The Organic Gardening Club of Garland and the Lakeside Communities

The monthly meeting of the Lakeside Organic Garden Club takes place on the first Sunday of each month at 2:00 pm in the little red schoolhouse at Rohde's Nursery in Garland, TX.

Topic: Brigett Vinton, President of the Garland Chapter of The Native Plant Society will talk about sunny perennials.

Location: Rohde's Nursery at 1651 Wall Street, Garland, TX 75041

Next meeting: Sunday, May 2, 2004 at 2:00 pm in Rohde's little red schoolhouse.

Free and open to the public.

Sue Brown, PR & Marketing
Lakeside Organic Garden Club
Phone: 972.203.9170
susan_c_brown@hotmail.com

Garland Native Plant Society

"May 16^th at 2:30 pm.

Topic: Judy Fender is peaking on the topic of Water Gardening and Xeriscaping. Judy has successfully combined the two in her garden with beautiful results becoming a past award winner of The Dallas Xeriscape award and is on the Garden Conservatory Tour each year.

Contact Brigette Vinton at 972-348-5295 or bvinton@alldata.net for details.

Charles Kemp's Cottage Garden

http://www3.baylor.edu/~Charles_Kemp/cottage_garden.htm

Rohde Brother's Company

As many of you know I have been doing landscape maintenance in Dallas for over thirty years and started doing landscape installation about 25 years ago.

At about the same time I started doing installations my brother Laurence returned to the United States after working on a oil pipe line in Peru. He was interested in landscape maintenance and I had some lawns that were out of a concentrated area where my crews had to travel up to 10 miles one way to service these lawns. I decided that it would be a wise business move to let Laurence do these lawns so that I could concentrate on the clustered area of maintenance between Preston Road and Coit Road in Dallas.

This of course would free up manpower and time to work on more profitable landscape installation.

After several years Laurence also started to do landscape installations. Many of my customers believed that Laurence and I had teamed up to create Rohde’s.

Recently we got a call from a customer who had a very small back yard that needed a fresh landscape look and wanted Rohde’s Nursery to help her with it. Being a small job that did not require extensive design work Sally Sutton went out to consult with this customer, Mrs. Lambert.

On a Saturday morning, Mrs. Lambert came into the Nursery to select the plant material that was to be used in her new landscape and brought with her a photograph album. In this album she had photographs of the “owner” of Rohde’s personally working on her landscape twenty years ago.

I was coming back from some errands as photographs of “Mr. Rohde” was being passed around for all present to see. I was the last one to see the photograph of this young attractive “Mr. Rohde” and even though these photographs gave me great pleasure I had to break the news that it was not I.

Several of the people who saw the photo knew that it was not I since, as they said, “Greg has not worked hard enough to break out in to a sweat a day in his life”.

I told Mrs. Lambert that the young man in the photo was my brother Laurence and that unfortunately he had died last year.

Mrs. Lambert started to tell all present about the pleasure she had working with Laurence and about the business relationship formed between her husband, a banker, and Laurence, a relationship that lasted for several years.

As she spoke I was looking at these photographs like a mad dog looking at my arm until I heard her ask me if I would like to keep these pictures. “Yes!” I blurted out. “I would love to keep these and make copies for his kids and myself.” From that moment on my day kept getting better.

Laurence’s birthday is coming up this month, this will be the first time that I can remember that he will not be calling me up to remind me to call him up and wish him a happy birthday.

On a windy fall day
When leaves were blowing everyway
I felt the need to go to the tree
That my brother planted for me.

As I walked toward the tree that
My brother planted for me
Leaves were falling at my feet
As a carpet put out to greet.

The branches of the tree
That my brother planted for me
Blessed me with its grace
Like my brother’s warm embrace

Like acorns all around
The ground beneath the tree
My brother planted for me
Many memories were left for me.

One for you and one for me
From acorns will grow
In memory of thee
The tree that my brother planted for me.

Things to Do in May

Since we did not have a heavy freeze this past winter there is a very good chance that we may have an unusual amount of insect activity. We have already had hundreds of customers looking for ways to control mosquitoes. We have never sold as many Trichogramma Wasp as we have this year with many customers buying these predators not only for their pecan trees but for oaks as well.

