Wow, can
it get any hotter?!?! Actually it can. And, when it
does, you need to keep an eye on your landscape plants and
tender young vegetables. Most of your plants enjoy the
heat, but they can also dry out very quickly or even get a
bad case of sunburn! Check your plants daily and water them
when necessary. Then, you both can enjoy the sunshine!
This week
we featured...
Schreiner’s Iris Gardens and the Keizer Iris Festival
The irises are blooming and that means
it is time for the Keizer Iris festival. One of the reasons
that Keizer has this wonderful festival is because of
Schreiner’s Iris Gardens (1-800-525-2367). This
family-owned business has been a leader in growing and
propagating new varieties of iris for over 80 years. If you
don’t know the name, you do know the fields. They are the
fields full of color as you approach Brooks, Oregon. We met
up with Steve Schreiner to wander in their beautiful display
gardens! What sets the display gardens at Schreiner’s apart
is the companion planting that they do. These beds are not
just full of irises they have a fantastic combination of
other plants including lupines, poppies and pansies. It is
a great place to get ideas for your own garden. Steve also
told us about all the fun activities that are happening over
the next two weekends, So, if you miss it this
weekend, be sure to catch it next weekend!
This weekend is also the big weekend
for the
Keizer Iris Festival. There is a fun center, parade, a
breakfast, a car show and even a karaoke showcase! Take the
family and enjoy a fun weekend touring the fields and
enjoying the festival.
Strawberry Choices
Plant your strawberries now for a
bountiful harvest this coming summer. Laura Altvater from
Portland Nursery on Stark (503-231-
5050)
explained
the different varieties to Judy. There are three types of
berries you can plant. ‘June-bearing’ gives you one crop.
‘Ever-bearing’ gives you two crops, one in the spring and
one in the fall. ‘Day Neutral’ gives you berries
through-out the summer if you treat them well. There are a
couple of other things that growers do to get a good crop:
Plant new berries every three-to-four years. Tip back the
plant, which means you should cut off the runners. This
makes the plant put its energy into the fruit. One of the
hardest things to do: Remove the blooms from your first year
plants. We think that may be going too far! Check out
your local garden centers for a full range of varieties.
Jan’s May
tips
Our tips for the month from the
OSU extension service had a surprise for us! Jan
McNeilan ripped out a plant! Jan had a rose that had three
different things happening to it. It was getting suckers
from the base around the graft. These suckers are from the
root stock and will not produce the same types of flower (if
any) as the plant you bought. The second problem was a
virus that was showing up in the leaves and the third
problem was a huge infestation of aphids. When a plant has
that many strikes against it, it is time to remove it!
Don’t be afraid! We also traveled to another part of her
garden to see some of the things she is doing in her
vegetable garden. As your plants are growing, start
thinking about structures for them to climb on. Jan is in
the process of building a bamboo structure for her
tomatoes. A little work now and she will have an easier
time harvesting in the fall.
Zoo
Butterflies
The
Oregon Zoo is celebrating the grand re-opening of the
Winged Wonders exhibit this weekend, and we paid a visit
to see the first butterflies emerging for the show! Mary Jo
Andersen is the zoo keeper in charge and she brought a
couple of ‘friends’ to meet William. We also heard from
Linda Coady Richardson about some of the plants you can add
to your garden to attract these flying beauties. When
attracting butterflies you have to add plants for three
stages of their growth. Visitors learn that planting herbs
such as fennel and dill attract the caterpillars of species
such as black swallowtail and anise swallowtail. Visitors
also learn about the importance of butterfly-attracting
nectar plants like asters, zinnia and yarrow -- and the need
for sunlight, water, shelter and avoiding pesticides. The
exhibit will remain open until Labor Day.
PVC
Trellis
This
little structure is one way to bring height to your garden.
William showed us how to build three different structures
for your climbing plants. The first one was easy. He used
a tomato cage to help his climbing peas. The second trellis
was a teepee of bamboo sticks. He tied them at the top and
they make a quick and simple structure. The third structure
was a folding trellis made from PVC pipe. We cut the pipe
into various lengths to fit our garden size. This one had 3
¾-inch pipes that were three feet long. These are for the
two base pieces and the top. Then we cut four longer pieces
(6-foot) for the sides. Six elbows create the square and
then we also had two tees. The top of the tee was a bigger
size than the rest of the pipe. This will allow the folding
of the trellis when the season is done. The finishing touch
was the string. Last year we used hemp for the plants to
climb on. This quickly broke down and that meant it didn’t
work as well as we had hoped. This year we are using a
cotton fiber string, which will give the trellis for our
beans and other climbing plants a good strong base to grow
on.