The Gateway Gardener May 2019

Gateway Gardener

MAY 2019

THE

®

Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes

p sers o h S verti ect d erf ift!

A r Ou r the PDay G fo er’s th o M

Summer Garden Tours

Get inspiring ideas from the area’s best

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Gateway Gardener THE

®

Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes

MAY 2019

Volume 15, Number 4

Founded in 2005 by Joyce Bruno & Robert Weaver Publisher and Editor Robert Weaver Columnists Diane Brueckman Rosey Acres Joyce Driemeyer Master Gardener Abby Lapides Sugar Creek Gardens Steffie Littlefield Edg-Clif Winery Jennifer Schamber Nursery Professional Scott Woodbury Shaw Nature Reserve

Printing: Breese Publishing, Breese, IL The Gateway Gardener® is published 9 times/year by Double Dig Communications, Inc. to promote enjoyable, successful gardening and livable landscapes in the St. Louis greater metropolitan area. The magazine is distributed free to the public at designated garden centers, nurseries, garden gift shops, lawn equipment rental, repair and sales establishments, and other locations supporting sound gardening, lawn and landscaping practices.

Please send letters-to-the-editor, questions, event announcements, editorial suggestions and contributions, photos, advertising inquiries and materials, and any other correspondence to: The Gateway Gardener Magazine® PO Box 220853 St. Louis, MO 63122 Phone: (314) 968-3740

info@gatewaygardener.com www.gatewaygardener.com The Gateway Gardener® is printed on recycled newsprint using environmentally friendly soy-based ink, and is a member of the PurePower® renewable energy resources network.

L

From the Editor

ast May, we first introduced these guys to our readers upon the occasion of their 1st birthday. It appears it will be a tradition, at least until such time as they will no longer agree to be seen in public with Grandpa and Grandma. That’s Thomas on the left and Lucas on the right, and both enjoyed the Missouri Botanical Garden much more this year than last, when a cold, wet late spring found us searching for anything…ANYTHING in bloom in mid-April. This spring was much further along with cherries, magnolias and crabapples cheerfully providing colorful backdrops. And the boys cooperated for at least one frame with synchronized smiles. You try it…it ain’t easy!

Each year brings seasons along at a different pace, and there are always surprises along the way.

No one knows that better than those who volunteer to open their gardens to visitors on garden tours. I’ve played host on a few garden tours for organizations that are willing to lower their standards sufficiently, and I can thankfully say those experiences have gone off without a hitch.

I’ve heard horror stories of hail

tours beginning on page 8, and be sure to thank your host for their hospitality and tell them how great their gardens look!

storms turning plants to Swiss cheese days before an event, of “sour” mulch withering entire gardens just days before a tour, and most often, simply examples of plants and weather conditions not cooperating to produce the desired look at the called-upon time. (I read somewhere that groundskeepers at The Masters’ Augusta National Golf Course pack the iconic azaleas in ice if they’re threatening to open ahead of the annual golf tournament.)

I think most garden tourists are understanding of these quirks of nature, and appreciate the effort garden hosts go through in order to present gardens they hope may inspire and offer new ideas.

There are many opportunities to do so in our area. Check out our roundup of summer garden

On the Cover...

This beautiful vignette was taken on last year’s Pond-O-Rama tour, just one of many opportunities coming up to visit the area’s most inspiring and idea-generating gardens. See our roundup beginning on page 8. (Photo by Robert Weaver) IN THIS ISSUE 4 Interpreting Yards w/Signs 6 Heights of Glory

8 14 16 18 20 21 21 22 24 26 28 30

Making a garden look great requires all sorts of visual design techniques. One such technique is to create height variations. We all know the common design maxim of short in front, tall in the back, but sometimes height is required to resolve specific challenges.

And height isn’t often easy to get in small spaces. Abby Lapides introduces several plants that provide needed height without spreading out excessively. See and read about them on page 6.

And, because I scribbled on too long about lovable grandchildren and garden tour snafus, I’ve run out of space. So, as always, there is much more. Happy Mother’s Day to the mother and grandmother of these kids, and to all mothers out there. We thank you for ALL you do… and your gardens look great!

Good Gardening!

Garden Tour Roundup Rose Books Beautiful Containers Native Roses and Tomcats Plant a Pumpkin JT’s Fresh Ideas May Harvest Guide Book Reviews Perennial Plant of the Year Greenscape Gardens Turns 25 Dig This Upcoming Events

Interpreting Our Yard (and Ourselves)

by Jennifer Schamber

A

and most people considered s human beings and the property to be an eyesore. consumers, we all have a very wide At first glance, that’s what anyone would see, but upon range of tastes, styles, habits, further inspection there was knowledge and perspectives. a lot more to it. The lot may This is demonstrated through what we wear, the cars we have become overgrown and unruly over the years, but drive, our occupations, the foods we eat (and don’t eat), at some point, the property must have had a curator who and all the other choices we grew a wide range of edible make every day. For better or fruits, native nut trees and an for worse, we make judgments array of other plant diversity. about others and ourselves Interpretive signs at the home habitat landscape of Kirkwood residents based on these choices.

It was an established food Dan and Margy Terpstra inform passersby of the purpose and value of forest and former homestead, Usually we make these judgments without knowing the wildlife-friendly landscape. Photo by Margy Terpstra which at some point probably anything except what we see on the surface, and sometimes in supported chickens and maybe a goat or two, disguised as a “mess” doing so, we could be missing out on learning something new and on an otherwise pretty typical suburban street. Maybe had there been a sign designating it as “Food Forest” or “Wildlife Refuge”, meaningful about a person or a place. there would have been a different interpretation and appreciation of When my husband and I first moved to Kirkwood, there was a house what was going on there, but without the curator, there was no one one block north from our home that had historically been used as to tell the story. The property has since been sold and a beautiful an icehouse for the convent that had been nearby. It had a rusty roof new home now sits on the former food forest amidst an impeccable sodded lawn.

As stewards of our properties, we all have very different priority lists. For some, it is the perfect lawn, for others it may be having a great space for entertaining, while others may be focused on creating a healthy habitat for kids and pets. But, no matter what is on that list, there’s always an opportunity to look for better strategies for reaching these goals, and maybe for changing what we perceive as the ideal end result. As more homeowners are shifting towards pollinator-friendly strategies for managing landscapes, W E S E E YO U R S U M M E R I N

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Signs, Signs, Everywhere are Signs In the March 2019 issue, we touched on a few local organizations that certify gardens, and usually provide interpretive signage as part of their program. We’ll repeat those groups here, but there are also many national groups that provide certifications with signs, or just offer interpretive signs for sale. Below are some of the more popular groups along with their sign and contact info.

Xerces Society xerces.org $55

Native Plant Garden

GrowNative!

MoPrairie.org $20/ea. other signs available

   

These native plants provide food sources for beneficial insects and support songbirds and other cherished wildlife.

For native plant resources for the lower Midwest, Keeping Nature Near visit www.grownative.org.

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PHOTO: www.HenryDomke.com

This landscape provides outstanding wildlife habitat value and satisfies the criteria for Native Plants CERTIFIED Water Conservation SILVER Wildlife Stewardship Invasive Weed Eradication

In Cooperation With

St. Louis Audubon stlouisaudubon.org Eval. is $55 Sign add’l $20

National Wildlife Foundation nwf.org $20

St. Louis County Parks gatewaygardener. com/pollinators/ certify-your-garden Cost undetermined

NATIVE MISSOURI LANDSCAPE for the Benefit of Wildlife and People

Wild Ones stlwildones.org $22 members only

Change is a process, so the more we can educate ourselves and others about the benefits of better practices in our yards, the faster we can move in the right direction. Let’s hope to see more signs in gardens this year that make a statement about who we are and what we believe in.

®

www.stlouisaudubon.org

MonarchWatch.org $16 to certify $17 add’l for sign

there has been a greater need for these types of properties to be interpreted, oftentimes through signage. A simple sign saying “Pardon The Weeds, I’m Feeding The Bees” or “Pesticide-Free Yard”, demonstrates that there is intention behind allowing clover to grow in the yard. In the Fall, “Leave The Leaves” signage could help build understanding of why we don’t need to bag so many leaves, or “It’s Okay, Don’t Spray” lets others know that we’re okay with there being some holes in some of our plants. Various certifications or program designation signage can be a great tool for raising awareness about programs like the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat and the City of St. Louis’ Milkweeds for Monarchs program.

www.stlwildones.org

Jennifer Schamber is the General Manager of Greenscape Gardens, and plays leaderships roles in the Western Nursery & Landscape Association, GrowNative!, the Landscape & Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis and the Horticulture Co-op of Metro St. Louis. She has earned Green Profit Magazine’s Young Retailer Award, and Greenscape Gardens was named the National Winner of the 2015 “Revolutionary 100” Garden Centers by Today’s Garden Center Magazine.