Let's Get Ready for the Invasion of...

(reprint from May 2003)

Grasshoppers

Don't wait until you see mature grasshoppers to apply Nolo Bait. This biological insecticide, Nosema Locustae, is a naturally occurring disease that affects grasshoppers and crickets. As soon as you see the cute little babies, apply Nolo Bait.

This bacteria is so specific that if a bird were to eat a diseased grasshopper, it will not be harmed. Once a grasshopper dies, other will eat him, and yes they will get the disease.

If you spray the leaves of plants with Kaolin, a natural clay dust, grasshoppers seem to stay away. Kaolin also works to discourage and birds from fruit and vegetables and can be washed off easily from any plant at harvest time.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars are baby insects of moths or butterflies. As soon as a caterpillar can, it will feed from plants until it is ready to change into a pupa, if it is to be a moth- or a chrysalis, if it will be a butterfly.

Now remember many of you come into Rohde’s or other nurseries to buy plants for butterfly attractants. So, before you go out and kill these caterpillars, do some research. Find out if they are going to be a desired butterfly or just a nuisance moth. Check websites for information, starting with The Dallas County Lepidopterist Society. It's a great website and has lots of photos, information and links to other sites.

At home I planted two Passion Vines to grow up columns in front of our porch. Sandra loved the beautiful flowers and wanted me to plant more in other areas of the garden….until the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars arrived and started devouring the beautiful plant and its flowers. Now she wanted them gone and the plant too. I started to hand pick hundreds of the caterpillars, especially the one that were near the buds of the plant, with this control method, I was able to enjoy butterflies and please my wife.

Less desirable caterpillars can be very destructive and just make plants look ugly. These include leaf rollers that can take every leaf off of a tree or shrub, tent caterpillar and bagworms that can make a once beautiful tree scary to go under. Cabbage loopers, and cutworms can cause a lot of damage to flowerbeds and vegetable gardens. There is no reason to be nice with these guys. I would definitely use Trichogramma Wasp or BT k products such as Thuricde, or Dipel as a control method.

I want you to try to remember when is the last time that you saw or heard of someone who lost a tree or shrub to a caterpillar? Unless we mention junipers or vegetables and flowers like Begonias and Impatiens, I cannot recall any major losses. So do not panic. Do not use a product that will kill every insect around. Be patient and let the least toxic Bacillus Thuringiensis work or give time for predators to work.

Whiteflies

Like aphids, scale and mealy bugs, whiteflies suck sap from plants. The last two weeks of April, many customers asked about the seeming over-abundance of whiteflies this year.

Whiteflies can be found underneath leaves. But it seems that if you disturb them later in the day when it is warmer, swarms of these pests fly up your nose (maybe only if you have a big nose like mine).

In the morning go back to the area where you were attacked, slowly look under the leaves and you may see a small doughnut like circle where the eggs have been deposited.

Green Sense Citrus-nella-Repella is a combination of d’limonene and citronella formulated to kill bugs on contact and repel migrating pest, Neem Oil or the new Bioganic* sprays can be used for easy control. Bioganic* is a new product at Rohde's – this all natural, non-toxic horticultural oil that is safe for most situations and controls a wide variety of critters by blocking key neural pathways specific to insects - neural pathways not present in humans or animals. That's what we call "Good Science"!

Snails and Slugs

Snails and slugs are out in force and already seem to be larger than they were last year.

You know that you have a problem with snails when you see the silvery slime trail left by this pests and are most active during the night when they feed. They mostly eat living plants and will chew holes in leaves and cut down soft-stemmed plants such as flowers.

It is really not that difficult to control these critters. Picking up and crushing can be satisfying, but time consuming. Go a more practical route and remember that since they seek shelter from the sun, remove all debris such as fallen roof shingles, paper or cardboard. But that does not mean you cannot trick them into finding some conveniently placed shelter that you can easily pick up and dispose of every morning. I use a piece of cardboard that I soak just enough so that the material turns a dark brown but still remains rigid and place this in the area where I've seen problems. Try not to plant flowers near ground cover beds since leaves and moisture there do make good resting spots for snails.

