What’s Growing On... The latest news from the Marais des Cygnes Extension Master

SEPTEMBER 2019 | 104 S. Brayman St., Paola, KS 66071 | 913-294-4306 | www.maraisdescygnes.ksu.edu

CALENDAR Foliage Adds Stunning Color in the SEPTEMBER 24 As flower gardeners we are always will add to our list of ways with her Colorful Foliage for All Seasons, in search of ways to add more color presentation “Colorful Foliage for All Paola Extension Office, 6:30 pm, to our . Anne Wildeboor Seasons” on Tuesday, September 1 hour AT credit 24, 2019, at 6:30 pm at OCTOBER 8 the Extension Office. Fourth Quarter General Meeting, Graduating with a 6:30 pm, potluck, Paola office bachelor of science OCTOBER 17 degree in / for the Birds and Bats, from Kansas Theresa and Nik Hiremath, Wild Bird State University, Anne Center, at the Kauffman Conference has been a horticultur- Center, 6:30 pm, 1.5 hours AT credit ist at the Overland Park and Botanical OCTOBER 22 Gardens since January Soil and Water Quality, Jessica Barnett, 2014. She manages the JoCo Ext. Ag Agent, Paola Extension , designs the Office, 6:30 pm, 1 hour AT credit Maple trees, pumpkins and mums containers and gardens, and over- NOVEMBER 19 provide the stunning fall colors we sees anything related to horticulture Is the Answer: What Was expect to see in fall, but it’s Anne at the gardens. the Question? Stan Slaughter, Paola Wildeboor who puts it all together so artfully at the OP Arboretum. Join us for what is sure to be a Extension Office, 6:30 pm, 1 hour AT “colorful” Advanced Training! credit Board meetings are the second Tuesday of each month, 9:30 am, NEWS & NOTES Extension Office, Paola.

• The gardening staff at Lakemary they have plenty of Purple Cone- EMG History Project: needs more volunteer EMGs. flowers, if anyone wants some for Contact Patricia Wolfe at wolfep70@ their garden—come and dig on a If you have pictures, records or yahoo.com if you are ready, willing Tuesday workday, starting at 9 am. other information to be considered and able to help. Photos of last • for this project, a designated Three new recruits start the month’s workday are on page 6. collecting spot in a file cabinet Master training program in • in the office by the front door of Wednesday workdays at the Johnson County on September 17. the Paola Extension Office has Courthouse Gardens start at 9 am, • Betsy Hasselquist and Jan been established. Please include but contact Phyllis Benedict if it’s Thompson are carefully considering identifying information for pictures. hot—sometimes they start earlier. co-chairing another super- Place your contributions in an • Sue Burns reports that they successful fall fundraising garden envelope or folder with your name are starting to see Monarchs at the tour in 2021. Lenora Larson is and contact information on it in case ­Extension Office garden, and that scouting for potential gardens. of questions. Follow the Marais des Cygnes EMGs on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mdcemg 2 N E W S

