You, Your Garden, and Hundreds of Tiny Seeds

MY question is what do you want from your garden? Do you want lovely home-cooked dinners with fresh herbs and vegetables, or do you want fantastic arrangements from your own backyard? Perhaps both?

Seeds offer every possible option. You can even grow your own Luffa Sponge [yes, I'm not kidding!] or your own walking stick [it's some sort of VERY tall Kale]. There are annual seeds, biennial seeds, perennial seeds... Really, there is anything.

So where should you start? Well, first outline your desires.

I'll do mine to show you...

I want a lot of color, in every possible location, and I'm not picky on perennial vs. annual. I am not interested in cooking or harvesting, therefore no vegetables or herbs for me. I don't need a homemade luffa... And we're getting off topic. Really, you only need the first two sentences to outline your desires.

From those first two sentences on, you will keep changing and refining your desires, but basic is easy. Some important things to consider are already established plants and their colors, location [sun, shade, moisture levels] and whether or not you want these seeds to come back next year.

Second, go ahead and browse. You need to look at your options before you really know what you can do in your garden, or what you really want to do.

Third, check your frost dates, and make sure you know what zone you're in! Here in New England, we are generally zones 5 through 7. This is important because certain plants can only handle certain climates, and while almost all plants will live through a New England Summer, the same is true for many plants dying over the Winter. A good website to use is Davesgarden.com. You can search for frost dates and information by ZIP code, town, or city. Our average frost period end is May 16.

This third step with the frost dates is important simply because certain seeds have recommendations to start indoors. This is especially a good point in New England, with a slightly shorter growing season. Starting seeds indoors requires recommended light, plenty of space, and countless supplies. [i.e. Seed Starter soil or a very light potting mix, usually flats to put the soil and seeds in, and a hood to help keep in moisture.] It's a great way to get healthy, well established plants, but take everything into consideration first.

Annuals Flowering

                                 

                                 

                             Sweet Pea, Snapdragon, and Petunia                              

Perennial Flowering

                                 

                             Delphinium, Daylily, and Dianthus                            

Herbs

                                 

Dill, Rosemary, and Basil

                                                          

Vegetables [no, mom, please don't make me! Fine...]

                                 

                                                        

                             Lettuce, Pole Bean, and Carrot. [Carrots were originally purple, btw.]                            

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                             

Alrighty, I expect you all to use those brain juices to come up with some interesting garden plans. As for me, I'm not too sure about my seed aspirations this year. If I ever decide, I'll post something on it.

P.S. I needed to take out the descriptions about the pictures I posted. I did have paragraph descriptions about why I liked them, but it didn't fit whenever I posted it. I tried a couple different things, but in the end, the names of the plants will have to do. All of these plants can be found online at Burpee.com, and some varieties of all these species can be found at local garden centers.

My Summer Bulb Garden

So, I've talked about bulbs, a LOT. Now it's time for me to start getting into the 'nitty-gritty'. What am I doing personally?

Well, here's the low down.

I needed bulbs, so I got some this past weekend at work. I already have one gladiolus packet [around ten bulbs total, pink] and one dahlia [peach!] stored. What I really really wanted were some lilies, so I grabbed 2 bags of Asiatic 'Lollipop' Lilies, which is four plants, and Asiatic 'Liberation'. 'Lollipop' has white petals with blushed tips, and 'Liberation' is a gorgeous pink throughout. I had wanted the Stargazer as pictured in my last post, but someone bought them all while I had my back turned! That's okay, around Easter time the garden centers generally grow stargazers in pots, so I still have my chance. For Dahlias, I bought one Dinnerplate Dahlia called 'Peaches and Cream' [orange with white tips] and a Decorative Dahlia called 'Smokey'. The 'Smokey' is white petaled and looks like someone took a paint brush and splattered pink along each petal. It's beautiful! For Peony, I grabbed a pink, as pictured in my last post, and I also got a bag of Gladiolus Butterfly mixed. As a spur of the moment, I bought Caladium Fancy Leaf 'Pink Beauty'. This is a shade plant, and I have no experience with it yet. So we'll see.

Out of all of these bulbs, only the lilies and the peony can stay in the ground throughout the winter, and I'm not looking forward to storing them when the time comes. To put that in perspective, out of the twenty-three I just told you about, sixteen will need to be dug up. That's twenty seven, when you count the bulbs I already own!

