One of the ways to reduce the size of some of your houseplants, increase the number of your perennials, or to bring in and keep annuals is take cuttings. Now is the time of the year when a lot of plants will "take". Larry, one of our master gardeners has increased his population of plants by taking cuttings as well as seed starting. Some of his tips include: Use a sharp knife (exacto or razor blade). Use a clean soil-less mixture such as perlite or vermiculite with peat moss added. Dip the cutting in a rooting hormone which comes in a powder or a liquid. Use the green tips of the plant. Have 2-3 set of leaf nodes on the cutting. Strip off the bottom leaves, dip in the rooting hormone and place in the planting medium. Soil should be moist, but not soaking wet. Place them in a sunny window. Larry has success without a plastic covering. Some of the more hardwood cuttings can be covered with a glass jar to conserve moisture while the roots form. He has also started new plants of the ornamental sweet potatoes by laying a stem down, anchoring a stem section into the soil and covering that portion with soil. A new plant will start and can be moved to another container. Scented geraniums are easily rooted from cutting off a portion of the stem.. In this way you have a new plant or plants and the old leggy one can be destroyed.

Containers can be anything from clean yogurt cups, Styrofoam cups, to plastic or clay pots. Just make sure they have bottom drainage by poking a hole in the yogurt or Styrofoam cup.

Another suggestion I read was to cut a stem of a plant to a length of 4-5 inches and make a slanted cut just above a set of leaves. Remove the very end of your stem to the very bottom of where the next set of leaves appear. Next remove all the leaves except the top 3 or 4. Do not remove the little leaf nodes as this is where the new roots will form. Apply rooting hormone and place in the container 1-2 inches deep. Poke a hole in the soil with a pencil rather than pushing your cutting into the soil. If you use a plastic bag to cover the container use a tall stick to keep the plastic from touching the leaves. In 4-6 weeks you will notice new leaves appearing and the plastic can be removed, several hours at a time at first and then completely. If you have several cuttings in one pot you can wait 10-12 weeks before moving them to a larger pot. It's a good idea to water the parent plant before taking the cuttings. Once the new growth has started, the cuttings can be fertilized, but with a 1/.4 to ½ the usual amount.

Plants that will give you young vigorous plants for indoor winter gardens include geraniums, lantanas, impatiens and some of the begonias. Easily rooted are ivy, coleus, impatiens and in fact these will even root in a glass of water. More difficult are azalea, rhododendron and roses and boxwood. Cuttings are a way to increase the number of plants you have, or to over winter some of the annuals that would not survive our winters.

Timely Tips

Enjoy the garden produce.

Pick up twigs and sticks after the recent storm.

Keep weeding.

Take in a day at the fair.

Question of the week

What are some groundcovers that will grow on the north side of the yard? Ivy is easily grown, as is Adjuga, pachysandra, and Liriope. Water well when you transplant especially in this heat. Call Brenda at 347-7773 with your questions.

Telenet

August 15^th Telenet is on edible flowers by Sandy Mason. This is held at the Univ. of IL. Extension office at 1209 Wenthe Dr. at 1 P.M. Cost is $5.00.

- By Rita Kemme

Probably the most popular of the perennial flowering vines is the Clematis. Clematis translates as "vine branch". Several of the cultivars are named after people, such as Clematis 'Nelly Moser' which has a pale mauve 5 inch wide flower with a deep pink bar in the center of each sepal. Clematis has a small, semi-woody vine with a rapid growth rate and at maturity some of the vines grow 5 to 20 feet in height. It is a member of the buttercup family and likes full sun to partial shade. In our heat zone it likes the sun, but the roots need to be cool, so mulching is in order if you have one in full sun. Moist, well-drained, moderately fertile soil is preferred, but it is adaptable to average soils with a variable pH.

With few exceptions, Clematis needs some type pf support which the petioles can adhere to or the vines can grow through. Chain-link fencing, chicken wire, or wood lattice will all work. Porch columns and mailbox posts do not provide the holdfasts to support the vine of themselves, but can first be covered with a type of wire covering such as chicken wire. Some gardeners like to train the vine up a tree or a shrub for a different effect.

