BY BRENDA K JOHNSONP&D Correspondent

Q: What were your highlightsof last growing season aroundYankton?

A: Lisa Kortan is UrbanForestry Specialist for the City ofYankton. On the job more than ayear, she has planned for and ledthe annual city planting andmaintenance of flowers, trees,and shrubs, has overseen treetrimming around the city, andnow assists in snow removal.

“I plan to get insulated boots,”Kortan said. “Last winter I helpedmake ice and maintain the out-door hockey rinks at Trip Parkand Sertoma Park. I was sur-prised at how much daily use theoutdoor rinks get for club sportsand for youth practice.”

Kortan grew up in the Tyn-dall/Tabor area and her childrenattend school in Bon HommeSchool District.

“My son had a science projectto identify and photograph

trees,” she says. “He used our ar-boretum here behind the highschool for the project. Leaveswere beautiful colors this fall. It’sgood we have a place for sur-rounding communities to cometo and enjoy also.

“When I go to a new town, Ilook at how they soften the hard-scape--the cement and the build-ings. It’s amazing what plantmaterial can do.”

Her training at SoutheastTechnical Institute in Sioux Falls,horticulture experience with Jayand Tracey Gurney, landscapedesign work at Gurney Seed &Nursery Company, and years as a

horticulture instructor at theSpringfield Minimum SecurityPrison provided background forher work in Yankton.

As Kortan began her new po-sition, planning color for thecoming year was a favorite partof her job.

“The entrance to RiversidePark was a place to start. Thendowntown, Douglas Avenue, Me-morial Park, around the pool,and over to 4th Street and West-side Park,” she says.

Once the maintenance shophad been removed and openedthe space at the entrance toRiverside Park near the MeridianBridge, Kortan saw possibilities.

“I wanted bright, fresh colorsto go with the entrance sign.Fuchsia wave petunias and lime-colored sweet potato vine wereplanted with the shrub roses.

“Many commented on theflowers in wire baskets on polesin Historic Downtown Yankton(last summer). The bicolor mini-wave petunias selected by Yank-ton’s Downtown Associationremained showy throughout theseason. Local businesses do-nated to have the baskets and wefertilized and watered them,” shesays.

“As you drive block to block(along) Douglas Avenue, theplanters ahead show white, pink,yellow and purple. Plants (usedaround Yankton) need to be quitedrought-tolerant and last fromcool to hot to cool weather. Wewater on Fridays in the heat ofsummer, but plants need to beable to last until Monday. Thereare lots of new varieties.”

She found that a few new vari-eties have bold colors but lackstamina in the city conditions, sothey won’t be on next year’s list.

“Memorial Park was a part ofYankton’s 150th celebration (inJune). With the mile walk around

the park, I think this park is wellused by walkers. We prunedtrees and cleaned up the southparking lot area before the cele-bration.”

The city pool had a face lifttoo. “We added concrete pods

and picnic benches, large royalblue flower pots, and kid-friendlyornamental grasses by the poolentrance.

“We worked along West 4thStreet to Summit a month lastsummer. There had been somewinter kill.”

She remarked about harshconditions along the highway, in-cluding salt, ice, snow, soil com-paction, temperature extremesand lack of consistent moisture.

“We had a directive thatplants along 4th Street over 2.5 fttall had to be removed due tosafety issues on the right ofways. People backing out orusing alleys needed to be able tosee well.

“We tried to transplant the

perennials that we took out nearthe arboretum and other areasaround town.

“I hope that we have that areafinished in three years,” Kortansaid. “Those four blocks reallyshow up. I want color, texture,and fragrance for that area. Itneeds to be low maintenance be-cause of the busy highway. Wehad good luck with annual vin-cas. (Later in the season) itdidn’t need water for threeweeks.

“We use Preen as a pre-emer-gent herbicide for weeds anddrought tolerant plants that cantake those conditions, includinghigh salt. I visited with HarlanHamernick of Blue Bird Nurseryin Clarkson Nebraska for somesuggestions.”

Westside Park received Kor-tan’s colors last season. “I noticethat a lot of people take a breakfrom the hospital or what theyhave going on in life there. I likethe fieldstone in the park. Weplanted wave petunias on thegazebo. Not a lot kills them, butthey were hard to water. A pi-geon nested in them. We alsoplanted flowers in the planters atthe historic entrance to the park.Neighbors commented that theyliked the flowers.”

“Last summer I made lists thatwere hard to get through beforethe new week.

Now is a good time to plan forspring. I hope to add more coloraround parks and work with thearboretum trees and nativegrassland next season,” Kortanconcluded.

