Fall 2009
Sprigs & Sprouts
Limestone County Master Gardener Association
Volume 7, Issue 2
From The President
Do you remember
Back in the day that
teacher’s icebreaker
for the first day back
in school at summer’s
end? It was that little essay, “What I did
this summer.” Sometimes it was a stretch
to remember anything
beyond a rerun of the
day before. A typical
summer day went: got
up, had breakfast,
went swimming, had
lunch, went swimming, had supper, listened to the radio,
went to bed.
However, I always
had that one - to - two
week break when I
went to the “country,”
w h i c h
w a s
a rural East Tennessee enclave of grandparents,
uncles,
aunts, cousins and
n e i g h b o r s .
It was not a family vacation, because that’s
what other families
did and I was cast
alone upon these suffering relatives. The
aunts saw that food
and bed were available,
bathing was in a
pan. Days were long,
slow, and hot.
Days
were waking early to
a
big
breakfa st,
“helping” with feeding
the stock, gathering
eggs, bringing the cows
in from the pasture for
milking, carrying cool
water to the field,
etc.
As I got older,
chores became more
varied. I chopped hogweeds in the tobacco
patch, squashed tobacco worms, bagged
wheat on a thrasher,
drove a tractor with
lightning
overhead
while
the
cousins
rushed to load hay
bales into the barn,
went frog-gigging, went
to church socials, rode a
mule to the barn from
plowing, etc.
I have memories of
things that will not
come again, such as
carrying oat sheaves to
a stationary steamdriven thrasher, taking
Jerry Davis MG 96
corn in a mule-driven
wagon to the local mill,
playing on rusted remains of a buggy and a
surrey, riding a horsedrawn hay rake, shopping in a rolling store,
buying stick candy at
my uncle’s crossroads
store, watching the
men whittle and spit
around the courthouse.
I did not know how
poor most of these people were - poor in the
sense of cash.
Cash
came from the tobacco
and field crops, depending upon the weather
and a buyer. These folk
were subsistence farmers who consumed what
they raised. Bartering
was common: eggs, butter, chickens, and garden produce were exchanged at the rolling
store for cloth, thread,
white sugar, baking
powder, and buckets, .
Today, I think how rich
these
people
were.
They
raised their families,
fed them, educated
Inside this issue:
Triangles
2
Annual Picnic
3
Picnic Pictures
4
Meet Joni Gruber
5
The Great Pond Episode
6
Greening & Cleaning
7
them, taught a work
ethic, developed their
community, fought a
war,
accepted
and
adapted and progressed
and lived and died.
When I grow up, perhaps I’ll become a Master Gardener.
Triangles
Last year at this time we were
justly proud of an excellent
spring and summer season.
Alas, 2009 is not to be recorded
as a great season. Thank goodness for foundation plants and
perennials. They have enabled
the triangles to remain presentable all through a tough
season for our annuals.
Jim Ladner MG‘03
long stems and many colors
complemented by a few notable
white blooms. These whites
were marked for potential dividing and sale for next year.
The paving along Hwy 31 was a
challenge for this year in more
ways than one. The water system was hit with broken sprinkler heads and asphalt shavings
propelled into planting areas.
Tommy and Janice Hutton were
right on top of the needed repairs (high pressure hoses, batteries, risers, and sprinkler
heads. Oh, and timer setting expertise! )
Jerry Franks did due vigil on
our spraying needs and, Jerry
Davis was our liriope barber
with weed eater work par excellence. Thanks to Carole Barron
for the use of the battery trimmers used on the barberry amazing battery life!
Our first workday in February
was used to prune the barberry
and other foundation plants.
The barberry has responded
well and is now well formed
and approaching its fall maroon hues to complement the
deep green carissa.
Our perennials, each in its
turn, put on a strong showing
first with the daffodils, followed by irises, then the border of stellas and finally the
best of the year with our center
section of regular daylilies.
