One frigid winter night I stepped out the door carrying a beautifully blooming kalanchoe houseplant loosely protected with plastic, a housewarming gift for my neighbor.  Ninety seconds later when I arrived at my new neighbor’s door, the kalanchoe was dead.

      The lesson here is that most houseplants originate in tropical regions and cannot tolerate even a short blast of cold.  If you are giving or receiving a poinsettia, Christmas cactus or other houseplant this time of year, special care must be taken when transporting them outdoors. 

      The key to keeping the plants alive is to protect them with as many layers of paper, plastic and even blankets as possible.  It might not be a pretty presentation, but at least it will be alive.  It would be smart to warm the car up and move it as close to the door as possible when a tender plant is to be carried.

      If you are the recipient of a gift plant, check the potting soil to be sure it is moist and water immediately if it is not.  Slip the pot out of the pretty foil that surrounds it and let it drain before replacing the foil.   You can keep the foil around the pot for a few days, but then it should be removed and the pot inside should be placed on a saucer for drainage.

      Inspect the plant, including the undersides of the leaves and the stem to be sure no greenhouse pests have been relocated to your home.  Look carefully, especially at poinsettias, to see if tiny little whiteflies are flying around the plant.  Most pests can be removed with just water using your kitchen sprayer or the bathroom shower.

      If the pot feels unusually light, the plant is root bound and it should be transplanted to a larger pot with a good potting mix.

      In general, houseplants and gift plants should be kept in a warm location near a south or west facing window.  Poinsettias do best in indirect sunlight, but Norfolk Island pines and Christmas cactuses can be placed right in the sunshine. 

      Make sure the plants are not near a furnace register, fireplace or other heat generating appliance and move them away from the window if it gets cold in the area at night.  The key is to prevent rapid temperature fluctuations.

      The soil of poinsettias, Christmas cactuses and Norfolk Island pines should be kept constantly moist, but not dripping.  Do not allow the plants to sit in standing water or you risk root rot.

      Gardeners are continuously experimenting and learning and hopefully gaining some wisdom from their mistakes.

      The gardening mistakes I’ve made over the years basically fall into three categories:   planting in the wrong lighting conditions, spacing plants improperly, and not recognizing that a plant is becoming invasive quickly enough.

      When I first started gardening, I planted a lot of things in the shade that should have been in the sun, and vice versa.  For example, I planted dogwood in full sun and mugho pine in full shade.  Neither did well until they were transplanted to a spot with proper lighting conditions.  Then they prospered.

      Placing plants in the wrong spots can cause expensive problems.  For example, ten years ago, we foolishly planted an apple tree right in our septic field.  So far, with fingers crossed, there haven’t been any problems, but trouble is inevitable in the future. 

      About the same time, we planted a maple sapling too close to a mature maple.  Even though my grandma warned me that they were too close and that the branches would touch some day, I couldn’t imagine that happening.  These two maples are almost 50 feet apart!  This year the branches of the two trees met.  Compounding that mistake, we built our pond about 15 feet east of the younger tree, and in fall all the leaves end up in the pond water. 

      Five years ago, we planted several white pines in the backyard.  Now that they are getting a little taller, I’ve realized that in a few years they will be casting shade on my vegetable garden.  In addition, one of the pines is too close to the brush pile that we burn every spring and that tree gets burn damage every time. 

      One problem that has become serious this year is that I’ve allowed invasive reed canary grass to grow on the part of our property that is unmown.  There was just a small patch about five feet in diameter for 15 years or so.  I didn’t know what it was for many years, and had an emotional attachment to it because my niece just loved to play in that patch of very tall grass when she was a little girl.  About three years ago I identified it as reed canary grass, but it seemed rather benign and I had those good memories of my niece.  Well, this year there are patches of reed canary grass everywhere!  It is completely out of control.  So far, what I’ve done to control it is to cut the seed heads off before they could spread seeds even further, but I think that next year more drastic action will need to be taken.  It was totally irresponsible of me to let that first patch of grass grow once I realized what it was.

      Even long-time Master Gardeners can make mistakes.  I hope you can learn from a few of mine and avoid making the same ones.

      Last winter the rabbits did a lot of damage to landscape plants.  The only sure way to protect your landscape from hungry bunnies this winter is by fencing.  Simple chicken wire fencing is easy to use and relatively cheap.  Use a wire cutters to cut the length you need, place it around the plant and hook the cut wires into the openings on the other side and you’re done.   

      Last winter the snow got so deep that many people were forced to put another level of fencing above the first layer. 

