Plant ID: Epipactis sp.

Question:
Are there orchids that are native to growing in NY? I live in Buffalo and every summer have something growing in my yard that looks like an orchid. I will enclose a picture so maybe you can identify it.

Answer:
Actually there are a number of different kinds of terrestrial (meaning they grow in the ground) orchids that grow and can survive the winter here in the northeast. The orchid family, Orchidaceae, is one of the largest families, if not the largest, of flowering plants (also called angiosperms) in the world and they can be found on most continents. Some are native to North America while others have been introduced and then naturalized themselves in the landscape.

The plant you are trying to identify is in the genus Epipactis, and may very well be Epipactis helleborine, commonly called a broadleaf helleborine. I am always hesitant to swear 100% certainty as proper botanical identification can be much more of an involved process, but I am confident that we have your plant appropriately identified to genus. Helleborines are native to Europe and Asia but were introduced to the U.S. so long ago that these days they can be found in wooded areas and landscapes from Kentucky to Quebec and as far west as California and Oregon. Fabulous picture by the way – thanks for sharing!

Time to plant? Yes!

Question:
Is it too early to plant my terrace? I live in Manhattan.
Also, my terrace,which faces North, only gets sun for about two hours a day. Some areas are always in shade. I have three window boxes and a number of pots. What plants/flowers would you suggest.

Answer:
I would say now is a perfect time to plant your terrace. Spring is a great time to plant because it is cool and plants are not nearly as stressed as they may become when the hot days of summer hit. Planting now also allows your new plants to get established in their new containers (pushing out new roots and foliage) so that they have a better chance of making it through next winter. As far as what material, you have a lot of options depending on the size(s) of your containers. With only two hours of direct sun you are going to be best searching out plants that are “shade tolerant”. When shopping it is also good to confirm that the plants you are dealing with can tolerate wind, and depending on your proximity to the water, salt spray. In general I recommend plants (annuals, perennials, and/or small shrubs and trees) that are slower growers and a little more on the compact side. Large plants that naturally get long, tall, or leggy and can become a bit of a maintenance nightmare – depending on how much time you anticipate spending and projectizing out there. Slower growing plants that stay compact typically hold up better under greater stress (heat, wind, drought) and often are easier to care for in the long run. Hopefully that is enough to make you a little more of an educated shopper. Let me know if you need anything else. ...And enjoy the beautiful weekend!

Gardening help in Buffalo, New York

Question:
I live in Buffalo, New York, and would I like to plant some shrubs, bushes, etc. in front of my house. I have nothing at this point. Could you recommend some books, info, that might help me in this particular area of the country regarding planting in cold weather zones.

Answer:
First, you should make yourself familiar with your hardiness zone. Hardiness zones are determined by the average annual minimum temperature in a given region. In other words, this tells you the amount of cold that a plant can tolerate and still live in a given area. Buffalo to the best of my knowledge is Zone 5. Depending on your proximity to the water and if you get strong, freezing winds off the lakes then perhaps your area is colder, which would be a Zone 4. If your house is well sheltered then perhaps it is slightly warmer, Zone 6. The USDA hardiness zones do not take into account possible microclimates. Therefore, when shopping for trees or shrubs at your local nursery make sure that the plants you are buying are hardy to Zone 5. With this information, you can enjoy looking through reference books and seeing what you like, as long as it’s hardy to Zone 5.

Katherine Powis, the librarian here at HSNY, was able to find for you these titles that are sure to give you lots of great ideas. Cold Climate Gardening (a Taylor Weekend Gardening Guide) by Rebecca Atwater Briccetti. Tough Plants for Nothern Gardens by Felder Rushing. Northeast (SmartGarden Regional Guides) by DK Publishing. DK Publishing has a number of publications by the American Horticultural Society and they are all fabulous books.

Also, do not hesitate to contact your local cooperative extension to find out more site specific gardening information. Cornell cooperative extensions across the state are great places to turn to for city- or county-specific gardening tips and help. Go to http://www.cce.cornell.edu/ and once on the website, click on the tab labeled “In Your Community”.

