LSU AgCenter Ornamental Horticulture E-News & Trial Garden Notes Late June 2017

Transcription

1 LSU AgCenter Ornamental Horticulture E-News & Trial Garden Notes Late June 2017 Nursery, Landscape & Garden Center Updates Allen Owings, Professor (Horticulture), Yan Chen, Associate Professor (Horticulture) and Jason Stagg, Instructor (Horticulture) LSU AgCenter, Hammond Research Station, Old Covington Highway, Hammond, LA Phone ; Fax ; Facebook Louisiana Super Plants - A Fond AgCenter Farewell (from Allen Owings) Some of you may have heard some recent news. Yes, it is true. I have decided to retire from the LSU AgCenter on June 30, This has been a very hard decision and one that I have been mulling around in my head for over a year. My horticulture research and extension work with the LSU AgCenter since February 1992 has been very rewarding and I have loved working with all of you all, seeing all of you all at meetings around the state and in the multi-state area, and enjoying fellowship and horticulture experiences with those of you in the nursery, landscape, and garden center industries along with master gardeners and home gardeners. It has been a great 25 years! There is so much to say and so many things to be thankful for: Thanks to Charlie Johnson, Ron Robbins and Ken Tipton for hiring me in 1992 at the LSU AgCenter s Calhoun Research Station. We had a great run in north Louisiana and it is sad that the Calhoun station is no longer there. How great it would be to have a central office for horticulture research and outreach along I-20. My colleagues at the LSU AgCenter have been great. I am concerned I will leave folks off the list, so I will not try to list everyone. From county agents to my fellow horticulture specialists and professors to the weed science, disease and insect guys you all have been great and I wish everyone in Louisiana understood how much time some of us put in to bring the LSU AgCenter to the people. The state of Louisiana truly is our campus! Horticulture impacts more people everyday than any other agricultural enterprise! Oh how I wish everyone understood that! My colleagues at other universities in the south are great. With shrinking dollars and universities struggling, it is important, now, more than ever to have a multi-state effort in agriculture research and extension programs. Our relationships in the SERA-IEG 27 group, southern region of the American Society for Horticultural Science, at the Gulf States Horticultural Expo, Southern Nursery Association and elsewhere have been highly valued and treasured! You all are great friends! Louisiana is blessed with many in-state horticulture and related industry associations. Louisiana probably has more horticulture associations doing great work that most other states in the southeast. The Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association has been around since It was an honor to serve as secretary of this group and to be on the

2 board now for 24 years. We now have the LNLFSR to fund scholarships and research projects please consider participating and contributing! Regional nursery and landscape associations include SELNA, Baton Rouge Landscape Association, the NO Horticulture Society, and Central LA Nursery Association. We have had other regional associations like the SW LA Nursery Association and the NW LA Nursery and Landscape Association in the past. There is a great Louisiana Turfgrass Association and Louisiana Irrigation Association handling our turfgrass and landscape irrigation affairs. We also have great groups working with native plants, daylilies, camellias, roses, Louisiana iris, orchids, bonsai plants, herbs, begonias and so much more. What about the Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research and the Louisiana State Horticulture Society! What great groups! I have loved working with all of you and attending your meetings! My buddy Brian Breaux at the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation along with members of their nursery committee do great work! Thank you for all you all do and for all your friendship. Thanks also to everyone at the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Craig Roussel, Tad Hardy and Ansel Rankins have been great assets to the state and I am fortunate to have been able to work with them on the Louisiana Horticulture Commission and elsewhere. My career at the LSU AgCenter really turned ten years ago when Regina Bracy asked me to re-locate to my hometown of Hammond and the Hammond Research Station. I could not be more proud of what has been done at the Hammond Research Station. Dr. Bracy s leadership along with great faculty and staff have made it the place to be for plant trials in the south. Most states are not so fortunate to have a great station like Hammond focused exclusively on a segment of our large horticulture industry! I am confident that great things are still coming to the Hammond Research Station. Master Gardeners..who would have thought how much this program would grow in the past twenty years. From infancy in Louisiana to a great volunteer organization for LSU AgCenter horticulture education and outreach! I have loved working with all of you! Just the overall horticulture industry in Louisiana is incredible! Sure, we have fewer businesses than we did ten years ago, but we are bigger and stronger than ever before. Nursery growers, landscape horticulturists/contractors, retail garden center managers/owners/employees you all make the green industry in Louisiana, and you all make it truly great! Growing up, my agronomist dad taught me an appreciation of agriculture and my mom made me get up early (weekends too) to tend to the horses, chickens and whatever else needed tending. I appreciate the love and support of my brother and his family. Some of my uncles and both my grandparents were big influences on me being in the garden. So, what is the future? My life is the highway and I will still regularly be on the road again. There are plenty of Dairy Queens and Waffle Houses around Louisiana and our surrounding states! I am pursuing some nursery employment opportunities.there are several I hope it works out I know it will.i will still be seeing all of you all and will

3 still be working in horticulture.more news will be coming..will be getting back to work this fall.until then Remember - Keep Gardening! Keep Planting! Keep the Green Side Up! and, most importantly.do NOT BE CAUGHT WITH YOUR PLANTS DOWN! And remember, for those of you who love LSU like I do - love purple and live gold! Best wishes and much love and appreciation to all of you! Plant Trials: Cannova Cannas (from Allen Owings) The new Cannova series canna were developed at American Takii and are being marketed by Ball Ingenuity. The first few varieties were trialed at the LSU AgCenter starting in 2014 and were introduced in These have been reliable, good landscape performers at the Hammond Research Station. Lesser canna leaf rollers and larger canna leaf rollers graze canna foliage late spring through fall in Louisiana. The lesser leaf roller eats more than the larger leaf roller. This series is a smaller grower and has a more landscape friendly size inches by fall. Varieties in the series include: Bronze Orange Lemon Yellow Mango Orange Shades Red Shades Rose

4 Plant Trials: Pugster Buddleia (from Allen Owings) One of the new perennial series stirring excitement is the Pugster series of Buddleia (butterfly bushes). Breeding on these started at the University of Connecticut in 2006 and continued at Spring Meadow Nursery. These are dwarf, inch growers. Varieties have larger foliage than other smaller growing butterfly bushes along with thicker/sturdier stems and larger flowers. These plants are in the Color Choice Flowering Shrubs program at Proven Winners. Initial flower color offerings are periwinkle, blue, white and pink. See them in the Buddleia trial beds in the sun garden at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station. Horticulturist Yan Chen is coordinating our 2017 Buddleia trial. Plant Trials: Campfire and Inferno Coleus (from Allen Owings) The two orange foliage coleus from Ball FloraPlant have momentum in the horticultural world. Campfire has eye-catching orange foliage and is similar to Redhead and Wasabi in landscape performance. Plants are late flowering. Habit is similar to Henna (a LSU AgCenter Louisiana Super Plant). Inferno is another orange foliage coleus that holds foliage color even in shade. Promoted as have superior, saturated orange coloration. Height of inches. Works well in large containers and landscapes. Low-maintenance and late to flower LSU AgCenter Louisiana Super Plants Limelight Hydrangea paniculata Intenz Classic Celosia Little Gem Southern Magnolia

5 Mark Your Calendars! Gulf States Horticultural Expo January 17-19, Lantana Lace Bugs (from Allen Owings) Lantana lace bugs are out in big numbers currently. We have had major populations of these insects on our lantana plantings at the Hammond Research Station this summer. This lace bug species infests deciduous plants. This means that it overwinters as an adult in the leaf litter under and around the base of the plant. Good management strategy is to clean up under and around the plant during winter to help the environment manage some of the pest population. Like their counterparts (found on azaleas), they have a piercing, sucking mouthpart. Eggs are deposited on the stems and foliage in the spring as the plants begin to grow. The hatching nymphs resemble the nymphs of other species except for color. Their feeding causes the leaf tissue to become stippled and discolored, and with heavy feeding eventually turn a bronzy gray color. Heavy damage can cause early defoliation and reduced bloom. Management can be completed with systemic and contact insecticides summer horticultural oil, acephate, spinosad, etc.

6 LSU AgCenter Soil Testing and Plant Analysis Lab LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Clinic

7 Louisiana Super Plants Past Winners and 2017 Winners