Anyways, I need a lot more than just the bulbs themselves to make this work. I have the knowledge, but not the materials. A bulb planter isn't necessary, but would be nice, along with a knee pad. My knees always kill me after a day in the garden, and I'm supposed to be young and spritely! What is necessary is pesticides because lilies and dahlias are very well known for their difficulty in this area, but I have to be careful with the peony! You shouldn't use any pesticides that will kill ants because the peony bud needs ants crawling and chewing at it to loosen it up. Otherwise, you won't see many, if any, flowers. Whatever you do, read the labels, and if possible, exclude the peony from pesticide treatment. I also need mulch, which will be a huge, and expensive, undertaking, but I can't afford the battle with weeds this year. Possibly the most important has to be plant supports, but first I need to decide what kind of supports to use. Lastly, a fertilizer would be a good idea.

The List
Caladium - Light shade or indirect sun; remove ALL flowers and spent leaves; remove bulb before frost
Peonia - Remove spent flowers; remove bulb before frost
Butterfly Gladiolus - Best to plant in groups; mulch to conserve water; support plant and protect from strong winds
Lilium Asiatic - Sun or part shade; remove faded flowers; do not cut back stems until autumn, and don't dig up bulb
Dahlia Decorative/Dinnerplate - Remove before frost

Pictures















Sources for Pictures

Caladiumsonline.com

Guardiancardencentre.co.uk

Live.laugh.love. @ wordpress.com

chrisser‘s Flickr account

vanbloem.com

naturehills.com

Flickr account…



Yes, my garden will have all of that amazingness, and more. Hopefully it will actually look good when I'm done!

Bulbs!

How to start?
There are probably thousands of bulbs in the world, maybe more. I can only focus on a couple of my favorites, which are for a New England zone [typically zones 5-7, a zone referring to temperature in a region]. As for a list, I can make a very short one from memory...
-Gladiolus*
-Lilies*
-Tulips*
-Dahlias*
-Peonies*
-Crocus*
-Daffodils
-Daylilies*
-Phlox
-Hosta**
-Iris*
-Bleeding Hearts**
-Astilbe* **
-Freesia*
-Hyacinths*

*My favorite garden bulbs...
**Shade bulbs

Anyways, that is only a small chunk of the many bulbs available. I've included a link to an online supplier of bulbs that I found this morning, and I hope that they don't mind if I use some [a lot] of their pictures.[Links are at the very bottom of the post] There is a wealth of information supplied from this website, and I'm in love. Of course, even easytogrowbulbs.com doesn't offer all of your options, but take a look after reading because they have a bigger selection for you than what I will go over. [I personally plan on shopping around some more when I get home...]

Iris alone has three different varieties that I know of including Japanese Iris, Dutch Iris, and Bearded Iris. There is also a smaller type of Iris, but I can't remember the name currently. Remember, within these different subspecies and hybrids there are hundreds of different colors, which is true for most bulbs.

There are spring bulbs and summer bulbs for all zones. Summer bulbs typically get planted in early spring and bloom beautifully throughout summer. But these bulbs need to be dug up and stored before winter comes - they don't like cold. I use vermiculite and bag the bulbs in ziploc. It makes it easy to label, and a cold, dark, dry place is perfect for them. It is important to dry out the bulbs before storing them as not doing so leaves them open to fungus. You can also treat with a fungicide as a safeguard. Sometimes they may sprout a bit before going dormant, but that's okay. Some summer bulbs: Gladiolus, Dahlias, Freesia.

Spring bulbs can be planted in the ground as long as you can dig in it - most of them need to have a cooling period before they bloom, which is why they can [and should] stay in the ground. These bulbs are always 'the rage' as they're the first color you see after the 'brown and gross' I mentioned in my first post. Spring bulbs are also popular for forcing indoors in the winter, with choices such as Daffodils [Paperwhites] or Hyacinths. [Tulips can also be forced...] Spring bulbs include: Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocus, Daffodils, Lilies...

It is important to remember that some bulbs are very tall and unweildy so they either need to be prefectly protected from wind and watered extremely regularly, or need to be supported somehow. There are some different options, depending on the form of the plant. A more bushy form [peonies, some types of dahlia...] would do best with either a growth ring [the ring is place above the plant before growth so the plant should grow through it] or a ring support [can be placed around an already grown plant and comes in different sizes]. These are both easy to install, just stick them in the ground, but they can be expensive. Just remember the small expense is worth it if your bulbs are going to flop over. You can also use individual bamboo, wood, or plastic-coated metal stakes for a more individual form such as gladiolus. For this you'll also need to buy either twine, plant ties, or something of that nature to secure the plant with. [I've also included a link to plant supports at the bottom of the page.]

