Winter, 2004

Sincerely,

Leslie Johnson
Extension Lawn and Garden Editor
Communication and Technology Services
312 Agriculture Hall, MSU
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039

LKJ/bl

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Winter may be upon us, but lack of outdoor gardening opportunities doesn’t mean a scarcity of gardening-related questions. Michigan State University Extension specialists answer questions on topics ranging from vegetable gardening, houseplants, landscape ornamentals, outdoor flowers and common insects.

Q. Why are ants called "social" insects?

A. Because they live in colonies in which each individual has a role in providing for the colony. Like honeybee colonies, ant colonies have workers (sterile females), males and females (queens). Some ant societies also have warriors, whose job is to defend the colony.

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Q. Where does vanilla come from?

A. Vanilla is made from the seed pod of the vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia, a tropical American vine. The pods are harvested when they are fully grown but not yet ripe, about 8 to 9 months after the vines produce their greenish yellow flowers. To develop the vanilla flavor, the pods are cured and fermented. Vanilla planifolia can be grown as a houseplant but rarely flowers in the home.

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Q. I planted a terrarium a couple of years ago, and it’s looking like a rampant jungle these days. Should I cut plants back or replant or what?

A. Starting over with new plants is probably easier, but pruning plants is also an option.

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Q. What are springtails?

A. Springtails belong to the insect family collembola. They are tiny, wingless insects that feed on dead and decaying material. When disturbed, they propel themselves through the air using a springlike device on their rear end. The spring is set when it’s folded back under the insect’s abdomen. When it’s released, the spring may launch the tiny insect several inches. Collembolans may live in houseplant pots or leaf litter outdoors. They can even be found jumping around on the surface of snow in the winter.

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Q. I planted some spring bulbs in front of a south-facing wall, where it’s noticeably warmer than many other areas in my yard. I’m wondering if the bulbs might start to grow early, especially if we get a winter warm spell.

A. Once bulbs have satisfied their chilling requirement, they may start to grow if the weather is conducive. Foliage may be nipped if temperatures drop after the leaves have emerged, but this shouldn’t affect this spring’s flowers. If the flower buds themselves get frozen, of course, you’ll have no flowers this year, but the bulbs will survive. Once bulbs start to grow, there’s not much you can do. Mulching areas planted to bulbs after the ground freezes usually helps keep plants dormant until it’s time for them to grow.

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Q. Every winter, my houseplants stop growing and drop leaves and generally look pale and sickly. Is there something I should be doing that I’m not?

A. Low light is often a problem for houseplants in winter. Supplementing natural light with 16 hours of artificial light from fluorescent tubes daily should help. Even with the extra light, plants won’t be making lots of new growth, so reduce water and fertilizer applications. Too much water can kill plant roots, and overfertilizing can cause fertilizer salts to build up in the soil and damage plant roots and other tissues.

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Q. What is "southwest disease" in trees?

A. It’s not a disease, though it does usually occur on the southwest side of smooth-barked trees such as young maples. It’s also known as frost crack, though frost doesn’t really have anything to do with it, either. It occurs when sunlight warms the tree’s bark, which expands. As night approaches, the outer bark cools and shrinks faster than the inner tissues until the bark splits. Bark cracks can open the tree trunk to infection by disease organisms or attack by insects. To prevent frost crack, you can wrap smooth-barked trees with tree wrap in the fall or shade the south and west sides with canvas tacked to stakes.

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Q. I’d love to have a home greenhouse but can’t afford it just now. I could make a coldframe, but I wonder if it would be worthwhile. What could I do with it?

A. A coldframe is basically an unheated box with a transparent lid, often made from discarded windows. It doesn’t have to be permanent – you can use straw bales for the sides. The main purpose of a coldframe is to provide a sheltered spot with good light for plants. In it you could start flower and vegetable seedlings in the spring, keep quick-growing salad crops growing longer in the fall, chill bulbs for forcing, store root vegetables for winter, harden greenhouse-grown transplants before setting them in the garden and start cuttings of woody plants in the summer.

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Q. I like sassafras trees but haven’t had much luck transplanting seedlings from a friend’s yard. Are they just hard to transplant, or am I doing something wrong?