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Heights of Glory

by Abby Lapides

Lonicera ‘Major Wheeler’

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reaches 10-16’ tall, but will only grow 2-3’ wide. This shrub is an excellent choice for a colorful backdrop to a garden, or used as tall narrow hedge. I plan on planting them in the narrow gap between my neighbor’s house and mine for added privacy. The a must-have vine for the possibilities are endless! hummingbird lover, and is a host plant to three different I love planting annual vines. butterflies and moths. The They’re rapid growing, green leaves and winding covered in blooms all limbs form into a dense semi- summer, and if you’re like evergreen mass that covers me and have a difficult time fences and trellises quickly. I committing to one plant, we love using this vine to soften can try something new next walls or cover unsightly year. I’ve yet to meet an structures like a chain link annual vine I don’t like, but the cardinal climber may be fence. at the top of my list. Masses of A newer shrub that will make scarlet red blooms will keep waves in garden planning the hummingbirds coming is ‘Purple Pillar’ rose of all summer. Also consider an Sharon.

Featuring soft edible bean vine, which will purple semi-double petals provide large green leaves, with bright red centers, these adorable usually white and 5”-diameter flowers bloom all sometimes fragrant flowers, summer long. ‘Purple Pillar’ and a delicious summer crop.

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The vining Lonicera ‘Major Wheeler’ features long, tubular red-orange flowers with yellow tips and centers that bloom in unbelievable abundance from spring until fall. I’ve even seen it in bloom as late as Thanksgiving during milder falls. This is

Rose of Sharon ‘Purple Pillar’

Abby Lapides is owner and a speaker at Sugar Creek Gardens Nursery. She has degrees from the University of Missouri, and is a member of the Landscape and Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis.

You can reach her at (314) 965-3070.

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Proven Winners

W

hen designing a garden choosing plants with varying heights adds dimensional drama. At times it may seem that adding extra height can be difficult, especially in smaller gardens, as most plants typically go out as much as they go up. That’s where vines and narrow shrubs excel. These plants add substantial height without much width.

The queen of vines, Clematis, flower in just about every color, grow in many different heights and tolerate most light exposures. A sample of my favorites are the white with striking purple signals ‘Countess of Wessex,’ the massive flowering ‘Pink Mink’ and the shade tolerant, sweetly smelling ‘Sweet Summer Love.’ It usually takes a few years for clematis plants to settle in. As the old saying goes; the first year clematis sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. I usually plant an annual vine near my clematis until they are mature enough to leap. I like them best on a round obelisk where flower and structure form a regal impression.

Climbing Hydrangea

Spring Meadow Nursery

Buckthorn ‘Fine Line’

and attractive bark really shone. This is a vine that can get quite large. Prune after flowering, if needed, or give it plenty of height to grow.

A

fabulous

underutilized

shrub ‘Fine Line’ buckthorn is one of my favorites. This stately shrub features many small narrow leaves, looking like a plush totem that you want to hug—maybe that’s just me. This super tough shrub reaches about 10’ tall (I’ve seen them taller), but only grows 2-3’ wide. It’s the perfect plant for a narrow screen or tall architectural accent in a sun or light shade garden.

When planning your next garden think about adding some narrow height to add drama without taking away precious space.

Ann Lapides

Proven Winners

Clematis ‘Pink Mink’

There aren’t many vines that tolerate low light, but one that thrives in the cool shade is a true beauty – the climbing hydrangea. The deep glossy leaves grow on attractive woody stems, creating a beautiful form that grows even in dark shade. In early summer large lace-caps of creamy white appear. When blooming, the showy flowers emit an intoxicating fragrance that will have you lingering

outside in the evenings. This vine attaches to surfaces via aerial rootlets, meaning it will cling to the side of houses or trees, but I don’t recommend letting that happen. Grow it on a designated structure that will keep it off of your home. I’ve seen it grown on trellises, walls and trees, but Getting narrow height in my favorite display I ever shade gardens can be difficult. saw was over a tall archway where the showy flowers

Photo: ProvenWinners.com

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MAY 2019

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Garden Tours to Enjoy, Inspire and Educate This is the season when gardens shine in our region, and you’ll find many garden tours scheduled for May and June, and again in the fall. Many feature the beautiful flower gardens of garden club groups and communities; others are uniquely themed and feature gardens for other reasons than ornamental flower beds. Enjoy them all!

R. Mueller

This annual garden walk and plant sale takes place in the downtown historical district of America’s original French Colonial village and Missouri’s oldest town. It includes both private and public gardens, several of which are part of historic homes in Ste. Genevieve and are typical of the 18th Century time period.

Private vendors will be offering daylilies, cacti and succulent plants/arrangements, hand forged garden tools, and other gardenrelated items. The plant sale takes place from 9am-4pm Saturday and 10-4 Sunday and features annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, herbs, fruits and vegetables from Master Gardeners’ gardens, plus lily bulbs and heirloom and hybrid tomatoes (cash or check only).

Other Saturday only attractions include tractor and wagon rides to the gardens, a Farmers Market, and free guided walking history tour of historic Ste. Genevieve. Tickets valid for both days are $7/ individual, $6/individual for groups of five or more, children 12 and under free. Cash or check only. Contact the Ste. Genevieve Welcome Center at 1-800-373-7007 or 573-883-7097 or email info@visitstegen.com.

25th Annual Hermann Garden Tour June 1st-2nd 10am-5pm Sat., 10am-4pm Sun.

Cindy Browne

Ste. Genevieve Garden Walk May 18th-19th 10am-4pm

State Historic Site, with information about crop rotation, companion planting, and heirloom plants. There will be a demonstration of bee skep making by one of the last artisans in the US. Visitors who arrive before Garden Tour ticket sales begin can stop by Deutschheim for a quick visit.

A Garden Party Celebration will also be held on Friday, May 31st from 6-9pm at the Historic Hermann Rotunda. There will be a silent auction with hors d’oeuvres and a glass of beer or wine is included. Reservations are requested by May 25, but all are welcome to just drop in and enjoy. Call (573) 294-6242 or email bartowmolloy@centurytel.net for reservations.

Funds raised at the Garden Tour and at the Garden Party are used for civic beautification and scholarships for local students.

For more information, visit the Hermann Garden Tours website at www.hermanngardentours.com or contact the Garden Club directly at info@HermannGardenTours.com. Tickets for the tour are $15, ticket price includes visits to at least five private gardens both in town and in the country and the Garden Demonstration Area where you will see bee skep making and a four square garden.

Garden Tour visits may be spread over Saturday and Sunday. Cost for the Friday night Garden Party Celebration is $25 to be paid at the door. The Ticket Sale Site is the Hermann Welcome Center on the Market Street Plaza; tickets are sold from 10-4 on Saturday and 10-3 on Sunday.

The 25th Garden Tour includes both a walking tour of gardens in downtown historic Hermann and a driving tour to country gardens.

This year’s tour will feature both favorite gardens from the past 25 years and well as new gardens. Artists’ Gardens will not only feature their gardens, but several of the artists will also be painting 10th Annual New Town Garden Tour in the gardens and have some of their artwork displayed nearby.

June 2nd Town Tour gardens often are either lovely cottage gardens or riverview gardens. Country Tour estate gardens tend to be much larger Noon-4pm and have different elements and features.

Explore beautiful gardens of New Town. Crafts, treats and a The Demonstration Area will return in 2019 at the Deutschheim Wreath Raffle in town hall the day of the tour. Tickets are $10, 8

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

available at Marsala’s Market, The General Assembly, or email terristeffes1117@gmail.com.

are free. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www.gardenconservancy. org/open-days for more information.

St. Louis Master Gardener Garden Tour June 22nd 9am-1pm

Garden Conservancy Open Days June 8th 10am-4pm

Explore six beautiful gardens from around the St. Louis area. Open to all Master Gardeners and their guests. $10 per person registration may be paid at the University of Missouri Extension website. In case of rain, the tour will be held on Saturday, June 29th. More information and a link for registration will be provided later this spring on the Master Gardener website.

Robert Weaver

9th Annual Sustainable Backyard Tour June 23rd 11am-4pm The Sustainable Backyard Tour is not only a garden tour, it’s a chance to see, smell, touch, and discover all the many ways you can live more lightly on this amazing and fragile planet. From understanding the watershed and how your watering practices impact our ecosystem, to debating the merits of various concrete and asphalt alternatives in the patio, the Sustainable Backyard Tour is your chance to ask questions and learn what you need to know to go green! Showcasing eco-friendly and organic best-practices, the The Garden Conservancy is a national nonprofit dedicated to tour returns for the 9th year in private yards and gardens throughsaving and sharing outstanding American gardens. Since 1995, the out the St. Louis metropolitan area. Tour sites demonstrate a range Garden Conservancy’s award-winning Open Days has welcomed of sustainable living approaches, including low-impact lawn care, more than one million visitors into thousands of inspired private cont’d on next page landscapes – from urban rooftops to organic farms, historic estates to innovative suburban lots – in forty-one states. This year in the St. Louis region, four private gardens in Clayton, Creve Coeur and Kirkwood will participate. Visitors may begin the tour at any of the following locations: Ellenwood Garden, 6409 Ellenwood Avenue, Clayton – featuring a central pergola surrounded by mature evergreens, pecan trees, roses, hydrangeas, lilacs, and many additional perennials.

