SMALL SPACE GARDENING – From seed to bouquet: grow your own flowers for cutting

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Zowie! Yellow Flame is a semi-tall zinnia with a unique bicolor pattern of blooms with scarlet-rose center and yellow petal edges. (photo courtesy of All-America Selections)

by Melinda Myers

You don’t need a lot of space or a big budget to grow and enjoy garden-fresh bouquets. Just fill a few vacant spaces, add an extra row in garden beds or fill a container with easy care flowers started from seeds.

You’ll jump-start the season and enjoy earlier blooms by starting some of the seeds indoors to transfer into the garden after the danger of frost has passed. If you’re not in a hurry, want to stretch your budget and extend your garden’s bloom time, sow some seeds directly in the garden. Just follow the directions on the seed packet.

Annual flowers like these are known for season long bloom and a long vase life. You’ll need to plant annuals each year, but you may decide the continuous bloom is well worth the effort. Supplementing them with perennial flowers and bulbs means you need to plant fewer annuals each year for a season filled with colorful garden-fresh bouquets.

Here are a few easy-care annual flowers that you can start from seed indoors or directly in the garden. These beauties will brighten those sunny spots in the landscape and bouquets in your home.

Start zinnia seeds indoors four weeks before the last spring frost or sow them directly in the garden. Either way, you’ll have flowers about eight weeks after planting the seeds. Grow taller varieties like Benary’s Giant for long stems, Queeny Lime Orange or Zowie! Yellow Flame for eye-catching color or Profusion and Zahara for small daisy-like flowers on compact mildew resistant plants in your low maintenance cut flower garden.

Like zinnias, cosmos make a great cut flower and both are heat and drought tolerant in the garden. Start cosmos seeds indoors four to six weeks before the last spring frost or directly in the garden. The fine foliage adds texture to the garden and the white, pink, lavender blooms light up the mid-summer through fall garden. Plant tall varieties en mass to eliminate the need for staking. Or grow shorter varieties like Sonata and Cosmic. Once you plant cosmos in the garden, you may be rewarded with volunteer seedlings in subsequent years.

Marigolds have long been favorites in the garden, but they also make great cut flowers. Like zinnias, you can start them indoors or directly in the garden and have flowers in about eight weeks. Include a variety of single, double, large and small flowers to create a marigold only arrangement or mix with other flowers. The Gem series of marigolds have lacy leaves with a citrusy scent and small single flowers all summer long. Not only are these 12-inch tall plants great in arrangements, but the flowers are also edible and attract beneficial insects to your garden.

Include calendula, another edible flower, in your garden and arrangements. Plant seeds directly in the garden in fall through spring when growing in the Deep South, Gulf and Pacific Coast areas. Those in other regions can plant seeds directly in the garden after the danger of heavy frost has passed. Also known as pot marigolds, these plants thrive in cooler temperatures. If plants fade as temperatures rise, cut them back, continue to water as needed and watch for new flowers when the weather cools. These will reseed readily so watch for welcome seedlings the following year.

Sunflowers make dramatic statements in the garden and in the flower vase. The 2022 All-America Selections winner, Concert Bell grows 10 to 12 flowers on each stem. You’ll have a ready-made bouquet with each stem removed. Suncredible® Yellow sunflower produces four-inch flowers on two to three feet tall plants. The plants continue to bloom throughout the season even if you don’t remove the faded flowers.

Keep the flowers coming to enjoy in the garden and arrangements with regular picking. The more you pick, the more flowers you’ll have. Share extras with friends, neighbors, or senior centers. Studies at Rutgers University found cut flowers immediately increased happiness and had a long-term positive impact on the recipient’s mood.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her website is www.melindamyers.com.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Denizens of the deep: older than dinosaurs

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Pacific Giant Octopus

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

I saw an article recently in one of the local newspaper that fossils of an octopus were found in Montana, probably dated back before dinosaurs, some 330 million years. Let’s take a look at these denizens of the deep, at a creature we really don’t know that much about. We know what they look like, and some of what they do, but for what else would they be useful .

An octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusk. The soft body can radically alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviorally diverse of all invertebrates.

Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female’s mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilized eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.

The giant Pacific octopus is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 33 pounds, with an arm span of up to 14 feet.

The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells, and a connective tissue dermis consisting largely of collagen fibers and various cells allowing color change. Most of the body is made of soft tissue allowing it to lengthen, contract, and contort itself. The octopus can squeeze through tiny gaps. Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can extend and contract, twist to left or right, bend at any place in any direction or be held rigid.

The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac stores it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. Before it leaves the funnel, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus, creating a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator.[61] The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black color. Cirrate octopuses usually lack the ink sac.

The reproduction of octopuses has been studied in only a few species. One such species is the giant Pacific octopus, in which courtship is accompanied, especially in the male, by changes in skin texture and color. About 40 days after mating, the female giant Pacific octopus attaches strings of small fertilized eggs (10,000 to 70,000 in total) to rocks in a crevice or under an overhang. Here she guards and cares for them for about five months (160 days) until they hatch. In colder waters, such as those off Alaska, it may take up to ten months for the eggs to completely develop.

Octopuses have a relatively short lifespan; some species live for as little as six months. The Giant Pacific Octopus, one of the two largest species of octopus, may live for as much as five years. Octopus lifespan is limited by reproduction. For most octopuses the last stage of their life is called senescence. It is the breakdown of cellular function without repair or replacement. For males, this typically begins after mating. Senescence may last from weeks to a few months, at most. For females, it begins when they lay a clutch of eggs. Females will spend all their time aerating and protecting their eggs until they are ready to hatch. During senescence, an octopus does not feed and quickly weakens. Lesions begin to form and the octopus literally degenerates. Unable to defend themselves, octopuses often fall prey to predators. The larger Pacific striped octopus (LPSO) is an exception, as it can reproduce multiple times over a life of around two years.

Most species are solitary when not mating, though a few are known to occur in high densities and with frequent interactions, signaling, mate defending and eviction of individuals from dens. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with limited den sites.

Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods.

The octopuses evolved from the Muensterelloidea (fossil pictured) in the Jurassic period.

They evolved in the Cambrian some 530 million years ago. The earliest octopus likely lived near the sea floor in shallow marine environments. Since octopuses consist mostly of soft tissue, fossils are relatively rare. As soft-bodied cephalopods, they lack the external shell of most molluscs.

Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the Kraken, of Norway, and the Akkorokamui, of the Ainu, and probably the Gorgon, of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo’s book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming’s (creator of James Bond) Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.

I once tasted calamari while in Vietnam, mostly as jerky – it was a little salty.

Historically, the first plural to commonly appear in English language sources, in the early 19th century, is the Latinate form “octopi”, followed by the English form “octopuses” in the latter half of the same century. The Hellenic plural is roughly contemporary in usage, although it is also the rarest. Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists “octopuses” as the only acceptable pluralization, and indicates that “octopodes” is still occasionally used, but that “octopi” is incorrect.

Well, I hope we now know a little more about these creatures.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

How many Boston Red Sox players have been named World Series MVP?

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Building paths to better kidney care

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Create a kidney care plan that fits your lifestyle, mobility, health status, and dietary needs.

(NAPSI)—For the 37 million adults in the United States living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), research offers promising insights into ways to improve and prolong kidney health. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is using innovative research to change the way we understand, treat and prevent kidney disease. Future research discoveries may allow doctors to provide targeted treatment plans that better suit the individual and improve health outcomes.

NIDDK’s Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) is one example of research that is helping to gain a deeper understanding of the causes and types of kidney disease. CKD was thought to be one disease with one cause and one treatment. Today, we understand that CKD has many causes and there are many potential treatment paths. KPMP aims to transform the future of kidney care by collecting kidney tissue samples from people across all races, ages, and walks of life. With knowledge gained from studying the samples, one of the goals of KPMP is that health care professionals will be able to provide treatments and prevention approaches best matched to each individual, building paths to better kidney care.

