What is That Plant?

April 2025

 

PICKAWAY TO GARDEN

What is that Plant?

By Paul J. Hang

 

Recently, on 60 Minutes, I saw a segment about a factory in British Columbia that captures carbon out of the atmosphere in the form of CO2 and finds uses for it or stores it underground. It uses a chemical process to do this. Carbon and CO2 can be used in cement, plastic and other building materials and put the fizz in soft drinks. The process is fairly complicated and it uses fossil fuels and so is controversial. When the narrator referred to the factory as a plant I had to laugh.

 

I know of millions of plants that, using a chemical process, capture CO2 out of the air and find lots of uses for it and sequester it. The chemical process is called photosynthesis and the chemical is chlorophyll. The plants use energy from sunlight not fossil fuels and, Hydrogen from water and carbon from CO2 to produce sugar- the basis of life. Along the way they use carbon for their tissues (stems and leaves and roots). Oxygen is a by- product. Carbon is sequestered in trees and underground in their roots and in the soil. These plants produce food, fiber and useful chemicals.

 

Plants and animals also sequester carbon in our bodies. We return some CO2 in our breath when we breathe and plants when they transpire. When they and we die carbon is released through decomposition or continues to be sequestered. Long-dead prehistoric plants and animals were sequestering carbon in the form of coal, oil and gas. Then we burned it releasing all the CO2 which is now warming our atmosphere with catastrophic results. Until we sequester the same amount of carbon that we have released we will continue to get warmer. The answer is balance.

 

We do not sequester the amount of CO2 that we produce annually let alone reduce the surplus that we have built up. One of the best answers is to leave our old forests of big trees alone. Plantations of mono-cultures of trees do not do the job. Peter Wohlleben, the German Forester and author of “The Hidden Life of Trees,” covers the topic in his new book “The Power of Trees: How Ancient Forests can save us If We Let Them.”

 

No foolin the trees are bloom’in all around us. To identify the plants and trees around us, these two Plant ID apps can help; Pl@ntNet and iNaturalist. April 25^th is Arbor Day, time to plant trees. Join the City Tree Commission, Circleville High School students and city workers for an Arbor Day celebration at Barthelmas Park at 9am and see how to plant trees successfully. For information about planting and mulching trees see bygl.osu.edu. Gardening questions? Call the helpline at the Pickaway County Extension office at 740-474-7534.

 

Things to do in the garden:

Tomato, eggplant and pepper seeds should be started indoors. The seedlings should be moved from the cells after 4 weeks into larger pots. Move them into the garden only after hardening them off and the danger of frost is past. As usual make sure you water-in the transplants. When you water, water deeply (top six inches wet) and water the base of the plant not the foliage. Water when the plants need it, not every day. Most plants require 1 to 1 and a half inches of water per week.

 

Vegetables that can be planted by seed directly into the garden are: beets, carrots, peas, onions, spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes. These should be watered enough to keep the soil moist to begin germination. Don’t let them dry out. Beets and carrots should be thinned at the seedling stage. Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli plants can be planted as soil and weather conditions allow. The soil temperature for cool weather plants should be 50 degrees, warm weather plants at least 60 and some even higher. Put an inch of compost on the beds.

 

Use row covers (Google it) on your vegetables right after planting to keep the bad bugs off. For vegetables that produce fruit (beans, cucumber, pepper, squash, etc.) remove the covers after blooming to let the pollinators go to work. Tomatoes are self-pollinating and so you could leave the covers on. For those that don’t need pollinating (Cabbage, broccoli, onions, chard, kale, lettuce, beets and radishes, etc.) you can leave the covers on until harvest. Make sure you buy the right covers that let in enough light and rain. I have found this to be an effective method to protect plants without insecticides. Place collars around transplants that are susceptible to cut worms.

 

Most annual flowers can be seeded directly into the soil after the danger of frost has abated. Some popular annuals that you should consider starting indoors are: snapdragon, wax begonia, sweet William, impatiens, sweet alyssum, petunia, gloriosa daisy, blue salvia, viola, pansy and zinnia, among others. This can save you a considerable amount of money that you can then spend on a perennial (native) plant.

Fertilize lawns lightly, if at all. The time to re-seed is when night time temps consistently reach 50 degrees and above. This is also the time to aerate lawns. Apply a pre-emergent herbicide now to prevent crabgrass, unless you plan to seed. When common lilac or Ohio buckeye begins to bloom it is too late for a pre-emergent herbicide to be effective and too early for a post-emergent. Leave clippings on the lawn. Their nitrogen content is high and will reduce the need to fertilize. Mowing height of at least three inches will retard the growth of crab grass and other weeds.

Unless you are prepared to cover plants in case of frost, don’t put out those tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers until mid-May or later when the soil warms up. The average last frost date is now April 23rd. There is a 50/50 chance of frost then and the chance decreases about 10% per week after that. Cool season transplants, after hardening them off, can be planted now (Lettuce, broccoli, kale, cabbage, and cauliflower).

Spring flowering bulbs should be fertilized after they bloom. Remember to leave the leaves of bulbs until they yellow. Brown is better. Pinch off any developing seed heads. If April brings its showers don’t work the soil if it is too wet.  Wait until it dries out a bit. If it seems wet enough to make a clay pot, wait. Squeeze a ball of earth about the size of golf ball and let it drop from waist high, if it breaks apart it’s ready to be worked. Don’t apply mulch until May. Allow the soil to warm.

Cut back your ornamental grasses to six inches or to the green stems. They can be divided now. Cut back your butterfly bushes (buddleia) to a foot or two and apply a balanced fertilizer. Prune spring blooming shrubs after they bloom. Bagworms on shrubs and trees hatch out shortly after the Snowmound Spirea blooms. This is when you can spray an insecticide (Bacillus thuringiensis, also called Bt, read the label) to kill the caterpillars. Now is the time to prune roses. Depending on the variety, you may prune back to a foot in height or to green growth. Fertilize monthly until Labor Day. You can plant new ones now. Large hostas can be divided as soon as they emerge.

Wait until several 50 plus degree days in a row before cleaning up debris of stems to save beneficial insects. If in doubt store them temporarily before putting them in the compost heap.Don’t prune your oak trees after the middle of the month or after they leaf out. Sap beetles are attracted to the open wounds and will bring oak wilt, a disease which will kill them and has been found in this part of the state. If pruning can’t be avoided paint the cuts with a pruning sealant.