Category: Home & Garden

Design

Tour a Garden That Perfectly Balances Hardscape and Plants

Margherita Fabrizio and her husband, Andy Jordan, live in a beautiful historic 1918 home in the heart of downtown Ithaca, New York. When they purchased their property in 2009, they…

There is a prevailing garden myth: Herbs must be grown in full sun. It may be a symptom of unconscious bias, one that perceives the Mediterranean as the center of it all, and whose native herbs have become staples in many kitchens. And it is true that rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, and savory demand full sun (despite what some listicles about shade-loving herbs will tell you). But many other aromatic and flavorful plants that are used as herbs or spices thrive in shade. For culinary gardeners (or horticultural cooks?), this is exciting. This (by-no-means exhaustive) shortlist of herbs for shade includes plants that evolved in conditions where they receive protection from the sun, be it in valleys, mountainous ravines, or lush tropical forests. They can all be grown at home.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

Over the course of several gardens, two of which were defined by shade, I learned that my own view of culinary herbs was narrow. But some great teachers broadened my own perspective: experience (in those gardens), curiosity (what is that, and how can it be used?), and the immense variety of cuisines that simmer within the five boroughs of New York City. (Seeing what is on your plate can be highly inspiring and motivating for a gardener obsessed with flavors.)

Pepper Elder

And then there are gifts. Michele Palladino, the founder of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Nursery, gave me some unfamiliar, rooted seedlings one spring. With a native range that includes much of the globe (tropical Australia, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean), pepper elder—Peperomia pelucida—is a tender annual in cold climates (it is hardy from USDA zones 9b – 11). Its glossy leaves on sappy stems are gently aromatic, crunchy, very tender, and juicy. It has many common names, in many languages, and it is used medicinally as well as eaten in a slew of cooking traditions. In Jamaica pepper elder may be cooked with jerk pork. In Vietnam it could top a hot-sweet-sour salad. I add its glossy leaves to quick pickles, serve them in a heap alongside spicy food, or wrap them into summer rolls, for their bulk, flavor, and crunch. Pepper elder’s flower spikes set dozens of tiny black seeds, and they germinate readily. In climates without freezing winters this gives pepper weed invasive potential. Keeping it in a pot will narrow its range and add green grace to your shade garden. And it makes a handsome houseplant.

Sand Ginger

Lesser galangal, aromatic ginger, kencur, and resurrection lily are a few of sand ginger’s many common names. Kaempferia galanga is native to forest edges in South and Southeast Asia, and is used fresh in Malaysia and Indonesia. In China, the dried rhizome is important, particularly in Sichuan cuisine. And it is deployed widely in its native range as a botanical medicine. Sand ginger is frost-tender, and only hardy to USDA zone 9a, but it is easily overwintered indoors: it goes dormant, losing all its leaves, and requires no water for the duration. Move it outdoors once nights are about 50 degrees Fahrenheit again. Outdoors, it prefers high, dappled, or full shade; left in the sun its leaves will curl inwards in protest. It relishes humid summers. Its delicious leaves are crunchy in salads, make wonderful edible plates, and infuse cooling drinks.

Read our full story about how to grow and eating sand ginger.

Galangal and Friends

Meet the houseplant you didn’t know you needed. Galangal—Alpinia galanga—is known for its tough, aromatic rhizome. At least, tough when you are lucky enough to find it in a supermarket in the US. When you harvest your own, as I can once or twice a year, you understand the appeal of the fresh root. It is highly perfumed and very sliceable. And it keeps for weeks wrapped in the fridge. Native to Indonesia, galangal is widespread in South and Southeast Asia. It is a key ingredient in a variety of curry pastes and dipping sauces, defines tom yum soup, and is delicious grated into any lime-based salad dressings. Cold-averse, galangal must overwinter indoors, out of direct sunshine, in climates colder than USDA zone 9. My own plant is divided once, sometimes twice, a year, and that is when I collect the rhizomes. The huge leaves—rolled and crushed lightly—are delicious infused in coconut-based curries, Filipino-style adobes, or your favorite drink.

It is a firm belief of mine that every room in the house needs a plant. Especially the living room! It instantly adds life to the space and is one of the easiest ways to decorate. Here’s how to arrange plants in the living room – according to what’s best for you your plant!

In this post you will learn:

How to Arrange Plants in a Living Room

Let’s dive into the best set up for your plants in your living room. You’ll have a few other things to consider besides just what looks good visually!

Plant Needs Come First

While the corner may have the most room for your plant, does it actually get enough light? Or maybe the windowsill gets a little too cold for your succulents. Whatever it is, always consider the needs of the plants first.

When grouping plants together, you also want to group plants that require the same conditions, such as sunlight and humidity. This way, all the plants can equally thrive (or tell you they need to be moved).

Variety is the Spice of Life

This is décor 101 and also applies to plant decoration in the living room. You want to include a variety of plants in your living room to add interest. This means you want different textures, such as a spiky snake plant and a Chinese money plant with rounded, fleshy leaves.

The colours of the plant should also vary, including different shades of green and red, yellow, or other accents. Also, play around with the pots’ colour and shape. Don’t forget to add different sizes of plants as well as heights!

Plant Stands and Heights

Plants can be a central décor element if you want them to be.

Plant stands are a great way to add focus to your plant and elevate them when there are no other surfaces in the room. They’re also great at getting them closer to sunlight and away from the hands of small children and pets.

Likewise, you can do the opposite and add hanging plants in the living room by using a macrame planter on a hook or draping them down a bookcase, shelf, or mantle.

Think about height and how you can add plants from top to bottom!

Size Matters

Of course, the size of the plant will make a big difference in how you will arrange the plant in the living room. Bigger plants look better on their own, and they won’t overshadow smaller growing plants.

Meanwhile, you can group smaller plants in 2-3, so they add a mass green effect. Just keep in mind the variety!

Add Some Non-Botanicals

When using plants as décor pieces, you don’t just have to pair them with other plants. Group them with other elements, such as houseplant books, picture frames, vases, figurines, wood pieces, and more. They work well with just about anything!

Frequently Asked Questions About Arranging Plants

Houseplants to Display in Your Living Room

Wondering which house plants look the best in your living room? Give these a try.

Achimenes (Gesneria family) These green­house plants require a growing temperature of at least 6o°F ( 6°C). Their fragile stems can be supported by twigs or allowed to fall out of a hanging basket. The small trumpet-shaped flowers, freely produced, are in shades of pink, violet blue and purple. The tubers are small scaly rhizomes, best started into growth in a box of peatmoss and sand and then transferred to the hanging baskets when growing. In 5-6 in. pots space them 2-3 in. apart in a compost of 2 parts loam, 2 parts peatmoss, and t part sand, and cover by 1/2 in. They can be started into growth from February to April for succession of bloom. Once in growth never allow them to dry out and keep the atmosphere humid by spraying or red spider mite may attack. Pinch out growing points to cause branching, especially when in hanging baskets. When in flower transfer to a cooler place will ensure a longer display, as will shading from direct sunshine. Dry slowly after flowering and store in their soil in a dry place at a temperature of 5o°F (10°C).

Plants can be increased by soft cuttings in spring in a warm propagator, by seeds sown in March, in a temperature of 65-70°F (18— 21 C), or by removing scales and sowing them like seeds. Forking tubers can be divided .

Acidanthera (Iris family)

A. bicolor murielae is a half-hardy corm with 2.5-3 ft. spikes of fragrant white flowers with maroon in the throat. These plants require a long growing season and in the northern part of the country this can be overcome by starting them in pots in a cool greenhouse in spring and planting them out in late May or June. Alternatively they can be grown in beds in a cool greenhouse. Stake to prevent wind damage outside and lift before frost occurs. Where the weather is mild, corms may be planted outside where they can remain.
Allium (Lily family) The ornamental onions are bulbs which produce heads of small flowers in soft colors on stems ranging from 3 in. to 4 ft. There are good plants for natur­alizing in thin woodland, but most need a sunny site on the edge or in the body of a mixed border, on a rock garden or scree or even the protection of an alpine house. Many make good cut flowers. Some have a strong onion smell when bruised, therefore plant these where they will not be brushed against. The wild ramson Allium triquetrum (white) can be naturalized.

Amaryllis (Amaryllis family) (belladonna lily)

This plant can only be grown outdoors in mild areas of the country. It requires a well-drained but well-fed border such as under a south-west wall where it receives the maximum amount of sunshine.

The large heads of fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers are soft pink, but there is a good white called Hathor’ and various deep pink forms. Flowers appear in September on 2-3 ft. stems before the leaves.

The bulbs are very large and work their necks out of the soil, but it is wise to start them just below the surface and to mulch in the fall. Leave them to form dense clumps before lifting and replanting.

Anemone (Ranunculus family)

A. coronaria hybrids, the poppy anemones, have large flowers, on 8-12 in. stems, in bright red, violet, lavender and purple, some shaded with white, single in De Caen varieties and semi-double in St Brigid. In mild districts flowers can be had in succession by planting the irregularly shaped tubers at any time. In colder areas they may be planted in the fall in frost-proof cold frames to provide cut flowers. They require a rich moist well-cultivated soil.

A. blanda has little tubers. Soak the tubers before planting in the fall z2 in. deep in a sunny position, or under deciduous shrubs pruned off the ground. White, pink, blue, violet and carmine forms occur.

Babiana (Iris family) (baboon plant)

B. stricta makes an excellent cool greenhouse pot plant. It has i ft. high spikes of magenta, blue, purple or sulfur-yellow flowers and can be grown in sheltered borders in milder parts of the country.

In the greenhouse treat all these like freesias grown from corms but plant babianas deeper or they will make droppers to pull themselves down. Outdoors they flower in June, but in pots are earlier.

Camassia (Lily family) C. quamash varies in flower color from purplish-blue to creamy-white. It likes good soil and produces fine clumps of flowers 2-3 ft. high. It flowers in June—July, but all the flowers on a spike come out at once, so giving it a rather short but striking flowering season. C. leichtlinii, with rather larger individual flowers on 3 ft. stems, has the same color range and is very fine in its cream forms. All have large bulbs which need planting at least 4 in. deep.

Canna (Canna family) (Indian shot) Cannas have swollen rootstocks which will withstand drying right out during their resting period, October to March, though they do best if packed in just moist peatmoss or left in the soil in their pots, only being knocked out to re-pot in fresh rich compost. The varieties and hybrids of C. indica produce large, brilliantly colored flowers, mainly yellow, orange or scarlet, often spotted with a darker red, on 2.5-3.5 ft. high stems, with broad green or dark red leaves.

Cannas are tender and need cool house temperatures even when at rest. Brought into leaf by moderate watering in March and kept growing steadily, in good rich soil, they will flower from June until the fall. If used outside, bring in before hard frosts occur. When necessary split up the clumps carefully before planting.

Chionodoxa (Lily family) (glory of the snow) C. luciliae produces its bright blue, white centered starry flowers in March or April, several on a 6-in. stem. It enjoys sunny places but does not object to some shade after the leaves have died down. It should be fed moderately. Plant in the fall 2 in. deep and leave the bulbs until they are overcrowded. It can also make a useful pan for indoors, planted in the fall and treated like hyacinths in pots.

Colchicum (Lily family) (autumn crocus) The earliest to flower is the European wild C. autumnale, the rosy-lilac buds pushing up without any leaves. A whole group of 2-in. flowers is usually produced from each bulb and each flower flops over as soon as it has finished.

The best to grow are C. byzantium and C. speciosum, and their hybrids which have much bigger flowers rather like rose-pink or white tulips on stalks about 9 in. to i ft. high in September. Some like ‘Water-lily’, are double flowered. Others have chequered markings like fritillaries.

The big bulbs need planting during their short dormant season, in July for C. autumnale, and August for the later ones.

No leaves are produced until the following spring, when C. byzantium and C. speciosum produce big pleated leaves, which are much too dominant for the edge of most borders. They are best planted in front of shrubs or as a border to a vegetable plot where they enjoy the rich, limed soil.

Crinum (Amaryllis family) C. x powellii is a hybrid, hardier than either of its South African parents. It is a large bulb, up to 4 ft. high, which can be grown in tubs and wheeled out of a cool greenhouse during the summer, or planted permanently under a sunny wall in mild places. Its 2-3 ft. stem has several buds on top which open success­ively, each flower being a large trumpet. It may be had in flower any time from July to September and varies from pure white to deep pink.

Spring planting is best; the necks gradually work out of the soil and need protection during cold weather.

Crocosmia (Iris family) The montbretias (C. x crocosmiiflora) are hybrids; common form is hardy in milder areas. It has 2-3 ft. branching stems of small, trumpet-shaped, orange-red flowers, produced freely, even in poor soil, during August. They appreciate a sunny situation and moderate feeding. There are named hybrids with much bigger flowers which have the merit that they do not have long spreading stolons.

C. masonorum, 2-3 ft., has arching growth. The deep orange-red flowers, pro­duced in July, all face upwards.

Corms of choice varieties can be lifted in October and replanted in spring, but are best kept in slightly moist peatmoss.

Crocus (Iris family) The large-flowered Dutch hybrids flower in March, and the little species crocus, by careful planning, will give flowers from September to March. The fall and winter flowering ones are avail­able from July to August and need to be put in immediately, as some will flower almost at once. The rest can be planted at any time during the fall. The Dutch varieties are fine for edging beds and naturalizing in grass and the tiny ones are for alpine house or rock garden or, in many instances for planting underdeciduousshrubs,orevenfornaturaliz­ing in short grass (try C. zonatus, C. speciosus, C. aureus and C. tomasinianus for this). Plant the corms with not above t in. of soil over them. The flowers of the fall flowering ones will come up before the leaves. Do not cut grass with crocus naturalized in it until the leaves have died down. The corms like to be well sun baked during the summer. All may be grown in pans, the Dutch ones in bulb fiber also, but must not be brought into a warm place until the flowers are nearly out.

Cyclamen (Primula family) The tubers of cyclamen get bigger each year but do not make other small tubers, which are only obtained from seedling plants, the sole method of increase. The large greenhouse cyclamen obtainable around Christmas have been raised from seed. Unlike most of the small `hardy’ cyclamen the best display is from the
new plant raised from seed after about i6 months in a warm greenhouse, and although the corm such a plant forms can be saved and grown for many more years it is not usual to do so.

Species cyclamen are sold either in leaf or as dry corms; the latter should be treated with great care as the loss of the dormant buds sets the plants back permanently. Corms should be lightly covered with sieved leaf mould or peatmoss with some sharp sand and bone-meal, and should not have this pressed down. Similar compost should be used as a top-dressing every fall before the flowers or leaves appear.

All cyclamen have the characteristic swept-back petals, many have a color range from white through pink to carmine, often with throat markings of carmine on the pale flowers, and many have beautiful marbling on their leaves.

Endymion (Lily family) (bluebell) The English bluebell is E. non-scri pta and the Spanish bluebell, E. hispanicus. The latter have stiffer, heavier-looking flower spikes and are usually sold mixed in color, deep blue, sky-blue, lilac pink and white. Both flower in May and can be naturalized in thin woodland, but the bulbs of the Spanish bluebell are more frequently planted in groups in mixed borders or naturalized with daffodils in grass. All do best deep planted in the fall and should not be disturbed unless necessary.

Eranthis (Ranunculus family) (winter aconite) E. hyemalis, produces bright yellow flowers in February—March on 3-4 in. stems, each ruffled with green bracts. It forms excel­lent ground cover if planted z in. deep under deciduous shrubs or trees and will naturalize by seed. The tubers are obtainable in August and should be planted without delay. The plants divide successfully immediately after flowering.

Other kinds occasionally available are E. cilicica, with finely cut bronzy foliage, and E. x tubergenii, which lasts in flower longer but does not spread by self-sown seed.

Erythronium (Lily family) E. dens-canis, the dog’s tooth violet has spotted leaves and nodding pink or white lily-like flowers on 6-in. stems in March—April. Plants do well on soil containing lime and in light wood­land, where they can be naturalized. They can also be grown in short turf or among shrubs, but must not become dried out in hot weather. Plant about 3 in. deep in fall.

Other good erythroniums are E. revolutum `White Beauty’, to 2 ft. high, white marked with brown, April—May; E. hendersonii, pink with purplish markings stem, April; E. tuolu­mense, light yellow with bright green un­spotted leaves; its best hybrid is ‘Pagoda’, 1-1 1/2 ft. All appreciate top-dressing with sieved leaf mold.

Eucomis (Lily family) (pineapple flower) Eucomis are cool greenhouse plants with thick stems which, in July and August, have small greenish-yellow flowers round the top foot or so of stem, which ends in a tuft of leaves—pineapple fashion. The best known is E. comosa, (syn. E. punctata). In parts of the country where the weather is milder Eucomis may be grown outdoors. The large bulbs are best planted in 5-in. pots in February or March. Rest dry in the pots from November to February, in a frost-free place.

Freesia (Iris family) These are usually offered as colored hybrids, the funnel-shaped flowers of which may be white, cream, yellow, orange, pinks, blues and mauves. The newer hybrids are usually scented whatever their color. The wiry, arching stems may reach 2 ft. They are excellent for cutting from February to May.

Plant 7-9 in a 6-in. pot of compost com­posed of 2 parts loam, r part peatmoss, r part well-rotted manure and r part sharp sand in August, cover to a depth of r in., and put into a cool plunge bed under damp peatmoss for a month until roots are well formed. The greenhouse must be well ventilated, with as dry an atmosphere as possible, with a mini­mum temperature of 45°F (7°C). The leaves must be supported. After flowering they can be kept growing, and when the weather is fit, transferred to a north-facing frame till leaves die down when they should be stored in their pots, dry, until August. Specially prepared corms can be planted outdoors in April for flowering in late summer.

