1. What do butterflies need to be attracted to a garden?
a) Shallow water.
b) Nectar plants.
c) Host plants.
d) Any of the above
2. Which practice will help most to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs on your property?
a) Install a bug light.
b) Don’t own a water feature.
c) Clean rain gutters twice in spring, once in summer and once in fall.
d) Spread an insecticide on the lawn.
3. When is the best time of the year to divide and transplant bearded irises and daylilies?
a) November.
b) March.
c) August.
d) Whenever the spirit moves you.
4. When is the best time of the year to transplant peonies?
a) Between now and Halloween
b) When they are flowering.
c) As they leaf out in spring.
d) When temperatures reach 32 degrees.
5. When should you plant tulip bulbs?
a) After Halloween.
b) Late summer.
c) In spring.
d) All of the above.
6. Which plants bloom at night?
a) Blanketflowers (Gaillardia species).
b) Cereus cacti (C. species).
c) Primroses (Primula species).
d) Woodland phloxes (P. divaricata).
7. Which of these plant parts is edible?
a) Kousa dogwood fruits.
b) Quamash roots (Camassia species).
c) Violet flower petals (Viola species).
d) All of the above
8. What’s the principal reason that hardy woody plants suffer winterkill?
a) A virus.
b) Desiccation.
c) Hypothermia.
d) Too much shade.
ANSWERS
(It’s not fair to look first) 1-d; 2-c; 3-c; 4-a; 5-a; 6-b; 7-d; 8-b; 9-b; 10-a;
FURTHER EXPLANATIONS
1. Butterflies need three elements to live – water, food and a place to raise young. Larvae feed on host plants; adults feed on nectar.
2. Rain gutters are the most commonly overlooked moist sites on properties. Keep them clean for fewer mosquitoes.
3. August is a good month to divide bearded irises; they have flowered and renewed roots already. Divide rhizomatous roots, leave at least one fan of leaves and cut fan in half. Plant to top of rhizome; barely covering with soil. Divide daylilies as individual rhizomes, or slice them into clumps.
4. Peonies are best transplanted in the fall with the bud, or eye, of the rhizome no lower than one inch in soil.
5. To discourage fungus, the later into fall that you plant tulips the better. We have planted tulips in December with great success.
6. Many cereus types of cacti, called night-blooming cereus, flower at night.
7. Peel the skin on ripe, deep-red kousa dogwood fruit; the inside is sweet. Quamash roots (Camassia species) were a staple for Indians of the Northwest. Violet’s dainty flower petals are used in salad, garnish and sweets.
8. Desiccation, or drying, is caused by winds or extreme cold that keeps root moisture from reaching the foliage.
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