Friday, 12.2.11ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net

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Deadline: December 15

BY BRENDA K JOHNSONP&D Correspondent

Share tips from your plant experience, give us a tour of yourplant site, or send your questions related to outdoor or indoorplants to news@yankton.net Attn: Brenda Johnson or write to P&D,319 Walnut St, Yankton, SD 57078, Attn: Brenda Johnson.

———One of the top honors at the Yankton Town &

Country Garden Club’s Flower and Vegetable Showlast summer Saluted Tony and Donna Ellis’s entry.Tony found driftwood that resembled a bird at rest,and Donna creatively arranged hosta leaves thatshe snipped right from her deck that morning.Their enthusiasm about their shared plant hobbyand the prospect of a yard where you can createwinners in reach of your deck made the visit totheir yard not to miss.

Q: What does it take to make the yard beautifulfrom your deck?

A: Tony and Donna Ellis own and work togetherat Tony Ellis Auto Sales on East Highway 50.They’ve lived in their Yankton home more than 30years. Their backyard is spacious, and standing ontheir large deck, unobstructed by rails, often apanoramic view of the backyard. A few elements oftheir grown children remain in backyard décor, butmostly it’s the handiwork of Tony and Donna.

“We bounce (ideas) off each other,” Donna says. “I often say, ‘Tony, I know you can do this.’ We

don’t have to work every evening in the yard. Wewanted perennials so we can have weekends off.”

They enjoy travel to gardens in the region andare fans and members of Lauritzen Gardens andBotanical Center in Omaha.

“These rusty red sedum (by the deck) were cut-tings from Matty Vanderpool. They grew from bro-ken stems,” Donna said.

The wide flowerbed around the deck includeshosta perfect leaves like Donna selected and Tony’sdriftwood bird for their winning flower show entry.

Two elements in the deck flowerbed may illus-trate how Tony and Donna work together to createtheir backyard landscape. “We needed a new ac-cess to get onto the deck. We cleaned Old Chicagobrick and used broken concrete sidewalk for thewalkway,” they explained. Simple, recycled materi-als that took work to acquire and prepare for instal-lation became the pathway and steps to access thedeck from the yard.

The second element is an exquisite, robust tearose in bloom by the deck. The spot is a little pro-tected from harsh weather. In summer heat, leavesare free of black spot, and emerging leaves andbuds show the plant has been well tended. A plantthat demands care to show vitality is carefullyplaced and receives all the care it needs. The El-lises are ready to work at changes in their land-scape and have the skills and drive between themto try new ideas around the yard.

FIXING ‘CAN’T GROW ANYTHING’ AREAGrowing season of 2011 had rain, sometimes falling

as gulley washers. They are quite aware of waterpaths during heavy rains and decided to deal with aspot on the side of their yard that had poor soil, eastsun, and part shade near a mature tree.

“You couldn’t grow anything there,” Donna says. “(We call this) dry creek bed,” Tony says. By the contour of Ellis’s yard and surrounding

area, one can imagine water rushing through in adownpour.

“(This area) is a necessity as spring or rain runoffoccurs. (We’ve made these changes) all since spring.”

“We filled in with county soil. (For the ‘creek bed’)we brought in rounded gravel from the shop.” Thiscontoured water pathway now has gravel to slow ero-sion,” Tony said.

New soil helps plants, according to Donna. “We

filled in the beds on the sides of the ‘creek bed’ withsedum, hostas, columbine, bacopa, moss rose, andhardy hibiscus.” Many of these plants were trans-planted from other areas of the yard. Now erosion isaddressed with the gravel creek bed, and the areathey considered an eyesore where plants didn’t growis now an amended flowerbed.

EITHER SIDE OF THE FENCEA split cedar fence divides flower from vegetable

garden in the back corner of the yard. “This area (onone side of the fence) started from Donna’sflowerbeds,” Tony says.

“It had delphinium and Gerbera daisies,” Donnasays. “We started taking some Gerbera daisies to theshop in winter along with geraniums and asparagusfern. Windows there get south and west sun and theybloom well.”

One of Donna’s creative outlets has been duringher service on the Yankton Area Arts Board. She deco-rated tables for their Tables Beautiful event, and ear-lier this year, decorated for the Scott Luken graniteart display called “Big and Heavy.”

Donna’s side of the split cedar fence grows flowersand plants for decorating. “I was a soccer mom, so wegrew sugar pumpkins and I painted them black andwhite. I used to can everything (from Tony’s vegetablegarden) but now only salsa.” She decorates with In-dian corn, pumpkins, and unusual gourds in the fall.

On Tony’s side of the split cedar fence, he growsvegetables. But he also has two other vegetable gar-dens at work by his car lot.

