Plant of the Week: Round-headed Bushclover (Lespedeza capitata)

 

This 2-5' tall member of the bean family should be planted in a large cluster to get any type of showy appearance in the landscape.  However, I like it because it is quite drought resistant and builds nitrogen in the soil.  Plus the whitish covered leaves, whitish colored stems, and whitish flowers are pretty spectacular when backlit. It is easy to grow and pretty much carefree and can take full sun and moist soil although once established it can handle dry, rocky, or even clay soils.  The leaves occur in bundles of three and each leaflet is about 3" long x 1" wide.  The flowers are quite small In addition, the seeds of this plant are relished by quail, songbirds, mourning doves, wild turkeys and serves as a host plant for the northern and southern cloudy wing, hoary edge, and silver spotted skipper butterflies.  It is primarily pollinated by bees although butterflies will nectar on it, although they are not very effective pollinators.  This plant is high in protein and thus is readily consumed by deer, rabbits, and groundhogs.  This plant makes a wonderful addition to dried plant arrangements as the brown seed heads remain all winter long.

Plant of the Week: St. Andrew's Cross (Hypericum hypericoides)

I was visiting a cemetery the other day in eastern Kentucky and as is typical, it was located on the top of a hill with shallow, acidic soils.  Looking upon the landscape and seeing the typical horticultural flowers gracing the graves, I noticed a natural garden, albeit very small flowers, gracing the grounds surrounding the cemetery.  In this natural garden I found wild petunia (shortened because it was mowed), white milkwort, and great masses of St. Andrew's Cross (H. stragulum to some).  This very low growing shrub forms large masses, usually several feet in diameter where the four petaled, 8 sepaled 1/3" long flowers are arranged in a cross shape with an egg shaped ovary.  The leaves are simple, somewhat waxy, slender and oblong in shaped and occur opposite on the stem and the subspecies most common in Kentucky is multicaule (mat-forming).  The other subspecies get much taller, in some cases 2-4' tall.  This plant would make an excellent ground cover for a rock garden or other dry, shallow, well-drained soil in full sun.  I was only able to locate plants at one nursery, Mulberry Woods Nursery.  This has a tendency to be evergreen which gives it an additional value in the landscape providing some green during the winter.  The other great advantage is that it will stay in flower for several months.

The hummingbirds are back at the feeder!

It never ceases to amaze me how people are so concerned with our tiny little ruby-throated hummingbirds when they don't see them in early spring.  I always tell them to have some patience, they will return in mid-summer and yes, right on schedule the hummers are back at the feeders.  Why?  There are several reasons: 1. The babies have now hatched and are out and about on their own and looking to "beef up" prior to their annual trek to the tropics; and 2. the migrants are now beginning that journey south and are looking for nectar sources.  Because of these phenomena, it should come as no surprise that the best hummingbird nectar flowers are now just coming into flower including the number one species of all time: trumpet creeper!  This plant produces as much as 10x more nectar than any other hummingbird plant.  But other species are coming into flower now as well including cardinal flower (another favorite and maybe hummingbird plant number two), jewel-weeds, red bee-balm, our native mallows, royal catchfly (a specialist for the hummingbird), false dragon-head, monkey flowers, and trumpet honeysuckle.  Now that the heat is with us make sure you keep the liquid in the feeder fresh and clean the feeder scrupulously so no bacteria or fungal diseases become associated with it that might harm the birds. Here is a little extra recipe for attracting hummingbirds and non-nectaring butterflies: mix old stale fruit (peaches, nectarines, melon, pineapple) with stale beer and sugar.  Put in a blender and place in a container in the shade on a platform.  You will be amazed at what will come into that mixture as shown with the pearly eye butterflies shown below.  Happy gardening and enjoy those flying flowers from now until frost.

Plant of the Week: Halberd-leaved rose mallow or smooth rose mallow (Hibiscus laevis)

This native perennial gets its name from the arrow or halberd shaped leaves that occur on this species that is common pretty much across the entire state of Kentucky. It does best and is found naturally near wetlands, streams, ponds, and other moist soil habitats, but does just fine in the garden.  If you are planting in a wet area, be aware this species can literally take over the entire habitat.  Of course there are worse things than having a 4 to 6' tall showy plant with up to 6" wide hollyhock like flowers that range from white to pink to red (and yes I have seen all color forms in Kentucky).  The 5 petaled flowers have a deep maroon center with a very prominent staminal column.  The plant has a deep taproot but it spreads easily via seed.  I recommend cutting this species back in the fall of the year to maintain a more horticultural appearance.  This species is pollinated by bumblebees and an oligoletic  (means specializing on pollinating one species or groups of species of plants) bee that also feeds on wild morning glories.  The plant also serves as a host for gray hairstreak butterflies (buds and seeds), painted lady and checkered skippers (foliage) and some moths including the pearly wood nymph, Io, and Delightful bird-dropping moth. Unfortunately Japanese beetles will eat this plant and deer will also consume the non-toxic foliage as well.  However, this is a much better replacement in the landscape than the exotic Rose of Sharon bush, which is invasive.