Needleman Garden, 326 New Salem Drive, Creve Coeur – an informal half-acre garden boasts two levels, including an upper level sun garden where a screened room faces a small pond, and a lower level shade garden towered over by cottonwood trees.

Catspaw Garden, 1911 Westview Avenue, Kirkwood – a halfacre terraced garden carved out of the hillside along Sugar Creek, this collector’s space includes hosta, daylilies, Japanese maples, conifers, as well as a hobby greenhouse of prized orchids.

YOUR TREES DESERVE THE BEST CARE Petite Vallée, 1515 Friar Lane, Kirkwood – this woodland valley garden includes two bridges crossing converging creek beds, a hillside rock garden, natural drifts of native plants, and gravel pathways.

Tim Gamma – B.S. Horticulture The Open Day is rain or Board Certified Master Arborist shine, and no reservations are Tom Gamma ISA Certified Arborist required. Admission is $10 per P R U N I N G F E R T I L I Z AT I O N P L A N T I N G S P R AY I N G T R I M M I N G R E M O VA L garden, or $40 for a day pass to all four gardens, available at each 314-725-6159 Insured gammatree.com location. Children 12 and under ■

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using recycled materials, beekeeping, chicken keeping, growing mushrooms and edible perennials and renewable energy. Yard descriptions and maps will be available online and at select local businesses beginning in June. The event is free, but those who register to attend will be entered into a drawing for prizes. For more information, visit www.

SustainableBackyard. org and find us on Face- artist creating an original work of art inspired by the environment around them. At the conclusion of the tour, visitors are welcome book! to return to the Soulard Station where pieces of art created by the featured artists will also be available for viewing and purchase.

2019 Soulard “Art in the Garden” Tour The tour benefits the Beautification Committee of the Soulard nd Restoration Group. Tickets are $20 per person when purchased in June 22 advance online at www.soulard.org. Tickets may also be purchased 9am-3pm for $22 per person the day of the tour at the Soulard Station (1911 This self-guided tour will begin and conclude at the Soulard Station S. 12th Street). at 1911 S. 12th Street. The tour will feature seven private gardens as well as the Soulard Community Garden. Each garden will host local musicians providing an entertaining backdrop and a local cont’d on page 12

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The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Robert Weaver

Robert Weaver

cont’d from previous page

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waterfalls” that simply disappear at the termination of the falls.

Many members have new water gardens to share, while others 19th Annual Pond-O-Rama Tour have enhanced their current ponds and gardens into outdoor rooms nd rd and quaint woodland spaces. This year you will see some very June 22 and 23 unique and creative designs in waterfalls and ponds, gorgeous koi 9am-5pm The St. Louis Water Garden Society’s 2019 tour have more than 20 fish, and fantastic gardens.

This annual event is the only time St. Louis Water Garden Society members—as a group—open their gardens to the public. In addition to their water features, most of the hosts also are avid gardeners who maintain beautiful landscapes filled with perennials, annuals and shrubs. Hosts will be available and delighted to share information and answer questions about their gardens, their water features, their fish, and their beautiful plants. If you are thinking of adding water to your own garden—or you simply enjoy beautiful landscapes and a weekend filled with beauty—this is the tour for you! The tour provides funds for the St Louis Water Garden Society to continue their civic project to plant and maintain the reflecting pools at the Jewel Box in Forest Park.

Robert Weaver

cont’d from page 10

private gardens owned and maintained by Society members. The gardens are located throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area, including in Illinois. This self-guided tour is arranged each day by geographic location. The water features range from spectacular high, thundering waterfalls to quiet streams. There are “pondless

2019 Native Of The Year!

The tour ticket booklet gives location addresses, descriptions and driving directions. For more information, call (314) 995-2988.

Tickets are available by mail order from the Society’s website in early May at www.slwgs.org and at retail shops and garden centers throughout the metro area. Tickets are $15 each and cover both days of the tour. Everyone on the tour over age 18 requires a separate ticket.

20th Annual Bittersweet Garden Club Garden Tour June 30th 12:30-4pm Tour five beautifully landscaped gardens in the Jefferson City, Missouri, area. Discover fresh ideas to enhance your own garden. Proceeds help fund scholarships for local students. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the garden, 12 and under free. Rain or shine. For more details call 573694-0660 or visit BittersweetGardenClub.com.

Other garden tour information may become available to us later, so be sure to check our June issue Upcoming Events calendar.

Healing the Earth one yard at a time.

Joi nU rin at th s gW e Sh aw Mar ildflo we N k r Ma atur et y 1 e Re 0 thser 11 th ve Sp

Purple Poppy Mallow A beloved Missouri native perennial, Purple Poppy Mallow, Callirhoe, sprawls with low growing cut-leaf foliage. For months brilliant cup-shaped flowers top a blanket of fascinating leaves. It works beautifully in formal gardens, in naturalized areas, as a ground cover, or spreading over walls. Long-lived sun perennial.

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MAY 2019

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13

Two Books, A Wealth of Information

by Diane Brueckman

I

spent a lot of time reading about gardening, roses in particular, this past winter.

The first book was Roses without Chemicals by Peter E Kukielski.

Kukielski is the former curator of the award-winning rose garden at the New York Botanical Garden. We met him at an EarthKindt® conference many years ago. (Earth-Kind is a special designation given to select rose cultivars by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service through the Earth-Kind landscaping program. It is based on the results of extensive research and field trials and is awarded only to those roses demonstrating superior pest tolerance, combined with outstanding landscape performance.) He had been using many of the EarthKind methods at that time and was a firm believer in them.

Since that time he has joined the Earth-Kind program and leads the northeast trials. He is also the executive director of the Rose Trials for Sustainability (A.R.T.S.), which was launched in 2014. I could go on about his credentials and experience but it would take up the whole page. Suffice to say his advice

method of pest control. He also uses mulch as a soil amendment and for weed control.

contains a list of 150 roses rated for health, hardiness, beauty is sound. and fragrance. Each rose has a The book stresses the need to picture and description as well keep your soil healthy with 3 as suggestions on using them. inches of mulch applied every Kukielski has rated them first year. This keeps the micro- for health and hardiness and organisms active in the soil then for garden worthiness. to break down each years’ This list is not limited to Knock addition of mulch. Integrated Out roses and shrubs but it pest management (IPM) is also has many hybrid teas, old and recommended for any pest new cultivars. A book well issues that may arise. The book worth reading or adding to you contains a list of companion collection of garden books. plants that attract and nurture My second book is Everyday beneficial insects to help with Roses, by Paul Zimmerman, the pest issues. There is a great a noted rosarian. To be fair deal we can do that is easy and the book favors all roses from far less expensive than buying Star Roses, and they sent the chemicals to grow our roses. book to me with my rose order.

Another section of the book Zimmerman’s book is mainly about Knock Out and other shrub roses. He has answered a need for the casual rose grower who wants some good-looking roses with minimal effort. The information goes back to the basics and answers the most often asked questions by people who have little experience growing roses. Like Kukielski, Zimmerman stresses the IPM

One of the tips from Zimmerman is a new (to me) method of repelling Japanese beetles. It is a cedar-based spray. One such spray is called CedarAl, which you can learn more about at CedarOil.com. This is a repellent not an insecticide that kills. My research says it works.

If you cannot find a commercial product you can make your own by taking a piece of cedar wood or even cedar bedding (used for pets) and pouring boiling water over it. Let it soak overnight, strain and pour into a sprayer and spray your plants. You will have to spray once a week during the beetle season. I would hesitate to spray it on Rugosa roses.

Zimmerman also suggests holding off spraying fungicide until you see the disease. A theory that goes against all rosarians have been taught since the beginning of rose gardening.

This probably works on the shrubs he is writing about but if you grow the older Hybrid Teas, I would monitor the disease situation very carefully. The idea is if a plant is given the chance it will develop some resistance to disease, much the same as people not taking antibiotics at the first sign an illness to give our immune systems to kick in. I will be talking to a plant pathologist about this theory.

Diane Brueckman is a retired rosarian with Missouri Botanical Garden, and currently owns Rosey Acres in Baldwin, Illinois. You can reach her at (618) 785-3011 or droseyacres@ egyptian.net.

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The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

MAY 2019

The Gateway Gardenerâ„¢

15

The Art of Creating Beautiful Containers

by Steffie Littlefield

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ontainer Gardening is commonly thought of as simply planting annuals in pots. But it is so much more! Choosing the correct container for the location is important to enhance the location esthetically. Once the size, color or material and shape have been selected the type and color of plants will complete this important garden accent. The fun thing about containers is you can try new things every year, so get creative!

new Plectranthus ‘Nicoletta’ (silver) or ‘Variegata’ (white and green). Adapt this look for the sunny location by substituting a fancy Banana like ‘Maurelii’ or ‘Zebrina’ surrounded with Lantana Bloomify™ Red, Rose or Mango, which are bushy, not trailing. Set this all off with the newer golden sweet potato vine Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime™, which is not as big a grower as the older varieties.

