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The Vine Franklin County Master Gardeners
University of Missouri Extension in Franklin County 116 W Main, Union MO 63084 636-583-5141
Vol. 13, Issue 2, July 2015
A Successful Franklin County MG Plant Sale, 2015 Karen Leslie, Franklin County Master and Chair—2015 Plant Sale Committee
T he Franklin County Master Gardener plant sale
was held May 16th at JC Penney’s parking lot in
Washington from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The day prior to our plant sale, perennials from mem-
ber’s gardens were inspected at Georgianne McClanahan’s
farm. The last of the donated boutique items were
dropped off there as well and priced by Judy Schuck and
Georgianne. Eighteen beautiful hanging baskets, arranged
by Georgianne, were waiting to be loaded into her van.
Friday afternoon, I had an abundance of native plants
at my place waiting to be delivered to the plant sale. Four
hundred native plants from MO Wildflower Nursery were
stored in Kathy Huygez’s horse trailer. My truck was
filled with native plants I picked up from Bill Schwab at
Shaw’s Nature Reserve, plants which he grew and nursed
from seeds. “Thank you” Bill! A special “thank you” to
all FCMG members who donated plants from their gar-
dens and boutique items from their homes.
Scattered showers were predicted for the day of the
sale. However that did not dampen our spirits. At 6:45
a.m. the set-up crew began placing tables, putting up cano-
pies, large umbrellas, chairs, pricing posters, and plant
signs. By 7:45 all the plants, MO Wildflower Nursery
items, Bill’s plants, perennials, annuals, house plants,
grasses, trees, hanging baskets and boutique items, were in
their places, organized and ready for the customers. It was
fantastic. Thanks to the members of our set-up crew for
the great job they did: Yvette Luedde, Kathy and Henry
Huygez, Marsha and Marty Riggs, Tammy Poertner, Pau-
lette Monzyk, Sharon Jenicek, Karen Geisert, Richard
Jackson, Georgianne and Ray McClanahan, Judy Schuck,
and my husband Bob.
Customers began arriving at 8:00. The day could not
have been better. We only had one little rain shower, but
no mishaps with wind. The last customer left at 3:00 p.m.
and the teardown crew: Tammy, Richard, Yvette, Kathy,
Henry, Judy Morrow, Judy Schuck, Georgianne , Ray, I
and Bob began loading remaining plants, boutique items,
tables, chairs, canopies and umbrellas in appropriate vehi-
cles. We were done in record- breaking time and JC Pen-
ney’s lot was back to its original state. We had a very suc-
cessful day and all the credit went to the volunteers and
steering committee.
I would personally like to thank Georgianne McClana-
han, Judy Schuck, and Colleen Simmons for an outstand-
ing job with the Boutique. A big “thank you” to Marsha
Riggs, Teresa McPherson, Beth Kleekamp, and Lynn Moll
for their fantastic plant knowledge and customer service
talent. It was very rewarding to know that customers were
in good hands with them. A special “thank you” to Kathy
Huygez for a fabulous job as the queen native plant sales
lady. Karen Geisert, Judy Morrow, and Richard Jackson
deserve a huge “thank you” for their outstanding jobs as
general sales and great customer service members, and
making the customers feel confident in their selections.
“Thank you” to Tammy Poertner and Sharon Jenicek for
their outstanding job as cashiers and making sure the cus-
tomers left happy. Our team was impeccable in all aspects
of the plant sale. They all deserve an award for outstand-
ing plant knowledge, customer service talent, dedication,
and hard work. A warm and sincere “thank you” to ALL
our customers who came and bought plants and items that
helped make our plant sale a great success. Please forgive
me if I have omitted anybody who helped. A sincere
“thank you” to you.
We made an outstanding profit of $1,559.70. These
monies will help provide Franklin County Master Garden-
ers with continued education classes to help individuals
within our communities to create a safe environment,
beautiful gardens and landscapes, and horticultural train-
ing. We will also use the monies for funding naturalist
community projects and activities.
