Mercer County 1007 Lexington RD Harrodsburg, KY 40330-9203 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID Harrodsburg, KY

PERMIT #72

Mercer County Horticulture Newsletter

February, 2019

Mercer County

1007 Lexington Road Harrodsburg, KY 40330

(859) 734-4378 Fax: (859) 734-4379

From The Ground Up

Valentine’s day is upon us, so why not have a heart themed newsletter? In this newsletter you will find three popular

heart shaped plants to give to that special someone this year. Now that spring is right around the corner, make sure to

checkout the 2019 Gardening Through the Seasons class schedule! Happy Gardening!

Jessica Bessin, Mercer County Extension Agent for Horticulture

NOTICE

Public Notification of Procedure for Filing a Complaint:

The Cooperative Extension Service prohibits discrimination in its programs and employment on the basis of race, color, age, religion, gender, disability, or national origin.

To initiate a complaint at the college level, contact Tim West in the Business Office at 859-257-3879. At the University level, Terry Allen and Patty Bender in the UK Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity (859-257-8927) may be contacted. Additionally, employee or clientele complaints involving any research or

extension sponsored program or activity may be directed to the USDA, Director Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W Whitten Bldg., 14th & Independence Ave. SW, Washington DC 20250-9410 (202-720-5964).

Bleeding Heart

Valentine’s day brings hearts of all kinds, but you will have to wait a little longer for the popular garden ornamental known as common or old-fashioned bleeding heart to come into bloom. Dicentra spectabilis, native to eastern Asia (northern China, Korea and Japan), won’t start blooming until late spring. This perennial in the fumitory family (Fumariaceae) is hardy in zones 2-8. D. spectabilis was brought to England in 1810, but didn’t get established. It was introduced again after a Royal Horticultural Society plant exploration trip to the Far East in 1846, and soon it became a common garden plant. Some other less-common common names for this plant include Chinese Pants, Lady’s Locket, Lyre Flower, Our-Lady-in-a-Boat, and Tearing Hearts. This herbaceous plant forms loose, bushy clumps up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide from brittle, fleshy roots. The reddish new foliage emerges from the ground in very early spring, and plants grow quickly to be one of the first flowering perennials in the spring, combining nicely with tulips The green to pink stems are very fleshy. The powdery-green leaves are divided into three leaflets. Although they are attractive when not in flower, the plants usually start to senesce by August and go dormant in the summer. The leaves turn yellow and wither sooner in hotter or drier weather (but sometimes last through the season in cool, moist conditions). Cutting the plants back hard after flowering may delay senescence (as well as promote another flush of flowers). When the stems die back completely to the ground they can be pulled out and discarded. The unique 1-2 inch long, delicate-looking pendant flowers are vaguely heart-shaped. Each puffy bloom has two rose-pink outer petals and two white inner petals, with a white stamen protruding from the bottom. The pouched outer petals have strongly reflexed tips from which the inner petals protrude slightly. Each inflorescence has several flowers dangling in a row in a one-sided horizontal raceme on the end of an arching, leafless stem. Plants flower from late spring to early summer, and the entire stems can be used for cut flowers, lasting up to 2 weeks in a vase. Flowers are followed by elongate seed pods. Plants will often self seed, but do not do so readily enough to be considered invasive. Bleeding heart grows best in light shade, although it will tolerate full sun in moist and cool climates. In most locations plants prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. They also need well-drained soil and will rot if the soil remains too soggy. Humus-rich soil is best, but will tolerate both clay and sandy soil if given proper moisture. Use bleeding heart in cottage gardens, wildflower gardens and in shady spots throughout the landscape. These elegant plants work well in shaded borders and woodland gardens, but should be

positioned so that other plants will obscure the dying foliage when the bleeding heart begins to senesce later in the season. In a shade garden it can be combined with ferns, hosta, hardy geranium, and astilbe which come out later in the spring to fill in as the bleeding heart declines. Other ways to deal with such gaps include planting annual impatiens underneath, to grow up as the bleeding heart dies back, or placing containers with blooming annuals in the area after the foliage dies back. Bleeding heart has few pests, although aphids may occasionally infest particularly the inflorescences and slugs may feed on the leaves. Source: Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Mark Those Calendars!!!

Mercer County Farmers Market Spring Meeting– February 11th, Mercer County Extension Office 6:30 PM

If you are interested in joining the Mercer County Farmers market please, attend this meeting. We will discuss changes for

the upcoming 2019 market season.

County Extension Council Meeting-February 18th, Mercer County Extension Office 12:00 PM

Mercer Count 4H Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction- “The Stable” at the Mercer Co. Fairgrounds 5:00– 7:30 PM

See insert for more details.

Leadership Appreciation Luncheon –February 25th, Mercer County Extension Office 12:00 PM

Fort Harrod Beekeeping Club – February 25th , Mercer County Extension Office 6:30 PM

Join us as we welcome Dorothy Morgan as our speaker for the next beekeeping meeting. Dorothy is the president and

founder of the Kentucky Honey Bee Queen Breeders Association. She will be sharing information on the most important

bee in the hive, the queen.

