Brighten someone's Valentine Day with a pot of tulips, azaleas or beautiful
orchids. Or perhaps a lush green houseplant will fill the ticket. Maybe your
Valentine has a spot in the garden for a dwarf citrus tree or maybe a
container filled with blooming annuals for the patio is the best bet.
Remember living gifts keep on giving all though the year and they provide a
constant reminder of your love.
Welcome spring into your garden by filling your containers and flower beds
with lots of beautiful, blooming flowers. You can choose English primrose,
Fairy primrose or primula obconica, violas, snapdragons, stock, sweet
alyssum, pansies, calendulas and more to put on a colorful show. If you
have a shady spot in the garden then plant cinerarias, bedding begonias,
foxglove, Canterbury bells, dwarf campanula, ferns and other foliage
plants. Whatever your planting project your local nursery will be sure to
have a large selection available.
The Iceland Poppy is unusual because it looks very delicate and yet it is an
excellent plant for the winter garden. It's poppy shaped flowers are
crepe-like in appearance and supported by long stems. The gray-green
foliage has serrated edges. It is a cool weather bloomer and does best in
full sun. The large poppy flowers are available in an array of colors.
Choose from orange, red, white, pink, yellow and gold. Some are even
fragrant. Plant in flowerbeds or containers. They make great cut flowers.
Summer bouquets can be brightened by planting bulbs in your garden in
February and early March. Plant dahlias and gladiolus for great cut
flowers. Add some day lilies and you will be ready for armloads of beautiful
cut flowers through the summer and fall.
Summer favorites include gladiolus, dahlias and tuberous begonias.
Gladiolus and dahlias are sun lovers. Their bright and dramatic colors
make the garden inviting during the long, hot summer days. If you plant the
gladiolus every two weeks you will have cut flowers through the summer.
Tuberous dahlias are available in different heights and flower forms.
Choose one for every spot in the garden. Dahlia tubers get bigger every
year and provide a larger and more vivid show.
They should be lifted out of the soil in late fall and dusted with diazinon
dust. Store them in a dry area. Use sawdust or sand to protect the tubers
from moisture.
If you have a shady spot in the garden that needs cheering up consider
using hybrid Begonias. These begonias are available in hanging basket
and upright varieties. You can choose different flower forms: doubles and
singles are just two to consider.
Just think, at least 7 months of cut flowers, fragrance and beauty all
wrapped up in one little bush! It certainly is a better buy than a florist
bouquet. Bare root roses make a wonderful Valentine gift for the gardener
on your list. Roses are a California garden must. They do very well in most
areas of the state and the benefits are many. Most nurseries stock bush,
climbers, trees and patio tree roses.
Bare root is an excellent way to plant roses because you can see the
roots and the branching structure. You can check for healthy plants.
February is the last month you can plant bareroot in California.
If you have questions about varieties, flower forms, colors or need some
one to suggest some complementary roses just ask your local California
Certified Nursery Professional.
Now is the time to think of summer shade. Trees planted at this time will
get the benefit of a long growing season and this will benefit the
homeowner. If you can't remember what it was like last summer just
remember the word "hot" and think of where the sun was coming into the
home and heating it up like a furnace. A tree planted in the right spot can
reduce the temperature as much as 20 degrees when assisted by a moist
lawn beneath it. Deciduous trees not only give the benefit of summer
shade but can also provide an extra dividend by allowing winter's sun to
filter through their bare branches into the home to help warm it. At this time
of the year, you will find shade trees in either bare root or container grown
forms. Many trees and roses are grown in those containers that can be
planted directly into the ground.
FEBRUARY ARTICLES
Water Gardening An Unexpected Delight
Water attracts all people, whether it is the pounding surf of an ocean, a
gently running brook or the quiet beauty of a backyard pond. While we may
not be able to recreate nature with oceans and brooks, we can find
pleasure in a water garden right in our own back yard or even on a deck or
patio.
The backyard water garden is easy to build and easy to maintain. What's
best about it is you can choose its size just as you can other permanent
structures in the garden. Or you can create a mini water garden in a
container that holds at least four gallons of water and is completely
sealed-- ceramic pots, old crocks, wash tubs and galvanized
horse-troughs are just a few examples. You can leave them above ground
or sink them.
Instructions on how to build a water garden or plant a tub garden can be
obtained from nurseries specializing in water gardens. They will also have
a wide variety of plants for you to choose from when it comes to filling
what will become the focal point of your garden.
