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Inside this sectionIIIInnsideDFriday, March 6, 2015

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Winter planning and protection is important for ornamental plants.

With exceptionally bitter cold temperatures, damage to woody shrubs and trees can be a problem in Georgia. From bud damage to burnt leaves, it is hard to know exactly how much our plants have suffered through the recent subfreezing temps and harsh ice storm. We will have to wait until late winter and early spring to see.

Several types of plant damage can occur during the cold months. Cold injury can affect all parts of a plant including fruit, leaves, roots, trunks and stems.

Leaves and stems usually show the damage first. Ice forms in the plant cells and kills the plant tis-sue. Leaves or stems become dark and mushy.

If the plant went through a proper cold acclimation process — in which plants prepare for winter — the plant can withstand these types of ice formations.

Windy, cold and dry conditions can also damage plants.

A plant loses water through

evaporation when it exceeds nor-mal water absorption. This will cause a drying out. Then scorch-ing or leaf burn will show up on the leaves.

Flower and leaf buds can also be damaged by cold tem-peratures, especially when tem-peratures are low or fluctuate. Gardeners may see a reduction or total loss of blooms.

If you suspect bud or bloom damage, remove several buds and open them to reveal their condi-tion. If the buds are green through-out, they are healthy. If they show signs of browning or a darkened

condition, chances are they have been damaged.

This does not mean the plant is dead. It only means the foliage or flowering buds did not make it. This has happened a lot this win-ter in regards to the late flowering camellias. Don’t be tempted to prune out the damaged areas yet. Wait until later in March to see what has recovered.

Bark splitting is another form of cold damage. It is described as loose bark in different areas of the trunk.

As the bark defoliates from the dead tissue on the trunk, a canker may form. A canker usually forms as a darkened, moist area. This type of splitting can cause struc-tural damage and may reduce the plant’s ability to transport vital nutrients and water throughout the plant. Several severe cankers can kill the plant.

Try some preventive measures to reduce cold damage.

■ Select plants tolerable of cold temperatures.

■ Choose a proper site to plant.

The north and northwest sides of a home are usually the coldest in the winter. Low areas can harbor cold air. Try planting on the South and West sides of the landscape if possible.

■ Fertilize your plants at the proper time. A plant given the right nutrition is more capable of achieving cold acclimation.

■ Pruning prior to early spring growth will keep most plants from being susceptible to cold damage. And try to transplant in early fall.

■ Try to establish canopies and shade areas for plants that can be grown in the shade. The shelter reduces the winter drying out and water loss.

■ Windbreaks can be impor-tant in reducing injury to orna-mentals. They can be structures such as fences, buildings and evergreen trees. Any object reduc-ing cold winds and freezes around your home can help.

■ Container plants can be protected by placing them in a house or garage, under a covered patio or putting a protective cover-

ing over them. Push containers together or wrap them in burlap to decrease heat loss.

■ Mulching also helps reduce heat loss and retains moisture. Sound irrigating practices are essential for a healthy plant to be cold hardy.

■ Covering plants with sheets, blankets or boxes helps to protect them. Always remove the cover-ing during the day for ventilation. Trapped solar radiation will heat up the environment around a cov-ered plant and cause damage.

Use these tips to keep your plants healthy and less susceptible to injury.

Hopefully most will survive the cold and ice. Spring is right around the corner.

Wanda Cannon serves as Master Gardener coordinator and horticulture assistant for the UGA Cooperative Extension office in Hall County. Contact her at 770-535-8293 or wcannon@hallcounty.org. Her column appears biweekly and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.

Protect your plants from cold winter temperatures

WANDA CANNONwcannon@hallcounty.org

Photos by SCOTT ROGERS | The Times

Tiny pots of Italian parsley grow underneath fluorescent lights at Diane Korzeniewski’s home in Gainesville. To get a head start on the growing season, experts said starting plants indoors early is a must if you grow them from seeds.

Indoor growthBY AUDREY WILLIAMS

For The Times

An icy winter may dampen the mood, but there’s no need for it to hin-der a green thumb.

Indoor herb gardens have become a popular option when temperatures drop. And with a shift of focus on fresher, homegrown foods, old and new gardeners alike are showing in interest in moving the garden indoors.

“Herbs are just fresh,” Austin Waters said. “Herbs you can grow inside year-round, and you don’t have the chemicals like with the herbs at the grocery store. People take pride in getting to eat something that they grew.”

Waters manages Brasel-ton’s Outdoor Environments Inc., a landscaping and gar-dening store. During the winter, it carries herb seeds. Come April, it will have herb plants.

Eager gardeners won’t wait until April, though. Hall County Master Gardener Diane Korzeniewski began sowing her seedlings in February.

“This year, right now, my

bay plant is sitting on the kitchen counter because I’m not taking any chances,” the Gainesville woman said.

Gardening since the 1980s, Korzeniewski said the best time to start planting for spring herbs is during the winter, eight weeks before final frost. For North Geor-gia, that will be early April, she said.

“If you’re going to start something from seeds, now is a good time to do it, so you’re ready in time for spring,” Korzeniewski said. “Otherwise they’ll be a little bit small. It could have a rough time starting because once our spring hits, it can turn into summer pretty quickly.”

Basil, parsley, salad bur-net, cilantro and sage are some plants that grow well from seeds, she said. She recommends starting with herbs such as rosemary and lemon verbena from cut-tings of an existing plant, for bigger, better results.

“It’s nicer to have a little bit larger plant before spring comes,” she said. “Because if you have a little seedling come spring, it’s susceptible to the sun or drought.”

Korzeniewski keeps her indoor garden in her base-ment. She has three indus-trial flat shelves covered in young plants, many of which are now about an inch tall. Attached to the shelves are timed fluorescent lights and underneath the seeds are heat mats.

“That is a big help to get them to germinate,” she said of the heat mats. “That gets them started with a little more vigor than they

would if they didn’t have the bottom heat.”

Warmth and full sunlight are the most important things to consider when starting an indoor herb gar-den, said Karen Kennedy, coordinator of education for The Herb Society of America.

“These are full sun plants,” she said. “Their ideal growing condition is going to be outside in a sunny, well-drained spot.

So your best success inside would be in a sunny, well-drained spot.”

For Georgia, a state with sunnier winters, she said herb plants should be OK during the winter by a sunny window.

Kennedy said certain herbs such as parsley, chives and thyme can thrive in low light. But if you can, try trans-planting them come spring.

“You put them out in a shaded spot during the day and since the temperature drops at night you bring them in,” she said. “You keep that up for a couple of weeks, extending the

amount of time they’re outside, and then they’ll get used to the outdoor temperatures.”

This process is called hardening off and condi-tions plants so they don’t get sunburned or bleached, she said.

Whether you keep your herbs indoors or take them out, having them around is a good idea, she said.

“If you’re cooking and you need some rosemary, it’s right there on your win-dowsill,” Kennedy said. “It brightens your home when you’re getting tired of the winter dreary weather.”

Herbs are popular option for gardeners during winter

Above: Korzeniewski waters her seedlings Monday afternoon as they live underneath fluorescent lights on a heating pad in her basement. Beginning her garden plans with mostly herb seedlings, Korzeniewski starts a few vegetables early from seed. Right: Italian parsley sprouts in bunches in Korzeniewski’s basement.

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Inside this sectionIIIInnsideDWednesday, March 4, 2015

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I subscribe to an online wine news service that delivers a couple of times a week some fas-cinating stories or statistics about happenings in the giddy world of wine. I’m passing along some condensed versions with my own comments.

In my wine education classes, when I talk about Champagne/sparkling wines I’m frequently asked why folks seem to become more intoxicated by the bubbly than from still wines (wines with-out the bubbles.)

I suspected the carbon dioxide that creates those magical little bubbles might be responsible. Now I know. Boris Tabakoff, pharmacology professor at the University of Colorado, said the carbon dioxide is the culprit and causes alcohol to be absorbed into the blood stream faster than it is in still wines.

“The carbon dioxide in carbon-ated beverages like Champagne helps absorb the alcohol,” Taba-koff told ABC News. “You get a faster rate of absorption and higher blood alcohol levels if you drink Champagne as opposed to something noncarbonated.”

And to address the usual follow-up question, yes, the quicker rate of alcohol absorption leads to a worse hangover the next day.

Cheers!■ ■ ■

While it might not be the time of year to be discussing sunscreen — at this writing in early January, it was 12 degrees on my back deck at 8 a.m. — in Australia and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere,

it’s hot and sunny. Perhaps too hot.This is one of the hottest years

on record Down Under. Just as too much hot sun can cause humans to be uncomfortable or worse, too much sun can damage wine grapes. To prevent sunburn damage to the grapes, some wine-makers are spraying them with a sunscreen solution. While grapes do need heat to ripen and develop sugars, too much attention from Old Sol can damage them and cause them to shrivel.

At Tyrrell’s vineyard in the Hunter Valley, where tempera-tures can exceed 113 degrees, they are spraying the vines with a special sunscreen solution.

Bruce Tyrrell, chief executive of Tyrrell’s Wines, recently said, “Your vineyard gets this funny white-blue color, and you look on the berries and there is a little coating on them ... and it gives it some protection.”

Of course, it gets washed off before the berries head for the production area.

Aussie winemakers are fac-ing the gloomy prediction that climate change will make these heat waves the rule rather than the exception. That means added costs, extra work and higher prices for Aussie wines.

■ ■ ■Climate change is threatening

the wine industry. Scientific data show 2014 was the hottest year on record on planet Earth. According to an article in Scientific Ameri-can magazine, if we stay on our current trajectory, Earth’s aver-age temperature will rise from

4.7 to 6.9 degrees in a few genera-tions. That’s a lot!

Heat and sunlight in the right increments at the right time are vital to making healthy grapevines and good wine. Wineries already are responding to the challenges of a warming Earth. Remember the sunscreen on the Australian grapes?

Heat helps build the sugars inside the grapes. With a steady, predictable climate, winemakers and vineyard managers can plan ahead to estimate roughly when the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes will be ready to pick. Since grape growing is essentially farming, any quirks flung down by Ma Nature can blow those plans to smithereens. Get rain at the wrong time and the grapes absorb too much water. Get an extended period of high heat and they build up too-high sugar levels, resulting in high-alcohol wines.

Wineries are already seeing the encroachment of higher-than-normal temperatures. And they are responding. Some are chang-ing the trellising patterns, those

wires that stretch from post to post in the vineyards and allow for air circulation in the vines. Some win-eries are dropping some of those wires to provide more shade to the fruit.

But it already is apparent what climate change can do — and is doing — to wine. Cooler climate areas are warming up. Grapes that do well with cooler tempera-tures and shorter growing seasons, grapes such as pinot noir and ries-ling, are being stressed.

One prominent winery owner joked, “I’m just afraid that in 20 years the Napa Valley will be in Oregon.”

Let’s hope he’s not prophetic.

Randall Murray is a Gainesville-area resident. Have a question about wine? He can be contacted at murrwine@aol.com. His column appears on the first Wednesday of the month and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.

WINE OF THE MONTHTenuta Castelbuono Montefalco Sagrantino 2010The style: Full-bodied, dry red table wineThe grapes: 100 percent SagrantinoThe source: Umbria region of ItalyThe verdict: Umbria is not a name that springs to mind when one cogitates on Italian red wines. There’s Tuscany, of course, and Piemonte, homes to classic red wines. But this outstanding example boosts Umbria a few points higher on my scale. It is an intense wine, which is why a 2010 wine was just released a few months ago. It needed time in the bottle to mellow. It brings bold fruit flavors to the table and this most definitely is a food wine. I’m suggesting you pair it with roast meat of some kind. And either decant it or fill the glasses half an hour before serving. A light chill will bring out the best in this robust beauty.The price: About $40.

RANDALL MURRAYmurrwine@aol.com

Wine Without Pretense

Gulping Champagne fast equals quick intoxication

Don’t forget ‘Relish’“Relish” will advise you on the best kitchen gadgets and cookbooks, serve up nutrition tips and help you get dinner on the table fast. Look for “Relish” every first Wednesday of the month inside The Times.

BY AUDREY WILLIAMSFor The Times

All across Georgia at any given time, you can find a grandma in the kitchen work-ing on one of her family recipes, passed down from her momma and her momma’s momma.

Or at least Kent Whitaker and Sheila Sim-mons, authors of “Georgia Hometown Cook-book,” think so.

“We really liked talking to people,” Whita-ker said. “Suddenly, you’re having a cold glass of tea on the back porch and the nicest lady you ever met gives you a peanut butter pie recipe.”

Interactions such as this with Georgians inspired Whitaker and Simmons to deem Georgia as the state for their second home-town cookbook series.

And the “Georgia Hometown Cookbook” is more than just a cookbook, Whitaker said. The author, who lived in Georgia for 10 years, wanted the cookbook to capture the culture of Georgia.

“Sheila and I are both big foodies, so we wanted to include as much cool backstory about the recipe, the cooks, the state and the festivals,” he said.

Whitaker said some family traditions came from not just mothers, but aunts and grandmothers.

“(They) taught them how to make it when they were kids,” he said. “And it’s more than just recipes.”

The writing duo also wanted to keep the recipes simple, using ingredients a grandma might have in the pantry or above the fridge. Of these recipes, Whitaker said his favorites are the sweeter dishes.

“The dessert recipes were some of my favorites because of the good, fresh pro-duce — the strawberries and the peaches, of course,” he said. “I’m a sucker for anything sweet.”

Simmons preferred the savory recipes, although some of them were new to her since she is a Mississippian.

“The Brunswick Stew wasn’t something I was familiar with, but I was pleasantly sur-prised by how good it was,” she said.

The first time she read the recipe and saw the combination of ingredients for the stew, she said it didn’t sound like it’d be very good.

“It has chicken and spices, and barbe-cue sauce and ketchup, diced potatoes and canned corn,” she said. “Then you’re going (to) stew that all down.

“Once you make it, it actually tastes a lot better than you think it’s going to be from the list of ingredients.”

Another favorite recipe is the cast iron skillet cheese potatoes. She explained the very Southern recipe involves making fried potatoes in a cast iron skillet and topping them with Vidalia onions and cheese.

“The ingredients are extremely simple, but the process of how it’s done is really interesting,” Simmons said.

The book includes more than 300 recipes from all across the state, from the Appala-chian Mountains to the Savannah coast. But what Simmons loves most about the book has more to do with the people.

“I fall in love with every state that we do in the series, because you learn so much about the state just by talking to the people,” she said.

“And Georgia was a wonderful state.”

Georgia’s Favorite Brunswick Stew2 pounds chicken, cooked and diced1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons onion salt 4 tablespoons bacon drippings 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 1 1/2 cups ketchup 2 to 3 cups diced potatoes, cooked3 (15- to 16-ounce) cans cream-style

corn Salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a stockpot or large saucepan. Cover and simmer until hot and bubbly.

Taste before serving and add more salt, pepper and hot sauce as needed.

Source: Georgia Hometown Cookbook

Straight out of GeorgiaPhotos for The Times

The “Georgia Hometown Cookbook” is a compilation of recipes and stories from Georgian home cooks. One recipe is shrimp creole, courtesy of Billy Nelson and submitted by Wild Georgia Shrimp.

Home cooks supply recipes for state book

Each year, Ellijay hosts the Georgia Apple Festival. To mark the festival’s influence in kitchens, the cookbook shares Kenneth Maye Jr.’s apple cake supreme recipe.

‘Georgia Hometown Cookbook’The book is available online at www.shop.greatamericanpublishers.com or at bookstores such as Book-A-Million.

BY AUDREY WILLIAMSFor The Times

On a walk down Edelweiss or Munich Strassen, you’ll find cobblestone alleys lined with brightly painted Bavarian shops. Only, this charming German town is not actually in Germany. It’s Helen, nestled away in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northeast Georgia.

HistoryHelen, an old mill town,

was given new life in the 1960s by artist John Kol-lock, whose new shop front designs and color schemes were inspired by his time stationed in Germany. Since the town’s makeover, it has become a popular tourist attraction, even boasting one of the biggest Oktoberfest celebrations in the United States.