Gardening Through The Seasons (Apple Tree Care)-March 5th, Mercer County Extension Office 2:00 PM

See insert for more details.

Apple Grafting Class-March 16th, Shaker Village 10:00 AM

In the morning, there will be a hands-on pruning demonstration. In the afternoon, lunch will be provided and grafting will

begin. Participants will take home 3 apple trees, as well as a grafting knife. 10 person limit, $20 payment secures your

spot! Please Call Mercer County Extension Office and secure your spot by March 1st: 859-734-4378

Produce Best Practice Training (PBPT)- March 18th, Mercer County Extension Office 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM

Please call the Mercer County Extension Office at 859-734-4378 to register for this training.

Eastern Redbud

Sticking with our heart theme in this newsletter, one of the easiest native trees to identify in Kentucky is the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis ). Why is it so easy? Well, by looking for its heart shaped leaves of course! The leaves are not the only thing that can make this tree an easy one to identify. The bright lavender flowers that brighten wooded areas throughout Kentucky before leaves form on trees in the spring make it easy to recognize. It is a small tree common in the understory and along roadsides. The Kentucky champion tree is in Shelby County and is 18 feet tall. Eastern redbud is an attractive specimen, and is especially nice in naturalized settings. It offers attractive, rosy pink flowers in spring, pretty foliage in summer, and a graceful, multi-trunk growth habit. The bark of eastern redbud is brownish black and scaly. On older trees, the orang-ish inner bark can often be seen. Bark becomes fissured as the tree ages. Trees may bloom profusely even when very young,. They produces clusters of 4-8 flowers in fascicles at the axils of the leaves and along the branches and sometimes on the trunk, but most are on two-year-old wood. The flowers range in color from light rosy pink to dark magenta, and there are white forms. Each typical pea-like flower is about ½ inch wide, with 5 petals and 10 stamens. The flowers are visited by many pollinators, but only long-tongued bees can reach the nectaries. The flowers are followed by flat, pea-like pods, although many trees are sterile and produce no fruit. These pods start out green, but eventually turn brown when they mature in mid- to late summer. Each of the 2-4 inch long pods contain 4-12 flat, elliptical brown to black kidney-shaped seeds. When numerous, the pods may detract from the appearance of the tree, but heavy fruit crops do not occur every year. The pods can be persistent or fall in early winter. Under ideal conditions it will self-seed, but usually not to the point of being problematic. The leaves are a bright green tinged red when they first emerge from the winter buds, changing to dark green above and paler below when fully expanded. The alternate, cordate (heart-shaped) to broadly ovate leaves have smooth margins and prominent veins. The thin, papery leaves on slender petioles may turn a bright, clear yellow color in the fall in some years, but good fall color is unreliable. Eastern redbud grows well in a number of soil types except those that are consistently wet. It prefers deep, moist soils that are well-drained. The tree will tolerate both alkaline and acidic soils and full sun or light shade. It performs better in full sun in the north and light shade in the south. It is hardy in Zones 4 to 9. Eastern redbud is susceptible to Botryosphaeria canker that can cause death of many stems. Verticillium wilt and leaf spots also affect redbud. Insects that cause problems include tree hoppers, leafhoppers, caterpillars and scales. If you are looking for a new native tree to add to your landscape this year consider adding an Eastern Redbud. Source: University of Kentucky Horticulture Department

Heart-leaf Philodendron

If you're looking for a fool-proof house plant, you couldn't do much better than a heart-leaf philodendron. These easy-growing foliage plants thrive with indirect light and very little maintenance. Heart-leaf philodendrons are often grown in hanging baskets which allow the thin stems and heart-shaped leaves to beautifully spill out of their container. Heart-leaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium) are a vining type of philodendron with dark green heart-shaped leaves, generally 2–4 inches in size. Grown in a container indoors, heart-leaf philodendrons can be displayed as a specimen plant on a table, shelf, or wall bracket, where the long, trailing vines of the plant can have room to spread. They can also be trained to climb up a screen, trellis, pole, or a bark board. Philodendrons are versatile and hardy plants, and are generally easy to care for in your home. Heart-leaf philodendrons enjoy bright diffuse light, but will tolerate a range of lighting conditions from diffused light to shade; just avoid direct sunlight as this can burn the leaves. One of the reasons heart-leaf philodendron does so well indoors is that it prefers the same temperature range as we do; temperatures below 50°F are too cool for this particular plant. Water your philodendron when the top inch of soil becomes dry to the touch. Using a light weight, well-drained potting media will help ensure that your plant does not become too wet or water logged. While philodendrons prefer high humidity, they are capable of tolerating the low humidity levels of a typical household. Fertilize your philodendron every 3-4 months to keep your plant looking great. While philodendrons are easy to maintain, too much water or too little light can cause yellowing leaves, and too much fertilizer can cause the leaf tips of your plant to brown and curl. Heart-leaf philodendron is also very easy to propagate; you can start new plants for yourself or to share by planting short stem cuttings in clean potting media. This versatile, easy-to-grow plant is a great way for both novices and seasoned gardeners to bring the outdoors in. Source: University of Florida Extension