Advisory Board Four Candidates for the 2020 EMG Board Betsy Hasselquist: I am running church for our 150th year celebration Chairman — Betsy Hasselquist for my second term on the EMG next year (see page 8). Vice Chairman — Phyllis Benedict board. I have served as chair since I would like to serve on the Secretary – Sondra Dela Cruz October, 2018. I ventured into the Treasurer – Sue Burns Advisory Board because I feel I can program in 2015 (class of 2016) after offer historical information as well Members at Large retiring as a mental health nurse of 40 as ideas for the future of the master Cathy Stainbrook years. gardeners. Judy Moser I love gardening. It is therapeutic, Anita Boyett-Voke: My name Jan Thompson a major part of my lifestyle and is Anita Boyett-Voke. Married with values. I’ve been primarily an organic no children of my own, however, I Committees vegetable gardener for many years, have two stepdaughters and seven but my interests continue to expand grandchildren, thanks to my husband Courthouse Garden since joining our group. of 20 plus years, Terry. Phyllis Benedict & Kathy Doherty I enjoy being a part of the EMG After retiring in April of 2018 I program, have made wonderful enrolled in the Marais des Cygnes Shirley New friends and connections, and Master Gardener program. I have KSU Extension Office Garden value all the learning and sharing been volunteering, learning (aka: Sue Burns & Debbie Kitchell opportunities. Such a wealth of advanced training), the sale, knowledge. Lakemary Liaison attending meetings and expressing Becky Thorpe The EMGs will always hold a my “ideas/opinions.” (Typically I dear place in my heart from all the am not afraid to express myself. Advanced Training amazing support so many of you My ideas aren’t always better, but Laraine Crawford gave me when my home of 38 years can be different.) My interests vary Awards Banquet was flooded in 2017. from animals and art, to cooking, Donna Cook & Susan Thompson I am very active in the program, co- sewing and growing things. I hope to Symposium chaired the successful 2017 garden continue to grow personally and learn from/with my fellow members. There Susan Thompson & Jeannie Trail tour, help with the symposiums and plant sales and have worked in all the are still a lot of weeds in my head, Plant Sale gardens. I believe in the old adage so I have a lot to learn!! I am looking Sondra Dela Cruz & Lenora Larson that the more you put into something, forward to seeing what the next year Publicity the more you get out of it. has in store for us all. I still have Judy Moser & Lenora Larson issues remembering names! One of Laraine Crawford: I have been a many character defects I possess. I Seeds for Kids master gardener for over 15 years am a work in progress. Jane McLaughlin with the Lake Area Master Gardeners Judy Moser: EMG training became Social Media in Missouri and Marais des Cygnes possible for me after I retired in 2017, Anita Boyett-Voke Master Gardeners in Paola. As a MdC master gardener I have though I had been involved with MiCo Fair Superintendents served as treasurer for 4 years, was Miami County EMG plant sales for Chet McLaughlin & Michael Poss chairperson for updating our by- many years with my husband, Ken Pat Trachsel & Sue Burns laws, hosted and created Gardening O’Dell. These days I enjoy doing New Recruits/Mentors Game Night, am currently the head of EMG graphics projects as I recover physically from pulling weeds in our Jan Thompson & Betsy Hasselquist Advanced Training, and work in the Courthouse Gardens. own gardens, in addition to helping Newspaper Articles with the Plant Sale, Symposium, and Katelyn Barthol, Extension Agent Using my master gardener other events and activities. ✿ knowledge, I have volunteered at the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Send news and photos to: in Overland Park as a gardener, a Members will be asked to vote Judy Moser, Newsletter Editor docent, and tour guide. online in November. Board members [email protected] This year I have designed and serve two-year terms and can be established a Biblical Garden at my reelected to a second two-year term. 3 N E W S

Everyone Enjoyed the Linn County Garden Tour!

Doris’s Amazing Wall Rest Stop at Rena’s

Not only was it a fabulous day chock full of ideas and inspiration, attendees will each receive one hour of Advanced Training credit. Many thanks to the Linn County EMGs who worked hard and made their gardens so perfect!

Sondra’s Straw Bale A New Trainee Learns Rena’s High-Tech Tomatoess about Butterflies Gardens

