Articles by Dr. Francis Gouin

How to Care for Poinsettias

These tropical plants demand warmth and sun

A tropical plant that originated in Mexico, the poinsettia is very susceptible to chilling temperatures. If you purchase your plant on a cold day, wrap it completely before moving it from the store to your car. Place it in a sleeve stapled at the top to prevent rapid heat loss and to keep cold air from blowing onto the plant. As soon as you start the car, turn on the heat to a comfortable temperature. When you arrive at home, the poinsettia should be the first package...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 12/13/12

Not All Wreaths Are Equal

Store-bought Christmas wreaths and roping may need resurrection

At a winter Saturday morning farmers market on Riva Road, a shopper approached me with a Christmas wreath problem. In a week on her door, a wreath she had purchased at a local big-box store was turning gray-green, and its needles felt dry. I was not surprised. Most of the Christmas wreaths and roping sold in big-box stores, grocery stores and many garden centers are made in New Mexico, North Carolina, New Jersey, the West Coast and Canada starting in...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 12/6/12

Riding a Piece of History

My restored 1939 Allis-Chalmers B tractor gives me a fleet of two, going on three

In June 2007, I wrote a Bay Gardener column about restoring a 1949 John Deere B tractor. A Bay Weekly reader called to offer me an old tractor, which had belonged to his father-in-law. When I visited, I found a neglected Allis-Chalmers B parked at the edge of a woods. It had not been operated for at least 10 years. It would no doubt be a real challenge to restore to operating condition. Since the word can’t is not in my vocabulary, I accepted the...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 11/29/12

Want Onions for Spring?

There’s still time to plant short-day onions

Short-day onions generate their bulbs when daylight hours are less than 12. If you are going to plant onion plants this fall, make certain that you purchase only short-day varieties. Short-day varieties can be successfully transplanted as late as mid-December and still produce a normal crop. Many of us will be planting almost that late, as Dixon Dale onion farm, one of the nation’s largest producers of onion plants, did not have plants ready to ship until mid-November...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 11/22/12

From the Bay Garden to the Thanksgiving Table

We didn’t grow our own celery, olives or turkey

This year, our garden will be providing butternut squash, onions, garlic, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots and red and green peppers for the Thanksgiving table. We might include sauerkraut that was made and canned in 2010. If needed we could also include Siberian kale and collard greens, but I prefer roasted Brussels sprouts. Wife Clara always buys the largest turkey that will fit in the oven. As in previous years, I will first brine the turkey starting on Wednesday...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 11/15/12

Leave the Bugs Out in the Cold When You Bring Your...

More Bugs: Soft-shell scale, mealy bugs, spittle bugs, spider mites and cyclamen mites

A number of insects feed unnoticed on houseplants until perplexing changes alert you. Yellowing leaves are often seen as an indication that the plant is hungry and needs a dose of fertilizer. Yellowing leaves can also mean soft-shell scale insects are feeding on your rubber tree, crotons, philodendrons or related foliage plants. In sufficient numbers, these insects can cause leaves to turn yellow and appear deficient in nutrients. Look for scale insects on stems, veins in...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 11/8/12

Bring the Houseplants Inside; Leave the Bugs Outside

Bug 1: Wax Scale

One of the problems of moving houseplants outdoors during the summer months is that they often become infested with insects. You’ll want to control those bugs before bringing your plants back indoors. A Bay Weekly reader sent me a sample of Christmas cactus that had been outdoors along with her other houseplants. She wrote that the plant had not been growing and, despite her care, continues to decline. On the five-inch-long piece of stem in the envelope, I counted 12...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 11/1/12

A Mutation for the Season

Add witches broom to your Halloween hunt

A Bay Weekly reader asked if I had seen an odd-looking pine tree growing on the west side of Rt. 4 about a quarter-mile south of the Patuxent River Bridge. It’s a witches broom, and I have been admiring it for at least 10 years. The tree is some 20 feet tall and grows on the edge of the woods about 100 feet from the side of the road. Witches brooms are abnormal dense growth on a branch or stem of a tree or shrub. On high-bush blueberries, they are...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 10/25/12

House Plants Need Repotting

Just mulching won’t give them what they need to overwinter

The editor of Bay Weekly recently asked if she could simply add potting soil to raise the level of rooting medium in her houseplants or if she had to repot. I advised her to repot. The rooting medium in house plants shrinks with time. As the organic matter in the potting medium decomposes due to high soil temperatures and frequent irrigations, the volume of rooting medium shrinks. If there are drainage holes in the container, most likely some of the finer particles in the...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 10/18/12

You Can’t Compost in Plastic Bags

Compost needs air and water

I heard a garden advisor on radio tell his listeners to compost their leaves in plastic bags rather than placing them on the curb for pick-up by the municipality. Put the leaves in the plastic bag and dump in a pitcher of warm water with two to three packages of bakers yeast dissolved in the liquid, he advised. I hope no one listened. Composting is an aerobic process. The organisms involved are bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. There are no yeasts in the...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 10/11/12