1961 Complete Guide to Garden Flowers

I bet I can describe this jacket cover in my sleep! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

1961 Complete Guide to Garden Flowers

If there was one book my grandmother sent me for Christmas that had the most influence over the years, this is it. The 1961 Complete Guide to Garden Flowers used to sit next to my bed for years, the favorite book to peruse as I was getting ready to sleep.

That turned out to not be such a good idea since once I started, I could spend hours browsing through the 1,000 illustrations and flower planting guides. I didn’t choose to live on a hillside but the photos of spring bulbs on a rise sure looks familiar during springs now in my garden.

The photos were a definite draw. What was even better were the detailed descriptions of flowers and their growing requirements. Six horticulturists contributed their expertise as book editors, which explains why this vintage gardening book still holds its value.

Photographs of daylilies, left, and delphiniums, right. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I know it’s easy to think that everything one needs to know is available on the internet but that’s not true. These older, vintage gardening books reflect a different time but still offer valuable information on how to successfully grow plant varieties.

As our climate continues to rapidly change, we will continue to lose species and these old books will also document varieties that we may no longer have.

If you’re looking for a gift for gardener who will enjoy this book, we have one edition in excellent condition for sale.

No, it’s not my original one, I have that one happily in my library in a place of honor next to my Grandmother’s photo. I have a feeling she knew what she was doing when she sent me that book!

Charlotte

Defining Garden Paths

The garden path from my front door covered in ice. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Defining Garden Paths

Winter seems to be a quiet time for gardeners but there are several things one can do. One of the more challenging things to design in a garden is a network of paths. If you’re working with a brand new piece of property with nothing growing, that’s one thing. However, most of us have at least a house and some form of growth be it trees or shrubs, or both. If you have any kind of incline like I do, it’s almost impossible to keep the paths once you build them so adding structural support is a must.

You can buy software programs where you can plug in your land dimensions and even photos. Those programs, however, don’t easily adjust for garden terrain.

One easy way to determine where you should put your paths is an ice storm. Freezing rain, sleet and ice will settle on the ground and help define the low spots. It’s how I have developed and confirmed my garden path network.

The flat garden areas are easy, such as around the front of my house (photo above) and small pond.

This icy path is by a small goldfish pond. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I move to the hillside, the ice helps to show me the garden path network and how accurately I developed them earlier in the season.

This corner is on the south side of my property leading to my southern bee garden. Some of these paths have been around for a couple of decades. The path on the left was build new last year.

The icy paths towards the southern apiary, or bee garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The oldest garden path is in a center island as one enters my property. It’s off center compared to the rest of the garden paths but it was the easiest place to build one at the time.

Every year I consider whether I want to move the path and so far, have left it.

One of the older garden paths, this one in a center island. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The northern apiary has a better developed network of paths. Most of these paths were built this past season and with one exception where I need a small tweak, this side of the garden is now easy to access with flat garden paths.

After lining the path with downed trees, I add cardboard then mulch until the path is level. Or as level as I can get it.

Icy paths around the northern apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Don’t tackle the ice to get photos but if you can take some safely it’s a good time to document your garden path system before snow covers it all up.

Icy paths get a layer of snow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

When we’re close to the ground it’s hard to guestimate where a new path should go. The ice and these photos will give me a blueprint for next year.

Now to start dreaming about what I am going to plant!

Charlotte

Cedar Rose Trellis

Two rose trellises now mark the entrance to one of my garden paths. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Cedar Limb Rose Trellis

It’s true, I’m a bit picky about my gardening trellises. I want them to be interesting but not so interesting to take away from the flowers growing over them. I also prefer something less than hard edged industrial, which tends to be the main options.

This year, I am trying something new - repurposing native Missouri cedar branches into fruit fences, flower bed arbors and now rose trellises.

I was inspired by having this black metal rose trellis on one side of a garden path. To balance out the area, I needed another trellis on the left side.

This is a metal rose trellis that inspired the cedar limb one. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A cut down ash tree stump inspired me to encircle it with cedar tree limbs tied at the top about the same height as the metal rose trellis.

At first I thought I would finish the trellis by getting a metal fence post for the top but leftover cedar pieces cut smaller give me the same pyramidal top.

The cedar limb rose trellis with a top cap out of cedar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Remember this structure will be entwined in rose vines next spring so very little of it will be visible once the vines start growing.

I thought I was on the right path when I had to move the existing rose vines out of the way to install the cedar limb trellis. Once growth starts, the vines should get the support they need and nicely cover the cedar limbs.

Cedar limbs are not only native but they are long-lasting and I can easily add more if I need them.

I still have some cedar limbs left so next I am making a larger arbor to cover the bench in my berry patch. That one is going to have to wait until after the snow storm passes and melts.

Rose trellises now covered in a January 2019 snow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Looking at the cedar rose trellis in the snow beside the metal one, I think this will work quite nicely, don’t you?