2
Poppy: A Plant of Remembrance Parts of this article were adapted from an article by David Trinklein,
Associate Professor, University of Missouri Division of Plant Sciences
T hese lines are excerpted from the poem , Flanders
Field. I was introduced to this poem in grade
school through the Faith and Freedom reader series
which was used in the school I attended in grades three
through eight. It was a superb series and I still remember
many of the essays, poems, biographies, stories--fiction
and non-fiction I read in those books. Every Memorial
Day I take a few minutes and read this poem. It has be-
come even more poignant to me since I visited a cemetery
in Belgium, not Flanders Field, several years ago. Ameri-
can and Canadian soldiers were buried there during
WWII and it continues to be attended by volunteers from
the local village.
The poem was written in 1915 by Major John McCrae,
a physician serving in a Canadian artillery unit during
World War I. It is believed he wrote it after conducting a
burial service for a young Canadian artillery officer who
was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium.
The poem inspired Monia Michael who is credited with
immortalizing the poppy as one of the most recognized
memorial symbols honoring soldiers killed in combat. A
century later it still symbolizes Memorial Day. A profes-
sor at the University of Georgia when the U.S. entered
World War I, she took a leave of absence from the Univer-
sity and volunteered to assist at a training headquarters for
overseas YWCA workers. After reading McCrae’s poem
she vowed to always wear a red poppy to honor those who
served in the war. After the war, she returned to the Uni-
versity of Georgia and taught a class of disabled service-
men. To provide financial and occupational support for
them she pursued the idea of selling silk poppies. In 1921,
as a result of her efforts, the poppy was adopted as a sym-
bol of remembrance for war veterans by the American Le-
gion Auxiliary. Known as the "Poppy Lady" for her hu-
manitarian efforts, Michael received numerous awards
during her lifetime. In 1948, four years after her death,
the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp
honoring her life’s achievement. In 1969, the Georgia
General Assembly named a section of U.S. Highway
78 the Moina Michael Highway.
The poppy referred to by McCrae is known today as
the Corn poppy or Flanders. It was a common flower na-
tive to Europe that grew wild including in the cemeteries
where fallen soldiers of World War I were buried. It is
from this poppy that the garden poppies we know as
Shirley poppies were developed.
It is suggested that wild poppy was domesticated by the
indigenous people of Western and Central Europe between
6000 and 3500 BC. Today the poppy family, annuals and
perennials, contains 30 genera and about 600 species.
Most are cold tolerant and prefer cool locations. The Ori-
ental poppy and Iceland poppy are two of the most famil-
iar perennial types.
Among the annual poppies, in addition to Flanders, is
the more notorious opium poppy which is illegal to grow
in Missouri. The use of poppy as an opiate was known to
ancient Egyptian doctors who had their patients eat seeds
from a poppy to relieve pain. Poppy seeds contain small
quantities of both morphine and codeine, pain-relieving
drugs still used today. Poppy seeds and fixed oils can also
be nonnarcotic because when they are harvested the mor-
phine practically disappears from the seeds twenty days
after the flower has opened.
The Oriental poppy is the most popular garden variety.
It produces large spectacular orange-red flowers 3½ to 4
inches in diameter. Petals have a crepe-paper texture. Sin-
gle blooms grow on wiry stems extending above the low-
growing and sharply toothed foliage. Broken stems and
leaves yield a white, milky sap. Since it is not suited to
extreme heat, in Missouri it flowers in the spring, usually
April, and disappears by July. . My mother always had
poppies in her flower gardens.
Oriental poppy prefers
well-drained soil and a sun-
ny exposure. It should not be
overwatered during its
dormant period including
throughout the winter. It can
be planted with other species
of annuals and perennials
that will provide color in the
area once the poppies go
dormant. Oriental poppy can
be started from seeds but
will not flower until the sec-
ond (or third) year. In addi-
tion to the orange-red varie-
ty, other colors include rose,
salmon, pink and white.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row…
…The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
3
Established plants of Oriental poppy can be divided
after they have developed significant size, usually after
about five years. Division should be done after flowering
occurs and while the plants are dormant. Dividing early in
the spring usually eliminates flowering that season and
may encourage crown rot, especially during a wet spring.