Sluggo is non-toxic bait that consists of naturally occurring Iron phosphate and is safe to use around pets. Beer traps work, but can make you sick when you empty them--due to nausea from disgust! EEEUUU! Icky, but effective. Place beer taps in the soil and put an ounce or two of the cheapest or flattest beer you can find. Don’t use imported beer or expensive brew, you may see a neighbor sneaking over with his flashlight and long straws.

Decollate Snails: Attack and kill the common brown garden snail. Also eats snail eggs and juvenile snails.

Mosquitoes

Now is the time to eliminate breeding areas for these disease-carrying insects. Clean gutters of debris, including small accumulations of mud in low spots caused by loose gutter nails or damage from tree branches. Check for low spots behind shrubs where water accumulates. Empty and properly discard old tires, broken pots or any water holding object.

Start applying products that contain Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis. These specific bacteria will kill larval stages of mosquitoes, black flies, and fungal gnats. The sooner you get started the fewer offspring’s will be born from the first generation then the next.

Continue to apply Aquabac, Mosquito Dunks or Mosquito Bits throughout the summer.

CONTINUE TO CLEAN GUTTERS AND OTHER WATER HOLDING OBJECTS ON A REGULAR BASIS. Rohde’s offers an application service of liquid bacteria (BTI) in the Dallas area.

The Lawn and Garden

For those of you who fertilized in February now is the time for your second application of Green Sense or other organic fertilizers.

Now that the grass is growing enough to require weekly mowing consider putting a thin layer of worm castings or compost over the entire lawn. This will replace organic matter rich in micronutrients into the soil. Worm castings may increase worm populations.

As worm populations increase you may see a decrease of thatch in the lawn.

Thatch is a layer of organic matter that accumulates at the soil surface. Thatch accumulates due to slow decomposition caused by increased grass growth and a decrease of beneficial organisms that would normally digest thatch. Can you say “earthworms”? As earthworms come up to soil surface they dig through thatch to get to surface mixing organic matter with the thatch helping it break down. As the soil mixes with thatch microbial activity may increase the speed of breakdown.

For better results inoculate the worm castings with Mycorrhizal Fungi. As you spread the worm castings over the soil the Mycorrhizal Fungi will help restore health to your lawn. In many case worn out lawns with paths created by dogs or constant tracking from your friendly post al person has grown back with out any extra care.

What Are Mycorrhizae? Dr. Mike Amaranthus says that "mycorrhizae" literally means "fungus-roots" and defines the close mutually beneficial relationship between specialized soil fungi (mycorrhizal fungi) and plant roots.

About 95% of the world’s land plants form the mycorrhizal relationship in their native habitats. It is estimated that mycorrhizal fungal filaments explore hundreds to thousands more soil volume compared to roots alone.

Benefits include:

• Improved nutrient and water uptake.
• Improved root growth.
• Improved plant growth and yield.
• Improved disease resistance.
• Reduced transplant shock.
• Reduced drought stress.

Now is the time to plant annual flowers, but remember that you can save money on the long run by planting perennials. Begonias and impatiens are not the only flowers available to you for seasonal color, Coleus, Mexican Heather Torinia, Zinias, Pintas, Dahlberg Daisies, Firebush and Scabeola to name a few.

Annual vines such as Cypress vine, Potato Vive, Hyacinth Bean and cardinal Climber are a few of the fast growing but beautiful vines t hat can go out now.

Come on over to Rohde’s and choose from a large selection of spring blooming perennials many of which will bloom throughout the summer.

Perennials Available at Rohde’s. Remember that if you purchase 10 4-inch pots of the same price, mix and match or five one gallons, same price, mix and match you will receive a discount.

Bermuda grass seed: We have had so many people requesting Bermuda seed but we think that it is a little early to put out. We have had cool nights and a lot of moisture that is not letting the soils warm up to temperatures that will allow the seed to germinate quickly. Wait until the soil temperatures reach 70 degrees. When applying Bermuda seed

Inoculate with Mycorrhizal fungi for best results and this is a good way to get this beneficial fungi in to the soil.