Posts filed under 'Gardening Tips Plant Specific'
This time of year I always have to brag about what’s in our garden, specifically our Avalanche Clematis and the Golden Lights Azalea.
We picked the Azalea up at a nursery about three years ago and it has never disappointed us! Right now, it’s the perfect plant for our medium container garden setting. The larger container gets to hold another favorite of ours, the Avalanche Clematis.
Both of these plants are doing especially well this year! They are the perfect plants for late spring color. And, even though they both lose their flowers after a long blooming period, they both keep beautiful green color on their leaves throughout the summer.
The Golden Lights Azalea seems to last forever. It blooms slowly, with just a few flowers coming out at first, then it goes into full bloom, as it is in the picture. Then, the flowers die very slowly, while more flowers continue to bloom. Overall, I think we get at least two full month of color out of this plant.
The Avalanche Clematis also blooms for a long period of time, but its flowers, for us at least, start out with just a few, the BURST into a gorgeous plant of white flowers. They last a long time too – probably as long as the Azalea, if not longer.
I haven’t found the Avalanche Clematis sold on-line lately, but you can find the Golden Lights Azalea at Wayside Gardens, as well as a lot of other types of Clematis – and you should definitely check out plants to get now for your summer garden.
There’s just nothing like having a container garden setting full of color - Good luck with yours!
Get the Free Book: “Your Guide to a Successful and Beautiful Garden” at http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com
May 16th, 2008
Make a Lilac bouquet and learn how to trim your Lilac Bush.
I received another nice bouquet from Jeff last week. It’s a Lilac Bouquet! It was on the table when I came home and I had to look twice to see if he had actually bought the flowers.
This time he mixed two Red Tulips in with it,and some other greens from various trees and plants around the garden, and some white flowers (I refer to them as “snow”). We had enjoyed the Tulips in one of our Container gardening pots for some time, so this was an excellent way to get just a little more time out of it.
I always hate to pick the flowers in the garden (which is why I told him he should do it). And, guess what? I received another bouquet this week! More Lilac’s!
According to Jeff, it’s good to prune them down a little as they are growing, so new flowers can come out. Then, when they all start to die down, remove the dead flower clusters, pruning them just above a node (where the leaf joins the stem).
You should also remove older branches that might be crowding in, or crossing over others. Cut these at the base of the shrub, just above the soil (yup, all the way down to the ground!). Also purne any weak looking branches, and/or broken spindly looking ones.
This way, you’ll have a beautiful Lilac tree next year, and can enjoy that first lilac aroma of the spring.
Get the Free Book: “Your Guide to a Successful and Beautiful Garden” at http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com
April 29th, 2007
I love this time of year when the Tulips start to appear. Ours are starting to come out, so I think it’s time for an article on Tulip flowers!
If you are trying to grow tulips in your garden, here’s how to make them last for as long as two months!
Continue Reading March 2nd, 2007
It’s not uncommon to see Ivy crawling up an outside wall of a house, and/or spreading itself over an entire wall so I decided to find out if this was a good thing.
Continue Reading June 28th, 2006
Trimming the Roses throughout the year is easy, there are only three things to remember:
- Prune the flowers that are wilting before they go to hips. This will ensure continuous blooms
- ALWAYS prune to a leaf set with 5 leaves, and try to prune to an outward facing branch to keep your roses growing out (and not crossing branches).
- Stop pruning in late September so that the plant can harden off before Winter
I have done the 5-leaf prunning ever since we moved into a house and inherited a Rose Garden, and I have beautiful flowers all year long. You can also add Accents to your garden for more charm and to make it more interesting.
Get the Free Book: “Your Guide to a Successful and Beautiful Garden” at http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com
June 26th, 2006
I love our Hydrangeas, mostly because there are not too many plants that are blue! However, I sometimes envy those who have pink or red Hydrangeas because I have never been able to change the color of mine, until now.
I now know that the color of the flower has to do with the PH of the soil. I’m in the Northwest, where the soil is acidic, so I get the blue color. If you have a more alkaline soil, you will get pink hydrangeas.
So, if you want pink hydrangeas and you live in the wrong area, there is a way to change the color; in the Fall every year, add dolomite lime to the soil to sweeten it up a bit. To get the bluer color, add aluminate sulfate to make it more acidic.
Now, I know that the Hydrangeas have just bloomed and we are patiently waiting for the summer roses to come out, but it wouldn’t hurt to buy a few of these in advance. Especially this new one – it’s coming out at a GREAT price and has 4 Colors of Bloom! and is VERY Hardy (even in the North).
You’ll want to make sure you get one today! They’re available now, but you never know if they will still be available next year, and at this price, they will sell out fast!
A new Hydrangea is so amazing that it might as well be a whole new type of shrub, Hydrangea Limelight!
Get the Free Book: “Your Guide to a Successful and Beautiful Garden” at http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com
June 7th, 2006
Sometimes I can’t believe what’s growing in our Garden. I noticed these Bearded Iris’s outside, but suddenly, I had a vase full of them on my table when I came home from shopping. Jeff thought we couldn’t see them good enough where they were planted, so he surprised me with fresh flowers for the table.
These plants are just lovely Spring plants and would do better for Container Gardening, than for Square Foot Gardening. I think they’re called Bearded Iris because they have seeds growing down the inside of the flower that kind of look like a beard, (I think it looks more like a hairy tongue, but that’s not a very nice name for a plant). Hope I didn’t ruin it for you — they really are nice plants!
Here’s a site I found where you can learn more about this beautiful Plant: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8506.html
Get the Free Book: “Your Guide to a Successful and Beautiful Garden” at http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com
May 23rd, 2006