Iceland poppy prefers cool climates and tends to be
short-lived in Missouri and should be considered an annu-
al in our climate. Iceland poppy has flowers that are very
colorful and distinctive. One of the more durable varieties
is the ‘Champagne Bubbles.’ I’ve seen ice poppies in Can-
ada at Lake Louise. They are in multiple colors and are
very pretty. My traveling companion bought a packet of
seeds but they didn’t survive here.
If annual poppies interest you, the Shirley poppy is a
good option. Some are quite colorful, have flowers that
have been likened in texture to tissue paper, and are fairly
easy to grow from seed. As a general rule, poppies do not
transplant well; therefore, annual types should be seeded
directly into the garden where they are to grow. If started
indoors, do so in a cool location and seed them in peat
pots or other biodegradable containers that can be planted
along with the plant into the ground. This practice will
minimize root disturbance and maximize transplanting
success. Poppies tend to reseed themselves very readily
and can become invasive in the annual flower garden. To
prevent this, remove seed pods before they mature and
shed seed. Since poppies are a pollen source for bees, gar-
deners may consider adding them to their annual gardens
A second type of poppy, the peony-flowered poppy,
treated as an annual in Missouri actually was developed
from the opium variety and is legal to grow in Missouri. It
bears spectacular, fully double flowers up to five inches.
Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep,
peace, and death: sleep because the opium extracted from
them is a sedative, and death because of the common
blood-red color of the red poppy in particular. In Greek
and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the
dead. Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolize
eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children's
novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical
poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep for-
ever. A second interpretation of poppies in Classical my-
thology is that the bright scarlet color signifies a promise
of resurrection after death.
Poppy . . . . . . (continued from page 2) Parts of this article were adapted from an article by David Trinklein,
Associate Professor, University of Missouri Division of Plant Sciences
R ecently my son Luke and I were working in the barn and I noticed light filtering through an
open doorway hitting the floor near me. The light was red. I could not recall a time seeing
sunlight look this red. Later while outside I looked toward the sun and saw that it was bright red
and was again the next day. I had noticed that the atmosphere had seemed cloudy, but yet, differ-
ent. A day or two later I read that smoke from forest fires in Canada had drifted to Missouri and
caused the sunlight to be filtered giving us this unique light. Always enjoying learning something
new it also gave me pause to think about the impact of an action on someone miles away. In Exten-
sion we wrestle with measuring impact of our educational efforts. Taxpayers expect return on their “investment” in ed-
ucation. What yardstick is used to measure impact can be debated. Numbers of participants, hours of education, topics
covered are all important. What has been emphasized more in recent years is what people do with the education that
they receive. How do they change their lives? How are their lives enriched? What has changed? I always appreciate
hearing stories from you letting me know how you have made changes in your garden, and the changes you have seen
others make as a result of the information and education.
We are in the midst of registering for Master Gardener training for this fall. It is exciting to welcome new peo-
ple to the training and resulting efforts as Master Gardeners.
Matt
From Matt’s Desk
4
Chinese Lantern Festival: Magic Reimagined Rosalie Laune, Franklin County Master Gardener
T he Chinese Lantern Festival opened at the Missouri
Botanical Garden May 23 and will be there
through August 23. This year’s event has all new sets
some of which depict cities in China and their botanical
gardens.
The MO Botanical Garden has a long history of collab-
oration with China. The most recent is the Flora of China
project which began in1988. This international project
resulted in the publication of a catalog of all Chinese wild
plants. It includes descriptions if 31,500 species and illus-
trations of 20,000. It will be included in the World Flora
Online, a collaboration the MO Botanical Garden is under-
taking with 24 other institutions worldwide in an effort to
document all the world’s known plants. It is due to be
completed by 2020. An electronic version of the Flora is
available at http://flora.huh.harward.edu/china/ The Gar-
den is also researching the effects of climate change and
plants of economic value in southwestern China and Tibet.
