Empowering
gardeners.
Providing
garden
solutions.
Deer-resistant plants
in this issue
P I E D M O N T
N E W S
Pollinator Paradise
Blueberries
Kudzu Bug
Proper Mowing
S T A T E
N E W S
Deer-Resistant
Plants
‘Fireball’ Hibiscus
Malabar Spinach
Drip Irrigation
Plant Disease and
Insect Clinic
One of the simplest ways to minimize deer
damage in your yard is to landscape with
plants that deer prefer not to eat. While no
plant is deer proof, there are many good landscape
plants that deer find less palatable. This does not
mean deer will not eat them if it comes to a choice
between eating something they don’t like and starv-ing
to death. But most of the time these are plants
that deer will pass over in favor of others.
Like goats, deer are browsers who feed on a
variety of plants, including trees and shrubs. Once
mature, large trees tend to be spared simply because
deer are too short to reach any but the lowest
branches, leaving small trees and shrubs to bear the
brunt of the damage. Small to medium-size trees
that have proven deer resistant over the years and
can be grown in most of the Carolinas include river
birch, crape myrtle, sweetbay magnolia, and chaste
tree (Vitex).
Because they provide a food source in winter,
evergreen shrubs are particularly prone to deer
attack. Evergreen shrubs for sunny areas that deer
prefer not to eat include yaupon, Chinese
juniper, wax myrtle, oleander, rosemary,
gardenia, nandina, and Chinese holly. In
shady sites try Japanese plum yew, avail-able
in both low-growing and upright
varieties, or needle palm, a shrub-forming
palm hardy to at least zone 7.
Although flowers are deer favorites,
there are several perennials they find less
tasty and are less likely to damage. These
include drought-tolerant, sun-loving
perennials such as the silver-leaved ‘Powis
Castle’ artemisia, colorful and hardy ‘Miss
Huff’ lantana, and Arkansas blue star (Am-sonia
hubrichtii), a Southeast native. Other
perennials that deer avoid include false
indigo (Baptisia), purple coneflower, gaura, and
perennial salvias such as Mexican bush sage (Salvia
leucantha), Texas sage (Salvia greggii), and ‘Black
and Blue’ anise sage (Salvia guaranitica).
On the whole, deer avoid eating ornamental
grasses, which is great for gardeners because this
group includes many tough, attractive, low-mainte-nance
options. Some of the most dependable variet-ies
for North Carolina include pink muhly grass,
panic grass (Panicum virgatum), and hardy fountain
grass (Pennisetum alopecuriodes).
Another group of plants that deer dislike is
ferns, which are great for moist, shady sites. Reli-able
perennial ferns for our state include Japanese
painted fern, lady fern, and cinnamon fern, all of
which go dormant in the winter. Evergreen ferns
that can be grown in most areas include autumn
fern, Christmas fern, holly fern, and southern shield
fern. Check with your local Extension office for
more recommendations of hardy, deer-resistant
plants for your region.
— Charlotte Glen
Gardener Extension
NC STATE UNIVERSITY NORTH CAROLINA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION Summer 2013
Extension
Gardener
Most pollinators are beneficial insects, such as bees, flies, beetles, wasps, and butterflies. A small percentage of pollinators are vertebrates such as hummingbirds. Bees are critical to our food supply because they are responsible for pol­linating about one-third of the foods we enjoy. Bees and other pollinators are also essential com­ponents of the habitats and ecosystems that many wild animals rely on for food and shelter. As natural areas are cleared for development, pollina­tor habitat is destroyed or fragmented, resulting in the loss of foraging and nesting sites. This can lead to a decline in pollinator populations.
You can help pollinators survive and thrive by planting forage habitat that provides nectar and pollen. The main goal of pollinator forage habitat is to have plants flowering throughout the growing season, from early spring through late fall, with overlapping bloom periods. Choose flowers with a diversity of bloom color, size, and shape to attract the greatest diversity of pollina­tors. Some pollinators have short tongues and can only feed from small, open flowers with easily accessible nectar. Other pollinators have long tongues and prefer tubular blooms.
