Archive for March, 2008
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
BUCKWHEAT
Although buckwheat has much to offer, it is used very little. The plants from the moderate regions of Asia grow about 20 in tall, with a fairly loose type of growth. Clusters of delightfully fragrant, white to pale pink flowers appear from July onwards, and attract many bees. Buckwheat honey is very popular. The flowers are followed in September to October by small triangular fruits, which provide buckwheat flour and are also used as a medicine. Even the husks of the seeds are used, either for stuffing cushions or for those suffering from insomnia. If you don’t want to harvest the seed yourself, you will be able to watch the birds enjoying them in the autumn. It is therefore an ideal plant for flower-filled fields and natural gardens. Wait until May, after the last frost, before sowing the seed in broken-up soil in a sunny, or partially shaded position. There is nothing else you need do apart from enjoying the generous gifts of buckwheat.
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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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