Seed sown in flowering size pots in a propagating frame at 65-7o°F (17-21°C) in February-March and grown on cool without any disturbance can be had in flower in November, by bringing them into the green­• house (minimum 45°F (7°C) in September. Fritillaria (Lily family) F. meleagris, the snake’s head fritillary will grow in most garden soils, especially in thin woodland, but must not dry out completely. It has hanging, wide, bell-like flowers, often white with green markings or purplish-pink, often chequered, on 1-11/2 ft stems in April.

F. imperialis, the crown imperial, may reach 3 ft. and has a ring of orange or yellow flowers high on the stem, which is topped with a tuft of leaves. The large bulbs are less liable to rot if started on their sides.

Galanthus (Amaryllis family) (snowdrops) The common snowdrop, G. nivalis, has many varieties which extend the flowering period from January-February to as early as October with reginae-olgae which flowers before its leaves, to the end of March with `Straffan’. The most readily obtainable are atkinsii, about ten days earlier than the usual type and much taller (6-8 in.); Arnott’s Seedling’, another vigorous kind, and the double form. All grow well in thin woodland and should be planted 3 in. deep in the fall.

G. elwesii is best grown in full sun and should be given a chance to ripen without being overgrown by vegetation. The leaves are broad and the flower stems 6:-8 in. long. Galtonia (Lily family) (Cape Hyacinth) G. candicans produces 3-4 ft. spikes of greenish-white, hyacinth-type flowers in summer. It makes fine groups in the middle or back of mixed borders. The large bulbs are best planted 5-6 in. deep in spring in mild areas, and when the weather is fit, transferred to a north-facing frame and once established can be mulched instead of being lifted in the fall. They do best in rich, moist soil.

Gloriosa (Lily family) One of the lily family’s few climbing plants, this needs a warm greenhouse, 70°F (21°C) minimum from February to August. The large tubers should be planted 2 or 3 in 8-in. or larger pots of compost consisting of loam, peat-moss, well-rotted manure and sand in equal proportions, or in warmer parts of the country, planted out in the border. Cover with 2 in. of soil.

G. rothschildiana has long-stalked, bright red flowers like a Turk’s cap lily, often with a yellow throat. The leaves have tendrils at the tips and these enable the plants to cling to whatever support is provided.

Other varieties of G. rothschildiana and also G. superba, the glory flower, are some­times seen with yellow flowers. All need moist, but well-drained soil and a humid atmosphere in summer. G. superba can be grown in an intermediate house. From Sep­tember to January, when completely dry, all can be housed at 55°F (13°C).

Hippeastrum (Amaryllis family) H. pra­tense is the hardiest of these tender bulbs and can be grown outside in warmer areas, or where the weather is more severe in a cool greenhouse. It makes a good pot plant, pro­ducing r ft. stems topped with 2 or 3 deep red trumpet-shaped flowers with yellow throats in spring or early summer.

The better known large greenhouse hy­brids—sometimes incorrectly called amaryllis — can be had in flower practically any month of the year in the greenhouse or indoors depending on their treatment. Bulbs put on sale from August onwards have been pre­vented from spring flowering and should be planted as soon as available, when they can be had in flower from November onwards. (These may be described as ‘prepared bulbs’.) They are followed by normally early-flower­ing varieties which carry the flowering season through to April. Later varieties carry the bloom round to July or even September if the bulbs are planted in succession.

The 3 ft. stems are usually topped with four enormous trumpet flowers which open in quick succession; there are frequently 2 or more stems per bulb. The bulbs are very large. Place them half into 4 or 5 in. pots with a cane at the side. The flower stems may come up before the strap-shaped leaves or with them. They must be fed liberally. Any small bulbs which have formed may be re­moved and should be grown on without any drying off. Dry out the big bulbs as the leaves yellow, store the pots on their sides in a tem­perature of 50°F (10°C), and leave them thus for about three months before starting the bulbs into growth. In warm parts of the country, bulbs may be planted outdoors. Hyacinths (Lily family) The Roman hya­cinths usually have several slender, loosely packed spikes per bulb; the more spectacular, stiff spiked ‘Dutch’ ones have the flowers closely packed. Both are very fragrant.

The Dutch hyacinths may be bought `specially prepared’ and these should be planted as soon as available to give flowers in the greenhouse or indoors by late December or early January. They force well.

For indoors they may be grown in water only, in special hyacinth glasses (discard the bulb after flowering); singly in 3 1/2-in. pots, or close packed in larger pots or bowls, with their ‘noses’ just uncovered. Use bulb fiber for bowls and start these in a garage or shaded frame so that they are not drowned by rain; pots may be plunged in a cool place outdoors. Do not bring them into the warmth until the roots are well developed and the shoot is starting to grow (usually from 8—10 weeks). Then keep in full light.

Unprepared bulbs which flower about 3 weeks later may be planted in succession to flower from January to April.

Outdoor hyacinths should be planted in rich soil at least 5 in. deep in October—November. Use only unprepared bulbs. If used for formal bedding they should be replaced each season, but if fed well will make good clumps among shrubs.

The Roman hyacinths, which are white, pink or blue, are sometimes used on rock gardens, but are at their best indoors.

After flowering allow the leaves to die down naturally.

Ipheion (Amaryllis family) I. uniflorum (sometimes listed as Brodiaea, Tritelia or Milla uniflora), is a small South American, early-flowering bulb producing white or pale bluish-mauve funnel-shaped flowers 6 in. above the mass of grassy leaves. It needs well-drained soil in a sunny place. Plant in the fall if in. deep. I. uniflora is hardy to Zone 8 but may be grown further north if given protection in winter.

Ixia (Iris family) (African corn lily) These corms may be grown outdoors where the weather is favorable and make interesting cool greenhouse plants flowering after the first spring rush. They are sold in mixed colors including deep carmine, white with red or yellow or purple center, orange or yellow sometimes bronze outside, on 2 ft. tall arching stems. The flowers close in dull weather but when open fully make a won­derful display. Pot the rather small corms fairly close together and covered with at least 2 in. of soil. Ripen well after flowering.

I. viridifiora, an arresting plant, has blue-green flowers, darker at the centre, in May—June. It needs cool greenhouse treatment and proper ripening. It should be given bonemeal and protected from slugs and small snails. Ixiolirion (Amaryllis family) I. montanum is a slightly tender bulb worth growing as a cut flower in a cool greenhouse in the north or outside in mild areas. The flowers, on 15-18 in. stems, are in shades of blue, some­times with violet banding, and bloom in May or June, I. ledebourii being earlier than the darker I. palasii. Plant in the fall in well-drained compost.

Lachenalia (Lily family) (Cape cowslip). These cool greenhouse bulbs flower in early spring in airy conditions. Plant 5-7 close together in 5-in. pots in August—September, cover with 4—i in. of compost and cover with moist peatmoss in a plunge bed until growth starts. Then place the pots in a well-ventil­ated cool greenhouse.

L. abides nelsonii has spikes of golden-yellow flowers tinged with green; other varieties have paler yellow flowers and may have red markings. L. bulbifera (syn L. pendula) has coral red or salmon tubular flowers marked with purple and green.

Lachenalias often have pleasantly mottled foliage. Their flower spikes are long lasting if kept at 45-50°F (7—10°C), but if brought in­doors into 65°F ( 18°C) or more, the plants soon suffer. Ripen well after flowering by standing on a shelf under the ridge of the greenhouse, and reduce the water until the bulbs are dried out.

Leucojum (Amaryllis family) (snowflake) L. aestivum, the summer snowflake, flowers from April to May. It has heads of white, green-marked flowers on 11-2 ft. stems and dark green strap-shaped leaves, and its large bulbs increase rapidly to make big clumps if planted in fairly damp soil. Plant 5 in. deep.

L. vernum has only one or two good sized flowers per 8 in. stem, but very fine bright green foliage and flowers that are out in February—March.

L. autumnale is less hardy but often does well in a sunny, sheltered border. The flowers on 6-8 in. stems are very delicate looking, tinged with pink (not green) and usually come before the leaves. Plant 3 in. deep.

Lilium (Lily family) (lily) Lilies are often sold packed in peatmoss or wood shavings to retain their moisture and protect them. They should be planted as soon as available, from September to January, except for L. candidum and L. testaceum which are usually moved `green’, i.e. while still in leaf, after June—July flowering. Any lily can be moved successfully immediately after flowering if care is taken to keep the soil on the roots. As some flower in the fall these may not be on sale until soil conditions outside are far from ideal. In this case pot them immediately and plant out later when conditions are correct.

With the exception of L. candidum and other European lilies such as L. martagon which make roots from the base of the bulbs only, lilies should be planted with soil at least twice the depth of the bulb above it, thus a 2 in. deep bulb would need a hole 6-7 in. deep. This is because many lilies make roots from the stem in the first few inches of soil, in addi­tion to those below the bulb. Sites for such lilies must be weed free, for hoeing near them is disastrous. Many lilies grow wild in the company of low-growing shrubs, the roots of which help to drain the soil, and others are found on steep slopes where moisture is flowing under the surface for much of the year, but all are on well-drained sites, and if necessary special beds must be made with extra peatmoss and sharp sand to retain moisture but allow free drainage. Beds or even hummocks of such soil which will raise the roots and bulbs above the winter water table may make all the difference between success and failure. Some lilies will tolerate lime and others die if given it. Most lilies like to have their flowering stems in the sun, at least for part of the day, and grow well with a ground cover of low shrubs, or even annuals to protect their roots.

Lily bulbs should be examined to make sure there is no basal rot present, as this will cause the scales to fall away. Such bulbs should be burnt. The bulbs can be dusted with a fungicide to prevent the spread of the fungal disease which causes death of leaves and even of the whole shoot. Once the plants are growing they can be protected from this disease by spraying with a systemic fungicide. Virus diseases are incurable, but their spread can be checked by spraying plants with a systemic insecticide which kills aphids which spread virus diseases. Some lilies are com­paratively tolerant of virus diseases, but grow better without them, and others are killed by them. The easiest way to get virus-free stock is to raise the plants from seed and keep them sprayed. This works for most species but garden hybrids will not come true to form or color. However, if ‘strains’ of lilies are bought rather than named varieties these will have been raised from seed, whereas the others will have been propagated from off­sets, bulbils and by rooting scale leaves, and the risk of virus is greater with these.

Most lilies can be grown from seed, in fact L. formosanum and L. philippinense, white trumpet, cool greenhouse lilies, can be had in flower within a year of sowing the seed. How­ever, many take three or four years and L. martagon takes six or seven to reach flowering size. L. regale flowers after two or three years.

In selecting lilies for gardens only species with similar cultural requirements to the gar­den hybrids have been chosen.

The garden hybrids are officially classified according to their breeding, but the shape and position of the flowers are more readily recognized in a garden and these are con­sidered here.

Muscari (Lily family (grape hyacinth) M. armeniacum is the kind most frequently of­fered for sale. It makes little heads of honey-scented deep blue flowers on 6-8 in. stems, with lots of narrow, grassy leaves. Varieties are ‘Heavenly Blue’, deep blue; `Cantab’, paler blue; and a white form, though the white commonly sold is M. botryoides alba. M. armeniacum makes fine sheets of color in April—May under deciduous shrubs and small trees and also looks well as an edging plant, but soon spreads. It will also naturalize in short turf. M. botryoides makes a good rock garden plant as it is not so invasive; its heads of little bells are smaller and a paler blue.

M. comosum is not so often seen as its variety monstrosum, the feather or tassel hya­cinth. This has curious heads of dark violet-blue threads on 12 – tz—I5-in. stems in May—June.

M. tubergenianum has pale and dark blue flowers on the same head. It is best1wn on the rock garden where it will flower in March—April.

Plant M. armeniacum, M. botryoides and M. tubergenianum 3 in. deep and the others 4 in. deep in any good soil in a sunny position. They will all grow on limy soil. Split clumps as necessary after flowering.

Narcissus (Amaryllis family) (daffodil) In gardens the narcissi are best divided into the large hybrids —for use naturalized in long grass, in beds for cutting and display, and in pots outdoors and in—and the small species and their hybrids—for use in short turf, on rock gardens, in pans in the alpine house or indoors. The official classification is based on flower color and form, the relative length of the petal-like central ring or corona (which may be a trumpet, cup or eye) being of im­portance. The term daffodil is often restricted to the large trumpet forms, the others being called narcissi.

The bulbs of the small species are tiny; those of the garden hybrids are large and sold graded according to the number of ‘noses’ (growing points). Plant single-nosed bulbs with a bulb planter as there is no danger of them sticking half-way down the holes. The double and triple-nosed bulbs are fine for planting in borders or in pots where a close display of flowers is wanted in the first year.

Grass planted with daffodils must not be cut until the foliage has yellowed, nor should leaves be picked with flowers, for the foliage builds up the bulb with next year’s flowers. If the grass is treated with normal lawn ferti­lizers there is no need to feed the bulbs (other than with bonemeal at planting), but bulbs in short turf must not receive lawn fertilizers as this will encourage the growth of coarse grasses with which the small bulbs will be unable to compete.

Daffodils should be planted as soon as available, before hyacinths and tulips. Large bulbs require holes 6 in. deep and small ones 3-4 in. Bulbs in pots can be placed shoulder to shoulder with the noses just under or just above the surface. If intended for forcing they must be plunged in a cool moist place (with the exception of the variety Paper White) until the roots have developed well. Nerine (Amaryllis family) These are South African bulbs although N. sariensis is known as the Guernsey lily. They may be grown outside in warmer areas of the country, but where winters are colder they must be con­sidered a greenhouse plant. The lovely clear pink flowers appear from September to No­vember, and there is quite a variation in flower shade and time of flowering. The leaves die off in late summer, leaving a short period in July-August in which the large bulbs can be moved. Plant them at least 6 in. deep; they will gradually work their way up­wards until the neck is above ground level, when they must be well mulched in frosty places or put down lower again. They look well planted out in a bed in a cool green­house. Keep them well fed with bonemeal when they are planted and with liquid fertilizer during growth.

N. sarniensis is not so tall, vigorous or hardy. There are several hybrids in lovely shades of scarlet, salmon and wine shades as well as pinks and whites when grown in a green­house. Plant them singly in 4-in. pots with the neck of the bulb well out and never let the temperature fall below 45°F (7°C). Water the soil well only when growth starts. After flowering continue feeding well until growth ceases. Dry them out and ripen them near the glass. Divide them only when it is essen­tial, as they all flower best in crowded conditions.

Ornithogalum (Lily family) The Euro­pean 0. umbellatum, the Star of Bethlehem, makes a fine wild garden or thin woodland bulb. It does well in poor, sandy soil, and has flattish heads of greenish-white, star-shaped flowers on 6-8 in. stems. 0. thyrsioides is the chincherinchee, renowned for its longevity in water if picked in bud. It flowers in June-July, forming a long pointed head of white flowers. It is not quite hardy but can be treated like gladiolus (planted in March and lifted in October), or will grow permanently in milder areas of the country, planted 6 in. deep, or in a cool greenhouse.

0. arabicum is also suitable for pots in a cool greenhouse. It has black-centered white flowers in heads like 0. umbellatum. 0. nutans produces -ft. stems of translucent greenish-white flowers in April and will do well in a shady position.

Pancratium (Amaryllis family) (sea lily) These are more or less tender plants with flowers borne on top of a long stem like amaryllis. They are usually white with green markings, with long spidery petals from a tube and are often beautifully fragrant. They are suitable for planting in 5-in. pots in a cool greenhouse and can be stood outside during the summer in a sheltered place. Only in tropical areas of the country can they be grown outdoors.

P. illyricum flowers in May or June and may have up to a dozen blooms which open in succession on 1 1/2 ft. stems.

The bulbs should be rested during the winter when the leaves die down, and kept cool but frost free and dry, but not bone-dry, until the spring.

Puschkinia (Lily family) P. scilloides (syn. P. libanotica) produces 4-6-in. stems of pale blue flowers with a greenish stripe in March. There is also a white form. It makes a fine carpet planted 3 in. deep in the fall under deciduous shrubs or on a rock garden, especi­ally in heavy soil. It also makes a good pan plant.

Ranunculus (Ranunculus family) The tubers of R. asiaticus (sometimes sold as R. grandiflora) should be planted in holes 2-3 in. deep, claws downward, in pots or in clumps

in a sunny border or in a special bed for flowers for cutting. They can only be grown outdoors in districts where winters are less severe. Soak them for 24 hours before planting.

Plant carefully any time from October in­side to April outside. They need well-drained, rich soil and produce large double flowers on stems 12-15 in. high, in shades of yellow, orange, pink and red. The normal season is May to June, but in a greenhouse they can be forced gently. They are normally sold mixed, but there are several strains differing in size, doubleness and height of flower and known as peony-flowered, French, Persian and Turban.

For cutting special beds are made with coarse rubble placed under about i ft. of compost containing coarse grit and also well-rotted manure, banked up like an asparagus bed. This ensures the necessary quick drain­age and high level of feeding. They must not be allowed to dry out until the leaves die down after flowering. During August the tubers should be lifted and stored, preferably hung in paper (not polyethylene) bags in a frost-proof airy place until needed.

Scilla (Lily family) (squills) The most readily obtainable are S. bifolia, S. sibirica, S. tubergeniana and S. peruviana. The first three are spring flowering and S. bifolia and S. tubergeniana are worth planting in pans of quick-draining compost in a cold frame or alpine house for flowering in March and April respectively. S. sibirica does well in sunny borders or in short turf, and makes a good show indoors planted in bulb fiber. On 6-8-in. stems it bears deep bright blue flowers; there is also a white form. The flowers of S. bifolia are turquoise blue or pink or white. S. tubergeniana is almost white, but has a deep blue stripe down the centre. S. peruviana 8—to in., has deep blue, lilac or white flowers massed in a 5-6 in. head, in May and June. It needs a warm border. Tender types can only be grown in the open in areas of the country that enjoy mild winters.