A. Sassafras isn’t a common landscape plant because it is difficult to transplant. Growing trees from seed and acquiring container-grown plants from nurseries are two ways to improve your chances of success with sassafras.

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Q. Where does chocolate come from?

A. Chocolate is derived from the seeds of the cacao tree, which grows in moist tropical climates in Africa and South America. The seeds must be fermented, then dried, cleaned, roasted and ground to a thick paste. Hardened, this paste becomes unsweetened baking chocolate. Heated, it yields cocoa butter. The dry material that’s left is ground for unsweetened cocoa. Blending the paste with additional cocoa butter and sweeteners produces chocolate candy. If other fats are used, the final product cannot be labeled "chocolate." White chocolate is made of cocoa butter and sweeteners without the dark paste.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Some people who wouldn’t think of eating beetles, crickets or cockroaches don’t hesitate to chow down on a plate of shrimp or a nice lobster tail.

So what? Well, all these creatures are members of the same large group of living things, the arthropods.

"What all arthropods have in common are segmented bodies and jointed legs," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "Many of them also have hard outer coverings that must be shed as they grow."

Arthropods are further divided into other groups. The insects are one. Insects have three body parts -- head, thorax and abdomen -- six legs and antennae; many have wings.

Spiders, mites and ticks are not insects but arachnids -- they have two body sections and eight legs. Scorpions are also arachnids.

Though some insects live in water for at least part of their lives, most arthropods that live in water their entire lives are crustaceans. Lobsters, shrimp, crabs and crayfish are crustaceans. Like insects, they are hard-shelled, but they have more than two antennae and more than six legs.

"The familiar sowbug or pill bug is also a crustacean," McLellan points out. "Even though it is called a bug, it isn’t an insect."

Other common terrestrial arthropods are millipedes and centipedes – thousand-legged worms and hundred-legged worms, respectively. Though their nicknames aren’t entirely accurate, they do convey the fact that each of these creatures is endowed with an excess of appendages -- at least, by insect standards. Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment; millipedes have two pairs per segment.

"Some people are neither aware of these distinctions nor interested in telling an insect from a spider from a centipede," McLellan observes. "If it’s a creepy-crawly, it’s a bug and it better stay out of their way! Unless it’s a seagoing arthropod on the seafood buffet -- that’s a different story!"

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ATTRACTING BUTTERFLIES
CAN BE GARDENING GOAL

Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- So many people enjoy watching butterflies visiting their gardens that many seed catalogs dedicate pages to plants for butterfly gardens. And some gardeners design their plantings specifically to attract butterflies.

"Often, the choices you make to please yourself will also make the garden more attractive to butterflies," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "For instance, combining annuals with perennials so that the garden has something in bloom from spring through fall means nectar will be available throughout the season."

If attracting butterflies is a gardening goal, look for plants that are known butterfly magnets, she suggests. Buddleia, or summer lilac, starts blooming in midsummer and continues through frost. Other perennial favorites include coneflowers, bergamot, daisies, asters, coreopsis, goldenrod and phlox. Others include asclepias, known as butterfly weed; and scabiosa (pincushion flower), black-eyed Susan and achillea (yarrow).

Annuals with butterfly allure include alyssum, annual asters, ageratum, bachelor’s button, cosmos, marigold, pentas, petunias, salvia and zinnias.

Wildflowers that butterflies find attractive include Joe-pye weed, milkweed, thistle, goldenrod, clover, and wild bergamot, phlox, verbena and asters.

"Seed catalogs often offer wildflower mixes or perennial gardens containing species selected specifically for their appeal to butterflies and hummingbirds," McLellan notes.

Some butterfly species don’t often visit flowers, but all need somewhere to lay their eggs, so providing or preserving plants that butterfly larvae feed on can bring additional species into your yard.

"Some of these plants are common weeds; others are plants in the cabbage, parsley and mustard families that people cultivate in their gardens for their own consumption," McLellan says. "Planting extra cabbage or broccoli plants for the insects and encouraging out-of-the-way corners of the lawn or landscape to return to native plants such as milkweed and thistle will provide food for butterfly larvae."

Some butterfly fanciers go so far as to design their entire landscape to meet butterfly needs, providing puddles, windbreaks and hibernation boxes along with butterfly plants.

