Q: I am enclosing a picture of the $2 white poinsettia I bought after Christmas this year. It is healthy and starting to turn white again. — Marlene O.
A: Thanks for sharing your healthy poinsettia plant! You’ve certainly enjoyed your money’s worth. Poinsettias, whether the red, white, or pink forms, are a beautiful summertime potted plant, as you’ve found.
Keeping a poinsettia from one Christmas to the next is a fun challenge that I suggest everyone who enjoys gardening try at least once. After Christmas, keep the poinsettia growing as a houseplant in a sunny window, watering as you would any houseplant, but be certain to let it dry between thorough waterings.
After all danger of frost is past, move the plant outdoors, to a sunny or partially sunny location, and maybe repot into a slightly larger container. Locating the plant among your other outdoor containers makes a nice arrangement, as you have, Marlene.
Poinsettia coloration is triggered as days become shorter. Bring them back indoors before night temperatures dip below 50 degrees F. Poinsettias develop color more consistently if given long dark nights beginning about Sept. 30, with 16 hours of darkness, uninterrupted by indoor lighting.
Thanks again, Marlene, for the inspiration.
Q: I want to plant an Alpine Currant hedge. I’ve had the turf removed where I want to plant it, but I’m worried about how they will do if I plant in the fall and we get an early winter. Is it best to wait until spring? I’m also wondering if I do plant them, could I wrap them in burlap to keep the rabbits off? I’ve heard Alpine Currants are rabbit-resistant, but rabbits have damaged a lot of my stuff in the past. — Mark H.
A: Alpine Currant creates a beautiful hedge and can be grown informally or sheared to a more formal shape. Alpine Currant establishes well when planted in fall or late summer, as well as spring. When planting in fall, it’s recommended to install the shrubs by Sept. 30 for our area.
Rabbits, of course, will eat anything during winter if they are hungry enough. I have several hedge sections of Alpine Currant, and there’s been minimal problems with rabbits over the years, although one year they did nibble a few twigs.
If you’re concerned about rabbits — especially when the Alpine Currant are young and most vulnerable — you could protect them with burlap or chicken wire, with chicken wire being less likely to be penetrated by rabbits than burlap.
As Alpine Currants age and become well-established, even if rabbit injury does occur, the shrubs recover well from rejuvenation-type pruning.
Q: This is the first year I’ve grown potatoes, and there are clusters of green balls on top of the plants. I’m curious what they are, and am I supposed to remove them? — Ben M.
A: The green balls are the seed-bearing fruiting structures of the potato plant. Potato plants flower generously, and occasionally, the flowers result in seed balls being produced.
Most often, the flowers simply fall off, without resulting in fruit.
Potatoes are in the same botanical family as tomatoes, so the fruits have similarities, although the potato seed balls are not edible and are considered toxic.
I enjoy growing potatoes, and have often wondered if the seed balls, when they do form, should be removed to conserve plant energy to create bigger tubers. I’ve never found a definitive answer.
Commercial potato growers don’t appear to remove the seed balls, and when I’ve experimented in our own garden, it didn’t seem to matter whether they were removed or left.
If you have a gardening or lawn care question, email Don Kinzler, NDSU Extension-Cass County, at
donald.kinzler@ndsu.edu
. Questions with broad appeal may be published, so please include your name, city and state for appropriate advice.
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