Sinningia (Gesneria family) (gloxinia) These warm greenhouse plants have velvety leaves and brilliantly colored purple, red, violet etc. flowers often with white throats to their trumpets, produced freely for many weeks. Tubers are planted, hollow wide up, singly in a compost consisting of equal parts loam and peatmoss, plus some well-decayed manure and sharp sand in 5-in. pots and covered with about t in. of soil, or they are pressed into boxes of moist peatmoss and sand until they have produced both shoots and roots. This is useful for checking shoot damage in newly purchased tubers. These tubers will• flower in summer and fall the same year. The season can be extended by sowing seeds in June to flower early the following summer, or in January—February for later flowering the same year. Feed regularly. They need plenty of moisture throughout the year, but can be moved to slightly cooler conditions while actually in flower. Dry gradually and store at 50-55°F (10-13°C) in the pots.

Smithiana (Gesneria family) Once known as Gesneria or Naegelia, these require warm greenhouse treatment and are best grown from tubers planted singly in 5-in. pots in March in a well-drained compost. The flowers are in lovely shades of yellow, orange, apricot and red, set off by deep green velvety leaves which damp off if heat and ventilation are inadequate. From March to August the temperature should be 6o-7o°F (16-21°C),and once the tubers have started growing well plentiful water must be applied to the soil, not the foliage. The plants reach 11-2 ft. and flower between July and November. During September and October the heat can be lowered slowly by about o°°F (6°C) and once flowering has finished they should be rested gradually and be stored in their pots, dry, at a temperature of 55°F (13°C) during the winter.

Particularly good plants are best increased by cuttings taken in early summer and rooted in a propagator.

Sparaxis (Iris family) (wand flower) These often have two or more colors per bloom in a wide range, including, white with yellow eye, bronze red with darker eye or with yellow eye, and purplish pink shades. They are best planted in March in a warm border where winters are less severe or grown in pots in a cool house, when they may be planted in the fall. The flowers appear in April to late May according to treatment. Feed and ripen well, but when cleaning off the dead foliage do not pull it out in handfuls, but cut it short as the lower nodes will be found to contain small cormels which if left are the means of rapid increase. Many of the more brilliant colors are the result of crossing sparaxis species with the related Streptanthera. Sprekelia (Amaryllis family) (Jacobean lily) S. formosissima is an interesting flower, very irregular in shape, looking like a 5-in. wide deep red orchid. The flowers are usually pro­duced singly, occasionally in pairs. Plants are often grown in pots in cool greenhouses or in a frame, when they may flower as early as May, but in well-drained, sunny, warm sites in areas where the winters are warmer. flower in June. The large bulbs should be covered with their own depth of soil outside. Feed well and ripen thoroughly. Pot or plant when the foliage dies down.

Sternbergia (Amaryllis family) S. lutea, yellow star-flower, produces bright golden-yellow crocus-like flowers about 22 in. high from late August. If the weather is bad at flowering time protect with a pane of glass, which will also assist ripening in a wet fall. The bulbs are best planted in sunny place in July and should have 4 in. of soil above them. In short turf they should be planted with a bulb planter, not by lifting the turves.

Tigridia (Iris family) (tiger flower) T. pavonia, a half-hardy Mexican bulb-shaped corm produces unusually brilliant flowers with the inner petals and bowl of the flower generally spotted red and making a tiger-face. The three petals which spread out flat are scarlet, cherry red, orange, buff or white; corms are usually sold as a mixture. The flowers last one day only but there are up to six on each 15-18 in. stem and they open in succession from June onwards. If treated like gladioli, planted 4-5 in. deep in spring when the danger of frost has passed and lifted before frosts, they usually flower in July. Where winters are less severe they can be left out if given a protective mulch. They need plenty of water and liquid feed during summer and then form good clumps.

Tritonia (Iris family) Tritonias are South African corms, and one only, T. crocata is freely available. The flowers are usually very brilliantly colored, orange, a pale coppery shade, yellow or white. They flower in late spring or early summer in a warm, frost-free border in areas where the winters are mild, or in pots in a cool greenhouse. They make good, long-lasting cut flowers. In pots treat them as freesias, planting them 7-9 in a 5-in. pot in a sandy compost, and provide light support. After ripening keep them in the same size pot but replace some of the soil yearly in the fall until the pot is full of corms.

Tulipa (Lily family) (tulip) Tulips have been favorite spring bedding and pot plants in Europe since the mid-16th century. The flowers are in all colors except true blues, usually solitary, but also 3-4 per stem, the garden hybrids ranging in height from 4-34 in. Good bulbs can be guaranteed to give a fine, even display the first season, but except in warm situations on sandy loam rarely pro­duce so many or such large blooms in later years, though feeding with bonemeal and proper ripening do help, and by this treatment the smaller species may become established on sunny ledges of the rock garden. The bulbs should be planted from 4-6 in. deep accord­ing to their size, but should not be put in before October for the April flowering kinds and November for the May flowering ones.

If used for spring bedding, either alone or coming through a shorter ground cover of forget-me-nots, wallflowers or pansies, the bulbs will have to be lifted and allowed to finish their growth in trenches in a sunny position, unless discarded. Tulips in less con­spicuous places should be allowed to die down before being lifted and placed in trays in a sunny place (cold greenhouse, frame or win­dow) to complete their ripening. Only the large bulbs should be planted for display the following year, but small ones can be grown on to flowering size in a sunny frame. They take up to seven years to flower from seed.

Some varieties can be forced, but it is very important to grow the bulbs in a plunge bed until growth is well up (4-6 in.) and then to bring them gradually into light and moderate warmth. They do not respond well to high temperatures and must be forced slowly. Vallota (Amaryllis family) (Scarborough lily) V. speciosa is a South African bulb for the cool or intermediate greenhouse. Bulbs can be planted singly in 3 1/2-in. pots from May to July. Each year they should be moved into a larger pot without disturbing the clump. When they get grossly overcrowded and small bulbs are being squeezed up free from the mass it is time to divide and start afresh. Good soil should replace as much as possible of the old at each move and liquid feeding is essential to keep up the supply of flowering size bulbs.

The 3-in. trumpet-shaped flowers are rather like the smaller hippeastrums, but with more flowers in each head, on 1-1 1-1 1/2-ft. stems, and are normally a brilliant vermilion, though both pink and cherry-red forms are available. They flower in late summer.

Vallotas can be grown successfully in a sunny window in a rich well-drained com­post. Water carefully during the winter and remove from frost danger at night. Bulbs may also be planted outside in areas where little frost occurs.

Veltheimia (Lily family) V. capensis (syn. V. viridifolia) flowers in early spring in a cool or intermediate house. The flowers form a red-hot poker type of spike but are straight sided, dull pink bells at the top of a speckled fleshy 15-18-in. stem. They are the sort of unusual flower color for off-beat flower arrangements, and last well in water. The bulbs are large and can be lifted dry when dormant in the summer. They should be planted in September in compost and be kept growing throughout the winter, which means good light and an adequate tempera­ture. The dried up ends of the leaf bases which form the bulb should be kept clear of the soil and care should be taken to water the soil and not into the neck of the bulb. Zephyranthes (Amaryllis family) (flowers of the western wind) These are bulbs from warm regions in Central and South America, so only a few can be tried outdoors in the mildest •parts, though they make good pot plants in a cool house.

Z. candida, with single white flowers like crocuses and rush-like foliage, is the hardiest and the most readily available. It flowers in September-October and makes a good edg­ing plant. Also occasionally available are Z. citrina, a bright yellow with a greenish base, which is not quite so big; and Z. grandiflora, rosy pink and slightly larger in flower. Both are too tender for anything but a cool greenhouse or areas that enjoy mild winters.

Where to plant the garden flower bulb
How to plant a garden bulb – Tulips, Daffodils, Lily, etc
Flower garden bulbs, Corms or Tubers for your garden.
How to Select Bulbs, Corms and Tubers in a Garden Store
When to shop for Bulbs, Corms and Tubers in the Garden Stores.
What is a garden bulb, corm and tuber?

Collaborative post

Are you looking for new ways to spruce up your garden in your rental home? Do you feel limited by your rental home when it comes to gardening? The good news is that with some handy tips and tricks, even the most urban flats to rent in Peterborough or any other area can be transformed into an oasis of blooms.

Whether you’re looking for advice on setting up your indoor plants, or trying to spruce up your outdoor space, there are plenty of inexpensive yet effective solutions. Read on to discover our top six simple tips for gardening in a rental home.

Research the landlord’s policy on plants and gardening before you start

Although it may seem difficult to garden in a rental home because there are so many limitations and restrictions, it’s not impossible.

One of the first things you should do is research the landlord’s policy on plants and gardening. While some landlords may have a strict policy about gardening on their property, some are more laid back and will be happy for you to make their garden look beautiful. By checking the landlord’s policy, or even reaching out to ask them about it, you will better understand what you can and can’t do.

Use containers and pots to create a beautiful garden with limited space

If you’re in a position where you can’t mess with the garden or add anything to the ground, a great alternative is to use pots to create a beautiful container garden.

Containers and pots are temporary, and can easily be moved if you leave or encounter any issues. They won’t cause any damage to the property itself, and are a low-cost option for gardening in a rental home.

Use vertical space for gardening

If your rental has a small indoor or outdoor area, you can bring more life into it by utilising vertical space. This can be done with trellis, vertical planters, and hanging baskets.

As well as making the most of the available space, you can green up an otherwise uninspiring area while also creating a haven for local wildlife.

Invest in low-maintenance plants

The next thing you should pay attention to when gardening in a rental home is to invest in low maintenance plants. Choosing plants that don’t need much sunlight or water will save you time and effort, and is also a good way to stay in control of your gardening budget.

Repurpose old items as planters to save money

Buying pots for your plants can be very expensive, especially if you need a lot of them. You can keep costs down and make your garden more eco-friendly by repurposing old items as planters.

You can easily create a unique and beautiful garden in your rental home using things such as old coffee cans, teapots, and even kitchen utensils. If you don’t have any of these items around your home that you would be willing to use for gardening purposes, you can easily find them in charity shops.

Create a compost bin so that your garden doesn’t have to rely on chemicals

Lastly, reducing and recycling in your garden is a great way to keep it going. You can easily create a compost bin so that your garden doesn’t have to rely on chemicals. This saves money on fertiliser, and cuts down on waste be reusing your food scraps.

Follow these simple tips, and you’ll be able to create a beautiful low-maintenance garden in your rental property without breaking the bank.

Today we’re in Buffalo, New York, visiting with Joe Hopkins.

We’ve visited with Joe before (Color-Blind Plant Combinations). He gardens on a small, urban lot and is partially color blind, but he turns those potential difficulties into strengths with fearless color combinations and using countless pots to transform a paved driveway into more garden space. In addition to over a hundred pots filled with plants, he also gets creative with nontraditional containers, including twelve different foam wig forms turned into planters!

It’s hard to believe all this space is actually a driveway! Massing pots together with some chairs, tables, and even a lamp transforms this blank space into a garden.

There are no flowers in sight among this cluster of pots—only incredible color from a wide array of foliage.

This space is a full-on living room outside, with plants threatening to swallow up all the furniture, making it a lush jungle experience.

A bit of the blacktop driveway is exposed—before it vanishes under a wall of plants in pots.

Buffalo gardens are famous for their cheerful, creative takes on garden design. This is surely a prime example, with foam wig forms transformed into planters.

Choosing a succulent plant for a nontraditional container like this works well, because the small amount of soil will dry out quickly.

A little paint, some over-the-top sunglasses, and a mass of sedum for hair

An explosion of blue ornamental grass makes a hairstyle for this yellow wig head.

 

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To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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A juicy American cantaloupe, that is, because I’ve never tried the European variety. There are differences, which we’ll talk about in a moment.

No melon can beat the sweet orange flesh of the cantaloupe. It’s intensely sweet, but healthy too, with robust levels of vitamins A and C, potassium, folate, and beta carotene.

Because I love cantaloupe so much, I decided to grow it here in Alaska. Seeing how this fruit thrives in balmy summertime climes, this is an audacious choice.

But I must have garden-grown cantaloupe.

Feel the same way? Read on!

Cultivation and History

This delicious fruit belongs to the genus Cucumis and is a member of the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family.

Pumpkins, squash, honeydew, and zucchini are also star members. Grown as a summer annual in USDA Hardiness Zones 4-10, the fruit develops on a trailing vine, which can trained up a trellis to save space.

Most varieties mature in 65-90 days and produce round fruits that weigh up to 3-4 pounds.

Cantaloupe melons are a variety of the muskmelon, C. melo, and the name “cantaloupe” refers specifically to the North American variety C. melo var. reticulatus, and the European type, C. melo var. cantalupensis.

This orange-fleshed fruit is known as rockmelon in Australia and New Zealand, and spanspek in South Africa.

Early versions of the melon originated in Persia, India, and the surrounding area, and then in the 1700s seeds from Armenia contributed to the cultivation of the European cantaloupe we know and love.

The name came from one of the first places to grow this version, Cantalupo, a town near Rome where the Pope enjoyed a villa retreat.

As for the North American variety, Columbus brought seeds of early cultivars on his 1494 voyage to the new world, and introduced them to the Americas.

Propagation

You can start this fruit from seed indoors or outdoors, or from seedlings purchased at a garden center.

In the north, with the shorter growing season, it’s an ideal summer crop as long as it’s got some help to stay warm.

Southern states can grow the melon earlier in the spring or even during the fall in some areas.

From Seed

Those of you who live in colder climates, like I do, should sow seeds indoors at least four weeks before your average last frost date.

Since melons require a long growing season, and take time to ripen, a head start like this helps guarantee that you’ll get to harvest your melons before fall frosts kill the plants.

In warmer climates, you can sow seeds directly outdoors as soon as all danger of frost has passed.

In somewhere like Florida, plant as early as February or March. Those in Zones 9, 10, and 11 can even sow seeds in the fall for a winter crop.

Most cantaloupe cultivars take between 65-90 days from germination to reach maturity, so let that be your guide.

To sow in seed trays, add a good quality potting mix to each cell and then use your finger to make a 1/2-inch-deep hole in each one.

Add two to three seeds per hole, and make sure you place the pointy end of the seeds down.

The roots emerge from the point, and while they may still germinate if you place them rounded-side-down, the seedling will have to work that much harder to figure out which way is up and which is down.

Trust me on this one. Embarrassingly, I learned this lesson the hard way.

Tamp the soil back over the seed and give it a nice misting with a spray bottle or a gentle watering with a watering can.

If your seed trays come with a lid, that’s helpful as it helps to trap in moisture, resulting in the perfect humidity for germination.

You can also use a layer of plastic wrap to achieve a similar effect, but be sure to remove it as soon as seeds germinate.

Germination usually takes about a week, sometimes longer if soil conditions aren’t quite at 70°F. You can use heat mat to ensure the soil stays at a consistent 70°F – the ideal temperature for germination.

Make sure to keep that spray bottle nearby – cantaloupe seedlings need constant moisture in the early days.

A few days after germination, thin to one seedling per cell, keeping the one that looks the strongest.

Keep your seed trays near a sunny window or place them under a grow light.

Once they’ve got two or three sets of true leaves, you’ll need to harden them off for 7-10 days before transplanting outdoors.

A quick note: sometimes the seed casings won’t come off the seedling immediately it pushes out of the earth, especially if you accidentally plant the seedlings the wrong way up.

If these casings don’t fall off within a couple days, gently tug them off with your fingers. Leaving them on can inhibit the plant’s growth.

Those of you living in warmer climates can direct sow outdoors in full sun as soon as the danger of frost has passed.

To sow outdoors, plant three seeds in 1/2-inch-deep holes,  18-24 inches apart. Keep them evenly moist until germination.

Once seedlings have two sets of true leaves, thin them so that there’s only one plant every 18-24 inches.

How to Grow

Cantaloupes grow best in organically rich, well-draining soil, with a mildly acidic pH of 6.0-6.5. You can conduct a soil test and amend accordingly.

While cantaloupes love warmth, they don’t love too much of it. If the temperatures rise above 95-100°F or so for several days in a row, your plant might get cranky and let its flowers fall.

To help keep the plant happy during heat waves, mulch with straw or other light-colored material to keep the roots cool.

As for those of us in colder climes, we’ll need to do everything in our power to keep our melons warm.

First, avoid setting plants out until the soil temperature is a reliable 70°F. Using raised beds for cantaloupes helps, because the soil in raised beds and containers often thaws earlier than the ground.

Another important step? Mulch with black landscaping fabric, or dark-colored bark chips. Only use dark mulch in colder growing zones, though, or the plants may overheat.

For extra warmth, you can insert hoops and floating row covers over your garden to act as a greenhouse during the early days of growth.

You’ll want to remove the cover as soon as outdoor temperatures remain above 50°F at night, especially as your cantaloupe begins to flower – usually about 30-40 days after germination.

The row covers can keep out bees and other pollinators needed to make that delicious fruit.

Another important component of a happy cantaloupe is to keep it well watered, especially in the growing and flowering stages.

During this stage of its growth, it’ll need 1-2 inches of water per week. Avoid watering from above to prevent the leaves getting wet and potentially spreading disease.

To check soil moisture, stick your finger an inch down into the soil. If it feels dry, it’s time to add water.

But once the vines have set fruit, it’s time to scale back the watering a bit to just 1 inch per week.

As the melons get closer to maturation, provide just 1/2 an inch of water a week. Too much water at this point can cause the rinds to swell and split.

Cantaloupe vines spread wide and thick, so if you’ve got limited space, use a plant support to encourage them to grow upwards.

