Published 1-1-22, submitted by Amy Grandpre
Level 1 Shirt and Certificate
Level 2 Shirt and Certificate
Level 3 Shirt
Welcome New Participants:
September: Kimberly and John Maynard, Christine Romans, Anna Zimmerman, Dan Yazak
October: Janet Baniewich
November: Richard Gamba, Vachelle Poetoehena
December: JoAnna Nye
by Suri Lunde
Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos), not to be confused with tropical hibiscus, is a herbaceous perennial plant that goes by the common names of rose mallow, swamp mallow, marsh hibiscus and dinnerplate hibiscus.
Depending on the variety, it can grow between 3 to 8 ft tall, and make excellent back-of-abed plant. When planted in groups,
the stunning flowers which can be 5 to 10 inches in diameter, will make a backyard look like a tropical paradise. Although each bold flower only lasts a day or two, hardy hibiscus is a prolific rebloomer from mid-summer through early autumn. Cultivars come in various colors such as white, pink, hot pink, red, dark red and bi-colored, often with a contrasting eye. Its deeply-lobed foliage ranges from medium green to dark green with purple undertones, coppery red and even variegated, and can provide textural interest or contrast in a plant bed.
Hardy hibiscus prefers full sun in fertile and moist garden soil (even wet areas along streams or ponds) but it will tolerate a wide range of soil types if kept well-watered. To avoid leaf fungus and other foliar diseases, water during the early morning hours rather than late in the evening, maintain good air circulation around the plant and remove diseased leaves. Its new growth is slow to emerge from dormancy in spring but shoots up rapidly once it takes off. Hardy hibiscus is a low maintenance plant: apply plant food in spring and early summer to ensure health and flower production, apply mulch for an extra layer of insulation to overwinter, deadheading of spent blooms is not necessary unless to prevent seedpods from forming.
Despite its vulnerability to Japanese beetles and sawflies, hardy hibiscus is a worthy plant to have in any garden.
Fun facts about hardy hibiscus:
• Hummingbirds appreciate the nectar from the colossal flowers and many moths and caterpillars consume this plant for their nectar and larval needs. It has been used medicinally in the form of tea to treat digestive and urinary tract inflammations.
• Generally, all perennial species of hibiscus are edible. The flowers and the young leaves have a mild flavor. The shoots, roots, and leaves contain a gooey liquid which is useful for thickening soups, and also in meringue.
by Ann Guthals
Dallas Master Gardener Gina Woods married a Mexican rancher and lived in Mexico on a remote ranch for 23 years. The ranch raised cattle and sheep, but Gina started a then-unique side business by building shade houses and raising long-stemmed cut orchids of the Dendrobuim genus, which she marketed in Texas and Mexico. At the height of her orchid business in Mexico, she was selling 1,000 stems a week. Gina also raised bromeliads and created a second business of selling arrangements for homes and businesses in Tampico and event planning such as weddings. She also had a retail store in Tampico.
In 2009, the drug cartels became active in the area of Tampico with frequent kidnappings and extortion of businesses to supply protection. In early 2010, Gina had to flee Mexico; she lost her businesses and her beloved plant collection. She returned to Dallas to live.
Gina took the Dallas Master Gardener class in 2011 and attended the Philadelphia Flower Show. She wanted to learn more about North American plants other than the orchids and bromeliads she was so knowledgeable about. Eventually she joined with another Master Gardener and created Yardspell, a landscaping and yard maintenance business in Dallas that she continues to run. Yardspell emphasizes native and water-wise plants. Gina developed another Dallas business called Tropical Essence, which creates and maintains arrangements in homes and businesses.
Gina remains an active Master Gardener. The Master Gardener program in Dallas has only one level – the class is about three months long. Active Master Gardeners are required to do 30 hours of volunteering a year as well as attend 6 hours of continuing education classes. The program is under the auspices of Texas A&M University. There are about 450 Master Gardeners in Dallas, a city of about 2.6 million people. Volunteer opportunities include school gardens, garden club speaking, an arboretum, butterfly and pollinator gardens created and maintained by Master Gardeners, a test garden, a speaker’s bureau, work on a monthly newsletter, and administrative help for the Master Gardener program. There are also monthly meetings.
Gardening in Texas is a matter of dealing with extremes, especially temperatures that range from 110° down to -10°. Gina’s approach is good bed preparation, mulching, and choosing the right plants. Her own yard is planted in mostly perennial natives and she utilizes roof run-off for water. She has a large compost pile, a greenhouse, and raised beds for vegetable gardening. As her daughter said one time, if it’s about plants, my mom’s the one to go to!