Other great new plants for containers include new petunias Supertunia® Blue Skies, Vista Paradise or Really Red. These are busy and full of flowers.

Angelface® Angelonias are wonderful in pots with Perfectly Pink, Blue and Wedgewood Blue showing lots of color and the White being one of the brightest whites. This combines well with White lantana and Begonia BabyWing® White and Dusty Miller New Look® with larger foliage for an all white design.

Let’s start with the traditional pot combo, with a spike in the center, surrounded by geraniums and smaller blooming plants like ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia and variegated vinca cascading around the pot. This can be now updated for a modern look with the new colors of cordylines that are red/burgundy, gray and pick or even gold striped to replace the spike. Next the new Zonal Geranium colors like Allure™ Hot Coral, Pink (pink with a splash of magenta), Pink Sizzle, or Tangerine will certainly catch the eye of visitors. The baby’s breath look of the Euphorbia is a classic but switch it up with Breathless™ Blush or White Euphorbia with larger flowers or even a pink hue. Why not try something new to Remember when planting your pots to cascade on your black pots like Dicondra Silver Falls™ or go gold use fresh potting mix, add slow release with Helichrysum ‘Lemon Licorice’? fertilizers, and plant according to What about something for the shade the tags instructions. However you ask? Well the traditional look don’t hesitate to make it full so that is again a spike with impatiens you can enjoy the beauty of your surrounding it and the variegated containers right away! vinca vine cascading. To switch that up start with a Hawaiian Photos courtesy Proven Winners, www.

Ti Maria Cordyline with bright provenwinners.com. Visit their website for pink leaves, surround it with New even more photos of beautiful container Guinea impatiens in the wonderful new combinations. colors like Celebrette Apricot, Electric Rose, Icy Blue, Strawberry Star, or Steffie Littlefield is a St Louis area Clockwork™ Hot Pink Glow. Mix in horticulturist and garden designer. She has with this some of the fantastic new Coleus degrees from St. Louis Community College like Campfire, Electric Lime or Flame at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State Thrower to really make that container shine and is a member of Gateway Professional in the shade. Add some ferns for texture and to Horticultural Association, Missouri trail out of the pot try golden creeping Jenny.

For a larger Modern Foliage Pot, try the ‘Jet Black Wonder’ elephant ears. Look for the new begonias Like Surefire® Red or the trailing Santa Cruz® ‘Sunset’ to add some color or Gryphon begonia with tropical variegated leaves. Combine this with some 16

Botanical Garden Members Board and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is part-owner of Edg-Clif Winery, Potosi, MO. www.Edg-Clif. com.

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Here’s to the tickle of grass between your toes, games that can be played with a drink in hand, and a fireworks display of amazingly colorful blooms.

MAY 2019

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ⓒ 2019 Endless Summer/Bailey Nurseries, Inc.

experience life in full bloom BloomStruck® from Endless Summer®. Check out all our varieties of reblooming hydrangeas at endlesssummerblooms.com.

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17

Naturally Natives Thoughts on Wild Roses and Tomcats Text and photos by Scott Woodbury

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I have a similar love affair hat do feral tomcats with wild roses. I love the and native roses have herby-sweet fragrance of their in common? To begin single pink flowers and so with, both are prickly, difficult to do bumblebees, which buzz handle and considered worthless them to shake out pollen and by most. After all, who likes being nectar. Buzz-pollination is a pricked with needles or bitten by mesmerizing dance and the cats. Nobody. But that didn’t stop next-best thing to Sufi dancing. me from catching the last tom that I highly recommend adding both came around. My wife thought he to your bucket list. Wild roses should have been euthanized, and produce hips; deep red fruits perhaps she was right because he that are eaten by bluebirds in late truly was wild. For years I endured Climbing rose winter unless I get to them first. scratches and bites and for years They are high in vitamin C and he lived inside the guest-room box make a tart warm tea on a cold spring mattress. But he eventually came around, is content living indoors and is the soft and cuddly winter day. Simply split open the hips, remove the seeds and steep the pulp and skin in water. Freeze whole rose hips to store. To love of our lives. propagate, place seeds in a zip lock by adding moist sand and store in the fridge for three months. Then sow the seed/sand mixture in a pot or on the ground, cover with an eighth of an inch of potting soil or topsoil, water and wait two weeks for the seeds to sprout. Wait HARD WORKING another four weeks before transplanting to their final home.

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3. Beautiful. Textures, colors and multi-seasonal interest of native species make your landscape distinctively attractive.

Forrest Keeling Nursery offers hundreds of native species from perennials and grasses to shrubs and trees. Let us help you create a healthier and more unique landscape ‘one tree at a time’.

88 Forrest Keeling Lane | Elsberry, MO 63343 | 800-FKN-2401 | forrestkeeling.com

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Carolina rose, Rosa carolina, suckers in the garden and is a good companion with wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana). Both are equally aggressive, but together they are steadfast and make good companions. This one- to two-foot tall rose has stems that are far apart, and when growing alone are poor at keeping weeds

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The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Tips and Resources for Growing and Landscaping with Sustainable Native Plants out. Wild strawberry fills the gaps and covers the soil in a way that prevents weeds, like a permanent green mulch. Additionally, dried strawberry leaves make a lovely yellow tea, especially when added to rose hips. Be sure to notice the fall leaf colors of red, orange and yellow on both. The tiny, flexible thorns are tolerable, though I recommend handling them with garden gloves.

the branch, wound side down on bare soil and weigh it down with a big rock. Scar tissue and roots will emerge from the scrape in summer and can be transplanted in September. Stem cuttings are most-easily rooted when taken in June.

One final thought: don’t assume all roses you may see in the Prairie rose Swamp rose wild are native roses. One bad hips tomcat I wouldn’t welcome is Prairie rose, Rosa arkansana, Rosa multiflora, a shrub rose also suckers but slowly and densely, so preventing weeds. It has introduced by state conservation agencies in the last century to single fragrant rose-pink flowers and clear-yellow stamens that control erosion. This Japanese native has spread with abandon bees adore. It has lustrous-red stems that are especially noticeable throughout forests and fields of Missouri, and is considered a in winter and slightly prickly thorns. It grows well in average clay noxious weed. It bears white flowers on a medium-sized thorny garden soils. Next on the scale of more prickly is swamp rose, shrub.

Rosa palustris. It is similar to prairie rose in flower and size but suckers more aggressively. Now would be a good time to discuss I enjoy a challenge and so enjoy wild roses and tomcats. Some protective clothing. Stout canvas pants and long sleeves are a must things in life are worth the extra effort. while pruning this rose and, need I say, so are thick leather gloves.

You will want this equipment anyway if you ever you go blackberry picking. You won’t be pruning to remove dead stems after winter because they are completely hardy, but you may choose to reduce their size and spread. Swamp rose grows three to four feet tall and Missouri Wildflowers inhabits wetlands and wet prairies in nature. In the landscape, they tolerate wet clay soils. Lazy teenagers and dogs would not attempt Nursery to cut through a hedge made of this.

Finally is climbing rose, Rosa setigera, a clump-forming shrub with long arching canes that grow about eight feet long and may be trained on a trellis. It has clusters of single pink flowers and hence, clusters of cherry-red rose hips. It also has very stout, sharp thorns. We discovered a thornless plant in the wild and grow it on a trellis in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden. It literally has no thorns so is easily handled, but must be grown from layering or cuttings. Layering is easiest. In June scrape a branch one or two feet from the tip with a sharp knife, pull the branch over and lay Horticulturist Scott Woodbury is the Curator of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO, where he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for more than 20 years. He is also an advisor to the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s GrowNative! program.

9814 Pleasant Hill Rd Jefferson City MO 65109 www.mowildflowers.net mowldflrs@socket.net

573-496-3492, fax: 573-496-3003

Meet us at one of these locations in the St. Louis area.

Give us your order by Tuesday before a sale, and we will bring it to the location.

Kirkwood Farmer’s Market, 150 East Argonne Dr. Kirkwood MO 63122. Give us your order in advance, or pick from the selection at the market. April 6, 13, 20, & 27, and May 4; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pre-orders can be picked up 4-6 p.m. Fridays.

Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110.

Event: “Meet Me Outdoors in St. Louis.” www.missouribotanicalgarden.org April 6 & 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Town Square Pavilion, Illinois (US 51 North) & Main (Hwy 13), Carbondale IL. Sierra Club Native Plant Sale. www.sierraclub.org/illinois/shawnee or Carla: 815-263-8173. May 4, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Shaw Nature Reserve, I-44 & Hwy 100, Gray Summit, MO 63039.