Plant of the Week: Culver's Root: (Veronicastrum virginicum)

This elegant plant of the snapdragon family can grow up to 5' tall and when found on steep slopes has a tendency to flop over.  Because of this tendency, even in the garden, I like to put a nice patch of this surrounded by either little bluestem, broomsedge, or split-beard bluestem grasses.  When backlit in the late afternoon it makes a stunning display.  This single stemmed plant has whorled leaves that are narrow and oval shaped, with serrated edges, and are about 6" long by 1.5" wide.  The flowers begin at the base of the flowering stalk and the white tubular flowers have beautiful rusty brown to yellow stamens.  The flowers do not smell and the plant has a central taproot with some lateral rhizomes but it is not an aggressive spreading species by any means.  One established, the taproot makes moving this plant difficult.  It likes loamy, well-drained soil in the full sun but can tolerate clay. There are no major diseases known for this plant. This species has many notable medicinal qualities as Native Americans used it to stop nosebleeds and as a purgative and emetic. It can be very harmful if ingested and therefore it is not used much for medicines today.  The plant is named for a noted 118th century physician who made it popular at this time.  There are so many good companion plants for this species it is hard to list them all.  I like the look with an understory of butterfly milkweed and maybe wild quinine but I think wild bergamot, prairie clover, yellow coneflower, black-eyed susans.  There are at least three cultivars available and include 'Diane',  ‘Lavender Towers’ and ‘Fascination’.  There are a host of other cultivars on the market as well.  This is a great cut flower and works well in a naturalized meadow.  The primary pollinators are bees including honeybees, bumblebees, Mason bees, Green Metallic bees, and Masked bees.  Generally deer resistant.

Plant of the week: Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)

This is not the showiest of shrubs, but it is an excellent native plant for attracting birds and can be used in the back of your native wildflower garden.  It grows about 6 - 10' tall and can tolerate not only clay soils, but also the walnut tree.  It flowers typically in May and has beautiful bluish berries that the birds relish in late summer, early fall. It is especially showy in the fall when the leaves typically turn a beautiful red color.  The dark green, glossy oval shaped and toothed leaves get up to about 4" in size. To ensure good flowering every year (if you did not plant it for the birds), make sure to prune the shrub immediately after flowering since the flowering buds will form in the summer. This is one of our native viburnums that can be used to make a wonderful hedge.  It likes full sun but can tolerate quite a bit of shade, although it will not flower as profusely if planted in part-sun.  The plant gets its name because the Native Americans supposedly used the straight stems for arrow shafts. This is fairly deer resistant and the variety 'Blue Muffin' is a proven winner plant of distinction for the bright blue berries.  Other cultivars were developed for their fall color including: 'Northern Burgundy', 'Autumn Jazz' for an orange-red color, and 'Chicago Lustre' for golden yellow color.  This is one of the most disease and pest free viburnums in the market.

More Ticks

Blake Newton, UK Extension Entomologist

Last summer, I posted an item on this blog about Ticks In Kentucky. I listed some of the different kinds of ticks that live in the state, the diseases associated with those ticks, and how to defend yourself against ticks. I also addressed a question that we often receive in the Department of Entomology at UK: "Are tick populations increasing in Kentucky?"

Since then, we've seen even more evidence, both experimental and anecdotal, that tick numbers seem to be increasing. And while we have little scientific data from Kentucky, veterinarians and entomologists from states like Michigan, Missouri, and Oklahoma are convinced that tick populations are growing in number and that ticks are being found in new places. We still don't know exactly why the numbers are changing, but some scientists believe that growing deer populations, climate change, the suburbanization of the North American landscape, and even acorns may all be contributing factors.

I have not conducted any experiments on my own, but it seems like I see more ticks in Kentucky than I did a few decades ago. When I was a kid, I spent most of the 1980s wandering in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County. I was told by my parents to "watch for ticks." I would find a few every now and then. These days, when I visit the same parts of the forest, I will regularly pick off dozens of ticks. Sometimes, I find so many that I lose count, but I estimate the number to be about two hundred. When I find that many, the ticks are always very small: about the size of a grain of sand. Some people call these tiny ticks "seed ticks" or "turkey ticks." These small ticks are the immature stage of the Lone Star Tick—none of the other ticks in our area regularly attach themselves to humans while they are in the immature stage.

Luckily, these tiny ticks—which seem to be the most common in our area, and which are the ones that I run into almost exclusively in the woods—are not known to be associated with Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, or any other major pathogens. (Identification can be tricky, though, so any tick should be removed as soon as possible.)

So, tick numbers may be on the rise. But there's one thing that hasn't changed: tick-safety! It is fairly easy to protect yourself, your family, and your pets from tick-borne illnesses, and you can read all the details in our online factsheet: Ticks and Disease.