The perfect tool for planting a bulb garden: A bulb planter! There are handheld planters and augers, and most of them have inch increments marked on them for easy depth planting, as some bulbs require different depths.

An important thing to remember about bulbs is how they reproduce. Many bulbs simply grow more bulbs with the extra food stored during photosynthesis. This creates a spreading effect, and for bulbs that are left in the ground year after year can be a problem. Iris, Grape Hyacinth, Hosta, Snowdrops, and Daffodils tend to take over before you realize what's going on. Iris especially clumps very densely [as well as Hosta] and will need to be seperated every couple of years. Sometimes you can let it last longer for a larger clump, just don't procrastinate too long! The middle of the clump will start to brown and die off, and you don't want to create problems in your garden when you could simply prevent them. Just dig up the entire clump [after blooming has finished and the leaves have yellowed, but before first frost] and use a shovel, pitchfork, or just your hands [depending on the thickness] to seperate the clumps into smaller clumps. These can then be placed together in the same area or spread out into your garden. Each bulb is different, so do your homework on the different species if you want a spreader. For instance, a Dahlia is sold as a bulb but is actually more of a tuber: very different. Google is a good tool [as always] for information, just try to cross reference info as much as possible.

As far as advantages to buying bulbs go, there are many. For one, it is much cheaper to buy them in bulb form as you are not paying for the labor, fertilizer, etc. the potted bulbs include. One random price I can throw around is one dahlia bulb [tuber, sorry...] for $4.99 [Nunan's price] or the potted plant for $14.99. Ten dollars makes a difference, that is money you can spend on your supports! Also, Dahlia's are sensitive to Aphids, so keep pesticides handy. I'll write a blog on pesticides eventually, but it's very easy to go in and ask your local garden center workers. Just PLEASE make sure you read the label as most pesticides have warnings in fine print.

Also, some species [Lilies, Iris, Daylilies [Often called Hemerocalis]] are a 'perennial' bulb. You can leave these guys in the ground, they will come back for you! A quick note about Lilies: Beware the red beetles. These little guys will decimate your lilies before they even bloom. Spray, spray, spray! Systemics also work wonders. [A systemic is a type of pesticide that gets applied directly to the soil in either a granular or a liquid to be sucked up by the roots. This will kill or deter insects when they bite into your plants, and won't wash away with the rains. Which, if you've been in New England lately, would have you saying "Thank God!" We're actually flooding in parts.]

Many bulbs are popular cut flowers. Stargazer Lilies are a type of Oriental lily that is EXTREMELY popular in the floral circuit, as well as tulips, dahlia, ranunculus, peony, daffodils, etc. The best time to harvest your garden for floral work is in the early morning before the dew dries. This is when the plant tends to be most turgid, or have cells filled with water. Do not collect faded blooms - in fact, try to get them slightly closed. Lilies open beautifully and will last longer if cut while budded [preferably with some slightly open], and tulips will open and even develope more stem growth after cutting. Dahlias are an exception: I read just today at work that Dahlias do not open in water and should be cut from the plant when fully matured. Also, Gladiolus and freesia are seen in floral work constantly, not to mention the use of Freesia extracts in the perfume industries. That flower smells great!

Last thing: fertilizer. Almost every brand carries a bulb fertilizer, and I have two names for you to remember: Blood Meal and Bone Meal. Bone meal is a great source of Phosphate, [Hi-Yield carries Bone Meal with a Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium (NPK) ratio of 0-12-0.] which helps develope the bulb's root system.

Blood Meal is a fertilizer high in Nitrogen [Hi-Yield's NPK ratio 12-0-0] which will help promote color intensity and vegetative growth.
Espoma is another fertilizer producer that carries a product called Bulb-tone, with an NPK of 3-5-3. It's much more balanced, and the ratio is less extreme. Thirty percent Nitrogen, fifty percent phosphorous, and thirty percent potassium. These fertilizers are available from different companies as both a granular or a liquid. Many liquids need to be mixed with water, aka a concentrate. No matter how you apply your fertilizer, make sure to follow the instructions on the labels and do not over-do it as you can burn or even kill the plant.


That's all for tonight, good luck in your bulb gardens!

Peony


Oriental [Stargazer] Lily


Bearded Iris


Hosta


Butterfly Gladiolus [Mixed]


Freesia


Daylily [Hemerocalis]


Dahlia


Caladium


Astilbe




Author's Note: For my next two posts I hope to have a list of bulbs I will be planting and some information on seeds!