"This doesn’t mean that you have to have a big yard to enjoy butterfly gardening," McLellan notes. "A windowbox or a container of fragrant flowers on a patio will attract butterflies, even in urban areas. Butterflies are everywhere, though the species will vary with the local habitat."

Some butterflies are primarily woodland species; others prefer open meadows, and some live on the edges of moist woods.

A good field guide can make butterfly watching more enjoyable and guide you in your selection of larval food plants. "Michigan Butterflies and Skippers," Extension bulletin E-2675, offers photos of every butterfly species recorded in Michigan, and information on range, habitat, and adult and larval food sources. It’s available from county MSU Extension offices or the MSU Bulletin Office. Call 517-353-6740 or visit <www:emdc.msue.msu.edu> to order.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- If you’ve had success growing sweet corn or popcorn, you should be able to grow broom corn.

"Though broom corn isn’t really corn -- it’s actually a type of sorghum -- it requires the same growing conditions and care as sweet corn or popcorn," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University.

Broom corn towers over ordinary corn plants, however, sometimes reaching a height of 15 feet, she notes.

The Shakers of the northeastern United States were the first documented growers of broom corn. Beginning in the late 1700s, they cultivated it and used the bristles for brooms and the seeds and stalks as livestock feed.

Broom corn is still used for brooms today, McLellan says. If a broom is labeled "natural fiber," it’s made of broom corn.

Plant broom corn seeds after the soil has warmed up in the spring. Place seeds ¾ inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart in rows 3½ feet apart. Like sweet corn, broom corn needs full sun. Because it’s so tall, it may shade other sun-loving crops.

The part of the plant harvested for broom bristles is the pedicel, the stem that holds the male flowers. The stalks are bent over at about knee height to bring the pedicels down within reach of harvesters. Then each stalk is cut 6 to 8 inches below the brush. Leaves and seeds are carefully removed so the bristles stay straight and untangled. Curing for two to three weeks in a warm, well-ventilated area gets the bristles ready for making into brooms and brushes.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Once the holidays are over and the ornaments put away, the Christmas tree has not only lost its glamour but become a bit of a disposal problem. Some cities will collect them and put them through the municipal chipper to become mulch or compost. A home landscape may offer other recycling opportunities, however.

Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University, suggests using the old tree to protect rhododendrons, azaleas and other low-growing landscape plants that are susceptible to wind and sun damage in winter.

Start by removing the branches on the top half to two-thirds of the main trunk. Then sharpen the small end of the main stem, flip the tree upside-down and drive the pointed end into the ground a foot to the windward side of the plant to be protected. If the ground is too hard or you don’t want to disturb plant roots or bulbs in the soil, tie the upside-down tree to a wire strung between two posts. Either way, the large bottom branches, which are now on the top, drape down over the tender plant to break up drying winds and shade the plant.

"The evergreen also marks the location of low-lying plants," she notes. "This may keep them from being walked on, driven over or snowplowed."

The branches removed from the Christmas tree’s trunk can be laid over straw or other lightweight mulch materials in strawberry beds and perennial plantings. They will help hold the mulch down and trap insulating snow.

Another use for the whole tree -- right-side up this time -- is as a bird feeder. Fastened upright to a sturdy stake or fence post, it can provide a place to hang home-made or store-bought seed and suet balls, pine cones smeared with peanut butter or other high-energy winter foods for birds. Because it provides cover as well as food for small birds, it may attract more feathered visitors than a conventional feeder stuck on a post out in the open.

In the spring, the tree can be ground or chopped up and used for summer mulch or added to the compost pile.

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FOR WINTER GARDENING FIX,
MULTIPLY HOUSEPLANTS

Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Seed catalogs start arriving in Michigan when there’s still a lot of winter left. If making out your order for seeds and plants doesn’t satisfy your midwinter craving to be gardening, why not multiply some houseplants?

"Whether you start houseplants from seed or vegetative plant parts, working with plants and growing media and providing water, light and fertilizer to young plants may fill the need to grow something," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University.

Seeds for houseplants such as African violets, gloxinia, cacti, bromeliads, and other flowering and foliage houseplants are available primarily through specialty seed and plant catalogs. Clean, sanitized containers, a sterile growing medium, water and fertilizer, and proper growing conditions -- light, temperature, humidity -- are essential to success with plants from seed. Patience helps, too -- some seeds are slow to germinate, even under optimum conditions.