More than half of Chinese vascular flora plant species
are found nowhere else in the world, making China a glob-
al hotspot for biodiversity protection. Fifteen species of
peonies from China are recognized in Flora of China; ten
of these species are endemic to China. One of the lantern
features at the Gardens is Full Bloom Peonies. It features
Paeonia suffruticosa, a subspecies which has been culti-
vated for more than 2000 years.
Another lantern feature is the Chrysanthemum Path-
way. The mum depicted in this feature is in the family
Asteraceae which consists of 37 species. Thirteen of these
species are endemic to China. In ancient China the chry-
santhemum was associated with longevity. It signifies the
tenth month of the lunar calendar and is one of the Four
Gentlemen along with the orchid, bamboo, and the plum
blossom. In China the mum symbolizes people who main-
tain their virtue despite adversity and temptation.
In the 19th century, plant explorers brought plants
from China to Europe and the United States for cultiva-
tion, including lilacs, hydrangeas, primroses, roses, rhodo-
dendrons and the peony. Blooming cycles of rhododen-
drons and cherry blossoms are changing as a result of cli-
mate change and are the subject of research to study this
impact.
5
Year of the Sweet Pepper David Trinklein, Associate Professor, University of Missouri Division of Plant Sciences
I n his quest to find a a shorter trade route to the spice-
laden East, Christopher Columbus decided to sail in a
westerly direction. The land he first encountered was an
island in the Caribbean where he found an unfamiliar veg-
etable being consumed by the indigenous peoples. Its fiery
taste was reminiscent of black pepper (Piper nigrum), a
spice grown in the East Indies that helped prompt his voy-
age. With the taste connection in mind, Columbus gave the
piquant vegetable the name “pepper.”
Sweet pepper often is called bell pepper because of its
blocky, campanulate shape. It is noted for its crisp,
crunchy flesh and is a variant of the species encounter by
Columbus. Since the National Garden Bureau has chosen
it as its vegetable to promote this year, 2015 is the “Year
of the Sweet Pepper” for gardeners.
Peppers (from the scorching habaneros to the sweet
bells) are members of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, fami-
ly, as are tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. Although
there are five species of pepper that are cultivated, the
most common and the one to which sweet pepper belongs
isCapsicum annuum.
It appears that all peppers originated in Central and
South America. Archeological evidence in Mexico sug-
gests that native peoples gathered wild (hot) peppers as far
back as 7,000 B.C. and by 2,500 B.C. they were cultivat-
ing them. History does not record when sweet peppers
arrived on the scene, but we do know why they are sweet
and not hot.
The “fire” in hot peppers is due to capsaicin, a chemi-
cal compound produced by most members of
the Capsicum genus that causes a burning sensation when
it comes into contact with mucous membranes. Sweet pep-
pers contain a recessive gene that blocks the production of
capsaicin, making them benign from the standpoint of
“fire”. Presumably, this recessive gene was the result of a
chance mutation in nature that someone discovered and
considered to be an improvement to this species.
Most gardeners associate sweet peppers with being
green in color. The fact is that, while most sweet peppers
start green, all will develop color if allowed to mature ful-
ly. This usually takes about ten days following develop-
ment of full size. Peppers allowed to develop color are
higher in vitamin content and sweeter than those that are
fully-developed yet green in color when harvested.
Peppers should be planted in the garden in the spring,
after all danger of frost has past. They require warmer
growing temperatures than tomatoes and typically are
planted about two weeks later. Early planting of peppers
often leads to poor early fruit set since the latter is ham-
pered at temperatures of 55 degrees F. or less.
When establishing peppers in the garden, it is best use
transplants rather than seeds. Pepper seeds are slow to ger-
minate in cool soil. Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart
within rows separated by a minimum of 24 inches. Popular
varieties of sweet pepper for the home garden include
‘Revolution’, ‘King Arthur’, ‘Yolo Wonder’, ‘Big Bertha’
and ‘Aristotle’.
