Tag: Flowers

Planning this year’s garden? My guess is you’re envisioning plants bathed in daylight.

But the problem is that by nightfall, when the sun has set and you’re ready to kick back at home, you won’t be able to see and fully enjoy the fruits of your gardening labor without flooding the yard with artificial lighting. And that’s not relaxing at all.

Instead, consider planting a moon garden specifically designed to be enjoyed by the light of the moon.

Plants with silver, variegated or bright foliage, white or light-colored flowers, or blooms that open only at night are ideal choices for a moon garden, as are highly fragrant plants. Plant them along a walkway or near your deck or patio, where you can enjoy them up close, or within view of a window.

My favorite white, moon-reflecting blooms include the aptly named moonflower (Ipomoea alba), Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum superbum), four o’clock (Mirabilis jalapa), sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum), evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), foxglove (Digitalis), petunias, New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri), and geranium (Pelargonium).

Night pollinators such as the sphinx moth love them, too.

Spring bloomers, like lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), daffodil (Narcissus) and azalea (Rhododendron spp.), and late-blooming species like chrysanthemum and autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) extend the season.

Plants with standout foliage include spotted dead nettle (Lamium), Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum), Jack Frost Siberian bugloss (Brunnera microphylla), variegated hostas, silver lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantine), dusty miller (Jacobaea maritima), Russian sage (Salvia yangii or Perovskia atriplicifolia), silver mound wormwood (Artemisia schmidtiana’ Silver mound’) and variegated euonymus varieties.

They remain visible after sundown and especially seem to glow under a full moon.

Highly fragrant plants like mock orange (Philadelphus pubescens), gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), lilac (Syringa vulgaris), summersweet (Clethra alnifolia), jasmine (Jasminum officinale) and, in the warmest climates, ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata) and frangipani (Plumeria rubra), will lend aromatic delight to your evenings.

Include a backdrop of shrubs like the sweetly scented Korean spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii), or white-blooming hydrangea varieties such as “Annabelle,” “Incrediball,” “Snow Queen,” “Little Lamb,” “Polar Ball” or “Wedding Gown.”

Trees like paper birch (Betula papyrifera), white or silver poplar (Populus alba), acacia and eucalyptus light up the night. Research those that are best-suited to your climate.

For maximum impact, plant in drifts, or groups of three, five or seven, of the same variety. That’s a good gardening practice in general because it avoids creating a jumble of disconnected individual plants. But it’s particularly important in the moon garden to ensure single plants aren’t lost in the darkness.

Think about hardscaping, too. There are no rules against supplementing moonlight with plant-facing landscape lighting. The glow will enhance the magical flair of your moon garden, as will the addition of white fencing, trellises, paving stones, pebbles, rocks, fountains and gazing balls.

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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for The Associated Press. She publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. Sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

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For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

Signs of autumn are most apparent in colder climates, where fall foliage sets the landscape ablaze. But regardless of your location, chances are there’s one familiar seasonal sight each year: potted chrysanthemums perched on porches, hanging in baskets, temporarily planted into borders.

And soon, they get kicked to the curb with decaying jack-o’-lanterns.

Curious and frankly disturbed about the ritual carnage, I asked a few of my Long Island, New York, neighbors why they discard their mums. The universal response? They believed them to be annuals.

Garden chrysanthemums are actually perennials, hardy in horticultural zones 5-9. That means they can survive winter in roughly half of U.S. states. It’s true, the plants can’t withstand the deep freezes experienced in parts of New England and the northern and central portions of the Northwest and West. Nor can they handle the blazing summer heat in the southern half of Florida, south Texas, and part of Southern California into western Arizona.

But that leaves roughly half the country primed for growing mums in their gardens.

There are, indeed, annual chrysanthemums, but they are primarily used in the florist trade or sold as potted gift plants, typically in stores like supermarkets, as opposed to nurseries. Still, check the plant tag to know what you’re getting. The garden-variety perennials will be labeled chrysanthemum morifolium; annuals belong to the chrysanthemum multicaule species.

No plant tag? Check the foliage: Perennial mums have broad, deeply toothed leaves; annuals have narrow and less-notched foliage.

Native to China, perennial chrysanthemums are available in shades of orange, red, rust, pink, purple, yellow, cream and white. Most grow to 1 to 3 feet tall and wide, reaching their mature sizes in about three years. In frost-free zones, they provide a second bloom in spring.

Consider using the plants alongside sedums, asters and goldenrods fo r a colorful seasonal display in the center of your garden bed.

Plant mums in well-draining soil as early in the season as possible. Spring would be ideal if you could find them at the garden center, but that’s not the case in many parts of the country. Although I’ve succeeded with fall plantings, you might not if temperatures dip below freezing within six to eight weeks of planting. If you’re not willing to gamble, enjoy the show until your plants go dormant, then stash the pots in an unheated garage or cellar over winter. Water them occasionally — very lightly — then plant them in spring after the danger of frost has passed.

Regardless of timing, incorporate compost into the soil to improve drainage, and set the plant into the ground at the same depth as it was growing in its container.

Allow sufficient space between plants to prevent crowding, which can lead to mold, mildew and fungal diseases. If plants become overgrown, divide them in spring, just after new growth appears. It’s a great way to make free plants.

Mums thrive best in full sun with consistently moist soil, and will benefit from regular fertilizer applications, as they are heavy feeders.

Spread 2-3 inches of mulch around the plants to help retain soil moisture and suppress weeds. Add another inch or two after the ground has frozen to protect roots from the freeze-thaw cycles of winter.

Allow dormant plants to stand in the garden over the winter; the above-ground plant matter, although dry, will help to further insulate roots. Cut them back in spring after new growth emerges.

Starting in their third year, prune back one-third of the plants’ growth three times per season: at the beginning and middle of June and again during – but no later than — the first week of July. Don’t worry about removing flower buds; the practice will stimulate the production of more blooms and create fuller, bushier plants.

If chrysanthemums aren’t hardy in your zone, you can still partake in the festivities. Potted mums don’t do well in the heat, so avoid temptation when you see them for sale in late summer. They’ll survive better – and longer – if you wait until temperatures cool.

When overnight frost is predicted north of zone 5, move pots into a well-lit, cool location indoors. Water deeply when the soil dries out, but don’t let it remain dry for too long. The plants won’t necessarily thrive, but they should remain alive until spring, when you can bring them back outdoors.

In the deep South, follow the same procedure when spring or summer temperatures rise into the 80s, and care for plants indoors until things cool down in autumn.

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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for The Associated Press. She publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. Sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.