“Precision medicine research is key to finding new ways to improve the health of people with kidney diseases,” says NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, MD. “As researchers work toward developing more and better treatment options, there are steps people with, or at risk for, kidney disease can take today to build their own path to better kidney care.”

Three ways you can build your path to better kidney care are to be an active participant in your care, follow your care plan and build a kidney-healthy lifestyle.

Being an active participant in your care means working with your health care team to create a kidney care plan that fits your lifestyle, mobility, health status and dietary needs. Ask questions, identify healthy habits you can stick to, and talk with your team if adjustments are needed.

Following your care plan means taking medicines as prescribed and attending your medical appointments. Also, consider getting vaccines recommended by your doctor and do your best to follow a kidney-healthy lifestyle.

A kidney-healthy lifestyle includes making physical activity part of your routine, maintaining a healthy weight, choosing a healthy meal plan, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol and getting enough sleep. Each of these areas can be personalized to help meet your needs and health goals.

For example, physical activity is beneficial for both your physical and mental health. Aim for at least 30 minutes of activity each day. If you can’t fit in 30 minutes at once, try 15 minutes twice a day, or 10 minutes three times a day. Find activities that fit your environment, budget, and mobility. Go for a walk with a friend, ride a bike, look for free or low-cost fitness classes offered in your community or follow along with a workout video from your own home. You don’t have to make changes all at once! Even gradual progress can help you protect your kidneys and slow the progression of kidney disease.

For more information on building your path to better kidney care, visit the NIDDK website at www.niddk.nih.gov. To find out more about KPMP research, visit www.kpmp.org/about-kpmp.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Different answers

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by Debbie Walker

Today, I am going to pass on some ‘different answers’ of questions you may not even know to ask yet. Use of coconut oil is all new to me. It had never been in my house, say nothing about my kitchen. But… I found a few situations that it is useful. I am including a few things I read about Coconut oil and a few other things:

Coconut oil uses: Ladies – Run out of shaving gel ? Use coconut oil.

Use it to lift crayon marks the little ones are bound to leave.

Use it to remove a price tag. It works.

Use it to soak some cotton balls and throw them on a few sparks for a quicker way to get a campfire growing.

Use it to calm a sunburn. Take a shower, apply coconut oil, it will soothe the burn. It will also moisturize the dehydrated skin.

Use to soothe insect bites. Rub the oil over the bites. It will reduce swelling and ease discomfort.

Mineral oil uses: I don’t ever remember seeing this in my parents or my home, and I never had any. I am not even sure what its original purpose was.

Use it to recondition leather footwear. A few drops of mineral oil on a soft cloth and rub in.

Use it to remove a bandage. A few drops, a minute and bandages peel off.

Use it to preserve your wooden cutting board.

Whitening toothpaste (not gel): This will clean the nasty grout while you sleep! In the morning wipe the area with a damp towel.

Distilled white vinegar: Use it to clean your bathroom. Half a cup of white vinegar in your toilet bowl overnight will do the trick.

Use white vinegar in your bathroom sink. Put the stopper in and fill it with hot water and a half cup of vinegar, let it sit overnight. Drain and wipe clean.

Sponge and vinegar: Use them to clean your microwave. I have done this, works like a charm. Soak your sponge in equal parts of water and white vinegar. Microwave for 30 seconds. Don’t open your nuker ‘til the next morning and then just wipe clean.

Baking soda and water: Erase oven grime with baking soda, In a bowl mix 1/2 cup baking soda and enough water to make paste. Apply to interior walls, let sit overnight. In the A.M. just wipe clean.

