Zone 6 Garden Club to host annual garden tour

By NIKKI PATRICK
The Morning Sun
June 15, 2010
PITTSBURG — There’s a good reason why the Zone 6 Garden Club has its fundraising garden tours every two years.

That’s how long it takes to plan the tour. The 2010 tour will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

“We have to have the tour gardens chosen at least one year in advance, so people can get their gardens ready,” said Gail Greenwood, who is serving as tour co-chairman with Opal Trites.

She added that the club has a committee to help garden owners with last-minute details. “This year everybody wants to do it all themselves,” Greenwood said.

“These are all hands-on gardens,” Trites said. “These people all work hard on their gardens.”

“No two gardens are alike, and I truly think the tour offers something for everybody,” Greenwood said. “Gardeners will come away with a lot of new ideas, and those who aren’t gardeners will just enjoy walking through these beautiful gardens.

On the tour will be the garden of Bill and Bobbie Askew, 206 E. 24th Terrace, which features several garden “rooms” created by a diverse planting of shrubs, trees and flowers, including roses, echinacea, daylilies, red hot pokers, ornamental grasses, a palm tree and tropical bananas; Tim and Kristie Bell, 310 Webster, featuring a garden cottage and many heirloom and antique items; Kala Spigarelli and Taka Kido, 814 S. Catalpa, with three deck levels of outdoor living space, a koi pond and water fall; Patrick O’Bryan and Tim Towner, 505 Elmwood Lane, with a blooming patio area as well as a garden filled with cutting flowers that are used throughout the house; the Martin garden, 1721 J.F. Kennedy, with flowers as well as vegetables, strawberries and thornless blackberries and ponds with water fountains; and the community garden, 705 E. Centennial, which provides fresh produce for the Wesley House food bank and also makes plots available for families who don’t have garden space at their own homes.

“The community garden is located behind the First Christian Church, and the ladies of the church will offer a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday,” Trites said. “Cost will be $6 for sandwich, salad, dessert and beverage.”

“Our garden tour tickets are also $6, so this makes it a very nice, affordable way to spend a summer day,” Greenwood said.

Proceeds from the garden tour help support and fund many garden-related projects, educational programs and city beautification efforts.

“This is our way of giving back to the community,” Greenwood said.Among the projects the Zone 6 Garden Club has funded are the butterfly garden at the Pittsburg Public Library, landscaping the stone Pittsburg Welcome sign by Four Oaks Golf Course, landscaping and trees at Immigrant Park, the garden behind the Hotel Stilwell, neighborhood intersection island gardens on Crestwood Lane and at Quincy and Woodland Terrace, planting trees at Friendship Fields Girl Scout Camp and helping the community garden.

“We’ve also purchased one of the Pittsburg Beautiful urns for downtown Pittsburg,” Greenwood said. “This year volunteers from Pittsburg Beautiful will be taking tickets at the tour houses, and we appreciate their help. Just about all of our club members are also helping with the tour in one way or another.”

After Saturday, the 2010 tour will be history, but that doesn’t mean that club members can relax.“We’ve already started working on the 2012 tour, and have a couple of gardens lined up,” Trites said. “Anyone interested in sharing their gardens on the tour in 2012 is welcome to call me or Gail.”

Tour tickets are available in advance for $6 from club members and at Carla’s Country Gardens, the Home Place and Kitchen Place, In the Garden and Paradise Mall. They may also be purchased starting at 7:30 a.m. on the day of the tour for $7 at the Gardeners’ Market in Immigrant Park.

Source: http://www.morningsun.net/topstories/x1980746211/Zone-6-Garden-Club-to-host-annual-garden-tour

Scout for Bagworms -- NOW

OLATHE, Kan. – Bagworms are among the most recognized tree and shrub pests. They may also be among the least well controlled.

Time and timing are both important, according to Dennis Patton, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

"In Kansas, for example, bagworms typically hatch in late May or early June. That's when you need to start inspecting closely for signs of activity," he said. "It takes some effort, but you don't want to apply an insecticide that isn't needed. You won't want to waste one, either, by spraying at the wrong time."

Bagworms are best known for attacking such evergreens as arborvitae, pine, spruce and juniper (e.g., Eastern redcedar).

But, they also infest deciduous plants, Patton said. Their hosts can include the barberry, blackberry, box elder, cherry, clematis, elm, locust, maple, oak, peach, poplar, pyracantha, quince pear, rose, sumac, sycamore and willow. If necessary, bagworms will even feed on clover, ragweed, parsley and nightshade,

Bagworms can move from plant to plant – as they'll demonstrate if they strip a host and need more food, he said. Even so, a plant with an old bag hanging down can deserve the closest of inspections.

"Bagworm problems start out small," Patton explained. "But, the hatch from one old bag can be close to 1,000 new bagworms. Given a couple years to spread, the infestation could clean off a juniper's foliage within days."

Baby bagworms are about the size of the point on a sharpened pencil lead, he said. When they hatch out, they're willing and able to eat foliage. But, they're so small that both they and their damage can be impossible to see without a magnifying glass.

Each one quickly starts growing, however, and spinning a silken bag around its body. It also camouflages that bag with bits and pieces of host foliage, which turn brown.

"If you're patient and look hard, you may begin seeing them in a week or so. They'll be slowly but constantly moving around -- their dot of a bag on their back," he said. "That's when spraying can achieve best results. In turn, your plant will suffer little to no measurable damage.

"The longer you wait after that, the bigger the bagworms and their damage will be. And, the more protection their bag will provide. By late summer, a mature bag will actually repel chemicals."

Many products on the market now are legally labeled to control bagworms. Their product name may or may not be a clue. But, K-State entomologists say the list of ingredients on the container should include one of the following active ingredients:

* (organic) Bacillus thuringiensis or neem oil.

* (synthetic) acephate, bifenthrin, carbaryl, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, malathion, permethrin or spinosid.

"Any of them can do a good job," Patton said. "But, you've got to follow label directions exactly. Your timing has to be as early in the bagworms' life as possible. And, your coverage must be thorough.

"The bagworms may be feeding toward the outside of the plant. As often as not, though, they're working their way into the interior branches. You've got to get in there, too, and apply a thorough covering of the spray mixture. Otherwise, you won't be able to soak all of the little bags."

Some products may recommend a follow-up spray, and that can be a good idea for heavy infestations, he said.

Plant owners might as well wait until late fall to early spring, however, if they act fairly soon to achieve good timing with a first spray. By fall, the bagworms will be wrapped up, but full-size. And, their bags will be easiest to see in deciduous plants.

"Goodness knows it's possible to control bagworms by handpicking them and smashing or trashing the bags. People did that for generations," Patton said. "If your pine gets very tall, though, or you've got lots of infested trees … or an infestation gets really heavy, handpicking can be impractical – perhaps impossible.

"After all, missing just one can be a thousand-worm mistake."

---

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by: Kathleen Ward
kward@ksu.edu
K-State Research & Extension News

Garden club gets to tour Golay Gardens

You don't want to miss our May 24 meeting because we are going to tour Bob and Sandy Golay's gardens and hear how they propagate and grow all the plants they sell at the Pittsburg Farmer's Market.

 

Nikki Patrick from The Morning Sun wrote an article on the Golays that ran April 28,2010. It can be viewed at: http://www.morningsun.net/featured/x43876017/A-GIFT-FOR-GARDENS

 

Happy Gardening!

Farmers' Market host wellness screening clinic

The Pittsburg Farmers Market will host a wellness screening clinic with the Pittsburg Via Christi Hospital this Saturday, May 15, 8 am to 11 am at 2nd and Broadway.  The hospital's Outreach Team will offer free wellness screenings including blood pressure, body mass index and derma-scan which helps detect sun-damaged skin.

 

The hospital's Wellness on Wheels van will also be on site to provide digital mammography screenings for a fee.  Appointments are encouraged and can be made by calling 620-232-0447.

 

The Pittsburg Farmers Market is a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to provide a nutritious food source and to enrich the quality of life in the surrounding area.  For more information or to become a part of the market please call Chuckie Hessong at 620-249-3011.

Celebrate National Public Parks Day

Head out to your favorite public garden tomorrow to celebrate National Public Gardens Day. The American Public Gardens Association has slated Friday, May 7, 2010, to coincide with Mother’s Day weekend, the unofficial start of spring and a time when the environment is top of mind for most consumers. National Public Gardens Day offers public gardens an excellent opportunity to showcase their gardens and highlight the valuable contributions they make to their communities. Support your local botanical gardens and arboretum with a visit this summer. A public garden is the ideal place to get ideas about what grows well in your own backyard.

Kansas Gardens:

Botanica, the Wichita Gardens
http://www.botanica.org/

Overland park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
http://www.artsandrec-op.org/arboretum/

Kansas State University Gardens
http://www.k-state.edu/gardens/

The Kansas Landscape Arboretum
http://www.naturalkansas.org/kansas.htm

Missouri Gardens:

Powell Gardens
http://www.powellgardens.org/

The Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden
http://www.powellgardens.org/default.asp?page=KauffmanMap

Loose Park Rose Garden
http://www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/ParksandRecreation/LoosePark/index.htm