Now's the time to start seeds . . . .

This past week, I planted many varieties of vegetable and flower seeds in preparation for the garden. I typically start seeds of the cole crops (this group includes Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli), leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, endive), and solanaceous plants (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, petunia, nicotiana), the first week in March.

Cole crops – those in the mustard family, or Brassicaceae – are cool season plants. The seedlings of these plants can tolerate frost after being properly hardened off. I’ll transplant them out to the garden in about six weeks. Same with the leafy greens. Other plants that love the cool spring weather include radishes, carrots, and turnips. The seeds for these plants go directly into the garden when I set out the other cool-season plants.

Solanaceous plants are those in the potato family, Solanaceae. They shouldn’t be set out until the danger of frost has passed. They take a while to get established, so I’m starting them now. I also started some herbs: Basil, cilantro and fennel. There are a number of other vegetables, like those in the squash or cucumber family, that I won’t start for another month or six weeks. Otherwise, they get too big for their pots.

Start larger seeds in individual pots or cell packs.

Here’s how to successfully start your seedlings:

1. Always use a sterilized commercial seed starting mix. This is important to prevent seedling diseases. Always pre-moisten the planting mix before filling the container. The soil mix should feel as wet as a squeezed-out sponge. Fill the container with the moistened soil and press lightly. Water the soil in, and allow the container to drain.
2. Large seeds are sown into small, individual containers like cell packs, plug trays or peat or paper pots. Sow smaller seeds into larger plastic pots or recycled containers with drainage holes. If recycled containers are used, sterilize them by scrubbing with a mixture of one part bleach to nine parts water. I sow ten to twenty seeds in each 4-inch pot.
3. Sow tiny seeds directly on the soil surface. Plant larger seeds in a shallow depression. Cover the seed with vermiculite or seed starting mix, to a depth of only twice the seed’s diameter. Each seed must be in firm contact with the moist soil to begin germinating, so gently tamp down the soil surface.
4. Water, and cover the container with a sheet of clear plastic or a greenhouse dome. If the soil surface gets dry, lift the plastic covering and mist it with water from a spray bottle. Remove the cover as soon as you see the germinated seed, to allow for good air circulation.
5. Most seeds require temperatures of 65° to 75°F for speedy germination. If your room is cooler than that, consider purchasing a heating pad designed especially for plant use.


Place seedlings under light . . .

6. After germination, seedlings need bright light to avoid spindly growth. If you do not have access to a full southern exposure, consider growing the seedlings under lights. Give the container a turn every few days, and gently brush the palm of your hand against the tops of the seedlings – this will encourage strong stem growth.
7. When the second set of leaves emerge, it’s time to begin a half-strength liquid fertilizer regimen on a weekly basis.
8. To prevent the fungal infection often referred to as “damping-off”, place a small fan on low and direct it to blow across the containers at the soil level where air may become trapped and stagnant.

Here’s to successful seed starting, and Happy Gardening!

The crocus is not quite blooming yet, but it won't be long now!

Wow, it seems like spring all of the sudden in Cincinnati! Of course, it is still March and we have plenty of cold and frosty weather ahead. But the warmth and sunshine are really invigorating – I can’t wait to get out and do stuff!

I always think of March as the start of the gardening season – no matter how nice or nasty the weather. The first week of March, I start seeds indoors for the flower and vegetable gardens. That kicks things off, and from there its full sails ahead until Thanksgiving, when the garden gets one last fall cleanup and the last of the spring flowering bulbs are planted.

One thing that keeps me from starting to garden in earnest right now is the wet soil. If your soil is wet enough to be squishy when you walk on it, then you should avoid walking on it. Putting weight on the very wet soil destroys the soil structure – it compacts the soil, squeezing out the air pockets. When the soil finally dries out, it will be hard as a rock. I know where the drier areas are in my landscape, and I circle around, keeping off of the wettest soil. I never walk in my planting beds if it can be avoided.

It follows that it is really too wet to be digging in the soil now, unless you have raised beds. If you do have raised beds, you can start thinking about planting peas and onion sets later this month, after St. Patrick’s Day.