Many houseplants are more commonly grown from leaf or stem cuttings or other plant parts, McLellan notes.

"The key in vegetative propagation is to start with healthy growing plants," she says. "Avoid diseased, insect-infested, poorly growing or generally unhealthy-looking plants -- they will not do as well. And there’s no point in multiplying problems along with the plants."

Some plants can be propagated in more than one way. African violets, for instance, can be grown from seed or started by leaf cuttings or crown division. Other plants can be propagated only one way. English ivy, for instance, is propagated only by cuttings, and sensitive plant only by seed.

Cuttings -- whether they’re leaves or leaf sections or pieces of stem -- are usually inserted in a sterile medium, watered and enclosed in a clear plastic bag to keep the medium moist and the air around the cutting humid. Placed in a warm area (on top of a refrigerator may be a good spot) with subdued light, cuttings may take several weeks to produce roots. Then they can be potted and moved to a spot with brighter light and cooler temperatures.

Plants such as the spider plant, which forms new plants at the ends of trailing stems, and sansevieria, which produces offsets or pups, essentially propagate themselves, McLellan observes. All you have to do is pot the plantlets or the offsets removed from the mother plant.

On the other end of the patience scale is the technique called air layering, which is used for ficus and dracaena plants. It may take months for roots to form on the plants’ woody stems.

Easy plants to propagate at home by stem tip cuttings include coleus, wandering jew, inch plants and other vining-type foliage plants. African violets and rex begonia are easily multiplied using leaf cuttings. Spider plants and strawberry begonias produce plantlets, and the jelly-bean-shaped leaves of burro’s tail are quick to root wherever they land. Amaryllis is easy to start from seed, though the resulting bulbs may take several years to reach blooming size.

More challenging undertakings include growing ferns from spores and air layering.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- It’s a sunflower, not an artichoke, and it can provide an edible harvest, play a role in the landscape and become a persistent weed. It’s the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus).

The Jerusalem artichoke is a native of North America, observes Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. It was a staple food for Native Americans before the coming of European colonists, and it not only fed the colonists but found its way to Europe. The name "Jerusalem artichoke" may have come from early reports of its tubers tasting like artichokes and the Italian word for sunflower, "girasol." It’s a herbaceous perennial -- that is, its roots persist year after year, sending up new shoots and leaves in the spring that are killed by cold in the fall.

It’s often grown as an annual crop -- planted early in the spring and harvested in the fall, after frost. Any tubers left behind will produce new plants the next year, and a planting left to its own devices will spread.

"If you want to use it as an ornamental, it’s best to plant it where it’s contained by sidewalks, driveways or some other barrier," McLellan suggests. "Then you can enjoy its yellow flowers without fear that the plants are going to take over your lawn or flower beds."

If you want to harvest the tubers, a planting site with light sandy soil is best -- it makes the digging easier, she explains. Good drainage is a must -- tuber development is poor in wet, poorly drained soils.

In the vegetable garden, plant tubers 3 to 5 inches deep and 15 to 24 inches apart in rows 36 to 42 inches apart. Plants grown for ornamental purposes may be planted somewhat closer together, though they will quickly become crowded in subsequent years. Plants will grow to 4 to 12 feet high and bear yellow sunflower-like blossoms in the fall.

Harvest tubers after frost has killed the tops and store them where temperatures are close to

32 degrees and humidity is high. An alternative is to leave them in the ground and dig them as you need them. A thick layer of mulch is necessary to keep the area from freezing. Later harvested tubers will be sweeter than early ones.

Jerusalem artichokes can be substituted in recipes calling for potatoes or used raw in salads or added to stir-fries. Because their rough surface and irregular shape make tubers difficult to peel, they are often scrubbed with a vegetable brush and cut up unpeeled.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- What do tulips blooming earlier on the south side of a structure than on the north side, moles tunneling under an insulating blanket of snow and snakes sunning in a sheltered spot in the spring have in common? In each case, conditions are different from those in the general surrounding area because of slight differences in slope exposure, wind velocity or some other factor.

"The result in each of these examples is a microclimate that’s warmer than nearby areas," explains Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "In other cases, the area may be cooler or less windswept."

