plant exchangea journey of starting...

Dibbles& Bits

• Encouraging vines to grow tomaturity within the growing seasoncan be a problem in this region. Eve-lyn Schindler of Yankton has a ‘BatWing’ and another passion vinegrowing on arch trellises. She takescuttings and overwinters these out-of- zone vines in pots indoors. “Ikeep them cut back over the winterso the vines don’t get entwined ineverything. They are slow starters.Once vines begin new growth andadjust to outdoors, they mature andbloom within the season. In spring,the vines and other plants growingfrom cuttings in pots, adjust to out-doors for a few weeks in her shadedbackyard. “This place is a disasterarea with plants everywhere here inthe yard. It’s hard keeping the plantsin little pots watered.” For the vinetrellis, Schindlers bent and tied 20-foot rebar to steel fence posts, form-ing the desired arch. A series ofrebar vine supports add height inter-est as they arch across the back of

the yard. “The rebar itself doesn’thave much for a vine to climb on, soI started leaving the dead vine on therebar and then tying the new vineinto the old vine with string. Birdsthought I left nesting string for them,so they took some too.”

• Master Gardener Training 2013will be offered by South Dakota StateUniversity Extension staff with Yank-ton as a regional site for three hands-on learning days in May. This year,

online learning will be combinedwith the three sessions at the Yank-ton County Extension Office on Whit-ing Drive. Topics include care andselection of trees and shrubs, lawncare, vegetable and flower gardeningand more. Application and fee dead-line March 27th. Details on website:http://www.sdstate.edu/sdces/re-sources/lawn/master-gardeners/

Information contact: Mary Ro-duner, MG Coordinator

at (605) 394-1722 .• Rabbit damage now? Missing

bark above the snowline on hedge orshelter belt plants is likely due torabbits, according to SDSU ExtensionForestry Specialist John Ball, whilebelow snowline may be voles ormice. He looks for twigs cut at a 45-degree angle and droppings for fur-ther proof of rabbit activity. Dr. Ballsuggests repellents that mimic pred-ator urine or repellents that leave anirritating taste like hot peppers asones to try now. Later when possi-ble, removing brush or hiding placesaround plants eliminates habitat.Valuable plants may be fenced withchicken wire close to the ground andwell above snow line. Pest Updatehttp://sdda.sd.gov/conservation-forestry/tree-pest-alerts/

• Interested in starting an herbgarden? A video by Andy Kriegershows the basics of growing herbs inthe Midwest. Rosemary, indoors andout, and other edible herbs are fea-tured along with curiosities such aslovage. On the website My Garden In-sider are others topics for gardeners.http://www.mygardeninsider.com/show-me-how/herb-gardening-video

Share tips from your plant ex-perience, give us a tour of yourplant site, or send your questionsrelated to outdoor or indoorplants to news@yankton.net Attn:Brenda Johnson or write to P&D,319 Walnut St, Yankton, SD 57078,Attn: Brenda Johnson.

———BY BRENDA K. JOHNSONP&D Correspondent

Q: Since the 2011 flood, howhave you established your newyard and revitalized green spacesat Larson’s Landing along the Mis-souri River?

A: Before the 2011 flood, Lindaand Doug Larson’s modular homefaced the Missouri River near theirLarson’s Landing marina west ofYankton. Displaced by the flood formonths, they now live in a modularhome away from the flood plain atthe landing and share a grove ofgiant cottonwood trees with neigh-bors.

We stand in their west facingfront yard that welcomes residentson a hot sunny day in August. “Webrought in topsoil,” Linda said. “Wedecided we were too old to wait forgrass to come up so we had the frontand back yard sodded from Harting-ton Turf.”

Full sun front yard foundationbeds include golden elder that theyhad grown previous years with suc-cess at other sites around the land-ing, blue pincushion, black-eyedSusans, deep pink coneflowers,lavender, and liatris. Groundcoverfor her flowerbeds is lime-colored‘Angelina’ sedum. This sedum is alsofound in other colors.

