December 2022
Pickaway to Garden
Naked!
By Paul J. Hang
This is not
about getting naked but, now that I have your attention, about evergreens and
Christmas trees. There are many species of trees that can be used for Christmas
trees. All are evergreen and coniferous. All are gymnosperms. From the Greek,
gymnos means naked and sperma means seeds. Coniferous plants have naked seeds.
Curiously enough, gymnos is where we get the word gymnasium. I wouldn’t carry
this too far or you might be asked to leave the “Y” with a police escort. But I
digress.
Most
flowering plants are angiosperms. Angio from the Greek means vessel. Vascular
plants that are angiosperms develop their seeds within an ovary within a flower
and the seeds are contained in a fruit. Vascular plants that are gymnosperms
develop their seeds exposed (naked) on the surface of cones, not in fruits. We
call them conifers. Gymnosperms were some of the earliest plants. Angiosperms
evolved later and are more numerous.
Conifer
leaves are almost always simple, often needlelike as in pines, spruces,
larches, and firs or scale-like as in some junipers and cedars. Some conifers
are not evergreen but deciduous and lose their leaves, like Dawn Redwoods, Bald
Cypress and Larch (Tamarack). Most conifers are evergreen.
Evergreens retain
their leaves as their name implies. As
is true in all of nature, there is a cost as well as a benefit for every tactic
of survival. Keeping leaves enables a plant to continue to take advantage of
sunlight to fuel growth and development. Plants that retain their leaves in
northern climates must produce chemicals to protect their cells from the
destruction of freezing temperatures.
Plants use
their leaves to exchange oxygen as well as to collect sunlight. This exchange
(transpiration) loses water as vapor in their “breath” just as in ours. Our
evergreen trees are particularly susceptible to this. They risk drying out, or desiccation. Newly planted evergreens need to be watered
right up until the ground is frozen deep and hard. If you have smaller
evergreens planted in areas where drying winds are prevalent you may try
spraying them with an anti-desiccant or wrapping them with burlap for the
winter. Don’t leave them naked.
Evergreens
are often triangular in shape, tall and narrow with branches wider at the
bottom than at the top. This enables them to take advantage of the low winter
sun which comes at them sideways rather than from overhead. Look at your
Christmas tree and be reminded of the low winter Sun. They celebrate the return
of the light and with it greenery, which is the promise of returning life. Another
way to enjoy them is to spend an evening with nothing on but the tree lights.
Happy
Holidays!
Things to do in the garden:
Thankfully,
there are not too many things to do IN the garden as much as there are things
to do ABOUT the garden. If you haven’t already done so, clean up crop debris. Get
the vegetable garden ready for spring. As mentioned before, leave stems in the
perennial beds 18 inches high for overwintering beneficial insects’ eggs and
pupae. If it remains dry, continue to water evergreens and perennial plants,
particularly those planted this year, until the ground is frozen hard.
On nice days
wander about your place and notice how some plants continue to develop. If the
local temperature reaches 50 degrees they grow, only to cease when the
temperature falls below. Those bitter cress weeds are small now. I find them in
between the bricks of my walk. They, false dead nettle and ground ivy in the
beds and in the lawn are trying to gain a foothold now while they have little
competition. The biennial mullein with its fuzzy lamb's ear-like leaves is
growing flat against the earth. Rosettes of poison hemlock and teasel continue
to grow. Dig them up while you have the chance or spray with an herbicide
according to the directions on the label. Get them before the weather turns
warm and they turn tougher.
If the ground
remains open it’s still not too late to plant lilies, tulips and daffodils. You
may find some bargains. Avoid the soft and shriveled ones. Check houseplants
for insects. Move clay pots inside to prevent breaking. Plant native seeds
directly over snow or frozen ground. Go to www.backyardhabitat.info.
Wrap young tree
trunks with hardware cloth or the plastic wrap made for that purpose. Protect
them from ground level to about 18 inches.
This also goes for newly planted shrubs. Place fencing around them. This
prevents mice, voles and rabbits from using the bark as lunch. If they girdle
the plants, they will die. A little light pruning of trees and shrubs while
they are dormant won’t hurt. Damaged, rubbing or simply inconvenient small
branches can be removed. Never top trees in any season. When harvesting or
buying firewood use only from local sources less than 20 miles. This helps
prevent the spread of bugs and diseases harmful to trees.
In the
vegetable garden, write down and/or map where you planted what this year. This
will aid in crop rotation. Use sand and/or ice melt, not rock salt, on your
walks, salt is harmful to plants including grass and contaminates ground water.
Gift ideas for gardeners: a good spade, soil knife, scuffle hoe, gloves, mud boots, books.
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