Gardener’s almanac (Sept. 27)
RIP Alex Lingg — I was very sorry to hear that Alex Lingg, the dynamo who ran the Wichita Garden Show for 28 years, died this week in her sleep. She was out of town at the time, and funeral services are pending.
Hundreds of people in garden circles came to love Alex through the years, LaLana Moore of Scenic Landscapes said. What Alex called “the German mother in me” caused her to make vats of chicken and noodles and chili and other food from scratch for the crews involved in putting on the show every first weekend of March. The last year for the garden show was 2011.
“There’s such a kind of magic involved with the show,” Alex told me in 2004 for a profile I wrote about her. “The idea that we can create spring at the end of winter, it’s like a miracle.” She was always trying to make things – and people – grow. May she rest in peace now.
Plant — Fescue grass seed.
Green giants — Mary Hershberger of Wichita has had a bang-up gardening year. Her onions were huge, her staggered tomatoes just keep coming – and placement of a 6-foot tomato cage alongside her zinnias resulted in the flowers shooting out the top of the cage. Mary lets seedheads set on her plants and then dry, and she collects them for planting the next year. Last fall she left one of her dahlias in the ground, placing grass clippings and leaves over it, and it came back huge in the summer. This fall, she’s planning to leave a couple of dahlias in the ground, while digging up the rest.
Plant a Row for the Hungry – If you have fruit or vegetables from your garden at their peak that you would like to give to people in need, you can take the produce to these locations during business hours:
Kansas Food Bank, 1919 E. Douglas; Augusta Ace Home Center, 316 W. Seventh, Augusta; Brady Nursery, 11200 W. Kellogg; Hillside Nursery, 2200 S. Hillside; Hillside Feed and Seed, 1805 S. Hillside; Johnson’s Garden Centers, 802 N. Ridge Road, 21st and Woodlawn, 2707 W. 13th St.; and Valley Feed & Seed, 1903 S. Meridian.
Garden events
Last Tuesday on the Terrace – Snapdragons & Sangrias is the theme for the last Tuesday on the Terrace of the year, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Botanica. RKO Blues will play the music, and food and drinks will be for sale. The gardens are open until 8. Cover is $7, or $3 for members.
Shade tree tour – A free tour of the Sedgwick County Extension Arboretum at 21st and Ridge Road will be offered on Tuesday evening to show people shade trees that are adapted to the wind, climate and soil of our area. Extension agent Bob Neier will lead the brisk walking tour outside the Extension Center starting at 5:30 p.m. Register by contacting Jackie Fees at 316-660-0143 or jfees@ksu.edu.
Scenic Landscapes twilight tour — Scenic Landscapes Water Garden Nursery will be open and all alight from dusk to midnight for its annual twilight tour Oct. 3 and 4. The nursery at 5911 W. Maple will have free hot dogs and other refreshments, and entertainment will be a family-friendly movie around 8 p.m. on Oct. 3 and a concert by the Blue Note 6 with Kathy Roush from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 4. The event is free.
This story was originally published September 25, 2014 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Gardener’s almanac (Sept. 27)."