They were very showy with
Page 2
We were in shock when we arrived for one of our workdays to
discover a barricaded triangle
with whirling, clanging machinery surrounding it. As we all assembled on the gas station
grass, it appeared that we would
have to cancel our planned
workday. After only a few minutes, the hubbub subsided and
the road crew moved on south.
This turned out to be one of our
most productive workdays punctuated by a surprise ending! A
20 - car police chase of a bank
robber! Sirens and careening
cars everywhere!
On the north triangle we established a new color area mostly
viewed by walkers and those
traveling south on Hwy 31. This
(Continued on page 3)
Sprigs & Sprouts
(Continued from page 2)
area is not as visible from the
road as the south side. Somehow it survived the cold wet
spring into hot summer. The
moss rose was again successful
along with the new shasta daisies.
The star color plants for the
year were the daylilies in the
center of the south triangle.
Thanks to all who helped with
the weeding, feeding, and maintenance.
Never Again
Nancy Robinette MG ‘93
Never again will I plant ground covers. My Asiatic jasmine is
now mixed with poison oak and other weedy vines that cover it.
Never again will I mark the boundary of my property with
hedgerows of monkey grass. Birds spread the seeds. I have now
dug up more monkey grass in unwanted places than I planted to
begin with.
Never again will I expect vines to charmingly cascade down this,
that, or the other. Mine only grow up.
Limestone County Master Gardeners are encouraged to submit
their own horticultural misadventures for publication in this recurring column. To volunteer, call Nancy Robinette.
The fall planting is our next big
project. Come help, and
bring a smile along with you.
2009 Annual Picnic
I was asked to do a write
about the annual Limestone
County Master Gardener Association’s picnic that is held
at my house. The community
garden started out at Friendship United Methodist Church
off Lucas Ferry Road. The
church began to grow so we
moved the garden a bit to the
north from its original location
for a year or two. The church
continued growing, so we had
to move again. I was taking
all my equipment out there,
anyway, and since I have the
land for the garden I volunteered the location. That is
how the garden came to be
where it is today.
I had wanted for some time to
have a picnic at the garden.
Someone asked me about a
picnic at my house. I said I
would think about it. I knew I
would have to have some help!
Volume 7, Issue 2
Edward Hall-Honorary Member
Everyone said, “I will help.” So
I agreed to do it.
Once the word got out, everyone
said make it a potluck. My wife
and my daughter Malinda Keyes
helped.
My granddaughter,
Laine Morris, who is good at
anything, and her daughter, my
great granddaughter, Ragan
Morris, were happy to help also.
My good friend Mr. Comer
Beasley helped me with the
grilling. Joanne Gruber helped
get the condiments together and
organize them. I had this big 12’
x 24’ tent in case it rained. My
son, Wayne Hall, helped me
stake it up. The tent, along with
my 36’ x 15’ carport provided
some insurance from any rain.
ter, Alison Morris, and Grace
Holland, a friend of mine,
helped all day.
We had hot dogs, hamburgers,
and a lot of good home cooking.
Laine and the girls made
[strawberry and chocolate ice
cream! Everyone had a fantastic time. We had about 35 or 40
members, spouses, and visitors
present.
The picnic that we had this year
in 2009 was even bigger and better. We had some more helpers
along with the ones at the other
picnics. My great granddaughPage 3
Picnic Pictures
PHOTOGRAPHER: Comer Beasley
Extension Support – Helpline & AMGA Fundraising Committee
The following message in italics 2009 has been slower but we look
came from Betty Ann Broman and forward to a busy year in 2010.
the Staff of the Extension Office:
For the remainder of the year we
will continue to work on the
We want to thank all the Master ACES Publications and the filing
Gardeners for their assistance system. If you still need hours
with the HelpLine through the contact Kathie Bass. There is
2009 season. As of today, Sep- always a task that needs
tember 30 we will officially de- accomplishing in the office.
clare it 'closed' for 2009.