Peppers perform best with full-sun exposure in a well-
drained, loamy soil with a pH ranging from 6.0 to 7.0. Fer-
tilizers with a 1-2-2 ratio (e.g. 5-10-10) can be added to
the soil before planting at the rate recommended by a soil
test. High rates of nitrogen as a pre-plant should be avoid-
ed since it can reduce fruit set. Instead, nitrogen should be
added as a side-dressing during the course of the growing
season, after a significant fruit-set exists. Since pepper
plants have a relatively shallow root system, they are sus-
ceptible to moisture stress when rainfall is inadequate.
Moisture stress will cause flowers and small fruit to drop.
Additionally, it will reduce leaf area, causing the remain-
ing fruit to be sun-scalded. Failure to apply adequate wa-
ter can also exacerbate a physiological disorder of peppers
called blossom-end rot.
Gardeners with limited space might want to consider
growing peppers in containers. Their large, glossy leaves,
petite white flowers and colorful mature fruit add decora-
tive appeal to patios, decks, etc. Select containers that are
least two gallons in size and fill with a porous, well-
drained growing medium. Commercially available mix-
tures containing Sphagnum peat, vermiculite and perlite
are ideal for container production of peppers. Peppers
have relatively few disease problems. They can be at-
tacked by several diseases, including bacterial leaf spot,
phytophthora, anthracnose and several viruses. When
available, choosing a genetically-resistant variety of pep-
per is the most effective management strategy for control-
ling diseases.
6
S ince I generally don’t see the appearance of mon-
archs before early July, I was surprised and delight-
ed to see my first one of the season on April 22nd. Alt-
hough I only viewed a glimpse of her, I quickly realized
from her pale and frayed appearance, she must have trav-
eled from Mexico. Indeed, it would also have been too
soon for the first generation to have matured. Again, the
next day she appeared, and on a hunch, I began checking
my milkweed plants, some of which were just appearing
above ground.
As I began inspecting the plants, I soon discovered at
least a dozen eggs. Wow! This early in the season I am
really going to be busy keeping track of them so that I can
bring them inside when they are about ready to pupate.
Since only about one to five percent survives in the natu-
ral world, they have a better chance of becoming a butter-
fly when they are in containers safely inside.
Each day I checked on the eggs and when the little cats
didn’t appear in the usual time, I assumed that the cold
weather had prevented their appearance, and they weren’t
going to make it. How wrong I was! I continued check-
ing the plants; the weather began to warm, and there ap-
peared the tiny cats. Of course, I checked them every day,
sometimes two or three times a day. They were eating
nonstop and growing, and I was relieved to see that my
milkweed plants were able to keep pace with their rav-
enous appetites.
Leaving them for a weeklong conference that I was
attending in Virginia was not easy. I really did want to
bring them in when the time was right. I just hoped that
they would still be growing when I returned. Indeed they
were. My first day back, I was able to bring in eight fat
little caterpillars. As I write this, five are getting ready to
do their chrysalis.
Last winter, I started native milkweed seeds and now
have been busy planting them around my home in any
available space. Dr. Chip Taylor, renowned entomologist
from the University of Kansas, states that because so
much of the monarch’s habitat continues to be destroyed
daily, it will be our job to each plant milkweed in our
yards, school yards, community areas, etc.
With this in mind, a wonderful project has been started
by the Master Naturalists of Confluence Chapter. To
quote: “The goal of this project is to establish a ‘monarch
migration corridor’ through Missouri by initiating a
statewide effort to restore populations of native milkweed
throughout the State of Missouri. This will be achieved
by engaging Master Naturalist Chapters, Master Gardener
Chapters, and other organizations and agencies in an orga-
nized effort to plant native milkweed in nonagricultural
areas free from herbicide applications.” We already have
several volunteers in our Master Gardener and Master
Naturalist Chapters and would welcome more interested
members. There are seven different areas that are part of
the project.
There are so many organizations that are getting in-
volved with helping monarchs, and that is great news.
The U S Fish and Wildlife Service is currently studying
the plight of the monarch to determine if it should be put
on the endangered species list.
