A recent visit to the Dothan Area Botanical Garden (DABG) reminded me that although many of our summer flowers are winding down, we have a great garden show coming this winter when the southern classic camellias start to show their stuff. DABG has a large collection of camellias that will start blooming in the coming months. Here is a little background on the two most common types of camellias grown in our area.
Camellia japonica
Also known as Japanese Camellia, C. japonica thrive in partial sun to full shade. Direct morning sun with some shelter from the sun in the hottest part of the day is a good compromise. Too much shade can reduce flowering, so aim for at least partial sun.
Most Japanese Camellias bloom from January to March, but some may start earlier in the season. Flower shapes include single, semi-double, anemone, peony, and formal double. Flower colors are white, pink, red, and sometimes a combination of multiple colors! Camellia japonica mature at 10-15’ tall and wide but may get as big as 25 feet. This makes them ideal to create privacy in the garden or have the lower limbs trimmed into a tree-form.
Camellia sasanqua
Sasanqua camellias also prefer part sun but can also thrive in full sun once established. Leaves and flowers are typically smaller than C. japonica which is an easy way to differentiate. Although most have upright habits and can grow 10-15’ tall as well, there are a few cultivars such as ‘Shishi Gashira’, ‘Bonanza’, and ‘Mine-no-yuki’ that have more horizontal branching making them good options for foundation plantings. Sasanqua camellia are usually in full bloom in the fall, but may bloom as late as January. Flower shapes are similar to C. japonicas, but many varieties have more open flowers with exposed stamens that are beneficial to pollinators.
UF/IFAS Extension Agents from across the Florida Panhandle had a great discussion about fall vegetable gardening in the latest episode of Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! Fall Vegetable Gardening on September 12th. As usual, we had a great bank of questions supplied by our viewers and we want to follow up by sharing a recap of the discussion with reference links so you can dig deeper into the recommendations they provided.
Calling all watermelon producers; commercial growers to gardeners. It’s almost time to enter your finest melons in the Big Melon Contest at thePanhandle Watermelon Festival. The festival and the contest have been summer-time staples in the Central Panhandle for decades. Don’t miss your opportunity to showcase the delicious product of your hard work and have a chance to win prize money.
To make the contest fun for growers of all types of watermelons, contest classes will be broken out by varieties*. The heaviest melon in the class wins. Winners of each class will receive $50, and first runner-up $25. In addition to the classes, there will be a $300 grand prize paid for the overall heaviest melon in the contest, and $250 for the first runner-up.
There is no cost to enter a melon in the contest. However, melons entered in the contest are donated to the festival and will be sold via auction. Proceeds of the auction will go to help off-set the costs of next year’s festival. All contest melons will be on display during the festival and their variety, weight, and grower will be announced during the auction.
The 2024 Panhandle Watermelon Festival will be Friday June 21st and Saturday June 22nd, in Chipley, Florida. The Friday night concert festivities will be held at Jim Trawick Park and Saturday’s events (including the melon auction) will be at the Washington County Ag Center. The auction will begin at 12:00 noon on Saturday.
Melons being entered in the contest will need to be delivered to the Washington County Ag Center prior to the festival. Melons will be received and weighed-in at the Ag Center Wednesday 6/19 between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM, and Thursday 6/20 between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM central time. If you have melons that you would like to enter in the contest, but are unable to deliver during the specified times, contact Mark Mauldin prior to 6/19 to make arrangements. Pick-up may be possible, to the extent practical, provided arrangements are made in advance.
The Washington County Ag Center is located at 1424 Jackson Ave. Chipley, FL 32428.
If you have any questions regarding the contest, contact Mark Mauldin at the UF/IFAS Extension, Washington County Office (850-638-6180 or mdm83@ufl.edu).
Contest melons on display at the Panhandle Watermelon Festival in Chipley, FL.
*Note: Prizes will be paid for no more than 16 total classes. There must be a minimum of 2 entries of the same variety for the variety to have its own class. If there are more than 15 different varieties with enough entries to constitute a class, the 15 with the most entries will be used (ties will be broken by number of entrants). All melons not in a variety class will be grouped together with one winner and first runner up being selected from the group.
The value of tomatoes produced in Florida in 2022 was $323,000,000 according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Survey and sometimes I feel like I’ll spend that much trying to get one perfect tomato in my garden. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh homegrown tomato, but unfortunately, they are susceptible to a wide host of diseases, insects, and even nematodes making them a challenge for even the most seasoned gardener.
Some of these pests can be tolerated without too much reduced yield, while others warrant removal of the plant to prevent further spread. Over the past couple of weeks, we have received a lot of calls about tomato plants that look normal and full of fruit one day then wilt despite plenty of available water. This symptom can be caused by a litany of ailments but when you also notice stem discoloration and perform the bacterial ooze test it is a pretty strong indicator that the cause may be bacterial wilt*.
The bacterial ooze test is simply taking a freshly cut stem of a symptomatic plant and placing it cut-side down into a glass of water (can be plastic but must be transparent) and watching for bacterial streaming. This will look like ribbons of goo coming out of the stem – that is not a technical term, but when you see it, you know it.
Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Previously Pseudomonas solanacearum) affects over 200 species of plants. There are many strains including those affecting tomato, potato, and eggplant – all members of the nightshade family and commonly grown plants. If infected plant material is in the garden, it can spread to susceptible plants through wounds in roots or stems, nematode feeding, contaminated irrigation water, infected weeds, pruning equipment, and surface runoff. The pathogen can also remain viable in the soil for years, requiring well-planned crop rotation practices.
*Please note that symptom observation and bacterial streaming tests do not constitute a definitive diagnosis and lab analysis is recommended for commercial producers.
Streams of bacterial ooze began about 5 minutes after placing tomato stem in water. Photo: J. McConnell, UFIFAS
Symptoms of tomato bacterial wilt worsen during fruit ripening. Photo: J. McConnell, UFIFAS
On March 7th we held our second Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! of 2024 and the panel tackled Palm Selection and Care. We had lots of great questions from viewers, and this is a recap of some of the main points covered and references shared.
A few spoilers of the discussion – palms are not trees, they are grasses; and Sago “palms” and Coontie “palms” are cycads, not palms! Check out the video for explanations.
Although there is always the possibility of cold damage if winter temperatures drop below average, for the best success choose palms more likely to survive “normal” winters. These include Cabbage Palm, Mule Palm, Pindo Palm, Needle Palm, and Windmill Palm.
Maintaining palms can also be tricky – especially if you are performing tasks out of routine rather than need.
Pruning palms is a hot subject because it is very commonly done incorrectly leading to nutrient deficiency, bud exposure to cold and wind damage, spread of disease, and attracting insect pests. Proper techniques can be found in Pruning Palmshttps://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pruning/pruning-palms.html
A recent visit to the Dothan Area Botanical Garden (DABG) reminded me that although many of our summer flowers are winding down, we have a great garden show coming this winter when the southern classic camellias start to show their stuff. DABG has a large collection of camellias that will start blooming in the coming months. Here is a little background on the two most common types of camellias grown in our area.
have been summer-time staples in the Central Panhandle for decades. Don’t miss your opportunity to showcase the delicious product of your hard work and have a chance to win prize money.
