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Archives for February 2007

Delicate yellow Hollyhocks

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Surprisingly, this is one of my husbands favorite flowers in our garden. I don’t think that when I started the garden that I expected him to be overly excited about any of the plants – well maybe the ones he could eat like the strawberries and the raspberries, which he does enjoy.

The first flower that he got excited about was the sunflower. Now we MUST have sunflowers every year. Then when the hollyhocks came along and started to bloom that too was another must. I remember one year it wasn’t looking like any would bloom. He was so disappointed, but then one did grow some stalks and bloom.

Now I make sure there are some new seedlings growing every year so we always have hollyhocks. Remember they are a biannual flower – growing in the first year and blooming in the second. So I must always have a crop growing each year so that my husband can have his hollyhocks.

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February Gardening Tips

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I realize that February isn’t traditionally thought of as a gardening month in many areas of the world, but whether you live in a warm or cold climate there are some things that you can do for your garden in February.

In warm areas gardeners are likely perplexed by the weather as it can change from day to day, or even from day to night. Likewise, gardeners in cold climates might experience some fluctuations in the day to day or at least week to week temperatures.

February, for many gardeners is a month of planning, and for watching for the first signs of spring.

Here are some tips and ideas, set up by gardening zones, for the month of February:

All Gardeners –

  • Finish your seed and plant orders
  • February can be a difficult month for your houseplants – watch for pests
  • Care for your gardening tools. Have you cleaned and oiled your pruners?

Zone 8 and higher –

  • Keep and eye on the weather, watch for cold snaps. Be ready to protect tender plants
  • Keep watering your garden unless your area is undergoing water restrictions
  • Care for your annual flower bed, amend the soil if necessary
  • Plant cool season veggies – Kale, lettuce, broccoli, onions
  • Propagate new plants from cuttings
  • You can plant your cold hardy annuals such as Icelandic poppies and pansies
  • Harvest any winter crops before the weather warms causing them to bolt
  • Begin planting seeds for your warm season flowers and vegetables
  • divide your perennials
  • Prune roses and bareroot roses
  • Plant fruit trees and bareroot roses
  • Plant bulbs – crinums, amaryllis and calla lilies
  • protect your roses and fruit trees by using dormant spray on them
  • If you overwintered Begonia and canna tubers and corms it’s time to pot them up

Zone 7 and lower

  • If the weather is nice enough get out and prune your trees, shrubs – ornamental and fruit
  • Replace Mulch if necessary
  • If the ground has thawed check your flowerbeds and adjust any plants that may have heaved
  • check your garden, plants and trees for animal and pest damage
  • Cut branches for forcing indoors – dogwood works well
  • Give your Holly bushes a hard pruning to rejuvenate them
  • Check evergreens for dessication
  • This is the month to start cool season veggies, annual and perennial flowers by seed indoors.

My gross gross rose

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This weeks Theme is GROSS

You do realize that the word Gross is french for Large don’t you? Ok well, now that we’ve established that I have a very gross Love and Peace rose bloom for you:

macro love and peace

Does anyone else grow Love and Peace?

It’s a blooming machine! Each bloom grows in size to about 4″ in diameter. My hybrid tea Love and Peach is going into it’s 5th year in my garden this year, and it’s been reaching heights of 5 feet or more the last two years. It always has at least 10 blooms if not 40, from June well into October or even November.

The roses start out kind of pinkish and then they become multi-colored- like what’s that theater production “Joseph’s amazing dream coat”? I find it to be a very loud rose – kind of gawdy in some ways, but between it’s performance in my garden and it’s amazing colours I don’t think I could live without one now.

Be thankful I chose this picture this week – I almost gave you guys a photo of earthworms mating! Now that would have truly been gross!

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