The Winter Garden #2

By Ms Sherry

In last week’s blog we began talking about our winter gardens. As I looked at my own garden, I realized that we all probably underestimate the beauty that the winter scene can provide and, perhaps, even fail to add the kind of plants which will make that winter scene even more beautiful. We get excited about spring and summer color; visions of bright-hued annuals dance through our heads, and thus we seem to place our efforts on how to make that landscape even more spectacular. But there are so many beautiful things to add to our yards for winter interest, making that landscape just as enticing as the summer one. Winter officially begins in December and stretches through March, giving us lots of months and lots of opportunities. Here are just a few things that can banish the winter blahs and lift our spirits – daffodils and crocuses, hellebores, pansies and violas, camellia japonicas, trees with interesting bark (like ‘Sangu Kaku’, the Coral Bark Maple, whose bark turns from green to flaming red over the cold months), fruiting ornamentals such as cotoneaster and nandina, Fatsia japonica (japanese fatsia) with its interesting blooms, and (probably my most favorite), Edgeworthia chrysanthia ‘Goldrush’. Just thinking about all these beauties makes me glad it is winter. How many of you have smelled the wonderful intoxicating fragrance of a winter daphne (D. Odora)  blooming in the sunshine? I am ready to plant right now. Speaking of planting . . . , for us in Alabama the ideal planting season has arrived. Winter rains will water (hopefully). Since plants are not using all their energy to put out leaves and grow, they can use that energy to get their roots firmly established and off to a good start. Get your shovels, your mud shoes, and your gloves ready – and head out. While you are at it, plant at least one or several plants to enliven your winter garden. I just got a note that one of the big nurseries in Birmingham is having a sale after Christmas–so save some of that Christmas cash and plan a trip.

Just in case you have not met one of the most charming of all the winter beauties, please let me introduce you to Edgeworthia chrysanthia. Known as the Paper Bush, this deciduous ornamental grows about 6 feet wide and tall. It has dark bluish green leaves that are about 3 or 4 inches long. The flower buds form in late summer, so when the leaves fall off in the late fall, it looks as if the plant is in bloom already. But wait—come late winter those buds open up into tiny yellow flowers that have the most heavenly smell. Edgeworthias flourish in the same type of conditions as azaleas; plant them high, in dappled sunshine, in rich organic, well-drained soil. They do not seem to be troubled by garden pests. My Edgeworthia really struggled during this summer’s heat and drought, so keep the hose or bucket and water handy; it will be worth every drop of water to have that plant in your garden during the winter. Even the bare shrub is beautiful.

Before I became a self-described plantaholic (badly in need of a 12 step plant buyers program who lived to garden and watch things grow), I thought winter was the time to read magazines and knit. But I have learned the error of my ways, and now I realize that winter can be the gardener’s best friend.

I wish each of you a wonderful New Year full of healthy growing things and the satisfaction in what we do to make our planet a better place to live.

The Winter Garden

By Ms Sherry

I just came in from an invigorating stroll through the neighborhood.  Invigorating is defined as when the temperature does not rise about 40 degrees. It was a typical gray winter day – cloudy, sunless, with a brisk breeze. But as I walked I noticed the things perhaps only a gardener might see – life in the garden. The sasanquas were still providing pops of color all over the yard: the ‘Shishi-Gashiri’ showing their dark pinkish red blooms; the bright red blooms of ‘Yuletide’ glowed amid the lush green foliage; ‘Jean May’ still showing its pale pink blooms and ‘Leslie Ann’  (white edged with pink flowers) brightened up the landscape.  The loropetalum (usually a late winter/early spring bloomer), for some reason, is covered with red fringe flowers way before its regular bloom time, probably fooled into blooming by a streak of springlike days we have had lately.  As usual the pansies and the violas are putting on a show. The trees’ naked limbs and bark – especially the bark of the crape myrtles—provide texture and shape to a garden almost bare of greenery.  Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Cortata’) in my front yard is bare of leaves but covered with catkins and is as gorgeous to behold now as it is in the middle of summer.

The bird feeders are full of brilliant red cardinals and other birds who have decided to make my yard their winter headquarters.

So this blog and the next few after it, will concentrate on the winter garden. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will look at our winter garden, usually a quieter place, through new eyes and learn to appreciate its serene beauty.

