These weekly garden notes are
written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions
expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other
individual, group or organizations opinions.
Hi Gardeners
.jpg)
Tomorrow is the official first day of spring but it sure
wasn’t very spring like this morning as I went out to feed my animals. The wind was blowing and it was very
cold. And of course it was cloudy. It’s hard to believe that this time last
year it was in the 70’s, the grass was green and the flowers were
blooming. Of course we now know that
wasn’t an entirely good thing.
On the rare days that the sun shines you can feel how warm
the sun is now. You can close your eyes
and feel summer just around the bend.
And the birds are singing, nesting and coming back from southern
homes. I have seen a turkey buzzard and red-
wing blackbirds. Great flocks of Canada geese
were flying north this week. Signs are
saying springs coming but I’m having a hard time patiently waiting for it. It’s supposed to be warmer by this weekend so
let’s hope that’s the start of real spring.
On the vernal equinox, first day of spring, an egg is
supposed to stand on its end. Try it, (and
then try it again in a week.) Equinox is
supposed to mean that the days and nights are equal in length but that isn’t
exactly true. If you count twilight and
dawn as day, there are about 13 hours of light.
You have to count the day time from the time the center of the sun rises
over the horizon and that’s a tricky thing for ordinary folk, to see the equal
day/night thing. Technically spring
arrives at 7:02 am March 20. There is about 12 hours of light now though. The sun is moving from its southern
inclination to higher in the sky or to the north. It’s half the distance it will travel upward
at the spring equinox.
Around the time of the equinox there is often interruption in
services that are beamed off stationary satellites. That’s because the orbit of these satellites
means that the sun will block them from Earth at some point during the
day. As the sun moves higher in the sky
this ceases, until the autumn equinox.
The ancient peoples were very aware of the equinoxes. The Egyptian sphinx points directly to the
sun at the spring equinox. The equinox signifies
renewal in the northern hemisphere, a time when everything is awaking from
dormancy. In ancient history the spring
equinox symbolized the dividing line between the dark and light times of the
year. Almost every culture has a deity
that is resurrected from the dead at this time of the year. The
Christian celebration of Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon
after the equinox ( although current historical dating would place Christ’s crucifixion
as sometime in late April/early May.)
I wanted to write about Easter Lilies this week since they
are in all the stores right now. I had
written an article several years ago on Easter Lilies but I no longer had it
saved in the computer. So I went on line
to get some basic info refreshed in my mind, typed in Easter lilies in Michigan
(because we are the top producer) and what pops up? My original Easter lily article on a Yahoo
site. My name was attributed so that’s fine. I have put a shortened version in this
newsletter under more information.
I also hope that the ground thaws soon as I was notified
that some nursery stock I ordered was going to be shipped at the end of the
month. I wandered through a garden
center this week, just soaking in all the smells and sights that feed my garden
addiction. I have found that I can get supplies
like seed starting mix very cheaply on Amazon and get it shipped right to my
door. Maybe I’m a Johnny Come Lately to
the internet buying thing but I am enjoying browsing the garden supplies
without having to stand on my aching legs.
One thing that you probably don’t want to buy on Amazon is
plants and seeds. There are other, much
better on line companies for the plants and seeds. I got a little ticked off when I browsed
through the plants and seeds section on Amazon at some of the things offered. Take for example the Purple, black and green
rose seeds offered. Yes seeds. There were at least two places selling rose
seed through Amazon. They were probably
related as the rose picture seemed to be the same, just photo shopped into
different colors.
Of course at some point in order to get new rose varieties
roses have to be crossed and the seed planted.
It then takes years to grow the resulting seedlings to blooming size and
evaluate them. When a good new variety
is determined it is then reproduced by cuttings – and those cuttings are
generally grafted onto hardy root stock, except for landscape roses. Roses don’t come true from seed. No one can guarantee you that you will get a
certain color rose when you plant seeds and you certainly won’t get the colors
they show in the Amazon descriptions, which don’t exist in roses. The seeds weren’t expensive but what bugged
me is that many people rated the product as good because they got the seeds
promptly – and they hadn’t even started them to see if they would grow. If you know me you know I had to jump in
there and add a warning comment.