      Plants like arborvitae, magnolia, burning bush, spirea, bridal wreath, ornamental plum, and Nanking cherry are especially susceptible to rabbits, but if they get hungry enough, they will sample anything.  So if you have a plant that is valuable to you, it is best to fence it. 

      There are rabbit repellant sprays you can purchase, but neither the products nor the sprayers work as well in winter as in warmer weather, and really, do you want to be out there in the cold after every snowstorm re-spraying your plants?

      Another important winter preparation is laying a 4-6 inch layer of winter mulch.  Not all plants need this, but any perennial, tree or shrub facing its first winter should be mulched.  This isn’t to protect them from cold temperatures, but rather from repeated freezing and thawing that will damage the roots or even heave the plants above the soil line.  Mums, coral bells and many roses are especially susceptible to freeze/thaw damage and should be mulched every year. 

      But wait – don’t put the winter mulch down yet!  Do it after the ground has frozen, typically around Thanksgiving.  Otherwise you will make a nice little mulch nest for mice and other critters, complete with a snack bar.  For the same reason, keep the mulch a short distance away from the plant stems.

      An exception is strawberries, which should be entirely covered with mulch when temperatures are forecast to dip to 20º F.

      Good materials for winter mulch are loose materials like pine needles and hay or straw.  Wood chips and bark also work.  Leaves are not good as they tend to clump together into a heavy mat from the weight of snow.

      Remember to turn off the water supply to outside faucets, drain and put away hoses, and make notes of any ideas you have for next year’s garden.

      The 4-foot arborvitae shrubs in front of my house were planted almost 40 years ago when the house was built.  For the 18 years that they’ve been mine, I’ve dutifully trimmed back the bright flush of spring growth each year to keep them from growing too wide and tall and looking unsightly.

      This year, I realized that not only are they very tired looking shrubs, they are boring.  I wanted to brighten up the landscape in front of the house and make it more interesting.  Many hours of thought and visualization later, after considering and rejecting numerous ideas, I realized that the area definitely needed something evergreen so that it would look nice in winter too.

      At my sister-in-law’s house, I saw and fell in love with ‘Green Velvet’ boxwood.   I didn’t even know what it was at first.  I only knew boxwood as a sharply-edged rigid green hedge that is commonly used to mark the boundaries of formal gardens.  In contrast, ‘Green Velvet’ grows in a lovely mounded shape and has the most beautiful soft looking oval leaves.  And something else I didn’t know about boxwood – it is evergreen! 

      But the mounded shape of ‘Green Velvet’ wouldn’t be right for my front yard.   I needed something that would grow in a more upright form.  Some internet research turned up ‘Green Mountain’ boxwood.  I purchased four of them and they have replaced the old arborvitae shrubs in the front of the house. 

      ‘Green Mountain’ has crisp green leaves, in an elongated oval shape.  Very pretty, and perfect for where I planted it, but I really loved those ‘Green Velvet’ leaves.  So the next week, out went some scraggly mugho pines in the backyard and in went two ‘Green Velvet’ boxwoods.

      I began to wonder what else could replace the typical needled evergreens in landscapes and found that there are many broadleaved evergreen shrubs.  Unfortunately, I also discovered that the majority of evergreen shrubs grow in USDA Hardiness Zone 6 and higher.  But I did find a few for our Zone 4/5 area here. 

      Some of them are mountain laurel, wintercreeper euonymous, Labrador tea, daphne ‘Burkwoodi’, euonymous ‘Emerald ‘n’Gold’, and some hollies and rhododendrons. 

      There are also some plants that we don’t usually think of as shrubs that hold their leaves all winter and provide substance to the winter landscape.  These include lavender, yucca ‘Adam’s Needle’, some artemesias, periwinkle, common sage and rue ‘Jackman’s Blue’. 

      Some of the plants listed above don’t have green-colored foliage, but are still considered evergreen since they hold their leaves.  Lavender, artemesia, sage and rue’s leaves are silvery or dusty green.  The ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’ euonymous has green leaves with bright golden margins.  In winter the leaf edges turn a pretty pinkish burgundy color.

      These plants all have different growing requirements, so before you buy, do some research to make sure that the spot you have in mind for them has the right amount of sunlight or shade, and the proper soil moisture and pH.

      One out of every three bites of food we eat is provided through the work of animal and insect pollinators.  The mysterious colony collapse disorder among commercial honeybees, disease and loss of habitat have severely affected pollinators that sustain our food crops and quality of life.

      Other insects besides bees act as important pollinators.  These include butterflies, beetles, moths, wasps, flies and even mosquitoes.  Hummingbirds are also significant pollinators.

