Bark stripping is a common practice among many types of squirrels. They don’t actually eat the bark; they strip away the top layer to get to the sweet, phloem tissue underneath.
Ask the Master Gardener: Aloe vera plant grown indoors offers surprises
Plant also features an aloe baby offsets or pups and produced around the base of the mature plant.
Written By:
Jennifer Knutson | U of M Extension Master Gardener | 5:00 am, Jan. 9, 2021 ×
Jennifer Knutson s flowering aloe vera plant.
Dear Readers: The aloe vera plant being grown in captivity at my house has flowered! As it turns out my plant’s flower is neither red nor yellow as anticipated, but is orange with tubular-shaped blossoms. I also discovered I am going to have a baby – an aloe baby that is. Aloe babies are called offsets or pups and are produced around the base of the mature plant. To cut the umbilical cord, wait until the pup is a couple inches tall, then cut it away from the mother plant with a clean, sharp knife. Allow the wounded area to dry and scab over for a few days before planting it in its new home. This will prevent disease organisms from harming the you
Dangers for birds eating from feeders in the winter include contaminated food, injury or disease.
Written By:
Jennifer Knutson | U of M Extension Master Gardener | 4:00 am, Jan. 3, 2021 ×
Photo courtesy Metro Newspaper Service
Dear Master Gardener: I’m worried about the backyard birds getting enough to eat in the winter. Is it a good idea to have bird feeders?
Answer: Winter is a favorite time to take care of our feathered friends. However, there are both positive and negative consequences to feeding them. Some of the risks include: contaminated food or feeders, window collisions, and increased dependence on supplemental food. Many birds have been killed because of disease outbreaks at feeders, so it is extremely important to keep them clean and disinfected. If a feeder is designed where birds can easily contaminate food with their droppings, this also increases the risk of disease.
I like having plants in the garden that have evergreen foliage.
This keeps the garden from looking too âblahâ during the winter. It also keeps the garden interesting during the late fall and early spring.
You may be thinking of traditional conifers or some of the evergreen broadleaf shrubs like holly or rhododendron, but there are also evergreen perennials. Some may look tattered and torn by spring but others hold up well.
One that comes to mind is the Christmas Fern, sometimes called the Christmas Dagger Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).
Christmas fern most likely got its name because its evergreen fronds are still quite beautiful at Christmas and they may have been used for decorations in times past.
Ask the Master Gardener: The potency of a potager is in its practicality for produce
A potager, French term for kitchen garden or vegetable garden, is an ornamental kitchen garden that combines aesthetics and practicality.
Written By:
Jennifer Knutson | U of M Extension Master Gardener | 2:00 am, Dec. 19, 2020 ×
Dear Master Gardener: What is a potager?
Answer: Potager is the French term for kitchen garden or vegetable garden. It comes from the French word potage, which means soup, so a potager provides the ingredients for soup. Potagers were established in monasteries by French monks in the 16th century to provide food and medicinal herbs. The Potager du Roi (kitchen garden of the king), designed in the 17th century, was part of the elaborate gardens at Versailles under the reign of King Louis XIV. It still exists today and is used for teaching purposes for landscape architects.