Garden writer Ciscoe Morris offers tips on overwintering cactuses; the fun of growing Robinia pseudoacacia 'Twisty Baby' and the events at the upcoming 4th Annual Blues for Food Fest at Magnuson Park.
Many desert cactuses have spectacular blooms, but unless you overwinter them where they experience colder conditions, you may never get to see them do their thing.
Desert cactuses need to undergo temperatures ranging from 40 to 55 degrees in winter in order to trigger flowering the following spring and summer. The ideal place to overwinter a cactus is in an unheated garage next to a bright window. If there isn’t a window, grow lights work well as long as they don’t produce too much heat.
If you keep your cactuses outside during summer, remember to get them undercover before the rain starts because you don’t want to put them to bed in the unheated garage with wet feet.
Desert cactuses are incredibly hardy and can withstand temperatures below zero in dry conditions, but they tend to rot in the cold if the soil is wet.
Most Read Life Stories
If you left your cactus out in the rain, or watered it too late in the season, bring it into the warm house and grow it as a houseplant, and wait until next year to give it the cold treatment.
Here’s a new twist
in shrubbery
When it comes to fantastic looking shrubs, the new kid in town has to be Robinia pseudoacacia “Twisty Baby” (twisty baby black locust). Everything on this unique shrub is contorted and twisted, from the branches to the leaves, but what makes it even more alluring is the contrast between new leaves, which emerge bright green, and the mature ones that turn deep bluish green.
This two-tone effect lasts the entire season because locust trees keep producing new leaves all summer long. In fall the leaves turn yellow, before falling off to reveal the wildly twisted branches that make it a focal point for the winter garden.
“Twisty Baby” loves full sun, is drought tolerant and can handle practically any soil conditions that aren’t swampy. It can reach 12 feet or more tall and wide but can easily be kept smaller with pruning. “Twisty Baby” does great in pots, and it might be prudent to plant it in one.
This shrub is grafted on black locust rootstock, a tall growing tree notorious for suckering from the roots. If you plant it in the ground and fail to remove the suckers regularly, you could end up with a forest of black locust in your garden.
Blues for Food
Fest is Saturday
Put on your fanciest overalls and don your favorite dancing shoes because it’s time to rock out at the Blues for Food Fest, noon to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Magnuson Park Amphitheater. This family-orientated festival is a fundraiser for the P-Patch Trust to support community gardens. When you’re not dancing to the beat of five blues bands, take time to bid for one of the delicious homemade pies, or chow down on Creole soul food from mobile vendor Where Ya At.
The kids will be having a blast exploring worm bins, hunting bugs, learning how to save seed, making nature art sculptures and more.
The high point is the parade when the kids march the vegetables they harvested from the neighboring P-Patch over to the “Beet Hunger” booth for distribution to local food banks. Bring your excess homegrown produce to the booth when you come to the festival, and it will go to local food banks as well. Visit www.bluesforfoodfest.org for more information.
Ciscoe Morris: ciscoe@ciscoe.com. “Gardening with Ciscoe” airs at 10 a.m. Saturdays on KING-TV.