Hi – and welcome to spring. I’ve got Christmas roses up and blooming as well as my favourite double bloodroot (that did survive the move!!!)

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Here’s a free ebook for newsletter subscribers. I have put a webpage up at http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/plantthugs.html and there is a FREE ebook there for you to download.

It is a pdf book so you’ll need the FREE Adobe Acrobat reader to read it. Get that from www.adobe.com

I’ll look forward to your comments, suggestions and any other plants I should include in it for the second edition.

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If you garden with children, you can get a free download of my ebook How To Garden With Children (catchy title eh?) at www.simplegiftsfarm.com and click on the FREE button to take you to the download page.

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I’ve started putting up lists of plants at www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/perennialgardenflowers.html . There’s one up there about plants for clay soils and even one on plants for dry shade (see, I told you I’d get to all those requests for help growing perennials on clay!)

And as you can tell from the active links on each of the lists, I’m slowly filling in the pages with specific growing instructions for each of those plants. Ah, so many plants, so little time.

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The search boxes are working really well, so when you go to ask a question, try searching first. You might be surprised what’s up on the Net already. :-) Remember they’re updated every Wednesday night.

And finally for today – there must be an epidemic of email address mistyping going on out there. I’ve received more people who ask a question and type their address in wrong so I can’t answer. Check to make sure your email is correct, it makes it a lot easier for me to answer. :-)

New Articles for You

All my new articles are listed here. Click on the archives link at the site to see others.

Want to ask a question? Click here to ask a gardening question.http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/askagardeningquestion.html

Your Questions Answered

I’ve had several questions about straw and hay that I think I should answer here. Straw is the stem of grain plants. So when a combine harvests the grain such as oats, it strips off the grain leaving the stem behind on the ground. The leaves are pretty much disintegrated in this process. Hay on the other hand is grass or legume plants such as clover. This is cut when the leaves are still young and tender (and thus full of nutrients) and used as animal food.

Straw will often contain seeds from the grain and some weed seed Hay will contain seed from the grass as well as weed seed.

The amount of weed seed in each is determined by a range of factors. As a general rule though, there is more weed seed in hay than straw. And grass seed in hay is pretty common but not in straw.

Straw makes a better mulch because it does not contain weed seed.

Some readers pointed out that perhaps it was salt marsh hay a reader was using. Well, if the writer of the problem was close to a coastline, that might have been the case. Several of you wrote to praise salt marsh hay. I have never used this product so I really can’t comment on it.

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My yard was poorly graded (vey lumpy with 4" low spots in places) and the lawn was also poorly installed (little topsoil). I live in a very clay-based region of SE Wisconsin. Rolling the lawn with a really heavy roller and then toppdressing the lawn was recommended. While I understand why rolling might be bad, the alternative seems to be putting in a whole new lawn. If I did the rolling/topdressing method, would aerating help alleviate some of the issues from compacting?

Also, would rototilling the whole yard to use as a base and then laying soil & seed be a better solution?

Thank you!

A: Now this is an interesting question. Talk about your basic lawn problem. The first thing to understand is that rolling the lawn on a clay soil will only create concrete below the turf. Nothing grows really well on concrete. There is not a single turf expert today (who keeps up with modern trends) who would recommend lawn rolling on home lawns so whoever gave you that advice should be avoided in the future.

Poor grading is relatively easy to correct. Bring in a load of topsoil and fill in the low spots. This means wheelbarrowing the soil to the low spots, filling and raking until your lawn is as smooth as you want it to be.

Lumps and bumps come out with the rake – are busted up or are removed from the garden. If the lumps are covered with grass – relax, they’ll likely flatten out over the season unless they are serious “bumps!” and then you have to flatten them out with a rake/shovel or fill up around them.

Topdressing then comes to fill in the grass. I’d heavily topdress the bare sections (put grass seed down so every seed is touching another seed) and cover the new seed with compost. Then I’d water it regularly until the seed germinated. I’d also use 2 to 3 pounds of a grass mix (heavy on the perennial rye grass seed) over the rest of the lawn to start thickening it up.

Your alternative is to start from scratch but I’d be tempted to level with topsoil and topdress before I got too extreme.

I’m just finishing up an ebook on organic lawn care that I’ll have up on the Net in another week or so. That will give a lot of step by step instructions for renovating lawns.

Good luck with yours.

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If I plant burpless,pickling,and a couple of of other type of cukes in the same area will they get mixed up and combine together?

A: As a rule of thumb, there is no problem growing different varieties in the same garden area. As long as you’re not collecting the seeds to grow for another year, you’re fine. If you want to save the seeds for another year, then you’ll have to grow them in quite different garden areas.

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I have started some seeds indoors and have been very successful with their germination. I have over 100 seedlings now. I have about 2 to 3 weeks before setting them out in the garden.I would like to know if I should pinch back any leaves at this time. Most of my seedlings are getting their 3 rd true leaves now. I dont want them to get "leggy". They are still in the seed starter tray, 72 holes. about 1 1/2" square, 2 trays. I should mention this is my first successful attempt at this. Thanks to following your directions as closely as possible I am doing pretty well so far. What should I do for the next few weeks?

