GARDEN Q.& A.
By Leslie Land
Published: October 14, 2004
Q. For three years now, we have bought small lotus vines each spring. They grow well but never bloom, although they get plenty of sun, and I am sure we are not thwarting flowers by overfeeding them. How can we get the bright red blossoms pictured on the plant tags?
A. The lotus vine (Lotus berthelotii) is a tender shrub, valued for its trailing stems of fine silver-green leaves. Though it is also known as coral gem, parrot's beak and pelican's beak, it does not live up to any of those names until the spring of its second year or later.
If you want to go for the scarlet, pot the lotuses in a mixture of half potting soil and a half soil-less medium like Pro-Mix. Cut the stems back by about half. Place the plants in a sunny window or under lights. Do not fertilize. They will be happiest where temperatures stay evenly warm (70 degrees). And they do not like dry air. If there is no humidifier nearby, set the pots on a pebble-lined tray with water in the bottom.
The roots cannot stand drying out, yet they rot if they stay wet too long, so watering can be tricky. The goal is soil that is barely moist at all times.
Perhaps you are beginning to see why blooming lotus vines are uncommon where the plants must be wintered indoors. If not, you will when the bugs start coming. Have insecticidal soap handy. And persevere. When flower buds form, sometime between late March and early May, give the plants a drink of fertilizer diluted to half strength. Prepare to offer yourself a toast, too: they really are gorgeous.
Q. We know that according to folklore, woolly bear caterpillars predict the weather, and it will be a hard winter when the brown band around the middle is narrow compared with the black ends. But lately we have seen several all-black ones in our garden. What does that mean?
A. It probably means you are seeing a woolly something else, said Donald Lewis, an entomologist at Iowa State University, who fields a few hundred questions a year about this branch of meteorology. There are several fuzzy species in the same genus (Pyrrharctia) and several others in the family (Arctiidae), including the giant leopard moth, Ecpantheria scribonia, which looks all black when seen from above. (They have red stripes down their sides.) True woolly bears are P. isabella, the larval form of the isabella tiger moth, and being banded is part of their species' identity. The width of the brown stripe can indeed be affected by weather, Dr. Lewis said, but the weather in question is that of late summer. When it is wet, the caterpillars have more black segments.
And they are blacker when they are young, so the stripe may also be a report on how cold it was last spring: the fall caterpillars are the second generation. If spring and summer could reliably forecast winter, woolly bears would be wiggling off to the bank. As it is, they do about as well as Punxsutawney Phil.
Leaves and Grass
Q. What is the current thinking about raking up leaves that fall on lawns? Is it better to let them stay as mulch, or will they kill the grass?
A. The thinking on this has not changed. Lots of leaves on the lawn is still out. If there are only a few and they are chopped to bits by the mower, they can be left in place, just as you would leave grass clippings.
Anything more should be removed so it does not mat down and smother the grass. But it is still worthwhile to mow before you get out the rake. The eventual pile will be much smaller. And because the leaves are in little bits, mixed with nitrogen-rich grass clippings, they will turn into compost much more quickly than if you had left them whole.
Drawing: Lotus vines need a lot of work to bloom, but once they do, their nicknames -- coral gem, parrot's beak -- speak for themselves. (Drawing by T.L.C.)