Flowers (annual and perennial)

Four o’clock the Flower

Want to grow a flower that has about every color of the rainbow in its bloom? Try four o’clocks, a shrubby like annuals which bloom in mid-summer till frost.

Jingles varieties of four o'clock
Four o’clock

Four o’clocks get their name from the time of day that they open. They open around four o’clock because of a temperature change and not from the time of day closing the next morning when the temperature increases. On cloudy days they also will stay open because of the response of lower temperatures. Staying open during the night, the flower makes use of the night pollinators like moths. After the flower stays open it will fade and wilt the next morning.

Another name for this plant is the Marvel of Peru denoting its native region. It was one of those flowers that settlers passed along to one and another like hollyhock seeds. The early flowers were a solid color of red, white, pink, yellow, or purple. Now with breeding that has the variety called Jingles, which are all of these colors on one flower is various patterns changing colors as the plant gets older.

My plants get around 2 ½ foot tall and wide. The plants prefer full sun and some moisture with fertilizer. If your plant goes dormant, give more water.

Garden Pests

Cedar Apple Rust

Remember those orange spider-looking galls on your junipers early this spring? Now there are brown to orange spots on your apple leaves and fruit. This is cedar-apple rust. The spring galls released spores into the air affecting apple trees. Later the spores return to the cedar trees and overwinter waiting to do their cycle over again.

Fungus galls on cedar trees in early spring
Fungus galls on cedar trees in early spring

If the spots are on a large apple tree, it will not kill the tree, however, it will reduce the fruit quality. If the spots are on a small tree, it may defoliate the tree increasing winter injury. The tree showing the fungus now, there is not much to do but to keep the tree watered and fertilized.

Apple rust on leaves of apple trees
Apple rust on leaves of apple trees in mid summer

The only way to control the disease is to spray with a fungicide before the leaves get affected during early spring when the juniper galls are present. This is sometime before the apple petals drop. Make sure the fungicide or orchard spray you are using will control rust. Some apple trees are resistant to cedar-apple rust like Liberty, Freedom, and Redfree.

If your neighbor has junipers, do not go and cut them down in the dead of night. The spores can travel for miles.

Garden Pests

Powdery Mildew in Gardens

Powder mildew is showing up in gardens and flower beds earlier this year. It used to not have been a major problem years ago. As our summers get more humid, this fungus is now common.

Powdery mildew on squash
Powdery mildew on squash

It starts out as a few brown spots on leaves, then you notice a powdery substance on the leaves like talcum powder. This reduces a plant’s growth and fruiting ability. It is spread by the wind and can carry for over a mile. Different types of fungi fall into this category attacking mostly vine crops. I have also seen it on beets, tomatoes, and beans.

A variety of fungicides like Daconil will protect leaves that are not affected giving the plant more time to produce fruit. If you do not want to use chemicals, you can use baking soda (1 Tbs per gallon of water). Another “chemical” which is becoming more popular is Neem oil (follow the directions carefully). This is made from an extract of the Neem tree native to India. Neem oil has been used for a thousand years as an insecticide and anti-fungus treatment. All of these are more of a preventive than a cure.