Newsletter High on the Desert Cochise County Master Gardener

Vol. 25, No. 10 October 2014

The University of Arizona and U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperating

The Virtual Gardener—Sun Protection—Part 3 Two months ago I began a series of about 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. An even three articles on the dangers of sunlight. better method is to watch the UV Index In August we learned about ultraviolet and avoid working in the direct sun when (UV) radiation, the invisible component the index is above 5. of sunlight that can cause cancer. In The UV Index (UVI) is an open-ended September we learned about the three scale developed in the early 1990s that types of skin cancer that can be caused measures the intensity of UV radiation by exposure to UV. This month I want to and relates it to the potential damage it complete the series by discussing how to can do to exposed skin. Weather Under- protect yourself from these harmful rays. ground stations show UVI values in the There are two ways to protect yourself range from 0 to 12. By going to http:// Inside this issue: from the effects of UV exposure— www.wunderground.com, you can find avoidance and blocking. the Weather Underground station closest Fall Plant Sales 2 Avoidance means limiting your to your location and see the current UVI. This Month in the Garden 3 exposure to direct sunlight to times when The table below gives some ideas as to October Reminders 3 the UV radiation is least intense. Since the dangers associated with different Cuttings “N’ Clippings 4 the time of greatest intensity is when the UVI values. In a Desert Garden 4 sun is highest in the sky, try to limit your At a Glance Box 5 exposure during mid-day—say from (Continued on Page 2) Wild Cotton 5 Ask a Master Gardener 6 UVI Description Color Code Recommended Protection < 2.9 Low danger Green Wear sunglasses, use sunscreen if snow or sand 3.0-5.9 Moderate risk Yellow Cover up, stay in shade at midday 6.0-7.9 High risk Orange Wear sunglasses, use SPF 30+ sunscreen, cover up, wear wide brim hat, reduce exposure at noon ± 3 hr 8.0-10.9 Very high Red Use SPF 30+, cover up, wear hat, minimize exposure risk >11.0 Extreme risk Violet Take all precautions listed above.

Table of UVI values and risks from Wikipedia

Cochise County Cooperative Extension www.ag.arizona.edu/cochise/mg/ 1140 N. Colombo, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 450 S. Haskell, Willcox, AZ 85643 (520) 458-8278, Ext. 2141 (520) 384-3594 P AGE 2

(Continued from page 1) melanoma and squamous cell Some concerns have been raised The first line of defense carcinoma, there is little evidence about the hazards posed by some of against the sun is the clothing that they are effective in prevent- the organic chemicals used in you wear. Long-sleeved tops, ing basal cell carcinoma sunscreen products. One widely full-length bottoms, full collars, [Wikipedia]. The amount of used ingredient, oxybenzone, has and a hat with at least a three- protection provided is given by a been linked to mothers giving birth inch brim all the way around are Sun Protection Factor (SPF) rating to underweight baby girls and both the order of the day. But not all which is a crude measure of the zinc and titanium oxide pigments— fabrics are equally effective in fraction of sunburn-producing UV often used complete sunblockers— protecting you. A white cotton that is not blocked. SPF 15, for may contain nanoparticles that have T-shirt, for example, is virtually example, allows one-fifteenth of been linked to reproductive and worthless for UV protection, the UV radiation to reach the skin. developmental effects in animals. allowing about 75 percent of the Another way of looking at the For more information on these and harmful UV radiation to reach SPF rating is by how much other risks check out the article in your skin. harmful UV is blocked. In the case Consumer Reports. The degree of protection of SPF 15, 1/15 (one-fifteenth) of Until next time, stay safe in the depends on the type of fibers the harmful radiation will reach sun and happy surfing. used, the tightness of the weave, your skin. This means that 14/15 Gary Gruenhagen, Master Gardener and the color. In addition, some (fourteen-fifteenths), or 93 percent [email protected] fabrics may also be treated with is blocked. In the case of SPF 30, chemicals to improve UV ab- 1/30 (one-thirtieth) of the rays will sorption. Natural fibers such as pass through and 29/30 (twenty- cotton are only effective if they nine thirtieths), or 97 percent, will Fall Garden Sales are heavy weight and tightly be blocked. So you see that SPF woven. Light-weight synthetic 30 is not twice as effective in September 30 to October 4, fibers such as polyester and blocking UV but only 4 percent 8:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m. Desert Sur- nylon if tightly woven are more more effective. vivors, 1020 W. Starr Pass, Tuc- effective. Surprisingly, darker To get the full protection son, AZ. For information: 520-884- colors are more effective than indicated by the SPF number, the 8806 lighter colors in blocking UV sunscreen must be correctly radiation because the dyes applied. The officially correct 2 October 11, 9:00 a.m.—5:00 themselves act as absorbers. amount is 2 mg/cm of skin, p.m. and October 12, 10:00 a.m.— You may see some clothing which, according to Consumer 4:00 p.m. Tohono Chul Park, rated with an Ultraviolet Pro- Reports, is roughly 2 to 3 table- 7211 N. Northern Ave., Tucson, tection Factor (UPF) rating. spoons for lotions and gels and AZ For information: 520-742-6455 These ratings are roughly the enough to be rubbed in twice for x 0. same as the SPF (Sun Protection sprays. Sunscreens should be Factor) ratings given to sun- applied 15 to 30 minutes before screen lotions [see table on Page you go outside and reapplied every Fall is the time 1]. For more information about 2 hours as well as after swimming the UV protective ability of or sweating heavily. to Plant! fabrics, check out the Wikipedia Originally sunscreens were only article on sun protective designed to filter out the higher clothing. energy UVB rays because only The last line of defense is they were thought to cause mel- sunscreen which may come in anoma. It is now known that UVA the form of a lotion, spray, or rays can also cause melanoma as gel applied directly to the skin well as all other types of skin to filter out or block harmful cancers. For this reason you should UV radiation. Although sun- buy a sunscreen labelled as broad screens can help prevent spectrum. P AGE 3 This Month In the High Desert Garden— Changing Season Means Changes in the Garden