Here’s what I did over the weekend:

• Started seeds, indoors, under lights – I planted seeds of peppers and tomatoes, onions and leeks, broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach and lettuces, and a few flowers. I’ll blog more about this tomorrow.
• Cut back grasses – ornamental grasses should be cut back over the next few weeks, to get rid of the old, dead stalks before the new stalks emerge. I cut back a few that were adjacent to the driveway and patio, but have lots more to do.
• Pruning. March is a great time to prune most everything except for spring flowering shrubs like lilacs, flowering quince and forsythia. Prune these spring bloomers after they have finished blooming. I pruned a screening hedge adjacent to the driveway.

Those are just a few of the things you can be starting to do in your garden this month.

Happy Gardening!

The bold leaves of Rex Begonia add interest indoors

Green leaves on houseplants add a relaxed ambiance to a room, while bold red, orange or yellow colors provide a dramatic statement. And a single colorful plant among a group of green plants makes the whole grouping stand out. Plants with colorful leaves and flowering plants usually require brighter light to put on a good show, so a location near an east or west window is ideal.

Among the easiest of the colorful houseplants to grow are the bromeliads. They are a highly varied group, but most are striking, with colorful rosettes of foliage and interesting blooms that last four to six weeks or more. They don’t require much water.

I love the colorful leaves of Rex Begonias (Begonia rex). The color is in both the leaves and blooms. Mine migrated indoors this fall from my screened patio. They don’t like much water, so only water when you absolutely need to.

What could be more colorful than this Croton?

Crotons (Croton sp.) are another group of plants that have bold foliage. Keep them moderately moist, in bright light with high humidity.

A bit fussier, Calathea species requires bright light and even moisture. With leaves like these, it is worth the effort!

Gorgeous foliage of Calathea . . .

Kalanchoe 'Lucky Bells' is a new flower form for this genus

Flowering plants add a dash of color. I saw this Kalanchoe ‘Lucky Bells’ at Delhi Flower & Garden this week. Very interesting and different!

Orchids seem exotic, but certain orchids can be easy and rewarding to grow. For example, Phalaenopsis sp., the butterfly orchids, and Paphiopedilum sp., known as lady’s slipper orchids, are native to the rainforest, where they grow under the tree canopy or in leaf litter. Both will do well in an east or west window.

The most challenging plants for indoor gardeners are those that normally grow outdoors, but can’t tolerate our frozen winters – the plants that spend part of the year on the porch or patio before being moved in for the winter. Bird of paradise, gardenia, camellia and hibiscus are just a few.

My Jasmine plant add wonderful fragrance to the room . . .

As a group, these plants do best in bright light and cooler temperatures, and are less adaptable to low humidity. These plants go through a dormant stage in winter and may drop some leaves or turn yellow, but that’s o.k. Cutting them back gives fullness and bushiness to your plants in the next season.

Bold banana trees (Musa sp.) are an exotic choice, as are edible figs and dwarf citrus, like the Calamondin orange with its extremely tart, miniature fruits. Purchase them at greenhouses now.

Rosemary, lavender, and jasmine are very popular because of their terrific fragrance. These plants often come trained into topiary and wreath shapes that work well in both traditional and contemporary settings.

With proper plant selection and placement in the home, we can beat the winter blues and enhance our living space by gardening indoors.

Happy Gardening!

Sanseveria or Snake Plant

Houseplants bring a breath of fresh air to a stuffy winter indoor landscape. If you’re thinking about adding a few, you may wonder which houseplant to choose – especially if you lack a “green thumb”. This depends on your interior style, your personal taste, and few practical considerations including light, day and night temperatures, the presence of drafts, children and pets, and available space.

Most of our homes have low light levels, especially in the winter. And many plants will not prosper in the dry heat of a home in winter. Even so, some tropical and subtropical plants do quite well in the house. Here are a few handsome and reliable performers that always look good – no matter what color your thumb is!

• Sanseveria, also called snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue, is attractive and practically indestructible. It’s an excellent choice for low light. Best of all, it tolerates very dry soil; you can go away on vacation for six weeks, and when you come back, it’s still thriving! It’s erect, lance-shaped leaves compliment contemporary furniture.
• Large, glossy green leaves adorn the wax plant, Hoya carnosa, a vine which periodically blooms with a sweet-smelling, waxy flower. Like the Sanseveria, it tolerates low light and dry conditions. I grow my hoya on a circular frame. Allowing wax plant to climb encourages it to bloom.


