Tag: perennial

Six Things to Know Before You Plant Asparagus

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Learning how to grow asparagus is simple. Asparagus is a dependable favorite in the home garden. Plants take 2 or 3 years before they are ready to harvest, but then produce tasty spears for the next 10-15 years. Asparagus stalks increase in circumference and number over time — it definitely gets better with age.

I love picking a fresh spear and handing it to garden visitors during asparagus season. Their eyes light up when they taste freshly-picked asparagus for the first time. This is one vegetable that tastes best straight from the garden.

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6 TIPS FOR HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS

1. Understand the process of how to grow asparagus

Asparagus roots produce individual stalks above ground.
When the stalks are harvested in the spring, this depletes the energy from the roots.
After a period of harvesting, the stalks are allowed to develop into ferns.
Vigorous and healthy ferns in the summer help ensure a good asparagus harvest the next spring. The photosynthesis that takes place in the ferns throughout the summer replenishes the energy of the depleted roots.
The ferns go dormant in winter and turn brown or yellow — at this point, they can be cut back. In cold-winter areas, leave the stalks in place until spring; they help protect the root crowns.
In the spring, shoots appear from the overwintering roots. These stalks grow larger in circumference every year as their life cycle continues.

2. Decide on the best location to plant asparagus

Because asparagus plants produce for several years, they require a dedicated bed for that period of time. Choose a location that gets at least 6-8 hours of sun daily. Avoid windy areas and areas where water puddles.

Use raised beds if possible because asparagus roots become soggy and may rot in clay soil. Asparagus needs rich, well-amended soil that is high in phosphate.

3. Decide whether to plant asparagus seeds or crowns (roots)

It’s easiest to establish asparagus by planting 1 to 2 year old crowns (roots). They produce harvestable stalks about a year after planting.

Asparagus can also be planted from seed. This method is less expensive but it requires a 2 year (or longer) wait and more care for the emerging seeds.

You may also find transplants started from seed at your local nursery.

Asparagus is classified as ‘traditional’ or ‘all male’. ‘All male’ varieties, such as Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight, Jersey Supreme, and Marte, often produce larger spears (and more of them) because they do not have to expend energy into seed production like the ‘traditional’ varieties such as Martha Washington and Purple Passion.

4. Plant asparagus correctly

Plant in early spring in cold-winter areas. In mild-winter climates, plant in the fall or winter. In the low desert of Arizona, start seeds indoors from August – November. Plant transplants outside from November – January.
Prepare the asparagus bed by adding compost and composted manure to create rich soil.
If planting from seed, plant seeds in small containers with potting soil or in the beds. Sow seeds ½ inch deep. Germination takes about 30 days. Transplant plants to the permanent bed when plants are 3 inches tall.
To plant from crowns, dig a 6-inch trench and place dormant roots in it about 12 inches apart. Cover crowns with about 2 inches of soil and gently tamp them down. Add 2 inches of soil every two weeks until the trenches are filled with soil and slightly mounded on top.

5. Wait until the asparagus is large enough before harvesting

For the first year after planting (two if started from seed), do not cut or harvest any stalks. Allow the stalks to go dormant in the fall, and cut back watering or stop completely.
New spears begin to emerge the following spring, and you can harvest any that are at least ¼ inch in diameter. Let smaller stalks grow through the summer to give energy to the roots.

6. Harvest and enjoy asparagus

Harvest spears when they are 6 to 10 inches long, and the tips are firm and tight. Do not harvest spears smaller than ¼ inch thick, and do not harvest the first year. The following year, harvest for 2 weeks. Extend the harvest each year by two weeks until you are harvesting for 6-8 weeks.
Pick asparagus every three days, more often in warm weather. Pick asparagus by snapping off at ground level with your thumb and index finger. You can also cut off just below the soil surface with an asparagus knife or other sharp knife.
Asparagus is delicious when eaten fresh in the garden. Eat or preserve it as soon as possible after picking. You can also store stalks upright in a small amount of water in the fridge.

Timeline for How to Grow Asparagus in the Low Desert of Arizona

January	Cut back dry stalks and amend with 2-3 inches of composted manure and a 2-inch layer of wood chips, straw, or compost. Feed lightly with a balanced organic fertilizer.
Early spring	Harvest stalks that are more than ¼ inch in diameter for 4-6 weeks. Let smaller ones continue to grow.
Late spring	Do not harvest; allow stalks to grow into ferns. Amend the spent bed with a balanced organic fertilizer, 2-3 inches of composted manure, and a 2-inch layer of wood chips, straw, or compost.
Summer / Fall	Water the beds and do not let them dry out. Allow ferns to grow and provide energy for roots.
Winter	Ferns will begin to turn yellow. Cut back watering and allow the asparagus to go dormant.

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Jennifer

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July 17, 2024

A Guide to Planting Hollyhocks

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There are lots of signs that summer has arrived—children get out of school, otherwise normal men get out of regular clothes and into lime green golf pants, and, in many gardens, the weeds get out of hand.

