Arkansas Agriculture
Newsletters
Arkansas Re-leaf
Volume 3, Number 1 -
January 2002
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Jim's Corner •
Research Reports •
What's Up • New
Extension Publications •
Horticulture Industry Survey in 2002
•
Plant Profile •
Upcoming Events
Jim’s Corner
 January is always a busy month for workshops and conferences and possibly our one moment to recharge before the growing season hits. This year is no different as we have the Arkansas Turfgrass Association Conference (ATA) in Hot Springs on January 7 and 8 and the Arkansas Green Industry Association
(AGIA) Conference and Trade Show, also in Hot Springs, on February 1 and 2. I encourage all of you to attend these great in-state conferences and trade shows.
The Cooperative Extension Service will again this year offer its ever popular “Green Industry Spring Tune-up” from 6 to 8:30 pm on Monday, February 25. This workshop will originate from the Little Rock headquarters of the Cooperative Extension Service but be beamed out to satellite sites in Fayetteville, Hope and possibly West Memphis. Details on this workshop will be mailed out shortly or you can contact me at
jrobbins@uaex.edu.
I hope that by the end of January the Cooperative Extension Service and the Arkansas Green Industry
Association will have completed development of a website that illustrates, using over 900 photographs, plant material featured in the Arkansas Certified Nursery Professional test. The website may also prove useful to the green industry in that it will include lists of plant material by their usage. For example, if you are looking for suggestions of broadleaf evergreens for screening purposes, you can find a list of plants that fit that description. This information will be available through the
Cooperative Extension website.
Click on the Agriculture button, then the Horticulture button, then the Ornamentals button, and finally on the Plant Materials Information button. This same information will be available through the
Arkansas
Green Industry Association website also in late January 2002.
Research Reports
Poinsettia Preferences - Dr. Gerald
Klingaman, Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas
Janet Carson and Gerald Klingaman, along with Dr. Jeff Kuehny at LSU, conducted a poinsettia “beauty contest” as a part of a multiple state trial. The 100 consumers participating in the Little Rock portion of the trial overwhelmingly selected Ecke’s new Prestige as their hands-down favorite. The trial evaluated 20 cultivars, 10 of which were reds. Over half of the respondents gave Prestige the highest possible rating, and 90 percent gave it an overall favorable rating. By way of comparison, Freedom Red had an overall positive rating of about 80 percent, with about 20 percent giving it the highest possible ranking. Four of the top five cultivars were reds. Plum Pudding caused a strong reaction. It had the highest “strongly dislike” rating (about 15 percent), but 25 percent gave it the highest possible score.
What's Up?
Interesting websites!
Jeanne Wilson at Old Columbus Herb Farm and Soap Company has her website up and running!! The site is complete with a shopping cart. How many of you were aware that Jeanne has added a line of handmade soaps to her herb business? Great stuff!
William Bartram’s book Travels is available in electronic form at the Documenting the American South site:
Documenting
the American South site, an effort
by North Carolina University at Chapel Hill Libraries. Cool!
USDA
Whitefly Knowledge base
New Extension Publications
FSA
6096 - References for the Nursery Industry
Horticulture Industry
Survey Coming in 2002!
Ronald L. Rainey, Extension Economist
What is the total size of the businesses that comprise Arkansas’ green industry? What is the value of sales and/or how many people do these firms employ? The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
(CES) hopes to answer these questions and many more
through an in-depth survey of Arkansas’ horticultural sectors in 2002. The results of the survey will be an important component of a study being developed by CES to assist industry representatives, university research and extension efforts. Representatives from the horticultural industry and academia are concerned that horticulture is not being adequately recognized for its contributions to the state’s overall agricultural picture.
CES is currently gathering existing data (USDA, Department of Commerce, etc.) to assist in the development of a report that summarizes and highlights the economic contributions of the industry. The survey is needed to assist in this data collection process to support an accurate reporting of your horticultural businesses. We need your
assistance to assure a complete and accurate survey response.
By completing and returning the survey, you help CES keep the cost of conducting the survey at a minimum and provide added confidence in the accuracy of the report’s estimates. While a
summary of the report will be published, the confidentiality of your individual responses will be protected.
So we ask you to help CES in the development of this report by supporting the survey efforts.
University faculty and industry groups will use the report to assist with efforts to grow the state’s horticultural industry. The report will also highlight the many economic contributions of the industry to the state’s economy.