      It is important to encourage pollinators in our yards and ensure their health so they are able to continue their important work.  To do this, we need to make our yards and gardens hospitable to pollinators and their larvae.  They need food, shelter and water, just as we do.

      Butterflies generally are attracted to bright flowering plants in full sun, protected from the wind.  Some good shrubs for butterflies are spicebush, eastern ninebark and aromatic sumac.  Perennial flowers include milkweed, daisy fleabane, tickseed, joe-pye-weed, sunflowers, sneezeweed, blazing star, beebalm, phlox, coneflower, heath aster and wake robin.  Wet muddy areas provide butterflies with moisture and minerals they need to stay healthy. 

      Bees, wasps, beetles and flies are not as exciting or as pretty as butterflies.  Nevertheless, it is increasingly important to make them welcome in our yards as the commercial bee population continues its decline.

      Good trees and shrubs to invite these pollinators are maple, service berry, pin cherry, black willow and linden.  Helpful flowers are black cohosh, red columbine, yellow trout lily, gentian, alum root, cardinal flower, Virginia bluebells, foamflower and spiderwort.  Herbs like mint, garlic, chives, oregano, parsley and lavender and annual flowers including zinnias, cosmos and single sunflowers also provide food for pollinators.

      Plant flowers in groups for more efficient pollination.  The pollinators learn where to find pollen in each type of flower and with several of the same species nearby they won’t have to explore each new flower to try to locate it, in the process wasting valuable pollen as it falls off their bodies.

      A little planning and attention to bloom season will provide your yard with beauty and food for insects from early spring to late fall.  Plant a diversity of plants to provide food for different pollinators.  Vary colors, fragrances and heights to attract different pollinator species.

      To further encourage these insects, allow things to become a little messy – leaf litter, weeds and dead branches all provide shelter.  Provide a pool, pond or even small containers of water for drinking.  Sloping sides or stones for them to stand on will prevent them from drowning.

      If you must use pesticides – which are extremely toxic to pollinators – use great caution, use as little as possible, and make sure you are using the proper pesticide for the problem you have.

      There is a website you can visit to find more information on making your yard a haven for pollinators.  Visit www.pollinators.org and enter your ZIP code for specific plant recommendations.

      My vegetable garden is a large rectangle running east–west along the northern boundary of our property.  Over the years, the open field north of our fence has grown up into a wooded area.  In mid-summer, even though the woods is north of the garden, it casts quite a bit of shade.  The garden once got 14 hours of sunlight a day but now gets only 6 hours, not enough for good vegetable production.

      After considering several plans for moving the garden to a sunnier spot, I decided to rotate it 90° so that the rectangle runs north-south.  It will be exactly the same size, so it seemed at first a simple matter of lifting about 2/3 of the fence and changing the shape.  Well, the fence doesn’t come out so easy.  I don’t’ know why we thought we needed rebar posts with anchor plates to support a chicken wire fence. 

      While my husband struggled with moving the fence, I laid down large pieces of cardboard from every appliance we had ever bought over the grassy area which is to become garden.  Over the cardboard I spread a thick layer of straw.  The cardboard will kill the grass underneath and in spring the whole area will be tilled.  Meanwhile, I am tossing items which would normally go in the compost into the new garden so they can compost in place and improve the soil.  After I rake in fall I will shred the leaves and spread them over the straw to add even more organic matter.

      The part of the old garden which will become lawn next spring holds three raised beds.  The boards holding the soil in place will be moved to the new area this fall, but some of the plants inside them will have to wait until spring.  There is a yucca plant, the herb lovage, some pretty Asiatic lilies, strawberries and a small blueberry bush.

      I will move the soil from the old raised beds to the new ones and with the soil will come seeds of flax and calendula which will germinate next spring.  There are wood chips surrounding the raised beds, so those will be raked up and moved to the new pathways.

      On the west edge of my current garden are peonies, raspberries and rhubarb.  After the move, these three will be orphaned in the middle of the grass.  The rhubarb can be moved in early spring just before it starts to grow.  June-bearing raspberries are biennial plants, so the ones growing now will produce next year.  The producing plants will stay where they are next summer, but any new plants will be moved to their new location as soon as they sprout up.  After raspberry season, the old plants will be cut down and then that area can be planted in grass.  Peonies should be transplanted in September so they will stay where they are until next fall.

      Moving my garden is a year-long project but eight additional hours of sunlight will be the reward!

      There are few plants that thrive when planted in late autumn, but red, white and black currants do.  The weather is likely to be wetter and there is still enough warmth in the soil to encourage the plants to grow some roots before winter.

