Welcome to Spring in Zone 4! The snow is gone, or almost as there’s still a bit in the back shady section of the garden. The winter cover is off Folly the Spitfire and she’s been started, washed and waxed and you can imagine me hitting the road in her on April 1 when the insurance goes on.

Can flowers be far behind?

Do understand that I write webpages around a lot of your questions. As I get a question, or one for the second time, I’ll usually write a webpage around it. And if you use the question pages, you’ll see links to the different search boxes on my sites. You’ll be amazed at what’s already written!

Keep the questions coming though.

Somebody asked me the other day why I did this. There are apparently decreasing numbers of websites out there that will actually answer a gardening question. Yes, it takes up a *lot* of time but I get a charge out of helping somebody garden a little better. And while I make a little money from the web (thanks for all of you who click on the links or use the advertisers) :-) it won’t make me rich. (or at least not that my bank or I’ve noticed) LOL! For me, it’s just one way of paying it forward and helping make the world a little better place. So, if I don’t get to your question right away, it isn’t that I’ve forgotten it – or not interested, it is just that I’m looking at how I can best write an answer and make that available for others to read as well.

Use those search boxes and write if I haven’t written about it yet.

Doug

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 read your article on dog urine damage to lawns. Have you heard that supposedly, red clover is resistant to burning from urine? I can't remember where I read it.

A: I can’t remember either. You know it wouldn’t surprise me if red clover were a bit more resistant to dog urine; it is one tough plant. Having said that, I would plant red clover in my hay field. I would plant it in a naturalized area where I wanted to suck the nectar from the blossoms (ever do that when you were a kid – heck I do it any time I see red clover in bloom). But I would NOT plant it on my front lawn as a fine lawn grass. It’s a clover for crying out loud. Yes, I know that there’s some writers and environmentalists who recommend and advocate growing clover on lawns because the plant is tough. Not me. That’s my .02 If you want a tougher lawn grass go with perennial rye grass, that will make as good a kid-proof lawn as it comes for northerly gardeners.

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And I’m in trouble. Read below…

Chipmunks have every right to survive in a garden, I'm surprised you didn't advise the lady to cure her problem by FEEDING the chipmunks as I have done for years by providing them with sunflower seeds, corn, etc. in a proper receptical and filling it each morning. Believe me it is much easier than all the methods she has tried.

Love you anyway!! Aunt Vi

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I have some caladium bulbs from last year. They were never planted due to some illness. So I hung them in a net in the garage. Can they be planted this year or is is useless to try to save them? And if they can be planted are there special requirements. Thanks for your response.

A: See the article on storing bulbs over at www.flower-garden-bulbs.com In short, I’d be surprised if they were still alive after taking all that heat for an entire year. However, stranger things have happened and you have nothing to lose by planting them. I get this question all the time at this time of year – “I forgot to plant my bulbs and can I still plant them?” Most of the time the bulb is dead after a long period of dry storage but the odd one survives. (Which is about the same effect as my article below and what I did to my bulbs this year)

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Doug ...What can be planted under a Spruce tree? It is about 30 feet tall and the lower branches were cut off up about 6 feet (gasp!) for a path. Anyway, is there a ground cover that will grow under there, a ground cover that doesn't take over the rest of the lawn? Thanks. -Cee

A: Dry shade. Are you going to water? What will likely happen is that whatever you plant in that deep shade will either 1) die from lack of sunlight or 2) drought itself to death. If it doesn’t die from a lack of water, of course it will attack your lawn. Think about it – you’re a plant. You have a choice of dry shade and barely surviving or moving out into a well-fed, well-watered paradise. And your choice is…

All kidding aside folks, the purpose of ground covers is to cover the ground. They are usually picked because they do spread. They do not respect grass lines or gardener’s wishes. They respect edging tools. My favourite descriptor of this is when Ajuga gets into a lawn. As you know, Ajuga is also known as bugleweed and when it gets into your lawn (and it will) your lawn is then known as buglelawn.

The long and the short of it is that Bedstraw or Galium odorata is perhaps the best ground cover for dry shade and it can be controlled relatively easily in that condition. You’ll have to water it to get it established. Epimedium also grow well in a drier location once established.

Nothing will successfully thrive deep under the tree unless maybe its silk. And yes, I do have a ground covers web page on my to-write list.

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How to keep Racoons from destroying plant life & fish in ponds?

A: Now here’s a good question so I wrote a webpage about it (no Aunt Vi – I don’t feed them too) http://www.water-gardens-information.com/raccoons.html

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Have you had any experience/success with using a child's hard plastic swimming pool for a bog garden?

A: Yes.

Oh, you probably wanted to know how it looks and works too. Works fine, you have to bury the edges so they don’t look funny and/or degrade in the sunlight but yes, go ahead. They work fine.

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Hi Doug - I cannot seem to find a consistent answer for my question... My husband bought me a ceramic (non-draining) pot of tulips for Valentine's Day (about 4 flowers total). They bloomed just fine. Now, do I keep watering them or let them dry in the pot. Should I remove the clump and let dry outside pot? He paid too much for this pot of tulips, so I want to "save" them somehow. Thanks! Jackie

A: First – no husband ever paid too much for flowers for his wife on Valentine’s Day. Period. End of discussion. Ladies, don’t ever discourage your special lover from buying flowers. He can spend the money on flowers for you or beer for the boys. And your choice is ????

Second: keep them alive, watered and fed with half-strength house plant food (out of a non-draining pot if possible into a regular pot) until all danger of frost is done and then plant in garden at same depth as in pot. Grow the foliage well this year until it fades, then they will flower next spring.

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And that my friends is all for this week. Have a great week!

From My Garden To Yours

I understand I should know better. After all, I’ve been gardening for more years than I want to count, I’ve won awards, I write books, I give talks on how to grow plants so what was I thinking of when I made a mistake of this proportion. I surely don’t have a clue. You’ll recall that last fall I planted a rather large clay pot with forty tulips, crammed them into the pot in three layers. I babied this pot outdoors and then indoors in an unheated bedroom for the winter. The bulbs started to grow a month ago and poked their leaves over the soil line. It looked like all forty were growing and sending up shoots. Two weeks ago, I had a pot full of buds with colour starting to show. I took a few pictures and this column was going to be accompanied by a website address where you could see the pot in full and glorious bloom. This morning as I write my column, I have a pot full of sorry-looking buds, wilted leaves and dried-out expectations.

In anticipation of a rather large show of blooms, I moved the pot to the living room in a big sunny window. I note that this window overlooked the street and the potted plant would be on display for all the neighbours as well. It was, as I note now, strategically placed right over the massive electric heating element for the room. This weekend, I forgot to water my plants and was occupied with the Kingston Flower Festival and some other activities. This Monday morning, instead of celebrating forty flowers, I’m mourning forty dried out buds, a few wilted flowers, and bone-dry soil. The change from cool to hot and dry was complete and the flowers are the worse for wear. After all that work, I managed to kill the flowers in a few days. The lime and lemon trees are still fine as are all the other plants but the bulbs simply didn’t like the abrupt change in temperature. So, lesson learned; and I’ll do it all over again next year. For now, the pot is in the kitchen and will be dumped in this afternoon’s cleanup to the small vegetable growing area in the backyard. All that soil shouldn’t go to waste.

And that leads me to other questions about bulbs that you may be asking right about now. Can you plant your Easter lily outdoors after it finishes blooming? Absolutely! Easter lilies make wonderful flowering bulbs and I’d recommend you put yours in the garden rather than shoving it in the garbage. Plant it in a sunny spot and enjoy it for years to come.

But what about those bulbs you forgot to plant last fall and have found on a dusty shelf? To begin with, do not put them in the freezer to think they’ve had winter. I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard about this trick. Putting them in the freezer will only do one thing – it will make them deader than they might be now. If the bulb is still firm and hard, I would plant it outdoors as soon as you can dig in the soil. If the bulb is soft, I’d put it in the garbage bin before it starts to stink. If you’re really a little antsy to see some growing leaves, you can pot the bulb in a six-inch flowerpot and try growing it in the house. Put an inch of soil on the bottom of the pot, then the bulb and cover with soil. Yes, it seems deep but that’s how deep you will replant it into your garden. Just don’t do like I did – water it instead of letting it turn into the Sahara Desert. If the bulb grows, you’re a winner. It might flower or it might not but in any case, as soon as the danger of frost is over, you can plant it in the garden. If it doesn’t flower this year, it will next spring.

And what about those mixed planters of bulbs you’ve received as gifts from adoring friends and relatives? Heck, do the same thing. Enjoy them now, keeping them cool and moist and then after all danger of frost, you can handle them in one of two ways. You can either plant the entire pot en masse in one spot or you can carefully divide the bulbs and replant, at the same depth, in different spots in the garden. As long as the bulb roots are not too badly chewed up, they will move successfully. Bulbs are quite hardy and resilient creatures. In fact, my own potted bulbs are still alive but flowerless. If I had the space for bulbs, I’d keep them alive and plant them in May. Unfortunately, in the twenty-foot square garden, every inch is already planted and tulips don’t fit the ground plan (which is why they were potted).

I have no excuse for my forgetfulness and my killing of my crowning spring bulb show. Perhaps it is simply the garden gods reminding me that the rules of horticulture apply to garden writers as much as they apply to aspiring gardeners. If so, the lesson has been learned (again) and I feel another big sigh coming along.

So many lessons, so little time.

So many plants, so little space.