To provide the most benefits, emphasize native plants in your pollinator garden, such as wild indigo, spiderwort, and beard tongue in the spring; butterfly weed, mountain mint, Joe-pye weed, coneflower, blanketflower, and St. John’s wort in the summer; and goldenrod, aster, spot­ted horsemint, and obedient plant in the fall. Herbs such as lavender, thyme, oregano, basil, catmint, and rosemary also provide great nectar resources for bees.
To learn more, visit Cooperative Extension’s Pollinator Paradise Garden at Chatham Mills in Pittsboro. This garden includes more than 140 different kinds of plants, 85 percent of which are native to the piedmont of North Carolina. The garden’s website includes a plant list, photos of what’s blooming every week, a schedule of free garden tours, and more. Just go to www.protectpollinators.org and click on the Pollina­tor Paradise Garden link.
— Debbie Roos
Smart Gardening — Create a pollinator paradise
Blueberries are among the most popular fruits grown in the piedmont. They are great when used in pies, muffins, and pancakes, and they can be eaten fresh right off the bush in your backyard. They can be grown all across North Carolina if care is taken when preparing the soil and choosing the variety.
Blueberries require a lower pH than most crops, so start with a soil test. The desired pH for blueberries is around 4.8. If your soil pH is higher than this, adding elemental sulfur will be re­quired for best plant growth. Blueberries also appreciate a well-drained soil. Incorporating organic matter into the soil will help ensure that your plants are giving you their best production levels.
Of the two major classifications of blueber­ries — high bush and rabbiteye — rabbiteye varieties are the best choice for the piedmont. Rabbiteye varieties are more drought- and heat-resistant and will tolerate a wider range of soil conditions than highbush varieties. The best rabbiteye varieties include Climax, Premier, Columbus, Powderblue, and Centurion.
Blueberries can be purchased as potted plants at garden centers throughout the year. Blueber­ries can be easily damaged by excess fertilizer, so be sure to follow the recommendation on the soil test report. Keeping plants watered is especially important for the first season. Irrigation encourages good root growth and helps plants become established more quickly. In addition to irriga­tion and a good fertilization program, blueberries benefit from annual pruning.
Blueberries are pruned differently from many other plants because heading cuts are seldom used. To prune blueberries, remove older canes all the way down to the ground. Begin this process after four to five years, and only remove the oldest cane each year. This will ensure a good supply of new productive shoots that develop from the base.
— Randy Fulk
Food Production — Blueberries
Extension Gardener Helps Gardeners Put Knowledge to Work
Gardeners in North Carolina face difficult climate and soil challenges when attempting to cultivate attractive, environ­mentally sustainable landscapes and bountiful food gardens. To assist new and seasoned residents with their gardening efforts, Extension horticulture agents from across North Caro­lina work together to produce four editions of Extension Gar­dener each year. Each edition includes three regional issues featuring specially focused con­tent for each of North Caro­lina’s three geographic regions.
Extension Gardener delivers timely, research-based infor­mation to North Carolina residents on plant selection, sustainable landscape and turf management practices, and home food production. In a recent survey of Extension Gardener readers, 80 percent of survey participants said they found Extension Gardener to be useful, reliable, timely, and easy to understand; 99 percent reported they have learned about and implemented at least one new gardening practice as a result of reading the newsletter. When asked what value readers place on the benefits provided by Extension Gardener , answers ranged from $15 to $500, with an average value of $173 placed on the benefits received from this Extension resource.
Current and past issues of Extension Gardener are available online at http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/extgardener/index.htm.
— Charlotte Glen
Extension ShowcaseRegional News of the Piedmont
Tips
Lawns
• Fertilize warm-season grasses,
but do not fertilize tall fescue
and bluegrass until fall.
• Take soil samples from your
lawn and garden areas for
testing. Soil testing materials
are available from your county
Extension center.
• Remember to change direction
when mowing your lawn to
prevent wear patterns and other
problems. Travel north to south
on one mowing and east to
west on the next.
