Ed Mues - Published Articles of 2007
America's First Christmas Tree (?) and Other Surprises [ December 19, 2007 ]
On Madison Hill in Wooster, Ohio, there is a tomb. Outside its door each Christmas stands a lighted tree as a tribute to August Imgard, the man credited with introducing the Christmas tree to America. August, a nineteen-year-old German immigrant, missed the tradition of his youth in Bavaria. The heart that is not happy, seeks to fill a void...
A Mid-Winter's Look Back and Forward [ December 5, 2007 ]
I assume that you've fairly much caught up with all the necessary tasks to button-up the 2007 gardening year. It is December and time to reflect and relax and revisit a lot of notions that you might compartmentalize now, when the mind is less cluttered, for use next year. Some of the following I hope will be useful hints...
Unseen Warfare in the Landscape [ November 21, 2007 ]
The hulls (technically "pericarps") of sunflower seeds contain an ingredient that is poisonous to most plant life, especially grasses, but even future sunflowers. Beneath most bird feeders that had some sunflower seeds, you will find a telltale bare spot of dead grass and poorly growing weeds...
Downshift, and Prepare for Winter Now [ November 7, 2007 ]
I promised a follow-up geared toward colder temperatures and more winter oriented objectives. While winter is still held at bay by the forces of nature, there are a variety of things to consider before her arrival...
Bulbs: Plant Spring's First Color Show Now [ October 24, 2007 ]
A bulb is a compact and compressed plant-to-be. It is an underground foods storage organ, a geophyte, and inside, it includes buds, stem, flowers and leaves. The package is small, and from it will emerge an herbaceous flowering plant. The spring or summer display is a noticeably larger, beautiful miracle of form, color, and often fragrance...
Nature Signals Us to Change Gears [ October 10, 2007 ]
One look at a more distant vista, the colors on the hillsides, the lengthening shadows, the frost that is imminent each approaching nightfall, the equinox just past, all of these are autumn's invitation to move with a different deliberateness toward new goals...
Sex in the Vegetable Patch and Elsewhere [ September 26, 2007 ]
How was the sex in your neck of the woods this growing season? Still harvesting those tomatoes, zucchini, and other favorites? Successful sex in your garden and landscape is not always a sure thing. It may take place au naturel after a spring shower, or, perhaps, is assisted by other forces. It may not happen at all...
Horticultural Update - September 2007 [ September 12, 2007 ]
In keeping with my promise made in Nov. 2002, I present a horticultural update for this year 2007. I usually present one at least annually, sometimes more often. I think it is important to provide a brief time capsule of horticultural news that is influencing history and increasing awareness in this huge field...
Horticulture 101: Culinary and Garden Queries. [ August 29, 2007 ]
I thought it appropriate to address some of the mysteries in the world of food and plants not often discussed. Who could blame me living in a world today where Ratatouille was not only a favorite (when properly prepared) of the late and great Julia Child, but...
Fall Gardens Gaining in Popularity. [ August 15, 2007 ]
Many vegetable planting charts indicate the best time for planting seeds indoors is generally between February through April, depending on the vegetable. The best time to put out transplants can range from April to August. Yes, August! Seed planting time outdoors ranges from April to September. Yes, September...
Things to Do in August: Homestead and Gardens. [ August 1, 2007 ]
I attempt this column with caution. Not everyone may want to read what amounts to me suggesting there is still much to do and pay attention to? You are probably stressed enough trying to fit into your social calendar all of the perks of summer here in paradise...
Vegetable Varieties for Home Gardens. [ July 25, 2007 ]
Each year Cornell University publishes and distributes through the Cooperative Extension offices around the state a Selected List of Vegetable Varieties that have proven success records over the years. The list is very extensive and covers vegetables from asparagus to zucchini...
Herbs and a Scented Garden. [ July 11, 2007 ]
Eight species of flowering plants' pollen were found buried in the grave of a Neanderthal man in Iraq. Seven of those plants are still growing in that area, and all are used for medicine. The pollen was deposited 60,000 years ago...
The Deliberate Edible Garden. [ June 27, 2007 ]
Growing vegetables in a home garden is a deliberate act. It just doesn't happen by accident. Some of the motivation might be to bring some relief to the family's weekly grocery bills. A greater motivation, however, increasingly seems to be to obtain fresh food that is wholesome, pesticide free, and in keeping with what's often only available at local farmers markets...
Flowers Today [ June 13, 2007 ]
Sometime between 70 and 100 million years ago, a slow explosion took place. Botanists refer to it as the "great radiation". It began in a time when the surface of our earth was green...
Garlic Mustard: Invader from Abroad. [ June 6, 2007 ]
I believe a weed is a lot more than a plant growing where it's not wanted. It is a plant that is having a negative impact on the economy or health of another ecosystem, be it human, animal, botanical or environmental...
The Ramps Are Here! [ May 23, 2007 ]
Ramps are the native-American cousins of the widely cultivated, foreign garlic. They are also known as wild leeks and ramsons. Garlic lovers have long been familiar with these unique relatives...
Q & A Time: Annual and Perennial. [ May 2, 2007 ]
When I see colonies of Coltsfoot pushing through the leaf litter or the remaining snow, or in full glorious yellow bloom along side the road where the snow and ice have melted, I know it's time for Q & A season. Garden and landscape questions are already cropping up....
Elderberries. [ April 18, 2007 ]
"Thousands of tons are wasted every year". That's what Euell Gibbons said in his field guide edition of "Stalking the Healthful Herbs" first published in 1970....
Not as Rare as Ives ... Burl, That Is [ April 4, 2007 ]
You might know by now that I enjoy all kinds of music (Burl Ives, included). In an earlier column I wrote about when I was proprietor of a plant store in New York City. I told of a traveling vendor who sold burls of the famous California redwoods...
Ah! Spring! [ March 21, 2007 ]
Last evening, at 8:07 P.M. EDT, the spring or vernal equinox took place here in the northern hemisphere. Imagine, six months of 12 (beginning today) hours of daylight building to 15 hours by June 21st, and then slowly receding back to 12 by Sept. 23rd.
In Search of the Unexpected: Are Ancient Crops in Our Future? [ March 07, 2007 ]
My dad couldn't tear me away from a stickball game to help him with his rose bushes... was at this time that I experienced the parasitic plant "dodder" first hand...
A Most Familiar Insect Pest. [ February 21, 2007 ]
I believe winter is a good time to become acquainted with an insect that you are likely to see a few months from now, just as leaves and buds begin to expand and new growth commences.
A Mid-Winter Garden Calendar. [ February 7, 2007 ]
It may seem to you that there is nothing under the sun to do at this time of the year that involves your gardens and gardening, except, of course, to read the catalogs that keep showing up...
Brightening the Dull Gray Season. [ January 24, 2007 ]
I'm writing this column almost as a response to an e-mail I received that had a ticker type calendar attached that informed me that there were two months and a week until spring. I was going to write about the winter that just wouldn't come, or, at the very least, stay for a while. And then everything changed...
Wishing a Sustainable Year to All. [ January 10, 2007 ]
As we returned home in the late afternoon on Christmas Day, in the failing daylight, snow began to fall. It was the 'frosting' on this beautiful 'cake of a' day. It was a final and treasured gift...
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2007 Ed Mues. All Rights Reserved.
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eGarden@MountainAir.us