A: The trick to growing good seedlings is to 1) give them lots of light. Those grow lights should be right over top of them. 2) Make sure the ventilation is good – you’re crowding the seedlings at 72/tray so you’ll have fungus problems if the ventilation isn’t good. 3) Feed them with dilute balanced fertilizer – probably half strength will keep them growing 4) If they were mine, I’d be tempted to pot them up into larger pots if the season is going to be late and let them grow in the pot to prevent legginess. 5) You can pinch them back (flowers) to thicken them up when they have six or so true leaves. Pinch off the growing tips and that will thicken them up BUT at 72/cell, they are going to stretch unless you give them tons of light.

(crowding plus lack of light equals stretch in any plant’s vocabulary)

6) Get the temperatures down to the 65F range at night and 60F range at day if possible. Keeping them cooler during the day than night will also prevent stretching. (It’s a plantsman’s greenhouse trick.)

Accomplish all that and your seedlings shouldn’t stretch too much.

Good luck

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If you buy tulips now 2-2005 and had them bloom, can you put them in the freezer and then plant in the spring to have them bloom again? Thanks

A: I’m assuming you had them bloom in pots. Better grow them on until the foliage fades before you try to store them. Once the foliage fades away you might consider storing them dry until it is time to prechill them. And no – a freezer is not the place to either store them or prechill them. (freezers make a good place to kill bulbs) I’ve put an article up on this topic at www.flower-garden-bulbs.com and you can find it in the search box if you search for potted bulbs. Hope that helps.

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I have been slipping Geraniums & starting them from seed. I have had a good seccess rate for them living.My problem is that I don't seem to be able to get them to be bushy as the ones I would purchase from your greenhose. Is there something I need to do to make them bushy.

Thank You in Advance

Chris

A: Ah, the answer to this question is the same as the one above. The trick here is light levels. Geraniums love high light levels and you just know there isn’t enough when the stems get long and stringy. Get those lights up.

Or – whack them back by about half right about now (late March to mid-April) This will knock them back and as they start to throw new shoots, the light levels outside are going up and as the frost ends, the plants will be ready to go outdoors. Nice timing! And I mean whack by half- if the plant is a foot tall – leave only six inch stubs standing. It will throw new leaves trust me. You want to start feeding it half strength fertilizer and put it in full light just about now as well.

If you put a long stringy geranium outdoors without whacking it back – you’ll get a long, stringy, ugly looking geranium that will fall over and possible break during a wind storm. Not a pretty sight at all.

And no – I’m not going back into the greenhouse business – I rather like the garden writing/gardening business. The keyboard doesn’t suddenly freeze at 2am unlike those greenhouse furnaces. LOL!

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I am not having any luck with roses. Their leaves turn yellow and have brown spots on them. They bloom but have no leaves.

A: Sounds like a prime case of black spot to me. See the article on black spot at the www.beginner-gardening.com website. You can find it by entering ‘black spot’ in the search box there.

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I live in Calgary and have a hard time choosing parennials that are hardy enough to survive our severe winters and hot scorching summers.

The property that I live on has very poor soil although I do compost. The soil is also very shallow with the underlying rocks constantly pushing up.

Hollyhocks, Asters and tomatoes grow well for me as long as I water every day. (I start tomatoes indoors)

I don't have much luck with other plants (not even wild flowers).

What plants should I be growing?

A: Silk.

Drum roll – but seriously folks. OK, you have poor, thin soil, severe winters and hot, scorching summers. And you live there? There are actually a good selection of plants for tough spots like this and I’ll have to go and make another list – call it the “can’t kill gang”.

Heading that list would be Hemerocallis or Daylilies. They now come in a wide range of colours and bloom times so you can find varieties that start blooming in late May and will still be in bloom in late August. I’d start developing a real fondness for this plant if I were you.

I’ve put this on my ToW list – look for it in the next week or so.

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Lilac bush I have fed it, cut it, watered it, does not seem to launch into more blooms, does not seem to spread out, fix it Doug.It is planted on eastern side of house under very large white pine trees near by, what is with it, old bush.

A: It will almost be the season shortly for questions about why lilacs or other spring bushes aren’t blooming.

In this case, lilacs need full hot sun if they are to bloom. East side of house means only morning sun, under large white pine means no sun. So perhaps the solution here is to 1) move the house 2) cut down those darned white pines.

Or, dig up the lilac but that’s a lot of work to dig up a lilac.

The bush is toast for flowering. You can leave it there to leaf or you can move it to flower.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

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Last April, we planted some arborvitae (I think the words Thuja & plicata were part of the description...they are supposed to get big, be cylindral in shape and be EVERGREEN). They made it through the summer and fall, but now are looking depressingly brownish. Is this normal? Will they "green up" in the spring? Thanks for your time.

A: Yeah, don’t you just hate it when the evergreen turns brown. The good news is that it likely isn’t everbrown. Everbrown is dead and you can recognize that by the fact that the needles are crispy critters and falling off if you touch them. Just plain ugly brown is what many evergreens – particularly cedar – do in the winter time. There are a few varieties that stay “more” green in the winter and make better formal hedges but they are more expensive too. I used these in my hedging around the farm garden and I had the kids rip out the old hedge (note the kids did the ripping out) of regular cedar when we saw the winter colour in contrast to the other evergreens.

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And that’s it for another week folks. Stay tuned as spring pops up all over the place and I work my way to the bottom of the question list.

From My Garden To Yours

The twenty-foot square garden has a very small section of sunlight at the front and the sun-loving perennials will have to compete with the tomatoes this summer for every bit of energy they can find. While I’ll stake the tomatoes up their bamboo poles to get above the perennials, every inch of ground is valuable. I will only be growing the best of the best perennials in these spaces. You will notice that the one common characteristic is these plants tend to bloom for a very long time. In my small garden, I only have room for a few plants that bloom for a short time and these are all shade lovers (and I’m in love with each one). The sun lovers need to entice me with their blooms or fragrance (or both) to earn a place in my garden.

I can’t be without my daylilies so I’ve put a few of the better long-blooming varieties in the shadier sections of the sun patch where the tree shade meets the sun-warmed patch. ‘Scentual Sundance’ is similar to the old ‘Stell d’Oro’ only it has bigger flowers, longer bloom times and fragrant flowers. Not much of a choice there I’m afraid and ‘Stella’ goes to the compost bin. ‘Sunny Honey’ another constant bloomer in softer yellow also got a place of honour as did ‘Just Plum Happy’ a rosy pink with a purple eyezone. I also have a ‘Sunset Returns’ loaded up for its summer-long, yellow-apricot blossoms. This is a plant for the serious gardener as well as the raw beginner. You can’t kill them and they are gorgeous to boot.

Then I loaded up on the Echinacea or coneflower. I have the double ‘Razzmatazz’ with its double hot pink blooms and the new yellow and orange varieties as well as the funny looking ‘Doppelganger’ with its double-decker blossom. I need to grow this for one year just to see it bloom. I have a feeling it will be going to visit a friend after that; the bloom is so preposterous. (However, I have to grow it to see it for myself) Coneflower is a can’t-kill plant and it is a marvelous backbone plant for any sunny perennial border.

Did I tell you I succumbed last fall and planted a Solidago ‘Goldrush’? This stunning yellow goldenrod has a mass of yellow flowers that just about cover the green foliage. It flowers almost all fall and is a twelve-inch tall variety that makes a mound of colour. It is not a rangy old species but a stunning and short fall blooming garden-worthy plant. It does want good drainage and air circulation.

I also had room for a single lavender so I planted one of the dwarf varieties called ‘Blue Cushion’. I have liked this lavender’s performance for several years in the containers as it stays quite bushy and flowers well with a typical lavender purple flower. It did tend to have an extended flowering period when compared to some of the other container lavenders and I’m looking forward to seeing if that continues in the garden. In checking the lavender this morning, I see that it is alive and has only suffered minor amounts of winter burn.

I have also planted a small carnation or Dianthus ‘Pixie’ between the paving stones in the garden. I’m not sure it survived the winter yet as it may have become squirrel food. I’ll have to wait but if it was eaten, it is one of the plants I’ll replant. It has reliable hardiness into zone 4 and blooms for a very long time (almost all summer) with a bi-coloured pink bloom. This six-inch tall plant would be an excellent one for your sunny rock garden (I don’t have a rock garden at all).

I also broke down and planted an Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ in this sunny spot. I have admired Susanna from a distance for several years now and this lacy silver-foliage plant with pale yellow flowers has intrigued me. It flowers almost all summer if you cut it back after the first flush of blooms (believe me, it will be cut back in my garden) and it grows to an impressive 24 inches or so across. The Anthemis are one of those can’t kill plants that tend to self-sow so I’m looking forward to whether Susanna does the same.

I also confess that I gave Geranium ‘Rozanne’ a place of honour beside the driveway so she can spill out over the edge of the garden onto the pavement. ‘Rozanne’ will bloom all summer in the full sun with cool violet-blue flowers. She’s hardy and will make a mat several feet across. This is a gorgeous plant and deserves a spot in the front of your garden or rock garden. I gave her the edge so she won’t take up much garden space and I’ll just have to park a little wider on the driveway as she slowly invades that space. Maybe I’ll even park on the road and let her and the containers have the entire driveway space.

And to make you drool just a little bit, in one of the remaining spots, I shoehorned in a Clematis heracleifolia. This is a bush-type clematis and not a vine. It throws wonderful flowers and will drape itself over nearby perennials and the sculpture in front of it (I placed it strategically behind the sculpture in the hopes it would grow over it.) Again, this is a season long interest but it is at its peak in early to mid-summer.

All of these plants are available at good garden centres; there is nothing rare or hard to find about them. They are simply my choices this summer for the very limited space I have. I’ll have to get back to you about whether they get to stay.