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Union County Extension Office:
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Georgia Master Gardener Program
The Georgia Master Gardener Program is a ten week horticultural course under the leadership of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Our mission is to train the best general horticulturists who can provide unbiased and up-to-date horticultural information to the community through volunteer service.
We are forming a class for residents of Union, Towns, and the surrounding counties beginning February 9, 2011 and continuing through the April 13, 2011. We will meet in the Auditorium of the Haralson Memorial Civic Center, Blairsville, Georgia on Wednesdays, from 9:00a.m. until 2:30p.m. (with a half hour lunch break).
The program cost is $145, which covers instruction, handbooks, materials, and
a one-year membership in the Georgia Master Gardener Association. The Master Gardeners of Georgia are invaluable for their assistance to local County Extension Agents in helping meet the public demand for gardening information. Therefore, it is important that you have a flexible daytime schedule in order to meet our volunteer needs. The program requires 50 hours of volunteer service the first year, as approved by the Towns and Union County Extension Agents; and 25 hours per year thereafter.
If you are interested in applying for the 2011 class, please let me know. I would be delighted to take your name and contact information. Application forms are available on line, or can be mailed in early December, 2010. If you would like to learn more about the Georgia Master Gardener program, please visit:
http://www.georgiamastergardeners.com
http://www.hort.uga.edu/extension/mastergardener/
Mickey Cummings, Union County Extesnion
The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
Office 706-439-6030
Email:coosa@uga.edu
Georgia Native Plant Photo Guide
It is impossible to describe the beauty of a Nodding Trillium to someone who has never seen one. A new field guide from the University of Georgia provides a pictorial hike through the Georgia Mountains and includes detailed descriptions of native plants like Foam Flower, Showy Orchids, Pink Lady’s Slipper and Nodding Trillium.
Native Plants of North Georgia: A Pocket Guide for Plant Enthusiasts was developed by UGA Cooperative Extension. The guide was created by Mickey Cummings, Union County Extension Coordinator.
The pocket-size publication, which sells for $7, includes 66 plants native to North Georgia. Each plant listing is accompanied by a photograph and a brief plant description including the common name, scientific name, leaf and flower descriptions, habitat and historical plant uses.
“There are a lot of books out there that are big and heavy,” Cummings said. “We really needed something you could put in your back pocket or backpack.”
Cummings’ interest in plants was prompted by a family story about his grandmother who was healed of a life-threatening infection by native herbs. “That story has always been in the back of mind,” he said.
An interest in plants and a need to educate and inform the public about native plants was the driving force behind the guide, his first publication.
Cummings began taking pictures of native plants four years ago and, until the guide, was using them to teach programs to interested citizens at the Georgia Mountain Center. He has over 600 students every year.
He recommends home landscapers bring the guide with them to garden centers to ensure they purchase appropriate landscape plants.
“A lot of people are interested in using native plants in their landscape,” he said. “Incorporating natives requires less watering and plants are more resistant to diseases and pests.”
Cummings plans to publish a second volume, cataloging more native plant species. He’s also planning one on shrubs.
To order your guide, call the Union County Extension Office at 706-439-6030.
Protecting Hemlocks from Wooly Adelgids
Mickey P. Cummings, CEC Union County
My favorite tree is the Eastern Hemlock. As a little boy I learned to call the tree a Spruce Pine. I learned to appreciate the tree because of its smell and the coolness of the shade it produced under the limbs of the tree. If you have a Hemlock Tree in your landscape the chances are significant that your tree is infested with the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid.
A sure sign of an infestation is the appearance white, wooly, cottony specs at the base of the Hemlock Needles. These insects feed on the sap at the base of needles. This feeding disrupts nutrient supplies going to the needles. The needles are basically starved and will turn from a dark green to gray and eventually fall off the tree. Without needles the tree cannot make food. Therefore, the tree will die within 3-5 years of infestation unless the Adelgids are removed.
How can you save your Hemlock Trees? Use the following method for treating Hemlock Trees using Merit 75 WP or 75 WSP and a Soil Injector.
1) Measure the diameter of your Hemlock Tree at breast height. Use a yard stick or ruler at 4 ½ feet off the ground to measure the tree. Keep the ruler approximately 24 inches from your eye.
2) Mix one 2 ounce container of Merit 75 WP or one 1.6 ounce packet of Merit 75 WSP into 48 ounces of water. Wear rubber gloves and safety goggles during this process. Also, avoid breathing the dust from the chemical.
3) Pour the mixed chemical into the soil injector reservoir.
4) The injector is calibrated to inject one ounce of chemical per 6 depressions of the injector plunger. Pump the plunger to deliver the chemical into the soil.
5) Inject one ounce of chemical per inch of trunk diameter. For example, a 10 inch diameter tree will require 10 ounces of chemical meaning the plunger will need to be depressed a total of 60 times.
6) If the tree is a 10 inch tree you should inject the tip of the soil injector into the ground in 10 sites no more than 2 feet from the base of the tree.
7) When finished you should triple rinse the injector and pour the rinse water around the tree. Next, disassemble the injector and clean with dishwashing detergent. Remember to wear rubber gloves. Next, reassemble the injector.
8) You can borrow a soil injector by calling the UGA Cooperative Extension Office at 706-439-6030. When you come to pick up the injector you will be required to provide a check in the amount of $300 as a deposit. If you bring back the injector in good working order your check will be given back to you. For more information go to: http://www.forestryimages.org/invasive.cfm
Growing Native Azaleas in Your Landscape
Mickey P. Cummings
Botanically, azaleas are members of the Ericaceous or Heath Family. This family includes blueberries and mountain laurel. All azaleas are rhododendrons. Several species of azaleas are native to Georgia. Diversification of types of these native azaleas can provide a long time frame of flower color for your enjoyment. But, you must make sure to choose the proper site.
Flower colors of native azaleas range from white to pink, yellow, orange, crimson, scarlet and several shades in between. The following are some native azalea species found in Georgia:
Alabama Azalea, R.alabamense bears white flowers with a yellow blotch. This azalea has a lemony-spice fragrance. This azalea is a low to medium shrub that grows in Alabama and western Georgia.
Piedmont Azalea, R. canescens has white to pinkish tubular flowers. This plant may reach 15 feet in height. This azalea is native to Georgia’s piedmont.
Flame Azalea, R. calendulaceum has flowers colors ranging from yellow to orange and red. Flame azalea is native to the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia.
Sweet Azalea, R. arborescens has white flowers, sometimes with a pinkish twinge and red stamens. Its flowers have a strong cinnamon-like fragrance.
Pinxterbloom Azalea, R periclymenoides has narrow wavy flowers that are white, pale pink or deep pink. It is native from the mountains to the coastal plain of Georgia.
Cumberland Azalea, R. cumberlandense, has bright red-orange flowers. Plant can grow up to 6 feet. It is found from the Cumberland Plateau to the mountains of North Georgia.
The following table shows the flowering sequence of several native azaleas. You can use this table to design your garden for the maximum amount of flower color in the years to come:
Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept
Piedmont Azalea -----------
Flame Azalea --------------
Cumberland ----------
Sweet Azalea ----------------
When planting native azaleas select sites that are well drained and have a soil pH of 5-6. If the soil pH is too basic the azaleas may appear off color and unthrifty. Avoid planting azaleas directly under trees. Trees are very good at competing for minerals and water. Many times in nature you will see azaleas as an under story shrub. However, to obtain maximum flowering native azaleas need adequate sunlight. Limb and tree removal may be necessary. For more information call the Extension Office at 706-439-6030. For more information go to: http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B670/B670.htm