On May 19th of this year, The White House Pollinator
Health Task Force has constructed a plan which will be
the first executive strategy for pollinator conservation.
The monarchs are included in this. Monarch Joint Ven-
ture now list approximately 25 members, and the list is
growing almost daily.
We must remember that we
humans have caused the prob-
lem for the monarchs by de-
stroying their natural habitat.
Therefore it is our responsibility
to fix the problem, and we can.
Working together, we can save
this beautiful iconic butterfly.
A Ray of Hope, But—
Joyce Oberle, Franklin County Master Gardener
Insect pests that typically damage peppers in Missouri
include European corn borer, pepper maggot, aphids,
thrips, stink bugs, spider mites and cucumber beetle.
Whether picked when green or allowed to develop col-
or, peppers should be stored under cool, humid conditions.
To avoid chilling injury, do not expose peppers to temper-
atures lower than 45 degrees F. Long-term exposure to
temperatures above 50 degrees F can cause the peppers to
change color, lose fresh weight and decay.
Sweet peppers are “powerhouses” of nutrition. One
serving of chopped sweet peppers has only 30 calo-
ries .Yet it contains 11 percent of the daily minimum re-
quirement of vitamin A and amazingly 200 percent of that
for vitamin C. Additionally, sweet peppers are good
sources of vitamins E and K, potassium, manganese, thia-
min, riboflavin and niacin, and very good sources of vita-
min B6, dietary fiber and folate.
Sweet Pepper. . . . . . (continued from page 5)
7
The Lowly Dandelion
Rosalie Laune, Franklin County Master Gardener
T here is probably no greater bane to the gardener
than the dandelion. Yet dandelions actually can be
beneficial weeds. Their taproots bring up nutrients for
shallower rooting plants, adding minerals and nitrogen to
the soil. They are an important source of food for certain
birds, and an important source of nectar and pollen for
bees and some butterflies and moths. Some parts of the
plant are medicinal. If all those benefits don’t weaken
your disdain for the plant, think of the joy on the face of
your child or grandchild as she presents you with a bou-
quet..
Incidentally all parts of the plant are edible. My par-
ents made dandelion wine from the blossoms. One of my
uncles had a field on his property which supplied the blos-
soms; many were required even for a small quantity. My
cousins and I would collect the blossoms--we were cor-
rupted early. If memory serves me, the finished product
was very sweet, more like a brandy than a wine. One
would think it would be a cheap wine to make. However
apricots were also required and they were not cheap.
Hence only small quantities were made.
My mother had a more practical use for the humble
plant. Every spring she made a potato salad with dandeli-
on greens. A cousin who lived with us and I would often
reminisce about how much we enjoyed and missed it.
Last winter I came across a recipe for a warm vinaigrette
dressing which renewed my interest in trying to recreate
the salad. In April I collected enough tiny tender leaves
and made a small amount. I took half to my cousin and
we both agreed it was pretty close to what we remem-
bered. I made it once more for the two of us, a bigger
amount, before the leaves got too big and bitter.
Supposedly the
roots of the dandelion
can be roasted and used
as a coffee substitute.
Even with the price of
coffee being what it is,
I don’t think I’m ready
to turn in my Folger’s
Columbian.
The dandelion’s
reputation as a noxious
weed cones from the
fact that it is a ruderal
species, meaning it is
quick to colonize and
can crowd out native
species.
Potato Salad w/ Dandelion Greens and Vinaigrette
THE RECIPE BOX
1 lb potatoes (recipe recommends red—I used Yukon)
4 T olive oil
1 T Dijon mustard
1-2 sliced apple smoked bacon, cooked and diced
4 packets Splenda or equivalent sugar
1 hard boiled egg, diced
Saute onions in the olive oil until tender, add vinegar and mustard, pour over diced potatoes, egg, bacon and greens;
toss to coat. Season to taste.
1 loosely packed cup of dandelion greens
(about 2/3 cup chopped)
3-4 shallots, diced
4 T white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste