jan nl 10

! Okaloosa County Master Gardeners 1

…for discerning weeders

A News letter of the Okaloos a County M aster G ardeners Association –– January 2010 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It’s that time of year, when the world falls in love

Every thing you hear seems to say… Plant a garden; let your veggie

dreams come true…

ell, ideally you should have had the veggie dream a few weeks ago but there is still time to make a

garden before the pests show up again to soak up the heat and the sunshine and devour our summer gardens. The Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 breaks the crops down into North, Central and South Florida and indicates which months we can expect the crop to do well (all other things being equal). Here in the North part of Florida you can plant beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, eggplant, endive & escarole, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, (take a deep breath before continuing…) mustard (I always like it in those little jars!!! ;>); green onions, peas of the English variety (known as sweet peas) potatoes, radishes, strawberries and turnips. All that fills every bit of available space I have for a garden and none of that is really available space. Something else is occupying the ground. Surely I can find something to plant to make winter meals more interesting. Yes, I know we can buy any food product year round, but that’s no attitude for a gardener. I’m making an effort to reduce our carbon

footprint where food is concerned. I will admit to falling under the spell of cherries last week and then discovering they were from Chile. I’ll try to keep my eyes closed next time I pass that bin at the grocery. But back to the winter garden… I have some large pots that can hold some onions, lettuce and maybe a ring of snow peas. Winter gardening is hard for me because there is so little available sun that reaches the ground in our tree filled yard. Growing plants up should help that; now where did I put that tomato ring? Starting from seeds will push your potential harvest some weeks out so look for sets of the vegetables you want to grow. There should still be some available. Your success will depend on how fresh those little starter plants are. The basics apply here: locate your garden near the house, on a well-drained site, close to a water source and in a spot that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. OOPS! That may be a killer requirement for me. Sunshine is at a premium in our yard. Improved soil with lots of organic matter is one of the most important components of a successful garden––that and sunshine. Plan on fertilizing your winter plants. They will need it to grow successfully. Check the soil pH (5.8 to 6.3 is optimal for our sandy soils). Remember you can get a soil pH test run at either of the Okaloosa County Extension offices.

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Planting a Winter Garden Lynn Fabian


Pests are not completely out of the picture during the winter, just somewhat slowed due to the colder weather. They are hibernating in garden trash and soil. Working the soil a bit might bring some to the surface where birds and other critters can find them and make a meal. If you find a pest in your glorious winter garden, use the least

harmful method to reduce the damage to the plants. Always think IPM. Try the least harmful method first to control a pest. Plant something. It’ll do your body good.

n a small way we are all seed savers and keepers of the diversity

of the plant life on planet earth; or at least the part of it we live on. You see a plant I have (probably the other way around!!) and ask for some seed or a cutting so you too can have the plant. We are participating in an ages old custom that helps preserve the diversity of our plant life. Even setting aside the invasive potential of many introduced plants, we have the diversity because someone saw a plant and decided to see if it would grow at home. The Royal Botanical Gardens in England were formed around plants the English explorers brought home. There are groups formed around the seed swapping/saving idea that have been in ‘business’ for over thirty

years. One is Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) http://www.seedsavers.org/ located in Decorah, Iowa. I first read of this group when I subscribed to Organic Gardening Magazine. The web site says they have more than 25,000 varieties of seeds in their collection. The SSE is dedicated to saving and sharing “heirloom seeds of our garden heritage” and passing those down through generations. If that isn’t enough reason to practice what they preach, there are those who feel that the old varieties simply taste better. Do any MGs belong to this group? We’d like to hear of your experiences if you would share them. ––Lynn

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IPM (Integrated Pest Management)

IPM is a wide-ranging methodology. I asked Sheila Dunning, Extension Horticulture Agent; she provided this concise definition. Thanks, Sheila.

IPM combines several pest management techniques into a single strategy that suppresses the pest to a tolerable level and causes the least harm to humans and the environment.

Well said and thank you.

Seed Savers


Global Crop Diversity Trust

ive a thought to diversity…

Throughout our history, plants and animals have “provided humans with food, clothing, energy, medicines, and structural materials. Today, solutions to problems in agricultural production in tropical countries, reliance on petrochemicals, and the cures for cancers may lie in organisms not yet discovered. It would be a shame to lose these benefits without even knowing we had them.” http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw064 Any grocery store in the country has an amazing array of food for sale in any given season. However only a small proportion of plants worldwide have been cultivated for food. According to the Global Crop Diversity Trust, only about 150 crops are cultivated worldwide on a significant scale . The traits of those plants allow them to be

grown with disease resistance, resistance to cold or heat or have flavors that make them desirable. http://www.croptrust.org/main/ldiversity.php The U of F/IFAS document “The Value of Endangered Species: the Importance of Conserving Biological Diversity” states it is the wild plants that could hold the genetic material to help us develop new crops and improve existing ones. Pretend we are shipwrecked beyond hope of anyone ever discovering where we are. Should we throw every thing overboard we don’t recognize? What if the one thing we toss is the key to our survival in a new and possibly hostile world? Diversity is a good thing. The mosquito is still up for consideration, however. ––Lynn

hat do you have planned if there is a disaster in our future? Do you have extra water and food

supplies? Are picture albums and valuable documents stored to prevent loss? You may have plans for your personal belongings, but think on a larger scale. The government of Norway has built a Seed Vault in a mountainside on the island of Svalbard, far to the north of mainland Norway. The Vault is designed to preserve the world’s crop diversity by storing the world’s seed collections that are “vulnerable to civil strife, war or natural catastrophes as well as poor management or failure of equipment”. There is now another place to store duplicates of our food crop seeds. Today the Vault holds over 420,000 samples. The capacity of the Vault is over 4.5 million samples bringing the total seed storage capacity to 2.25 billion seeds. Information on how deposits are made is on their website. Ensuring the genetic diversity of the world’s food crops is preserved for future generations is an important

contribution toward the reduction of hunger and poverty in developing countries. This is where the greatest plant diversity originates and where the need for food security and the further development of agriculture is most urgent.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is built/buried beneath the permafrost in the mountains of the island of Svalbard, is designed to store duplicates of seeds from collections around the globe. Many of these collections are in developing countries. If seeds are lost, e.g. as a result of natural disasters,

war or simply a lack of resources, the seed collections may be reestablished using seeds from Svalbard.

“The loss of biological diversity is currently one of the greatest challenges facing the environment and sustainable development. The diversity of food crops is under constant pressure. The consequence could be an irreversible loss of the opportunity to grow crops

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Conserving Biological Diversity

Svalbard Global Seed Vault Thanks to Ed Smith for this Information


Photo: Mari Tefre/Svalbard Globale Seed Vault

January Board Meeting TBD Jan 20, 2010 Offices closed Jan 1 & 18 Arbor Day–Jan 14. John McMahon Environmental Education Center––Support needed –Jan 2: Bird Walk, Destin Bridge Area, Choctawhatchee Audubon Society –Jan 7: Water Conservation thru Rain Barrels: Sheila Dunning –Feb 10: BMP Sheila Dunning at Ext. Annex –March/Apr TBA Sheila Dunning: Scouting (E-mail events to Editor/Compost Pile)

adapted to climate change, new plant diseases and the needs of an expanding population.” (from their website)

http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220 Seed is stored at -18 degrees Celsius, sealed in packages sealed in boxes in a low oxygen atmosphere. Because the vault is under the permafrost in the Artic, freezing temperatures are guaranteed even if power to the facility fails. Built into a mountain, the Vault is above sea level even if the oceans rise. Svalbard is far enough to the north that the permafrost should not melt and even without power the temperature in the Vault should never warm??? more than -3.5 Celsius. This makes the veggie drawer in my refrigerator seem woefully inadequate. Norway is footing the bill for this and if a country or institution deposits seed in the Vault, that country or institution still owns and controls access to their deposit. Advanced approval is required before Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) can be stored in the Vault. Art even plays in this hi-tech endeavor. Norway requires at least one percent of budgets for public works be set aside for artwork. There is a sparkling metallic sculpture at the entrance to the Vault. Even with the four months of Artic night, it will be visible from miles away.