Think of a heavily mulched garden -- it will be slower to warm up in the spring than areas without ground cover, and the soil will be slower to dry because the mulch insulates the soil against drying wind and sun.

The lawn that becomes snow-covered before the soil freezes and then stays covered is protected against freezing temperatures. Moles and the earthworms and other creatures they feed on will remain close to the surface, despite the inhospitable conditions on the other side of their snow blanket.

Sometimes microclimates shift according to weather patterns. Birds seek out areas sheltered from the wind. When the wind changes directions, the locations of the sheltered areas also change. A feeder that was sheltered when the wind was from the west or northwest may be exposed to the wind when it shifts around to the east, and birds will seek out other more sheltered feeders.

Landscape features that create microclimates include low or dense shrubbery, brush piles, tall grass, woodpiles and compost piles, as well as structures. The area on the south or west side of a building or wall, for instance, will be warmer on a sunny winter day than the shaded north side.

"Animals trying to survive the harsh outdoor conditions use these differences in temperature and wind velocity," McLellan observes. "Likewise, plants respond to them, either starting to grow earlier in the spring or actively growing longer in the fall, or staying dormant longer in the spring because of their location."

Fruit growers make use of microclimates when they plant their crops on high ground to avoid frost damage to flowers, she points out. Cold air tends to run downhill, she explains, and collect in low-lying areas, aptly named "frost pockets" because they are the last places to experience frost in the spring and the first spots hit by frost in the fall.

Home landscapers may make use of microclimates to grow plants that ordinarily wouldn’t be expected to survive a typical Michigan winter. Planting these marginally hardy plants in a protected area may enable them to survive all but the harshest of winters.

"You can check out the difference between a microclimate and the generally prevailing conditions by putting outdoor thermometers in both areas and comparing them," she suggests. "This could be a summer as well as winter science project. In summer, you might be surprised at the temperature differences between sunny and shaded spots or paved vs. grassy areas."

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- When they’re planning landscape changes, people tend to think about how their plant choices will look during the growing season.

Winter accounts for a substantial part of the year in Michigan, however. So why not make choices that add color and interest to the winter landscape, too?

"Evergreen foliage, persistent fruits and decorative bark are three ways to make the winter landscape more interesting," observes Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "Variations in plant shape and branching structure are others."

Evergreen plants -- trees, shrubs and ground covers -- add a bit of color to a landscape that may otherwise be mostly black and white. Available in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colors, evergreens can provide a contrast in color and texture with starkly leafless deciduous plants. They also provide shelter for birds.

A hard-to-plant moist area in the landscape could become home to improved cultivars of Michigan holly and red or yellow twig dogwood, McLellan suggests. Michigan holly ‘Winter Red’ has larger, redder fruits than the native species, and the stems of the dogwood add color to the backdrop of winter white.

Crabapple trees are usually planted for their spring flower display, but many cultivars hold onto their fruits well into the winter. The red, orange or yellow fruits add color to the landscape and provide food for birds and other wildlife. Flowering crabapples are also available in a range of sizes and shapes, from upright to rounded to drooping.

"Mention decorative bark and many people will think of European white birch, which is attractive but short-lived in Michigan landscapes because it is so susceptible to damage by leafminers and bronze birch borer," McLellan says. "Decorative bark is also a characteristic of a number of less problem-prone trees, such as London plane tree and Chinese or lacebark elm."

London plane tree is a relative of the native sycamore and has similar peeling patchwork bark but is less susceptible to anthracnose, a defoliating disease. Chinese elm (not to be confused with Siberian elm, a weak-wooded tree with serious insect problems) has exfoliating bark that’s as attractive as the bark of the paperbark maple. The tree itself is hardier and less problem-prone.

For interesting branching structure, you can’t beat Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’), a shrub with twisted, turned and almost corkscrewlike branches. Plant it where its unusual silhouette can be viewed from your favorite window for a landscape focal point.

When selecting any landscape plant, keep in mind the importance of hardiness -- the plant’s inherent ability to survive a typical Michigan winter -- and freedom from insect pests and diseases, McLellan suggests. Match the planting site with the plant’s mature size and spread so it will have room to reach its mature size without interfering with structures, overhead utility wires, or underground pipes or septic systems. The result is likely to be a plant that grows well in the landscape without a great deal of maintenance.