Event: “Shaw Wildflower Market,” www.shawnature.org. May 11, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Member’s preview sale Friday, May 10, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Opening day at our Brazito (Jefferson City) location is March 16.

MAY 2019

The Gateway Gardener™

19

The Cornucopia Corner Plant a Pumpkin!

Edited by Robert Weaver

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ating pumpkin provides numerous health benefits: they are high in fiber, potassium, iron, and vitamins A, B and C while being low in calories, fat, and sodium. And if you grow your own, you’ll have a much wider selection of options than those found at the grocers in the fall. Plus they’re fun to grow, especially if you have young children or grandchildren, nieces, nephews or neighborhood kids.

And now is the perfect time to get your pumpkins started from seed!

What Pumpkin Varieties to Grow

When selecting a pumpkin for cooking, it is best to choose a “pie pumpkin” which has dense, sweet flesh.

Say it with flowers...

Pik-A-Pie is a go-to favorite! The sugars and lower moisture of these types hold up best in cooking. It is also easy to grow pumpkins for harvesting edible seeds.

To save time, choose a naked-seeded (hull-less or semi hull-less) pumpkin with seeds that do not need to be hulled before eating. The variety Naked Bear is an excellent allaround choice for cooking, edible seeds, and making pumpkin seed oil. Pepitas, an AAS Winner, has a strong handle, beautiful golden orange rinds with dark green streaks. The pumpkin is delicious, with nutritious flesh and bountiful “naked” tender, succulent, nutty seeds for roasting!

When selecting pumpkins for carving and fall decoration, choose varieties that suit your style! Traditional carving pumpkins are medium to large in size, deep orange, and lightly ribbed with a strong handle. Some standards are Gladiator, Magic Lantern, and Howden. If you’d like to get creative with your carving, try a warted (Warty Goblin), yellow (Mellow Yellow), or white pumpkin (Super Moon (AAS Winner) and Lumina).

For painting, look for a small pumpkin with a strong handle and a smooth surface. An excellent choice is All-America Selections Winner Hijinks.

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Add additional interest to fall décor using miniature pumpkins with unique colors and patterns. Miniature pumpkins are typically less than 2 pounds and can be found in a variety of shapes and colors; Hooligan, Baby Boo, Jack Be Little, and All-America Selections Winner Wee-B-Little are favorites that can add a perfect pop of color.

How to Grow Pumpkins

To have mature pumpkins for use in autumn, plant seeds between late May and mid-June after all risk of frost has passed. Seeds can be direct sown or started indoors and should be planted at a depth of 1” into well-drained soil that has warmed to 70°F. To ensure fruit set and yields, allow sufficient space between each plant. Give small pumpkins a 12 ft. area, large pumpkins a 24 ft. area, and giant pumpkins a 36-48 ft. area per plant.

Pumpkins perform best when they are fertilized throughout the growing season and fruit set will be strongest if the flowers are pollinated by bees. If pumpkin flowers are not pollinated completely, the fruit will start growing but will abort before The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Tips for Growing, Buying and Cooking Fresh, Locally Sourced Food for Your Table full development. To ensure a bountiful pumpkin harvest, encourage bees in your garden or pollinate the flowers by hand.

When the pumpkins have matured, the stem holding the fruit will begin to dry. Harvest the pumpkin by carefully cutting the vine on each side of the fruit stem, leaving a nub at the point where the stem meets the vine. This will encourage the stem to maintain strength as it dries down and will minimize infection by microbes that can cause decay.

To keep longer-lasting pumpkins, wash the fruits in a diluted bleach solution, allow them to dry, and place them in a cool shady spot after harvest. Then they’ll be ready to carve, decorate, or use in the kitchen.

As pumpkins grow in the garden it is incredible to observe the changes throughout the season, and rewarding to finish with a harvest of beautiful, versatile fruits. The uses of pumpkins in the garden and kitchen are limitless, so let your creativity bloom!

Information for this article was provided by the National Garden Bureau, which has designated 2019 as The Year of the Pumpkin. Learn more at NGB.org.

May Harvest Here are some fruits and veggies you might find in the garden or your local farmers’ market this month:

Asparagus Beets Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Cherries Cucumbers Gooseberries Greens Herbs Kohlrabi

Leeks Lettuce Onions Peas Potatoes Radishes Rhubarb Spinach Squash Tomatoes Turnips

Jt’s Fresh Ideas RhubaRb Dump Cake

Ingredients

1 lb rhubarb, cut into ¼” pieces (between 3 & 4 cups) 1 cup white sugar 1 3-oz pkg strawberry Jell-o 1 pkg yellow cake mix 1 cup water ¼ cup butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spread the rhubarb evenly in the bottom of the baking dish.

Sprinkle the sugar over the rhubarb, followed by the Jell-o, and finally the cake mix. Pour the water and melted butter over the top. Do not stir.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender.

MAY 2019

Recipe and photo courtesy of: www.keyingredient.com Please share some of your favorite recipes with us.

You can email us @ info@gatewaygardener.com

Waiting patiently for Summer to return!

Enjoy...

The Gateway Gardener™

Jt

2832 Barrett Station Road, Ballwin MO www.greenscapegardens.com

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Book Reviews: Of Squirrels, Caterpillars and the Natural Beauty Around Us

by Robert Weaver Nuts About Squirrels: The Rodents That Conquered Popular Culture Don H. Corrigan Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland and Company, 2019 216 pgs. Paperback Don Corrigan is, as the title of his new book clearly indicates, nuts about squirrels.

He began observing their antics in college—even before that, as a child observing how squirrels could drive his father nutty—and they’ve since become a central theme for some of his Webster U. college classes on communication and media. But this book isn’t an exploration of the squirrelly behavior that has variously vexed or amused many homeowners and backyard feeders of birds. It’s about how that behavior and the rodent’s ubiquity has given it an equally ubiquitous presence across nearly every media platform, from children’s books and comics to major motion pictures, video games and the daily news.

The central premise revolves around the late media guru Marshall McLuhan’s mass communications theory that “the medium is the message”; that is, various news media—print news, television, radio, internet, etc.—shape messages differently based upon various factors. Corrigan, who teaches courses on Mass Communications, has often used squirrels as examples of that theory. In children’s books, squirrels are often moral instructors, either as good or bad examples.

In visual media such as cartoons, movies and internet videos, their typically cute, sometimes a little impish, funny, creative and hearttugging. Newspapers, on the other hand, generally present squirrels as bad actors, with stories and features about them wreaking havoc on utility systems, invading homes, causing automobile damage, and other crimes against property and humanity.

Each chapter follows the furry characters through various examples of a particular media category, beginning with children’s books (and including a few pages on adult books as well), then tackling newspaper accounts, and winding the way through squirrels of the small and silver screens, Madison Ave. squirrels of PR and advertising, and internet age squirrels of the web and video game variety. He concludes with chapters on legendary American squirrels and squirrels of myth and folklore.

The book reacquainted me with many squirrels from my past and introduced me to quite a few I hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing.

Of course I loved Rocky growing up, but I feel like I’ve lived life in a closet for not having heard of Twiggy, the water-skiing squirrel, which apparently even had a cameo appearance in the Will Farrell Anchorman movie. Of course, all St. Louis sports fans remember the Rally Squirrel that inspired the 2011 Cardinals to their 11th World Series Championship. And Corrigan touches on the PR jobs of white

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squirrels in Olney, Illinois, and black squirrels in Kent, Ohio and a few other cities.

Since I watch the movies almost every year, I’m well acquainted with Uncle Billy’s pet squirrel in It’s A Wonderful Life, and the squirrel in Christmas Vacation that causes chaos in the home before latching onto Louise Dreyfuss’ face. Not being a video gamer, though, I was newly introduced to the menagerie of virtual squirrels there are in the internet forest.

I was about to chide Corrigan for leaving out my favorite squirrel, Scrat, the acorn-obsessed Ice Age rodent from that animated movie series. But, to his credit, in the book’s postscript, he writes he didn’t diss Scrat, he simply ran out of space and time, and will include him and many other popular squirrels in a follow-up volume.

For people hoping to find stories about the antics of squirrels, helpful tips on keeping them away from feeders and attics, or other squirrelrelated stories and tips, look to the chapter on children’s books, where Corrigan lists a number of other books that treat those topics in detail. His mission in this book is to follow squirrels through their various media representations, and explore why those media depict them as they do. It’s a mission he accomplishes quite thoroughly and successfully.

Don Corrigan is an award-winning writer and editor-in-chief of three newspapers in St. Louis, Webster-Kirkwood Times, South County Times and West End Word. He has taught mass communications as a professor at Webster University in St. Louis for four decades and presents regularly at Popular Culture Association conventions across the United States. He will appear at 7pm on May 7 at the Kirkwood Library, followed by more signings in the St. Charles County and Jefferson County library systems.

A Field Guide to Everyday Life Useful ways to reconnect with nature and humanity A. D. Anderson Kindle Direct Publishing, 2019 128 pgs. Paperback

When you see the term “Field Guide” in a book title, you might expect—as the author admits in her introduction—a helpful tool for identifying birds, insects, wildflowers or other inhabitants of nature. April Anderson’s goal with her book is a similar aide to help readers identify the joyful, beautiful and curious things that are all around us but that we may overlook in our busy everyday lives.

The book is structured so that each page can stand alone and be visited in sequence or randomly. A page begins with an observation, then suggests ways the reader might use that or a similar observation

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

to “reconnect with nature and humanity” as the book’s subtitle suggests.

For example, one page describes her love of hunting for rocks and fossils as a child. Following the brief anecdote are suggestions to “look beneath your feet,” “explore the world from more than your current perspective,” and so on. Interspersed occasionally among the author’s own observations, readers are treated to thoughts and observations from guest contributors, for example Douglas Tallamy’s thoughts on the importance of oak trees.

appreciation of nature.

April Dickey Anderson is a naturalist and freelance writer who has written about nature, gardening, and host of other outdoor-oriented topics for over two decades in the Chicago area before relocating to St Louis four year ago. She has an MS Ed in Outdoor Teacher Education Curriculum & Instruction, Northern Illinois University, has opened and operated three successful nature centers, and is dedicated to helping more people of all ages reconnect with nature.

To learn more, please visit NaturallyGoodInterpretation.weebly.com.

The book is divided into sections, the first two focusing on “Unraveling the Nature of Humanity” and “Practicing Harmonious Living”, followed by four seasonally specific “ponderings”.

Anderson’s degree in teacher education curriculum and instruction comes through in the creative activity ideas suggested throughout the book, and her experience as a writer, garden designer and naturalist meld to produce a useful volume of suggestions all of us can benefit from to increase our awareness of the natural beauty that surrounds us each day, too often going unnoticed and unappreciated.

Flora’s Caterpillar A. D. Anderson Illustrated by Tricia Peterson Blue Raven Creative LLC, Lake Barrington, IL, 2018 28 pgs. Paperback

F l o r a ’s Caterpillar is an illustrated children’s story about a young girl, Flora, who loved butterflies.

One day she found a caterpillar in the garden, and brought it indoors to watch it turn into a butterfly. The story follows her education as she identifies the caterpillar as a monarch, learns what to feed it (milkweed we all know!) and then observes it as it grows (and produces frass!), morphs into a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a beautiful monarch butterfly.

Gardeners, butterfly lovers and nature enthusiasts will enjoy sharing this book with their young children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and sharing along with it a love and

MAY 2019

The Gateway Gardener™

Experts trust the #1 brand in organic gardening Laura LeBoutillier grew up working in her parents’ garden center. Since then, she and her husband Aaron have published hundreds of inspirational and educational gardening videos online for over 2.4 million loyal fans. Laura loves her garden and uses only the best products to ensure it looks beautiful.

That’s why she trusts Espoma Organic® for her fertilizer and potting soil needs.

Espoma. A natural in the garden since 1929.

Visit www.espoma.com/video to see our inspirational videos.

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2019 Perennial Plant of the Year: Stachys monieri ‘Hummelo’

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quite a display.

ach year the Perennial Plant Association announces its Perennial Plant of the Year selection.

Past selections include such All-Star perennials as Allium ‘Millennium’ (ornamental onion), Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ (Japanese anemone) and others.

The 2019 selection is another true garden winner: Stachys monieri ‘Hummelo’ (betony).

Walter’s Gardens, Inc.

Though this plant is relatively unknown to many gardeners, it makes a unique addition to any sunny border. Once you try it, you’ll see that it goes with just about everything else in the garden. It is very easy to grow and deserves to be planted more widely in American landscapes.

Stachys m. ‘Hummelo’ received the highest rating out of 22 Stachys studied in the Plant Evaluation Trials at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The trial was run from 1998-2004 by Richard G. Hawke. Both ‘Helene von Stein’ (aka ‘Big Ears’) and ‘Silver Carpet’ also received very high scores.

Unlike Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ear), this species forms large, rounded clumps of green, long and narrow, textured leaves. It is lovely even when it’s not in bloom. From early thru midsummer, sturdy spikes of lavender-rose flowers shoot up through the foliage, putting on The Perennial Plant of the Year® (PPOY) program was begun by the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) in 1990 to showcase a perennial that is a standout among its competitors. Perennials chosen are suitable for a wide range of growing climates, require low maintenance, have multiple-season interest, and are relatively Only pest/disease-free. If you are looking for an excellent perennial for your next landscape project or something reliable for your gardens, You Call... plus tax make sure to check out the Perennial Plant of the Year® archive w/ FREE We Deliver!

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The selection process for PPOY is initiated by a PPA member vote each summer. At that time, in addition to the vote, each member may also nominate up to two plants for future consideration. The PPOY committee reviews the nominated perennials (more than 400 different perennials are often nominated each year) and selects 3 or 4 perennials to be placed on the ballot. Nominations generally need to satisfy the following criteria: • Suitability

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Plant information courtesy Walter’s Gardens, Inc. Perennial Plant of the Year information courtesy of the Perennial Plant Association. If you are a professional or serious gardener interested in perennials, you may be interested in attending the annual PPA Convention and Trade Show, which will be conveniently located for St. Louisans in Chicago this year, July 28th-August 2nd. For more information, visit PerennialPlant.org.

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St. Louis Hort History Greenscape Gardens: Connecting People to the Natural World For 25 Years

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The Greenscape Lawn crew circa 1985.

he story began with a lawn mower, a trimmer and a newlywed couple. John & Sally Loyet started J&S Lawn Service in the early 70s, John mowing while Sally finished jobs with a hand trimmer. In the beginning, John retained his job in manufacturing during the week, and the weekends began getting busier as their client John Loyet at the original list grew. After a year, John left Greenscape Lawn office his job at the factory to focus on on Barrett Station Rd. just building the business. Their atnorth of the current Wiethop tention to providing quality serGreenhouses, circa 1984. vice helped grow their business with an uncommonly high rate of customer retention. The name of the business later changed to Greenscape Lawns, and as the business grew, so did their family, with the birth of their son, Jason, followed by daughters Jennifer and Jill. Weekdays were busy with work and school, but the weekends were spent at their farm in Bourbon, Missouri, where they instilled a love of the outdoors in their family members. By the mid 1980s, Greenscape had grown into one of the top lawn and tree care companies in the St. Louis area.

In 1994, John &Â Sally seized the opportunity to purchase the property of the former Treeland Nursery at the corner of Dough-

NEED A SPEAKER for your Garden Club or Group?

Master Gardener Speakers Bureau volunteers are available to speak to garden clubs, church, civic and other groups.

Choose from 53 programs, including A Dark Side to Winter Damage, Backyard Composting, Soil Preparation, Daylilies, Orchids, and more.

Explore the complete list of topics at www.stlmg.org. Look for the Speakers Bureau tab in the top margin.

(A $50 fee funds Master Gardener programming in our community.)

26

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

Magazine’s Revolutionary 100 for the partnerships it was building in helping to promote the importance of pollinators to consumers.

Today, Jennifer is serving as the president of the Western Landscape & Nursery Association, and is past president of the Landscape & Nursery As- John and Sally celebrate a busy 1997 sociation of Greater St. Cinco de Mayo weekend.

Louis. She also serves on John and Jason, 2nd and 3rd from right, with Greenscape several other boards and committees both locally and nationally.

Garden’s first summer crew, mostly Jason’s high school buddies. erty Ferry and Barrett Station Rd, where John had worked as a Although no longer directly involved with the family business, tree planter just out of high school. The lawn and tree care di- Jason and Jill remain as key influencers. Jason launched a renewvision was sold to TruGreen, the name changed to Greenscape able energy consulting company with a specialization in solar Gardens and the family directed focus on diversifying the plant based in Nashville, Tennessee, while Jill earned a doctorate in education and is a principal of an elementary school in the Ferselection. guson-Florissant School District.

Over the years, with the support and positive influence of the th community, local partners and mentors, Greenscape Gardens has This year, as Greenscape Gardens & Gifts celebrates its 25 year received an array of national recognitions. In 2007, Jennifer, who at the Barrett Station/Dougherty Ferry intersection, the company began her role as general manager in 2001, was recognized as continues to evolve with the energy of a team of passionate, diverse and skilled people who believe in the purpose of plants and the idea that quality of life begins with connecting people to the natural world.

Photos courtesy Greenscape Gardens & Gifts.

Don’t Miss

the 9th Annual st. Louis Region-Wide

Jennifer, Jason and Jill Loyet showing off the first display garden at Greenscape Gardens, with a fountain created from a repurposed cattle trough.

Green Profit Magazine’s Young Retailer Award Winner for innovations in the retailing of native plants and for the promotion of horticultural plastic pot recycling within the industry. In 2015, the company was the national winner of Today’s Garden Center

sustainable Backyard tour! sunday, June 23, 2019 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

FREE! take a self-guided tour of green and organic outdoor spaces throughout st. Louis city and county. see how others have integrated sustainable living practices into their yards and learn what you need to know to go green.