U. S. depositors to the Vault include Seed Savers and the USDA. Although the USDA has other storage sites, it is considered important to have

“a visible presence in the worldwide effort to safeguard the genetic diversity that underpins our food supply. The worldwide effort to preserve seeds is consistent with the philosophy that genetic resources are global assets”. http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=17933 For more information on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, go to http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220

Coming Events


Congratulations to our newly elected board. We wish you all the best in the new year. We have elected a completely new board for 2010. Given the MG base they will be working with, I think the board should have a record year of accomplishments and accord. To the membership: always remember that the board needs your input of ideas for projects and ways to take the Extension message to everyone in the county. ––Lynn

President––Mike Crow

Vice President––Bill Buckellew

Secretary––Shirley Howell

Treasurer––Jane Montgomery

2010 Master Gardener Board Members


The Appointed Chairs on the 2010 Board are:

Education Lionel Leon Info/Publicity Marg Stewart Master Gardener Activities/Ways & Means Joyce Waters-Smith

Nursery Andy Donatelli & Jenny Gillis Office Dorothy Green Outreach Val Boyles

Lockey Buhrow is our At-Large-Member and Johnnie Allred is the New Class Member. Thanks to all of you for serving your Association.

his Fall as the weather became cooler, I moved many of my plants from their summer home on the

deck or in the garden to my small greenhouse. This usually presents a problem because the plants exceed the space available for the care I like to give them. Without the rain, the lower light conditions and poorer air circulation, greater care has to be given to scouting for pests and pathogens. While in the process of doing this I had what Wikipedia defines as serendipity. This is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

A certain number of leaves turn brown and fall from the plants at this time of year. When I tried to remove one of these from a Ruellia elegans “Ragin Cajun” I was startled that this supposed leaf was looking back at me. First thought was; snakes with round eyes are non-poisonous. Second thought was my wife was playing games with a rubberized plaything because that’s what it felt like. Then it moved. Very cautiously I remove it from the plant and noted it had a black spike on the tip of the abdomen, much like that of a tomato hornworm but they are green.

A search on Google under the keyword of “hornworm’ soon produced results. My little friend is a larvae or caterpillar of Xylophanea tersa tersa ,zail-AH-fan-ees Ter-suh, the Tersa Sphinx Moth: aka Humming Bird Moth or Elephant Hawk Moth. It has a life cycle similar to a butterfly with egg, larvae, pupa and moth. It resembles the Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar in coloration but the Tiger has only one set of eyespots and lacks the caudal horn (spike).

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Serendipity Bob Bayer


The eyespots are just that, spots. They are used as a protective device to stare down predators, just as it had done with me. There are six small eyespots and one large one on each side. When disturbed it pulls its snout down and under making the large eyespots more prominent. Another protective device is color. The Tersa can be shades of green or brown and both may be found side by side on two different larvae. The predator may see one and completely overlook the other. The adult moth is known to hover above flowers and gather nectar much like its namesake, the Hummingbird. It feeds on many different flowers but is selective in choosing a particular plant leaf where it lays its eggs. Once the egg hatches, this will become the larvae’s food. Although, I did not find my caterpillar on one, the choice is usually a species of Penta. As an experiment, I placed the larvae in a jar with Ruellia leaves and it continued to feed on them. I will try to keep it alive through the larvae stage into the pupa and, hopefully, the moth stages.

Flowering Shrubs and Small Trees for the South

It is easy to see where the other name, Hawk Moth or Elephant Hawk Moth came from. These wings were not only designed for beauty but also speed. The Tersa Sphinx Moth can fly up to 25 mph. ––Bob Bayer

January 15th is Florida's Arbor Day, the perfect time to add a new tree to your landscape. Like many of us, you may be short on space for the more towering types. Good news! Marie Harrison's latest book offers a bountiful collection of possibilities, all of which are right at home in our part of the country. The fact that they flower is icing on the cake. Included in the book are flowering shrubs as well. Marie is quick to point out that the difference between the two is often just the way the plant is trimmed or trained. We have all encountered shrubs that greatly exceed the "mature height" listed on the tag when purchased!

As always, the reader will benefit from Marie's careful research. She provides both common and botanical names for each plant, along with salt tolerance levels, origin information, propagation techniques and cultural tips for successful results. A caution is included with plants which are considered to be invasive. Surely you'll be able to find a place for just one more tree.... This book is available in the Okaloosa County Public Library system as well as area bookstores. ISBN: 978-1-56164-439-1

