Some Superior Annuals from 2023

 

Some Superior Annuals from 2023

Colorado State University

J.E. Klett

 

The following annuals are some of the top picks from both public and industry evaluations.

The public evaluations were held on August 5, 2023 and industry evaluations were held on August 8^th, 2023.

Official winners will be posted in late September on our website: https/www.flowertrials.colostate.edu

 

Begonia Hybrid ‘Stonehenge Rose Bronze Leaf’ from Benary®

This plant can go everywhere- sun, shade, ground, and containers! It has performed really well and will just keep getting bigger and better until a killing frost. In addition, the breeder is planning to release more of these into the Stonehedge series but with different color onto the market in the next couple of years!

Centaurea ‘FanciFillers Chrome Fountain’ from Westhoff

The silvery-white foliage makes a dramatic statement all by itself but combines well with many other plants. Heat loving, drought tolerant has an impressive uniform and mounding growth habit. It makes a great thriller in potted or hanging combos as well as a subtle touch in ground displays.

Coleus ‘Flame Thrower Sriracha’ from Ball FloraPlant

Dark red leaves are highlighted with a pop of lime green edging that help create a great looking plant. The overall look is enhanced by its very uniform growth habit. It had almost no flowering which is desirable for Coleus since it is primarily grown for its colorful foliage. It thrives in sun and shade.

Dahlia ‘Dahlegria® Apricot Tricolor’ from Syngenta

This Dahlia was a strong favorite due to its impressive combination of dark foliage and large, colorful flowers. Blooms had a unique blend of three colors that really stood out against the very dark leaves. The single petalled flowers were also a magnet for pollinators. The attractive plants had a nice upright growth habit and size that would work well in both the landscape as well as a container.

Lantana ‘Passion Fruit’ from Ball FloraPlant

Selected for a combination of prolific flowering and great multicolored flower with tropical fruit colors, it is also known for having consistent flowering through the season and not cycling in and out of bloom. Dark green foliage really helps the flower colors “pop”. The uniform habit makes a great groundcover for the garden. Plants are very tolerant of heat and drought.

Ptilotus ‘Joey’® from Benary®

Few flowers in the garden have a form as unique as this one. The large conical spikes of feathery flowers have a great lavender color and are very long lasting. The original species comes from central Australia and have thick silver green foliage which helps make it very tolerant of drought and heat.

Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia® Luna’ from Flamingo Holland/Bull Breeding

Few plants have the flower power like this one which caught the eyes of almost everyone, even from across the garden. The large flowers are very showy by themselves, but the sheer number of blooms is also very impressive as the foliage is virtually obscured by yellow blooms. The flowers are long lasting for a great display lasting late into the season. Sunbeckia ‘Ophelia’ had the same ranking and had impressive flowers but with a green eye.

Salvia ‘Black and Bloom’ from Ball FloraPlant

Deep blue flowers and a black stem made a great visual combination which was extremely popular. Plants were noted for a larger flower and darker stems than similar varieties. The breeder noted that it was developed to thrive in drought and heat as well as humidity.

Salvia ‘Mystic Spires’ from Ball FloraPlant

This was a standout with its ever blooming, well branched plant and prolific flowering. Its massive and sturdy stems add great substance to the garden. The hummingbirds are nearly constant every hour of the day. They are easy to grow, reliable for color and have moderate drought tolerance (but preform best with fertilizer and regular watering).

 

You should plan to plant some of these “best of’s” next year in your gardens. They should perform well along Front Range of Colorado and elsewhere.

Native Fruits of the San Miguel Basin

 by Yvette Henson

Last Thursday I led a native fruit field trip that we call Native Fruits and Nuts of the San Miguel Basin.  This is a local class I developed and have taught several times over my years with Extension.  I enjoy it very much!  I thought I would share a little about the day and what we learned.

The San Miguel Basin refers to the San Miguel River watershed.  It is also what we call the area covered by my Extension Office, San Miguel and West Montrose counties.  For this class, we visited 4 locations from 9800' feet elevation in the mountains to 6800' elevation along the San Miguel River. At each location, we looked at plants that produce edible fruit and learned identification characteristics. we also talked about poisonous plants and the importance of being sure about your identification. The class was also given a booklet that gives identification keys, plant habitat and uses, including recipes.  We even harvested several kinds of fruit to make something yummy to share with each member of the class.

