The Villages - May 2008 - (Page 49)

KNUDSEN’S KORNER Erik L. Knudsen The Villages Landscape Manager I have seen a lot of irrigation systems over the years that were set up to waste water. Sometimes by design, sometimes by accident, like if someone doing utility work or a landscape renovation hits a couple of irrigation lines and hooks them back up improperly without telling anybody. It happens. Either by design, lack of understanding or by accident, sometimes rotor heads get put on the same zone as spray heads. Rotors must water longer to put down the correct amount of water per square foot than spray heads do, usually about twice as long or more. Often an area is not large enough to use a rotor head, so a contractor will put a spray head there instead with a rotor zone. It wastes a lot of water and, therefore, money. Recently, however, several companies have perfected matched precipitation rate nozzles that are adjustable for angle and throw and can screw right into where the old spray nozzle was on the same head. These are called “Rotary Nozzles” by one company or “MP Rotator Nozzles” by another, and they can solve this problem if properly installed. For more information, check out www.mprotator.com or www.Rainbird.com/rotarynozzles or just Google “rotarynozzles” for other options. IRRIGATION/WATER SAVINGS TIP The Blue Flag Iris (Iris virginica) is native to Florida and many rivers, coastal or wet areas of the United States and Canada from Newfoundland to Washington state. It ﬂowers mainly in the spring and does best as a bog plant or at least in wet conditions. It can be rather aggressive and spreading if grown properly, so keep this fact in mind when choosing it. It would be best to use this plant only if you have a wet area or water feature with lots of room, or if you plan to keep it as a containerized plant in a moist area. Butterﬂies love the blooms and they have a wonderful fragrance, but they are rather short lasting. BLUE FLAG IRIS African iris or Fortnight lily (Dietes spp. or Morea) from Africa and Australia is so named due to the fact that it usually rests for about two weeks (a fortnight) between ﬂushes of blooms. The plant gets about two feet tall with the bloom spikes growing quite a bit taller over the foliage. The ﬂowering stalks can bloom intermittently for more than one year on the same stalk, so don’t cut them off if they are still green. Do break off any seed pods that form if you want the plant to bloom more, as they put the energy into making the seeds instead of more blooms. Depending on the species, the color is white with some brown and yellow with a purple center, or yellow with brown or violet. The white ones seem to be used more in the landscape around The Villages. These will tolerate poor soils and some dry soils when well established, but will grow and ﬂower much better with regular water and occasional fertilizations. They do well in partial shade conditions, but blooming is best in full sun. The ﬂowers are short lived, usually between two and three inches wide, and seem to appear at almost any time of the year, depending on growing conditions, cultivar and weather. They are usually propagated by division of clumps, but will also grow from seed. I have never seen much of a pest problem with them. AFRICAN IRIS Rosemary (Rosmarinus ofﬁcinalis) is a member of the mint family with fragrant pine-needle-like leaves. It is used extensively in the landscape as well as in my kitchen. It comes in many plant forms from upright to sprawling to mound-forming, and can even be grown in a pot and trimmed into neat topiary shapes if you like. I have seen what seem to be dwarf forms only six inches tall and others that are almost as tall as I am. It grows the best and thickest in the full sun, but don’t plan on growing it for the blooms, as ours rarely ﬂower for us, but the blooms can come in white, pink or blue if and when they do. Rosemary is an evergreen shrub that is native to the Mediterranean region and is fairly tolerant of drought when it gets established. It also seems to grow in a wide range of soil types as long as they are well drained. It can be propagated from cuttings or grown from seed, but it seems sloooooow to grow from seed for me and the cuttings can be difﬁcult to root, so I’d just buy the plants already started and get it over with if it were me. I cook a lot with rosemary and have noticed the dried leaves seem to have less ﬂavor than the fresh ones and get caught in my teeth. The fresh, green ones do not. Just trim what you need off the plant with scissors when you are ready to start cooking. I have never noticed any serious insect problems on rosemary, no doubt due to the smell, which no self-respecting insect would want as cologne, and the only other serious threats might be from some of the chickens in the Publix deli. ROSEMARY MAGAZINE 49 http://www.mprotator.com http://www.Rainbird.com/rotarynozzles

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Villages - May 2008

The Villages - May 2008 Contents Latin Dancing Makes for Fun Fitness Making Graceful Moves in the Water Students Create Culinary Ecstasy in Pizzas Summer Plants and Flowers Brain Exercises Shopping & Dining Guide Retail Briefs Entertainment Briefs Major Events Snapshots

The Villages - May 2008

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