(Editor’s note: This article written green tomatoes by picking them ions), or small sprouted plants. Gar- by Bill Schulze was adapted from right before the first freeze. Ripen lic is planted strictly from its cloves. an October 2011 article published them on the counter indoors or dig Both onions and garlic will be ready in the Sierra Vista Herald.) out a recipe for fried green toma- to harvest in May or June. toes. Here’s a tip about peppers, As for herbs, parsley, rosemary, For many, October is a time to both sweet (bell) and chile. Peppers thyme (we’ve almost got a song start backing off in the garden; that are green aren’t ripe. The green here!), dill, cilantro, and chives are for others, it’s time to get a win- bells you buy in the store would fine cool weather choices. ter garden going. It’s possible most likely have turned red when For those of you with grass lawns, we’ll get our first freeze in Oc- ripe, although other colors such as it’s time to overseed your summer tober. When freezing weather orange and yellow are possible, lawn with a cool season grass such comes, protect your tender depending on the variety. Same as rye, tall fescue, or Kentucky blue- plants with old sheets or blan- with those jalapenos and serranos, grass. Tall fescue is not recommend- kets. Garden supply outlets also ed for overseeding on a Bermuda sell floating row cover products grass lawn. For more information on made of various kinds of materi- cool season grasses, check out the als. Check the following web following link: address for an excellent U of A http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/ Extension bulletin on exactly garden/mg/lawns/cold.html how and why covers work: Happy gardening! http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/ Bill Schulze, Master Gardener garden/az1002.pdf. For an annual cool season they too are red when ripe. And flower, it’s hard to beat the pan- note, the proper spelling for the sy. Our pansies sailed right fruit of a hot pepper is “chile.” through the Big Freeze in Feb- Chili is a heavily spiced beef stew, ruary 2011 and continued look- sometimes made with beans, alt- ing good right up until warm hough the addition of beans is here- weather came. Petunias are a sy to some chili lovers. good choice, too, although they For vegetable growers, this is re- aren’t nearly as tolerant of freez- ally the time to plant cool season es. Stop fertilizing your roses crops like cabbage, lettuces, beets, this month so they can go kale, and chard. Interestingly, chard dormant. Quit deadheading ros- is exactly the same plant as beets— es and other perennials, too. both are Beta vulgaris. Chard is just Pruning, which is really what a beet variety that has been selected deadheading is, stimulates for large leaves instead of its root. plants to produce tender new Consider planting garlic or onions.  Be ready for the first frost growth that won’t stand up to Both will survive the winter (they  Thin seedlings the cold very well. Pruning of survived the Big Freeze in our gar-  Over seed lawns almost any plant, shrub or tree is den), growing slowly or not at all  Plant spring bulbs best done in winter when the depending on the temperature.  Divide perennials plant is dormant; some desert They’ll be ready to really take off  Don’t let weeds go to seed adapted plants are exceptions once spring arrives. If you do plant and can be pruned in summer. onions, be sure and plant a short Keep harvesting your summer day variety such as Granex. Granex veggies—tomatoes, peppers, Cochise County Master is the famed Vidalia onion when Gardener Newsletter Editor melons, squash right up until a grown in Georgia. Onions can be Carolyn Gruenhagen freeze hits. Save the last of your planted from seed, sets (tiny on- P AGE 4

