Coming Soon: County Fairs

 Posted by Linda Langelo, Golden Plains Horticulture Specialist

The county fair has something for everyone. Exhibiting is only part of it. Come out and see 4-H. The 4-H members work hard throughout the year and come to the fair to be judged on showmanship competition with their animals.

Open Class Horticulture Entries. Yuma County Fair 2023.

Fairs are about community. As a community member, if you have a craft or hobby such as quilting or photography, exhibit and show people what you do. Just follow the instructions in the fair book and you will be off to a good start! The rules are clearly written. For exhibiting for Open Class there are general rules to follow. If you are exhibiting in horticulture to show off your flowers, the rule might be to use a certain vase. Other rules might be asking you to bring a clean container and one that is weed-free. Be sure to bring the freshest flowers that are pest and disease-free.

"Flowers for Mom" class at the Yuma County Fair. 

Bring your vegetables and exhibit them. Different fairs have different types of exhibits. There is one where the longest zucchini wins! Another is the heaviest zucchini wins! Enjoy the food vendors! Bring your family and bring your friends. Some fairs have rides, and some fairs have concerts. Make it a fun time!

Most fairs have individual plant categories you can enter. 

Come out to the fair and enter.  Give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Happy fair time!

Harison's Yellow Rose

Posted by: Linda Langelo, Golden Plains Area Extension

Driving around our small rural towns you will notice a yellow shrub rose. This yellow shrub rose has many names such as Pioneer Rose, Oregon Trail Rose, the Yellow Rose of Texas, Yellow Hogg's Rose, and Yellow Sweet Brier. Some of the locals here have called it Traveler's Rose or Settler's rose who have had the rose on their farm or homestead through the decades. And that's just a few of its names, but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right? Its real name is Harison’s Yellow rose.

Harison's Yellow rose (photo by Linda Langelo)

This was the first rose of yellow color in this country. This rose has traveled the country from east to west and back again. In the 1800s Richard and George Harison were amateur rosarians and kept a rose garden at their home in Manhattan on their estate Mount Sinai in a semirural area. Today Eighth and Ninth Avenue between 30th and 31st streets are now what was once their garden. The Harison brothers kept Persian Yellow (Rosa foetida) and Scotch Briar (Rosa spinosissima) in their garden. The parentage is still uncertain, but most agree that this must have been a chance hybridization between the Persian Yellow and Scotch Briar growing in Harison's garden.

After being discovered in Manhattan it was to be given to several nurserymen. Two of the nurserymen were Thomas Hogg and Williams Nursery. Some accounts say it was marketed in 1830 while others say it went on sale in 1835 at the Prince Nursery in Fleming, New York called 'Harison's Yellow'.

As the pioneers came west some of the pioneer women sewed the roots deep into their hems of their linsey-woolsey skirts. As they walked through the prairie grasses, the dew would moisten their skirts and keep the roots alive. More specifically, it came to Texas from the Prince Nursery by way of Emily D. West, a freeborn African American who contracted with the entrepreneur James Morgan to work as a servant in the town of New Washington. When the revolution for Texan independence from Mexico engulfed New Washington, Emily West became a hero. On April 21, 1836, at Santa Ana Camp Emily distracted the revolutionary leader Sam Houston long enough to give her countrymen time to stage a surprise attack. After 1837, she went back to New York and was never heard from again except in song and lyrics from a folk tune titled, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Emily, the maid of Morgan’s Point was of mixed race, a mulatto. With her light complexion she was known colloquially as “yellow”. She was memorialized as “the sweetest little rosebud, that Texas ever knew.”

Texans of the Knights of the Yellow Rose use a yellow rose to pin to their lapels when they convene every April on the site of Santa Ana camp and pay tribute to Emily West. The Dallas Area Historical Rose Society’s newsletter, The Yellow Rose, annually features a yellow rose on the cover. The Harison’s Yellow rose has been used among other yellow roses.

Harison's Yellow rose in my landscape (photo by Linda Langelo)

Today this rose is found in many mountain and prairie communities across Colorado growing best in zone 3. This rose grows in cool, dry weather. It has sharp thorns and forms suckers on its own roots. The best part is that it is hardy. It tolerates full sun to part shade, drought, poor soils, and pests. It is said it takes more than one attempt to get this established. I have not found that to be so. My neighbor gave me permission to take one root and shoot from my neighbor's yard, and it is 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide three years later. Truly this plant thrives on neglect.