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Where you put your vegetable garden may be the key to its success.

"There are lots of decisions to make when you’re planning a vegetable garden," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University, "but the location is critical."

A garden spot should be fertile, well-drained, on higher ground than the surrounding area and exposed to full sun most of the day, she says. Siting the garden on poor, waterlogged soil and/or in a low-lying spot and shade is a prescription for a variety of gardening woes, including poor growth, low yields, plant disease, and late spring and early fall frost damage.

A spot close to home and a nearby water source make it convenient to work in when you have a few minutes, easy to observe and easy to water.

Nearby trees and shrubs not only throw their shade on the garden but also compete for water and soil nutrients, she notes, so the best garden spot has no close plant neighbors.

When lawn is being converted to garden, it’s a good idea to get rid of the grass one year and plant the garden the next.

"Lawn areas often contain insects such as grubs that feed on grass roots," McLellan points out. "Kill off or remove the grass, and these insects become vegetable pests. Also, grass is tenacious -- if you haven’t done a thorough job of killing it, either by spraying with herbicides or covering it with black plastic sheeting or using some other method, it will be your garden’s biggest weed problem."

Removing the grass will generate other weed problems, she notes, as weed seeds that were shaded by the grass germinate and grow. Removing the grass, working the soil and controlling those weeds the year before you intend to plant doesn’t eliminate all weed problems but does reduce them somewhat.

"Note that ‘removing the grass’ doesn’t mean simply tilling it under," she points out. "You need to kill it before you till it, or it will keep trying to make a comeback."

Working the soil repeatedly also destroys soil-dwelling insects that could cause problems in the vegetable garden, she notes, and brings up weed seeds so they can germinate and be controlled before you plant your crops.

What if your yard doesn’t provide space for a garden? That doesn’t mean you can’t grow vegetables.

"You can combine many vegetables with flowers in beds, borders or containers," McLellan points out. "Some vegetables, such as ornamental kale and flowering cabbage, are strictly ornamental, but even plants grown for their edible harvest can be attractive additions to the landscape."

Even perennial crops such as rhubarb, asparagus and Jerusalem artichoke may have a place in the landscape, she adds. The large leaves of the rhubarb, the fernlike tops of the asparagus (which turn golden yellow in the fall) and the yellow sunflower-like blossoms of the artichokes can provide color and textural contrast in the landscape as well as an edible harvest.

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SUCCULENTS THRIVE
ON NEGLECT

Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The key to success in growing houseplants is partly a matter of matching the plant and the location. If the location provides the right light levels, temperatures and humidity levels, the plant may thrive -- unless the person tending it either kills it with too much water or lets it die of neglect.

For those who tend to forget to water their indoor gardens, nature has a solution: succulents.

"Succulents are plants that evolved in dry, hostile environments," explains Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "There they developed ways to survive long periods without water. Though they grow slowly, they also need little care. And many of them do well in the dry air and low light conditions in Michigan homes and offices in winter."

The one thing that succulents can’t tolerate is too much water, she points out. Even in spring and summer, when succulents tend to make most of their growth, they need a sandy soil and watering only when the soil has dried completely. In the winter, many of them need little if any water.

Among these water-shunning plants are many types of cacti. Anything more than minimal watering in winter will cause them to rot, so the usual prescription for cacti in winter is an unheated room, bright light and no care at all.

Another group of interesting succulents is called living stones. They look like small, split stones and are well camouflaged on their native stony soil.

A common trait of succulents is fleshy, water-conserving leaves. Jade plant (Crassula portulacea), aloe, wax plant (Hoya carnosa), zebra plant (Haworthia spp.) and kalanchoe (Kalanchoe spp.) are good examples. Many are silvery gray or gray-green -- such as ghost plant (graptopetalum paraguayense), burro’s tail (Sedum morgianum) and panda plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa).

Cacti come in a variety of shapes and sizes from short and round to upright to branching. Most have spines or other prickly defenses.

"The key to success with succulents is not to pamper them," she sums up. "They need little water when they’re growing and even less when they aren’t. So ignore them, neglect them, forget about them for weeks on end – they’ll do just fine."