Cycad or Sago Palm

• Spathe plant or peace lily, Spathiphyllum sp., comes in a range of sizes suitable for use on tabletops or as floor plants. It lives well in low light conditions, but gives a bonus of continuous blooms if grown in medium or bright light. This plant has the ability to recover after being alarmingly wilted. I sometimes find my spathe plant in this condition, and know it’s time to check my other plants, too – a kind of indicator plant for watering.
• The sago palm or cycad, Cycas revoluta, is trendy now. Resembling a palm, this easy-to-grow houseplant is actually a rather primitive, cone-bearing relative of the conifers. A rosette of glossy dark green leaves grows from a central point at the top of a showy, shortened trunk. It gives a great tropical effect in medium to bright light.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia, the ZZ Plant

• The ZZ Plant, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, is one of the toughest and most durable houseplants around. ZZ is also called the Eternity Plant, supposedly because it lives for an eternity. It thrives in nearly any lighting condition short of total darkness and requires little watering or fertilizing. I’ve never know it to attract a pest.

All of these plants grow so easily, you may just take them for granted like I do. Then you suddenly notice that they are covered with dust. Reward these stalwart growers with a periodic shower – they deserve it!

Next time, I’ll look at some of the more colorful characters on the houseplant scene.

Happy Gardening!

It’s been snowy and drab for too long now. These months without a garden can be hard to bear. Dreaming about the garden and perusing nursery catalogs helps to sustain us through the dark days, but I seek a more practical outlet. Filling the house with green and flowering plants of all descriptions, varying the mix from year to year, satisfies my need for “green”.

Plants enhance almost any interior by adding natural forms, colors and fragrances

Plants complement a decorating scheme. A large, dramatic plant acts as a focal point, while a smaller grouping of plants contrasts shapes, colors and textures. A single flowering plant on an end table brightens an entire room.

In limited space, indoor gardeners can use hanging baskets. Trailing plants can be trained around pieces of furniture or part of the structure of the room – a pillar or curtain rod, for example.

True plantoholics will group plants and should consider layering plants in the fore- middle- and background, with shorter plants growing at the base of taller plants as they would in nature. You don’t need to make it a huge project, though. Even one small potted plant makes a difference.

Containers help integrate plants into the overall decorating scheme. Stick to a particular look or material when selecting containers to be grouped in a room to avoid looking fussy. I like natural materials like stoneware or terra-cotta, or glazed ceramic containers to match my room décor.

There’s nothing like a visit to a greenhouse to add cheer to a winter day. Over the next few days, I’ll visit a couple of greenhouses and write about some of my favorite houseplants.

Happy Gardening!

Florist's cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum

To my delight, I was given a cheerful red cyclamen plant as a gift from a neighbor last week. I think the indoor Florist’s Cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, is about as pretty as anything you’ll find in a pot at this time of year.

Florist’s Cyclamen have sweet scented small flowers in an intense range of colors from white to rose-pink, to wine colored or bright, rich red. The flowers are produced on long stems, held upright above the foliage. The attractive heart-shaped leaves have silver marbling on top. The entire plant, when in flower, reaches only about 8 inches high.

A cyclamen plant needs a very bright spot in the home for best growth. And it won’t be too happy in a house heated above 70°F. If the growing conditions aren’t cool enough, the leaves begin to droop and turn yellow. Soon the plant will look so bad that if it isn’t dead yet, you’ll wish it were! I have mine in a bright, cool east-facing window, bringing it out more prominently onto the dining table when I want, but putting it back in between times.

Watering is a bit tricky. The soil surface should be dry, but not so dry that the plant becomes limp. Also, water applied to the center of the tuber can cause it to rot. So here’s what I do: About once a week I sit the pot in a tray of half an inch of water and leave it overnight. Then I return it to its spot in the window. If water collects in the base of the saucer, I tip it out and don’t water again until the soil feels fairly dry.

I feed the plant with a low-nitrogen fertilizer every couple of weeks, cut off spent flowers, and remove any dead or dying leaves with a sharp tug to the stem. With this care, it should continue blooming until April.

Cyclamen persicum follows the common Mediterranean plant pattern of coming into growth in the autumn, growing through the winter and spring and then going dormant in the hot, dry summer. If you want to keep an indoor cyclamen from year to year, you’ll need to recreate conditions as similar as possible to this native environment. Stop watering when the plant stops flowering and let the leaves go yellow and wither. Then put it somewhere cool and dry for the summer. In September (or when you see new growth), start watering again. If no growth shows after you thoroughly water it, wait for shoots to appear before watering again. In the right cool place, it should re-bloom and will get bigger and better each year.

Happy Gardening!