To me summer means hollyhocks. Flower fads come and go like UFO sitings, but hollyhocks, those tall, lanky members of the mallow family, remain popular.

In Old English “hock” is synonymous with “mallow”. The mallow plants that returned from the Middle East with the Crusaders were called “holy” or “holly” hocks.Whatever the name, the plants and their bright flowers were a hit in the color-starved Middle Ages.

In America, the common hollyhock (Alcea rosea) could easily claim membership in the D.A.R., having arrived with the colonists. As almost everyone knows, Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello. As a few people know, Celia Thaxter, late 19th century gardener and poet, grew them in her famed beds on Appledore Island, off the New Hampshire coast, where they were immortalized by American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam.

Seeds and plants have been available from catalog vendors since the advent of mail order. As I recall, a couple of years ago, both White Flower Farm, Wayside Gardens, and the venerable English firm Thompson & Morgan all featured hollyhock cultivars on catalog covers.

Hollyhocks were the first plants that I grew as a child, mostly because there was a small stand of them established in our backyard, and the seeds were easy to collect and sow. I did not know at the time that common hollyhocks are biennial, producing vegetative growth the first year after they are planted and flowers in the second year.

Fortunately, the plants in our backyard did what hollyhocks do best—self-seeding—and we had flowers every year. Our hollyhocks were the single variety, with white blossoms marked by dark red “eyes”. I watered them religiously, but otherwise, the hollyhocks grew unattended in a rather exposed spot just behind the sandbox. One year a rabbit made her nest between the roots of the biggest plant, undoubtedly amending the soil regularly with organic material.

My current garden is home to two different species, fig-leaf hollyhock (Alcea ficifolia) and the common variety. I hasten to add that I inherited my plants from the previous owner, who did not live here long enough to see them bloom. The common hollyhocks, leaning artistically against the unpainted back fence, are pink doubles. The blossoms remind me of the tissue flowers that we used to make on rainy days when I was a child.

The less common fig-leaf variety stands on the opposite side of my upper garden, in front of one of the lattice-work panels that camouflages the understructure supporting my back porch. It is just now producing medium size blossoms in a wonderful shade of pale yellow. Every time I look at my Alcea ficifolia I renew my belief in serendipity. I have wanted one for years, and somehow never got around to ordering it from the catalogs. Now I feel as if I have gotten the proverbial free lunch.

The problem with all the hollyhocks is that their stems and foliage are, to put it frankly, rather ugly. The leaves, whether they are rounded or incised, are large and coarse. The stems are tall and hairy. To add bad to worse, the plants are susceptible to hollyhock rust, which makes rusty brown splotches on the leaves. To my knowledge, no hybridizer has been able to come up with a more elegant looking plant.

Perhaps that is just as well. After all, hollyhocks in the country don’t have to worry about elegance. There is a patch of common hollyhock growing by an old garage near our summer cottage. These plants have been self-seeding for generations and are the main adornment to a ramshackle property that has been for sale for at least 25 years. The blossoms provide so much relief to the eye, that nobody even notices the ugly leaves.

In city gardens, you can plant things in front of hollyhocks, such as coreopsis or lady’s mantle or even big pots of red geraniums to cover up those less-than-perfect legs. After the plants have bloomed, wait until the seed pods dry out, then collect the seeds, or if you are lazy, let them self-sow. Afterwards, cut down the stalks. With hollyhocks as with life, you can emphasize the beauty and minimize the ugliness if you just make a little effort.

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Elisabeth Ginsburg

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Frederick Leeth

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January 3, 2024
Growing Primroses the Guarantee Way

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The few requirements for primroses are easily met and are found in practically every garden. They do require shade throughout Mid-America, but this is always available on the north side of the house or in the shade of shrubs, evergreens, or trees. Primroses not only offer a variety of form, size, color, the habit of growth, but bloom (depending upon the variety) over a considerable period of time. Starting with the early Juliae hybrids such as ‘Wanda’ which blooms about pussy willow time, one continues through the mass of bloom of the polyanthus through to the double and triple decked flowers of the Japanese primroses in late May and even early June. Some of the less common helodoxa primroses may even bloom up into July. Not many other plants give such a long period of bloom.

It’s easy to get started with primroses. Blooming size plants of the more common forms are available from many nurseries. From the Pacific Coast primrose specialists, you can buy flowering size plants of many different kinds. At certain times of the year they offer seedling primroses at very attractive prices. These young vigorous plants take hold quickly and give considerable bloom the following spring. Primroses may be grown from seeds. Although only the more common kinds such as Polyanthus are available from the average seed store, primrose specialists handle a wide range of species and varieties.

Most primroses are very easy to grow from seeds. Contrary to the recommendations of some primrose specialists, there is no need of freezing the seeds before planting. As long as the temperatures are not up in the 80’s day and night, primrose seeds can be sown either outdoors or indoors. The greatest difficultly in raising primroses from seeds however, is sowing the seeds in the proper sort of seed bed.

