April Gardening Tip

Try growing your potatoes on top of the ground under a cover of straw a few feet deep. This way, you can rob the hill all summer long for new potatoes, and the plants keep growing.
--Gloria Baker, Blue Water Garden Club

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas

Plant of the Week

Prickly pear
Opuntia compressa (Salisb.) Macbr.
scientific name, 2008
Opuntia humifusa (Raf.) Raf.
other common names: Indian fig, eastern prickly pear
Opuntia: an old Latin name used by Pliny, probably derived from Opus, a town in ancient Greece
Compressa: from the flattened stem segments
Cactus family: Cactaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

April Gardening Tip

Divide most perennial flowers now. Many perennials should be divided every three or four years. Plants need to be divided when they start to have fewer blooms each year, develop a dead spot in the middle of the clump of stems, or otherwise seem crowded. To divide, dig up the entire plant. Break the roots into several clumps with your hands or a spading fork. Replant the clumps, leaving twelve to eighteen inches between them.

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas

This Week in Iowa Nature

Early woodland wildflowers - Dutchman's breeches, columbine, hepatica, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, spring beauty, and bluebells - await spring hikers.

The Iowa Nature Calendar, by Jean Prior and James Sandrock

Plant of the Week

Yellow coneflower
Ratibida pinnata (Vent.) Barnh.
other common names: drooping coneflower, gray coneflower, prairie coneflower (also applied to R. columnifera), weary Susan, grayhead coneflower
Ratibida: The origin of this name is not clear
Pinnata: from Latin, meaning “featherlike”
Daisy family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

April Gardening Tip

In early April, start plants indoors from seeds to set out unprotected in mid-May. These include tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, snapdragons, petunias, and other bedding plants. If you use frost-protective devices, such as Wall O' Water, tepees, floating row covers, or cold frames, you can set out your tomatoes, peppers, and other heat-loving plants mid-month.

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas

Plant of the Week

Goat’s rue
Tephrosia virginiana (L.) Pers.
other common names: catgut, devil’s shoestrings, hoary pea, North American turkey pea, Virginia tephrosia, wild sweetpea
Tephrosia: from Greek tephros, meaning “ash-colored or hoary”
Virginiana: meaning “of Virginia”
Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition