Category: Home & Garden

Cercis spp.

Spring is a marvelously colorful time of year, with all the flowers and leaves unfolding as the days become warmer. And one of the brightest, boldest harbingers of spring is the redbud tree.

These showy bloomers send out flowers earlier than most other trees, and the color can last for weeks, completely covering the branches from trunk to tip.

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These trees can generally boast a good bill of health, stay fairly petite, and won’t become invasive, so you won’t be digging the roots out of your sewer pipes anytime soon.

They’re hardy down to USDA Zone 4 and up to Zone 9, and don’t need any special pruning or care.

In other words, there’s a lot to love about these plants and very little not to.

Of course, as with any plant, the redbud has its unique needs – especially if you want to enjoy the most dazzling display possible. We’ll talk about those needs and a lot more in this guide.

Here’s what’s coming:

By the way, if you or someone you know is a budding forager, this is an excellent plant to start with.

It’s instantly recognizable in the spring and there aren’t any dangerous lookalikes.

More experienced foragers know that it’s also time to start hunting for morels when the blossoms are in bloom.

Cultivation and History

Redbud is the common name for plants in the Cercis genus, which is part of the Fabaceae family. If you know your botany, then you’ve probably realized this plant is a member of the legume family.

Yep, that’s right. The redbud tree is closely related to the humble garden pea.

It’s a little difficult to see the resemblance, but once you get a good look at the fruit pods or after you taste the seeds, flowers, or young leaves, you will more clearly understand this relationship.

Examine those inflorescences close up, and you’ll notice that they look a heck of a lot like pea flowers.

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and mimosa trees (Albizia julibrissin) are also in the same family.

Cercis canadensis, which is also known as the eastern redbud, is the one most commonly grown in the US.

This species is native to North America, with the largest wild populations clustered in an area spanning Iowa to Texas and points due east, though you can find them as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico, and anywhere east of the Rockies.

There are three recognized varieties of eastern redbud: canadensis, texensis (Texas redbud), and mexicana (Mexican redbud).

West of the Rockies, you’ll find C. occidentalis growing in the wild, where it is native. The western redbud isn’t as hardy as the eastern species and can only be grown as far north as Zone 6.

These, and species from Europe and Asia such as Judas tree (C. siliquastrum) and Chinese redbud (C. chinensis), are cultivated all over the US in Zones 4 to 9.

These small trees form masses of pink, mauve, magenta, or red flowers in the early spring before the purple-to-green heart-shaped foliage leafs out.

Flowers form on older wood on the trunk and stems rather than new growth, which is known as cauliflory.

After the flowers fade, seed pods begin to form and mature over the summer, though some cultivars are sterile so they won’t produce any fruit pods.

The branches have a slight zig-zagging growth pattern along the internodes, and there is one C. canadensis cultivar named ‘Zig Zag’ that has exaggerated zig-zagging.

In the wild, they tend to grow in the understory beneath larger trees, and as such, they prefer partial shade or partial sun and moist soil. However, many cultivars have been bred to do well in full sun or drought conditions.

Native people like the Alabama, Cherokee, and Delaware used the roots, bark, leaves, seeds, and flowers extensively for food and medicine.

Propagation

Redbuds are difficult to propagate and beginners should stick with buying a sapling or seedling at a nursery.

In addition to the following methods, it’s possible to propagate these via grafting, but it’s so unreliable and challenging that we don’t recommend it unless you’re already an expert grafter.

From Seed

Propagating seed takes some work. The seeds, which appear in the fall, need to be dried, scarified, and stratified before planting.

Then, you need to wait about two months for germination to take place.

Not feeling daunted? Head out in the fall and look for the seed pods on a mature tree. They’re long and pea-pod shaped, and they should be brown at this point.

Collect and lay the pods on a screen or hang them from a piece of string to allow them to air dry.

After a few days, remove the seeds from inside the pods. Even if you only want to grow one tree, prepare several seeds just to be safe.

One option at this point is to soak the seeds in sulfuric acid for 30 minutes. You can often find this at stores sold in the drain cleaner aisle.

Don’t forget, this is strong, poisonous stuff, so heed all safety precautions on the label. That means wearing protective gear like gloves, eye protection, and a mask.

Or you can submerge the seeds in nearly boiling water held at 180°F for about a minute.

Drain and rinse the seeds carefully if you used acid, or drain and allow the seeds to cool if you prepared them in water.

Fill a jar or resealable bag with equal parts sand and sphagnum moss and moisten it so it feels like a well-wrung-out sponge. Bury the seeds in the sand, seal, and place the bag or jar in the fridge.

Occasionally check to make sure the sand mix is moist and there’s no mold forming. If you see mold, remove the seeds and place them in fresh sand in a clean bag or jar.

After about five weeks – though it might take up to 10 weeks – you should start to see growth. The second you see growth emerging from a seed, plant it.

To do this, fill a six-inch compostable pot with potting mix. Sow one germinated seed a quarter-inch deep in each container.

Place the containers outside in a spot that receives partial sun, about six hours per day. Bring them back inside any time the temperature drops below 35°F.

Once a seedling is about six inches tall, you can plant it in the ground. It’s best to transplant either in the fall or spring, and you should avoid planting in the winter or summer.

From Cuttings

It is possible to propagate redbuds from cuttings, but they don’t take reliably, which is why growers tend to rely on propagating seed when possible instead.

If you carefully control the environment, you might have a higher rate of success.

In early summer, take a few six-inch cuttings of soft, pliable wood from the tips of healthy branches. Place the cuttings in water until you get them inside and are ready to plant, which you should do right away.

When you’re ready, cut the end of each at a 45-degree angle, remove any leaves from the bottom half, and dip the cut ends in a rooting hormone.

The rooting hormone step is optional for propagating some types of plants, but it’s mandatory in this case to improve your chances of success.

Plant each cutting an inch or two deep in a six-inch pot filled with potting soil.

Place the pots on a heated mat to keep the soil at 72 to 78°F. If the soil temperature drops into the 60s, rooting success rates drop off dramatically.

You also need to keep the cuttings humid for successful propagation.

The easiest way to do this is to cover them with a cloche or other type of cover and mist them daily. You can also use a humidifier.

Keep the cuttings in a place where they’ll receive six hours per day of supplemental lighting.

Electric grow lights are preferred to natural sunlight here because you can regulate the exposure, and LED bulbs won’t heat the soil or interior of the cover excessively like direct sunlight might.

Transplanting Saplings or Bare Roots

Planting a sapling or bare root tree is best done in the early spring or late fall when the ground is workable.

Pick a spot with the right sun exposure and spacing from other plants or structures – we’ll discuss this in more detail in the How to Grow section below.

Once you’ve nailed down the right spot, dig away. Make sure you aren’t digging into any utility cables.

Dig a hole that is twice as wide and twice as deep as the container that the sapling is currently growing in, or three times as wide and twice as deep as the rootball.

Fill in the bottom half of the hole with a mixture of well-rotted compost and native soil.

Remove the sapling from the container and gently loosen up the roots. Place it in the hole, and make sure it’s sitting at the same level that it was inside the container.

For bare root plants, the entire root ball should be buried sitting just below the soil line. The trunk can not tolerate being buried at all.

You don’t want the plant to be positioned any deeper or more shallow than it was before if it came in a pot filled with soil from the nursery. If necessary, adjust the quantity of soil in the base of the hole.

Fill in around the sides with a mixture of compost and native soil. Firm the soil around the roots and water well. If the soil settles, add a bit more.

How to Grow

Most cultivars flower best in full sun in cooler regions, or partial shade in hotter regions. If you want to ensure that your tree thrives, choose a cultivar or variety that is well-adapted to your climate.

For instance, C. canadensis var. mexicana and cultivars bred from it are better off in warmer climates, while C. canadensis var. canadensis and its progeny do better in cooler ones.

You’re also better off choosing whatever species is native to your region, whenever possible.

To really be happy, these trees need a certain number of chill hours at or below 45°F, and the exact amount will vary depending on the cultivar.

Once again, pick a cultivar or variety that will tolerate fewer chill hours if you live somewhere with mild winters.

‘Pink Pom Pom,’ for instance, has some texensis lineage which makes it more tolerant of warmer winters, and it will still produce flowers despite the warmer climate.

The soil in the planting area needs to be well-draining. These trees can tolerate a range of soils, so long as it’s well draining with a pH between 6.5 and 8.0.

Some hybrids and cultivars are more drought tolerant than others, but all established redbuds can handle some amount of drought. Western redbuds are extremely drought tolerant and can go without any supplemental water in many parts of the US.

As a general rule of thumb, you should provide water when the soil feels dry three inches down, and the soil should never be soggy.

During the growing season, feed your plant every other month with a mild, balanced fertilizer.