“I hoe the garden at work at noon. I don’t allowweeds. I hoe before the weeds make seeds. I till in thefall and mulch in leaves and water it in. Then in thespring, I till the leaves in. That’s fertilizer,” he says.

Tony extended his tilling as a volunteer when hefine-tilled the Yankton Community Gardens as theground was initially plowed three years ago.

His gardens east of Yankton were pulverized byhail on Aug. 18 along with many who lost gardens,crops, and had other damages. However, at home theystill harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, pep-pers, and zucchini.

“My mother taught me to garden. Of five children,the rest viewed the garden as work. We had 1,000pounds of potatoes in the fall,” Tony says.

“Along the back fence we have an upright garden.”The bottle gourds climb high along the fence. Donnadecorates them for Yankton Area Arts and others,”Tony says.

Although Tony’s side of the cedar fence started asvegetables, sure enough, he grows flowers too. “Itstarted with a bag of five bulbs from Wal-Mart,” Donnasays.

“When he grew them along the edge of his veg-etable garden, Tony saw how beautiful the gladiolaflowers were. He started making bouquets with themfor others. Now he has 88 bulbs he plants along thefence here and another nursery of gladiolas besides.”

Tony and Donna like the plants in their yard. Plantsare well tended. They express creativity with theirplants and use their skills to benefit others as well asfor their own enjoyment.

DECEMBER PLANT TIPS:

• When to plant? Johnny’s Se-lect Seed Company has a seasonalcalculator on its website so youcan select cool and warm seasonplants and when to plant them.This calculator is also helpful tolook for those who grow trans-plants for correct timing with theseason. The website calculatorsupplies information for early tostandard to fall seasoning planting,according to when you use the cal-culator. Website: www.JohnnySe-lectSeed.com

• Reusable lock ties are plastic,8 inches long and can be pur-chased from Tree Pro in WestLafayette, IN (treepro.com). Theywork very well for being able toopen enclosures built to keep deerfrom eating new trees. The oldestlock ties are three years and do notshow signs of breaking down. (Con-tributed by Darrell Ausborn, Yank-ton)

• Cylindrical tomato cagesmade from fencing may be held in

place with lock ties. Remove lockties to store cages flat.

• Blue border lobelia grew welllast season in full sun to partialshade in this region. Lobeliasplanted indoors were transplantedinto flowerbeds where theybloomed midsummer to near frost.Lobelia plants required no extracare, no deadheading, and receivedrain for water this season. Lobeliaplants from a local greenhouse alsogrew well in a container gardenwith other plants. They added boldcolor as a border and can be grownfrom seed.

PLANT EXCHANGE

Creativity And Care On Both Sides Of The Fence

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

Tony Ellis’s bird-like driftwood and Donna Ellis’s selection of hosta leaves combined for a winning combinationat the Yankton Flower and Vegetable Show this summer.

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

They recycled old Chicago brick for steps andflowerbed edging and broken pieces of sidewalk ce-ment for pavers by the deck.

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

What began as their flowerbed now grows Donna’sflowers for enjoyment and creative projects, andTony’s vegetables and gladiolas.

On The Job With Lisa Kortan, Forestry Specialist

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

Lisa Kortan, new City of Yankton Urban Forestry Specialist, wanted to seemore colors and new varieties in new plantings last season. Pink and limegreen accented the Riverside Park entrance.

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

Bicolor mini-wave petunias were aHistoric Downtown Yankton hit forYankton's 150th celebration.Thanks to local businesses. Kor-tan’s crew watered and fertilizedthe plants.

PHOTO: BRENDA K. JOHNSON

Fieldstone of the historic gazebo inWestside Park received a fuchsiawave petunia accent last season.

Trish Olson, manager ofHometown Floral, 1615 MainSt., Tyndall (605) 589-HOME,invites all to holiday openhouse today (Friday) until 5:30p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

“Poinsettias are a popularplant for the holidays,” Olsonsaid. She says that some areeven sprayed colors such aspurple, pink, orange, green andgold.

• Today’s poinsettia isbushier, more attractive andmuch less delicate that thoseof the early 1960s.

• Modern chemicals keepthe plant small, so that the

poinsettia is compact and theflowers should last for 2-6months.

• When buying a poinsettia,look at the true flowers (yellowand tiny in the center of theflower head.) True flowersshould be unopened for maxi-mum flower life.

• Poinsettia is sensitive tocold air, so protect the plant intransport and don’t leave it inthe garage.

• Once in your living room,put it in a well-lit spot awayfrom drafts and keep it reason-ably warm.

DIBBLES AND BITS:

Cobalt blue lobelia border plants inthe foreground are paired with or-ange butterfly weed.