      There is a difference in the way the different types of currants are planted.  Red and white currants are planted with a “leg” or stem showing beneath the branches, while black currants are planted lower than they were growing in the nursery, so that all the stems arise directly from the soil.

      How do you choose one color over another?  Here is what Wikipedia says about the tastes of the three colors:  “The tart flavor of red currant fruit is slightly greater than its black currant relative, but with approximate sweetness.  White currants have the same tart flavor but greater sweetness.”

      Red and white currants have nice compact bushes and also can be trained as cordons against a wall or fence.  Black currants are bigger, up to six feet tall.

      All currants produce best when grown in full sun, but black currants will do just fine in light shade.  Do not plant black currants if there are white pine trees anywhere in the vicinity.  White pine blister rust is a disease that attacks both black currants and white pines, and needs both species in close proximity to complete its life cycle.

      Red currants require lots of potassium so they need extra feeding each spring. 
Browning leaf margins indicate a potassium deficiency.  To remedy that, spray the leaves with liquid seaweed.  Black currants need extra nitrogen.  Apply two handfuls of blood, fish and bone meal in early spring.  If growth is poor, give the plants more fertilizer in early summer.

      Pruning is not difficult, but is different for each type of currant.  There isn’t adequate space here for instructions, so consult a good pruning handbook, or ask at the nursery where you buy your plants.

      I’ve not grown black or white currants, but have had a ‘Red Lake’ red currant for many years.  The berries begin ripening in July and I pick the ripe ones each day for a week or so until I have the four cups I need to make my dad a currant pie for his early July birthday.  Later in July and well into August, picking is easier when all the currants are ripe and they can be pulled from the branches by the handful.  Another way to harvest is to cut sprigs from the bush and remove the individual currants from the sprigs with a fork.

      Fresh currants do not store very long, but they can be spread on a cookie sheet and frozen and then placed in freezer bags.  They can also be canned.

      Currants are very high in vitamin C, and are rich in iron, phosphorus, potassium and fiber.  They make delicious pies and jams and are great eaten fresh from the bush.

      Early September is a wonderful time to take a drive out of town to see beautiful wildflowers along the roadsides.  Let’s take a look at what’s blooming now.

      Queen Anne’s Lace is a white lacy flat-topped flower.  It is also known as wild carrot and in fact is the predecessor to our garden carrots.   It is similar in appearance to a few other plants including water hemlock, an extremely poisonous plant.  Look for a tiny black floret in the middle of the white flower to identify it positively.  Queen Anne’s Lace grows from 1-3 feet tall and can become invasive.  After bloom, the flower clusters dry and curl upward, giving the appearance of bird’s nests.  The dried blooms are often used in fall floral arrangements.

      Chicory has beautiful sky-blue flowers spaced along a tough wiry stem.  They blossom in the morning but by afternoon each flower is finished with its bloom and the plant is rather ugly.  Chicory grows 1-4 feet tall.  Its roots can be roasted and ground and used as a coffee substitute.  It has long, toothed basal leaves similar to a dandelion’s.  They are high in vitamins and minerals, but quite bitter.

      There are 20 types of goldenrod in Wisconsin.  The one you will most likely see roadside is Canada goldenrod.  Its bright golden flowers are in a plumy pyramid shape atop the plant.  The leaves are narrow, up to 6 inches long and rough to the touch with toothed edges.  If you are lucky you may spot stiff goldenrod.  It has many small yellow flowerheads in flat clusters and the leaves are rounder and fleshier than Canada goldenrod. 

      There are many types of sunflowers and sunflower look-alikes blooming in September.  You really need to check a wildflower identification book to be sure which one you are seeing.  Some of the possibilities are tall sunflower, wood sunflower, ox-eye sunflower, downy sunflower, rosinweed, compass plant, cup plant and prairie dock.  Prairie dock is the easiest to identify.  It has huge basal leaves up to 18 inches long and 12 inches wide, and a straight stem up to ten feet tall that branches at the top into several stems holding bright yellow flowers.  Before bloom, the buds are hard green knobby things about an inch in diameter. 

      Another yellow flower you might be lucky enough to catch sight of is the subject of many beautiful watercolor paintings, the coneflower.  Again, there are many different coneflowers so a field guide is necessary for proper id.  Some of the coneflowers you might see are gray-headed coneflower, green-headed coneflower, thin-leaved coneflower, and brown-eyed Susan.  They all share one thing in common – their flower petals hang downward around a cone-shaped center.

      New England Asters are one of the last flowers of the season.  Their bright purple daisy-like flowers bloom long into the fall.  Some of the plants are so big they appear to be shrubs.  The nectar is a favorite for migrating monarch butterflies.