• In late August, prepare the lawn
for seeding or renovation of tall
fescue and bluegrass lawns.
Ornamentals
• Watch for bagworms and
Japanese beetles. Ask for control
recommendations when you
visit your county Extension
center.
• Summer is a good time to see if
and where your home can use
some additional shade trees.
• Spray programs are available for
roses, fruit trees, and more from
your county Extension center.
Edibles
• Renovate your strawberry bed.
• Prune raspberry and blackber-ry
canes at ground level after
harvest.
• Begin your fall vegetable garden
by planting beans, carrots,
Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes
in July. Wait for August to
plant lettuce, winter squash,
and other late-season favorites.
• Blossom-end rot may be seen
on tomatoes and peppers. This
disease is often caused by incon-sistent
water and insufficient
calcium, so water frequently and
follow your soil test results.
— Mark Blevins
Here’s a question for you: what’s camou-flaged,
stinky, and swarming all over
bean plants in North Carolina? The answer is
kudzu bugs, an insect that
was first identified in the
United States in 2009.
Since then they have made
their way into nearly all
of North Carolina’s 100
counties. Kudzu bugs are
similar in shape to lady
bugs but are olive green in
color and covered in tiny
brown specks.
Kudzu bugs love le-gumes,
which includes wis-teria,
kudzu, soybeans, and
beans. The bugs use their
piercing-sucking mouth-parts
to feed on plant sap
and are most often found
on plant stems. When
high numbers of kudzu
bugs feed on bean plants,
yields can be significantly
decreased. To rid bean
crops of kudzu bugs, home gardeners can spray
“pyrethroid” insecticides labeled for vegetables.
Look for a pesticide whose active ingredient
ends in “-thrin.” Common examples include
permethrin, cyfluthrin, or bifenthrin. Be sure
to read and follow all label
directions before applying.
Kudzu bugs like to
overwinter in homes,
attics, and inside walls.
Once temperatures begin
to warm in spring, large
masses of kudzu bugs are
sometimes seen on siding,
causing a flurry of concern.
Kudzu bugs also can con-gregate
on nonhost plants
such as peach trees, figs,
and grapes. So far there has
been no recorded kudzu
bug damage to nonhost
plants.
For more informa-tion
on kudzu bugs, visit
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/
depts/ent/notes/Urban/
kudzubug.htm or http://
growingsmallfarms.ces.
ncsu.edu/growingsmallfarms-kudzubug.
— Danielle Cutting
&Tasks
The first lawn-care question any homeowner
needs to answer is: what type of grass are
you trying to grow? Next you need to determine
the height at which to cut your grass and how
frequently to cut it.
Mowing height and frequency are impor-tant
factors in maintaining a healthy, vigorous
lawn. Mowing height is important because dif-ferent
turf species grow best at different mowing
heights. Recommended mowing heights for
piedmont lawns are:
• Bermudagrass, ¾ to 1 inch
• Zoysiagrass, 1½ inches
• Centipedegrass, 1 inch
• St. Augustinegrass, 2½ inches
• Tall fescue, 3 inches
Each turf variety will grow and outcompete
weeds best when maintained at its recommend-ed
height.
Mowing frequency is a trickier question. A
general rule of thumb when mowing the lawn
is to remove no more than one-third of the leaf
blade each time you mow. If too much of the
leaf surface is removed, the grass will go into a
stress or shock period from which it must recover
before it can resume growing and spreading.
To determine how often to mow your lawn,
measure its height. For example, I want to mow
my Bermudagrass lawn to a cut height of 1 inch.
In order to only remove one-third of the blade
when I mow, then I should mow when the lawn
reaches a height of 1½ inches. The grass may
grow faster some times of the year and may need
to be mowed more often. If the grass gets taller
than 1½ inches before mowing can be done, raise
the mower deck so that only one-third of the
blade is removed. Gradually lower the deck the
next couple of times you mow to reestablish the
recommended mowing height.
For more information about caring for your
lawn, visit www.TurfFiles.ncsu.edu.
