually sneaks into your garden by piggybacking on some other plant. I once heard it described by a staffer at Denver Botanic Gardens as "the scourge of the Gardens." 

ELAINE LOCKEY

Plants I’ll Always Plant: Mohave Sage, Salvia pachyphylla, is an eye-catching flowering evergreen perennial with silver green leaves and violet-blue petals surrounded by rosy bracts. European Pasque Flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris, is one of the first flowers to bloom in spring, sometimes coming up through the snow.  It always lets me know that warm temperatures are not far behind.  This perennial comes in white, lavender-blue and mauve-red.
Pyracantha angustifolia ‘Monon’, Yukon Belle Pyracantha, is a hardy evergreen providing green color in the winter with white spring flowers and then persistent orange fall-winter berries.  This is a great shrub for birds providing berries for food and safety from predators as it has thorns.
Western Sand Cherry, Prunus besseyi, is an all-season shrub.  It offers sweet smelling white flowers covering the stems in the spring, followed by attractive green leaves, gorgeous fiery red and purple fall color and then a nice winter shape. 
Silky-Spike Melic Grass, Melica aff. ciliata, is a grass that once you grow you’ll want to add more and more.  It is very showy with white fluffy seed heads which mature in late spring to early summer unlike most other ornamental grasses which develop in the fall. The grass catches the light so well and adds sparkle to your garden

Plant I’m Itching to Try: Top on my list because I’ve seen it grow with such beauty in other gardens is Alleghany Viburnum, Viburnum xrhytidopylloides.  It’s a broad-leaf evergreen that looks good in formal or informal gardens. It has an upright arching shape with white late spring flowers and thick quilted looking leaves that are dark green on top and tan or gray underneath giving the plant an interesting look.  It was a Plant Select pick for 1997.

Forget About It! I fell in love with Gaillardia, Blanket Flower, the first time I saw it growing on the side of the road.  I have since tried to grow it myself with complete failure.  It is a plant that likes it dry with not much extra care and its also a short-lived perennial so doesn’t stick around for long - letting it reseed will give you new plants. However, if you can grow this is it so eye-catching and worth it. 

JANET SHANGRAW

Plants I'll always plant:  Red Birds in a Tree (Scrophularia macrantha).  The name says is all.  This beautiful 36" x 18 inch Penstemon relative has small flowers that really do look like little red birds sitting in a tree.  Hummingbirds love this plant and it blooms from early summer through fall.  Red Birds in a Tree just makes me smile whenever I see it.  This is a Plant Select from 2008.  Green Zebra tomatoes.  Wow, did Green Zebras perform in my garden last year!  The fruit on this tomato plant are about green with yellow stripes and about 2 inches in diameter,  They have a great tomato taste and are very sweet.  I'm not much of a vegetable gardener, but Green Zebras made me look good.

Green Zebra tomatoes

Plants I'm itching to try: Green Doctors tomatoes.  I have heard that these tomatoes win all the taste tests.  I purchased seeds this year and I'm going to give these a try!  I can't believe they could be better than the Green Zebras.  I hope to have a side by side comparison later this summer.

(Photo from Flora Grubb Gardens, San Francisco, CA)

I would also to try a little vertical garden this summer.  While traveling in California last week I saw examples of succulents planted in small boxes and hung on a wall.  Art with plants.  I have to research this more, but I'd love to give it a try.

Forget about it!  My garden is just too exposed to successfully grow tall, stately delphiniums.  They struggle along for a season and never come back.  I leave this one to gardeners who have more sheltered gardens.

CAROL KING

Plants I’ll always plant:  Heuchera!  I have probably 15 varieties and growing.  I have a lot of shade and the colorful foliage looks fabulous and I can’t resist the names: Apple Crisp, Berry Smoothie, Chocolate Ruffles, Lime Rickey, Sparkling Burgundy to name a few!