Rosemary Verey, author of “The Garden in Winter,” wrote:
“A winter corner should be a place, however small, where you can be sure of finding those special flowers that brave the weather, those leaves that keep their color and those berries that hang on through winter days. And it should be tucked away so that you have a positive inducement to walk out of the house to enjoy your choice of winter flowers.”

While we are studying our winter gardens and appreciating their own special gifts, we have the opportunity to improve our spring and summer gardens at the same time. With flowers and foliage gone the bones of our gardens become more evident: the bed shapes, borders, paths, hardscape elements –  including trellises, walls, arbors, and steps. We can even study the fit of our landscape with the architecture of our homes. Good garden design should always include the four seasons of our garden. Paying careful attention in winter will improve our gardens during the other three seasons. But, most importantly, good garden design must include the special gifts of a winter garden.

Holiday Plants

By Ms Sherry

Holiday buying is in high gear as shoppers crowd the stores and malls. Many are carrying out wonderful plants–Christmas cactus, poinsettias, and amaryllis. Lucky recipients or the shoppers themselves will decorate with beautiful living plants. To keep these plants looking their prettiest over the holiday season I thought I would share some information about taking care of them.

Amaryllis (hippeastrum):
Growing an amaryllis always reminds me of the Jack and the Beanstalk story – that magical process as they shoot up in days once you begin to water.  Amaryllis come in many colors from white to red to striped to pink to salmon. Last year I planted one called Apple Blossom; the huge pink and white striped blossoms were a delight for weeks. Producing a gorgeous plant is super easy– just a few simple rules. Amaryllis prefer a sunny window; water sparingly while it just begins to sprout and grow, increasing the amount of water as the stalk shoots up and blooms appear. Plant the bulb in a small pot up to its neck in good soil with good drainage; be careful of the roots when you plant. Within a few days of potting, watering, and placing it in the sunny window, it will begin to sprout. I turn mine frequently, so it does not lean too much towards the light. The leaves can get about 1 ½ feet long with the flower stem getting even longer. Be prepared to stake or you may find, as I did, that it will topple over as the blooms get so heavy. It usually takes about 7 to 10 weeks for the bloom to show, but part of the fun is watching it grow. After the plant flowers, you can make it flower again but this second flowering is more complicated. Cut off the old flowers, and when the stem begins to droop, cut it off.  Put an amaryllis outside, after the danger of frost has passed, and keep it watered and fertilized. When the leaves begin to yellow in the fall, cut the leaves off and store the bulb in a cool place for at least six weeks. That place doesn’t have to be completely dark as, say, for a poinsettia. After six weeks, take out the bulb;  plant it again and the cycle starts all over.

Poinsettia
Our wonderful, probably most well known, Christmas plant, the familiar red poinsettia, has been joined by ones with flowers in a rainbow of colors. I have seen white, yellow, polka dotted, even pink. In a poinsettia the colorful parts are not actually flower petals but bracts, which technically are modified leaves. Care of the poinsettia is a bit more difficult than that of the amaryllis. That care actually begins before you leave the store. Since the poinsettia flower is the small green or yellow bud that is situated in the middle of the bract (the colorful petals), you want to take a close look at that part first. Choose plants that have unopened flower buds, or those where the buds are just beginning to open. If these buds are dry or missing, your flowers won’t last much longer. Choose a plant that is full, with nice green leaves. Check the leaves on the underside for insects. And, here is something really important: wrap your poinsettia in a protective sleeve or a paper bag to carry out to your car as poinsettias hate wind and cold. Poinsettias do not like to sit in a freezing cold car for hours while you shop either. That time in a cold car could cause the leaves to drop early.

Now you have your flowers home. Here the old rule, the right place for the right plant, is again important. That right place may not be your best choice for display. So here’s what to do: keep it in the right place when company is not present, and than move it back to its display place when they are.  Poinsettias love bright, not direct, sunlight–near a bright window but not in it. If the light is too low they will drop their leaves.

Okay, now for watering. Poinsettias don’t want to be too wet or too dry. If they get too dry they will drop their leaves; if they remain in standing water they will get root rot and drop their leaves. So it might be a good idea to make a few holes in the wrapping paper and set it in a saucer which is emptied after each watering.

Poinsettias also do not like to get too hot or too cold; they, especially, do not like drafts. All of this leads to the plant’s decline and loss of leaves. Set your plant away from the heat vents and away from outside doors. They would really appreciate the company of other plants or being able to sit in a gravel tray which has water in it–they will enjoy the humidity.