Showcasing green living practices such as lowimpact lawn care, composting, using recycled materials, organic gardening, chicken and beekeeping, native plants, water conservation, renewable energy and more.

Register to attend and learn how to create healthy, whole environments that feed both soul and body.

Visit

www.sustainablebackyard.org FoR DEtAiLs!

or Get involved l

MAY 2019

The Gateway Gardener™

Volunteer l

Be a sponsor

27

Dig This!

Gateway Gardeners and Businesses in the News UN Announces Restoration

Decade

on

Ecosystem

fertility losses linked to erosion, depletion and pollution in all parts of the world. By 2050 degradation and climate change could reduce crop yields by 10 per cent globally and by up to 50 per cent in certain regions.

New Garden, Lawn and Plant Care Hotline

The UN General Assembly recently declared the years 2021 through 2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, with an aim to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems as a proven measure to fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity.

Restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded land between now and 2030 could generate $9 trillion in ecosystem services and take an additional 13-26 gigatons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

The Decade, a global call to action, will draw together political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration from successful pilot initiatives to areas of millions of hectares. Research shows that more than two billion hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded landscapes offer potential for restoration.

Ecosystem restoration is defined as a process of reversing the degradation of ecosystems, such as landscapes, lakes and oceans to regain their ecological functionality; in other words, to improve the productivity and capacity of ecosystems to meet the needs of society. This can be done by allowing the natural regeneration of overexploited ecosystems, for example, or by planting trees and other plants.

Ecosystem restoration is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, mainly those on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water and biodiversity conservation. It is also a pillar of international environmental conventions, such as the Ramsar Convention on wetlands and the Rio Conventions on biodiversity, desertification and climate change.

Currently, about 20 per cent of the planet’s vegetated surface shows declining trends in productivity with 28

The University of Missouri Extension--St. Louis County office has opened a new Master Gardener Hotiline to answer callers’ plant questions. Callers can access the line at (314) 400-2115 on Mondays and Wednesdays between Noon-3pm, or stop by the office at 132 E. Monroe Ave. in Kirkwood during those hours. At other times, callers can still take advantage of the Missouri Botanical Garden Horticulture Answer Service 9am-Noon M-F, or call the MU St. Charles County Extension Master Gardener Hortline at (636) 875-7457 anytime to leave a message.

Missouri Group Takes on PPA Management

Woody Bibens & Associates, Inc., a professional association management company that was founded in 1989 in Missouri and works with horticulture industry clients, including the Western Nursery and Landscape Association, has begun providing association management services for the Perennial Plant Association (PPA). The PPA is a trade association composed of growers, retailers, landscape designers and contractors, educators, and others that are professionally involved in the herbaceous perennial industry. It also operates the Perennial Plant Association Symposium, an annual trade show held in various city’s around the country.

Emily Bibens Chung now serves as Executive Director of PPA. Woody Bibens and Associates also manages SynRG and the Handpicked for You plant certification program.

The PPA Symposium will be held in Chicago this year, so will be very convenient for St. Louis professionals and perennial plant enthusiasts to attend by car, train, or air. The keynote speaker this year is the very popular and influential Dutch garden designer The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

NATIONAL

Symposium PPA AAS NGB

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

JULY 28 - AUGUST 2, 2019

Piet Oudolf. Oudolf is the leading figure of the “New Perennial” movement, and will tell the story of his ever-evolving style through highlights of his past and current projects. The PPA Symposium will be held in conjunction with All-America Selections and National Garden Bureau, and will take place July 28 – Aug. 2, 2019 in Rosemont, IL. Participants of the 2019 National Symposium have the option to expand their three-day core symposium (Tuesday – Thursday) to a weeklong experience. Selections include extended education, tours, sightseeing, and renowned speaker engagement opportunities such as perennial plant expert, Roy Diblik and Ball Horticultural’s President and CEO, Anna Ball. In addition to Oudolf’s Keynote, he will also participate in a panel discussion entitled “Riding the New Dutch Wave”, moderated by Scott Stewart of Millennium Park Foundation, featuring Roy Diblik alongside Laura Ekasetya of Lurie Garden and Austin Eischeid of Austin Eischeid Garden Design.

The early bird registration deadline is June 21, 2019 and final registration deadline is July 21, 2019. Register for the 2019 National Symposium: www.perennialplant.org/register.

Edwardsville Garden Club Turns 80

The Edwardsville Garden Club will celebrate its 80th anniversary on June 8, 2019 and is inviting everyone to join the festivities at 2pm at the Madison County Farm Bureau Building, 900 Hillsboro St., Edwardsville, Il. There will be informal stations highlighting each decade of the 80 years of the Club’s existence. You will see photos of ladies in stylish hats and white gloves from the 40s and 50s hosting a tea to today’s 2019 members in blue jeans and flannel shirts planting a tree for Arbor Day celebration. The club MAY 2019

The Gateway Gardener™

does much more than just plant flowers! They’ve always sought to improve and to preserve all natural resources, i.e. land, forests, waters, wildlife along with restoring herbal gardens at the Madison County Historical grounds and just recently the Medicinal Herb gardens at the SIUE School of Pharmacy.

They welcome the opportunity to share their efforts toward these goals via informational displays and will have educational handouts at most stations.

The EGC maintains seven public gardens and they will display photos and information about each one.

The monies raised during their spring and fall plant sales fund these gardens.

Want to learn how to make a “Seed Bomb”? Or make your own natural herbal insect repellent? Or make a bar of herbal soap to take home? Or assemble your own tussie mussie? They will have “Make and Take” areas so you can do all that fun stuff!

There will be refreshments and attendance prize drawings every 10 minutes. So, join them in reflecting 80 years of land stewardship!

Contact Person: Pam Baker, 618-288-9797.

Glendale Celebrates Arbor Day with Tree Planting

Left to right: J. R. Walters, Josh Akers, Ben DeClue, Kevin Tipton, John Schuster, Don Baumstark, and Terry Jones.

All are Tree Board members, except Josh and Kevin, both members of the Public Works department.

Members of the City of Glendale, Missouri, Tree Board and Public Works Department gathered on Arbor Day to plant a Ginkgo tree as a continuation of an ongoing reforestation program by the City. In recent years, the City has lost numerous trees due to storm damage, preventive removal of ash trees, hazard trees, and trees declining because of disease or old age, and the Tree Board has actively pursued a program of replacing trees on city property. This City has planted nearly 100 trees this year alone, and in recent years has given away dozens more to homeowners during Arbor Day celebrations.

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Upcoming Events Plant Shows, Sales and Tours

Meetings, Classes, Entertainment and More Updates to this information are often posted on our online events calendar at www.

GatewayGardener.com, so check there for the latest details.

Give us the details of your upcoming gardening, lawn or landscaping event and we’ll add it to our website and include it in our next issue. Deadline for printing in the July/August issue is June 1st.

How to reach us: Mail: PO Box 220853, St. Louis, MO 63122 Email: info@gatewaygardener. com

Fun for Kids May 4th 9am—Children’s Garden Club-Mother’s Day Celebration/Vegetable Garden Planting. FREE, no reservations required, everyone welcome.

The Children’s Garden Club is designed to educate and bring delight in gardening to children with projects they do themselves.

Queeny Park, 1675 South Mason Rd., Nursery #1.

10am—First Saturday Kids: Make a “Salsa Garden”.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo by making your own Salsa Garden pot for your patio ($20 class fee covers your pot, plants, and potting material). Call 636-2396729 to sign up. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, www. hillermann.com.

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May 2nd-4th Herb Days Plant Sale. Members only 5-8pm Fri. Open 9am5pm Sat., 9am-noon Sunday.

Presented by the St. Louis Herb Society. Choose from a wide selection of more than 9,000 potted fresh herbs, including new and hard-to-find varieties. The St. Louis Herb Society’s popular cookbook, periodicals, and herbrelated products will also be available. Missouri Botanical Garden. Included with Garden admission.

and Lockwood). More info at WGWGA.org.

May 4th 8am-2pm—Kress Farm Garden Preserve Plant Sale.

Featuring many native plants propagated at Kress Farm, plus annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, ferns, cacti/succulents, daylilies, shrubs and trees. Bake sale, raffle biscuits and gravy and more. Jefferson County Master Gardeners available to answer questions. Kress Farm Garden Preserve, 5137 Glade Chapel Rd., Hillsboro, MO 63050.

May 4th-5th 9am-3pm Sat, 10am-2pm Sun— May 4th St. Louis Greenhouse Plant 7am-noon—Central Missouri Society Annual Greenhouse Master Gardeners 22nd Annual Plant Sale. Annual, perennials, Plant Sale. Indoors at the herbs, vegetables, water and Jaycee Fairgrounds, Jefferson bog plants, tropical, natives, City, MO. Wide variety of pollinator attractors, and tomatoes, vegetables, peppers, succulents. All plants grown by herbs, perennials, annuals, trees, the St. Louis Greenhouse Society shrubs, natives, and succulents. master gardener level volunteers.

