American Mistletoe

 Note from the Author: I’ve mentioned this plant before but no real write-up.

 

Here's a good close up

This cluster is growing on a Ornamental Cherry tree near the downtown library.

This larger cluster is doing pretty well, notice how the branch is bent? This is not from weight but the scar tissue and callusing caused by the Mistletoe's haustoria.

Seen from the bridge down the road from the Headquarters library in Downtown Fayetteville.

 

Common Name: American Mistletoe

 

Other Common Names: Mistletoe, False Mistletoe, Oak Mistletoe

 

Botanical Family: Santalaceae (The Sandalwood Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Phoradendron leucarpum (aka P. flavescens, P. serotinum)

 

Description & Habitat:  American Mistletoe like most other true Mistletoe are considered a hemiparasite in that they do have chlorophyll in sufficient quantity to photo synthesize but lack a traditional root system. American Mistletoe is almost exclusively found growing on trees. American Mistletoe uses a root like structure called a Haustoria, that digs into its host plant to extract water and nutrients. These specialized roots can go up or down the branches of a host and penetrate the Xylem and Phloem. American Mistletoe is evergreen and is often spotted as strange leafy blobs seen high up in deciduous trees after the trees have dropped their leaves in autumn. Up close American Mistletoe is best described as medium green in color with oppositely arranged leaves that a leathery to the touch and oblong in shape. This plant’s flowers are inconspicuous to a point of barely being noticed. The flowers are small native species of bees, wasps flies and ants. The flowers might also be marginally wind pollinated. The white berries of American Mistletoe are of note because they are how this plant spreads. Each berry is coated in a sticky substance that causes it to stick to the beaks and feet of birds who then rub the seeds off on surfaces such as other trees. Additionally since birds eat the berries the seeds get dispersed in the usual bird-oriented way as expected.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  This plant is poisonous to People, Cats, Dogs and Horses. Although most references say it is toxic if large quantities are eaten that is relative to body weight of the victim. Symptoms of American Mistletoe poisoning include; Stomach and intestinal irritation with diarrhea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, lowered blood pressure, and slow pulse.

 

The primary poison compounds in this plant are Amine, toxalbumin, pharatoxin viscumin (Lectins, Phoratoxins), the berries are the worst part but it is possible the foliage is just as dangerous so don’t take any risks out there.

 

When & What to Harvest: You can harvest sprigs of this plant for holiday festivities but do not harvest this plant as any sort of food or medicine.

 

Related Plants:  European Mistletoe (Viscum album), Pacific Mistletoe (Phoradendron villosum), Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium sp.)

 

Recipe: Not Edible, don’t even try.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/phoradendron-leucarpum/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

-if you are determined you can find clusters of this plant in trees all over downtown Fayetteville and those clusters are especially visible in winter.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fall Produce:

Garlic, softneck

Soup Kits, Parsnip

Soup Kits, Turnip

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Parsnips

Red Potatoes

Turnips

Sweet Potatoes

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA, new stuff in spring

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (-): [On Winter Haitus]

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is January 3rd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Special Delivery

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market. This episode will be posted late simply because of the Holiday weekend.  For those not in the USA, this weekend is Independence day which is a celebration of the end of the American Revolution, and the series of events that led up to it and came immediately afterwards. I hope that all you readers out there have a happy and safe 4^th of July.

First off we have the above image. This is a picture of the ‘turning area’ at the headquarters. It high lights one of the points of confusion between northern and southern gardens. In the south, the number of pine trees means that the cheapest available mulch is what is called pine straw.  At the store it might cost 3-5 dollars per bale, but if you have pine trees you get it for free. As far as mulches go, pine straw is light, cheap, and if it’s harvested from long leaf pines it lasts for roughly 2-3 years. Mulch acquired from bark, or chipped hard wood by comparison lasts 1-2 years on average depending on type. The point of mulch is twofold; firstly it limits or stops erosion by water by acting as a physical barrier to hold the soil in place. Secondly, mulch acts as a slow releasing soil improvement since mulches from pine straw, bark or wood chips all eventually decay leaving behind organic materials that help improve topsoil quality. In the picture above a lot of moderate quality pine straw has been used to cover what was bare sand soil. In doing so, the soil beneath the pine straw can only erode at a limited rate. This means that even with restricted vehicle traffic, the erosion issue in this area has been successfully abated at the cost of using 204 cubic feet of pine straw. Eventually the pine straw will break down and need to be patched or replenished but until then it looks good. For note, if you notice there is no pine straw under the truck. This lack of pine straw there is intentional as pine straw still contains pine resin and potentially can still catch fire if exposed to a source of heat such as a hit vehicle engine. Also, this is why I balk at the use of Rubber mulch; it does not break down and only leaches zinc into the soil making it a poor choice for residential use in the garden.

But speaking of soil and such with the entry into the month of July, it is now that we must keep a wary eye on our nightshade crops for that summertime scourge known as blossom end rot. Blossom end rot is a ‘disease’ that actually is a nutrient deficiency. For some reason in the peak of summer members of the nightshade family, particularly tomatoes  might start getting blackened bottoms on fruits while they are in the green stage typically. The long-term solution to this problem is to use a little fast-acting lime, oyster shells or, eggshells. The short term and fastest solution is to crush one regular strength antacid tablet in a cup of water and apply the mixture to the single effected plant and repeat process for each other affected plant.  Why this nutrient deficiency strikes is unclear. It is known that bloom end rot will attack potted plants even if they are growing in new potting soil and plants planted in your garden beds with equal opportunity. It seems to strike different plants every year and with no set pattern. It’s one of those summertime vigilance things that all of you out there should pay attention to. But don’t worry, here’s the good news, garden photography!

So here we have an improvised irrigation system for one of the figs. This fig came into my possession in fall of last year, I don’t outright recall the person’s name but they were moving had this brown turkey fig potted up in a 16” pot and could not take it so it was offered to me. I carted the bush away brought it home and it the cold weather set in before I could get it planted. As seen in earlier images it was finally planted near the growing trays so it could make use of the fertilizer runoff and be much easier to maintain. The bucket is an old brewing vessel that proved unneeded. Inside of it is a layer of large stones and a single small hole was bored in the bottom so water or fertilizer placed inside drips out slowly right at the roots of the target plant. The lid is weighted so it cannot blow off and the old non-functional airlock ensures air exchange. With a two-gallon capacity if can mimic a good ½” to 1” rain depending on climate conditions roughly speaking.

In this image some of the surplus rudbeckia have decided to bloom, I think they’re one of the Indian summer types I sold last year. They were in bad shape when planted and I didn’t expect them to survive winter.

In this image we have a mix of three types of cone flower, some Echibekias which are a rudbeckia-Echinacea hybrid and in the upper left the leaves of perennial cabbage.

I think this is a Sumerina Yellow Echibeckia, the last image had an orange one.

Vaccinium ashii – Rabbit Eye Blueberry

It’s that time of the year and the blue berry crop is off the charts already. My four bushes are so loaded with berries they’re bent over from the weight. I’ve already harvested a pound and a half.

Lilium sp. ‘Rio Negro’ – Asiatic Lily

Honestly, they’re dark pink! With a name like Rio Negro I expected dark red or, a darker shade, but then I’m not complaining at all.

Lilium sp. ‘Purple Prince’ – Asiatic Lily

Ok so this Asiatic lily is at least sort of purple it’s not nearly as flamboyant as Rio but still very nice. Obviously this is an overdue post, so there is no farmers market info attached, stay tuned for this week’s post where I’ll include the plants list and introduce you to a garden plant you may not have considered before.

Farewell to a year

Welcome back to Lost In the Farmer’s Market. This marks the last episode of 2014, and with the start of the New Year we begin the 2014 review.  I think it’s fair to state we had an interesting year and the vital statistics will definitely support this assumption.  As per the new tradition I thought it’d be wise to cap off the year with some unique year-end images and the first of which is a look at what sort of “Tree” we decorated this year. If you looked at this blog last year the plant decorated was a Pencil cactus or Euphorbia tirucali ‘Firesticks’. We picked the plant in question due to its size and the fact that it had developed a cheerful red-orange color by the time it had to be brought in for the winter. Well move over euphorbia for 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose Adenium obesum. The specimen this year was picked because of its exceptional growth, over the year and it’s decidedly much more tree-like form by the end of the warm season.

I did skip putting lights on the plant because let’s face it; the big plant is too good looking in all that bling to need lights.

A close up of the trim placed on our Desert Rose.

For those not in the know, the Desert Rose is a succulent plant classified as a caudiciform or a plant with a swollen trunk or base that serves to store water and nutrients which enables the plant to survive drought or periods of dormancy or bad weather. From a biological perspective a Desert Rose is interesting because as the above images suggest Desert Roses have actual leaves which put them somewhere between broadleaf non-succulent plants and the true succulents indicating a transition between environments in the plant kingdom. They still can get the same maladies as a succulent but when stressed can also suffer non-succulent pest problems so their care is a careful regimen of benign neglect. A bright sunny spot and occasional water is all one of these stoic plants needs to be happy. For those of you out there who are inspired to buy one, don’t be surprised if in your first winter with it the plant drops all leaves and goes dormant. It takes at least a year or more for them to stop doing this as new plants. The trick for handling dormancy when you have a new (less than two years old) Desert Rose is simply to water less often, and allow the soil to dry before watering and then only water enough to moisten the soil slightly.  The specimen plant here at the Test Gardens generally retains its foliage year-round and blooms twice a year. Fertilization during the warm season often produces better growth and heavier bloom set during the holidays. The typical bloom color for this species is pink however red and white and limited bicolor mixes of the aforementioned plants can be found occasionally.  Desert roses grow well in basic potting soil mixes that are not specifically geared to moisture retention and preferably do not have any of those fertilizer gimmicks in them. You may need to repot your Desert Rose every two to three years depending on its health and vigor and this should be during the winter during dormancy after its winter blooming period.  As a final note some publications suggest that Desert Rose is poisonous to dogs, the sap is said to contain glycosides. So it may be wise to surround a desert rose in a limited access area with pricklier companions as a pet defense.