A tomato cage can work, as can a trellis, a simple tent made of four bamboo poles tied together at the top, or a vertical growing frame like this one from the Home Depot.

Like strawberries, melons send out runners.

To grow large melons, trim each plant at the leaf node just past the one bearing the fruit and consider only keeping two to three fruits on each plant.

The plant will then put all of its energy into growing those fruits to a nice, large size.

But if you don’t mind smaller melons and want a fuller crop, you can let the vines grow as they will and only trim them back if they are spilling over the edge of your raised bed or encroaching on other plants.

As frosty fall weather approaches and your melons begin ripening, pinch off any new flowers to allow the energy to focus on ripening existing fruit.

Growing Tips

• Make sure to plant in organically rich soil
• Keep melons warm in cold weather and help them stay cool if temps rise above 95°F-100°F.
• Provide 1-2 inches of water per week until fruit appears, and then scale it back to 1 inch and then 1/2 inch about a week before harvest.
• Trim to just 2-3 melons per plant for large fruit or not at all for lots of smaller fruits.

Managing Pests and Disease

Cantaloupe isn’t terribly susceptible to pests and disease, but there are a few different critters and maladies to watch out for.

Let’s take a look.

Insects

Which bugs bother cantaloupes the most? These four pesky creatures.

Aphids

Because of course.

What leafy thing is immune from this persistent pest? Not just any aphids love this melon, though: peach aphids (Myzus persicae), which are green to yellowish-brown, and melon aphids (Aphis gossypii), which are creamy white.

While small, they’re easily visible on leaves upon close inspection. Aphids suck the sap out of the leaves, causing them to turn yellow or stop growing. They also contribute to the spread of mosaic virus.

If your outbreak is limited to a few sturdy vines, you can hose the bugs off with water and sprinkle diatomaceous earth atop the fallen pests, and on the soil around your plants.

Alternatively, spray the plant with neem oil or insecticidal soap – or make your cantaloupe patch a happy home for ladybugs, a beneficial insect that eats aphids.

Cucumber Beetles

These rather beautiful beetles come in three pertinent forms: the Western striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vittata), the Western spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), and the banded cucumber beetle (Diabrotica balteata).

These brightly colored bugs can damage vines and leaves and contribute to bacterial rot. They also munch on the fruit and leave behind ugly scars.

The best way to manage them is to apply kaolin clay or neem oil to the affected areas (and catch them early before they spread!).

Cutworms

These plump, segmented, brown worms (I’m shuddering as I write this) can kill cantaloupe seedlings and eat holes through the melons. Not cool!

Cutworms, Peridroma saucia, are most active at night, and in the daytime these 1-2-inch beasties curl up and hide in the soil at the base of the plant. They know they’re not welcome.

To control them, hand-pick them off your plants at night (fun, fun!) or spread diatomaceous earth all around the base of the plant.

You can also try spraying neem oil or insecticidal soap on the affected areas.

Read more about cutworm control in our guide.

Squash Bug

The most dreaded pest to melon-growers around the world, the squash bug (Anasa trisis) feeds on the leaves, turning them speckled and brown, and causes vines to wilt and even die. It also kills otherwise healthy, ripening fruit.

Nymphs are greenish with black legs; adults are gray-black-brownish.

Diatomaceous earth can help kill or slow the spread of these devastating bugs, but some determined gardeners actually use a wet-dry vacuum to suck them off the vines, leaves, and fruits.

Cantaloupes grown on a fence or trellis can sometimes escape infestation, so that’s something to consider.

Find more tips on combating squash bugs here.

Disease

Check your plants daily to make sure they aren’t developing symptoms of any of these five common cantaloupe maladies.

Alternaria Leaf Blight

If you live in a hot, humid, rainy area, watch out for Alternaria leaf blight caused by Alternaria cucumerina. This fungal infection begins as small yellow-brown spots on the oldest leaves and spreads to new growth.

It can also infect the fruit, causing it to crack.

To prevent this unpleasant fungus, avoid overhead watering and consider covering your crops with rainproof tarp if wet conditions last longer than a couple days. Use fungicide on affected plants.

Downy Mildew

This pesky fungal disease is caused by Pseudoperonospora cubensis. Brown spots appear on leaves, eventually killing them.

Avoid overhead irrigation and treat with fungicide when needed.

Fusarium Wilt

Fusarium wilt is caused by a soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, that will cause the runners to turn yellow and wilt and weakens the overall health of the plant.

To avoid it, rotate all Cucurbitaceae crops every four years and keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. If needed, apply fungicide.

Mosaic Viruses

One of the main reasons to keep aphids out of your garden is that they spread mosaic virus. The types that damage cantaloupe are: cucumber mosaic, squash mosaic, watermelon mosaic, and zucchini yellow mosaic.

These viruses cause a yellow pattern on leaves, killing them, and can even stunt and deform fruit. Buying mosaic-resistant seeds is ideal if these viruses are a known problem in your area. They spread very quickly, devastating entire crops, and there’s little to be done once that happens.

Powdery Mildew

This common disease, powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera xanthii, promotes the spread of white fungus all over your leaves.

While it rarely kills plants, it looks unsightly and can alter the flavor of the fruit because it doesn’t allow it to ripen fully.

To prevent powdery mildew, make sure you sanitize your gardening tools before using them to plant melons.

Also, make sure to allow for air circulation if you’re growing them in a partially enclosed space, like under floating row covers.

Harvesting

There are three main things to look for when you’re thinking about harvesting your hard-won melons.

First, watch the color. Is it turning from white to a peachy-gold, yellow, or cream color? If so, it’s probably ready for harvest.

Second, get up close and personal to the melon and take a sniff where the vine meets the fruit. Does it smell sweet? If so, it’s picking time!

And third, while you’re sniffing away, check the attachment between the stem and the melon.

If you see a slight gap where the melon is beginning to pull away from the vine, this is a good indicator that you can grasp it with both hands and gently tug.

A ripe melon will come away with ease.

Once harvested, take your melon indoors and out of the sun to prevent water loss and over-ripening.

Read our full guide on cantaloupe harvesting here.

Preserving

Let’s be real: cantaloupes are best enjoyed fresh off the vine. After you thoroughly scrub the rind with soap and warm water to remove bacteria, which can contaminate the flesh when you cut into it.

To do this, take a clean vegetable brush and clean the whole of the outside of the melon under running water. Before slicing, dry with paper towels to remove excess water.

You can store unwashed, uncut melons in the refrigerator for up to one week, and seal cut melon in a plastic bag and store for three days.

The other option is to cut the cantaloupe into cubes or balls, layer it on wax paper and freeze.

After two to three hours, put the cubes in resealable containers or bags and keep them in the freezer.

Use cubes while still frosty, whether you toss them into a smoothie or eat them fresh out of the freezer like a little dollop of ice cream.

Try sprinkling sugar on the cubes before freezing for an extra-sweet treat. Use your frozen cantaloupe within one month for best results.

As for any other methods of preservation, those are pretty much nonexistent.

According to Tracy L. Parnell, Trevor Suslow, and Linda J. Harris, food scientists at the University of California, it’s unsafe to can the melon due to a high risk of botulism, and unpleasant to attempt to dry it.

Recipes and Cooking Ideas

For tips on how to properly cut cantaloupe, check out this article from our sister site, Foodal. It’ll tell you everything you need to know!

You can add fresh or frozen cantaloupe to smoothies or eat it as is. Combine with other fruits for a tasty salad, or eat it fresh with a touch of mint.

And remember those frozen cubes of cantaloupe? Try making this watermelon daiquiri recipe, also from Foodal, but use cantaloupe instead of watermelon.

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Plant Type:	Annual	Water Needs:	Moderate
Native to:	Middle East, Europe	Maintenance:	Moderate to high
Hardiness (USDA Zone):	4-11	Soil Type:	Organically rich
Season:	Spring, summer, fall (depending on region)	Soil pH:	6.0-6.5
Exposure:	Full sun	Soil Drainage:	Well-draining
Time to Maturity:	65-90 days	Companion Planting:	Marigold, oregano, pumpkin
Spacing:	2-3 feet	Avoid Planting With:	Beans, cucumber, potatoes
Planting Depth:	Seeds: 1/2 inch	Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Height:	12-18 inches	Genus:	Cucumis
Spread:	3-6 feet	Species::	melo
Common Pests:	Aphids, cucumber beetle, cutworms, squash bug	Common Disease:	Alternaria leaf blight, downy mildew, fusarium wilt, mosaic viruses, powdery mildew

Suited to USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 7, tulips thrive in full sun with average, well-draining soil.

In these Zones, bulbs enter dormancy at season’s end and bloom again the following spring, unless they succumb to the following:

• Foraging rodents
• Frost heaving
• Oversaturation

During the winter months, when food is scarce, burrowing rodents may feed on bulbs, entirely consuming them or leaving them irreparably damaged.

And although bulbs can withstand winter’s chill, when the ground freezes and thaws, they can heave up out of the earth and die from exposure to cold, moisture, and wind.

In addition, bulbs may rot from pooling snowmelt, and poorly drained moisture in the summer garden.

Avoiding these perils is one way to give your tulips a head start on a beautiful encore performance.

In our guides to selecting, growing, and caring for tulips, you’ll find all you need to know to cultivate these iconic spring flowers in your outdoor living space.

This article discusses the process of lifting, curing, and storing bulbs to avoid the potential pitfalls of off-season time underground. It is an optional aspect of tulip maintenance.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Let’s get ready to lift!

Deadheading Spent Blooms

When flowers finish blooming, begin to fade, and drop petals, it’s time to deadhead or remove entire blossom-bearing stems.

Use clean pruners to sever the stems near their points of origin without damaging the surrounding foliage. Angle the cuts downwards to facilitate water runoff.

By removing these finished stems, you prevent the setting of seed pods and redirect energy back to the bulbs where it is stored for next year’s flowers.

When to Lift

Post-bloom, the leaves remain lush and green. Please resist the temptation to cut them down and tidy up the garden.

The foliage is necessary for photosynthesis and contributes to the stored energy needed for a repeat bloom next spring.

When summer begins to heat up, the leaves turn yellow and then brown. Once there’s no more green, it’s time to lift or dig up the bulbs.

Here’s how:

Use a pointed-tip garden shovel to dig down eight to 10 inches around individual bulbs or clumps.

Work your way around and beneath them before gently unearthing them. Do your best to avoid tearing the protective papery sheaths.

Once lifted, discard blemished, brittle, discolored, malodorous, or soft ones. Use clean pruning shears to remove the remaining foliage and roots, and brush off the excess soil.

If you have conjoined bulbs, you can divide them at this time. The next step is curing.

How to Cure

Once lifted, pruned, brushed clean, and divided as desired, it’s time to let the bulbs cure, a simple process of spreading them out in a single layer to dry completely before storage.

You can use ventilated plastic bins or boxes lined with newspaper to absorb excess moisture. Place the containers in a well-ventilated, dry location away from direct sunlight.

Over the next two to three days, excess moisture will evaporate. If the weather is exceptionally wet, allow extra time to dry before storing.

Off-Season Storage

Once dry, store the bulbs in mesh produce bags. Insert bits of newspaper between them to prevent touching and inhibit moisture buildup.

Tag the bags to identify the contents and suspend them from hooks in a cool cellar, garage, or shed with dim light and low humidity.

The temperature should dip to 40 to 50°F for at least 12 weeks to mimic winter’s chill and induce spring blossoming.

You may read about storing bulbs in the refrigerator, but the ever-present moisture and ethylene gasses produced by some fruits and vegetables make this a poor choice likely to result in rotting.

Highly prized as an ornamental, L. nobilis is often trimmed into topiary shapes, and the trunks can be trained into braids and spirals.

They also do very well in containers, making a handsome specimen for the patio, or simply to keep nearby as a kitchen herb.

And their beautiful glossy leaves make a handsome, long-lasting addition to bouquets of cut flowers and seasonal arrangements like Christmas wreaths and swags.

Here’s what we’re looking at in this article:

The Crown of Victory

Steeped in history and myth, wreaths of L. nobilis have been used to symbolize victory, personal achievement, and social status since antiquity.

As far back as 776 BC, ancient Greeks used the leaves to crown the victors of athletic competitions, the precursors of the modern Olympic games.

This idea carried into the Roman era, when emperors wore a wreath like a crown to denote their divine lineage.

And during the Renaissance, after doctors completed their final examinations, they were adorned with berries and branches of bay – from which we get the word “baccalaureate.”

Care and Cultivation

Sweet bay is hardy to Zone 8, enjoys a full-sun location, and should be planted in spring while still semi-dormant.

Use a soil richly amended with organic compost or well-rotted manure, adding extra grit to improve drainage and plant stability. Use a ratio of one part sand or extra-fine crushed gravel to six parts enriched soil.

For container growth, ensure plenty of drainage material is laid down before planting. Water moderately and avoid soggy roots, which can cause permanent damage.

Repot every two to three years, gently trimming away approximately one-third of the roots and removing the top two inches of soil. Replant in a fresh mix of amended soil and replace the top layer with mature compost.

If your region has regular freeze cycles, protect the roots by wrapping the container with bubble wrap until spring.

Fertilize containers every two weeks from spring until August using an all-purpose fertilizer, or monthly for in-ground plants.

For large specimens, provide protection from high winds, which can cause weak limbs to break.

And in areas with harsh winters, plant in containers and bring indoors to a bright, cool room or tuck into a sheltered spot, covering with burlap to protect from prolonged freezing temperatures.

Pruning and Training

Pruning requirements depend on whether your bay has been trained as a topiary, grown as a shrub, or allowed to mature into a full-sized tree.

For all sizes, prune out any dead and damaged leaves or branches in the spring. Mature, full-grown trees can be pruned hard, but re-growth is slow – carry out hard pruning over two or three years to maintain some greenery while the new growth forms.

For those you’d like to maintain as more manageable shrubs, cut back to lower leaves or buds as desired, and trim away any low-trunk branches and suckers.

Topiary-trained specimens are trimmed in the summer to promote dense growth. Prune the current year’s growth back to leaf nodes that face in the direction of desired growth, maintaining balance and a harmonious shape.

With regular clipping and training when the tree is young, the dark green foliage and stems can be sculpted into a variety of formal shapes to make an excellent patio or garden accent.

Propagation

Bay can be propagated in a few ways:

In fall, collect the seed-bearing drupes and remove the fleshy outer cases. Sow into small containers of light, loamy soil and place in a sheltered location or a cold frame until the second spring, when they can be planted out.

Read more about growing bay trees from seed here.

Softwood cuttings can be taken in late spring or early summer, as can semi-ripe cuttings in late summer. Sow and shelter as for seeds, planting out in their second year. Read more about propagation via cuttings.

Bay laurels can also be easily transplanted should you wish to start your plants in a container or move them.

Plant Facts

• Protects nearby plants from moths and unfriendly insects.
• Dried leaves can be placed in canisters of rice or other grains to repel bugs.
• Leaves can be used to produce a light green dye.
• Wood can be added to grills and smokers for a sweet, smoky flavor.

In the Kitchen

An essential ingredient in a traditional bouquet garni herb mixture, bay leaves are a well-known kitchen ingredient. Leaves can be used dried, fresh, or frozen to season fish, meat, poultry, sauces, soups, stews, grains, and roasted vegetables.

Dried, they’re best suited for use in slow-cooked dishes. Fresh or frozen, they can be used to add subtle flavor to cretons, fish, pates, poaching liquids, risottos, and sausages.

Leaves can be harvested at any time throughout the year, but the flavor will be best in summer – and large, mature leaves have more flavor and fragrance than tender new growth.

Pests and Problems

Hardy and easy to care for, bay laurel is largely disease and pest-free, with only a few easily remedied problems.

Leaf spot is most often caused by overwatering and allowing the roots to sit in water.

Ensure containers have a thick layer of drainage material at the bottom of the pot, and enough drainage holes for excess water to easily flow through.

In the ground, improve drainage by amending the soil with sand or extra-fine crushed rock.

If spots persist despite good drainage, chances are the soil has become depleted of nutrients. Repot in the spring using plenty of rich, organic compost.

Yellow leaves occur in small numbers each year as new growth occurs, and are shed naturally.

Yellowing can also occur in containers,and the problem is usually caused by a nutrient deficiency, root damage caused by soggy soil, or cold weather damage.

Apply a general-purpose fertilizer to containers every two weeks until August to improve nutrient content of the soil, always ensure they have adequate drainage, and prune damaged wood in spring.

By Guest Author Anna Ohler

Elderberries are a popular and versatile fruit that can be used for making jams, syrups, and wine, among other things. They also have a number of health benefits, making them a great addition to any garden. If you are interested in growing your own elderberries, there are a few simple steps to follow to get started.

Step 1: Choose the Right Variety of Elderberry for your region

Before you start planting, it is important to choose the right variety of elderberry bush for your climate and soil type. There are several different varieties of elderberry bushes, including the American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), the European elderberry (Sambucus nigra), and the blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea).

The American elderberry is native to North America and is well-suited to moist, fertile soils. The European elderberry is native to Europe and is more tolerant of drier soils. The blue elderberry is native to the western United States and is a good choice for hot, dry climates.

Step 2: Choose a sunny location

Once you have chosen the right variety of elderberry bush, you need to choose the right location for planting. Elderberry bushes prefer a sunny location with well-drained soil. They also require adequate spacing, as they can grow quite large.

When choosing a location for planting, consider the size of the mature plant (up to 30 feet depending on the variety) and make sure there is enough room for it to grow. Also, consider the proximity to other plants or structures, as elderberry bushes can attract a variety of wildlife, including birds.

Step 3: Prepare the Soil

Elderberry bushes prefer a soil pH of between 5.5 and 6.5. If your soil is too alkaline or too acidic, you may need to amend it before planting.

To amend the soil, start by testing the pH. You can do this using a pH test kit, which can be purchased at most garden centers. If the pH is too high (alkaline), you can lower it by adding elemental sulfur or organic matter such as peat moss. If the pH is too low (acidic), you can raise it by adding agricultural lime.

Once you have adjusted the pH, add organic matter to the soil. This will improve soil structure and fertility. You can add compost, well-rotted manure, or other organic matter to the soil. Work it into the soil to a depth of at least 12 inches before planting.

Step 4: Plant the Elderberry Bush

When planting an elderberry bush, it is important to plant it at the right depth. The planting hole should be deep enough and wide enough to accommodate the roots of the plant and the soil should be firm around the plant to prevent air pockets from forming.

To plant the elderberry bush, dig a hole that is as deep as the root ball and twice as wide. Make sure the hole is deep enough to accommodate the entire root ball. Gently loosen the roots of the plant before placing it in the hole. Root washing is recommended before planting any perennial.

Position the plant in the hole so that the crown is level with the surface of the soil. Fill in the hole with soil and press down firmly around the plant with your hands to remove any air pockets.

Step 5: Water and Mulch

After planting the elderberry bush, water it thoroughly to help settle the soil around the roots. Continue to water the plant regularly throughout the first season, especially during hot, dry periods. Make sure the soil remains moist but not waterlogged.

To conserve moisture and control weeds, apply a layer of mulch around the base of the plant annually. This will also help to regulate soil temperature and prevent soil erosion. Apply a layer of organic mulch such as straw, wood chips, or shredded leaves.

Step 6: Regularly prune your elderberry

Pruning is an important part of maintaining a healthy and productive elderberry plant. Elderberries should be pruned in late winter or early spring while the plant is dormant.

Start pruning by removing any dead or damaged branches, cutting them back to the base of the plant. Next, remove any weak or crossing branches to promote better air circulation and light penetration. Finally, prune back the remaining branches to a height of 3-5 feet, leaving 3-5 buds on each branch. This will encourage the plant to produce new growth and increase fruit production in the coming year.

Buy on Amazon: Pruning equipment

When Will A New Elderberry Plant Produce Berries?

Elderberry plants typically take 2-3 years to become established and produce their first crop of fruit. However, the exact timeline for fruit production can vary depending on several factors, including the age of the plant when it was initially planted, the growing conditions, and the variety of elderberry.

In general, elderberry plants that are grown from cuttings or purchased as young plants may take longer to produce fruit than those that are grown from root divisions. Additionally, elderberries that are grown in favorable conditions, such as full sun and fertile, well-draining soil, are more likely to produce fruit earlier than those grown in less optimal conditions.

How Do You Harvest Elderberries?

Harvesting elderberries requires some patience, as the fruit ripens over a period of several weeks. Here are the steps to follow when harvesting elderberries:

1. Monitor the Berries: Keep an eye on the elderberry bush as the fruit begins to ripen. The berries will turn from green to a deep purple-black color when they are fully ripe.
2. Harvest at the Right Time: Wait until the majority of the berries on the bush have turned dark purple before beginning to harvest. This will ensure that the fruit is at its peak ripeness and flavor.
3. Use the Right Tools: Wear gloves and use a pair of scissors or pruning shears to harvest the fruit. Be careful not to damage the branches or leave too much stem on the fruit.
4. Harvest the Fruit: Harvest the elderberries by cutting off the entire cluster of fruit at the base of the stem. Be sure to leave some clusters of berries on the bush to allow for further ripening.
5. Clean and Store the Berries: Rinse the berries thoroughly with cold water and remove any stems or leaves that may have been left on the fruit. Elderberries can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or frozen for longer storage.

If you’re looking to expand your fruit garden with something new, elderberries are a great choice. These plants are relatively easy to grow and a mature elderberry plant can produce large yields of fruit for up to 10 years or more. Growing elderberries can be a rewarding experience for those interested in adding a unique and nutritious fruit to their home garden.

Sources: USDA: Plant of the week, American Black Elderberry, Missouri Dept of Conservation: Common Elderberry, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sambucus Nigra ssp. Canadensis

Guest Author Bio: Anna Ohler is an avid plant hobbyist and owner/operator of Bright Lane Gardens, a boutique plant nursery in Northern Michigan. With over a decade of experience in gardening and landscaping, she takes every opportunity to share her knowledge on all things plant related. With a keen focus on integrating home landscaping into our natural ecosystems, Anna is dedicated to growing her knowledge of native plants and organic growing methods. 

For The Man of Steel and vampires, preventing harm is as simple as avoiding exposure.

But save for the occasional transplanting, species of dogwood are stuck in place, and escape from disease is not an option.

While these plants aren’t completely helpless – they can launch immune responses to pathogens – it’s up to us gardeners to keep our dogwoods as healthy as possible.

But how? How can a green thumb treat a diseased dogwood? And how can one keep these diseases from striking in the first place?

All these questions and more are answered in this guide. Upon reading it, you’ll be more than ready to maintain the health and vibrant appearance of your dogwoods for the long haul.

Let’s get to it:

Each of the following diseases come with their own causal pathogens, symptoms, and management techniques.

But there are definitely some general practices that’ll help keep your dogwoods healthy, no matter the particular disease that they face.

Choose only healthy seeds, cuttings, and transplants for use in your garden. Be sure to use disease-free soils, and always sterilize your tools before making any pruning cuts.

But the above tips won’t make much of a difference if your plants aren’t well cared for, or if they aren’t placed in the correct spot to begin with.

Ensure that your dogwoods are given the proper exposure, soil, irrigation, and fertilization, situated in hardiness zones that they’re suited for.

All of this, of course, depends on the species that you’re cultivating.

1. Armillaria Root Rot

Dogwood diseases come in many different forms, and Armillaria root rot, caused by fungi in the Armillaria genus, is a particularly nasty one.

After the onset of infection, disease symptoms manifest themselves all over the plant. Afflicted leaves turn yellow, are smaller than normal, and prematurely drop.

Branches die back, light fungal threads lie beneath the crown’s bark, dark fungal strands lie on or in the soil, and honey-hued mushrooms grow near the tree’s base in autumn.

There’s no known cure, and after the tree inevitably declines and ultimately dies, you’ll eventually have to remove and destroy the infected specimen.

And since the fungal pathogens can persist in the soil for years, you won’t be able to use the same growing site for a good long while, at least not until you sanitize or solarize it.

Prevention is best achieved by not doing certain things. Don’t place dogwoods in poorly-draining soil, irrigate excessively, or damage the trees.

And since this pathogen is often found in newly-cleared soils, avoiding planting in said soils for at least a year is often recommended.

2. Botrytis Blight

Caused by various fungal species within the Botrytis genus, Botrytis blight afflicts dogwoods and an assortment of species from other genera, such as begonias, chrysanthemums, and tulips.

Overwintering in dead plant debris, the causal fungi form spores in springtime, which spread via air currents and/or splashed water onto flower bracts and leaves.

Any infected structures are left with brown, wrinkled, and irregularly-shaped patches of tissue. In wet and humid bouts of cool weather, gray mold can form over these patches, hence the disease’s nickname “gray mold.”

As you can imagine, these problems lead to abnormal growth and development of the afflicted structures, and old flowers are prone to rotting rapidly.

Since warm, dry weather halts the disease before it can turn serious, any infection will most likely be a temporary cosmetic issue.

For prevention, rake up and dispose of nearby plant detritus, which will eliminate the fungi’s overwintering sites. Prune away infected tissues to slow further spread.

To allow for ample moisture-drying airflow, properly space out plants and prune within the canopy.

Avoid splashing the flowers and foliage with water to prevent excess moisture, and don’t over-fertilize with nitrogen, which can stimulate the growth of tender, vulnerable tissues.

For additional prevention, apply fungicides every 10 days during susceptible periods in spring. Copper, sulfur, and Captan are all fine choices.

3. Crown Canker

The trademark symptom of this disease is in the name: a discolored, oozing canker at the tree’s crown near the soil line.

In time, the canker becomes more and more sunken and exposed as the bark falls away, and can girdle the trunk or root crown. Eventually, the tree can weaken, become susceptible to other pathogens, and even perish.

But before all that occurs, you’ll probably notice diminished vigor and reduced foliage – both in size and in number.

Additional leaf symptoms include a lighter-than-normal hue, premature drop and color change, and overall distortion.

An infected tree may even produce more flowers than usual, which is an unusual way to respond to infection. Twigs and branches can also die back.

The causal pathogen, Phytophthora cactorum, overwinters in plant debris, spreads via wind or water, and typically enters the tree via trunk wounds, but it can also enter the root system.

For prevention, avoid wounding the trunk during transplanting and lawn care, as the smallest of vulnerabilities can lead to total demise, Death Star-style.

Similarly to Botrytis blight, you shouldn’t splash the leaves and flowers with water or leave plant debris nearby.

If your hands are steady and you have a sharp blade, feel free to remove small cankers from the trunk during periods of dry weather in summer.

To do so, remove all the diseased bark and sapwood you can, as well as two additional inches of healthy tissue as insurance. After the surgery, leave the area exposed to dry air.

If an infection spreads throughout the majority of the tree, you should excavate and pitch it.

4. Discula Anthracnose

Portobello mushrooms, hallucinogenic ‘shrooms, the red and green mushrooms from “Super Mario Bros.,” – there are plenty of famous fungi out there.

To take a closer look at a rather infamous one, let’s turn our attention to the Discula destructiva fungus.

Discula anthracnose, or dogwood anthracnose, both names for the sickness caused by this fungus, is arguably the most dangerous disease for a dogwood.

After its arrival in the US from parts unknown, the disease has significantly harmed and reduced native dogwood populations across the country, so it definitely warrants being taken seriously.

After trees leaf out in late spring, spots first form on infected leaves and flower bracts on lower branches before moving up the canopy.

These spots are tan to brown, with brown to reddish-purple margins, and are typically followed by sunken brown cankers as the disease spreads into the tree’s woody tissues.

Said cankers can girdle twigs, branches, and the trunk, all of which ultimately kills the tree in most cases.

The disease spreads via spores produced within the leaf spots that are dispersed by insects, birds, or splashes of water. Moving infected specimens into new landscapes can also lead to spread.

Preventing Discula anthracnose requires a multi-pronged approach.

Avoid shade and excess moisture by planting trees in sunny locations avoiding splashing the foliage and flowers.

Rake up fallen plant debris, and prune away water sprouts, which are prone to infection.

Any infected tissues should be pruned away as you happen to notice them. Burn them to prevent further spread, or dispose of them in the trash.

Regardless of the causal pathogen, the disease symptoms are pretty similar: the leaf spots are a quarter to an eighth of an inch in diameter, with sharp and irregularly-shaped borders.

Cercospora spots are tan to brown, while Septoria spots are a dark brownish-purple that later lightens or turns gray.

Severely infected leaves can drop prematurely, and multiple seasons of leaf spot can weaken trees, leaving them susceptible to other issues.

As the fungi overwinter in fallen leaves, these should be raked up and disposed of.

Applying fungicides preventatively at bud break can be helpful, especially if your tree is particularly at risk or already infected with fungal leaf spot.

6. Powdery Mildew

Caused by Erysiphe pulchra or Phyllactinia guttata, powdery mildew is a fungal disease that leaves foliage and tender new growth coated with a fine white powder.

It typically occurs during summer and fall in spots where air circulation is poor.

Secondary symptoms include chlorosis, reddish discoloration, marginal leaf scorch, premature defoliation, and patches of dead tissue.

If powdery mildew strikes in late summer, the impact is usually minimal.

The potential for early-season infections in specimens that you’re fond of can justify the use of fungicides, but your first step should be raking up nearby leaf and twig debris.

Additionally, prune away dead or infected tissues as you notice them.

For powdery mildew-resistant plantings, try specimens from the aforementioned Stellar series, along with kousa dogwood cultivars such as ‘Milky Way,’ ‘Milky Way Select,’ and ‘National.’

Durable flowering dogwood cultivars include ‘Appalachian Joy,’ ‘Appalachian Blush,’ ‘Appalachian Snow,’ and ‘Appalachian Mist.’

7. Spot Anthracnose

As if one type of anthracnose wasn’t bad enough…

Elsinoe corni is the fungus to blame for this one. Surviving for years on infected tissues, the pathogen primarily strikes in wet spring conditions, leaving flower bracts, leaves, and fruits with tan spots ringed with reddish-purple.

In severe infections, afflicted structures can become wrinkled and warped, and the small spots an eighth of an inch in diameter merge into larger spots.

To manage this disease, prune infected tissues and rake up fallen plant debris. You can’t control the weather to make conditions less moist, but you can improve inter-canopy airflow via pruning.

This was the flower for me, I remarked as I crushed the oils from the flower petals between my fingers and savored the smell that lingered.

Imagine my joy when I learned that these were chamomile flowers, my favorite tea! I was enthralled and began my journey growing this delightful herb and flower.

You’ll find helpful information below about growing and harvesting this dandy flower, mostly what I’ve learned and a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way. And of course, there will be that delightful delve into the history of chamomile and its use around the world.

If you have it in the cupboard, now’s the time to heat up a cup of tea with a spoonful of honey!

Historical Cultivation and Use

Commonly known as pinhead, scented mayweed, and (my personal favorite) babuna, the latin name for this delightful flower is Matricaria chamomilla, translating to “water of youth.” It’s a plant native to central and southern Europe, although it has spread far and wide around the globe.

It was used in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome as an herbal remedy for ailments ranging from hay fever to menstrual disorders, inflammation, insomnia, muscle spasms, gastrointestinal pain, and rheumatic pain.

More popularly, the dried and crushed flowers and leaves have been used to brew a relaxing tea, reputedly with the benefit of aiding a deep sleep and calming stomach pain. It is grown in huge volumes in modern-day Hungary, where the plant is typically exported to Germany for processing.

Varieties of Chamomile

It’s easy to confuse different types of aster with Matricaria chamomilla, but they are very different plants.

Although a variety of plants hang onto the coattails of the chamomile name, there are two true species that we’ll be examining today, German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile).

German

An annual plant that grows well in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 9, M. chamomilla is the plant of choice for those interested in tall-growing flowers.

This variety of scented mayweed is often cultivated for its essential oils, and the aromatic flowers that go into that teabag you’re hopefully enjoying while reading this.

It reaches about two feet in height and, although an annual, is an aggressive self-seeder – so much so that you might confuse it for a perennial!

The quality of light and temperature provided are more important than the state of the soil.

This is partly due to the nature of the roots of chamomile – they are shallow and just barely grip onto the top soil. That also makes M. chamomilla more sensitive to water conditions during the initial stages of growth when the plant is establishing itself.

Once it has taken root in your garden, this mayweed is drought tolerant. It typically prefers to receive about one inch of rain a week.

If you don’t have one, pick up a rain gauge so you can measure that free watering from ol’ Mother Nature, so your own hose and sprinkler may be used effectively only a supplement.

M. chamomilla can be tricky to understand. Although it will grow in almost any soil condition, it will become top-heavy and floppy if the soil is too poor. If your plant ends up leaning over like a sailor sick at sea, you can stake it up with bamboo stakes and garden twine.

Roman

Unlike its German cousin, the Roman variety C. nobile is a low-growing perennial.

It spreads via rhizome and will eagerly take control of a small area if left to its own devices. This is an ideal plant to use as a permanent ground cover or lawn replacement.

Although its flowers and leaves are suitable for harvest, the plant is typically grown instead for its benefits as a ground cover. It works very well as an accent plant in containers, or as an effective living mulch to minimize weed growth in between planted rows of vegetables.

If used as an actual ground cover, it can tolerate light foot traffic. It produces fewer blooms than the German variety, but has potential uses beyond what its tall-growing cousin provides.

All varieties, however, share a few traits in common.

Light Conditions, Companion Plants, and Soil Quality

They prefer full sun but will tolerate partial sun conditions. Babuna will not fare well when temperatures are above 100 degrees fahrenheit (who does?!), and all varieties will compliment certain plants in your garden.

Plant M. chamomilla next to onions, cabbage, and mint as companion plants. Both the upright German and low-growing Roman types act as effective ground covers to minimize the development of weeds; as an added bonus, it’s a ground cover that offers tasty flowers!

All varieties do well in containers because ideal planter conditions are so close to perfect conditions: well-drained soil that is regularly watered. The low-growing Roman acts well as an accent plant while the German variety is best put into a large container where it can spread out and grow freely.

The naturally strong scent of chamomile offers resistance to many insects, and that benefit is extended to other plants growing near it.

Pests and Other Problems

Although M. chamomilla is relatively carefree and tough, it attracts pests and suffers from diseases like any other plant.

However, as with most plant diseases and pests, proper care and attention to watering minimizes any of these potential headaches you could encounter.

Right off the bat, if you have an allergy to ragweed or chrysanthemums, it is important to note that you could also be sensitive to chamomile.

Powdery mildew is the most common problem with scented mayweed, but it is a concern only when the weather is hot and damp for prolonged periods of time. Aphids, thrips, and mealybugs can bother M. chamomilla as well, but the plant is generally pest and problem free.

It can even be processed and turned into an effective spray to aid your other garden plants. Make a batch of tea at triple or quadruple strength, allow it to steep overnight, and use it the next day as an herbicide and aid against mildew.

Harvesting and Herbal Tea

Ah, the long awaited feature on the best part of growing chamomile.

As noted above, the German variety of scented mayweed is more suitable for harvesting for tea. The leaves tend to be more bitter, so stick to the flowers for tea. You can simply pluck off the flower heads when you’re ready for them.

The ideal time to harvest is when the flower petals begin to curl downward, instead of growing out straight as they ordinarily do.

Although I’ve always allowed my flower heads to dry before using them in a tea, fresh flowers work as well. You will just need more of them.

If you’re drying the flower heads, separate them and arrange with some breathing room in between on a piece of cheesecloth or a mesh surface.

It’s important to store your harvest in a cool, dry place for about a week for it to dry out. I tried using a dehydrator once, and while it worked, I felt like the end product was less than desirable.

Find more tips on drying and storing herbs here.

When you’re making a cup of tea, you want to measure out two tablespoons of dried flowers per eight-ounce cup. If you are using fresh flowers, double that measurement and use four tablespoons of fresh flowers per eight-ounce cup.

Simply add the flowers into the water and allow it to steep for about five minutes, then pour the tea over a sieve to separate the flowers from the liquid.

You can adjust the strength of the tea by really cramming those flower heads in there for a stronger flavor, or by adding just a few if you want a milder taste.

Consider adding a sprig of mint or a spoonful of honey to modify the taste to your liking.

I’m usually not a big tea drinker, but I love chamomile tea. Part of that allure is because of the personal touches I like to add. Try adding a dash of cinnamon to your tea for a punchy flavor.

When contending with a cough and sore throat, try adding four ounces of lemon juice to four ounces of chamomile tea with a tablespoon of honey. That’ll soothe your sore throat, and it tastes pretty dang good!

The tea is beneficial for relieving the pain of an upset stomach, to relieve stress, and to get a better rest. (Gardening is excellent for stress relief as well!) After the liquid has cooled, you can apply unsweetened tea directly to irritated areas of your skin.

Although I’ve never used it for this purpose, you can even rinse your hair with unsweetened tea to bring a nice shine to those locks of yours. Simply brew the tea and strain it through your hair.

Let It Go Wild

One of the hidden benefits to growing M. chamomilla is watching that flower go wild.

It’s a vigorous and lively-looking plant that seems to exude measures of happiness and sunshine, even on a cloudy day.

It has found its place in many of my plantings, usually tucked away as a complement to wildflowers such as aster, rudbeckia, and soldago.

SPRING IS ALMOST HERE, even up north where I garden, and with it the combination of exhilaration and overwhelm that the combined gorgeous botanical unfolding and the extra-long to-do list bring. In the next semester of the Virtual Garden Club, an online series I co-host with Ken Druse, we’ll tackle the season’s most pressing subjects and help you stay ahead of the curve. Learn more about it Classes start again March 30 (and get the early bird discount by reserving a spot by midnight Sunday March 19).

Sure, there are several non-gardening examples that I could reference.

Exhibit A: a spider’s web (pound-for-pound, spider silk is stronger than steel).

Exhibit B: that one petite lady with a black belt at my Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym, who effortlessly ties everyone in knots during sparring sessions.

Species of Epimedium are similar in their deceptive toughness – the dainty flowers may be held high on skinny stems over lush foliage, but these plants are remarkably resistant to drought and heavy shade.

Plus, they don’t fall victim to the pests and pathogens that strike down less-resilient plants.

Barrenworts are also very adaptable, and they can easily grow in shallow soils. Plus, they’re positively gorgeous.

With this growing guide, you’ll learn everything you need to start growing these plants for yourself.

Here’s what we’ll go over:

What Is Barrenwort?

Also known as fairy wings or bishop’s hat, barrenworts are a group of herbaceous woodland perennials that belong to the Berberidaceae or barberry family.

The genus name Epimedium has its origin in the Greek epimedion, referring to an unknown Berberidaceae plant.

The common name “barrenwort” came from the belief that prolonged consumption of the roots causes infertility in women.

Hardy in USDA Zones 4 through 9, the Epimedium genus contains over 60 different recognized species. Most are native to eastern Asia – western China in particular – while the rest originate from the Mediterranean region.

Save for a handful of species, barrenwort leaves are compound, with each bearing three leathery leaflets. These are held on wiry stems.

Egg, heart, triangle, and/or elongated leaf shapes are exhibited in various species, as well as green-to-red leaf colors.

Depending on the species and the climate, barrenwort leaves may be evergreen, deciduous, or somewhere in between. In semi-evergreens, hues of red to maroon-purple are revealed in fall and winter.

Barrenwort blooms have four wispy petals, and these emerge anywhere from early spring to early summer.

The flowers sport yellow, pink, purple, red, or white colors – the outer stamens and inner petals are often two different shades of the same color. Each clump of four protruding stamens looks like a bishop’s hat, hence the nickname.

Pollinated blooms give way to seed pods resembling those of legumes, bursting with green seeds.

Similarly to bloodroot, each seed bears an attached elaiosome: a fatty, high-protein structure that encourages ants to take them back to their nest, thus disseminating the seeds far and wide.

Barrenworts spread via horizontal underground stems known as rhizomes.

Like most rhizomatous plants, barrenwort should be monitored to ensure that it doesn’t spread unchecked beyond its intended planting site.

But thanks to its slow growth rate, you won’t have to keep as much of an eye on it as you might with, say, a snake plant grown outdoors in the right conditions.

Cultivation and History

Besides its ornamental applications, barrenwort has been used historically by herbalists in China, Japan, and Korea as a treatment for impotence.

Yes, you read that correctly… flowers aren’t the only plants that might come in handy on date night.

According to legend, barrenwort’s potential as an aphrodisiac was discovered by a Chinese goat farmer.

After his goats consumed the plant’s foliage, the farmer noticed especially randy behavior among the herd. From this tall tale comes yet another nickname for Epimedium: yin yang huo, or horny goat weed.

Besides this rather stimulating potential side effect of barrenwort consumption, barrenwort has been used to treat joint pain and fatigue.

The plant has also been linked to improved cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and immunomodulatory function, as well as anti-tumor and anti-aging effects.

Despite these purported benefits, I still wouldn’t recommend foraging it from your garden as an herbal substitute for Cialis or Viagra.

Be sure to always consult with a professional before embarking on any new herbal supplement regimens.

After China established its “open door policy” in 1978, foreign botanists were permitted entry to the country, and many hybrids and species became introduced to the western world.

Today, barrenwort is beloved as a tough, adaptable planting for dry and/or shady spots in the garden.

Propagation

Propagating barrenwort is best done via seed, division, or transplanting.

From Seed

Seed propagation can be tricky, since these seeds need to be sown fresh as soon as they drop from their pods in order to have the best chance at germinating.

If you have mature plants available keep an eye on the developing seed pods.

Since cross-pollination between different nearby species of these plants is possible, you could end up with some interesting offspring as a result!

Prepare a planting area in partial shade with well-draining soil rich in organic matter.

After collecting the seeds, immediately sow them just below the surface of the soil. Space seeds a foot apart from each other, and keep the soil moist so that they don’t dry out.

The seeds will need to go through a period of cold stratification, remaining in the ground over the winter. Expect germination the following spring.

Continue to keep the soil around the seedlings moist as they grow, and they should flower in three to four years’ time!

Via Division

To ensure plant vigor, barrenworts should be divided once every three to four years. Division also serves as a pretty easy propagation method, and it can be done in early fall or early spring.

A day or two before you’re set to divide, water your barrenwort deeply. Make sure to remember where your plantings are, in case they don’t have foliage currently to indicate their location.

Come division time, dig up the plant and separate its root mass into two or more pieces, depending on the size and amount of divisions that you want.

You’ll probably need to use sharp and sterilized clippers on the tough woody crown to get you started, and then finish tearing apart the clump of rhizomes with your bare (or gloved) hands.

No need to aim for a certain amount of nodes or anything – it’s not a super precise process.

Once you have your divisions, they’re ready to go into the ground!

Via Transplanting

Whether it’s a potted specimen purchased from the nursery or a divided portion taken from an existing plant, transplanting barrenwort is pretty simple.

In your intended planting site, dig a hole about as deep and wide as the plant’s root system. A barrenwort’s roots don’t go down all that far, so the transplanting hole will be fairly shallow.

Lower the plant into the hole, backfill it with soil, and water it in. Transplants should become established in about a year. Be diligent about keeping the soil moist during this time.

How to Grow

Different species may not require identical growing conditions, but the following recommendations are a solid starting point for any barrenwort owner.

Climate and Exposure Needs

Collectively, plants in the Epimedium genus are hardy in Zones 4 to 9. The partial or dappled shade available in shade or woodland gardens makes for the perfect exposure.

If deep shade is all you have available, don’t worry – barrenwort can tolerate it.

Specimens grown in the more northern USDA Hardiness Zones within the acceptable range for these plants can handle greater amounts of sun, but they will need additional water to match their increased evapotranspiration rates.

Soil Needs

Perhaps surprisingly, ample fertility is essential for barrenworts to flourish. Additionally, the soil should drain well.

In general, barrenwort does well with a pH range of 5.0 to 7.0, but some species may tolerate pH values slightly outside of this range.

Water and Fertilizer Needs

Ideally, you should water whenever the soil surface feels dry to the touch.

Maintaining moist soil is optimal for these plants, but far from necessary.

Once established, barrenworts are quite drought-tolerant, but don’t use this as an excuse to treat these guys like succulents.

While scant irrigation may not kill them, it’ll further slow their already sluggish growth rate.

These plants are used to sitting in fertile growing sites, so amending their soil with a couple inches of compost each spring will provide the necessary organic material.

Growing Tips

• Partial shade is ideal, and full shade is tolerable.
• Make sure the soil is well-draining.
• Maintain soil moisture by watering whenever the surface dries out.

Pruning and Maintenance

After the flowers bloom, feel free to deadhead them if you don’t intend to harvest seed. Don’t forget to divide your barrenworts every three to four years!

Every year in mid- to late winter, deciduous barrenwort leaves should be cut down to the ground, while evergreen and semi-evergreen Epimedium foliage can be left alone.

This makes the emerging flowers more visible come spring and summer, and removes any insect-chewed or weather-beaten foliage.

As a way to prevent weed growth, conserve moisture, and increase the humus content of soil even more, add a couple inches of shredded leaf mulch to the soil surrounding your barrenwort each spring.

Species to Select

“Paralysis by analysis” can easily set in when you’re deciding on what kind of Epimedium to plant. These three species are fantastic gateway barrenworts to choose from.

Acuminatum

Also known as the acuminate barrenwort, E. acuminatum has narrow, dark green foliage with gently-pointed tips, heart-shaped bases, and spiny leaf margins.

Spidery, purple and white blooms hang down in clumps from spindly flower stems, and these look a lot like the grabber claws on an arcade game.

Native to the alpine woodlands of central and western China, this species forms attractive mounds of foliage in the landscape, with compound inflorescences that poke out from the leaves and stand tall. A definite beaut.

Grandiflorum

You’ll really “heart” the heart-shaped foliage of E. grandiflorum, which has spiny leaf margins and a medium green hue.

The leaves of E. wushanense definitely steal the show, but the flowers are nothing to sneeze at, either (unless you have seasonal allergies, perhaps).

Clumps of cream-colored flowers bloom on erect stems that poke through the mound of evergreen foliage. Dark green leaves and off-white blooms are truly a winning combo!

Managing Pests and Disease

Along with drought and shade, barrenwort is resistant to a fair amount of pests and health problems that may plague other plants, such as deer, rabbits, insects, and diseases.

Well… most insects and diseases, anyway.

Pests

Insects can often vector pathogens as they feed from plants, so preventing and managing infestations will definitely help you out on the disease front.

Slugs

These terrestrial, shell-less mollusks will leave irregularly-shaped, smooth-edged holes in leaves. Besides reducing aesthetics, the diminished foliage impacts photosynthesis, which stunts growth.

Effective slug management starts with prevention: eliminate potential shady spots where slugs can hide.

This may be tough in a shade garden or wooded area, but weeds, stones, and plant debris can be removed as needed.

The adults munch irregular notches from the leaf margins, while the grubs consume the roots. The foliar damage is pretty much a cosmetic issue, while root consumption can lead to plant wilting and death.

After the sun goes down, the adults can be tracked down with the assistance of a flashlight and removed by hand.

Because there is no known cure for mosaic virus, any infected plants should be removed and destroyed.

Since certain weeds can host the disease, it’s important to keep on top of your weeding practices.

Best Uses

Aside from its medicinal uses, barrenwort flaunts a stunning appearance. These species look their best when used as ground cover in a shade or woodland garden.

The shallowness of their root systems makes them quite adept at growing between the large roots of trees, as well as among other plantings as a sort of “living mulch.”

Additionally, the fibrous roots make the plant rather effective at controlling soil erosion.

The familiar pink and purplish-red pendulous flowers may be the most common, but you can find fuchsia with long, tube-like blossoms in a single color as well.

Flowers can be “single” with four petals, “semi-double” with five to seven petals, or “full-skirted” doubles with eight or more petals. They are available in a range of colors from soft pink, white, orange, maroon, lavender, and blue, to breathtaking bicolored varieties.

I’ve heard some people say that they don’t grow this eye-catching plant because it is fussy and temperamental, but I disagree!

Given the conditions it prefers, it will grow happily. Treated right, it will show off its luscious color for months at a time.

This plant isn’t just a pretty face, though. Those elegant, vibrant flowers are edible as well as decorative. As the blooms fade, small purple fruits form, some of which can be delicious.

Convinced you need to give fuchsia its due and add a plant or two to the garden? Great! Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:

By the time you’re finished reading, you’ll be the resident expert gardener, able to help all your neighbors to coax their own fuchsia to thrive.

What Is Fuchsia?

Fuchsia, pronounced “few-shuh,” is a genus of deciduous, perennial shrubs in the Onagraceae family.

There are over 100 species in the Fuchsia genus, and thousands of named cultivars and hybrids growing in gardens around the world. Most plants available from garden centers and nurseries will be hybrids.

Species may have one of two distinct growth habits: the trailing type that you often see in hanging baskets that are available each spring at your local garden center, and bushier, upright types that grow in the ground and are ideal for planting in containers. The latter may be trained into standards.

The upright varieties can reach mature heights of up to six feet, while dwarf varieties top out at two to three feet.

This eye-catching, vibrant plant is generally grown as a perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 7 to 10, depending on the variety, while hardy fuchsias, such as many hybrids and cultivars of F. magellanica, can thrive outdoors year-round in a slightly cooler range of growing zones, from 6 to 10.

Many people can’t resist having the plant around, even if they don’t live in the right climate for it to survive the winter. Growing it as an annual is an option, but containers can also be brought indoors to overwinter.

If you go this route, it’s easy to bring your potted plant inside for the winter and put it back out in the garden in the spring. No need to buy a new plant each year!

One look at the flowers and you can probably figure out why it’s sometimes called lady’s eardrops or angel’s earrings.

Throughout the summer, flowers bloom in a riot of shapes and colors, with vivid pink, deep purple, bright red, lavender-blue, peach, and delicate pink and white all making an appearance, depending on the type.

After blooming, 1/2-inch or slightly larger berries form. These turn black or dark blue when ripe.

And they aren’t just for show – these berries, believe it or not, are actually edible. They can taste like grapes, figs, or tart lemon, depending on the variety. Some have an intense peppery afterbite.

Don’t confuse plants of this genus with cape fuchsias (Phygelius spp.), several species of flowering evergreen shrub native to southern Africa. We’ll cover these in another article.

Cultivation and History

The majority of fuchsia plants are native to South America, with most of the types available for purchase today coming from Chile and Argentina.

There are a few native plants that grow in the wild in parts of South, Central, and North America extending as far north as Mexico.

There are also a few species native to New Zealand, including the world’s largest, F. excorticata, which grows as a tree, and the smallest, F. procumbens.

Charles Plumier, a French botanist, identified the first fuchsia plant while working as a missionary in the Dominican Republic in the late 1600s. He named it F. triphylla coccinea, after Leonard Fuchs, a German botanist born in the late 15th century who is known for his passionate study of plants.

In the 1700s, various species were identified in Brazil, New Zealand, and parts of Central and South America, and by the early 1800s these were making an appearance in European gardens.

Early discoveries, including F. coccinea, F. fulgens, and F. magellanica, gained rapid popularity in England and growers hybridized the plant, creating the first cultivated double flower.

Thanks to the hospitable climate, a number of Fuchsia species naturalized across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Propagation

Fuchsia doesn’t need too much encouragement to reproduce. Keep in mind that some methods of starting new plants are easier than others.

Seeds can take months to germinate.

Softwood cuttings are easy to root, and in some cases you can divide established plants.

Beginning with nursery starts or potted plants from your local garden center is the easiest method.

From Seed

You could purchase seeds, but you can also save some for replanting from a mature existing plant.

If you save seeds from a hybrid plant, keep in mind that they may not be viable, and will likely produce a plant with different characteristics from the parent plant if they do germinate.

Allow a few berries to form and mature until they’re dark in color. Pick them, slice them open, scrape the seeds out, and plant immediately.

If you want to save the seeds, soak them in water for 30 minutes, and then rub the pulp off with a paper towel. Set them somewhere cool with good air circulation to dry.

When they are dry, store them in a cool, dark place in a jar or paper bag.

You can learn more about how to harvest and save fuchsia seeds in our guide.

To sow seeds, use six-cell seed trays filled with a light, porous seed starting mix. Make sure to clean your containers or use new ones, as well as fresh soil, to avoid damping off.

The seeds need light to germinate, so sprinkle them lightly on the soil and press them in place.

Moisten the soil and place the containers in a warm area that’s at least 65°F, near a window where they will get indirect light. Use a heating mat if necessary, as the ideal temperature for germination is 70 to 75°F. Keep the soil moist but not wet.

Then it’s time to start a new gardening project, such as building some raised beds, while you wait one to four months for the seedlings to emerge. When each seedling has two true leaves, thin them out to one plant per cell.

When plants reach six inches tall, and all risk of frost has passed, harden them off over the course of about two weeks.

You can do this by bringing the tray outside to a protected location with indirect light for 30 minutes on the first day, and then bringing it back indoors. Add 30 minutes each day until it can stay outside all day long.