Charlotte

Salvaged Begonias

This is my one begonia, more like an Angel Wing Begonia tree, now in bloom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Salvaged Begonias

It may come as a surprise to those who know me that even though I spend my winters in a house full of plants I only had one begonia going into winter this past year.

It’s an Angel Wing begonia that is now branching out and almost as tall as my living room ceiling. It was a gift from a gardening friend a good 20 years ago or more, a tiny speckled-leaf plant that I often forgot to water because of where I placed it, in a corner where I had to crawl over a chair.

As it grew, it increasingly got my attention, especially when it flowered mid-winter. Who can resist a plant that offers beauty in the middle of a stark Missouri winter landscape?

My Angel Wing Begonia, now almost as tall as my ceiling, Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I need to re-pot it this spring and do some trimming. I will wait until then so the cuttings will more easily root.

Begonias are native South American plants and so easy to grow its easy to overlook them. The Angel Wing begonia has taught me that the amount of flowering and leaf color depends on not only how well it is watered but the amount of light it gets. Pretty basic growing requirements for most plants, even indoor ones. Now that the plant is closer to a sunny window, I am getting more frequent flowering, which reminds me to water it.

The leaves themselves are interesting. If you find a variety of begonia plants this spring, take a loot at their leaf shapes and colors, they’re almost as interesting as the flowers.

This how to tell what kind of begonia it is, this is an Angel Wing Begonia leaf, red on the bottom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Which brings me to the second begonias I now have living with me. These are their leaves. Look familiar?

This is the leaf from the salvaged begonias. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Frankly I didn’t know what they were when I found them discarded. There were no leaves on the stems. The stems themselves looked bedraggled after spending a few nights outside in below freezing temperatures. By all accounts, these plants should not be living.

I wrapped the roots in repurposed bird seed bags and brought them home to sit in my den for a couple of days to warm up. The challenge I had was that I really didn’t have room for more plants inside but I was curious about what these were.

Once potted with new soil, trimmed and watered and tucked into a southern-facing window, the salvaged begonias have started to bloom.

Three pots of salvaged begonias growing nicely in a south window. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Usually I see begonias in the spring that are either red or white flowers so this was a delightful surprise. The corral color contrasts nicely against the dark green leaves and the plants now seem none the worse for being tossed.

I haven’t introduced the salvaged begonias to the Angel Wing begonias on the other side of the room yet but I think their flower colors are complimentary, both in that peachy corral range.

Don’t you love the corral color of these begonia flowers? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

And yes, I have a new appreciation for begonias. Even though I will still delight in having yellow roses like this vintage rose quilt brightening up my winters, begonias will have a special spot in my fall planning this year.

These bedraggled plants should not have recovered. Their resiliency and beauty have now moved them up on my list of favorite winter plants!

Charlotte

Cedar Branch Fruit Fences

This wild black raspberry knew what to do with the cedar branch fruit fence. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Cedar Branch Fruit Fences

I was getting excited about a winter snow storm forecast when I remembered one of my garden projects was only half done: my cedar branch fruit fences. The problem was that the cut down cedar branches were now piled in front of my garage door, keeping a couple of visiting rabbits warm and my car from getting safely stored away before the storm moved in.

Luckily this was not a difficult project to finish so I bundled up, plugged in my nail gun compressor and got started making the actual fences for some of my raspberry and blackberry patches.

Cedar tree branches ready to become garden fencing. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you do a search for these berry fences, you will find some very serious-looking set ups with wire and industrial end supports.

My idea is more user friendly. I want to be able to walk through my garden paths and easily pick the berries off the nearby vines. I also didn’t want them to look like prison walls like some do so I chose to make smaller fruit fences out of cedar branches. Cedar is long-lasting, the newly-cut branches are easy to shape and with a little creativity, I can make fencing that will also be attractive to both fruiting vines and garden visitors.

Knowing that raspberry vines like to move, my first cedar branch fence was for a newly-established raspberry area so I can try to corral the raspberries. I know, a lost cause but it at least marks where they are and guides me away from the thorns. The plants can spread towards the back and any that make it into the patch can be easily moved.

One of the strips of finished cedar branch fending for raspberries. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The fence lengths, about 5-foot long each, also have cedar branches that form arches so the fruit vines can easily wrap around the bending cedar branches.

The bottom, more straight rungs will also contain vines and still make them easily accessible. I’m thinking for me but I’m sure the deer and birds will more easily find them, too.

Fencing arch will help keep vines off the ground. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once these branches start to grow, I can then trim the plants at the bottom of the cedar branch fence without getting entangled in the thorns. Well, at least that’s the theory.

Raspberry vines now weave around the cedar branch fence arches. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Another fruit fence was made for a thornless blackberry growing beneath one of my hives. Last year, the plant seemed to be trying to grow into the hive so I am hoping the cedar branch fruit fence can keep the vine better behaved and still give my bees access to the nearby nectar and pollen.

Another cedar branch fence for a blackberry patch between hives. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

There are a number of pre-made fencing available on the market but they all look way too industrial for my garden. They also assume one is installing them on a flat surface, not a limestone hillside where to get any depth one would need to dynamite.

These cedar branch fruit fences will fade as the growing vines cover them and I can use cut down cedar trees from my garden to make them. That’s a win-win in my garden book and now I can get my car into my garage.

Ok, snow, bring it on!

Charlotte

January Gardening Chores

Winter is a good time to find gardening items on sale. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

January Gardening Chores

January is the one month when a gardener can sit back and do some of the most important work: planning. Our rapidly-changing climate is challenging the traditional gardening chores so this year I will be including more recommendations on how to prepare for our changing growing conditions in USDA Hardiness Zone 6A, formerly USDA Hardiness Zone 5B.

According to US Department of Agriculture, the Hardiness Zones are based on the average annual minimum winter temperature divided into 10-degree F zones, which give a range of temperatures for a certain plant or tree. The hardiness zones for the Midwest fluctuate more than other zones but average Zones 4,5 and 6.

 The zones for Missouri can be found here: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

1.         Review your garden diary from last year. Underline items you want to get done this year. I also carry over the ones I didn’t get to last year, or drop them off the master list. This is a good time to dream.

2.         Identify what plants you want to add this year and note what soil and sun requirements they will need. Focus on adding native plants. Once established, native plants will be low care and excel in local soil and weather conditions.

3.         Plan on expanding flowerbeds to start removing grass from your property. Expanding flowerbeds will give you areas to plant vegetables as well as flowers and provide more food for pollinators. One way to start expanding flowerbeds is to place cardboard along the existing flowerbed edge and then move the flower bed border early spring. Mulch on the cardboard will keep the garden looking nice and help restore healthy soil conditions.

 4.        Order catalogs you have used in the past and share catalogs you don’t need or use. One of my favorites is the Missouri Wildflowers Nursery Native Plants catalog, it has lovely pictures with a quick guide on what growing conditions native plants require and they offer great plant starts. www.mowildflowers.net

5.         Order locally-adapted seed catalogs. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is a favorite seed catalog from Mansfield, Missouri. www.rareseeds.com.

Remember to keep newly-planted mums watered through their first winter. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

6.         Read. Whether it’s Missouri Gardener Magazine, which provides good local gardening information and new gardening books, catch up on what you couldn’t get to last year.

7.         Remove any broken limbs in pathways to keep walkways clear and safe.

8.         Don’t walk on frozen lawns.

9.         On warm days, pile mulch and leaves on garden beds if they’ve been blown off by winter winds.

10.       Check inside plants for any hitchhiking bugs and remove. Make sure they are getting their sunlight needs met. If not, move them. Water with diluted fertilizer. Prune as necessary.

11.       Drop your garden pruners and other garden tools off to get sharpened.

12.  Start scouting where you can install rain barrels and totes to collect rain water off your gutter system.

13. Push heaved plants gently back into soil. Make sure to add mulch around these plants.

14. Water newly-planted chrysanthemums so they can get their roots established.

Charlotte

Water New Mum Plants

These yellow mums will need to be watered through winter. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Water New Mum Plants

I know, it sounds odd to be saying to go out in the Missouri winter cold to water a plant but if you want newly-planted mums to survive, their roots need moisture until they can get established.

Mums have for years been a traditional fall plant to add to a garden for color. Unfortunately planting them that late does not give the plant roots enough time to establish themselves before cold weather arrives. Established roots can go dormant and reappear the following year, which is what happens once mum roots are established.

To pull mums through their first winter, plan on making sure their roots stay hydrated through the cold season, which means watering them a couple of times a month. If you get rain or snow that soon melts, nature is watering them for you.

Here are a couple of examples. This first mum is how most mums look about this time of year: Dry, brown and dead:

This yellow mum was planted this fall and looks dead. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If this mum has been kept hydrated since I planted it, it should have some new growth peeking up through the dead branches. Leave dead branches on the plant, they provide young plant starts protection from the elements.

Looking through the dead branches to soil level, especially towards the center of the plant, you will see plant starts.

Bottom of the mum shows new plants starting to grow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Another fall-planted mum plant has even less dead material over where the new shoots are growing:

Another mum plant that appears to be dead. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Can you see the new growth underneath? I have been watering these mums every week or so since the mums were planted last fall.

New growth is already appearing underneath the dead cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once the mums start growing in spring, I will cut away the dead cover and gently break up sol around the base with my claw gardening gloves so they can more easily grow.

It’s amazing how these little starts will quickly grow into spring plants given half the chance. Once they make it through this winter, these mums will return on their own for several years without having to be watered through winter.