Cathy’s Water Feature In the Shade at Janette’s 4 INSECT OF THE MONTH

September: The Monarch Migration

By Lenora Larson

Monarch flies south to Mexico in fall coast or as far north as Kansas. Introduction: Insects are a part of and returns to the U.S. in spring. Once the ladies laid their eggs, they every gardener’s life. Each month Amazing! And we don’t even know died, but the stage was set for the you’ll meet a common insect with how they find their way!! northward generational migration. advice on whether you should eradicate, tolerate or embrace The Journey North Depending on temperature and this six-legged visitor. Please send Obviously, if you fly south, moisture, the egg hatches in 5 to 10 Lenora your insect requests! then somehow you got north. To days. The emerged caterpillar eats understand, let’s go back to the Milkweed for about 14 days, then winter of 2019. Millions of Monarchs metamorphosizes into a butterfly hen I moved to Kansas from throughout the Midwest had during a 14-day stay in their in 1981, the September congregated in their over-wintering chrysalis. The butterfly is genetically skies swirled with curtains site in the Sierra Madre Mountains. programed to mate, fly north and Wof orange as Monarch butterflies After a brief snooze, the Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed for the next migrated south to Mexico. Most of awakened in late January for an generation. The cycle repeats for up us took it for granted as millions orgy of breeding. When the males to a total of four generations moving of Monarchs poured past. Observ- ran out of sperm, they died. In north in spring and summer. The ers estimate that about one billion February and March, the now Monarchs may end up as far north Monarch butterflies congregated on “pregnant” females began flying as Ontario, Canada; incidentally, the the oyamel fir trees near Mexico City across the Gulf of Mexico to the northernmost range of Milkweed. in the winter of 1996-97. Today, the United States in search of Milkweed, migration is in serious jeopardy and Heading South the only plant that their caterpillar By now it is August. The days are may be lost in our lifetime. Contrib- can eat. Weather conditions dictated uting factors include midwestern cooler and the sun is lower in the how far the female flew. The first horizon in Ontario and Minnesota. habitat destruction, wide-spread generation may have been on the use, and illegal logging in Scientists postulate that this change Mexico. in air temperature and the direction The Monarch of the sun triggers butterfly as a species dramatic changes is not in danger in the appearance of extinction, as and behavior of there are healthy the northern-most world-wide native Monarchs. Instead populations that of enthusiastically do not migrate. mating when No one knows they emerge from why or when this their chrysalids, unique midwestern the butterflies fly population evolved to south. (Incidentally, migrate up to 3,000 scientists are miles south every studying this fall. Unlike all other suppression of insects, Monarchs sexual urges in migrate like birds hopes of developing and mammals with a new birth the same individual control method for making the round Eastern and Midwestern Monarchs migrate to Mexico while Monarchs humans!) Physically, trip. That is, a female living west of the Rocky Mountains migrate to the California coast. (Continued) 5 INSECT OF THE MONTH (Continued)

the individuals of the migrating generation are much larger A male Monarch on and brighter than the previous his way to Mexico in reproductive generations. And September fuels up instead of surviving for only a few on nectar from this weeks, the females will live for as Sedum. Other nectar- long as 8 months. rich fall flowers include By mid-September, migrating Asters, Goldenrods Monarchs from points further north and Sunflowers. are winging through Kansas, while the reproductive Monarchs that are still in our gardens are mating and Nectar becomes critical as the Milkweeds. Fortunately, people do laying eggs. These two populations “power drink” that fuels the migra- care, and ongoing media attention do not mix, but as the fall tempera- tion, breeding, and the return to the has provided new hope that the tures and sun direction move south, U.S. in spring. decline can be turned around. the offspring of “our” Monarchs Is There Hope? Each of us can make a difference emerge from their chrysalids in the Because of the switch to GMO in our own yards by foregoing migratory phase and join the journey corn and soy bean that insecticides and planting spring/ summer Milkweeds and nectar-rich south. The migration moves at a rate survive spraying of such ✿ from 50 to 100 miles per day, taking as Round-up, the Midwest will never fall flowers. about 2 months for each ­individual. again contain millions of acres of

Monarch Watch counts the number of hectares (one hectare = 2.47 acres) where the migrated Monarchs have hunkered down during their winter diapause in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. The 2018-19 count was the highest in 12 years! Monarch Watch is cautiously optimistic that 2019-20 will continue this upward trend. 6 L A K E M A R Y N E W S

