Hi Gardeners
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| An amaryllis in bloom here. |
Well true winter has come back, with the ground
layered in a white blanket and the air cold and biting, glittering in the pale
sunlight. It makes me less restless. When it’s mild outside and the grass is showing,
it makes me feel like I should be outside working, even though there is not
much that can be done in the garden this time of year. Not that I mind mild
weather, I love it. But it does cause conflicted feelings.
Now that winter is back, I can concentrate on
planning the garden next year, the ordering of seeds and plants and reading and
writing about gardening. I can spend
time housecleaning without resenting the time spent indoors. I can try new
recipes and do some deep grooming on the dogs without worrying about what needs
to be done in the garden.
Like many gardeners I am planning next years gardens,
what to plant and what to remove. As we
get older my husband and I have acquired several medical issues that limit our
mobility. So many of my decisions have been about changes that can make
gardening and property upkeep easier.
I made the decision last summer to basically remove
one of my oldest garden beds. It was a 40 feet long bed out in the middle of
the east side of our property. When we moved here it was one of the few places
I had to plant in full sun. It became a bed of sun loving perennials, things
like daylilies, poppies, true lilies, phlox, sedums and so on, with a few
larger shrubby perennials.
Over time a small oak on the south side of the bed
became large enough to begin shading it. When we stopped keeping horses and
goats the pasture in back of the bed was allowed to go “natural” again and
there was less human activity in the area. This allowed the deer to become
quite familiar with the garden, and the damage they did to it was frustrating.
In the fall I removed some lily bulbs and perennials
that were left in the bed and planted them in the front beds. I now have sunny
areas in front of the house, due to removing some walnut trees. Left behind
were some larger plants; a snowball bush, a clump of baptisia, peonies and a
hydrangea. With the smaller plants gone these plants can be mown around, no
more weeding and edging. And the deer don’t bother them too much.
I have a small bed around an electrical pole on the
far east side of the property, next to the road. I intend to remove the smaller
things there too, the lilies and other bulbs, and sedums, and leave the shrub
rose, weigela and smoke bush.
If I get ambitious enough there are a couple of other
beds that need to be redone, to make them easier to care for and updated. The
plans are there in my head, we shall see how far I get. And there is room now
in the front to do some expanding, all in one area that’s easy to access and
easier to protect from the deer.
Winter is the time for every gardener to reevaluate
their garden goals. If you think you have more than you can handle it may be
time to downsize. If you think you can handle more, because you now have time
and money to do so, go for it. Plan
those new beds.
Look at your pictures of your garden last year. You
did take pictures, didn’t you? Remember that new gardens can take 3-4 years to
look mature and full. Patience and just a bit of tweaking may be needed. But
there is often a time later down the line that gardens look too messy and
crowded or out of balance. They may need to be pulled out and done over. Don’t
be afraid to make changes.
Things change every year in the garden. Trees grow
and make more shade; trees get removed or die and make more sun. New neighbors
move in, you get or lose a pet, you need to dig up the septic, you build a shed
or barn, you find out you are allergic to roses or you hate hosta. Plants die
over the winter. The reality is even if you like it, you can’t always keep it.
Some things you can control, others you cannot. But don’t worry. Things don’t
have to stay the same. There’s always a way to have a garden and your best
garden is coming this season.
Timely Tips
Check bulbs-
I’ll be checking my stored bulbs this week, the dahlias, glads, crocosemia and other
things I stored away in wood shavings for winter. If the bulbs look shriveled,
I’ll dampen the shavings a tiny bit. If
they look moldy, I’ll spread them out on newspapers for a few days before
repacking them in shavings. If they look
soft and mushy, I’ll toss them.
For most gardeners it’s too early to start seeds
inside. Started now most common garden plants will be tall and spindly and
struggling to be healthy in small pots well before they can be planted outside.
You aren’t really getting a head start as those plants started too early inside
tend to be poor performers the rest of their life.
There are a few exceptions. Plants that take a long
time to get to blooming size, or plants that are half hardy and can be planted
early outside could be started now. Some of these plants are impatiens,
petunias, violas, and pansies. Some perennials that take a long time to
germinate could be started now. You can pot tuberous begonia bulbs now to get
them to blooming size by late spring.
If you wonder when the right time is to start each
type of seeds inside, check the seed packet or look up cultural directions. Most
seed packets will tell you how many weeks from your last frost date to start
seeds. For example, it may say start seeds indoors six weeks before your last
expected frost. You look up your last expected frost date and find it’s May
15. You then count backward 6 weeks and
start your seeds around the beginning of April.