From Cuttings

Propagating from a softwood fuchsia cutting couldn’t be easier. You can take cuttings at any time of year.

Spring cuttings can be planted out as soon as they take root, but late summer or fall cuttings should be overwintered indoors for planting out the following spring.

In the morning, trim off a six-inch piece of stem with three or four pairs of leaves, just below a leaf node, at a 45-degree angle. Remove any leaves from the bottom half.

Prepare a four-inch seedling container with seed starting soil. Dip the cut end in powdered rooting hormone and poke a hole into the potting soil using a pencil. Insert the cutting, planting it so that the first set of leaves is just above the soil line.

Keep the cuttings moist and provide them with a few hours of dappled sunlight each day.

After about three weeks, give the cutting a tug. If you feel resistance, it’s ready to be planted in its container or in the ground.

By Division

Unless you are growing it as a single-stemmed standard, you can divide your fuchsia plant if it has outgrown its space, whether it’s growing in a container or in the ground.

However, if the plant is over four feet tall and well-established, you risk damaging or even killing the parent plant because it is difficult to get enough of the roots out of the ground. Avoid dividing larger plants and try taking cuttings instead.

If you do decide to do this, plants should be divided either in the late fall after they have finished flowering, or early spring when they are still dormant, to limit stress. The plant should be pruned by a third before dividing (more details on pruning below).

Mature plants have an extensive root system, and you need to take care to dig as far out as the foliage was growing on the plant prior to pruning, and as deep as the plant was tall.

Dig up the entire plant, and use a spade to gently leverage the root ball out of the soil.

Gently shake and loosen the soil from around the roots. Use a pair of sharp clippers or a garden knife to cut the plant in half, roots and all.

Replant the original fuchsia, filling the hole back in with soil.

Transplanting

Plants require rich, well-draining soil with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0.

Test your soil and amend it if necessary, particularly if you have heavy clay or sandy soil. You don’t want the plant to be growing in standing water or to dry out too quickly.

Potted plants need well-draining but water-retaining soil. I like to use a standard potting mix combined with about 10 percent sand and 10 percent perlite.

To transplant, whether you’ve grown seedlings or cuttings yourself or purchased them, gently remove the plant from its pot.

Use a chopstick or your fingers to gently loosen the roots and trim away any that are dead.

Remove the bottom four inches of leaves from the branches of larger plants, and place the plant in the prepared soil. The existing potting soil level of the plant should sit four inches below the soil line.

Then fill in with soil so that the ground is even, completely covering the defoliated portions at the base of the stems.

Space upright varieties 12 inches apart or more, and trailing varieties four inches apart.

If you are growing it in a container, your fuchsia may need to be repotted periodically if it has grown too big.

Choose a pot that is one to three inches wider and deeper than the existing container – you don’t want to transplant it to a much larger pot, as these plants can’t tolerate wet feet and excess soil can easily become oversaturated.

Remove the plant carefully from the container, and examine the roots. Remove any dead sections, and at this stage, if you wish, you can divide the plant. Make sure that there is at least one stem on any divided section with attached roots, and replant in fresh potting soil.

Large containers with a big volume of soil tend to retain too much moisture, as described above, and can result in waterlogged conditions.

To keep your plant healthy, it’s recommended that you repot your fuchsia every year or two in fresh soil, even if you don’t wish to plant it in a larger container.

Read more about transplanting fuchsia here.

How to Grow

One of the common misconceptions about fuchsia is that it doesn’t handle sun well. But that’s not true!

The issue here is keeping the soil moist and cool. While it can happily grow in the shade, it’ll bloom more prolifically if you give it some sun.

The ideal situation is dappled sunlight for eight hours a day, but in cooler areas, you can provide some direct light for several hours. Full early morning sun is fine.

In-ground hardy fuchsia can thrive in full sun conditions in places like the Pacific Northwest, but they should be limited to half a day of sun in hotter areas where full sun paired with high temperatures can cause more of a strain to plants and dry them out more quickly.

Whether you are growing in the shade or in the sun, the roots can’t tolerate conditions that are too hot or dry. I believe that’s why fuchsia has a reputation of being difficult to grow. Too much heat, and the poor thing just can’t handle it.

Keep the soil consistently moist, but don’t allow the roots to remain in standing water. This plant needs well-draining soil, and doesn’t like wet feet.

The earth should feel like a well-wrung out sponge. One easy way to tell if it’s time to water if you have a hanging plant is to lift it. Feel light? Add water.

Learn more about how to water your fuchsia in this guide.

Don’t let the roots get overheated. Constant moisture will help with this, and a two to three-inch layer of mulch will, too. If you’re growing in a container, keep it in a place where the afternoon sun won’t hit the container directly.

In general, fuchsia prefers temperatures somewhere in the 70s, and about 10 degrees cooler at night, so keep an eye on things when the summer heats up. That’s when many people lose their plants, another reason, I think, that fuchsia has a reputation for being fussy.

To deal with this problem, you can grow it in a container placed in part sun during the spring and fall, and move it into a shadier spot in the summer. You can even bury the container during the hottest part of the year if it really gets toasty in your area.

Keep a close eye on container-grown plants, as pots tend to dry out much quicker than soil in the garden.

On warm days, your plant may start to wilt. This can happen because the plant has closed its stomata to preserve water.

Before you jump in with the watering hose to perk it back up, check the soil. If it feels moist to the touch, don’t add water. If you can move it, take it to a cooler, shaded area and mist it with water to help cool it down.

If the soil is dry, give it a good soak of water. After an hour or so, you can also give it a spritz with a water bottle or use the mist setting on a hose nozzle.

Growing Indoors

Some people toss fuchsia at the end of the summer, after it has finished blooming.

You can also take your plants indoors to overwinter them in pots and they’ll return in the spring better than ever.

Read more about growing fuchsia as a houseplant.

Growing Tips

Fuchsia has some specific needs, but once you know what they are, you can keep this plant happy without too much effort.

• Keep the soil moist but not wet. The top half inch shouldn’t be allowed to dry out completely between watering.
• Plants can handle full sun so long as they don’t get too hot. Put them in part sun or part to full shade if temps climb above 70°F.
• This plant has high nutritional requirements. Feed it regularly.

Pruning and Maintenance

You need to deadhead these plants to encourage continual blooming. Otherwise, the pollinated flowers turn into fruits.

You can eat the fruit, but allowing them to develop will also mean the end of blossom time.

If you keep up with deadheading, your plant can continue to bloom even through the winter if you live in an area that stays warm enough, with daytime temps between 60-70°F, or if you keep the plant indoors.

You might need to move it into full sunlight to encourage flowering, however, if it isn’t growing in a full sun location already.

Most species start blooming in June, and fuchsias develop blossoms on new growth.

What does this mean for you? Plan to prune the plant back to keep its shape in the early spring when new growth just starts to emerge, but before flower buds have formed. Resist the temptation to prune in the fall, as this can leave plants vulnerable to frost damage.

Remove any dead or crossing branches and any branches that look weak or spindly. You can also prune the entire plant back by a third, if desired.

Prune the branches of potted plants back by one-third, but be sure to leave at least two leaf nodes in place on each.

Read our full guide to fuchsia pruning for more info.

Pruning time is ideal for repotting, as well. If your plant has become root bound, pull it from its current container, gently loosen the roots, and remove any that are dead before replanting.

Smaller plants grown in the ground or in containers can be divided, if desired, every few years as described above, though this is not necessary.

Again, remember that it is important to take care to dig up as much of the root system as possible for any plant growing in the ground. These beauties have deep root systems, and larger plants do not respond well to transplanting.

Mulch with two inches of well-rotted compost, straw, or grass clippings to keep the moisture in place in the soil, keep the roots cool, and protect the plant from winter chills.

Species and Cultivars to Select

Be aware that if you want to enjoy the fuchsia berries, single-flowered cultivars usually produce better fruit.

With thousands of hybrids and cultivars to choose from, you’ll need to decide whether you want a trailing type to spill out of pots on your patio, or a hardy upright variety to plant in the garden.

And then you’ll need to choose from the dazzling array of colors!

You can learn more about the different varieties of fuchsia in this guide. (coming soon!)

Hardy

Hardy fuchsia (F. magellanica) is a favorite among many home gardeners because it lives up to its name. It can handle a freeze and a little bit of dry soil won’t send it into a death spiral.

That’s not the only reason to love it, however. Of all the fuchsia species, it has some of the best-tasting berries, with a ripe grape flavor followed by a peppery afterbite.

Also known as hummingbird fuchsia, the hardy species can be overwintered outdoors in locations as far north as USDA Hardiness Zone 6.

I’ve heard of people keeping it outdoors in even colder climates, though you’ll need to be extremely liberal with the mulch.

F. magellanica ‘Dollar Princess’ is another hardy option, a bushy shrub with incredible pink and purple double flowers with full, ruffled blossoms.

This cultivar is an ideal option if you want something that will act as a centerpiece in your patio garden, since it does well in containers.

Peruvian

Peruvian fuchsia (F. corymbiflora) is a beautiful plant with bright pink or red and white flowers. The blossoms are long and narrow.

While it’s perfectly lovely as a garden specimen, I recommend it because it has delicious fruit as well, with a sweet fig-like flavor. It doesn’t have the peppery afterbite that the fruit of many other species have.

Thyme-Leaved

Thyme-leaved fuchsia (F. thymifolia) is a variety from Mexico. It has tiny leaves and miniature dark pink flowers, which makes it ideal if you want a plant for bonsai, or one that will grow well as an accent in a container garden.

It blooms from April to November in temperate regions, but note that it can’t handle even a light frost.

Creeping

Want all the fuchsia goodness, but you wish you could grow it as a ground cover? Meet creeping fuchsia, F. procumbens, a New Zealand native.

Not only does it spill over the sides of containers, trail down walls, or creep along the ground, it has orange-yellow blossoms in summer and red berries in the fall. It can even handle a bit of drought.

Managing Pests and Disease

Here’s the good news: deer and rabbits avoid fuchsia. You don’t have to worry about these fuzzy critters nibbling on your plants.

The bad news is, bugs aren’t afraid to take a bite. There are a few diseases to look out for, too.

Insects

Insect infestations can damage your plants and leave them vulnerable to bacterial or fungal infection.

Aphids

Aphids are particularly bothersome for plants growing indoors, but they can also attack outdoor plants. There are multiple types of aphids that will feed on these plants, most notably the potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae).

These bugs use their sucking mouthparts to draw out the juices from plants. They leave behind honeydew, which attracts ants and encourages sooty mold. Plants can become wilted and yellow.

To start, spray your plants with a blast of water to knock the aphids loose. If that doesn’t do the job, sprinkle your plants with flour to constipate them.

You can also spray with a product containing neem oil or insecticidal soap if the first two options don’t work to solve the problem.

Fuchsia Gall Mites

Fuchsia gall mites (Aculops fuchsiae) are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but the damage they leave behind isn’t. They cause flowers and shoots to become disfigured and swollen.

To control the problem, prune away infected branches to an inch below the damage.

You’ll have to keep at it, but eventually you should be able to prune out all of the plant material that has been affected by the mites.

Also, be sure to wash and sanitize your tools every single time you work on the plant, because mites are easily transmitted by gardening gloves, pruners, and other gardening implements.

Apply an insecticidal soap following the manufacturer’s recommendations. This won’t kill all the mites, but along with pruning, it can help you to get things under control.

Whiteflies

Whiteflies are common, and a pain to get rid of. There are dozens of species that attack plants, both indoors and out. However, if you are diligent, it’s possible to be victorious against this foe.

Mix a cup of 70 percent isopropyl alcohol with a few drops of dishwashing liquid and three cups of water. Mix well and spray plants daily until the infestation is gone.

The spray must come in contact with the bugs to kill them, so keep an eye out and spray all parts of the plant.

Learn more about controlling whitefly infestations here.

Disease

If you keep aphids away and are cautious about watering, you can generally avoid the diseases that most commonly attack this plant. Still, there are a few things you should watch out for.

Botrytis Blight

This disease is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. It likes low temps and high moisture – just like fuchsia does.

If your plant contracts this disease in the spring, it can cause the flower buds to be aborted. It can also cause yellowing of the leaves and may cause leaves to drop off. You’ll often see brown, decayed areas on the leaves and stems.

Remove any infected parts of the plant. In humid conditions in particular, make sure you’re only watering at the base, not on the leaves. Water in the morning so plants have time to dry during the day.

Damping Off

Damping off is caused by a variety of species of fungi (Fusarium spp., Rhizoctonia spp., and Pythium spp.), which can cause seeds to fail to germinate or seedlings to wilt, become water-soaked, and even die off entirely. If an affected seedling does survive, the plant will likely never be healthy and robust.

The first step is to try your best to avoid it. You can do this by cleaning your tools and pots before planting and use only fresh potting soil.

Keep whiteflies and aphids away, and keep seedlings at around 70°F. Don’t fertilize seedlings.

Finally, if you do notice signs of this disease, dispose of the seedlings and the soil, and sterilize your tools and containers before using them again.

Read more about preventing damping off here.

Rust

Fuchsia rust is caused by the fungus Pucciniastrum epilobii. At first, you’ll notice leaves starting to turn yellow or brown, and rusty pustules will appear on the undersides. The leaves will begin to shrivel up and fall off the plant.

If you notice this happening, prune away any infected leaves. Thin plants out so they get better air circulation and only water at the base of plants.

Best Uses

These plants have a variety of uses in the garden.

You can train them as standards with a treelike form, grow them in pots or hanging baskets, or plant them in the flowerbeds and allow them to develop into their natural habit as attractive specimens in the garden.

Upright types can even be trained as bonsai.

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Plant Type:	Flowering woody perennial	Flower / Foliage Color:	Orange, pink, purple, red, white; green
Native to:	Central America, New Zealand, South America	Maintenance:	Moderate
Hardiness (USDA Zone):	6-10	Soil Type:	Loamy, water-retaining
Bloom Time / Season:	Spring-fall	Soil pH:	6.0-7.0
Exposure:	Full shade-full sun	Soil Drainage:	Well-draining
Spacing:	12 inches, depending on variety	Attracts:	Hummingbirds
Planting Depth:	4 inches deeper than existing container	Companion Planting:	Cosmos, hostas, hellebores, rhododendrons
Height:	18 inches-6 feet	Uses:	Container, specimen, hanging plant, edible berries and flowers
Spread:	Up to 5 feet	Order:	Myrtales
Time to Maturity:	18 months from seed	Family:	Onagraceae
Water Needs:	High	Genus:	Fuchsia
Tolerance:	Shade, moisture	Species:	coccinea, fulgens, magellanica, procumbens, thymifolia
Common Pests:	Aphids, fuchsia gall mites, whiteflies	Common Diseases:	Botrytis blight, damping off, rust

THE DAYS ARE longer and the light is strengthening—triggers that don’t just start to wake up our plants, indoors and out, but also get us gardeners going. The signals have my propagation-mad friend Ken Druse starting more seeds each week and looking around the landscape and the houseplant-filled sunroom for some chances to make more plants, his favorite pastime.

Ken is author and photographer of 20 garden books, including one on plant propagation, and is a daring plant propagator himself. Together since 2021, we’ve co-hosted the Virtual Garden Club, a series of online classes about our favorite subject: plants. Ken gardens in New Jersey, mostly in the shade.

Read along as you listen to the March 20, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

making more plants, with ken druse

 

 

Margaret Roach: Hello Ken, over there in the shade [laughter]. How are you?

Ken Druse: It’s a little dark, Margaret. How are you?

Margaret: I don’t know. I don’t know. What season is it anyway, this year?

Ken: That’s a really good question.

Margaret: Yeah. I’m totally disoriented, since the beginning of the… Well, the whole winter, and since the beginning of the year especially.

Ken: I know we talked about it, but four weeks ago I cut the ratty, awful foliage off the hellebores, and no flower buds were showing [below], and now they’re in bloom.

Margaret: Yeah. It’s crazy.

Ken: Right.

Margaret: Yeah. No, it’s crazy. It’s completely crazy. And same here. I’ve never seen anything like it. And then it’s four degrees, and then it’s 62 degrees [laughter].

Ken: Yeah. And you’re not kidding. That really happened.

Margaret: Yeah. It went minus 14, and a week later, 60, or 57 or some crazy thing. I mean, it’s just nuts. Whatever. Anyway.

So that’s getting us looking around the garden at opportunities for “Making More Plants,” as your book of about 20 years ago was called. And also I guess as I said in the introduction, I’m noticing in my houseplants, some of them were even ahead of schedule. It’s weird. It’s just so weird out.

Ken: Yeah. But I love it when the daylight hours start lengthening, and the plants always know, even the plants under lights that aren’t even near a window, they know. Some things that I’ve tried to propagate from cuttings, like a begonia or something, they’ve just rotted and were horrible, but now they want to wake up.

Margaret: Yeah. Absolutely. So what are some of the things that you’re eyeing around house or in the cellar or wherever you have things stashed or awake or whatever?

Ken: I can’t believe what a busy time it is. Mid-March is kind of the last time for major pruning, so I’ve been doing some things like that outside. And because you encouraged me, I did some experimenting.

Margaret: Uh-oh.

Ken: The bald cypress, it’s called bald because it’s deciduous. It’s a conifer, like a pine tree, except it drops its needles. And I cut it back right to the trunk, because it sprouts from the trunk every year. And it was supposed to be this really little dwarf, and now it’s 15 feet tall. So I thought, I’m going to make a column. So I did that, and that’s kind of scary [above, Taxodium distichum ‘Peve Minaret’ after its hard pruning]]. It’s not exactly propagation, but I know you and I are digging up our Eucomis bulbs, or I am anyway.

Margaret: And so when you say digging up, they’re in pots where?

Ken: They’re in pots. Right.