Gardening in March
Yes there are some garden chores you’ll want to do in March,
(other than starting rose seeds). If the
weather improves many of you will be out there doing garden cleanup and that’s fine
as long as you remember that the cold weather probably isn’t over. Don’t remove protective mulches just yet. You can remove some of the mulch over early
blooming bulbs like crocus if it is heaped deeply over them. Don’t rake off mulch if you will damage
emerging bulbs or perennial crowns, carefully remove it by hand.
Hold off on pruning plants like clematis, roses, and other
plants that leave woody stems up through the winter and have the ability to put
out buds in the spring along those stems.
Often plants like roses will have several inches of the stem die but
buds will remain viable down low on the stem.
It’s often hard to tell whether the stem is dead or not and even if you
can tell before it leafs out, you’ll want to avoid pruning off the dead areas
for about 30 more days. That’s because
the dead area acts as protection for the living buds below it. If you cut off the dead growth now, a cold
snap may kill a new area of the stem and take off precious buds.
You want to carefully remove dead foliage over mums. It’s better to wait until several new leaves
can be seen at the base of old stems, and then carefully cut, not pull off the
old stems. If you pull you’ll probably
break off the new growth.
It’s a fine time to cut some branches of spring blooming
shrubs like forsythia, flowering quince, and limbs of cherry or apricot trees
to bring inside to force into bloom. All
you have to do is cut the branches and place them in jars of water inside and
you should have blooms in 2 weeks or so.
As long as active growth hasn’t resumed there is still time
to prune fruit trees and oaks. You’ll
know the sap is flowing and trees are coming out of dormancy if the buds are
swelling and showing green. You can
apply dormant oil still too, when temps are above 40 degrees but below 80
degrees.
You can plant peas and grass seed even when the ground is
wet and cold. Inside you can plant the
seeds of plants that can be planted outside before the last frost, like cabbage,
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, calendula, Sweet Peas, pansies, violas. You
can plant lettuce in a cold frame outside or a pan or other container
inside. It’s also a good time to test
seeds you stored over the years. Place
some seeds on damp paper towels and put them in a plastic bag in a warm
spot. You’ll be able to see how many
germinate and whether the seed is still worth planting, either in the garden or
in pots next month.
It’s a good time to make plant labels, birdhouses and draw
out your garden plans. You want to check
over your tools, sharpen pruning shears and mower blades, and maybe paint the
handles of tools a bright color so you won’t lose them in the weeds. Order the seeds, plants and supplies you need
so you’ll be ready to get right in the garden on the first nice day instead of
spending it in a store check-out lane.
Save the stems
If you are doing some spring pruning of plants whose stems
are hollow save some of them to make a home for solitary mason bees. Bamboo pieces are excellent, if you have
bamboo that has suffered winter die back or that needs pruning. The stems need to be about the diameter of a
straw or pencil. Find a small can or
waterproof box and stuff your stems in it, cut to fit. (You could paint or decorate the can or box.)
Some people spray a little glue inside the can or box so the stems won’t slide
out. But if you pack the item tightly with
stems that probably won’t be a concern and you avoid adding chemicals in the
glue to the set up. If you are worried
about stems sliding, use rubber bands around the bundle instead.
You could also make a sling around a bundle of stems with a
piece of canvas, denim or other heavy fabric. Now hang the sling, can or box in the garden
for the bees to use as a home and to raise more bees. They lay their eggs in the hollow stems and
fill them with nectar and pollen for the babies to eat. Mason bees are
excellent pollinators and we need all the pollinators we can get.
Ideas for pretty pots
Speaking of buying supplies I love to look through garden
supply catalogs for good ideas this time of year. I love the bright colorful pots that are the
hot item this season. I see many places
are selling pots covered in colorful floral and patterned fabric. There are even fabric lined hanging
baskets. The items seen in the catalogs
are expensive. A six inch fabric pot cover is about $7. The fabric covered baskets are about $25.
Why not cover some cheap black plastic nursery
pots yourself? Surely you save them-
doesn’t every gardener? If you have some
old clothing around you can cut out pieces of fabric and glue them to the pots
using a spray craft glue and viola!, trendy looking pots. How
about inserting a pot into each leg of a pair of boxer shorts ?
Those plain, inexpensive hanging baskets could be
transformed by using a sleeve or pant leg that the basket could be inserted in
or maybe pillow cases cut to fit. If you have no scraps of clothing around perhaps
some cheap plastic table cloths, place mats, shower curtains, bandannas or such
from the dollar store could be used.
There are spray paints now that cover plastics. You could spray paint plain pots in a variety
of hot new colors or make all your pots one simple color. You could cut out simple stencils and make
designs on a black or painted pot also.
If you have clay pots they take any acrylic paint well and the paint job
lasts a long time. How about coating a
pot with glue and rolling it in colored sand?
I can see fabric pots getting a bit stained and messy ( let’s
not think of the boxer shorts idea here),
so maybe a clear craft coating could be applied as protection. I have
made novelty planters out of blue jeans but they do rot by the end of the
season from the soil contact, water and sun.
Glued onto a pot the fabric would probably last longer and coated with a
protective covering you might get several seasons out of them. I’m going to try some ideas and I’ll post
pictures on this blog.
Calendula
Need a colorful cool weather plant in the garden? Try calendula. It’s a plant I almost always have in the
garden. It’s considered to be both an
herb and an ornamental.
Calendula is an ancient garden plant and was commonly known
as the marigold or Pot Marigold, and was grown throughout Europe, both as a
medicinal plant and as an ornamental. Then the other type of marigold was
discovered in the New World, the bedding plant that Americans commonly refer to
as the marigold. It was confusing to
have two common garden plants with the same name, so now we use the name
marigold for the species Tagetes and calendula for the wonderful, but almost
forgotten, plant formally known as the marigold.
Calendula flowers seem to glow or shine, in clear shades of
vivid orange and yellow, and they are wonderful in flower arrangements. The flower is daisy-like and 2-4 inches in
size. For a long time calendulas were always a solid color but recently plant
breeders have introduced varieties with blends of colors and some softer pastel
colors. Calendula flowers open in the day and close at night or in bad weather.
Good ornamental varieties of calendula are ‘Citrus
Smoothies‘, very double flowers in pastel blends of apricot and lemon with a
light outer edge, ‘Orange Porcupine’, which has a quilled look to the bright
orange petals, ‘Geisha Girl‘, which is a another deep orange with a very full
look, almost like a small mum, and ‘Neon‘, a deep orange edged in
burgundy. The ‘Flashback’ strain has
maroon on the back of each flower petal and the front of the petal is a
contrasting color, including peachy pinks.
The ‘Pacific Giant’ strain has been around a long time and is a blend of
many shades of yellow and orange. It has
some resistance to heat. There are other improved varieties of calendula and
new varieties are coming on the market every year.
Calendula is extremely easy to grow. The seeds are usually planted where they are
to grow, but they can be started inside. Outside, plant seeds 2-3 weeks before
the average last frost in your area. If
planting inside, start them about six weeks before your expected last frost.
Cover the seeds lightly and keep them moist. They bloom quickly from seed,
often as soon as six weeks after planting. You can sometimes find calendula
plants in nurseries in the spring for immediate color, but sowing seed in early
July in the garden will give you beautiful fall flowers as well.
Calendulas also need to have the flowers picked off as they
fade, or they will quit blooming. They
are an annual plant, but they will re-seed freely in the garden, and you will
get new plants each year if you let some go to seed. Calendula grows to about 18 inches high and
branches freely. Calendula prefers full
sun and average soil moisture. Little or
no fertilizer is needed. They prefer
cool weather and tend to sulk or die in hot humid weather.
Calendula flowers are edible and can be added to salads for
a colorful touch. The petals of
calendula have long been used to impart a golden color to soups, egg dishes,
rice, cheese and even butter. Calendula
flowers are fed to chickens to make egg yolks a deeper yellow and to give the
skins of broilers a golden color. (If
you use calendula flowers in food make sure they have not been sprayed with any
pesticides.)
Calendula can be used as a tea for stomach upset by steeping
5 teaspoons of fresh flower petals in hot water. If this mixture is allowed to cool it makes
an excellent mouthwash, especially for sore and bleeding gums, because of its
antiseptic properties. Crushing a calendula flower on an insect sting will ease
the pain. Calendula is used in soothing
salves, foot baths, and facial care products.