I will start with a photo of this year's class participants.

2023 SMB Native Fruit and Nut class participants

Some of the plants we saw in fruit were gooseberries (Ribes inerme), mountain currants (Ribes montigenum), Oregon grape holly (Berberis repens), blueberries and bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus and Vaccinium cespitosum), raspberries (Rubus idaeus), chokecherries (Prunus virginiana), buffalo berries (Shepherdia argentea), lemonade berries (Rhus trilobata) gamble oak acorns (Quercus gambelii) and service berries (Amelanchier alnifolia).

Gooseberries are tart.

Mountain currants are sweet.

Grape holly fruit make an excellent jelly.

These are bilberry flowers.
Blueberry and bilberry fruit look just like tiny versions of the blueberries we buy at the store.  

Wild raspberries are tart/sweet and are so yummy just to snack on. 
They can also be used mixed with other fruit in almost any recipe.

Chokecherries have a distinct flavor that causes your lips to feel puckery. 
They make the quintessential jelly and syrup of the western states.

Leigh Ann, a class participant, picking buffaloberries.

Buffaloberries are full of tart-sweet flavor!  They get sweeter when dried.

Lemonade berries, when soaked in water make a lemony flavored drink. 
They are refreshing to suck on when out hiking.

Gamble oak acorns are low in tannins and so aren't as bitter as most acorns.

Serviceberries are the sweetest native fruit I know of.  They make excellent juice that can be added to other beverages like tea or lemonade to sweeten them.  The fruit is so good eaten fresh!

I hope you enjoyed this picture blog of native fruits.  I would love to know your favorites, and how you prepare them!

Western Slope Willow Workshop

 Posted by Mollie Freilicher, CSU Extension, Tri-River Area

Even though it meant a trip through Glenwood Canyon twice on a rainy day, last week I attended a willow identification workshop in and around Vail. (Spoiler alert - the canyon stayed open and the workshop was great!) 

The workshop was hosted by the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and the Colorado Native Plant Society and led by botanist Gwen Kittel. Gwen recently published a book on willow identification Willows (Salix) of Colorado: Their Ecology & Identification. Willows (genus Salix) readily hybridize, which can make identification difficult. I was hoping to demystify willow identification a bit and learn more about the species of willow here in Colorado, and particularly on the Western Slope. Other attendees included CSU Extension Native Plant Master Trainers, consultants, and others interested in learning more about native willows. 

Mountain willow (Salix monticola), upper side of leaves

Mountain willow (Salix monticola), lower side of leaves

We dove right in at the bike path at Copper Mountain, elevation 9,830 ft. Gwen handed us a vegetative key she developed for willows (and recently revised for her book). She walked us over to our first prospect and asked us to key it out.  After what felt like an eternity and lots of looks at leaf hairs under a hand lens, we arrived at the species, Drummond’s willow (Salix drummondiana)…and then proceeded to do six more at the site.

Willows along the bike path at Copper Mountain.

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Some of the things we were looking for as we went through the key -

• Were the twigs pruinose? That is, did they have a waxy coating on the twig surface? 
• How hairy are the leaves? Are they hairy above? Below?
• How much longer are the leaves than wide?
• And much more

We moved on to the second site at Vail Pass, elevation 10,663. Here we had a great comparison of two willows, we had seen at the first site - planeleaf willow (Salix planifolia) and Wolf’s willow (S. wolfii var. wolfii). We could easily see the hairy leaf underside of Wolf’s willow, compared to the smooth hairless, planeleaf willow.

It took a close look to distinguish Wolf's willow and planeleaf willow.

Looking closely, we could see the hairs on the upper and lower leaf surface of Wolf's willow.

We had, for the most part, dodged the rain, but by the time we got to the last stop, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, elevation 8,200, it was pouring and was not going to stop. 

One of the last willows we identified, coyote willow (Salix exigua). Unlike all the other willows we had seen during the day, this one had much narrower leaves.

 

We persevered along the bike path and keyed out more new species. The keying got mentally easier the more we did it, but physically harder because of the rain. By the end of the day, we had identified 12 species and keyed even more as review. I came away with improved keying skills and more familiarity with and appreciation Western Slope willows.

 

Flower-Visiting Beetles--not always visiting why you think!

