I put a ton of insect control articles up this week on the www.simplegiftsfarm.com website as it continues to grow. You’ll even find a brand-new article on controlling birch miner up there. See the link section for the main linking article.

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Need some good water garden construction pictures?

I’d like to introduce my new ebook – I’ve had requests for how to build water gardens and ponds so I put this picture book together (121 pictures) on constructing a pond. The entire process is documented and described in this book.

The pond in the picture can be built by 4-5 people in a day so a buddy or two and this is a weekend (or two) project from start to finish.

So if you’ve been thinking about how to build a pond, this will give you all the necessary details (like how much to NOT level the filter and why to get the skimmer leveland why this is the case)

And as always, it comes with a clear money-back guarantee – no hassles.

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Next week is the start of vegetable seeding season. I’ll be putting my tomatoes and peppers into the seed starting flats toward the end of this coming week. Some of the seed-grown dahlia will join them. I’ll be waiting until April for lettuce, melons etc but I can taste them already.

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New Articles for You

Let me remind you that if the link doesn’t come up as active in your email client, simply cut and paste it into your browser bar.

What to look for in purchasing submersible pond pumps http://www.water-gardens-information.com/submersible-pond-pump.html

How to determine the size of pump you’ll need for your pond http://www.water-gardens-information.com/pond-pump-sizing.html

And what to look for in external pond pumps http://www.water-gardens-information.com/external-pond-pump.html

On the perennial grass front – an article on the dwarf blue fescues. http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/blue-fescue.html

A little history to celebrate spring – some little known details of bulb history. http://www.flower-garden-bulbs.com/dutch-flower-bulbs.html

This is an important page – it is the main page and links to another 6-8 articles on individual pests. I don’t have the room to list all the new pest articles that were just uploaded this week. http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/biological-pest-control.html

This is another linking page – it will list all the materials we use to control pests with reviews and realistic data. http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/garden-pest-control.html

I’m highlighting this one on birch leaf miner – lots of queries about this pest so here’s the deal. http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/birch-leaf-miner.html

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

Your Questions Answered

I have a problem with lilac leaf minors. They get into my lilacs and turn my leaves brown. These pest probably get into 80% of my leaves. The lilacs aren't bluming or growing. I have many lilacs and want to plant more to form a tall hedge (200 feet long) for privacy. I've been told I need to use a systemic. The one I looked at said to paint it on the trunk, but not to use on plants with a smaller trunk. Have you any suggestions. I have been plaged with this for years now and only found out what it was last summer. Thanks.

A: You can use an insecticidal soap when you first see the caterpillars (adult miners) on the leaves. Once they spin the cocoon and hide curling up the leaves, you can’t reach them with a spray (organic or otherwise). You were likely looking at cygon 2E – one of the most deadly of agriculture chemicals (never get that stuff on you by the way – it goes straight through your skin). See my note at www.simplegiftsfarm.com on birch miner to get a sense of painting it.

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I have been trying to grow tomatoes (cherry style mostly) indoors this winter using artificial lighting. The plants germinate and grow rapidly but they never flower. I tried different fertilizers and no fertilizers with the same result. Any suggestions?

A: It isn’t the fertilizer – it is either your temperature control or the lack of good lighting. I’m betting you don’t have enough lighting.

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I have been gardening for years and ran into a problem I have never encountered before. I live in CT Zone 5, and went for a lovely trip to British Columbia and during my vacation, a pipe ruptured outside our home (CT). THe plumber dug up a beautiful planting of miniature rhododendron and azaleas to access the pipe beneath. He left the plants, which had been thriving here in CT for three years, in a frozen ball of dirt above ground with their roots exposed. The temp dropped beneath freezing for 5-6 nights as is customary at this time of year.

Want a Better Lawn than the Neighbors?

A: The quick solution to any problem of this kind – whether it happens in the summer or winter is to get out the anti-desiccant (Christmas tree preservative) and spray the plant like mad. This will stop it from losing moisture through its leaves (do the top and bottom of the leaf). Get the plant back into the ground as soon as possible.

I’ve seen fully leaved out shrubs and perennials moved in mid-summer with this system. I don’t recommend it if as a “normal” practice but if you have to – well you have to and the secret is a full and heavy spraying of an anti-desiccant.

