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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Many U.S. Plants Became Popular After Cultivation in Europe By Genevieve H Folsom Tribune Garden Editor when you walk out into your garden to enjoy the beauty of the flowers or to harvest some fresh or fruit, have you ever vegetables paused for a minute to think about how far each plant is from its native habitat and how long it took and by what devious manner it finally reached your gar- Some plants came to us from the Orient via the spice routes of medieval times, others from the crusades in the Holy lands and still more from the early day explorers who sailed the unknown seas in search of land and treasures. Later, precious plant Compost Corner Q. I have planted my poinsettia outdoors in the garden. Please tell me when to bring it indoors and how to treat it to make it flower again. A reader, Salt Lake City. A. Bring your poinsettia indoors before frost in the early fall and set it in a cool room where it will have complete darkness from say, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. It is a short day plant like the chrysanthemum and needs to have its days shortened in order to flower. Q. Can you tell me when you should plant the Mexican Shell Flower? They are so bright and different. Will the local nurseries have them? W.K.S., Orem. A. The bulbs of the Mexican Shell Flower Tigridia should be planted in the spring. Set them in the ground about 2 to 3 inches. See that the soil is well drained. Also, they like a sunny location. Dig the bulbs in late fall after the foliage has died back and store as you would gladiolus. Most of the nurseries will have them in the houses. spring as will mail-ordQ. Bulb flowers are favorites with me. What bulbs can I grow indoors? C.G., Bountiful. A. The caladium with its beautiful foliage can be grown indoors. Also the showy Amaryllis, Clivia with its sword-lik- e leaves and orange blossoms, and Eucharis or Amazon Lily. Flowers are white and fragrant. Then there are the spring flowering bulbs such as the hyacinth, narcissus, tulips and several of the minor bulbs such as crocus and grape hycinth. Have a gardening question, indoors or out? Genevieve H. Folsom, Tribune Garden Editor, will answer them as space permits, in the order we receive them. Write her at P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. Keep your questions short. Do not send plant material or stamped ed starts and seeds were brought by the to their home in the new Colonists, world. Although now our most popular garden vegetable, the tomato had to go to Europe from its American habitat to become popular as a food. Until the last century, it was considered poisonous, probably because it is a member of the Nightshade family. Only after it was much used as a food in Europe did it return to become a favorite in its native country. The potato, another native of the Americas, also had to travel to Europe where it became famous as the Irish potato before we used it widely and it became a popular food item here. One of our most beautiful garden flowers, the dahlia, grew wild in the hills of Mexico. It, too, traveled to Europe where it was grown in the gardens there before it was planted and enjoyed on our continent. It was named for Andreas Dahl, a famous botanist of Sweden who did much to improve the dahlia. The flaming red Poinsettia, the flower of Christmas, is also from our neighboring county to the south as are the easy to grow and brightly colored zinnias, the cosmos and the marigolds. The marigold was intro- - dured in Spain at the time of the Conquistadors in the 16th century, who brought it from Mexico. Later in northern Europe marigolds were called Marys gold from their golden yellow color hence their name. The terms French and African marigolds were applied to the native marigold from Mexico to set them apart from .he pot marigold, a native of Europe Fall is the planting time for the spring flowering bulbs and some of these have had a very colorful history The tulip is one in particular. This showy spring flower came from the gion around the Mediterranean and is named from a Turkish word meaning turban because it was believed the tulips resembled one. The Austri-a- r ambassador at the Sultan of Turkeys court took the tulip seed to Austria in the middle of the 16th century. A little later tulip seed was taken to Holland where the tulip became very popular and which led to the tulipo-mani- a during which time, around 1635, fortunes were made and lost on speculation with tulips. Single tulip bulbs of the Rembrandt type with their unusual streaked or variegated markings were sold for thousands of dollars for a single bulb. Out of this grew the huge Holland bulb industry of today. The beautiful Oriental poppy grew in the Persian gardens of ancient times and around the Mediterranean area were also the snapdragon and candytuft. The sweet perfumed hyacinth, another spring flowering favorite, grew there too along with the grape hyacinth and the crown imperial lily. While, as we mentioned, the African marigold was not a native of Africa, some of our more unusual flowers came from the African continent. The popular gerbera with its unusual daisy-lik- e blooms, the lovely gladiolus, the African violet, the bird of paradise flower and the calla lily are from there. Another native of Africa that is one of the most popular plants for shady spots in our garden is the impatiens with its brilliant colors. Europe gave us the primrose for early spring, the daisy, the crocus and the snowdrop, sweet smelling stock and the digitailis or foxglove which was used, and still is, as medicine. From the garden of ancient China and Japan we welcome such beautiful plants as the lily, the peony and forsythia. Those lovely climbing plants, the clematis and wisteria, grew in the Oriental gardens of long ago. There too were found the bleed- - The Plant Doctor ing heart, the hollyhock and the Sunday, Aug ust 24, 1966 H5 Society, Council ca- mellia. Many of our plants are from the Americas morning glory, nasturtium, canna, lupine, Michaelmas daisies sometimes called hardy asters, perennial phlox and others. The vegetables also have just as interesting histories and come to us from all over the world. well-love- Present Awards At a 3-D- ay Meet The Utah State Historical Society and the Utah Arts Council honored 12 