 

Posted by John Murgel, Douglas County Extension

 

We get a pretty regular supply of interesting insects coming through the Extension office as folks find bugs in yards and gardens through the season.  This time of year, with many native shrubs and flowers coming into full bloom, is no exception.  Flowers are entomological restaurants, pick-up joints, and crime scenes; well worth spending a few minutes observing while out in the garden (or on a hike!).

 

One of the common groups of insects that is brought in for identification are termed “flower-visiting beetles.”  The adults are often seen on open blossoms like sunflowers, asters, and rabbitbrush, sometimes in large groups.  These beetles are perhaps sipping nectar, but don’t let this fool you—many are fierce predators of the insect world.

 

This week a sample of a flower-visiting clerid, or checkered beetle, came in.  Checkered beetles, both as larvae and adults, are almost all predators of other beetles—particularly bark beetles like ips or mountain pine beetle.  This particular insect, though, was in the genus Trichodes, the bee-eating beetles.  Most Trichodes prey on solitary bees and wasps, laying sticky eggs on flowers for bees and wasps to inadvertently carry to nest sites with them, where the eggs hatch and consume the bee larvae and the food the mother bee stored up for it.  A few even accost hosts at flowers and riding back to nest sites in order to lay their eggs near their bee-victims’.  This week’s beetle was, thankfully, less emotionally taxing for a gardener—its larvae feed on the eggs of grasshoppers. 

 

Adult beetles not only eat pollen but also hunt a wide variety of insects smaller than themselves.  They are covered in defensive bristles and have powerful, downward-pointing jaws to get the job done.  Their wings are a beautiful blue-purple with red markings, possibly a warning-color mimicry of stinging insects used to deter predators like birds. 

 

Look at those jaws!

A lot is going on in the average garden, and much of it is inconsequential to our gardening success.  It sure is fun to watch, though, and not for the first time I am grateful to be the size that I am and not a grasshopper! 

 

 

 

What's going on with my Veggies?

 

Today we’ll go into a few problems that you may or may not be seeing in your vegetable garden. I’m dividing the topics into two categories: Biotic and Abiotic. Biotic problems mean those issues that arise due to a biological, or living agent, whether it be insect, disease, or human! Abiotic are those that are outside of the above category, so can be physiological, environmental, or cultural in origin. Sometimes the line can be a little less than distinct between the two as we’ll see in several examples. Let’s get sleuthing.

Biotic:

Powdery Mildew – this can show up on many vegetable garden plants including squash, cucumber, beans, even peas and carrots can be susceptible although at least here in Colorado we don’t see a lot of that. Typically, powdery mildew begins to make an appearance mid to late in the growing season. It is especially prevalent in gardens that are planted closely, and those that are watered with overhead sprinklers. Planting with adequate spacing and watering the soil not the plant are two great ways to prevent the onset of the disease. Powdery mildew is a fungus which grows thin layers of mycelium along the surface of the leaf or fruit (although growth on fruit is less common.)

David B. Langston, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org

Be aware that some varieties of squash or zucchini have patterns on them that may look similar to powdery mildew. If you aren’t sure, you can send a picture to your local Extension office or you can look for patterns vs. a more random distribution. Patterns are likely natural, more random is more likely to be powdery mildew.

If your garden succumbs to powdery mildew every year in your cucurbits, your melons, squash, cucumbers etc. there are a few different management options. You can trellis your vine crops and grow them vertically; this improves air flow and reduces ambient humidity. You can also remove the oldest leaves as the plant grows, leaving 5-7 of the youngest leaves at any time. Finally, if summer squash is the disease-ridden culprit in your landscape, you can succession plant, plant new squash about a month after your first crop, rogue the first set out once powdery mildew begins to establish.

Early Blight in tomato and potato

Paul Bachi, University of Kentucky Research 

and Education Center, Bugwood.org

A very common disease, the same one that caused the Irish Potato Famine in Ireland, shows up regularly in our tomatoes, especially those that have come from saved seeds if proper sanitation practices weren’t followed. Symptoms can include brown spots on older leaves, brown concentric rings on stems, leathery/black spots on fruit which may drop from the plant. To manage you can plant resistant varieties, be sure to succession plant (at least two years between using the same soil), increase airflow. You can also remove leaves with leaf spot and dispose of them outside your home compost system (landfill or commercial composting facility). Fungicides are rarely effective in a home setting and are not usually recommended.