Cuttings ‘N’ In a Desert Garden Clippings Velvetpod Mimosa - CCMGA will hold its next Mimosa dysocarpa meeting on Thursday, October 2 at the UASV Groth Hall Public Many years ago, when I was an Meeting Room at 5:00 p.m. The active member of the local Garden subject will be fall planting and Club, one of the ladies gave me a winter proactive product applica- little plant that she had raised from tion such as when to apply seed. At that time I was taking the dormant oil. pond plants I propagated to the The next Water Wise lecture Bisbee Farmers Market. On the way will be Saturday, October to Warren I had to drive through an 25, a Well Owner’s Work- area that had beautiful, colorful shop, 8:30 a.m.—11:30 a.m. If shrubs growing along that stretch of you are a well owner and want to the road. These bushes had dark- Mimosa dysocarpa learn about water quality and well green leaves resembling the Mimo- care, or if you just want to learn sa tree and flowers like the Bottle- about the quality of local water brush shrub, only these flowers A few weeks ago our local supplies, this will be a very in- were pink. It was the plant I was newspaper published a photo of formative presentation for you. given. Never before had I seen this one in Bisbee’s Warren District, Presenters: Dr. Janick Artiola, shrub as it is not available in the which made me want to write UA Water Quality Specialist and nurseries, and even the book Plants about it. Thanks to the Internet, I Associate Research Scientist, and of Arizona doesn’t list it. found reference of it. I planted my Gary Hix, former President of plant on the island bed in the front the Arizona Water Well Associa- of my house. I have to admit, my tion. Cliff for making the 17th Annual plant never looked as stunning as NEW Location: Cochise College, Water Wise/Master Gardener Xeri- those in Warren, but it has sur- Community Room (in the Student scape Tour a great success! We had vived all these years—more than Union), 901 N. Colombo Ave, five lovely locations with 85 at- ten. This year with all the rain it is Sierra Vista, AZ, Free. tendees visiting who learned about thriving, making me aware that it Information: Arizona Well Own- plants, landscape design and good probably never got enough water. ers Guide , Arizona Know Your watering practices. Stay tuned for The island bed dries out quickly Water info on the 2015 tour – we may al- and never really gets watered For more information: (520) 458- ready have a very special location much. For many years, the only 8278, Ext 2141, or contact (hint – BIG succulent garden) on place I ever saw these plants was Valerie at: the tour! If anyone would like to in Warren, but just the other day [email protected] one of these plants caught my eye You can visit Water Wise at: suggest landscapes for considera- tion by our committee or if you while driving along Hwy 92 to- waterwise.arizona.edu would like to be on our fun commit- wards Hereford.  Water Wise presents on This shrub is a deciduous peren- Wednesday, October 1, Gray- tee (we have a great party after the tour!), please let me know. nial native to Arizona’s desert water and Rainwater Harvesting upper elevations. The flowers are at 64 Brewery Ave. Old Bisbee Thanks! Cado [email protected] light to dark pink and clustered on 5:30—6:30 p.m. Come learn how brush-like flower spikes that are to use recycled water and rainwa- followed by velvety bean pods. ter for landscape plants. Under very good conditions the Presenter: UA Water Wise Pro- plant can grow to 6 feet tall. The gram. flowers attract butterflies, but the  A big THANK YOU to Amy, pollen is a mild allergen. Charlene, Susan C., Christine, Jan, Suzanne, Doe, Steve, Karen and Angel Rutherford, Master Gardener Jim, George, Terrie, Donna, and Photographer P AGE 5 At a Glance Box