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My Honeysuckle refuses to bloom! I have a beautiful flower garden at our summer home on Lake of the Woods in northern Ontario, zone 3. I planted a Dropmore Scarlet Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera X brownii) in 1999, didn't like the location so moved it in 2002. It grows in a raised bed filled with good top soil, on a trellis on the south-east corner of the house. It gets lots of water and sunshine almost all day. It grows to about 10 feet, has lots of leaves and appears very healthy but has never, ever flowered. I originally fertilized and pruned in the spring but have not done either for the last few years. I have spoken to several nurseries but no one has any answer. Do you have any ideas? We will soon be going to the lake for the summer and I would love to see it bloom. I just discovered your site and think it's great.

A: Ah, the hardiness range of most of the vine Honeysuckle is a USDA 4 at the coldest. Your flower buds are getting burned off with winter cold. The only thing that will make this plant flower up in a Canadian 3 (much colder than a USDA 4) is a warm winter. Sorry.

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Last year my tomatoes were not sweet at all..........very acidic........could it be from citrus peels and coffee grounds in the compost I spread on the garden?

Do You Want to Grow Vegetables?

A: Not likely. Interestingly enough, all tomatoes have the same acidity levels. So there is really no such thing as a “low-acid” tomato.

What changes is the flavanoids – the flavour bits that makes your tongue taste like it is more or less acidic. You sense it as less acidic but the litmus test will disagree.

Now, what changes tomato flavour? Hah! There’s a ton of things that will do this. Temperature being a main one. Water being another of the biggies. If you have too much stress on a plant (not enough water – too much heat or vice versa) you’ll get a stressed plant and a “different” taste. Stress makes the plant taste worse. Every year is different.

Now soils will affect the taste as well in that they can be less stressful or more stressful. For sure – and the soil nutrient content will determine what’s inside your tomato.

But will a little bit of citrus and coffee affect your soil pH in a major way? Not likely. Your soil mineral content, and pH are extremely hard to adjust. A little compost will not influence these things at all – particularly with a small spring time application. Now, if you put an entire load onto a one square foot area, you will change the pH for a short period of time but the research I’ve seen indicates the surrounding soil and microorganisms will very! quickly colonize and turn the additions to resemble their surroundings.

Short form. Blame it on the weather but not the additions. Having said that, citrus is not usually a great addition to compost as it takes a long time to degrade. Coffee grounds are fantastic – I’ve written about them and you can find the article with a site search on any of my sites.

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I seem to remember reading in your newsletter recently something about mulch coming from Louisianna. There is a lot of e-mails coming through these days about mulch from Louisianna being contaminated. Could you please repeat your article. I cannot find it and it seems to me that you had an explanation/rebutal about the subject. Thanks

A: Yes, this Net rumour is gaining speed and I’ve had several readers pass it along in the last week.

MULCH FROM LOUSIANA IS AN URBAN MYTH – AN INTERNET LEGEND.

The problem is mostly in large timbers – has been around for 50 years and there’s a quarantine on moving them and has been for some time. This pest doesn’t live in tree tops and wouldn’t survive being mulched if it did. It is a social pest – and you’d have to inherit an entire nest in the same bag (complete with queen and workers) to get the problem. Anything north of zone 7 and it winterkills. So forget this one folks.

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What do you think about the "new" camellias like Ice Angel that are supposed to be hardy to Zone 6 (where I live)? Are they really that hardy, or do they survive - with damage?

A: You know I’ve looked at these and read the book on them. They’re now available in D.C. and some more northerly garden shops. I’m even tempted to import a few and try them in my new garden just for the heck of it. The folks I’ve talked to are enthusiastic but like all camellias you’re going to have that acidic soil right (there’s no sense trying to grow them otherwise) on the money and they can be finicky plants to flower. Even at the best of times, this plant isn’t as easy as shoving it in the ground and letting it go. So – bottom line. I’d try one if I had the right soil but I’d read the book on hardy camellias before I did.