“We pick up the ‘Angelina’ in an-other bed and just throw it here.Eventually it fills in,” she said. Mostof the bed is covered in the limegreen living mulch after a fewmonths. Ground cover can add an-other color to the bed while shadingthe soil and resisting weed growth.

“We re-used the front porch fromour old house and added boards andre-painted it.” Looking at the new/oldporch she said, “It’s nice to change,but it’s nice for some things to be thesame.”

NEW BEGINNINGS BACKYARDIn their horseshoe-shaped back-

yard, Larsons’ share a grove of tallmature cottonwood and Eastern redcedar trees that had been undevel-oped. Cleared of scrub underbrush,each neighbor along their back andside yards incorporated the treesinto their own landscape setting. Thearea for all appears larger as a com-mons with boundaries. Larsons’three-foot split rail fence backed withcoated chicken wire is adequate fortheir two Shih Tzu family dogs.

“This area will be my vegetablegarden next year,” she said. “Maybethe rabbits will leave it alone.”

She points to young vines for redand white grapes. “This was my gateat the old house.” The gate will sup-port the vines. Nearby is a yellowchildren’s playhouse. “It was for-merly full of water.”

“Now I like my backyard,” shesaid. In the light shade of cotton-wood and a stately mulberry tree is aKoi pond and patio seating.

“Laura Gollnick from Na-turescapes and Tropical Creations ofYankton built the pond and waterfall.She did a good job of setting it underthe trees here.” Larsons enjoy thesound of water when seated on thenearby patio or their back deck.

“The big Koi are original fish thatLaura took out of the pond beforethe flood and saved them for me.They came home a year later,” Lindasaid.

She looks at areas around thepond where she intends to addplants and décor. “I found thismetal alligator at Lily Crest. It

wants to eat the fish.”Near the pond, a sunny herb gar-

den features rosemary, basils,thyme, oregano, and Italian parsley.“I cut them and hang them in thegarage upside down.” They use thedried herbs in cooking. Coreopsisadds color and spiderwort providesground cover.

As we stand in the shade, Lindaremarks that they have lost a hun-dred trees so far, mostly cotton-woods, from the flood. “I love thisyard. We’re happy with our house.You need to appreciate what you’vegot. It makes you humble,” she said.

PLANT MANAGEMENT AROUNDTHE LANDING

We tour Larson’s Landing inLinda’s four-wheeler. “We movedplants from my old yard to this(landing) entrance area.” Timed ir-rigation watering has replacedhose watering for their greenspaces around the landing, a realtime-saver for Larsons.

We pass hardy plants with awooden fence backdrop. Out of sightbehind the fence is the communitycompost pile of leaves and grassclippings. “We’ve had this compostpile about four years. It’s about fourfeet deep and the compost smellslike soil.” Residents can throw theirclippings there. Compost can beused for flowerbeds and vegetablegardens. “We hope to replenish thisarea in the future.”

Near the compost pile are plantstaging areas for the five large land-ing flowerbeds and entrance areas.She calls the irrigated staging areas“farms” as they grow plants at thefarms to transplant into flowerbedsas needed.

Flowerbeds here by the river arein sandy soil and full sun. With thedrought and busy summer days,their new irrigation system withtimers helps them establish newplants that require extra wateraround the landing. “We helped setup the system and cleaned thetimers so we can more easily fix it,”she said.

Linda, a trained master gardener,chooses hardy perennials and somenative plants for the flowerbeds.Blanket flower, yarrow, coneflowers,

ornamental grasses, lavender, andsedums with ‘Angelina’ as groundcover are examples.

“We’re somewhat starting overwith the plantings now that the irri-gation is working. We had to draghoses before. ‘Stella D’oro’ dayliliesneed a better location than here.“(Challenge is noted when thesedaylilies do not flourish.) No doubtthe absence of some trees and theirshade affects what plants will thrivein refurbished beds. She amends thesoil. “I put mushroom compostaround the plants each fall,” shesaid.