Plants I’m itching to try:  Curley Fries hosta! It almost looks like yucca and of course the foodie name has me hooked. There is also a new hakonechloa I want to try: Fubuki.

Forget about it! Echinacea! I love the colors, the shape and the personality of this lovely native but I don’t have enough sun; they tend to get aster yellows and just don’t like me!

Dream big, dear gardener! Planting time is almost here.

The History of the Shamrock by Carol King

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, the day when everyone in the world is Irish for a day! And the shamrock is the most recognized symbol of the Irish.

The Irish shamrock (spelled seamrog) is thought to be the white clover (Trifolium repens). What we consider to be a common lawn weed, is a native of Ireland. It has been symbolic of many things through the years. It was considered to be a sacred plant to the Druids of Ireland because its leaves formed a triad, and three is a mystical number in Celtic religion as well as many other religions. Supposedly, St. Patrick used it to illustrate the Holy Trinity to help convert Irish peoples to Christianity.


Ever wonder where the expression “the wear’o the green” came from? In the 19th century, wearing a shamrock became a symbol of the Catholic underground after a government-led religious prosecution began against Catholics. One could get hung for “wear’o the green”!

“O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that going round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground;
St. Patrick's Day no more we'll keep, his colours can't be seen,
For there's a bloody law against the wearing of the green.”
Dion Bouicault

Today the plants we associate with St Patrick’s Day and are usually sold as “shamrocks” are actually wood sorrel or Oxalis. The Oxalis is very easy to grow. Check this article for its care.

Dear gardener, here’s a wish for a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day and this Irish blessing:

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

14th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count

Photo from National Audubon Society

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii. This is a great event for citizen scientists and their families help the researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them and the environment we share. You can report your findings at www.birdcount.org.  This year the event will be held from February 18 - 21, 2011.

Read this for the whole story.

Thirteenth Annual Tomato-Tasting and Cider-Pressing Party by Duane Davidson

Guests tasted and rated more than 25 varieties of tomatoes at Char and Tom Gottlieb's 13th annual tomato-tasting and cider-pressing party the other weekend.  Char, a Jefferson County CSU Extension Master Gardener, grew most of the tomatoes evaluated, but several guests brought samples of their favorites, too.

They included heirloom and other large-sized red, yellow, and green tomatoes; cherry-size and other salad tomatoes; and the meaty paste (Italian-style) tomatoes. Everyone was invited to rate the tomatoes' tastiness on a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being "great" and 1, "awful." After ratings were totaled and averaged, Sun Gold, a prolific yellow cherry tomato, came out on top. Almost everyone gave it a "5." Following just behind, all with an average above "4," were Italian Sweet, a red beefsteak-type, Pruden's Purple, a pink-purple heirloom beefsteak; and Persimmon, a yellow heirloom beefsteak.

Guests who grow apples were asked to bring some for the cider-pressing, which Tom oversaw. They brought what amounted to several bushels full, so the cider press operated non-stop for several hours, with a number of the guests taking a turn turning the apple grinder or twisting the press that squeezed out the juice. There were tastes of cider for everyone, plus extra to carry back home.

Multiple wheelbarrow loads of spent apple pulp enriched the Gottlieb compost pile.

Hosts Char and Tom Gottlieb

The sunny Saturday afternoon event brought Master Gardeners, family friends, and neighbors to Char and Tom's Arvada farmhouse. Some were participating for the first time. Others were veterans who look forward to this annual celebration of bounties from the garden. They gathered at afternoon's end on the front lawn for a potluck supper. The chill in the air at sunset reminded of fall's approach and the end of another growing season.

Rose History by Jerry Peterson

Jerry Peterson shared this history of the rose which he got from the White Flower Farm Catalog: 

"Based on fossil records, the Rose family (which includes fruits such as cherries and strawberries as well as many garden perennials) has been in existence for millions of years, perhaps 90 million years. The Rose itself has been one of the most revered flowers throughout history.