If you have a greenhouse or a good grow light set up,
you could start things like tomatoes a few weeks earlier than the suggested
time to get larger plants. But don’t push the date too much even in those
situations. The larger plants get inside the more problems you begin to have
and the more stress they have when planted outside.
If you must start some seeds now why not try some
unusual plants like cacti and tender succulents that grow well indoors. Some
nice cannabis plants could be started. Or start something like lettuce under
grow lights that you will eat and not move outside.
When I want to putter with plants in the winter, I clean
my houseplants. About this time in winter houseplants can generally use some
close attention. I remove dead and browned foliage, old flowers and dust
leaves. The tips of plant leaves that have dried up are trimmed. Pruning of
excessive growth and pinching back lanky stems are done. I may move plants
around or just turn pots around to make plants grow evenly. I even give plants a
shower sometimes, if they look like they may have insect pests or are really
dirty. It’s a good time to repot houseplants if they need it.
It’s still early to fertilize most houseplants but
anything that’s been blooming inside may need fertilization. I have brought some
potted bulbs in the house this week from my cold dormancy area, the back porch.
These include amaryllis and tuberous begonias. Some places are offering
amaryllis bulbs at discount prices now and these can be potted for flowers in
about 6 weeks.
If you don’t mind working outside in the cold, now is
a good time to prune fruit trees.
Focus on Ukrainian Hollyhocks, Alcea
rugosa
I must admit the common name for these hollyhocks is
actually Russian Hollyhocks but since they come from the area of Ukraine and
the Crimea and Ukraine is in the news lately, I thought why not protest the
annexation of this wonderful plant? I am
giving it a new common name.
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| Alcea rugosa Photo Select Seed |
You may be familiar with the cottage garden favorite,
the common hollyhock Alcea rosea. The Ukrainian hollyhock is greatly
similar. But it has some qualities the common hollyhock does not. Alcea
rugosa has more resistance to rust, a fungal disease that plagues
hollyhocks and destroys their look in the garden. It’s also a bit hardier than
the common hollyhock, it’s hardy in zones 3-8. Common hollyhocks tend to be
biannual, growing a rosette of foliage the first year, blooming the second then
dying. Ukrainian hollyhocks tend to be perennial in the garden, lasting several
years.
The Ukrainian hollyhock has the same large, blue
green, rough looking, lobed foliage as common hollyhocks. In its second and subsequent
years it produces tall spikes, up to 6 feet tall, of large, round bowl-shaped
flowers in a beautiful shade of soft golden yellow. The flowers attract bees
and butterflies. They open from the bottom of the spike upward, beginning in
early summer and continuing for many weeks.
Alcea rugosa is
a good plant for cottage gardens of course, but it also looks good naturalized among
grasses, in pollinator gardens and at the back of more formal perennial beds. The
soft yellow color looks stunning with deep purple flowers or foliage. When
grown among grasses and other tall plants it probably doesn’t need staking but
may need staking in some gardens, especially in windy areas.
Ukrainian hollyhock is easily grown from seed, but
gardeners may want to start with year old plants to get bloom the first season.
They will grow in any well drained soil and prefer full sun. Plants reseed
freely but if you wish to limit their spread you can keep seed pods picked off
as they form and cut bloom stalks down when flowering ends.
Keeping seed pods and spent flowers picked off will
lengthen bloom but it’s not something the gardener has to do. While Alcea
rugosa has less problems with rust disease than regular hollyhocks, it does
occasionally get rust in hot humid weather. It can be prevented with fungicides
applied before the disease strikes but not cured after the plant gets the
condition. Rust doesn’t kill the plants but makes them look bad. Keeping
Ukrainian hollyhocks away from common garden hollyhocks makes them far less
likely to get rust.
In the fall after the first frost cut down any
remaining flower stalks and foliage to the ground and add some compost around
the plants. If you want the plants to seed around you can leave the stalks or
collect the seeds and sprinkle them on the ground where you want them to grow.
This year why not lighten the gloomy spots in your
garden with the soft golden light of Ukrainian hollyhocks? Something old can make your garden look new. And
you could use the “Ukrainian” hollyhocks as a conversation starter.