Fertilizer gives the plant the energy it needs to grow and store up nutrients for that brilliant display next spring.

A 10-10-10 NPK fertilizer, or something close to that, is ideal.

Pendleton Turf Triple 10 is a good option that will keep a wide variety of species happy with its special formulation of amino acids and seaweed extract.

Pendleton Turf Triple 10

Pick up a 32-ounce bottle from Amazon.

If you decide to grow one of these trees in a container, pick one of the smaller cultivars.

Depending on the size of the container, you can expect the tree to stay within about half the size of one of the same variety growing in the ground, so a 12-foot type will generally stay within a manageable six feet.

Choose a container at least 18 inches wide and 24 inches deep, with at least one or preferably multiple drainage holes. Plan to keep the container in a permanent spot.

Though you could move it around if the pot’s placed on casters, it’s going to be difficult to move such a large container easily when it’s filled.

Fill the container with water-retentive potting soil. Remember, redbuds aren’t terribly demanding about soil, but it never hurts to give them the good stuff.

FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Mix

I’m a huge fan of FoxFarm Ocean Forest potting mix, which is available at Amazon in 12-quart bags.

I find this mix to be perfect for a wide range of plants and it’s produced in a sustainable way.

Pots won’t help to insulate roots against cold temperatures to the same degree as ground soil, so pretend you live in an area one Zone lower than your actual garden location if you’re using a pot.

In other words, if you live in Zone 7, choose a plant that’s hardy down to Zone 6. You also need to keep a closer eye on the soil since it will dry out faster.

Growing Tips

• Water when the top three inches of soil dry out.
• Plant in partial shade to full sun.
• Feed every two months from spring until fall.

Pruning and Maintenance

Remember, these plants are cauliflorous. The flowers and seed pods form on old, woody growth. That means you don’t have to do any special pruning to encourage flowering and fruiting.

Unless a branch breaks or is diseased or dead, it’s best to just leave the tree alone.

You can always prune crossing or rubbing branches to open the canopy and improve the appearance. This should be done in early spring before flowering.

Cultivars to Select

It’s an exciting period for redbuds when it comes to discovering new varieties and breeding new cultivars.

So many beautiful and unique cultivars are hitting the market, with impressive blossoms and foliage so attractive that the flowers sometimes take a backseat.

We’ll cover more of these in a future roundup. Here are just a few, to whet your appetite:

Flame Thrower

Fall is always an exciting time, with the bright foliage covering all of the many deciduous trees in the landscape.

But sometimes it might be nice to see a little of that color during the summer. That’s when you plant Flame Thrower®.

This C. canadensis cultivar has bright red and burgundy leaves during the spring and summer that turn orange and gold in the fall.

Add to that the lovely pinkish-purple blossoms in the spring, and you have a tree that is showing off for a majority of the year. It reaches about 20 feet tall once mature.

The fact that it’s extremely drought-tolerant and will perform even in partial sun just goes to show how excellent this cultivar is.

Bred by Denny Werner at North Carolina State University, you don’t even need the flowers to enjoy this tree – the leaves are stunning enough to steal the show!

Plant in Zones 5 to 9. It needs 30 days with temperatures below 50°F to produce flowers.

Flame Thrower®

Add some heat to your life and grab a four- to five-, five- to six-, or six- to seven-foot-tall tree at Planting Tree.

Oklahoma

‘Oklahoma’ is a C. canadensis var. canadensis with texensis lineage, so it’s more heat and drought tolerant than other redbuds, perfect in Zones 6 to 10a.

The flowers are shockingly vibrant rose-red, with waxy heart-shaped leaves.

This is a larger cultivar that can stretch up to 25 feet tall, but typically stays smaller. If you’re a southern gardener dreaming of a redbud that won’t falter in your landscape, this is the one.

All eastern redbuds require 30 days with temperatures below 50°F, but ‘Oklahoma’ will often produce blooms even if it doesn’t receive a full 700 chill hours.

‘Oklahoma’

Grab a three- to four-foot-tall tree in a #5 container at Planting Tree.

Royal White

Redbuds, as their common name would suggest, have a reputation for featuring red or pink flowers.

But this cultivar dazzles with pure-white blossoms covering a 30-foot-tall tree at maturity. It’s cold tolerant down to Zone 4 and has a compact, rounded growth habit.

To produce blossoms, this tree needs 30 days of temperatures below 50°F.

‘Royal White’

Snag one of these C. canadensis cultivars at FastGrowingTrees.com.

Managing Pests and Disease

In general, this is one of those trees that generally maintains good health so long as you grow it in the right environment. If problems do come up, here’s what you’re most likely to see:

Herbivores

More so than diseases or insect pests, avoiding herbivores is going to be the biggest challenge to overcome when growing redbuds.

Those animals out there seem like they’re all too eager to get a bite of your plant. Both deer and rabbits will devour young trees if given the chance.

Your best bet to protect your redbuds from both of these common pests is to surround the young trees with chicken wire.

Once your tree is tall enough that the leaves and branches are out of reach and safe from browsing, you can remove the fence.

Insects

Redbuds are generally ignored by insect pests, especially if you choose a species native to your region.

However, that seems to be changing as the dreaded emerald ash borer expands its range into more and more regions.

Regardless, healthy trees are usually able to withstand an infestation and remain healthy.

Leaf Rollers

The redbud leaf roller (Fascista cercerisella) is the larva of a half-inch-wide dark brown and white moth that lives east of the Rocky Mountains.

The moth itself isn’t a threat, but the half-inch-long black and white leaf rollers will roll up redbud leaves in loose webbing, eventually killing them.

To control this pest, just pull off any rolled leaves, bag them, and dispose of them.

Sprays won’t usually work since the larvae hide in the little shelters that they’ve made. Fortunately, they don’t typically cause serious damage.

Emerald Ash Borers

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is an invasive pest from Asia that is rapidly invading a larger and larger area of North America.

It was first identified in southeast Michigan in 2002, and identified on the West Coast for the first time in 2022. In the intervening years, it spread through every state east of the Rockies and throughout Colorado.

There have been reports since of these pests in Montana and Wyoming.

Though they haven’t been officially confirmed at the time of this writing, this indicates that it’s possible that the bug may be found in every state throughout the continental US.

They decimate ash trees, killing hundreds of millions since they were first discovered in North America 20 years ago, but they’ve also been seen feeding on the leaves of redbuds and other species.

These beetles look like iridescent half-inch-long grasshoppers. Hand pick and drown any you see in soapy water.

If you have ash trees on your property and you spot these pests, you’ll need to start treatment right away. With redbuds, your best line of attack is to keep your tree healthy.

Disease

It’s rare that a redbud is impacted by disease, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

Trees growing in wet soil, with poor air circulation, or those that are fed incorrectly are more likely to face issues.

Canker

Canker on redbuds is caused by fungi in the Botryosphaeria genus, and it’s the most destructive disease of the Cercis species.

At first, it shows up as little black, soft, sunken spots in the bark. Eventually, the canker spreads and girdles the stem, causing everything above the canker to die.

Fungicides aren’t extremely effective, so just prune away any diseased branches you see at the base.

If you have a severe case with lots of cankers and dying branches, you will need to just remove the tree.

Verticillium 

Caused by the fungus Verticillium albo-atrum, vert causes the leaves to wilt even when the tree has plenty of water.

As the disease progresses, the leaves turn yellow and may form V-shaped yellow spots between the veins. Overfertilizing and wet soil creates favorable conditions for this disease.

Sadly, there is no treatment available. It’s best to remove an infected plant and dispose of it.

Best Uses

First, let’s talk about how to eat this tree. You can eat the young leaves and flowers either raw or cooked.

The leaves aren’t all that great, if I’m being totally honest.

The really young ones have a mild flavor and tender texture, but otherwise, they tend to be largely flavorless or slightly bitter. They make a good salad filler, though!

The pods are also edible, but they’re best when they’re young and tender. Sautee them or toss them raw into salads. Basically, you can use them as you would edible pea pods.

The blossoms are the tastiest part of the plant. These are firm enough to fry up well yet tender enough to also eat raw.

If you prefer a sweeter, more tender treat, just eat the paler upper petals. You can also pickle the flower buds to make “capers.”

Humans aren’t the only ones who love foraging from these trees!

The flowers are pollinated by bees, though only long-tongued bees can reach deep enough to access the nectar.

Butterflies and hummingbirds also feed on the flowers. In fact, C. canadensis is the main host of Henry’s elfin butterflies (Callophrys henrici).

In the garden, these make excellent specimen trees and the semi-dwarf cultivars are perfect in containers.

If you have a partially shaded spot that needs a burst of color, a redbud is an awesome pick.

Plant some partial-shade-loving color like phlox, wood lilies, violets, or bluebells underneath.

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Plant Type:	Deciduous, cauliflorous tree	Flower/Foliage Color:	Pink, lavender, red, white/green, red, maroon
Native to:	North America, Europe, China	Maintenance:	Low
Hardiness (USDA Zones):	4-10a, varies depending on species	Tolerance	Drought
Bloom Time:	Spring blooms/fall foliage	Soil Type:	Sandy, loamy
Exposure:	Part shade to full sun	Soil pH:	6.5-8.0
Time to Maturity:	10 years	Soil Drainage:	Well-draining
Spacing:	5-15 feet	Attracts:	Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds
Planting Depth:	1/4 inch (seeds), same depth as container (transplants), roots just below the soil line (bare root)	Companion Planting:	Bluebells, phlox, violets, wood lilies
Height:	Up to 30 feet, depending on variety	Uses:	Container, edible, specimen
Spread:	Up to 30 feet, depending on variety	Family:	Fabaceae
Growth Rate:	Fast	Genus:	Cercis
Water Needs:	Moderate to low	Species:	Canadensis, chinenis, occidentalis, siliquastrum
Common Pests and Diseases:	Emerald ash borers, deer, leaf rollers, rabbits; canker, verticillium wilt	Varieties:	Canadensis, mexicana, texensis

Usher in Spring with Redbud Trees

The first tree I ever planted was a redbud. And I had no idea what I was doing.

I had just moved out of my parents’ house and I wanted a tree to fill the empty dry patch just beyond the reach of the sprinklers at my rental.

I did everything wrong. It was the wrong spot, with poor drainage and concrete-hard soil.

I didn’t have a garden hose, so the irrigation it received was intermittent at best. Between the rush of college and time spent hanging out with friends, I forgot to feed it.

Of course, now I know better – and you do, too! But I think my story is a testament to how tough redbud trees are. The one I planted way back when is still growing away happily for the current tenants to enjoy.

I can’t wait to hear which cultivar or species you’re going to go with. If I could, I’d plant one of each, so you’ll have to share in the comments so I can live vicariously through you.

Did this guide help you achieve your redbud dreams? I sincerely hope so. If you want to add more trees to your landscape, you might find the following guides helpful:

For many gardeners, sharing a love of plants with family and friends adds another layer of enjoyment to a very fulfilling pastime. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and expert guest Catharine Cooke explore plants that have special meaning or associations with their loved ones. Whether it is a dogwood that provides seedlings to share with others, a native orchid that is worth a long hike to see growing in the wild, a buttery colored rose, or “that gangly plant by the stone wall” that Danielle’s husband especially likes, these plants will surely get you thinking about the memories, stories, and connections that make some of the plants in your garden meaningful to you.

Expert guest: Catharine Cooke is a landscape designer and co-owner of Spring Lake Garden Design in Sherman, Connecticut. You can read some of Catharine’s past articles here: finegardening.com/author/catharine-cooke 

Danielle’s Plants

Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa, Zones 5-8)

Siberian iris (Iris sibirica, Zones 4–9)

Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii, Zones 4–8)

‘Horstmann’s Recurved’ larch (Larix decidua ‘Horstmann’s Recurved’, Zones 2–7)

 

Carol’s Plants

Lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium reginae, Zones 2a–7)

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana, Zones 2–9)

Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens, Zones 3–7)

Strawberry rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum, Zones 3–8)

 

Expert’s Plants

Julia Child™ rose (Rosa ‘Wekvossutono’, Zones 4–9)

‘Constance Spry’ rose (Rosa ‘Constance Spry’, Zones 5–10)

‘New Dawn’ rose (Rosa ‘New Dawn’, Zones 5–10)

In my latest video, I share how we’re starting transplants from a wide range of plant genetics, landrace gardening style:

Consolidating varieties together by type, rather than inbred cultivar (AKA heirloom), is quite satisfying. The garden ought to be highly entertaining this year.

I was truly getting tired of trying to maintain separate varieties. Heck with it. Let’s mix ’em up.

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While I’m very pro insects in the garden, sometimes they can get out of hand and do more harm than good. This can include ants! Rather than try to exterminate the whole population of ants in your garden or use toxic chemicals that could affect other good insects and your plants, here’s how to get rid of ants in the garden naturally.

In this post, you will learn…

What Are Ants Eating?

First, find out what the ants are eating and what’s eating it. When dealing with any pest, try to understand the ecology of the pest, the host plant, and the environment allowing the pest to get to an unbalanced amount.

This is known as integrated pest management, and it’s how you get to the root of the cause!

If you notice more than the usual amount of ants in the garden, there’s probably a food source in the area. Perhaps it’s a hummingbird feeder or some of your fruits.

Either try to eliminate the food source, space the food source out (AKA, don’t put all your fruits and vegetables together in one place), or put measures in place that will stop the ants from eating the food.

Another example is aphids. Ants love to ‘farm’ aphids for the sweet honeydew they produce. Ants aren’t harmful to plants, but they will protect the aphids from predators.

If ants become a detriment to the predatory insect, hose off the aphids daily for a week or two. The ants will eventually move on to other food sources that aren’t so much trouble.

What Eats Ants?

Another way to naturally get rid of ants in the garden is by introducing predators. Try to make your garden as friendly as possible for these predators. For instance, leave behind spider webs rather than sweep them up.

Attract birds to the garden with a feeder or a bird bath. Make sure there are rocks and nooks in your garden where frogs, lizards, and snakes might inhabit. Build a bug hotel to invite all other predatory insects!

How to Get Rid of Ants in the Garden Naturally

Once you take a look at ecology as a whole, here are some other handy tips to try.

Keep a Clean Yard

Ants are attracted to all kinds of smells, so you want to keep your compost and garbage away from the house and any specific areas of the garden you want them away from. This includes BBQs, butterfly feeders, hummingbird feeders, and bird feeders.

Debris can also attract ants, such as dead branches and fallen leaves. Rather than remove the leaves and debris from your garden (they’re very important to beneficial wildlife!), relocate them out of the way.

Herbs to Deter Ants

There are some herbs that ants hate! Add them to my herbal pest deterrent spray or use them on their own to deter ants.

Since the spray can deter good insects too, only use it when the ant population needs intervention and then discontinue use once the balance is under control again.

Companion planting with the plants above can also work well when you want to get rid of ants in your vegetable garden.

Attract Ants

Sometimes, you can attract ants to come to your garden. If you notice they inhabit a certain garden area (such as your fruit and vegetables), you can encourage them to vacate to a different part of your garden where they won’t bother you or your produce!

This could mean moving your compost bin to an unused corner, attracting aphids with nasturtium or Shasta daisies for ants to farm, or setting up a jar with something sweet for them to eat.

Will Vinegar Kill Ants in the Garden?

There are many ways advertised to kill ants. I recommend not killing them as they’re beneficial (more on that below). Instead, work on preventing ants in the garden from infesting certain areas.

White vinegar is one way to repel ants rather than kill them. You can dilute it with water and spray it in areas you want to keep ants away from. Remember that vinegar can kill plants, so be careful where you spray.

A Note in Praise of Ants!

If the ant isn’t on the local watch list and isn’t causing much damage, it may be safe to leave it be. Your garden is simply part of the ecosystem!

Ants may be farming aphids on your rose bushes, but they also work hard in the garden to clean up debris and aerate the soil. In most cases, ants won’t cause any damage to plants and are quite harmless to have in the garden.

More Posts About Garden Insects

When landscape designers ask clients who are gardeners where they like to sit, the answer they get is often “several places,” since real gardeners notice the path of the sun and place themselves accordingly. In smaller gardens, light (or indeed shade) will need to be maximized, which is why you might find yourself moving furniture a few feet to the left or right, depending on the time of day. Below, we’ve rounded up our favorite portable, foldable tables for quick relocations and, come winter, easy storage.

Collaborative post

Are you interested in growing your own vegetables, but not sure where to start?

This guide is packed with tips and advice to help you get it right first time.

The benefits of growing your own vegetables

There are lots of great reasons to grow your own vegetables.  For starters, you can reduce the amount of food miles and packaging waste your grocery shopping racks up, and in turn lower your carbon footprint.

If you steer clear of chemical fertilisers and pest control when growing your own vegetables, you can also help nature to thrive in your garden.  This also allows you to enjoy the benefits of healthy, organic produce.

Growing your own veggies can save you lots of money too.  With grocery bills rising steeply at the moment these savings can have a significant impact in a relatively short space of time.

Additionally, if you like the idea of being more self-sufficient and relying less on food supply chains, growing vegetables at home is a great way to be more in control of the produce available to you.

Last but not least, gardening is good for you!  Whether you grow flowers, fruit or vegetables, spending time in nature and nurturing plants is proven to reduce stress, boost wellbeing, and support mental health.  It’s a really fun and beneficial hobby to get into, whether you’re new to gardening as an adult, or keen to encourage kids gardening.

Which vegetables to grow at home

When you first start growing your own vegetables, you might be unsure about the best vegetables to grow at home.  It’s very tempting to get carried away and try to grow lots of different varieties.  While this can be lots of fun, it’s not necessarily the most efficient way to get started.

If you’re new to vegetable gardening, it’s a good idea to start with a few crops that are easy to grow.  As you learn and build up experience, you can move on to more demanding veggies.  Our list of easy to grow vegetables is a good place to start.

You also need to bear in mind that there will be a limit to the amount of crops you can grow in the space you have available.  Make a list of the vegetables you and your family like to eat, and focus on those for your first vegetable garden.  There’s no point growing armfuls of runner beans if nobody will eat them!

You can of course have fun growing vegetables that you’ve never tried before.  Just make sure you allow plenty of room for those popular crops too.

Buying vegetable seeds and vegetable plants

Once you’ve decided which vegetables to grow, it’s time to go shopping.

Growing your own vegetables from seed is the most cost-effective option here.  Buying vegetable seeds online gives you access to a huge range of varieties, and allows you to browse and buy at a time that’s convenient to you.

If you’re short on time or space, there are lots of vegetable plants for sale too.  These are usually sold as small plants (often referred to as ‘plug plants’) which you then grow on at home.

Soil preparation

The soil that plants grow in has a huge impact on how well they grow.  And with vegetable plants, that ultimately influences the size of the crop.  Consequently, preparing your soil – whether that’s in the ground, in raised beds, or in pots – is one of the most important things to do when growing vegetables.

Start by removing any weeds, including the roots.  Weeds will compete with your vegetable plants for nutrients and limit their growth.

Next, use a spade or fork to loosen up the soil.  This will improve drainage.

Vegetables tend to be hungry plants, so it’s a good idea to enrich the soil before planting.  To do this, dig in some manure or organic fertiliser.

Finally, rake over the surface of the soil to create an even finish ready for planting.

If you’re growing vegetables in pots, it’s important to use good quality compost.  A general purpose peat-free compost will suit most vegetable plants.  If you’re nervous about getting it right you could go for a compost which is specifically designed for vegetables.

Make sure you understand how much space each plant needs before you start planting.  Check the instructions on the seed packet or plant label, or look them up online.

Plant food for vegetables

Soil and compost can only provide a certain amount of nutrients for your plants, and eventually those nutrient levels will drop.  At this point your veggie plants will find it harder to thrive.

To keep your plants happy and encourage a bigger vegetable crop, you should feed them on a regular basis.  Plant food is available in liquid and granule form; always choose a product which is suitable for vegetable plants, and follow the instructions on the packaging.

Plant supports for vegetable gardening

Some varieties of vegetable plants are climbers.  Runner beans, peas, cucumbers and tomatoes are all popular climbing grow your own crops.  If you’re growing a climbing plant you will need to provide it with support.

The simplest and cheapest form of plant support is garden canes secured with string.  You can also use trellis, obelisks and arches if you’d prefer a more ornamental look.

Pest control

Any plant grown outdoors is susceptible to a pest attack.  When it comes to pest control, prevention is always better than cure.

The cheapest and most eco-friendly form of pest control is provided by nature.  Encourage the insects that feed on the pests, and they will do most of the work for you.  Ants, ladybirds, lacewings and spiders will all feast on aphids (greenfly and blackfly), while ground beetles and hedgehogs will tackle slugs.  Take a look at this post on making your garden wildlife-friendly for lots of inspiration.

You should also check your plants for pests on a regular basis.  It’s much easier to tackle an infestation in the early stages.  Ideally you should avoid chemical pesticides as these are harmful to the environment and wildlife, and will often kill beneficial insects too.

You can also create a physical barrier around your plants to deter pests.  This could be netting, crushed eggshells, copper tape on pots, or even a scarecrow!

Ready to grow your own vegetables?

Hopefully this guide has inspired you to make a start on growing your own vegetables, and gives you the tips you need to create a bountiful vegetable garden.  For more grow your own resources take a look at this post.

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Carla Z Mudry is sharing her garden with us today.

I know it sounds crazy, but you actually can garden in January!

I have this giant Japanese maple we inherited with the property in the front. I love Japanese maples, perhaps a little too much, and I go out of my way to take care of this one. She gets regular pruning and more. When this Japanese maple is fully leafed out, she casts shade and dappled light over the entire area where she is located. And that leads to grass being harder to grow. It is also an area of the garden that can get quite dry, so I have been looking at it with fresh eyes. I decided the tree would be better off with wood chips and mulch. So last week that was a garden project!

I am not going to underplant the tree with more shrubs. What I am going to do is place more bulbs. I have this idea in my head of how I want this space to look, and I am going to start with species daffodils. I think they will look terrific, and they will spread. They’re not giant traditional daffodils that you think of as cut flowers, even if they’re a little more wild.

When you walk around your garden in the winter, it has its own life. It’s more angular. It’s more structural, but there is still this winter garden. And the ultimate beauty of the winter garden is that it can show you where you might want to go in the spring. I use the winter garden for thinking about things I want to rework or transplant or trim.

Winter in the garden is also the imagining season. Some people can’t do that. I can. And I envision what an area could look like. And then I plan. Remember that a garden isn’t static; it evolves.

Bare branches are their own kind of beauty, living sculptures in the winter landscape.

A chainsaw sculpture made from the stump of a dead tree now graces the garden.

Seed heads provide food for wildlife and beauty for gardeners during winter.

The structure of the garden is more visible in winter with most of the leaves gone.

The winter sun at a low angle glows on bare garden branches.

 

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Ferns provide some of the most beautiful foliage out there. The fronds come in various shapes and sizes; some feature their spores prominently, while others aren’t so apparent.

Growing ferns is very different from growing a flowering plant because many are shade lovers, and one of the defining factors of a fern is that it produces spores instead of flowers.

They’re generally carefree, but with so many different kinds of ferns out there, the exact needs can vary greatly from one species to another.

Today we’re going to take a look at different fertilizer types and compare their qualities to give you an overview of what to look for when planning to fertilize any fern.

Please note that you still want to know the exact NPK and dosages for your particular fern species.

Best Fern Fertilizer

As we’ve already hunted, the particular needs of every fern are different.

However, a liquid-soluble, organic fertilizer is generally the best option for most, if not all, ferns.

Choosing an NPK

While any good fertilizer will carry a variety of micro and macronutrients, three macronutrients take precedence on the label.

An NPK ratio is the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (respectively) that’s present.

These three nutrients are essential to plant growth in the following ways:

• Nitrogen is essential for healthy leaves, as well as photosynthesis and coloration.
• Phosphorus primarily encourages healthy blooms but also boosts the immune system.
• Potassium creates stronger stems and is essential for the plant’s immune system.

Oddly enough, while it might seem that all ferns would need lots of nitrogen and very little phosphorus because they don’t flower, this isn’t necessarily the case.

Soil Acidity

This brings us to the next important factor. Different plants need different pH levels and can usually handle a specific range.

Neutral pH is 6.6 to 7.3, with anything higher becoming increasingly alkaline and anything lower becoming increasingly acidic.

Most plants will do best in slightly acidic (6.1 to 6.5) to neutral since this is the natural state of most soils.

The more organic matter in the soil, the more it tends to lead towards an acidic pH, although other factors can also have a major effect on the pH.

Knowing the pH range of your plant is important when selecting a fertilizer, as this will affect the soil’s overall pH when added.

High nitrogen fertilizers add acidity, while high phosphorus fertilizers are more alkaline, although other ingredients, such as sulfur, can also have an effect.

Slow-Release vs. Liquid-Soluble

This is one of the greatest battles in plant care to this day, and it probably won’t be resolved any time soon.

Slow-release fertilizers have their advantages, such as the ability to store granule versions indefinitely. However, liquid-soluble fertilizers have a distinct advantage in terms of nutritional value.

Let’s illustrate the difference with human food.

A slow-release fertilizer is like a fruit bowl with yogurt on the side.

It will take you longer to eat, and you’ll be getting a bite of strawberry, while the next bite might be a banana, and there’ll be a bit of yogurt here and there if you dip the fruit.

Meanwhile, the juices mingle in the bowl, giving you a hint of banana on the strawberry and vice-versa.

The nutrients in slow-release fertilizers all break down at different rates, so your plant will get a mouthful of nitrogen with almost no calcium at one point. In contrast, at another, it will be mostly calcium with a hint of nitrogen.

Unfortunately, this is why slow-release fertilizers often need to be supplemented, because the plant isn’t getting the right balance of nutrition with every “bite.”

Liquid-soluble fertilizers are different and are more like a fruit smoothie.

Each sip gives you the same percentage of strawberry, banana, and yogurt as the last one, even though you can drink a smoothie much faster than you can eat a bowl of fruit.

And this is precisely what liquid-soluble fertilizers do: They break down everything at the same rate, so it’s instantly available to the plant.

For this reason, liquid-soluble fertilizers tend to be the best option for most plants, including your ferns.

Organic vs. Synthetic

And now that you’re hungry, let’s look at organic fertilizers versus their synthetic counterparts.

Organic materials break down more easily and tend to provide superior nutrition, whereas synthetic isn’t absorbed as efficiently but have a longer shelf life.

Again, we can use human food as an example and ask which is healthier: a smoothie made with fresh fruit or artificial flavoring and ground-up vitamin pills?

A Note on Compost and Manure

Of the many organic fertilizers out there, two of the most common for ferns are manure-based fertilizers and organic compost.

When added to the soil, both provide excellent nutrition when you plant or transplant a fern.

Also, you can add some at the beginning of the growing season to the top of the soil around your fern to provide an early boost, switching to a liquid fertilizer after skipping the next 1 to 2 feedings.

These two organic options work a lot like slow-release fertilizers, but they break down far more evenly and enrich the soil itself every time you water your plant.

However, they also increase the soil’s acidity, so you will want to determine first if they’re right for your particular fern’s pH requirements.

Another thing to note is that you can use both options as a liquid fertilizer by making manure tea or compost tea.

These can be added just like you would any other liquid fertilizer, although you will need to brew them overnight.

How Often Should You Fertilize?

Our last point is one that’s rather hard to pin down.

When using a liquid-soluble fertilizer, most ferns will need to be fed every 2 to 4 weeks during their growing season (usually spring through summer).

Slow-release fertilizers will generally need to be applied monthly.

However, some ferns out there are adapted to poor soils and may only need fertilizer once per year at the beginning of the growing season.

Always try to identify the species of fern you own, then check guides specific to that species.

In addition, you should always follow the instructions on the fertilizer to ensure you are giving the right amounts at the right times.

Putting It All Together

We’ve covered a lot of information, so here are the cliff notes:

• Always identify the species or cultivar of fern you own and look up a guide specific to that plant for the exact NPK ratio and feeding frequency.
• Always pay attention to any instructions on the fertilizer packaging.
• Organic fertilizers break down more efficiently and are easier for your ferns to absorb.
• Likewise, liquid-soluble fertilizers immediately give the plant what it needs, whereas slow-release fertilizers tend to break down unevenly.
• Depending on your type of fern, it may need to be fertilized frequently or only once per year.
• Compost and manure are organic options that can be used either as a liquid or slow-release but without the drawbacks of most slow-release fertilizers.

There are two easy ways to harm a plant, both because of oversimplification inadvertently. The first is to water on a schedule, and the second is to provide only one type of sunlight. 

But what exactly does “one type of sunlight” mean? Simply put, the sun’s rays pass through the atmosphere on their way to your plant.

In the morning, their intensity is diluted because there’s more atmosphere in the way. However, when the sun is at its highest, the rays are hitting with a minimal atmosphere.

And this brings us to the question of Hydrangeas and sunlight. 

Just how much do they need, how does your location affect this amount, and how can you tell if your hydrangea is getting the wrong amount?

Let’s take a detailed look at all of these questions and more.

How Much Sun Do Hydrangeas Need?

As a general rule, hydrangeas prefer bright, indirect light throughout most of their USDA hardiness zone range.

But the exact amount depends on the individual species or cultivar.

Duration vs. Intensity

Light is measured in two specific ways when it comes to plants. The duration is how long the plant needs exposure to a specific amount of light (usually direct) to be at its healthiest.

The ideal for climbing, mophead, and oakleaf hydrangeas is 3 to 6 hours of full sun per day. Meanwhile, others prefer around 6 to 8 hours of full sun per day.

But remember, “full sun” doesn’t refer to just any point in the day. Mornings and evenings have a more mild full sun than afternoons.

We’ll get into more detail on this later.

The intensity, meanwhile, measures how directly the light is hitting the plant and is usually described in the following categories:

• Full sun
• Bright, indirect light
• Filtered light (AKA dappled light)
• Light shade
• Partial shade
• Heavy shade
• Full shade
• Low light

In the case of hydrangeas, the preference is for dappled sunlight, but it can tolerate partial shade to full sun, depending on the time of day.

One could say that a plant can generally go two levels in either direction on the lighting scale before suffering, but this isn’t always true.

Where You Are Matters!

Something else that we need to discuss is where you live.

A hydrangea living in an arid region, such as in much of Arizona, will need more shade than the same plant growing in a temperate Vermont garden.

Consider the sun’s intensity (especially ultraviolet rays) and plan accordingly.

Thus, you’ll want to give your hydrangea full morning or evening sun with partial shade in the middle of the day in harsher climates, but in northern regions where the sun never gets too intense, you can give the plant full afternoon exposure.

For much of the US, planting your hydrangea, where it’ll get a little dappling from a nearby tree in the afternoon and indirect light for much of the day overall, is perfect.

But before we move on, we have to stress that different types of hydrangea plants will need slightly different amounts and intensities of light, so what we’re suggesting here is only a baseline.

Please research the exact variety or cultivar you own to get more precise requirements for that plant.

Signs of Inadequate Sunlight

Sometimes you plant a hydrangea in the wrong spot and need to move it, but how do you know when sunlight is the problem?

A lack of sunlight can cause several issues for your hydrangeas.

One of the worst is that low light will make the stems brittle, resulting in a higher risk of damage from strong winds or being bumped by humans or pets.

These same stems may also become scraggly, stretching out to reach better lighting conditions.

This same lack of sunlight can result in slower evaporation, which can invite fungal infections, infestations, and other health issues.

Finally, the biggest symptom is that your hydrangea will fail to bloom. 

Flowering takes a lot of energy, much of which comes from photosynthesis. If the leaves aren’t able to absorb enough light, the plant won’t be able to bud.

Signs of Overexposure to Sun

On the flip side of the coin, excess sunlight can pose its own problems.

Even if the light isn’t too harsh, excess light will dry out the soil faster.

This can lead to additional problems, especially if you aren’t practicing proper watering techniques.

The leaves can dry out and curl or become brittle because the water evaporates too fast.

Also, harsh sunlight can result in sunburn, leaving behind dry, yellow spots.

In the event of recent rain, things can get even worse, with the water droplets acting as miniature magnifying glasses.

Finally, you might notice the plant’s leaves drooping after a particularly hot or sunny day.

In such cases, the leaves may also feel less rigid, yet the timing indicates that the plant’s actually dehydrated due to the heat.

When you see this particular combination of signs, it’s important to check the soil and water the plant if needed.

A Final Note On Sun Care

One of the great things about hydrangeas is that they’re easy to transplant.

If your hydrangea is getting the wrong amount of sunlight, consider shifting it to another part of the garden.

Proper watering techniques, such as the soak and dry method (and avoiding overhead watering), are also great ways to help reduce the risk of sun-related problems.

Also, never forget that some types of hydrangea prefer more sun or cooler climates than others.

When in doubt, always look up specific care information for your plants instead of relying upon the general info for a species or genus.

Gardeners grow many different types of plants often for the sole purpose of enjoying their pretty flowers.

I think that’s especially true of camellias because they provide some much-needed color and visual interest when most other bloomers are napping.

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That’s why it’s so incredibly frustrating when something happens to cause the flowers not to form. I can forgive a hosta that doesn’t bloom, but a winter without camellia flowers?! Nope. Not doing it.

One of the things that can cause a lack of blossoms is an infestation of bud mites.

These pests are microscopic but the damage they do is anything but. They cause browning, falling buds, and a lack of flowers. They suck!

And I mean that literally. They use their teeny-tiny mouthparts to suck the juices from plants, leaving damage in their wake.

Don’t let these pests destroy your winter color! This guide aims to help with just that. Here’s what we’ll go over, coming right up:

Don’t bother with the microscope. You’re going to want to arm yourself with this guide, a rake, and, your trusty pruners. Ready? Let’s go!

What Are Bud Mites?

These pests are eriophyoid mites (part of the superfamily Eriophyoidea) that attack the buds of camellia plants.

When it comes to camellias, Cosetacus camelliae is the particular species that causes problems.

These spider relatives are impossible to see with the naked eye, so don’t bother searching for them.

Despite their itty-bitty size, they can get around. These mites move on the wind by spinning little webs that they can use as a sort of kite, or they can hitchhike on birds, mammals, insects, or gardening tools.

Bud mite infestations are pretty rare. If you’re experiencing bull-nosing in your garden, a term we’ll go over shortly, it could be caused by these pests – or it may be the result of something else.

Bull-Nosing

Bullnosing, bull nosing, bull-nosing, bullheading, or balling are all terms for the same problem.

Whatever you call it, it’s when the buds form on a camellia plant, but they don’t fully open into flowers. The buds might drop off of the plant or they might stay attached but never open.

These pests can cause this, but so can warm fall temperatures, too many buds produced on a single plant, or too much shade.

Some camellia cultivars and hybrids are more prone to bullnosing, such as ‘Elegans.’

Symptoms

Bud mites infest both terminal and flower buds.

Infested buds turn brown, with the edges of the scales turning brown first before progressing to the rest of the bud. They may also dry out and they might fall off the plant, but not necessarily.

Have you spotted new growth turning brown?

Some cultivars, such as ‘Ruffian’ and ‘Marie Bracey,’ are prone to scale browning even without pest problems, so it can be a little difficult to make a definite diagnosis based on this symptom alone.

Bud mite damage usually appears first on the outer terminal buds.

If only the flower buds are affected or if the inner growth is showing symptoms first, it might be worth considering other causes before you accuse C. camelliae of wreaking havoc in your garden.

These pests can also cause the buds to form more slowly than usual, and to open later than normal.

Control

First and foremost, remove any symptomatic growth and place it in a bag to dispose of it. The larvae and adults live in the buds, so removing them removes the mites.

Adult females overwinter in the soil, so it helps to clean up any mulch or fallen leaves and dispose of them, as well. Turn the surface of the soil to expose the pests to the elements.

You can also employ beneficial nematodes to kill the soil-dwelling adults. Use a product that contains several species for the most effective treatment.

Triple Threat Beneficial Nematodes

Something like Triple Threat Beneficial Nematodes – Sf, Sc, Hb from Arbico Organics is perfect.

You can choose five, 10, 50, 250, or 500 million quantities depending on how large of an area you need to treat.

Mites, whether of the bud variety or otherwise, tend to thrive in dry conditions. They’re also easily knocked loose from their host plants.

Kill two birds with one stone by spraying your plants with a blast of water from the hose. This will raise the humidity and knock them away.

Finally, you can opt to spray your plants with horticultural oil to smother the mites.

Don’t use a miticide as it is difficult to eradicate these pests with chemicals and they will develop resistance over time.

Spray once every three weeks starting when the flowers fall from the tree and ending in early fall.

Bonide All Seasons Horticultural Spray

You can find horticultural oil at pretty much any nursery or garden center. I prefer Bonide’s All Seasons product, which you can pick up at Arbico Organics.

Prevention

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot you can do to prevent mites from paying your plants a visit.

Your best bet is to ensure that your plants are healthy so they can fight off an infestation, and check them periodically so you can act quickly if you see symptoms.

Learn all about how to raise healthy camellias in our guide.

Other Mites to Watch For

Bud mites are just one of several mite species that will attack camellias.

The other notable species to watch for are Southern red (Oligonychus ilicis), broad (Polyphagotarsonemus latus), tea red (O. coffeae), and two-spotted spider mites (Tetranychus urticae).

These pests are larger than C. camelliae mites, about the size of a pinhead, and they cause yellowing and bronzing on the foliage.

A large infestation on a young plant might even cause some defoliation. But in general, these pests aren’t a huge problem.

Prune off any heavily infested branches, which will usually be covered in fine webbing. Then blast the plant with a spray of strong water to knock the mites loose.

Work on improving the biodiversity of your garden to encourage their natural predators to take up residence, or introduce beneficial predators such as ladybugs and green lacewings.

Green Lacewing Eggs

Speaking of which, you can purchase green lacewing eggs in various quantities with single or repeat shipping options at Arbico Organics.

Give Bud Mites the Boot

Bud mites, while they are not the most common pests seen on camellias, can be devastating simply because they deprive us of the most fabulous part of our plants: the blossoms!

I mean, the glossy, oval-shaped leaves are gorgeous and all, but I’m not going to lie. It’s the flowers I most look forward to. And I’m not going to let some little jerks come along and ruin that for me. Are you?

If you’ve had to deal with any of these pests this year, which of the methods described above did you find most helpful? Which did you use? Share your experiences in the comments section below!

Looking for some more help growing gorgeous camellias? We’ve got you covered! Here are a few more guides that we hope you’ll find useful:

Canning strawberry jam is quick and easy with my delicious recipe. In this post I will walk you through exactly how to do it, with full step by step instructions.

If you have an abundance of strawberries from your garden or the grocery store, making and canning jam is a great way to use them up.

This is so yummy, and there are lots of ways to use it. From spreading it on your morning toast, to using it in your favorite desserts, the options are endless.

It’s simple to make with my delicious recipe, and you only need 3 common ingredients. Below I’ll show you how to can your own homemade strawberry jam.

Homemade Canned Strawberry Jam Recipe

I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised at just how easy it is to make this canned strawberry jam.

You don’t need any fancy ingredients or special tools, just some basic canning equipment and supplies.

The result is perfectly sweet and delicious added to toast, biscuits, or dolloped on yogurt or oatmeal.

Ingredients For Canned Strawberry Jam

I created this strawberry jam recipe to be as easy as possible, and specifically for canning. It’s quick and easy to whip up a batch with only 3 ingredients. 

• Strawberries – Use fruits that are fresh, plump, and in season for the best results. If you’d like, you can substitute with frozen strawberries instead of fresh.

• Sugar – Besides complimenting the natural sweetness of the strawberries, this helps the jam form into a thick gel. You can substitute half or all of the sugar with Splenda or stevia, but it may result in a thinner texture.

• Lemon juice – This affects the pH of the jam, and also works with the sugar to thicken the texture of the gel, and allows it to set.

Tools & Equipment Needed

This canned strawberry jam recipe only requires a few kitchen tools and pieces of equipment, most of which you probably already have on hand.

Water Bath Canning Strawberry Jam

It’s safe to process strawberry jam in a water bath canner because of the natural acidity in the fruits and added lemon juice.

In fact, this is the only processing method you should use. Do not try using a pressure canner because it’s too hot for the gel to hold its thick consistency, and it will end up being runny.

How To Store Canned Strawberry Jam

If you plan to use it right away after it sets, you could eat it warm or put it into the refrigerator. It’s good for up to 1 month in the fridge after opening.

Otherwise store your sealed jars of canned strawberry jam in a cool dark place, like a pantry or basement shelf.

How Long Does Canned Strawberry Jam Last?

Your homemade canned strawberry jam will last up to 1 year when properly stored. Always ensure the lids are still tightly sealed before eating it.

FAQs

Below are some of the most common questions I get asked about making strawberry jam, along with my answers.

Does strawberry jam need to be pressure canned?

No, strawberry jam should not be pressure canned. That processing method is too hot, and will end up breaking down the thick gel texture of the jam, making it runny.

Can I water bath can strawberry jam?

Yes, you can water bath can strawberry jam. In fact, this is the recommended processing method, and the only one you should use.

Does strawberry jam need pectin?

This strawberry jam recipe does not need pectin. The combination of sugar and lemon juice will thicken it up so it can set into the perfect gel texture.

Do you water bath or pressure can strawberry jam?

You should always water bath can strawberry jam. Pressure canning will overheat and break down the gel, causing it to become runny instead of thick.

Can you can strawberry jam in pint jars?

You could can your strawberry jam in pint jars if you’d like to, the size doesn’t matter. But most people use 8 oz jelly or pint sized jars because it’s easier to eat up the smaller portion before it goes bad.

Canning your own homemade strawberry jam is simple and tastes so much better than any store-bought version. Plus it’s very quick to whip up a batch whenever you have a craving.

If you want to learn all about how to grow any of your crops up rather than out, you need my Vertical Vegetables book. It will show you all you need to know, and includes 23 DIY projects you can build. Order your copy today!

Learn more about my Vertical Vegetables book here.

More Food Canning Posts

Share your favorite recipe for canning strawberry jam in the comments section below.

Recipe & Instructions

Pansies may not grab all the attention like elegant peonies or bold sunflowers, but they have a lot going for them.

They’re hardy enough to keep on blooming even in cold weather and they can fill in shady areas with some much-needed color.

Another thing to love about pansies? They are easy to start from seed.

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Pansies are biennials, but most of us just grow them as annuals.

Although they’re fairly affordable and you can find them at almost any nursery, it feels awfully wasteful to buy a flat each spring.

Save a buck and help the planet by propagating your flowers from seed.

I’ve also found some packets of unique cultivars that you’d never find as starts growing in soil at a nursery.

I grew gorgeous ‘Brush Strokes’ one year, a cultivar with striped, multicolored petals, and the neighbors were constantly raving about them.

Want to get your hands dirty? Great! Here’s what we’re going to go over:

Pansies are slow to mature, so you need to plan in advance. Other than that, they’re a cinch to start by propagating seed.

Ready to give it a go?

When to Propagate Pansies from Seed

If you live in USDA Hardiness Zones 8 and up, pansies can be sown directly in the ground in the summer. July is right for the northern half of the US, and August is better for the southern states.

Otherwise, start them indoors two to three months before the last predicted frost date in your area and wait to move the plants outside until they’re a bit more mature.

Pansies have a high germination rate and the seedlings aren’t fussy about their growing conditions, but they take their good, sweet time to mature.

While the seeds germinate within just two weeks, it takes at least 10 weeks for seedlings to be mature enough to plant out in the garden.

If you crave a late winter gardening project, starting pansies indoors is just the thing.

You need to make sure you’ll have enough cool days for the plants to mature and bloom before hot weather sets in because they tend to go dormant once things warm up. These plants will do much better in the cold than in the heat.

This year, we had an extreme ice storm, and temperatures stayed around 21°F for two days. My pansies? Totally fine. But once the thermostat shows 80°F, mature plants fade right away.

So, start those seeds indoors really early in the winter because cold weather is your friend. Heat, not so much.

You need to time it so that the plants are ready to transplant during the cool months and they’re not trying to bloom in the hot summer months.

Cultivars to Choose

If you’re looking for some seeds, here are a few recommendations to get you started.

One of my favorites is ‘Moulin Rouge,’ which features a mixture of colors including yellow, purple, and red, all with large, frilly petals.

‘Moulin Rouge’

Burpee has this early-blooming beauty in packs of 35 seeds, if you’re interested.

Or check out ‘Rococo,’ an heirloom from Italy with ruffled blooms.

‘Rococo’

You can purchase a mix of these seeds that will produce yellow, purple, pink, and red flowers with dark purple centers from Eden Brothers.

‘Laeta Fire’ has petite blossoms, about the size of a dime in bright yellow with a fiery magenta and purple edge. Just imagine a cupcake topped with these colorful blossoms.

Mix Your Soil

If you’re sowing directly in the soil, grab some well-rotted compost and some rice hulls or peat moss.

It doesn’t matter if your soil is just lovely already, you want to work in some nutrients and make it nice and light and fluffy. Work in enough organic matter until your soil is loose and loamy to at least six inches deep.

If you’re using potting soil, you should still grab some moss or rice hulls. Mix in one part sphagnum moss or rice hulls to six parts soil.

You can also use a seed starting mix, but I’ve found that my pansies develop stronger root systems in the type of potting mix described above.

I prefer sustainable rice hulls to sphagnum moss, a natural byproduct of the milling process that’s typically disposed of as waste but so useful in the garden.

Rice hulls are handy for a lot of gardening applications, from loosening up the soil and improving water retention to acting as a mulch when added on top of the soil in containers.

I always keep a bag on hand.

Rice Hulls

If you’d like to add some to your gardening toolkit, grab a quarter, half, or full cubic foot at Arbico Organics.

Sow the Seeds

To sow early indoors, fill a pot with your prepared medium. Pansies do best in three-inch pots or a six-cell tray.

I like to use biodegradable pots or I reuse plastic pots from seedlings I’ve purchased. If you reuse pots, be sure to scrub them with soap and water.

Biodegradable containers like CowPots reduce transplant shock and they are made with cow manure, a renewable resource. Plus, as each pot dissolves, it adds nutrients to the soil.

CowPots Biodegradable Pots

Sound good? You can nab packs of three, 50, or 120 CowPots at Arbico Organics.

Whether outdoors or in, I generally assume that whenever a seed is itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, it needs to be sown either on the surface of the soil or beneath a paper-thin layer of soil.

But pansies can’t be constrained by these rules – the seeds need to be stuffed down at least a quarter-inch.

These should also be spaced about three inches apart in the soil, or with one seed per three-inch pot or individual cell. When sowing outdoors in the soil, I prefer to broadcast the seeds and then thin out the seedlings.

Water the soil well, whether indoors or out, and keep it moist.

Seeds can also be started in containers in a cold frame for easy transplant later.

Seedling Care

Indoors, all you need to do is provide supplemental light if you don’t have a spot near a window that provides at least five hours of sunlight per day.

Keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy – don’t oversaturate it or allow it to dry out too much.

Outdoors, sow in partial sun, unless the particular cultivar or species does better in full sun or shade.

Watch the seeding bed outdoors really closely for weeds. Weeds will steal nutrition and outcompete your pansies.

If you live in Zone 6 or below and you planted outside in the summer, you’ll need to provide protection in the form of a cold frame or a thick layer of leaf or straw mulch during the winter.

Transplanting

Once the seedlings have at least six true leaves each, you can transplant them. If you’re moving the plants from indoors, you’ll need to harden them off for a week first.

To do this, take your little seedlings outside and place them in a protected spot in partial sun for an hour. Then, bring them back inside.

The next day, let the seedlings stay outside for two hours. The following day, add another hour, and so on, until you reach a full eight hours.

While you’re working on hardening off your plants, prepare the ground soil for transplanting as described above. Or, if you’re planting into a container, fill the container with water-retentive potting soil.

Now you can take the plants out of their pots and place them in the prepared soil. Scoop out a hole the size of the seed-starting container.

Take the plant out, unless you used a biodegradable pot, and place it in the hole. Firm the soil up around the roots and water it in.

Dress Up Your Garden with Pretty Pansies

I can’t imagine a garden without at least a handful of pansies adding some hardy, reliable color. The fact that you can easily fill up a substantial area with just one packet of seeds is just a bonus.

How do you like to use your pansies? Do you plant them in pots to liven up your patio? Do you grow them in your garden for the edible flowers? Fill me in on all the details in the comment section below.

There’s so much more to know about growing pansies! Take a look at the following guides next:

Harvesting leaf duff (leaf mould) from the woods is a great way to increase the organic matter and mineral content of your gardens while adding beneficial microorganisms and fungi.

Steven Edholm recently posted on the benefits of using leaf mould over at the Skillcult blog:

So, why leaf duff? I use leaf duff mostly on seed beds. Leaf duff is not just shredded leaves or any organic matter. One trait it has is that small flat pieces are efficient at surface coverage. Why cover the surface? To keep water in and protect the soil. Almost any mulch can protect the soil for losing water. It also protects the soil for the hammering effect of rain and watering, which can pulverize it and destroy it’s structure. Most agriculture systems use cultivation for a reason, it breaks up soil crusting. compacted soil wicks away moisture faster by capillary action. Loose soil can act like a mulch, greatly slowing water loss. Crusting also inhibits the penetration of water into the soil, so we not only have rapid loss, but less infiltration.

Lets say I plant a bed of carrots. The seeds are very small and they take a long time to come up. If I don’t cover them at all, as soon as I water, the soil begins crusting over. Each time I water, it will become worse. Once crusted the water I do add will not penetrate the tight soil surface as easily and what does sift through will leave faster. Adding almost anything from coffee grounds to saw dust, to compost will help alleviate this problem. Leaf duff, sifted through a half inch screen, if applied carefully and sparingly, efficiently protects the soil, but will still allow the seeds to come though. If I don’t cover the bed with anything, my carrots are going to be hard to keep moist enough for good germination. Since the take a long time to come up, and are planted shallowly, I can’t intervene by breaking up that crust. I plant carrots on an either 2 inch or 3 inch grid pattern, so even when they do come up, cultivation is very difficult. I usually mulch lightly to get them up, and when they have all emerged and grown a little, I sift more fine mulch over the bed.

We’ve had this exact problem with carrots. My solution has been to use finely sifted compost to cover the planted carrot seeds; however, getting some free mulch/compost from the woods is a great idea.

Steven also has a super simple passive method of accumulating larger quantities of leaf mould:

“The system is simple. Going out and collected a lot of this stuff over the years, you notice that it is deeper where divets are created in the landscape. Leaves move downhill quite a bit and accumulate in low spots or behind dams that create hollows. So I set up some logs in strategic places accross the landscape when out doing forestry work. I think the steeper the hillside, the more, or faster, leaves will collect. It takes a few years to gather enough and break down adequately, but it’s a simple intervention and you can revisit them over and over once set up.”

Check out his complete post (and accompanying video) here.

I’ll try this method on my carrots this year and see how it works.

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Are you searching for beautiful and inspiring spring quotes to celebrate the season of renewal?

This article has one hundred gorgeous spring quotes to lift your mood and help you make the most of all the season has to offer.

The best spring quotes and spring sayings

There are short spring quotes, happy spring quotes, inspiring quotes on springtime, funny spring quotes, spring flower quotes, and spring love quotes to explore.  We’ve even included some spring proverbs to get you thinking.

Whether you need a spring quote for a greetings card, social media post, or piece of artwork, you’ll find the right words here.

If you’re sharing spring captions on social media or need some spring quotes for instagram, make sure you check out the list of nature hashtags too.

Hello spring quotes

Let’s get started with some springtime quotes and spring day quotes to welcome the new season.

“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” – Millard Kaufman

“Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.” – Gustav Mahler

“Which of us can’t honestly almost sob with joy when spring happens?” – Stephen Fry

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest.” – Ernest Hemingway

“Spring’s greatest joy beyond a doubt is when it brings the children out.” – Edgar Guest

“I had always planned to make a large painting of the early spring, when the first leaves are at the bottom of the trees, and they seem to float in space in a wonderful way. But the arrival of spring can’t be done in one picture.” – David Hockney

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want to – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” – Mark Twain

Motivational spring quotes

Give your intentions a boost with these motivational spring quotes.

“That is one good thing about this world … there are always sure to be more springs.” – L.M. Montgomery

“The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.” – Josiyah Martin

“You are reborn with the roses, in every spring.” – Juan Ramón Jiménez

“Springing into April with gratitude and love.” – Charmaine J. Forde

“Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring.” – Lilly Pulitzer

“Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.” – Anita Krizzan

Beautiful spring quotes

Spring is a season that’s packed with beauty, so it’s no wonder there are lots of beautiful spring quotes to enjoy.

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.” – Lewis Grizzard

“Once there was a thing called spring, when the world was writing verses like yours and mine.” – Ella Fitzgerald

“Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.” – Charlotte Brontë

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolour, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.” – Stanley Horowitz

“A little flower that blooms in May. A lovely sunset at the end of a day. Someone helping a stranger along the way. That’s heaven to me.” – Sam Cooke

“Come with me into the woods. Where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.” – Mary Oliver

“The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.” – Harriet Ann Jacobs

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring inspirational quotes

Stuck in a winter rut?  These inspirational uplifting spring quotes could be just the thing you need.

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland

“I can still bring into my body the joy I felt at seeing the first trillium of spring, which seemed to be telling me, “Never give up hope, spring will come.” – Jessica Stern

“Spring is not a season; it is a mysterious illusionist who sets off fireworks in the depths of our soul!” – Mehmet Murat ildan

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.” – Matsuo Bashō

“…as young and as ancient as Spring…” – J.R.R. Tolkein

“April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden.” – Marty Rubin

More inspiring quotes about springtime

“The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising.” – Amanda Gorman

“She could feel magic in the quiet spring day, like a sorcerer’s far-off voice,” – Stella Gibbons

“Despite the heart numbing frost, my soul is blooming like spring.” – Debasish Mridha

“The deep roots never doubt spring will come.” – Marty Rubin

“Spring is the best life coach: It gives you all the energy you want, all the positive thoughts you wish and all the boldness you need!” – Mehmet Murat ildan

“Yes, I deserve a spring – I owe nobody nothing.” – Virginia Woolf

“Spring has arrived. Let me not despair.” – Gretchen Marquette

Spring flower quotes

Flowers are a huge part of why we love spring so much.  These spring flower quotes are perfect for a floral celebration (and there are lots more to explore in our flower quotes and sunflower quotes posts).

“Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” – Algernon Charles Swinburne

“Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.” – Bishop Reginald Heber

“Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colours, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

“The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing.” – S. Brown

“Daffodils are yellow trumpets of spring.” – Richard L. Ratliff

“Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.” – Walter Scott

“Springtime flowers bloom like colourful arrows piercing their way to the sun.” – Terri Guillemets

“She turned to the sunlight, And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbour: “Winter is dead.” – A. A. Milne

“Spring dawn blossoms lined the mountain path.” – Meena Ahluwalia

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.” – Pablo Neruda

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” – Ruth Stout

“April showers bring May flowers.” – Unknown

“Spring flowers are nature’s most fragrant charms.” – Angie Weiland Crosby

“Surely the flowers of a hundred spring are simply the souls of beautiful things!” – L.M. Montgomery

“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.” – Gertrude S. Wister

Spring love quotes

Make a loved one smile with these spring love quotes.

“Always it’s spring and everyone’s in love and flowers pick themselves.” – E.E. Cummings

“If people did not love one another, I really don’t see what use there would be in having any spring.” – Victor Hugo

“Spring comes when the flowers bloom; your love cannot be understood but you came alone.” – Meng hui

“There’s so much spring in the air – there’s so much lazy sweetness in your heart.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“You look like the first breath of spring,” – Iris Johansen

“It’s cold today, but in a spring way, and I love you.” – Vladimir Nabokov

“Had I known that you would be my first glimpse of spring, I would’ve kissed every fallen petal of my hope along the way.” – Sai Pradeep

“Spring invites us into a fairy land of imagination where flowers bloom with joy, butterflies fly with song, and love dances with love.” – Debasish Mridha

“It’s spring again. I can hear the birds sing again. See the flowers start to bud. See young people fall in love.” – Lou Rawls

“Spring is the fountain of love for thirsty winter.” – Munia Khan

Changing of the seasons quotes about spring

Fed up with winter?  These spring quotes about seasons changing and quotes about spring coming will definitely perk you up.

Our seasonal quotes roundups might help too; there are winter quotes and autumn quotes to enjoy.

“The promise of spring’s arrival is enough to get anyone through the bitter winter!” – Jen Selinsky

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.” – Anne Bradstreet

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.” – Charles Dickens

“How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring!” – Edwin Way Teale

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…”It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine, and things pushing up and working under the earth.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett

“While it is February one can taste the full joys of anticipation. Spring stands at the gate with her finger on the latch.” – Patience Strong

Short spring quotes

Sometimes you only need a few words.  These short quotes about spring keep it simple, but still have big impact.

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” – Leo Tolstoy

“Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring?” – Neltje Blanchan

“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.” – John Muir

“Spring is the mischief in me.” – Robert Frost

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.” – Susan J. Bissonette

“Spring is the soul of renewal.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

“There is not time like Spring.  When life’s alive in everything.” – Christina Rosetti

“How silent are the footsteps of Spring!” – Henry David Thoreau

“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks, ‘Go.’” – Christopher Morley

More short spring sayings

“Here comes the sun, and I say, it’s all right.” – George Harrison

“She was like springtime distilled into a person.” – Laini Taylor

“The beauty of spring makes my heart sing.” – Millie Florence

“Spring: it’s not a fantasy, it’s real.” – Marty Rubin

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.” – Charles Dickens

“What a strange thing! to be alive, beneath cherry blossoms.” – Kobayashi Issa

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare

“Spring adds new life and new joy to all that is.” – Jessica Harrelson

“Nothing ever seems impossible in spring, you know.” – L.M. Montgomery

“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be.” – Unknown

Funny spring quotes

How about a few funny spring quotes to put a smile on your face?

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.” – Doug Larson

“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” – Mark Twain

“Spring has come when you can put your foot on three daisies.” – Unknown

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!” – Robin Williams

Spring proverbs

Let’s finish our celebration of spring quotes with some time-honoured spring proverbs and spring phrases.

“A kind word is like a spring day.” – Russian proverb

“Make your whole year’s plan in the spring and the whole day’s plan in the morning.” – Chinese proverb

“Spring succeeds to winter.” – Latin proverb

“If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn.” – Irish proverb

“A good year is determines by its spring.” – Afghan proverb

“Many a sudden change takes place on a spring day.” – Irish proverb

“Mother’s love is ever in its spring.” – French proverb

“Half an hour in a spring evening is worth a thousand gold pieces.” – Japanese proverb

“Walk lightly in the spring; Mother Earth is pregnant.” – Kiowa proverb

“Spring is sooner recognised by plants than by men.” – Chinese proverb

“One flower doesn’t make it spring!” – Afghan proverb

“The blossoms in the spring are the fruit in autumn” – Latin proverb

Have our spring season quotes made you happy?

Hopefully this list of 100 lovely spring time quotes and spring sayings has left you feeling uplifted, inspired and happy.

If you’d like to enjoy some more nature-themed quotes, head over to our roundups of tree quotes, waterfall quotes, nature quotes and gardening quotes.

More spring inspiration

Here are some extra spring resources for you to enjoy.

Spring gardening – spring flowers for pots, garden jobs for each month and planting calendar.

Family fun – free printable spring bucket list of outdoor play ideas, and spring nature crafts to try.  You might also like to take a look at *A Year of Nature Craft and Play which is packed with 52 low-cost nature activities for kids.

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