      One of my favorite fresh vegetables coming out of the garden this time of year is edamame.  It’s a garden soybean, pronounced “eh-duh-mah-may.”  Edamame translates as “beans on branches.” 

      Regular soybeans are allowed to dry on the plants before processing but edamame pods are picked green.  In Japan the pods are popped open and eaten out of hand like we eat peanuts from a shell.  They are often served in bars along with beer.  In fact, the variety that I grow in my own garden is called ‘Beer Friend.’

      In the U.S., edamame pods are most often steamed or boiled for about 10 minutes.  Toss the pods with butter, salt and pepper.  The pods themselves are not very palatable so hold the pod in your fingers, put it into your mouth and slide it back out, using your teeth to squeeze the beans out of the pod.  The taste has been described as lightly sweet and nutty.  They are just as delicious served slightly cooled, at room temperature, or lightly chilled.

      In addition to a snack food and vegetable side dish, edamame is good mixed with other vegetables, stir-fried, added to soups or chili, or in cold salads.

      Besides being so tasty, edamame is a nutritional powerhouse.  Like all soy products, it is high in phytoestrogens, a natural plant estrogen.  A serving of beans from about 35 pods has 125 calories, 12 grams of protein, 13 grams of carbohydrate and 3.5 grams of fat.  They are rich in calcium and phosphorous and a good source of vitamin A.

      Edamame pods can be frozen for future use.  Blanch the pods in boiling water for two minutes; then plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking.  Store the pods in zippered freezer bags.

      Edamame grows just like bush beans.  They need full sun and adapt to most soil types.  In spring, after the soil has warmed to 65°, sow the seeds 3 inches apart and 1 inch deep in rows 18-24 inches apart.  When the plants are 4-6 inches high, add a 3-inch layer of organic mulch around each plant, making sure the mulch doesn’t touch the stems.

      There are several varieties of edamame and their days to maturity vary from 65 to 90 days.  All the pods mature over a period of just a few days, so to provide a continuous supply, make successive sowings every week or two or plant several different varieties.

      The beans are more flavorful if harvested in the evening and the sooner you eat them after harvest, the richer the flavor and the higher the nutritional value.  For peak flavor and nutrition, harvest the pods when they are 80%-90% filled out.  It’s hard to describe exactly what that means, but with a little experience, you’ll know when to pick.

      Pods are harvested by pulling or cutting them off the plant.  Let some pods mature on the plant to provide seeds for next year.

      Have you seen those little white daisy-like flowers growing in the gravel at the very edges of country roads?  That is the herb chamomile.  You can grow a taller, prettier version in your garden.

      There are a few different types of chamomile with many different common names, but for simplicity here, we’ll talk about two of them that are similar.  There is a perennial chamomile, often called Roman chamomile and an annual plant, usually referred to as German chamomile.

      Roman chamomile grows 8-12 inches tall and has fewer flowers than the annual German chamomile which grows up to two feet tall.  Both plants’ flowers and foliage have a lovely apple scent.  German chamomile self-seeds freely, so once you have it, unless you are fanatical about deadheading the flowers before they go to seed, you will always have it.  However, the seedlings are easy to pull or hoe out when they are young.

      Chamomile is valued for its medicinal use as an anti-inflammatory for afflictions of the skin and mucous membranes; as an anti-spasmodic for indigestion and menstrual cramps; and an anti-invective for numerous minor illnesses.

         For the home gardener, a relaxing tea can be made of the dried flowers.  Steep one teaspoon of dried flowers in one cup of hot water for 5-15 minutes.  It is also makes a refreshing iced tea on a warm summer afternoon.  People with allergies to ragweed or chrysanthemums should be cautious about drinking the tea.

      To add sunny highlights to blond or light brown hair, make a strong tea and use it as a rinse after shampooing.

      Besides the benefits that humans get from use of the herb chamomile, it brings benefits to the other plants in your garden.  It has been called a “nurse plant” in that it helps any plant it grows near to.  It does this through the attraction of pollinators and of other beneficial insects that feed on insect pests.

      Chamomile tea is traditionally drunk in the evening to promote relaxation, but my husband enjoys it first thing in the morning.  It helps him face a stressful work day. 

      I harvest a few thousand chamomile blossoms each year.  I store them in a quart canning jar after spreading them on a newspaper to dry for several days. 

      Harvesting the small blossoms in great amounts is easy but tedious (except that you get to be out in the sunshine on a beautiful day).  I usually pick about 100 blooms a day over a period of six or eight weeks.  Flowers can be harvested by snapping them off the plants by lifting them between two fingers.  They are best picked when the white petals just begin to curve downward.