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| Ukrainian Hollyhocks Photo Perennial Resources |
Buy this plant at;
Annies Annuals and Perennials
Select Seeds
Plant Delights
Cruising through the catalogs
How about a rare heirloom vine for your garden that
has many good attributes? Lonicera reticulata Kintzley's
Ghost® is a member of
the honeysuckle family native to eastern North America. This variety was
developed by William Kintzley at Iowa State University in the 1880’s. Popular for a while, it had almost
disappeared from cultivation when recently rediscovered.
In the spring Kintzley's Ghost® has clusters of
bright yellow typical honeysuckle shaped flowers. The flowers are surrounded by
a large, round silvery disk bract. This disk remains long after the flowers
drop and glows in the moonlight, possibly explaining the name. They can be used
in dried arrangements.
Kintzley's Ghost® honeysuckle is a vigorous vine,
growing up to 12 feet long. It is hardy in zones 4-8 and prefers full sun. It
likes any well drained soil. When in flower it attracts butterflies and
hummingbirds. It’s also deer resistant.
You can get this vine from High Country Gardens
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| Kintzleys Ghost Honeysuckle Photo High Country Gardens |
Blackberry, ‘Baby Cakes’
The herb of the year is blackberries and raspberries.
If you thought you wanted to try some but didn’t have room for blackberry
plants, this variety may change your mind.
‘Baby Cakes’ is a dwarf, compact blackberry that can even be grown in
pots. It’s thornless, and loaded with
large, juicy fruit in early summer, with a second crop sometimes developing
later.
You can get ‘Baby Cakes’ blackberry from Burpees
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| 'Baby Cakes' Photo Burpees |
Black Sticky Corn
Now here’s something different. If you have the space
to grow corn why not try this unusual (to Americans) corn? This variety of corn is widely grown in Asia
and roadside vendors sell it for a quick snack.
Vigorous 6 feet stalks usually produce 2, 8-inch ears. It is harvested
at an immature light purple color for fresh eating and left to mature to inky
black kernels for dried use. The steamed
or grilled young corn is said to be sweet but sticky in texture.
You can buy black sticky corn from Baker Creek
Heirloom seeds
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| Black Sticky Corn Photo Baker Creek |
Pink Dandelion (Taraxacum
pseudoroseum)
Many years ago, I purchased a pink dandelion plant,
which I potted to keep it separate from the common dandelions so it wouldn’t
get weeded accidentally. I was gone for a week when it decided to bloom, I came
back to dandelion fluff. I never saw it bloom because the plant decided to die
after that. And I couldn’t get the seeds to germinate, which is odd. I’m
thinking of trying it again.
The pink dandelion is rosy pink with a light-yellow
center. They are native to Asia. They are supposed to be perennial and as hardy
as common dandelions although they are said not to spread as vigorously. They
are edible like common dandelions. I can’t see much harm in it spreading since
we already have the common dandelion everywhere. It is a novelty and if you purchase it, I
would pot it or mark it, so you won’t weed or eat it before it blooms. Bees and butterflies love them.
This plant is available from Baker Creek Heirloom
Seeds
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| Pink Dandelion Photo Baker Creek |
Poppy – Spanish Papaver rupifragum
These pretty poppies are great for rock gardens, and
slopes of sandy, gravely soil. The blue gray foliage forms attractive tufts
about 18 inches high. Spanish Poppies produce wavy stems in late spring-early
summer filled with shiny apricot orange, crinkled, semi-double flowers. The
flowers turn into large attractive seed pods used for dried arrangements.
Spanish Poppies are short lived perennials but reseed
freely. They are hardy in zones 6-9 and like full sun.
High Country Gardens
Normally I would say this is a good fiery dip for the
Superbowl but since you may be sitting in front of the tv watching the
impeachment trial you may want something to munch on to liven things up.
I can’t eat this dip because it’s just too hot for me. But many people think its just wonderful. Sort
of like politics, I guess.
Impeachment
Hot Dip
Ingredients;
3-4 slices of pepper bacon
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4 oz softened Santa Fe cream cheese (or regular cream
cheese plus 1 teaspoon Southwestern seasoning)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup salad dressing- (Miracle whip type)
1/4 cup bottled roasted red peppers, chopped
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely diced onion
Directions
Fry the bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.
Blend all of the other ingredients until smooth. Sprinkle crumbled cooked bacon over the top.
Makes about 2 cups of dip. Serve with corn chips, breadsticks or
vegetables.
"One kind word can warm three winter
months. "
--Japanese Proverb
--Japanese Proverb
Kim Willis
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permission.
And So On….
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