Clematis may be slow to establish, and a stem rot or stem borer may destroy individual stems back to the base of the vine during the summer leaving behind a trail of dead foliage clinging to the green stems.

We are zone 5 in our section of the state and Clematis will grow from zone 4 through 8. So weather-wise we should not have difficulty in growing the vine.

Probably the most difficult question is when to prune. To prune correctly one must know the 'cultivar'. Probably long ago, that name tag disappeared or the plant was planted by a previous owner, and you have no idea what the 'cultivar' is. Clematis are either old-wood flowering or new-wood flowering, and even this may not be much of a help because of all the new 'cultivars' on the market. An old garden saying may help if you are not sure of the name. "If it blooms before the end of June-don't prune," meaning your clematis must be an old-wood flowering type that needs pruning after it has bloomed rather than before it blooms. Pruning will help to give more flowers, renew the plant, and remove dead leaves and stems. 'Nelly Moser', 'Niobe', and 'General Sikorski' are some of the old-wood blooming cultivars. Plants that bloom on new wood can be cut to a low pair of buds 8 to 12 inches from the ground in the spring. 'Jackmanii' and 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' are two of these. 'Jackmanii' is the deep purple–blue, 5 inch wide flowering clematis that is quite possibly the standard by which all other clematis are judged. Its color is striking against the medium to dark green leaves of the plant. If you are still unsure, the plant can be pruned back hard in the spring, and if it doesn't bloom that year you have a cultivar that needs old wood to bloom. If it blooms, your cultivar blooms on new wood.

Enjoy the clematis in colors from white, yellow, pink, and blue, to red, violet, purple, and bicolor. Some of the newer cultivars have 7 inch flowers and bloom much of the spring and summer.

Timely Tips

Go to the library and consult a general gardening book on how to build a cold frame to over winter not–quite-hardy plants and cuttings and for seed starting next year.

Continue to water and fertilize annuals. The cooler days of September and October bring a fresh flush of bloom.

Enjoy your own garden produce or visit the Farmers Market at the mall on Friday and Saturday mornings. They have quite an assortment from which to choose.

Question of the Week

When can I divide bearded iris? These can be divided and reset anytime now. Be sure to water well. Call Brenda at 347-7773 for your flower and garden questions.

- By Rita Kemme

Some of the terms used by gardeners may be confusing. In an attempt to enlighten, me as well as others, this column will help to identify some of those terms.

Annuals and Perennials: Both of these can be started from seed or transplants. The annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season and die with the cold weather. They will need to be replanted next year. The perennial will live for three or more years. And then we also have the Biannual which has its seed sown in one year, but does not bloom until the second year and then dies. Many of these will reseed themselves so you will not have to start again.

Number of Days: You often see this term following a plants name. This refers to the number of days expected to pass before harvest. For transplants it is the number of days after setting out the transplants, and for seed grown crops, it is from when the seed is sown.

Hills: You may see this in reference made to planting crops like cucumber, pumpkin and squash. This does not mean that you physically mound up the soil into small volcanoes and plant the seeds at the top , but rather that you put several seeds, usually three in one location on flat ground in a triangle pattern.

Spacing suggestions: Another term used in plant descriptions. This distance is suggested in order to give the plant sufficient room to grow, often resulting in a more abundant harvest as opposed to very tightly grown plants that are now in competition with each other and usually producing less with a lesser quality.

Determinate & Indeterminate: Tomato growers will be familiar with these terms. The determinate types will tend to be shorter and more compact. The branches end in flower clusters, creating g a shorter plant and these are great for small space gardens, container gardens, or for those who do not like to stake their plants. Often called "bush" tomatoes, they ripen all their fruit in a short time, usually 2 weeks and after this produce little or no fruit. Many roma tomatoes are of this type as is "Celebrity". Many of these are planted with this in mind and you will have a large amount at one time to make salsa. Indeterminate types get very tall and need staking or wire caging. The ends of the stems do not end in flower clusters and just keep getting longer and longer. They bear fruit usually until frost.

F1Hybrids: are the result of specific crosses, which means that they are the plant breeders work to create something with better garden performance, disease resistance, uniformity and outstanding flower or fruit production. Saving the seed from these plants will not produce the same plant and will be less desirable.

Deadheading: is done to produce more flowers. The old flowers are cut off, resulting in the plant producing more flowers. This is often done with zinnias, marigolds, salvia, petunia and geranium. If older flowers are left on, there will be fewer and fewer flowers produced.

Thanks to Greg Stack for his expertise.

Timely Tips

Stop watering amaryllis in containers, so their leaves will dry and wither. If they are outside, turn the pots on their sides so the soil will dry out.

Pot up some herbs to let them get used to being in pots now to bring indoors later. Parsley, chives, and thyme will do well on a sunny kitchen window sill.

If you haven't dug your onions, do so and let them dry in the sun a couple days before storing them in a cool well ventilated area.

Question of the Week

When is it time to stop fertilizing roses? This is the time to stop, and the new growth will then have time to harden before freezing. Continue to deadhead and treat for black spot and mildew.

- By Rita Kemme

Some of the terms used by gardeners may be confusing. In an attempt to enlighten, me as well as others, this column will help to identify some of those terms.

Annuals and Perennials: Both of these can be started from seed or transplants. The annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season and die with the cold weather. They will need to be replanted next year. The perennial will live for three or more years. And then we also have the Biannual which has its seed sown in one year, but does not bloom until the second year and then dies. Many of these will reseed themselves so you will not have to start again.

Number of Days: You often see this term following a plants name. This refers to the number of days expected to pass before harvest. For transplants it is the number of days after setting out the transplants, and for seed grown crops, it is from when the seed is sown.

Hills: You may see this in reference made to planting crops like cucumber, pumpkin and squash. This does not mean that you physically mound up the soil into small volcanoes and plant the seeds at the top , but rather that you put several seeds, usually three in one location on flat ground in a triangle pattern.

Spacing suggestions: Another term used in plant descriptions. This distance is suggested in order to give the plant sufficient room to grow, often resulting in a more abundant harvest as opposed to very tightly grown plants that are now in competition with each other and usually producing less with a lesser quality.

Determinate & Indeterminate: Tomato growers will be familiar with these terms. The determinate types will tend to be shorter and more compact. The branches end in flower clusters, creating g a shorter plant and these are great for small space gardens, container gardens, or for those who do not like to stake their plants. Often called "bush" tomatoes, they ripen all their fruit in a short time, usually 2 weeks and after this produce little or no fruit. Many roma tomatoes are of this type as is "Celebrity". Many of these are planted with this in mind and you will have a large amount at one time to make salsa. Indeterminate types get very tall and need staking or wire caging. The ends of the stems do not end in flower clusters and just keep getting longer and longer. They bear fruit usually until frost.

F1Hybrids: are the result of specific crosses, which means that they are the plant breeders work to create something with better garden performance, disease resistance, uniformity and outstanding flower or fruit production. Saving the seed from these plants will not produce the same plant and will be less desirable.

Deadheading: is done to produce more flowers. The old flowers are cut off, resulting in the plant producing more flowers. This is often done with zinnias, marigolds, salvia, petunia and geranium. If older flowers are left on, there will be fewer and fewer flowers produced.

Thanks to Greg Stack for his expertise.

Timely Tips

Stop watering amaryllis in containers, so their leaves will dry and wither. If they are outside, turn the pots on their sides so the soil will dry out.

Pot up some herbs to let them get used to being in pots now to bring indoors later. Parsley, chives, and thyme will do well on a sunny kitchen window sill.

If you haven't dug your onions, do so and let them dry in the sun a couple days before storing them in a cool well ventilated area.

Question of the Week

When is it time to stop fertilizing roses? This is the time to stop, and the new growth will then have time to harden before freezing. Continue to deadhead and treat for black spot and mildew.

- By Rita Kemme