Thanks to everyone who
I wanted you to know that volunteered and we look forward
(according to the calendar on the to 2010.
internet) there are several people
who have continued to sign up to Y o ur A MG A Fu nd r a i s i ng
work the HelpLine through Octo- Committee is currently working
ber, and maybe a couple in No- on a “Distinctive License Plate”
vember. Would you please send with a gardening theme.
out a note letting people know
that we appreciate their dedica- The specialty plate cost will be
tion, but business is really slow, $50 a year with $41.25 going to
and we'd like to reserve their the sponsoring organization
time for 2010!
(Alabama Master Gardeners
Association). There is a minimum
Page 4
Kathie Bass MG’02
requirement of 1000 plates.
All funds would be designated to
a specified AMGA project, such
as the Endowment Fund, Extension staff support, or other
Home Grounds Team support.
The plans are to have two designs rendered in time for the
2010 Conference where membership can vote on the final choice.
The state will then have to approve the design. Once that is
done and 1000 plates are preordered, the Bureau of Prisons
will commence plate making.
We have one year from the approval of the application to meet
the criteria.
Further information can be seen
in the AMGA State Newsletters.
Sprigs & Sprouts
Meet Joni Gruber — Born to Garden
There are few who can claim to
have been gardeners from the
tender young age of three, but
Joni Gruber remembers planting onions for her napping
mother at that age. Her pregnant mother fell asleep and Joni
sneaked outside to plant the
slender slips. And she did it expertly, stretching a guide string
from stick to stick and setting a
perfectly straight row of onions.
That precocious beginning is her
first gardening memory. Gardening has been a big part of
her life ever since, and she says
it will be until she goes to that
big garden in the sky.
Her love of gardening comes
naturally from both parents.
Her mother always gardened
and canned vegetables and her
father was an organic dairy
farmer in her home state of Wisconsin.
Joni became interested in becoming a Master Gardener when
she worked on constructing a dinosaur garden in a daughter’s
schoolyard. The volunteers exposed her to the MG program
and she was impressed with the
amount of time they put in.
She didn’t immediately become
a MG, though. She and her husband Bob moved to Limestone
County in 2005 after living for
twenty years in Virginia. They
chose Limestone County as their
retirement home to be near family, and they were immediately
comfortable here. She says everyone they met seemed like
their best friend and their transition to the area turned out
Page 5
even better
hoped.
Tom Ress-MG Intern
than
they
had
She said, “I used to be a real
whirlwind when I was younger.”
After the couple settled in, Joni
signed up and took the MG
course and in 2006 she officially
became a Master Gardener. It
didn’t take her long to make
herself known in Limestone
County gardening circles, and
she was quickly elected as vice
president of Limestone County
Master Gardeners Association,
where she served for about 1½
years. Jerry Davis was president at that time, and the two
officers left a legacy as an active
duo.
She recently resigned from her
position to take care of her husband Bob while he works
through some health issues. She
says Bob is doing fine and she
hopes to resume attending
LCMGA meetings early next
year, She also hopes to help
with the Master Gardener
phone line.
She misses the
meetings and loves the people
she has met through the program. She says Master Gardeners make the best friends.
The Grubers live in the country
on three acres near Mooresville
Road where they tend “quite a
few” garden areas as well as a
few apple and plum trees. A
friend recently introduced her to
figs. She had only had Fig Newton cookies and thought “no way
Jose” when her friend offered
her one. But once she tasted a
fresh fig she was hooked.
A true gardener, Joni likes
pretty much everything about
gardening but says she is least
adept with fruit trees. She has
lost a few to drought since moving to Alabama—which leaves
her in good company. Her biggest challenge has been learning
how to vegetable garden in the
South. The varieties of veggies
that grow here are much different from those that thrive in
Wisconsin. That undoubtedly
requires her to research new
veggie varieties to plant here.
That is no problem for her. She
laughs that there’s no stopping
her when she’s around gardening catalogues.