Between October 2011 and now,much of their time has been devotedto cleaning, renovating, and re-pur-posing buildings such as the landingstorm shelter, multiuse communitycenter/laundry/library/communitykitchen. They upgraded the landingmarina. Nathan Johnson reportedtheir efforts in the Press & Dakotan,Aug. 25, 2012.

On the four-wheeler, we pass bya row of 30-year-old cottonwoodtrees that are under watch for via-bility. “You can see high watermarks on trees that are almost outof standing reach,” she said. Thisseason’s drought adds to treestress. A large upturned tree rootremains in a display bed near theirnew home. “Sandbags were sevenfeet tall and ten feet wide overthere,” she said. “When the waterwent down, here was the tree root.It has a story to tell.”

To the sound of a skid loaderbacking and hammers pounding, thetwo employees, two young workers,and Doug and Linda will soon endtheir season. They have reorganizedthe mobile homes away from theflood plain. They have found otherareas and have increased their recre-ational vehicle spaces at the landingfrom 62 to 91.

“We’ve done all this with thehelp of friends, campers, and othersall along the way. For nine weeks(last year) I didn’t know where mystuff was, in different places. But mynew backyard is nicer. Birds like it alot. Thanks to flood insurance, Ihave a new home. We’re grateful toso many who helped us during theflood and we didn’t know many ofthem,” she said.

———Q: What About Pine Wilt?A: Last month Nathan John-

son reported in the Press &Dakotan that Lewis & ClarkRecreation Area west of Yanktonneeded to remove a hundredAustrian pines along hilltops dueto Pine Wilt. Pine Wilt has been aproblem in Kansas and Nebraskafor Scotch, Austrian, jack andmugo pines. These trees, exoticto South Dakota, are susceptibleto Pine Wilt, according to JohnBall, South Dakota State Univer-sity Extension Forester. Ball saysthat the Ponderosa native pine isunaffected by the nematode, fun-gus and/or possibly bacteria, andsawyer beetle that togethercause Pine Wilt and kill the tree.These organisms and the diseasehave been present in the regionfor years but the additionalstresses of heat and droughtfavor outbreaks in a specific site.

Needles turn gray green andthen tan in some or all of thebranches of the tree. Trees olderthat ten years seem to be moreaffected, according to Ball. Thepinewood nematode feeds onwater conducting passages of thetree. A Ceratocystis fungus isbrought to the tree by beetles.Nematodes feed on the fungusand grow and reproduce morerapidly. Pine sawyer beetlesmove tiny nematodes from treeto tree in a site. The beetle larvahatches in the tree, feeds underthe bark, and the adult sawyerbeetle flies to infect nearby trees

with nematodes in its breathingtubes.

To confirm presence of thisdisease before taking action(since there are other pine dis-eases) one diagnostic lab in theregion that accepts samples is atthe University of Nebraska-Lin-coln. Call Plant and Pest Diagnos-tic Clinic for information at (402)472-2559.

Once Pine Wilt is confirmed,Ball recommends the removaland destruction of the infectedtree in fall or winter, or at leastbefore the sawyer beetlesemerge in spring, about April. In-fected wood is not suitable forfirewood due to spread of thedisease. An expensive pesticidetree injection is available to pre-vent infection for high-valuetrees. For more background onPine Wilt, Google “Pine Wilt inNebraska” and see Dr. Ball’s PestUpdate for Jan. 9:http://sdda.sd.gov/conservation-forestry/tree-pest-alerts/

Friday, 2.1.13ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net

NEWS DEPARTMENT: news@yankton.net4B PRESS DAKOTANhomestyle

Do You Have any of These Symptoms?

1. Hand numbness & tingling.

2. Shoulder/ shoulder blade pain or

pain between the shoulder blades.