Charlotte

Gardening by Holidays

Set up a garden spot where you can sit down and enjoy the fruits of your labor. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Gardening by 2019 National Holidays

It’s hard enough to keep track of gardening chores for USDA Hardiness zone 6A - we used to be 5B- let alone when it is best to do them. I use national holidays to try to keep me on track so here is my basic gardening calendar for 2019 chores:

New Years Jan. 1:  Check inside plants for hitchhiking bugs. Spray with Neem oil mixed with water. Catch up on reading. Day dream with gardening catalogs.

Martin Luther King Day Jan 17: Make sure inside plants are all getting sunlight needs met. If not, move them around. Review last year’s garden diary; make notes for what to do this year. Water newly-planted mums monthly to keep roots hydrated.

Valentine's Day February 14: Check birdhouses for repairs; clean garden implements; wash flower pots.

President's Day February 20: Prune fruit trees. Plant onion sets, lettuce, spinach, radishes. 

St. Patrick's Day March 17: Plant potatoes, peas, Brussels sprouts and broccoli; start tomato and pepper seedlings inside. Check mums for new growth at the base of plants.

First Day of Spring March 20: Work compost into raised garden beds. Plant more lettuce, spinach, radishes, onions. Prune roses. Enjoy the first sight of blooming flowers like the ones on these Vintage Days of the Week Kitchen Towels.

Easter April 21: Plant tree seedlings and native wildflowers. Update garden diary for bulbs I need to divide and move this fall; mark locations so I can find them later. Pinch an inch off mums weekly to keep them bushy.

Earth Day April 22: Plant last of my spinach, peas and lettuce. Cover the garden with tulle to keep deer out. Plant trees.

Mother's Day May 12: Last frost day so everything can get moved outside. I'll leave seedlings in their containers outside for a few days before planting them. 

Memorial Day May 27: Last day to plant anything from seed which means pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini go in. Compact fruit trees, bushes and perennials also get planted so they can benefit from June showers. Good time to move Iris, daylilies and peonies after they have stopped blooming.

Mark trees that need to be cut. These are ash trees with emerald ash borer larvae, which will kill the trees in 3-4 years. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Father's Day June 16: Last weekend to plant perennials. Check garden centers for end of season plant sales.

Independence Day July 4: Last day for planting beans, last weekend for pinching back Mums so they bloom bushy this fall. 

Labor Day Sept. 2: Harvest fall crops; check for bugs; add compost, and start getting raised garden beds ready for winter. Place poinsettias in room without evening light.

Columbus Day Oct. 14: Trim deck plants; move them inside house for winter. Trade plants with friends for holiday gifts.

Halloween Oct. 31; First fall hard frost. All plants that are going to

winter over should be settled inside. Halloween weekend is also a good time to add compost.

Veterans Day Nov. 11: Clean and store pots, garden implements; toss out torn gardening gloves; mark envelopes with saved seeds; update garden diary on what worked well this year and what I want to do differently or try next year. If there's been a hard frost, good time to mulch plant beds so soil temperature doesn't fluctuate.

Thanksgiving Nov. 28: Buy spring bulbs on discount. 

Winter, Dec. 21: Look for first gardening catalogs in the mail!

What gardening chores would you add to this basic list?

Charlotte

Reuse Cut Down Trees

Reuse Cut Down Trees

I don’t mind leaving dead trees in my wildlife garden for woodpeckers and other creatures but when the trees might fall into my house I have to give that a second thought. Fall of 2018, when 5 more ash trees were identified as having emerald ash borer larvae in their bark, I decided not to wait the 3-4 years before the trees were dead and had them professionally cut down.

Dennis King of King Out On a Limb Tree Trimming Service cutting down one of my five dying ash trees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Usually tree trimmers will haul off the trees but I kept them on site to reuse. The cut trunks are now being used as retaining walls to terrace my new hillside garden beds. The cut down trees help to hold leaves, mulch and soil from getting washed down hill.

Cut down ash trees now form new hillside terracing. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The tree stumps themselves were not cut to the ground, they were specifically left so that I can use them later. I asked that they leave the tree trunks so that I can then cut them lower as necessary.

The recently-cut down ash trees are in the back. The one with the birdhouse had to be cut down several years ago and is now a birdhouse base.

This church birdhouse sits on top of a cut down ash tree trunk stub. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The smaller ash tree limbs are now refreshing wildlife refuge piles I have along my property line and the nearby woods. As a certified wildlife garden, providing safety through cover is important to some wildlife species especially in winter.

Smaller ash tree branches refresh a wildlife pile. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The emerald ash borer-damaged trees were marked in summer with pink plastic so that I knew what trees needed to be removed. Actually it was more for the tree service although they didn’t have any trouble locating the trees on their first visit. Woodpeckers had removed pieces of tree bark as they went after the emerald ash borer larvae under the tree bark.