In honor of President’s Day, I would like to present some plant names that pay tribute to our past presidents. It’s not uncommon for scientists to name plants or other organisms after people, as you can see here. For the benefit of my horticulture students, I’m including some plant family information, too.

Washington fan palm. The genus Washingtonia was named in honor of George Washington

Washingtonia is a genus of fan palms native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico, from the family Arecaceae. The genus was named for George Washington. When I lived in California and Arizona, Washington fan palms were common landscape plants.
Jeffersonia is a small genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Berberidaceae, named for President Thomas Jefferson. Jeffersonia diphylla, also known as twinleaf, is a spring wildflower native to the eastern U.S., including the greater Cincinnati area, where it grows in limestone rich woodland soils.

These may sound like they were named after Presidents, but weren’t:
Linconia for Abraham Lincoln; a genus of shrubs native to the cape region of South Africa.
Johnsonia, from the family Liliaceae, for Andrew Johnson; these Australian plants were actually named for Thomas Johnson, 17th century English naturalist.
Jacksonia for Andrew Jackson; a genus of about 50 species, all of them endemic to Australia.
Wilsonia for Woodrow Wilson; a genus of perennial sub-shrubs from Australia, the name actually honors British botanist and author John Wilson.
Rooseveltia for Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt; another genus of North American palms.
Kennedia for the Kennedy family; this genus of Australian plants was named after John Kennedy, a nurseryman from London.
Clintonia from the family Liliaceae, for Bill Clinton; these are the Bead Lilies from North America and eastern Asia.

In more presidential naming news . . .

Three members of the former Bush administration have a slime-mold beetle named in their honor: George W. Bush, Agathidium bushi; Dick Cheney, Agathidium cheneyi; and Donald Rumsfeld, Agathidium rumsfeldi. Quentin Wheeler, head of entomology at the Natural History Museum in London, chose the names. This was meant as a compliment, seeing as how he named other slime-mold beetles after his wife and other famous historical characters!

And finally, a species of lichen has been named after President Obama: Caloplaca obamae. Kerry Knudsen, lichen curator at the University of California, found and collected samples of the species during the final weeks of Obama’s campaign, so the lichen expert named the plant “to show my appreciation for the president’s support of science and science education.”

I hope you have found this trivia interesting. And students, perhaps one day you will have the chance to name a plant in honor of someone. Might I suggest Trustia?

Happy Gardening!

Valentine’s Day is a time when we express our affection in words and actions, and often through flowers. At the end of a long dark winter, the gift of fresh blossoms is most cherished.

A dozen roses is the traditional symbolic romantic offering. But there are other worthy – and more original – choices for those who treasure plants.

From bleeding hearts to love-in-a-puff and Cupid’s dart, these special plants have heart-shaped leaves or flowers, romantic names, or romantic symbolism.

Heartfelt Houseplants:

• Anthurium
• Bridal veil (Tradescantia multiflora)
• Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron scandens var. oxycardium)
• String of hearts (Ceropegia woodii)
• Purple heart (Setcresia pallida)

Passionate Perennials:

• Bleeding hearts (Dicentra spp.)
• Cupids’ dart (Catananche caerulea)
• Passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata)
• Hosta ‘Love Pat’

Ardent Annuals:

• Hearts of Jesus (Caladium sp.)
• Heartsease (Viola tricolor)
• Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)
• Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)
• Love-in-a-puff (Cardiospermum halicacabum)
• Love apple – a common name for the tomato!

Consider giving your true love a plant, seed packet, or I.O.U. to be redeemed when the weather warms, for one of these passionate plants on Valentine’s Day.

Happy Gardening!

Echinacea 'Flame Thrower'; image from Terra Nova Nurseries

I will be speaking at the Tri-State Green Industry Conference on February 4 at the Sharonville Convention Center. I’ll be talking about perennial plants – some that are tried and true, easy-care and low maintenance perennials for our area, and some that are newer selections of these plants.

For example, the Purple Coneflower, Echinaceae purpurea ‘Magnus’ thrives in our area and would be considered “tried and true”. The perennial-plant world has been bombarded with many amazing new coneflower introductions of different flower forms and colors, including:

Echinacea ‘Green Envy’ – Large 4-inch flowers emerge in early summer with each pink petal tipped with lime green.

Echinacea ‘Flame Thrower’ – This selection is fragrant, with rays of blazing yellow-orange and a central cone of deep burnt amber.