Plant Profile
The Climbing Aster - Aster carolinianus
Walt,
Dr. Jon Lindstrom, Assistant
Professor, University of Arkansas, Department of Horticulture
 Aster carolinianus Walt. is a native to swamps found on the coastal plain from North Carolina to Florida. It is one of the plants that are used to delineate wetlands in its native habit. Although readily available commercially, this desirable perennial is still not found frequently enough in the garden.
Unlike other asters, the climbing aster produces long clambering stems that, in our plants, reach 5 to 6 feet in length. The stems do not twine but billow out and cover a support. Our most effective planting is at the base of an X Chitalpa tashkentensis. By mid summer the base of the trunk of this tree is obscured by the aster and stems have reached the lower branches. Then, beginning in September, lavender-pink flowers cover the plant. Peak bloom is reached in late October, and the plants are effective in flower throughout November or even into early December, depending on the fall weather. The climbing aster is one of the last plants to flower in the Horticulture Display Garden.
Despite its origin in the swamps of the coastal plain, the climbing aster does not require overly wet soils. Plants in Fayetteville perform well in typical garden soil. However, irrigation is required during extended periods of drought. During 1999, one of our plants defoliated during the summer drought of that year. It recovered the following year and has done well since.
The climbing aster is hardy from Zones 6b to 10. In the colder zones, top growth will be killed to the ground. Farther south, aboveground portions are hardy through most winters. In any case, pruning
should be accomplished in late winter just prior to new growth. Full sun is required for best performance in the landscape. Propagation is easy from cuttings taken in June or July, treated with rooting hormone and rooted under intermittent mist. At Fayetteville, cuttings root within two weeks and begin to flower the same growing season.
Sometimes the perennial garden can be quite dull in November, mirroring the weather. For its late season flowering alone, the climbing aster deserves greater use. An extra benefit is its attraction to late season butterflies and bees, gathering their stores before winter finally closes in.
Upcoming Events
January 7-8, Arkansas Turfgrass Association 14th Annual
Conference, Hot Springs Convention Center. Contact Anne Borg at 501-224-4840.
January 11-12, 21st
Annual
Horticulture Industries Show (HIS), Tulsa Comm. College, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Contact at
501-575-2603 January 19-21, 25th Annual Tennessee Nursery and Landscape
Association Trade Show & Convention, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Contact
TNLA at 931-473-3951. January
22-24. Mid-America Green Industry Convention BTA Conference Center, Kansas City,
Missouri. Contact
MAGIC
Council at 816-561-5323. January 24-26, Gulf States Horticultural Expo, Arthur R. Outlaw
Convention Center, Mobile, Alabama. Contact 334-502-7777. February 1-2, Plants 2002:
Arkansas
Green Industry Association Landscape and Nursery Trade Show, Hot Springs
Convention Center. Contact Anne Borg at 501-225-0029.
February 9, Hot Springs Garden Show. Contact
Garland
County Extension office at 501-623-6841.
February 16, Pine Bluff Lawn and Garden Show. Contact
Jefferson
County Extension at 870-534-1033 or jivy@uaex.edu.
February 23, Mountain Home Garden Seminars, Baxter County Fairgrounds. Contact 870-492-6767. Pre-registration required.
February 25, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Green Industry Spring Tune-up. Satellite viewing sites: Little Rock, Fayetteville, Hope, and possibly West Memphis. For details contact Jim Robbins at
jrobbins@uaex.edu.
March 1-3, 11th Annual Arkansas Flower and Garden
Show, Statehouse Convention Center., Little Rock. Contact 800-459-SHOW
March 8-10, Jonesboro Flower and Garden Show, Convocation Center on the ASU campus.
March 15-17,The Arkansas River Valley Lawn and Garden Show will be held March 15, 16 and 17 at the Fort Smith Convention Center. "Roots, Shoots, Baskets and Boots" is the theme for this year, and there will again be a Flower Show sponsored by the Greater Fort Smith Council of Garden Clubs in conjunction with the Lawn and Garden Show. Spectacular indoor gardens, vendor booths, a kids’ area and educational seminars. Call the Sebastian County Extension office, 501-782-4947, for details.
April 6-13, Grand Opening, Garvan Woodland Gardens. Contact 1-800-366-4664.
April 13, Saline County Garden Show. Contact
Saline
County Extension at 501-303-5672
August 13, Multistate Plant Materials Conference Hosted by Univ. of Ark., details forthcoming.
By: Jim Robbins, Extension Specialist -
Ornamental Horticulture
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