It would be hard to talk about water gardens without talking about water
lilies. When most of us think about the tropics, we visualize an island with
lush vegetation, Breath taking waterfalls and peaceful ponds filled with
exotic blooms and colorful fish. Your garden can become a miniature
idyllic isle with the addition of a pond or pool planted with some dramatic,
tropical water lilies.
These lilies do everything in a grand style. Their blooms are huge, often
the size of a dinner plate, and they perch regally sometimes in as much as
18 inches above the water on graceful stems. Their large leaves can be
frilled at the edges. Tropicals are noted for their delightful fragrance and for
their long blooming season and rich variety of color choices-- pure white to
regal purple to flaming red to delicate pink.
This year, welcome yourself to the fascinating world of water gardens.
Begonias Highlight The Flower Parade
High in the Andes Mountains of South America is the ancestral home of
the tuberous begonias we plant today. Through hybridizing, this plant can
become an unequaled favorite of gardeners world-wide. Lending to its
popularity is the diversity of the plant form, foliage and blooms.
There are tuberous begonias that grow in an erect form or those that spill
their beauty over the edge of a hanging basket. The flowers vary in size
from 2 inches to 8 inches and are single or double or partially double in
form. The spectrum of colors for the blooms is vast–almost every shade
of pink, apricot to salmon pink all the way to the reds including
purplish-reds and a deep crimson. There are also those that bloom in the
purest whites to cream, yellow and orange. For something unusual, one
group of tuberous begonias has flowers in red, orange and pink that are
blotched with white.
It will be a hard job to decide which tuberous begonias to select because
there are so many to choose from. The ones that resemble a camellia
have double flowers. The single flowers with frilled petals belong to the
Crispa group. Others resemble carnations with the same toothed and
frilled petals as a real carnation. If you still haven't found what you want
then be sure to check into the ones that imitate the rose and the daffodil.
For simply huge flowers with fringed edges, check out the "ruffled double."
Explore the display of tubers at your local nursery. Choose the biggest
tubers you can find. They are better planted in masses of one color and
one type when in the ground. This is more pleasing to the eye rather than
a hodge podge of colors and flower forms. In pots, you can experiment
with the pink camellia type in one pot and white ruffled doubles in another
pot. The Pendula group are the ones used in hanging baskets. Check with
your local California Certified Nursery Professional for planting and care
instructions. This spectacular plant is easy to grow and will fill the
semi-shade garden with lustrous color this summer.
Flowering Quince
The year 'round beauty and color of the flowering quince and its showy
spring flowers make it a popular choice for California gardens. Modern
flowering quince are a great improvement over the old varieties. Many
years ago a California nurseryman discovered some pink seedlings
blooming among his shipment of scarlet flowering quinces from Japan.
This nurseryman, the late W.B. Clarke of San Jose, then spent 25 years in
careful breeding and selection to attain the high quality of flowering quince
and these quince range in color from white, through all shades of pink,
combinations of pink and white, and all shades of red.
Besides their great beauty of color, flowering quince bear large clusters of
flowers opening in succession and blooming two and sometimes three
times in the spring. Another happy feature of the quince is that it starts
blooming right in the center winter, when cut flowers are scarce in the
garden.
The seasonal changes reflected on the quince add to this deciduous
plant's attractiveness. After the spring bloom, fragrant yellow fruit appear
on the tree; in autumn the leaves change to yellow, and in winter the bare,
leafless branches present interesting patterns in knarled and twisted
silhouettes.
Flowering quince should be planted in the shrubbery border among
evergreen plants. They will grow from 10 to 25 feet --either as shrubs or
small trees or they can be trained as hedges. Flowering quince will grow
well throughout the state and they are not particular about soil conditions.
Named introductions includes Apple Blossom, bi-color in white and pink,
Cameo, double apricot pink; Red Ruffles, a large ruffled deep red; and
Orange Delight, orange to red-orange in color. Check with your local
California Certified Nursery Professional for information on the right
varieties for your area.
Lily Of The Valley
Quaint and old fashioned as it is, the Lily of the Valley (Convalaria majalis),
is nevertheless popular in California gardens and it can be grown in a
number of interesting ways.
Lilys of the Valley bulbs or pips are attractive when planted in garden beds
"en masse" or as border flowers; the lily is also charming in scattered
drifts along a garden walk. As a carpet planting between camellias and
rhododendrons, the lily is ideal since it requires the same garden
conditions.
The lily of the valley blooms in early spring with bell-shaped flowers of
white or pinkish white on stems rising from two basal leaves. The fragrant
flowers are tiny and the stems only six to eight inches high.
A rampant grower, the lily may easily push its way into the roots of nearby
flowers; therefore; it is a good idea to plant it in restricted quarters,
suggests the California Association of Nurserymen. A tub or pan set into
the ground will protect other small flowers nearby. Plant the pips in rich
soil with lots of leaf mold or peat in it. Because the lily grows so
abundantly, it is a good idea to open up the beds, remove surplus plants
and refertilize the ground so that the remaining plants will grow bigger.
Spread a top dressing leaf mold, peat moss or manure each
year.
Planning A Garden For Fragrance
The glory of a garden lies not only in the beauty of its flower but in the
variety of its fragrances, as well. We cannot always enjoy our gardens by
sight but garden fragrance is with us even when we go indoors and often
at night it reaches its greatest level of intensity.
In some cases the fragrance comes from flowers which are barely
discernible, as is the case with Sweet Olive (Osmanthus fragrans), which
hides its tiny, intensely fragrant blooms among the framework of its
foliage. In the other extreme, however, is the gardenia which is not only
one of the most heavily scented flowers but also one of the most
beautiful. In between are a wide variety of perfumed performers which are
recommended for planting in every garden.
Having already mentioned Sweet Olive and gardenia, let's examine them
more closely before considering some of the others. Sweet Olive is one
of those shrubs which has long been recognized by nurserymen as a
staple item in the trade, yet very few gardeners are really familiar with it.
One shrub will fill a garden with its fragrance when planted upwind. And
the branches, when cut, may be taken indoors to fill a room with perfume.
Check with your local California Certified Nursery Professional about
including the Sweet Olive this spring.
Gardenias need no special introduction, but gardeners often need a
reminder that they grow these tropical beauties outdoors in California.
They are best in warmth and will take almost all the sun you can give
them, their fragrance being enhanced by heat. Northerly and along the
coast they should be in warm pockets -- against a sunny wall, perhaps,
where they get both direct and reflected heat, or in a tub, which encourage
a warmer soil. Give gardenias plenty of moisture, well--drained and a soil
that has liberal helpings of leaf mold and peat moss added. Check with
your local California Certified Nursery Professional for the best variety to
plant in your area.
The jasmine as a family offer several possibilities for bloom and fragrance
and for landscape use. Most of them can be handled as either a shrub or
as a vine, depending on how you prune. The blooms are light yellow,
creamy white or pinkish, depending on the variety and almost always
intensely fragrant. Ask about the Angel Wing Jasmine, (J. magnificum),
with large white flowers, Pink Jasmine, (J. polyanthum), with masses of
smaller bloom; Italian Jasmine, (J. humile), with its familiar summer crop
of light yellow flowers and Arabian Jasmine, (J. Sambac) a smallish shrub
with masses of creamy white blooms that are unusually fragrant even for
a jasmine. Choose your flavor!
And then there is Star Jasmine which is not a true jasmine but a look alike
beauty that has the same vine-shrub character. In late spring its deep
green foliage is literally covered with masses of white, fragrant pinwheel
shaped flowers. These are effective when used to fill a raised bed and
spill over the top; or grown on a pillar and onto an eave; or when used as a
bank planting or grown in a container.
There are many others to choose from: Bouvardia with its fragrant white
trumpets; Victorian Box which fills the night air with a light, sweet
fragrance in both spring and summer; Night blooming jasmine with its tiny
insignificant flowers and a very significant scent and of course --- roses!
Plant A Flowering Vine To Hide A Multitude of Rough Edges
Want to hide an unattractive post, soften the line of the house or new
fence, provide shelter from the wind, create a shady nook for relaxation or
just decorate for fun? There are few plants in the entire plant kingdom like
a flowering vine for such garden jobs.
A beautiful decorative vine with plenty of brilliantly colored varieties is the
Bougainvillea, a sun lover and a strong climber. An evergreen, it bears
insignificant flowers which are surrounded by showy bracts. Bracts add
the colors to the vine from magenta, red, yellow, pink, white and brilliant
orange to name a few. Bougainvillea does best on a sunny wall. Control it
with pruning and provide a rich soil and heavier than normal feeding just
before the bracts appear. It is a natural in southern California and the
desert areas. If planting it in northern California give a full sun area against
a western or southern facing fence if possible.