Echinacea ‘Coconut Lime’ – has numerous white, fully double pompon-like flowers. The center of each bloom begins leaf green and changes to light lime green as it ages. Unfortunately, there’s limited availability this spring because of a bacterial infection in the tissue culture lab. Expect more in 2011.

Echinacea 'Hot Papaya'

Echinacea ‘Hot Papaya‘ – Sizzling red orange, double cones with falling tails.

Echinacea purpurea ‘Pow Wow Wild Berry’ – An All-American Seed selection for 2010, this coneflower produces deep rose-purple, 3- to 4-inch diameter flowers on 20 to 24-inch plants that bloom continually without deadheading. It flowers approximately 20 weeks after sowing.

There have been complaints about the hardiness of some of the newer introductions, because they often die out over the winter. It seems that this has more to do with the planting time than the hardiness of the plants.

Many of the new cultivars – and all of the orange selections – are hybrids of E. purpurea and E. paradoxa. Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower that we are all familiar with, is native to the eastern half of North America and is hardy from Florida to the most northern tip of Ontario, Canada. It has a tap root, and this gets established best if the plants are planted in spring to mid-summer. If planted later than July, they may die over the winter.

Echinacea 'Green Envy'

Echinacea paradoxa , on the other hand, has droopy, yellow petals and a fibrous root system. (The paradox is yellow petals on purple coneflower!) It is native to Midwestern prairies (USDA zones 5-8) where the soil is rich and well drained. In addition to needing well-drained soil, these plants need to “bulk up” their crowns before winter to survive, and this also works best if the plants are planted early in the season.

So, for best success, plant the new hybrids before mid-summer, in areas that are well-drained, especially in the winter. Do this, and you will enjoy these newer cultivars – and the many others on the market – for years to come.

The Tri-State Green Industry Conference is a collaborative effort between the Extension Services of Kentucky, Ohio State, and Purdue, and features a variety of education and training sessions, plus a vendor trade show. Attendees will be those in the nursery, greenhouse and landscaping industry, master gardeners, horticulture students and anyone interested in gardening. For more information, click here.

Happy Gardening!

Sue

Winter is the perfect time to begin planning your edible garden, using the onslaught of seed and plant catalogs that arrive in the mail and the inbox this time of year.

A packet of heirllom bean, corn and pumpkin seeds courtesy Renee's Garden

There’s more time to plan in the winter, before the big spring gardening rush. Popular and new varieties often sell out fast, so you might end up with ordinary ho-hum varieties if you wait until the last second. Also, you’ll want to be prepared to start planting as soon as the warm weather arrives. Things like peas and onions can go in as early as St. Patrick’s Day in March.

I start dreaming of next summer’s vegetable garden while perusing an assortment of seed catalogs, circling the yummy-sounding varieties and folding over the page corners of potential purchases. This is not something that I typically do online, unless I’m missing one of my favorite catalogs.

Then I look through my current stock of seeds and list them by type of vegetable. I compare this inventory with my catalog choices so that I don’t end up with ten kinds of carrots and no beans.

Alas, after I record everything I think I want to buy, I have to start narrowing down the list to a practical level. I only have so much room to start seeds and so much space in the garden!

The catalogs I order from changes a bit from year to year. Here are some great catalogs that I’m ordering from this year:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, www.rareseeds.com, phone (417) 924-8917. With over 1400 heirloom varieties, the catalog and the seed packets are gorgeous. I’ve met the owners, and they are really nice! I should disclose that they gave me some free seeds to try . . .

John Sheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, www.kitchengardenseeds.com, phone (860) 567-6086. Great seed choices in a beautifully drawn catalog.

Renee’s Garden, www.reneesgarden.com. Another nice lady with interesting seeds; I buy from her annually. I especially like the vines!

Seeds of Change, www.seedsofchange.com, phone (888) 762-7333. Certified Organic Seeds; lots of heirloom varieties.

George W. Park Seed Co., www.parkseed.com, phone (800) 845-3369. This tried and true supplier of seeds and supplies also carries organic seeds and heirloom varieties.

This is not a catalog company, but Ferry Morse Seeds, www.ferry-morse.com, are found at retailers around town (like Lowes and Wal-Mart). They have a new line of organic seeds that looks really cool; I was given some to try out.

What are your favorite seed catalogs? Be it these or others; be sure to order your seeds now to avoid lost time or disappointments come spring.

Happy Gardening!