One of her gardening philosophies seems to run in her family. She is a big believer in low water gardening, and she arranged for her sister, who lives
and gardens in drought stricken
Texas, to give a presentation on
xeriscaping - waterwise gardening - at a LCMGA meeting last
year.
She says her gardens have been
suffered a little lately because
she has not been giving them as
much time as she would like.
She has also had little time for
sewing, another interest. She
used to make her own clothes
and once made draperies for a
house. She said, “I used to be a
real whirlwind when I was
younger.” Those who know her
would say she still is. She’s
just on a short sabbatical.
Sprigs & Sprouts
Adventures of a Master Gardener Intern
The Great Pond Episode
Remember that stretch of unbearably hot weather we had in
July of 2007? When the thermometer hit triple digits for a
record-breaking eleven days in a
row? Everyone sought refuge in
the air - conditioned comfort of
their living rooms - everyone except me, that is. I was the idiot
with a shovel standing out in a
deep pit of red Alabama dirt digging a backyard pond.
Don’t
ask about my incredibly bad
timing (it has a lot to do with a
very insistent wife), but I couldn’t have picked a worse time to
embark on an outdoor project. I
cursed the very idea of a pond
before it was over.
The actual digging
of the pond was
the worst part.
We used a Bobcat
to do the major excavation, but considerable
shovel
work was still required to smooth the pond walls
and level the yard around the
perimeter. After I wore out a
shovel—and my back—we ran
wiring to the pump and filter,
plumbed everything together,
and lined the hole with padding
and a flexible rubber liner. We
filled the pond with water and
we were in business. Sounds
easy and it was—except for the
digging.
All that sweating and digging is
just a bad memory now as I sit
by the pond with a cool drink
and watch koi and goldfish lazily swimming among lily pads.
A small waterfall adds a relaxPage 6
ing sound of splashing water.
Hostas, sedum and verbena
spring up from the river rock
ringing the pond and complement the lily pads decorating
the rippling water.
I couldn’t have picked a worse
time to embark on an outdoor
project.
We didn’t want a huge pond;
ours measures ten by fifteen feet
and is thirty inches deep in the
middle (recommended for Alabama to ensure fish can survive
the winters) with an eighteeninch-deep shelf around the edge
for plants. We sited it a few feet
away from our back patio for
easy viewing. Why have a pond
if you can’t enjoy the view?
The location provides almost full
sun, but we do have a large saucer magnolia bush and a dogwood next to it which give a
pleasing backdrop and add some
morning shade. We planted a
variety of shade-loving plants
Tom Ress-MG Intern
such as hostas and ferns under
the dogwood and used sun lovers
like spiderwort, chameleon plant
and elephant ears to complete
our open planting.
Vegetation should cover about
thirty percent of the water surface to provide shelter for fish so
we potted and immersed lily
pads in the pond. Finally, we
populated our little water feature with koi and goldfish. All
of our fish and practically all of
our plants were given to us by
neighbors and friends, saving us
hundreds of dollars.
After a little more than a year,
the plants have taken hold and
are proliferating; the lily pads
are sending out dinner platesized pads and sprouting pretty
pink flowers. Our fish must be
happy—and frisky. We started
with about ten and now count at
least thirty additional little ones
flitting among the vegetation. A
couple of frogs have shown up.
Was it worth it? Sure. Would I
do it again? Absolutely, but I’d
wait until the cool days of
October to start digging.
Sprigs & Sprouts
Greening and cleaning: Houseplants help purify indoor air
Radish magazine,
www.radishmagazine.com
You don’t need exotic technology
or expensive gadgets to remove
pollutants from the indoor air
you breathe. A selection of
hardy, easy-care houseplants
can help clean the air while offering an attractive decorating
feature for your interior environment.
NASA has been studying methods of cleansing the atmosphere
in future space stations to keep
them fit for human habitation
for extended periods of time.