Undoubtedly, you might be asking why 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose.  The Desert rose isn’t for everyone, it’s a plant that has needs and if you are careless it won’t survive but if you allow it to largely live without interference it’ll be just fine. Your reward is a plant that has attractive slightly lemon-scented blooms that it will delight you with at least twice a year for minimal care. In a way the Desert Rose is a little like a parable of interpersonal understanding, if you give it its fair due it will give the same back to you. Even a dormant leafless desert rose has a form and stature that in of itself is attractive and if you’re like me it lends itself to being decorated.  The trunks of these plants with age grow and take on forms and shapes that defy and prediction or logic. As far as a plant for the rigid science of Bonsai this plant excels in its role making do with what it receives. If I had to sum up all that with just a few words, the desert rose epitomizes the ideals of compromise, understanding and patience.

But enough of this end of year talk there is one other thing worth posting here as far as images. The initial cutting of this plant was given to me by Sharon (the cactus-terrarium lady) down at the Fayetteville City Market last year. So I planted the tiny snippets and waited through the summer of 2013, and the plants rooted and began growing. Now honestly I have a lot of members of this plants’ family but this one gave me trouble in identification because it did not match the other plant’s growing habits. I knew then it was a member of the Rhipsalis family but not which one. Late this year I found an identical plant in a nursery, and got ahold of a spare plant tag. Finally this plant had a name! Rhipsalis baccifera ssp. horrida…that’s not an encouraging name, horrida means horrible! The plant was covered with thin white spines that posted little threat so I suppose someone had “cactus-phobia” or something. Well just a few days ago the plant did something amazing really, at the end of my second year of caring for it; it bloomed. The flowers were nothing like any of the other rhipsalis, they resembled queen of the night cactus and other night bloomers but incredibly tiny.  Well take a look below and see for yourself the Christmas Rhipsalis as this one bloomed on Christmas Eve.

I don’t know how I missed the buds, they looked like new growth, but fuzzier.

The flowers pretty much comprise of all white or semi-translucent white parts so they aren't easy to photograph.

It was just after with the plant in one hand that I searched for the common name for this succulent, and there after matching up flowers by size and color a common name for this plant finally was located for sure.  Mouse-Tail Cactus, honestly I was a little underwhelmed, that isn’t a flattering name but then, I think I’ll stick to Christmas Rhsipsalis. As a side note a lot of plants in the trade have botanical Latin synonym names the Christmas Rhipsalis is also known under the Latin name of Rhipsalis quellebambensis.

But of course the overdue part of this post, I will be at the Fayetteville City Market this Saturday (tomorrow) as the last market event of 2014, obviously there is no market on the 31^st so the next time I’ll be out there is January 3^rd 2015. If or if not I continue to do Wednesday markets for January and February 2015 is in debate, the weather and supply status are all in question for those months so for now feel free to ask on Saturdays to find out. In the meanwhile I’m on much needed vacation so Happy New Years, and here is the final product listing of 2014.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

Southward Skies is a pocket-sized guide to gardening in the Carolina region. It will guide you through the process of having a productive garden in our region using a year-round format that matches the timing of what you should do and what time of the year you should do it. Unlike a lot of garden guides Southward is written in a way that can help even the most discouraged gardener to find success. Southward Skies has been tested by gardeners in other states ranging from as far south as Naples, Florida, as far north as Dorset, Vermont and as far west as Reno, Nevada. As a general guide you can’t lay hands on a better collection of tips, tricks and methods. The book is available on amazon.com as a digital book for the kindle and makes a good gift in print or digital format. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed. During the month of December we will wrap copies of the book at your request if you intend them as a gift.

Cold Season Crops

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fresh Foods

2x Bordeaux Blend Soup Kit – ($5.00)

After quite a few discussions with visitors to the booth and other Sustainable Neighbors the lack of a locally available soup-making package seems to be an unaddressed need at our local markets. The Bordeaux blend soup mix contains carrots, purple top turnips, red potatoes, celery, parsnips, red onions. In short, it’s the last word in soup kits because all you need to add is bullion and meat or beans. The best part is that all items in the kit are organic and as much of it is home grown as is possible. Any item that is not homegrown is sourced within the state.

Herbal Bundles

3x Rosemary, Bagged – ($2.00)

3x Eucalyptus Bundles – ($2.00)

1x Mixed Sweet Potatoes – ($3.00)

Holiday Splendor

2x 6.75” Checkerboard Aloe – ($8.00) –SALE

1x 6” Gator Aloe – ($7.00) - SALE

2x 4.5” Silver Ridge Aloe – ($6.00)  - SALE

1x 4.5” Gator Aloe – ($6.00) - SALE

3x Bucket Teardrop Peperomia – ($7.00) - SALE