As the Garden Grows

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Recent Search Terms #2

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You’ve been searching my site, here’s a few answers to your questions:

What do bee balm seeds look like?

Bee Balm Seed Head I don’t have a good picture of my own Bee Balm seeds, although I do have a photo of a bee balm seed head.

The seeds are very tiny, as shown on this Great site by the SeedCo.uk . The bee balm seeds are the fourth image in the top row.

Throughout the summer I usually dead head the bee balm flowers that are starting to look a bit raggy. However, near the end of the season, say early September or a bit later, I let some of the blooms dry out and turn into seed heads. Once they get to the stage seen in the photo above I will shake out some of the seeds into a tiny clear plastic bag, label the bag and store it in a cool dry spot in my basement for future use.

I sometimes pluck off the dried seed head and shake some of the seeds out on the ground near the current plant, or in an area in which I’d like to grow a new bee balm plant. Try to remember to label the area in which you planted some seeds if you do this. I scuff a little bit of soil over the seeds and basically forget about them until mid- spring when new plants start coming up. In the spring I weed out new plants so that they aren’t too crowded. Sometimes I even pot some seedlings up and give them to friends who have admired my Bee Balm.

Care instructions for jasmine sambac:

Jasminum sambac is an evergreen shrub, that often reaches 5 ft in height in pots. Called “pikake” in Hawaii,Jasminum Sambac is the plant used to flavor the jasmine tea and making perfumes.

Arabian Jasmine blooms all year long in the greenhouse.

To grow these plants outdoors, you have to be in zone 8 or higher. Jasmines like hot and humid conditions during the day, and cool temperatures at night. Since frost can kill these plants, with care one can successfully grow these as house plants. (I do put my Jasmine Sambuc outdoors in the summer in an area of bright shade. It’s usually outside from mid-June until Mid-September, and it often looses some leaves when I move it from indoors to outdoors and back again.)

Jasminum Sambac can be grown both in full sun (forms a nice bushy shrub when pruned) or in shade (tends to grow more like a vine, leaves get bigger and darker). Perfect container plant. Use great amount of organic matter when planting (leaf mold, peat moss, humus, compost), but soil must be well-drained and evenly moist at the same time. Jasmines do not like soggy conditions.

From spring through fall, fertilize monthly with a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10. Tie the stems to supports and keep the soil evenly moist through the growing season. Prune after flowering to keep the plants thinned and shaped. Some branches may reach 6 to 8 ft long. Pruning also helps keep an abundance of flowers, since flowers are produce on new wood.

My Jasmine Sambuc loves it’s water. The plant is approximately 3 feet tall. In the summer when it’s outdoors I water it almost daily, and in the winter I often water it every second or third day. It doesn’t like damp conditions so be careful to make sure that the soil is not damp.

One more tip – If you bring your Jasmine indoors in the winter make sure the room it’s in is not dry. Humidify the air. Dryness brings on spider mites and they will quickly damage your plant and can get out of control easily. Along with regular watering to keep the soil slightly moist, I will often mist my Jasmine with water. If I notice any spider mites starting up I’ll add a drop or two of liquid detergent to my spray bottle and mist the plants leaves and branches with the soapy mixture.

Green Thumb

I’m not sure what the person was searching for with this term. Were you looking for a gardener with a green thumb or perhaps my meme “Green Thumb Sunday”?

I never realized that I had such a green thumb until we purchased our first house five years ago and I started my lovely garden. Yes, I’d had pretty good luck with house plants prior to becoming an outdoor gardener, but the true test was beginning and maintaining my outdoor garden. I haven’t lost too many plants, and the ones that I’ve lost I can mostly blame on either poor initial health when I purchased the plant or to severe winter conditions. I guess I do have a green thumb.

If you have a green thumb, want to have a green thumb or you love taking photos of nature, gardens, plants and landscapes think about joining my meme Green Thumb Sundays. Post a new picture every Sunday and visit other Green Thumb Sunday participants. It’s easy.

If you aren’t a gardener or passionate about nature and lovely landscapes don’t feel left out. You can join one of my blogrolls if you’d like. If you are Canadian you could join the “I am Canadian Blogroll“, and if you are from Toronto you could join the “Toronto Bloggers blogroll“, and if you have a photoblog that you post to regularly you might be interested in joining “Fabulous Photoblogs“. Think about it.

What grows in a dark garden?

Not too much.

However, plenty of things will grow in a shaded garden.

Some of the hardy geraniums are good for shade. There is Geranium phaeum and its many varieties for spring flowers, G. pratense for summer and G. procurrens for fall bloom.

Violets, Primula, Bergenia, Brunnera (giant forget-me-not), Dicentra (bleeding heart), Pulmonaria (lungwort), Epimedium and London Pride bring spring flowers. All of these perennials are available in several forms that offer variations in flower and foliage coloring.

There are perennial foxgloves in yellow, pink and apricot for early summer bloom. Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) forms highly attractive mounds of serrated, pleated leaves and sprays of greenish yellow flowers that are excellent in fresh cut and dried arrangements. Corydalis lutea, a ferny bleeding heart type perennial, gives yellow flowers all summer.

A pretty ground cover for shade is dead nettle (Lamium), which is available in a variety of different foliage variegations and flower colors. Flowering is from late spring through the summer. Christmas rose and Lenten rose (Helleborus) bring big buttercup-like flowers in winter to early spring, the Christmas rose in white and the Lenten rose in deep plum.

Mainstays of a shaded perennial garden are the feathery astilbes and glamorous-leaved hostas. Both are available in miniature to giant size, and in a wide choice of colors.