Borax laundry soap: Use to deodorize your carpet (plus a surprise.). Mix a half cup and a half cup baking soda, sprinkle on rugs and upholstery, let sit all night. Vac in the morning. Okay, that is good, but, if you have pets who might have fleas that Borax is a miracle worker! Sprinkle Borax on your carpets, anywhere you might find fleas. Leave overnight. Vac in morning. In two days do this again and your fleas should be gone. (The second sprinkle kills fleas that were in eggs). It was amazing when I needed it.

These are the points I found for packing:

Lay down or roll pants and tops. Place heavy items at base of suitcase. Shoes, books, heavy things. End with what you will wear first. Don’t under pack is part of the description I found but I am over packed! And I put my night gown on top because I will get in just in time for bed.

I’m just curious what other tidbits you could share in “different answers”. I’ll be waiting! Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org with any questions or comments. Thank you for reading and have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Mahler Symphony

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George B. Shaw

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Mahler Symphony

Gustav Mahler

The Mahler Symphony I would pick for beginners is the First, composed in 1888 when he was 28 years old. It has melodic appeal, it evokes the sounds of the natural world with coloristic sonorities from the woodwinds and double basses to heighten brooding, spooky tension and finally it utilizes brass and percussion for blazing crescendos.

I first encountered the piece via the 1962 Boston Symphony recording under then newly-appointed Music Director Erich Leinsdorf (1912-1993), a very inspired performance with the orchestra in peak form. A number of other distinguished recordings are available, such as those of Seiji Ozawa, Jascha Horenstein, Sir Adrian Boult, Hans Rosbaud, Sir Georg Solti etcs. but this Leinsdorf remains a first choice.

It is also accessible on YouTube.

A couple of quotes

Sir Richard Burton

As the world turns with what is perhaps rightfully perceived as extra stress, I am a bit haunted by a couple of quotes.

First the 19th century author of travel books, Richard Burton once wrote, “Peace is the dream of the wise. War is the history of mankind.”

The main character of James Joyce’s difficult to read masterpiece, Ulysses, states that “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken.”

On a more cheerful note, George Bernard Shaw recalled, “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

Harry Truman gently but tartly rebuked the cynics, “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.”

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Smoking Speeds Cognitive Decline in Seniors

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If you’re a senior who smokes but is otherwise healthy, scientists warn that your cigarettes are just as bad for brain health as having type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

If you’re a senior who smokes but is otherwise healthy, scientists warn that your cigarettes are just as bad for brain health as having type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
The detrimental effects of smoking on overall health are well-documented, but new research suggests that seniors who light up well into their sixties may be tampering with their brain health and cognition.

Research has already suggested that high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes are known risk factors for cognitive decline. A study published in December 2020 in the journal Cureus, for example, found that treating hypertension might decrease risk of dementia, while research published in January 2017 in Diabetologia warned that type 2 diabetes not just increases risk of dementia but causes its onset at a younger age. Past studies have even estimated that type 2 diabetes increases risk of dementia by 50 percent.
“The question we had is whether smoking compounded these other risk factors or are people who smoke at an elevated risk regardless of other health concerns,” says study senior author Neal Parikh, MD, a vascular neurologist and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

For his study, Dr. Parikh looked at the health data of 3,244 people from 2011 to 2014 who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a large-scale, ongoing national health database managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since the early 1960s.

The average age of study participants was 69; 77 percent of the group had hypertension while 24 percent had type 2 diabetes, confirmed via medication usage, self-reported health, blood pressure readings, and blood tests. Twenty-three percent of participants were smokers; this was identified by cotinine levels, a byproduct of nicotine that remains in the blood, measured in blood tests.

The participants completed a digit symbol substitution test, which is a popular evaluation tool researchers use to measure IQ, working memory, processing speed, and attention span. It’s especially useful in helping researchers assess changes to people’s cognition.

Turns out, participants with higher cotinine levels scored “significantly worse” on the testing compared with nonsmokers. The higher their cotinine levels were, the lower they scored too. And overall, smokers’ poor performance was comparable to their counterparts who had type 2 diabetes or hypertension.