Early civilizations, such as the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, admired Roses and cultivated them over 5,000 years ago. The gardens of the Pharaohs were filled with Roses; traces of the Holy Rose of Abyssinia have been found in tombs dating back to 3,000 B.C. Confucius wrote about an obsession with Roses in China, while Medieval legends hold that a white Rose perfumed the Garden of Eden.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, formal gardens were no longer practical and Roses were grown mainly for their medicinal uses. Later, soldiers returning from the Crusades brought home exotic new varieties from the Middle East and rekindled the desire to grow Roses as ornamentals.

In the early 1800s, Napoleon’s wife Josephine created her renowned Rose garden at Malmaison near Paris. She included nearly every variety known at the time and her husband ordered his captains to bring home unusual bushes spotted during their travels. The gardens at Malmaison sparked huge interest in Roses and eventually led to the development of repeat-blooming Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, and Grandifloras. Unfortunately, in the quest for bigger and better flowers, scent was often bred out of newer varieties.

Today, dedicated Rose breeders continue the mysterious process and long-term commitment it takes to combine the best attributes into new forms that simply did not exist 25 years ago. In England, David Austin deliberately includes old, fragrant Roses in his breeding program to restore scent."

Health Hazards for Gardeners? by Donna Duffy

Gardening is great for your health, right? The benefits of gardening-related exercise are well known. Lesser known are some serious health hazards that you could encounter. Remember,  your physician is always your first line defense and should be consulted anytime you have symptoms that are concerning.

Gardening, yard work and landscape injuries can be as simple as a scrape or as severe as a deep puncture wound, but any that break the skin can leave you at risk for tetanus, a serious and potentially fatal bacterial disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost one-third of reported tetanus cases come from gardening or farming injuries.

The first signs of a tetanus infection include headache and muscle spasms of the jaw. The tetanus booster shot is an effective means of prevention and should be administered every 10 years. If you can’t remember the last time you had a tetanus shot, it’s probably time you got the booster – check with your physician.

Tetanus isn’t the only disease that poses a threat to gardeners. Sporotrichosis, also known as the “rose thorn disease” is an infection caused by a fungus found in vegetation. It usually infects the skin of people handling thorny plants, sphagnum moss or baled hay. The fungus enters the skin through small cuts or punctures from thorns, barbs, pine needles, splinters or wires from contaminated sphagnum moss, moldy hay or other plant materials or soil. The infection appears as small painless lumps or bumps resembling an insect bite 1-12 weeks after exposure. The infected site can be red, pinkish or purple in color. The bump usually appears on the finger, hand or arm where fungus first entered through a break in the skin. This is followed by additional bumps that can break open and resemble boils.  Eventually, they look like open sores that are very slow to heal. These symptoms call for an immediate visit to the doctor.

Even more dangerous than tetanus, though far more rare, is the possibility of a deadly pathogen traveling in consumer-grade fertilizer. Over the years there have been a few isolated cases of E. coli contamination traced back to a home garden fertilized with manure. Composting is effective in combating manure pathogens since it generates enough heat to kill many bacteria.

Your best daily defense against these diseases is to wear gloves and long sleeves, clean your tools after use, thoroughly wash anything you plan to eat, and scrub your hands when you’re through gardening. So, take precautions and go ahead! Get out there and enjoy all the positive health benefits of gardening.

Colorado Cactus and Succlent Society's Show and Plant Sale by Dusty M

Specialized plant groups can be valuable resources to gardeners who want to explore subdivisions of the gardening world. Here in Colorado there are a host of organizations with special focus, from African violets and orchids to daylilies and dahlias, from water gardening to carnivorous plants. In these groups one can tap into a wealth of information, practical experience, and passion for particular plants and styles of gardening. Most of them are also a source of plants.

This weekend took me to the Colorado Cactus and Succulent Society's show and plant sale at the Denver Botanic Gardens. I'm planning a non-irrigated ornamental plot in my backyard and expect cacti and succulents to play a prominent role. So this seemed a good chance to get started.