Pink plastic marked the ash trees to be cut down. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Although most people will wait until spring and summer to get them cut, I did it late fall on a warm day since the tree cutting company was available. Usually tree-trimmers are very busy during spring and summer and may need several weeks and months advance notice.

Here’s another tree stump from a few years ago that now serves as a stand.

This metal bee sculpture now sits on top of a cut down ash tree. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Although I was not happy to lose the ash trees, I was glad to recycle them on my hillside garden instead of having them hauled off to the recycling center, where I go to pick up my mulch. This way the trees continue to retain water to help keep flower bed soil moist as well!

Charlotte

How to Plant Tulips

Darwin Hybrid mixed tulips in bloom spring 2017 in my new driveway retaining wall.

How to Plant Tulips

Tulips are planted in fall but most people think about planting them when they see them in spring in bloom. And yes, you can move tulips in spring, I will get to that in a minute.

Purchase tulip bulbs that are large, firm and heavy. Store the bulbs in a cool, dark place until planting time. You can usually find them for sale early fall at most garden centers, or through a variety of online suppliers.

Plant tulips in mid to late fall, when you are raking leaves and doing other fall clean up chores. Soil temperature should be 55°F or cooler.

Choose a planting location with full to part day sun, where the soil is well drained and easy to dig, never soggy. Loosen the soil to a depth of 10”. Also think about what wildlife may be in the area. Tulips are a favorite snack for deer and rabbits. Mice will eat the bulbs when there are mole runs.

If you have a lot of moles, plant tulip bulbs in soil in pots and bury the pots in the ground covered with chicken wire to protect them from being a winter snack.

How to Best Group Tulips

Tulips look best when they are planted in informal groups of 5 or more bulbs. Groupings of odd-numbered bulbs seem to look better than even numbers but I have planted, and like both groupings.

Space the tulip bulbs approximately 3 to 4” on center and plant them 6 to 7” deep. Use a garden trowel to plant individual bulbs or remove the soil from the planting area, place the bulbs and then refill the hole.

I invest in bone meal and add a sprinkling in the bottom of each hole before adding the bulbs. Bone meal provides a boost to the bulb roots as they start growing and makes sure they are strong and healthy when they are ready to bloom.

Moving Tulip Bulbs

Because people fall in love with tulips in spring when they are in bloom, there is a tendency to want to move them in springtime, too.

Although I don't recommend moving spring flowers in spring, it can be done. Dig the soil around the tulip roots and move tulip bulbs and soil to the new growing location. Do not dislodge the soil around the tulip roots or you will deny the plant the ability to gather nutrients and you will also disrupt the growing cycle.

Once moved, water well and, if necessary, stake the flowers so they will stand. I have found that once moved, it will take the flowers about a week to settle into their new home and stand up on their own.

The bulbs may not bloom the next year but if they are a re-blooming variety, add compost through the fall to re-invigorate the bulbs and they should bloom the following season.

Language of Flowers for Tulips

It’s been said that various colors of tulips have significant meaning when gifted: Red means love, white means I’m sorry and purple represents loyalty. Some of these "messages" are similar to the meaning of similar colors in other flowers, such as roses.

Regardless of the tulip variety, they are lovely flowers and deserve a safe spot in a spring garden.

Charlotte

Burgundy Hellebores

These burgundy hybrid hellebores popped up and started blooming almost overnight.

Burgundy Hellebores

How appropriate to be featuring this lovely perennial on this last day of winter. Burgundy hybrid hellebores, also referred to as Lenten roses because they tend to bloom around Lent, are one of the last winter-blooming flowers. These literally just popped up in my garden this past week.

The actual flower is inside the burgundy-colored sepals surrounding the center.

The flowers of hybrid hellebores are actually the long, slender yellow filament-looking segments inside the burgundy-colored sepals. As the sepals mature, they loose some of their color but not their shape. This year I am going to try to save the sepals at the end of the season and see if I can dry them for my wreaths.

The one challenge in enjoying these lovely plants is that the flowers on the plants actually droop. To be able to see, and photograph, the flowers, I have to lean over and try to catch the flowers from a less than comfortable angle.

This is how the hybrid hellebores appear in the flower bed, with the sepals hanging down.

Even without being able to see the droopy flowers I can spot the plant in the flower bed when it is in bloom. Sometimes it's the only green showing up in the whole area!

Sometimes its easy to overlook hybrid hellebores in a garden bed.

Farewell winter, it was a long, snowy one!

Charlotte

Yellow Lenten Roses

Isn't this stunning? If it just wasn't so hard to take a picture of it!

Yellow Hellebores or Lenten Roses

They're finally blooming, my little collection of hybrid hellebores purchased at the end of spring the last few years. Some were without tags but I recognized the plant by their large, speckled leaves.

I found some hellebores last week at our local garden center for $20 and was in a bit of shock, forgetting for a moment that I picked up mine on sale. The garden center manager reminded me they have always been on the pricier side and come in a wide range of colors and shapes.

Hybrid hellebores get their common name from the rose-like flowers that appear in early spring around the Christian Lent observance. The "Lenten Rose" blooms are similar to poinsettias in that the colored sepals protect the true flowers inside. The wonderful advantage of adding these perennials to any garden is that the "blooms" last for several months and the foliage stays green for most of the year.

My hybrid hellebores are in partial shade in rich, moist and well-drained soil. The biggest challenge enjoying the flowers is trying to see, and photograph, the downward-facing blooms so I have them planting along the gentle curve of my hillside. It does make it a little easier for photography but I can't say it helps very much in terms of seeing the flowers, I still have to get down to eye level without exposing myself to my neighbors.

I add mulch every year to their flower beds and noticed that their crowns are now buried. I may have to lift them later, or move the mulch out from around them so the crown is back to soil level.

In year's past, these have started to bloom late January to February, this is the latest that they have started. I tried out my thread snips to cut back the old greenery during a warm January day when I was looking for some sign of life. I will be adding compost to this area this year to make sure the plants have enough nourishment while they are blooming.

Here are my yellow hybrid hellebores all blooming in a bunch on my hillside.

If you have a chance to pick up any hellebores on sale, jump on the chance. Regardless of the variety and color they may be, hellebores are a wonderful addition to a late winter, early spring garden.

Charlotte

The Dirt on Soil

Leaves are a good soil additive, helping to keep soil from packing too densely, especially Missouri clay.

The Dirt on Soil

Did you know there are more microorganisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth? Some people think of soil as dirt, or as a farm, or as something one buys at a home and garden center in a plastic bag but soil is an amazing recycling operation, a constant re-combining of minerals and decaying plants and animals.

An average soil sample is 45 percent minerals, 25 percent water, 25 percent air, and five percent organic matter. Different-sized mineral particles, such as sand, silt, and clay, give soil its texture.

How fast water interacts, or doesn’t interact with those mineral particles, determines how well different plant varieties can pull the nutrition they need. Then there are the good soil organisms and the bad ones that, once out of balance, can turn soil communities into infertile landscapes.

To find out what kind of soil you have, you can do a quick soil test at home:

1. Fill a quart jar one-third full with topsoil and add water until the jar is almost full. Screw on the lid and shake the mixture until all the clumps of soil have dissolved.

2. Set the jar on a windowsill and watch as the larger particles begin to sink to the bottom. In a minute or two, the sand portion of the soil will have settled to the jar bottom. Mark the level of sand on the jar side. A colored magic marker will work, you can wash it off later.

3. Leave the jar undisturbed for several hours. The finer silt particles will gradually settle.

4. Leave the jar overnight. The next layer above the silt will be clay. Mark the thickness of that layer. On top of the clay should be a thin layer of organic matter. Some of this organic matter may still be floating in the water. In fact, the jar should be murky and full of floating organic sediments. If not, you probably need to add organic matter to improve the soil's fertility and structure.

One of the easiest soil amendments for flower beds is to add weathered wood chips. The wood chips break down into added organic matter and, once in decomposed form, are a wonderful planting medium for many plants. 

Not sure what you are seeing? I can understand, sometimes it all looks like a big muddy blob. Take a good look until your eyes can distinguish between colors. Give up? Ok, but don’t toss it down the sink, pour it on a flower bed, there is another way.

Collect about 6 scoops or 1.5 cups of soil from 6-8 points from a good 4-6 inches below ground from around your garden in a plastic bag and take it down to your local University of Missouri Extension Office. For $15, they will send the samples off to a lab. In a couple of weeks, you will get a very detailed analysis back with a detailed report of your soil including ph levels and recommendations of what you need to do, if any, to improve your soil.

The report will also help guide you in what you can plant in your soil conditions and how to amend your soil for optimum growing conditions. Take your time with whatever you do, most soil amendments take time.

Charlotte

Peach Miniature Rose Now Two Months Later

Another bud is getting ready to bloom on this peach miniature rose!

Peach Miniature Rose Now Two Months Later

So it's been two months since I brought this marked down miniature rose home. It was the last one at the grocery store, marked down to $2.49, covered in  dried up rose buds and only one I could leave on the shrub to remind me of the peach color.

I have posted several sets of photos to show you how this little shrub rose can be not only salvaged but easily grown through winter and encouraged to re-bloom.

Once the danger of frost is over, I will be moving this and a few other miniature roses to their permanent home outside. In the meantime, I love seeing how many buds are popping up.

On this morning there were a total of four rose buds starting on this plant.

Without the restrictions of other plants in the pot, this little rose shrub has a more normal green color.

The flowers are also returning to a more normal size as opposed to the smaller size that comes from placing four rose plants in one pot. Epigenetics, my brother said when I was describing the transformation, the plant is responding to its new surroundings.

So nice to see this little plant so healthy and doing so well, there's even a faint scent.

Now do you believe that you, too can grow miniature roses?

Charlotte

First Signs of Spring

Snowdrops galanthus have popped up around one of my tiny front ponds.

First Signs of Spring

For the past 15 years or so, what blooms first in spring is now a surprise, with no two years the same and no two plants or flowers appearing in any semblance of order. As winter wanes in Missouri, it seems appropriate this year to have snowdrops galanthus popping up around one of my small ponds, a last winter hurrah before spring officially arrives on March 30.

Not so fast, though. In the hardiness zone where I live, we can still have a blackberry winter as late as early May. Snow has been known to grace Easter and many daffodils have popped up only to be covered in white snowy blankets.

This year, the snowdrops have company, my early yellow daffodils. They are not big, or splashy. These came from an abandoned home site that was 30 years old when I moved them a good 30 years ago. Once the regular daffodils start blooming, the small early daffodils fade in stature and presence but, to me, they hold a special place for being the first ones to bloom.

You can pick the unopened buds and place them in water in a flower vase to enjoy the new blooms inside. Don't mix them with other flowers because daffodils have a toxin that make them inedible, and therefore safe, from wildlife. The toxin, however, will quickly wilt any other flowers you try to mix with daffodils unless you let the daffodils drain for a good day in a separate vase first.

The first early daffodils have started to bloom, a sure sign spring is just around the corner.

I have this first vase of spring daffodils sitting where I can easily see them. As I was admiring the bright yellow color, I spotted my painted gourd bee also appearing to look at the flowers.

Daffodils are not a major nectar and pollen source for native or honeybees although I periodically will see bees flying into, or out of, the flowers. The large flower "noses" do invite a visit.

This little painted bee is keeping an eye on the blooming buds, just as my outside bees are doing!

It won't be long before my real honeybees outside will join the bumblebees and other pollinators flitting through the rest of the flowers blooming in my one-acre limestone hillside garden. Then I will know it really IS spring!

Charlotte

Winter-Flowering Peach Hibiscus

Double peach hibiscus blooming mid winter in my bay window.

Winter-Flowering Peach Hibiscus

If there is one plant that brightens up a cold, snowy winter day, it's a blooming tropical hibiscus. I have several tropical hibiscus plants wintering over inside my house, and I love to be greeted by the bright flowers especially on a drizzly winter day.

This one is a double peach hibiscus, rescued from a sale pile at a local garden center a couple of years ago. 

Frankly I didn't know what color the flowers were. The plant was healthy enough so I took a chance and brought it home to join my other tropical hibiscus or should that be hibiscii.

This blooming cycle included a second nearby bloom as well.

The trick to wintering tropical hibiscus plants is to give them as much direct sun as possible.

I also check the soil daily to make sure the plant pot doesn't dry out.

Tropical hibiscus winter over inside well as long as they get sunlight.

Combined with the other neighboring plants, the blooming peach tropical hibiscus does bring a lovely color to that corner of my room!

Charlotte

New Use for Letter Opener

Old-fashioned letter openers have a new purpose for opening seed packets.

New Use for Letter Opener

If you've ever grabbed a handful of seed envelopes and headed out to the garden, you know what I'm going to reference here. Sometimes it is best to turn around, head back inside, take a deep breath and start again, and by that I mean set those seed packets on the counter and get them carefully open before heading back out into the garden.

I don't know how many times I have headed out and then tried to open the seed envelopes in the garden, only to loose half the seeds in the process. Doesn't matter how, it's a combination of spilling, spreading and scattering, at times all in the same spot.

So when I discovered the repurposing of this old favorite letter opening tool, I was quite pleased. It's an old gift, one end rather flat so the tip easily fits under the flaps of envelopes so one can open envelopes without getting paper cuts. Not only will old letter openers work very well to quickly unseal seed packets, but they will leave the opening cleanly open so I'm not tearing off half of the envelope and seeds will easily spill out as I walk out to the garden spot.

Letter opener makes opening seed packets easy and prevents spilling seeds.

Another benefit is that I can then store the half-filled seed packets in a relatively orderly fashion so I can find them again as I spread more seeds, as opposed to scrambling around for the leftover envelopes and loosing more seeds in the process.

Yes, pretty happy with this little discovery if I say so myself.

I suspect my garden will be as well, now more seeds may end up where they're supposed to be!

Charlotte

Best Gardener Gift Idea

This is one of our custom gardener gift sets, ready to ship for Valentine's Day.

Best Gardener Gift Ideas

Periodically friends will ask what is a good gardener gift idea and I have several to recommend.

Most gardeners don't have enough good gloves. If they do, they are worn by now, or held on to in spite of the frayed edges, because they have some sentimental value. The best gardening gloves have reinforced fingers but still breath through cotton. I also like the longer cuffs to cover my arms when I'm wrestling shrubs and especially rose bushes.

I've packaged a pair of my favorite gardening gloves in this custom gardener gift set to make gift giving easier. 

Sneak peek at what's inside this custom gardener gift kit, the book has a charming book mark.

Isn't this adorable? Cute bookmark is attached to the book so you don't misplace it.

In addition to the wonderful leather gloves, this custom gardener gift set includes a beautiful book with fun recipes; four fabric coasters; thread snips that can be used in the garden to dead head flowers; some wildflower seeds and our long-lasting, handmade gardener soap.

There are also three Bluebird Gardens honey samplers but I was going to leave that as a surprise.

Sorry, it's no longer avaiable, I sent it to a colleague as a thank you gift.

Charlotte

Miniature Rose Starts Blooming!

I just added a new buddy to Hazel's pot, an onion start to keep bugs away.

Miniature Rose Starts Blooming

Isn't that little rose just peachy? Such a welcome sight after watching a heavy blanket of snow covering my mid-Missouri garden earlier. It was sunny and 81F two days ago, now back to winter, yet another reason why I surround myself with indoor greenery, I have at least one place where I can rely on seeing green every day through winter.

So for those of you eyeing those marked down after a holiday miniature roses, go back and take another look. Hazel, this now blooming miniature rose was the last one at a local grocery store marked down to $2.49 after Christmas. She was wrapped up in that shiny gift paper in a small 4" pot, the flower buds dried up or about to die, with only one bud possibly still growing, here are the little plants once I watered them and settled them in the window while I looked for a larger pot:

This is Hazel on December 29, 2017 right after I brought her home from a local grocery store sale.

Friends tell me they have little luck growing roses but I find them to be easy to grow, especially miniature roses. The miniature varieties are actually shrub roses, which means they are hardier stock, bloom longer and can more easily adapt to a variety of soils. 

I don't recommend growing miniature roses inside unless you have room for large soil containers because they need to pull a lot of soil nutrients but you can certainly pick up a few on sale now and grow them inside until the danger of frost is over in May, then condition them to grow permanently outside.

Once I had Hazel watered, I found a pot larger than the one she was in, added some broken flower pot shards in the bottom, new potting soil and my concoction of dried coffee grounds, banana peels, epsom salts and crushed eggs shells, then more potting soil and the roses. More potting soil, tapped gently, then sprayed water with a spray bottle until wet so I don't over water.

Back to the window to be turned towards the sun and checked daily. The plant is in a window facing southwest next to Miriam, the cherry tomato also growing and producing delicious cherry tomatoes midwinter inside.

I watch the color of the leaves to make sure they don't start turning light green, that means the plant needs more nitrogen. Getting new potting soil with added composting materials should prevent that from happening but I still monitor, just in case.

Success is seeing the first signs of flower buds and here they were, a little less than 2 months after I brought the plant home.

This was the first bud that became the rose you saw on top, and there is a second one forming.

So growing roses is not hard, or expensive, you just have to pick the right variety and time when you buy them.

Charlotte

Miriam Tomato Fruit

My inside tomato plant is not only growing fruit but the fruit is ripening enough to pick.

Miriam the mysterious tomato plant has two ripe cherry-size tomatoes ready to pick.

Miriam Tomato Fruit

Miriam my tomato plant continues to grow, spending this Missouri winter in one of my sunny bay windows with Hazel the miniature rose I picked up on sale right after Christmas getting ready to bloom.

I have been wintering over one tomato plant for years, a wonderful way to have fresh tomatoes without having to resort to buying tasteless ones or having to invest in huge greenhouses, hoop houses or other large gardening contraptions that quickly get abandoned because they can't be maintained.

This was a mysterious tomato start from a friend's garden I found growing outside last fall in one of my flower beds. I usually plan to have a tomato plant to bring in for winter but I was running behind last year until I saw a little 3-inch seedling among hyssop starts. So far I have determined this is a cherry tomato plant of some sort, and that I guessed well on what growing conditions it needed so far. I've had to stake the plant twice so far and by the looks of it, may have to stake it yet again, the plant is now a good 4-feet tall.

Three days ago, I added some worm castings to the tomato plant soil to enrich the soil and add nitrogen. Tomato plants are heavy feeders meaning they can quickly deplete the soil of nutrients. With a plant growing in a small container, that is especially true so it's important to keep the soil enriched with compost and other natural amendments. 

Why did I add the worm castings? The tomato plant leaves were starting to look a little more  yellow green for my taste so I didn't think it would hurt to give the soil a little healthy boost.

Besides making sure the plant is watered every day , there has been little additional care required. Well, except for now, I need to pick those two lovely cherry red tomatoes and give them a taste.

Here's a closer look of the two ripe cherry-size tomatoes that have ripened in my window.

They didn't even make it to the kitchen, ate them right there in the window.

What do you think, winter grown tomatoes don't have any taste?

Wrong, they were absolutely delicious, warm right off the vine and perfectly ripe. Can't wait for the next ones!

Charlotte