3. Arm pain & numbness

4. Hip & radiating leg pain

5. Leg pain, numbness & tingling.

Soup & Salad luncheon provided by Lewis & Clark Specialty Hospital.

RSVP to Jill Sprakel 664-5300 by Feb. 5 th.

- Lunch & Learn - - Lunch & Learn -

Dr. Kent Patrick Spine Surgeon

Thursday, February 7 , Noon-1:00 PM

Minerva’s, 1607 E. Hwy. 50, Yankton, SD

Common Spine Problems

Come to our Lunch & Learn on Feb. 7th to get information on the causes & treatment for these common spine symptoms.

FebruaryPlant Tips

Audrea Hecht of Pied PiperFlower Shop, Broadway and15th St in Yankton shares plantcare tips for winter. “With all ofus indoors more, we need togive our plants a little TLC tohelp them through the long Mid-west winter,” Hecht said. “Hopethese helps keep things greenthis winter!

• Have plants in your home!They help clean the air and theymake you feel better.

• Keep your plants awayfrom hot or cold drafts such asa register vent or to a door thatleads to the outside.

• Give your plant as muchlight as possible. Southern expo-sure is good this time of year.

• Resist transplanting thistime of year due to shortenedday lengths. If you must trans-plant don’t go bigger than 2” inpot size from the previous potand use GOOD SOIL.

• Watch your watering andfertilizer. Most tropical plantslike to be moderately moist.When you put your finger in thesoil the top inch should feel dryto the touch before you water it.Only use a water-soluble fertil-izer and use only once a month.How much water you give yourplants will vary in the winter asmost of our homes tend to be abit dry, so you may need towater a LITTLE more.

• If leaves have brown tips,raise the humidity in yourhome. Most tropical plants like30% - 50% air humidity.

• Terrariums are the hottestthing right now. Whether youwant to raise herbs or smalltropical plants, it’s like havingyour own mini garden in a glass.You can use any clear glass con-tainer large enough to holdplants or a special enclosedcontainer just for terrariums, ei-ther way it’s a fun way to bringsome spring green into yourhouse this winter. Stop by andsee us for great ideas and sup-plies.

Plant Exchange

A Journey Of Starting Over

Plant Exchange:Blog With Us!

This blog is an interactivesite for people of our USDAZone 4-5a region to exchangeideas about plants. Want toread some past Plant Exchangefeatures you missed? Want toshare a comment about plants?

• How does a Yankton cou-ple solve backyard hillsidelandscape issues with persist-ence, skills, and belay forsafety?

• What differences has thedrought made so far in Yanktonparks and green spaces? Whatannuals withstood heat anddrought the best?

• What are gardener tipsfrom Yankton community gar-den plots?

• Want tips for houseplantcare in winter?

• Want to see and read aboutwhatʼs growing and bloomingaround the United States andelsewhere? “Garden BloggersBloom Day” link will show youselections from January 15,2013.

• How does a floral designershow her interpretation of pho-tography art?

• What is an easy way togrow plants from cuttings?Local gardener shows you how.

Check us out at the web ad-dress: brendakjohnsonplantex-change.wordpress.com

Larsons WorkTo Recover From

2011 Flood

ABOVE: Koi pond has pre-flood fish as well as new Kois, thanks to skillsof Laura Gollnick and Naturescapes. Dappled shade, waterfall on field-stones, and birds’ songs make the new pond a place that the Larsonsenjoy. RIGHT: While this Yankton evergreen Austrian pine appears to behealthy, all its needles are tan along with the rest of the needles in thefoot diameter tree, due to Pine Wilt. Pines can get other diseases, so iden-tifying the disease is important before taking action. (Photos: Brenda K.Johnson)

PHOTO BY BRENDA K. JOHNSON

Passion vine is a plant that Evelyn Schindler of Yankton roots and re-grows overwinter so that the plant is ready to set out in spring in time tobloom in summer in her yard.