Many thanks to Gina for filling us in on her interesting life and her involvement in the Dallas Master Gardener Program: Gina happens to be my sister-in-law!
by Sheri Kisch & Elizabeth Waddington
A major adjustment to the Master Gardener program in 2020 was moving to solely online classes, which deprived new students the mentoring that comes from an in-person class facilitated by Level 2 and 3 Master Gardeners. Until this summer, there were few opportunities for social gatherings and group gardening activities for them to get acquainted with others. Kudos to the classes of 2020 and 2021 who persevered and are Level 1 Master Gardeners. If you are one of our newcomers, please allow us to share some information about you in the coming issues.
As we welcome our newest online learners into our group, the newsletter committee will try to include several mini interviews each issue so they become familiar faces as we gear back up to whatever the new normal will be.
Amanda, a lifelong resident of Billings, had been intrigued by the Master Gardener program for several years but wrangling a family of four kids under 12 puts it out of reach. However, the COVID-induced online format made it possible to participate in 2021. Her gardening interest began when her mother grew a garden which Amanda redid while in college and then moved to container gardening while renting. Amanda and her husband purchased a house a few years ago and finally had the time to dig up an in-ground garden at the beginning of COVID. She is excited to learn more about soil composition so that she can amend the sandy soil and create a vegetable garden. Amanda gets her kids to help harvest (and wishes they like to actually eat what they pick) and her three year-old refers to the garden as a “jungle” to explore. Two successes this year were converting the shaded space next to a privacy fence into a perennial border for the vegetables and growing potatoes which delighted all who helped dig them up. Her favorite plants are bulb flowers – a promise for the next spring. One special gardening story was about a shoebox seed collection from her grandmother. Say hello to new Master Gardener, Amanda, when you see her out and about.
Joseph, who has gardened everywhere he lived, has experience with the challenges of Bozeman during his college years, California, and the past 22 years in Billings. His interest in gardening came from Nebraska where his mother grew a large garden and preserved everything, and his father was a custom combiner. He is a former 4-H kid and remembers judging vegetables and winning ribbons.
He heard about the Master Gardener program in the Billings Gazette. He uses raised beds and drip irrigation and enjoys being able to pick and eat fresh vegetables every day. Joseph likes socializing and working with other gardeners. He hopes that retirement brings opportunities for travel and photography, when he is not tending raspberries and basil plants (he makes pesto which he freezes to be used year-round). Joseph’s favorite gardening tool is a butcher knife used for digging, weeding and slicing whatever. Welcome to Master Gardeners, Joseph!
Meet Inger, a former 4-H kid whose mother canned and preserved what her dad loved to grow in a small plot. She migrated to the U.S. when she was two years old and has lived in Portland, OR, as well as a variety of towns around Montana, where she gardened. She has been in Billings for 22 years.
Inger has always loved gardening and thought the Master Gardener program was a great way to occupy her time during the COVID lockdown. Her neighbor who is a Master Gardener also introduced her to the St. Andrew’s gardening program. In addition to some typical crops of corn, carrots, peas and kohlrabi, Inger also likes to grow Brussel sprouts, strawberries and raspberries. She is now trying her green thumb with orchids. Presently, she is renting a garden plot at St. Andrew’s Community Garden.
She is proud of the sensory garden she established, patterned after the sensory garden at ZooMontana, at the new Victor Elementary School where she taught. She also likes to read, crochet and cook. For now, traveling has been downsized to trying to visit every state park in Montana. Inger loves socializing with other gardeners and is on the beautification committee in her subdivision. Her favorite gardening advice: grow as organic as you can and grow what you like. We hope you have success with your orchids and keep pruning those neighborhood trees, Inger!
by Bess Lovec
In January of 2019, I decided to join a student trip to Peru, sponsored by MSU Billings. I had to jump through countless hoops (transcripts, interview, essay, shots, money, medical release by my physician, and more), but ultimately, my efforts proved worthwhile! We spent most of our time that May on tributaries of the Amazon River, plus many days in Iquitos, the largest city accessible only via plane or boat.
Imagine that you are in a greenhouse looking at houseplants. Then you plant 25 varieties in 12 square feet. They intertwine uncontrollably, spilling over edges. That is what the Amazonian rain forest looks like. From sloths swinging and monkeys violently screeching to complex varieties of plants, the Amazon Basin teems with life. The most amazing, however, were the insects. Their sizes alone really shocked all of us… spiders the size of my hand. Once a swarm of flying beetles entered the open-air platform where our tents were set. Their arrival was like a dark curtain swooshing across the space. We all had sprayed our clothes, bags, and tents with peremithrin before leaving the U.S., plus we applied insect repellent to our skin twice daily, yet each of us could count over 100 insect bites on our bodies at any given time. The trip was not for the faint of heart.