For fences and rails, or outlining a building vines from the clematis family
make an excellent choice. The Evergreen clematis, (C. Armandi),
produces white star-like flowers against a dark green background of
foliage. The Anemone Clematis, (C. montana) and its variety Pink
Anemone Clematis, (C. montana rubens) are interesting because of their
anemone-like blossoms of white and pink. Brilliant gold blooms appear on
the Golden clematis, (C. tangutica) in July, followed by a handsome
silvery-tailed seed cluster.
Another lovely flowering vine is the Vanilla Scented Trumpet Vine, (Distictis
laxtiflora) which features attractive foliage and trumpet like flowers in
shades of violet, lavender and white. A hybrid of this vine, the Royal
Trumpet vine(B. riversi), has flowers with yellow tubes, faces of royal
purple and orange throats -- very colorful indeed.
The wisteria, well-beloved by all gardeners, offers many varieties with
flowers of white, pink, and violet. Remember when you plant this vine that
its main stem becomes a good sized trunk -- so plant accordingly.
Accenting The Unusual
If you live in a moderate winter climate near the California coast you can
plant the unusual Trinidad Flame Bush, (Calliandra tweedii) or its close
relative, the Pink Powder Puff (Calliandra haematocephala). These are
tropical shrubs which do well in California's subtropical climates, providing
decorative accent for the informal garden.
The Trinidad Flame Bush has dark green foliage, finely cut, even lacy in
appearance. The summer blooms are scarlet and fluffy. The Powder Puff
is similar, with pink stamen-flowers during winter and early spring. These
are both distinctive in protected gardens and excellent for unusual cut
flowers in the home. They are best in frost free or nearly frost free garden
areas.
Next comes the Strawberry Tree, so called because of its warty and highly
decorative fruits. This is a close relative to the native Madrone which
graces so many of our coastal and foothill slopes, having the same
reddish trunk, which breaks to reveal an inside layer of blood red colored
bark. The fruit on the Strawberry Tree is a spring summer phenomenon,
following the winter crop of urn shaped flowers. It resembles both in size
and in color, the common strawberry, and while it is edible, it's not
recommended. The shrub provides us with one of the best dense screens
or with a fine accent shrub for the moderately large garden.
There are many other excellent shrubs which accent the unusual in
California gardens. The Shrimp Plant, for instance, is recommended by
California Certified Nursery Professionals for all but the harshest of
climates. It is at its best in the coastal areas, but excellent specimens are
to be found inland as far north as the Napa Valley. If you can picture a
shrub full of giant shrimp like blooms, you've got the picture. It's well worth
growing. And so, too, are the numerous other unusual shrubs which any
California Certified Nursery Professional can point out to you.
Grass or Ground Cover
Whether you plant lawn grass or ground cover in a given garden area may
depend on a variety of things: the terrain and what use you intend to make
of it, your own temperament, the amount of sunlight available and more
will have a bearing on your decision.
Make no mistake about it, a lawn requires more attention from the
gardener than do most ground covers, but ask yourself this: Can any
ground cover offer a more practical or a more beautiful solution to filling
garden space? Certainly nothing compares in beauty with a well groomed
lawn.
Some people plant lawns out of habit, when in reality, one of several lawn
substitutes might better suit their purposes. Consider the following few
situations which might face any one of us.
A busy schedule or simply a lack of interest might dictate the use of
English ivy instead of lawn grass for the front garden. Ivy or prostrate
rosemary, among others, might better cover a sloping terrain where
mowing and watering a lawn would be difficult. Carpet bugle or dichondra
might better fill a shaded area or an area under a tree where grass does
only moderately well. It might prove more practical to plant creeping thyme
or lippia in a poor soil than to take time to improve the soil. You can come
up with other reasons of your own.
If you have children of any age there's no substitute for a lush green lawn.
The lawn becomes a child's chief area of play and the boundaries of his
exploration when he is small. What better place to tumble and play?
Lawn maintenance is relatively easy. Regular mowing and feeding will
allow the lawn to be in the picture of health. Today's lawn seed blends are
tough and durable as well as picturesque. If you're wondering what's the
best solution for your life style then check with your local California
Certified Nursery Professional. They'll be glad to cover the pros and cons
of ground covers and lawns for you. |