Margaret: Where do you keep yours in the winter, these pineapple lilies?

Ken: In a cold part of the cellar that goes down to… Probably coldest it goes to, maybe 20 for a couple of days. But usually it’s about 30 to 40 degrees. And I’m going to dig them up, and divide them if they can be divided, if they have little side bulbs, and re-pot them. Because they slowed down on their blooming, and I think they just need a little refreshment.

Margaret: Yeah. I find with the pineapple lilies that they make a lot of offsets. And so when I take them out of their pots, like you were saying, when they slow down, what I find is if I then un-pot it the next season after a disappointing bloom, there’s too many bulbs in there. You know what I mean? It’s just too crowded.

Ken: Got crowded. Right.

Margaret: And so I’ve started doing it every other year, making it more systematic, when they’re confined to pots, rather than wait till they fail a year. They always make beautiful foliage [above, ‘Sparkling Burgundy’].

Ken: You’re ahead of me.

Margaret: And they always make beautiful foliage anyway, so I like them anyhow. So that’s a good idea actually, to get on that now, that dividing, and making… And if you don’t have room or use for the extras, give them to friends. But that’s a good idea to do that now, because when spring-spring happens, there’s not going to be time for any of this. It’d be good to check some of these things off the list.

Ken: There’s such a list.

Margaret: Yeah. No, I know.

Ken: But we should say that pineapple lilies are called that because the flowers look like pineapples. They have little green leaves at the top of a long, tall flower spike. We love them. They’re so easy and beautiful.

Margaret: Yeah, they’re wonderful. They’re wonderful. And it just makes for “annuals,” things to put in your containers that you don’t have to buy every year and are unusual looking. And as I said before, the foliage is nice, frequently it’s freckled or speckled with splashes of purple. Some are all purple foliage. And then even the stems sometimes almost look like spots of an animal’s pelt [above, at Margaret’s, E. bicolor foliage].

Ken: I was going to say, leopard.

Margaret: Yeah. They have that animal-skin kind of look, that spotted-leopard look. Quite wonderful.

Ken: And people in warmer climates can grow them outdoors.

Margaret: Yeah. Like zone 7 and so forth, a lot of them. Yeah.

Ken: There’s a lot of things that, as soon as the ground is workable outside and not too wet, I’ll be digging them up and dividing them. You know how they show in books two spades back to back prying apart a plant? I never do that. It seems to damage them. So I usually dig up the whole plant, put it on a tarp, take my dedicated serrated knife, and cut them apart. So I’ll do that if there’s a congested hosta, or if I just want more of that hosta in another place, kind of an echo, I’ll dig it up and cut it in two to four parts, as long as each part has a growing point or an eye.

And Siberian iris [below], the middle of them die, so every, I don’t know, three or four years, I have to dig those up. But then you don’t get four plants, you get 24 plants.

Margaret: Yeah. And really that donut hole in the middle is dead stuff, and you throw that away. Yeah.

Ken: Dead, right. And all the outside stuff slows down the blooming and everything.

Margaret: Yeah. Again, if there’s time, because this is a freakish year in a lot of parts of the country, weather-wise, if your late winter allows you to safely be going around outside—if it’s neither snow covered or slippery or mucky, where you’re going to damage the soil—getting a jump on some of these things like we were just talking about.

Like we think of dividing… and so we are both in the Northeast, and so we think of a lot of time doing that in April into early May and so forth. But by then you have foliage pushed up, and you have flower stems or the beginning of them pushed up, and moving the thing without damaging it is harder. So you’re saying go ahead, be brave, do it a little earlier. It’s not like we’re going to have a deep freeze, 3 feet of frost in the ground again or something in March or whatever.

Ken: Right. As long as you know where the plant is, and maybe if you’ve marked it and thought about it. You can divide things that have… and you can even cut some things back and divide them later, but it will affect the blooming. So if you dig up the phlox when it’s 12 inches tall and cut it back to 6 inches, it’s going to still live, and it’s going to bloom. It’ll be shorter and it’ll be later. But I’m just saying, because you shouldn’t just give up because you’re getting a little behind, I would say.

Margaret: No, not at all. But on this end of the season, again, not when the ground’s still frozen, and not when it’s mucky and so forth, but as soon as you can, it’s O.K. to go around, like when you’re planting those peas [laughter], it’s okay to go around and look and see if there’s a few things that might be ready to divide a little earlier than usual.

Ken: Or move.

Margaret: Right.

Ken: I’ve got a list of things that… I do. I have things-

Margaret: I’m teasing. I have like 2,000 of them that need moving [laughter]. It’s horrible.

Ken: And some things… I’m moving a dwarf Hydrangea paniculata that has red flowers, and I’m moving it across the garden to a place where there’s a red-leaf peach and some other red things, so I’m moving that for aesthetic reasons.

Margaret: Right. So it’s not because it’s too big for the space or whatever. It’s a design choice. Right. So what other things were… We were talking about the bulbs, and actually I have other bulbs or bulb-like things in storage in my cellar. I have a lot of… What do they call them? Voodoo lilies, Sauromatum and other crazy… Amorphophallus and so forth. Crazy things that…

Ken: Stinky things [above, the flower of Sauromatum venosum at Margaret’s].

Margaret: Stinky. And some of them are awake. If I leave them in their pots, they wake up in January, February sometimes, and I’m like, “Uh-oh, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t bloom. It’s going to stink. It’s going to smell like a dead animal in the basement.”

Ken: And then you have to give them light when they start pushing their leaves after that.

Margaret: Yeah. So there’s other things that I have stored that are going to be divided and “making more plants,” like you always say. But what other things are you eyeing for propagation projects now?

Ken: We can talk about seeds in a few minutes, but I mentioned the begonias, which is kind of a softwood cutting. They’re not even wood. But this is the end of the period for hardwood cuttings, which are cuttings from woody plants like shrubs. And they’re made when the plants are still asleep. And I think the last ones to make are cuttings from willows. Some people do dogwoods, too, those twig dogwoods and the willows that we grow, either pussy willows or willows with colored sort of foliage.

Margaret: Yeah. Sort of shrubby ones. Right.

Ken: Right. So before they leaf out, which is mid-March usually…

Margaret: Where you are.

Ken: Right. I’ll take nice-sized cuttings, and I just put them in water. Well, if you cut your pussy willows for decoration, don’t put them in water, because they’ll last for months. It’ll last for a year and look good. But if you want to propagate them, put them in water, and they’ll start making roots in the water. Willows do. But you want to try to transplant them into some kind of medium when those roots are less than an inch long, and still white. Because when they get a little longer than an inch, they either get tangled, or worse, they rot. So you do it young. And if you fail, or if you only get 50 percent, you’re doing O.K. I’ve never gotten 100 percent.

Margaret: Yeah. A friend came and took a bunch for her flower farm a few years ago, of my various twig willows and twig dogwoods and so forth, to eventually grow and sell the colorful stems in arrangements, because they’re so fabulous. And the thing about it is, if you want to do smaller cuttings, you have to remember which side is down, so to speak.

Ken: Definitely. Sky side up, earth side down.

Margaret: Because they won’t root the other way.

Ken: That’s right.

Margaret: It’s kind of amazing. It’s kind of wonderful to know that it “knows,” again, speaking of the intelligence of all these creatures.

Ken: It’s funny, we were talking about Eucomis, and I make Eucomis leaf cuttings. And when I cut the leaf into… I’ll take a leaf and cut it into four parts, but I take a marker and I make an arrow for the sky side. Because if I turn it over… Same with mother-in-law’s tongue, Sansevieria. They won’t root if they’re upside-down.

Margaret: Right. So that’s another one, houseplant-wise, that we could be looking at making more plants of.

Ken: Yeah. Later when the Eucomis leaves are out. You may remember I did that for a sale at Wave Hill, for a plant sale, and I think I had a dozen plants from leaf cuttings in a year. It was great.

Margaret: That’s really… And it’s not something that I would’ve thought of doing. And so I remember seeing that, but I also remember seeing your pictures of… You’d have, again with the proper side down in the moist medium, and this little creature formed on top the top.

Ken: There were clusters of bulbs [above].

Margaret: It was the weirdest thing. I mean, I don’t know what was going on beneath the soil surface, but it was like these little bulb piles, or miniature, teeny-weeny babies were being born on top of that leaf cutting. It was nutty. It was really nutty.

Ken: That’s the really exciting part of making more plants. When something like that happens. Well, when you can nurture a plant and watch it grow and you’re part of it, it’s just thrilling, I think.

Margaret: Yeah. So do you want to tell me about some of… Are you doing anything with any of your houseplants?

Ken: It’s kind of early. I looked around, and I might be dividing some of the… I guess there are Alocasia that haven’t gone dormant. And sometimes they’ll make little side shoots, and I will cut them apart and pot them up. But it’s a little early for me to make more herbaceous cuttings than things like begonias, things that are pretty easy. But in a couple of weeks I’ll be doing more.

Margaret: So you were talking about the elephant ears that we grow, almost these tropical-looking creatures that we grow. And some of them you overwinter, almost like houseplant-ish.

Ken: Right. Exactly. And the begonias are ones that have stems. They’re not like Rex begonias or rhizomatous begonias that creep. Ones like angel wing and fibrous begonias, they’re pretty easy. And I try…

Margaret: And what would you be doing, though, with those? So if I had a upright begonia… I had this one big one, honestly I had it only two years, I don’t even know what its name is. I got it at the nursery one spring a couple years ago, and it turned into this shrub. I mean, it was this massive thing, and there was no way I could fit it anywhere. And I thought, well what are you going to do? And in the fall, I cut it back. I cut out some of the stems, and I brought it in. And don’t you know, the damn thing is waking up and being happy and it’s going to be fine. It’ll probably be a shrub by the end of the year again [laughter], but that wasn’t very scientific.

Ken: I did that in the fall with some things like Coleus, I’ll cut them back and then take that new growth and root that mid-March. But with the begonia, you sort of said it, if you’ve got a begonia that’s gotten really woody and lost its leaves, I’ll make a cutting to have a new plant, a juvenile plant, because a lot of them look better as children, and then I attempt to discard the rest of it [laughter]-

Margaret: And you fail, and you don’t have the heart to get rid of it.

Ken: And often I fail. No, that’s why I cut that Taxodium outside. I thought, is this cruel, or is this horticulture? That’s what I ask myself. Because a lot of people would think it’s torture.

Margaret: So with the piece of the… Let’s say we have this begonia, and it has these upright stems. And so if we took one, and we… Would you first root it in water a little bit, almost like that willow you said, just so it gets slightly rooted, and then put it in medium? Or what would you…

Ken: Well, it sort of depends on the plant, but I think if it’s mid-March and if there’s new growth starting, I’d probably take a cutting of a tall angel wing, I’d take maybe a 3- or 4-inch cutting, and I’d put it in something like moist perlite.

Margaret: Maybe put a little plastic wrap exactly over it.

Ken: Exactly, I was just going to say…

Margaret: Make a little hood, like a little terrarium-ish.

Ken: Slip it into a plastic bag that’s open, and leave it open. Or in an old aquarium that’s open. You want to have humidity if you can have it.

Margaret: But not rotting, not soaking. O.K.

Ken: Right. When I close stuff up, I know people do it, but things rot for me, so I always like to leave a little bit of air circulation.

Margaret: I never had this before; it’s such a common houseplant, the Tradescantia, I think it’s zebrina or something, it’s purple on the underneath and striped on the top. And the poor thing, I had just gotten it as some filler in an annual pot. I didn’t have the heart—big surprise, to throw it away in the fall. But it just looked like… I mean, this is just a week ago. It just looked—I couldn’t even believe it was still alive [laughter]. Some of the pieces were hanging way down, cascading over the edge, they were attached to what looked like dried-up wire. You know what I mean?

Ken: Yeah, I do.

Margaret: And yet they were still alive. And I’m like, “What are you doing? It’s like you’re on 6 inches of dead-looking stuff, and then you’re alive down there hanging down?” So I took those live pieces, and I did a glass of water and stripped them down, and left a few leaves at the end and put them in water. And I thought, I’ll try. What the heck? I can use it as filler in a pot again. So when you said the thing about the coleus, is that… What would you have done with that? You said you had propagated them?

Ken: Things like coleus, I can’t think of a lot of things… Some things that we get in the garden center or that we’re growing and they’re decorative outside, we put them in pots, and then what do you do? So I usually bring them in and put them under lights actually. So I’ll cut them back to like 3 inches, and then this time of year, they start to push new growth.

Margaret: And so you use that as your stock plant for cuttings.

Ken: I use that. Right. Because then they’re young, new juicy growth, that’s going to root very easily.

Margaret: O.K. And you root it in water, or you put it right in that medium again, like you were just saying with the other things?

Ken: Under the lights where it’s humid, I’d do it in medium right away, but that Tradescantia, you could probably grow it in water for five years, but then it’ll be quite a mess. I like to get them into medium when the roots are not too long.

Margaret: As soon as possible. O.K.

Ken: Because they get all tangled.

Margaret: So before we run down on our time, I just want to make sure that we get to some seed things.

Ken: I’ve taken all my packets, and I’ve arranged them by the date that they should be sown. And I’ve written on the seed packets, or even some seeds that I’ve saved and put in envelopes.

And the way I do it is, I get a three and a half-inch plastic pot, and I’ll do each plant in its individual pot. I don’t do them in a flat together. So all the tomatoes will go into… One kind of tomato will go into one pot, and another kind of tomato, very soon, I guess mid-March, go into another pot.

And I’ll fill the pot first with some medium, fill it all the way to the top, and then press it down with an immaculately clean other pot [above], and fill it almost to the top. And I put the seeds around, and then I cover them with a little bit of medium, so that they’re covered with medium equal to their thickness. So it’s not much. I don’t bury them. And if the packet says that the seeds need light to germinate, then I don’t bury them at all. I’ll do them on the surface.

But on the surface I sprinkle granite grit on [below], which is what the rock gardeners do. On all the pots, I sprinkle a very thin, one- to two-grain layer of granite grit, because it’s inert, and the medium won’t dislodge it, even when you’re spraying water on it if you have to water it again. And since I’ve been doing that, which is like 20-something years now, I haven’t had the series of fungal diseases that’s called damping off, where the seedling comes up, it looks great, and then all of a sudden the next day it keels over.

Margaret: It drops dead. Yeah.

Ken: But the granite really helps. And then when they’re larger, I’ll transplant them. And the other thing that you do is you take those seedlings outside, and I’m going to try that this year if they’re not too heavy, because I think I’ve left them on the heat mat too long.

Margaret: It’s no accident, really, that the mat is technically called a germinating mat or a germination mat. It’s for germination. It’s not for growing. And so in a laboratory environment it’s only used for germinating, or in agriculture is only used for germinating. The minute you see any growth, that thing has to come off.

It doesn’t mean then that they want to be cold. The room, the ambient temperature still has to be whatever that plant needs. A tomato needs warmer than a lettuce or spinach or a broccoli. But it means that they don’t want that cooking of the soil, that bottom heat that’s going to stretch them out, like too little light would stretch them out.

Ken: That’s just what it does. It stretches them out.

Margaret: It stretches them out. Yeah. So we should just say, the granite grit, this is poultry grit, and you can frequently get it at a place like a Tractor Supply store or whatever. You can even get it online, but it’s expensive to ship. But it kind of looks like birdcage gravel. So it’s little, and there’s different sizes of it. Yeah. Granite grit.

Ken: It comes in three grades. And if you can only get one, get the starter grade, which is the smallest. It’s like very coarse sand. And granite’s good because it’s not alkaline, and you want one that doesn’t have any additives, which is available. You can find it. And not oyster shell, because that’s really calcium.

Margaret: Yeah. And sand is a possibility. Not beach sand, but clean…

Ken: Yeah. As coarse as you can find it.

Margaret: Yeah. Clean, sharp sand. That is another possibility. And I know other people who use that in propagation as their topdressing, their mulch, their thin cover of the seeds, as you describe.

Ken: Yeah. I don’t use vermiculite, some people do, but I don’t use vermiculite for anything. That’s another story [laughter].

Margaret: Yeah, I think the other thing that’s really important, besides the hygiene that you were just talking about, is good light, not a windowsill environment, but proper light. And then also… now I’ve lost my train of thought [laughter].

Ken: You were talking about light, and it’s funny because it’s changed so much. When the seeds are in the pot, I think probably the top of the pots are like 4 inches from the light. It’s a lot of light. And I used to have fluorescent bulbs and tubes, and they were hot. So that’s another problem.

Margaret: Yeah. These new LEDs don’t emit so much heat, which is great-

Ken: Hardly any heat.

Margaret: …because that can also stretch out the seedlings. But I remembered what I was going to say, which is that you were describing this community pot where you take one variety of tomato and you put it all in one pot to get started. And so then when those show their first little true leaves… So it might be 10 of them or 20 of them, seeds, it’s not like one tomato seed in that three and a half inch pot. And then when they are far enough along, they start to show their first true leaves. You prick them out, you take out those seedlings and give them each their own little cell or pot depending on what the plant is and what it needs next.

Ken: Right. And no longer on the heat mat [laughter].

Margaret: Right. So I just wanted to double back to that, because we’re not saying that you start with a million three and a half inch pots [laughter], where you wouldn’t have enough lights or heat mat ,to get anything started in this community of each variety. And then those are potted, onto a slightly larger quarter, each individual plant.

So of course we’ve used up our time, and we haven’t made that many more plants, but I’ve got to go down to the cellar now and see the Eucomis and tell them you said hello.

Ken: You do that.

Margaret: All right. And I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll see you at the Virtual Garden Club before long.

(Photos by Ken Druse except as noted; used with permission.)

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MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its 14th year in March 2023. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the March 20, 2023 show using the player near the top of this transcript. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).