Book Review Klare Fox


Ever heard the saying "What's old is new again?" This might apply to the resurgence of interest in the shrub abelia. Long a staple of old southern gardens, abelia seemed to fall out of favor as more showy, exotic plants came along. Now gardeners are discovering what grandma always knew; abelia is attractive, versatile, requires little care once established, blooms all summer and attracts the three "B's"; butterflies, bees and birds (humming!) Glossy abelias are a hybrid with evergreen to semi-evergreen, densely leaved branches that arch gracefully if left in their natural state. Flowers are tiny but plentiful, trumpet- shaped and often fragrant. Use abelia as a specimen plant, informal hedge or show it off in a large pot. Abelias prefer full sun for best leaf color and flower production, but will tolerate light shade for part of the day. They appreciate adequate moisture and fertile soil but will adapt nicely to the lack of either. Several types of abelia are available, from the potentially towering 'Edward Goucher' to the ground hugging 'Prostrata'. My personal favorite is 'Francis Mason' which tops out at 3-4 feet tall and wide. Its new growth is chartreuse, becoming even more colorful in the fall and winter. Other varieties include 'Sherwoodii' which has a denser, more refined growth habit, and 'Confetti' which has leaves edged in cream.

If you're fortunate enough to have a grandma with an abelia in her garden, she may share a cutting with you. Otherwise, abelias are becoming easier to find at your local nursery. Be sure to choose a variety appropriate in size to your intended planting site. Then sit back and rock on the porch while it takes care of itself…

reetings All and Happy New Year! 2010 will be an exciting year for Okaloosa Master Gardeners. Your

new leadership will continue to build on the foundations that were laid by the Master Gardeners of years past. You have placed your trust in us and we do not take it lightly. I ask that you never hesitate to speak your mind; I know this will not be a problem for many of you….Humor. !

“...as we say in Cajun…..Bonne année et

Est Béni! Please use those manners taught you by your parents. Bring your ideas to the meetings and remember that with those ideas comes your chance to lead the events.

Education is our main responsibility. Getting the proper Right Plant Right Place Right Time knowledge out to the Florida newcomers will be a robust tasking. While we all continue to make deposits in our knowledge banks we will at the same time have many opportunities to educate those that will experience the Florida Gardening Challenges. Our 5-year plan is in place. Our Master Gardeners are heading the call. Let’s go out and educate the public. They need us and we need each other! Happy New Year or as we say in Cajun…..Bonne année et Est Béni! ––Mike

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President’s Message Mike Crow

Not Your Grandmother’s Abelia Klare Fox

Frances Mason Abelia Klare Fox


elp!! Our house is overrun by two-legged reptiles!! With the advent of cold weather they just find the warmest place they can and sit and hope that spot

will get even warmer. Sometimes they have been seen to wrap themselves in fluffy material to retain some heat. I’m pretty sure my ID is correct. The dictionary states that a reptile is “a cold… vertebrate…. They are distinguished by having a dry scaly skin…” Yep! That fits these critters. But it is not a hopeless infestation. Soon it will be spring again and the normal activity of these vertebrates will resume and we will be back to working in the yard and enjoying the sunshine that seems to have been in short supply lately. We have met the reptile and it is us! Once again I appeal to the writer in all of you to let me know about subjects you would be interested in sharing with your fellow MGs. I would truly like to see more participation in the newsletter from the membership. It is a new year and we have a new board to lead us. Remember to keep your Volunteer Hours up to date and send the hours to Sandie Olsen. When you present a program, fill out a Contact Report (link to the OCMGA.ORG website if you need the form) and send that form to Stacey Taylor. Larry Williams recent sent an e-mail, wishing us all the best, contained some very good figures…

He said according to the best numbers I could compile, collectively Okaloosa County Master Gardeners gave 10,640 hours to Okaloosa County providing 8266 clientele contacts with University of Florida research to help solve [problems] and improve their lawns, landscapes and gardens. Thank you for a productive year! Thank you for being unselfish and giving. I admire these qualities in people. And during this season of giving, I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy New Year. It’s

difficult to believe another year is almost gone. I truly look forward to enjoying your continued friendship and a productive year in 2010 as we work together to better our County and communities.

Thanks for the high praise, Larry. That is a lot of Volunteer Hours. You are all to be commended. It is a new year and the slate is once again clean. Watch for opportunities to fulfill the hours you need to remain active. All the best in the New Year from Ed & I. The Compost Pile is a publication of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association.

Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association is a volunteer organization sponsored by Okaloosa County Extension and the University of Florida IFAS. The Foundation for the Gator Nation...an equal opportunity institution. Lynn Fabian, Editor Sandy Killingsworth, Web Site CoordinatorSee you in January. ––Lynn

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Last Word Lynn Fabian

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