While the perennials in a new bed are young and small, plant the spaces between them with summer fill-ins — pansies, impatiens, monkey flower (Mimulus), coleus and begonias. An attractive floral cascade effect could easily be achieved in several spots by setting trailing hanging basket type fuchsias, in their containers, on upended pots to elevate the fuchsias off the ground.

Over time I will discuss the care of a number of the plants mentioned above as well as many more.






Annuals and Perennials

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What are Annual, Perennial and Biennial plants?

The difference between annuals, biennials and perennials relates to the life cycles of the plants.

Annuals grow from seed to full maturity within one growing season. Marigolds, ageratums, and zinnias are typical annuals. They flower, set seed and die, all within a single year.

Biennials such as Canterbury bells and some foxgloves, complete their life cycles over two years, sometimes producing a few flowers in the first season, but most often just making foliage growth and establishing their root systems.

Perennials live longer than two seasons and may outlive many shrubs. In fact, strictly speaking, shrubs and trees are perennials, but when gardeners talk of perennials they generally mean plants that don’t develop permanent woody stems.

Perennials occur in several types. Some, such as Acanthus, are evergreen and don’t have a period of total dormancy, though few flower continually except in very mild climates.

Herbaceous perennials – those most common in temperate climate gardens – usually have a period of dormancy when they die back to a permanent rootstock. Most commonly this is during winter, but plants from hot dry areas many be dormant in summer or during periods of very low rainfall.

Some herbaceous perennials have developed the ability to use their roots or stems as food storage organs to enable them to survive extended periods of dormancy. Known as rhizomes and tubers, these storage roots can often be separated from the parent plant and grown on as new plants, in much the same way as bulbs and corms. Dahlias and alstroemerias are well-known tuberous plants, while bearded irises are probably the most widely grown rhizomatous plants. Some plants have specialized rhizomes known as stolons, which spread across the surface of the ground, or just below the surface, taking root as they spread.

Some perennials are treated as annuals, either because they cease to be attractive as they age, or because they are incapable of surviving cold winters. Petunias and impatiens, for example, may live for several seasons if protected from frost, but they become leggy and untidy, so they are usually replaced annually.

It is not uncommon for a genus to contain both annual and perennial species, such as the annual and perennial cosmos, or species with differing growth habits, like the fibrous and tuberous rooted irises and begonias.

In cultivation, the differences between annuals, biennials and the various types of perennials tend to become blurred. The important thing is how you use the plants, and with annuals and perennials you can give free rein to your imagination.

Raspberries

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Did I tell you that I grow raspberries?

Fresh Raspberries Now doesn’t that look yummy?

The raspberry bushes are one of the few plants left in the yard by the original owners. I’ve changed pretty much everything else. Well, there wasn’t much to begin with, but I knew during that first summer, as I picked a colander full of raspberries almost each day, that the most of the bushes would be staying.

Originally, there had been perhaps more than 50 raspberry bushes in the back right hand corner of the yard. Lovely for the fruity benefits, but not so great when I decided to landscape during the spring of 2002 in order to begin my lovely rose garden. I only left about 15 plants when I created what is now my raised garden beds. In the years since, the plants have started to multiply, and I think there are likely 25 bushes out there.

Growing Raspberries:

Would you like to grow your own raspberries in your yard? Here’s how.

Nothing caps a summer evening better than a raspberry smoothie, or a bowl of fresh raspberries and cream. Ripe berries sprinkled on cereal in the morning is always nice too. Because of their delicious uses and ease of growing, the perennial raspberry ought to be in every garden.

The most commonly grown raspberry is the red, but the purple and black type make interesting variations on the raspberry theme. All can be grown in most zones and they are self fertile. To make the most of your raspberry patch check with your local nursery or county extension to make sure that the variety that you want to buy will thrive in your area.

Planting:

Moisture and plenty of rich organic matter in the soil are essentials. When deciding on a location, look for a spot that gets some protection from the blustery cold winds of winter. To improve the soils ability to retain moisture, work in plenty of well rotted manure or sphagnum peat moss.

Set the bushes in the ground as soon as you bring them home from the nursery. If roots appear dried out, soak them in water for an hour or two before planting. Red raspberries can be planted two or three inches deeper than at the nursery. black and purple varieties should be planted at the same depth. Space plants three feet apart and rows five to eight feet apart. (Needless to say my plants are much closer together than that in my tiny backyard.)

Raspberry bushes My raspberry plants are sheltered behind my neighbors garage. In this photo you can see them beginning at the Japanese Maple with the row going back towards another neighbors house.

Care and Feeding:

After the canes have been set out, cut back central canes to a height of six inches, then mulch to conserve moisture.

When plants are dormant in early spring remove weak and spindly canes. Then remove any suckers that have grown up between the rows. If properly pruned raspberry canes are self supporting. Cut back your black raspberry varieties to 18 to 24 inches; purple and red varieties to 30 to 36 inches. the amount and the quality of the fruit will be greatly improved if lateral branches are trimmed back to at least four to six buds.

In the Autumn remove all old, spent canes and destroy them.

Insects and Diseases:

Raspberries are hardly immune from disease and insect attack, but problems will be few if you practice good garden hygiene. Purchase only healthy disease resistant plants from a trust worthy nursery or garden center.

Make sure that old canes are removed and destroyed so insect larvae and fungus spores don’t overwinter. If a plant appears doomed because of disease, remove it immediately so that the other plants don’t become affected.

Now that you know how to grow your own raspberries I think I’ll go fix myself a small bowl of raspberries. Mmmmm delicious.

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