“The association between smoking and cognitive impairment doesn’t depend on having other risk factors. You’re still at the same risk,” Parikh says.

If participants had either condition, and were smokers, they didn’t score any worse with two or more of these risk factors.

The results surprised Parikh, who thought smoking would exacerbate cognitive decline in people already grappling with chronic disease. Instead, he says the findings suggest that smoking is a standalone marker for cognitive decline.

He says seniors who smoke but are otherwise healthy should think twice before lighting up, for the sake of their brain health — and their autonomy.

Parikh notes an important caveat to his research: The participants were all living in the community, either on their own or with their families. The outcomes may be different if he included seniors living in nursing homes or long-term care facilities.

A knowledge summary from the World Health Organization (WHO) (PDF) estimated that 14 percent of all dementia cases can be attributed to smoking.

A review of 37 studies published in March 2015 in PLoS One found that smokers were at a 30 to 40 percent increased risk of dementia. And the more smokers lit up, the greater their risk. Previous research also suggests that people who are 75 and older who identify as current smokers perform more poorly on cognitive tests and appear to encounter memory loss faster than their peers who don’t smoke. Quitting as soon as possible can decrease dementia risk too, according to a paper published in February 2020 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

“The single best thing a smoker can do for their overall health is to stop smoking. Unfortunately, many people do not understand that there is a relationship between smoking and dementia,” he says.

“Because the subtle early symptoms of cognitive decline can take a long time to develop, it is important to identify risk factors in middle-aged people that might predispose a person to develop dementia. Smoking is clearly one. Smokers should begin to think about stopping smoking as soon as possible.”

Parikh presented his findings at the American Stroke Association’s 22nd International Stroke Conference (February 9 to 11), in New Orleans.

FINANCIAL FOCUS: Financial advisors can help reduce anxiety

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submitted by Sasha Fitzpatrick

The long-running coronavirus pandemic has fueled a lot of anxieties – including financial ones. But some people have had far fewer worries than others.

Consider this: Among those investors who work with a financial advisor, 84% said that doing so gave them a greater sense of comfort about their finances during the pandemic, according to a survey from Age Wave and Edward Jones.

Of course, many people experience investment-related fears even without a global health crisis, and that’s probably not surprising, given the periodic volatility of the financial markets. But financial guidance can come in handy during relatively normal times, too.

A financial professional can help you …

  • Look past the headlines – Inflation, interest rates, pandemics, elections – there’s always something in the news that could affect the investment world in the short term. But by helping you construct a portfolio that’s built for the long term and reflects your goals, risk tolerance and time horizon, a financial advisor can enable you to look past the headlines.
  • Avoid emotional decisions – Many people let their emotions drive their investment choices. When the market goes through a downturn and the value of their investments drops, they sell to “cut losses,” even though these same investments may still have good business fundamentals and promising futures. Conversely, when the market is on an uptick, some poeple chase after “hot” investments, even when they become overpriced and may have very little room to grow. But a financial advisor can help keep you from making these fear- and greed-based actions by only recommending moves that make sense for your situation.
  • Work toward multiple goals – At various times in your life, you may have simultaneous financial goals. For example, you could be investing for a retirement that’s decades away, while also trying to save for a child’s college education. A financial professional can suggest ways you can keep working toward both objectives, in terms of how much money you can afford to invest and what types of savings and investment vehicles you should consider.
  • Prepare for the unexpected – Most of us did not need a pandemic to remind us that unexpected events can happen in our lives – and some of these events can have serious financial impacts on us and our loved ones. Do you have adequate life insurance? How about disability insurance? And if you ever needed some type of long-term care, such as an extended stay in a nursing home, how would you pay for it? A financial advisor can evaluate your protection needs and recommend appropriate solutions that fit within your overall financial strategy.
  • Adapt to changing circumstances – Over time, many things may change in your life – your job, your family situation, your retirement plans, and so on. A financial professional can help you adjust your financial strategy in response to these changes.