P.S. Ashley says "Hi."



Easytogrowbulbs.com

Gardeners.com

What March has to offer your house’s aesthetics

At this point in the game, at least here in New England, the population is sick and tired of winter. The snow here is brown, sandy, and salty, a combination any gardener would curl lips at. [The reason being salt browns and kills plants, and while sand is a great growing medium for some plants, we have plenty already, thank you very much.] Anyone will tell you winter is a time when a gardener can plan for the next spring, and they are completely right. But when you’re working in a garden center, spring is months early. I’m looking at summer seeds, catalogues for summer bulbs, compost, mulch, etc, etc. It’s painful. I’ve had my fill of ideas and planning and I want to jump into the thick of it. But with the ground still frozen, what could I possibly do?



Well, if you’ve been playing the game long enough, which I certainly have not been, you know your choices. Large garden centers can function throughout the winter, half on Christmas, a quarter on luck, and the rest on the bet that we’ll hopefully be more prepared for your spring than any of you are. [These are simply untrained observations, but sometimes ignorance is key.] Because of this, they keep an interesting selection of houseplants handy in the retail greenhouse. Anything from azaleas to large ficus trees. We even have some grapefruit trees hidden in there that I was completely unaware of for almost a year. [Please keep in mind Nunan’s is very large, with a dedicated customer base that seems to fuel the beast of a greenhouse system.] But with my garden in mind, I kept my ear to the ground and waited to hear something good: can be over wintered. I learn the most by listening to my manager tell customers things they want to hear [aka what I want to hear] and Valentine’s day brought a new shine to my eye. The small container roses that everyone loves to buy for everyone female they know were in full bloom, with beautiful colors ranging from white, yellow, purple, magenta and red. These delicate little mounding roses weren’t even on my garden radar. But the manager gives the go ahead, you can buy them and put them in the ground come spring, then over winter them just like any other rose. [If you’ve never over-wintered a rose before, I promise I’ll write a post on it when the time comes.] Most indoor plants, of course, can be planted outside for the warm season, but they die off and never come back. I’m too lazy for that!


So anyways, I waited until after the big V-Day since my garden didn’t seem worthy of some lucky girls valentine smiles, and took two of the leftovers. A purple and a red mini rose bush are now nesting in my window, praying for some warmth. Note to self - when you have a cold house, terracotta pots are not your cup of tea. They’re horrible for insulation, and over-watering becomes my main concern. Did you know that over-watering is possibly the worst cause of house plant fatality? We baby them too much.


I also have a campanula [that my mother bought me for Valentine’s Day! Go Mom!] that has been adopted into my plant-this-spring program. This plant [unfortunately] came from Market Basket. I would like to remind you that convenience garden centers and florist shops detract from the real deal through quality and a myriad of other problems. Even now I’m not sure if this thing will even live, I’m just holding out because my momma gave it to me [and I love purple campanula. How do they know these things?]


The three musketeers having been mentioned, don’t forget all of the plants that I can’t fit in my own windows. Around this time of year, just when you’re going crazy, garden centers are preparing for Easter and St. Patti’s with Easter Lilies and Oxalis. There are also some lovely herbs and bulbs being grown, and this is the perfect time to consider them for your summer garden. Herbs make a nice touch to any garden as their scent can and will waft through gentle summer breezes, and bulbs are always the first color to brighten the gloom of snow and rain.


Don’t lose heart, and don’t stop thinking. Go into your nearest garden center and look at seeds, containers, edging, tools, and the plants themselves. You never know what you could have had until someone else takes all of the good stuff.

This is an example of one of your 'spring savers' as I like to call them. A small dish garden can be placed practically anywhere, and most of these [at Nunan's, anyways] are without drainage holes. [Remember: overwatering. Don't do it.] Put it in an office, a coffee table, or your bedroom window. Whatever makes you smile.

Slowly but surely the herbs are being put on display, as well as a small number of begonias as seen in the background. These are an assortment of all the herbs you need or want, and remember, your garden will love them just as much as a windowsill!

These pictures are of Cineraria, a pretty houseplant that isn't exactly rampant throughout the greenhouse during any other season, or so I'm told. The beautiful blooms come in so many vibrant colors - grab them while they're still here!

Primrose! It hasn't stopped it's dominance of the greenhouse yet [it's very popular from Christmas even up until now, it seems, and it's still out there! Primrose is also a fairly hardy plant, althought it is still an annual, and can be planted outside. I'd imagine it as a lovely mass border plant.