FestivalsSpeaking of Oktoberfest,

there’s one thing you should know about the quaint town of Helen: It knows how to party.

Several times a year, major celebrations take over the picturesque streets of this Alpine village. After fall’s roaring Oktoberfest, the holidays take front and center with Christ-kindlmarkt and the New Year’s Eve Dropping of the Edelweiss.

In an answer to Mardi Gras, the town celebrates German Fasching in Febru-ary. Spring brings Helen’s annual Trout Tournament and Springfest, a warm weather festival celebrated on the banks of the Chatta-hoochee River.

Great outdoorsIf you aren’t lucky enough

to make it to Helen for one of its festivals, don’t fret. A trip anytime of the year is just as rewarding because of the town’s landscape.

The Blue Ridge Moun-tains are the highest moun-tain range in the state, and Helen provides the perfect place to see them.

To do more than sightsee-ing, Unicoi State Park has hiking and mountain biking trails through the moun-

tains. One of the park’s trails leads to Anna Ruby Falls, twin waterfalls that lead to Unicoi Lake and then to the Chattahoochee River.

With the Chattahoochee River running right through Helen, summertime wel-comes a lot of splashing. Tubing companies open in May, although during Fas-ching celebrations, tubers brave the February cold and make their way down the ‘Hooch.

Time for schnitzelThere is no shortage

of places to get a meal in Helen. While most places offer the German staple of wursts on a bun, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not digging a little deeper for richer, German fare.

F o r s c h n i t z e l , t r y Bodensee Restaurant or the oldest German restaurant in town, the Old Heidleberg. Hofer’s of Helen is a bakery and cafe, but its grill special-ties such as Sauerbraten mit Rotkohl und Spatzle, mari-nated roasted beef served

with homemade spatzle and red cabbage, are sure to fill you up.

True to its German cul-ture, beer is important in Helen. King Ludwig’s Bier-garten has several Ger-man specialty beers on tap, including Warsteiner Dunkel, Warsteiner Pils ner and Paulaner Okto-berfest. If sweets are your vice of choice, Hansel and Gretel Candy Kitchen is fully stocked with hand-made chocolates, fudge and pralines.

Souvenir shoppingLeaving Helen empty-

handed won’t be possible once you get to the town square. Storefronts line up with souvenirs and collect-ibles, many handmade or from Germany.

Classics, an import gift shop, is filled with colorful inventory from the owner’s trips to Europe. Some of its specialties are musi-cal cuckoo clocks from the Black Forest, German nutcrackers and porcelain

dolls. It also has a collection of authentic German dirndl and lederhosen. You’ll get to take a piece of Helen home with you as a reminder of your trip, or just to show off to your friends who couldn’t make it.

gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |LIFE

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Sunday, February 22, 2015 5E

770.297.04011026 Thompson Bridge Rd, Gainesville, Georgia 30501

www.gainesvilledentalgroup.com

Helping the community by providing complimentary dental care to those in need.

Friday, March 6th 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Services will be provided free of charge to the first 75 patients on a first-come, first-served basis.

Services will be limited to cleanings, fillings and extractions.

Announcingthe 7th Annual

Provided by The Gainesville Dental Group

Kell D. Gallaher, D.M.D.

Paul Gannon, D.M.D.

Michael S. Vetter, D.M.D.

DISCOVER NORTH GEORGIA: HELEN

German influence in Northeast GeorgiaHelen resembles Alpine village in the mountains

Photos by ERIN O. SMITH | The Times

Tourists play miniature golf Feb. 7 in Helen. The city is known for restructuring itself as Bavarian Alpine town in the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Georgia.

Alpine Golf is one of several tourist attractions in Helen.

Tourists walk in downtown Helen, near the Shoppes on Feb. 7. Helen is known for its tourist attractions and downtown shops.

Jason Connelly tubes down the river Feb. 7 in Helen. Helen has many tourist attractions including tubing, ziplining, shops and more.

HelenFor more information about Helen, visit the Alpine Helen/White County Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.helenga.org