Achieving your financial goals may present challenges, but it doesn’t have to cause you years of worry and distress – as long as you get the help you need.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.
Edward Jones, Member SIPC.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Why are you in business?

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Growing your business

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”

This is the ad that Ernest Shackleton placed in the London Times to recruit the crew of the Endurance that was setting out for the South Pole.

He not only got a crew. He got a great crew of men who went through nearly unbearable hardships and yet all came back alive by looking out for each other. If you get a chance, read books about their adventures, it’s a fascinating and inspiring story.

But it’s all about “why” people do things. Why they are in business.

The Why is the reason Apple computer is a great company.

The Why is the reason men and women go to war.

The Why is the reason men and women become clergy.

The Why is the reason we went to the moon. Remember that quote from JFK? “We go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard,”

Why some businesses seem to have everything going for them but “why”, and for some reason, in the end they still fail.

And that reason is that they have no real purpose. Or true understanding of why they are in business. He says that without purpose, without a clear and direct sense of purpose people will not give their all.

As an example, he uses one of my all-time favorite stories of the two stone masons who were both laying stone on a large building. When the first one was asked what he was doing, he looked at the person asking the questions and with great tedium in his voice said, “The same I do every day, laying stone after endless stone.” When the second stone mason was asked what he was doing, he looked up at the building with a great sense of exuberance and said, “I am building a magnificent cathedral!”

I cannot think of a better example of what the difference is between having a cause, a purpose and a mission and not having one.

Think about it, what is the “Why” of your business? Why did you start the business. What was your mission? What did you want to accomplish?

Think back to that time and try to remember what you were feeling back then? Get that feeling back…and then pass it on to your team. Instill it in your company culture. Start building your own magnificent cathedral. And you’ll start seeing your business grow and prosper.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Take a color-themed approach for more attractive arrangements

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by Melinda Myers

Growing dahlias is a must for anyone who loves cutting and arranging flowers. But there are hundreds of beautiful dahlia varieties to choose from and that can be overwhelming. To make the selection process easier, choose compatible colors that will look good together in the garden and in arrangements.

The combination of peach and burgundy is both striking and sophisticated. Peach-colored flowers add a fresh and soothing feel to the garden. Dahlia American Dawn is a blend of peach, mango, and papaya with plum-purple highlights. Good partners include other varieties in the same warm, sunset tones, such as dinnerplate dahlia Belle of Barmera, decorative dahlia Great Silence and ball dahlia Maarn.

Planting dahlias in a perennial garden ensures non-stop color from July into October. The fluttering, melon-colored blooms of HS Date work particularly well, due to this variety’s maroon foliage and open growth habit. Complete your peach and burgundy theme with the dark-hued flowers of Rip City. These large, velvety flowers are almost black in the center and soften to wine-red toward the petal edges. Add ball dahlia Jowey Mirella for blooms that are smaller in size yet equally striking.

For another eye-catching color combination, narrow your selection to dahlias with purple and hot-pink flowers. Historically, purple was associated with royalty, spirituality, and knowledge. While pastel purple evokes a sense of calm and serenity, deeper tones add drama and excitement. Dinnerplate dahlia Lilac Time is an heirloom variety with fluffy, lavender blooms that can measure eight to ten inches across. Be sure to also include flowers in juicy grape and violet hues such as dahlias Thomas Edison, Cartouche and Purple Taiheijo.

Complement these moody purples with vivid pink dahlias. Burlesca is a cute little pompon dahlia with tightly rolled petals that reveal hints of peach, burgundy and violet. Fascination’s rose-pink, semi-double flowers contrast beautifully with the plant’s dark foliage and the blossoms are irresistible to bees and butterflies. Ball dahlia Rocco is an all-star variety that is long lasting in both garden and vase.