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Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- As you’re flipping through the seed catalogs, photos of mammoth pumpkins and other giant vegetables catch your eye. What fun, you think, to be able to take pictures of the kids or grandkids perched on a giant pumpkin from your garden.

The keys to growing that pumpkin, says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University, are starting with a giant variety and giving it optimum growing conditions.

"Of course, a little luck never hurts, either," she adds.

Giant varieties can be found in many seed catalogs. They may be listed with other varieties of pumpkins, squash, watermelons, beans, radishes or whatever, or grouped with other oddities under headings such as "Novelties." Some catalogs even offer leaflets or books of growing advice.

Giant varieties include:

** Atlantic Giant pumpkin, the perpetual biggest pumpkin title holder. Chances are you won’t produce a new world record pumpkin (you’d have to grow a pumpkin weighing well over 1,000 pounds), but even without special treatment, 200- to 300-pound fruits are common, and lunkers twice that size are not unusual.

** Prizewinner pumpkin is said to produce 100- to 200-pound fruits routinely and 400-hundred-pounders frequently.

** Other giant varieties in the squash and pumpkin family include pumpkins Big Moon and Big Max (100 to 200 pounds); Show King giant squash, with gray-green fruits weighing 400 pounds and up; pink banana squash, whose fruits may be 48 inches long and weigh 75 pounds; and bushel gourds, which may weigh 100 pounds before drying.

** Carolina Cross watermelon fruits commonly exceed 200 pounds. Unlike many giant varieties, this one is said to be highly tasty.

** Other giant vegetables may be found lurking in the listings for beans (yardlong or asparagus bean), cucumbers (Armenian or yardlong cucumber), radish (Daikon, 19 inches long and 3 inches in diameter) and cabbage (various varieties with heads ranging from 25 to 35 pounds).

Optimum growing conditions help these giant varieties realize their potential, McLellan says. Fertile, well-drained soil and full sun are essentials. Avoid planting in low-lying areas where late spring and early fall frosts could shorten the growing season. Work the planting site as early as possible, and cover it with black plastic to warm the soil. Seeds will germinate faster and seedlings will begin to grow more quickly in warm soil, she explains.

Squash, watermelon and pumpkins don’t appreciate having their roots disturbed, so they’re usually seeded directly into the garden. To grow giant ones, however, you’ll want to start seeds indoors so that you have six-week-old transplants to set into the garden after the danger of frost is past. To minimize root disturbance, start the plants in peat pots or pellets, which can be set directly into the soil. Removing plants from other containers may shock them out of days’ or weeks’ growth, she warns.

"If you want to extend the season by warming the soil with plastic and setting plants outside before the local frost-free date, they’ll need protection against cool temperatures and frost," McLellan points out. "Be prepared to protect them with hot caps or some other covering whenever temperatures drop into the 30s or frost threatens."

At planting time, plant the giants-to-be through black plastic whenever possible. This will discourage weed growth and conserve soil moisture. Make sure they have plenty of room to grow -- for a giant pumpkin or squash vine, 100 square feet is not too much.

Keep plants well watered and fertilize regularly, McLellan advises. Also protect them against insects, diseases, animals and competition from weeds.

Pick off all the female flowers on squash, watermelon and pumpkin vines until the vines are about 8 feet long. This will give you plenty of vine growth to support the development of a giant fruit, she explains. After one fruit is set, pick off all the other female flowers that follow as soon as they appear so all the plant’s resources go into producing that one fruit. This may require checking the plant at least every other day so you can catch developing fruits quickly.

Ground rot can undermine giant squash and other fruits that lie on the ground. If you’re growing on plastic, be sure to poke plenty of drainage holes in the plastic so water doesn’t stand on it, McLellan suggests. If fruits will be resting on soil, place several inches of sand under them.

All other things being equal, the longer the growing season is, the larger the fruits will be, so allow pumpkins, squash and melons to grow until the vines are killed by frost. If you can protect them from the first light fall frosts, you may get extra days or even weeks of growth.

"Every year, someone gets his or her 15 minutes of fame from growing the biggest pumpkin," McLellan observes. "For others, it’s the challenge, or maybe the photo opportunity with the kids. Whatever your reason for growing a giant, starting with a giant variety and giving it the best possible growing conditions give you your best shot at achieving your goal. An assist from the weather -- a long, warm growing season -- doesn’t hurt."

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