Tomato issues in northern Dutchess County, NY

Question:
I have a home with a raised bed in which I grow a few vegetables. I go every year to the local nursery and buy a few different breeds and plant them. They do well the first few weeks, then they begin to look sick. They get these small, round, pale dots on the lower leaves. Sometimes with a black spot in the middle. The leaves turn brown and wither. Eventually the whole plant turns brown and dies. I do get a few tomatoes, but I've been used to robust plants that I used to grow in Brooklyn with a tremendous yield. On the internet I found a resource that said this was a mold or bacteria or something and the answer was to keep the lower leaves dry and not wet them when watering. This I did with no good results. They get plenty of sun and water. Not too much water. What do you think? Should I get those VGP disease resistant plants? How can I grow robust plants in northern Dutchess county?

Answer:
Your situation certainly sounds to me like a fungal disease and not a bacteria or virus. Viral infections show a completely different set of symptoms, typically bizarre mosaic patterns on the foliage and stems, and it does not sound like that is the case at all. The black spots developing on the lower foliage and slowly moving up to take over the entire plant definitely sounds like a the spreading of fungal spores. If I had to narrow it down I would go ahead and guess one called Verticillium Wilt, which is known to be worst here in the northeast. The other close relative is Fusarium Wilt, but that fungus growers typically find further south.

To answer your question, yes, you should consider buying cultivars of tomatoes that are known to be more disease resistant. Since new cultivars seem to come out every year I cannot give specific names, but if the plant label has a capital “V” after the cultivar name then you can be sure that it is has been bred for better disease resistance. Otherwise, there is the homemade recipe for a foliar spray for fungal diseases and I am not sure if you are familiar with that. Using 1 gallon of water, mix in 2 tablespoons of baking soda and a drop of dish soap (to add a little viscosity), and once mixed use it as a foliar spray to cover as much of your crop as possible. Like with your watering, this should be done early in the day so that it cleans the leaves and evaporates before the scorching midday sun or the wet and cool evenings. Most people use this mix to combat powdery mildew and other issues, but I know plenty of people that use it on their veggie crops as well.

To cover all the bases, I’m also curious to know more about the raised beds you are using at your new home. Since you have experience growing successful tomatoes and other vegetables at your previous home in Brooklyn, I can’t help but wonder if the raised beds have adequate drainage. What do you think? Have all of the other vegetables you have grown in those same beds done well? I may very well be barking up the wrong tree, but perhaps the beds need to be double-dug to properly aerate and loosen the soil. If the soil in the raised beds is nice and loose but the soil from the ground level down has never been tilled then you could easily have a “perched water table”, and that water not being able to adequately drain all the way will only help further fungal issues.

Lastly, a couple tomato books that I have read here at our library suggest rotating your crops and growing your tomatoes in a different spot each year. I wonder if that would make a difference.

Training a Jade Plant

Question:
I have an indoor Jade Plant with three branches - each about 12 - 18 inches long. I middle branch is growing straight up but the 2 on either side are growing in an inverted U. Is there a way to get them to grow straight up?

Answer:
To be perfectly honest, that sounds like a very comical looking plant. I personally have grown a few jades and the shapes that they take over time can be pretty unique. As far as how to train the two bent branches, my first thought is bonsai supports. Bonsai growers use a number of different metal structures and wire (from the most basic to the most complex) to carefully train their plants into the desired shape. Of the ones I have seen, you drive the base into the edges of the container or brace it to the bottom of the jade plant, and use the supports and wires to tie the plant stems in the desired direction. The one catch is that these structures, even though they help you train the plant the way you want it, they can be big and perhaps not what you want aesthetically. Now, if these two branches in question are very thick and mature, you might not be able to bend or train them very well at this point, but you could certainly try with new growth that emerges. Off the top of my head I am not familiar with bonsai stores or websites, but I am sure there are more than enough out there.