By Will Creed, owner of HorticulturalHelp.com
24.07.2023 - 11:50 / hgic.clemson.edu
If your garden is anything like mine at this time of year, it is peppered with these beautiful little treasures: common violets (Viola sororia). These blue, purple, and sometimes almost white, small flowers return yearly to brighten my flower beds, lawn, and even the crack in my concrete stairs. Still, I have never once intentionally planted one! My curiosity was piqued as I sat on my front porch looking at this bounty that I did nothing to deserve.
The ability to appear and spread in my garden without my intervention intrigued me. I discovered that the Viola family has somewhat of a superpower where reproduction is concerned. They can reproduce sexually, asexually, and also clonally. Early in the spring, insect pollinators include several native bees, butterflies, and wasps, with butterflies being the primary pollinators. Evidence indicates that some viola flowers transform over the season to accommodate this variety of pollinators. Once fertilized sexually, the developed seeds are flung up to several feet when the seed pods dry out and split open. But there’s more! Each tiny seed has a fleshy, oil-rich appendage called an elaiosome. This elaiosome attracts ants who transport the seeds to their nests to feed the fatty treat to their larvae, and the intact discarded seeds germinate. Explosive seed distribution plus ant transportation ensures this wide seed dispersal in my garden. For more information, see An Ecology of Spring Wildflowers.
But Viola has a plan B! If insect pollinators are limited when the weather is too cold or too wet, secondary self-fertilization occurs in small budlike, petal-lacking flowers located at ground level. Although these seeds do not include extraneous genetic material, they are fertile and
By Will Creed, owner of HorticulturalHelp.com
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Identify and Control 13 Common Chrysanthemum Pests
The Lime is a tall growing well shaped tree which is often grown along avenues and public places in the UK. The flowers have an exquisite fragrance.
A water loving tree that is comparatively short lived at about 150 years. It is fast growing and can often be found near river banks.
Many common weeds found in lawns and grass are appealing wild flowers. They look best in a meadow setting and not in a manicured lawn.
Larch trees are common in forestry plantations and high ground in the UK. Larch are fast growing and loose there leaves in winter. The wood from Common Larch trees is still used for a range of purposes.
Bellis or Daisy is recognised by it’s flat rosettes of oval leaves and small white yellow eyed flowers. They tend to form colonies that hug the ground to smother out nearby grass. From the boots of the ‘My old mans a dustman’ song, ‘it takes such a job to pull them up that he calls them daisy roots’ the best treatment is a selective weed killer that may need a couple of applications. Alternatively each root can be dug out by hand.
Sometimes we don’t see the pest, but we definitely see their work.
Common chickweed is a low, spreading, winter annual weed that germinates when we receive lots of cool, wet weather. Its leaves are opposite each other, smooth and elliptical in shape. It is tolerant of a variety of conditions and thrives in moist, shady locations. This weed can produce seeds five weeks after germination and will continue to produce seeds for months. Each common chickweed plant can produce over 800 seeds and the seeds can lay dormant in soil for up to 10 years. Even once the weed is uprooted, it can continue to produce seeds and can even reestablish itself, if left on the ground.
Narrowleaf vetch (Vicia sativa) is a common winter annual weed in the legume family, and it fixes its own nitrogen from the atmosphere. This plant has been grown since Roman times for livestock fodder and as a cover crop.
Common cats-ear (Hypochaeris radicata) is a perennial weed. Its name comes from the dense hairs that cover the leaves. It looks very similar to dandelions, but its leaves are not as deeply notched. It also produces yellow flowers and puffball seed-heads very similar to dandelions. Common cats-ear flowers throughout the summer and most heavily in September. Common cats-ear is native to Europe and Northern Asia and can become quite a problem in thin, open areas. The first step in maintaining a thick, healthy lawn is ensuring that you have selected the best grass for your landscape. For more information on the characteristics of different turfgrasses, please see HGIC 1223, Turfgrasses for the Carolinas.