{"id":5988,"date":"2019-09-27T13:34:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T17:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=5988"},"modified":"2019-10-29T09:42:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T13:42:44","slug":"gardening-i-could-always-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening | I could always do better&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale<br \/>\n<\/span><\/em><em><a href=\"mailto:mail@floridanewsline.com\">mail@floridanewsline.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success, I resolve to do better. As well as sowing the seeds a bit late in the season, one problem may have been that my yard had too few flowering plants to encourage the bumblebees that I\u2019ve learned are largely responsible for fertilizing bean flowers. I discovered the connection when reading \u201cSting in the Tale\u201d by a British entomologist, Dr. Dave Goulson. (Also by the same author, \u201cA Buzz in the Meadow\u201d; both books are available at the public library. They may be a little science-heavy at times, but are definitely informative, engaging, and humorously written.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Goulson discovered by experiment that bumblebees have particular requirements when it comes to pollen. Legumes, like clovers, beans, and peas \u2014 and probably our native legumes, such as redbud (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cercis canadensis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), false indigo (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amorpha fruticosa<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), coral bean (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Erythrina herbacea<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), and wisteria (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wisteria frutescens)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2014 produce protein-rich pollens that are also rich in amino acids, and they supply these large insects with a highly nutritious source of food. So I probably didn\u2019t provide enough of the right flowers at the right time to bring in the bees to pollinate my beans. For a selection of native plants to encourage bees in your yard, see https:\/\/flawildflowers.org\/attracting-bees\/.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We can only expect to welcome, and benefit from, wildlife if our yards and gardens supply the resources they need. (Yes, I have mentioned this before.) Currently I am delighted to have plenty of beautyberries (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Callicarpa americana<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) to feed the mockingbirds, cardinals, and brown thrashers, and they have been eating their fill in front of my kitchen window. I\u2019m also hoping to see fall migrants taking advantage of the bounty. One of my favorite late summer wildflowers, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Monarda punctata,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or dotted horsemint, is in bloom, attracting small native bees, including brightly colored sweat bees, and an assortment of tiny wasps and flies \u2014 none of which are aggressive, and most of them are beneficial in various ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Visit <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/y4lmhxkh for t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">he latest edition of our Duval Extension Service newsletter, A New Leaf. Check out Larry Figart\u2019s article on fall color for Florida. Once cooler weather arrives, it will be a good time to plant trees and shrubs, so why not establish some fall color for next year? My neighbor has one of the trees that Figart mentions, the Shumard oak (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Quercus shumardii<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). In autumn I find its leaves in my yard and the rich red color always amazes me. It would be well worth planting if space allows, especially on the southwest side of a home, where it would eventually afford summer shade and then winter light, when its leaves drop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It can be useful for gardeners to have a general idea of what the weather has in store for us. One source is the 30-day climate predictions for temperature and drought from NOAA: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yxnrqevg.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I began writing as Hurricane Dorian was churning its way towards Florida, and am thankful that both Puerto Rico and Florida were spared the worst. Nevertheless, heavy rains and gusty winds may impact our landscapes during regular summer storms, so for advice on helping your lawns and gardens recover, see <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/y3s8sqpf.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doubtless many of us are thinking of the people of the Bahamas, so many of whom are now in dire need of assistance. And closer to home, there is hurricane damage in the Carolinas. If we can do just a little to help, we can surely make a difference. It could so easily have been us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success, I resolve to do better. As well as sowing the seeds a bit late in the season, one problem may have been that my yard had too few flowering plants to encourage the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-5988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creekline-st-johns","8":"category-mandarin","9":"tag-gardening"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-27T17:34:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-29T13:42:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/\",\"name\":\"Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-27T17:34:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-29T13:42:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\"},\"description\":\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gardening | I could always do better&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\",\"name\":\"Florida NewsLine\",\"description\":\"The Newspapers Everybody Gets\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\",\"name\":\"editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine","description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine","og_description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,","og_url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/","og_site_name":"Florida NewsLine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/","article_published_time":"2019-09-27T17:34:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-29T13:42:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@floridanewsline","twitter_site":"@floridanewsline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/","name":"Gardening | I could always do better...\u00a0\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-27T17:34:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-29T13:42:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc"},"description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Having tried in spring to grow pole beans \u2014 Kentucky Wonder \u2014 with minimal success,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg","width":1024,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-i-could-always-do-better\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gardening | I could always do better&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/","name":"Florida NewsLine","description":"The Newspapers Everybody Gets","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc","name":"editor","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5989,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions\/5989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}