By Bev Johnson

Master Gardener

Did you know that strawberry plants are developing next summer’s flowers now? The crowns of strawberry plants are like compressed branches. The buds at the base of each leaf on the crown can turn into either a runner or a flowering stalk. During the long days of early summer, the buds become runners. The short days of August signal the plant to start making floral buds instead of runners.

In a normal Minnesota summer, strawberry plants start making flower buds around August 15th. In cool weather, the plant will start making floral buds in early August, but hot weather will delay the process. Now that it is starting to cool off, the plants are making floral buds and will continue to do so as long as the daytime temperatures stay above 50 F. This period of flower initiation is critical for producing next year’s crop. Never spray 2-4-D near strawberries as it interferes with floral initiation by fusing several flower buds into a large doughnut shaped flower that won’t produce fruit.

Wait until the first hard frost to cover your berries. Warm soil under a layer of straw is an ideal winter home for mice. When Bunkey removes the straw next spring, the last thing he wats to see is a nest of squirming baby mice. You will hear his screams in the next county.

If it ever cools down, be on the lookout for Rose mosaic virus. It will be easy to see on the mature leaves of the affected plants. The symptoms vary from plant to plant. The leaves can have white wavy lines, netting, ring spots or mottling. Some cultivars will show no symptoms at all, even if affected. Infected roses will be less vigorous than healthy roses with reduced growth and fewer flowers. They are also more susceptible to winter injury. Unexpectedly, many roses infected with rose mosaic virus are able to survive for years with the disease. The roses are typically infected through grafting of an infected plant to a healthy one. Of course you will remove the affected leaves from the garden.

Non gardeners who love roses will often buy tea roses in the spring unaware that they are not hardy. If you just can’t resist one, treat it as an annual that it is in Minnesota. The same should be said of the mums sold this time of year. They seldom live through the winter but are a nice spot of color now.       

If you have a little leaf Linden (basswood) in your yard, be aware that they can be affected by a fungus. The leaves will have dark brown to black spot with a feathery edge. A yellow halo may develop around the leaf spots.  Severely infected leaves may turn completely yellow and fall off.  The spore affected the leaves last spring, but the symptoms only show up now. They can make the tree look pretty ugly but isn’t a serious risk to the health of the tree. To prevent this fungus from returning next spring, rake up all the leaves this fall and bag or burn them. Like all living plants, trees need air circulation to stay healthy. If your linden is crowded by other trees you may have to deal with this fungus every year unless you can stand to remove a tree to give the linden more elbow room.

Now is the time to kill creeping Charlie and other broad-leafed weeds. They are in the process of pulling sugars into the roots to feed themselves during the winter. Give them a nice slug of weed killer to add to the sugars.  It will at least thin them out next summer.