Making It Grow Minutes

Jay Keck, who works for the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, called recently to thank me for re-upping my membership. As we chatted, he told me his group has partnered with Andrew Jackson High School whose students build bird boxes not only for screech owls but for Prothonotary warblers, as well.

Even if you don’t have a large yard, you can use a small raised bed or even containers on a balcony to give your kids a hands-on experience growing vegetables, cooking and eating them, and learning about their history and importance. The South Carolina Botanical Garden has series with these fascinating topics – The Great Pea Race which Thomas Jefferson and his friends started, Wartime Secrets of Carrots – how important they were in Britain in World War II -- how corn, beans and squash, the three sisters, enriched the diet of native Americans, and ending with how pizza ingredients take you on a world-wide adventure. Seeds and supplemental materials make this both a hand’s on and virtual experience for young people including a Facebook page to share photos, recipes, and experiences. Search the South Carolina Botanical Garden for more information.

The South Carolina Botanical Garden is on the campus of Clemson University. The Garden is open for people to walk in and enjoy, with rules requiring masks and social distancing. In our coldest months, the magnificent camellia collection is alluring. But the beauty doesn’t stop there.

We are entering the long, dark days of winter which we hope will lead to a safer spring and summer as the Covid 19 vaccines become available. For some fresh, new activities for any children in your life, the South Carolina Botanical Garden has developed a program that encourages kids to get outside and garden by sending packages of seeds especially selected to grow well in our state, but the support and experience doesn’t end there. This series delves not only into the history of such topics as the “three sisters,” but cooking and growing tips as well. Seeds are mailed and the learning experience is strengthened by emails and videos specific to the crops being grown. The first planting begins in February with the Great Pea Race. Search South Carolina Botanical Garden for all the upcoming events.

My oldest daughter had asthma when she was young, and we had to be careful when getting a Christmas tree that it wasn’t fragrant. And now days I know several people with severe allergies to perfume, lit candles, or other smells. So a wonderfully fragrant tree might be wrong for your family. At the South Carolina Christmas Tree Association website, the farms list the types of trees they have available. You can make decisions about which farms have the trees best for your needs by first going to Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center and search for Selecting a Christmas Tree, Fact sheet 1750. They list all types of trees and tell you the complexity or lack of fragrance, how strong the branches are, shades of green with certain hues, and how well the needles hold on.

If you search “South Carolina Christmas Tree Association,” you’ll find ways of locating a farm near you. Click on “Member Farms” for the address, hours, types of trees available, and other services like premade garlands. Most have bow saws for you to use to cut your own tree and help you get trees out of the field. Usually they’ll put your tree on a shaking platform to remove any loose needles or debris before bundling your fresh tree to prevent wind damage. If it’s more than an hour after your tree is cut before you get home, saw off one more inch and immediately put it in a bucket or the stand filled with water. Check that water daily – fresh trees are thirsty and will keep their needles and fragrance longer when well hydrated. Don’t mist trees, water does not mix with electric lights.

The South Carolina Christmas Tree Association is a group of farmers who grow Christmas trees. Trees are a crop, a renewable resource. They add oxygen to the environment and when disposed of properly return nutrients to the soil, serve as temporary brush piles where small animals shelter, and even improve fish habitat in water ways. If you get a locally grown tree, the carbon footprint is as small as a reindeer’s print in the snow. On the other hand, artificial trees are made of plastic, and the carbon footprint travels from the oil fields to the manufacturer, the retailer and to your home. They never really break down instead becoming part of the microplastic pollution damaging the earth. Find a Christmas tree farm near you and take the family for a trip that will last in their memories for ever.

When my children were little, going to get a Christmas tree was a great family adventure. With eleven-foot ceilings, we wanted a great big tree and kept a bamboo pole as a guide and we’d strap it to the top of the car to take in the field with us. Back then, lots of farmers planted Eastern Red Cedars, a great native tree for wildlife, but very prickly if it dries out. Nowadays, Search the South Carolina Christmas Tree Association website to find a wide variety of trees to pick from and if they offer sturdy stands, garlands, or premade wreaths. Talking about those trips brings back fond memories for me and my kids – why don’t you start a Christmas tradition with your family this year with a safe and exciting shopping trip in the great outdoors.

I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. If you are plagued by deer, there are two groups of bulbs made to order for your yard. First, any of the Narcissus genus members – daffodils, jonquils, and narcissus and also the Lycoris members. Some accounts say that Lycoris radiata was taken from China to Japan to plant around rice paddies as it contains poisonous compounds thought to keep rodents away. And lest we forget that all medicines once came from plants, it is part of a huge study in China where it’s being grown for the compound Galanthamine, an aChE inhibitor used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It works better than manufactured products as it also helps improve efficacy of that compound by modulating the receptor sites.

I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Another Lycoris species often found in older gardens has a wonderfully amusing common name – Naked Lady Lilly, Lycoris squamigera. The naked part of its name is because just like with spider lilies, the Naked Lady Lily just springs up out of the ground without any foliage associated with the stem supporting the flowers. The pink is very soft but not pale and is large enough to hold its own in a container by itself. I’m not a big fan of glass containers as you see stems, stems, stems and more stems, but with Lycoris squamigera you would need just two flowering scapes to fill a small florist type glass vase. My clump is growing in part shade which all the Lycoris with seem to appreciate, i guess that’s one reason they seem perfectly at home when planted in South Carolina gardens.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Spider lilies are one of my favorite garden flowers for arrangements. The multiple flowers at the top of a single stem have long slender petals; they’re large but with their airy presence don’t dominate your artistry. If you’re using Oasis, a k a, wet floral foam, you’ll probably need a skinny dowel or pencil to poke a hole into the oasis first so the stem won’t collapse when you try to push it in. For amaryllis, which have hollow stems, you’ll need to buy dowels – they’re expensive, cut to the length you want and insert into the stem, then wrap the bottom of the stem with floral tape as it will curl up otherwise. For daffodils, just use wooden skewers from the grocery store to strengthen their hollow stems when making a centerpiece for socially-distanced dinner party for four.

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I don’t think the person who gave the common name Hurricane Lily to what I’ve always called spider lilies, Lycoris radiata meant to cast aspersions on them -- These spidery looking blossoms often do pop up overnight a big rain – thus the Hurricane Lily moniker. Extremely persistent, the foliage emerges after the flowers. comes after the Unlike most bulbs, which you plant two or three in a hole two to three times time the height of the bulb, Lycoris should be buried with the top of the bulb slightly above the soil, just like you plant amaryllis in your garden; both are in the family Amarylidaceae. Many people report their spider lilies don’t always bloom each year. Too much water, too much fertilizer, planted too late? It may be like number twelve of a dozen reasons babies cry, “Lord, only knows.”

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. At a home in Saint Matthews, dating from 1880, the yard is now naturalized. But in the fall, you can see where the formal beds from probably a century ago were the planted. Almost overnight, usually after a good, drenching rain, twelve to fifteen inch tall brilliant red spider lilies, Lycoris radiata, pop up and continue blooming for almost a month. Unlike most bulbs, the foliage doesn’t emerge until after the flowers have finished blooming. These bulbs originated in China and Korea and then made their way to Japan where a ship’s captain found them so attractive he brought several back to the United States. From what I’ve read, they don’t set seeds, having babies takes a lot of nutrients that’s why people dead-heading other bulbs after they flowers. Lycoris put that energy into bulb production and making larger clumps.