Since Japanese beetles came into to our garden life, it has been almost impossible to keep my grapevines presentable in Le Potager garden; the beetles skeletonize almost all the leaves over summer. It looks terrible on the pergola in the middle of the garden as the brown grapevine contrasts with the rest of the lush, green space. I decided to matchmake this sad grapevine with birdhouse gourds to cover up their destroyed leaves. It worked perfectly! The gourd climbed up on the grapevine happily and produced aromatic white flowers during summer evenings that later became the humorously shaped fruits perfect for craft projects (now I must think whether I should make birdhouses or flasks).</p> Growing birdhouse gourds is very easy. You can ‘direct sow’ their seed into the fertile garden bed in late May (after the last frost date in your area) or start a few weeks earlier indoors then transplant the seedlings. The gourd vine likes a sunny location with well-drained, fertile soil. Also, keep soil moist and don’t let it dry out, just like in a traditional vegetable garden.</p> The birdhouse gourd is a vigorous flowering annual vine, which climbs onto a garden structure (such as a pergola) easily with its tendrils. You can also plant them on a compost heap to cover it up (make sure your gourd fruit does not touch the ground directly to prevent rot). The plants produce both male and female white flowers on the same vine. You can easily identify the female flower as the bottom of the flower is swollen into the shape of a small gourd. Once your seedlings start taking off, make sure to let them grow until the main vine can reach to the structure (or your desirable height) where you would like your gourd to climb, then prune it to develop the lateral branches for encouraging it to produce more female flowers.</p> Birdhouse gourd, Lagenaria siceraria</em>, is a hard-shelled gourd, a type of tropical squash (cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae</em>) native to northern Africa. The hard-shelled gourd was cultivated by people 10,000 years ago. It spread all over the world because it is easy to grow and produces fruits that were used as bottles to carry water, storage for foods, floating devices, musical instruments, garments and more.</p> There are many ways to dry the gourds, but the easiest way is to keep the gourd fruits on the vine until the first freeze (the leaves and vine are brown), then harvest and store them in a cold, dark and dry storage area such as garage or basement. Make sure to check them occasionally and turn each gourd to prevent molding. After the gourds are dried, you can drill a small hole to make your birdhouse.</p>
Summer bulbs excite me the way that plastic eggs from a giant rabbit vending machine did when I was a child. I get a thrill from anticipating what’s inside— no matter how many times I’ve seen it before. </p> Perhaps that’s why I treasure saving bulbs from year to year, knowing that, come summer, I’ll relive the wonder of seeing them periscope out of the ground and unfurl their blooms in shapes as varied as funnels and pompoms.</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> 'Gladiolus' Jester in the beds by the Fountain Beds.</p> Of course, not all bulbs need to be saved indoors. Those that are hardy in our climate happily winter over in the ground. The bulbs that have to be stored indoors originate from tropical climes and they would literally turn to mush if left outside in winter.</p> The list of tender bulbs is long and varied — from Mexican shellflower to pineapple lily. But not all tender bulbs are easy to store, and since we all have limits on time and space, it’s good to narrow the list to a few favorites that aren’t tricky to save.</p> Four bulbs I store without fail are dahlia tubers, canna rhizomes, gladiolus corms and giant chincherinchee bulbs. These are some of the most thrilling bulbs to see in displays and some of the easiest to store.</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Dahlia 'Linda's Baby'</p> Dahlias are the divas of the summer bulbs and have a reputation for being difficult to store, but in truth they aren’t as finicky as you might expect. If you follow these guidelines, you’re sure to have more than enough tubers come spring. </p> Wait for two hard frosts before you dig out the tubers. After the first frost blackens leaves, cut the stems back to 6 inches. Then after the next freeze, carefully dig out tubers with a shovel.</li> Once lifted, rinse off your tuber clumps and let them dry for 24 hours. (But never on a concrete surface as this will pull moisture out of them too quickly.) </li> Then clip off any hairlike roots and cut back stems to an inch. </li> At this point you can separate tubers or store whole clumps in large plastic bins filled with wood shavings, taking care not to let clumps touch.</li> Store the bins in a dark place that stays at 40-50 degrees F and lay lids on top of bins but don’t seal them.</li> Check on the tubers monthly. Discard any tubers that become moldy. If mold occurs, replace the wood shavings.</li> </ul> The last three bulbs are the easiest to store.</strong></p> Before digging up canna, gladiolus or giant chincherinchee in fall, let the foliage blacken.</li> Ease the bulbs out with a shovel, rinse off the dirt and cut back canna foliage to 6 inches, and gladiolus and chincherinchee foliage to 1-2 inches.</li> Lay out the bulbs to dry for 2-3 weeks, then remove the shriveled mother corms from gladiolus.</li> Store gladiolus and chincherinchee bulbs in open crates or mesh bags and canna in plastic bins between wood shavings. All three should be stored in the same conditions as the dahlias.</p> </li> </ul> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Clump of dahlia tubers after it was dug up and rinsed. </p> This article appears in the October 2021 issue of Life on Capitol Hill.</em></p>
I grew up working in my family’s gardens and volunteering in community gardens. This developed my passion for both people and plants. It was this upbringing that led me to choose a double major of tourism and hospitality as well as public horticulture. Growing up in Tennessee gave me access to a large variety of ornamental and agricultural gardening. However, my plant knowledge and interaction were relatively limited to plants that enjoyed hardiness zones 6 and 7.</p> My first and only interaction with cacti and succulents was through the greenhouses at my college campus. Because of that, I have truly enjoyed expanding and developing my knowledge as this year’s Cacti and Succulent Collection curation intern.</p> My intern projects consisted of redesigning and planting the Cacti and Succulent House</a> that is located within the Rock Alpine Garden. I also worked on accessioning and inventorying the Gardens’ Cacti and Succulent Collection.</p> While completing these projects I not only learned how to plan and plant a display to fit aesthetic and educational goals, but I also became more comfortable with different cacti and succulent species. I enjoyed experimenting with planting design and layout while also learning about how to handle cacti and succulents. This project also taught me how to intrigue and entertain the public through plant displays. I also learned a lot about cross pollination, hybridization, mutation and grafting. Seeing these methods first-hand in different plants helped with my ability to identify and even produce these modifications. </p> I feel incredibly lucky, and I am grateful to have been an intern at Denver Botanic Gardens this summer. This opportunity has taught me so much about plants, horticulture and the people who make it possible for the public to enjoy and learn. I can leave saying my passion for public horticulture has been not only strengthened but also more focused.</p> Julia Adams is from Nashville, TN. She’s currently a senior at University of Tennessee double majoring in tourism and hospitality and plant sciences with a concentration in public horticulture. She hopes to work for a public garden focusing on community outreach to combine her two majors and passions.</em></p>