If you want the variety used for most commercial herbal preparations
look for ‘Erfurter Orange‘.
Buy a chocolate bunny and bite its ears off.
Kim
More Information
Easter Lilies
By Kim Willis
Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet..... Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these." The Bible.
Even in
ancient times a white lily was the symbol of grace and purity. In the late
1800's a white lily from Japan, Lilium longiflorum, became the Christian symbol
for Christ's resurrection from the dead. They were imported from Japan and
Burma and given as gifts at Easter. When WWII cut off the supply, production of
Easter lily bulbs began in the United States. A small area on the border of
Oregon and California, within sight of the Pacific Ocean, is where virtually
all of the Easter lily bulbs that are used for potted flowers are now produced.
The bulbs are usually sent to other areas to be potted up and forced into
bloom.
It can take
three to four years for a bulblet, [ baby bulb] to produce flowers. Each fall
the Pacific coast growers dig up their fields and sort the bulbs by size.
Mature lilies produce new bulblets every summer, which are loosely connected to
the "mother" bulb. These new bulbs are removed and replanted as are
the bulbs in the field that are not large enough to bloom. The blooming size
bulbs are cleaned and packaged for shipment to nurseries where they will be forced
to bloom in time for Easter. The bulbs must be kept chilled for at least six
weeks or until the grower is ready to start the forcing process.
Easter
Lilies are the fourth largest potted plant in terms of wholesale value.
Michigan is the number one producer of potted Easter Lilies in the United
States. About 55 Michigan growers produce about two million dollars worth of
Easter Lilies each year. And it isn't an easy job to have the lilies in bloom
for Easter. Easter comes at different times each year. It's always the first
Sunday after the spring equinox, which can be anywhere from March 22 to late
April.
Lilies are
only in bloom for a period of one to two weeks so growers have to be quite
knowledgeable about manipulating the bloom time. It's done by regulating the
length of day and night and the temperatures the plants are growing in. Growers
actually prefer the early Easters, because as the days get longer and the
temperatures higher, it's harder to keep the plants from blooming too early.
Growers count the number of leaves on a plant and note how they are expanding
to get an idea when the plants will bloom. If it looks like the plants are
progressing too fast, the temperature and lights have to be adjusted. Once the
flower buds are visible, the plant will be in bloom in about 30 days.
Of course
Easter isn't the normal time that these lilies should bloom. In my zone 5
garden the longiflorum lily blooms in late June or early July. If you receive
an Easter Lily as a gift and want to try to move it to your garden in the
spring, do these things. When the blooms open, carefully cut off the stamens,
the little dangling things covered in yellow pollen. This prolongs the bloom
and keeps the pollen from staining the flower and your clothes. As each flower
dies cut it off.
While
blooming, the plant should be in bright light but not direct sunlight. Blooms
will last longer if the plant is kept at cool temperatures, 60-65 degrees would
be nice. Keep the plant watered but don't over water. You may have to remove
decorative foil pot covers so it can drain. Keep the plant out of cold drafts
and away from heat ducts, which will dry it out. When the plant is done
blooming, move it to a sunny window. Do not remove any leaves unless they
yellow and die. The leaves are producing food so the plant can produce new buds
for next year.
As soon as
the danger of frost has passed you can remove the lily from the pot and plant
it in the garden. Choose a spot in full sun with good drainage. It is natural
for the plant to die back now, but keep it watered and new shoots should soon
come up.
The lily
will probably not bloom again this year, but should bloom next summer if it
survives winter. The Easter, or Madonna lily as it is sometimes called, is
marginally hardy in zone 5, and does well in zones 6 -7. It should be mulched
well to over winter. If you don't have luck saving your gift plants you can buy
bulbs that haven't been forced to bloom, and those may do better for you.
It is
amazing how such a beautiful flower with its sweet, intoxicating scent arises
from a dull, brown bulb deep underground. It is an ideal symbol of
resurrection, of new life and hope. I hope your Easter is blessed with peace,
joy and new beginnings.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete