Archive for March, 2008
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
PRINCE’S FEATHER
The apple-green shade of Amaranthi hypochondriacus ‘Green Thumb’ goes we with most other colors and is therefoi a useful plant for filling in gaps in border as well as for bouquets. The panicles gro to about 16 in tall and, if sown early, mayt admired from July onwards. They fade latter on in the season and ultimately turn brown They also make useful dried flowers, particularly when picked early in the season. Another cultivar was presumably called Amaranthus hypochondriacus ‘Pygm Torch’ (and not ‘Pigmy Torch,’ as it is featured in most catalogs) because of its small size. The deep-red panicles grow up to 16 in tall and fade to chestnut brown in the course of the season. The leaves, too, turn beautiful colors, especially if the plants are grown in poor soil. They look splendid in vases and as dried flowers.
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Monday, March 10th, 2008
YELLOW HORNED POPPY
The very appearance of a horned poppy reminds one of the sea: the greyish bloom on its sea-green leaves, its large yellow flowers longing for sunshine, its somewhat stunted growth, with its stems bending to the wind. And it is certainly true that the plant grows naturally along the southern coasts of Europe and Africa, but also further north as far as the shingle beaches of the Baltic.
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Sunday, March 9th, 2008
COMMON MORNING GLORY
A wall of blue flowers - this seems an impossible achievement for an ordinary keen gardener. Yet the common morning glory makes it all so simple! Choose a fence or wall, preferably facing east, or south if need be. Fix vertical strings at a distance of about 6 in from one another. Provide nutritive soil at the foot of the wall or fence. Soak the large black seeds in tepid water for 24 hours. Then sow them directly in the garden, or in a large pot or other container. The seeds may be covered by over V2 in of soil. The seedlings cannot tolerate frost and snails love them. If you have succeeded in averting those two threats, guide a plant towards each of the vertical strings and pull out the remaining plants (or give them away). They do not mind being transplanted. This also makes it possible to sow them indoors earlier in the year and then plant them out later on, which also reduces the risk of fatal damage being caused by snails or frost.
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Saturday, March 8th, 2008
CORNCOCKLE
In the old days, corncockles flowered amidst the summer corn. In the course of harvesting, their seeds were mixed in with the corn and, if baked into bread, caused irritation and inflammation of the stomach lining. No wonder efforts were made to combat these problems, and the plant ultimately vanished from the fields. The splendor of the l3/4-2V2-in wide flowers among the ears of corn disappeared as well.
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Friday, March 7th, 2008
AUSTRALIAN PEA, HYACINTH BEAN
In tropical and subtropical regions, the Australian pea is a familiar vegetable and its large purple pods are processed into food for both humans and animals. We can grow the climbing bean as an ornamental plant because of its relatively small, but very lovely, purple or white flowers, and because its foliage is so beautiful. That of the cultivar Lablab purpureus ‘Ruby Moon’ is pale greyish green when it comes out, but turns deep purple as it ages. Sow the lablab indoors in March-April, or directly outdoors from mid-April. Find the warmest and sunniest spot possible for it and give it plenty of water, whether it is in a pot of nutritive soil or planted in the garden.
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Thursday, March 6th, 2008
This is a plant for those who enjoy small things, because the flowers are minute but amazingly beautiful. They are only a few fractions of inches wide, and appear to be white, but a close look will reveal flecks of orange below the three-pointed white “quiff.” They are tightly packed along the stem. As the stem grows, the flowering zone, about 3V4 in long, will move upwards, and the seed will develop below it. All this will continue until the stem is about 20 in long and flowering has ceased. That is the moment to cut off those stems, leaving a hand’s length above the ground. New shoots will develop and the plant will therefore flower from the end of June until well into September.
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Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
BLUE MARGUERITE
It is best to treat Felicia amelloides, a small shrub from South Africa, as an annual in our
part of the world. There are firms which strike large quantities of cuttings every year to meet the demand for flowering plants. These are on sale from the end of April, but it is best to buy the blue marguerite at the end of May, so that it can be put out-of-doors right away. The plant likes a lot of fresh air but cannot tolerate wet roots, especially if combined with cold weather conditions. You should therefore make sure you have a well-drained soil mixture in a container with sufficient drainage holes. Stand the container in a warm position, but preferably not in hot midday sunlight. The buds will shrivel up if the containers are left to dry up temporarily, and in the event of extended drought, part of the foliage will drop off.
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Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
This perennial is so short-lived that some people regard it as an annual. It is also transitional between annuals and perennials in the way that it is treated, because barberae is far less fond of moisture than the other species. This is what makes it so suitable for cultivation in containers, where the soil is nearly always drier and better aerated than in the garden itself.
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Monday, March 3rd, 2008
The year 1992 saw the introduction of a new plant that looks like a trailing form of Coreopsis. The shoots of this Central-American plant grow somewhat untidily, usually not a good sign in the ornamental plant world, but once you have seen how this species tumbles over the edges of pots, urns, or hanging baskets, you’re hooked. The plant is consequently having a stellar career and is now the most popular plant for balcony planters in southern Germany and Austria. It flowers right through the summer, with the stems producing fine, fennel-like foliage and ramifying continually. The shoots tend to grow very long, but they may be cut back hard, after which the plant will flower again 2 weeks later. The yellow flowers, about 1/4 in wide, attract bees and lots of butterflies.
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Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
Outdoor power tillers are one the most expensive lawn and garden tools in the market today so finding the right power tillers is not easy. Before buying or spending your money for this expensive power tool, you must so some extensive reseach for the features of the power tiller that you desire.
What size tiller do you need?
To determine the size of the tiller you need, consider the area of land that you need to work on and the softness or hardness of the soil.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008
BLUE LACE FLOWER
The pale lavender blue of the blue lace flower may be easily combined with other plants. It goes very well with all shades of blue and green, will adorn a grey-and-white border, and, in an impressionistic one, may create brilliant color combinations with lemon yellow, apricot, salmon pink, and even orange, which is so often a problem. The plants with their pale green leaves take up hardly any room, and the long stems bearing the 2-in wide flower heads may need some support. It is best to use bushy plants for the purpose. They should not be more than 20 in tall, and the blue lace flowers will then appear just above them.
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