It’s a Bloomin’ Cochise County Native Plant of the Month ameter with five porcelain-white Plant: Wild Cotton, Thurber’s Cotton petals sometimes tinged with pink. Description: Large deciduous shrub, small tree to 10’ The late-summer into early fall Blooms: 1 1/2” white flowers tinged with pink, late summer and early fall flowers only last a day or two, yet Water Need: No supplemental the plant blooms so consistently Use: Excellent RainScape (landscapes supported by rainwater alone) plant that the flowers fading to a soft Culture: Well-draining soil, full sun, part shade. Common on rocky pink are soon replaced with a fresh slopes, canyon sides, 2,500-5,000’ elevation. set of blossoms. Learn more: Cochise County Herbarium, Unlike many other dry climate www.cochisecountyherbarium.org plants, the leaves of the wild cot-

For an in-depth article, see below. ton are large, soft, green and deli- cate. Ranging in width and length Cado Daily up to five inches long, the leaves Water Resources Coordinator, Water Wise Program are palmate (“palmate” means University of Arizona Cochise County Cooperative Extension shaped like a hand with spread fingers). Indeed, the leaves are lobed with three to five “fingers.” Wild Cotton It continues to amaze me that a Botanical names make my eyes plant that looks tropical (actually blur and sometimes just don’t make the Malvaceae family does have sense. However, one of my favorite tropical and sub-tropical origins) native plants, wild cotton, thankful- thrives in our dry climate. I even ly has a botanical name that is easy had a wild cotton seed itself on a to remember because it clearly de- dry, rocky, exposed south-facing scribes part of the plant. Inside the slope at my Bisbee home. Always pea-sized boll of a Gossypium (goss one to experiment, I left the shrub -SIP-ee-um) thurberi plant, you alone to test its toughness. I was- will find delicate cotton threads as n’t disappointed. Not only did it fine as gossamer. Enunciating the survive the dry winter and hot botanical name with a dramatic em- spring, it grew in its first year phasis, you can almost imagine from a seedling to four feet in Ginger Rogers floating across a height and now has fall flowers. dance floor draped in the fine Could this plant be any better threads of a white gossamer gown. than having lovely showy white Although not enough to thread a flowers, green delicate leaves, a needle with, the fibers inside the Wild Cotton trunk tall enough to be trained into chambered seed capsule are enough a small tree and one that thrives to recognize the plant as a member that Gossypiums belong in the with no extra help? Yes. There is of the cotton genus Gossypium. As I Mallow (Malvaceae) family along one more striking feature. The write this, I hear my good friend in with over 200 other genera in- leaves turn a brilliant crimson in New York, Dr. Cecil Lumer, found- cluding the well-known okra and the fall. OK, true confession time. er of the Cochise County Herbari- hibiscus plants. There is one caveat—unlike what um, whisper, “but what plant Fami- The lovely wild cotton’s flower seems like all others growing wild ly does it belong to?” so I must say is about an inch and a half in di- on the hills bordering State High- (Continued on page 6)

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Associate Dean & Director, Economic Development & Extension, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona. The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities. The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by Cooperative Extension is implied. Any products, services, or organizations that are mentioned, shown, or indirectly implied in this publication do not imply endorsement by the University of Arizona. P AGE 6

(Continued from page 5) way 80 west of Bisbee’s tunnel, the wild cotton plants in my protected lower yard have never turned red. I thought maybe it was from lack of a cold snap, but we had one and the leaves still didn’t turn. What is the magic ingredient? Maybe I will find out with my new volunteer perched on the exposed hill. I will, however, have plenty of op- portunity to find out because wild cot- ton easily reseeds. This is one of my criteria for putting a plant on my fa- vorite native plant list. If it is a showy plant and likes to grow on its own, it is more than welcome in my yard. Fortunately, because it likes to grow, it rebounded from efforts in the 1930’s to eradicate it. It was thought to be a host plant for the Cotton Wee- Wild Cotton blossom vil that ate cultivated cotton plants. Further studies identified the beetle as a non-threatening Thurber Weevil and the lovely Gossypium thurberi was allowed to thrive and become a wel- come native plant addition to Rain- Scape landscapes.

Cado Daily, M.A. Water Resources Coordinator

Ask a

Cochise County Master Gardeners are available to answer your garden- ing questions either by telephone call to the Cooperative Extension Office Lirimiris truncata or on-line on our web site at: caterpillar on http://ag.arizona.edu/cochise/mg/ Gossypium thurberi question.htm