Researchers have found that
many common houseplants can
"scrub" significant amounts of
harmful gases out of the air
through photosynthesis, and
pollutants also can be absorbed
and rendered harmless in the
soil. Studies have shown that
some houseplants are better at
removing formaldehyde from the
air, while others do a better job
on benzene.
These findings can be especially
important regarding newly constructed buildings, which are
better insulated and sealed
tightly to conserve energy, but
can trap pollutants indoors.
Based on the NASA studies, it’s
recommended that you mix a
minimum of two plants per 100
square feet of floor space in your
home or office. The more vigorously the plants grow, the better
job they’ll do for you.
According to the University of
Illinois Extension Service, you
don’t need to be a green thumb
to incorporate these popular,
low-maintenance houseplants
into your environment:
Chinese evergreen
(Aglaonema modestum.)
Page 7
Chinese evergreens are very tolerant plants that do well in a variety of settings and will flourish
for years with a minimum of
care. These plants do best in
shadow-less light, such as a
north window. Keep the soil
minimally moist.
Dracaena (including rededged dracaena, cornstalk
dracaena and Janet Craig
dracaena).
Dracaenas grow slowly and retain their foliage for long periods. Some, such as the corn
plant, are known for their
stems, while others are known
for their long, slender leaves.
Plant them in regular potting
mix, and keep the soil moist at
all times. Do not let the pot sit
in water. These plants grow best
in bright, indirect sunlight,
warm temperatures and low humidity.
Heartleaf
philodendron
(Philodendron
scandens
“oxycardium”).
Philodendrons grow better than
most other houseplants under
adverse conditions. They do well
as long as they are kept warm,
moderately moist and out of direct sunlight. For best results,
grow in bright, indirect sunlight,
warm temperatures and low humidity.
Pothos (Scindapus).
Pothos looks like a smoothstemmed philodendron, but it
can be distinguished from philodendron by its ridged stems.
Pothos plants are vigorous
climbers and look nice in a pot
or in a hanging basket. They are
best grown in bright, indirect
sunlight, warm temperatures
and low humidity.
Snake plant (Sansevieria tri-
Darcy Maulsby
fasciata).
These plants, which develop
clumps of erect, strap-shaped
leaves that are 18 to 30 inches
tall, grow in almost any environment. Plant them in regular potting mix and allow the soil to
dry completely between waterings. Grow in any light intensity, from dim interior to full
sun. Keep moderate to warm
temperatures and low humidity.
In winter, water just enough to
keep the foliage from shriveling.
Spider plant
(Chlorophytum).
Spider plants make ideal hanging basket plants. Plant in regular potting mix. Spider plants
prefer bright light but are very
adaptable to medium light. Allow soil to dry between waterings. Spider plants will produce
plantlets when potbound.
Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina).
These plants are adaptable to a
wide range of growing conditions. While they grow best in a
warm, moist environment, they
do fairly well under normal
household conditions of temperature and humidity. Plant in
regular potting soil and keep the
soil minimally moist at all
times. Weeping figs grow best
in bright, indirect light, diffused
sun, warm temperatures and
medium humidity. When grown
in pots, they tend to develop a
single stem. The leaves drop if
the plant is chilled. Weeping
figs like their roots crowded in a
small pot. Wipe leaves with a
wet cloth at frequent intervals.
Reprinted by permission of Radish magazine,
www.radishmagazine.com.
Sprigs & Sprouts
Limestone County Master
Gardener Association
P.O. Box 1304
Athens, AL 35612
Email: [email protected]
ONLINE at:
http://www.aces.
edu/counties/
Limestone/
MastGard/index.
html
knowing to grow is going to grow...
Obituaries
William E. "Ed" McCracken
Sept. 22, 1926 - October 05, 2009
With great sadness we note the
passing of Ed McCracken. Ed
and his wife Martha were long
time supporters of the Master
Gardeners.
Such wonderful memories we
have of the dinner meetings
they hosted in their lovely home
beside the pond.
Our sincerest prayers go out to
Martha and the family. As Ed
was loved by all so will he be
missed by all.