Now the rest of the story–what to do with the poinsettia after the holiday is over. In early April, cut it back to 6 to 8 inches in height and put it outside in the shade after all danger of frost has passed. Water it and fertilize it when new growth appears. Prune it until September 1. You can repot over the summer but use a mix similar to the one it was already planted in, and bring it in doors before the weather gets cool. It is a challenge but you can get them to rebloom. They will need to spend some time in the dark, and I mean really dark, from 5 pm to 7 or 8 am. And during the day they must be in bright indirect sunlight.  Even if they rebloom, it is never like the first time, so I would just suggest enjoying them over the holiday, tossing them, and getting a new ones when the stores sell them again the next year.
Christmas cactus

My favorite movie of all time is “Cactus Flower” with Ingrid Bergman, Walter Matthau, and Goldie Hawn. It is the story of a prickly nurse who begins to bloom, just like the cactus on her desk. The last scene in the movie is a shot of her cactus blooming its heart out on her desk. And that is the story of the Christmas cactus. Last week in the dentist’s office I saw one; it was so small it looked like a dwarf (but in full bloom) and the assistant told me hers was huge but never bloomed. What made the difference? I suspect the growing conditions, especially the intensity of the light. They love a sunny location indoors; they can summer outside in a shady location. Leaves can be burned by too much direct sunlight. When they come inside, change the light gradually. Cactus must have well-drained soil. There is soil sold especially for succulents but with some research you can mix your own. Refrain from fertilizing while the plant is blooming.  The Christmas cactus is not a true cactus so the rules about watering are not the same. It is not quite as drought tolerant. But it is still a succulent and, as such, can store water in its leaves. Water when the top half of the soil in the pot feels try to the touch. How much you water, will vary according to the conditions the plant grows in. During the summer keep the soil evenly moist, but in the winter just to keep it from wilting.

In October give it no water. You can begin to water again in November but don’t over water. As many other plants do, your cactus would appreciate sitting on a bed of gravel kept moist with water. When your cactus finishes blooming, don’t water it for six weeks, and when it starts to grow again, resume watering. When the first growth appears in the spring apply liquid houseplant fertilizer in a weak solution every two to three weeks.

Cactus prefers warm temperatures; but cooler temps can be used to get it to set buds. After October it does need cooler nights, so keep it away from heat vents, fireplaces. Repot your cactus when the pots are filled with roots in the same type of soil in which it has been growing. The best time to repot is in the spring but it can be done anytime. Keep it away from drafts and heat sources in your home.

Many things can cause a cactus to drop its buds: overwatering, cold drafts, being too close to a heat source, or not enough potash in the soil. If bud drops, water sparingly. Although the cactus is easy to grow, getting it to bloom may be different story. For the best reblooming, try a medium light intensity, and a soil high in organic matter, being careful not to allow the soil to dry out and to water when the top begins to feel dry. Cool temps or long nights are essential to get a cactus to bloom (nights near 55 degrees and days below 65 degrees. Some suggest that cactus plants should be kept in total darkness until flower buds begin (from late September to mid October). Do not fertilize and only water to keep leaves from shriveling. Once the buds form, bring the cactus out of the closet and resume normal care. Here is another example of deciding how important a blooming plant is to you for the holidays; in this instance I might buy a new one and let the old ones just keep it company.

A cautionary note on another favorite type of Christmas greenery – mistletoe. The berries are extremely toxic to humans and pets – so if you choose to use it in your home for decoration, do so without the berries.

Enjoy these beautiful holiday plants, along with other offerings found typically this time of the year. A little care will keep them beautiful for weeks of pleasure.

Information used in this blog was obtained from sources on the Internet (web site for Fernlea Flowers), from publications from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and from “Garden Talk” featured in “The Birmingham News.“

Shopping for the Inner Gardener

By Ms Sherry

This time of the year, it seems everyone is looking to buy that perfect gift for that special someone or the special recipients are secretly making lists of things that would be wonderful wrapped in ribbon under the tree on Christmas morning or exchanged around the Hanukkah menorah. The media is full of ideas for just-right gifts for the gardener. I have seen lists that included items like orchids, Felco pruners, and house plants. I thought I would go right to the heart of the matter and poll my master gardener friends because . . .  who would know better what the best gift would be for a gardener than folks who love to play in the dirt? And they came up with the most original ideas from worm castings to knee pads:

• “someone to do the work while I direct!”
• a pair of good gardening gloves
• a new greenhouse (who wouldn’t want one?)
• gloves that are waterproof and mud-proof; big light-weight pots for container gardening (even better if filled with tools), new clippers with the red flag already tied to the handles, herbs to start in early spring, gardening books specific to the area we live in, or a subscription to a gardening magazine which is also specific to our gardening environment, and potting soil
• “at least 50 pairs of pruners and gardening spades, preferably with bright colored handles so they don’t get lost too easily”; bags of potting soil and worm castings, knee pads, and a garden cart that can store your tools and that you can also sit on.
• Amaryllis bulbs for forcing and lavender plants that grow in Alabama
• a load of top soil and/or mulch, large outdoor/all weather flower pots, and gift certificates for a day of labor. (Let gold and jewels take the spotlight on other’s lists!) One gardener suggested disposable latex gloves, plant labels, bird houses and bird food, good by-pass clippers, and diamond tool sharpeners. Tools that do more than one thing are always welcome.
• A manicure after a hard day in the garden as well as several pairs of inexpensive gardening gloves or a garden center gift certificate
• A hori hori knife (a Japanese knife used by bonsai enthusiasts); the knife is very sharp and has a serrated blade on one side for slicing through roots or even pruning. Bags of mushroom compost and Perma Til to keep the voles out of the flowers.
• a pair of binoculars along with hummingbird feeders and feeders for other birds
• a gift certificate to one of the mail order nurseries that offer the newest plants, an Oxo brand trowel (a wonderful multi-use garden tool that is very durable), metal plant labels, or a plant book that thoroughly deals with a specific plant (such as Michael Dirr’s book on hydrangeas) or regional gardening (such as The Southern Living Garden Book).
• gardening books with “lots of pretty pictures”
• “The Garden Bandit” and the “Telesco-Weeder” both great for weeding and other yard chores
• A suggestion of a rain barrel was written so eloquently that I am passing it on to all of you:
“Most of us have audibly stopped wishing for rain, but secretly we still do. Some of us are trying to use alternatives like dishwater and bath water to water our plants now that city water is being protected. The gardening gift I’d like to receive this Christmas is an old-fashioned wooden rain barrel to catch some of the water that is diverted away from my house by the gutters. The wooden barrels not only bring back happy memories of earlier days when we shampooed our hair with rainwater, but they serve as well as ready sources of water for potted plants and hanging baskets and more. Plastic barrels will do as well as salvaged, clean oil drums. Though I prefer the wooden kind, I’ll take any kind I’ve given. They all do the same - catch water - and who really cares what they are made of if they catch and hold liquid gold.“
• At the top of our wishes in the state of Alabama, and over the Southeast as well, is an end to the drought and to the watering bans, and an equitable and just decision to the water wars between Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

Hope the Santas among us find the perfect gift from this list. Happy shopping!

 

Shopping

By Ms Sherry

As we close in on Thanksgiving—just a few days away with “Black Friday” and the official start of the holiday shopping season around the corner—please remember to patronize your local garden centers too. This been a difficult growing season not only for us home gardeners but also for garden shops over the last few months. As water restrictions increased and the drought continued, most of us were not visiting the nurseries to plant; but these shops still had to do business–they still had to carry an inventory and to care for it the best they could. I have heard that in some communities the watering bans even extended to the plant stores. Pike’s Nursery has filed for bankruptcy, I have read, due to the effects of the drought. A recent e-mail from a nursery in North Carolina mentioned that one of the locally owned nurseries up there was closing also due to the drought. So my point, as we shop until we drop, is let us do some of that shopping in our garden centers, especially the locally owned and operated ones. I visited a family owned garden center in Birmingham last week; the plants, in spite of the past months, were beautiful; the staff was helpful and smiling. There were many wonderful things to be bought there: amaryllis, narcissus for forcing, glorious houseplants, flower pots, yard ornaments, tools, supplies, and even gift certificates. And yes, the sight of all those beautiful pansies melted my heart; instead of the usual twelve flats that I buy and plant, I came home with one flat and a part of another which I am hoping will be kept watered by some winter rains.

Hopefully, next year the drought will be long past, just a bad memory; water will be plentiful, and the garden centers able to survive ready to please our every wish with a wide variety of irresistible plants.