William M. Brown Jr., Bugwood.org

Tomato spotted wilt virus – Another of the diseases that can impact tomatoes, tomato spotted wilt virus is another common disease seen in home gardens. This disease can be transmitted by an insect called a thrip, when it feeds on the tomato it can infest the plant with the TSW virus. Leaves may develop a cupped appearance, with the bottoms becoming bronze and then dying (leaving brown or black tissue). Most typically it can be seen on fruit with concentric rings developing across the fruit. Fruit is fine to eat but may have a poor flavor. It is best to purchase resistant varieties if you’ve had issues in the past. Pull and dispose of the infected plant.

Brenda Kennedy, University of Kentucky, Bugwood.org

Gerald Holmes, Strawberry Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org

Blossom End Rot – Blossom End Rot occurs in quite a few plant species including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash etc.  We often begin to see it as plants first ripen in the early summer and into mid-summer. While it is technically caused by poor calcium in the fruit, this does not necessarily mean that there is insufficient calcium in the soil. Crushing up eggshells or adding calcium to water is not likely to rectify the issue. Rather, it is good to practice good “cultural care” by this I mean you want to make sure you are watering, mulching, and fertilizing the plants as they need to be cared for. Erratic watering and cold soils lead to most blossom end rot issues, so look to your hose and your temperatures before amending with nutrients that are likely not lacking.

Pollywogging / distorted growth/poor pollination

in beans or cucurbits can be caused by several different issues. First off, if you saved your seed but did not control for cross pollination you may have some interesting hybrids on hand. Cross pollination issues will only show up in fruit grown from saved seeds, not from those that cross pollinate this year. Rather it will show up if the seed is saved and planted in the following growing season. However, far more commonly distorted growth is caused by poor pollination. If a bean, cucumber, or zucchini is insufficiently pollinated and continues to grow you may see one half of the fruit mature, but the other remain small.

A good way to ensure distorted growth does not occur is to encourage pollinators throughout your garden. Avoid spraying insecticides unless necessary and grow flowers throughout your space to feed your pollinator friends.

Possible herbicide damage on homeowner tomato

Dr. Joey Williamson, Clemson University.

Curling leaves – can have many causes but the most common are temperature, irrigation issues, and herbicide. Cool and warm temperatures can cause strange growth in leaves. Irrigating too much, too little, or erratically can also lead to leaf curl. If soil dries out too much, or is too saturated, leaves may begin to curl. Finally, some herbicides may cause cupping or curling or other distorted growth. Be cautious when purchasing manure, mulch straw etc. as one particular herbicide, Aminopyralid, can persist in these materials and may cause problems for your vegetable garden growth. If you suspect you have herbicide in your manure or your mulch do a test growth, if distorted growth appears remove if possible. Check out https://newcropsorganics.ces.ncsu.edu/2010/08/herbicide-carryover-in-manure-last-of-the-tomato-study-results/ for details on herbicide issues in vegetable crops.

As always, check with your local Extension Office to get more information on this, or any other garden issue. Happy Gardening!

The Amazing Summertime Blues

The backyard entry garden greets people with
native flowers including penstemon and flax.

Posted by: Todd Hagenbuch, CSU Routt County Extension

The only thing that really makes me really blue in the summer is knowing that it is but a fleeting moment for us in the Yampa Valley. This year that seems especially true as the winter snows stayed longer than usual and we had an exceptionally short spring. As a result, our growing season seems even more compressed than usual…which is saying a lot. Those winter snows and spring storms, however, provided water for a spectacular season of blooming native plants, and not only those growing in wild areas.

As part of a landscaping plan that focuses on reducing water use while also providing bountiful color, natives have played a key role in making our family’s yard a sea of red, white, and blue over the July 4^th holiday. Rocky Mountain penstemon plays the starring role for blue, with flax and lupine playing a supporting role. Red columbine, white snow-in-summer, and white campion help complete the colors of our flag, with some annuals in pots thrown in for good measure. But it’s the blues that really make a statement.