We had a great time and like most trips abroad, attendees became very close-knit due to extreme events. We experienced a magnitude 8.0 earthquake at three in the morning, which woke us but fortunately caused little damage to our immediate area. I spent one 24-hour period surviving digestive issues with the help of our attending physician. I tipped the staff of the hotel extra the next day. Our schedule and directions had to adjust due to an unusually dry, hot summer. Scientists along the way convinced us that the conditions were sadly no longer considered unusual but the new normal. The most disturbing image which lingers in my mind was the plastic debris in the river and along the shores. Apparently even the most remote places on our planet have not escaped the tendrils of plastic.
The trip concluded in Cusco to tour Machu Picchu, which met all expectations and beyond, although Cusco has adjusted to the tourist trade. It could have been any major European city. I had a chance to recover from the challenges of the Amazon with a plethora of creature comforts!
I am so glad I went. It broadened my perspectives more than I can identify here. My faith in 20-somethings was renewed, and most people everywhere are wonderful. I hope we can preserve the Lungs of the World long enough for our great-great-grandchildren to enjoy our beautiful planet. Mother Nature will take the reins, but we do have input into what happens.
by Ann McKean
The most prevalent groundcover most of us have in our yards is turf grass. Turf is great if you need a groundcover that can take high foot traffic, but many of us only walk on our lawns to push the lawnmower. Turf is the most labor-intensive and resource-greedy groundcover, requiring frequent mowing, faithful irrigation and fertilizer. Many homeowners want their lawn to be ‘perfect’ and apply toxic weedkillers as well. So instead of turf, let’s consider some beautiful low maintenance alternatives.
Many alternative groundcovers can tolerate foot traffic, including creeping thyme, veronica, clover, and ajuga, and some will grow where traditional turf will not, for example, creeping jenny in dry shade under a tree. Some others that thrive in shade are lamium, vinca, heuchera, galium, lysimachia, and geranium. Many are extremely drought tolerant, such as hymenoxys, antennaria, sedum and artemisia. Many non-turf groundcovers bloom throughout the growing season with beautiful and often fragrant flowers, including anemone, phlox, veronica, thyme and convallaria.
Groundcover plants can also serve to add contrast in color, height and texture within a perennial bed. Clumping grasses can be planted in groups as non-traffic groundcover to beautiful effect. Low-growing shrubs can serve as groundcovers too.
Not all groundcovers are evergreen and many do not tolerate wet feet. These respond very well to a mulch of pea gravel instead of wood chips and thus remain functional and attractive even in winter. Others can tolerate more moisture, including the Carex family of sedges.
Here is a list of some of the plants that can serve as groundcovers in our climate. Thymus praecox (creeping thyme), Phlox subulata (creeping phlox), Armeria (thrift), Antennaria dioica (pussytoes), Hymenoxys (perky sue), Artemisia Silver Brocade, sedum, Veronica ‘Waterperry Blue’ (speedwell), Veronica Tidal Pool, Trifolium (clover), Cerastium (snowin-summer), Aurinia saxatilis (basket of gold), Oenothera (evening primrose), Callirhoe (wine cup), Iberis (candytuft), Stachys byzantia (lamb’s ears), Stachys officinalis (betony), Nepeta ‘Kitten Around’ (catmint), Potentilla neumanniana (alpine cinquefoil), Fragaria (strawberry – you only mow it once a year), Ajuga reptans (bugleweed), Lamium maculatum (deadnettle), Vinca minor, Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff), Viola odorata, Viola labradorica, Anemone sylvestris, Geranium ‘Karmina’ (beautiful fall color), Geranium ‘Biokovo’, Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley), Heuchera, Lysimachia (creeping jenny – be careful what you wish for), Agrepodium (snow on the mountain – be really careful what you wish for), Mentha spicata (spearmint – it’s awesome, but you’ll never get rid of it), Festuca (blue fescue), Carex glauca (blue sedge), Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed). Some groundcover shrubs include Microbiotta decussata (russian cypress), Juniperus horizontalis, Prunus besseyi ‘Pawnee Buttes’ (sandcherry), Aronia melanocarpa ‘Ground Hug’, Potentilla tridentata ‘Nuuk’, Salix nakamurana (creeping alpine willow).
Finally, if you must have turf grass, consider the native buffalo grass. While still requiring some irrigation, mowing and fertilizer to look its best, the newest cultivars of buffalo grass are even more drought tolerant and weed resistant, and require much less input than traditional sod.
Yellowstone Master Gardener Newsletter 
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