From My Garden To Yours

Have you ever watched what happens to a group of otherwise rational adults when a butterfly flits by? Have you watched the delight in the faces of children when these ephemeral garden citizens fly into their garden game? It’s the same sense of wonderment and delight on both. While we may not want to admit it, when one of these creatures flies by on a still summer’s day, all else stops in the garden. Or, perhaps I should say that all else stops until nearby kids start chasing it because that’s what kids do. They chase butterflies. As gardeners however, we should be trying to attract butterflies as they fill an important niche in the neighbourhood ecology. As food for a wide variety of birds (birds that also eat tons of other less-desirable pests) butterflies are not only beautiful but also extremely necessary to our quality of life.

I have put up a full list of the readily available butterfly attracting perennial plants on my website at www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/butterfly-attracting-plants.html. I hope you find it interesting and useful. I want to focus on a few plants in this column just to get you in the mood for growing them.

Agastache is one of the newest and hottest plants to come off the breeder’s benches but don’t be fooled by some of the new ads coming out. Our older Agastache plants have been used mostly in herb gardens by the unknowing and in the hardy perennial border by experienced gardens. These plants self-sow and can become a bit of a nuisance but their stunning violet flowers are wonderful in mid-summer. The problem is the newer hybrids come in a huge range of colours but the breeding is from very tender Mexican varieties. These are not hardy in our zone 4 gardens. You’ll have to treat them as annual flowers (or get a rock-solid guarantee from the nursery). These are plants for full sun and do very well in containers as some of the garden trials I attended showed last summer.

Anybody who has ever grown butterfly bush or Buddleia will know what I mean when I say you have to have this plant in your garden. There are no ifs, ands or buts about this. Do mulch it heavily the first year to help it get through the winter. And stay away from the fancy (expensive) variegated or yellow flowering hybrids until you’ve succeeded with the purple and reddish toned plants. Lots of full sun and excellent drainage are necessities if you want to survive with this plant. The plant is readily available at local garden shops. I easily start my own from seed rather than pay for named hybrids.

Is Your Garden Fragrant Enough?

Butterflies really like Dianthus. So grow all the Sweet William you can stand. Throw in some annual dianthus and a few into your rock garden and the world will be a better place. Many of the low-growing alpine types are extremely fragrant as well. The annual types make excellent container plants if grown in the full sunlight. Clip the flowers off as they are finished to encourage the plant to keep producing flowers. Don’t be surprised if you see butterflies on this plant in the very early morning. Do be surprised if you see me up at that hour to appreciate this sight.

Gaillardia is another easily grown tender perennial that blooms the first year from seed that these insects go nuts over. The bright colours seem to be magnets and you’ll often find a butterfly wandering around a large patch of this plant. While a solitary plant or two don’t have the same attractive value, they do work. I grow these from seed easily and I’ve just sown mine for this year. You can grow a few and collect the seed every fall or you can plant them in a well-drained soil without mulch and they’ll self-sow if they are happy.

Heuchera or coralbells, the foliage plant for semi-shade gardens beloved by a few in the plant world is a so-so plant for flowers. Heck, let’s be honest, you’ll never grow this plant for its flowers as they are tiny and insignificant. But butterflies seem to like them. There’s no accounting for some taste I guess.

Inula are a long-standing favourite plant of mine for full sun or light shade gardens. I loved having their huge yellow daisies in the garden. I’m back to searching for my favourite plant again for the new garden (Inula royleana) but if you find any of these plants in your favourite plant store, pick up a few.

Tomato Growing Secrets

Believe it or not but butterflies will fall in love with rosemary, thyme and oregano. The tiny pale blue flowers of rosemary and the fragrance of oregano’s white flowers seems to attract a goodly number of smaller butterflies to the area. So here’s an example of a great plants doing double duty. My rosemary plant is ripe for taking cuttings right now and as soon as the heat mat is free of seedlings, I’m going to take a few. You can start all three of these plants from seed (the thyme and oregano are started in my seeding chamber) but I find taking cuttings from the rosemary is far easier and more reliable than seed.

Finally, if you haven’t considered growing Tradescantia, let me suggest you do so. If you have a dampish spot for this plant, it will bloom almost all summer and be a constant magnet for butterflies. Do not let it dry out or it will stop blooming. This is an easy plant to grow and hardy as nails being a North American native.

It really is easy to grow your own butterfly plants and have a great garden at the same time. Do check out the full list (print it out) on my website and use it as a shopping guide this spring.