Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

We will continue to update our Website with articles and enter current gardening events in our website Event Calendar. All the best wishes for 2024 and beyond.

What caused holly berries to not appear in the fall?

February 18, 2023 • Leave a Comment

For years, our holly bushes have been lush with fall holly berries, but not last fall. I think they got their fair share of water during the summer heat wave. Any thoughts?

Think back to April 2012 and what happened with the late frost and freezing temperatures at the end of the month. Many of our beloved spring-flowering trees were heavily damaged at a critical time in fruit formation. The holly bushes were no exception. Even though the buds form in the fall of the previous year, April would have been the time these tiny flowers in the leaf base on male plants would have been opening. Many flowering shrubs and trees suffered great damage last spring due to the sudden cold temperatures. Michigan’s cherry and apple industries were significantly impacted by the cold snap.

Although the holly plant is basically a male plant, their flowers and subsequent pollen are necessary for the fertilization of the flowers on the female berry-producing plants. If they aren’t there, the female flowers are not pollinated and there is no berry. Maintaining a consistent watering routine early in the summer as well as during drought periods will also prevent premature berry drop. Covering plants when a freeze is posssible can substantially decrease the loss of flowers and future berry production.

Elsewhere: Winterberry: Michigan’s native holly

Why do cracks on tomatoes occur while still on the vine?

February 3, 2023 •

Resistant varieties come in all sizes and types. ‘Mountain Spring’ (a large red), ‘Sweet Million’ (a small-fruit variety), and ‘Mountain Gold’ (a yellow tomato) are just three selections that are not so prone to cracking.

Cracks on tomatoes that circle the stem end or stretch down from the stem end can be very annoying. They not only deform the beauty of the fruit, but also leave it susceptible to rot. The cause of cracks on tomatoes is generally a growth spurt caused by a prolonged drought. The solution is to provide your garden with adequate and consistent water. You need to water to keep the soil evenly moist. In Michigan, we can have full weeks of rain followed by a month of nothing.

If droughts are common in your immediate location, then besides monitoring the watering, try to look for and select a crack-resistant variety next season. Resistant varieties come in all sizes and types. ‘Mountain Spring’ (a large red), ‘Sweet Million’ (a small-fruit variety), and ‘Mountain Gold’ (a yellow tomato) are just three selections that are not so prone to cracking.

Answers compiled by Martha Ferguson, and contributed by Beverly Moss, Michelle Dunham and Chuck Tyrrell.

ELSEWHERE: Tomatoes exhibiting cracks this summer

Choosing the right location and container for SunPatiens

January 18, 2023 • Leave a Comment

In my back yard, I planted SunPatiens in a container that gets sun in the morning and afternoon and some in the evening. These plants thrived, with little fertilizer and just periodic watering. On the other hand, the SunPatiens that I planted in the front (facing west) wilted and lost their leaves rapidly. I watered them daily, sometimes twice. I removed them from their pots and found root rot. So I bought some fresh plants, drilled more drainage holes, but the same thing happened. Any ideas on what the problem is?

Your descriptions of the health of the same plants in the two different locations seems to tell the story. Typically, container placement is different in the front of the house as opposed to the back. More than likely your backyard containers are away from the house walls and windows, perhaps out on a patio or deck where they can be seen from the house, but not against the house, maybe even out in the lawn or near garden beds. The containers in the front are probably nearer to walls and windows to be seen and enjoyed on the approach to the front door. Buildings absorb, reflect, and intensify heat. To make matters much worse, new windows with low-E glass or older windows that have been coated with a UV ray coating really intensify the heat that is reflected. The plants are being heated to an extreme. You water more, causing the root rot, but the death rays of heat continue to zap the foliage. Increasing the number of drainage holes in those containers is helpful to prevent root rot, but still you must water more and more as the reflected heat continues to hit the plants. The only real prevention is to move the containers a safe distance away from walls and windows. Easier said than done probably. Another complication to consider is the size and shape of the pots. The large container in the back will hold more moisture longer, a smaller container dries much faster, such being the case with the original hanging containers. The wider and lower a container is, the slower the water drains away. The taller and narrower the container is, the faster it drains, even if the two containers are filled with the same amount of potting mix.

Answers compiled by Martha Ferguson and contributed by Beverly Moss, Michele Dunham, and Martha Ferguson.

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