— Shawn Banks
Carolina Lawns — Proper mowing
Pest Alert — Kudzu bug
Charlotte Glen
What has showy, fire-red, 10-inch-wide flowers from June through August? The ‘Fireball’ hibiscus, a hardy herbaceous perennial that has dazzled gardeners since its introduction in 2001.
An attractive addition to any landscape, ‘Fireball’ hibiscus reaches a mature height of four feet. This plant displays a special ability to thrive in heat and humidity. Grow this tough perennial in full sun with evenly moist soil. In addition to its heat tolerance, this perennial hibiscus is cold hardy from zone 5 to zone 9. In other words, ‘Fireball’ can be grown anywhere in North Carolina.
This plant’s impressive red flowers and attractive, deeply cut green foliage with distinctive purple veins will impart a unique charm to any sunny garden. Keep the soil from drying out, and you’ll learn why this plant is a true showstopper!
— John Vining
www.ces.ncsu.edu
Extension Gardener provides timely, research-based horticultural information. We publish four issues per year. Send comments about Extension Gardener to:
Editor and Team Leader
Lucy Bradley, Ph.D., Extension Specialist, Urban Horticulture
Box 7609, NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7609
Managing Editor: Charlotte Glen
Content Editor: David Goforth
Regional Editor, Coastal Plain and Sandhills: Shawn Banks
Regional Editor, Piedmont: Charlotte Glen
Regional Editor, Mountains and Foothills: Donna Teasley
Production Editor and Designer:
Brent Winter
The use of brand names does not imply endorsement by N.C. Cooperative Extension nor discrimination against similar products or services not mentioned.
Distributed in furtherance of the acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability. In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.
©North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Extension Gardener may not be reproduced without written permission. Any news media using sections of the newsletter should credit “Extension Gardener, North Carolina Cooperative Extension.”
14-CALS-3828—6/13
http://extensiongardener.ncsu.edu
If you want to create a lush, tropical look in your garden this summer, try planting Malabar spinach (Basella alba), a beautiful, delicious leafy climber. The leaves and purple stems are valued in many cuisines across India, Africa, and Asia. This vigorous vine can be grown outdoors across our state. Our long, hot summers also provide a growing season long enough to allow you to gather seeds for future years. Although plants may be slow to start, if planted in full sun they will cover whatever structure you build for them. Malabar spinach tolerates dry weather, but it will produce succulent green leaves most abundantly if you provide a little compost and plenty of water throughout the season. Prepare to be amazed by this plant!
— Jeana Myers
Extension
Gardener
Showstopper — ‘Fireball’ hibiscus
Around the State
Edibles —
Malabar spinach
Recent droughts and water restrictions have led to an increased awareness of how precious and limited our water resourc­es are. As a result, gardeners are showing more interest in microirrigation, also known as drip irrigation. This method of watering uses a network of plastic pipes or hoses to deliver water under low pressure to garden plants. Drip irrigation applies water very slowly and is more efficient than sprinkler irrigation. Additionally, drip irrigation is usually exempt from watering restrictions.
Drip irrigation has traditionally been limited to commercial vegetable, nursery, and greenhouse operations. As drip irriga­tion systems become more readily available and designs are developed specifically for home gardeners, they are popping up in home landscapes and gardens all over. Drip irrigation is much more efficient than sprin­kler systems because it delivers water only to the targeted areas that need it. These flexible systems can be expanded or redirected as the gardener’s needs change, and they are even suitable for watering container plants. Drip irrigation systems can also easily be auto­mated for gardeners whose busy schedules make hand watering difficult.
Sustainability — Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation systems are available online and in many garden centers. Most systems can be installed by the average gardener, and kits are available to help first-time users with the initial setup. These systems can be customized for specific plants needs down to the size of the emit­ter, which delivers the amount of water that an individual plant needs.
As we become more conscious of the need to conserve our natural resources, drip irrigation is a great tool in water con­servation efforts.
— Donna Teasley
J.C. Raulston Arboretum