Falls City Garden Club News
October 2001 - Volume 5, Issue 10

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Sugar Maples in Oregon

Autumn leaves are the grand finale of the growing season. What creates all that color?

It's all about photosynthesis, according to Pat Breen, OSU professor of horticulture.

The word photosynthesis means "to transform with light." That is just what happens inside leaf cells as chlorophyll uses the sun's light to transform water and carbon dioxide into food for the growing plant.

Throughout the summer, green plants produce a continual supply of chlorophyll to keep the transformation going. But when days get shorter and nights get cooler, plants slow their production of chlorophyll.

As the amount of chlorophyll declines, the green color of plant leaves starts to fade and other pigments begin to shine through.

Carotenoids, for example, are found in most green plants, and are necessary for capturing sunlight. When chlorophyll fades, the carotenoids that are left create yellow and sometimes brilliant gold color. We see carotinoids at work in big-leaf maples this time of year.

A second pigment, anthocyanin, is produced in the leaves of only a few kinds of trees. It creates shades ranging from pink to red to purple, as in our native vine maples.

When the colorful pigments finally fade, leaves turn brown from the remaining tannin. Tannins are found in almost all trees, and are especially abundant in Oregon white oak, which keeps its autumn color to a conservative brown.

Weather plays a part in the show of autumn leaves. The most vivid color tends to unfold when autumn days are sunny and nights are cool but above freezing. The red-color anthocyanins are produced in strong light when sugars are trapped in the leaf as stems begin to shut off in preparation to drop. If the weather holds, enough sugars are produced to create brilliant red and orange color in the leaf. Rainy weather blocks warmth and sunshine, and so inhibits sugar production. Leaves fade without much color change. Likewise, early frost can kill leaves, turning them brown.

You can orchestrate your own grand finale by planting trees that promise autumn color. Many kinds of native trees and shrubs are already brightening the woods this time of year. A trip to the local nursery will reveal an even larger selection. Consider Norway maple or tulip tree for yellow and gold color; sugar maple and sweet gum for bright orange and red; and scarlet oak for deep red. All these should do well throughout most of Oregon.

Note: The Golden Desert Ash is our first choice for the “Falls City Branches Out” street tree project. At Lyle Elementary School in Dallas on the corner of Ellendale and Levens are a few, small golden ashes beginning their fall show.

Joke of the Month
How do you catch a unique rabbit?
(answer hidden below)

Next Meeting
Day: Thursday, October 25
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Falls City Christian Church (corner of Lombard and South Main)
Speaker: Susan Hill, president of the Salem Hardy Plant Society, will tell us about her book, “The Northwest Plant Locator.” Bring questions! Visitors are always welcome.
Baked Goods: Grace Ward

October Birthdays
The Club extends best wishes to its members celebrating birthdays this month:
Denise McCormick - Oct. 31

Recipe of the Month

Orange Pumpkin Pie

Cook a sweet short crust pastry shell. Mix together:
...2½ C. cooked, mashed pumpkin
U Neak up on it.
...1½ C. brown sugar
...¼ tsp. salt
...Pinch of nutmeg/ginger/ spice
...½ C. orange juice
...1 C. evaporated milk
...2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
...2 Tbsp. butter

Bring mixture to the boil, stirring regularly until thickened. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of gelatin in ¼ cup water. Add to mixture. When cool pour into sweet short crust pastry shell. Chill. Cover with whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate flakes before serving.

Let’s Pull Together!

[Here is an article by Sloan Aagaard, which is re-printed from 1998.] We can’t always depend on Daryll’s Nursery, Carter’s Greenhouses and a few members at every fund-raising event. We need to all pull together.

Since we are only doing 3 fundraisers a year, each of us needs to plan ahead on what can be sold to raise money for the street tree project, not to mention club operating expenses. Operating funds go to the newsletter, community projects [like the United Methodist Church landscaping] and donations for scholarships to 4-H Summer Camp for local kids.

In December we will be participating in the Falls City Christmas Bazaar. So far, we will be selling large red outdoor bows, maybe dried flower bouquets, and our wonderful cookbook. We need things like house plants, birdfeeders or birdhouses, seeds, bagged-up bulbs, planters, ornaments or other inexpensive gifts and decorations. We also need volunteers to coordinate or work at the Bazaar.