A mixture of equal parts sand and peat moss with the seeds covered 1/16 to 1/18 of an inch with this material seems to be ideal. Since there is no nourishment in this mixture, an inch layer of it can be put on top of a soil mixture made up of equal parts of soil, sand, and peat. Primrose seeds may be sown in early August, although if the temperatures are high it may pay to put the seed pans or flats in a cool cellar until the seeds germinate.

The seeds may be sown in November for spring germination in the cold frame or can be sown any time during the fall in the greenhouse to be kept growing throughout the winter. Seeds may also be sown outdoors, preferably in a cold the sand and peat seed bed will give wonderful results. I personally have had equally good results sowing the seeds in a greenhouse in October, in the greenhouse in January, the cold frame in March and in early August.

After the seedlings get their second or third leaves they can be transplanted. Again the soil mixture is very important. You will probably get better root growth if they are put in a bed or in flat rather than in individual pots. Make the soil of equal parts garden loam and peat. Mix a cup of any complete commercial fertilizer with each bushel of the soil mixture.

The more common vigorous primroses such as Polyanthus can be planted three inches apart. The smaller ones can be put closer together. If, during the spring and early summer, you are planting the primrose seedlings in a cold frame, they should have a mixture of at least equal parts peat and soil and preferably three parts peat to one part soil. There should be a bed of this four to six inches deep for them to grow in. Again the fertilizer should be thoroughly mixed through the bed before planting.

For many of you who are buying seedlings or growing your own seedlings, better results will be obtained in most gardens by growing them in a cold frame where they can be shaded with muslin (an old sheet) or by a lath shade. If they are kept thoroughly watered throughout the summer and fertilized every two to three weeks with a liquid fertilizer they will make an enormous amount of growth during the summer.

The root systems will be at least the size of your fist and every bit of it will come out in the peaty mixture that you have them growing in. You will learn from experience as you try to grow some of the less common and more difficult primroses that you may have to keep a number of the species in a shaded cold frame rather than try to plant them in the garden itself.

Primroses, with the exception of Florindae, helodoxa, Bulleyana, Beesiana, and japonica require a well drained soil. These we have just mentioned, however, will grow in a relatively wet soil. Florindae and japonica will thrive in a bog.

Before planting any primroses in the garden proper the bed should be prepared by mixing the soil so it is at least half peat to a depth of at least eight inches. As with all other planting, a complete commercial fertilizer should be mixed with the soil.

Primroses can be planted in early spring, in late spring after they have finished blooming when they are normally divided, or in the early fall. The more common primroses seem to be perfectly hardy and except for a light mulch to prevent heaving they do not require a great deal of winter protection.

Primroses should be fertilized regularly. In the early spring before growth starts scatter a complete commercial fertilizer such as a 4-12-4 or something similar over the entire bed. Another application can be given in the early fall to stimulate a little fall growth before the ground freezes.

The worst primrose pest and the one that probably kills more primroses than any other through the Midwest is the spider mite (red spider). Because primrose leaves are close to the ground, it is difficult to contact these mites with the average dust or spray. The use of natural products to control mites is recommended.

Slugs are always around primroses because they grow in the shade. Either prepared slug bait sold under various trade names. They should be used at least once a month starting with April and continuing through the season until fall freezing. Sow bugs may be controlled by dusting or spraying with chlordane.

Now we are confronted with the problem of knowing what primroses to grow. In the past the English were considered as having the best primroses. But today it is interesting to know that in England the florists using primroses for cut flowers are growing not their own hybrids but those of our own Pacific Coast primrose specialists. They are hybrid Polyanthus.

There is no question but that the bulk of primroses in your garden will be Polyanthus. The range of color is from white to cream to yellow to orange to pink to red to purple to blue. The flowers are from one half inch in ordinary ones up to silver dollar size in the improved strains. They may be purchased as mixed plants or according to colors. The same is true of the seeds. There is nothing more showy in a spring garden than Polyanthus primroses. They are usually perfectly hardy and given the proper soil and other conditions they will multiply.

Japanese primroses are seldom grown to the extent that they should be although they are just as easy to grow. They do not multiply as much as the Polyanthus, but their 18-24 inch spikes of white, pink, or red flowers are magnificent. If you have a wet poorly drained shaded spot in your yard they will thrive there. They are very fast growing from seeds.

Somewhat similar to the Japanese primroses with more delicate colors are Bulleyana and Beesiana. They do not seem to be quite so hardy or as easy to grow as japonica.

Auriculas are very different from their sister primroses. They have smooth leaves that look almost like small cabbage leaves. The flowers come in cream, pale yellow, lavender and purple. They are relatively easy to grow from seeds, but in many gardens will not be as permanent. Personally, I find that they winter better in the cold frame, then they can be put out into the beds in the spring where they can be seen and enjoyed.

Primula denticulata has rather wide spreading leaves and a little compact head of lavender flowers in the early spring. It is a good grower and easy to grow. In the cooler climates, it may develop into sizable clumps. Others may find that they are not quite as permanent as the Polyanthus.

by Gordon Milne

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Frederick Leeth

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November 17, 2023