First I had a look at the society's show, where 128 entries in several dozen cactus and succulent categories were on display. For the most, these were the non-hardy plants that live in containers and spend winters indoors here in our climate. (Those that grow outdoors, of course, aren't very amenable to being dug up in March and brought in for the show.) While some may not think of a cactus as an object of beauty, this was a lovely display. Though fearsome to the touch, many were quite appealing to the eye.

In the neighboring plant sale room another, much larger, kind of show was taking place. Here thousands of cacti and succulents among probably hundreds of species and varieties were offered for sale by their growers. Again, most were of the indoor, non-hardy type. My choices for outdoor planting were but a couple dozen. And the plants on sale were mostly in the small, starter size. I didn't want to think about how many years I'll have to wait to see their colorful blooms. I selected about a dozen cacti and succulents, including a couple of durable hens and chickens that I know I can count on to fill in some space as I wait on the cacti.

For more flavor of the event, go to the cactus and succulent society's web site,  where there are two short videos of the 2008 show and sale.

I plan to get a few more plants for my new bed on April 24. That's when the local rock garden group, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, holds its plant sale at the Denver Botanic Garden.

Home and Garden Show Provides a Wealth of Information by Heirloom Fan

If you have never attended one of the Home and Garden shows, you must give yourself a treat next year and plan to attend. The garden displays are well planned and give inspiration to those who want suggestions or help in choosing the right plant for their location.
This year, I volunteered as a Master Gardener at the CSU Extension Service booth. There were four of us as volunteers, and we were all kept busy for the entire 4 hour shift, answering questions and providing Garden Notes and Fact sheets for the many people who came to our table. It was fun to meet so many enthusiastic gardeners who want to improve the beauty of their home and yard with Colorado tested plants, trees, shrubs and lawns.

Colorado gardeners are well aware that what works for Front Range gardens may not work well in the mountains or other areas. The Fact Sheets that are available through the CSU Extension website are research based information which provides more sound advice to help you make the right choices. For example, when you visit your local garden center, look for plants that are marked with the PlantSelect logo. This means that the plants with this designation have been tested by both CSU and the Denver Botanic Gardens for proven performance and hardiness for gardening here in Colorado.

There is also a wide variety of fact sheets available including those for lawns, trees, vegetable and flower gardening, pest management and soil amendments. These are all available at no cost to you – all you have to do is access one of these sites, and browse at your leisure. If you find a fact sheet that you need, all you have to do it click on print and it prints right to your home computer printer. Here are the links you can access:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/pubs.html#water
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/reviewed.html
If you still need assistance after reading the material, you can call Jefferson County CSU Extension Office at 303-271-6620 and ask to speak to one of the experts on hand who can give you more help with your problem or question.  And remember that Master Gardeners will be on hand at other events such as some of the local Farmer’s Markets, so look for us, come up and say hi and feel free to pick up any materials we have on hand for you!

One Year in Ninety Seconds

Here is a cool video of a view from a balcony of one whole year of change in the garden. It has been condensed into ninety seconds!

Uh-Oh! A "Blue Moon" Ends the OOs

It's a "Blue Moon" New Years Eve! This is a good omen for the 2010 planting season. Our wish for all  gardeners is a year with ample rain, no hail, early spring, warm summer, late fall frost, and a long harvest!  May your corn be as high as an elephant's eye; may you get blood from your turnips; may your cabbage be as large and wise as a man's head; may your tomatoes be lusty and if your fruit rots, may it become wine; may your artichokes have hearts; may your potatoes keep their eyes peeled; and may 2010 be the Dawning of the Age of Asparagus!

Happy New Year from the Jeffco Gardener Blog Team.

Read about the blue moon phenomenon here:

SkyandTelescope.com - Press Releases - Uh-Oh! A "Blue Moon" Ends the OOs