A Season for Community Engagement

Posted by: Linda Langelo, CSU Extension, Golden Plains Area

A new season begins after this growing season is complete.  For the holiday festivities our Julesburg Garden Club joins in with the local chamber to utilize our newly-empty planters which once held beautiful petunias and other annuals.  This year we are working with the themes of A Toyland Christmas and Old Fashioned Christmas.    

The Julesburg Garden Club asks businesses to adopt-a-planter during the growing season by watering, fertilizing and weeding annuals.  During the holiday festivities, the club decided to engage the businesses and invite them to compete and decorate a tree in the themes of A Toyland and Old Fashion Christmas.  In addition, the club reached out to the schools to engage students as judges for the competition. 

The art class at the high school will be one set of judges.  The 5^th and 6^th graders will be another set of judges.  The students will follow a rubric.  A rubric used in education is set-up to demonstrate to the student what is expected of them.  There are definite criteria to judge such as composition, balance and creativity.  This both engages them and is a fun educational project. 

Members of the Julesburg Garden Club created sample trees to begin the competition.  The picture below shows the basic tools that we used to build the trees out of chicken wire.  The containers are cement and have a depth of 18 inches and about 18 inches wide for planting.  The materials we used were mostly recycled with the exception of the ribbon. We used tools such as wire cutters and a hammer (not in the picture) to achieve the results we wanted.  The recycled materials were chicken wire, wire hangers, a sturdy pipe for staking and smaller stakes cut from the wire hangers.  

To make your own chicken-wire holiday tree, use materials you already have around the house!

We formed the chicken wire into a cone shape and reinforced with the wire hangers.

Form your chicken wire into the shape of a tree.

 Then we created lots and lots of bows…………….to get to our final result below:

One can never have too many bows.

We tied the bows on the frame and then created a piece of chicken wire with thin strips of ribbon for the tree to have a base.  We staked the base in the container with smaller pieces of wire hanger and drove a pipe as stake in the center of the frame to secure the tree deeper in the soil.  So far the trees have sustained 25.5 and 32.5 miles per hour winds and counting. 

The final product--a fun and festive "tree" that can sustain pedestrian traffic and wind!

Mystery Plant of the Month: July 2014

Posted by: Linda Langelo, Golden Plains Area Extension

This sample came into my office while working in Wray, Colorado. Any guesses on what this unusual species is? Hint: It's not a Colorado native!

It's Electric! (Mower Edition)

Posted by: Linda Langelo, CSU Extension horticulture program associate, Golden Plains Area

(photo courtesy of Amazon.com)
The Lawn Hog, Black and Decker MM875

I purchased an electric mower two years ago because they are lighter to operate and I didn't have to handle the gas all the time.  It just didn't make any sense to drive the empty can of gas to the gas station to get gas.  Let’s face it--how conservative is it to use gas to get gas?  The good news is I am not counted among one of the statistics recorded by Environmental Protection Agency when they announce smog-producing emissions from today’s gas powered mowers.  More importantly, we need to pay attention to alerts about ground ozone caused by gas, paint or solvents evaporating and releasing reactive organic compounds.  Together the heat and the sunlight create a reaction with the emissions of organic compounds.  On days like this, ozone gas contributes to higher risk for people with asthma and other respiratory ailments. According to the EPA, using your gas powered mower for one hour causes more air pollution than driving 292 miles round-trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois.  In comparison, an electric mower draws as much electricity as it takes to operate a toaster. Yes, a toaster! In today’s market you can purchase an electric mower without a cord.  Besides the cord issue, I have freed myself from keeping gas on-hand and the yearly maintenance of a gas powered mower.  With an electric mower you don’t need to change an air filer and spark plug every year.  But you still have to sharpen the blades and balance them.  Sharp blades give the grass an even cut and make the grass less prone to disease. Electric mowers are easier on our hearing.  The decibel level of electric mowers can be from 65 to 85, but gas mowers run about 90 decibels. Normal conversation level is about 75 decibels.  A sudden loud noise or prolonged decibel level starting at 85 decibels or higher can cause hearing loss.  With an electric mower, it can handle lawns with fine or tall fescue and bluegrass.  Electric mowers do not do as well with zoysia or buffalograss.  You need to assess your situation before purchasing an electric mower.  If you really want to go green and keep healthy, purchase a reel mower.  The only maintenance would be keeping the blades sharp.  The rest is up to you, just push and go.