individuals and one organization Aug. 16 at an awards ceremony capping anthe Historical Societys three-da- y nual meeting. The society made Melvin T. Smith Down the ages, hybridizers have and LaMar Peterson honorary life worked long and hard to bring us betmembers of the organization. Mr. with the flowers more ter plants hardy, more compact for our modern Smith, now of Boise, was director of the society from 1971 to February gardens, with longer blooming periods and more and better colors. The 1986. Mr. Peterson served on the Adplants also produce more with better visory Board of Editors for Utah flavor. Watch each year for the new Historical Quarterly for 18 years. introductions in both vegetables and Service awards were given to auflowers. thor Pearl Baker of Hanksville and to Harris and Linda Salisbury of Salt If you are interested in new flowers, the annual show of the Utah Lake City for their volunteered time for caring for historic artifacts. Gladiolus Society Sunday at the Garden Clubs Center, 1602 E. 2100 South An Antiquities Award was given to in Sugar House Park, will have a taPrice resident Donald L. Burge, who ble of seedlings from our local hyhelped create the Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. The Utah Statewide bridizers, some of them to be introduced as new varieties. We have Archaeological Society also received some outstanding gladiolus as well as an Antiquities Award for its labor iris hybridizers in Utah whose introand financial contributions. ductions in the past have rated high Layton High School teacher Clauinternationally. dia Schroader received a $100 stipend for her work interesting students in advanced American and European history classes. Hawaii resident Edwina Jo Snow received the Dale L. Morgan Award for best scholarly article in Utah Historical Quarterly. It examined the life and writings of William (eyes) are preferable for. planting. Chandless, an 1850s American West When planting is completed, these eyes should be no deeper the 2 inches visitor and Amazon explorer. The Morris S. Rosenblatt Award, below the surface soil. This depth is very important. When roots are which carries a $100 prize donated by planted too deep the plants will not Mr. and Mrs. Jack Goodman, went to bloom. Check the depth of the buds Helen Z. Papanikolas of Salt Lake after soaking the planting hole to setCity for her Utah Historical Quartle the soil. Beautiful flowers over the terly article on Utah bootlegging duryears are the compensation for the ing Prohibition. few minutes you spend in planting Molley McCurdy and Mollie Bona-moreceived Governors Folk Art peonies correctly. Awards for maintaining traditional Gosiute crafts. Both are from Ibapah, Tooele County. The Utah Arts Council also presented Logan resident Alta S. Fife with the first Governors Award for When a person calls the Helpline, Service to the Folk Arts for her lifecomputers match the caller with a long cataloging of folk material. local physician. The patient is mailed the name of the volunteer physician and then schedules an appointment. Garage Sale for Charity If the person requires hospital care, The Phoenix Institute is soliciting donations for a Sept 6 garage sale to ophthalmologists work with the local benefit displaced homemakers. hospitals to make care available. Patients without Medicare or other The fund-raiswill be held at the insurance will receive care at no First Unitarian Church, 569 S. 1300 charge, and those eligible for it will East, and the donated items can be be mailed information on how to get brought to the Phoenix Institute, 1800 S. West Temple, Suite 211. coverage. Peonies Are Versatile , Thrive With Little Attention By Dr. A.'vil Stark Tribune Garden Consultant Like iris, peonies are about as easy to grow as any herbacious perennial in the garden. Unlike iris, which should be divided periodically, peonies can remain in the same place for years and years becoming larger and more attractive with age. Peonies have few pests and thrive with very little attention if given ample room for free air circulation and growth. They are one of the most useful, beautiful, versatile and satisfactory garden flowers. Peony varieties come in a wide range of sizes from 6 inches high to 5 feet tall. Color of bloom provides a wide choice but there are no true blues. Time of bloom varies with variety but ranges from early spring to six to eight weeks later on, with no regular fall bloomers. Flowers are large and showy with many forms and are excellent for cut flowers. There are singles, Japanese, anemoand double types of ne, semi-doubflowers. In selecting a size for planting it should be kept in mind that peonies do not grow well in competition with le tree and shrub roots nor in heavy shade. They also resent being crowded by other plants, so give them room to grow when selecting a planting site. September and October are the preferred months for planting peonies in this area. Because they remain in the same place for such a long time, careful preparation of the planting hole is fully justified. A pro- - cedure that works quite well is to dig a hole for each plant a foot in diameter and a foot and a half deep. If the soil is poor haul it away to the vegetable garden and bring back top soil from the garden to replace it. If the soil at the planting site is reasonably good, no replacement is necessary. Do not add manure or fertilizer to the soil in the planting hole. nt Roots with at least three buds Organization Offers Free Eye Care to Needy The Utah Eye Care Project is a statewide program that provides free eye care to older Utahns who might otherwise not be able to afford it Utah Helpline provides citizens information. Callers with eye-car- e with eye problems who dont have an ophthalmologist or who havent seen one in three years are eligible for eye care at no cost The program is designed to reach older Americans who are vulnerable to eye disease due to lack of informa- - tion, insurance or finances, according to Dr. Alan S. Crandall, president of the Ophthalmological Society, which is sponsoring the program locally. The National Eye Care Project is by the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and ophthalmology societies in all 50 states. It is funded by donations from ophthalmologists, contributions from ophthalmology companies, and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. er nordstrom |