If you prefer pastels to brights, choose dahlias in shades of pale yellow, soft pink and cream. The enormous flowers of dinnerplate dahlia Café au Lait are a must. Complement them with ball dahlias such as peachy Linda’s Baby or buttery Boom Boom yellow. Decorative dahlia Fluffles has taffy-pink petals that fade to white, while Milena Fleur’s are a mélange of pink, peach and pale butterscotch.

When you start with flowers in compatible colors, designing floral arrangements becomes so much easier. You’ll have all you need to quickly create a centerpiece for any gathering, an impressive bouquet for your own home, or an informal handful of blooms to share with friends.

For more tips about cut flowers, read the Longfield Gardens article How to Design a Cutting Gar­den (www.longfield-gar­dens.com).

Melinda Myers is the author of more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Longfield Gardens for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: How do our little feathered friends fare during winter

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Male and female cardinals hunkered down during cold winter weather. (Internet photo)

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Last week we took a look at how white-tailed deer keep warm during those cold winter days and nights. As you remember, that was perpetrated by my watching birds at my wife’s feeders during the recent blizzard in early February. So, let’s talk about how those little feathered friends keep warm during those times.

First of all, I was astonished as I watched the birds come in and out of the feeders during the height of the storm, with winds gusting to 25-30 miles per hour.

Birds are warm-blooded animals that have a much higher temperature than humans, usually in the range of 105 degrees, as compared to our 98.6 degrees. Body temperatures can vary during daylight hours but it can challenge the birds during the night to maintain such a high body heat.

Smaller birds run more of a risk of body heat loss since they have a proportionately larger surface area on their bodies to lose heat but a smaller core volume to generate it.

Birds have different ways to maintain body heat during cold weather. Their feathers provide remarkable insulation, and many species will actually grow extra feathers as part of a late fall molt to give them thicker protection in the winter. Oil also coats their feathers to provide, not only insulation, but waterproofing.

Their legs and feet are covered with scales to minimize heat loss. By constricting blood flow to their extreminities, they can also reduce body heat loss even further.

Then, there is the old standby: adding body fat reserves to serve as insulation and extra energy for generating body heat. They will gorge themselves in the fall when food sources are abundant.

Another way to produce insulation from the cold is to fluff their feathers. That enables air pockets to be created, keeping them toasty warm. Also, it is not unusual to see birds standing on one leg or crouched to cover both legs with their feathers to shield them from the cold. They also tuck their beaks into their shoulder feathers for protection, and to breathe air warmed from their body heat.

On sunny days, they will perch with their backs to the sun to maximize the exposure area of their body. They raise their wings to allow the skin and feathers to absorb as much of the sun’s heat as possible, even spreading or drooping their wings while sunning.

If you see a bird shivering, don’t worry. They do this to raise their metabolic rate and generate more body heat as a short term solution in extreme cold.

Many small birds will gather in large flocks at night and crowd together in an attempt to share their collective body heat. Even individually, they will roost in places that may contain residual heat from the day’s sunlight.

But, there is something called torpor that birds will use to conserve energy during the cold nights. Torpor is a state of reduced metabolism when the body temperature is lowered, therefore requiring fewer calories to maintain the proper heat. Birds can lower their body temperature from 22 to 50 degrees. Torpor, however, can be dangerous as reduced temperature also leads to slower reactions and greater vulnerability to predators.

Even with all of these Mother Nature-built in safeguards, mortality rate among birds can run high during extreme winters. You can help.

During winter, keep your feeders cleared of snow and filled with good food, offer liquid water, and provide shelter. You can build brush piles or protective boxes if you have no natural shelters. I think one of the reasons we have as many birds during winter as we have is because birds are attracted to coniferous trees. My wife and I have three rather large pine trees in our backyard, providing them with plenty of protection from the weather.

Mother Nature, again, provides for its creatures, large or small.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which current NFL team was originally called the New York Titans?

Answer can be found here.