Congratulations to Patricia Wolfe, fellow EMG and a teacher at Lakemary, who has been named the 2020 Janet Sims Teacher of the Year by the Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom among teachers who instill in their students a passion for learning about agriculture. She will be considered for the 2020 National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award, according to the Miami County Republic. EMGs Help Out at Lakemary Ranch On August 27th, MdC EMGs gave a little help to the Lakemary staff in sprucing up the gardens in preparation for Lakemary’s 50th anniversary. “The Ranch” is the animal and garden therapy center. Pictured below is the Andre Dight Memorial barn. The barn quilt was made by Doris McElreath. PHOTOS BY PATRICIA WOLFE

The work crew included Becky Thorpe (our liaison with Lakemary), Phyllis Benedict, Sue Burns, Anita Boyett-Voke, Debbie Kitchell, Barbara Shropshire, Fred Smead and Steve Kemplay. Steve is an EMG and a Lakemary employee, where he was recently promoted to a lead position. Below is the butterfly garden, a very ambitious undertaking!

“Steve and I and all of Lakemary want to thank you SO MUCH for your time and energy donated Tuesday. We are so thankful and appreciative for all you’ve done and continue to do for us here at “The Ranch.” Everything looks so much better! The pictures don’t begin to show how hard you worked. Thanks again so very much! Patricia” 7 N E W S

Scenes from Wednesday’s Workday at the Courthouse

Laraine Crawford, Carol Williams, Kathleen Brady-Francis, and Phyllis Benedict. PHOTOS BY LARAINE CRAWFORD

HELP WANTED Do you have a problem with deer in your garden, and if so, what strategies have you used to outsmart them? Email your ideas to [email protected]. This would make a very interesting and useful article. Or at the very least, a “misery loves company” lament. Full disclosure, I need your ideas to use in my own gardens. Deer have decimated our hundreds of hostas and daylilies and are now eating things I never imagined they liked. So I’m approaching this as my next gardening challenge!—Judy M

Lenora Larson sent this photo of her Calotropis gigantea (aka Tree Milkweed) in bloom, saying, “Clearly it’s a milkweed.” This is one of Lenora’s hand-raised Spicebush Swallowtails, just emerged from its crysalis and drying its wings before being released. 8 EMGs in the Community

Biblical Gardens at Antioch Community Baptist Church By Laraine Crawford have been interested in Biblical for many years. This year the opportunity arose to actually create a Biblical Garden for my Ichurch’s 150th anniversary in 2020. Many hours were spent on the researching of plants and the design of the garden. In June this year’s Biblical Garden finally was finished being planted. The Biblical contains various plants that have been authentically identified as plants which grew in the Holy Land during the time in which the Bible was written. Plants were chosen that were reasonably available today, reasonably easy to grow, and closely resemble the original species. Plants are labeled with their common name, scientific name, and Biblical verse and reference. Our two garden areas reflect the kinds of gardens that were grown in Biblical times. One area reflects the gardens of wealthy people, consisting of many flowers, a water feature and fruit. The other area reflects a garden of common people, featuring fruit, herbs and vegetables. Many people this year have already enjoyed reading about plants in the Bible through the signage. It is my hope that many more will enjoy the garden at our church’s 150th celebration in September 2020.

These are some of the plants Paper Plant (Cyperus papyrus) included in the Biblical Garden: Bamboo ‘Sunset Glow’ (Fargesia Date Palm (Phoenix roebelenii) rufa) Fig ‘White Marseilles’ (Ficus Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) carica) Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa) Needle Palm (Rhapidophyllum Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum) hystrix) Black Wheat (Triticum durum) Viburnum ‘Blue Muffin’ (Viburnum Willow, Variegated Dappled (Salix tinus) integra ‘Hakuro-Nishiki’) Hyssop ‘Sandstone’ (Hyssopus Oso Easy Rose ‘Peace Rose’ (Rosa officinalis) Hybrid) Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon There are also Broom Tree, Flax, citratus) Grape Vines, Mallow, Poppy, Sage, Chamomile (Anthemis matricaria) Rue, Mint, Allium, Lily, and several Wormwood (Artemesia other herbs. schmidtiana)