Proceeds fund scholarships, Proceeds benefit St. Louis city community garden projects and and county parks, youth and the River City Gardens. community gardens and Special School District students. South 9am until sold out—Olivette In Technical High School, 12721 Bloom Native Plant Sale. Plants West Watson in Sunset Hills. that attract birds, butterflies and GreenhousePlant Society.com, other pollinators and help you (314)965-1367. garden sustainably. Stacey Park Pavilion, 9750 Old Bonhomme May 10th-11th Rd. Members Only preview 2-7pm 8am-1pm— Huge Plant Sale Event. Webster Groves Women’s Garden Association will offer great prices and Master Gardener advice on truckloads of donated perennials from local gardens plus nursery grown natives and honeybee exhibit by Master Gardener Marc Hartstein. Also featured: Member-designed container gardens perfect for Mother’s Day, Bake Sale, Silent Auction and a Gardener’s Wish List Collection raffle. Rain or shine. First Congregational Church of Webster Groves, 10 W. Lockwood (corner of Elm

Fri, Public 9am-2pm Sat— Spring Wildflower Market.

Native wildflowers, ferns, trees and shrubs for home landscapes brought to you by Shaw Nature Reserve and local native plant nurseries. Shaw Nature Reserve, Gray Summit, MO, at I-44 and Hwy 100. (636) 451-3512.

Admission Free for members and their children, $5 ($3 Seniors and students) non-members.

May 11th 8am-noon—Mississippi Valley Garden Club Plant Sale. Perennials, divided from

members’ gardens.

Many varieties, plus gently used gardening items. Experienced gardeners available for advice.

Alton-Wood River Sportsmen’s Club, 3109 Godfrey Rd., Godfrey, IL 62015. 618-9175853 for questions or more info.

May 11th 9am-5pm—St. Louis Hosta Society Show and Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are shown and sold by the area’s top growers, who are on hand to give plant care advice and share information about their organization. Missouri Botanical Garden, Ridgway Visitor Center, Orthwein Floral Display Hall.

Included with Garden admission.

9am-noon—Mason Ridge Garden Club Annual Plant Sale. Plants have been lovingly tended in the Longview Gardens and members’ own gardens. Tried and true selections. Proceeds directly benefit the Longview Gardens. Cash or check only.

Longview Farm Park, 13525 Clayton Road, the northwest corner of Clayton and Mason, Town and Country. (314) 4793158 or claire@chosid.us.

May 12th 9am-5pm—MBG Greater St. Louis Iris Society Show.

Some of the top iris growers in the area display a wide array of new cultivars and old favorites.

Experts from the Greater St. Louis Iris Society will be on hand to give plant care advice and share information about their organization. Missouri Botanical Garden Ridgway Center, Beaumont Room.

May 18th County 9am-5pm—West Daylily Club Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are shown and sold by the area’s top growers, who are on hand to give plant care advice and

The Gateway Gardener™ MAY 2019

share information about their organization. Missouri Botanical Garden, Ridgway Visitor Center.

Included with Garden admission.

May 18th 9am-5pm—St. Louis Horticultural Society Show and Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are shown and sold by the area’s top growers, who are on hand to give plant care advice and share information about their organization. Missouri Botanical Garden, Ridgway Visitor Center.

Included with Garden admission.

May 18th-19th 10am-4pm Sat., & Sun.— The Ste. Genevieve Master Gardeners Garden Walk and Plant Sale. See page 8 for details.

May 25 9am-noon—Webster Groves Herb Society Display. The Society welcomes all Garden visitors to stop by their display.

Missouri Botanical Garden, Ridgway Visitor Center. Free with Garden admission. th

May 25th-26th 9am-5pm—Rose Society of Greater St. Louis Show and Sale. New cultivars and old favorites are shown and sold by the area’s top growers, who are on hand to give plant care advice and share information about their organization. Missouri Botanical Garden, Ridgway Visitor Center.

Included with Garden admission.

June 1st-2nd 10am-5pm—Hermann Town and Country Garden Tour. See page 8 for details.

June 2nd 10th Annual New Town Garden Tour. See page 8-9 for details.

Classes, Lectures and Events May 1st and 7th 9:30-10:30am—Tropicals and Annuals for Exotic Displays.

Learn the best, most colorful

MAY 2019

plants, along with attractive combinations.

Plant care including watering fertilizing, and pruning.

Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. May 2nd 9:30-10:30am—Dazzling Containers for Entrance Way, Patios and Gardens. Learn creative combinations of plants, colors and textures to amaze your family and friends. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. May 2nd and 8th 5-7pm—Girls Night Out Planting Party. Bring family and friends and your empty pots and plant them up with beautiful spring flowers. RSVP to (636) 272-5005. Planthaven Farms, 6703 Telegraph Rd., Oakville, MO. PlanthavenFarms.com.

May 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd 5-7pm—Nights at the Nursery.

Come in Thursday evenings to shop, eat, drink and enjoy local musicians. Rolling Ridge Nursery, 60 N. Gore, Webster Groves, MO. (314) 962-3311.

RollingRidgeNursery.com.

May 3rd & 4th Poppies for the Vets- American Legion Aux. will be here selling Poppies for the Vets. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-2396729, www.hillermann.com.

May 4th 10am—Salsa Saturday. Join in the fun and festivities with Cinco de Mayo! While shopping for your Salsa Garden plants, enjoy chips and salsa. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-2396729, www.hillermann.com.

May 8th 9:30-10:30am —Gardening for Pollinators. Discover the plants that pollinators find irresistible, plus other tips for a thriving habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE.

The Gateway Gardener™

May 9th 9:30am —Beginning Perennial Gardening. Learn the fundamentals of soil, plant selection, light requirements, and color schemes. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. May 11th 10am-noon—Wine Class with Harvey Jasper. Rack #3 Elevating the Wine. This step is proposed since the grapes/must/ wine/will dictate the timing of each stage. The actions needed for this step will be discussed and a handout will be available.

Free class. Please call to sign up.

Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-239-6729, www.hillermann. com.

May 14th and 16th 9:30-10:30am—Minimal Care, Maximum Results, Superb Small Shrubs and Evergreen Perennials..

Learn about evergreen perennials and small shrubs that will reward you with interesting and beautiful plantings all year long with little or no care. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood.

FREE. Call (314) 965-3070.

May 18th 10am-noon—Wine Class with Harvey Jasper. Rack #4, Clarifying Process #2. This step is proposed since the grapes/ must/wine/will dictate the timing of each stage. The actions needed for this step will be discussed and a handout will be available. Free class. Please call to sign up. Hillermann Nursery & Florist, 636-239-6729, www. hillermann.com.

May 21st 9:30-10:30am—The Ultimate Hydrangea Guide. Kim Reiss, President of the St. Louis Hydrangea Society, discusses the top choices for sun and shade. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood.

FREE. Call (314) 965-3070.

May 22nd 1-4pm—Native Plant School: Native Wild Edible Plants.

Learn to identify some common native edible plants, view them in a garden setting, discuss different ways to use them in recipes, and sample them too.

Classroom behind Joseph H. Bascom House at Shaw Nature Reserve. For reservations or more information, call (314) 577-9526.

May 25th and June 1st 9:30-10:30am—Garden Stroll with Ann Million. Class takes place at Ann’s extraordinary garden in Crestwood. Sugar Creek Gardens. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070 for reservations and directions.

May 25th 9:30-10:30am—Houseplants for Health and Happiness.

Learn the growing instructions, light requirements, watering, fertilizing and pruning of favorite houseplants. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070.

June 1st 9:30-10:30am—Continuous Blooms with Perennial Plants. Learn the secrets of a breathtaking, ever-blooming garden, and discover the showiest perennials along with the longest blooming, heaviest producing plants available. Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 Woodlawn Rd., Kirkwood. FREE. Call (314) 965-3070.

8:30a,-12:30pm—St. Louis Urban Gardening Symposium.

Demonstration Garden at Brightside St. Louis, 4646 Shenandoah.

Register and get more information at BrightsideSTL.org.

31

Spring is here!

It’s a great time to add nutrient-rich compost for a better planting season and a more beautiful yard.

Compost improves soil structure, helps retain moisture and protect plants.

Ask your landscape contractor to spread STA-Certified Compost for your next project. Or visit one of our six area locations for the largest selection of STA-Certified Compost, Mulch Products and Soil Blends.

VALLEY PARK, MO

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39 Old Elam Avenue 636.861.3344

18900 Franklin Road 636.271.3352

560 Terminal Row 314.868.1612

13060 County Park Road 314.355.0052

BELLEVILLE, IL

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO

5841 Mine Haul Road 618.233.2007

11294 Schaefer Road 314.423.9035

Visit us online at www.stlcompost.com