It’s not too early to think about our main fundraiser, the Spring Plant Sale in May. Go out in your yard and make divisions of your perennials. Or, visit a friend with a garden and dig up and pot extra plants (remembering to fill in the holes). Call another member of the Garden Club if you need help. Many cuttings can be taken now which will be ready for sale by spring. Herbs and berry plants are easy and sell very well.

Let’s all pull together to: -- Sloan Aagaard

Flower of the Month
Sunflower (Helianthus)

The Falls City Garden Club’s 50th Anniversary Cookbook (some copies are still available) contains a section on edible plants, written by Sloan Aagaard. She has included sunflower petals on her list of “most delicious” edible flowers. They have a nutty flavor, and can also be used as a garnish. These are hardy herbaceous perennials or annuals found wild in North America. They produce large yellow flowers in late summer and autumn. The perennial kinds are tall and vigorous. H. decapetalus multiflorus and its double variety, “Soliel d'Or,” grow 4 to 5 feet high. The prettiest one is called “Monarch”; it is a variety of H. atrorubens sparsifolius. This plant will grow 6 to 7 feet high and bear large, golden yellow blooms. All of the perennial kinds have yellow blossoms. H. argyrophyllus, the “Silverleaf Sunflower” is an annual kind that grows about 6 feet high. Its leaves are clothed with silky, soft hairs, which give them a distinctly silver appearance. It produces many yellow flowers, 3 inches in diameter, that have dark brown-purple centers. H. annuus is an annual commonly known as the Sunflower. It grows 6 to 10 feet high and produces huge, black centered flowers. There are varieties of the Sunflower with different colored flowers.
Some are reddish, pale or deep yellow. The largest is the variety “Russian Giant.”

The seeds of the Sunflower are rich in oil; the best kinds contain 28 or 30 percent. When cold pressed, this oil is useful as a salad oil, for cooking and for the manufacture of margarine. The seeds are also used for bird food for poultry and parrots and other caged birds.

Sunflowers will thrive in regular soil in a sunny or partially shaded position. Birds will begin stealing seeds 1 to 2 weeks before they are fully dry. To prevent this, wrap cheesecloth around the heads. Test the seed coats once in a while with your thumbnail. When they are hard, cut the stem about 6 inches below the flower and hang indoors to complete drying.

Sunflower seeds may be sown outside in full sun 1 to 2 weeks before the frost-free date. Seedlings will appear in a few days and will survive frost. Thin the giant varieties 3½ to 4 feet apart. If they are spaced too close, they will form lanky plants with dwarf heads. In windy locations, tie stalks loosely to fence posts or supports.

Falls City’s Railroad
In the past, when Falls City was a larger town, it had its own railroad. In fact, there are railroad rights-of-way running through the city today. In 1998 city administrator Bill Ewing wrote to the Southern Pacific RR asking if they would donate the paths to the city for walking and equestrian trails, but did not receive a favorable response. The RR route has been abandoned outside the city limits. Maybe some of the Club members have some ideas on how to tackle Southern Pacific to try to get these paths donated to the city before they are lost to the city by adverse possession. Recently, Dallas barber Samm Freshner donated two small parcels to the city, which are being used as matching for a grant application for artwork on the new Main Street (a project that the Club supported with a letter from our president Lilli Boettcher). These old railroad trails might also be used to connect parks and more.

Click the Picture for full size view
-- Courtesy of Ben Maxwell
This is the motor coach of the Salem, Falls City & Western Railway near Black Rock as seen in the 1920’s. Black Rock was the western terminus of the Southern Pacific Company branch line west from Dallas. It ran along the Little Luckiamute River. It is generally believed the town of Black Rock was named because of an exposed ledge of black shale rock. The railroad was taken up after World War II and when the area was visited in 1984, there was little evidence of civilization.

Click the Picture for full size view
-- Courtesy of Ben Maxwell
This is the motor coach of the Salem, Falls City & Western Railway.

Click the Picture for full size view
-- Courtesy of Ben Maxwell
A group of men and one young lady are standing on a locomotive engine on the railroad bridge or on the tracks immediately in front of the engine. Most of the men are attired in long black overcoats and black hats. The girl wears light clothes and holds a bouquet of flowers. The occasion is the dedication of the Salem, Falls City & Western Railroad bridge at Salem on March 15, 1913.
Happy Hallowe’en!

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