Penestemon rises above the flax with
snow-in-summer in the background

Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Pensemon strictus) is a long-lived native that grows naturally in sagebrush pastures, meadows, scrub oak stands, and openings in aspen/spruce mixed forests. It has blue flowers that range in shade from light blue to almost purple, with most in my yard blooming a shade of royal blue. Being adapted to many of our local soils and ecological sites, it is an easy-keeper in the garden and requires little, if any care. Pollinators love it, with not only bees and wasps visiting it, but hummingbirds, too, on occasion. It will spread and reseed, so if you don’t have an area where it can run free, note that some control may be needed to keep it in check.

Blue flax (Linum lewisii) has been a favorite of mine for years. In fact, when my wife and I got married 17 years ago (!), we gave packets of flax seeds to our wedding attendees to plant in their yards to remember the event as our colors were pale yellow and flax blue. I love seeing flax bloom in pastures, on hillsides, and along roadways, where it is a favorite reclamation plant. This fine-leafed plant is a perennial, and if you save the seeds and spread them, you can get stands to spread, even though I don’t find it to be aggressive. It is exceptionally drought tolerant and tolerates most of our native soils.

Silver lupine (Lupinus argenteus) is another native that we enjoy having in our yard. Our particular plants are a blue that tends toward lavender, but they can be many shades of blue, purple, and even pink! Lupine are very drought resistant and are liked by all of the same pollinators as the penstemon. Note if you have livestock that propagation of this plant isn’t warranted because it does have toxic principles that make it unsafe for grazing, but in a yard can be a great addition. The fact that it is a nitrogen fixer and helps add nitrogen to our lean soils is a real bonus.

If you don’t have the summertime blues, find a friend who will save you some seed from one of these pollinator-friendly, low-water-use natives; you’ll be thrilled you did!

Lupine in the foreground with penstemon and 
campion filling in behind

Don't Give EAB a Ride!

Posted by: Denyse Schrenker, Eagle County Extension

People were seeing fireworks last week when it was confirmed that emerald ash borer has made its way to the Western Slope. Two new pockets of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Littleton and Carbondale were recently discovered. These new locations are well outside of the known infested area north of Denver: see Colorado State Forest Service map for known EAB locations. In case you missed it, Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect that feeds under the bark of trees during its larval stage. This feeding stops the flow of nutrients and water and gradually kills the tree over a 3 to 5 year timespan. All true ash species (Fraxinus spp.) are hosts for EAB. Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanicus) and white ash (Fraxinus americana) are commonly grown in Colorado and both are highly susceptible to emerald ash borer, including their cultivars such as the popular white ash variety, ‘Autumn Purple Ash’. Mountain-ash (Sorbus spp.) are not susceptible to emerald ash borer as they are not a true ash.

Damage from emerald ash borer. Photo credit: Eric R. Day, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Bugwood.org

How is this different from mountain pine beetles?
Although mountain pine beetle has killed a large number of trees as well, it is a native insect that has periodic outbreaks. The outbreaks are a naturally occurring cycle (though they can be prolonged by human activity) that will eventually end and the surviving trees will regenerate the forest over time. Since emerald ash borer is not native to North America it has no native predators to halt outbreaks so it will continue as long as there are ash trees present.


What Can I Do?

White ash tree. Photo credit: Richard Webb, Bugwood.org

Don’t Move Firewood (remind your friends & family too!)
With camping season in full swing, don’t be tempted to save a couple bucks by taking firewood with you. Always burn firewood locally and buy seasoned and kiln-dried wood as many harmful insects, not just EAB, can hitch a ride in firewood. You can learn more about this at https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/.

Use firewood locally, emerald ash borer and other harmful insects can hitch rides in firewood.

Use Best Tree Care Practices

• Watering Mature Trees
• Watering Your Landscape During a Drought
• Fall and Winter Watering 
• Mulching Trees 
• Healthy Roots, Healthy Trees

Learn to Identify Ash Trees

• Ash Tree Identification
• Contact your local extension office for assistance with identification

White ash leaf. Photo credit: Paul Wray, Iowa State University, Bugwood.org

Learn More about Emerald Ash Borer

• Emerald Ash Borer Resources
• Colorado State Forest Service: Emerald Ash Borer
• FactSheet: Recognizing Wood Boring Insects of Ash Trees in Colorado

Emerald ash borer in exit hole. Photo credit: Debbie Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Make a Plan

If you are in close proximity to an outbreak, start making a plan for your ash trees. Contact your local extension office for more information.